#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Remembering Joe Madison, New Rainbow Push CEO, Black Clergy Want Ceasefire

Episode Date: February 2, 2024

2.1.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Remembering Joe Madison, New Rainbow Push CEO, Black Clergy Want Ceasefire We're LIVE from Dallas, Texas, for the installation of  Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III, as the new President and CEO of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. Here's what's coming Up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. The South Carolina School Board that fired a black superintendent after two months on the job has offered the acting white superintendent the job without going through the proper hiring process. One of those school board members is calling it blatant systemic racism. She's here to explain. A Mississippi civil rights group has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the city of Lexington, claiming the city's police officers harassed and abused black residents of the major-black town.  Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis has been dodging MAGA bullets since charging Donald Trump and his cronies. I'll talk to an attorney who will walk us through the hurdles Willis must clear to continue the prosecution.  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologizes for how he handled his health crisis at his first news conference since being released from the hospital.  And Black Clergy calls on the Biden Administration to push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a cease-fire. I'll talk to some spiritual leaders about why they say a cease-fire is needed.  Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. you there? No, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. Hey folks, today's Thursday, February 1st, 2024. Coming up on Roller Barton Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network.

I'm live here in Dallas for the installation ceremony for Reverend Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes, the new president and CEO of the Rainbow Push Coalition. So we'll be having that. That begins in about an hour and a half. So we'll carry that live on the network. But the big story for us today, folks, the loss of a legend, Radio Hall of Famer Joe Madison has passed away. He passed away peacefully last night. He's been battling a reoccurrence of prostate cancer. We will talk about how critical the Black Eagle was to African-Americans. A longtime radio show host on WOL out of Washington, D.C., later with Sirius XM Radio. And so we will dedicate this entire show to the Black Eagle right here. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin on the filter on the Black Star Network.

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 Rolling Martin Now He's fresh, he's real, the best, you know he's rolling, Martel. Martel. Folks, we begin today's show on a very sad note.

Moments ago, the family of Joe Madison posted a statement on his website announcing that the Black Eagle, longtime radio talk show host, radio hall of famer, he is now one of our ancestors. Joe Madison, of course, a frequent person on not only my show, Roller Martin Unfiltered, but also on TV One's News One Now. He's a huge, huge voice, a longtime NAACP board member. He has known folks all across the country, all across the world. He was very much involved in fighting modern-day slavery and the Sudan. He announced a couple of months ago that he was not coming back on the

air. Takes his time away because he had a reoccurrence of prostate cancer. He had previously battled prostate cancer and it came back on November 14th when I had my birthday. Joe let us know that he was definitely going to be there, but because of his illness, he was unable to come. And the statement came from his family that he passed away peacefully last night. So many folks obviously know about the Black Eagle. We heard him on Sirius XM radio every single morning. Those of you in Washington, D.C., listen to him on WOL AM radio as well. He was an absolute legend in this business. And again, we are saddened to report

the passing of Joe Madison. Remember, it was several months ago Joe was on the show talking about his book. He is someone who we often, I mean, look, we went so many places. He and I were always together doing something, emceeing different events together. And so he, I mean, this is certainly just shocking news for so many of us who knew him well. My pal today is Dr. Greg Carr, Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, Recy Colbert. She is the host of the Recy Colbert Show on Sirius XM Radio and also Lawn Victoria Burke, Black Press USA out of Arlington.

I want to start. I'm going to start with you, Greg. There are very few people who earn the title of being an institution, of being a legend. And when you talk about talk show hosts, we talk you talk about black talk show hoes, Joe Madison absolutely was one of the best. Hey, Greg, I think you're muted. Yes, sir. Sorry. Thank you, Roland. Condolences to his family, to you, to everyone in the truth-telling media. Joe Madison is a generational link.

And so his ascension to ancestorhood really speaks to the strength of that chain. I mean, you know, the strength of that chain. I mean, you know, and I know over the arc of today and probably tomorrow, there'll be a lot, you know, you'll cover a lot of this and have a lot of people talking about him, so I'll keep this brief. I mean, you know, Dayton born, came through Detroit, even Philly, you know, WWDB in Philadelphia before taking in some ways the metaphorical baton from Petey Green and others in the 60s and 70s when he joined W.O.L. And then went, you know, galactic in Sirius XM. But, you know, Joe Madison, as he said, and, you know, we talk about now his book, like you said, the whole interview you had with him and he's showing it there.

Joe Madison walked the talk. I mean, here's a guy who broke the record for having the longest uninterrupted stretch hosting on the air and used that basically two-day period to raise a quarter million dollars for the African-American Museum, the Smithsonian. You know, he enters war-torn Sudan, goes to Haiti after the earthquake in 2010. I mean, the accolades going on and on. And we know we'll talk about all of those things. But ultimately, you know, when Joe Madison was on the air beating up people, call it. Don't call unprepared Joe Madison show. And of course, following any time people complaining or say,

we need to ask our people near Joe Madison's like, oh, what you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? The Black Eagle is a loss that can't be replaced. But ultimately, that's why you're here. That's why those who have him as comrades and a model now are here, because this thing has to continue, and there's no finer model in how to do it than Joe Madison. Recy, he was one of your colleagues at Sirius XM Radio.

And look, everyone there, he was a beloved figure at Sirius XM and especially among African-Americans with shows there. Absolutely. You put it right, an institution, a trailblazer who opened up the door for so many of us at Urban View.

I mean, I feel like a small person compared to Joe Madison, a giant, a colleague. That honors me by even calling us colleagues. for my own show, it was across the hall from the Black Eagle, which is its own fortress at Sirius XM Studios in D.C. You got to be badged in. And it just it just it's bigger than life. And I just think that his legacy is so enduring, so important. And it's not I don't even want to say legacy as though it's the past. It's still living and breathing through the institution that he has helped pave the way for. And so this is devastating news. Urban View really does feel like a family. All of the hosts, we love each other. We support each other. We uplift each other. And everything that I do,

everything that, you know, my number one colleague at Urban View, Clay Kane, does, you know, people always, always bring up and uplift Joe Madison to us. And so my deepest condolences go to Joe Madison, all of his supporters, the Urban View family, Joe Madison was always there, whether it was emceeing various events, whether it was covering broadcasting live. people that black America look to, to speak to the issues and to be there to cover the major events that impacted black America. Yeah, it's a really sad thing to think about, the timing of all this. Obviously, the news business is going through a transition right now that I think is incredibly bad. And Joe Madison represented old-school journalism in the public interest, and particularly for the black community, and a very focused journalist who was asking the tough questions that need

to be asked. In an era of kiki-ing and not really being focused on what's serious at a time that fascism is on the rise in the United States, I think his loss is particularly ill-timed. It would have been ill-timed at any time. But right now, we need more people who are like him, you know, people who are serious about what they're doing and who are asking the serious questions. So this is like a really huge shock. I actually met him on your show, Roland. I'm trying to remember the last time that I saw him. I almost want to say CBC week, but I can't quite remember. So it's a big shock. It's a huge shock. And it's really something, as Greg said, he's somebody who can't be replaced.

To that particular point, it is difficult because we are in many ways partners in crime. Joe supported this show and every time he would every time he would give to the show we would joke and he would pull out his $100 and give it to me. As I think about it. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown and never fill your feed with kid photos. You say you'd never put a pac a meltdown and never fill your feed with kid photos. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it and never let them run wild through the grocery store.

So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. The last time I saw him was at the Dionne Warwick. The name of our tournament was at Dionne Warwick at Boise State.

I can't remember. It was last year. And Joe was going to take an Uber home. And I told him, I said, Joe, I'll drop you off. And we were in the navigator and we were talking and we were laughing and talking about black issues and black-owned media. And him and his wife, Sherry, had moved in the Wharf area. And Joe was like, maybe you should drop me off here. I said, Joe, I'll drop you off in front ofarf area. Joe was like, maybe you should drop me off here.

I said, Joe, I'll drop you off in front of the house. I did. When we got out of the car, he said, wait a minute. He said, I don't think I've given him my contribution this year. And he, with his pocket,

pulled his $100 bill out. And I took a picture of it. I know I'm a fighter in a second. But the thing is that Joe was absolutely supportive of that generation. That was no ego. It wasn't competition. He would always tell me how much

what I was doing mattered. And Grant, I don't think we can overstate how important that is when there are brothers and sisters who've been in this business for any business

a long time who encourage who would encourage next generation and who would willingly come on their platform and share his platform. And that's what a lot. That really gives the that's really the meat of it, Roland. I mean, watching the two of you all interact, I remember this was maybe about 13, 14 years ago. It might have been the first time I met Joe Madison.

It was at Sidney Rubeau, his annual party, President Howard, then President Howard at his house. And Bernie Sanders was engaged in that long filibuster. It was December, I guess, 2010, 2011, I forget. But anyway, and I, you know, I left the filibuster and come to the party. I'm like, man, has anybody watched this filibuster? Joe Madison, I believe it was you. Nobody else was talking about it. And I remember being struck by the fact that this is somebody analyzing what's going on in real time.

And I never encountered him. It's like being with you. You never encounter him when it's not about the business and the humility is at the center of it. And not only the willingness, but the eagerness to support everybody, him and Dick Gregory. So close, of course, you know, you would see them together. And then, of course, when Baba Dick passed Madison thinking, damn, that's Joe Madison. But it didn't hit you, this Joe Madison. He's so matter of fact about it. I mean, here's a guy who went on a hunger strike while he was fighting prostate cancer

the first time. So I'm willing to die. We got to get this voting rights legislation passed. And it's like, so you're willing to put it all on the line, and you could leave a conversation and say, this was the first person from the United States radio journalist to broadcast from Cuba in over two generations, 50 years. But it wasn't about the accolades. And then finally, and recently listening to you, thinking about Sirius,

I talked a minute ago with Karen Hunter, of course, over there, you know, thinking about that generation, that next generation, the Roland Martins, the Karen Hunters and others who, you know, Joe Madison put it where the goats could get it and put his money where his mouth was and put his life where his rhetoric was. You can't fake working together. It can be very difficult at times. But the black eagle wasn't flying above everybody else. His thing was, I'm just like you. And when you hear my voice, you hear your voice. And that's why he urged us to greatness. And now in the wake of his passing, I think we have to continue to do that. We can't, we can't afford, as you said, Lauren, we can't afford not to model his effort. Even as he made a transition on the first day of Black History Month. The man went to the other side in style. So, I mean, he's giving us instruction on the way out. We got to work together now.

Indeed. Going to go to a break. We'll be back. For folks who just joined us, the Black Eagle, Radio Hall of Famer, longtime radio talk show host on WOL out of Washington, D.C. on Sirius XM Radio. Joe Madison passed away last night at the Valiant Battle the second time with prostate cancer. We'll be right back. A roll of mud unfiltered on the Black Star Network live from Dallas.

