#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Remembering Buffalo Massacre Victims, Okla's Abortion Law, Roland Gives Scholarships To Jake Yakes

Episode Date: May 24, 2022

5.20.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Remembering Buffalo Massacre Victims, Okla's Abortion Law, Roland Gives Scholarships To Jake Yakes It's been almost a week since a white domestic terrorist murdered 10 innocent black people in a Buffalo grocery store. The first victim's funeral was today, and the city is preparing for a vigil tonight. New York U.S. Representative  Yvette Clarke will join us to talk about the latest on the massacre investigation. I'll also chat with her about New York's proposed redistricting maps and the affordable housing bill. Thursday, Oklahoma lawmakers approved a bill prohibiting all abortions with few exceptions.   So Republicans want to force women to have babies but are not willing to help feed them. We'll look at what's happening with the baby formula shortage. A Michigan teacher is on administrative leave for grouping former President Barack Obama with primates in a biology assignment. Plus, a Better Business Bureau warning for customers of a popular online cook. And in this week's Education Matters segment, an organization is helping with the shortage of special education teachers. Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You dig? Today is Friday, May 20th, 2022. Roland Martin Unfiltered broadcasting live from Houston, Texas, Jack Yates High School. My alma mater where earlier today I awarded three JY students $1,000 scholarships for college. We'll show you some of that a little bit later. We live streamed that so you can check it out on the Black Star Network app. Coming up on today's show on the Black Star Network, former Congressman Corrine Brown has reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors. We're trying to retry her on corruption charters. We'll tell you exactly what that particular plea deal is.

Also, the three survivors, the 1921 Tulsa race riot, a donor has given them $1 million. They have been frustrated that they have not been able to get justice when it comes to getting compensation, reparations, for that racist white domestic terror attack 101 years ago. Next week, there's going to be an unveiling here in Houston by Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis of a statue of George Floyd. He will drop by to chat with us. We'll also talk with Jelana Jones, who was recently installed as a Texas state representative.

She's also running for the position. We'll talk about politics here in Houston, but also in the state. Republicans, of course, are running roughshod all over this state, especially when it comes to voting rights. Also on today's show, a professor out of Florida has been reinstated after they made racist remarks in the wake of the death of George Floyd. We'll tell you exactly what that is all about. And we'll also talk about other news of the day, including Jenny Thomas, the wife of Clarence Thomas. We know that she tried to get Arizona legislators to overturn the result of the election. Why in the hell has Clarence Thomas not been impeached?

We'll discuss that. And Larry Ellison, the billionaire from Oracle, also was very much involved in trying to overturn the results of the election. Ah, a lot of stuff coming out regarding January 6th and how these traitors were trying to overthrow the election. All of that and more coming up on Roller Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. It's time to bring the funk. Let's go. With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, y'all

It's Rolling Martin, yeah Rolling with rolling now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best, you know he's rollin' Martel. Martel. All right, folks, we are here in Houston, my hometown, Jack Jays High School, my alma mater, that of my parents as well. We're a little bit earlier today. I presented a three scholarships that we started last year. And so we're glad to be here. What you're seeing right now, of course, is the mural in front of Yates High School that was installed last year on behalf of or in tribute to George Floyd. We'll tell you more about a tribute that's going to be happening next week

on the second anniversary of his death in Minneapolis. Now, let's talk about, of course, what we've been dealing with all across the country. Of course, that is the racist, the white domestic terror attack in Buffalo that has impacted so many different people. Yesterday, the House actually moved on a domestic terror bill. And I want to talk about that because, you know, there's a lot of people out there who were whining and complaining, talking about how, oh, how the Asians got a bill when in fact it wasn't an Asian hate crime bill. That COVID-19 hate act actually helped anybody dealing with hate crimes. But this bill has been passed by the House in the wake of Saturday's massacre in Buffalo.

Joining us right now is New York Congresswoman Yvette Clark. Glad to have her back here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Congresswoman Clark, this bill now goes to the United States Senate. So can you explain to people, because, you know, I get these people, Congresswoman, and I'm sure you hear them, and they're like, oh, we need bills specific to black people. And people are always citing that hate crimes bill, COVID-19, because it referenced attacks against Asians, but it was not an Asian hate crime bill. It actually applied to anybody impacted with hate crimes. And so talk about

this particular bill that has been passed by the House, goes to the Senate, that deals with domestic terrorism in the wake of the, of course, the tragic shooting of 10 people in Buffalo. Well, first of all, thank you for having me, Roland. It's great to be with you again. And let me just say this. One of the challenges we have faced as a Congress is the fact that there have been no real movement to classify hate crimes as domestic terrorism, that these neo-Nazi groups and the white supremacist

organizations were being coddled, if you will, under Republican leadership. And they would thwart every effort that we made in the House of Representatives to really drill down and get the Department of Homeland Security to elevate this... those groups and all of the attacks that have been taking place as domestic terrorism. We have finally reached that point in the House of Representatives. We had the votes among the Democrats in the House, and we've moved that bill forward.

Too many lives have been lost. We can go back to the parishioners of Mother Emanuel Church. We can talk about the folks that were killed in the synagogue attacks. numerous hate crimes that targeted specifically protected groups in our civil society, minority populations. And we've finally crossed that hurdle, giving the Department of Homeland Security the authorities they need to really drill down, identify these organizations, monitor their activities, and protect the American people from domestic terrorism. And can you please, just again, for the people who do not understand Congress and laws, you have these people out here who are saying,

why can't this bill be specific to African-Americans? And I keep trying to explain to people, if you look at the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 1965 Voting Rights Act, and 1968 Fair Housing Act, those were bills that were driven by racial discrimination against Black people. But the way Congress writes laws, laws apply to all Americans. Absolutely. I think you've adequately explained it. But let me say this to our folks. I know that there's a yearning out there, because we're all hurting, that the nation, through the federal government, acknowledged the unique experiences of people

of African descent who are targeted by virtue of our race and our unique history in this country. However, what we recognize is that terrorism, domestic terrorism, is focused on a number of grievances. What we've tied to this is the whole notion of replacement theory, which is what was part of the ethos of, unfortunately, this young man that drove 200 miles to Buffalo, New York, to seek out Black people. So we need to be able to keep our eye on the prize. And that is making sure that these terrorist organizations, white supremacists, neo-Nazis that will operationalize their hatred, are unable to get their missions off and kill and maim in the way they have been doing, unfettered by not having legislation in place to really,

like I said, go after these organizations. And that's what we were able to accomplish in the House of Representatives yesterday. And what people don't understand is that what this does is it gives federal law enforcement additional tools to go after these groups. Part of the problem that you did not have the designation, it limited what the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security was able to do. Because when we talk about terrorism in the United States, that only meant foreign terrorism. It did not address domestic terrorism. Absolutely. Absolutely, Roland. And that was by design. Like I said, we have been hearing testimony in the Homeland Security Committee for years now. But while the Republicans

have been in the majority, they have done everything in their power to thwart this designation, which, quite frankly, makes them complicit with all of the hatred that has been generated, that has been operationalized into murder and mayhem. And so, you know, we took it upon ourselves yesterday to move this legislation to the United States Senate. It is now up to your listeners, our communities to impress upon the Senate the importance of getting this bill passed and into law. That's going to be a high hurdle, because we've got some folks, again, who have been complicit and sympathetic to these domestic terrorist organizations. we witnessed on January 6th and along the continuum of the Charlottesville march. And it's just been incident after incident after incident, and it's time for us to act. And we need to hold our elected representatives, our elected officials accountable for denouncing this radical right-wing

murder spree that has been taking place in the United States of America. And let me say this. You know, it's very clear to me when you see over, when you see 200 members of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives vote against this legislation yesterday, that they need to really do some soul-searching within that party, because they are fomenting the racial hatred, the bigotry, and like I said, the operationalizing of that hatred into real acts that kill, maim, and destroy families and communities. And we can't have that. We just can't have that. All right. You were not here to talk about this here, but while you are here,

we got to talk about what the hell is happening in your state with the demolishing of these black congressional districts? Congressman Hakeem Jeffries and you and others have been speaking out against this, forcing black members of Congress to run against each other. I'm sorry, don't Democrats run this state? What the hell is happening in New York? Let me tell you, I mean, if I had the answer to that, Roland, we would not be in this circumstance right now. What I can say is that, unfortunately, all of the work that had been done under the Voting Rights Act has been in one fell swoop dismantled. They have cracked and fractured historic core communities of African descent that had come together to elect representatives that come from their lived experiences, that can speak to the challenges

that we face in our communities. And I'll give you an example. The community of Bedford-Stuyvesant, which is a community that's known nationally, has been split into three different congressional districts. That is unconstitutional. draws the lines in a re-importionment year to make sure that those core communities are kept intact. And across the board, across the city of New York, and even into upstate New York, we see a violation of that. And that can't stand. We will not be disenfranchised by a court or by a special master. You know, we just cannot abide with that. And so the battle is on. I don't care Democrat, Republican, we are Americans and we expect to have our communities protected, respected, and the value of their franchise should be just as valuable and equitable as any other community in the city,

in the state, and in this nation. And so what is taking place in the state of New York is a total travesty, and we're going to fight this tooth and nail. Last question for you. I have been talking about this issue this week with a couple of candidates who are running for Congress, the issue of housing in this country. There's been a massive shortage of homes being built in America. We're seeing where in Miami rents are going up from three thousand to seven thousand. People all of a sudden are being hit with massive increases because, frankly,

those who own homes and own their own apartments, they are able to do so because of this severe shortage. Please share with us this affordable housing bill that you are working on in Congress. Yes, I wanted to say welcome to my world. The rents have been too damn high in the city of New York for decades now. And the investment that needs to be made by the federal government, the tools that needs to be at the disposal of our Secretary of HUD were just not there. One of the elements that we recognize in the city of New York that had been really a tip of the cap to our developers is something called the area median income,

