#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Rev. Jackson steps down;Ala. ignores Black voters;Texas A&M ripped over treatment of Black professor

Episode Date: July 18, 2023

7.17.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Rev. Jackson steps down;Ala. ignores Black voters;Texas A&M ripped over treatment of Black professor Explosive reports suggest that former President Donald Trump and his allies are already strategizing their plans if they were to secure the White House in 2024 to expand presidential power. We will break it all down. A shocking move by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents" left renowned Journalists Kathleen McElroy without a job because of concern about McElory's past work on race and diversity. Today we will speak to a Texas State Representative working to make things right. Secondly, a significant development over the weekend as Rainbow Push's founder Jesse Jackson stepped down and Rev. Frederick Haynes III was named to lead the Rainbow PUSH. We'll bring you exclusive interviews and footage from the organization's 57th annual conference with Vice President Kamala Harris in attendance. And an update on the missing Alabama woman Carlee Russell. She returned home safe and sound after being missing for over two days. We share the details about her miraculous return. Recent studies show that skin cancer is the most common type in the US, but racial disparities in outcomes are prevalent. A family Medicine Specialist joins us to discuss the findings and why it matters. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. "See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war.

This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real.

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today is Monday, July 17, 2023. Coming up on Roland Martin on the Pulse 2, streaming live on the Black Star Network. There's a new leader of Rainbow Push Coalition. Reverend Frederick Douglass Haynes III yesterday

was named to replace Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr., who's not retiring, but he's pivoting. I was in Chicago for the announcement. Also, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke as well. We'll hear from Reverend Jackson, from Reverend Haynes, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris and others about this historic transition. I've been telling y'all what's going to happen if Donald Trump gets back into the Oval Office. The New York Times has a report laying out how they want to greatly expand presidential powers and literally destroy this country.

Hashtag, we tried to tell you. Tried to tell you, y'all. Also, a shocking move by the Texas A&M University Board of Regents left renowned journalist Kathleen McElroy without a job because of concern about her past work on race and diversity. Today, we'll talk with a Texas State representative working to address the issue. Yeah, yeah, we'll talk about that, y'all.

Of course, more drama there when it comes to race inequity. And also an update on the missing Alabama woman, Carly Russell, she returned home safe and sound after being missing for two days. We share the details about her return, but some are asking questions, what happened? Recent studies for the skin cancer is the most common type in the united states but racial disparities in the outcomes are prevalent we'll

talk to a family medicine specialist about that it is time to bring the funk i'm roland mark nunn filter the black star network let's go he's got whatever the piss he's on it whatever it, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks, he's rolling. Yeah, yeah.

It's Uncle Roro, y'all. Yeah, yeah. It's Roland Martin. Yeah, yeah. It's Roland Martin. Yeah, yeah. Rolling with Roland now. Yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin now. Martell! Folks, River Jesse Jackson Sr. today,

not today really, he's not leading the Rainbow Push Coalition. Yesterday in Chicago, the public announcement that Reverend Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes III is going to be the new president of Rainbow Push effective immediately. More than 1,000 people were gathered yesterday at the Apostolic Church of God for the announcement, but also to hear Vice President Kamala Harris. Of course, Reverend Jackson has been on the forefront for six decades. He has Parkinson's disease, and that is having, of course, an impact on his health. Yesterday, he made clear that he was not retiring.

He was simply pivoting. Here's what he said yesterday to the folks gathered. I am somebody. Respect me. Protect me. Nothing neglect me. I am somebody. And my mind can conceive it. My heart can believe it. I know I can achieve it. I am God's child, not a federal slave. I'm God's child.

I'm God's child. I'm God's child. I'm God's child. Stop the violence. Save the children. Stop the violence. Save the children. We're yellow, brown, black, and white.

We're all precious in God's sight. Everybody is somebody. Keep hope alive. Keep hope alive. Let me hear you scream. Thank you. All right. Kind of do this for Mark. Please be seated today, if you will.

With Byron Brady, who I've grown up with, Prince's father and his mother, to a great church and made it even greater, give him a pass of By made it even greater. Give him a pass the baton, Gregory, please. A man who has been by my side for 62 years now since we were both children. Jackie, please Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The man today who I'll recommend based upon the board's work as a successor about work here in Chicago and around the nation. I'm not retiring. I am pivoting to another. Yay! Yeah. Another platform I want to teach in the university. Teach young seminarians and preachers how to fight for social justice.

A bomb fell in Tulsa, Oklahoma and killed Black Wall Street and the ministers there have heard it but don't know how to fight it. Bishop Brazier at T.W. told us how to fight. We should carry on the fight tradition of Bishop Brazier. Big hand for Bishop Brazier, please. Thank you. One of the beloved classmates I met in Minnesota Corps one night, Bishop Amos Brown from San Francisco. We have a lot to say today and a lot to do. Same thing going on, Dr. King spoke August 20, 1963.

One black official crossed the whole aisle. Same thing going on, Dr. King spoke August 20th, 1963. One black official crossed the whole aisle. One black official, say something to Leroy Johnson. One man can make a difference. One person can make a difference. Yes sir! He was the hero of ours. He was the classmate of Dr. King's.

Since he was in Georgia and ax hounds and less somatics. Elected not because he was qualified to do anything, but he just held the ax handle and said black, he didn't hear, he didn't have an ax handle. So what happened was his son got in trouble and Leroy Johnson said he deserves a second chance. Look how Thomas is, he gets how mean he has been. Tuesday he went down to the Mass office and said, I need to see you.

I said, I want to thank you for blessing my son. He's not going to jail. He said, well, my friend, he's a, how big is your friend? His name is Muhammad Ali. I said, well, if I do that, I'll get in trouble with the Klan. You promise? I'll get in trouble with a lot of people, and I'll bail you out, your son out, too. Next day, I said, well, I changed my mind.

The Klan stood up for me. So we go to the Sanders lawsuit. We got back in the ring because one man threw in the whole Klan. One light in darkness means so much. One light in darkness was Jackie. Stand up, Sam Jack again. Give it up, give it up.

I went to Cuba first. Went to Palestine first. went to Palestine first, went to Africa first. There's been a lot of firsts in my life. For two years, I've got to thank you so much. I'm almost half my wife, y'all. Thank you. My people, we need healing today.

I've been so ugly and so violent. My people will call by my name and I'm going to pray. Seek my face. Turn me away from the waves. The weakness will make us strong. The weakness will reject us. And if that be true, we'll hear from heaven. Oh,

we'll hear from heaven. We'll hear from heaven today. Repeat it, my people. My people. Call by my name. Call by my name. Call by myself. And pray.

Seek my face. Call by my name. Call by myself. Call by myself. And pray. Pray. Seek my face. Seek my face. Turn the wicked ways. Turn the wicked ways. Go with God's prayer. Go with God's prayer. Heal our land.

Heal our land. God bless you, Chicago. The beginning of Rainbow Push's convention, that really kicked it off. And one of the folks who was there to address the attendees, but also to honor Reverend Jackson, is someone who has known him for quite some time. That is Vice President Kamala Harris. He has reinforced that no matter who we are

or where we come from, we have so much more in common than what separates us. The point is that if we as a society are to come together, to work together, to fight together in common cause for the freedom, rights, and justice of all people, we must make our communities stronger. We must build a stronger nation. And as a result, we will have a stronger democracy and a stronger world. And it is with this understanding, this vision, to see what can be unburdened by what has been, that Rev has dedicated his life to building that coalition. From Washington, D.C. to California, from the Mississippi Delta to Appalachia,

from South Africa to the South Side of Chicago, he has and continues to bring together people of all backgrounds, Black Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans, farmers, LGBTQ plus Americans, Native Americans, women, labor, union members, people with disabilities, our young leaders and people around the world. That has been the work of Reverend Jesse Jackson. And early on, just think about it, early on he even had the audacity to name this coalition the National Rainbow Coalition. Think about that. He defined the rainbow. He was one of the first to define the rainbow. A coalition to push the values of democracy and liberty and equality and justice, not from the top down, but from the bottom up and the outside in. He has built coalitions that expanded who has a voice and a seat at the table. And in so doing,

he has expanded our democracy, the democracy of our nation. And he has done this work his whole life, always understanding that being clear-eyed is so important, and in particular, the importance of living in a way that we understand we must be present if we are to have a future. He has always been clear-eyed about the moment we are in. Think about it as an 18-year-old at the height of segregation, Rev brought people together at the Greenville Public Library sit-in. And he continued this work around the country and around the globe, whether it was to expand rights for farm workers and increase wages for care workers, to increase access to capital for small business owners, to make boardrooms on Wall Street reflect the diversity of our nation, or to help end the sin of apartheid, to help secure the relief of hostages and empower entrepreneurs across the United States and the continent of Africa and the world. This is the span of his work. And it is the span of his vision of what an individual can do to move forward our nation and the world.

And I will tell you, Rev's work inspired me from a young age to understand the power of the coalition. So I grew up in a neighborhood of hardworking folks, nurses and firefighters and construction workers and teachers in Oakland and Berkeley, California. I was raised by parents who met while they were protesting for civil rights in the 1960s and who would take me to those marches while I was in a stroller. At the earliest stages of my life, I recognized the power of standing in solidarity at a protest or a picket line. And later, I saw the power of Rev's coalition when I was in law school. So when I was in law school, I was back in California after I left Howard and I drove a Toyota Corolla. It was a fancy car for me. And I had a bumper sticker in the back window. Jesse Jackson for president. And so I would drive back and forth from Oakland, where I lived, to San Francisco, where I went to school.

And I would drive across the Bay Bridge, if anybody knows the Bay Area. And I'll tell you, I was so struck and impressed when the first time that I did that drive with that bumper sticker, the number of truck drivers and people in other cars who would honk their horn or throw a thumbs up sign, people of every walk of life. And I was so struck by that coalition that I saw as we were all commuting to and fro, who understood Rev's vision, one in which all people can dream about their future with ambition and aspiration, no matter the color of their skin, the place of their birth, the God they worship, or the people they love. That has always been part of the strength and the brilliance of Rev's work. Those folks, I believe, they were honking and throwing a thumbs up

in favor of fighting for freedom and for opportunity. Powered by his vision and the coalition that believed in it, Rev ran for president in 1984 and again in 1988, winning 13 primaries from South Carolina to Alaska. Let us remember that. And something that she made perfectly clear after that was that were it not for Reverend Jackson running, she would be Vice President.

Obama also would not have been elected in 2008. Going to a break, we come back and we'll hear from the new president of Rainbow Push, Reverend Frederick Douglas Haynes III. Also from several others who were there, including Congressman Jonathan Jackson, Reverend Amos Brown, Reverend James Meeks, but also Statistic Representative Justin Jones.

