#RolandMartinUnfiltered - #RecessCanWait voting protest; 52% of Blacks say NO to COVID vax; SC cop stomps on Black man's head

Episode Date: August 5, 2021

8.4.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: #RecessCanWait voting protest with #BlackVotersMatter, Rev. Jackson; Wisconsin Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes talks bid for Senate; Nina Turner loses congressional race; 52% of Blacks say NO to COVID vax; NYC demands proof of COVID vax to dine, go to performances or to the gym; CDC Eviction moratorium extended; SC cop stomps on Black man's head; Gun waving couple pardoned by Missouri GovernorSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered 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. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today's Wednesday, August 4th, 2021, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Protesters, including Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr., as well as Black Voters Matter co-founder Cliff Albright, marched for voting rights in D.C. from the National Museum of African American History to the White House. They say, Senators, you can't go on recess until you deal with voting rights. Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes joins us to discuss his bid for the

United States Senate. In Ohio, Nina Turner lost her bid to run against Republican Laverne Gore for Congress this fall, losing to Chantel Brown. We'll give you those details. Also, a recent survey shows that 52% of black people surveyed say they will not get the COVID vaccine.

What the hell is going on there? In New York, you'll have to show proof of a vaccine if you want to eat in a restaurant, see a performance, or go to a gym. The CDC eviction moratorium has been extended, giving a reprieve to nearly 11 million renters across America. And a South Carolina and Orangeburg police officer has been fired for stomping on a black man's head. Remember the Missouri couple who waved a gun at Black Lives Matter protesters?

Well, they've been pardoned by the state's Republican governor. Folks, it's time to bring the funk on Rolling Mark Unfiltered. Let's go. Knit down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, y'all Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Martin Yeah, yeah

Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's fresh, he's real the best, you know he's rolling, Martin. Martin. The pressure on President Joe Biden and the Senate Democrats continues today when a number of groups, including Black Voters Matter, 100 Black Men of America, and others, marched from the National Museum of African American History and Culture to the White House.

The protesters included Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. and Black Voters Matter co-founder Cliff Albright. Again, their focus is to tell Democrats the recess can wait. They made it perfectly clear that they are not going to stop. We want our voting rights now. We need the Before the People Act now. And we know that there's a bill that's been sitting in the Senate, it's been pending in the Senate, it's being blocked by the same Jim Crow filibuster

that's been blocking civil rights for over 100 years, over 200 years in this country. We're not going to let that same filibuster stop us today. Can't stop, won't stop. We're going to get our voting rights. So we've been out here all week for weeks on actions, direct actions. We've had people getting arrested for the past four weeks. We've had Congress people, members of the Congressional Black Caucus,

who have gotten arrested for each of the past four weeks. Most of that action has been directed at the Senate Senate and for good reason. But guess what? We got a president that we helped put in office. And we gave that president power. And we gave that president of Congress so that he could push an agenda including our voting rights. And so we don't just need to just target the Senate. We need President Biden to lean in and we need him to pick a side. And that's the message that we're giving today. You can't worship voting rights and worship the filibuster. You can't do them both. You've got to pick a side. And so that's the message that we're delivering to President Biden.

Barbara Arnwine, who leads the Transforming Justice Coalition and Texas Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett also spoke to protesters. I'M NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO TALK ABOUT THIS. I'M GOING TO BE ABLE TO TALK ABOUT THIS. I'M GOING TO BE ABLE TO TALK ABOUT THIS. BARBARA ARNWINE, LEADER OF THE TRANSFORMATION JUSTICE COALITION AND TEXAS

DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATIVE JASMINE CROCKETT ALSO SPOKE TO PROTESTERS. WHAT I'M ASKING THESE LAWMAKERS TO DO IS TO HAVE FAITH. HAVE FAITH IN THE CONSTITUTION THAT'S SUPPOSED TO PROTECT EACH

AND EVERY ONE OF US. NOT JUST THE PRIVILEGED. THAT'S RIGHT. BUT EVERYONE. I everyone I am so tired of people telling me, well, you just don't want people to have to produce a I. D. To vote. It's not just about voter I. D. This bill is more than 40 pages long. In fact, it's almost 50 pages long. You tell me that you need all those pages just to talk about what I did. Well, I got something to sell to you. Y'all get the point. Trying to tell you that this is Jim Crow. For those that say, well, I don't see how it is. Let me explain to you how close we were from flipping the house. In Texas, we needed nine seats.

We had 11 million votes that were cast. It was only 10 to 12,000 votes that kept us from flipping the house. What would that have meant? That meant that everybody wouldn't have been walking around with guns this session. That would have meant that they wouldn't have passed this stupid abortion bill. That would have meant that we wouldn't even be having to fight a voter restriction bill right now.

That's right. Don't tell us that you're for the people. Don't tell us that you are for us when you can't be for the people. Every day, every minute, every hour, we want to see this White House doing its job. President Biden, we have that message for you. Everybody, join me in reminding him that we are here to say one powerful thing. Pick your side. But pick the right side. Because you've got to be against the filibuster of your Florida people. There is no other answer at this vote. The march is a part of a month-long effort to encourage senators to take action on the voting rights bill before they leave their office for recess. Joining us now is A. Scott Bolden, former chair of National Bar Association Political Action Committee. Robert Petillo, executive director for Rainbow Push Coalition Peachtree Street Project.

Monique Presley, legal analyst and crisis manager. Robert, I want to start with you. You were there with us in Austin last week. This is the thing that we have constantly talked about, this consistent focus and this constant drumbeat that is needed. You're absolutely right, Roland. And let's understand what has to happen right now. When you're looking at the need for the 40 people that for the John Lewis voting rights act, this is the last backstop that we have against voter suppression nationwide. We saw the voter bill here in Georgia, which Republicans like to cast this as being a voter ID bill. Voter ID was fought 20 years ago. This is a bill about taking the power away from the secretary of state to make decisions on elections, taking power away from

the local boards of elections that are elected by the people of those jurisdictions and placing it in the hands of the state legislatures. In Texas, it's about taking the power away from the voters and giving it to any random individual to report, quote unquote, voting irregularities and giving judges the right to overturn elections. This is the most anti-democratic process which is going on currently, led by the big lie from Donald Trump that somehow, despite losing by 8 million votes that he won, the legislature is running behind him trying to find every way to rule from a minority position. So when we're talking about these bills, what we're talking about is the

future of democracy in America. Will we still strive to be a majority rural nation, or will we allow an entrenched minority to rule over us with legislation that does not reflect the will of 60 and 70 percent of the American people? Down in Texas with yourself and with Reverend Barber and Reverend Jackson marching, the response from the people there was amazing. Being in D.C. this week, looking at the response from the people there, the American people are on the side of action. The people who are against it are the very few Republican senators in their special interest, which understand that if you give power to the people, you will not have to fight an eviction

moratorium because that would have happened already. We'll not have to fight about issues such as the right to vote and student loan reform and environmental regulations because the power of the people will actually be executed. So right now, what we're seeing is Joe Biden being at a nexus point where he has to decide, will he still continue to fight to uphold these traditions of the filibuster and other issues? Or will he simply say, I'm going to whip my caucus in an LBJ-like manner and ensure that we get this through? Because guess what? If you do that, you don't have to worry about many things going forward, because Republicans have not won a popular vote in 17 years in this country. They represent 41 million fewer people in the Senate than Democrats do, and it will be nearly impossible for them to govern if Joe Biden does the right

thing, pressure the Senate to end the filibuster on the narrow issue of voting rights, and pushes THEIR PARTY. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO BE REPUBLICANS. IT IS NARELY IMPOSSIBLE FOR THEM TO GOVERN IF JOE BIDEN DOES THE RIGHT THING, PRESSURE THE SENATE TO END THE FILIBUSTER ON THE NARROW ISSUE OF VOTING RIGHTS AND PUSHES THROUGH THE VOTING RIGHTS ENDING FOR THE PEOPLE ACT.

TODAY, AS WE SAID, REBECCA JACKSON, SENIOR, WAS THERE. THIS IS WHAT HE SAID TO PROTESTERS IN FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE. DECIDE TO TAKE A STAND. RIGHT? AND SO THAT'S WHY IT'S SO IMPORTANT THAT WE HAVE ELECTED decide to take a stand, right? And so that's why it's so important that we have elected officials that are willing to do so. And without any further ado, I am so glad, I am so honored,

been joined by none other than Reverend Jesse Jackson, who is still in the fight, fighting for our voting rights. Yeah! Come on there, brother, come on everybody. Good morning. Good morning. Since the day we marched in the White House against the president's attention, Washington, in the case of Joe Biden, have an ally, but we need to put pressure on him.

Some time ago, I was here to talk about how he put Randolph in a meeting with President Roosevelt. Now, the agenda, he said, Roosevelt said, go out and make me do it. Create an environment where it's feasible for me to do it. Remember Joe Manchin yesterday, about how Republicans take over West Virginia, and go to West Virginia and make him do it. One thing we do one. The public scheme. Public scheme. Make difficult voting.

Voting. Then decertify. Then decertify. That's what Arizona was all about. It would be difficult to vote, then they would decertify votes. So you say in. In. The scheme.

The scheme. Make voting difficult. Make voting difficult. Then decertify votes. Then decertify votes. Must not, and decertify votes. Must not let them decertify votes. Must not let them decertify our votes. The good news is that those who chairmen today depend upon the success of our movement.

That's right. See, if we win, democracy wins. Democracy wins. Democrats win. Democrats win. Nation wins. Nation wins. If we lose, Democrats lose. Democrats lose. democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy

wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy

wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy wins, democracy We made them, Chairman, right? Right. So now I want to stand tall and make our case today in front of the White House. We've done this in Arizona two weeks ago. We did it in Washington, Austin, Texas. We're doing it here again today. So we're going to keep on marching.

That's right. That's right. We'll keep marching. That's right. Yes. Justice is done. Yes. With the power of one person, not about Cori Bush. Yes. Tremendous, tremendous work. Yes. Johnson and Dunn. Yes. Well, the power of one person.

Talk about Cori Bush. Yes. Tremendous, tremendous work. Yes. Yes. Leroy. When Dr. King spoke in Washington in 1963, one black official wrote the whole story.

One black official wrote the whole story. Say, one black official. One black official. The whole story. The whole story. They'd have males in Birmingham and Selma and Montgomery and Dallas and Houston, all that. One.

What Leroy Johnson did was, he's the one that got Ali back in there. Ali went to 55 citizens in Selma and Montgomery and Dallas and Houston and all that. One. What Leroy Johnson did was, he's the one that got Ali back in there. Ali went to 55 citizens in Selma and Montgomery and Dallas and Hilton and all that, won. What Leroy Johnson did was, he the one got Ali back in the ring. Ali went to 55 cities and states trying to get him back in the ring. They wouldn't let him back in. One guy, Governor Maddox, Axel Maddox, a very racist guy,

his son got in trouble. His case was, he made for his son was airmen of the second chance john supported that he went to him turned out i have a friend he's never changed master i'm bored but i think the right way we could be the family we have he said well take the principal position match took it in the right way. He came at him. So he backed away from his position. Then the Sandlers came in and joined with the lawsuit. They got all the advantage. Then they wouldn't let him do his health care, his practice to qualify.