which ultimately determines how housing is developed. In other words, developers will look at the area median income in the state of New York for our city residents, it had been escalated as a result of our area being connected to more wealthier suburban areas, which inflated the average income of the folks within that particular area. So the city of New York was tied to Scarsdale, New York, where some of the wealthiest people in the nation reside. And if you average out those incomes, you're going to be way above

what the average New Yorker is able to afford. Developers took that and ran with it. And as a result of that, we've had a glut of luxury development in the city of New York. And as the luxury development is developed, property taxes go up. Individuals in those buildings are unable to keep up with the escalating rents that are set as a result of this AMI. So my bill asked the Department of Housing and Urban Development to look at the disparate impact that area median income has had in basically pushing the average American, the average Black American, the average person of communities of color out of the affordable housing market, and also putting a glut of luxury developments throughout our communities, throughout our cities, and thereby this imbalance of the lack of truly affordable units that need to be brought online into our communities so that our people

can be domiciled. We're seeing a spike in homelessness, not because people aren't working. There are many people who are in homeless shelters or are housing insecure because their wages are not able to meet the escalating rents that are taking place across this nation. We want to change that. We've got to change that. We cannot continue to see this spread between the haves and have-nots. And that just means being able to acknowledge everyone's humanity and make sure that they're domiciled. That's what my bill will do. It will compel HUD to examine this and then remedy it by incentives, investments that need to be made right away to get housing costs under control and to provide an incentive for the development of affordable units. Well, this graphic here, I think, explains it all, and that is this here.

In 2010, 2019, only 5.8 million homes were built. That was the lowest number since the 1930s. And so this is part of the fundamental problem. You saw between 1950 and 2009, the minimum number of homes that were built was 20 million. 5.8 million in 2010, 2019. That also is contributing greatly to the housing problem we have in this country. And so hopefully we will see

significant development take place. It's a perfect storm right now between supply chain issues that help the home builders to build new homes, you know, at a cost that is affordable to the average American, to the greed, quite frankly, of developers who are looking to get these units, these luxury units out there to make as much in profit as they possibly can. We are really in a crisis in affordable housing, in housing, in domiciling the American people. And this cannot stand. And it cannot go

on much longer. We cannot see our families put out on the streets, put into shelters. And you're lucky if you can get a shelter. Many of our families are just homeless on the streets, and that's no way to live in dignity. We've got to do something about it, and my bill does just that. All right, Congresswoman Vic Clark, we still appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you for having me, and I know it's great to be home in Houston. Good to see you again, Roland. Take good care. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. I appreciate it. Folks, today, the first of the 10 funerals took place in Buffalo. The family of Hayward Patterson gathered to say their final

goodbyes. It was one of the 10 people gunned down in that Topps grocery store by the white domestic terrorists on Saturday. The Buffalo community is going to hold a vigil for Saturday's mass shooting victims. That's going to be taking place in just about an hour. Now, today also marks, as I mentioned earlier, the one year anniversary of the enactment of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. The Department of Justice laid out an action plan to deter and confront hate crimes and other bias-related incidents. Here is U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

This department was founded in 1870 in the aftermath of the Civil War with the first fundamental purpose to fight the white supremacist attack on black civil rights after the Civil War. 152 years later, the task to combat hate-fueled violence remains central to the department's mission. We do this because it is our legal obligation, and we do this because it is our moral obligation. Also today, several civil rights organizations met with A.G. Merrick Garland with regards to hate crimes and the attacks on African Americans all across this country. Let's go to my panel. Joining us is Kelly Bethea, a communications strategist. Matt Manning, civil rights attorney. We'll also be joined by Michael Imhotep, host of the African History Network show.

Matt, I want to start with you. I've been on Twitter dealing with these simpletons all day. And all of these people who've been talking about the Asian hate crime bill, and all I keep hearing is, oh, the Asians got their bill. And if you actually read the bill, you will see that it does reference Asian hate crimes. But the bill is not specific to Asian Americans. It's not specific to the AAPI community. In fact, I've got somebody sitting here whining and complaining because there's a member of Congress who talked about getting $30 million in the bill to go to community groups to deal with hate crimes. And they're like, well, can that money go to black people? And I'm like, yes, the federal grant money can go to any community group who applies for it. And what's crazy to me is listening to these people who are complaining like, oh, why can't the bill be specific to us? Because it

isn't. Here you have a bill that is not an Asian hate crime bill. Literally, what the bill deals with is all hate crimes, is the creation of a central location where they reported any hate crime. But these folks have run with this and somehow act as if the bill does not apply to African-Americans. It does. African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, Native Americans. And so it drives me crazy when people are spreading nonsense and somehow saying it doesn't apply to us and somehow we can't apply for the money, just like the James Byrd Act that was passed, okay, that was in response to an African American being killed, but that doesn't only apply to African Americans.

You can't get black-specific federal laws because, again, they apply to different groups beyond just African-Americans. I understand the sentiment, particularly because the law came about at a time that the media was really focusing on the hate crimes that were being perpetrated on the AAPI community. So I understand people at least theoretically thinking that that's the only impetus behind it. But I think you said it masterfully. The way this law is written and that these laws are written is if there is proof or evidence that hate is the impetus behind the crime, basically the person did it because you're a part of one of those groups. Any person who is a part of a group where their identity is the nature or the thing that's the impetus for the crime, can obviously seek vindication.

So I think it's reductionist for us to focus on that. I think we should instead focus on it being beefed up. But I think the biggest part of this, Roland, that hasn't been addressed is really the only way these crimes are going to stop happening is obviously if they continue cracking down on it through the law. But the bigger issue is deterrence. What has to happen is judges and prosecutors have to swing for the fences on every single one of these cases. Because if people get slapped on the wrist, if they get relatively small periods of time in the spectrum of the time they can be sentenced to, that's what gives us no assurance that these are actually going to be given any real importance in the panoply of crimes that are prosecuted. So

the deterrent effect will come from very, very heavy sentences. And I'm hoping that DOJ and how it has changed some of its protocols and beefed up its initiative will really focus on that, because that's the only thing that will give us in all of the communities that are non-white, frankly, will give us any assurance that they're really taking this seriously. So it's not about it just being a black crime, but it's about making sure that the powers that be really hold accountable these people and bury them under the jail. Frankly, that's the only way to have any assurance in this respect. And Kelly, I get it. There are folks who want what impacts African Americans to be addressed.

But it is crazy to me when I listen to people, and it drives me crazy when other people who know better promote this stuff as if that is the only thing you can get. I mean, we can go through law after law. When you pass, again, the Voting Rights Act, okay, the Civil Rights Act, that was done at the behest of African Americans. It was racial discrimination. Yet when you read the bill, it doesn't only apply to us. The 1964 Civil Rights Act, okay, which we did with public accommodations, allowing us to be able to take buses across federal lines, in parks, in restaurants. Well, guess what?

Title IX, which this is the 50th anniversary of Title IX, which opened up the professional schools to women and expanded opportunities for women in sports, is a provision of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Okay? And so this notion that somehow there's going to be a law passed by Congress that only applies to African Americans, and I keep telling people that was not the case with the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. It was spurred by attacks on Asians. And so there are people who are pushing this.

But again, the House just passed a domestic terrorism bill. That bill cannot say that this only applies to attacks on African-Americans. That's not how Congress works. Not only is that not how Congress works, if I'm not mistaken, that's just not how our Constitution works. You technically cannot make a bill that specifically targets a race. That is the highest level of scrutiny that a bill would be under, strict scrutiny, if I'm not mistaken. So it would be actually unconstitutional for you to pass a bill that literally says

this is for Black people. So kudos to Congress over the years, especially the masterminds of the Civil Rights Act and other acts that do deal with race. They have been brilliant in crafting legislative language that applies to us, but doesn't say us, right? And as a result of that, even though it applies to us predominantly, it actually, like you said, helps everybody out. And that is kind of a running theme with this country, when you have a situation in which Black people are being disenfranchised and we make it a point to try and pass legislation to battle that disenfranchisement, that law, nine times out of 10, will benefit everybody. Even affirmative action benefits white people. In fact, it actually benefits

white people more than it benefits Black people at this point, just because of how it was written. So no, you cannot have a bill that is specifically geared just for Black people, but that's okay. That is completely fine to me, because at the end of the day, when it comes to hate crimes, over 50 percent of hate crimes are actually committed by white people. So if you have a bill that is just going to target hate crimes, the offenders themselves are white people. But that's not to say that the offenders are only targeting black people. They are white people who are targeting Hispanics, white people targeting Asians,

white people targeting other people of color, especially Black people, yes, but they target anyone who's not white, right? So this bill will actually help everyone, but I don't want to say most importantly, but especially Black people, just because of how it's crafted. So, Michael, let me, again, for the people out there who pay no attention,

who can't read or refuse to read, okay, this is, are y'all seeing it in the control room? Are y'all seeing it on my iPad, please? Thank you. This is the actual bill. Yes. It is called the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. Surprise, surprise. When it's called the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. Surprise, surprise. When it's called the act.

Okay? Now, let me go through the bill here, and here's the deal. It says, it says, this act may be cited as, y'all, cited as the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. Cited as. Now, there were people who called it the Asian Hate Crimes Bill because, yes, in the bill, it says Congress finds the following. Following the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, there has been a dramatic increase in hate crimes and violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. And it goes through here and it labels those particular things that happen. Okay. Then it says in general, what the law does, it talks about applicable. Here's the guidance.