You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network, folks. I can tell you right now, it's a whole bunch of people out here who talk about their black-owned media, new black media. They weren't there. And so this is why it's important for you to support us in what we do because we cover the news that matters to us. Download our Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung, Smart TV. You can also join our Bring the Funk fan club. Your dollars make it possible for us to do what we do.

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you can watch our 24-hour streaming channel. We're also now on the Plex streaming fast channel. So if you go to Plex, simply search for Black Star Network. Look us under live TV news and opinion. And be sure to get a course copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at bookstores nationwide. We'll be right back. For decades, the tobacco industry has deliberately targeted black communities and kids with marketing for menthol cigarettes.

It's had a devastating impact on black health. Tobacco use claims 45,000 black lives every year. It's the number one cause of preventable death. In the 1950s, less than 10% of black smokers used menthol cigarettes. Today, it's 85%. Menthol cools and numbs the throat, making it easier for kids to start smoking. Menthol also increases addiction, making it harder for smokers to quit. Menthol cigarettes are a big reason why black Americans have a harder time quitting smoking

and die at higher rates from smoking- diseases like cancer, heart disease and stroke. It's time to stop big tobacco from profiting off black lives. An FDA ban on menthol cigarettes will improve black health, save lives and protect future generations from addiction. Learn more at tobaccofreekids.org slash bandmenthal. Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punches! A real revolutionary right now. I thank you for being the voice of Black America.

All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between black star network and black owned media and something like cnn you can't be black owned media and be scared it's time to be smart bring your eyeballs home you dig hey what's up y'all i'm devon frank i Dr. Robin B., pharmacist and fitness coach, and you're watching Roland Martin. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

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

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

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

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

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

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brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. So, folks, as a part of yesterday's events was the first time the public heard from Reverend Frederick Douglas Haynes III as a new president of Rainbow Push Coalition. Here's some in his shoes. His shoes are too large. They've taken us so far from the streets of Greenville, South Carolina, to the south side of Chicago, to the road to Damascus, to the cold mountains of Russia, to those who were struggling and suffering in Armenia. He's been right there speaking truth to power, empowering the powerless. His shoes are quite large. And so Reverend Jackson, thank you for where your shoes have taken us. Thank you that your shoes have injected in the veins of a people who have suffered from what Frantz Fanon called systemic negation and yet you dare to tell us that we are somebody and as you gave us

a sense of somebody-ness you also gave us the power to declare respect me protect me never ever neglect me because I am somebody I am God's child thank Thank you, Reverend Jackson, because your shoes have gone there. Your shoes have taken us there. But not only have your shoes taken us places reminding us that we are somebody, but thank you that in 1984 and 1988, you dared to have a nation that had too much death dealing, a nation that had so many of us in despair because of the pushback against the progress of the civil rights movement. And yet you took the baton of freedom fighting from the hand of the drum major for justice, Martin Luther King Jr. And you dare to say to a nation, go ahead and keep hope alive. And so because of you, hope has been kept alive. We thank you, Reverend Jackson, because you have brilliantly

continued the prophetic tradition of reuniting in a holy wedlock Jesus and justice. He recognized, Reverend Jackson does, that our Jesus was born homeless in Bethlehem. Our Jesus had to deal with a death sentence of genocide through public policy. Our Jesus found himself going from Bethlehem to the hood in Nazareth, where he was able to hide there in North Africa. Our Jesus found himself then growing up in Nazareth that was so good that somebody said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? And if NWA was rapping in the days of Jesus, they would have dropped an album entitled Straight Outta Nazareth. Our Jesus gave free health care to those with pre-existing conditions. Our Jesus took a two-piece and five biscuits and gave food to those who were food insecure. Our Jesus led a march on Washington. We like to call it

a Palm Sunday processional. No, it was a march. It was a demonstration against the Roman occupation and oppression. And our Jesus, when the crowd told the kids to chill out and quit making noise, Jesus said, no, the only way to get attention of the power structure is to make some noise. And Jesus made noise until he was lynched on a cross on Calvary. And when he got lynched on a cross on Calvary, the good news is y'all know I'm a Baptist preacher, Dr. Brazier. So I got to go there early Sunday morning. God raised him from the dead. And the brilliant theologian Juergen Moltmann says that the resurrection is a protest symbol. So every time we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, it's a symbol of protest.

And what Reverend Jackson did was say faith without works is dead. It's not enough to shout in church on Sunday. You've got to hit the streets during the week. You've got to speak truth to power in the corporate suites. Thank you, Reverend Jackson, for reuniting Jesus with justice. But not only that, thank you so much, Reverend Jackson, because we find ourselves sadly in a day where the courts are doing everything in their power to remind us that everything legal ain't necessarily just. Yes, what has been passed by the Supreme Court is now law. It is legal. But we all know that everything that's been legal has not been just. Slavery was legal, but God knows it wasn't just. Jim and Jane Crow apartheid was legal, but God knows it was not just banning affirmative

action may be legal, but God knows it is not just, but I'm glad I'm standing on the shoulders of a Jesse Jackson who says when they ban affirmative action, we've still got action that is affirmative. Our action that is affirmative can push this administration to expand a Supreme Court that is not normal. Yes, we have our own affirmative action, and that is we can register and vote, mobilize our vote, get out the vote vote and then turn them out. In the name of Parliament Funkadelic, we gonna turn this mother out because we've got action that is affirmative even though you tried to ban affirmative action. Yes, I'm simply trying to say thank you Reverend Jackson. You've shown us how to do it. I guess I'll quit with this and that is all of us

know. And if you don't know, now you know that Reverend Jesse Jackson in 1988 saw during the Democratic primary that there was something unjust about the fact that he had received these votes, but was not receiving representation. What did Reverend Jackson do? He changed the rules. I'm about to shout you. He changed the rules. Reverend Jackson changed the rules in 88 and because he changed the rules in 88 in 08 Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination. Y'all miss your shout. I got to help you one more time.

Because he changed the rules in 88, he opened up a door of possibilities in 2008. If we are going to honor the legacy of Jesse Jackson. Stand on his shoulders, y'all. It's rule changing time. It's time to change the rules until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream. It's rule changing time. We've got to change the rules

until structures and systems of injustice are brought down. It's rule changing time because if we change the rules, we will get rid of economic exploitation. And as Reverend Jackson would often say, we won't get charity because we'll already have parity. Preach Jesse Jackson. We about to change these rules because when we change the rules, we in a real sense will recognize if you're going to ban books but not ban AK-47s, then we need to change the rules. It's rule-changing time. It's rule-changing time. And so Rainbow Push, it's about to go down like four flat tires because we are standing not in the shoes of Jesse Jackson, but on the shoulders of Jesse Jackson. That means we should be able to see further. That means we should be able to stand taller because it's rule changing time. It's law changing time. And we're going to change laws and ensure that we have those in

power who do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. We're going to change these rules. And when we change these rules, we shall overcome. Y'all didn't feel that. So I got to go with Kendrick Lamar all my my life I had to fight. But if God's got us, we're going to be all right. Because we are about to change the rules. Peace. Folks, going to break. We come back.

We'll hear from several of pastors, politicians who were there. 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. 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 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. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives.

Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. As well, talk about what is next for Rainbow Push Coalition with our panel. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Blackstar Network. Early days in the road, I learned, well, first of all, as a musician, I studied not only piano, but I was also drummer and percussion. I was all city percussion as well. So I was one of the best in the city on percussion.

There you go. Also studied trumpet, cello, violin, and bass, and any other instrument I could get my hand on. And with that study, I learned again what was for me. I learned what it meant to do what the instruments in the orchestra meant to each other in the relationships. So that prepared me to be a leader. That prepared me to lead orchestras

and to conduct orchestras. That prepared me to know, to be a leader of men, they have to respect you and know that you know them. You have to be the teacher of the music. You have to know the music better than anyone. There you go. Right, so you can't walk in unprepared. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence.

You are not loyal, you will not repent. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. 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 fear. Hello, I'm Paula J. Parker. Trudy Proud on the Proud Family. I am Tommy Davidson.

I play Oscar on Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. Hi, I'm Jo Marie Payton, voice of Sugar Mama on Disney's Louder and Prouder, Disney+. And I'm with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. Folks, again, this is a huge transition that takes place. One of the folks you heard Reverend Jackson mention was Reverend Amos Brown out of San Francisco, who is the spiritual mentor of Reverend Haynes,

also the pastor of Vice President Kamala Harris. I chatted with him and others about what took place yesterday and what the future holds for Rainbow Push. Alright, Reverend Brown, just your thoughts on Reverend Jackson pivoting and being replaced by one of your sons in ministry, Reverend Haynes. Well, as Reverend Haynes so eloquently said in his sermon, we are blessed this day to say that we are standing on the shoulders of Dr. Jesse Lewis Jackson.

And his stepping on those shoulders brings great joy to my heart. For I succeeded his father as pastor of the great Third Baptist Church of San Francisco, and I licensed and ordained Dr. Haynes to ministry. He is the blessing and the answer for these challenging and crucial times. And he will be able to wear that mantle well as a scholar, as an activist, and as a man of prayer and a family man. We can never say too much about how the Holy Spirit and faith is moving in our behalf to bring these traditions together. The oldest predominantly black Baptist church in the western United States also has the in 84 and 88, we hosted him there. So God is moving in a mysterious and wonderful way, and we are going to save the day and ultimately help to save the soul of this nation when we work as a team.

We'll push Rainbow and all of our civil rights groups working together to get our people registered to vote and to turn them out to vote in a marvelous and creative way that will say miracles are happening today and not just

in yesterday's. But we're going to be that miracle through the power of God. There we go. Alright, Doc. I appreciate it be that miracle through the power of God. There we go. All right, Doc. I appreciate it. All right. Thanks a bunch. Thanks, all.

Good work you do. I appreciate it. All right. Reverend Meeks, today was a momentous day, to say the least. It was a momentous day. Reverend Jesse Jackson has done something that probably will not be repeated again, and that's held this mantle for over 60 years. But he passed it on to another giant,

and Frederick Douglass Haynes turned this place out. He is capable of doing it, but not just speaking to an audience and making us excited. He's capable of carrying this mission forward, opening up the doors to economic justice, restoring some rights that are being taken away from African Americans.

And I was glad to hear him say all of those things because I know they're in his mind. We have some work to do and who better to get behind than Frederick Douglass Haynes. You've been a long time board chair. You stood at Reverend Jackson's side for a long time and he You've been longtime board chair. You stood at Reverend Jackson's side for a long time.

And he anointed a whole bunch of folk, including you, to replace him. But he finally released that steering wheel. Well, I'm 66. I'll be 67 this year. I don't think that a 67-year-old man should be taking over anything. But Freddie Haynes is young in spirit. And he's nationally known. Preachers know Freddie all over the country. Freddie has spoken all over the country.