Morehouse gave him a stage to do his training. So one man. One man. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One person. One man. One person. One person. Can make a difference.

Can make a difference. One Rosa Parks. One Rosa Parks. Sat in. One Rosa Parks. One Rosa Parks. Sat in. Sat in.

Nation stood up. Nation stood up. Cory Brooks. Cory Brooks. Stood up. Stood up. Now. Now.

11 million fam- 11 million people. 11 million people. These million families. Families. Have a place to stay. Have a place to stay. Say I am. I am. Somebody. Somebody. Respect me. Protect me. Protect me. Protect me. I am. I am.

God's child. God's child. Save the children. Save the children. Save the children. Save the children. Save the children. Save the children.

Save the children. Save the children. Save the children. Save the children. Save the children. Save the children. Save the children. Save the children. Save the children. Save the children. Stop the violence. Say it to the children. Say it to the children. I will vote. Your vote.

I can vote. I can vote. You must vote. I will vote. I will vote. I can vote. I can vote. My citizenship is in the state.

Is that it? Those kids coming back today from Japan, sitting on the sand getting the gold medals and all that, come back to a nation that will not—does not want their parents to vote. Well— to a nation that will not, that does not want their parents to vote. Well... The issue we must focus on is college, college residency. College residency. College? Residency. So if you're from University of Maryland, for example, and you're from, say, New York,

you have the right to vote where you live. Students have the right to vote, to attend schools. Some of these districts are headed by right-wingers who represent colleges, don't represent students' interests. Every student has the right to register for the 10 schools. Our strategy would be student registration on campus. Do REGISTRATION. ON CAMPUS. REGISTRATION. ON CAMPUS. REGISTRATION. ON CAMPUS. ON CAMPUS. THROUGH IT ALL, KEEP HOPE ALIVE.

KEEP HOPE ALIVE. KEEP HOPE. KEEP HOPE. ALIVE. ALIVE. KEEP HOPE. KEEP HOPE. ALIVE.

ALIVE. KEEP HOPE ALIVE. KEEP HOPE ALIVE. LOVE YOU GUYS. LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU. Y'ALL, GIVE IT UP FOR REVEREND JESSE JACKSON! Hey, Scott Bolden. We have talked about this repeatedly.

And what you're seeing is you're seeing, again, not just Black Voters Matter, but we saw, of course, we were out there on Monday with Reverend Dr. William Barber. Tonight, you're going to have Until Freedom. They're going to be having a vigil at the Capitol. Again, they're gonna have another event taking place on Friday. What you're seeing is just this consistent drumbeat of pressure. And I'ma keep saying it till I see it.

Where is HRC and all these LGBT groups? Exactly. Where is LULAC and La Raza and Vote Latino and the Latino Voter Project? Where are all of these Asian groups who were clamoring on Capitol Hill to pass the anti-hate law, which they did, but I don't see them. Where are the Asian lawmakers? Where are the Latino lawmakers? Where are the white progressive organizations? Where is Emily's List?

Where is America's Priorities Political Action Committee? Where in the hell are y'all? All I keep seeing, mostly black folks now, you do see a multiracial coalition, the Poor People's Campaign, they are there. I'm talking about all these other groups, where they at? And if the shoe were on the other foot, they would be at our doorstep asking for our help, and we'd be willing to be there. But your questions are, where are they? And they are

nowhere to be found. Congressmen, senators, too, that don't look like us, they're nowhere to be found. Now, why is this so important, Roland? This is a beautiful thing, because the base of the Democratic Party are Black people. They cannot win without Black people. Yet here is a great example of them taking us for granted. They would not have Georgia, two senators from Georgia. Biden would not be in the White House if it weren't for black people. But the DNC and Biden and other Democrats, they're reluctant to believe

that their base are Black people. The reason they can't get the majority of white people to vote for them, because no matter how great the Democratic policies are, white people and white voters don't believe that they're voting, that the Democrats are talking to them when they talk about health care, when they talk about infrastructure, and why are we putting every ounce of energy, this White House included, in infrastructure as if that's going to bring along white folks and white voters to support the Voting Rights Act. It's not. Now, why is this so important? Because if you don't pass the Voting Rights Act bill, one or two, whatever you call it, right, the Democrats are going to lose

in 2022. The Democrats are going to lose in 2024 if you don't pass this now. And the Biden White House either doesn't believe it or they're playing chicken with believing that somehow it's going to work itself out or black people are going to go away. You don't pass the Voting Rights Act bill, you run the risk of black people not voting, becoming disillusioned, if you will, further disenfranchised and not coming out to vote because they will say, why should I vote? Why should I make a difference for you when I need you to make a difference for me with the Voting Rights Act? And you failed us to the Biden White House. That's what's at risk right now. The Democratic Party, the future of the Democratic Party is at risk with this Voting Rights Act bill. And they are

jacking it up in a way that is offensive compared to the black support from two years ago or one year ago during the presidential election. You know, the thing here, Monique, we saw last week in Austin, thousands turn out. This is a crucial issue. These senators do plan to go on recess, and they use the hashtag today, the protest, recess can wait. Because it can. Listen, either they're with us or they're not. Either they're willing to go all the way to the mattresses, as you say, or they're not. I'm thankful for Until Freedom and all the other organizations that are coming together to try, at least on Friday, to say,

you don't get to go on break like this isn't happening to us. But everything that Scott said is true. And it is up to the Democratic Party to recognize that it's our own peril. It's our jeopardy. It's not the jeopardy of other groups. It's the jeopardy of our own elections, because this is disenfranchising the vote of Black people. And that means that we start losing at a time when the GOP we know is just full of amorality and greed and power grabbing to the point of just lacking all kind of sensible, reasonable, rational thought. So it's up to us, all of us, but we're lacking solutions. The people who matter the most are the ones

who are being overlooked in this. You know, the thing here that I think is really important, Robert, is black folks, we get it. I mean, we see, you know, we know where this thing is heading. And I really do believe more and more of these, I'm sorry, what's the phrase they use? What's the phrase the civil rights folks are using now? What do they call themselves?

They call themselves, y'all know, when they met with the White House. They call them, not traditional. What was the phrase they used? Y'all, it's going to come to me. Give us an initial. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It was how they were distinguishing themselves from the newer groups. So they didn't want the older groups. They didn't want the newer groups in the meeting. So again, the phrase is, I'll remember it in a second. But, you know, these folks are going to have to challenge others to say, y'all got to get in the game. Again, I have yet to see a single white member of Congress arrested at the Senate Hart Building or even trying to get arrested. Well and then rolling even beyond that let's look at our besides this program and you talk a lot about black media. Yeah I'm sorry yes yes I'm

sorry somebody on YouTube said yes the legacy civil rights organization. Oh yeah. Let's just look at what is going on in progressive and left-leaning, quote-unquote, media right now. How many of them are talking about this issue of voting rights the way that we're talking about it on black media right now? It is a secondary issue. They're talking about Cuomo. They're talking about Trump's tax returns. They're talking about everything under the sun other than what actually matters because, as Reverend Jetson always says, and right now the Rainbow Push conference is going on.

I tell people to go to rainbowpush.org. We have a week of programming going on. But what we're seeing is this is the right that is dispositive of all other rights. You don't have any other rights if you don't have the right to vote. And when I'm marching with Reverend Jetson, and people forget, even though he's 80 years old, he's still 6'4". He is fast. And he is running and he is walking through states across the country getting arrested. And we can't get our white allies to even stand up and make a stand and make a statement on it.

I think it's ridiculous. So a couple of points that have to be made. We are going to have to start pressuring Democratic senators at home because we need a 50 vote unanimous consensus on ending the filibuster. And then we need the White House to pressure to say that this is exactly what we need to do. CONSENSUS ON ENDING THE FILIBUSTER AND THEN WE NEED THE WHITE HOUSE TO PRESSURE TO SAY THAT THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED TO DO AND THAT NUMBER TWO WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THIS IS THE NUMBER ONE AGENDA ITEM BEFORE ANYBODY GOES HOME AND LET THEM KNOW THAT IF THEY DO NOT DO SO THEY WILL BE PRIMARY JUST LIKE DONALD TRUMP THREATENS TO PRIMARY ANYBODY WHO DOES NOT STAND UP FOR HIS MAGA AGENDA AND WHAT WE'VE SEEN IS THE MODERATE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAVE GONE AWAY BECAUSE DONALD TRUMP stand up for his MAGA agenda. And what we've seen is the moderates of the Republican Party have gone away because Donald Trump is pushing them out. We're going to have to do the same thing on the Democratic side of the aisle when it comes to voting rights.

The thing here, first of all, Scott and Monique, this march you're seeing right now, God's going to bring it up. This is actually the first one that went to the White House. See, they've all been focused on the Senate. And I've long said, you also got to get Biden's attention because the White House has held numerous infrastructure meetings. There is not, first of all, let's be real clear, Scott. As of today, President Biden still has not met with the Democrats from Texas who fled the state. I'm trying to figure out what the hell he waiting on. He waiting on that infrastructure bill because he wants bipartisan support. And that's complete bullshit, right? These people, you heard today, they're talking about Biden. Choose the side. Choose the right side. Our friend Barbara Irwine.

And so you've got to take it to Biden directly, too. You can't stay at the inauguration. You've got to take it right to him and make this president do what you want him to do, just because he agrees with you. You remember the story from the 30s when Roy Wilkins went to FDR and fought for Negro housing and education and civil and voting rights. And what did FDR tell him? He said, I agree with you on all fronts. Now go out there and make me do it. This march and other marches are about making Biden do what he wants you, what he's supposed to do, not simply because he says he supports it. We can't give him a pass. We put him in the White House. We may have saved the Democratic Party by Clyburn's endorsement in the South Carolina primary, but what did we get for it? We're still

counting what did we get for it, right? This is the most important issue for the Democratic Party, not just Black Dems, right? When you talk about white people, you're talking about white people getting out there, supporting this, because the very survival of the Democratic Party is at issue. Big problem. No, they don't believe it. Because if you don't fight for voting rights, you don't go get arrested, and you don't get rid of the filibuster on this, then you don't believe or you believe you can win Democratic seats, federal, state, and local without the black vote. And again, you run the risk of black people not voting because you're making them indifferent. You're driving a narrative that, listen, I voted

in huge numbers, put you in the White House. What did I get for it? You wouldn't even fight for my voting rights when you saw me under attack in 40 states, in 30 bills being passed, in 400 being introduced around this country, and you would not even stand up for me. Why should I stand up for you in 2022 and 2024? This is real. This is what's at stake. I don't think the White House believes it.

