#RolandMartinUnfiltered - RMU_2023-03-DOJ Find Pattern Violations By Louisville Police, NAACP Support Tegna Deal, Racism In Mormon Church

Episode Date: March 9, 2023

3.8.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: DOJ Find Pattern Violations By Louisville Police, NAACP Support Tegna Deal, Racism In Mormon Church The Department of Justice releases a damning 90-page report after a two-year investigation following the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor by Louisville, Kentucky Metro Police. To break down the information, we will speak with the Louisville, Kentucky, Metro Interim Police Chief about the plan to fix the department and how to hold officers who commit misconduct accountable. We will also speak with a member of the Louisville City Council and Tamika Mallory, the Co-Founder of Until Freedom, where the city goes from here. The Mormon Church has a complicated history around race. I'll talk to a black Ex-Mormon about her experience in the church and what she is telling other black people considering joining the church. Civil rights leaders are speaking out about the FCC Media Bureau's decision to designate Standard General's proposed $8.6 billion acquisition of Tegna for a hearing. I will tell you what the NAACP New York State Conference president wrote to the FCC chair about the deal and how she believes it to benefit people of color. In our Tech Talk segment, we will speak to the CEO of Royelles Gaming for Girls, who re-images how girl gamers learn through interaction, inclusive narratives, and inspiring personas. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. behavior, using of invalid warrants, all this in the wake of the shooting death of Breonna Taylor. We'll talk with the police chief of Louisville about today's report. Also, the Mormon Church is a complicated history with African-Americans.

We'll talk to a black ex-mormon about the issues that she is facing in the church. Also, a NAACP board member is crying foul against the FCC regarding the Standard General Techno deal. We'll tell you what Hazel Dukes had to say. That and more on Rolling Mark on the Filter, streaming live on Blackstar Network. Let's go.

He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks.

He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling, Martin. Yeah. Rolling with Roland now Yeah, yeah, yeah He's broke, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Roland Martin

Now Martin Folks, a shocking and stunning report today dropped by the Department of Justice of a two-year investigation into the Louisville Police Department, which was commissioned after the shooting death of Breonna Taylor. It shows a department, frankly, out of control, use of invalid warrants, how they actually threw drinks at pedestrians from their cars, recorded on cameras, also calling Black people monkey and other racial epithets. Folks, it's just unbelievable what we heard from the Department of Justice. We'll play some of that a little bit later. Right now, we want to bring in the interim police chief of Louisville, Jacqueline Gwynne Villareal, and glad to have you on the show.

It has to be bothersome to you to listen to the Department of Justice stand before the nation and describe shameful and abhorrent behavior from officers in your police department. Yes, Roland. Thank you so much for having me on your show. But yes, it's very disheartening to what we heard today. It has just truly rocked this city and it has rocked the police department, those who truly value the work that we do every day in serving citizens of a land for OMPD in Louisville, but for the most part, it's just really disheartening to hear what was in that report today.

We oftentimes hear the paternal order police, the unions commenting and protecting their officers. Have they given any comment after what the DOJ laid out today, which shows just unbelievable antics by officers in the Louisville Police Department? I haven't heard just immediately just yet any comments from our FLP president or any other union officials. But nonetheless, I'm very hopeful that we can come together and actually come to an agreement where we know and we all want the best department we can. This is some tough times that we're going to be going through, and we're going to need I'm going to be expecting the FOP president, I'm going to be expecting my leadership team and the members of this department

and, of course, the administration to truly just come together as we continue to move forward and deal with what is in front of us, which is truly a shocking report. What is next, though? You know, what do you now convey to officers on the force? When you look at this report issued, the conduct cited, are these officers,

are they still on the force? Are they still walking around with a badge and a gun? And so that's what we have to do. When we do a deeper dive within the report, we will do an analysis to see who do we have still on our force. Does it lead us into an additional investigation concerning those individuals? So we would do our due diligence in that space. But also, too, I want to note within that report, the DOJ was very clear in this as well, that the vast majority of the officers here on this department are doing it right. And it's just unfortunate that we have a few officers who have decided that they want to take this badge. And it definitely erodes this profession in a way that just shakes law enforcement across this nation. And so, again, we will do our due diligence to see who

do we still have here that was mentioned in that report, and then we will make that necessary adjustment in actually dealing with those individuals. You know, the public, when they hear it's a vast number of officers, you know, who are good and decent, you hear that all the time. But the problem is that doesn't engender trust, especially among African Americans. We've seen the DOJ look at Louisville, Cleveland, Chicago, Baltimore. We can go on and on and on. And we keep having the same sort of things, racial epithets, again, excessive force, on and on and on. And these are people with the power to shoot and kill.

You're right. You're right. I cannot refute that. And so that's where we have to come into play, making sure that we have the right supervisors in place who are monitoring our officers on a day-to-day basis and the work that they're doing, but also to get into a space that we're just not just hiring anyone just because our staffing levels are down. We need to hire quality individuals that should be a part of this profession. And those that decide not to, we need to take the necessary steps to weed them along their way, weed them out of our department.

But you're so correct. We've got to get it right, especially the citizens of Louisville. They expect the change. They want the change. And, Roland, they expect the change. They want the change. And, Roland, they deserve the change. We hear a lot from people when we talk about these issues. They always say training, training, training. But how do you fix this?

Training is not the be-all to end-all. It's like, Roland, it's going to be that day-to-day auditing of ourselves. You can train on a particular subject, but what are we doing on a day-to-day? How are supervisors engaging their officers? Are they checking in on their officers? Are they seeing how they're engaging the public? A lot of the systems that we have in place now is the early intervention system where if someone is actually

flagging on the radar in a certain particular area, that gives that supervisor the actual inclination, let me check in and see exactly what this officer is doing a little bit closer. So again, those are going to be those tools that we need to actually utilize, but utilize them daily. But again, I guess training is good. Training is what we need, but also too, checking in on our officers as supervisors should be doing and seeing what our officers are doing day to day and having mechanisms and tools

that afford us the opportunity to do that. I've interviewed a number of police chiefs who say the right things, who talk with the public. But one of the things, just like I interviewed CEOs, the thing that jumps out is always that layer, the one or two layers below the chief.

How are you making clear to your command staff that your expectations for them are to get this job done and done right? Because my clear message to them, every time I have a conversation with them is saying, first of all, it starts with me. It starts with me in this top seat, making sure that I'm modeling what I expect from them. And then as I'm modeling what I'm expecting from them, I expect for them to actually carry it out and demonstrate that on down.

And if you cannot do that within my particular agency, then you need to actually find another place where actually you fit better because the expectations is high. We can't go back. We must be strong in standing together and making sure that we're serving the citizens of this city properly. And we've got to get it right. And so, and I think a lot of times we're in this top seat, we're kind of, you know, try to temper a way around some things and sometimes just got to hit it straight on and just let them know that this behavior, whether it arose and trying to erode this profession and go on a ride and go on road, it just would not be tolerated. And also, too, the buy in must be at the top levels in order for the actual troops on the ground to embrace it.

So top leadership is just really critical in this process. And I expect them to make sure they embrace change and the reforms that are in front of us. Have you had community events, do you plan to do that, directly engaging with the community, allowing them to ask questions, to rebuild that trust? How is that happening? Yeah, so already we have, we created a youth and advisory council, and that council meets twice a month, and it's very robust with youth around the city that comes together and asks those tough, courageous questions of law enforcement. But also, too, I took it to another

level as far as making sure that we are having what we call a community comm stat, where I brought in the community into the space where we're talking about our day-to-day crime. They can actually see what the resources are. They can actually see how we're responding to calls and what calls we're responding to, and what is the hot-button issues for

them. We are bringing them in. Now I'm creating and formalizing a pastoral forum, which is ideal in order to get the church buy-in as to what we're doing in policing. But guess what, Roland? Not stopping there. Our activists. I'm actually starting an activist forum because I need to hear from those individuals who have seen some things that have just truly rocked them that are negative in nature from the police and actually have them brought to the table so I can hear their concerns and that we can navigate and get to some solution. So those things are being very intentional.

But again, making sure that I'm president of the community. And like I tell my command staff, if I'm president of the community, I need for you to be president of the community. Chief Jacqueline Gwynne Villarreal, we appreciate you joining us. Look forward to having you back. And hopefully next time you're on, there's a much more positive report and you can letting us know

what's happened there in Louisville. Thank you, Roland, for having me. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Folks, we're going to continue having this conversation talking about the Louisville Police Department. Keep in mind, this DOJ report was a result of the death of Breonna Taylor. And so we come back,

we're going to hear from Christian Clark, head of the Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice, from Merrick Garland, the Attorney General. Folks, it is a stunning, stunning report, and we'll detail it all for you right here on Roller Mark Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. A lot of these corporations or people that are running stuff push black people if they're doing a certain thing. What that does is it creates a butterfly effect of any young kid who, you know, wants to leave

any situation they're in, and the only people they see are people that are doing this. So I gotta be a gangster, I gotta shoot, I gotta sell, I gotta do this in order to do it. And it just becomes a cycle. But when someone comes around and is making other, oh, we don't, you know, they don't want to push it or put money into it. So that's definitely something I'm trying to fix too, is just show there's other avenues. You don't gotta be a rapper, you don't, you know, they don't want to push it or put money into it. So that's definitely something I'm trying to fix, too, is just show those other avenues. You don't got to be a rapper. You don't got to be a ballplayer.