The attorney general shall issue guidance for state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies pursuant to this act to number one, establish online reporting of hate crimes or incidents and to have online reporting that is equally effective for people with disabilities as for people without disabilities available in multiple languages and determined by the Attorney General. Does it say Asian only? No, it doesn't. It says collect data disaggregated by the protected characteristics described in Section 2249 of Title 18. Expand public education campaigns aimed at raising awareness of hate crimes and reaching victims that are equally effective for people with disabilities and for people without disabilities. Does it say ACEs only? No, it does not. And if you actually go through here and you actually keep reading it,

it will show you again who this applies. Oh, what does this say right here? Hmm. In 1990, Congress enacted the Hate Crime Statistics Act to provide the federal government, law enforcement agencies, and the public with data regarding the incidents of hate crimes. The Hate Crime Statistics Act and the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act have enabled federal authorities to understand and, where appropriate, investigate and prosecute hate crimes. And if you keep reading, y'all, here's the bill. And I keep going. And I keep going. And allow me to keep going.

Hmm. Y'all are seeing the actual bill. Do you see anywhere in the bill where it says Asians only? Nope. Pacific Islanders only. Nope. Nope. I'm still scrolling, Michael. Still scrolling. Still scrolling.

And yet we've got these folks who are running around who are saying, oh, this bill is only for Asians. What does this say? Adopted a policy to identify, investigate and reporting hate crimes. Develop a standardized system of collecting, analyzing and reporting the incidents of hate crime. Establishing a unit specialized in identifying, investigating, and reporting hate crimes. And it goes on and on. And it goes on and on. And it lays out. Now we're at the end.

So for everybody out there who keeps tweeting this bullshit, okay, this only applies to Asians. I just showed you the actual bill and what it does. It cites the attacks on Asians, which precipitates the bill. The attack on James Byrd precipitated that bill. The attack on Matthew Shepard precipitated that bill. So can we please stop this ridiculous act of, oh, this only applies to Asians. And then all you fools who say, oh, the money that was allocated, we can't apply for it. Yes, we can. All you got to do is apply. Well, so, Roland, okay, so I've gone through that bill also on the African History Network show.

I'm glad you showed that. That's at congress.gov. Everybody needs to go to congress.gov. That's one of the most powerful websites there is because this is where you go, one, to actually read what's in the bills so you can stop listening to these simple Simon-ass people on social media who have absolutely no clue what they're talking about, who are just lying to you and pimping you. Number one. Two, you can actually see who voted for the bills and who voted against the bills. So if you're a member of the House of Representatives and your two members of the U.S. Senate keep overwhelmingly voting for bills that you advocate for, why the hell would you let them get voted out of office? If you're two members of the U.S. Senate or one or two members of the Senate and your member of the House of Representatives keep voting against bills that you advocate for, you need to organize and vote their asses out of office.

But this goes even deeper, Roland. Number one, you're correct. The name of the bill is the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. It only applies to COVID-19 related hate crimes. It does not apply to race related hate crimes. That's another thing that people don't understand. If you actually read the text of the bill, not only does it apply to any race or ethnicity, it only applies to COVID-19 related hate crimes

and not race related hate crimes. This is something else that these backward ass people get wrong because they don't read. Now, if we look at the bill, the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, which just passed the House of Representatives, I think it was Wednesday. I talked about this on African History Network show. That bill passed 222 to 203. 203 Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act that came back up as a result of the Buffalo, New York shooting where 10 African Americans were killed. Only one Republican voted for the bill. Representative, go ahead.

Let's explain. Michael, let's explain why. That so-called Asian hate crime bill, if you actually read it, it ain't a lot in it. It's not. It's really a bill about reporting. Okay, so people like,

ooh, they swiftly passed it. Why do you think they swiftly passed it? Because it ain't nothing in it. Now, the bill they just passed actually has a lot more teeth in it and deals with it. And then, of course, and then all the people, ooh, some fool, Uncle Roro working hard for the Democrats. No, dumbass, I'm working hard for black people.

Because here's the deal. The bill that's passed has an impact on black people. Now, if you saw you simple Simons out there, if y'all want to sit here and play this game, you can see here's the game they're playing, Michael. They ain't passed nothing for us. Then they pass a bill dealing with domestic terrorism. Oh, well, you just sitting here speaking for the Democratic Party. Well, who the hell just passed the bill? Well, let's go even.

You just said how many Republicans voted against it. 203. Here's my whole deal. Here's my whole deal. It's two parties. It's two parties. Who the hell gonna vote for or against? So if somebody

say, oh, you're telling the Democrats did they pass the bill? These the same simple Simon Negroes who go, the CDC, they ain't doing nothing. They got this bill passed. Now go to the Senate. Not what you whining about. See, you can't satisfy these folk because all they got to want to do is whine about something as opposed to this actually, this was a bill passed in the wake of the Buffalo shooting.

What's today? Friday. The bill was passed yesterday. That means it was passed five days after the shooting. How long did the Voting Rights Act take? And it's still a right. It took nine years for the Voting Rights Act. It took nine years for the Voting Rights Act. I just can't I can't deal. I can't deal with these people who refuse to understand how Congress works. This is why we got to have schoolhouse rock 2.0 and 3.0 for these simple assignments who get on social media and spread lies and get folks riled up. They ain't doing nothing for us. But the Asians got a bill when hell, it didn't even only apply to Asians. Go ahead. Well, not only that, Roland, we can go a bit deeper.

If people just Google how have the policies of the Biden-Harris administration helped African Americans or helped black people, the first hit that comes up is a 19-page document at WhiteHouse.gov that was posted February 28, 2022, that breaks down category by category how the policies of the Biden-Harris administration help the African-American community. Everything from the—I've dealt with this on my show. See, this is why we have to go through. We do need, like, politics or simple Simon-ass Negroes. We do need that because there's a whole lot of them just out here listening to a bunch of dumbasses on social media that have large followings who are just lying to our people and pimping them. OK, but if you go through that document at WhiteHouse.gov, another one of the most powerful websites there is because all this stuff there is that WhiteHouse.gov, the official

website of the White House. It goes through category by category, everything from the American Rescue Plan to the infrastructure bill, the five point.8 billion for HBCUs in 2021, which is a record number of funding that HBCUs have gotten. All this stuff is there. But, Roland, it gets even deeper. When you look at, first of all, there were three Republican co-sponsors of the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act. Because of changes that were made, because you had representatives like Cori Bush, progressives like Cori Bush and other progressives who had a fear that this could then allow the federal government to do more surveillance among African-Americans, things like this. There were changes made to the bill to accommodate them.

The three Republican co-sponsors voted against the bill that they co-sponsored. And then you had Representative Steve Scalise. This is how duplicitous these Republicans are and why they need to be voted out of office. Representative Steve Scalise, House Minority Whip out of Louisiana, Republican. He urged

members of his party to vote against the legislation. But this is the same Steve Scalise whose life was saved by two black Capitol Hill police officers when his ass got shot. And he voted against this bill that would help protect African Americans against domestic

terrorism. All these traitors need to be voted out of office. Yeah, I mean, but again, so the reason we do this show is people understand. And so if you're complaining about the domestic terrorism bill that was just passed, clearly you've read nothing. Now we should be focused on making sure these senators get off their behinds and actually move on that particular bill. I've got to go to a break, folks.

We come back. We're going to talk politics here in Texas with Texas state rep. We're also going to talk about what's happening with these other races happening around the country. A little bit later, Harris County Commissioner Rod Yeltsin is going to join us. It's going to be the unveiling of a statue of George Floyd on Wednesday, the second anniversary of his death at a park here in Houston as well. We're also going to talk about that traitor, talk about a domestic terrorist, Jenny Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Now we know she was even more involved trying to overturn the election. And he still is sitting his ass up there voting on issues that his wife was involved in.

Not only should he simply be dismissed, why is he not? Why is he not being impeached? So there's a lot of we want to talk about a roller mark Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting on the Black Star Network back in a moment. Next on A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, summertime when the living is easy, or is it? Summer vacations, class reunions, kids in summer camp, all fun, but stressful. You need to get into a summer mindset and have a plan. Oh yes, our panel gives us their favorite summer planning hacks.

On the next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie here at Black Star Network. Pull up a chair. Take your seat. The Black Tape. With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network.

Carl Payne pretended to be Roland Martin. You are watching Roland Martin, and I'm on his show today. on the Black Star Network. Okay, I'm right here? I'm right here? No, no, hold on. All right, folks. All right, folks, welcome back. Roland Martin Unfiltered broadcasting here in Houston, Texas at my alma mater, Jack Case High School, where earlier I handed out three scholarships to some deserving students. We're going to show you a little bit of that later. Right now we're going to talk politics here in Texas. Of course, we were in Dallas on Wednesday talking with Texas State Representative Jasmine Crockett,

who was trying to win the seat to replace Congresswoman Iterbate Johnson in Congress, who's retiring. We talked to her opponent yesterday, Jane Hamilton, on the show as well. So those congressional races, but you also have runoffs taking place on Tuesday, state races, local races. We're always talking about that. And so we're talking to a couple of candidates right now, joining us right now. It's Jolanda Jones, Kim McTory. Now, so Jolanda, explain that. So, first of all, you used to be on the city council and the school board.

So you were telling me you're running for state rep, but you just got appointed. What the hell are you talking about? First of all, I did not get appointed. I actually was elected in the May 7th special election. So I am the state representative for House District 147. So there was a special election May 17th to complete the rest of the term. Yes. But this is the primary to go for the November to win a full term. Yes. Got it. OK. Got it. I'm asking people to reelect me. OK. All right. Well,

see, look, when you want to follow like just I said, just come by and then you can explain all that when you come. I'm like, you're trying to tell me all real quickly. I said, talk to me in 30 minutes. But that's for this district, Yates High School. Well, one of the things one of the things that that I wanted to chat with you is because, even Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis will come on later, because what often happens when we're talking about politics, so much attention, obviously, is on presidential, U.S. Senate, gubernatorial, congressional, but reality is most people are greatly impacted by local politics, that state rep, that state senator, that DA, that judge, that state rep, that state senator, that D.A., that judge,

that county commissioner. Yet when you look at those voting totals, those numbers go way down when you start going further down the ballot. Well, so, yeah, that's true. So one of the things that's important to me, because before I became the state representative, I'd spoken to colleagues of mine who were in the state legislature and said, hey, why don't we have an education that people be taught local politics? Because if we can talk about Congress and the Senate and the Supreme Court and the presidency, why can't we teach people what the commissioner's court does? You keep hearing me talking about schoolhouse rock 2.0 because I'm dealing with a whole bunch of simple assignments all around the country who don't know nothing about civics.