I don't think Schumer or Pelosi believe it yet because I don't see them in those protests making voting rights a number-one priority. Everything else is a priority but voting rights. And the picture of voting rights in these protests are only black people. And that's a huge disappointment. That's got to change.

But, Scott, it sounds like you're saying the president is all-powerful. It sounds like if he picks this side, then the filibuster already automatically disappears, and you know that doesn't happen. No, I agree with you there. But what my argument is, he can do more. He can manifest doing more, and he can twist those arms.

He can do whatever level of power he has, internally, externally. And he has to manifest his realization that black people matter, that black voters matter, and that there is no future to the Democratic Party without the black vote. Because white voters aren't coming back because they don't think the Democrats are talking to them despite how much health care and education and all the other platforms of the Democratic Party are. WHITE PEOPLE ARE TALKING TO THEM. WHITE PEOPLE ARE TALKING TO THEM. WHITE PEOPLE ARE TALKING TO THEM. WHITE PEOPLE ARE TALKING TO THEM. WHITE PEOPLE ARE TALKING TO THEM.

WHITE PEOPLE ARE TALKING TO THEM. WHITE PEOPLE ARE TALKING TO THEM. WHITE PEOPLE ARE TALKING TO THEM. WHITE PEOPLE ARE TALKING TO THEM. WHITE PEOPLE ARE TALKING TO THEM. WHITE PEOPLE ARE TALKING TO THEM. WHITE PEOPLE ARE TALKING TO THEM. WHITE PEOPLE ARE TALKING TO THEM. WHITE PEOPLE ARE TALKING TO THEM. WHITE PEOPLE with who brought you to the dance. And Black people have brought

the Democratic Party to the dance every time we've won the White House, with Barack, with Clinton, and with Biden, and others in the Senate and the House. And they don't need to be reminded of the power of the Black vote. They just need to stop taking it for granted. And Scott, I think it's not about the Biden or the president being all powerful, but let's just go back four years, for example. President Trump, for some reason, had this seemingly all power when it came to getting things done. If he wanted money for the border wall, money for the border wall just showed up out of nowhere. If he said he wanted to do an immigration ban against Muslims, they would say, you know, you can't do it. All of a sudden, it just happens to get done somehow.

So I think what progressives want to see is that you have a president who will stand up and stick their neck out and fight the same way that President Trump fought for racism. We want to see President Biden fighting against racism, not saying that these are things that I can't do. I want to see Joe Biden on the picket line. I want to see Joe Biden out here holding the rallies the same way President Trump would be. Send out your stormtroopers the same way. Make it known that if this goes down, it goes down because of Manchin and Sinema,

not because you did not put the work in to get it done. And I think unless they're willing and able to do that, you're going to lose an entire generation of voters. There are a bunch of black folks out here right now who have been saying the whole time, why y'all wasting your time voting? Why we keep telling people to get out here and vote? They ain't going to give you nothing anyway. Why even waste your time doing it? Don't prove those people right. And that's where we're at right now. We do not have democratic leadership standing up and buying into it. Folks, we talked about the impact of voting today.

Wisconsin election officials have removed 205,000 people from voting rolls, a number of them who had not voted in for years. There are people, of course, who are complaining about that. Wisconsin was one of those critical battleground states in 2020 that President Joe Biden won, taking it back after Donald Trump won it in 2016. One of the folks who is seeking re-election,

although he says he may not run, is Senator Ron Johnson. He has been one of the loudest Donald Trump supporters. He's been one of the folks who said it was a walk in the park on January 6th, and it's unbelievable the crap that's been coming out of his mouth. Now, Wisconsin's first black lieutenant governor says he is looking to be the first black from Wisconsin to serve in the United States Senate. Lieutenant Governor Jay Mandela Barnes joins us right now. Glad to have you here back on the show, Lieutenant Governor Barnes. Hey, really happy to be here.

I like how you added the J part. It's very rare. Well, you know, it's a government name, so we'll go ahead and use that. So I got to ask you this here. I mean, anybody who has followed The Last has watched. Folks, before Trump, Ron Johnson was a conservative, but he wasn't a crazy out of his mind conservative. The last four years, if you talk about somebody who has sort of like going to going to white domestic terror camp, somebody who has come out and does this unbelievable excuses that he is making for these terrorists who tried to tear apart the Capitol on January 6th. Listen to his comments about the vaccine. I mean, this is

someone, are y'all in Wisconsin saying, who the hell is this dude? Well, he's certainly someone who's failed at all levels. And as you mentioned, people didn't really recognize what he stood for all these other times, the past two election cycles. I think that he's really revealed himself in the absence of Donald Trump. It feels as if he's attempting to fill in the gap, to take over where there is a Donald Trump void. And I mean, whatever the case may be, it's not working for people in the state of Wisconsin. People continue to struggle, continue to face issue after issue. And we're talking about a person who makes it worse. We were, you know, all over the place with vaccine outreach,

making sure that we did everything we possibly could to stamp out the virus, to respond to the pandemic. But people like him make our jobs that much harder. He makes the reality of a healthy state, of a healthy country that much more difficult. In many ways, it almost feels impossible when you have people like him who are in the highest offices that peddle these conspiracies, that do the coddling of insurrectionists. And folks have had enough. People are ready for a different chapter in the state of Wisconsin. Obviously, in Wisconsin, you've had these battles over the years. You had previous Governor Scott Walker who battled unions there. You had recall elections. You had all kinds of different things happening in that state.

You've had a battle when it comes to the Supreme Court. You had Republicans who lost last year as well. So, Wisconsin has really become one of those states that is sort of just going back and forth, back and forth. How are you going to really put together a strong plan of action to get through a Democratic primary and come away victorious in a general election when you have a Republican legislature that is doing all of its can of stripping power away from Democrats who are elected statewide? Yeah, well, this is the definition of a... Looks like we froze. We have him back. So we definitely want to hear what he has to say about that. And so we have some issues there. I'm going to go pull in my panel here.

We're going to try to get Lieutenant Governor Barnes back. Monique, we are seeing candidates who are running all across the country. One of the points that we've had people on my show say, if Democrats want to, if you want to win, you got to run. And so you can't, you got to run folks everywhere. And so we're seeing Charles Booker going after Rand Paul in Kentucky. We're seeing Congresswoman Val Demings going after Marco Rubio there in Florida. You're seeing Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin. All these African- Americans, you're seeing Erica Smith and former Supreme Court Justice Sherry Beasley in North Carolina going after the seat that Richard Burr is leaving. You have the brother who was in the state legislature in Pennsylvania,

Kenyatta, who was running for that Democratic nomination for United States Senate there in Pennsylvania. That's what we are seeing. Yeah, I mean, and we see these African Americans, we see black folks running, but the money behind them is not all black. So we got to understand it's important that there is a coalition, just as we were talking about with voting, it's important that there be a coalition and where are the allies, but especially in these money matters, because black folks just could be putting up their own candidates in solidarity, but we aren't, not when it comes to putting our money where our mouth is. So we need the support. These candidates are getting up there and it is

costly and expensive for them to do so. And we have more candidates who would be willing to do this, but it takes a lot of ground game and support and a lot of air game and support and everything in between for that to happen. Obviously, it takes money, it takes resources, Robert. But what we are seeing, a lot of people, again, saying, hey, oh, my goodness, Democrats, look, you're destined to lose in 2022. No, not if you actually organize, mobilize, and actually have a message that resonates with the people. And look, I think it's always a ridiculous argument when they say you're destined to lose several years out from an election. I remember in 1992, everyone told Reverend Jackson, who we were talking about earlier, not to run in 92 because George H.W. Bush was a war-winning president running for reelection and nobody was going to beat him. Nobody saw Ross Perot coming over the horizon

to split the vote that allowed Bill Clinton to win. There is no guaranteed in politics. And what we need to stop doing is telling people what elections can and cannot be won. If you get out there, communicate with the people, raise the money needed, and run the ground game necessary, you can win any election. Nobody saw Warnock winning this election versus a billionaire like Kelly Loeffler. Nobody saw John Ossoff winning against a billionaire like David Perdue, for example. So we need to start getting behind candidates who actually represent the needs of the American people, who believe in the progress that needs to be made and motivate the next generation of voters behind issues that need to get done

because what we are seeing is massive disenchantment of the American electoral system because nobody believes anything can be done. We have to re-inspire, reinvigorate, and repower the voters of America to know that our system can work and can win, and that do not let those January 6th people make you believe that that is the true America. You are the real America. Scott, again, we're still working on

trying to get Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes back, but this whole notion of if you guarantee not to win if you don't run run and what we saw and what we have seen especially in those eight years of obama you had a bunch of you had a bunch of democrats who were scared all the hell there's no way we're gonna win yes you're guaranteed not to win if you don't run and so you've got to put up candidates uh that people may be willing to vote for uh that happened that happened in Texas. I mean, Texas Democrats for a long time just gave up running statewide,

and then Republicans solidified their power. Yeah, you got to have some heart to get out there to run for office. But again, it's the big fundamentals. I don't care what state you're in, right? The big fundamentals are you got to run on the right platform, have the right issues. For the Democrats, it's the infrastructure deal.

It's a child tax credit deal. It's greater health care with less money. And that's a benefit to those Democratic voters. Maybe you pull some other voters over because of that and you make them understand. But you also need money for messaging and to get the vote out. And the Democrat, the DNC has $100 million more or less to get to engage or rather invest in these races. They need to be smart about it, right? Sure, there's going to be a lot of dark money and a lot of special interest money coming into the race. But when you're in South Carolina and you're in Wisconsin, states that Trump won in the South, the red states,

for example, right? You've got to put the money behind you or behind these candidates, pick the right candidates, in order to compete. Because if you don't run, you know you're not going to win. But if you do run and you run a smart race, I think everybody's got a chance. But the money's got to be there, and the DNC is in a great position to do that. They just have to be smart about it and not pull money out of jurisdictions or races that they don't think they're going to win. You invest more if you've got a great candidate and you've got a great opportunity. And how you define that shouldn't be made by somebody who's not based or doesn't know anything about that jurisdiction or that race. We have Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes back, and you were about to make a point before we lost you.