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Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Caw. We look at the history of emancipation around the world, including right here in the United States, the so-called end of slavery. Trust me, it's a history lesson that bears no resemblance to what you learned in school.

Professor Chris Mangiapra, author, scholar, amazing teacher, joins us to talk about his latest book, Black Ghost of Empire, The Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation. He explains why the end of slavery was no end at all, but instead a collection of laws and policies designed to preserve the status quo of racial oppression. The real problem is that the problems that slavery invented have continued over time. And what reparations are really about is saying, how do we really transform society, right? And stop racial violence, which is so endemic. What we need to do about it on the next installment of The Black Table right here on the Black Star Network. Hey, what's up? It's Tammy Roman. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherri Shepherd talk show.

It's me, Sherri Shepherd. And you know what you're watching. Roland Martin unfiltered. Hey, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. This is the statement that was released by the family of Joe Madison on his website. It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our beloved husband and father, Joe Madison. He passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by family. Joe dedicated his life to fighting for all those who are undervalued, underestimated and marginalized. On air, he often posed the question, what are you going to do about it? Although he is no longer with us, we hope you will join us in answering that call by continuing to be

proactive in the fight against injustice. The outpouring of prayers and support over the last few months lifted Joe's spirits and strengthened us as a family. We continue to ask for privacy as we gather together to support each other through this difficult time. That was from the family of Joe Madison. When he made the announcement, Recy, that he wasn't coming back, I was at an event in the White House and then when I left there, then got a call. And so I reached out to, didn't talk to Joe, the family, sent him a know, by arranging that, that they actually had that conversation and alerted her staff of the news. And so I'm quite sure we'll be seeing a statement from her shortly. AMY GOODMAN, The Press": He has such a great affection for the Black Eagle, did his show

multiple times. I believe as vice president as well Eagle, did his show multiple times. I believe as vice president as well, she did his show in addition to when she was a senator and before that. And so it doesn't surprise me at all that she would reach out. And I know from the times that she's reached out to me at various milestones or occasions that she's a person who's incredibly compassionate, incredibly empathetic, and a very soothing and affirming voice. And so I'm glad that she made that effort and honored him. I'm sure he was honored as well. And I look forward to seeing what she has to say to honor Joe Madison publicly. when we talk about being one and supporting each other

Lauren when I was calling out then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for her failure to do interviews with black owned media I called Joe told him that I was what I was doing calling her out on the show posting on social media where is Nancy

and he told me he said man I've been asking for that I was what I was doing, calling her out on the show, posting on social media, where's Nancy? And he told me, he said, man, I've been asking for years and they won't book on the show. And then he said that he said he said I would see her and I would say when you come on the show, her people would never actually get it done. He said, so I'm standing with you on this. And so the next morning, Joe goes on the air, goes on the air and he tells them what I was doing, called out Nancy Pelosi. Literally, his phone rings and it's Pelosi's staff and she was on his show in 48 hours. And so he called me and he said, he said, man, he said, they will clearly listen and they immediately booked her on the show. He said, so appreciate you calling her out. And I never got the interview with her.

And, you know, she did one with Joe, did one with April Ryan, and even April called and thanked me and said, hey, I've been trying for two years. You made it happen. And here's the deal. did one with Joe, did one with April Ryan. Even April called and thanked me and said, hey, I've been trying for two years. You made it happen. And here's the deal. My deal was like, cool. I didn't get it, but if they got it, I was cool with it.

But, again, that was Joe saying, I'm going to ride with you. I'm going to call them out, too, on the air. Yeah, you know, it really just goes to show you, his show was the last of the, I'm trying to think of somebody who's comparable. I mean, I guess if we get into numbers. But to me, it was—this is a moment where you realize, of course, that numbers don't match, you know, the level of seriousness that he was seeing. You know, he was seen as somebody that could move opinions and was an influencer in a much more serious way than a lot of the influencers that we see now.

And to what he used to always say about what are you going to do about it, you know, have fooled themselves into believing that talking or just being on some platform that may have some numbers means something. And, you know, Joe was—Greg really stole my thunder in his last comments. Joe is a tell-it-like-it-is type of guy, a blunt, no-. type of guy. And he—my favorite thing about him is that he came along 40 years ago before the real influence of corporate—before corporate influence really started to impact the media. And he kept with that his entire career. You can see corporate influence's impact on the media all over the place, the subjects that don't get discussed, things that get ignored. And obviously, for black radio that has been disappearing over the place, the subjects that don't get discussed, things that get ignored. And, obviously, for black radio that has been disappearing over the years, he became a more important platform with that. So, that story really does not surprise me,

because I'm sure that Pelosi's office recognized, you know, exactly—pardon the pun, how serious it is to be on his show. And it's hard to—it's hard to imagine who fills that spot. I would guess that Karen Hunter probably comes the closest. But it's just something that we're missing in a lot of the platforms that we see out there as a really sort of serious bringer of issues and who's serious, like, all the time and is not trying to blend entertainment or infotainment with hard issues. And that's the thing about Joe. Mark Thompson joins us now on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Mark had texted me earlier and then about 15 minutes later with the confirmation about the passing of Joe.

And Mark, I alluded to this. We would all often be in the same places at the same time. So if I wasn't emceeing something with Joe, you likely were. And so we were all running in the same circles. Thank you for having me. and so we were all running in the same circles. Words that others have shared, good to see Greg and Marisa and Lauren, not under these circumstances of course. Joe and I were co-workers for years, first at Radio 1 at WL and then at Sirius XM.

And we all were often in the very same places, covering the same events and the same stories, and also often emceeing many events. I had heard—I had reached out to Joe a few months ago. I had texted him, and he didn't respond right away, which was somewhat unusual, but we're all busy. I had no idea that the prostate cancer had come back. And when I texted him, he always liked to keep up with my son. You know, Joe was an athlete and a college athlete. And if there was one young person, I think Lauren talked about his support of young people. There's one young person he really believed in. It was my son. And I texted him about some of my son's college athletic

exploits. And he didn't respond right away. But, you know, I figured he was busy. No big deal. And then I learned, like everybody else, that he was off the air and he was dealing with this return of the prostate cancer. And so, you know, one of the things that's very painful for me at this hour is it would be in any one of these situations. I was literally making plans. I've got to be in D.C. next week anyway. And so I was going to do what I could to get to see Joe. And the clock ran out, and the good Lord called him home to glory. And so—and we know that's where he is. Joe and I had a lot of experiences together, probably over at least—rolling at least the past 30 years, not only going

back to working together at W.O.L., beginning there, when that was just two or three stations, not all the stations it is today. We were with Dick Gregory in a lot of the movements. We went to jail at the CIA around the crack and powder cocaine issue that the CIA was involved in. We were with Maxine Waters. We were with Gary Webb of the San Jose Mercury News, standing up against that, because we knew what Reagan had done in terms of bringing that back to—bringing that story back to the forefront. And so this is a loss, because he wasn't just a radio host.

He used to call himself a radio activist, and that's exactly what he was. And then Joe's longevity, going back to being an organizer for the NAACP in Detroit, the influence he had there. In fact, another reason I had reached out to him, frankly, now that I recall, was that a mentor of his in Detroit had actually passed away, a brother by the name of Duke, and someone that Joe looked up to a great deal and who was very supportive of him as he came along. Of course, he was on the board of the NAACP for a number of years. And when I called you earlier this evening, and there was—in transparency, there was

something that was texted to me and to Ayanna Gregory, Dick's daughter, but we didn't know. And so we wanted to hopefully confirm that it wasn't true. And then Abba Blankson of the NAACP texted me that in fact it was the case. When you came to me, I was just on the phone with Dr. Benjamin Chavis. He had called about the news. And, of course, they were both—Joe was on the board of the NAACP when Dr. Chavis was named the head of the NAACP back in the 90s. And so, you know, Joe had a very broad footprint in our people's struggle. And so, this is—this is heavy. This is—this is a big one.

It's something—you know, he is irreplaceable. I mean, in our own respects, we all are. But Joe's longevity in the struggle, Joe being so prolific in so many ways in the struggle—I mean, he practically coined and trademarked the term underrepresented, undervalued and marginalized. He said that every day the hunger strikes that he did with Dick Gregory I I wasn't very good at hunger strikes

because I was afraid I was going to pass out but Joe was vigilant in all of those struggles and he will certainly be missed my my heartfelt love goes out to Sherry. Sherry, who has been recovering well from her own health struggles.

God bless her. His children. Joe was a giant. But we're thankful. And we should all not simply mourn, but be rest assured as to where he is. He's outrun us to glory and he deserves his crown. You talked about his work with the NAACP. Joining us right now is Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit chapter of the NAACP.

Wendell, always glad to see you. Reverend Anthony, always glad to see you and talk to you. I'm sure you've got a thousand Joe Madison stories. Good evening, Roland, to you and to your guests. First of all, our prayers and condolences go out to Joe's family, Sherry and his children, and all those in the radio talk show activist world who believed and understood and appreciated the work of Joe Madison. It is true, Joe and I did have our own unique relationship. Joe was an activist here in the city of Detroit. He was an NAACP baby. He was one of the youngest, if not the youngest, executive director of the Detroit branch and the NAACP in the country at the time when he became that.

He was 24. We since then have had another young lady, Camelia Landrum in Detroit, who was now kind of surpassed that to the degree of being the youngest. There's just something about Detroit. But Joe was always an outspoken voice. He was his own independent self. Interesting thing is that when I first started running for the NAACP, and now this is my 31st year as his president in Detroit. I hadn't planned on it. It just is what has happened. But Joe and I were on opposite teams. Joe was with the folk that opposed me. And, I mean, they really, really, really opposed me.

But we were successful, and we won. Since that time, obviously, we had gotten together and beat our swords and spears into plowshares and pruning hooks. And he and I understood that we had much more in common than we did in conflict. He even was bold back here in the day. He worked with WXYZ radio. He was on that station, AM station. He was talking stuff back then along the racial and social justice lines. A lot of folk could not handle or appreciate that at the time period, but it was real. And he maintained that, even when he went to the other stations and later on found himself at Sirius under the handle of the Black Eagle. And certainly, I think the handle of the Black Eagle is illustrative of who Joe Madison was and is. He flew high. He looked low and saw those situations of marginalized people.

He exemplified the fact of the Almighty that, though you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me. Joe spoke up for people who could not speak for themselves. The NAACP here in Detroit and elsewhere, but particularly in Detroit, and when he was on the national board and I was on the national board and still am on the national board, and I was on the national board, and I still am on the national board, we wanted to make sure that the organization related not just to corporate America, but to the love folks in America. That's why the organization came into being.

We dealt with people who were being lynched, who had no educational rights. We had no rights that white folk were duty-bound to respect. That's why we exist. That's why we came into reality. And I think Joe was one that did not want us to forget that. I think that, on his show, he talked about things that irritated and upset people. But he did that for a reason. You know, he didn't want to make you at ease in Zion, so to speak. He didn't want to make you comfortable in your misery and acceptable of your agony.