Right. And what I want for people to know is who to be mad at. If your car break, who should you be mad at. If your car break, who should you be mad at? If your school closes, who are you mad at? Look, I got my man, John O'Brien sent me a text the other day and he was complaining about this pothole, this pothole. And they're like three or four different agencies that are in the area. And it was South the city of South Fulton. And so he posted a video and and I meant to repost it, I mean, yeah. And he was complaining about it. And, again, he was like, yo, he said, I'm sitting there paying all this money in taxes.

It's a big-ass pothole. Well, you can whine about a pothole. You can't call your member of Congress about a pothole because they don't deal with potholes. So people don't know that. And I learned that on city council people complain about school board stuff. At school board, people complain about the state stuff. And you're like, I don't deal with that. Right.

And then they're mad at you because you don't. And so I believe that locally in Texas, every high school student should leave school knowing who does what and who they should be mad at. Well, especially when you mandate in Texas seventh grade Texas history. And U.S. history. Right. Because the school board or the city council is going to affect you more than the president of Congress. Absolutely. Now, Kim, you're running, okay, same thing. You're running for judge.

Yes, I'm running for the 208th Criminal District Court. It's one of the felony courts here. And I tell people every day you are more likely to come in contact with a judge than you are the president of the United States. These local elections touch us on a daily basis. These are things that affect our everyday lives. So it's important that people come out and vote. And if you want to see things change, if you want to see things differently, you have got to show up to the polls and you have got to come out

and choose the people that are going to listen to you and that are going to get things done. So you're running in an interesting race because your opponent made national headlines. Just tell people who have no idea about the story and why you're running. So I am. I'm running to make sure that we keep our courtrooms fair. It is important that we have judges on the bench that have integrity, judges that serve honestly, that are going to be fair and impartial. I'm actually running against a candidate who was headlined in the news for as a prosecutor. She's a prosecutor from a small town for passing notes with the judge in the middle of a trial. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on, hold on.

She was a prosecutor? Yes, she was a prosecutor. Okay, she white or black? She's a black. She's a black woman. Yes. So is she already on the bench or y'all going for the same bench? The incumbent is no longer in the race, so her and I are both going for the same bench. So this sister was a prosecutor and was passing notes with the judge during the trial.

So the judge passes her a note to give her advice on what to do during this trial. The judge was advising the prosecutor. Yes. Now, I ain't go to law school, but I don't watch enough Law and Order to know know ain't no way in hell that's right. Yeah, yeah. And so this person now wants to be a judge. Yes. And in this county that she's never practiced in,

and I have consistently been here showing up for the people of Harris County as a former prosecutor and as a criminal defense attorney, and it was important to me to have practice on both sides, just to have a better understanding of both perspectives and just so that I could bring a fair and balanced perspective. And so it is important that we have judges that are going to have integrity. And if you have judges that are acting in this manner as a prosecutor, what can we expect

from them from the bench? And that's the kind of stuff that people don't understand. Again, we're talking about elections, something like that. You're sitting here thinking, hey, I got a case, the judge is fair, we're supposed to be fair. Then you later found out they're trading notes with the prosecutor. That person on the other side ain't got no shot. Yeah.

And that's why it's sort of the same thing. If you're talking about, you know, on the state website, when it comes to the things that are happening in the community, again, we go back to, okay, if it's a park, if it's a speed bump, if it's a regulation, if it's funding for a community center or whatever, people are sitting here walking around going, okay, I have no idea who I should be talking to. And the reason this is huge for me, look, my mom and dad were part of the Pacific Club. So I experienced when I was 7, 8, 9, 10, having to go with them.

My mom was one of the three co-chairs of the Metropolitan Organization, going down to Austin for rallies and stuff. So I saw at 10, 11, and 12 what local politics was about, what community politics was about, and how stuff actually got done. You know what makes me sad, Roland? I'm from Third Ward. You from Third Ward. No, I grew up in Clinton Park. You know what you did, but you went to Yates. Because of school communications. Right.

But you understand the history of Third Ward. Yeah. Right? And so what bothers me is we have been disadvantaged. Like, they've not paid attention to us. Now they pay attention to us. Representative Coleman understood, because he was elected, that people were trying to take land in Third Ward and gentrify the neighborhood. So he was able to accumulate land through a TERS and a management district so that we could keep Third Ward affordable for people like us. One of the things that's disappointed me the most is people are asking me, what are you going to do with that land?

Because they want to gentrify Third Ward. Not when are you going to get more grocery stores in Third Ward so we can have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. When are you going to help us get access to health care? Because we don't have health care. Right. Right. And so, you know, the people on the other side, all they care about is the land that the state rep. But also when you say the other side, that also that sometimes include black people.

Well, these are black people trying to make money. Yes. OK, exactly. For the people who are watching and listening. I mean, I just want you to understand because you're hearing you're hearing third war. OK, so this is what I got to realize. Literally, Anthony, turn that camera right there. Literally, y'all, that's the University of Houston. Like, right there. That is the University of Houston. In Texas Southern. Okay, so that's like, y'all can, that building right there is one of their athletic facilities.

Yes. So literally right across the street from Yates is the University of Houston. Now, what's behind us, or actually right across the street, we don't have a shot of it, but it's Texas Southern University. Now, I can literally, if I move a different spot, I can literally see downtown. So we're right next to downtown. So what was interesting, as a sister who just opened a medical clinic called the Honeycomb Clinic, and I'm going to show the video on our show

Monday or Tuesday. And I was talking to this one woman. She said, greater Third Ward. I said, oh, hell no. It's Third Ward. I said, don't come to that greater Third Ward and shit. Because what happens is, that whole point about gentrifying, then I'm seeing signs called Midtown. I'm like, y'all, it's Third Ward.

I'm like, can y'all stop? Even though we're right across the freeway, this Third Ward. But the freeway didn't used to be there. Right. That's what I'm saying. And so what people don't understand, the reality is this has been one of the most successful, poor and successful black communities. Black politics came out, came out of third ward, all of that came out of here. And so you're talking about all of a sudden the encroaching and all of a sudden these $300,000 and $400,000 and $500,000 and $600,000 million-plus homes all of a sudden cropping up, and the reality is we're not able to afford to live here. Somebody's got to make sure that we're not being pushed out elsewhere.

That person is me because my opponent is a realtor and sells million-dollar homes in Third Ward, and so many people have not, they can't afford their property taxes anymore. So they are being pushed out. And when I'm elected, I'm already elected. When I'm re-elected, I'm not going to allow that to happen. So people, just because somebody is our skin folk does not mean that they are our kin folk. And I'll leave it at that. So we need people to tell the truth. If people are doing unethical things when they're not elected, like not filing reports because transparency is important. You want to know what people do with their money, where they got it from, who they owe. When you're not filing your filings on time, when you're not putting things on your ethics reports, that

tells you if you're doing that and you're not elected, what's going to happen when you are elected? And I think that's important. And some people will say, oh, you shouldn't say that. No. What you need to know is what people are doing behind closed doors, because it does matter. But I'm from Third Ward, and they're not about to come take over Third Ward. I'm not going to allow gentrification without fighting against it.

And, Kim, the thing that you're dealing with, and then, again, people have to understand, we've seen this huge push across the country, more progressive DAs and judges. Well, here in this county, the police unions got pissed off and began to back all of these prosecutors who did not like bail reform here in Houston. And so they went after many of those incumbents and beat a number of them. And that's also, again, that people have to understand. Folk thought, oh, we got bail reform, we got the right people in. But no, there are folks who want to repeal that. And so we got to make sure that we don't we don't lose ground that we just that we just earned.

There's been a huge push in the rhetoric of high crime, high crime, high crime. And it's it's taken us back a little bit from all the progress that we've made with bail reform. Everyone deserves to be safe. Public safety is always is always a legitimate concern. However, it's important that we balance public safety with due process. We have to make sure that we keep our communities safe without forsaking due process and without forsaking fairness, equality, and equal application of the law. There's a way to do that, but you have to have the right people on the bench and you have to have the right judges there that are going to be fair, that are going to be compassionate, and that are going to follow the law

and work to get things done for the people. All right, then. Look, we appreciate it. Y'all keep swinging. And again, hopefully people will understand that, look, all politics is local. And if you sit this thing out, then all of a sudden when you like, oh, why can't we get this done? Because you didn't show the hell up and vote in those crucial elections. So, all right. Appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thanks a bunch. Go back to my panel here, Michael, Kelly, and Matt. I want to start with you, Kelly.

You know, we keep hitting this thing, and I know people like, man, why do you keep talking about Civics 101, Schoolhouse Rock 2.0? Because I listen to more people who whine and complain in our chat boards. And they whine and complain to me on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram. And I sit there and I'm like, do y'all even understand how this game works? What actually goes on? And so as Jolanda said, they're sitting there yelling at a city council member about something dealing with the school district. Yeah, it's frustrating on several levels. And I can't think of a municipality or jurisdiction in this country in which that's not happening, in which you have people who are

complaining to the wrong person about the wrong thing. People just need to do better and be better the fact that we are in this age of information that you know knowledge that we couldn't even conceive of being accessible is literally at our fingertips by way of a phone or a laptop and it's almost as if we are willingly not wanting to find the correct answer because we are so rooted in our own ignorance that because it sounds better in our head, we don't care what anyone else thinks. And it's just, it puts everything at a standstill. Everything is at an impasse.