Yeah, I was about to make a point, and I appreciate you having me back twice in one day. But the reality is, Ron Johnson's the last Republican elected to statewide partisan office here in Wisconsin. And with that being said, Wisconsin is a battleground state with the definition of it. But when we run hard, and as the previous guest mentioned, when you have compelling candidates with compelling narratives and also willing to be bold and take on the tough issues and the tough challenges, we find ourselves in a much better place in Wisconsin. And we don't have to have these narrow margins of victory. We don't have to sit up to 2 a.m. waiting on election results to come in. I think that we can expand our presence with the

electorate in urban areas and suburban areas and rural parts of Wisconsin. Now, winning this primary, as people have noted, is a very crowded primary. And so many people are running because Ron Johnson is vulnerable because of the things that he's been doing, the things that he's been saying. Coming out of this primary, I'm fortunate to come into this race as the most experienced candidate, as the most qualified candidate. And that experience and those qualifications come from the conversations I've had with people all over, all over the state, in all 72 counties. I'm born and raised in the city of Milwaukee, but I have not been shy about venturing out to other places to have conversations with people whose way of life and whose background is much different than my own. And I think that when we

begin that process of just talking to folks, you learn that the issues are the same. And there are a bunch of people that are going to try to divide us with these urban-rural narratives. The fact is inequality is persistent in Wisconsin, as it is all across this country. The forces that keep urban communities down are the same forces that are keeping rural communities down. And we have to address it in a unified way. You obviously deal with issues there in Wisconsin, in Kenosha, with shooting there. You had the results of that where you have a white supremacist who's going on trial for fatally shooting a couple of folks there. You're dealing with dairy farmers who have been grossly impacted by Donald Trump's policies, dealing with the trade war. And so what is the economic message that you are going

to establish to unite folks in Wisconsin? Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that economic message because as we've gone through the last year and a half or so of this pandemic, we've seen levels of inequality continue to balloon. We've seen the most wealthy people in our society continue to get richer and've seen the most wealthy people in our society continue to get richer and richer, while Wisconsin is a state that still sits at the federal minimum wage level of $7.25. Nobody can survive off that. And as we see the case with the eviction moratorium that almost expired, I mean, you've got to imagine, we're talking about folks who have to spend their entire check just to stay afloat, just to stay alive.

And when you're put in these dire economic circumstances, and mind you, there are folks in Milwaukee who still haven't recovered from the recession in 2008. And then we're dealt another blow with the pandemic. Many people don't have jobs to return to. And you mentioned dairy farmers. We are in a dairy crisis still, and that's because of Donald Trump's tariffs and trade policy. And then there's also low price of milk, and there's also the issue of consolidation, where these large corporate farms are coming in, taking over, and taking over family farms and destroying communities in the process.

So with that being said, when we talk about a need to embrace a new fair immigration system so that our rural communities can be able to thrive and prosper, we'll have better opportunities for everybody. When we raise the minimum wage at a bare minimum, we'll have better opportunities for everyone, especially in the cities. And then on top of that, it's important for us to embrace the technology that exists. We can see where the economy is growing in so many other places, and that's where people have embraced green technology. Now, Wisconsin has a strong manufacturing background. My grandfather moved to Milwaukee after serving in World War II. He moved from Louisiana, and he worked at a factory for over 30 years, retired comfortably.

My father also worked on an assembly line. And Wisconsin and the city of Milwaukee in particular, southeastern Wisconsin, has been known for that, although the rest of the state as well. We can get back to our manufacturing routes, the solar panels, the windmills. It's not just about the installation. It is, of course, about the green energy, but it's also about the job opportunities, opportunities that exist in manufacturing that can come back to a state like Wisconsin. Questions from each one of our panelists. For Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, I will start with you, Robert Petillo. Lieutenant Governor Barnes, I'd like to thank you for your service, your efforts at helping to flip the Senate.

But can we agree that if Te Young did not step on that official's foot, the Hawks would have beat the Bucs? Sir, I cannot agree. Because let me tell you, the Hawks played better without Trae Young after that injury. When he came back, it's when it all fell apart. I was worried until Trae Young came back. And I was like, oh, okay. I'm glad y'all won. I just want to make it clear that that official's foot is why y'all got that championship. We'll be back next year. But on a serious note,

why do you think it's so important for younger progressive candidates like yourself to challenge these people? Because we saw back in when Obama ran for Senate, for example, the first time, nobody gave him a chance at winning. But then he won and we saw what that led to. Why is it so important to take those chances? Well, it's important to explore different perspectives. You know, mine is one that's not really that doesn't really exist in the U.S. Senate.

As a young black man who was born in the city of Milwaukee, a graduate of our Milwaukee public school system, the things that I think for better or for worse, unfortunately, just isn't reflected in that decision-making body. The decision-making body that is tasked with guiding the direction of the lives of so many people. With that missing perspective, it's no surprise that we always lose out. It's no surprise that marginalized communities lose out. It's no surprise that marginalized communities, people of color, lower income folks, younger people always get the short end of the stick because who's going to go out there and share that perspective and talk about what life is really like and say, well, no, I actually know this for a fact. I didn't read this

in some white paper. I didn't read this in some scholarly article. I know this to be true because I lived it. You know, unfortunately, I lost friends to gun violence. I have friends that lost to criminal justice and friends who are currently behind bars. And, you know, friends who I've lost to addiction as well. So many other, you know, myriad issues that is just almost commonplace for people growing up in a city like Milwaukee. Monique? First, how do we give? And second, how else do we help? Absolutely. I thought you never asked. Please go to mandelabarnes.com. You can sign up to join us. You can sign up and donate. We need all the help we can possibly get. People like Ron Johnson with their unlimited wealth

are going to try to do whatever it takes to take this election. But we are a real people-powered, grassroots operation. And it is an operation that is going to be representative of the whole, especially bringing those experiences of people who have always had it the worst in our society. Scott? Yeah, Lieutenant Governor Scott Bolden here. How do you build a coalition in Wisconsin to win? Who's in that coalition? And how much will race play a factor in this Senate race? Yeah, you build that coalition by showing up. And like I said, the issues that are present in Milwaukee are the same issues that are present in a Hudson, the same issues that are present in a Platteville. And we have to just think about the challenges we deal with. If you look at cities and the issues we have around health care access, and those are the same problems that exist in rural communities. And you have these farms, and I talked about the dairy crisis.

I talked about low-priced milk. I also talked about trade policy that has caused almost irreparable harm to many of our farming operations. The fact is health care is another issue. That is a determinant factor whether the next generation is going to stay on the farm, having that access to health care. So when we have conversations about universal health care, that impacts everybody in the state. And like I said before, I've had a chance to travel to every county to have these conversations with people. I'm not just making it up along the way. And that's actually what informed my decision to run, being able to show up in these places,

being able to speak with health providers, being able to speak with small business owners, being able to speak with education professionals about what the challenges are and how we meet those needs. And my coalition is going to be a very broad, diverse coalition. And it may sound ambitious, may sound bold, but it will be the largest coalition that this state has ever seen. It will include people right from my hometown, the city of Milwaukee, but it'll also include many people in our farming communities, union members, teachers, students, young people, our immigrant communities, everybody who has had to suffer because of the rules being against them, the deck being stacked against them. This is quite literally about changing the game. This campaign

is about making sure everybody realizes their most full potential and that they do have a place in our society. They do have a place in this government and the decision making. How's race going to play a factor in your in in Wisconsin? And it is what it is. Race is a factor in my race in my run for lieutenant governor. The former lieutenant governor just out of the blue accused me of kneeling one day during an anthem at the state fair of all places where there's like easily uh i as if i was the only person there just as if i just casually just go around kneeling anytime i hear the national anthem it was it was so ridiculous but the fact is it wasn't about whether it was true or not. It was about reminding people, like, oh, look at this guy. He's in the race.

Look at me. So it'll happen. I come to expect it. Ron Johnson has already said that, you know, when he, you know, with the January 6th attack, he said that if it was Antique or Black Lives Matter, he may have been afraid. So we know where he stands on issues of race. And we know where many people who have supported him and who have enabled him, where they stand as well. But I'm not going to worry myself too much with that.

Wisconsin is a state that's 6.5 percent black. And, you know, I've been able to navigate this place. We'll continue to be able to do so. And I've only been able to do that because I show up as who I am. And that's all I can do. All right, then. Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks, let's go to Ohio.

The votes are in and Chantel Brown is the Democratic nominee for the Ohio 11th Congressional District. She beat progressive Nina Turner with 51% of the vote. Also, 11 other candidates were vying for the vacant House seat. Again, Brown got 50.2%. Nina Turner got 44.5%. Senator Turner, a former state senator, conceded last night in Cleveland, surrounded by her supporters. You will be here from us soon. We are going to do great things together, and I've always said that throughout this

campaign. We are going to continue to do great things together, and all of you are on that list of helping us do this. We are going to continue to travel all over this towards the high prize, to the high mark. Because until justice rings for all, justice rings for none. And we are going to continue to push. And I do believe, I do believe that the everyday people of this nation, that the sleeping giants are going to continue to be awakened and we are going to be the ones to wake them up. Ain't nothing stopping us now. God bless you all. Of course, Turner, a national candidate, raised a lot of money, but you also had Brown viewed

as the more moderate campaign, garnering support of Hillary Clinton, CBC members Benny Thompson, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, CBC Chair Joyce Beatty, and others. Now, Turner also had CBC members supporting her. Now, after learning of her victory, the former Cuyahoga County Democratic Party chair almost choked up, thanking her supporters. It does not seem like an adequate enough word to really express how much I appreciate this journey. And it has been quite a journey.

It has been quite a journey. But it is one that I will never, ever, ever forget or take for granted. As I look around and see all of this support, so many friends, this would not be possible without everyone who is here. So I thank you from the bottom of my heart, from the depth of my soul, all of the elected officials who stood solidly with me before any of the national attention came to this race. All of the ministers, encouraging

members, and faith-based leaders who stood solidly with me before any of this attention came to this race. To the union folks who stood solidly with me before any of this attention came. To the business community and the business leaders who stood solidly with me before any attention came to this race. To the activist community and the community leaders who stood silently with me before any attention came to this race, to the activist community and the community leaders who stood silently with me before any of this attention came to this race, I thank you. I thank you. I thank you sincerely. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. To God be the glory. To God be the glory. To God be the glory. To God be the glory, to God be the glory.

