#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Rising Gas Prices, Burn Pits, Rising Hate Crimes, Ed. Secy Cardona Interview, Dr. Flava Spices

Episode Date: March 9, 2022

3.8.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Lack of fed advertising with minority media, Remembering Bloody Sunday, Afro Flow YogaIf you've been to the gas station, you've noticed the hike in prices. As President Joe Bidens bans Russian oil, prices may even get higher. We'll take a look at what the ban will mean for us.Plus, Biden is pushing to expand health care to military personnel exposed to environmental hazards like burn pits. We'll talk to a military widow whose husband died after getting denied continually for health services from unexplained cancer.The rise in hate crimes takes center stage during today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke was in the hot seat explaining why it's important to prosecute those who commit hate crimes.My interview with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on the state of our education system and teachers in Minneapolis are on strike until their demands are met.A pharmacist has found the rig t formula to cook healthy dishes with flava!  #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Nissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bPSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfilteredDownload the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com#RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm real revolutionary right now. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. I love y'all. 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- on media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today is Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. If you've been to the gas station, you've noticed the hike in prices. President Joe Biden bans Russian oil prices may even get higher.

He said that today in Texas, in Fort Worth where he was. We'll take a look at what the ban will mean for us when it comes to the gas prices. Oh, but by the way, conservatives will not tell you gas prices were higher when George W. Bush was president. Uh-oh. Hmm. Biden's also pushing to expand health care to military personnel exposed for environmental hazards

like burn pits. We'll talk to a military widow whose husband died after getting denied continually for health services from unexplained cancer. The rise in hate crimes takes center stage during today's Senate Judiciary Committee. We will show you what was said by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Kristen Clark. She was in the hot seat explaining why it's important to prosecute those who commit hate

crimes. Of course, your white Republicans were clueless again. Also, we'll hear from my interview with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona after he was in Selma on Sunday, and also the state of education across the country. A pharmacist has found the right formula to cook healthy dishes with flavor. We'll, of course, have that in our Marketplace segment. And also, you know, with this war taking place, do y'all even realize that in the past,

black owned media literally had people in theaters of war covering these things? Yeah, I'm gonna give you another breakdown on my Where's Our Money segment. But you understand why this fight for black owned media dollars is so important when it comes to covering our stories. It is time to bring, and also of course,

we'll show you a great tribute that was done at the memorial service for Askiya Muhammad, journalist who passed away a couple weeks ago at the age of 76. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it.

Whatever the mess, 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 believe 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 Rolling Martin, yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, y'all Yeah, yeah, yeah It's Roland Marte, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah Rolling with Roland now Yeah, yeah, yeah He's bulk, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Roland Marte

Now I'm Martel. All right, folks. All sorts of action being taken against Russia. Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Estee Lauder all pulling out of that country. Also, American oil companies are cutting ties with Russia as well. President Joe Biden has issued an executive order banning all Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia's economy and retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine. That, of course, will be impacting us.

We're banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and energy. That means Russian oil will no longer be acceptable at U.S. ports and the American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin's war machine. This is a move that has strong bipartisan support, the Congress and I believe in the country. Americas have rallied to support their Ukrainian people and made it clear we will not be part of subsidizing Putin's war. Biden also acknowledged it's going to bring costs to Americans,

particularly at the gas pump. According to the AAA, the national average gas price stands at $4.06 per gallon. The action follows pleas by Ukrainian President Zelensky to U.S. and Western officials to cut the oil imports. Joining us right now is Trevor Higgins. He is

Vice President for Climate Policy for the Center for American Progress based in D.C. Trevor, glad to have you here. Here's the thing here, okay, it is stunning to me. I listen to the constant moaning of Senator Ted Cruz and all these Republicans and others who are like, oh my God, gas prices, gas prices. Let's be real clear. We talk about gas prices. They were even higher under President George W. Bush, and Russia didn't invade Ukraine. Right. In 2008, they were at their peak levels.

And when you adjust for inflation, we're still below that. So gas prices are likely to go up still, but the prices now are still in line with what we saw in 2008, but before that from 2005, in 2010 to 2014. The thing is that gas prices are about 3% of American household spending on average, so that's significant for them to rise. People notice, you see the price every day when you're driving, when you're filling up,

when you're driving past the gas station. It's gonna be important to try and cut those prices back down, but make no mistake, the reason why we're seeing high prices right now are because of Putin's decisions and the oil company's decisions. But here's on that particular point here, because this is the other thing that, again, it drives me crazy when I

listen to all these crazy maniacs on the right who want to play games here. They're trying to say, oh my God, see, if we were not being dependent on oil from other countries, and then if we had an increase in American oil independence, it wouldn't be happening. Well, actually, we weren't so dependent on damn oil. We actually chose to embrace other technologies, natural gas, solar, improving our damn electrical grid in this country, which requires spending billions of dollars to do so.

Then we would not have to be so locked and loaded on fossil fuels. Exactly. We are right now producing about twice as much oil as we did 15 years ago. And still, our prices are vulnerable to foreign petrostate dictators like Putin. So how much more oil would it take to get us perfectly independent? The answer is none. We're not going to find energy independence at the bottom of a well.

What we need is, just as you said, to move to a clean energy future. Do you know how much the price of solar has gone up since Putin invaded? It hasn't. The price of wind hasn't gone up. As soon as we can switch people to electric vehicles, they won't have to pay for gasoline at all.

It'll take time, but we have ways to electric vehicles. They won't have to pay for gasoline at all. It'll take time, but we have ways to help that. You know, the House passed a bill that would give every person in America who chooses to buy an electric vehicle up to $12,500 a half. That's going to make this much more affordable for many, many more people. But also, again, when we're breaking this thing down, we're talking about in terms of where we stand, here's the other thing that we have to ascend. And again, clueless Americans, listen to me very clear. This is what happens when you live in the world. America has got to stop this idiotic notion

that we somehow are separate from the rest of the world. Economies are now linked. When something happens in Russia, in China, in Thailand, in Vietnam, in France, in other countries, it has an impact because if we have businesses from there, if we're importing goods from there, if there's a strike that happens somewhere, it impacts us. And so this idea that, oh, we can somehow isolate ourselves from the rest of the world and nothing impacts our wonderful lives here in the U.S., that's a fallacy. That's right. The oil is traded on a global market. Its price is set by decisions made by Saudi Arabia and Russia and others.

And the United States producers are a major force in that market. But the prices are set globally. And we got to add this here, too, because this is really, really, really important. I'm a native of Texas. Do you know who is smiling right now? Texans. Why? Because Houston is a petrochemical capital of the world. Who's smiling right now? Who smiles when you have high gas prices? Louisiana. Because of their petrochemical. So there are states in the United States that love high gas prices because that means if those oil companies are doing better

and those employees are doing better because those oil companies hate when gas prices are low because the cost per barrel is low, which means their profits are lower. Exactly. Who benefits? There are five companies that last year made record profits, $75 billion for these five oil companies. It was the highest growth in profits that they've seen in more than seven years.

That's extraordinary. In fact, they have more permits, more leases, more land than they know what to do with. They're not even producing as much as they could. We're still at 10% less production in the United States. And in fact, on that particular point there, am I correct that also Biden has issued more permits to drill on public land than Trump did? Much to the chagrin of environmentalists. It sort of is driving the environmentalists crazy. And here he is still giving the permits that the oil and gas industry

are asking for, as you said, more than Trump did. And the only solution they have is to go to Congress and ask for even more. They want to fire sale of public lands. They want to rush different approvals. They want to build out oil and gas production that won't even come online for another 10 years, as if that were somehow a solution to the issue we're facing today. It's not. Ten years from now, we need to be on electric vehicles with electric heating for our homes, with clean electricity and renewables powering our grid. It's time to build today the future that we want to see. Indeed.

Indeed. Trevor Higgins, I appreciate it, man. Thank you so very much. It's my pleasure. Thank you for joining me. All right. Indeed. Trevor Higgins, I appreciate it, man. Thank you so very much. It's my pleasure. Thank you for joining me. All right. Thank you. It's a lot. All right, folks. I want to go to our panel right now. Mustafa Santiago Ali, former senior advisor for environmental justice with the EPA. Teresa Lundy, principal founder of TML Communications. We'll be joined later by Demario Solomon-Simmons.

All right, folks. So I got to show this here, Mustafa, because this is just hilarious. So this is if people want to understand stupid, okay, here is just stupid from Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. He tweeted, Biden's ban on the Keystone XL pipeline was a direct attack on our energy production. Mustafa, could you please explain to the people what the Keystone pipeline was and how that wasn't ours. Right. No, it definitely wasn't ours.

The pipeline that was going to run from Canada down into our country and then move the oil on its way. And, you know, we already have 2.4 million miles of fossil fuel pipeline that exists inside of our country. We haven't even utilized the vast majority of the capacity that's needed, nor should we. Let me make sure that I'm clear with that also, because we understand the public health impacts that are going on there. Tim Scott, either he just doesn't know. I hope that's the case, but he should, since he's a senator. Or he's just unfortunately sharing false information with folks. He knows the reality of the situations

that are going on. And it's interesting, as you were talking to my friend over there from CAP, $23 billion actually Exxon made last year, $15 billion from Chevron, $12.9 billion from BP. And the pipelines that we're talking about actually continue to just pump these profits into these corporations. Very little of those dollars ever make it back to the communities that are carrying the burden. And, you know, it just continues to create these sacrifice zones. So, you know, Senator Scott, you know, really needs to get it together. And he needs to really understand the totality of what's going on because, you know, the military have shared with us, you know, all this is tied to climate change. And, you know, if we continue to utilize these fossil fuels, the military has

shared with us that there are going to be these additional wars that are going to happen. So if you think what's going on right now in Ukraine is serious, wait till you see what's going to happen if we don't begin to break our addiction to fossil fuels. Teresa, it really is this thing. And just the other day, you get these reporters at the White House who were, oh, my God, we talked to people at the gas pump and they were just shocked at rising gas prices. Yo, there's a damn war going on. Yeah. Anytime there's a damn war going on yeah anytime there's a disruption into how things are going normally you kind of are going to see an impact for instance covid hits guess what that meant manufacturing facilities closing what did that lead to supply chain what did that lead to no products such as furniture other items being on the shelves?