This is his moment. And we've been waiting for him. And we thank God for Reverend Jackson. I hope that Reverend Jackson actually steps away for a while and give Freddie his marching orders and let him run. And you know what that feels like because you recently stepped away as senior pastor of Salem Baptist Church,

and it's not easy, but that's how a church or organization has to continue moving forward. It's hard rolling. Every Sunday morning I get up and my car almost head in that direction. I miss the people. I hope they miss me. But I don't want them looking over Charlie Dates' shoulders at my reaction, what I might be doing, what I might not be doing.

And I don't want to be there with an opinion, because I'll have one, of how things should go. When a person comes in to lead, they should be given that opportunity to lead. And congratulations to you on Roland Martin Unfiltered and all the work that you've done, all the followers that you've accumulated. I'm glad Freddie gave you that shout out because you are our media and we need you.

I appreciate it. Always good to see you. One of my former pastors, and Freddie was my former pastor as well. So good company. All right. We love you. I appreciate it. All right. Appreciate it. Good see you. One of my former pastors, and Freddie was my former pastor as well. So good company. All right. We love you. Thank you so much.

I appreciate it. All right. Appreciate it. Good seeing you. Just your thoughts about Reverend Jackson pivoting, not retiring, but also Reverend Frederick Haynes taking over. I just think it's so important that we as this rising generation involved in this ongoing civil rights movement recognize our elders, those elders who open doors.

As the youngest black state representative in Tennessee, I would not be here without the courage, the conviction, the trailblazing of Reverend Jesse Jackson. We just know that he's pivoting, but we know you can never retire from a lifetime of a legacy of liberation, of the work continues, and we know that we're at a time where states like mine, they're trying to bring us back in history. And so we know it's so crucial that we're connected intergenerationally, that we build this rainbow coalition across this nation and challenge white supremacy, challenge the extremists like Trump and DeSantis and governability of Tennessee and stand up to say that it's our time now to continue to keep hope alive in this time and era. All right. Appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Good seeing you. All right, folks, here with Congressman Jonathan Jackson. This obviously is a moment.

I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1.

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

And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives this is kind of star-studded a little bit man we got 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. We ask parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Your dad said he's not retiring, he's pivoting. That's dead. You know, he's a minister, and he's also a civil rights worker, activist. Two professions you don't retire from.

So it's a calling from God. It's a commitment. And he's going to stay on there so long as God gives him breath to breathe and energy. So the fight is on. He wished he could do more. But with what he has, he's never giving up. And he's been a long-distance runner since 1961, since he was arrested for going to an all-white high school,

that something was ignited in his soul from the church about human dignity. And he's always upheld those virtues to make America better. And so I'm so proud of him. One of the things that is important, and I talk about this all the time, is transitions are important. And I believe one of the greatest failures in many of our churches and organizations is that we build things, but we don't prepare them for the next generation. And so talk about why the transition, why that is so important to tap the next leader, the next generation.

Well, I would also add to that the attacks on us are ferocious and they are relentless. And so many organizations try to. It's very difficult. The attacks on our citizenship are unprecedented and they don't stop after every consecutive generation. Citizenship are unprecedented and they don't stop after every consecutive generation Here we have a Supreme Court on June 29th of 2023 that cited the 14th amendment and its race consciousness on having equal protection under the law for all Citizens they went back to 1868

And we've had an attendance today vice president Kamala, who has now 31 times had to cast a deciding vote as her role as the President of the United States Senate. That hasn't been done since 1830, since 1822. I mean, almost 190 years ago. We're living in unprecedented times. And the attack Harvard University founded in 1636 and the University of North Carolina founded in 1789. It is hard to sustain these organizations. But the hope that we have to have

is it's those beneficiaries, mostly in large part, our community that's in business, that have finished school, that have military careers. This is our class of people that has to be engaged in the fight for social justice. They're attacking the head of our community. Those that are calling themselves middle class that don't want to be poor, the attack is on. Affirmative action in Gorsuch's dependence will not be narrowly defined. He wants raised consciousness and employment and contracts, university hiring across the board eliminated.

Who does that affect? That's us, but also white women. We need them to stand up. Yes, sir. 100%. They've been the greatest beneficiary, no doubt. Right. Always good to see you, man. Great to see you, and I thank you for coming out. Appreciate it. Thank you for your friendship and your support, and love your journalism. I watch you all the time.

All right, folks. In the next hour, we're going to hear from Reverend Frederick D. Haynes III, my interview with him. Let's go to our panel right now. Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Dean of College of Ethnic Studies out of Los Angeles. She was there yesterday on the Rainbow Pushboard, so she knows all of this well. She can give us some insight into why Pastor Haynes was chosen. Randy Bryant, she, of course, is the DEI disruptor out here making all her corporate people all upset. Makongo Dabinga, professor of electors, School of International Service, American University.

Glad to have all three of you here. So, Julianne, again, you've seen this from the inside. Why is Haynes the best choice to lead Rainbow Push today? Roland, literally right next door, I'm here at the University of Chicago, where we're having a sports and education banquet in about an hour. And right next door, folks are meeting, and Freddie is in the room, Reverend Haynes is in the room, talking about next steps. The fact is that not only is Reverend Haynes, who is a homeboy, Amos Brown, Reverend Brown, you had on. That was, you know, San Francisco, Third Baptist Church, and, you know, I'm a native San Franciscan. Reverend Brown has been all that.

Freddie's dad was all that, and Freddie, of course, is all that. He's not just an excellent and outstanding orator, but he has connections to churches all over the country. And that's what is really important. Next door, Gigi Dixon from Wells Fargo is sitting—that was Wells Fargo. I'm sorry, I got the bank wrong. Wachovia is sitting with our team talking about how we pivot from this moment of transition to the organization building. Reverend Haynes is more than capable of doing that work. And he has the unanimous support of the board. You know, there are four boards. I'm the president of PushXL, which is an education arm.

But we also have Citizens Education Fund. We have People United that Yusuf Jackson leads. And so we literally—the board is unanimous. There was not even—when Freddie's name came up, there wasn't even a question. That was like it. He really can do the work. He's got the energy, the enthusiasm, but even more than that, the passion for social and economic justice, which is what we're all really talking about. Reverend Jackson

has served his whole life, really, since he was 18 years old, trying to go to that library where they wouldn't let him in. But he's served more than five decades, and that's what people are talking about now. What's next? Freddie had the metaphor right. It's not stepping into his shoes. It's standing on his shoulders, standing proud with Reverend Jackson. And so, you know, the inside poop is there's no poop. Everybody's excited about what's going to happen next. And we're all really dedicated to basically the challenge is going to be, of course, Reverend Jackson is larger than life. And all too often, too many of us have let him lead and not, you know, he's intimidating, of course, in a good way. But, you know, you don't necessarily

have an opinion. Well, I do. But a lot of folks just keep themselves quiet. Now we've got to be a team. We've got to come together. We've got to surround Reverend Haynes. We've got to support him and we've got to move to the next level. It's not just about scholarships. It's also about programming. It's about justice. When we talk about, again, organizations, I've long said, whether it's black media institutions, HBCUs, black organizations. You have to have proper transitions so you don't waste all of that building that took place over two, three, four, five, six decades. And it's frustrating. We see it happen time and again where people are put in situations where

they have to basically reinvent the wheel. So with Reverend Jackson stepping aside into this particular role to be able to stay there as an elder, to provide the guidance for the new leadership, it's very powerful. And I gotta say, I'm really inspired by this transition because growing up, honestly, I started to, many people like my generation, youth generation, started to feel like the Black church and other groups weren't really paying attention to us.

And so when I hear, you know, this new leadership, speaking to the youth, being able to quote the hip hop, but also the scripture and also talk about the history, this is the new leadership that we need for the fight that we are in right now. Somebody who can be part of that multinational, multiracial coalition that's really going to be engaged in the fight. And so when you see Representative Justin there as well, this is just the best time. And I think that this speaks to Reverend Jackson's brilliance, as he's been brilliant throughout the whole time, to see that I can put this, you know, this new face can come with the energy and the

support, as Dr. Malveaux was talking about, from everybody to get out there in the fight. And I can still be here as the elder, because that disconnect between the elders and the younger generations is where we have floundered sometimes. And so I'm very excited to see what's to come and wishing the Jackson family all the best in this new role that he's stepping into. Economics, economics, that really was one of the messages there, Randy. And when you look at what's happening with corporations stepping away from DEI, look, that's going to be the next fight. These Republican attorney generals sending that letter to 100 corporations, challenging them. And so it is about silver rights, not necessarily civil rights.

Absolutely right. And that's what I was just so excited listening to the speeches, just as the brother of our brother just said, that they are looking at what's happening right now. They are paying attention to our needs right now and speaking to this generation because that's who's going to be affected by what's happening and what's going on. So, yes, we have to look at how these changes are going to affect money. And so that will also speak to everyone. I believe that oftentimes we've gotten separated from the church. A lot of younger folks did get separated from the church. So you have to speak to the issues that are going to affect them. Hold tight one second, folks. And we talk about, again, how we're impacted economically. We'll talk next about the continuing drama at Texas A&M over the total mistreatment of

a black professor. We'll talk to State Representative Ron Reynolds, who leads the Black Caucus there in Texas. Also, we'll talk about Ben Crump signing on as a lawyer for several Northwestern football players, alleging racist treatment and hazing that led to the oust of the football coach there. We'll talk about Alabama. Also, why are the races in Alabama

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

Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Order them to. That and lots more we'll cover right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, you're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. A lot of stuff that we're not getting, you get it, and you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us.

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Zelle is Roland at rolling s martin.com coming up next on the frequency right here on the black star network shanita hubbard we're talking about the ride or die chick we're breaking it down the stereotype of the strong black woman some of us are operating with it as if it's a badge of honor. Like you even hear black women like aspiring to be this ride or die chick, aspiring to be this strong black woman at their own expense. Next on The Frequency right here on the Black Star Network. Hey, what's up, y'all? I'm Devon Franklin. It is always a pleasure to be in the house.

You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay right here. It's been more than a week since Texas A&M reneged on an offer to Kathleen McElroy, the distinguished professor of journalism, a graduate of the university as well. And it's led to a lot of outrage among black former students and others as well who are not black.