He wanted to shake you loose from all of that. That's why he often said, you know, now that we hear this, now that we know what time it is, what are you going to do? That is a basic, fundamental Christian tradition. You know that, Roland. You are versed in Scripture. You know that it's not just important enough to hear the Word. You have to do something about the Word. What are you going to do about it now that you know it? You can't escape it. A lot of folk want to hear it, but then they don't want to do nothing about it.

A lot of folk know we in a mess in America. But the question is, what are you going to do about it? A lot of folk know we need to vote, but are you voting? A lot of folks know that we need to have black economic development in every area, but what are you doing to make sure that we have contracts and we have access and all those opportunities? And so I'm simply saying that Joe's voice was and is extremely important. The question is, what are we going to do now that that voice is no more? Who's going to step up and articulate the concerns that Joe articulated when he was behind that microphone? He didn't bow down. He did not take prisoners. Everybody wasn't comfortable with

the way he talked and the way he moved and what he said. But he wasn't here to make you comfortable. He was here to make you uncomfortable. If you're comfortable, then you ain't going to do nothing. Only the uncomfortable people get charged enough to move and to make society uncomfortable enough so that society will move in a direction that it must. That's why John Lewis talked about, you know, we need people to engage in good trouble, good trouble meaning that what you do has a positive effect in terms of what we need to do. And Joe talked about putting it where the goats can get it. I mean, that's high.

And goats go high. They're on the crevices of mountains. And they don't need a whole lot of foundation. They just jump and move from place to place. So we need to do that as well. You know, Roland, and to your listening audience, that we got a hell of a job in 2024. There are people that want to take us and put us back on the plantation. You know that. Well, I ain't going. I'm acknowledging right now I am not going. I'm one who believes in the song that our ancestors sang, before I be a slave, I be buried in my grave and going home to my Lord and breathe free.

They didn't bring us this far for us to turn back now. And for people saying it ain't nothing to get engaged about, nothing to vote about, nothing is going to change, you're missing the boat. Everything changed. Ketanji Brown Jackson is a change. The folk that are in the Cabinet of this man, called Biden, with more black people there, is a change. Lowering college tuition costs is a change.

Health care expansion is a change. Saving your life from a demagogue who wants to deport you and take every right from you that you get is a change. Don't wake up on the day after and say, oh, my God, what happened? I'm telling you now, you must happen to make sure that something bad and negative and crazy don't happen.

If you can't do it for yourself, do it for your children, do it for your grandchildren. Everybody got to get in this game. And I think that's what Joe was about. That's what the eagle is about. The eagle flies high, but he sees real low. And he knows that certain things can't go. God bless our brother, our friend, our comrade in the struggle.

We thank him for living his purpose and his life shown with purpose. And the question is, what are you going to do with the purpose that you've been given? Indeed. Reverend Wendell Anthony, President of the NAACP, we appreciate you sharing your thoughts as we reflect on the life and legacy of the great Joe Madison. Thanks a lot. Thank you, brother. Mark, hold tight one second. We'll go to a break. We come back. I want to talk about, and Greg and Recy and Lauren as well, want to talk about the work that Joe Madison did

fighting modern day slavery in Sudan. He was doing this years ago, and he was pressuring U.S. presidents on this very issue as well. So we'll discuss that, folks. We're talking about Joe Madison, the black... I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

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

Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

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

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

Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown and never fill your feed with kid photos. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it and never let them run wild through the grocery store. With kid photos. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. And never let them run wild through the grocery store.

So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, know it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. Radio Hall of Famer passed away due to prostate cancer. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network.

Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence white people are losing their damn minds there's an angry pro-trump mob storm to the u.s capital we're about to see the rise of what i call white minority resistance we have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history.

Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at every university calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys guys.

This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white people. We just have one of the oldest cultures that's desperately needed for mutual salvation.

That's the consciousness. We have the keys and our roots to save mankind. We get to see the condition of other countries, other oceans, other cultures. And if we believe in God, a lot of us do. He's telling us if you don't get rid of that stuff that makes somebody superior or inferior and work together for mutual salvation, everybody's gone. Hey, what's up? Keith Turino, place to be.

Got kicked out your mama's university, creator and executive producer of Fat Tuesdays, an air hip-hop comedy. But right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin. Unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You hear me? © BF-WATCH TV 2021 I know. Hey, y'all. Hey.

I just dropped Joe Mass off at the crib. Just so y'all know, he is a contributor to the Bring the Funk fan club. So y'all need to be a contributor as well. Joe said he ain't mailing no check. Appreciate it, Joe.

Oh, man. Appreciate it. God bless you. That was the last time I saw Joe Madison. That was April 1st of last year. As I said, we were at the Dionne Warwick dedication at Bowie State, dedicated to the renaming of the auditorium, the Forming Arts Center after her. And I dropped him off at home, and he said, wait a minute, I need to give my donation. I said, hold on, let me get this on video.

You know, people always, folks always kid me, you know, Mark, they always kid me talking about, man, you always got your camera, you always shooting stuff. Well, one of the reasons why, that's what I do, I document stuff and it's always history and you never know when you're gonna need it. And I'm glad I did that. Also, guys, pull a photo up. This was a photo we took first. And then he remembered he had to. He said, man, I'm going to get my donation this year. And so, again, he pulled $100 out and gave it to me. And he was known as a photo guy. That's the video. I sent y'all a photo as well as a photo of the two of us smiling in the smiling in the car there. One of the things that

Joe was really, really focused on. And I must start with you, Greg, was the issue of slavery in the Sudan. I mean, this was something that he did, hunger strikes. I mean, he pressed government officials. He went there. He helped free some folks who were enslaved. And it was one of those issues that did not get lots of attention in this country, but he made it a priority and made other national media outlets cover it. Yeah, and that's unfortunate. I know

Mark knows a lot much more about this than I do. I mean, being there on the ground with him, you know, the Civil War in Sudan had stretched through the 80s into the 90s. The thug that was in charge of Sudan at the time, Omar al-Bashir, since deposed and gone. And, of course, there's a new country, the newest country in Africa, South Sudan. Think about John Garang and the folks in South Sudan, the Dinka people in particular—Dinka, Nour, Shillik—the Africans, those who have not been Arabized as such. And that war, which saw the trafficking, human trafficking,

particularly the trafficking with support of the government, these Janjaweed people and others, kidnapping African people by the thousands. And, of course, we probably have all heard the region of Western Sudan, then Sudan, called Darfur. And there were a number of people all over the world, Christian missions, others coming in and, quote, unquote, buying the liberation of these people who were forced into service. And Joe Madison put everything on the line again, a vast silence. The U.N. was silent. Kofi Annan was the head of the U.N. at the time, a Ghanaian. The Congressional Black Caucus hadn't said anything. And, you know, I remember there was an article in The Village Voice by Nat Hentoff, the famous jazz critic,

back around 2001, called The Black Eagle Swoops into Sudan. And Nat Hentoff said, you know, nobody's saying anything, but this Joe Madison guy has gone to Sudan. He's in Sudan. He's back and forth. He has helped liberate over 7,000 people of African descent. And then Joe Madison put some of these South Sudanese, some of these Sudanese

young people on the air, on Sirius, on his show. And you hear him talking about that. And eventually Jesse Jackson made a statement and other folk came in. But the United States of America's geopolitics, it wasn't necessary. They were in bed with this guy who was running Sudan. And no, they didn't like the humanitarian crisis, but we know that politics in this

country is—most countries in the world, trumps the moral cause. And Joe Madison went right from the anti-apartheid movement to the movement to free those who were being enslaved in the Sudan. And that's just a basic overview. But, again, as I said, Mark, our brother knows much more about it than I do. Mark, speak about that again. Why was Joe so focused on this issue, that he made it a national priority? Well, I think one of the reasons he did so was because no one else was talking about it.

And as we all know, when you start talking about Africa and news from Africa, tragically, there's not a lot of interest. There's enough news every day that we could have an Africa unfiltered with news 24 hours a day. And I remember when Joe got involved in what was going on in the Sudan, Greg was right at the beginning. It wasn't very popular, unfortunately. But he held his ground. He pushed the story and actually made it into a story that no one could really ignore.

And so, you know, there's—you know, I've been saying to people lately that if everybody in—or if I'm in a room full of people and everybody in the room picks just one aspect of our struggle and focuses on that one aspect, there'll still be a million other issues and crises for us to address. And Joe picked this one, I think, quite frankly, because it was about our people in Africa, one. Two, because it was so largely ignored, I think he found something that—he said, I'm just going to do this. I'm going to amplify something that no one else is willing to amplify. And it helped raise a generation's conscientiousness about what's going on in the continent. And right now, you know, what's going on in Sudan is also tragic.

What's going on in the Congo and different parts of Africa, what's going on in Sudan is also tragic. What's going on in the Congo and different parts of Africa? What's going on in Haiti? Those issues aren't getting the coverage that they should. But as Reverend Anthony said, who's going to step up in Joe Madison's place? Who's going to do what he did? This is the call now for others of us to take on some of these issues and amplify them. We're talking about Gaza, as important as that is, covering Gaza wall to wall. Hell, I just wrote a song about Gaza.

And my daughter said, well, when are you going to write a song, Abba, about the Sudan and the Congo? And she challenged me. I'm not a songwriter. But the point is that there are issues that are facing our people right now today. Joe is an example of covering those issues that were not popular. And we need more Joe Madisons like that to cover, to protest, to demonstrate, to be active, to be activists around the issues that are affecting the continent, affecting the motherland. And Recy, this is the thing that it's hard for some people to understand. And look, I totally get the radio shows out there that talk about the latest celebrity, that talk about Nicki Minaj beefing with Meg Thee Stallion. People talking about the Cat Williams interview on Club Shay Shay.