Brown moves on to face top Republican Laverne Gore in the November 2nd during the election. This is a heavily Democratic district, so essentially Chantel Brown is going to be the next member of Congress. This right here was an interesting race in that you had Nina Turner, a huge Bernie Sanders supporter, top surrogate, raised a lot of money, more than $4 million, but then Brown raised half of that. But you had outside groups who funneled a lot of money into this race supporting Chantel Brown. You had ads that were going up that were going after Nina Turner. But then, of course, you had Nina Turner hitting Brown with ads saying that she was corrupt. I was reading a piece from Jason Johnson

earlier who lived in Northeast Ohio for about a decade. And what he said in his piece, Monique, was that this was one of those races where Nina Turner had every particular advantage, but that a big mistake that she made was making this going national in this race and not keeping it local. Absolutely. And the only thing I was gonna say while I was listening, when I watched it come across the screen, when it happened,

and when I was listening to Nina just now, is they say all elections are local, but golly, local elections really are local. And so I don't care how many people are following you on Twitter. I don't care how many ads you have wherever you have them. And God bless that she had the funding to be able to do that. But this was about, and you can see, you can see what happened. I mean, you heard the speeches, you can see where the support really was and what the ground game looked like and the way that the vote turned over. And so it is what it is. And

this isn't the end of the road for either of those sisters. So just because it didn't happen for Nina this time, whose politics I frankly have never agreed with for the past three years, four years, five years, she's been in the national spotlight. But I was still rooting for some Black woman to get in this seat, and I'm happy that happened. Robert, a lot of Nina Turner's past comments, ripping President Joe Biden, ripping other Democrats, were used against her. She's being extremely vocal against corporate Democrats, and those were attack ads that were already laid down. Also, to the point what Jason laid out, that was a forum they had there where she brought in Killer Mike, and he was highly critical of Congressman Jim Clyburn, saying that he was stupid

and that he did not extract more out of President Joe Biden for his endorsement. All we got was a Juneteenth holiday. There were folks who slammed Turner for basically agreeing with that. That unleashed the CBC, Clyburn and others to come into that district. And so this quickly became this sort of establishment versus progressive, but Turner's actually establishment, Brown is local. So you had all of these things going back and forth. Your thoughts on how this race played out,

a race that again, two months ago, polling had Nina Turner at 50%, had Chantel Brown at 15%. Brown, some said that if Turner was going to win, she was going to win by five to seven points. It was Brown who won by seven points. And in fact, Robert, she had a 21-point advantage in mail-in ballots in early voting. Well, you know, Roland, one of the things I love about running local campaigns is it all comes down to ground game. I saw those polls that had me to

turn up 35 points a few months ago, and I disregarded them just so I disregard almost all polls and local elections, because when it comes down to it, you have to organize at the church basement level. You have to organize at the student basement level. You have to organize at the student council level. You have to organize at the PTA meeting level. Congressional campaigns are won at HOA meetings and at summer barbecues and fish fries, those sorts of things. And at the end of the day, this election came down to 4,000 votes. Think about that in a congressional race. When we're talking about the composition of the House of Representatives, 4,000 people make that decision. This is why we're fighting for voting rights on the national level. This is why we're fighting for the people. And what I do think is that often when you have national figures, they campaign nationally. And when you have local figures, they know that local

touch. They know that person who is the head of the HOA, who can bring together people in somebody's living room that can get you 50 or 100 votes in one given area. And that cannot be done through radio and television ads. That cannot be done through mailers. That cannot be done in any other way than actually being there with those people, talking to them on an individual level and beating the pavement, walking, holding your shoes, so to say, in order to win that election. So I think you had two great and righteous sisters who are coming at an issue from different perspectives, one from further to the left, one from to the center, both generally working in

the same direction. I'm glad that one of them is going to be in Congress. I think what's the most important is seeing where this goes going forward, because I often do think that the Bernie wing of the party gets a little bit ahead of themselves and leaves the people behind. They have so many insular conversations that only involve people who agree with them. They forget some of the kitchen table issues that affect regular voters, potholes, what we're going to do about reopening schools, those sorts of things. They get into some of these high-minded conversations. So maybe this will bring some of that wing of the party back down to earth and understand you have to talk to people where they're at, not just simply where you think they need to go. Scott, I disagree with people who say

the progressives lost. Look, there have been other races where progressives won. We just saw, we just saw a woman who calls herself a socialist Democrat win the Democratic primary in Buffalo. So I think that's lazy. I think bottom line is to analyze a race, you got to analyze the two people running, you got to analyze the message, and you got to analyze, frankly, how you hit the pavement to get your people out. My point again, Brown had a 21-point advantage in early voting. You can't give somebody a 21-point head start and expect to win. Yeah, that's true, and there had to be a breakdown there, but let's be real honest.

Chantel Brown needed the national support more than Nina needed the national support. I'M GOING TO TELL YOU, I THINK THAT'S A GOOD QUESTION. I THINK THAT CHANTAL BROWN NEEDED THE NATIONAL SUPPORT MORE THAN NINA NEEDED THE NATIONAL SUPPORT. AND THE DNC, I'M SORRY, THE CBC, THE WHITE HOUSE, OTHERS, HILLARY CLINTON ALL CAME IN TO

SUPPORT HER. ONE SECOND. THE WHITE HOUSE DID NOT. THE WHITE HOUSE CERTAINLY But go ahead. Well, the White House certainly perceived was to support her, but the president congratulated her. I mean, how many times does the president do that? But let me just say this. She was down by 10 points or more two months ago, right? She didn't have enough money to get on TV to get her message out.

And eventually she had a go TV ground game. Obviously, the other candidate had AOC come in, had Bernie Sanders come in, had all the organizing on the ground there was. But Chantel Brown needed that CBC and other support in order to compete. I mean, it was a 21-point turnaround. And then they also had the money and the consultants to be able to use her statements against Biden and the Democrats against her. Without that money from, I think there was a Jewish PAC and there was the CBC PAC, and there were a few other organizations that pumped in what she called, what her opponent called dark money, but it was special interest money. And I

got to tell you, that money and those ads really turned it around, in my opinion, because without that, Nina was well ahead of Chantel Brown. And so I don't like seeing two black women pitted against one another, let alone the dean, let alone Democratic groups supporting one over the other. But it is what it is.

That's what I'm trying to say. Hold on. Hold on. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Democratic group supporting one over the other. But it is what it is. That's what I'm talking about. The difference in the- Hold on, hold on, hold on. Wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on. Hold on, wait, wait, wait, wait, Scott, Scott, Scott, Scott, Scott, in most of these congressional races, Scott, in most of these- But I bet she couldn't have won.

Scott, most of these congressional races, you got black people who run against each other. Yeah, no, I just don't, I just don't think the part that... I don't think the CBC or others ought to be weighing in on those type of local races where they're bringing a lot of money to the table and you turn this race around. So wait a minute. Hold up. Hold up.

Okay, so wait a minute. Do your local races. Stay out of the race. How about the race with... But wait, wait, wait. Hold up. But wait. Here's the deal, though. First of all, why should the CBC stay out of the race? But wait, wait, wait, hold up. But wait, here's the deal, though. First of all, why should the CBC stay out of the race?

Because it's an open race, first of all. It wasn't like they were running an incumbent. But you see, they jumped in those New York races, and the progressives won. And they're free to do it. Don't get me wrong. No, wait a minute. Hold up. The CBC pack.

But wait a minute, Scott. Scott, Scott, Scott, Scott. The CBC PAC... Scott, the CBC PAC endorsed... Scott, the CBC PAC endorsed a white candidate who was the Democratic incumbent when Ayanna Pressley ran. And guess what? Pressley won.

Okay, now she's in the CBC. And? But I disagree with that CBC endorsement for the white candidate, and Presley won. You're right. Listen, everybody's got to win. Okay, all right, so here's my question. All right, Scott.

So who the hell should the CBC endorse then? It was 20% down. But Scott, Scott, Scott, who? And they did. Scott, listen, Scott, Nina had endorsements of some CBC members. She did not get the endorsement of the CBC PAC, but she actually had, I don't know, she had CBC members who endorsed her.

Yeah, but their last name's not Clyburn either. Okay, so now I'm confused. So hold on, hold on, Scott. So Scott, Scott, hold up. So you said she should get CBC endorsement. She got some CBC members who endorsed her. You were saying she didn't get the right ones. Well, what I'm saying is that brought a lot of national money.

She couldn't have won that race without national money. You're getting kind of hung up on the CBC and Clyburn. No, you did. They want a divorce. I'm not against that, if you will. Nor should Nina. Scott, Nina raised national money. Scott, Nina raised national money. Scott, Nina raised national money.

And? Well, that was different national money, though. Okay, all right. Oh, my God. Now I'm confused. National money, but different national money. Man, let me go on to this next story. I don't know what, I don't know.

Really? All right. different national money. Man, let me go on to this next story. I don't know what, I don't know, really. Without the national, without that dark money, Chantel Brown could not have won that race. That's all I'm saying. And you know I'm right about that. Okay, you actually said- Black women are going to be against each other in these races because there's more than one black woman at a time who's exceedingly qualified for the jobs. Yeah, I got you. I don't disagree with that. Just kind of, just, I don't know. You know, yeah, we know. You don't know. Yeah, we agree. We agree on that. We agree on that one. The new variant of COVID-19 Delta has been accounted for at least 93% of all cases reported since last month. All right, y'all, in some parts of the country, with low vaccination rates, the percentages are higher

in the black indigenous people of color community. Some barriers contribute to lower vaccination rates. Now, health experts have described this latest stage of COVID-19 as the pandemic of the unvaccinated. Now, according to the latest hit strategy survey, a black people survey, only 48% say they will get vaccinated,

while 52% say they will not. Black and Latino Americans are the groups most at risk for the coronavirus and are the least vaccinated compared to their white counterparts. How will the reimposed mask mandate and required proof of vaccination stop the spread of the Delta variant? Well, joining us now is Terrence Woodbury. He is the founding partner of Hit Strategies. Terrence, glad to have you back on Roller Mark Unfiltered. So 52% of Black folks surveyed say they're not going to take the vaccine. But what's happening right now, Terrence, is you're seeing an increasing number of companies that are saying, your ass ain't vaccinated. You can't come into the office. You can't keep working. Yeah, that's exactly right, Roland. You know, people of color face real and perceived barriers to this vaccine that we have to get serious about overcoming. We've been categorizing or

characterizing this vaccine rollout as the largest product launch in the world's history. We are introducing a product that did not exist this time last year, and we need the entire world to adopt it. More importantly, we need the most marginalized communities, the most cynical communities, the communities that do not trust healthcare systems and governments, the communities that are the most at risk, we need those committees to adopt it. And right now they are facing real and perceived barriers, information barriers, access barriers,

that we have to start getting very serious about overcoming if we're gonna course correct this thing before it gets too late in the fall. But what does that actually mean? Because part of the problem is you've had these agencies that got all this money and they basically gave it to, let's be clear, white media, black targeted media, and just threw it all around. Wasn't it targeted? Wasn't focused? Wasn't very clear? And frankly, a whole lot went to waste. And now they're trying to figure out,

what's plan B? And I can tell you, as a black-owned media outlet who put a proposal in, folks did not respond to it. I know other black media didn't get jacked, and now all of a sudden, a survey like this, well, this is what happens when you don't properly fund the media outlets that know how to communicate to black people. That's exactly right. You know, it's the same thing we talked about, you and I talked about last year, Roland,

we were going through some of the barriers to voting during the pandemic. When we had to convince people of color that they can trust the vote by mail system, the same barriers of information, barriers of a system that they had never used before, barriers of trusting that they would not be harmed in an unfamiliar process.