Of course, I called on football players not to sign with Texas A&M as part of this until the Board of Regents apologizes to her, until they put the original deal back on the table. Black state legislators have also not been happy with what has taken place. Ron Reynolds, he is the chair of the Texas Black Caucus, state representative there in Houston. Representative Reynolds, glad to have you here. What have you heard from university president Kathleen Banks, from Chancellor John Sharp of the Board of Regents about what the hell happened here, how they would listen to some group of right-wing white conservatives who don't like diversity, equity, inclusion,

which has nothing to do with her being hired? Roland, first of all, Fred, thank you for speaking truth to power and having this platform for us to really educate the masses on many of the critical issues facing our state and our country. And to your question, I have a meeting with Senator West tomorrow with President Banks. We requested that meeting because we were outraged. And to be quite frankly with you, we were pissed off and disgusted with the treatment by this distinguished lady who is really an excellent professor. She is world-renowned and really was going to upgrade the journalism department at Texas A&M. So we're not going to appease these MAGA folks. The Board of Regents did a terrible job in the way that they treated her. And I echo with the Texas Legislative Black Caucus your anger, your disgust, and your outrage.

And we must continue to be the conscious to make sure that we don't normalize this behavior because this is a slippery slope in A&M today with Dr. McElroy, and it could be other universities tomorrow because this is a anti-DEA, anti-what these folks call woke movement, and this is permeating throughout states all across this country. In other cases, they were following the lead of this right-wing website that claimed, oh, we exposed who this person really was. You're talking about you were upset with the kind of stories that she covered

because she has advocated for diversity in media, which is needed. Now, his was also hilarious. These same clueless Aggies, the reason they want the journalism department to return because they felt that if there were more Aggie journalists, A&M would be getting better coverage in news media. I know that because they were saying that stuff when I was there and when the department left. Well, these yahoos

don't understand when you screw over, frankly, what I would say, the top pick in the entire state, who the hell would want to come there when you have fools like this impacting who the university hire. Absolutely. These were some right wing white supremacists. I'm just going to call it what it

is. That's what promulgated. There was no merit to the arguments that they made. Diversity is our strength. And this professor wasn't some militant Black Panther Party activist. You know, I mean, she wasn't that. Even if she was, she was very qualified. But that's not who she was. She spoke and covered certain issues that were factually relevant. There are many disparities. So are you saying that anybody who covered disparities shouldn't be hired? All right. I'll take one second. Looks like his signal froze. And let me know when we get Representative Reynolds back. Talk about this here. The University of Border. Actually, the border is a meeting right now in Park City, Utah.

They'll be meeting again on August 17th. This is the Border Regions. They're the ones who played a huge role in this and has raised, okay, raised lots of questions regarding the leadership. Do we have Representative Reynolds back? Okay, we got you back, Representative Reynolds. Go ahead and finish your comment. Oh, okay. How's that?

We got you. Go ahead, Representative Reynolds. Go ahead. Yeah, Roland, I'm saying that shame on this board of regents for embracing this nonsense. We see it permeating throughout the country with Senator Tuberville. We've seen it on the floor of the United States Congress from a U.S. congressman referring to blacks as colored people. And now we see the board of regents acquiescing some right-wing MAGA white supremacists. This is not the most diverse state in the country. Texas has more African-Americans than any other place.

A&M should be ashamed. They owe this professor an apology. And I call on black athletes, just as you stated, just like Gary Bledsoe from the Texas State NAACP, to think about going to institutions like Texas A&M. Think about, they want us on their fields, running touchdowns and on a basketball court, slamming basketballs and on a track and field fields. They want us there for titles and championships. But if they can't respect us in the classroom and in the boardroom, then they don't need to respect us on the football field. So I'm outraged. And I think that now is the time. This is a clarion call. And I think it's time for parents to think about where they

want to send their kids to school. And A&M, until they do right by this professor, then we need to send them a loud statement that not on our watch, but we allow them to go backwards. We're going forwards. We're not going back. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us to end Jim Crow racial discrimination. And this is modern day racial discrimination. Well, and again, the point there when you talk about, look, they don't, I keep saying, they love DEI on Saturday afternoons. They got no problem

when you're trying to recruit black athletes. And what I keep saying is, this is a woman who is a graduate of the university. And when you screw her, what you're saying is to black former students, oh, we want you to come here, provide your talents. But then when you go away and excel in your profession, you're not welcome back on this campus. That's what that was. And what are you and what President

Kathleen Banks needs to do, what Chancellor John Sharp needs to do, and this board of readers needs to do, they need to answer to all of the black folks in Texas who are taxpayers. I still own my home in Texas. My family is still there. Our money goes to the institution. Why did they allow a small cabal of right-wing white conservatives to dictate the actions?

And the other piece is, if you're the Board of Regents, why in the hell are you so involved in a position that's so far down? We're not talking about an executive member of the university cabinet. We're not talking about somebody who was for the dean of the College of Liberal Arts. We're not talking about, I mean, first of all, there was going to be no journalism department. She's there to rebuild it. So why are they that involved in such a minute personnel move? That shows to me that's also a problem with the Board of Regents. And, Roland, you're exactly right. And those are the questions that I intend to pose tomorrow to President Banks. I'm going to ask that question unequivocally,

and I want answers. There needs to be accountability. What happened to Kathleen is not only an embarrassment to you and other alums, but this is an affront to black Texans and professionals. This shows what our fears were when they passed this anti-DEI legislation in Senate Bill 17, this anti-tenure bill from, quote, keeping woke professors out of colleges and universities in Senate Bill 17, this anti-tenure bill from, quote, keeping woke professors out of colleges and universities in Senate Bill 18. This is exactly what we thought. So this is not an unintended consequence. This is the way that it was designed. And we need to push back. We need to demand that there is change and accountability from President Banks, from Chancellor Sharp, and from the Board of Regents.

This is a public university. This is not some private school. Even if it was, that wouldn't be acceptable. But our tax dollars are helping supplement this, not only from the state level, from the federal level. I believe you were right in your earlier call for the Justice Department and the Secretary of Education to intervene. And I'm asking the Congressional Black Caucus to look at this better so that we can collaborate with the Texas Legislative Black Caucus and the Texas State NAACP. And I hope that other people of good conscience will join us from LULAC and MALDEF and other organizations in the Urban League to say, hey, not on our watch will we allow this to happen to this sister, because if it happens to her today, it could be any of us tomorrow.

Indeed. State Representative Ron Reynolds, certainly let us know how that meeting goes tomorrow with the president of Texas A&M, Kathleen Banks. I will. Thank you, Roland. Appreciate it, Brad. For a programming note, folks, tomorrow at 9 p.m. Eastern, 8 p.m. Central, I'll be participating in the virtual town hall that will be streaming on the Black Star Network with the Black Former Students Network at Texas A&M. I'll be joined by a couple of folks, Erica Davis-Rouse, Class of 95. She's going to be moderating it to Shara Parks, who is a journalist at WFAA in Dallas. She is going to be on the panel with me as well. And so, again, that's going to be tomorrow at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Randy, I want to go with you. This is a thing that I need everybody to understand. And I had some fools on my Instagram page, one person in particular, who had the audacity to tell me, why are you putting this on the young athletes? You know, this might be their only opportunity. First of all, clearly this woman couldn't read. If you are a four- or a five-star athlete, trust me, you are not just being recruited by Texas A&M.

We know as a fact when the football players at the University of Missouri, when they threatened to walk, the president got fired, other folks got ran out, applications to the school dropped, donations dropped, and Missouri had a huge problem. We just saw what happened in Northwestern, where the players alleged hazing and racism. They fired longtime successful head coach Pat Fitzgerald. We also have seen what happened in Mississippi, when the star running back for Ole Miss threatened he may not play if that Confederate emblem stayed on that state flag.

That flag was gone in a week. And so I need people today. I need people today to understand that black people have used all of our weapons to change things in this country. I remember doing an interview with the Syracuse football team when they also boycotted and walked at Syracuse. And for the same black people today who are so weak and timid, who are saying, oh my goodness, why are you saying that? If it was not the use of the children in Birmingham, Birmingham would not have fallen.

It was when James Bevel was teaching those children and when they went out on those streets and were attacked by fire hoses and dogs, then the whole country said, oh my goodness, we can change something. But it's too many weak people who go, oh, no, you shouldn't ask that of the athletes. We've got to use all of our weapons to attack the grandchildren of Jim. 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 mult-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott.

And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner.

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

NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new

episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me.

Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council.

Grow. Absolutely right. Absolutely right. We have to realize the power we have and we have to get creative. I saw your call to the athletes and I was so impressed when the courts have now stripped us of what we rightfully should be having, because DEI was there to help fix a problem, because we were not getting admitted into colleges. We were not getting roles in colleges. It was there to fix an existing problem. And now that the courts have taken that tool from us, we have got to unite and use the power we have. Each man for himself will not work. That player, that one player that says, oh, I'm going to continue to go to Texas A&M, I promise you, he will not have a

great experience there because they have shown that they do not embrace diversity, right? So there's to me no question, if people are not realizing that we are under attack and that it is now or never that we unite and fight against what is going on, what is a very planned attack from the highest places, then we'll never make it. You know, this is, I just, what kills me here, Oma Congo, is when

folk, they claim, let's do battle, but then they don't want to fight. I've always said our biggest problem today is that we got lots of generals, we don't have enough troops. And I understand this here, and this is what people don't understand.

Out of all the athletes that the Texas A&M football team is recruiting, if one, if one of those athletes came out publicly and said, I am removing Texas A&M from consideration as a result of what they did to Kathleen McElroy, that would send an absolute tremor, an earthquake through that university, because

they would then go, if one does it, we might see two and three and four or five. At some point, black folks have to understand leverage, influence, power. The greatest power we have is when we say, I'm not playing for your university or I'm not spending my money with you. You are absolutely right. And I'm hoping that, you know, former athletes, you know, also speak up about their

dismay. But you mentioned something about troops, Roland, and I was pulling up something from the Rudder Association, which you know of, an alumni association of Texas A&M, and they are in support. They were one of the people who started raising ruckus about McElroy, and they wrote

TRA believes that a department head should embrace the egalitarian and merit-based traditions that characterize Texas A&M's values rather than the divisive ideology of identity politics. That shows right there, Roland, that they got their soldiers in line. They got people ready to march. Yeah, you got the big heads, the abbots and different people who are changing legislation and the like, but they have their people on the ground ready to roll. And I guarantee you that if every single day we actually listen to what you're saying and the representative was saying, that school will fold. But the reason why they can go forward with this is because they feel like enough of us are not going to speak up. And lastly, I would just say that this is indicative of what's happening across the country that Randy knows about, Dr. Ron Vo knows about, and you've been talking about this every week, Roland, professors at Florida, professors in Oklahoma, people who do this work in DEI, going to

universities thinking they got something lined up, and they get there, and they don't even have their job lined up because they can't say diversity anymore. They can't talk about LGBTQ anymore. This is real. And this is the largest representative of it in terms of our physical, in terms of name recognition. But this is happening all across the country. And what we do with this situation is going to be decisive and can be a case study for what we should be doing across the country. Here's the thing that, and Julian, I've talked about this a whole lot. I've talked about this a whole lot. When we love to play MLK's mountaintop speech, but we don't want to play the real stuff in it. We only want to focus on the bottom. And this is something that I think is important.