You can be a country singer. You can be an opera singer. You can be a damn whatever, you know, showing the different avenues. And that is possible, and it's hard for people to realize it's possible until someone's done it. Next, on The Black Table, with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter, which, simply put, is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal article everyone, I mean everyone, should read.

Professor Porter and Dr. Vlithia Watkins, our legal round table team, join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture. You crystallize it by saying, who are we to other people? Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing.

Who are we to each other? The structures we create for ourselves, how we order the universe as African people. That's next on The Black Table, here on The Black Star Network. What's up, y'all? I'm Will Packer. Hello, I'm Bishop T.D.J. What up? Lana Well, and you are watching

Rolling Martin Unfiltered. Folks, I gave you a glimpse of what was talked about in the Department of Justice at a news conference today detailing what Louisville police officers did and said. But listen to Christian Clark, head of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, just lay out how shameful and despicable the things done by officers in this department. In Louisville deserve constitutional policing. They deserve policing that is fair and non-discriminatory. Our investigation found that the police department and city government failed to adequately protect and serve the people of Louisville, breached the public's trust, and discriminated against black people through

unjustified stops, searches, and arrests. The police used excessive force, subjecting people to unlawful strikes, tasings, and canine bites. The police sought search warrants without justification and carried out no-knock warrants unlawfully, evading the Constitution, defying federal law, and putting ordinary citizens in harm's way. Today marks a new day and a new chapter for the people of Louisville. For the last two years the Justice Department has led an exhaustive

investigation in Louisville to determine whether Louisville Metro government and the Louisville Police Department engaged in a pattern or practice of conduct that violated the Constitution or federal law. We left no stone unturned. And we found that LMPD routinely seeks search warrants for residences without establishing legal justification for invading someone's home. Officers regularly seek warrants that are overly broad, sweeping in people who have at most a remote connection to the investigation, who have committed no crime, harbor no evidence, and have a constitutional right to not be subject to unreasonable search and seizure. Officers also violated the law when they act on these warrants by unjustifiably barging into people's homes without knocking and announcing their presence and they often serve

these warrants at night. These tactics are dangerous. Officers can be misidentified as intruders, and they may misinterpret shock and surprise as a threat. All of this puts the public at risk, and officers too. Officers also routinely conduct stops, searches, and arrests without the required constitutional justification. These tools are essential to enhance public safety, but when used without restraint, they turn into weapons of oppression, submission, and fear. We found that LMPD officers use excessive and dangerous tactics such as neck

restraints, canines, and tasers even against people who pose no imminent threat to the officer or others. We also found that officers misdirect their resources and violate fundamental principles of equal justice by selectively targeting and disproportionately subjecting black residents to unlawful policing. LMPD disproportionately stops and cites black drivers for minor traffic offenses. In fact, black drivers were nearly twice as likely as white drivers to be cited for having one headlight out. Black drivers were nearly four times as likely as white drivers to be cited for improperly

tinted windows. And black drivers were nearly five times as likely as white drivers to be cited for improper tags. LMPD also disproportionately searches black drivers who are stopped and cited. Even when comparing traffic stops where black and white drivers were engaged in similar behavior before the stop, black drivers were almost 50 percent more likely to be searched than whites. LMPD charges black people at higher rates than white people for the same misdemeanor offenses. For example, LMPD charges black people for loitering at more than four times the rate of white people, for disorderly conduct at two and a half times the rate of white people, and for littering at three times the rate of white people. This pattern of racial discrimination fuels distrust

and impedes the community's confidence in the LMPD and their law enforcement operations. LMPD's improper activity extends beyond use of force, street enforcement, and search warrants. We also found that LMPD often responds aggressively to people criticizing the police, both in routine day-to-day police encounters and during lawful demonstrations and both before and after the racial justice protests that occurred in 2020. We saw unnecessarily aggressive behavior against people experiencing behavioral health crises. One person, a black man with an apparent behavioral health disability, had more than 25 encounters with LMPD in less than two years. And in some of these interactions, LMPD officers needlessly escalated the situation and used unreasonable force. At times, they even mocked him. The man ultimately died in a Louisville Metro detention center after he had once again been arrested by LMPD.

Such unnecessary escalation of encounters that could have and should have remained nonviolent was far too common. These findings are not based on any one incident or event. They turn on evidence showing long-standing dysfunction at LMPD. The pattern or practice of unlawful conduct compromises LMPD's ability to serve and protect safely, constitutionally, and effectively. Instead, LMPD has practiced an extreme, misdirected, and counterproductive style of policing. And as Attorney General Garland noted, these findings give us reasonable cause to believe that Louisville Metro and LMPD engage in a pattern or practice

of conduct that violates both the Constitution and federal law. Just kill music, please. Thank you. What we have just heard, folks, is a detailed description of how shameful the Louisville Police Department is. You heard me ask the chief. You ain't heard nothing from the FOP. Now, y'all notice they love running their mouths, defending cops. Yet when they come in and lay out these detailed facts, oh, my God, they're silent and they're missing in action. That's what cowards do. See, if you want to stand up and shout and defend your cops when something happens, when the shooting happens, why all of a sudden is there a disappearing act

when the Department of Justice comes out and lays out numerous facts, numerous details? And folks, get real quiet. Joining me right now, folks, is Tammy Hawkins, a member of the city council there in Louisville. Also, Tamika Mallory, co-founder of Until Freedom. They were there on the ground. They're standing with Breonna Taylor and Breonna Taylor's mother

and family advocating for this. Councilwoman Hawkins, and I've got to ask you, I mean, to sit here and listen to that report, and then, of course, the silence from the Fraternal Order of Police tells you what the real truth is in terms of they are unwilling to defend this. I'll say this. I was burned. It was very disheartening.

Very unsettling for me, but not surprising. It just gave confirmation of the things that we have already known or suspected for a long time. It's going to take a lot to bridge this gap. for a long time. It's gonna take a lot to bridge this gap. I believe that FOP should be accountable. Chief Villarreal, she inherited this. My heart goes out to her. The mayor's administration and the mayor,

my heart goes out to them. But I'm going to be very clear. My constituents, what about them? How do they get their lives back? How do they go on? What's the first step in bridging the gap with them? You can't unring this bell.

Tamika, I got about 45 seconds before I go to break. We're going to come back and pick this up after the break. But again, folks like you and others, we keep saying this over and over and over again. This is happening. This is happening. This is happening. And people love to sit here and go, oh, it's a few. It's a few. It's a few. Like I said to the chief,

it's New Orleans. It's Philadelphia. It's Baltimore. It's Louisville. It's Cleveland. It's Chicago. It's Washington, D.C., it's New York City, it's Los Angeles, it's Aurora, Colorado. I mean, we could go on and on and on. So seems to me it ain't just a few bad apples. It absolutely is not just a few bad apples. And, you know, I don't know the rules.

I have to talk to the lawyers. But it feels like after receiving the type of report and seeing this type of report that is so damning against this police department that we already knew, not surprising information, but to see it in one document, it feels like there should be some type of receivership. These officers and the leadership there, I do not feel confident that they are able to do the job necessary to protect the people of Louisville. It really breaks my heart because we were there. I lived in Louisville for four months and I saw what the officers do, the antagonizing, the abuse, the straight-up violence. And what we know is that Breonna Taylor is dead because of the behavior. It's almost like when you're reading the report, the exact things that's described happened to Breonna Taylor and Kenny Walker. And so it feels like more than just a consent decree. We actually need there to be physical bodies on a daily

basis inside of the police department ensuring that they are stopped because it's out of control and we knew that already. We've been saying it on your show, Roland, for the last two years. I've got to go to a break. We'll come back. We'll continue this conversation. We'll bring in our legal panel

and political panel as well. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We're breaking down this Department of Justice report released today detailing massive, massive corruption, shameful behavior, racism in the Louisville Police Department. You're watching the Black Star Network back in a moment. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial.

This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. 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. 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. All right, folks, welcome back to Roller Martin Under Filter. We're talking about this DOJ report on Louisville. Our guest, Councilwoman Tammy Hawkins, also Tameka Mallory.

Councilwoman Tammy Hawkins of Louisville and also Tameka Mallory, co-founder of Until Freedom. Councilwoman, now that this report has been issued, what does the council do next? Well, let me be clear with this. The mayor's, the police department is under the mayor met with the FOP in, I believe it was a closed session. I think things like that starts the mistrust. I'm one that will hold everybody's feet to the fire. I'm a voice for my constituents. And I put my pants on the same way they do.

Hold on, but you say the police department is under the mayor's control. Look, I cover city council in Fort Worth, I cover county government in Austin. Is there a city council committee that deals with police and fire? Yes. Government accountability and public

safety. Okay. Can that committee call the head of the FOP to testify before the committee about what's happening in the police department? Definitely. Absolutely. Will that happen? Yes. I promise you.