And that's how things simply don't get done. But more importantly, that's how misinformation gets weaponized and that's how we get a Trump. That's how you get someone in office who doesn't deserve to be there. That's how you don't have good roads in your neighborhoods, because no one's there to vote for the person who would actually get something done about that. That's why your property taxes are so high, because no one was at the ballot, not the ballot, but at the voting booth to vote for somebody who would actually help you maintain the prices of your property taxes. So all of this that you're saying

is for a reason, but it relates to every single person who's watching this and even those who aren't. So I encourage everyone to actually delve into the information that is Google and go to legitimate websites, not just your echo chamber of opinions, and actually learn how civics works. Learn how a bill is passed. Learn who is actually in these offices in your neighborhoods. Learn who your mayor is. Learn who's on your school board so that you don't sound ignorant on the internet and, frankly, to people that you probably know. Matt, and again, one of the reasons why I'm so passionate about this and I get so frustrated with it, again, is because, look, my parents

never went to college, okay? My parents, both high school graduates. But they cared enough about their community. My dad, well-read, he'll watch his five, six hours of news a day, reads the paper front to back. My mom, in terms of well-read as well. And so it's not a matter of a person going to college. It's a matter of how they care about their community. And so for me, growing up, I literally, my entire life, life, people like, well, you know what you do about politics? Well, because there are politicians who were in our house. We were going to meetings.

I remember testifying before the city council. I think I was in the ninth or 10th grade opposing cuts to our parks and pools when it came to the budget. I remember literally challenging our city councilman, Ernest McGowan at a bazaar at our Catholic church. Our lady started to see, and he was looking like who in the hell is this young kid? And so I witnessed that I witnessed again, going to city hall and going to the Texas state Capitol where they were having rallies and protesting and going to town halls, you know, mayoral debates. And so understanding how these things work and what frustrates me the most because I covered city council and I covered county government is that I remember sitting in these these committee hearings where the committees were deciding on things

before they went to the city council and no black people being there. And it's not until all of a sudden something blows up and then folks got a megaphone and they're standing outside and I'm sitting here like, where in the hell y'all been? These folks been down here talking about this stuff for six to eight weeks and you're just showing up. And so this is why I'm always saying to people that the election is the end of one process and it's the beginning of another.

We've got to stop this whole nonsense of, oh, well, I voted. So you go ahead and do what you say you were going to do. No, you got to stay on somebody's behind because that's what other people are doing. And so that's what sort of drives me crazy. And while we spend so much time on this show, really trying to educate people and get them to understand how they have to be involved, because you can't keep complaining about what we don't have if you don't understand how to get what you say we need. I don't disagree with any of that, Roland. I think you're 100% right. But I think we need to be a little more nuanced, if I'm honest. I don't want to put all of the onus on the people, because a lot of times people in office recognize that

people don't know the processes, and they leverage that to get through whatever it is they want to get through. A lot of it is about communications. People, yes, need to be involved. They need to read. You don't need an education to understand the basic processes and, most importantly, to be involved. But I think we also have to require that those who serve us make the information as easy to understand as possible. I'm a lawyer. Sometimes I read things, I read bills, and they're arcane. I've got to read it twice to understand it myself, and I'm blessed to have an education. And I think some of that is weaponized against the people, if I'm honest. So I think we also have to require that the powers that be who serve us make the information, especially important information, as easy for people to understand as possible, because the

reality is people are not always going to be applying the focus that they should be, but they are nonetheless affected by these decisions. And yes, they have the onus on them to understand what's going on in their community, but I think the onus is also on those who serve us to make it understandable. We've got an alphabet soup of various state agencies and government agencies who serve us and all the different grants. And yes, people can find all that information, but sometimes that stuff is buried purposely. So the only people who find it are the very few who know where to look for it. And I think that in and of itself can be insidious. So I think it's also incumbent on them to make

that information as widely available to the people they serve and not to weaponize that, which we often see. But OK, I get you. But here's why I why i'm gonna disagree and this is why i'm gonna disagree michael it's because when i say the onus is on us who do you think votes see again right we're voters they're the politician okay you got politicians some will say whatever they say to get elected knowing we're not going to show up. But I have seen it with my own eyes what happens when people are showing up on a regular basis. I have challenged the Divine Nine for years, and I've said this here. How in the hell in a lot of these cities you've got three and four chapters of alphas and deltas and AKAs, and

you got omegas and sigmas, you got all these different groups. And I say school board meets once a month. Okay? So let's say they don't meet in December because of Christmas. All right? So let's say they skip another month. So that's 10 months. It's nine divided by nine groups.

What do you think happens if all of a sudden, if one month, 100 dudes show up in purple and gold? Then the next month, 200 women in red and white. Then the next month, 100 dudes or 200 dudes in black and gold. Then the next month, 200, 300 women in pink and green show up. All of a sudden, every month, you're going to have some school board members like, oh, did anybody tell me what the hell? We didn't get the memo?

Like, what's going on? And so what now happens? And again, I'm talking about literally saying alphas. Pick y'all month for the year to show up to the school board meeting. Then Eastern Star, pick y'all month Then Eastern Star, pick y'all month. Masons, pick y'all month. Lynx, pick y'all month. Then we got church groups. Now all of a sudden, we're not only responding

when they're going to shut something down. We're responding before they even think about it. And so that's why groups matter. This is why we must join organizations where they are sending people, to your point, Matt, who are getting the information, who are breaking it down, who are explaining what's going to go. Okay, now I understand. What's going to be the impact of this bond election on our area. Oh, the bond election, they're going to build a new school. Well, what is it going to entail?

So we have bond elections, Michael, and very few people vote. Not understanding what's actually in there. These bond elections are dealing with roads and sewer systems and streetlights and things along those lines. So that's what I'm talking about here. A bond election is an election. And so what I'm saying to our community, the people who want stuff done, oh, they're showing up, unfortunately.

And take this from somebody who literally has been a city hall reporter and a county government reporter. I've mostly I've only seen African-Americans show up in response to something shutting down, as opposed to a proactive response saying we want this, this, this. Yeah. You know, Roland, and one of the reasons why that takes place is because most of us don't understand how government works, whether it's federal, state, county or city government. So we're always responding to a crisis. We're always responding to a fire. And one of the, you know, when you look at a lot of the protests that take place and protesting against police brutality or things like this, it's like, OK, do you realize that everything that you are protesting about involves politics? Politics is the legal distribution that scales wealth, power and resources and the writing of law, statutes, ordinances, amendments, and treaties, their adoption, interpretation, and enforcement. So if you want changes to the police department, you want changes to policing, you want people to have set up a line for a non-emergency,

you want a mental health expert to come out as opposed to police, things like that, you have to vote the right people in place into political office to actually make those changes. And a lot of times our people confuse activity with productivity and just deal with protesting, but don't

understand the steps that are needed to actually bring into fruition what it is that they say that they want. So this is why we have to understand politics from city to county to state federal government, because everything that we complain about, everything we call to these radio shows, I do radio here in Detroit, 9, 10 AM WFDF,

everything we call in the radio shows all day alone, 99% of that that we complain about deals with politics. Okay, and if we understood this and understood the law and first read the U.S. Constitution, because most Americans don't understand the U.S. Constitution. Once we understand law, then we understand how to leverage our economics to enforce our political agenda. And then we could change this very quickly. Again, I'm just just trying to get people to understand what's going on here. All right, folks, got to go to a break people to understand what's going on here. All right, folks, got to go to a break.

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overthrow the 2020 election. Why is her husband still on a Supreme Court, still voting on issues dealing with that? Plus, we'll talk to Harris County Commissioner Rod Ellis about a big tribute happening on Wednesday here in Houston on the second anniversary of the death of George Floyd. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network live from Jack Gates High School in Houston. Yes, sir. Hey, Fan Patrol Grooming is a black-owned men's grooming company that delivers on this promise every day to men everywhere. Everything we do, every product we make, is designed to help you to present your best self. It's a promise they've kept since 1991

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Rolling Mark Unfiltered here in H-Town. Y'all know I love being home. Nice breeze. It's not hot because y'all know I'm sick and tired of Washington, D.C., being like 48, 55, 56. I need heat. I'm black. Okay, I need like 85, 90 so I can play golf all the time.

So my next guest, y'all, last time he was with us, of course, he had his biking outfit on. He's always riding his bike in and around H-Town. A huge bicycling enthusiast, a former state senator, now Harris County Commissioner, Rodney Ellis. Rodney, always good to see you. Roland, it's good to have you back home and at Jack Yates. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. You couldn't get into Worthing, but you did fine.

Well, you know, look, I can't look. Look, Worthing is sort of like why with the Texas A&M, because that little school in Austin is like going to high school twice. That's right. That's right. But, hey, don't knock it, though. Just remember, I started across the street in Texas. My uncle taught at Worthing.

Who did? Who's your uncle? Jewel Martin. I didn't know. Yeah, Mr. Martin was your uncle. He taught for three decades. Oh, yeah. Yep.

Didn't he do photography? No, no. He was, what was he, math or something like, yeah. Yep. Didn't he do photography? No, no. He was, what was he, math or something like that? I don't know how he was math, because I didn't understand math. But he did a lot of the interscholastic stuff, like with the debate team. He did a lot of stuff. All that. Mentoring us, particularly people like me.

All that. So, yeah. So, he had the patience for teaching, not me. That wasn't going to happen. I put a kid in a locker. That's not going to happen. I want to give in a locker. That's not going to happen. I want to give you a little bit of history just so you know. The first president of Texas Southern, Texas State University for Negroes, when it was established in 1947, was A.E. Norton, who came out.