MLK said, now let me say as I move to my conclusion that we've got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. First, what that means is you can't say, hey, man, y'all fighting the good fight, but I'm busy. He says, nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis. We've got to see it through. And when we have our march, you need to be there. Be concerned about your brother.

You may not be on strike, but either we go up together or we go down together. In the same speech, he talked about the black collective. He said black people economically are poor individually, but collectively represent one of the richest countries in the world. And too many people who are watching and listening don't seem to understand that when we move as a unit, when we move as a group, when we take D9 and when you take alphas and omegas and kappas and AKs and, and Deltas, and Zetas, and Sigmas, and Iotas, and you take all of, when you're moving collectively, then folks like, oh, hell, look who's coming our way. But if it's one or two people, they can say, oh, yeah, we can ignore them.

And so, and to Omicongo's point, former athletes are doing that. I'm going to be on the Zoom with about 25 of them this week. You've got other folks. Again, we're having the discussion tomorrow. And what I'm saying to folk, you don't change nothing in this country, Julian, by sitting your ass on the

sidelines. There you have it, Roland. We're sitting here, as I said, I'm sitting here with Reverend Jackson, with Rainbow Push, and what we're talking about is our collective power. This sister is so eminently qualified that it's not even funny. And one or two little loudmouths talking about her prior DEI work and her continuing work. They should not have a voice in this at all. This board, these are some picayune people who do not belong on a university board.

I mean, what university board gets involved in the employment of one professor? As you said earlier, she's not a dean. You know, she's not, you know, in the executive cabinet. She's not EVP. She's a bloody professor. Give me a break. But the bottom line is, as you say, it's all about the dollars. It's about the Benjamins. If people are willing to stop going to those Texas A&M games, if people

are willing, the athletes must be both commended and encouraged. Stay off that field. Say, we will not put up with this. Because when someone, a former New York Times editor, when somebody like that, they're raising questions about her because you don't like something she said or wrote, that's nonsense. We've all said or wrote something, but what she said or wrote has been consistent with the principles of social and economic justice. And so how dare these little pissheads, yes, pissheads, that's what my grandmother used to call crazy people, how dare they start this and how dare others follow through with it? How dare somebody get to your Instagram, wherever they, wherever fools go, I mean, to say they have something to say. They don't have anything to say.

They ought to be ashamed. Texas A&M ought to be apologizing to this sister like yesterday. Well, this is what I said. I said I will not represent this university in any capacity, help in any way until they apologize to her, reinstate the original offer, five-year contract with tenure, and also agree to some other changes as well. Look, I had some folks in Miami who invited me to the game there, to be in their suite when Miami plays Texas A&M.

That ain't happening. The folks in College Station will not see me at any games until they do something. Because again, I am not going to reward you with my presence and my dollars if you do that. That Texas A&M Journalism Ring of Honor Award that sat on my mantle, that's been removed. And so that's how I operate. And so folk need to understand, I will not be wearing any of

their gear on my social media, doing any of those things. In the past, the women's basketball team, the men's basketball team, the football team, they've called me to speak to the teams to also help in recruiting. That ain't going to happen. And I won't be attending any university event to recruit any black or brown students

because again, if you don't respect black graduates, how in the hell you gonna respect prospective black students? And so, again, folk need to understand, I need our people to understand that nothing is going to change in this country. Whether we're talking about Texas A&M, whether we're talking about corporate America, because, Randy, I talk about this all the time. and pulling out their money and nothing is changing when it comes to contracts, when it comes to senior leadership and junior leadership, well, all they're doing is just getting off by themselves.

And so that's the whole piece. We as African Americans, we do not have the luxury in any of these spaces to somehow think we can just roll by ourself and everything else will take care for itself because the reality is you didn't get where you are because somebody else didn't fight. And that's the piece that was a generation that fought for folk like me to be able to go to Texas A&M and I'll be damned if I'm going to be silent by some crazy deranged right-wing white conservatives who want to control the university with their our Aggie way. Well, guess what? See, y'all could do that when it was all white. Well, guess what?

You ain't all white now. You don't get to decide what the Aggie way is. Black folks also get to decide that as well. And so that's why I will be speaking out. Got to go to break. We come back. We're going to talk about politics. White folks in Alabama ordered by the federal courts to draw another black district.

They refuse to do so. North Carolina Republicans now control both houses of the legislature, veto majority proof. What was the first thing they're doing after that white Democrat, that white female flips the Republicans? They wanna change all the voting laws in the state. Oh, by the way, they can do that now too because Republicans now control the state Supreme Court that previously stopped them from targeting black people. Plus we're here for Reverend Frederick Douglass Haynes III, the new president of Rainbow Push Coalition.

All that in a second hour. Roller Barton Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Download the app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Join our Marina Funk fan club, Your Dolls, make it possible to cover the news across this country. Send check and money over to Zip Heel Box 57196,

Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, R.C., 20037-0196. Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. We'll be right back. For decades, the tobacco industry has deliberately targeted black communities and kids with marketing for menthol cigarettes.

It's had a devastating impact on black health. Tobacco use claims 45,000 black lives every year. It's the number one cause of preventable death. In the 1950s, less than 10% of black smokers used menthol cigarettes. Today, it's 85%. Banned menthol cigarettes. Today, it's 85 percent. Banned menthol cigarettes save lives. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, Dexter Jenkins is a faith-based financial mentor with more than 20 years in the financial services industry. He's passionate about helping families build generational wealth. Even though I'm talking about things like prayer, I'm talking about things about

reading the word, I'm talking about things like fellowship, I'm talking to members who are dealing with losing their houses or I'm talking to members who because of a lack of the handling of finances, they're working two or three jobs and so what I'm finding is that they're not coming to church because they don't have a handle on their finances. We're talking how to get wealthy through faith and our finances on the next Get Wealthy right here, only on Blackstar Network. Bruce Smith, creator. 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 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 one, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. 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 shine down. Got be 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 it. It makes it real. It really does.

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the war on drugs podcast. Season two on the iHeart Radio 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. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before.

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Executive producer of Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. You're watching Roland Martin on Killed. So a federal court told Republicans in Alabama redraw congressional lines for a second black district. Well, Alabama committee did so. Oh, they redrew the lines, but created no black district. They have until Friday to actually approve this. Now, remember, the Supreme Court ruled affirming an Alabama congressional

affirming the lower court decision. Right now, there's only one majority black district in the entire state out of seven. They're packing all the black folks into one, likely violating the Voting Rights Act. So they have until Friday, the court's going to draw it themselves. The Alabama Republicans

who hold a majority in the legislature and control the whole process, again, they're like, yeah, we're not going to do this. We don't really care. It doesn't matter at all. We don't care at all. And so, again, you have black residents comprising 50.5% of the population. GOP's like, yeah, we don't really care about that. They can do whatever they want. This right here, Amakongo, again, is a perfect example of trying to get people to understand power.

And what they're doing here is, their deal is, and they've already tried to change their argument in filing the appeal, hoping that's going to get the Supreme Court's attention. They are hell-bent. One, they say, oh, we first of all, they don't want more than one Democrat because Congresswoman Terri Sewell is the only Democrat in Alabama's congressional district. And they damn sure don't want a second black person who's also going to be a Democrat. That's what they're trying to stop, which is the exact same thing that has happened in other states. You know, it's like every last three or four elections, we've said like this is the most important election of our lifetime. And it's been true

every time that we said it. We have to really stay on the good foot and stay motivated and fight for this, because just like what Trump is doing in his in all of his cases, the Republicans are going to try to drag their feet as long as possible to try to make sure that this doesn't even happen until after the next election. And the Republicans talk about, oh, they did this great thing in getting control of the house again. They got control of the house by redistricting. And what they did in Florida, what they did in New York and other places, it wasn't this just ingenious thing that they did. It was deceitful. It was power grabbing, and they are power hungry. We have a very strong chance of getting control of the House again if what happens in Alabama

actually happens and what happens in Louisiana actually happens. We can't let up. And sometimes we just see a ruling and we see, oh, my gosh, the court sided with us and we just drop the ball and we're just like, oh, we're all good. We can never leave it up to these Republicans to police themselves. If we don't stay active, if we don't keep speaking up, and networks and platforms like this don't keep doing this, they're going to continually drag their feet, and we're not going to have this next seat before the next election. I don't know what the Supreme Court would do

in terms of how they're really going to enforce it. Yeah, they can just say, yeah, we'll draw this or draw that. But again, at the end of the day, it's still that six to three majority court that we have, that we're grateful for the decision. I don't trust them on the enforcement. So we got to stay light in the fire. Well, in fact, we saw that last year. The courts actually, they say, oh, that wasn't enough time to implement the new maps before the midterms, Julian, when actually it was. They said the same thing in Alabama and Louisiana, which was totally BS. Well, guess what? It's enough damn time now because the election's not until 2024. There's enough time, but there's no

will. I mean, they refuse to obey the law. They refuse to obey the courts. They say, we're going to do whatever we want to do, and you can't do anything about it. And this is why it's so very important for us to keep our feet on the gas. It's so very important for Alabama black folk, Democrats and Republicans, and Republicans, black Republicans have a say in this, too. They need, there are not that many of them, but there are some, and they need to be active around this. It is utterly absurd that the court would say this is what you're supposed to do, and they basically give the court the finger. Imagine that we were able to do that with some of the cases that we don't like. Imagine that Harvard said, oh, well, I don't like what you said about affirmative action, so we're just going to keep doing affirmative action.

Or that University of North Carolina said the same thing. What if that were to take place? If that were to take place, people would be up under the jail. But these people have the caucasity to defy the court, and we ought to have basically the strength and the power to make sure this court, these people behave like they're supposed to. Randy, we're seeing this, Randy, not just in Alabama, now in North Carolina. So check this out.

Right. What they are now doing, they're proposing significant changes to the state's election laws that could result in chaos and suppress the voting rights of many citizens, especially black people. The Republican-controlled legislature has proposed three bills that will significantly affect when and how people can vote. Senate Bill 749 would overhaul state and local election boards, appointing an eight-person state board of elections

divided equally between the two parties, and cutting county boards to four members. The bill, which eliminates the governor's role in appointments, has sparked fears of deadlocklock boards, leaving it unclear who will be responsible for certifying election results and completing other critical tasks.