Hello It's called a domino effect. And so I can't sit here. Oh my god. Look the other day I feel in my navigator. Yeah 31 gallons $125 oh my god. I can't believe I had to spend $125 because there's a damn war going on on the other side of the world. Yeah, and people see, they need to understand that the trickle-down effect

not only affects the people that are actually going through the war, it affects everything and everyone around it. So the economy is absolutely going to take a hit. And so, but this also brings an opportunity for new ideas and fresh solutions to the table where people are starting to think about having these conversations or re-engaging these conversations about energy, about new cars, you know, electric cars cars so um and also stocks and investments so there's a lot of opportunity in the midst of tragedy but as of right now people are just going to have to

take it for what it is the sacrifice is being made right now um whether we like it or not um with this war but i do think again if we start thinking through some of these problems and start looking at some of the solutions that can come, because a war doesn't last always, then I think, you know, we can start to rebuild what we should have done in the beginning. I just, it just trips me out. And I'm sure, Mustafa, some people are saying, oh, Roland, you know, you can say that

because you're in a better situation economically than other people. Okay, you can make that argument. It doesn't hold up because guess what? We all are impacted. But at some point, we've got to stop being arrogant Americans and acting as if everything can happen

just go on with our wonderful lives and it never gets no disruption because something else is happening across the world. You know, you shared earlier, it is literally all interconnected. You know, you shared earlier, it is literally all interconnected, you know, not only on the global scale with our economy, but also the sets of exposures that individuals are dealing with and a set of opportunities. This is a moment where, yes,

we are dealing with a war and there's a tragedy that's going on, but we also have the opportunity now to make some better decisions. And Teresa kind of touched on that. You know, you mentioned spending a hundred plus dollars to fill up, you know, your ride. You know, if folks had bought an EV, now there is a suite of different ones that are out there. And even some of the larger SUVs that I know a lot of folks like to rock, you know, you will now be able to buy those also as an electric vehicle. So why is that important? You know, one of it, of course, is it helps our communities because we're the ones who are getting a lot of the pollution. But besides that, if you had an electric vehicle right now in this moment, you could literally fully charge it for the whole month and spend $25 to $30 a month. Now, you start to add up,

you know, the additional costs that are happening in this moment from the war. And if you have to fill up a couple of times, you're talking about, you know, $250 a month compared with spending $35 or $30 or whatever it might be, depending on the size of the battery that's there in the type of car, EV that you're driving. So for our communities, it just makes sense for us to have those opportunities. And that's why some of the things that were introduced on Capitol Hill, the front load, some of those tax incentives are so critically important for our communities who often, because of the wealth divide, you know, don't have some of the additional dollars sometimes to be able to get into that market. So, you know, whether we're talking about public health across the planet, if we're talking about these new sets of opportunities that are part of the climate economy, you know, our communities can benefit

or we can continue to be the ones on the back end of the equation who are just getting the impacts that are going on. And then, of course, everybody, you know, you've heard me talk about it and others. When we utilize fossil fuels, we are literally creating these sacrifice zones. There are sacrifice zones that are being created

because of the war. We see it through Ukraine. And if we don't address these issues, and that's why Biden and others are trying to break, you know, Putin's back, because he's built his war machine literally on fossil fuels. Roland, just in the last 15 seconds, literally the top five Russian exports, the top four of those are actually fossil fuels. That's how he's built and amassed the wealth that was necessary to be able to put this war machine together. So, you know, the choices that we are making

and others across Europe have played a role in giving this man the wealth to be able to do the things that he did. I wrote an op-ed about it. It was in Bloomberg last week, and folks can read it if they choose to. You know, I'm laughing at some of these people here, and I love when people ask us dumb questions.

So you got this one person who goes, well, so my original Delta, this guy is stupid. You might want to explain that, because you're stupid. But then this is the one that I love here, Teresa. Somebody goes, well, IP freely, charge it where? There are charging stations now all around the country. And in fact,

the Biden Build Back Better plan actually wanted to put more charging stations. In fact, I was, who was it? Was it Eric Erickson? Because did I respond to him on this one? Let me see if I can find this here. Let's see here. Let me see here, because it was really hilarious when I was going through this

and we were talking about, we were talking about reserves, we were talking about a number of different things. We were talking about the electric grid. And I had to remind Eric that who are the people fighting the rebuilding of our electric grid, which is kind of important. And that is, you can't be complaining about the American electric grid if you're standing in the way of the electric grid. And that's the deal. And if we really just want to be honest here, Teresa, here is the biggest, most fundamental

problem that Americans face. We bitch and moan after something happens. We love to complain after. How many Americans out there whine and complain about flooding? But then when it's not flooding, damn you and that climate change. How many people complain about, oh, remember when Donald Trump was whining about the light bulbs? They complain about their light bills being high, but you don't want to use more efficient light bulbs. We complain about sickness in our foods, but then we don't want there to be more government monitors to keep pesticides out of our foods and inspectors when it comes to the meat.

See, if there's any fundamental problem of America, and this happens all the time, and I'll go back to Space Shuttle Challenger. What happened there, Teresa? Oh, damn, we might want to do something about those old rings. Yeah, after the Challenger blew up. Remember that bridge collapsed in Minnesota? Remember that? A number of people died. Damn, you know what? We might want to get moving on fixing our bridges. In the United States, we move after stuff goes to hell. We don't do it beforehand. You know why?

Because we say that's going to cost us money. And then it costs you more money after the fact, Teresa. That is the fundamental problem with America. You're absolutely right. And it's so interesting. You bring up so many crucial points because, you know, that's when we really start to have a look at some of the people that are representing us in Congress and in the Senate

because we're asking them to have that forward thinking, not the after effect of trying to find solutions to existing problems, but maybe think about what is the vision for situations that could possibly come. And so, you know, it's interesting when we have to see corporations and public utility agencies, you utility agencies basically have to ask people to take a stipend or be a part of a program in order for them to upgrade their stuff. But I also think it's a mindset. So people are comfortable, and a lot of people just don't want change. But part of it is if people don't want change, we have to have well-rounded leaders that are forward thinking and not thinking of just the bottom line. They have to be thinking about the next generation. They're thinking about, you know, 20 years ahead, but not thinking about the

next two years or four years that they're in office. Because if they do, we start to have, again, these concerns that keep coming up. And then we have to still say in talking points that we are fighting, we are, you know, championing. And these are the same talking points that I hate. But they are still fighting the great fight when they could have won the war if they actually started to think ahead. You know, Damaro, here's what this reminds me of. This reminds me of lawyers at major companies where they did cost-benefit analysis as to, you know what, it's going to cost us this much money to put in anti-locking brakes. It's gonna cost us this much money to do windshield wipers, this much money to do airbags.

So you know what? We can withstand X number of deaths so we don't have to spend the money. And then if it crosses a certain threshold, then we'll go ahead and do it. The reason we even have fuel efficiency standards is not because the car companies wanted them. They were forced to do it.

The reason we literally have safety, all of the safety, they now run commercials, DeMario, touting the safety features of their vehicles when they didn't want them in the past because they said it's going to cost too much money. That is the thing America likes being cheap. We want to hold the money until we absolutely have to fix something. And after something blows up, then we go, damn, I guess we might want to fix that system. After folks have died, folks have been maimed, folks have been injured, then we go, oh, I think we wanna, I wanna fix... This is the American way. The idea of fixing it before we go to hell?

Mm. Novel concept. Well, it's just because in America, it's politics over people, not people over politics. Now, it's money over people. That's just, that's just, that's what it is. And politics, well, politics is just at the bare, at the bare level is who gets what, when, where, and how. And that's talking about how the resources are allocated.

So absolutely it's about money. And it's not just about the bridges or roads or cars. It's every facet of American life. It's about property. You know, but, Roland, what I want to talk about in this particular segment and dealing with this issue is to see how quickly and powerfully the government they can get billions of dollars so quickly to the people in Ukraine, but Black people who have been bombed, like my clients right here in Tulsa and all around this country,

we're still waiting on our opportunities for reparations. We're still waiting for policies to be changed. We're still waiting for the Voting Rights Act to be passed. We're still waiting for George Floyd Act to happen. We're still waiting for executive orders, like you were talking about yesterday, Roland, about making sure there's media, there's money coming from the government to black-owned

media like yourself. We're still waiting on that. But hold on, hold on. It ain't just us. If you a veteran, oh, America ain't got no problem sending you to war, but they damn sure got a problem then with your health when you're here.

I mean, you had, you had, you had folks, you had Republicans who were opposing, they love all first responders, but were opposing money going to the very people who got sick with mysterious cancers coming out of the World Trade Center. I mean, the next story we have is the same thing, similar. Again, this is what America does. People listen. America loves money. I keep trying to tell everybody, Mustafa, it's two blocks down,

two blocks from here is the White House. There's only one federal agency that shares a loan with the White House, Treasury. You can walk out the side of the Treasury Department, take about 100 or 200 steps, and you'll be in the East Wing of the White House. If you are standing in front of the White House, this is the White House, power.