We're facing the exact same barriers. And the way that the Democratic Party and other politicians had to engage with trusted messengers like you, we have to use the same tactics to overcome some of the information and trust barriers here. Look, people of color have real cynicism towards systems. When I sit in focus groups and ask them,

why don't you trust this vaccine? Is it the production? Is it the doctors? Look, they're talking about historic injustice. They're talking about Tuskegee. They're talking about Henrietta Lacks. They don't know what's in this syringe. And, frankly, seeing someone like Barack Obama or someone like LeBron James get the vaccine does not inspire trust in them. Not because they don't trust Barack Obama and LeBron James, but because they don't trust the system, and they think that LeBron and Barack

are getting a different syringe than they are. Well, first of all, LeBron actually has not publicly discussed whether he even got the vaccine. I mean, he's been on my list of trusted, of validators and messengers, of people that they would trust. And when I asked them, you know, sports figures like LeBron or entertainment figures like Ellen DeGeneres or Oprah or political figures like Barack and Michelle, they say, look, they're getting a different syringe than I am. And that's just how cynical folks are. And this is a valid and real cynicism. And so we do need to engage trusted messengers,

black doctors, black healthcare providers, black media, black education institutions, black religious institutions, trusted validators that can really talk to the community and start to provide the information that they need. Well, here's the question. Is the White House and the COVID task force, are they paying attention to this?

Is the CDC? Is the Department of Health and Human Services? Are any of these people? Because I can tell you, we've had absolutely no luck with this. And I ain't got no problem saying this here. I got no problem saying this here. I got no problem saying this. There is no other black owned media outlet

that has done more segments and that has put on more black doctors and scientists discussing COVID than Roland Martin Unfiltered. We have had more of them. Matter of fact, while I'm doing that, y'all let Kenan know. I wanna see that, I to play that spot next. And we haven't even updated it of all the different names. So it's probably about five minutes. Y'all get that ready.

And so we probably had more than 100 segments. And so we've had North Carolina A&T doctors, Meharry doctors, doctors from, I mean, black doctors from all across the spectrum, because we knew how this was actually affecting us. And that's, and you're absolutely right, that there's a reason I ain't put black celebrities on discussing COVID. I ain't trying to hear from nobody black who bounces a basketball or who sings or who tell jokes discussing COVID. All I wanna, what we putting on are black doctors, black scientists, black ER doctors, the National Medical Association. That's what we've been doing.

And I'll tell you another, you know, along with black medical providers, scientists and professionals, another very validating messenger here are local members of the community. You know, it's the black school teacher and the black bus driver and the black post office worker. Hey, Terrence, we put a proposal together.

Texas was trying to figure out how in the hell to spend $20 million targeting black people. We literally put together a program, did the same thing for Maryland, didn't even get a call back. Maryland, we saw a story in the newspaper where in Maryland, they had dudes riding around with speakers on the back of the truck talking about get vaccinated. We said to them, hey, align us with folks giving shots. Tell us we got 500 shots. We will broadcast our show from that location and tell folks this is where we are

and talk to real people who are actually getting tested, didn't even get a call back. Then they wondering why folk ain't getting tested. We said, we literally put the plan together and said, we will take Roland Martin Unfiltered to rural black America. We will take the show on the road and talk to the scientists and talk to the people, no callback. And let me tell you why that's so important, Roland, and I hope the folks that you submitted that proposal to are listening here.

Because the reason that that proposal, that program that you've proposed is so important is because what black folks really need is not just someone to tell them information. They need someone that they can ask questions to. Right. And so going into the community with Roland Martin Unfiltered, bringing experts,

allowing them to pressure test this vaccine, they got questions and we have answers, but the answers can't come just in an ad. They need to interact with this information, to challenge it, to put forth some of the concerns that they've had and have someone that they trust that can answer these questions. And so you're right, Roland, we have to go into the community. We have to go door to door. We have to do the same things that we did to convince people to vote by mail, to convince people to elect Democrats. You know, when we spent almost a billion dollars in Georgia convincing black folks to vote for Raphael Warnock and Ossoff and Biden,

we have to make similar investments now to save people's lives. And this is where we'll see the party put their money where their mouth is. And you know what? I really like smacking stuck on stupid people. I got some dude, somebody named JRad14 on YouTube. Amazing how Roland manages to make this about him and his money.

No, JRad, I'm actually giving you real examples of what Terrence is talking about. The reason the survey that Terrence has done that shows 52% of black people are not going to take it is because of the experiences that I'm actually describing. Because unlike you, J-Rad, who's sitting your ass at home watching, I literally have been in the game specifically talking to the black doctors and the black scientists and trying to get their names and voices out there. That's why we have had Ebony Hilton on the show. We've had Georges Benjamin on the show, have had Tyson Bell.

And for a lot of y'all watching, it's a whole bunch of black doctors at MSNBC, CNN, and networks were not calling until after we put them on because we amplified their voices. That J-Rad is why we're saying it. Go ahead Terrance. And I want to be very clear that you know that throwing money at this problem is not just going to be enough. You know us advertising and this is why we've had to we had to raise some red flags about celebrity advertisers and political advertisers,

because it doesn't quite overcome the levels of cynicism that we see here. And that is exactly why you going into the community, bringing these doctors, answering these questions, pressure testing this vaccine is a necessary practice here to really reach the most vulnerable. But you know what, Tash, let me just go ahead and say it. is a necessary practice here to really reach the most vulnerable. But you know what, Tash, let me just go ahead and say it. They want, let me just be real clear.

The folk controlling the money, they want us to do it for free, and then they gonna give the millions to other people. The same thing on the political side. The reality is this here. The strategy that was devised, the strategy that was laid out, the strategy that was laid out was ineffective from day one. It was. Let me say one more thing here, Roland, because, you know,

I don't want us to discard and dismiss the money conversation here because it is important. What is happening during COVID-19, not just the economic fallout and not just the recovery ever since, but the actual distribution of what I started this interview by calling the biggest product launch in the world's history. What is happening right now is a redistribution of wealth. It is happening. And so the money conversation of how this vaccine gets distributed is important. The money conversation of which companies. Billions. Billions of dollars to distribute the biggest product

in the world's history. This is not a marginal part of the conversation. See, see, see, Tez, what you just said right there is what ticks me off when I watch these people who comment because they don't, they don't game recognize game. That's right. And see what happens is they sit here, why are you talking about the money? Because they are. That's right. I'm telling you. That's right. I heart, I heart, Viacom, CBS, News Corp, Disney, Comcast, they ain't running this shit for free.

That's right. That's exactly right. Trillions of dollars are being spent responding to this pandemic. Trillions. It is the largest redistribution of wealth in my entire generation. And I said, and Terrence, I told CBC members in September, don't let me start calling names. I literally said, folks, listen to me clearly. Billions about to be spent. Congresswoman Barbara Lee told me that she got the funding put in for $2.5 billion to go to the states tied to COVID. And I said, y'all got to make sure this money is going into black hands.

Black-owned media, black organizations, black doctors. That was just that $2.5 billion. Listen, Roland, black polling firms, black doctors. That was just that $2.5 billion. Listen, Roland, black polling firms, black researchers. If you need to understand why black people are not taking this vaccine, why they are hesitant, then you need to talk to the organizations that do the research in these communities. No, what they do, Terrence, let me just go ahead and put it out there. They go hire one black consultant, throw them a little $60,000, $80,000 contract.

Then they go hire a white polling firm and give them three to five or $10 million. That's exactly right. See, all y'all folk in here in the chat who don't know nothing about this game, y'all don't realize how the game is being played. And so the same thing. They want to sit here.

Then what they'll do is they'll send an RFP out, a request for proposal, to 20 black media organizations, and the total amount of money is $300,000. That's right. So they want 10 or 20 of us to fight over $,000 when this white media company got 30 to 50 million or 100 million. But then y'all wondering why we bringing up the money. Not only does the economics matter, Roland, not only does it matter how companies are able to build and scale based on a trillion dollar investment, trillions of dollars of investment from the federal government. But we are actually the best organizations to engage

these communities, that we live at the intersections of where these challenges are happening. You know, this is not just, I mean, of course there's an economic conversation. Anytime there's a trillion dollar investment from the federal government. But if we really want to save lives, if we really want to do the right thing and overcome these systemic barriers, then it's going to require engaging organizations and trusted validators that have experience and track record in these communities. Well, I hope, I can tell you right now, we're going to send this segment out. I'm going to send it directly to members of the White House COVID Task Force. I'm going to send it directly to members at the White House so they know and understand what's going on here because otherwise

we are going to get screwed again. So a lot of us not going to get the shots. A lot of us not going to sit here and take precautions. And a lot of us going gonna get the shots. A lot of us not gonna sit here and take precautions. And a lot of us gonna lose out economically while other firms are basically making millions. And then we sitting here still starving, fighting over a crumb, not a piece of the pie, a crumb. Let me make sure when you send it out, Roland, they know how they can reach me.

Because I got a whole lot of phone calls last year when our number one priority was to remove Donald Trump from the White House. Well, at HitStrat, our number one priority in 2021 is to get people of color in this vaccine line. So please reach out to us. We are looking for partners in this fight. We sit in these focus groups every day with people that are reluctant to get this vaccine and www.hitstrat.com will help you connect with us so that we can help solve this problem. All right, Terrance Woodbury, I certainly appreciate it, man, thanks a lot.

Thank you so much, Roland. Yeah, I gotta say this, Scott, Monique and Robert, and it really bugs the shit out of me. It really does. It's amazing to me, whenever we had these conversations and folk go, you know, we're rolling out, you know, why y'all, why you got to make it about you and the money? When I'm looking at a hundred million going to this company and a hundred million going to this company and 100 million going to this company

and I'm looking at the fact, literally, the federal government, I think, let me find it. I think one of these companies got a Pentagon doses. Just give me one second. Just so folk out here who don't quite understand, this right, two days ago, this is two days ago,

the story came out. I'm trying to pull a story up. Come on, it's moving a little slow. And again, I'm not dissing the company. I'm just trying to explain to people what's going on. Headline, two days ago, Army gives Pfizer $3.5 billion to make 500 million COVID vaccine doses.

3.5 billion dollars. Yeah. Yeah, so Roland, the person who- And again, COVID, I mean look, Pfizer is a drug company. They gotta make it, got to produce it. So I ain't hating on them getting a contract. I'm just trying to explain to the people watching that one contract just for the United States Army is $3.5 billion. We still have the Marines. We have the Navy.