House Bill 772, which was recently passed, allows poll watchers to move around polling sites, listen to and record many activities inside the polling site, and take videos or photos of tabulation equipment. The bills also include provisions that mandate two-factor authentication for absentee ballots and require absentee ballots to reach election officials by Election Day. Experts say the new election bills would add more uncertainty to a system already facing significant changes,

such as implementing new voter ID laws. Now, why is all of this happening, Randy? Because Barack Obama won North Carolina in 2008. Now, you might say, wait a minute, hold on, that was 15 years ago. Literally, North Carolina used to have some of the lowest voter turnout. 2008, black turnout went through the roof. Obama wins the state by 14,100 votes. And ever since then, the Republicans have had a laser-like targeting of black people. A federal court even ruled that it was a laser-like targeting of black voters. And this is all about suppressing black voter turnout in North Carolina. Right. What people need to realize is that this is strategery. Strategery mixed with caucasity. And they are planning now how they're going to win this election.

And when Black people are involved and we vote and we are aware of what's happening, we win elections. And so they are doing everything in their power to cut us off at our knees so we cannot show up at the polls. We saw before when they were making it where you couldn't even get water to voters. They make our district so far apart so people can't get there. Even with some of these laws you're talking about in North Carolina, they don't want the mail-in voting. Whatever they can do to suppress us, they're trying to do. They're cheating early.

So we have to stay awake. We have to be woke and pay attention and fight against all these tactics they're doing because they can't win fairly. So we see what they're trying to do. Indeed. So people just need to understand and all y'all folks, and let me real clear, all y'all folks. I hear y'all. Y'all talk a whole bunch of crap.

Biden ain't this. Harris ain't this. Democrats ain't this. And they ain't doing this. They ain't doing that. Let me perfectly clear. OK, because I'm really tired of people sitting there saying that ain't our party. The number one voting constituency for Democrats are African-American women. Number two are black men. So maybe what folks should be doing is making far more demands. Now, let me walk y'all through that. So if the Republicans want to go with this whole poll watcher deal? Y'all, this is real simple. Mobilize massive numbers of black poll watchers, and

we're going to white Republican polling places. See? See, everybody listening, it's one thing to complain, but it's like, oh, so that's how y'all want to roll? Remember when Fox News freaked out when a couple of Black Panthers were at a polling location?

Yeah. If y'all really want to go back, let's go back to the Black Panther Party of Lowndes County. Because that's actually how the Black Panther Party was created. It was a political party in Alabama. How about we say, fine, we're going to put together a group of 500 to 1,000 black poll watchers,

and we're going to the whitest Republican polling locations, and we're going to stand there with our cameras, we're going to be watching and listening. Oh, they're going to change that law real quick. See, but as long as we

are complaining about something and then not turn that thing around and then going at them, they're going to keep playing these games. And so I did also the last point, all y'all who keep sitting out elections, you make this possible.

When you do not vote, you make this possible. Now, I know there's somebody who's listening right now and they're saying, well, yeah, Roland, but but the Republicans are gerrymandering. Those are state rep, state Senate congressional seats. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

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

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

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet. 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. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback.

Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. The U.S. Senate race can't be gerrymandered because it's statewide. A governor's race can't be gerrymandered because it's statewide. Now, yes, they can sit here and

make these changes when it comes to voting to impact turnout, but if we win statewide, we control levers of power. And that's what people need to begin to understand. Going to a break. We come back.

We're here with Reverend Frederick Douglass of Haines III, the new president of Rainbow Push Coalition We also talk black folks and skin cancer Yeah You black, you walking your ass in that sun You better put on some damn Lotion Put on some sunblock

Because we can get skin cancer You're watching Roland Martin and the Filter On the Blackstar Network On a next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie get skin cancer. You're watching Roland Martin on the Blackstar Network. On a next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie, we're talking all things mental health and how helping others can help you. We all have moments where we have struggles and on this week's

show, our guests demonstrate how helping others can also help you. Why you should never stop giving and serving others on a next A Balanced Life here on Black Star Network. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr.

We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter, which simply put, is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal article everyone, and I mean everyone, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Valethea Watkins,

our legal round table team, join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture. You crystallize it by saying, who are we to other people? Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other? The structures we create for ourselves,

how we order the universe as African people. That's next on The Black Table, here on the Black Star Network. Farquhar, executive producer of Proud Family. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks. Hurley, you heard yesterday's speech from Pastor Frederick Nicholas Haines III, the new, of course, leader of the Rainbow Push Coalition. I caught up with him after he did that, and here is our Q&A.

Fred, how you doing? A5. Yes, sir. Big day for you. Huge day. Huge day. Again, Reverend Jesse Jackson means so much to so many. And again, even though we're in Chicago, his impact is global.

I will say this in light of who's, you know, holding the microphone. He received the baton from an alpha man. And so it's real interesting that he's passing the baton to an alpha man. So I'll give him credit for that. Well, you know, he's always throwing his sign up when he sees me. He tells me, put that gang sign down. I was like, see, there you go again. There you go again. One of the things that I talked to Jonathan about, and we don't see this a lot when it comes to black churches, black organizations, HBCUs, proper transitions. Yeah. And there is no success really without succession. And we haven't quite learned that

as a people. And when you think about the fact that in the civil rights movement, there was never a real succession plan, let alone succession. And so what he's doing is quite unique because he's wired to do this work, you know, always. And yet he has the wisdom to know he has to pivot. And so I salute him for that wisdom. I'll be counting on his wisdom and guidance going forward. But my thing is, when we do it like this, we get to stand on their shoulders as opposed to trying to feel their footsteps because we can't do that. How did this come about? How long was it? When did y'all first have a conversation

and that led to this? Roland, he approached me in 2019 at the NAACP convention, ironically, and said that he wanted me to succeed him know, succeed him. And so I said, Rev, okay, let's have some conversations. And he wasn't ready. I don't know if I was ready. And so as time has gone by, I guess it was in April, he picked up the phone and said, I need you to come on, let's do it now. And so I said, okay. And that's when he brought the board chairs together. And so we've been going back and forth and negotiating, communicating since April. Now, one of the things that you're going to remain as senior pastor of Friendship West Baptist Church,

and someone actually asked me that question. And what I said to them, I said, I said, Rainbow Push has always been, look, Operationasket operated here in Chicago. I said, now you have the opportunity to have a second front, if you will, being there in the Southwest, being in the South. And you know the story of Breadbasket and that same model that was basically church-led is something that is needed even today because, again, as Reverend Jackson keeps saying, this next fight is about access to capital. It's about silver rights. And so who has the most gathering of people on Sundays,

of course, is the black church collecting offering. And yet the question now is, will we move from, OK, pressing for civil rights, collecting offerings to pressing for silver rights? And, you know, the whole piece around economic injustice that Rainbow Push has been about has got to continue, and we've got to step that game up. So as far as I'm concerned, bringing it to Dallas and the South, because that's where the fight is right now. The fight is in the South, Texas especially, Florida.

We see what's going on in those places. I just got word about West Helena, Arkansas and the fact that you know the governor is sending water to them but will not use that billion-dollar surplus to fix the infrastructure. That's economic exploitation. We don't want charity as he said we want parity and so his wisdom still. And as far as I'm concerned, we're going to try to do all we can to carry that forward. And not only that, when you talk about building, one of the things that when you look at NAACP, some 2,000 chapters,

your national urban league branches as well, you had rainbow push affiliates. So in terms of how are you looking at examining the whole infrastructure to determine what moves forward? Is it chapter driven in terms of what are you looking at? Right. And so that's what we'll be discussing with the board, with the affiliates going forward. What is going to work in this time?

I haven't really had a chance to examine all of that yet. I'm just really coming on board. So that is definitely up for discussion because we want to know what works in the 21st century. You also have, obviously, when you look at when I'm meeting with leadership, you hear this phrase, legacy civil rights organizations. But for some reason, Rainbow Push wasn't included in that umbrella, which makes no sense to me. And so, but then you have your younger groups. You've got Repairs of the Breach. You've got Until Freedom, Black Voters Matter, not necessarily welcome into that fold. Is that something

that you also emphasizing that really aligning with whether energy is right now in terms of the streets? Without a doubt, without a doubt, because as far as I'm concerned, one of the reasons that I think I was tapped is because I have relationships with all of them. And so for me, it's very important that we not only prepare to pass the baton, but that we operate in coalition. If we're going to really be about coalition building, and right now with the attacks

we're facing from the courts, from what, the right, the extreme right, not to mention the so-called, you know, Christian nationalists, this is a time where we need coalition building as opposed to separation. And that's what I'm going to be about reaching out to, especially our younger generation, because let's keep it real, civil rights movement was a youth-led movement. And so there's nothing wrong with a youth-led movement in this day. And so that's why I'll be reaching out to them, because we're not going to do it apart. We got to do it together. You were there in Baltimore when I challenged the alphas, when I said, how can you talk about where you run in the yard, but who's running your city?

And so the power of the D9, I've been constantly challenging them that it doesn't make sense having numbers, but not just them, Lynx, Eastern Star, Prince Hall, Mason, you've got all these black organizations, but many of them are internal and they're not necessarily external. Yeah. And Roland, I've literally stolen that. And I give you credit a few times, but I've stolen that. Anytime I speak to an alpha chapter, deltas, anyone, I use that because we all brag about when we were on the yard, we ran the yard. Okay. You grown now. What are you doing as grown folk? Are you running your city? Are you running your city? Are you running your

county? Are you running your state? Because don't brag about running it back then if you ain't trying to run stuff right now. And that's the kind of leadership that we've got to have right now. I got to give the AKs some salute because they established a credit union during this meeting. And so I salute them. That's the kind of stuff that runs stuff when you get to be grown. And so since we grown, we got to act grown and we got to run it in our city, county, because that's what happened in 08.

We celebrating Barack Obama and they went to planning while we were partying and they went local. Or the phrase I say, we stay at the inauguration parade, they left. They left, they left. They left. They left and planned on us. And they went local because all politics is local.

And so that's why as we're thinking how we're going to do push, rainbow push, yeah, we have to have a national voice, but we got to be organized locally. One of the things that I would absolutely suggest within the first 90 days is doing a black media roundtable where calling on them and challenging those black radio show hosts that we just can't be laughing in the morning. We got to be also talking about public policy and social action. Laughing and liberating. I mean, we've got to, you know, play the music.