Treasury, money. Power, money, money, power. Right there is all you need to know to understand America. And so what DeMario just said is, oh, yes, Congress can move quickly and award billions of dollars on any issue. But this is the same Congress and the same folks like Joe Manchin. Yeah, no, if we're going to talk about daycare

and health care and prenatal care and... No, no, we can't do that. Uh-oh, I'm sorry. Oh, y'all want us to spend $750 billion this year on the military check. That was a $7 trillion defense bill that they signed. But they said, no, we can't spend $1.5 million. We can't spend $1.5 trillion. Let's run a score to see the impact on the debt on the million five. But damn,

the 7.7 trillion. Yeah, we good. That's America. This conversation about Ukraine, this conversation about gas prices, this conversation about all this is America and money. And until something blows up, then that's when we decide to wake up. Mustafa, go ahead. Like you've said before, you know, and Damar said, you know, it's profit over people. You know, I've worked at the highest levels in the government. I've seen the dynamics that go on.

You know, we saw, it's amazing. You know, when the airlines were in trouble, we found the money to bail them out. When the banks were in trouble, we found the money to bail them out. But yet we won't make investments in our people. And we won't also do what's necessary in this moment to keep them safe. You know, here's the thing most folks don't understand. We already are spending billions of dollars every year. We have these multi-billion dollar events that are related to the climate crisis, hurricanes, these wildfires, these floods,

all these types of things. And all the scientific reports have shown us, along with The Economist, that in just a number of years, we're going to move from spending hundreds of billions of dollars over decades to spending trillions of dollars. It's going to impact everything that goes on in your life. So when we see, you know, Russia, who's utilizing fossil fuel dollars, I mean, if you go across this planet and you look at, you know, those individuals who are leading many of these countries, a lot of that stuff goes back to fossil fuel dollars that are propping up, you know, many of the individuals who are doing the most nefarious things. So we just need to

wake up. But we also got to continue to do what this show has highlighted and look for the opportunities that are in the moment. And that's why if you're black or brown, I continue to talk to folks about making sure that you're starting to get contracting and subcontracting opportunities that exist in relationship to infrastructure and climate and a number of other things. Because if we don't, I promise you, I've seen other folks who don't look like us who are lined up, and they are gonna make millions, and some of them will make billions of dollars off of these business opportunities that are in this space.

So we can do good and do well at the same time. Well, uh, trust me, y'all, while you're sitting here hearing these Republicans complain about high gas prices, I can guarantee you they are saying nothing about the record oil profits of American oil companies. And they're not going to turn down any of those campaign contributions, not from Exxon, not from Chevron, not from any of these oil companies, because it's about the money in America.

All right, y'all, go into a break. We'll be back on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Got more you want to talk about, including, I'm going to break down for you folks next in our Where's Our Money segment, how black-owned media used to actually have reporters on the ground covering wars across the world. There's a reason we can't afford it today. You might want to understand our history and why this matters.

You're watching RollerBot Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Norske Rundforskning Kjell? Don't you think it's time to get wealthy? I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and my new show on the Black Star Network focuses on the things your financial advisor or bank isn't telling you. So watch Get Wealthy on the Black Star Network. Pull up a chair, take your seat. The Black Tape with me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive

into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. What's up, what's up? I'm Dr. Ricky Dillon, the choir master. Hey, yo, peace, world. What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. We've been frozen out.

Facing an extinction level event. We don't fight this fight right now. You're not going to have Black Army. All right, folks. So yesterday on the show, we had Congressman Hank Johnson on, and we were talking about his letter that he sent to President Joe Biden

with regards to the lack of advertising dollars that Black-owned media has been getting from the federal government. In 2018, then-Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton had the GAO commission a study at the behest of NNPA, the National Newspaper Publishers Association, also known as the Black Press. And what that study reveals is that in five years, when Obama was president and Biden was vice president, $5 billion had been spent on advertising

from the federal government, and black-owned media got 51 million out of the 5 billion. Now, you heard me talk about that 38 of the 56 CBC members signed the letter. I had a conversation last night with a member who said that all the members did not see it, did not actually see the letter in order to sign it. So don't let that number be reflective of how they stand on this. Now remember, Hank Johnson also told us, Congressman Hank Johnson told us on yesterday that this issue came up in their meeting with the White House.

I was told by another CBC member it absolutely came up and that was a vigorous discussion about it in terms of doing better. And so y'all know I don't play games. I told you I had to call out Young and Rubicam just for us to get one month's worth of money from dealing with the census, which is $250,000. We had put in a proposal in April of 2020 and never heard from them until I called them out on the air, and then they responded. See, we got to cuss folk out, yell, holler, scream,

just to get them to actually respond to us. And so, that thing keeps happening. Now, we got to cuss folk out, yell, holler, scream just to get them to actually respond to us. And so that thing keeps happening. Now, I need y'all to understand that in October and November, I was talking to CBC members and talking to Biden campaign folks saying, look, y'all win this thing. Here's the deal. Billions are going to be spent on COVID trying to reach people on television and radio commercials and print ads and events, we need to ensure that we don't get locked out. I can tell you right now, we submitted a proposal to an advertising agency called Fors Marsh, F-O-R-S-M-A-R-S-H, where at the time they nearly had an all-white board. If y'all go there now, it's amazing how much color is now on there.

Ain't no shock after we put them on blast because they saw what was coming. And so they control, they got the ad contracts for about 20 plus different federal agencies. Well, they had a black consultant who they hired, not a black ad agency, a black consultant. And so she was telling us, oh, we got this, we got that. Are we going to do this here? So we submitted a $2 million proposal. Oh, I don't know if I can get that passed. And so then we broke it down to four different phases, 500,000 each. Then all of a sudden, oh, we're launching a new phase in 60 days. Well, we wait,

we wait, we don't hear back, we don't hear back. I call her, I text her, I email her, she doesn't respond. I call her, email her, and text her again. She doesn't respond. Then finally she responds. And then it's like, oh, yeah, I saw your email. Yeah, I'm at dinner. That was literally her response. So then we finally, I said, well, finally, I then sent an email to the company. So then one of her bosses got on the phone. And so then she hits back, well, basically, all the money been spent.

Now, ain't that something? You take us through all that. We waste time, put a proposal together, and then some 90 days later, oh, sorry, all the money been spent. And admitted to us that they threw the money out hoping to see what stuck as opposed to having a talk literally said to us me and my man Todd Brown black urban edge network they handle my cell stuff sent us on the phone yeah you know we need a more targeted approach which is what we presented so y'all might be asking, okay, Roland, why is this important? I brought two books, y'all, two books.

Switch right here to camera seven. This book right here by Gerald Horn, okay? It's called The Rise and Fall of the Associated Negro Press, Claude Barnett's Pan-African News, and the Jim Crow Paradox. It is by Gerald Horn. Y'all can tell I've been reading this book how beat up it is. I got a clean copy somewhere, but this is the one that I actually read.

Now, when you read this particular book here, folks, if you read this book, what you'll discover is that when you're reading this book, there were African Americans who traveled all across the world, many of them writing for free for Claude Barnett. They would send their dispatches back. They would send their reports back.

And so what he would do is they would actually put together a compilation of clips and then send that packet to newspapers all across the country. There were a lot of mainstream papers that were interested in their coverage because he also was tapping into black entertainers who were traveling across the globe and who were then sending back reports. So when you had World War II going on, the Korean War, you had black people who were there who were covering those very issues, who would then send the information back

to the black newspapers. Here's this next book. It's by Ethan McKaylee. It is called The Defender, How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America, Ethan McKaylee. When you read this book, you will discover there were people like Ethel Payne who was sent abroad to cover the war. What you would discover in reading this book, that black newspapers were covering the racism that black soldiers were facing during World War II. And then also during World War I, there was a campaign that was created by the Pittsburgh Courier. It was called the Double V Campaign, Victory at Home, Victory Abroad, and Victory at Home.

They said, we're going to fight fascism across the world. We're going to fight racism in the United States. Well, let me tell you all how effective the black newspapers were. Because they were literally writing stories from black soldiers regarding the racism they were facing. At one point, there was an official of President FDR who wanted to actually have the black newspapers shut down and tried for treason because they said they were stirring up the black soldiers. Why? Because they were writing about the racism that black soldiers were facing.

The black newspapers, folks there for the Pittsburgh Courier, for the Chicago Defender, for Claude Barnett's Associated Press, they were actually there on the ground in these countries covering the war. So you might say, all right, Roland, what? Okay, I don't know what's the big deal. Okay. Mustafa is an environmental expert. If Mustafa is trying to talk about environmental racism and environmental justice across America, let me be as honest as possible. He is not going to be talking to black-owned media with reporters on the ground. You know why? Because we can't afford somebody who only writes about environmental racism. Can't do it. Money's not there. You know why? Because we're frozen out of the other money.

DeMario talks about justice for Greenwood and a lot of his cases. Well, here's the deal. When they had a rally, when they had the hearing there in Tulsa, fighting for reparations for the Tulsa descendants, DeMario was like, man, it'd be great if you could be here. Couldn't be there. Couldn't hop could be here. Couldn't be there.

Couldn't hop on a plane. Couldn't fly down. Couldn't be there to cover that. So I got to be judicious about what we travel to and what we cover. Because guess what? We're footing the bill ourselves. And the ad dollars are not coming in.