Yes. I'll make sure to that. Tamika, you want to jump in there? Yeah. I mean, thank you so much. And I'm excited to hear our sister, the councilwoman, talk about this. Because oftentimes when we were in Louisville, some of the council members, too many of the council members were not present. And I just have to be very honest about that because it is the truth. It was a major fight to be able to move legislators from top to bottom within the

Kentucky community, in the Louisville community and Kentucky in general, to support the protesters. And I think this report is going to help us to be able to get more people to understand that what we were talking about is real. And so your question today, Roland, is so important. What steps will be taken by every single body, governing body within the city of Louisville to fight this. It's going to take more than the mayor's office. The mayor also needs to have some oversight, because we already know that we've had mayors, as you said, across this country.

We've got mayors, we've got police chiefs, we've got all of that, and they still need a loud voice that is willing to go up against them and to ensure that their feet are in the fire every single day. This can't be a softball issue. As the councilwoman was saying earlier, her constituents, the constituents have felt the brunt of this for far too long. And right now, what we need are people who are going to be radical, they're going to be powerful, and they are not going to be afraid because of

their election or whatever it is that they, whatever resources they expect to be out there challenging those people who are in positions of power who have either allowed this to happen or have an ability at this point to change it. They need to be pushed. Councilwoman, my last question for you what will it take for this police department to engender trust from the community can this

chief do it I'm going to be clear, this was laid in a black woman's hand and everybody keeps asking the question, the same question, what can we do so this won't happen or what can we do to fix LMPD? But I'm still harping on what are we going to do to fix our constituents that are left with felonies, that are left with life trauma. So I'm trying to bridge the gap with not just LNPD, but also with my constituents that I am

a voice for. You know, how do we fix their lives? I'm one that's not scared to speak up. I'm a voice of reason. I'm a second chancer. I understand how it feels. So I always put myself in somebody else's shoes first. And I'm very passionate. I'm very passionate. But one thing that I've learned,

and that is, when you're passionate about things, you got to put your feelings to the side. You got to start, you know, creating policies. That's what matters. And one thing that the DOJ said, she said it was a lack of policy.

It was a lack of structure that was in place. I beg to differ. I didn't know that I didn't, I've never known calling somebody monkey and calling somebody boy. I didn't know that there was a policy. I thought that just came with common sense and respect and integrity. You know, as an officer, and when you swear on the oath, I didn't know you just come right off and you just treat people any type of way and you target Blacks. So you heard me ask the chief about community forums.

Have you been holding those? Are you holding them on a monthly basis? Are folks seeing you and other electeds out there? Are you out there with the chief? Are you also going to say, hey, have your command staff out here? Are y'all going to say, Mayor, you should be doing this as well? I'm going to say this, and I don't sugarcoat anything,

but District 1, it impacted my district. You know, more than probably anybody's district. The West End is my district. But have there been those forms? You heard me ask the chief that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hold on. Yeah, definitely. For District 1. And me, District 1, Tammy Hawkins, I hold the new mayor accountable. I do. He'll be a self-referred. You know, but I can't speak for anybody else.

Let me ask Tameka this. Tameka, y'all were on the ground there for quite some time. Were y'all getting cooperation from council members, from elected officials to make changes? It was very tough, Roland. You know, again, it wouldn't be me without telling the truth about what we experienced. Oftentimes, we found ourselves with a very small amount of council members and other elected officials who were out there with us. I have to give credit to Attica Scott. She was one of those as an elected

official who was on the ground. Of course, Charles Booker was constantly showing up in a part of our activities. And of course, Keturah Haran, who is now a district leader. And that happened as a result of the protest. She ran for office and has now been elected. And there were others at time. But I think that there has to be much more of a commitment and an engagement from the electeds that are there in Kentucky. In Louisville, one of the things that I have to say that is absolutely, it was probably one of the most disappointing, was the lack of support from the local electeds to be out there with Breonna Taylor's family. And you can ask them. I mean, they will tell you what they experienced.

And so, you know, we did see when it came time to fight for no-knock warrants, we saw the electeds get engaged and make sure that that happened. But nonetheless, just in terms of the everyday boots-on-the-ground effort, that was not the case while we were in Kentucky. Councilwoman, final comment.

I'll tell you this. I've been in Metro Council less than 60 days. Right. That's right. And I don't know what happened then, but I can assure you now... that you got my support. Which brought you to the table? Any questions that you have on your team?

All right. I would say that, uh, just to make sure... Tamika, go ahead. Final comment. I want to make sure, because one thing we, um, you know, want to be honest about and be open, of course, and be transparent. That's the word I'm looking for. We also want to acknowledge that Ms. Hawkins is new. And so I want to make sure that we say that. And I'm hoping that the energy that I feel here from you this evening, Councilwoman, is energy that you will bring to the ground. And so certainly we have to

give you that. I'm talking about colleagues that have been there for a long time and what they need are more of people like you who will be there knocking on doors and asking them to hit the streets. The people are there. As you know, on any given day, you can find the movement at the square at Injustice Square Park, where they gather and sometimes even sleep out there overnight to fight for Breonna. So it's not hard to get involved in the movement. What we need

is people like you to be committed. All right, then. I want to thank both of you for being with us. Look, we cover these stories all the time, and we're certainly not going to stop. Councilwoman Hawkins, thanks a lot. Tamika Mallory. Thank you. Thanks for having me. And we'll be in touch. All right. We'll be in touch in my office. All right. Thank you.

Thank you very much. A. Scott Bolden, a lawyer here based in D.C., Robert Petillo, host of People, Passion, Politics, News Talk 1380 W.A. O.K. in Atlanta, And Rebecca Carruthers, Vice President of Fair Elections Center. They are my panel. I will talk with them when we come back after this break in just a moment. Folks, don't forget, you can of course download our app,

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20037-0196. The Cash App is $RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is R.M. Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at Rolandunfiltered. Venmo is rmunfiltered. Zelle is roland at rolandsmartin.com. A lot of these corporations or people that are running stuff push black people if they're doing a certain thing. What that does is it creates a butterfly effect

of any young kid who, you know, wants to leave any situation they're in, and the only people they see are people that are doing this. So I got to be a gangster, I got to shoot, I got to sell, I got to do this in order to do it. And it just becomes a cycle. But when someone comes around and makes another, oh, we don't, you know, they don't want to push it or put money into it.

So that's definitely something I'm trying to fix, too, is just show there's other avenues. You don't got to be a rapper, you don't got to be a ballplayer. You can be a country singer, you can be an opera singer, you can be a damn whatever, you know? Showing the different avenues. And that is possible, and it's hard for people to realize that it's possible until someone does it. You're gonna be a ballplayer. You could be a country singer. You can be an opera singer. You can be a damn whatever, you know? Showing the different avenues. And that is possible.

And it's hard for people to realize that it's possible until someone does it. Hi, I'm Vivian Green. Hey, everybody. This your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. All right, folks, let's chat about this with our panel. Scott Boland, I'll start with you.

Again, when you listen to Kristen Clark lay out all of that, I mean, talk about just unbelievable. Yeah, this is the beginning, not the end. I want you listening audience to know that. That is a scathing report, almost as if the LNPD operates as a criminal enterprise. Where are the indictments? Well, I expect indictments to flow. One thing from this report, one thing you did not talk about, there were some allegations in there about sexually abusing arrestees and members of the public, if I read it correctly. Where are the criminal

indictments that are going to flow from this? Are these people under investigation? I was surprised to hear that the chief did not know whether these people were still in her department or not, or still under investigation, or relieved of any duty. You know, a DOJ goes in, they're working with senior management of the police department. They know who the bad actors are, because they have to know if they're gonna write the report.

And so that was a bit underwhelming. At the same time, the community was interesting. The council member said, hey, my community is suffering as a result of those bad arrests and bad searches and dog bites and what have you. I was thinking that that community in District 1 needs a race and truth reconciliation meeting or commission in each district to talk about this report and to have the police and the police union and members of the police force there, along with the mayor and other elected officials, because there's healing that needs to take place on both sides.

But the way you clean up this department, I don't know whether policy-wise they have receiverships for departments, but the way you clean this up is that you eliminate the worst apples first, then the next worst and the next worst. And then I'll leave you with this. I don't want to hear that the majority of the police department in this police department is... makes sense or they do the right thing. They know the bad apples.

They know the bad conduct. And if they don't report it, if they lie about it or they tolerate it, they are no better than the bad conduct. And if they don't report it, if they lie about it or they tolerate it, they are no better than the bad actors. I'm sorry. It's a bottom line proposition and it never stops being that in law enforcement. Robert. I think that this is the time that we have to take this seriously. Finally, it can no longer be a city by city,-issue, whack-a-mole situation when it comes to addressing these issues of police brutality and racism when it comes to law enforcement. We need to call on the Senate Judiciary Committee chairperson, Dick Durbin, to hold hearings with regard to this report, and also for the White House to finance and commission through the Department of Justice, an audit of every major city police

department in this country. We need to have this type of report that we have in the Breonna Taylor case in every major city, because any of us who have practiced criminal law know that in almost every major city, you will find a very similar report, whether it's the Red Dog unit in Atlanta, the Scorpion unit in Memphis, or hundreds of others across the country, human rights abuses in the city of Chicago. And unless we are willing to put our money where our mouth is, finance the types of reports and information needed to gather that analytical data, and then hold hearings where we bring these major city police chiefs before the Senate Judiciary Committee

and force them to answer tough questions and then have the Senate vote on true police reform legislation, not just the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act, because we all knew before that was even suggested that that was not strong enough for what we were fighting against, not just the Tim Scott Justice Act. We knew that wasn't strong enough for what we're fighting against. We need new transformational police reform legislation in this country. We are still operating in a mid-19th century rubric when it comes to policing. We still see police very much in the same vein that the slave catchers did in the 1830s and 1840s when many of these major police departments were created.