Talking about Glorilla or what somebody else is doing. And Joe and I used to always laugh because he was like, I ain't got time for that crap. He said, we got way too much important stuff. And this is why you must have black folks behind microphones who are willing to talk about the stuff that others don't want to deal with. And it may not be sexy and it may not be trendy, but it's absolutely about life and death. It truly is. And there's an appetite for it. There's a huge appetite for Black people to be treated like intelligent human beings who are citizens of not just the United States, but of the world, and want to be informed and want to be active and civically engaged. And that is where Joe Madison really found a deep and devoted following, and he helped move the

needle on so many important issues. And so it's important, and it feels especially tragic to have this loss in 2024, in this important election year. We know how Joe felt about voting, his hunger strike, as Dr. Carr mentioned earlier, to get voting rights. And with all of our rights under attack, our citizenship under attack, the biggest platforms that are getting attention, Black platforms, are those who are ill-equipped to counter the white supremacy that's being platformed and normalized in their face, like the Breakfast

Club, who had Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy and others on there. It's a shame, but irrespective of what others do, we all who have a platform, and Joe is the ultimate epitome of this, have a responsibility and we have the capability to tell the stories that aren't being told. We have the ability to move the needle. We have the capability to tell the stories that aren't being told. We have the ability to move the needle. We have the ability to be thought leaders and not followers,

not followers of what's trending, not followers of what the algorithm is saying people want to hear, but to actually push the conversations into the public sphere that need to be had and push politicians. Because it's not about who has the most number of followers or who gets the most likes and retweets. It's about the people like the Pelosi's who are listening, getting this free political insight and commentary and advice that many of us give on Black media to these politicians

to better them and push them towards what needs to happen. And so, you know, we all have big shoes to fill. We can't replace him. But I think, as Lauren said, we have the blueprint to follow to make sure that we're having these important conversations, not just what everybody is talking about, but what we need to be talking about. You know, I was sitting here, someone had sent me a text message. Lauren, I said, I think the last time, I mean, we've done a lot of these memoriams. I've lost some folks that I've, some great folks that I've known,

Harry Belafonte, Richard Roundtree, Randall Robinson, and others. But I told somebody, I said, I think the last time that I actually shed tears was when George Curry had passed away and knew him well. And I was thinking about George and I was thinking about Joe and they knew each other well as well. I mean, these were these were two individuals, one radio personality and activist, one a journalist who were hardcore about the business, who were hardcore about telling our stories. And that's what we have to have. And we have to, the reality is we have to create the space for the next generation of voices who are serious about this because we've got enough fluff out here. We've got to have avenues and individuals who understand why the news matters and who are willing to also challenge black leadership. Yeah, absolutely. And he was definitely willing. Joe Madison is definitely willing to challenge black leadership. You know, it's hard to figure

out sometimes whether this question of serious journalism versus celebrity is a chicken-and-egg proposition. A lot of people say that, you know, when people are going for web traffic and view counts on YouTube, you've got to have entertainment for that. But to your point, Roland, about, you know, the Sudan issue not being sexy and not being trending. Joe Madison made that issue trending. He singlehandedly took an issue that nobody was paying any attention to, and he just talked about it again and again and again. He put it on the forefront. And to your point, I mean, the value of him being the person making that decision to make

that issue a priority is to make that issue a priority is what made that issue a priority. So, you know, there's plenty of view hours out there for all sorts of topics. But what is certainly lacking in journalism today, as we see so many journalism platforms failing and cutting jobs from The L.A. Times to The Messenger. What's lacking is investigative, serious discussions about something that is life and death, like the Sudan issue. There's so many others out there. And again, you know, Joe Madison's form and style of journalism is exactly what we—what

we're missing and what we need right now. And that's why this is a huge, a huge moment, a huge turning of the page and sort of an end of an era at the exact time that journalism is really, I think, changing into something else. Indeed. Mark Thompson, I appreciate you joining us. We'll be chatting with you over the next few days as well as we get details with regards to funeral service for Joe. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Let me just say one other thing. God bless all of you. Long live the spirit of Joe Madison. We want to remind everyone, Joe was from Detroit. And so he was very close with all the folks in

Motown, close with Queen, Aretha Franklin. You alluded to earlier, close with Dionne Warwick. But the thing we have to remember, there were the four tops. Joe was the honorary fifth top. That's how close he was to Levi Stubbs and the four tops and to the whole Motown scene. So we got to lift that up. Joe Madison was the fifth top. Joe, we miss you.

We love you, and we just going to keep on holding up the Bloodstained banner as long as we can. I'll see you in the morning, mark thanks a lot going to a break folks rolling mark unfiltered right here in the black star network as it relates to health care joining me this week on washington watch robert train host of roll call tv on the comcast network. Deborah Mathis, always so shy and quiet, BlackAmericanWeb.com contributor. A new feature on our panel, Michelle Bernard, MSNBC contributor and president of the Independent Women's Forum. And my dog, the Black Eagle, Joe Madison, talk show host on Sirius XM Radio. Folks, welcome to the show.

Good to see you. We'll try not to haze you too much, Michelle. We all want to do that the first time. On Capitol Hill this week, it's real tense. It's real tense. Every time there was a vote on anything, when they came up, it was like... © BF-WATCH TV 2021 On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. The wealth gap has literally not changed in over 50 years, according to the Federal Reserve. On the next Get Wealthy, I'm excited to chat with Jim Castleberry, CEO of Known Holdings. They have created a platform, an ecosystem to bring resources to blacks and people of

color so they can scale their business. Even though we've had several examples of African-Americans and other people of color being able to be successful, we still aren't seeing the mass level of us being lifted up. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Cawthorne. We look at the history of emancipation around the world, including right here in the United States, the so-called end of slavery.

Trust me, it's a history lesson that bears no resemblance to what you learned in school. Professor Chris Mangiapra, author, scholar, amazing teacher, joins us to talk about his latest book, Black Ghost of Empire, The Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation. He explains why the end of slavery was no end at all, but instead a collection of laws and policies designed to preserve the status quo of racial oppression.

The real problem is that the problems that slavery invented have continued over time. And what reparations are really about is saying, how do we really transform society, right, and stop racial violence, which is so endemic? What we need to do about it on the next installment of The Black Table, right here on The Black Star Network. Hey, what's up, y'all? I'm Devon Franklin.

I'm Dr. Robin B., pharmacist and fitness coach, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 Hey, folks, welcome back to Rolling Mark Unfiltered here on the Black Star Network. I'm at the Black Academy of Arts and Letters here in Dallas, where they're having the installation service in about 30 minutes for Reverend Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes, the new president and CEO of the Rainbow Push Coalition. We'll be carrying this event live on the Black Star Network. So look for that in about 40 minutes when it's going to begin. I said Joe appeared on this show several times, but he appeared a lot on my news one now, my TV one show, Washington Watch, which ran for 2009, 2013. In fact, it's crazy. I mean, just the other day I was literally going through my archives and I was coming across the first episodes

because TV one celebrated its 20th anniversary on M.O.K. Day. And I pulled up the first episode of the show, and I looked at a bunch of other photos that I had in my archives, and it was like Joe was on a number of those panels, so it seemed like he was on the show all the time. And here is one of the appearances where we were talking about black organizations. I love to study the civil rights movement. And what I thought was interesting, and part of this whole thing we're doing, Black Power, Ebony Magazine, the whole focus on 2010 is the whole notion of black power.

When I interviewed Reverend Al Sharpton, he talked about staying in your lane. The beauty of the civil rights movement is different folks stayed in their lane. That is, Urban League had their role, NAACP had their role, League of Defense Fund had their role, SC League had their role, NAACP had their role, League of Defense Fund had their role, SCLC had their. Everybody had their own lanes, but that's how things actually got done. But the lines are obscuring that. The problem now is, April, you have black organizations all trying to do everything, education and health care and economics and civil rights, and nobody seems to be just in their lane locking and loading.

And see, and that's the point. It's about education, but it's far more than that. We have so many disparities in the minority community, and particularly the African-American community. Education is the key to unlock the door to so many things. But at the same time, you have disparities in prison populations. You have disparities in health. You have disparities all across the board in so many things,

and in jobs particularly right now. You have disparities in health. You have disparities all across the board in so many things, but here—in jobs, particularly right now. But, you know, in talking to many civil rights leaders and black leaders that I do quite a bit, they are going through a shift right now with this new president. And it's the same kind of situation back in 1963. You know, African Americans are still looking for first-class citizenship, although there is a black president. The shift is, many of the black leaders said, look, we have a black president.

We're looking for that compassion that we didn't get from the other presidents. Hold on. But wait a minute. They're saying we're looking for that compassion. We have a president who happens to be black. But actually, I— But wait a minute. Go into—

But wait a minute. I'm not talking about black power, though. He happens to be black, but the black issues, they are concerned. They're shifting. No, no, no, no, but here's what I think is the greater issue. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

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

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

And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes sir, we are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man.

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

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

You say you'd never give in to a meltdown and never fill your feed with kid photos. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it and never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, know it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out.

Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. In our previous panel, we dealt with political power and President Obama. I think the problem in terms of the organizations is they don't know how to connect to this generation. See, this generation is sitting here saying, I want to be involved. I want to be engaged. But it seems the organizations don't know how to necessarily connect with them. And so the reason the NAACP and the Urban League have been around for 100 years

is because they have survived from generation to generation. Joe, the existing organizations, the larger ones, are they going to be possibly supplanted by groups that are coming up? We may not necessarily know about them. But we've always had groups that have come up. Look, in 1968, the NAACP was as strong as it ever had been, and you had groups that addressed different things. The Black Panther Party was, we've always had different groups address different things. Let's go back to this issue of power, integration.

What is integration? King said it. It is the sharing of power, resources, and responsibility. Those three things. Education, and he hit it right on the head, is the new currency of the globe. These communities that have the most educated people are going—education is more valuable than gold. So, should the organizational agendas be shifting and changing to meet with the generation? Absolutely.

Yes, absolutely. And who do you think—out of all the ones out there, who do you think is doing a good enough job? Should folks be looking at Jeffrey Canada and what he's doing in Harlem, saying, you know what, we should be boosting this brother and what he's doing? And I'll tell you about the NAACP. NAACP, they had a housing department. I ran their voter education department for years, registering people to vote. We addressed internet. They had an international department. They had a prison program. They have got to be. They also had stability of leadership. Well, that's a whole different story.

No, no, no. Ben Jefferson's new. Morial is new. Bernice King now running the SCLC. Again, you have a whole different thing going on. But this goes back again to the shifting of power. About 15 seconds. Okay, the shift means that a lot of these organizations are trying to find their way in how to attack the issues of black America going to this president, who happens to be black.

No, they are, this is what they're telling me. I'm just saying. They're trying to find their way through this shift. I'm just saying it's not just about the president. It is about the people. It's everyone. No, but again, if you do not connect with the people, if you do not take the issues and connect with the people, then it does not matter who is in the White House, you will not be affected.

Final comments. Final comments. We need a new sense of militancy and activism in our community. Great point. Ron, final comment. I agree with that. And as it relates to education, if our kids aren't equipped, we cannot compete in the world stage.

And to my militancy man, I want to see Ron Christian in a beret. Oh, man, we had some feisty conversations back then, just as we do right now. Final comments with my panel. Lauren, I want to start with you. The Black Eagle, Joe Madison. Well, I mean, it's a terrible time that this all happens, and to listen to you guys discuss what you were just discussing on that old show kind of gives me a bad feeling because when I see a discussion like that. That was 2010.