So what we continually hear from people is they say, well, man, why ain't y'all covering this? Teresa, I literally had somebody tweet me, man, all I see you covering all these cases about police brutality in the big cities, not the small town. I said, how in the hell do you think I, as one person, can cover every story of some black person being beat by a cop. Because you know what? We don't have four or five people who on the police brutality beat. We don't have that. When the New York Times can throw eight, 10, 12, 15 reporters

on a story, do a project for three or six months, no black-owned media outlet in America can do that. It's simply the money isn't there. And so folks, when you hear me ask you to respond to stuff, then you understand that. Then you get it. And see, we also have got to understand, follow the money. I just told y'all in the last segment how, in terms of how we look at some of these things and what we respond to. And in fact, I'm going to do this here. Let me go back to my computer,

because I want you all to understand what I'm talking about here. Just the other day, I posted something on my Instagram page, and it was very interesting, Demario, Teresa, and Mustafa, and people have heard me say this way too many times. And when they've heard me say,

Anthony, I want you to turn that monitor around so I can see. It's very interesting when I've heard people talk about these things, when they heard me bring these things up. And they heard me, here's a perfect example. This was a story that I posted

on my social media account. It said, Netflix paid Kudian Chike $30 million for the Kanye West footage. Now, I posted this just as a way of joking with the comedians who are always messing with me about having my cameras around. He said, man, you always got cameras. So I posted this item here. So folks, I want y'all to take a look at it. Take a look at it. So this is, people responded to it. Now, this post got, listen, it was a small at it. So this is people responded to it. Now, this post got. Listen, it was a small video post. It got one hundred and thirty four thousand one hundred and sixty nine views.

And it got five hundred and thirty nine comments. Not a problem. Not a problem. OK. All right. Come back now. If I go through here, if I go through here and then begin. Let's see here. Let me find another segment that we post. Looks like, did we post, we didn't post the Hank Johnson segment. Oh, no, check this out. So I posted the Hank Johnson letter on my social media account. And I was talking about the lack of ad dollars that we get in the community. That post got 1,034 likes, 40 comments. What am I saying here? What I'm saying is this here,

what I'm saying is I'm going back to the position. What I'm saying here folks here. What I'm saying is I'm going back to the position. What I'm saying here, folks, is that we are very good. You should be switching to the Y position. We are very good. We are very good, y'all. We're excellent at talking about, okay, switch it. We're excellent at commenting on other stuff. But when we start talking about millions and billions to black people,

it's amazing how it doesn't quite get our attention. And I just think that a lot of us love being, we focus on not always mess, but we focus on the wrong things at times. And I'm just trying to get our people to understand here when we're having these discussions, these things are interlinked, Teresa, and we've got to learn that when I'm posting about where's our money, the folk who we are targeting are looking at how many likes and comments it gets. But if I put up something about these two brothers, and I'm not dissing them, who got $30 million from their Kanye West documentary footage from Netflix, I'm glad they got $30 million. There's $322 billion that's being spent every year on advertising. So here I got 134,000 views on a post

and nearly 600 comments about two brothers who got $30 million for their video, their film for the Kanye doc. But then when I'm over here talking about the federal government spending a billion dollars every year, it gets 1,034 likes

and 40 comments. Folk, you got to understand the money. Teresa? Yeah, I think a lot of people just need to wake up. I go through the same thing. You know, I through the pandemic, I've started a business corner for individuals who want to start a business. and where it was getting posted. And part of it was because I didn't want people to have to pay or subscribe to any type of publication in order to get this type of free information.

So I totally understand. So it's like when you're posting the information that can help save lives, get people out of their situation, help them understand the bigger picture, that's not real interesting to them because people are still going through their everyday problems. So I understand that. But what I don't understand is

when we are in so many cases fighting for reparations and fighting for new money to come into some of these urban districts and communities, we're not looking at the reasons why the money is not being trickled down. And I think you made a really good point, Roland, about, you know, having these segments about talking about the fight for economics, the fight that black people has done throughout history in order for justice to actually prevail, even in our favor as we are still fighting for it today. So I think, you know, having these conversations and doing what we are doing, again, it does take money, right, to report on certain things. It does take money to actually be present. But it also takes people who are willing, our people who are willing

to be a part of that conversation, not just look and hit the like button, but literally reach out and say, what else can I do to support? Sometimes it's not financial. Maybe, you know, it is just an extra arm in another city and, you know, and essentially an outreach impact. But I think things can be done. It's just that people have to be willing to do it. And so if we keep doing it together, if you keep having thought leaders on different programs, obviously yours is one of them, I think we'll get there.

But it just seems like it's not getting there as fast. But see, Mario, and I know, I know you know what I'm talking about. Here y'all out there in Tulsa fighting for Greenwood, justice for Greenwood, and folk coming up to you, man, we need this, we need that. We need this in our community. We need that in our community. We need this in our community. We need that in our community. We need this. And then you say,

say, bro, we need 500 people at the city council meeting. Now, doc, you know, man, I got stuff to do. You cannot ask nor demand liberation if you're unwilling to fight for liberation you can't sit here and holler yell and scream reparations but then say man why you begging the white folks for money. I'm sorry. We're taxpayers. So, and then when somebody wants to talk to me, and I can tell them how we've gone through the process and got screwed going through the process, how does that begging? And so at some point,

we are going to have to own up, Demario, to our shit in this. how too many of us are silent and we are allowing ourselves to laugh ourselves to death we are so wrapped up in memes and trivial stuff and all kind of that yet when we when we're talking about trying to get to the billions, I'm talking about $322 billion that is being spent every day. When you see an Estee Lauder executive who made $9.6 million last year resigned because of a racist meme, and I have yet to see

black civil rights organizations and others ask the question in the last week, hold up, Estee Lauder, were y'all even spending $9.6 million with black-owned media? Folk ain't saying nothing. And so here's a perfect example. I put the deal out.

Hank Johnson has sent the letter out. Went out Friday. I'm going to look, but I'm waiting to see at all these civil rights organizations, any of them following up saying, where's the money? I'm telling you, bro, if you, this is America. If you do not get to the money, you are not going to deal with America. That's facts, man. I'm 100% and you talked about, you know,

what we're talking about here, about asking for the money. When I used to represent professional athletes, I had a player who was a star at the Dallas Cowboys. And Jerry Jones said, hey, you know what it takes to be a good business person, salesperson in America? He says three things. Number one, ask for the money. Number two, ask for the money. Number two, ask for the money.

Number three, ask for the money. So, Roland, you're right on point here. And I want to say that too many times, it is the exceptional Negroes that are stopping, uh, our community from moving forward in getting the money. What do I mean? You talked about... You talked about a young lady who was a Black consultant at this organization who was a gatekeeper.

You didn't want to make sure that the money came from that. Oh, I can't tell you, DeMario. I dealt with. Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up. No, no, no, no, hold up, hold up. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I need you to repeat what you said and then continue because folk just totally missed

what you just said about exceptional Negroes and gay people. Don't repeat that again. Well, yeah, I mean, we talk a lot about the community, folks, but I'm talking about what I call, quote-unquote, the exceptional Negro, and I got a whole book I'm writing on that

about these individuals who get the opportunities that our people have fought for decades to provide. They get the opportunity because they look a certain way, but they think a different way. And I think yesterday, Dr. Malvo said, just because you're brown, I mean, you're down. And these exceptional Negroes are really in the way. And we dealt with that so strongly

during our reparations fight down here, still dealing with it, where you had the white power structure raise $30 million, $30 million off our story, off our pain, off our destruction for their own pockets. And it was the exceptional Negroes that they put handpicked to be out front to protect them and ask us, I'm getting upset about this, getting pumped about this, because they wanted to chastise us because we asked for our portion of that money. We said at that $30 million of raise,

at least a third of that should be coming to our community. And over the money that's made on the museum that you built on the backs of our suffering, a third of that annual revenue should come to our community. And it was exceptional Negroes they put out front, the gatekeepers who said, how dare you ask NASA for a piece of this money? How dare you ask for more than what they already said they're going to give us? So we have to identify these exceptional Negroes, and we have to move them out the way so there can be good community-minded folks

who want to work on behalf of the community. It's okay for us to make money as professionals, those who've got education degrees and credentials. But if we're going to stop it from flowing down to Black organizations and black community, then they need to be out the way point blank period. Hey, look, look, first of all,

y'all, we can go to straight church on that. See, Mustafa, here's the thing, what DeMario just laid out. Bruh, we have been dealing with black people who are in corporate America.

My guys with Urban Edge Networks said they were on a call, and the white folks on the call had no problem with our proposal. No problem. Yet it was the black folks by saying, well, Roland is somewhat controversial. Absolutely. Like what? The black folks on the call. We, man, look, my guys told me they had a deal to do in-store displays with a grocery store. The white folks in the company, great idea, love it.

The brother who is the global, the diversity person, he goes, we do enough for HBCUs, be good. And he's an HBCU graduate. You got black people who are right now

sitting on corporate boards asking nothing to the CEO. How much y'all spending with black catering companies, black transportation companies, black flower shops, black event planners,

black audiovisual companies, black-owned media. First of all, you got on those boards because black folks protested. Oh, but you got your stock options, and you doing well, and you ain't saying nothing. And that's why, and then, oh, I really, I mean, I don't know. And then asking, well, can there be outside groups

that say something first, then I say something? Why your ass there? Look, see, I need it, and see, this is what I need everybody to understand, because see, Mustafa, I already see they playbook. See? They already trying it. Well, Roland, you trying to get it for yourself. Nope. Because see, I believe we all can eat. See? See, this space here, this all.

Switch to this shot. This is some other black people, the exceptional Negro. Come on, y'all. Me. See? This is exceptional Negro. Just me. Switch. This is rolling.

We all can eat. Y'all, it's gotten faster. Come on now. This is the collective. We all can eat. The problem is we got too many people. They only want to be the ones who eat. And that's a fundamental issue that we're facing. And we got to be willing ones who eat. And that's a fundamental issue that we're facing, and we got to be willing to challenge them. But the issue here is I need black people who watch

us, who look at us, to stop playing small ball of Mustafa. And again, when we comment on silly, trivial shit, I'm talking about 320... Y'all, listen listen to me 322 billion that is being spent every year on media

right now black owned media gets 0.5 barely a hundred million Listen to me. Barely 100 million we're getting out of 322 billion. That means, listen, if we're getting 100 million right now, that means that black-owned media, it would take us 30 years to hit the number. But imagine if we got 10% on $322 billion. I mean, y'all, math ain't that hard. 10% of $322 billion is $32 billion. $32 billion.