If we truly want to have judicial accountability, if we truly want to have trust in communities when it comes to law enforcement, if we are really serious about fighting crime and tamping down on what they call the crime wave that's happened the last couple years, Dick Durbin, the Senate Judiciary Committee chair, needs to call for hearings on these issues, and the president and the attorney general need to finance and put forth a call to have every major police department audited the same way they did Louisville. And we will see what happens, but it's time to make real change.

Not just talking, not this press conference. Let's see the rubber hit the road. Rebecca, for all the people out there who, oh, I don't really see, you know, where's Senator Tim Scott today? Why is he so quiet today? The man who stopped the George Floyd justice of policing act from moving forward. He's quiet because he doesn't have a solution. I do want to point out

that this current police chief is actually new and became interim police chief on January 2nd, 2023. So she's been on the job for just about two months. So I can understand why she wouldn't be as knowledgeable about which officers are or are not still involved with Louisville Metropolitan Police Department. But I do have some questions with the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice, yes, they did this report, but they still have a civil side and they have a criminal side. Why wasn't there an announcement of criminal prosecution, which the Department of Justice can do to start prosecuting these bad police officers within the Louisville Police Department? Because when we see when local prosecutors are is when it's left up to them to do these prosecutions, we also see political ramifications. Like, Baltimore is a good example of that, with the previous state's attorney there. So, you know, I really want to see Department of Justice do more. I want to see them lead on this. I want to see them do prosecution. And to the council members' point, there has to be some type of restitution. If we know that there was criminal activity

that these police officers were doing, if we know that under the color of law that they weren't actually doing their jobs correctly, then maybe it's time to set aside some of those convictions for those felons that are in District 1 that should not be felons but are felons because of repeated police intimidation and repeated police harassment. Well, and I would hope again, and this is one of the things that I've

been saying, I would hope Scott at the White House got more aggressive. What I mean by that is this DOJ under Kristen Clark has really been active in many of these cases. The announcement today was made from the Department of Justice. But my goodness, it would be great to see this being announced from the White House podium. To see the president sitting there as well, because they have good things to say. The White House needs to elevate this to a higher degree. Yeah, but number one, the Democratic White House needs to elevate this to a higher degree. Yeah, but, now, Roland, the Democratic White House, this Black folks stuff, these Black issues,

it's just Black people getting beat up and abused by the police. The Democrats want our vote. They don't want to do anything about our plight. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, but here's my point. Here's my point, though. If they're going to... If they're going to, if they're, if they're going to, if they want to truly advance the issue of the Georgia Florida Justice Act, the third anniversary of his death is in two months. My deal is you elevate the story.

And you don't just, you don't just always talk about, oh, police need more money. Show the flip side of the actions of the cops. That's what needs to happen. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Now, you tell me. Here's a question for you. Why won't the White House do it?

It's because it's black people, and they've never made black people a priority unless they want us to vote for them during the election year. No, no, I think it's that. No, no, no, you asked the question. No, you asked the question, I'm going to ask the question. It's also because Democrats want to play this game of, oh, we don't want to say anything negative about cops

because these white folks out here are yelling crime, crime, crime. It's going to be a major issue. And my whole deal is, guess what? You can try to get those white folks to vote all you want to, but you're going to need to vote for black folks, Latinos, and others who have been impacted by awful policing. That's who we deliver to the Democratic Party. The majority of white America hasn't voted for a Democratic president

since Lyndon Baines Johnson. And they just refuse to accept that data. The white, poor, working class white people of America who love Trump, they are enamored, obsessed with getting them back because the idea that they rely on black people and brown people and gay voters just drives them crazy because they will not accept that that is who America is. Even in 2043, it's 2023 right now. That's who America is. And they won't do it. And they've had every opportunity to do it. And they will go with race neutral legislation that helps everybody before they take on that black issue. I don't know what their problem is. I do know what their

problem is. It'll value black people. So, and by the way, one other point. They need to do a report on every prison in every state, too. It's the same thing. It's corrupt from top to bottom. I got you. Hold on one second. Mayor Garland, again, talked about the violations,

violations of the Constitution in Louisville. Watch this. The department has concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that Louisville Metro and LMPD engaged in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution. There is also reasonable cause to believe that they engage in conduct that violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Safe Streets Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Specifically, the report finds that LMPD uses excessive force, including unjustified neck restraints and the unreasonable use of police dogs and tasers, conducts searches based on invalid warrants,

unlawfully executes warrants without knocking and announcing, unlawfully stops, searches, detains, and arrests people, unlawfully discriminates against black people in enforcement activities, violates the rights of people engaged in protected speech, critical of policing, and along with Louisville Metro, discriminates against people with behavioral health disabilities when responding to them in crisis. The Justice Department has also identified deficiencies in LMPD's response to an investigation of domestic violence and sexual assault. LMPD has relied heavily on pretextual traffic stops in black neighborhoods.

In these stops, officers use the pretense of making a stop for a minor traffic offense in order to investigate for other crimes. Some officers have demonstrated disrespect for the people they are sworn to protect. Some have videotaped themselves throwing drinks at pedestrians from their cars, insulted people with disabilities, and called black people monkeys, animal, and boy. This conduct is unacceptable. It is heartbreaking. It erodes the community trust necessary for effective policing,

and it is an affront to the vast majority of officers who put their lives on the line every day to serve Louisville with honor. an affront to the vast majority of officers who put their lives on the line every day to serve Louisville with honor. Folks, with all of that, some folk need to be under arrest. All those constitutional violations. Got to go to break. We'll be back on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

If you're watching on YouTube, hit the Like button. Facebook, hit the Share button. Also, appreciate your comments on our OTT app as well. Don't forget to support us in what we do. Your dollars make it possible for us to do what we do. Cover the kind of news that no one else is talking about. Send your check and money orders to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered.

PayPal, R Martin Unfiltered. PayPal, or Martin Unfiltered. Vidmo is RM Unfiltered. Zale, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. We'll be right back. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, we've seen the headlines. Major

tech companies laying off. Google, Facebook, Twitter, just to name a few, and tens of thousands have been laid off as a result. On the next Get Wealthy, we take a look at what it means to recession-proof your career in tech. Joining me will be Kanika Tober, and she's going to be sharing exactly what you need to do to turn anxiety into achievement. Shifting our mindset to thinking that only opportunities exist in big tech is something that we're going to have to like shift fast because there's so many opportunities that are out there that we have to change the way we were thinking about our careers. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for 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 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. 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. 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.

Hi, I'm Eric Nolan. I'm Shante Moore. Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Thank you. Să ne urmăm. An increasing number of civil rights leaders are dismayed about the FCC Media Bureau's decision to designate Senate General's proposed $8.6 billion acquisition of the Tech to TV station group for an administrative hearing. Hazel Dukes, president of the NAACP New York State Conference and former NAACP national president, wrote to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenwald to express her concern with the decision to put the merger before an administrative law judge, which could, many say, kill the deal.

She wrote, I'm appalled that we still use this type of incendiary language to define a person. First of all, she's speaking about when the standard general's leader, Sue Kim, was called not the right kind of minority. She wrote, I am appalled that we still use this type of incendiary language to define a person of color who attempts to enter a particular club. They are not traditional members. Despite awaiting approval from the Federal Communications Commission, FCC, for approximately a year, the deal has been given yet another regulatory hurdle

and placed before an administrative law judge at the FCC. This action was deliberate and malicious and only happened because some deemed Sue Kim not to be the right type of minority in a time when equity is the watchword. This is unacceptable. Now, a Senate general would acquire Techno 64 TV stations and other assets for most of the year, for, first of all, most of the year for proof. The FCC's Media Bureau is concerned the proposed transaction could artificially raise consumer prices and result in job losses.

The News Guild CWA, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, filed petitions to deny the deal. The National Association of Black-owned Broadcasters, as well as Reverend Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Push, support the deal as well. We also, Scott, have a partnership with Sue Kim in case this deal closes. I mean, this is one of those things that what Dukes and others have said,

the full FCC should vote on this. There should be a public hearing. They should discuss this and vote on this thing openly versus having to go to an administrative judge. And the reality is this here, Sue Kim is a Korean-American. He's looking to partner with us and others. We're in black-owned media.

This is a perfect example of minorities being able to own major television stations. And so folks like Hazel Dukes and myself say, hey, have a full, honest, open hearing, put everything out on the table, and let the full FCC vote. I think you're on mute.