He was the highest ranking black in the Houston Independent School District. He had a master's degree from California, I think USC, and it made him the acting president of Texas Southern. And then once the school of Texas State University of Negroes for a couple years, and then he went back into administration and ended up at Worthing High School for a long time. Well, it's interesting. I was talking to Anthony with me, and he was asking me about when we were driving around and you're talking about the University of Houston. He's like, man,

TSU right here? I said, yeah. I said, one, we couldn't go to the white schools. That's why they created TSU. Scott was the dividing line. Historically in one school could not cross the street to the other one. Now with time, that has changed somewhat.

But Texas Southern is actually older because it was established in 1947. So it's a great argument. And I'm so proud of U of H. It's one of the more diverse campuses around. But a lot of neglect was left here by what was created in 1947. Hey, but some great stories came out of Texas Southern. Barbara

Jordan, Mickey Leland, Greg Washington, Rod Nielsen. We've done okay. Done okay. Let's talk about Wednesday. Wednesday is going to be the second anniversary of the death of George Floyd. Y'all can roll that video. It was out in front of us in front of Yates High School. It's one of the street murals dedicated to George Floyd.

It's number 88, Jersey. They painted this on the street. We see these sort of Black Lives Matter murals happening all across the country as well. And in here, the football field behind us was also dedicated. George Floyd Field. And there's going to be a statue dedication. We're going to unveil a statue. It was donated by Danette Davis, who is a TSU graduate. The piece was produced by Isom, an artist who lives in Austin,

now from Houston, a black woman. It'll be a spectacular piece. It'll be at Tom Bass Park, only because I had dental work. Everybody knows from Houston. Now, he doesn't know because he's from Maryland. If he's from Houston, you know Tom Bass Park is at 15108 Cullen. It'll be 7 p.m. next Wednesday night, which is the second anniversary of his death, there will be a small private gathering earlier with the family, with the mayor, police chief, the sheriff, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Congressman Al Green. I'll be there.

A good number of judges, elected officials, to meet with the family privately. You know, it does get a little hot here. And it just worked best for the mayor's schedule to come there and be with all of us, Mayor Turner and the family, to do it about a little early. I won't say when because that event is private. Inside the community center, there's a beautiful John Biggers mural that was commissioned by then-County Commissioner Tom Bass. That will be the backdrop of where we actually have the speeches. I hope you live stream it so people can watch that. I'm out ahead you and then at 7 p.m we have the public event and it'll be a time

to reflect uh you notice on the invite to peace is called a conversation with george floyd so i don't want to say what it looks like right because i i want to leave the suspense there okay but the artist was intentional in trying to create the effect of giving you two years after his tragic death to actually have a conversation with jewish for it you figured it out but look i do want to say this look you know i've been around a long time and worked a lot of criminal justice issues you and i have seen a lot of these police killings. It usually comes as an outpouring of support and then it would die out for whatever reason. I don't know why. I do.

I do. But this one just, it touched it. I do know why. Because this, if you look at, if you look at all the other, if you look at all of the other shootings that have taken place, first of all, a shooting was quick. Kojima Powell in St. Louis, it was 16 seconds from the moment the cops pulled up and fired the first shot. You look at some of the other. You look at Philando Castile.

This was different because they had to sit there and literally watch for almost 10 minutes. With that smirk. And that was, and so when the video, so when the video came out, and again, I think psychologically, if you think about the other, where we've seen video, we've seen shooting Laquan McDonald, the dash cam video, where they shot him several times and you see it it's that quick yeah this was literally you see him you hear him and the seconds are going by and the minutes go by and you literally are watching someone's life being snuffed out then he yeah then he then he's says mama he says mama. He says mama. And so you're sitting here going, okay, was this man literally seeing his mother, accepting him? And so I think that is, out of all the other ones, you have never found anything else.

I think for us, the only comparison goes back to Emmett Till seeing that face. This, everybody had to watch it and they could not run from it. It wasn't quick. They had to watch the video. I think that's the difference. That's that media training that you have. But look, here's my point. It was a sustained reaction as well, because I've seen if you're not chair of the Boyd Innocence Project out of New York for 14 years and you have somebody wrongfully convicted and Barry Sheck, Peter Newfield walk outside the courthouse, hold him and everybody cry. And then they forget about it. Yeah. About two weeks later. But this it lasted just so long. And let me tell you, I think it had a tremendous impact. I mean, you had people knocking down statutes of slave traders in England, all around the world. A lot of focus on equity and a lot of positive things happen.

And a lot of people just decided that they would fake it until we make it to get to focusing on something else. Well, I'll give you an example. So Adidas, Adidas, there was a lot of unrest internally. And obviously black folks were upset, but it was their white and non-black allies. And so Adidas had announced that, OK, we're going to do this and we're going to give 10 million. The folk inside said, hell no, that ain't enough. The next day they had to up it to 100 million. And then they had to announce that 30 percent of all new hires were going to be people of color. And so and so what you saw was, I mean, you literally saw people say, no, hell no, you got to do more.

The people who were just making announcements and putting black squares up, they're like, no, y'all got to do more. The people who were just making announcements and putting black squares up, they're like, no, y'all got to do more, which is why what I kept saying, people kept talking about this George Floyd moment. I said, no, the, I said the death of George Floyd, we should, we should be, we should be looking at that as the third reconstruction. Yes. The first reconstruction, 10, 12 years. At second reconstruction, Manny Maribor said it was 20 years, but you could really say it was 13 years from Emmett Till's death to Dr. King being assassinated. Okay, 13 years. I argued, and I still do, that we should be looking at this as minimum 20 years of saying, no, no, no, no, that's not enough. Forcing that level of change and telling people, no, no, we're not going to let you forget what happened because we have to make sure

because folks are real quick to move on. No, no, we've got to say no, no, no, we still ain't done. Reconstruction. Roland, that's why when Kaye Danette came to me trying to figure out a place to put the statue, she wanted to put it in front of CUNY Homes, which is where he was born. Public housing project not too far from here for you. Yeah, across the street. Yeah, across the street.

And then that didn't quite work out because they're trying to come up with federal money to rehab it. Right. You know what I mean? To make it a much more palatable place for people. It's very old. Maybe the oldest public housing project in Houston. Then we were talking about trying to put it on the school campus here. You had to go through a lot of drama.

And so finally I just said. But then also on the school you already had, you got this mural. That's right. And the field dedicated. So you literally had. I said, Kay, any one of the parks that at least I control, you paying for it, it's $110,000 statute. It's life-size. I went out there today, and Mr. Floyd was a big fella.

Right. You got me? I said, and it's just like, you know, most of them, we blow them up. Right. You know what I mean? You go see that statute of George Washington, you looking up, George Washington was a little bit of a guy. You got me?

MLK statute. Yeah, yeah. But, you know, the statute is important because you want to remind people and not just talk about the changes that have come about, but the things that are still screwed up that ought to change. Perfect example. All around the country, there's an uptick in crime. And a whole lot of these people in uniforms, by the way, who knew they'd done wrong and had done it for decades, knew that for a moment now we got to lay back. You know, in some places, some cases, I'm not saying where, some places I've read that

maybe some crime went up because they felt like they weren't appreciated enough because anybody questioned anything. So there's been a retraction of that effort. Yeah. So I hope the statute will be an opportunity for us to focus on. Yeah. Crime is up and we've got to do something about it. But it's not just a matter of throwing more money in the law enforcement.

That's important. What's Biden's line? Fund the police. Fund. True. We do have to fund the police because if I get knocked upside my head when I walk out here, I won't be calling Roland Martin to talk on the show. I will be calling the police, as we would say it were, the police. But but but half of the budget, at least in most places in America, goes to law enforcement. Most cities added up. Over half of it. Right.

And if it was just a matter of putting more money in to reduce crime, hell, I think we'd reduce crime. We'd have figured that out by now. If money was the answer. Yes. You've got to look at a holistic approach. You've got to look at alternative responders. Why do we call our friends in law enforcement for everything? There you go.

You cuss me out, so I'm going to call the police. Maybe I had a bad day. Maybe I'm nuts. Maybe you need to call somebody to come over there and get me in a straitjacket. Right. You got somebody to talk me down or get me on my meds. You know, maybe if I'm homeless and I'm schizophrenic, maybe I'll figure out how to get me a home. Right.

Or get me the schizophrenia medicine. You know, we've got to look at a host of things. We're doing these violence interruption programs. You know, it's trying to get people who came out of that culture. Hey, it's a version of what Mr. Floyd was doing. He was out doing videos telling young people, put down the guns. You got me? So you get people.

What can I say to communicate with that community that I came out of? I'm not there now. So you've got to spend some resources, some training on violence interruption programs. And every county jail or city jail in America ought to not be the largest public health facility in that town. Anyway, don't get me going. I got to ask you this real quick. We are in Texas. We are dealing with elections.

You've got runoffs coming up. You've got Republicans in Austin acting a fool. But you also, you've got this gubernatorial race going on. And the thing that's crazy to me, I was with Beto O'Rourke in Austin when they had the voting rights march. You've got Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who's running for reelection. You literally still have a power grid crisis. Oh, yes. And I'm trying to figure out why in the heck this is not.

In the energy capital of the world. Right. Texas is the energy capital of the world. Houston is the petrochemical capital of the world. And. Texas is the energy capital of the world. Houston is the petrochemical capital of the world. And I look at the latest polling, it was up 8 to 10 points, and I'm like, what are y'all folks doing? They literally

took Texas off of the national grid, and then my mom is texting me, telling us we gotta put our AC on 78 or 80 because of power shortages. And I'm like, how are you keeping the fools who put us in this situation still in charge? Yeah.

How about this? The only cost for your show, I want to show off to your guy here from Maryland and let him know we can wear suits in the summer. It's called linen, but it's hot. But look, think about this. You know, the weather here is, it was okay this morning. You know, 6 o'clock in the morning. You can get out and walk by 9. You better stop walking. You know, the weather here is, it was okay this morning. You know, 6 o'clock in the morning. You can get out and walk by 9. You better stop walking.