If black-owned media got $32 billion, let's just say I got 5%, that's just me, of the 10%. Just five. Just five. That's it. Just five. Do quick math, y'all. 32 times 18. Come on, do real quick, do real quick math y'all

32 times 18 Come on do real quick do real quick math 32 million We not talking about excess of 50 Now all of a sudden We're doing 50 60 million a year Now we don't have one floor Now we have three or four floors

Now we have 100 staffers Now we have reporters going across the country. No. But see, folk go, oh, that's just you. But if we are getting 32 billion collectively, game changers, Mustafa, and that's what they are afraid of. The reason they are freezing us out of the money,

because they know game changers. Because it's not just that we hire reporters. We now can contribute greater to HBCUs. We can now give our own money to civil rights organizations fighting on our own behalf. We can now actually create larger black law firms that represent us. We can actually now have black PR companies, Teresa, that are of scale. Their sales are $200 million that themselves are two and three and four and $500 million in annual billing.

All of a sudden, folk, and this is only media, we could literally change the game. So imagine if that now happens in media, in law, in engineering, in every field. That's how we change America. And that's why this fight ain't just about me. Mustafa, go ahead. in engineering, in every field. That's how we change America. And that's why this fight ain't just about me. Mustafa, go ahead.

No, I mean, you know, everybody's done unpacked it. I wrote this piece on the pimping of Black America. You know, we get pimped in so many different ways. We get pimped by, you know, we pay taxes, then those tax dollars never come back to us. And we talked about a little bit before about these are your tax dollars. They should be going back to black businesses and black sets of opportunities. But if we don't realize, one, that we're getting pimped and two, that we're willing to do something about it, you're going to continue to get pimped. If you know a pimp on the street,

he ain't trying to do anything to put you in a better situation than to keep you, you know, with the same mentality, having to come back time and time again to him or maybe her, you know, so that they can continue to benefit off of folks. The other part of it is that Biggie gave us the framework to operate from. He said money, power, respect. And that's exactly the formula that works inside of our country. So if we know that there are literally

hundreds of billions of dollars that are out there, and if we are not willing to fight and push to make sure that that happens, then we can never get to true power in this country. Now, yes, there is power in people, and I respect that. I come from that movement. But at the same time, we want to change the dynamics that are

happening in our communities. Then we got to make sure that we are understanding that we have to have the resources to build that infrastructure so that everybody wins. And last point I'm gonna make on this here, and I'm just being real clear, because I got another guest who's waiting, but this is my last point on this here,

and this is what I need people to understand. The battle that we are in, we don't need civil rights groups negotiating for us. What we need need civil rights groups negotiating for us. What we need are civil rights groups standing with us. Not in front of us, standing with us. Because see, y'all heard me talk about this two weeks ago. White America loves to give black folks philanthropy, but not investment. They built their own museum in Tulsa to make money off of the massacre.

DeMario, how much did the museum cost? They raised $30 million off the backs and stories of the destruction. Listen, y'all They wouldn't give them 30 million But they spent 30 million on a museum That's philanthropy That's Tulsa trying to create a tourist attraction To get black folks to visit Tulsa.

That's what they did. That's philanthropy. I'm trying to get us to understand when we have investment, then we don't need their philanthropy because we can actually contribute on our own. So when I give y'all the marching orders, I need you to call. I need you to tweet. I need you to email. I need you to light folks up. We're going to be starting something very soon. It's called the George Floyd Accountability Project. And we're going to name check every company that announced they were going to spend money

with black organizations in black America. And we're going to be demanding an audit of every company to know where did the money go? What did they spend? And we're going to be asking, what are they doing internally in these companies when it comes to black-owned businesses. Because what I'm not gonna do is be silent as folks pimp black people

in the wake of George Floyd's death and then turn around and don't invest in black people. Y'all gonna know more about that, but I'm telling y'all, for all y'all corporations, y'all are on notice because your name is going to get called. If you put that on your Instagram page or you send a press release out, we coming for you. And the federal government, Biden, I've been patient.

I met with y'all on February 16th, 2021. Still waiting 13 months later. I ain't waiting no more. Y'all gonna get calls too. Don't come ask for votes and you don't show up with the money.

What Malcolm said, what Denzel said playing Malcolm in Malcolm X, I'm not satisfied., I'm not satisfied. And I'm not satisfied. I wasn't satisfied under Trump. I wasn't satisfied under Obama. I wasn't satisfied under Bush.

I wasn't satisfied under Clinton. I wasn't satisfied under Bush. I wasn't satisfied under Reagan. I wasn't satisfied under Carter. Wasn't satisfied under Reagan. I wasn't satisfied under Carter. Wasn't satisfied under Ford. Wasn't satisfied under Nixon. And I was born the month Nixon got elected. I was born a week after the election.

But now I got my own platform with my own voice. And nobody but God controls it. Y'all are going to hear from us. No, no, no. Something better than your own platform. You got all of you as people that support right now. What I'm saying is that's how we gonna use it. We're going to use it and we're going to deploy it.

I'm putting everybody on notice. You are going to have to answer to how you spent the money and where you spent the money and who you spent the money to. We are going to ask it, and we're going to put it out to the public and let the public know what you did with it or what you didn't do with it. My suggestion is it's time for you to do right or you're going to see what's going to happen. Coming up next, we're going to talk with a sister

who is battling over the issue of an unexplained cancer and why in the world she's not getting the proper support in her fight. This is why Black-owned media matters. You're watching Roll Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. I'm sorry. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for you. Do you ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy.

Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for a balanced life with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together, and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Black Star Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. Black TV does matter, dang it.

Hey, what's up y'all? It's your boy Jacob Lattimore and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. No! I'm going to switch to one. So at the top of the show, I was telling you about what happens, how this country treats those who go to war. America is real good, real good at spending money on our troops to send them overseas to fight their battles, to fight the wars. Yet when they come home, the education benefits are not there.

The health benefits are not there. Today President Biden was in Texas talking about expanding health benefits to sick veterans facing health problems of exposure to burn pits. He's calling on Congress to expand health care to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who face health care consequences because of burn pit exposure. He mentioned this also in the State of the Union.

His son, Bo, a major in the Delaware Army National Guard, was deployed to Iraq in 2008. He was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2013 and died two years later. Last week, the House passed the bill titled HR 3967 or the Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2021. That act would have been great for my next guest,

who is Yoshinobuya Harris. She lost her husband, Staff Sergeant Jimmy Wayne Harris, from a malignant tumor of unknown origin. She joins us now from Copperas Cove, Texas. Glad to have you on the show. So walk us through this battle that y'all were in with dealing with, you know, the VA to fund this to deal with the health of your husband. Yes. It all started back in November of 2017. And actually they didn't know what was going on. They thought it was first a sinus infection. And then all of a sudden he was hospitalized late November of 2017 it turned out to be cancerous fluid in his lungs.

At that time, we had to get the proper paperwork and the proper referrals, because at that time, he had already retired from the military, to get us sent to MD Anderson. So once we were admitted into MD Anderson, they were explaining to us that they never seen this type of cancer before. And they asked him questions about his deployments and, you know, where he's stationed over in Afghanistan. And he told them that he was. that this cancer was so rapid from November and now before we're in January, they basically told us it was nothing more they could do

just to move us to let us stay there and move us to hospice care. And so eventually that's what happened while they continued to test this and run tests on him. And unfortunately, in February 2018, he passed away. So, you were going through all of this here.

Were you getting the proper support from the Veterans Administration? No, sir, we wasn't. Um, at the time, he was, uh, 100%. But then we had to send the paperwork back to the VA to file another claim. And his doctors were on board, and the VA denied that claim because they said they couldn't connect that cancer

to his 100% VA benefits. That is, um... Again, when you hear that story, it's just crazy, but again, it's what people continually talk about when here they are, America will do all they can to send folks off to war, but when they come home, they got to go through hell. Absolutely.

And every time I would talk to a representative on the phone, it was like, well, it's not connected. It's not service-connected. And I would go back to the plan. Ma'am, he was deployed four times to Afghanistan. Ma'am, did y'all look at the paperwork his doctor sent? Did you see? No, no.

So I'm so glad President Biden spoke about getting representatives who know what they're talking about and who know what they're dealing with. This is, again, when you look at this, and then but also when you look at the people who did not vote for this, keep that also in mind. Let's go to my panel here, Mustafa. I'll start with you. So, first of all, I apologize for your loss. I've worked with a number of veterans, and then my stepfather also was poisoned from Agent Orange and had to fight for years. You know, the question is,

have you also been working with a number of the agencies who also have responsibility for making sure that these burn pits and the impacts that are coming out of them, that they've done not just their research, but they're also calling out that these are carcinogenic effects that are happening because of exposures? Yes, sir. I have joined with Burn Pit 360. I think one of the representatives was present at the State of the Union address.

So we are getting out there. We are on the ground running. We are making phone calls. We are talking to our senators, because unfortunately, we had, I think, three or four senators right here in the state of Texas that voted no against the bill. So we are doing our due diligence to get this out. Teresa.

One, I'm deeply sorry to hear that. Anytime, you know, someone is, I have a lot of military family myself. So anytime somebody is putting themselves up to protect and serve, the goal is for the country to serve them back. So I'm sorry you're going through this. Probably another question that I have for you. This is actually the first time I'm hearing this story and I'm in the business of PR. So have you guys reached out to outside? You know, Roland obviously is a phenomenal resource. But do you guys also have some partners to help to get your message out there so you can bring more attention to this issue? Yes, we have been out locally within our newspapers.