Sorry. Hazel Dukes has been fighting for black people for a long time. It's a big deal for her to sign on to that letter. The reality, what I don't understand, this is under the Democratic administration, and to put it into an administrative hearing, Robert, means that for whatever reason, they don't want the commission to bless it. They want to put it into an independent party that may or may not bless it. I'm a little concerned

what they're trying to little concerned what they're trying to hide or what they're trying to do by not approving this deal when it seems to have a ton of support by civil rights organizations as well as people of color and a new potential owner that is willing to do business and share ownership with black people and brown people around the country. This really doesn't make any sense. There's another storyline here that nobody's talking about. Here's my issue here, Rebecca.

You're the FCC Commissioner. You've been appointed by President Biden. This is what you're supposed to do. Have a hearing. Make a decision. Vote! Yeah, I don't understand this. I don't remember Sinclair Broadcasting

Company having to go through all this scrutiny. So I don't understand why the FCC just wouldn't consider this under regular order instead of having it go to a minister's judge. So far, I haven't seen anything that justifies the FCC taking this route. Robert?

Well, you know, I think going back to kind of mixing the last story and this story together, I think what might have to happen is we might need a Black person to start primarying Joe Biden now. We need a Black candidate to go down to South Carolina, where the Democratic primary starts in 2024, and start running and file the paperwork, just like Marianne Williamson did, announce they are running, and start putting up some numbers down in South Carolina right now.

Because apparently, this administration does not take the needs of African-Americans seriously. They can just walk across the bridge. They can take a couple pictures. You know, they can do the other stuff. But when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of actually serving your constituency, for some reason, that seems to fall off. So apparently, nobody's going to pay attention until you have a primary challenge or financial opportunity to take

votes away from the sitting president. I think that's when all of a sudden you see these things are opening up. We're seeing that on the Republican side of the aisle, where you're having people who are openly challenging President Trump, and they're dragging him further and further, even more extreme than Trump was in the first place. He's having to get more extreme to catch up with the people in his base so he doesn't get left behind. So if 20 Republicans in the House can drag the entire Republican Party to their side of the issue. I don't see why African Americans being the, as they always say, the backbone of the Democratic Party, the most important base.

We grew up in the black community. I was raised in the black church. Have the FCC vote on this. Have the Department of Justice and have the Senate Judiciary Committee investigate police brutality, investigate abuse in prisons. Those things can be done on the administrative level. They do not require Republicans. You can't say MAGA Republicans

are blocking it from taking place. You can't say this is the fault of Marjorie Taylor Greene and the MAGAs and the Tea Party, et cetera. These are Democrats not taking Black people seriously. So they're not going to take you seriously. Then it's time for you to demonstrate to them your importance. Because at the end of the day, if black folks did the exact same thing that the FCC was doing in 2024, Republicans will win in a landslide. It will be a 1984 Reagan landslide. And we decide just to stay home. So maybe they need to be reminded of who has the keys to the car before they start making demands on what direction we go.

Well, first of all, African- Americans are not trying to buy tech now. So, Sue Kim, the managing partner of Standard General, is a Korean American. That's who actually is leading this effort. In fact, they have actually said they might threaten legal action against the FCC media bureau when it comes to this. This is a cable fact story. Go to my iPad, please.

On Friday, they filed a motion requesting that the ALJ certify to the full commission an immediate application for review of the Bureau's hearing designation order if the ALJ doesn't act on the motion. The companies intend to file for relief directly with the FCC on March 17th and, if necessary, seek judicial

review. The Media Bureau's decision to issue the HDO is not just tantamount to denying the transaction at issue in this proceeding without having to reach a decision on the merits. It is absolutely a denial without due process. This is what the broadcasters

wrote again. And there's a May 22nd deadline for a merger agreement. And so we'll certainly keep you abreast of what's happening. Is there another bidder, Roman? Is there another bidder? Well, the folks at Tegna have already accepted the offer from Standard & General.

There were others who were trying to bid on it. They accepted their bid, and so that's what's going on. Now, of course, there are others out there who obviously would not want to see this go through because they want to buy it themselves. Yeah. Yeah. Look behind. Look behind that statement of yours.

Because that's what's going on, too. I got you. Folks, a California family is going to receive $8.25 million after being unlawfully detained on their way to college. A California jury found Alameda County Sheriff Deputy Stephen Holland and Monica Page

liable for $2.7 million to Aaliyah Loggervale and $2.75 million to her daughters. The court increased the total damages because of the Bain Act, which allows juries to quadruple damages awarded in cases involving a violation of constitutional rights. In 2019, Holland violated LaGueville and her daughter's constitutional rights after a traffic stop.

Holland told LaGueville he stopped her because he was investigating car break-ins. LaGueille refused identification because she had done nothing wrong. Holland handcuffed her, handcuffed them, and held them in a patrol car without citing them for a crime. And now they gotta pay up. A California Bay Area couple settled a lawsuit

with a white appraisal company that valued their home below market rates because they were black. We've heard this before. Paul and Tanisha Tate Austin won an undisclosed settlement from the Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California and Jeanette Miller, the owner of Miller and Parati Real Estate Appraisers. Miller and Parati Real Estate Appraisers sent two employees to appraise the Tate-Austin's Marin County

home within just a few weeks of each other in 2020. The first appraiser was at $945,000. When the couple had a white friend pose as the owner, the appraisal company gave them a $1.5 million valuation. Following

the win, Tanisha Tate Austin made this statement. The ongoing undervaluation of homes in black neighborhoods perpetuates the wealth gap between black and white families. We hope by bringing attention to our case and this lawsuit settlement, we can help change the way

the appraisal industry operates and we can start to see a different trend. There are implications to our ability to create generational wealth or passing things on if our houses appraised are 50 percent less. That right there, Robert, the point we've always talked about, even when we do own a home, getting screwed over on this type of issue. And I want people also to understand that this is not just a micro issue as an individualized families and the lack of generation wealth that's created. It is a macro issue because home property taxes that are based upon home ownership

are what finance your schools. So when you are systemically undervaluing black homes, you are robbing students of the financing needed to have top flight schools in those communities. When you're looking at the long-term ramifications, you're taking away the equity that people can pull out of their homes in order to finance businesses, in order to finance inventions, other things. This is what, when we talk about systemic racism and people think that we're saying, well, everybody within the system is racist. No, when you're talking about systemic racism, we're talking about the fact that if you

pull one brick out of the wall, then the entire wall collapses upon itself. And because you have this system and this family is not an isolated incident, you can go to any Black community in this country, any well-to-do and wealthy Black community in this country and run the same thing. I dare everybody in Prince George's County and DeKalb County and South Fulton in Atlanta to get some white friends to come in and pretend to be – to pretend to live in your house and pretend to be your neighbors and see what the appraisal is. And when you do that, you realize that much of what happens in America is based off of a system that is intrinsically against the progress and advancement of African-Americans. And this is why we have to break the system down, not just the individual actors. Scott, when you look at this, go to my iPad, please. This is a

story in the New York Times from November, where the federal researchers looked at a lot of data here. They pulled 47 million appraisal reports. White homeowners can expect their home values to increase at twice the rate of homeowners of color. They start confirmation of systemic racial bias in home appraisals. This particular report looked at, again, census tract data. And what they did was they compared similar homes,

analyzing the millions of appraisals by using census tracts as a proxy for neighborhoods and comparing communities with nearly identical housing stock. Two researchers found that the results showed a clear correlation. The higher the proportion of white residents in each community, the higher the appraised value of individual homes. And there's a lawsuit, I believe, in California against a major bank for similar, not appraisers, but when you refinanced your house, if you owned it due to COVID, you could refinance your house and pull money out. The approvals for Black people who owned homes

was like 50% less than what White people could pull out of their homes. But this is a powerful racism right here, Roland. This is average racism. This is the appraisal process. Listen to what White people are telling us, what the system says. That the mere fact that Black people live in a house

in a neighborhood, black or white neighborhood, that the mere fact that you're black and you live in a home along with all these other homes around you, that alone brings the value of your home down, which is an inanimate object, basically. You got lots of homes around you. The neighborhood, all the comparative sales what an appraiser goes through has nothing to do with race. It has to do with comparable sales

and whether you've improved the house or not. But none of that is more powerful than racism because you or me live in that home. That is incredible. That's incredible. And I bet you they settled that case for half a million dollars. I bet you they did because that was the gap between black folks and the white lady that came in and put her pictures up and stuff. They staged this. It was really clever on their part. And not knowing what the result would be, booyah, came back a half a million dollars more.