Okay, go ahead, get your ratings up. But at the same time, this is an audience you have that counts on you, not just to be entertained, but to be enlightened. And the bottom line is a lot of stuff in Texas, where I am in Florida, they had these legislative sessions that just took place. And too many of our people don't know and won't know what happened until it hits them directly, because public policy has personal consequences and and black radio can help us to understand what's going on with public policy so that we can fight back because right now we're not fighting back well Reverend Jackson always would call me no matter what time of night it does not matter

suggestion and send the one come on talk about I was like all right No matter what time of night, it does not matter. Suggestion and when I come on and talk about it, I was like, all right, okay, Rev, no problem. And so you know exactly how I feel, same thing. Our show always welcomes whatever you got. You let us know. I'll be right there. And I want to thank you because you have been consistent not only about giving us a, but also challenging us to raise our voices. And so I appreciate that about you, because we have in you what Frederick Douglass and those first founders of our news media, what they intended. We can't have other folks speaking

for us. We've done that too long. Now we've got to speak for ourselves, and you help us do that. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Let's get it. All right, Frat. Appreciate it. Yes, sir. I won't call you that late, but I'm going to call you. Trust me. He called me anytime. He don't even matter. Morning, night, whatever. Running ideas by. You know, I know, you know, I don't what you're talking about because you did hit me by midnight the other night. Don't you? Don't you? I really did. I really did. All right, Brad. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. Thank you. Appreciate it. On the Congo, the point there that Pastor Haynes made, and the fact when he spoke, gave me a shout out. He talked about it. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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

In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner.

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

Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from 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 iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me.

Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at tayPaperCeiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council.

...black media and before his speech yesterday. And this is something that I keep explaining over and over and over to black organizations. You could keep hoping and praying the New York Times and ABC and CNN is going to show up. But they're going to show up on big stuff. Yep. Yesterday, local media was there yesterday. Your camera's there. We live streamed it.

But here's the deal. I didn't see MSNBC there. I didn't see CNN there. ABC, NBC, Fox News. We know they're not going to be there. But also, I didn't see any of the black media as well. I keep saying to people, if we do not have a robust black owned media covering our stuff, then we do not have the ability to communicate to the masses. And that's one of the things you distinguish also is the difference between Black-owned media and Black-targeted media. And too many people see a Black host on a network, on a show somewhere, and they feel like that is their Black source of information.

And they feel like, well, if I need to get real information, I'm going to get it here. No, this is the Black Star Network. And it was started for this particular point. And you've always talked about the fact that you don't want to be the only one. You want to see more out there. People say, oh, Roland's just about himself. You've always talked about we need more of it. You're always talking about the federal government advertising budgets and how we're always getting the smallest percentage. Where are people going to get this information, black and missing, every single night, talking about what's going on in our community, the section on melanoma that's coming later? If people don't realize now that we can't depend on these other media sources that have black faces but not black ownership, maybe some areas of leadership but not ownership you're never going to be able to get the full story and you're never going to be able to get

it in a way that directly impacts our community and so as as reverend carr says the and the advertisers you have you got to bring your eyeballs home and you gotta and you gotta bring your dollars home you gotta bring your money home like You got to bring your money home. Like you said, those silver rights, if we don't do this, if we don't talk about this beyond these one or two minute stories that we're going to see on these other networks, if they're going to cover these stories at all, and these two question interviews

that they do with these people, whereas with a Black Star network, you can go have a five minute interview that ends up going a half hour because we run it. If you're not going to get with that program, you are going to continually be misled or at the very least misinformed or depending on the networks that you watch, disinformed.

And you're going to end up being a problem for our community as opposed to the solution. Got to get with the program. See, Julian, the thing that a lot of people really do not understand how Reverend Jackson got the profile he did is because of John H.

Johnson. Yes, absolutely. When Reverend Jackson moved from South Carolina to Chicago, he had a letter in hand from the governor, I think it was from the governor of South Carolina to Chicago. He had a letter in hand from the governor, I think it was from the governor of South Carolina, and it was

basically introductory to front jobs. Well, Mayor Richard Daley, who ran the city, said, oh, he saw, oh, he could work as a toll booth operator. Johnny Johnson

put him to work selling subscriptions of Ebony and Jet. When Reverend Jackson then ascends, Johnny Johnson makes it clear Reverend Jackson is in Jet every week. So

what Reverend Jackson did was he built his foundation through black-owned media. He was in Jet every week. I remember going, I don't give a damn what Reverend Jackson was doing. He was somewhere in America. He was in Jet magazine every week. When I ran the Chicago Defender, it was funny because I saw it up close. So before I move there, so if you see Reverend on television and stuff and you're seeing him speaking and you're seeing him rhyming with his lines and stuff, let me tell you what he would do, Julian. I'd be at my desk, the Chicago Defender.

I'm not working on a story dealing with Rainbow Push or Reverend Jackson. He would just call me up and start talking about all sort of stuff, bouncing statements off of me, what do you think, what do you think. And then I'd be like, all right, Reverend, that sounds great. And then like a day later, I hear that in some speech. So basically, he was testing out lines and theories just by calling. And invariably what would happen is by him just picking the phone up and calling, he would say something that would turn into a story in the paper.

He did this with daily papers. He did it with networks as well. He's always understood the role that media plays, but the one thing that he has never, ever neglected, Reverend Jackson has never, ever ignored black-owned media. That was always first on his list. Not only black-owned media, but black folk in the media. When I was doing a weekly column for King Features, Reverend would call me any time of the day and night, literally, as you and Freddie talked about.

And again, bouncing ideas, kind of dropping little pieces of wisdom. You know, every now and then he might say, you can quote me on that. I will never forget, this is pre all the electronic media we have now, he decided that we should stop doing black and do African-American. And so he called me up. I was somewhere. And he said, well, I want to send you something. He sent me 19 pages to the Eastern Airlines. See, that's how long ago it was. Eastern Airlines Club at $3 a page. So $57 to explain why we needed to be embrace African-American as opposed to just the term black. It was hilarious. And then he called and said, did you get it? I'm like, Reverend, yeah, 60 bucks later, I got it. He picked up the

phone and called columnists, you know, anchors, anybody, because he is an idea machine. He literally, I remember doing a story for the Black NBA magazine and writing this piece. And I mean, in the hour that we talked, he dropped ideas about glasses. He was talking about prescription drugs. He was talking about economic justice and banking. It was like literally all over the place. How do you turn that into a piece? You know, and I think the title of the piece ended up was Idea Machine, because that's what he is.

You know, he is not leaving Rainbow. What he's doing is, if you will, reinventing himself or being the senior statesperson that we so desperately need in these times. And it's really, like you said, he is a master of media. He's done it all, radio, TV, you know, writing, all of that. And he understands it in ways that very few people do. And so, Roland, you know, if you all of that. And he understands it in ways that very few people do. And so, Roland, you know, if you had got those midnight calls, there's a whole bunch of us who used to get those calls. And frankly, we were privileged to get them.

Last point here before we go to a break and go to our Fit, Live, Win segment. For people who are watching, again, it's getting people to understand you cannot have any movement. First of all, you cannot build a movement. You cannot create movement unless you build resonance. And so you do that by first and foremost seeding the ground. Why does Ben Crump come to me first or insist to his legal team, when y'all are booking Good Morning America, y'all also book Roland Martin? Because what he understands is that there are going to be a whole bunch of cases that Good Morning America is going to pass on. And so if you ignore black-owned media and you always go to white-owned media,

I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to say, don't call my ass. And I've told some people that directly. You keep calling them, and then you only call me like a side piece. Nah, that ain't going to happen. Oh, I've told some people that directly. You keep calling them, and then you only call me like a side piece. Nah, that ain't going to happen. Oh, I've told some people that. And if we're talking about how do we be – again, I've got to remind folk, before the New York Times was calling Dr. King, he had a column in Ebony.

He was a classmate of Lerone Bennett. He understood. And again, for folk who don't understand why it's important to have conscious black folk, when we all see that photo, y'all find a photo of Bernice King on the lap of Coretta Scott King at the funeral of Dr. King, that won Moneta Sleet the Pulitzer Prize. He became the first African-American ever to win a Pulitzer Prize for photography. How did he get that photo? He wasn't supposed to be there. The white media had Jim Crow policies at the funeral of Dr. King. The white media said no black people are allowed in the press pool.

Lerone Bennett and Simeon Booker went to Coretta Scott King and said they are not allowing Ebony and Jet in the press pool. Coretta Scott King said, if Ebony and Jet is not in the press pool, there will be no press pool covering my husband's funeral. That's how he got in. That's how it was won. So that's what happens when black folks say, we're black on media.

They get to be on the front row. And that's, again, what people need. Yeah, go ahead. That's, again, what people need to understand. Why that won the Pulitzer Prize? Because she said if Ebony and Jet not in the press pool, ain't going to be a press pool. And so that's why it's important for civil rights groups and others to always respect black owned media and include us on the front end, not just when they get in trouble.

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 two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.

In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players I started a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug 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. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive.

But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersilling.org, brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Andy, go ahead. Oh, I'm sorry. Absolutely. I mean, and you know, if we would pay attention

to how much people are fighting against us being aware and knowledgeable, particularly of what's happening with us, within us, then if we paid attention to that, we would realize how important it is. And we are only getting this information, honestly, right now, Roland, mainly from you. We are getting the information so we know to act, so we are educated about what we should care about. And so it's absolutely vital right now. I mean, you are creating us a world that is more woke, and we need to be woke as much people don't want us to be.

They'd like us to be asleep, not paying attention, and not creating any sort of change. But it's vital to our survival that we are aware and awake. So thank you for that. Folks, hold tight one second. We come back, A critically important issue. Melanoma, skin cancer. Yes. Black people

can get skin cancer. We'll explain next on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Coming up next on The Frequency, right here on the Black Star Network, Shanita Hubbard. We're talking about the ride or die chick. We're breaking it down.

The stereotype of the strong black woman. Some of us are operating with it as if it's a badge of honor. Like you even hear black women like aspiring to be this ride or die chick. Aspiring to be this strong black woman at their own expense. Next on The Frequency, right here on the Black Star Network. I'm Faraji Muhammad, live from L.A., and this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation, you and me. We talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together. So let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into. It's the culture. Weekdays at 3, only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Jo Marie Payton,

voice of Sugar Mama on Disney's Louder and Prouder Disney+. And I'm with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. All right, folks, skin cancer is real. Now, what often happens is when we hear these stories about melanoma, we often think that that largely affects white folks. No black people can be affected by skin cancer as well. You've seen it.

We go to the beach. We own a golf course. We go, yeah, we're good. I ain't got to put on no sunscreen. Yes, you've seen it. We go to the beach. We're on a golf course. We go, yeah, we're good. I ain't got to put on no sunscreen. Yes, you do because we can be impacted as well. And so it's important for us to understand the realities of melanoma and how it also impacts us more than a lot of other people. We talked to hear from the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Black men are 26% more likely to die from melanoma than white men. Nearly 50% of black men in the study were first diagnosed after the disease advanced to the late stages. Very similar when you talk about breast cancer. Joining us right now is family medicine specialist Dr. Michael Bookhart. Joining me from Jackson, Mississippi. Doc, glad to have you here. Again, what this sounds like is like everything else, okay? We get it less than somebody else, yet when we get it, because we find out late, more of us die and we die faster.