We have been on the news here locally as well. But we are scattered about. So we're not just here locally in the state of Texas. We do have people that are scattered about all over the United States to try to get this out. Mario. Hey, Ms. Okay. Demario. Hey, Ms. Harris, I'm very sorry for your loss. My father's a Vietnam veteran

dealing with a lot of situations with the VA now. My step, my father and I are all the same thing. So I know how difficult it is. My question is, are you connected with any specific attorneys that are helping you in a situation? I know dealing with the VA is a very specialized area. I know this because I have to refer even my family members to someone that deals with this. So do you have access to legal counsel that's helping you navigate through this very complicated and unfair system? As part of the Burn Pit 360, we do have counsel, people that are a part of that.

Me personally, I try to obtain my own attorney with this matter. And of course, once they look at the paperwork and the fight against the VA, you know, it was just too much for them to take on. But again, now that I am a part of the burn pit 360 movement, we do have attorneys that are going in looking at paperwork, seeing which avenues we can employ with that as well. Well, that's very good to hear. And what part of Texas are you in? Are you in Houston? No, that coppers is up near. Actually, she's closer to you in Oklahoma. Okay. Well, I was wondering, you know, uh, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee is such a fighter,

this seemed like an issue. Even though she's not in your district, you may get in touch with her, because if anybody can fight for you, she's the person to do it. Believe that. She's a small woman with a big reach. I'm gonna tell you that right now. But I want y'all to see something. Go to my computer, please. Go to my computer. I want y'all to see. This is a story that just pulled up. And again, I want y'all to understand how

fraudulent Republicans are. They love talking about the military. They love talking about how to support our veterans. They love calling Democrats weak on defense. But look at this story right here. Here you have a member of the House Veteran Affairs Committee, Mike Bost, who actually said the PACT Act would spell disaster for taxpayers. Veterans are struggling to make ends meet. We're not doing right by them by feeling fiscally responsible. And so you see down here what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, don't even talk to us about the price.

Y'all, the CBO. See, this is what I need y'all to understand. Why y'all got to watch this show. Why you can't watch the Fox News of the world. Why they're always trying to pimp veterans. Okay? They love pimping veterans. Taking photos with them, going to NFL

games, saluting our hometown heroes, all that sort of stuff. But when it comes to the money, when they come home, they don't give a damn about it. Go back to the article. It clearly says right here, $250 billion over the next decade. That's $25 billion a year. Let me help you all out. When Congress passed the Defense Appropriations Bill, they gave the Pentagon $10 billion more than they asked for. 10 billion more. Okay.

So, y'all, do the math. They saying this bill too much. 25 billion over 10 years well if y'all didn't give the defense department an extra 10 billion a year that means this really only should cost you 15 billion a year but now go back to the story because see I'm really about to help y'all. Republican support for the bill has been low because of his high price tag with a recent congressional budget office estimate. Y'all they didn't ask for a means test for the defense bill. They spent $700 plus billion to fund the military. That's the trip, Ms. Harris.

They want to spend $700 plus billion to fund the military, but then don't want to take care of the same military when they get sick from fighting the wars they send our soldiers to. And that's the situation that we're dealing with here. If folks want to support, if they want to press, because the House passed this bill, where does it stand in the Senate? Because the Senate passed a different bill, correct?

Correct. So what you need is you need folks to let the senators know to pass the bill the House just passed, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. All right. Folks, it's real simple. You come from a state, except DC, you got two United States senators.

You should be putting a call and an email telling them they should be moving on HR. Write it down, y'all. HR 3967. You don't have to know the long name. You ain't got to know the honoring I'll promise to address comprehensive taxes act. No. Write down H.R. three nine six seven and tell your U.S.

Senator to stand and support H.R. three nine six seven. Miss Harris, we certainly appreciate it again. Sorry for your loss. Hopefully the Senate will do right by our veterans. Absolutely. Thank you, sir, for this opportunity. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. All right, folks, when we come back, headlines and then my interview with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. You're watching

Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. I'm sorry. Nå er vi på veien. Pull up a chair, take your seat at the Black Table with me, Dr. Gregg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Gavin Houston. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Eee! All right, folks, Vice President Kamala Harris went to Selma on Sunday.

She brought several cabinet members with her, including Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. We had a chance to talk with him yesterday about the 57th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and also what he will do for education for the kids in Selma and in the Black Belt of Alabama. Our secretary, Cardona, glad to have you back on the show. First off, we were there yesterday in Selma. And one of the things I posted some photos and some videos and things along those lines,

and a Selma native hit me and said, you know, we appreciate people who come to Selma for this event every year, but then they leave and Selma stays the same from an education standpoint, which impacts economics. What do you want to see happen in cities like Selma? Thank you for that question. You know, I had the chance to talk to several of the university presidents there, and they said the same thing in different ways. They said, listen, we appreciate the attention. When you leave, we're still dealing with the same issues.

And that struck me. You know what I mean? We need to do better, not only in Selma but across Alabama, across the Black Belt. We need to do better. The American Rescue Plan is a down payment on what should be a transformational shift in education. You know, so what I heard there was a sense of, listen, I want real change. I'm not interested in just symbolic gestures of change. I want real change. And, you know, we are committed at the Department of Education to promoting equity in all that we do, increase in $20 billion, that's significant change. That's long-lasting change so that all of our students, including those in Selma, have an opportunity to have opportunities in education that students across the country have. So that struck me. I get that.

And I appreciated the honesty and the manner in which they're saying, listen, don't just think about us around this time. We have needs throughout the year. And I appreciated that. And when we talk about that, look, I'm on the education reform group 50 can. And we talked in our board meetings about the massive spending that is going towards education as a result of in the aftermath of COVID and what's happening right now. And so this really is an opportunity where education could be significantly changed when people talk about resources. And so when you think of places like Selma, you think about the direct aid that's coming to states and also cities, you know, what do you hope comes about

with this mass infusion of billions of federal dollars? You know, I just finished a call about 20 minutes ago with reporters about the one-year anniversary of her funds, $40 billion that went to higher education institutions.

Half of that money, $20 billion, went directly to students so that we don't have students dropping out. And a lot of these students that benefited from it were community college students, students in our HBCUs, in our MSIs. But as I said before, that's not enough. We need to make sure that we're looking at sustainable improvements in education funding at the state and local level so that students have opportunities to thrive. You know, the pandemic obviously made gaps worse, made, there were black and brown communities that were more impacted by the pandemic. We know that

with our mortality data, with the unemployment data. So it's really important that these funds are going to those communities that were most hurt, right, that were impacted the most. But it's not enough with the ARP funds and then going back to business as usual. Before the pandemic, we had opportunity gaps and achievement gaps that were embarrassingly high. It's almost become normalized in our country, and we have to do better. We have to be unapologetic about keeping the pressure on to close those gaps to ensure that funding equity exists at the state and local level as well. So as I said before, I expect transformational shifts to happen with American Rescue Plan funds,

not only at the pre-K through 12 level, but at the higher ed level, making sure more students have opportunities. But I don't want it to stop there. I want that to be just the jolt that we need to make sure that we're funding education so we can have teachers that are getting paid a decent salary, don't have to work two to three jobs, so that we can ensure we have pipeline programs so black and brown students see teachers that look like them in front of the classrooms. We know what to do. We just need to make sure we're being fully supported at the state

and local level, as well as the federal level, to get these things done. Of course, when we talk about Bloody Sunday in Selma, of course, it evokes the history of what took place. You know, it's always amazing to go there, to walk across that bridge, don't fool what happened. Are you also concerned with these attacks on education, all of these people who are belittling critical race theory,

knowing full well it's not being taught in primary and secondary schools, that we're potentially looking at a generation, I don't want to be burning the books as well, where folks are not going to actually be learning about these things, about what really took place, these historical markers that actually signify trying to reach freedom in America.

When you see these bills being passed and these school boards being shut down and folks being attacked, what concerns you the most? Well, let me tell you, yesterday was my first trip to Alabama, my first visit to Selma, and it was so emotional for me to be there. I felt humbled to be there. And it just reminded me of the urgency with which we need to approach our work. I tell leaders all the time, you know, reopening schools was the baseline and the work won't get easier.

It gets different. So now we're dealing with challenges like division, like there's a topic of the day where people are trying to create division in our schools, division between parents and schools. I know truth will prevail. I know quality educators will do what they need to do to support students.

And, you know, in terms of whatever topic it is that they're bringing up to keep this division going, we're going to rise above that. I trust my educators across the country to give students a well-rounded education where they have windows into other cultures and, you know, mirrors so they could see themselves in their books and sliding glass doors so they could see what other cultures look like and how they live. Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop coined those terms. And I'm confident that our educators are professionals. They know how to not only expose students to people that look different than them, but also to see the beauty in themselves. And they could do this while unifying our communities. That's what our communities need, unifying. And our schools do that. That's what our communities need, unifying. And our schools do that.

I think what we've missed most during the pandemic was a sense of family that schools provide. And I'm glad we're open and we have a charge in front of us to bring people together. I know we can do it. Last question for you. You talked on the plane last night to those of us who were riding with the vice president, and I asked you this about potentially hosting

an education conference there in the Black Belt. There are significant issues for Black children there in the Black Belt in Alabama. And a light needs to be shown on what's happening there. You know, I appreciate your leadership, your advocacy on that. And when I told you on the plane as I was riding with the Vice President and other Cabinet Secretaries, that this issue is something of importance to me, it's my responsibility to put a spotlight on those places that need attention, that need support, and maybe those places that have great examples of how they're lifting up students. So yes, I did commit to that last night. I commit to that today, that we will look into these issues and give them a platform to share some of their concerns. And

as a department, we're going to be listening to see how best we can support. I said before, we need to be a service agency. The American Rescue Plan provide $130 billion to predicate 12 schools. But the work is not done with the American Rescue Plan. There's a level of urgency at this department, not only with me, but with the folks I work with, to improve education. We have a huge task. A lot of damage was done before.