That's racism in its purest form and pure evidence. The thing that's quite interesting, I had a debate with conservative Patrick Bet-David, Rebecca. He calls himself an independent. He's not. He was giving me nothing but right-wing MAGA talking points, and he tried to suggest that I was a victim. And the thing that was hilarious is that when I pull up this data, it's because of systemic racism, he goes, well, I just don't believe it. And I'm going, oh, so you just want to just easily dismiss it. And I'm going, they pulled 47 million reports, but you're like, I don't want to believe it. I mean, this is the issue that we have where even when you show these folks the proof, I don't want to believe it. This is the issue that we have where

even when you show these folks the proof, they don't want to believe it. Well, there are a lot of people who are uncomfortable with dealing with what systemic racism is. Instead, they want to talk about it on a micro level and say, well, personally, I've never experienced anything like that, or I know

some good white people, so therefore we don't have these issues in this country. But here's the thing. This is the other reason to support reparations in this country, because reparations isn't just about being a descendant of American slavery, but it's also about the fact that we're still dealing with economic consequences by the sheer fact that we're Black in this country. So those things need to be addressed. I wish more Americans would understand systemic racism. I wish we had something like critical race theory, which could explain all of these large issues that are happening to Black Americans on a day-to-day basis. But this, I mean, look, Scott, it was

probably $525,000 to be exact in that particular settlement because that was the amount that they were undervalued. Well, if I could find y'all the part in this video where I just started schooling homeboy on the data, it was so funny how Patrick just like, oh, my God, I just don't I just don't believe it. I just don't believe it. I just don't believe it. If y'all want to see for y'allself, it really was pretty embarrassing, y'all, to have to sit here in school, homie,

on the real deal of systemic racism in housing. And his whole deal was like, well, Democrats run these cities where crime is high. And I keep saying, fool, if you want to deal with crime in America, you better look at poverty and education. It just don't happen by happenstance. Got to go to break. Watch this.

Why do white people want to school black people on what racism is when they are least qualified, because they've never been victimized by racism. No, no, because they want to deny it actually exists. That's why. But it is also adjacent with... No, no, no, no. First of all, hold up, hold up. I'm gonna deal with that when we come back as well. Uh, deal with the issue of, uh, racism in the Mormon church. Yeah.

Wait till we break this down for you. You're watching Roller Mark Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, just who do you think you are? And maybe more importantly, who is it that you think you're trying to please? The answer to that second question is really wrapped up in the first. Think about that. Being the true, authentic you, no matter the circumstance. But we learn the art of forgiveness, not only of forgiving one another, but forgiving ourselves.

And we also learn how to love ourselves so that we can love each other. That's next on A Balanced Life here on Black Star Network. Next on The Black Network. Next, on The Black Table, with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter, which, simply put, is a revolutionary

reframing of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal article everyone, I mean everyone, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Valetia Watkins, our legal roundtable team, join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture. You crystallize it by saying who are we to other people? Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing.

Who are we to each other? The structures we create for ourselves, how we order the universe as African people. That's next on The Black Table, here on The Black Star Network. 007 007 Hello, everyone. It's Kiara Sheard. Hey, I'm Taj. I'm Coco. And I'm Lili. And we're SWB. We'll be right back. Thank you. Să ne urmăm în următoarea mea rețetă. All right, folks, 3% of all Mormons are African-American,

yet 9% of the converts to Mormonism are African-American. But they have a very long, troubled history of the issue of race. My next guest, who is an ex-Mormon, Archon Bach, joins us right now. And she was told, you can't marry somebody white. She joins us now from American Fork, Utah. Glad to have you on the show. So you were actually told that by church officials? Yes.

So were you engaged with someone? Were you dating somebody? Or were you just inquiring as to who you can marry? So all of the above. Were you engaged with someone? Were you dating somebody? Or were you just inquiring as to who you can marry? So, all of the above. So, I joined the church when I was 18, and it's big to get married in the temples when you're a Mormon. But the problem is, is that they were teaching

that they're white, you know, males not to marry black people, or anybody not to marry outside their race. You know, they didn't want blacks and black people white people mixing because they said black people were cursed. So this is this was actual teachings where you were going to Temple.

And we was those like how recent was this. So 1990 is when I joined but the teaching is still the same, that black people are cursed and that black people and white people should have mixed. And they said that was because of the curse of Cain, because Cain and Abel, when Cain killed Abel, he received a curse. And the curse is put on black people from Cain. We're descendants of Cain. Okay. So, okay.

So when did you inquire as to who you could marry? They told me. So when I was 18 and I joined, of course, I'm dating age. And so I'm trying to date. Okay, hold on, hold on. You joined when you were 18. How long ago was that? Long time ago.

I'm 51. Got it. All right. So when did you leave the church? First of all, when did you inquire about who you could marry? When did you leave the church? Okay, so I left the church

probably 2016 is when I really left. But when it's a culture, when you join, when you're 18, you join the church. I even went on an LDS mission. And so when you're dating, they tell you who you're supposed to be dating. You need to date other members of the church so you can be married in the temple. Only other members can be married in the temple. Well, the thing about that is, sure, you know, you could get

married in the temple, but they said that I needed to find a black man. But there wasn't a lot of black people in the church. Actually, there was no black people in the church where I was. Even on my mission, there was no black males. So, you know, I did marry a black male. He was a member of the church, but we didn't get married in the temple. And that marriage didn't last. Hmm. Do you believe the Mormon church continues to have a problem with race? Absolutely.

How so? Well, 2016, I finally realized they weren't going to learn. They weren't going to learn. So joining at 18, I'm, you know, I have an 18 year old mind. So 2016, I have a, you know, a different mind. And so when President Trump became president, then I was able to see really for sure how people really thought. A lot of things were said to my face, but not as strong as it was in 2016. They didn't care.

They cared before kind of like, you know, maybe I shouldn't say anything or maybe I should say it this way. God deemed it so. But 2016, they did not care at all. Gotcha. Question from my panel. Rebecca, you first. Okay. Gotcha. Question from my panel. Rebecca, you first. Okay, so I have a few questions, not just with your particular experience, but what even drew you into the Mormon church, especially considering that one of the tenets of Mormon theology up until the 70s,

black folks couldn't get into heaven according to Mormon theology, or that righteous black folks in the afterlife would somehow become white because of the curse of Cain and curse of Ham. You know, what attracted you to the Mormon church at 18, and what caused you to stay up until 2016? Good question. So you have to think, so I'm 18, I'm from San Antonio, Texas, which is a Bible belt. So I grew up, you know, going to a black church. Well, I had a bunch of questions and where I grew up, you can't ask questions. You just do what you're told. You mind your elders. But I had a car accident and I wanted to know what would happen if I were to die. And everyone just kept telling me, you know, God will provide, God will provide.

Well, I met some Mormon missionaries, and they gave me different answers. They said, well, this is what will happen when you die. And a lot of love bombing. But what people don't understand is Mormons had six discussions. They don't teach you that you're gonna be white in the afterlife. They do not teach you about you're going to be white in the afterlife. They do not teach you about the curse of Cain. They don't teach you any racism. They teach you six discussions that talk about Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, and God. It's later on that you

start learning the other things. Well, by then you're already in it. You think that maybe something's wrong with you. You're taught not to question God, that God knows more than you and that other people know more than you. And as an 18 year old kid, that made sense to me. I didn't like it, but you know, little by little, you start hearing different things. I went on a mission thinking that's what God wanted, wanted me to do. And then you, I guess it's like a bad marriage. You know, you try to take the good stuff and go with the bad. You know, you're thinking it can't be that bad. Maybe this isn't true. Maybe this is God's church and that these people are just bad. It's not. Robert. You know, I think people often when they're not part of a religious tradition

or aren't part of a kind of social group tend to judge and say, well, how could you do that? I think as you were talking, I was thinking back to my own upbringing, it's being like Southern Baptists. When I say Southern Baptists, I'm not talking about the Southern Baptists now. I'm talking about that real old school Southern Baptists where they thought if women showed their ankles, they were prostitutes, that kind of Southern Baptist that I was raised into. And kind of growing out of that, what advice would you give to people who maybe did come up with a upbringing, whether Mormon or any other religion that's very restrictive, very judgmental,

very kind of deleterious to their mental health going forward, as to how they can get out of that and kind of find their self and develop their own relationship with whatever deity or spirituality they find later on, but not being so restricted and so caught into what they were taught growing up. I would tell them to think about what's important to them when they stop caring about what other people think. And they just start thinking about what makes sense to them and not what

they were taught. It's going to be easier for for them and I think for me finally not caring what people thought made it easy for me to leave because Mormonism is huge and that is culture you're broken away from everyone you are you're taken away from your family you're taken away from your friends because you're taught that this is the only true church and that God, they, they, I believe what I was taught that they had actual prophets and apostles that were walking this earth, that they were literally talking to God. Yes, I believe that. And so I believe what they taught me, which is this is the only true church and all the other ones have some truth, but we have the authority. And so I believe that. So I would tell people, start thinking for yourself.

Don't think about what your parents, your friends, your boyfriends, your kids taught you. What do you think? What makes sense to you? And do you need religion? Like, do you really need that? What do you need? What actually makes you happy? Not what your parents told you or how you were brought up or your community.

Because remember, religion is a community. You lose a lot. I lost a lot when I left that church because I had lost before. My aunties, my uncles, they weren't happy of me joining the Mormon church when I had a Methodist preacher uncle. Scott. Yeah. So what was it about Mormonism? Because you were in that church for 30 plus years. What was it about Mormonism that kept you there for so long, despite the racism? And secondly, by telling this story now, what are you hoping the future

of Mormonism is, or do you even care? That's a lot of questions. So first of all, I do care. What I care about is truth. What I care about is awareness. You know, every time something happened, I would try to question them and they would shut me down and saying that I wasn't spiritual enough, that I didn't believe in God. And so that messes with you. You're thinking, wait a minute, it's a huge church. There are some black people in it. Maybe it is me. You know, maybe it is me.