We got the Coast Guard. we got the Air Force, and we ain't even talking about Department of Homeland Security, CIA, FBI, we ain't even talking about, I mean, literally, the federal government may very well speak, and that's just 500 million. Let's not talk about if we got to have vaccines for the next decade. We now talking about 30, 40, 50, a hundred billion dollars, but, but I shouldn't be talking about the money. Okay. Go ahead. Well, the, the, the reality is the person who's, who's on that Twitter feed of yours, you know, it's like crabs in the barrel, right? They want to count your money, but you ain't trying to count their money. Maybe they don't have any money. Who knows? But that's that mentality. But the reality is what you're really fighting for isn't just your business, but you're actually fighting for

Black businesses who can do what you do and do more than what you do and do good and really get to the black community that needs that type of engagement based on what your last guest said. And it begs the question as to whether this government or the sources of the vaccination really do want to get that message and get our communities vaccinated. It isn't rocket science what you propose and what other marketing companies and messaging companies propose. It isn't. You know we need that engagement. We know we have some historical issues with vaccination. And you know, like every other group, we guys are making it people just say

it's my choice and I'm not doing it. But you've got to actively engage them. And so that's really the bad part or the downside to what you're talking about, is that people are suffering and black and brown people are going to continue to suffer if the federal government doesn't give more to black businesses or black marketing companies or media companies to do that good. And that's your real message. It's not a personal message of personal profitability. It's a message of, listen, I can get this done. And our communities are suffering if you don't give me the money or other media companies to do these good deeds.

And the thing here, Robert, that again, that just, it frustrates the hell out of me, is I need black people to stop this aid mentality. I need black people to stop, I don't know why you keep talking about that. Well, how in the hell you think CNN in 200 countries? How in the hell, Fox News does a billion and a half dollars of profit every year, not revenue, profit.

How do you think the New York Times is the size it is? The Washington Post the size company is Urban One, which they own Radio One, TV One, not NAMM News Show on TV One. Not one. Not one. So these people kill me who don't understand business, but would love running their mouths about somebody else's business.

Look, Roland, you got to open it up to the market economy. If they're not going to give you the money to promote the virus, then let's go to the anti-vax people and see how much money they got. Look, Hannity and Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham getting all this money to tell people the vaccine doesn't work. Let's figure out how much they're paying. Look, and I guarantee once they start running those ads on your show for a million dollars a pop, saying that the vaccine is made of Kool-Aid, then all of a sudden the Biden people will show up and they will say, look, we see what you're running and we want to compete with that and we'll bid on it. I think as black folks, if we want to operate in the market economy,

we have to operate in the market economy. If there's nobody bidding against you, then there's no reason for them to do it. You're going to do the work for them, whether they give you the money or not. So what's their incentive to give you the money? So I said, let's go to the MyPillow guy and all those other people and let them start running ads. And then I guarantee the people on the other side will start understanding that they have to actually negotiate against somebody, and that'll get them to the table. The frustration, Monique, is we do not demand our fair share because, let me just go ahead and say it, we do not demand our full value. Right. And also, we are not going to do what Robert just suggested, and I know he knows that.

But it's the same conversation about why, when Trump was in office, he was able to do some of the things that he did. Again, as I said when I started, when you're dealing with amoral people who are rudderless, I mean, there's not any truth, any fact, any justice, any desire to do the right thing. Keeping them grounded, they can do anything. And your show cares about what happens to black people. And it's a business and a ministry and a call. And so Robert is right. And then he says, they know you're going to try to do the right thing and they take advantage of that. But what I think does need to happen is that people like your person who is watching need to understand the very reason why you should get those contracts

is because he's on here watching you. I mean, it doesn't get any easier than that. He's listening and complaining. He's watching and listening to you and saying, why are you talking about the money? Okay, so that's why they need to pay you the money to talk about the vaccine because other people are getting those funds and the funds aren't reaching our community and we are dying. It's life and death.

This is not play play. Yeah, that's exactly what's happening. All right, folks, got to go to a commercial break. When we come back on Roland Martin unfiltered. We'll talk with Mary Spiel, the founder of seek.com. We'll also talk about the eviction moratorium being extended. All of that and more. Roller Martin Unfiltered. Don't forget, if y'all want to support what we do, please join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar you give goes to support what we do. You can support us via Cash App, dollar sign RMUnfiltered, Venmo.com,

4 slash RMUnfiltered, PayPal.me, 4 slash RMartinUnfiltered, and Zelle. We're back in a moment. I believe the people our age have lost the ability to focus the discipline on the art of organizing. The challenges, there's so many of them and they're complex. And we need to be able to understand them. And we need to be able to

understand them. And we need to be able to understand them. And we need to be able to understand them. And we need there's so many of them and they're complex. And we need to be moving to address them. But I'm able to say, watch out Tiffany, I know this road. That is so freaking dope.

. Welcome to Seek. Hi, this is Lady Gaga. I'm Seek and Zia. Yo, this is Ziggy Marley. Catch my live performance on Seek. You're Bon Jovi and you're watching us on Seek. What's going on in this Quavo honcho? Right now you're in the honcho's world.

Please let the music play. Let the music play. Let the music play. Let the music play. Let the music play. I need the keys, I need the strings, I need the bass Floyd's death hopefully put another nail in the coffin of racism You talk about awakening America, it led to a historic summer of protest. I hope our younger generation don't ever forget that nonviolence is soul force, right?

Y'all know who Roland Martin is. He got the ass got on. He do the news. It's fancy news. Keep it rolling. Right here. Rolling. Roland Martin.

Right now. You are watching Roland Martin. Unfiltered. I mean, could it be any other way? Really. It's Roland Martin. All right, folks. Time for our Tech Talk 7, sponsored by Seek.com.

Have you ever heard of metaverse? You may not be familiar with the term, but my next guest is an expert on it and even pitched the idea to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. Joining us right now is Mary Spiel, founder and CEO of Seek Virtual Reality. So explain this metaverse thing, Mary, for those folks who have no idea what it is. Don't have your audio. You're on mute. So basically the... Hi, Roland.

How you doing? Good, good, good. Good to be on the show. So basically the metaverse is the next evolution of the internet. So it will be where through virtual reality, augmented reality, you'd be able to walk into somebody's space. So I'll be able to walk into your studio, for example, and sit in there virtually while

I, you know, listen to the news while I listen and interact with you. And that's basically what the metaverse is. Okay. So, okay. Right now I'm probably like a bunch of other people, I have no idea what the hell that even means. Okay, so when you say walk into the space, okay, so let's just say right now, we're live,

you're a guest on the show. So how will somebody be able to come into the space while we're live, explain that. So the way they would be able to come into the space while we're live? Explain that. So the way they would be able to come into the space is one of two ways. One, they'll be able to put on a VR headset. So a VR headset, you know, such as what I have here,

they'll be able to put that on. And then once they put that on, instead of going into your website or instead of watching you on Facebook, they would actually through the VR headset be able to be in the same space with you or through an augmented reality device, they'll be able to be in the same space with you.

Wow, okay, so I'm sitting here and I'm trying to attach the Seek VR headset. So you're saying, okay, so you're saying that with this VR headset, their phone will be placed in here, then they will be able to, if they wanna actually watch Roland Martin unfiltered, they would literally be in the room. Okay, but how?

Is there, would I have a camera set up in here that they're accessing? How does that actually work? So the way it works is, one, you would download an app such as Seek. So with the Seek app, you would then, you would plug your camera,

like with your live stream, you will connect your live stream to the app. And so when the user comes in, they know connect your live stream to the app. And so when the user comes in, they know that they're going to the Roland Martin show. So I just type it in the same way that I'll go online and type your website in. Once they type the Roland Martin show into the app, it will then take them directly to your show in VR. Okay. So that means that anything that we're doing in the studio, they would be able to see? They'll be able to see everything, 360. They'll be everything.

Why would I want that to happen? Because you want to get them closer. And what you don't want them to see, you could also cover. So, for example, if you're just only giving them a 180 degree, then they'll be able to see 180. But you can imagine for concerts, for classrooms, for sports games, you wanna be right there in the middle of it.

That's why the metaverse is so important because it gets fans closer and closer to their favorite artists, to their favorite sports and games and stuff like that. Okay, so how- Movies. So how soon is this going to happen? How soon will this be online, be active? So, I mean, it's live now.

So for example, when you go into Seek, you're able to go on a safari. If I just want to listen to my Pandora inside of a safari, I can teleport inside of a safari, such as what you're looking at. You know, all you got to do is download the Seek app, you get the Seek VR headset, and you're inside of the venue. So it doesn't really matter where you are. I could be in New York, you know, and put my headset on, and all of a sudden I'm teleported to a safari somewhere, and I can experience all these different worlds,

which is basically where everything is going. And this is today. This is live. This is on the app today. This is not something that's coming. This is on the app today, and it's just going's coming This is on the app today and it's just gonna get better and better So we talked about it. Okay So right now if I go and see I could see a safari now is that already pre-loaded video?

So what we're talking about is literally live. What's actually what's actually like right now? Yeah, so it's so you could get live streams on there. We have events that have happened that you can still relive, right? So concerts, we've done stuff like with Ziggy Marley and the list goes on. So you can go inside of those concerts and be sitting right across from Ziggy Marley,

Stephen Marley while he's playing and you're right there. And, or it could also be a just a live event where I'm in here with you right now. I think that, you know, with the metaverse is gonna give a whole new, you know, look to, not just concerts, but even you could see with classrooms, with dating, with everything.

You're gonna be right across from somebody else, but virtually. Okay, so I would have, okay, so we're talking about, okay, so this is the VR headset. Okay, so somebody asked on the phone, excuse me, somebody asked on YouTube. And so basically what you're saying is, again, let me test this thing out.

So what you're saying is, it would be something you would download right to your phone, and then you would you would it would be something you would download right to your phone and then you would drop this phone right into uh the seek the the seek uh uh vr headset and then it would take you to uh what's happening in here and then we would uh um yo i need somebody to come get uh my bag out of my office, it's in my backpack. So, would this where I would have,

would it be like one of the GoPro 360 degree cameras or would there be another type of camera that I would have in this in my office, that I would have in here to be able to transmit that video signal for them to actually be able to see. It could be either or, it could be a 360 camera. Right now we're doing sports games, live sports games that are coming straight from the television

satellite trucks and it goes right into the app and then you can just watch it with a bunch of people. So you can use the GoPros, you can use the cameras that you're using now or you can use a 360 camera, which is even more immersive. Hmm, okay. All right, cause see, cause the thing with the GoPro, let me see if it's in here. Part of the issue is not in here,

it's that black bag that's on my desk. Part of the issue, cause first of all, the reason I think this is interesting is because for the people watching. So let's say when we broadcast from, yeah that's it. We brought, when we were in Austin for the March for Democracy, so you had a couple of feeds. You had, I mean you had the one feed

where we were live streaming and it was just our cameras that were on the stage. So what you're saying is, so let's say, okay, this is the GoPro Hero 7, this is the GoPro Hero Max, which I think this won't work because this does not allow for video out, which is quite frustrating.