That was 2010, Lauren. Right. And it always is sort of remarkable when you hear a discussion like that, you realize we're having some of these same discussions now, which of course tells you that not a whole lot of progress was made. But, you know, the whole question of black leadership and what Joe was saying there is an interesting one, because I think actually things have gotten a little bit worse because of the corporate nature of our leadership, in fact, folks. But at any rate, you know, obviously Joe will be missed. And it's just hard to—it's hard to think about him not being here, to Risi's earlier point in this particular election year where we

know that there's going to be some consequential news this year and not having him around for that is just huge just huge. Reesey Joe cussed a lot on his Sirius XM radio show and he actually had a cuss jar. And so every time he would cuss, he had to put some money in that. So he would sometimes just come in, just put $100 in there, and he'd say, y'all know I'm about to let loose. I don't know if you got a cuss jar on your show, but I'll say it was two things you and Joe had in common,

is Sirius XM radio and cussing. Well, I will absolutely take that as a badge of honor. It was always the biggest compliment somebody could give me that I was like the female Joe Madison. I don't know if he would agree, but I do remember somebody did call into his show and I mean, I saw him in the halls of series.

He had no idea who I was, even though, of course, I knew who he was. And I had been on the panel when he was promoting Radio Active. But they called in and they said, you know, there's a woman on SiriusXM who has a show who'd be cussing just like you, Joe. And he seemed proud. He seemed very proud of that notion. And so I will at least at a minimum fly that cussing flag on the Urban View radios out here in these streets because as you put it so often you reminded us that um that joe madison was about putting it where the goats can get it and i think that beyond the the delivery itself the important thing is reaching the people and

the important thing is not being sitting here just to pontificate and feel really good about yourself because you just letting people know in your own way, if it doesn't reach the people, if they're not getting it, then you're just talking, blowing hot air. And so I think that is a lesson for many of us is to stay authentic, stay true, but also really respect your audience and, and, and bring them along with you. If you're not really reaching the people, then what are you doing? You know what I'm saying? That doesn't mean bring yourself down a level because your audience is probably smarter than you can give them credit for, but it just means that that is the ultimate goal is to move people and to really resonate with people in a way

that is going to make everything better for us because we need each other. We can't do it alone in this environment. Dr. Greg Carr, Joe Madison, was well-read. He was someone who was very highly intellectual, was a running buddy of Dick Gregory. In fact, he led the fundraising efforts to get Dick Gregory, in fact, he led the fundraising efforts to get Dick Gregory his Hollywood Walk of Fame star. We were there in California for that event as well. I think I did a Q&A with Dick Gregory on stage. Just your final thoughts about the Black Eagle, Joe Madison, now being an ancestor. Roland, just listening to this show, listening to you, watching those clips, you know, I agree with Lauren. You know, it reminds me that, you know, Wade Nobles, the psychologist, once said that power is the ability to define reality and have other people accept your definition as if it was theirs.

You know, we have the potential for power. But in order to get that power, we have to do what Reesey said. We've got to speak to the people, and the people have to speak with us and listen to us and move together. You know, Joe Madison was an intellectual, and when we think about it in terms of continuity,

you sitting there talking with Mark, he's a different generation. You know, Joe Madison is of a generation just before you. And then the NNPA meeting in Florida. Where is the black press today? With all due respect to, again, The Breakfast Club and these other places, there are too many places to run and too many places to hide. That means now that the next generation, the Roland Martins and the Karen Hunters, and then the generation right behind them, the Clay Canes and the Reesey Colberts and the

print journalists who also do all other forms of media, like the Lauren Victoria Burks. It's time now for continuity. We've got to take away all the hiding places, because our open enemies define their power by the ability to hide y'all. When Joe Massa came along, it wasn't nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Nancy Pelosi ain't going to talk to me. OK, she'll talk to Roland.

She ain't going to talk to me and Roland. She's going to talk to April. Nancy Pelosi ain't gonna talk to me. Okay, she'll talk to Roland. Wait, she ain't gonna talk to me and Roland. She gonna talk to April. She gonna... Guess what? It's time out for these solo acts trying to push their brand. Joe Madison was about sacrificing community, and now Roland Martin unfiltered becomes that much more important.

It's time for some networking, some community, some coalition building. We gotta take away all these places to run and hide, because Joe Madison gonna fight for us on the other side, but he can't fight the battles we got to fight now in 2024. This could be for all the marbles. So it's more important now than ever. And thank you, Roland,

because nobody else is going to do this. And that's part of the problem, too. Greg, appreciate it. This... We were literally... So the plan was for us to talk about some other different stuff, a little bit of the guest plan. As I said, I'm here in Dallas at the Black Academy for Arts and Letters. As you can see, folks are preparing behind me.

Folks are coming into the auditorium here because in about 20 minutes, they're going to begin the installation service for Reverend Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes III. He asked me to come here. In fact, Freddie asked me, he was my pastor here at Friendship West Baptist Church where I lived here in Dallas, to come give some remarks specifically about the importance of black-owned media. And then literally as I was getting out of the car to walk across the street at the park, Mark Thompson had sent me a text

saying that he had heard that Joe had passed away. And we began to make some calls, and then all of a sudden, about 15 minutes later, the confirmation was there, and we completely changed the entire show. And so we'll rebook the other guests as well. And obviously, here, there are a number of people who are going to be speaking here. I'll be getting a reaction from them with regards to the life and legacy of Joe Madison. We'll have more

of that tomorrow. We're going to cut the show right now. What's going to happen is I'm going to go to break. First of all, we're still going to be live. I'm going to go to break. We come back. We're going to re-air my conversation with Joe about his book. We talk about his life, his career. We did this early last year. And I'm thankful that he released the book. I'm thankful that he came by the studio and we had the conversation. Joe Madison, 74 years old, passed away after another valiant battle with prostate cancer. Folks, that is it. Like I said, we're going to go to a break. We'll come back. We'll have that for you. We'll also go live in about 20 minutes from here.

So we have two different live streams going. And, folks, this is why Joe supported us. This is why he was a contributor to the Bring the Funk fan club, because he understood the importance of black-owned media. He understood the importance of this show. And so we want you to do exactly what Joe did and support this show because

mainstream media is not going to give Joe his props. We're going to have more tributes over the next several days. And so you can count on that because that's what we do. That's what we speak to our people. We tell our stories.

And so you know how to contribute to us. I'll bring the funk fan club checking money or was peel box 57196 Washington DC 20037-0196 cash app dollar sign RM unfiltered PayPal or Martin unfiltered. Venmo's RM unfiltered ZL Roland at Roland S Martin.com Roland that Roland Martin filter calm. M-O-S-R-M Unfiltered Zelle, Roland at Roland S. Martin dot com, Roland at Roland at Martin Unfiltered dot com. I never actually do a Bring the Funk giving item when we have any memoriams, but I chose to do so because, again, Joe believed in this show. He believed in me. He believed in black on media. And he believed in providing black people with information, because information is power.

And he would always say, you got to put it where the ghost can get it. And so that's why we pay tribute to him. And so I'm going to go to break and we'll come back and you'll hear my conversation with Joe Madison about his book. Rest in peace, Black Eagle. Back in a moment. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie,

how big a role does fear play in your life? Your relationship to it and how to deal with it can be the difference between living a healthy life, a balanced life, or a miserable one. Whenever the power of fear comes along, you need to put yourself in that holding pattern and breathe, examine. Find out if there's something that your survival instinct requires you to either fight or take flight.

Facing your fears and making them work for you instead of against you. That's all next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 Thank you. Folks, when you hear folks talk about Sirius XM Radio, they talk about Howard Stern, one of the stars, but Joe Madsen is also one of the big-time stars at Sirius XM. Thank you. He's been on their network for a very long time. He will also take Howard's check too.

Of course, for long time folks in DC heard him on WOL radio. He of course has been on the front lines of so many issues, not just in the United States, fighting for Sudan. A long time friend of Dick Gregory, he was NAACP board member, talks about all of this stuff, his life in his book, Radioactive, the subtitle, a memoir of advocacy in action on the air and in the streets, and Joe is one of them black people

who's a member of the Bring the Funk fan club who put the money right in my hand. I tell a story. Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second. No, no, no, no. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. This is real, too.

There you go. So, Joe, I tell a story. That's my annual duty. Joe gives an annual $100. I tell, I did an interview, Joe. Yeah. And I actually, I think it was with Cafe Boca. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, and I'm like, what's the

deal? And they're like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know., I think it was with Cafe Boca. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app,

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

In a very big way. Real people people real perspectives this is kind of star-studded a little bit man we got uh ricky williams nfl player hasman trophy winner it's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves music stars marcus king john osborne from brothers osborne we have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.

We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter

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

You say you never give in to a meltdown and never fill your feed with kid photos. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it and never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I had them crying.

I said, y'all don't know what it's like when you travel around the country and you're in Tulsa or whatever, and somebody, like, you're on the air, and somebody black just walk up, and they just go. Can I tell you a story? And they squeeze your hand, and they go. And we'll go.

Can I tell you a story? It's in the book. I started a cuss jar because I heard Howard Stern cuss a woman out. So I went to the president of SiriusXM, and I said, can I do what Howard Stern does? He says, well, you know, I've heard you slip up every now and then, and it's organic.

He said, but sure. I said, now, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Howard's a 6'5 white guy that you guys are paying, you know, half a billion dollars to or more. And if I cuss out some white woman or white man, will you have my back? And he said, yeah. Now, I have my wife with me who's the executive producer.

She's always with me because she's the witness. And we walked out, and I said, did he give me permission to do that? She said, oh, I think he did. So I started doing it. And every now and then little old ladies would call up, God bless them. Oh, Mr. Madison, you really shouldn't do that. You know, I said, I'll tell you what I'm going to do.

I'm going to put a dollar and I first called it a swear jar. But then George Wallace said, black folks don't swear, they cuss. And so I changed it to a cuss jar. Now this goes back to what you said about palming. Right, right. I'm at Morehouse.

We're doing a voter registration get out the vote drive. Afterward, we're taking selfies. Folks stand up and the ministers, I walked out of there with $400 in cash and for the cuss job. And most of the money came from ministers. They were like, keep cussing.

I can't cuss, but you are a surrogate cusser. I had a woman in Tulsa. She said, now, Roland, I'm going to give you this money. But baby, can you just stop cussing? I said, look, I know how you feel. I said, but sometimes, I said, look, some stuff got to be said. The show is called Unfiltered. I said, I got to keep it real. And the reality,

if you're going to let Howard Stern do it, then, you know, you're talking about equity. I mean, I cuss. Now, I don't cuss like Reese cuss. No, no. Now, Reese, Reese cuss. Is that right? But see, every now and then, I have to invoke Jackson, man, you know, Samuel.

I just, but look. Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh. It's two. Who? Before I met Reese, there were two people who I thought, first of all, I thought before I met Jennifer Lewis, Sam Jackson was the absolute king of motherfuckers. But when I met Jennifer Lewis, she became the queen of motherfuckers. Reese is the princess of, Reese will, okay, this is how I got to know Reese.