I don't have parents with me talking to me about it. I don't have aunties, cousins, aunts, uncles. It's me using my own experiences trying to figure out, well, what's going on here? It has some truth because of this. But what drew me to Mormonism at the time as an 18 year old, you know, if you're having a hard time growing up, you've got a lot of stuff going. San Antonio, it was high crime. There was a lot of things happening there. These people love bomb me. They told me that I was going to have a great life, that they're going to be there for me. They took me to dinner. They bought me. I'll admit that

they would take me places. I would spend a night at their house. They, it was great. Like, and they seem to have great marriages. I didn't see any fighting and cussing, which I grew up around. So to me, I was like, maybe they're right. And you know, it was like, I was telling my husband, it was like, when I was going to the other churches and ask questions, I got in a lot of trouble. But when I went to this church and had questions, they answered them except when it was about race. But I just thought when they tell me, it's just something you don't understand right now. God's going to help you later in the afterlife. You're going to understand everything, which is weird because if you think about it, if there was prophet and apostles,

they should have had those answers. But I took it. And so what I would tell people now is that it's not a safe place for black people. It just isn't. Did you eventually marry somebody white? Or did you marry somebody black? I married somebody black first. I married a black man, and now I'm married to a white man. Alright, well, church does have... I do have a follow-up question.

Rebecca, literally, I got... I'm out of time, but okay, 20 seconds. Real quick. Sure. So, in 2012, when Mitch Romney became the Republican nominee, I noticed it seemed like the Mormon church was trying to do some rebranding. You were still in the church in 2012. Is that something that you noticed from the inside? Yes.

They tried. And I know that they even gave some money to the NAACP, which didn't sit right with me because I told them, just because you gave money to the NAACP doesn't mean that you're supporting black people. You're supporting you're financially giving money to the NAACP. You should be helping the black members within your congregation and address

those issues. So yeah, there was a lot of rebranding. All right. Chanel Akenbach, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. You're welcome. All right, folks Achenbach, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. You're welcome. All right, folks. Coming up next, Tech Talk. Right here,

Roland Martin, Unfiltered, on the Black Stud Network. You too, folks. Y'all being way too slow. Hit the like button. We should easily be over 1,000 likes.

Why do I have to say this every single day? Y'all all commenting. Hit the like button, then move on. Let's get to 1,000 likes. We'll get to 1,500 likes. We'll get to 1,500 likes. All right, let's go. Back in a moment. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens,

America's Wealth Coach, we've seen the headlines. Major tech companies laying off. Google, Facebook, Twitter, just to name a few, and tens of thousands have been laid off as a result. On the next Get Wealthy, we take a look at what it means to recession-proof your career in tech. Joining me will be Kanika Tover, and she's going to be sharing exactly what you need to do to turn anxiety into achievement. Shifting our mindset to thinking that only opportunities exist in big tech is something that we're going to have to like shift fast because there's so many opportunities that are out there that we have to change the way we were thinking about our careers. That's right here on Get Wealthy,

only on Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home, you dig? 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. Hi, everybody. This is Jonathan Nelson. Hi, this is Cheryl Lee Ralph, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. A California man caught on tape trying to run over his neighbor is facing a hate crime charge.

In this December 2021 surveillance video, a Quail Khan runs over Corey Brown, a black man, six times. Khan is serving time with the Alameda County Santa Rita Jail on charges of attempted homicide and assault with a deadly weapon. Tuesday, Alameda County DA's office tacked on the hate crime charges after further evidence found that Khan vandalized Brown's car with racial slurs, made racist threats, and had previously attempted physical assault. This is the second time Khan has been charged with an assault and hate crime. In August of 2021, Khan allegedly beat an Indian woman for speaking Hindi, punching her in the face

until she lost consciousness. Yeah, I think his ass need to be in jail, Robert. That's a bare minimum. I was just reading through the story, and I'm trying to understand, why does it take so long to root these people out? Why did they have to get their first try, second try, third try? It seems as long as you don't kill the person the first time, then you get a pass in America. And until we start taking these issues seriously,

start treating everybody the same way, we're going to continue to have these issues. I guarantee you that had been, he beat a little blonde-ha hair, blue eyed white girl named Megan half to death, that he would have had a second try to do this. Again, it's, look, you've got hate in America and it's real. All right, y'all. Hundreds rally in for justice in New Jersey after a police-involved shooting kills another black man. Violence intervention specialist Najee Seabrooks was killed during a four-hour altercation with police. Seabrooks was

experiencing a mental health crisis on Friday when he barricaded himself in his Patterson, New Jersey apartment while wielding two knives when police shot him. Protesters rallied on Tuesday to demand determination of the officers involved in the shooting and the release of body camera recordings of the incident. Pat Patterson and Healing Collective members where Seabrooks worked say they pleaded with police

to let them speak with Seabrooks, but the officers refused. Yo, y'all gotta be on that. You're gonna let audio all of y'all know a sound bite's coming up. 250 Patterson residents since our inception the police refused to let us help our own brother in crisis citing a supposed AG guideline.

If the police had allowed our trained professionals to handle the situation our brother would still be alive. The New Jersey Attorney General's Office is investigating this incident. This is what I do not understand, Rebecca. Why

do you have officers on the scene where you have someone with a mental crisis and you don't have mental health experts leading it and you don't let folk who the person know be involved to calm them down. This young brother literally worked for a health collective. So the people who showed up on the scene to actually assist were people who knew him intimately,

also his co-workers, and they were also, they had the ability and the wherewithal to have intervened in the situation. He should still be alive. And one thing that I wanted to ask the police chief from Louisville earlier today, one thing that I think we need to be asking all of law enforcement, what is the future of policing? What should public safety look like? Because that's what all of us in the community is, oh, well, what we're asking them, but we need to hear from them. What is their answer? Because clearly what we're doing now in this country is not working. Too many people are dying at the hands of the police and it doesn't make sense. And the fact that they can't even release the body camera, I'm like, what are they waiting for? I really don't quite understand why these things continue to happen.

Let's go to Washington, D.C., where a former Washington, D.C., police officer sergeant is charged with second-degree murder and a federal civil rights violation in the shooting death of a man in 2021. On Tuesday, Enos Jevrick pleaded not guilty to the charges. A judge released him on personal reconnaissance. Jeff Rick shot and killed a 27-year-old Antoine Gilmore, who was asleep in a car with a gun in his waistband, blocking traffic. Officers tapped on Gilmore's window, waking him up. Gilmore took off in the car.

Jeff Rick fired several shots into the moving vehicle, which is against D.C. police policy. Jervic has been placed on paid administrative leave. Since the shooting, the department confirmed he is facing life in prison. I, okay, you're violating department policy. Hell yeah, you should be charged, Scott. They didn't even know the police policy. They saw the gun, and that frees them from any type of discipline or discretion or any common sense. When the car begins to move, that's another matter.

That frees them from any logical discretion or independent thought, because they automatically think it's a threat to them, and I can empty my nine millimeter into a moving car with a gentleman who was asleep. You have him contained. And because he's got a gun, he's not threatening you with that gun. You're going to lie and say that in your report, but that's not exactly what happened here. And he's dead. What is the rush with these police officers? He was in no danger of getting away. You had three, four, five police cars there,

just like in your prior case with the mental health breakdown. He barricaded himself in. What was the rush? Why wouldn't you let the people help him? They just have no independent judgment. You don't have a sergeant on. They're in a big rush. They want to no independent judgment. You don't have a sergeant on. They're in a big rush. They want to use deadly force.

That's the problem with who you hire and how you train them. That's the real problem. Great example. Roland, just real quick on that same issue. This is what my issue is with the white pro-Second Amendment crowd, because the NRA should be intervening on behalf of this individual who was shot. Because if you are a pro-gun, quote-unquote, lobbying organization and have a legal defense fund, then what you should be doing is fighting for the

rights of individuals who are firearms owners. But no, they do not stand up for people who are firearms owners. They stand up for white people and white supremacy in the gun industry. They don't give a damn about black gun owners, because if they did, they would see a situation like this and say, well, we cannot have law enforcement shooting people simply for possessing guns. We are a pro-gun organization. We saw the same thing with Philando Castillo. We saw the same thing with Crawford in the Walmart case. They only stand up when it's time to protect the profits of gun companies and when it's time to stand up for white supremacy. And that's why I tell people all the time, do not join many of these white pro-Second Amendment organizations.

Take your black dollars, take your interest to NAGA and to some of the other black gunners of America who are actually working for African-American Second Amendment advocates. Folks, before— Scott, Scott, Hey, bro, one question. Scott, Scott, Scott, Scott. Chill. I'm over time. Precisely, damn it. Golly, settle yourself. Now, before I

go to break, go to Atlanta. You can now see the eight-foot bronze statue of civil rights luminary Zernona Clayton. It was unveiled in Zernona Clayton Plaza. The 92-year-old was there to witness the unveiling of her statue. Of course, she was very much involved with the movement, working for Dr. King, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, along with her husband in the mid-'60s. She went on to become a luminary in television broadcasting.