And I'm not just talking about the four years before. It seems like we've become desensitized to the normalization of failure that exists in so many of our communities. I'm committed to addressing that. Yes, I commit to engaging with my colleagues in the Black Belt there and making sure we're listening and we're serving them as well.

We'll be happy to live stream that event on the Black Star Network, so be sure to let us know. Thank you. Secretary Cardona, take care. See you soon. Thanks a lot. Bye-bye. All right, folks. We come back.

Oh, y'all know one of them proud boys. His ass got arrested today for January 6th. And today, Kristen Clark testified on Capitol Hill regarding white supremacists and these hate crimes happening all across the country. Why were Republicans just all in their feelings? Because they talking about they voters. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. ДИНАМИЧНАЯ МУЗЫКА Субтитры создавал DimaTorzok When did the damn Woo Woo song just become like stupid crazy?

I came home, and I'm playing it around the house, you know, and my daughter was three. Tiffany was three years old at the time. So I'll tell you how long ago. Yeah. And she kept walking by singing the woo-woo. And she said, Dad, I love that woo-woo song. And I'm like, you can barely talk.

That's not the woo-woo song. It's called You Should Be Mine. No, it's the woo-woo song. I called the songwriter and I said, my daughter said, this is the woo-woo song. And they said, well, maybe she's right. So they kind of named it the, you should be mine, but in parenthesis, it's called the woo-woo song, right?

Wow. So the record company went out in the street with microphones in the city and had people sing woo-woo-woo. And people were going crazy over just singing, can you woo woo woo woo? And that song just blew up. And from then, now people are calling me the woo woo man.

Right. I'm like, the woo woo man, exactly. Peace and love, everybody. I'm Purple Wonderlove. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up? I'm Lance Gross, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks.

You've got to love these proud boys, these oath keepers, these white supremacists, these domestic terrorists. Well, one of them, Enrique Tarrio, he found out the hard way today. Check the headline out, y'all. Go to my computer. He was arrested today in Florida. That's right. Snatched his ass in his underwear and facing conspiracy

charge tied to January 6th. They're going after a lot of these thugs, what they took place, and rightfully so. Cases are happening as we speak, and I can't wait to see more of them go to prison. Today on Capitol Hill, Kristen Clark, who leads the Civil Rights Division for the Department

of Justice, she testified and had to deal with, again, crazy Republicans as she talked about the rise in hate crimes and how the Department of Justice is doing their best to go after these white domestic terrorists. Check out some of what testimony was today on Capitol Hill. Hate crimes have now spiked to the point where they are, as you describe, a top national threat priority. This is probably an easy answer for you, but just so it's clear on the record, why is it important that a crime be charged as a hate crime rather than just a crime?

MS. Thank you, Senator Whitehouse. Hate crimes not only target particular individuals, but they send a message to entire communities that they are not wanted. So it's important that we stand up to hate crimes because of the reverberating effects that they have across communities. And I noticed in your testimony that in most of the cases you referred to, the individual who committed the violent crime was the individual who was charged with a hate crime. You also mentioned a New Jersey case in which there was a conspiracy charged involving

an organization that, I guess the crime itself was the repeated vandalization of properties. How often are you able to go beyond the actual individual at the point of violence in a hate crime and look at the organization that the individual may have been a member of, say, a white supremacist militia group, or an entity or an individual who might have participated so actively in spinning that person up into the state of mind that made them become violent, that they have criminal culpability. So beyond the actual individual at the scene of the crime, are you able to use conspiracy, aiding and abetting, other theories of liability to expand beyond just the individual? And do you need more help? Should you be doing that? And do you need more help to do that if you feel you should be doing that? Thank you for the question, Senator.

So we prosecute individuals and not groups. And there are cases where we are able to prosecute a set of co-defendants where the facts lead us to understand that there are a number of people who work together to carry out a heinous hate crime. One example involves the Dar al-Faruq mosque bombing in Minnesota that involved a defendant who recruited a set of co-defendants. Who were co-conspirators, in effect. Who worked together to carry out the bombing. So just I was referring back to your testimony that in November 2021, a New Jersey man was sentenced for conspiring with white supremacists to threaten and intimidate African-Americans and Jewish Americans by vandalizing properties throughout the country. So that appears to have been charged as a conspiracy case. Is that true?

I believe that's the case, Senator. And the department would welcome the opportunity to work with the committee to understand what additional tools we might be able to use in our arsenal to fully confront the range of, you know, hate crime threats and offenses and conspiracies that we face in the country today. Yeah, I think that would be helpful because if you're looking at an explanation of why we're seeing a spike in hate crimes, why this has had to be raised to a top national threat level by your department, I don't think it's just sea change in the character of individual Americans. It probably relates to organized activity of various kinds that is driving the spike, again, whether it's a white supremacist militia or whether it's some other terrorist-type group. And I think trying to make sure that we can address group liability in this space in the same way that we do in other spaces. We go after criminal organizations under a whole variety of statutes. We go after them as conspiracies. We go after them as racketeering conspiracies.

We go after them in a variety of ways. And taking down the organization is often very helpful and important to the success of the final outcome. Yeah, we want, Senator, to ensure that we have a robust set of tools to fully confront the threat of hate and would welcome continued work with this committee to figure out what those additional tools might need to look like. You know, Damari, I want to start with you. The reality is this Biden Department of Justice looks totally different from the Trump Department of Justice. I got a story just the other day from the Department of Justice where there was a police officer out of Kentucky who they actually, you know, went after and busted

and charged him for abusive treatment. When you talk about, again, targeting hate crimes as well, keep in mind, when Trump came in, they reduced the budget that were targeting white domestic terrorists to target Muslims. For folks out there who say voting doesn't matter, this is a perfect example why voting does matter because the person who is in charge of the DOJ

plays a huge role in how they prosecute cases. No question. And the reality is we need more of a budget on this. We need more of these white supremacists to be arrested and tried and convicted. We need more money and resources so the Department of Justice can actually properly hold these officers who are brutalizing our brothers and sisters each and

every day, holding them accountable. One of the issues, Roland, that a lot of people don't understand when it comes to these civil rights violations by the Department of Justice, these situations or these cases are not made at the local U.S. attorney level. These cases are sent back to D.C., and therefore it takes a long time for these cases to work through the process. I would like to see a doubling of the Department of Justice civil rights budget. I would like to see an opportunity for local civil rights, local U.S. attorneys have an opportunity to bring their own civil rights cases without having to funnel everything back through D.C.

But to your point, it's much better than what we had under Trump, but it's nowhere near what we actually need to confront hate, racism, discrimination, and white supremacy. It matters who sits in those positions when we talk about, in terms of prosecuting Teresa and making those decisions.

And look, when you look at whether it was the Arbery case, when you look at some of the other cases out there, I mean, Kristen Clark and that division has been a far more robust civil rights division than anything we saw in four years of Donald Trump. They've done more in one year than what the hell those fools did in four. Teresa, you're on mute.

Absolutely, I'm here today. Nah, you're not on mute. Go ahead. But no, it has you really thinking about the type of leadership that is overseeing that office. And it does start at the presidency and who they appoint into that position. But Kristen Clark has shown on countless times that and on countless occasions that she cares. Her office is caring about these cases. They are listening to black and brown people. They are listening to Black and Brown people. They are listening to civil rights organizations. They are listening to advocacy

groups, and they are taking the necessary steps to actually get to a solution. So if we have more focus in those that are in leadership that are saying, we hear your cry and we want to support efforts and use our office as a tool in order to bring justice, then those are the type of people we need to keep in. I thought the Senate hearing that we just heard was also an opportunity for us to hear the type of things that she will have to go through, right? So I always get enticed when there is a Senate and House hearings, because, again, the inner workings of government sometimes does come on full display.

And so it is apparent that, you know, we support those who are in leadership that are doing right by the people. That's all I have to say on that. Uh, Machafa. You know, leadership matters. Trump didn't create hate, but what he did do

was that he threw gasoline on hate, and he gave a fertile ground, uh, for it to actually continue to expand. If you look at the numbers, everybody go back, you can Google it, go back and look at how hate crimes continue to increase year after year after year under the Trump administration. And that's why, like Roland said, you know, your vote matters, because now you actually have some folks in there who are

actually trying to do some things. But we got to also be mindful of the fact that if you are trying to dismantle and deconstruct many of these hate organizations that are out there, then it takes time to build the case. And you got to make sure that you got the agents who have the opportunity to infiltrate and be able to get some of the information that's necessary. And then you got to have great folks like Kristen and others who are able to utilize the law

to begin to not only prosecute individuals, but also to begin to break down these organizations. Because you see these white militia groups and others that are often a part of these organizations. Sometimes they're smaller, but sometimes they're actually linked together. So to be able to hit them in the pockets and to be able to also put folks in jail requires resources,

and it also requires a set of strategic, comprehensive actions to make that become a reality. Indeed. All right, folks, got to go to break. I know tomorrow you have to go. I appreciate you joining us on our panel today. Thank you so very much. All right, folks, coming up next, our Market to Play segment, where we focus on Black-owned businesses. There's another reason why you guys support Roland Martin Unfiltered. Look, we're the only one out here that every single week provides an opportunity to share with you

about black-owned companies and black entrepreneurs who are doing great things in this country. Please support us with our Bring the Funk Fan Club. Every dollar you give goes to support this show. Every dollar you give goes to support this show. Allows us to pay for our staff,

allow for our crews, all those different things. And so please do so. First and foremost, support our Black Star Network app. All of our programming is on there. The Deborah Owens show, Faraji Muhammad's daily show, Dr. Jackie Hood Martin show. Also that the Greg Carr show. We've got several shows that are in development as right now. We've got rolling with rolling all of those shows on the app, including this show as well. Plus, of course, I have the 10-part docuseries on Ghana. The second part is airing this Friday.