Reese would do these videos on Twitter. Joe, she be, I'm talking about, she uses more cuss words in two minutes than a whole lot of people, but she killing it now, she killing it. And so I said, man, you know, I said, I gotta put her on the air. So Joe, she comes on the air, and so she killing it now she killing it and so I said man you know I said I got to put on air so she comes on the air and so she's sitting in the air and so she's talking I'm like that ain't why I called your ass I'm

like I mean so after about three or four appearances I said look you got I need you to do you I said I invite your ass here be somebody else the person doing videos ever since then, oh, Lord. What my girl say, let your freak flag fly, let your cuss flag fly. Well, it goes back again in the book. I have a chapter about success, and there was three things that I was told. Be original, be authentic, and then be daring.

And when you look at folks, and particularly in our business, what you're doing, for example, nobody does this. It's original. You're authentic. When you see Roland Martin, you get Roland Martin. Your guests are all authentic. That's really the formula of success.

I say this, Roland, the one of the things I wanted the book to do was to be in my voice. And that was one of the most difficult things I had with the editor and Dr. Kenton because they started writing it in their voice. And I always go back to what Malcolm, somebody said about Malcolm X and Alex Taylor. Because Malcolm used to have to shape, you know, kind of shake up Alex Taylor. That's not the way, that's not what I'm thinking about. So I wanted it to be in my voice. The other thing I wanted was people to understand that you use your platform.

And I always remember something else. There's a chapter in there that the late professor Ron Walters said, and that was he gave a lecture and a student asked, he chastised students about moments. You go in, you have a demonstration, you leave. Right. Go back to the campus, go back to wherever. You just had a moment. Right. What moment? It was a moment. And so one student said, well, professor, what's the difference between a moment and a movement?

And he said, sacrifice. All movements in human history require sacrifice and sometimes that's what you did i had to sacrifice a job i tell this story in philadelphia it's my first full-time talk show uh i moved from detroit that was my political base. Children were born. I moved everybody to Philadelphia. And I was doing a show. Now get this. Midnight to 530 in the morning. And I was only black.

And I had the program director and the owner tell me. Now this is after. In Philadelphia. In Philadelphia. We're getting too many calls and letters because this is before social media. You're talking about black folk too much. And so, you know, you know me.

So the next day, I decided, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to interview two people, different viewpoints. So it was Ron Brown, because he was running to be chairman of the DNC, the first black chairman. So I had Ron Brown on one hour and then the next hour I interviewed Louis Farrakhan. I was gone. You say y'all want to see black? And then when I came to

you know, and then when I came, and then, and you talk, and you, oh, now I'm, and all of this is in the book. So I'm doing a TV that Gerardo was, this is when the, hey, the first beginning of talk radio. Right. And there was this argument about black folk, black folk, and talk radio, but there weren't a lot of black folk. And the program director of WABC, Geraldo asked him legitimately, why don't you have any black folk in New York, and you don't have a single black person?

And he said, oh, well, we have to think about it. And then somebody spoke up and said, well, you do have a black person, and I can't oh, well, we have to think about it. And somebody spoke up and said, well, you do have a black person. And I can't remember the man's name now. And he said, oh, well, we don't think of him as black. And that debate is what sort of got me into Washington. And because the program directors said, well, they don't want you in Philly We want you in Washington, but I did say this I'm not going here and replacing another black see they have one black And and and and I said so if you're going to hire me and fire her Then I don't want the job because I'm not gonna play that game, right?

This is and you know, it's it's about sacrifice and then take your platform and you do this all the time Go to a war zone incident. I swear I asked and Hirano can be upset if he wants to I've been in that war South Sudan for Gone back and forth at least six times. I kept asking people who had more resources than I had, come with me. I mean, he asked me, well, can we get in and out of South Sudan in a day? What hotel are we going to stay in? Excuse me, we're sleeping in the bush.

It's a war going on. Yeah. And, you know, he just walked away. He just walked away. And I think at the time he was with ABC. And then I've had some brothers who I've asked to go with me. And they would say, well, there's a war going on. You don't see the folks at CNN. Everybody's clamoring to get over there because there's a war going on. And the other final thing I wanted people to understand in the book was people tend to look at us as we are now.

Right. They see you. They say, oh, man, he's got a nice suit on. Brother, I was not born with this suit on. Right, right. I always say, everybody want to talk about Bishop T.D. Jakes today. They don't want to talk about when he was digging ditches in West Virginia. Or when I was 10 years old, my grandfather hauled trash. That's how he made a living, separated metals, paper.

And I worked with him. In those days, they called it a dump. Today, it's a landfill. And that's how I spent my summers. That's how I made my money in my summer. So in the book, I talk about going from working. And my grandfather's saying to me, you don't like this, do you? What is there to like?

No, hell no, I don't like this. And he said, well, then you got two choices, and that is you either go to the military, in those days he said the Army, or you go to college. But come 18, you're getting out of here. And I always, and I talk about in the book that I go from working in a dump to interviewing the first black president

of the United States in the Oval Office. And so I just want people to understand that none of us in this business, first, all of us in this business have to use our platform. And that's what you were talking about all this evening. You've got to use, everybody can do something. And that's been my

mantra. No matter who you are, everybody can do something. I can't do what you do. This place is, I mean, I wish people could see where I am. This is magnificent. Man, you ought to be renting this out to all kinds of folks. But everybody can do something.

The thing that you talked about being talk radio. The general public really doesn't think about this. How white folks absolutely dominate talk radio. Oh, yes. But not just talk radio. Sports talk radio. And so how talk radio, sports talk radio. And so how people, I tell people all the time, the media is the second most powerful institution

in the world. First being? Guns, the military. Get the guns, any coup is guns first, media second. And just what you said is what you do with it. So you've seen other folks and how they frame stories and how they've talked about stories and how they've talked about individuals. The white loud Republican, how he dog and Phyllis Randall. No, no, we're going to have Phyllis on. And again, it's framing. And I tell people all the time, you cannot ignore the reality

of how powerful media is in shaping the hearts and minds of the public. That's right. And the other thing I'll talk about, and that is, and this is what makes your show so fascinating and popular. You hear me say, put it where the

goats can get it. Yeah. I tell people that all around the country. I say, as Joe Madison says, put it where the goats can get it. I came, and I'm kind of intimidated with all these distinguished professors. I am absolutely, especially my man from Howard.

Oh, great. But let me tell you, let me tell you. I came back from college, and I believe it was a Thanksgiving dinner. My grandfather, Clarksdale, Mississippi, no more than a sixth-grade education. It wasn't because he was dumb. It was just what it was.

Jim Crow as well. Jim Crow, Jim Crow. And I'm trying to wax eloquently about what I, this philosophy teacher and dada. My grandfather looked, he said, Joseph, why don't you put it where the goats can get it? And I said, what the hell is he talking about?

It's an old country saying, goats eat down to the root. They go beyond the top and they go all the way down. And he said, if you can explain it to me so that I understand it, I imagine that teacher with a Ph.D. would probably understand, too. Right. This is what irritates me about all of these talking heads that, you know, that you see on news shows is they, you know, I just wish they would just plain, just somebody used to say, explain to me like I'm in the second grade. Yeah, it's real basic. Just basic. I mean, we used to always cross paths during Lou Dobbs' show when he was sane. He was at CNN.

People don't believe, but at one point he was sane. Lou Dobbs' show when he was sane. He was at CNN. People don't believe, but at one point, he was sane. Lou Dobbs was absolutely sane. Then he had a lobotomy and he lost his damn mind. Actually, it was talk radio that actually changed him. Yes, it was. When he got that radio show. When he got that contract. Because when he got the radio show, it was around the same time that Rush Limbaugh signed for $100 million.

And Lou, that's what caused Lou to lose his damn mind. So we used to always do these shows together. And you're absolutely right. One of the things that made me so popular on CNN, I told it straight. That's right. I mean, I wasn't sitting here. And it was a trip because they tried to change my wardrobe. Really?

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. They tried to change. They always wanted, Oh, yeah, absolutely. They tried to change. They always wanted, you know, this is how we do it. I said, whoa, let me explain something to y'all. I ain't them. I remember sitting on the set one day, and Joe Klein with Time Magazine was sitting there,

and someone said something. I said, look, I ain't him. I said, first of all, look at him. I said, he got dirt on his jacket. He wears some khaki pants and this boring-ass blue shirt. I said, I don't know about y'all, but shit, I'm clean. That ain't me. I said, I ain't going to never look like him.

So I don't care what that is. Because I used to have a clothes rack that was in my office. I had suits. I had shirts. I had cufflinks. And I would be on the air daytime and nighttime. And they would go, you wouldn't change clothes? I said, oh, a brother came wearing the same thing in primetime.

He wore it in daytime. They were always trying to figure out. I said, y'all, I'm going to do me. That's right. And I understood the audience, how to speak to the audience, and the reason that that thing I knew was a trip, 2008, the debates had already been scheduled. The first two debates, I had speeches.

I wasn't in the studio. Yeah, I heard you say that. And we lost the first two debates to CBS. So the third debate, I had another speech. I'm flying from speech. The president worldwide calls me. I get a voicemail., hey Roland, it's Jim. Buddy, nothing urgent, give me a call when you can.

When a worldwide CEO call you and say nothing urgent, you know it's urgent. Yeah, you know it. So I knew exactly, so I called my agent Mark Watson, said Mark, we probably gonna have to move that speech next week. I think he telling me we need you. And when I called him, he said, we need you on set.

Right. So I go on set, and that's when they had them huge panels. So they had about ten of us up there. No, it was nine. It was eight panelists. It was nine panelists. It was two anchors. They had eight seats.

I was like, so I'm standing up. Like, well, and I was like, who gonna be the first black person to see me, who called me or send me an email about me standing up? It was Spike Lee. Black man can't get a chair? So when the night was over, I was like, yo, what the hell was up with that?

They said, oh, no, no, no. We wanted everybody to see that you were here. Yeah. That's what they told me. Yeah. Again, that's when you understand how you have an impact on people, and it's who you're communicating with. You have been doing that.

But serious is one thing, but talk about, again, being in D.C. and dealing and talking just regular, ordinary folk, the folk like your grandfather, and how they have a commitment to say, we're going to ride with you, Joe. We got your back no matter what happens. Well, I think you get to a certain point where they just can't deny you. Look, they know your personality. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

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

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

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

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

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

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

subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You say you never give in to a meltdown and never fill your feed with kid photos. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it and never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car

and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. Professional. And I think there's the other issue. I'll say this. They know you'll walk out the door.

I mean, I will walk out the door. Can I add something, though? I need to get off that point. You were talking about Jackie Robinson. I think the piece she did was superb. I wanted to remind everybody

that this summer, Rachel Robinson is going to be 100 years old. Indeed. And if you're going to talk about Jackie Robinson, you've got to talk about Rachel Robinson. Mm-hmm. And I'll say this. This may tick a lot of people off.