That's right. Absolutely. And I appreciate you having me on, Brother Roland. And that's very interesting. I reviewed some of the articles on this and from the American Academy of Dermatology. And like you said, there was a study done with 200,000 people, and they found that the five-year survival rate in men with melanoma, the five-year survival rate was highest for white men at around 75 percent compared to black men with a survival rate of 52 percent. And then American Indian, Alaskan, Asian and Hispanics were somewhere in between in the 60s. And that's a that's a very notable difference because most people, you know, Roland, most people would think, well, because I have an extra amount of melanin, then I can't get skin cancer. But that is one of the biggest misnomers in our community that we have.

And we will talk about how we protect ourselves. Look, I play golf all the time. I like to walk. So you're out there, you're in the sun. And I can tell you, it's rare when I play with brothers, they're putting on sunscreen. Absolutely, yes. And that's a great point that you brought out. And one of the things that makes this very difficult, and some would even consider the bias in this, is that melanoma, especially with us in the African-American community, starts on the palms of the hands,

the soles of the feet, which are areas that one would think would not, are not exposed to the sun as much. And that's why a lot of times it makes diagnosis so difficult. Hold up. Palms of the hand and soles of the feet? Absolutely. Yes, sir. I was looking over this American Academy of Dermatology. We're reviewing that, and it's called ALM, acroletiginous melanoma, where it starts on those parts, and that's why it's most often undiagnosed. And then it's not until there's a significant spread, and then you start the

staging process, which then the mortality rate increases while you don't see it. And just real quick, just to be clear, there are three different types of skin cells. We're looking at squamous cell, basal cells, and melanocytes. It's the melanocytes, which, you know, has a pigment for melanin. That's what we're talking about that's causing melanoma. Three very important key points right there. All right. So, again, if we're going to be out there, like I see some people when they're out there playing golf and they'll have their arms will be covered.

I see some people covering their legs. Well, I'm like, man, that's hot as hell. So if we don't want to cover our skin, so what is it? And also, what type of sunscreen? I've heard all different ones. You see all the different numbers. Is it 50 or higher? Is it 70 or higher?

Like, what's the right sunscreen protection we should be wearing? That's a great question, Roland. And actually, at the minimum, you want to have a 30% SPF. You definitely want to have that. You definitely want to cover the extremities every time as much as possible. So your arms, your legs. I know a lot of times it's so hot, it's difficult to do that, but that's going to be a significant factor in reducing your chance of getting this terrible skin cancer. But definitely SPF minimum 30, but the higher, the better.

You know, it's a directly proportional factor. The higher SPF, the lower your chances of coming down with skin cancer contracting this terrible disease. Questions from the panel? Let's see here. Randy Julian. Julian Randy. Let's see. Omokongo, you go first.

Doctor, I really want to thank you for this information and my real question is can you please just end the debate over whether shea butter or a shea moisture, those kind of things that's contained in the sunscreen, then, hey, by all means, have at it. But if you're just sitting around and slapping some cocoa butter on your face, that ain't going to cut it. Thank you. Julian, go ahead, Doc. Well, I just really wanted to point out, Roland, just very briefly, that in the diagnosis of this, and especially since COVID, and this is from my

personal experience as a hospitalist, caring for people full-time in the hospital and also opening my own clinic now in Jackson, Mississippi, that, of course, because of, you know, the lower socioeconomic status and all those things that we're very familiar with, and especially in men, men are a lot less likely to go. And everybody that I've treated in Jackson and my entire career in medicine, there's two things. There's two reasons why men go to the doctor. One, because their mother or their wife is forcing them. And two, because they have a problem with their penis. That's the only reason why men go to the doctor.

And he just being real. Julianne, go. Brother, I, first of all, doc, thanks for your work. We appreciate you. I have a lifelong battle to dock the yellow off. I am truly always trying to get a tan. Now, what's the safest way for me to get a tan if I got to do this SPF thing? Well, I think the safest way, you know, they're definitely, if you want to go to the tanning, the tanning salon, you want to

go there, but you want to minimize your time. You want to minimize your exposure because certainly you can increase your chances of contracting this. And so when you go to minimize your time. You want to minimize your exposure because certainly you can increase your chances of contracting this. And so when you go to the tanning salon, usually they have like a timer on there, but usually the recommended time, you know, 15, 15, 20 minutes. I don't go to the tanning salon. I want to sit outside and get me a nice natural tan. So how can I do that?

Be safe. Be safe. Okay. Being safe, then definitely, you know, having, so like I said, a minimum SPF 30, but the higher you go, the better. It's directly proportional. But still minimizing your exposure, you know, to that sun. For example, people on the beach and they're using those huge umbrellas that a lot of times with the hotels

and all that on the beach. It's great if you can sit up under that for the majority of the time. Then you take that 15 minutes, go outside, you know, on your back and then on your stomach and then come on back in and get outside of those harmful sun rays. So that's the main thing. You can definitely do it, but you just want to make sure that you minimize your exposure while you're out there. So if I'm playing golf three to four times a week and I'm walking, it's four hours around, I'm in the sun. Absolutely.

And I'm wearing sunscreen, but should I be doing something else? Well, you know, so if you're out there for four hours rolling, well, then, like you said, you've got your highest SPF. You're out there having a good time. You just want to be mindful to make sure to take what I like to call shade breaks, whether you're getting under the golf cart, you know, you get sitting up on the golf cart taking a water or Gatorade break or standing up under one of those big oak trees and, you know, just making sure you're mindful that you're not out in continuous direct sunlight.

You can still do all the things you love to do, play all, you know, all the rounds of golf, 18 holes, everything, but just making sure to not stand out there. Because like you said, that's, that's one of the biggest things. One of the myths you say, well, we're African-American darker pigmented people. I don't have to worry about it. I can just stand out here, have fun with my buddies and play golf. You just really want to be mindful because as, as, as we're discussing, we definitely definitely get it too and our survival rate is lower and our mortality rate is higher uh and hold up before i go to uh randy uh also do we how often do we we we reapply to sunscreen you know they they so in some of the research that I was doing, they were recommending every 45 to 60 minutes.

But they said based on the temperature, based on what you're doing, it could be more or less. So I guess there's not really a hard set rule on that. But I would say just to give you a straight answer, you're playing four hours of golf. Hey, every hour, every 60 minutes, you're making sure that you're definitely taking a 10-minute break, reapplying every hour if you can do that. Got it. Randy? Doctor, thank you for this information. I found it fascinating that it shows up on the palms of our hands and feet. What should we be looking for? I mean, I would think it would be helpful for us to early detection. So what would I see? Well, so sometimes you'll see like a darkened

area. And that's the thing with melanoma. Most people look at it, they think about like a little, you know, black circle. But the main thing is, you know, we don't want to get, we don't want people to get alarmed. A lot of people have, you know, they'll mistake skin tags and moles and all that kind of thing. It's not about, okay, every little thing, oh my, you know, do I have skin cancer? So this is usually like a macular type of, it's a flat, you know, not really like a raised or jagged. It's a small area, usually circular or oval. But then the problem is, and the thing that you want to be most cautious about when you see the change in the edges, they talk about the edges where sometimes there's like a dimpling or they'll look more rough.

And that's some of the hallmark features about melanoma, which differentiates it from squamous cell skin cancer, which you see 75, 80% of the time in Caucasians where you'll see a lot of time on their forehead, ears, nose, those areas that we see all the time. And they're constantly getting those areas addressed and going to the dermatologist. The melanoma is darker. It'll be more circular or ovoid. And then you'll look at those edges when they start to change.

And lastly, the studies also showed American Academy of Dermatology also again and American Journal of Medicine that at 18 years old, when you go for your annual exam, you need to also be doing an annual skin exam, making sure that the physician or nurse practitioner or physician assistant is also doing a thorough evaluation of your skin. Alright, so last question. So, if folks

are on the beach, if they're on, black folks running around, being on yachts and stuff along those lines, how, again, how much time, how much time are they out there? Are they out, because you just said, what, 30? Like, because I'm telling you, I know some people, they go to the beach and, Lord, they laying out there for

four, six, eight hours. That would drive my ass insane. Just sitting there, I couldn't do all that. So, what is it? Well, like I said, I think optimally, Roland, you know, if we're just at the optimum, if you're sitting out there like

the young lady was saying before, like she likes to go out and tan and be on the beach, if you could do this, you know, recommending every hour on the hour. But like you said, I know that that's not realistic, but at the very least, at the very least, every two hours, because especially you can feel, depending on what type

of sunscreen, whether it's lotion, more of a cream, the consistency of it, you know, you'll see it dissipate or, you know, dry and it's going away on the skin. When you see that, some of them, now some of them, like I said, you just got to read the label. If it's gone away or it's dry, that doesn't mean it's gone. You're still getting protection. But then there are some that are more, I guess, moist, if you will. And so you just have to be mindful of that. It's hard to do.

And like you said, most people won't do that every hour on the hour. But if a person is able to do that, that would be an excellent way of preventing this disease. All right, then. All right, well, look, we appreciate Dr. Bookhart. Thanks so much for the advice. Thank you, sir. I appreciate you having me.

Folks, that is it for us. Let me thank Randy. Let me thank Omokongo. Let me thank Julian. Randy, before we go, we ain't got no Kiki Palmer type videos from the Usher show, do we? I tried, but no.

No Kiki action. Okay, but you, I'm sorry, you tried. I tried. I'm not gonna lie. Usher, Usher, Usher, somebody, you go to that show,

trust me, you want him to give you some kiki action, but no. All right. Y'all know when I saw Randy's Instagram all dressed up going to the show, I sent her ass a text.

And I was like, I was like, behave yourself, Randy. Don't go viral. and I was like I was like behave yourself Randy don't go viral listen if I had been Kiki y'all wouldn't see me here right now I'd be over there in Vegas

oh lord oh let's get out of here I'm just kidding uh huh yeah right that's a good show I heard I heard absolutely. I heard, absolutely. All right. Randy, I'm a Congo. Julian, we appreciate it.

Thanks a lot. Folks, we'll see y'all tomorrow. I'm rolling my money on a filter. Don't forget, do us a favor. Download the Black Stud Network app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Your donations make it possible for us to do what we do. Our goal is to get 20,000-dollar fans contributing on average 50 bucks a year.

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But the problem is he's using my book cover. And so we've sent, it's on eBay, Barnes & Noble. Ben Bella Books is trying to get it taken down. So, again, if you're buying my book, White Fear, How the Barney of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, make sure it says you see the cover, but also by Roland Martin. And so this is where you should buy it from. Again, if you go to Barnes & Noble, it will say Taylor Dyer.

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They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,

and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked and Human Services, and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. This is an iHeart Podcast.