I'm like, why in the hell did y'all make it? But, so what you're saying is, so if we had this GoPro Hero 7, if we had this hooked up, and this is not 360 degree, but it's just 180, so then that way we could have had this, and so someone would have been able to access that site,

and it would have been as if, and they could have been able to turn this way and see all the people who were there and should have been able to be in the crowd exactly exactly exactly interesting so it's like a fifth day there okay i'm gonna go to my pound with some questions i know right now scott bolden is absolutely positively completely confused by all of this so i'm not going to start with him i'm going to start with monique who i think that's something. Monique is not there. Well, first of all, is Monique there or is she not there?

I'm about to say. Why don't you think I'm confused just like Scott? Okay, first of all, Monique, we know you confused, but you're probably a little slightly less, you're probably a little less confused than Scott. But considering his absolute fascination with guns, I know Robert probably is the most astute on this, especially with his green screen. So Robert, you get the first question to Mary about the Miniverse. Look, Scott, now I got a 24 by 75 by 75 scope

just came and also the night vision camera. So I'll show you that next time I see you. You got to get the night vision on the long distance scope also. But so the question is for people like me who don't like people, what can technology like this do to make sure I don't have to be around a lot of people indefinitely going forward as we come out of COVID because with the virtual immersion, what will that do for businesses and networking as more and more conferences get canceled and go virtual? How will this help to incorporate into that sphere? That's exactly it. So for people that don't like people, you could go into your own space and not even worry about seeing anybody.

You can be in a space where you just turn off, you know, the rest of the crowd and you can be in there just enjoying whether it's a concert, a movie or, and now people are buying real estate too. People are buying virtual real estate where they're buying some of these homes, these virtual homes that they can go into, you know,

and just have different experiences. And for conferences, as you can imagine, now you don't have to worry about traveling. You can just be inside of the space for classrooms and for a lot of businesses, you know, where people are tired of just Zoom and they want to be able to have that interaction. They're able to go into the physical space where you're going to see, and we're be able to have that interaction, they're able to go into the physical space. What you're going to see, and we're already talking to a lot of different brands, for a shoe brand, for example,

that wants to be able to build their store online. So I can go in there and try on my shoes. I can go in there and you can do all this virtually. And then once you're done, you just click on pay and you're able to buy whatever you're looking at virtually that you've tried on virtually and then it ships to you scott i know you're still confused but what's your question no i'm not because i understand metadata and i understand the concept no this is called this is called metaverse i understand that and i said that

roland let me you know what um in any event, how far away are we? I understand what the product is, and it's an awesome product, especially given how isolated we are with COVID-19. How far are we away from when you put that same system on, and while you're there, you can produce an image of yourself and see yourself there sitting down at the concert. See an image of you sitting down at the piano with a R&B superstar. You follow me? So you're trying to have a Scott Bolden hologram sitting next to John Legend at the concert? Exactly. That's possible.

I bet you that's possible. Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary, go ahead and answer his little question. That was a big-ass question. It is possible. Yeah, that's a great question. You know, so we do have avatars to where you can create yourself. We're still working on, you know, the look of the avatars every day. Believe it or not, when I started, you know, working in VR, there was nothing that existed

in terms of having the ability to reproduce black skin, for example. So we've had to create everything from scratch. Because basically everything that existed, all these different models were not built for us. So we've been focused over the last few years of having the ability to reproduce these holograms that are very photorealistic. So your hologram will look exactly like you and you would be able to walk around,

see yourself in the environment take a picture with john legend play the piano with him if that experience is available but that's very very possible we're working on it it's their early stages in terms of what the avatars look like but you're able to do that and we continue to work to improve them so it becomes you know more and more accurate okay that would Monique. That would certainly be hot, that's hot. Okay, we- How much does this- We done with Scott, we done with Scott.

How much does this adversely affect employment and feels like consumer shopping where we know the numbers are low now and where we know also where tech role is concerned, black folks are still getting less jobs, disproportionately being hired. When we remove the need for real people in these positions, what's the counter to that? And so this is also great because in the virtual world, there's just so much that you can do.

You know, just even a few years back, there was a similar virtual world. And one of the top earners in there was actually a black woman who was creating like all these different worlds and different, you know, different clothes in VR. So there is a lot of opportunity within virtual reality. And once you try it, once you have your kids try it, then they're also gonna come up

with all these different ways in which they're gonna be able to contribute. And there's just a lot of opportunity. And because it's early enough, but not too early, to where they gotta wait 10 years, it's happening now. Mark Zuckerberg just announced on Forbes and in their last earnings report that they're gonna become a metaverse company.

And he bought a $3 billion, you know, product just to enable them to be able to do what it is that we're already doing. But it's real and it's here and a great opportunities, you know, within the metaverse for everyone. All right then. All right, so here's what we may do. Okay, we may do, we may try this here.

We got some events coming up soon that we're gonna be broadcasting. How about this? Okay, now I got it, now I got it, now I got it. So let's see how quickly we can actually make this happen. So, I'm pushing my team for us to debut our new completely finished out studio space on august 31st so could we test this on August 31st to do what you're describing? That way, on that day, if folks actually want to come into the space,

they'll be able to, because it's going to be amazing when we unveil it. Yes, absolutely. Which means they're going to buy the headsets now, right? They gotta go on seek.com and buy the headsets now, but yes, we can do it. So, okay, so what you're, so in order, so again, let's just walk through technical stuff. So in order for folks to do this,

you can't do it just be like, cause even like right now, even like right now, you can look at content on the Seek app without the headset. But for the meta, for the correct. But for the metaverse, you would have to have, you would have to have the headset. Yes, for the metaverse, you have to have the headset because to be fully immersed into it,

like you go into a whole different world. So they're going to be in the studio with you in order to do that. Then they have to buy the headset. Got it. Okay. Got it. All right. So now, so let's, so, um, yeah, that could be real interesting if we actually, uh, shop for that. I'll be, it's very interesting to try that. So, uh, we'll see that Mary Spio. We appreciate it. Uh's very interesting to try that. So we'll see that. Mary Spio, we appreciate it. Thanks for breaking us down. Trust me, I can guarantee you, Scott Bolden is still, as we speak, quite, quite confused by all of this. Great question.

Yeah, okay. All right. Thank you very much. Yeah, like I said. And if you buy the face thing that you had on for all of us, we can do that through Metaverse. Scott, Scott, Scott, Scott, you literally, you literally probably make more money than all of us on this panel. Why are you whining about somebody buying you something? Because to be on the show and to test this, you ought to buy it as the host and the sponsor and the owner

of your black business. Scott, I ain't buying you nothing. I ain't buying you nothing. Scott, you actually owe us money. You want me to bring it up again? I thought so. All right. Y'all, if you go to Seek.com, y'all can check out the products that they have. If you also, you do want to

get the VR headset, which is right here. Then, of course, you also want to get their cool headphones. You see there's a code pic, there's a code right there, y'all, on your screen, RMVIP21. Somebody hit me, said it didn't work. That's not true. It does work. So that's the code. And they have, and I showed you yesterday, they have the black and gold. See, and I know, Scott, it's going to hurt your feelings, Scott. Do you have a red one, man? No, hell no. Hell no. So they were very wise to have these black and gold, these black and gold headphones right here. I know that really hurts Scott's feelings.

Yeah, so I know Scott, because I know Scott, they go with this alpha ring, Scott. They go with this alpha ring right here. She's got a red one for me, I'm sure. No, they don't have a red one, but I'm sure Monique would also like the gold on gold Seek headphones.

Yes, Scott, they also match this alpha ring right here. I know, yeah, I know it hurts your feelings. And so use the promo code RMVIP21, RMVIP21. Go to seek.com. Mary Spiel, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Thank you so much.

All right then. That, Scott, I'm just trying to help you out. I mean, I know you struggle. I mean, come on now. You know, it took you three months to figure out Zoom. So, you know, I know. That's cause you had a bad connection. No, I have bad connections. Please, you were still trying to be all on a wifi

versus plug up to the ethernet. But we know that. We know that. Stop being confused. Stop being confused. We know how that rolls. Baby steps. No, you still in the womb.

You still in the gestation period. don't need uh-uh okay all right y'all so i got a text let me just get y'all this here i got a text message uh from until freedom uh this is happening first of all i'm mad at them because they sent me this too late i would have actually had a camera over there. So I told them, sorry, y'all, but you can't just, these folks, whoever sent to me, sent to me way too late. Let me pull this up. They're going to be on Capitol Hill.

It's called Watch Night for Democracy, starting at 8 p.m. on the east front of the U.S. Capitol. And so you should be able to pull it up. Can y'all see my computer, please? That's what's happening. It's happening on right there. And so then on Friday, on Friday at 10 a.m., they are going to have, let's I told y'all the pressure continues. It's the Freedom Friday March. We demand voting rights, D.C. statehood reparations taking place August 6th at 10 a.m. MLK Memorial here in D.C. FreedomFridayMarch.com. FreedomFridayMarch.com. Check it out. Robert, Monique, Scott, I certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. That is it for us. Folks, if y'all want to support what we do here at Roller Martin Unfiltered,

please, your dollars do matter. Every dollar. Also, by the way, if you purchase the VR headset from Seek or the headphones, we also get a percentage of that. That's a part of the deal as well. And so when you support this black-owned company, you also support this black-owned company. Cash App is $ rm unfiltered

uh you also of course have venmo which is uh rm unfiltered paypal is r martin unfiltered and zelle rolling at rolling this martin.com rolling at rolling martin unfiltered.com folks that is it i'll see you guys uh tomorrow right here on rolling martin unfiltered where we keep it real we keep it black, and we keep it honest. That's how we roll, and so it's always glad to be with you, and so we look forward to having another great conversation tomorrow. Hold up! Oh, hold up. Don't go away. Don't go away. So somebody had the nerve. I'm sorry. Somebody had the nerve to sit here and ask me why was I wearing a FedEx shirt. So first of all, I'm not wearing a FedEx shirt.

You can zoom in, Henry. This is the FedEx St. Jude Classic. My wife and I have been supporters of St. Jude. And so for a long time, they had the FedEx St. Jude Classic. Then three years ago, they switched it to a World Golf Championship FedEx St. Jude Invitational. And so normally this is the week when they actually have the tournament. And so I went ahead and decided, I got the hat in my office. I had a golf fitting today, so I went ahead and decided to wear this here.

And then you see right here on the sleeve, they have the FedEx Cup. They're the sponsor of it. But yeah, we are supportive of St. Jude, the first hospital in the South that actually treated African-Americans. And nearly 40% of the children treated at St. Jude are African-American. And yeah, so for the person who had the nerve to run their mouth on YouTube while I was wearing the FedEx shirt,

I'm wearing this because I also support St. Jude and the work that they do. They have to raise $800 million a year. Any kid who is treated at St Jude, their family, they pay no money. They pay no money and some of them get treated for years. And so that's why we do what we do. And so I played in the FedEx St Jude program a number of years and have been supportive of them. And so that's why I got it on. All right, then y'all, that's it. I need to go ahead and let somebody know. All right. Thanks a bunch. I'll see y'all tomorrow. this is an iHeart podcast