I said it yesterday at George Washington University. They have a Jackie Robinson project that they won't fund. The university won't fund it. They have to raise their own money. And I said yesterday, you know, maybe if Will Smith

had just stopped and paused for a moment and thought about Jackie Robinson and what was said to Rachel in those stands. They called her everything but a child of God. And I said, and he had a bat in his hand. Yeah.

And maybe he just should have thought about Jackie Robinson and what was said about him and the woman he was married to until the day he died. Now, I know there's an argument about who should have slapped, who would not slap, and that kind of thing. And I personally also think that there ought to be curriculum in every college about

Jackie Robinson's legacy. Because it was more than just baseball. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, you read his book, I never had it made. He was a business person. I mean, these professors know better than I do. And was hardcore and challenged his own Republican Party. And there's another issue, too, I've been hitting on.

Fort Hood. You know, first of all, well, he was court-martialed. There is an effort and a petition to change the name of Fort Hood to the Jackie Robinson base. Yes. Look it up. And by the way, so let's start with who was Hood. He was a Confederate

general. He was a Confederate general who, by the way, quit the military. So I want the audience out there to go look it up, and I think that's one of the next things that they, since they're talking about changing the names

of these bases. And one of the hardest things to find is the TNT movie where Andrea Breyer played Jackie Robinson. It was called The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson. I have been, you cannot find that anywhere. I remember watching it. It may be still on VHS tape, but not even on DVD. I got some other questions. I'm going to bring in the panelists now so they can ask.

No, you didn't tell me. I got to take an exam. Yeah, you do. I ain't going to go to the professor first. We going to ease into it. The cusser,

the chief cusser on the filter, who's also a contributor on SiriusXM, the Clayusser, the chief cusser on Rolling My Under Filter, who's also a contributor on SiriusXM, The Clay Kane Show, Recy Colbert. Recy, your question for Joe Madison. Thank you for that wonderful introduction and dubbing me the princess of cussing. Joe Madison, it's such an honor to be in company with you on this show, so thank you for blessing us with so many gems. A question that I have for you is, you know, now I feel like news and our society and our attention span moves so fast.

You have such a long career. And I'm just curious, did it feel like that in the other kind of historic and significant eras that we've been through, that things were moving fast and it was easily forgotten, or does it feel a little bit different? Like we have to push harder to really get people to see the gravity and the momentous part of what we are experiencing.

And I have to apologize. Putting into context. I didn't hear the first part. Putting into context this moment, this moment that we're in, all the different things that are going on. How does it compare to other eras when you've been on? Nothing has really changed other than the characters and And also the means of communicating is a lot faster. I think

the reality is war is war. You know, inflation is inflation. Black folk have always had to survive, as Roland and all of you were explaining

in the first part of the show. It's something, maybe the best way to put it, like putting it where the goats can get it, it's Jim Crow's sophisticated cousin. I always refer to him as James Crow Esquire. Same attempts to maintain white supremacy. No ifs, ands, buts about it. It's just more sophisticated.

And they've learned a few tricks. But the reality is that it's just sophisticated. And we have to do more reading. We have to do more researching. And I also say this. It's, again, in the book Radioactive. It's cultural conditioning. Now what do I mean by cultural conditioning? And you've been saying this all morning, all evening long. America is culturally conditioned to believe that white is

superior, black is inferior, And the manifestation of that cultural conditioning is that blacks are undervalued, underestimated, and marginalized. And some of us are culturally conditioned to believe, to undervalue, underestimate, and marginalize ourselves. When you were talking about the monarchs, you can have both monarchs and blacks in Major League. I mean, but we have to recondition our culture.

And culture is the hardest. I say reprogram. But it's the same thing. And culture is the hardest thing to change. And on any, on any, on any, in any country, culture is the most difficult thing to change. But see, this is what you said about when you talked about, if Wilhett stopped and thought about Jackie Robinson,

it's about being intentional. Just what I was saying, when I was picking shoes, I could have said, I'm going to wear a white pair of shoes. No, no, no. I'm going to specifically wear those because they're a black-owned company. That means stopping yourself, thinking it through, taking that moment, thinking it through. No, I'm wearing these for a reason. And I think what happens is we have gotten, first of all, I tell people all the time,

we have to really not appreciate but understand how powerful white supremacy was in terms of how it's so deeply ingrained into our psyche and white folks that, yeah, we can look at something, and I get it all the time when where somebody's like, yeah, but we ain't gonna get you a real show. I'm sorry. What the hell is it? What you mean real?

And they really mean white. Yeah, I have a chapter in the book where I talk about, people always ask, how did you get the handle Black Eagle? And when I first started using that handle, folks went crazy on the radio.

I mean, these white people went nuts. Now, the managers didn't, because they're going to tell me I can't say it. And let me tell you how it came about. I was following Oliver North. We're in a meeting with a talk show consultant who was bragging about Oliver North. Oliver North had never done talk radio before. Oh, he's the Captain Kirk of this enterprise ship.

And I said, well, what are we? We're not oatmeal. I mean, what are we? And he brushed me off. So I left the meeting and got in the car with Dick Gregory. And I said, you know what? I think I'm going to start calling myself the Black Eagle. I'm in Washington.

National bird is the eagle. And I said, but have you ever heard of a Black Eagle? He said, no, but I think tomorrow morning we're going to be hearing about it. But guess what happened? I find that God is fake. I'm looking at National Geographic, and they do a special on eagles. And the biggest, largest bird, eagle species, is a black eagle. Wow.

And then you would have folks call in, white folks call in and say, well, if you're the black eagle, I'm the white pigeon. And I said, well, just remember, eagles eat pigeons. So, I mean, I just think

you have to be original, you have to be authentic, and you have to be daring. That is, and you know who told me that was Aretha Franklin. The queen. Because when you hear Aretha Franklin, that's who you hear, and you know it. And remember, she wasn't a big success when she first started out because she was doing other people's. She was doing covers. Covers. Covers. wasn't a big success when she first started out because she was doing other people's covers. When she decided to be authentic, that's when she became

a hit. That's why, and I say this, that's why I consider you a brother and a friend. You're authentic. And people need to understand that. You are authentic. folks just don't like it.

Just got to get used to it. Whatever. Yeah. Whatever. Terrain. Terrain. Terrain Walker. First of all, Joe, it's an honor and a privilege to be in the same space with you.

First of all, this is amazing. My question to you is, well, there has always been a history with black entertainers and black reporters and black radio people where they were the voices of the community and they were able to interpret world events to the community. And my question to you is, do you feel like some of that, like I said, is lost? How can we bring that back? How can we revitalize the idea of black people like yourself as only being the reals for the community

and interpreting black communities to the world, the world of black people? We've always had, we've always had in these cities, in each one of these cities, you had a black eagle, you had that voice. Yes. It could be a DJ, it could be a talk show host, it could be a Black eagle. You had that voice. It could have been a DJ. It could have been a talk show host. It could have been a columnist.

There was a congressman during Reconstruction period. He was known as the Black eagle. Yeah, go ahead. And you see, in many ways, that are sacrificing for the collective. And I'll add to what you said, Terrain, who are not all about getting them the check, but it's really about representing the people in the community. I don't know how to answer that.

I really honestly don't know. I think that's maybe one of the reasons I did the memoir, is what made you? What made you? You know, my grandfather, working with my grandfather in the trash truck. What made you was my minister at St. Margaret's Church, who was a brilliant man. What made you? It was a football coach who, by the way,

my first football experience, I got kicked off the team because I was active in large part in the black student movement. This is and some of you may know this. And that is we were we were trying to get black studies on these campuses. You know, brothers are getting kicked off the football teams around. Go read this around the country because they wore Afros or because there was a black student movement and ballplayers were looked up to and if you walked around campus maybe with a black band as part of the protest the coach would call you in and say you take that black band or you lose your scholarship and some folks wouldn't do it and they sacrificed their their scholarship. That's the best way that I can answer it.

Our perspective is what creates us. And our experience creates our perspective. And so I guess it was all the things I went through. And that's why it was a challenge writing this book, because I had to go back. And the editor kept saying, well, why did this happen? Why did that happen? And so it's based on your... I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

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Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. Why are you the way you are? Why are these professors the way they are? What makes you you? What makes you you? The way I would answer what Terrain asked is this way. I am who I am today because there was a black newspaper that I worked for. John Ware was a former city manager of Dallas.

He left to run a billion-dollar investment fund for Tom Hicks, a big private equity guy, later bought the Texas Rangers. When I was at Tom Jones' BlackAmericaWeb.com, and then when I got fired from there, and I was sitting here trying to do some other stuff, and I would call John. I would call John. And this is what John always said.

He said, Roland, it doesn't matter. Just get a platform that you control. So the way we do that terrain, we have to create the platforms. So when I launched this show, it was never going to only be me. The moment I launched, I said, I'm going to be the tent pole. I'm going to be the axis.

And so the people I bring on, then that's going to then create who stands out, create a show for them. So now Faraji has a daily show. Here was Faraji, a 25-year-old young brother from Baltimore, coming on my TV One show. And I was like, all right, he got something. He got something. And then I created Faraji. We're going to do this daily show.

And so bring him on. And then Greg. You know, Greg, I'm thinking about this. And this is, that wasn't even a Black Star Network. And even before Greg was doing what he's doing with Karen Hunter, we were talking about, okay,

we create this, but I got to build this first. And then, my wife's show, and then what Deborah Owens is doing, and then there are four or five other shows.

People be hitting me, rolling, a Weta Risi show. I'm like, calm down, y'all. Like, calm down. I got a plane. Everybody chill.

But that's really it. If we don't build the ecosystem terrain, then you're not going to have the voices because there has to be a place where who owns it gives you the freedom to develop your voice, cultivate your voice, cultivate your rhythm, your tone, all those different things. That takes time, and you ain't going to get it over there. It was Jonathan Rogers. Everybody, this is no disrespect. It was not Kathy Hughes. It was not Alfred Liggins. It was Jonathan Rogers, who was the founding CEO of TV One,

who said, I'm going to put you on. America needs to hear your voice, but we got to get the network built first. Jonathan got the job and called me. He called Royale's wife first, called me. TV One wasn't even named. But he told me that, but I had to be patient. That's how I got developed. The same thing happened with the SiriusXM.

I was on WOL Radio 1, and satellite radio was created. They did not have a black talk platform. Did not have one. And Nate Davis, brilliant. He was president. And no one thought that satellite radio would take off. You remember that? Nate Davis, y. He was president. Yeah. And no one thought that satellite radio would take off. You remember that? Nate Davis, y'all black. And Nate Davis, brilliant, just as quiet.

And he said, you know what? We need this channel. Because, you know, Sirius is like, I always look at it, it's like a bookstore. Yeah. And if you don't like what's on channel 26 or 126, go over to another, you know, I forget how many channels there are. So it's like if you don't like this book in this section,

then go to another section. And Nate Davis came to me and said, you know, we have got to have this platform like, and initially it was the power. Now, they know how I feel about that. It should have stayed the power. But, you know, some brother

came on and said, well, I don't like news and, you know, and the power sounds so 60-ish and I'm blowing them out, but that's okay. And say, let's change it to urban of urban view.