You know what I mean? Or start talking, call somebody to get you. I did on that bike. 6 o'clock, it's just like that. It's fine again. But look, it used to be like three months of bad weather. Now it's about four months of hell. That's climate change.

You got me? But who would have thought in Houston, who's known for a lot of things, a winner freeze is not won. You know, there are consequences to elections. That was Clinton's line. Consequences to elections. You get what you vote for. So you put folks in, even before Trump hijacked the grand old party, that was a time. Look, I'm a Democrat, but that was a time it really was a grand old party. You know, I'm not making a partisan comment. I point out, hey, some of my most significant role models were Republicans.

So were yours. Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman. You know, they were Lincoln Republicans. You got me? Right. But look, you got Trump who's driven him crazy. But Texas is already crazy. That far right element. Right. Who win on the basis of a little soundbite. Don't focus on policy. You know, sometimes it wants the lieutenant governor, Bob Bullock,

told me, Rodney, any fool can pass a tax cut. You got me? Now, it takes real substance to tell people, you want better schools? You got to pay for them. You want better facilities? You got to pay for it. You want a better government? You can't just pray for it. You got to pay for it.

So I remember saying, man, that's such a good idea. I think I'll do my tax cut. Bush was getting in. He's going to cut taxes. You know, he's going to run for president. So what better way? Hey, that's such a good idea. I think I'll do my tax cut. Bush was getting in. He's going to cut taxes. You know, he's going to run for president. So what better way? Hey, cut the property taxes, by the way. Start with that.

That's how you fund local government. How you fund county government. That's not how you fund state government. That's the sales tax. Most regressive of all. I put it in the sales tax bill to cut that a little bit. Well, hell broke loose because poor people pay a disproportionate share. But look, we got a weak power grid because we didn't invest in it.

Right. You know, it's a source of pride. We're Texas. We're bold. We got our own grid. You had your own freeze. You get me? And folks died.

And folks died. Record number of people died. You know, how about this flood? You know, most of these auto emissions, y'all joke with me on my bike, but you know, in this city, a third of the trips that we take in our car are less than three miles. Another 20% are less than five miles. If you want to lose weight like I'm trying to do if I have to get on that treatment, that old Zympic singing that song, I'm trying to lose this weight. I'd be better off if I have to get on that dial, that treatment, that Ozempic singing that song. Oh, I'm trying to lose his weight. Right. I'd be better off if I walked five miles in my office, took a shower and go and work. You got me. So we got to do something about climate change.

We've got to change the way we live. We've got to change the way we eat. We've got to change the way we vote in Texas and around this country. Right. But yeah, I mean, look, I hope I'm doing everything I can to help Beto O'Rourke. It's time for Abbott to go. It was time for Perry to go. I mean, look. And it's time for Patrick to go. Oh, it's a pastime.

You know, but it's so easy if you just fall for a soundbite, a show trick. Right. It's a joke. It's ridiculous. And people, they're trying to hold on to power. That's what the voter suppression is about. Jim Crow, too. They're trying to hold on to power.

I just finished this book, Civil Rights Queen. I did the audio book. You ought to get it. Now, I was listening to one by former Senator Doug Jones about the bombings. 16th Street Baptist Church. 16th Street Baptist Church. And, 16th Street Baptist Church. And it's just amazing to see Jim Clark. A lot of the tactics that they are using today were impunity.

Jim Clark did it with impunity, too. Mm-hmm. But look, man, please get the word out. I hope folks will come. It'll be the first public viewing. If they can't make it to see the Jewish First Faction on Wednesday, they can come Thursday morning, regular park hours. I've already communicated with your staff, so we'll be live on the Black Star Network.

Good. See, when you own your stuff, you can do that. That's right. Hey, I'm always telling my daughter. You mentioned my daughter. She's back up in the cold, Ellis, D.C. I don't want to get in trouble. PBS NewsHour.

But you just tell her one day I want her to be like you. So you mentioned my child. All right, Doc. All right, thank you. Always good seeing you. All right. I appreciate it. Call me.

Let's get together. Yes, sir. Folks, we're gonna go to a break. Roland Martin, Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Why is it so hard to see Panther? What? Right. The deal.

Wow. I mean, if you go to AMA, I think I tried. So I have a collection of black DVDs. That's a hard movie. They charge you $300 on AMA. I was like, I'm not about to pay no $400 for a VHS. I'm not gonna pay no $400 for a VHS. I'm not gonna pay no $400 for a VHS. I'm. So I have a collection of black DVDs. That's a hard movie. They charge you $300 on Amma. I was like, I'm not about to pay no $400 for a VHS copy. What's the deal?

Man, it is interesting, Roland. It is the movie they don't want you to see. Power to the people. It's funny. I made New Jack City. You can get it anywhere. Posse, you can see it anywhere. But a movie that says that it is not an accident

that we medicated the black communities right around the time when they were getting militant, when you had the Panthers starting to organize, the people starting to vote and march on Washington, we let these communities get medicated. In fact, that comes up in The Godfather, you know, where they say, as long as it stays in the black communities.

So we asked the question, they tried to say, ask us questions, I asked the reporters when we did, I said, listen, why as it stays in the black community. So we asked the question. They tried to say, ask us questions. I asked them, the reporters, when we did that, I said, listen, why is it a 13-year-old boy in the hood can find a way to buy a gun, some liquor, or a church, or some crack, and yet you can't find them to arrest those people? You can't arrest that dealer.

Why is that? I don't know what to do. I'd rather just sit here. Hi, this is Cheryl Lee Ralph, and you are watching Roland Martin, unfiltered. I mean, could it be any other way? Really, it's Roland Martin. Baltimore City Police are looking for Anea Moore, who hasn't been seen since May 12th. A 13-year-old is 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighs 120 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Anea Moore is urged to call the Baltimore City, Maryland Police Department at 410-396-2525.

410-396-2525, 410-396-2525. All right, folks. In Michigan, a high school biology teacher is on administrative leave for giving her class an assignment that featured former President Barack Obama among several monkeys. Yeah, the assignment given to students at the Roper School in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham as which of the following are primates? Since then, the school has issued the following statement about the incident. On behalf of Roper School's leadership, we want to acknowledge the disturbing racial offense contained in an assignment with an upper school class last week. The choice to use this piece of

curriculum was completely inconsistent with our school's philosophy and mission, and we sincerely apologize for its use and the harm it has caused while the teacher is taking responsibility and amidst the mistake of not properly vetting the resource we know that that is not enough and she has been placed on administrative leave until further notice the roper school was founded in 1941 by educational pioneers george and amory roper who after fleeing germany to escape nazi persecution established our school with the goal of educating children to become thoughtful, humane adults. As a school with a deep commitment to social justice for over 80 years, we must demonstrate greater care in the selection of content designed to guide our students. We remain committed to doing the important work of educating ourselves and the community in diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.

And yet on this occasion, we did not live up to those core values. We know that our work in cultural competencies is vital and must be ongoing to ensure an inclusive learning environment for our students. Michael, this is simple. Fire that damn teacher. Well, Roland, yeah, not only fire the teacher, but who approved this assignment. This assignment originated at Duke University in 2010. Okay, Fox 2 News, they're the ones that reported this. They reported this on Wednesday, and then the story blew up. I think they reported on Tuesday that the story blew up, and then Thursday, the Roper School had to close

council school that day because they were getting threats because this story went viral. So I saw the first story Fox 2 News did. And then I saw the follow up story that the school has been closed. So one, who approved this curriculum? Two, yeah, fired a teacher. But three, the other thing is, is when you look at that picture, President Barack Obama is the only human in that picture with the other animals. So the other thing I'm looking at is, well, wait a second. Why did this originate at Duke University? What's Duke University doing? But this is why, you know, the Southern Poverty

Law Center, Roland, they have a study called Teaching Hard History, American Slavery. It's about a 52-page document, Teaching Hard History, American Slavery. And what it does is it documents how the history of slavery is incorrectly taught in schools all across the country. And then they make numerous recommendations on how to better teach the history. Every school in this country needs to adopt that. But yeah, it's more than one person needs to be fired or fired or at least investigated here. So this this makes no sense whatsoever. Let's talk about this here. The University of Central Florida, they are being forced to

reinstate a longtime tenured professor who was fired after comments he made on Twitter were roundly condemned in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd. The arbitrator said the university failed to show just cause for firing Charles Negge, author of the book White Shaming, Bullying Based on Prejudice, Virtue Signaling and Ignorance. The university is not going to challenge this ruling. They're going to have to reinstate him with tenure pay and benefits, and we'll work with him, quote, on the details of his work assignment for the fall term. And again, these particular, he was taught there for 22 years, was tenured for 18 years, and people, again, were not happy at all with the things that he was tweeting. Matt, they talked about how this was, of course, violating the collective bargaining agreement. And when people

don't realize a tenure, you're essentially guaranteed a job for life. It is very difficult to fire a tenured professor, even if they make what some might consider to be racist comments. Yes. But beyond that, the thing that I found absurd about this story is that he was actually fired for making a hostile learning environment. So it seems like the one thing that would be just cause for a tenured professor would be if he is making his students uncomfortable by what he's saying in class and by the environment that he's creating. I mean, the whole idea of a professor is to impart upon their students the information, right? So if the students feel like it's a hostile learning environment, I'm really confused how the University of Central Florida found that that was not just

cause to fire him. And in fact, he was brazen enough to say he intends to sue the school. So this is one that I'm really interested in seeing how this investigation was conducted, because it seems like the whole reason he's there is to make students learn. And if the students are not comfortable learning from him, then it seems like his tenure should be revoked and that should be just cause. And Kelly, there were students who after they heard about this arbitrator's ruling said they were shocked and stunned. They felt that they were they had to deal with discrimination and racism in the classroom. My thing is, the whole premise of being tenured is that you have proved yourself worthy of working at that school for until you decide to retire. When you do something as egregious as promote racism within the classroom, in my opinion, you revoke that right

or that thing that you have earned because you are now making your educational environment toxic and not a space of learning. So the fact that he feels entitled to this job just because he was tenured is irrelevant to me. I mean, that is more white privilege-like to me than just, you know, cookie cutter, I was tenured and therefore I should have a job.