And so Android phone, Apple phone, Android TV, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, and Samsung Smart TV. And, of course, if you want to support us, our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans on an annual basis to contribute at least $50 each to our Brena Funk fan club. That's $4.19 a month, 13 cents a day. It comes out to be a million bucks a year. And so we want to hit that goal this year.

You can send money order or cash, money order or a check to Appeal Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037. Cash app is dollar sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Of course, Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com, RolandSMartin.com. And so please support us there. Again, I'll be right back.

Black Star Network is here. And so please support us there. Again, I'll be'all. 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 scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Hey, I'm Q-Bit, the maker of the Q-Bit Shuffle and the Wham Dance. What's going on? This is Tobias Trevelyan.

And if you're ready, you are listening to and you are watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. All right, folks. She's a pharmacist who is mixing more than drugs. She's come up with some flavor concoctions that aid in reducing some health risks such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol. She's known as Dr. Flavor, and she's the CEO of Dr. Flavor Spices.

Her goal is to help people get healthier by ensuring their food tastes good with low-sodium and salt-free natural seasonings. Joining us right now from Atlanta is the author of the Pharmacist's Guide to How to Health Yourself, Dr. Tremaine Jones. Afedabor, glad to have you on the show. So let's get into it. So how did this start? Where did it start when you decided to play mixologist with spices?

Well, first of all, thank you, Roland, for having me on the show. This happened about five years ago, and I was solving not only a problem for America, but for myself. I realized that so many of my patients over the years suffered from diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, and health really begins in the kitchen. And then I love to cook, but it took so much to get my food to taste good. So I said, let me go in the kitchen and start blending and mixing some spices together and see what I come up with. But number one, what was so important to me was that it'd be lower sodium because you know, our community loves flavor, but we tend to use things that has too much salt. And that salt is what's causing the high blood pressure that leads to heart disease, which is killing our community. Well, you're absolutely right. And this is it. And look, people, I mean, they want their stuff to taste good. And it's interesting because, you know, I know folks, they want to throw hot sauce or Tabasco sauce and look at spices with lots of salt without realizing that, well, when you actually look at, there are a multitude of spices out there,

and when you put them together, you can get your taste, but it doesn't have to, again, have that major salt taste. Exactly. So a lot of the traditional ones that a lot of us grew up eating has so much salt. So between... So it's recommended you only have a teaspoon of salt a day. Okay. That's 2,300 milligrams of sodium. Well, if you're using

traditional seasonings over the counter, well, not over the counter, but on the shelves, it typically has between 220 and 350 milligrams of salt. And the reason that so many of us are having so many health problems is because we're eating 30 to 50 tons of food over our lifetime. And this is why food plays such an important role. I believe that if more people get in the kitchen, they have the confidence behind them. That's what Dr. Flavor Spices provides. They're going to cook at home and they're going to also save money, save time, and they're going to be able to take control of their health. That's the one thing that you can do.

Cooking at home. And Dr. Flavor Spices is going to help with that. All right. Teresa, how often are you mixing things up in the kitchen? Well, I am mixing things up every Sunday. Once a week?

Once a week. It lasts for three days. But no, well, one, congratulations to you and your product. So I'm guessing this is sold online. Are you in retail stores? How can we purchase your product? So

right now, currently, we are an e-commerce store. I'm working behind the scenes to get us in on the shelves. I actually had a meeting today. But right now, currently, e-commerce, people can buy them. We have been helping thousands of people lower their blood pressure or either control their blood pressure. And people who are maybe switching over to vegan, these spices are so good that you really can taste the flavors on your vegetables. And you don't have to be afraid about eating more vegetables and eating less meat

because it's packed with eight to 13 herbs and spices. Traditionally, they put a lot of fillers in their spices. There are no fillers, nothing but pure herbs and spices, premium spices that are blended. And, you know, I don't know if many of you know, but Coca-Cola actually was made by a pharmacist. So, hey, you got another pharmacist who created this amazing seasoning line. Mustafa. Dr. Flavor, thank you,

because I got a whole bunch of folks in my family who suffer from hypertension. I think there's like, what, 100 million people in our country, something like that, who has that problem. I'm curious. I'm a vegetarian, not a vegan. I want to know what are your top two or three flavors that folks are gravitating towards? So the original, I have it right here. So the original everything, this is your all-purpose seasoning, okay? It has a smoky flair to it, but this can make your food taste a little bit more like it has a little bit of meat inside of it. So, original everything is the go-to.

Then I have the NOLA Twist. I went to school in New Orleans. I'm an HBCU grad, Xavier University of Louisiana. So, I was inspired to have some of that New Orleans influence. So, NOLA Twist is perfect for your vegetables. Um, I love this. It has like a garlic herb flavor. And then the Creole lemon pepper.

You know I'm here in Atlanta, right? So I gotta have the lemon pepper. But ours is all natural. No yellow dyes that are toxic. And this will really up your food. So those are my top three, I would say. I have created over 13. And right now, six are available. I have created over 13, and right now six are available.

I just bought back my sweet potato pie just for a little while. It's usually seasonal, but the sweet potato pie is also a great option for you as well. Okay, so now again, what's that Creole mix? Look, my maternal

grandparents came from Opelousas, Louisiana, and so I understand that. My favorite, my Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning is my favorite. And so I don't use no Lowry's, but that's the one that I use. So what's your mix again? What is it? So, okay, so I'm going to get, you're going to get rid of that Tony's, right? I went to school in New Orleans and I ate that,

but I found it was too salty or too spicy. Remember, they got like three or four, which actually has one that has far less salt. So I use that one, not the main one. Yes, but it also has sugar and that's what I teach people. So I go into the grocery store and I'm like, yeah,

it said no lower sodium, but it has sugar inside of there. So they're adding the sugar to help compensate with the less salt. So I always teach people to read those food labels so that you can identify what you're putting in your body. You have to be your own advocate first. So, you know, I am a pharmacist as well. So I do have the spice line, but I'm all about proactive living. And like the other gentleman said, if you know what runs in your family, start early. I'm 41. I've been really proactively working on my health since I was in

my 20s. And it's something that is important that we're working on in identifying some of the causes. You know, if it's in our family, then we need to be proactive, exercising, eating healthier. We don't have to wait until we're getting in our late 40s and 50s and decide, oh, I need to do something. Do something proactively. All right, then. Give the website again. It's DrFlavorspices.com.

They can go ahead and shop. I love meeting new people, so sometimes I'm at the Black Wall Street here, the Black Coffee Company in Atlanta. You can catch me there. I'm so excited to meet more people and help us to live a healthier life. All right, then. Well, we certainly appreciate

it, Dr. Flavor. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much. All right, folks, we'll end the show with a memoriam. Actor Johnny Brown, you might remember he played Building Superintendent Nathan Bookman. The 1970s sitcom Good Times has passed away. Brown's family released a statement. The actor passed away on March 2nd at the age of 84. In addition to his roles on Good Times, Brown's other credits

include The Philip Wilson Show, The Jeffersons and Martin. He also appeared on Broadway with Sammy Davis Jr. and Cicely Tyson in the 1960s. Johnny Brown passed away at the age of 84. Folks, that is it. Teresa and Mustafa, I certainly appreciate it. Thanks for joining us on today's show. Always a pleasure.

Folks, don't forget to Teresa Mustafa, I certainly appreciate it. Thanks for joining us on today's show. Always a pleasure, folks. Don't forget, we've got some great stuff tomorrow. I got to show y'all, man. That fool Vernon Jones of Georgia, y'all, he threw a little hissy fit when he was upset with the speaking order at a Republican event. He should have said, get your ass out of here.

You know you're a fake Republican anyway. So we're going to show y'all that tomorrow. Then again, he is a little weak capper, so that's no shock there. And then, of course, we'll also, folks, have on tomorrow's show, we will have a tribute to journalist Askiya Muhammad. I meant to show it today, but we're going to go ahead and show

it tomorrow. A beautiful song that was done by the daughter of Dick Gregory, Ayanna Gregory. So we're going to have that for you as well. Don't forget, folks, download the app, the Black Star Network app. Our goal is to hit 50,000 downloads. And so you can make that possible to your friends and family, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire,

Xbox, Samsung Smart TV. If you have it on your phone, you can also put it on those devices you have at home as well. And so those downloads count. And of course, please support us via our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar you give goes to support this show. Of course, Cash App is Dallas Sign, RM Unfiltered.

PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And of course, you can send us a check or a money order to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037. And so we greatly appreciate the support of our fans. Y'all have made it possible for us to do all that we do.

I share with y'all all the time in terms of what this stuff costs to actually do some stuff. I told you we already spent about $60,000 on our lighting grid here. We've got to add some additional lights in here which is going to cost another $11,000. And so that's just real. And so I keep it real with you, very honest about what these things cost for us to be able to do what we do. And so we're also, of course, because supply demands,

waiting to get our furniture in here as well. So, we look forward to doing that as well. So, still a lot more work for us to do here in the studio here located on Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C. So, a lot of different things going on. And so, please support us. And again, I'll let you know the details as we continue in this battle for black-owned advertising dollars. Because, y'all, again, this is how Fox News does a profit.

Listen to me. Not revenue. Profit of $1.5 billion a year. CNN does about a billion dollars in profit a year. MSNBC around $700 million. That's why they can afford to send multiple crews all across the world.

Folks, Black-owned media does not have the ability, but I'm telling you, with your help, we can actually change that. And so we're going after every source. Federal advertising dollars, dollars when it comes to

corporate America as well, because we as African Americans, folks love for us to buy their products and love for us to buy their shirts and bags and shoes and cars. But are they reinvesting in our institutions? That's why we do what we do. And what did that woman there say? That's what the quote says. The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them. And we got one big ass light. I'll see y'all tomorrow.

How? This is an I Heart Podcast.