First of all, I hate when they slap urban on anything. I'm like, just say black shit. I hate, I hate. I can't stand when they throw urban in it or soul. But wait a minute. You got the Patriots channel.

Right. So that's the right wingers. You've got, what is it, Progress? Right. The liberal channel. Basically the liberal. Yeah, the POTUS channel. Politics of the United States.

Now, why can't you, and I've argued this, why can't you and I've argued this. Why can't you have the the the black channel with all these brilliant minds you have and call it the power? And so what I've been told is, you know, it is what it is now. You guys are really popular, so don't change it. And I'm saying, okay, I'm still going to cuss. No, I'm teasing. Dr. Greg Carr. Oh, I'm really intimidated now.

Oh, God. It's the opposite, Baba. I tell you, man, I could just sit here and listen to you all all night. I want to add my honor and respect to giving to you. Like Reesey and Terrain said, every time that I've been around you and seen you, it's just an honor, brother, sometimes to shake your hand and stand there and listen. I remember the first time I saw your studio in Sirius XM in D.C. I went down to do a Wilmer Leon show on the weekend.

We walked by. I said, that's where the Black Eagle sits. And I'll never forget that. But, you know, I guess my question is very broad, and it kind of echoes what Reesey was asking, Brother Madison. And I know my old classmate Dave Canton probably gave you hell because he liked me as an academic and tried to put words in your mouth and you had to get him straight

but he says in the beginning of your book there, Radioactive, he says you know, you always remind us to listen with our third ear. And so looking forward, and you and Roland are really talking about this, but I wonder what you see with your third eye what you hear with your third ear about the future of media generally. I don't know if radio will ever be displaced. I mean, we grew up, we all grew up on radio. Hearing your voice got us through many a challenge in our community. But I wonder as

you're looking forward with legacy media seemingly coming apart at the seams, you know, what do you see in terms of breaking through all the noise and really capturing the imagination of our people, particularly as it relates to information? And thank you for your continuing work, Bob. I'm with this whole piece about listening with the third ear and reading with the third eye. That came from an older politician. I remember the ride from Detroit to Lansing. He was a state senator.

And he said, look, young man, it's just brand new, running the NAACP. And he said, the best of, what's his name, Will Rogers. Will Rogers? He said, yes, there's a book out, read the best of Will Rogers. Now, who is Will Rogers. Will Rogers? He said, yes. There's a book out, read the best of Will Rogers. Now who is Will Rogers? Will Rogers was like the Johnny Carson of his day on radio. He was the one that would say, Congress is the second oldest profession. And people would listen to him.

Oh, homespun. Oh, yeah. But political humor. Yeah, he was. Now, the other thing he said was listen with a third ear and read with a third eye. See, and so to answer your question, too often and we take what we see and not realize what's really being done in the in the background that's that third eye that you that you see what is that news story what's really behind that news story so again what again you know radio will always be around I think it was a point in time where I think we used to say whenever people would take over a country, there would be a revolution. First thing they take over is the radio station.

Yeah, yeah. After the military, there's media. Yeah, they take over the radio station. And we see that. Radio station and newspapers. And so here's where I think it's going. And that is everybody now is a potential communicator. Yep.

Right with this. Everybody now is a, and we're seeing it. Like the story out of Michigan. Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids. And, you know, this guy, the passenger, became a reporter. There you go. He pulled out a young girl in Minnesota.

That's why I give lessons on the air saying, shoot horizontal, please, so it fills the whole screen up. Don't shoot vertical. We get the black bars. I tell everybody, shoot video, shoot like this. Now, the other thing is that, and I know folks like to criticize the younger

generation, but I tell you, you know, I did my hunger strike and folks thought I was crazy. But I knew what I was doing because Dick Gregory and I used to, he taught me how to do it and he taught me why you do it. You do it to get attention. You get it to

shape, to get the people. Now, we didn't get the legislation because we had two Democratic senators that just were traitors to our cause. But you know what we did? We woke up a younger generation. They now

know what a filibuster rule is. They now know how Congress works. Young folk went on hunger strikes that, you know, you couldn't get them to pass a fast food place. They realized we have to make sacrifices. We woke up a generation. And doctor, I will say this to you, and I say this with all due respect.

Quit talking about passing the torch. Now, I'll tell you why. I'm not going to pass my torch. I'm going to hold on to my torch. I'll light your torch. Right.

Because if I pass my torch on to you, I'm in the dark. Right. I'm in the dark. Right. I'm in the dark. See, I use the relay example. Thank you. You're in the relay.

This is what I explain to people. But you got to keep running. Right. First of all, right. You're running at the same time they're running. Right. When you stick it out, they have to reach back. And there's a point

when both of you are holding the baton at the very same time, and then you got to let that baton go. And that generation has to run faster than we did. There you go. So what I tell folks, I've always hated that phrase too. Even when I was folks, I've always hated that phrase too. Even when I was 20, 30, I hated that phrase because what it said to a lot of people is,

I'm just going to sit here and do nothing. I wish all people would get out of the way. We were on, I'll never forget, it was after Trayvon Martin, after the Zimmerman decision, he was found not guilty. And folks were just, I'll never forget, it was after Trayvon Martin, after the Zimmerman decision, he was found not guilty. And folks were just, they were shocked. I'll never forget that. I'll never forget the night. It was a Saturday night.

The Deltas had their national convention here. I was actually at their step show. And the theme just circulated. And about 3 o'clock in the morning, there were probably about 800 people around the world who were on the phone. The next night, it was like 2,000 people who were on the phone. People just wanted to talk. It was interesting.

They had no place to go. They were like, they wanted to go to some place to convene. And they basically turned to a talk show. What was a trip is that a group of black folks, folks 20, 30, 40s, started convening. It was very interesting. And so we were on these calls. And one and one of the things Joe about really smart people, they really smart people don't sometimes know how to slow down. So they're sitting here and they was like

we call for do this and do that and this and this and website it going on and so Jeff Johnson and I we're chilling. Jeff goes, folks, I'm just curious, who are we targeting? Who do we say we're speaking for? So Jeff and I, we started communicating on this deal. So that was this young lady who hit Jeff and she was like, I'm just, I'm tired of these old heads like rolling my, why is he on the call?

And Jeff said, he said, let me ask you a question. You think he Eric? And he's like, and? He said, but who else on the call has a national platform? Yeah, exactly. He said, he's the only one. Then he said, who else on this call if we needed somebody

to kick off what we were doing and put $10,000 on the table, who could do it and not blink? He said, why in the hell would you not want that person at the table? That's part of that whole thing

with this folk fighting and who I want in the room. I'm like, hey, if you got something to contribute, we all can be... Everybody can do something. Look, Rosa Parks lit my torch. In the book, we talk about, let me tell you, we boycotted the city of Dearborn. And because of an issue with a park.

Dearborn is not the Dearborn you know now. Right. It was a sundown town, a dusty sundown. And the black population was less than 1%. Some black folks, here's Dearborn, here's Detroit. You cross the street, you're in Dearborn. Some folks went over and got into a park shelter. People came in and said, well, you can't,

this is Dearborn Park. You can't have this. It was a public park. You can't use this shelter. People came in and said, well, you can't, these are, this is Dearborn Park. You can't have this. It was a public park. You can't use this shelter. And lo and behold, we're reading again, the newspaper of a good friend of mine. He worked at John Conyers office. Rosa Parks worked there. And he said, we got to do something about this. This is a public park. So we got together and said, okay, fine. We'll boycott the city of Dearborn. You know, they had a huge regional mall. Black folks were spending their money.

We did. And Rosa Parks said, I'll join you. Oh, okay. And so we decided, we took a lesson from Randall Robinson and the boycott of the South African embassy. We did it the day before Thanksgiving. Why? Media. Why?

You know why. Because Thanksgiving Day was going to be a slow news day. So Rosa Parks and Joe Madison gets arrested and Dearborn calls for a boycott. 70% it was instantaneous. It was spontaneous. People stopped shopping the next, what they call now

Black Friday. They stopped. Let me tell you who gave me more hell than anybody in Dearborn. The older black leadership. You did not get my permission to call a boycott. I was, because Henry Ford called all of the black leaders. Now, Coleman Young was mayor, and there

were some powerful black folk. I'm just a young 20-something NACP executive. I don't know. I wasn't even with, yeah, I was on the political department at the time. Yeah, because I was with Ben Hooks. They called me into a meeting. This was a Saturday morning. They have eggs, bourbon, and, you know, one of those meals, like a kitchen cabinet.

And there were some powerful folks. There was a federal judge, there was a mayor, there was a labor leader. Man, these were older brothers. Right. And they said, you know, you remind me of myself when I was your age but young man this is Coleman Young you got to you know you you didn't get my permission to call this boycott and you got Henry Ford pissed off at me and da da da da da and I said Mary Young with all due respect, I didn't think I needed your permission to call a boycott.

And I have it in the book. He looked me in the eye and said, Boy, you need my permission to fart in this city. But you know what? You can't stop it. Right. It's already happened. Too late.

It's too late. You got to call it off. And they tried to pressure us to call it off. It was too late. And the lesson I learned was boycotts are successful one of two ways. And Ben Hooks taught me this. They're either spontaneous or they're well planned. There you go.

And he told this group of folks who wanted me out of the city, we know it wasn't well-planned because y'all didn't help him. And he pulled me out of one of these meetings and said, no, he's not, because they said, get him out of town. And he said, he's not going anywhere.

Come on. He stood me up and said, come on, we're leaving. This is, and by the way, this is what young people need to understand. It's never been kumbaya. Never. We've always, you know, Dr. King wouldn't go on the freedom, the bus rides, on the freedom rides because he thought it was dangerous. Kennedy said, talk him out of it. Talk John Lewis out of it.

And they say we're still going. Yeah, and that's why all of this is in the book, and that's why it's radioactive. And I got that. I got to give credit to Ron Daniels, our brother Ron Daniels. He said, you know, you're just radioactive. And I always remember that from the good professor. We're going to go seven more minutes.

I know we're over. We're going to go seven more minutes. I know we're over. We're going to go seven more minutes. See, when you have your own show, you can do that. That's true. That's true. And also, I got to pay overtime. So I'm going to do this. So the panel, you're going to have another question.

I'm going to ask a couple first. First, who black gave you the most difficulty interviewing them? They were like just getting on your damn nerves and you had to just like, where it got contentious, it got hot. Nobody. So was there anybody, did you have any interview where it was a battle?

It was a battle. You know, that's what's interesting. I hadn't thought about that, but I can't think of anybody, like you said, who was black. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 Thank you. We'll see you next time. or let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock.

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