She created the Trumpet Awards. She also traveled with Coretta Scott King. She became the first black person with her own TV show in the South in broadcasting. She created the Trumpet Awards. She also traveled with Coretta Scott King. She became the first black person with her own TV show in the South in 1967. Spent 30 years of turning to broadcasting and again. She's on up there. I'm sure, Robert, one of her many boyfriends

were there. Those of y'all who know Geronimo Clayton, she loves to count all the brothers out here who she calls her boyfriends, me included. She is an amazing woman, and we're glad to see she being honored there in Atlanta for all of her great work. So congratulations, Zernona. All right, folks, going to break. We'll be right back with Tech Talk right here on Rolling Mark Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence.

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

there's going to be more of this. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. 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. Hi, I'm Vivian Green. Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond,

and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. All right, folks, when you think of gaming, many people do not believe that would be something that girls would find attractive. That is simply not the case. A significant number of girls and boys are into gaming, but they also look at gaming differently. My next guest created a virtual universe specifically for the girl in you and the girl in your life. We're celebrating International Women's Day,

and we're talking here with founder and CEO of Royals Gaming for Girls, Chief Girl Crusader, Muka Mikunoti. First of all, let's pronounce your last name. First of all, it's Muka Mikunoti Kimoto. You've got it right, Roland. All right, all right. Just making sure. All right.

Good. Okay, here we go. All right, so first of all, how did you embark on this path for this particular game? I love that question. Thank you so much. So you hit the nail on the head. We believe at Royals that all girls deserve to be bold

and fearless and undaunted in their pursuit of their greatest potential. And we realized very early on, I happen to be a mom of a gamer girl, and realized very early on that our kids, as young as two, are spending upwards of six hours a day on a mobile device, whether it's a smartphone or a tablet. And the realities of the pandemic, coupled with this increased digital media consumption, have resulted in a crisis, in my opinion, of unprecedented proportions. Our kids are experiencing depression and isolation, cyberbullying and body shame and poor self-esteem and limiting mindsets around who they are and what is possible for them. And girls in particular seem to be disproportionately impacted. So as a parent, you can imagine, I have been looking for solutions that would offer more than just the pure entertainment. Mobile app games that would inspire the girl in my life, my daughter, and the girls within my community to, beyond the entertainment piece,

really recognize the potential that exists within them, and particularly in leadership and STEAM. So that was really what drove me to build this gaming platform that is targeted at young girls, four through 12-year-olds, with the idea of driving them towards leadership perhaps in science tech. How many different games on the platform? Sorry? How many different games on the platform?

Oh, my God, we probably have six or seven different adventures that they can explore. Everything from a narrative that is anchored in a fierce avatar persona, Mara, who is on a mission to be the first global peace ambassador and commander-in-chief of her peacekeeping forces in her land. She's born into royalty, but has a big dream like all girls do, which is to be on the first human mission to Mars. So the gamer or the learner, depending on who they are in interacting with the app, can delve into adventures, into quests, into learning experiences that explore Mara's journey. They can check out what a day in the life of a real astronaut, a real NASA scientist,

like the person who narrated Mara's story, Dr. Crystal Johnson, who's actually head of technology and research investments at NASA. What a day in her life looks like. They can leverage tech that is built into their mobile device, like augmented reality, to beam their avatar persona into their actual play space and chat with that avatar persona over a variety of really meaningful and inspiring topics. They can even engage in real life activations, events that bring them virtually together with like-minded girls from all over the world to explore the various themes and lessons and ideas that are built into the game fight play. Questions from our panel? Rebecca, you first. Sure. Can you talk more about the gameplay? Is it like puzzles? Is it fantasy? Is it action? Is it fighting? Like what type of games

or like story arcs for your character can be found within your platform? Yes. Thank you for asking. So absolutely. It's a combination of all those things. What we've done is we've got actual narratives and stories that revolve around the various avatar personas. Our current version of the game is anchored in one avatar persona, but we've got 13 that we've built out, each with lives that revolve around science, tech, engineering, the arts, and math. So there's a story component, and the gamer is immersed in that environment of that particular avatar using 3D technology and gets to work with a rover that is built to the specifications of the to deal with once they landed on the planet and were looking to establish a human presence there

for an extended period of time. There's even a quest that the Avatar takes the gamer on to meet her real-life role models in science, tech, engineering, the arts, and math. So this gamer can be a fly on the wall in conversations that the Avatar has with the head of tech at NASA or an AI guru at AWS or a clinical trials expert in the United Kingdom, even a gender justice

activist in South Africa, leaders in their own right, real life human beings who are leading and thriving and excelling in STEM and STEAM life paths who primarily are females or non-binary individuals. So it's a combination of experiences that not only inspire them to explore STEM and STEAM-focused life paths, but also drive a sense of social, emotional well-being and confidence and curiosity in exploring leadership pursuits. Robert? Robert? Absolutely. I think this is outstanding. One thing I know is when we were kids,

me and my sister played video games together all the time. But then when we got to about 11 or 12, her interest changed. I kept going. Then with my niece and my nephew, kind of the same thing. They played video games together until they were about 9, 10. And then my niece, kind of her interest changed. What can be done to help girls in particular

to stay focused on these STEM and STEAM issues, stay focused on gaming, and really be prepared for the economy of the future that's going to be built off these digital platforms? Yeah, that's a great question. The research is telling us that gendered notions of intelligence that are picked up really early are affecting our girls' life pursuits. In fact, I think the numbers say that as young as six years old, girls are thinking that brilliance is much more likely in boys. By middle school, their interest in STEM and STEAM subjects plummets, so that by the time they reach high school, very few of them are actually exploring those career paths, those subjects, and ultimately those career paths,

even though we know some of the most lucrative, most impactful opportunities are in STEM and STEAM fields. And I really feel like the way that we can influence their mindsets is to meet them where they are, which is in play. Play is how, especially gamified play, that's how they create, that's how they connect, that's how they learn, that's how they have fun. Essentially, their entire world, whether it is the social piece, the education piece, the entertainment piece, revolves around that mobile device. And that's really what's driven us towards building these gamified learning adventures that meet them where they are, but then totally dismantle those erroneous perspectives they have about who they are and what is possible, especially girls, helping them see

real life role models, putting them in scenarios where beyond, you know, jumping through hoops, perhaps in a Roblox or building something amazing in Minecraft, we're connecting the dots to the possibility that exists for that girl as an architect or as an engineer, leveraging the same skills that she would engage with as she's building and experience and having fun with some of these other games. So I really feel that there's an education component there as well as an empowerment piece.

And we can achieve that through gamified play, especially if we leverage the technologies now that allow us to truly immerse them in those worlds and help them feel a part and parcel of the potential that the worlds offer. Scott? Yeah, great. These are great ideas, great platform. Where do you see the company and the platform going, let's say, in five years?

I mean, great concept, but what aren't you doing with the platform that you see you and the company and the platform doing five years from now? Yeah, great question. So right now, our first version, what you experience if you go to the App Store or Google Play and download the app is version one. That is anchored in one avatar persona with limited customization. We're really excited about the next phase of development that would include expanding our digital personalization, customization, and animated content offerings for each of our avatar personas. And as I mentioned, there were 13 or more.

So there's limitless opportunities for creative self-expression and digital collectibles, NFT offerings, all those things that this sort of next generation of gamers is really excited about. We're also excited about bringing digital and physical merchandise to the experience, including a first of kind digital companion book that is built on immersive technology that really brings that experience to life, but does it in a manner that is also aligned with physical books and experiences that kids engage with at school on a regular basis. And then I think that there's been significant strides within the AI space

that we're excited about. We're really excited about building conversational AI into the experience and leveraging, you know, natural language leveraging natural language processing, updated versions of that and custom machine learning and voice recognition technology that will make for a smarter, a more responsive and a truly authentic exchange between our avatars and the gamers and learners. So there's a lot to be excited about. All right, then. Well, tell folks where to check your games out. Thank you so much. I would encourage you to please go to royals.app. That's R-O-Y-E-L-L-E-S.app. Download the app. It's currently available on the App Store and on Google Play, as well as just recently on the Amazon App Store for Fire tablets. Let the gamers

and learners in your life explore it, have fun with it. And then also, please join us in an upcoming Royals live activation to give us your feedback on the overall experience and let us know how we can make it better. All right. Yes, thank you.

We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much. All right, Rebecca, Robert, Scott, thanks a bunch as well, folks. I'll see you tomorrow right here on Roland Mark Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Holla! The Star Network is here.

Oh, no punching! I'm real revolutionary right now. Black crowd. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Rolla. 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-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? 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. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin, and I have a question for 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'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. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and my new show, Get Wealthy, focuses on the things that your financial advisor and bank isn't telling you, but you absolutely need to know. So watch Get Wealthy on the Blackstar Network. This is an iHeart Podcast.