He feels entitled because he doesn't really feel like he did anything wrong, not because he was tenured. And that is my issue with it. You don't think that what you did was egregious enough to be fired, even though it was, regardless of whether you were tenured or not. So, for me, he should not be back at his school.

And for those who think otherwise, I-I sincerely, uh, encourage you guys to look within yourselves and be like, would you want your child, or would you want to be taught by someone who has this inherent racial bias within themselves? Because ultimately, that's how you get graded. That that bias is how, you know, things work within the classroom. So they're not, you know, getting graded like on a non-biased perspective. Then why are you in the classroom at all?

Folks, we often talk about the shortage of teachers. What about special ed teachers? The Easterseals is an organization working to improve access to special education resources for families of Black students with disabilities called the Black Child Fund. Erica Watson, Easterseals National Director for Childhood Development, Education and Equity, joins us from Cincinnati, Ohio. Glad to have you here, Erica. So exactly what is this Black Child Fund? Thank you so much for having me, Roland. We appreciate the opportunity. Easterseals launched the Black Child Fund in summer of 2020 in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and the death of George Floyd, we really wanted

to find a way to have a systemic response to racism and a systemic response to the marginalization and the continued dehumanization of Black bodies. And we thought the best way to do that was to focus on Black children. As you know, Easter Seals is the nation's oldest and largest disability rights organization. And so our work really falls at the intersection of race and disability. And what the Black Child Fund seeks to do is to, quite frankly, become the leading voice in understanding and addressing disparities in educational outcomes for children who reside at the intersection of race and disability, with a specific and intentional focus on Black children. So who can access this fund? Is it for parents? Is it for organizations? Who can access it? It's a great question. So the Black Child Fund really intends

to fund professional development training for special education teachers, as well as non-legally trained special education advocates. You can access teachers, advocates can access this training right now, free of charge from the Easterseals website. If you go to Easterseals.com and search for the Intersection Collective. You will be directed to our free curriculum, which really intends to teach what it is to have an anti-Black lens on when you are engaging with students, what it is to do culturally responsive family and community engagement in support of Black students, and really to help parents learn to navigate the IEP and the 504 process on behalf of their students.

Additionally, we offer curriculum and resources to help students themselves and parents learn to become the best self-advocates that they could possibly have. Because we know without a shadow of a doubt that if you create a rising tide that really serves the needs of the most marginalized students, all students achieve more and perform better. So that's really what the Black Child Fund is intending to do is to be the engine that creates that rising tide that floats all boats, but specifically helping anyone who seeks to educate or service black children with special education needs do it with a more culturally competent and racially responsive pedagogical lens. All right, then. Well, look, that is critically important. We appreciate the work Easterseals is doing, and certainly we can never forget about the need for special education teachers when we talk about this shortage around the country. Where can people go to get more information

about this Black Fund? You can come visit us online at Easterseals.com and search Black Child Fund. You'll find it on our website. You can also take advantage of our social media outlets. We're Easterseals HQ on Twitter. We are Easterseals on Facebook. And we are Easterseals HQ on Instagram. Any of those vehicles will bring you directly to us and you can learn more about the amazing work that our network of affiliates are currently doing, particularly in

the early childhood space with our Early Head Start and Head Start programmings. We serve over 7,000 students across the country in Early Head Start and Head Start. And we're doing all of this work again with an intentional and specific lens on how do we better serve and educate students that reside at the intersection of race and disability with a unique and intentional focus on black children at that intersection. All right, Erica, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Of course. Thank you. Folks, a little bit earlier today at here at Jet Case High School in Houston, I presented for the second year scholarships to three students here at J.Y., which I graduated from here in 1987. These are the three winners here. And I had an opportunity for them to share a few words about them winning. Roll it. Hello, everybody. My name is Mario Alvarado. I'll be pursuing a degree in computer science this fall and I will be attending Colgate University in upstate New York. What I want

to do with my degree is start my own company, like a software company. When I was younger, my parents used to live in Katy, where it was predominantly Hispanic. My area was mostly Hispanic and I didn't know any English when my father got deported and we came to Houston. So that was like really difficult for me. And then to learn English fast, I used an app called Duolingo. I don't know if you're familiar with that app. And when I got to the fifth grade, I was like struggling mentally. And then I was like depressed. And seeing that my mom was depressed, I wanted to make change. I learned how to speak English using Duolingo.

And by the time I got to the sixth grade, I was speaking English fluently. I don't know if you can tell from right now, but yes. So with my degree, I'm planning to start my own platform that helps other students achieve the same goal that I did, which was to learn a new English, whether it be for fun or whether it be for, you know, for your own needs like it was for me. Thank you. Hi, my name is Kennedy Colon, and I'll be going to Howard University for the fall, and I'll be studying early childhood education. I want to open up my own daycare.

I love working with younger children. Mom always says, I don't know how you do it. I don't know. I don't have the patience for it, but you do. I don't know how you're going to do it. And that's just something I'm really passionate about. I love seeing little kids learn new things

and just be able to enjoy themselves. So I'll be opening up my own daycare. I'm Kaylee. I will be attending University of St. Thomas in the fall to study psychology. And my reason for studying psychology would be to eventually become a therapist because even now I've always had friends who like to tell me about their problems and I really like giving solutions. So being able to make people feel better and put them into a better space in their life

would help me in also helping people. so that's what I want to do. All right so I want to shout out principal Tiffany Guillory as well as SLC coordinator Andrea Brown for their work with the students and so it's always great to see the next generation and helping them out when it comes to college. I want to thank Michael, Kelly, and Matt for being on today's show. Thank you so very much. But before we go, Carol Gant, our supervisor and producer, today is Carol's 65th birthday. Okay, I'm just joking.

Y'all, get a shot of Carol. Carol, are you 64? Oh, I thought you were like 69. Okay. Carol, you 64? Really? Get a shot of Carol, y'all. Carol is waving.

Okay. So, yeah, y'all. So, if anything happens with the show and it gets messed up, blame Carol. Now, y'all know what she looks like. Why are the rest of y'all waving? Only one person should be waving. That's Carol. Brooke always trying to be on TV. All right, then.

So happy birthday, Carol. Holding down there in the control room there in D.C. So, again, happy birthday. And y'all give Carol a cupcake or something with a candle on it. Y'all get her a cake or something? Y'all should get her a cake or something. All right, y'all. That a cupcake or something with a candle on it. Did y'all get her a cake or something? Y'all should get her a cake or something.

All right, y'all. That's it for us. Carol said she bought them pizza. Boy, that's a trifling staff where her birthday she got to buy some food. Boy, y'all trifling in there. All right, y'all. That is it for us. I did not get to the Jane Thomas story.

We're going to get to that on Monday. We also are going to talk about on Tuesday. We're going to get to that on Monday. We also want to talk about on Tuesday. We're going to share Monday or Tuesday. Sister, she actually opened up this clinic called the Honeycomb Clinic. I stopped by to the grand opening. So we shot some video. And it's a place where black doctors can be able to do services out of their 9000 square foot place. We're going to show you that as well. Shout out to my man, Marcus Davis, owner of the Breakfast Club. Anthony and I stopped by the other day, had a great meal, and then talked to my man Len, of course, in the Kia at the Turkey Leg Hut. And so we may swing by over there. See, the problem is we come to Houston,

man, they screw up a diet real quick with all the folks who want to brother stop by and get a bite to eat. So we'll see. So again, glad to see everybody here. Folks, thank you so very much. Again, we want you all to support us in what we do. Please download the Black Star Network app so we can hit 50,000 downloads. Apple TV, excuse me, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. We're on all of those platforms.

We also want you to support the show and what we do with our content, some great things. If you want to send a check or a money order, please do so. The PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash App is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at Rolandmartinunfiltered. Venmo is rmunfiltered. Zelle is roland at

rolandsmartin.com, roland at rolandmartinunfiltered.com. And let me, hold up. I got to do one more shout out. I got to do one more shout out. Y'all hold on. We almost done. Let me see if i can pull this thing up let's see here almost done let me pull this thing up uh so let me shout out uh my my brother's son chris today my man chris uh had his his eighth grade graduation. I'm going to pull it up in a second. Let me shout out my niece, Anna. This is her. She graduated from community college on her way to North Texas. Her mama is an artist, and so she's always doing all kinds of stuff.

So congratulations to Anna Bird. Way to go, Anna Bird. So let me, I thought that Chris's photo was... You know, when the family always mess stuff up, they send stuff to the wrong group. And so Chris was in the... They sent stuff in the group family text as opposed to sending it to the group me. And so let me go ahead

and do this now. So again, my man Christopher Martin, my little man, he's no longer little. Here he is with his bow tie, 8th grade graduation, going to high school next year. And so I'm about to go to the house and see my man and congratulate him on

8th grade graduation. That's it, y'all. We got to go. I appreciate all the folks here at Jack Gates and HISD allowing us to be able to broadcast from here. One of the things that I said when I was a student here, that I always want to be able to come back one day and be able to broadcast a live show. This is probably the fifth or sixth time we've done it. We did it a few times. I was at TV One. This is our second time here with Roller Mart Unfiltered.

So I certainly appreciate that. And so thank you so very much. We always end the show every Friday. Of course, showing you all the people who are contributors to our show. We thank them, their dollars, to make it possible for us to do what we do. So thank you so very much, folks. Y'all have an absolutely fabulous weekend. I'll see you on Monday.

Howl! Howl! Howl! Howl! I'll see you on Monday. Ho! Thank you. This is an iHeart Podcast.