#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Roland in Liberia, Raise Min. Wage to $18, Erica Savage's Comeback, Texas Voting Laws Challenges

Episode Date: February 18, 2022

2.17.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Roland in Liberia, Raise Min. Wage to $18, Erica Savage's Comeback, Texas Voting Laws ChallengesTonight, we are looking at the economic Progress and socioeconomic barriers facing black Americans. We'll break down the Congressional Black Caucus report showing how Blacks experience far worse economic conditions than white Americans and the population as a whole.Former Stockton, California Mayor Michael Tubbs launches a nonprofit with programs to reduce poverty. He'll be here to share those ideas and what other cities can do to help reduce the number of people living in poverty.And, with inflation, there's a push to increase the minimum wage again to $18. We'll look at what's happening in California to put more money in workers' pockets.In Texas, the Young Black Lawyers' Organizing Coalition is challenging the state's voter suppression law. The Founder and Chief Strategist of the organization will join us to let us know what's next now they have filed the lawsuit.A Pennsylvania state representative running for U.S. Senate is looking to beat out a least a dozen others vying for the same seat. He's here to tell us why he's the best candidate.The International Olympic Committee says Sha'Carri Richardson is wrong. There is no comparison between U.S. track star and Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva over their doping scandals.Our very own Erica Savage Wilson is making a comeback. She'll be here to give us an update on her Reframed Brain Podcast.#RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Nissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bPSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfilteredDownload the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com#RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You dig? It's Thursday, February 17, 2022. I'm Recy Colbert sitting in for Roland as he's celebrating Liberia's bicentennial. Here's what's coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Tonight, we are looking at the economic progress and socioeconomic barriers facing black Americans. We'll be breaking down the Congressional Black Caucus Report, showing how blacks experience far worse economic conditions than white Americans and population as a whole. Former Stockton, California, Mayor Michael Tubbs launches a nonprofit with programs to reduce poverty. He'll be here to share those ideas and what other cities can do to help reduce the number of people living in poverty.

And with inflation, there's a push to increase the minimum wage again to $18. We'll look at what's happening in California to put more money in workers' pockets. In Texas, the Young Black Lawyers Organizing Coalition is challenging the state's voter suppression law. The founder and chief strategist of the organization will join us to let us know what's next now they have filed the lawsuit. A Pennsylvania state representative running for U.S. Senate is looking to beat out at least a dozen others vying for the same seat. He's here to tell us why he's the best candidate. The International Olympic Committee says Sha'Carri Richardson is wrong. There's no comparison between U.S. track star

and Russian figure skater Kamila Vinova over their doping scandals. Our very own Erica Savage-Wilson is making a comeback. She'll be here to give us an update on her reframed brain podcast. We'll have all of this and more. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's right on time and he's rolling Best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics

With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, yo It's Rolling Martin, yeah Rolling with rolling now He's funky, he's yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, For Black History Month, the Congressional Black Caucus releases a report on economic trends and barriers on Black Americans. The report details the advancement African Americans have made over the years. It also highlights some key disparities still plaguing the community, like Black child poverty

rates have been cut by nearly half since the 1980s. Black adults with college degrees have more than doubled since 1990. The Black-right racial gap in high school graduation has nearly disappeared. And despite the rise in those numbers, the report revealed the disparities between Black and white people are still significantly large. Like, white households have eight times the wealth of black households. Black households earn just 62 cents for every dollar earned by white households.

Black Americans have consistently experienced unemployment rates nearly twice that of white Americans. Let's go to the panel. Joining us tonight are Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeaver, political analyst, Dr. Greg Carr, Department of Afro-American Studies of Howard University, and host of the Black Table, and Terrain Walker, founder of Context Media. Welcome, everybody. Thank you. Good to see you, Reese. Okay. Let's start off with you, Dr. Carr, because you are the expert in all of these things.

These statistics are unsurprising. I think we do have to recognize that we have made progress, but there are still a long ways to go. What is just your first reaction to the disparities that still persist, particularly in the areas of wealth and house homeownership? Well, two things come to mind. One is an old professor of mine, Anson Thompson, used to call this death watch studies. In other words, we're getting killed, and every once in a while, we'll pause to see how many got killed since the last time we counted how many got killed. There was absolutely nothing new in any of this. And having read through the report,

I didn't see any solutions proposed. And the second thing is that it would be difficult to propose solutions to problems which are part of a larger field of violence called capitalism. So the section on union membership, for example, we know union membership has cratered in part because of the push from finance capital. Everybody from Amazon and Walmart, they're anti-union. We know that child poverty rates may have declined slightly, but part of that is because the way that child poverty is calculated in this country doesn't really reflect child poverty.

And we know that home ownership, we are subject to the vagaries of the market, whether it be the mortgage crisis of 2008 and coming forward. You know, anything that's going to happen to this economy is going to happen to us first. So again, not really surprised by any of the data that we received in this report. Now, Terrain, one of the areas that we have seen improvement is in the area of education in terms of closing some of that gap or significantly closing the gap in high school graduation, as well as in degrees. Do you consider that something to celebrate or do you think that that's just a drop in the bucket of all of the other news that we received through this report? Well, I think it's good on the surface, you know, from a cosmetic point of view. You know, the fact that there are more African Americans graduating college and getting their high school diplomas is an important thing.

But I think what you have to pay attention to is what happens after you leave school, what opportunities are there once you get that diploma and you get that degree. And according to this data and according to these stats, the data, there's not a lot of opportunity for African-Americans once you leave. If you go into a system that regardless of whatever your educational background is, does not have opportunities laid out for you, or there's no pipeline to take you from education and from the academy into the workforce or even into entrepreneurship, all it's really doing is just putting a bandaid on top of something that's still a very serious issue. You're absolutely right.

I mean, the reality is that education is one of those few areas that is relatively universal. I mean, we have free education in this country. And we know that as Black folks, we prioritize getting educated. And that's something that we can do regardless of our socioeconomic status. Dr. Carr, do you see a correlation here in the fact that we are making progress in education and things like the HBCU bomb threats that are increasing with each week and the threat that people seem to feel just by the presence of Black people being educated? Well, sure. Absolutely. Absolutely, Raci. In this respect,

as you say, the symbol of education and its connection with Black aspiration is a direct threat to those who find value in preserving this mythical notion of whiteness. So the idea of Black progress, which isn't a zero-sum game, is something that frightens folk who say, well, they're going to be competing with me. You know, I don't necessarily look at it as an advancement in black education as much as I look at it as a country that has an investment in public education that will kind of have a nominal return on investment that would increase everybody's ability to go to school, particularly when public education is compulsory. So with that in mind, I think you're absolutely right. There is a correlation, and the correlation is more psychic, more emotional, more cultural than it is anything that could be reduced to kind of material data to be analyzed.

Right. And Terrain, you know, one of the statistics that's mentioned in this report is that the life expectancy for Black Americans, where it was actually getting a little bit lower, the gap between the life expectancy for Black Americans versus white Americans was lowering prior to COVID. But now we see that gap widening once again. Do you think that, you know, in terms of the kinds of initiatives that we're seeing around mask mandates and vaccines and the COVID response, do you think that that's really important to evaluate the lens of inequities that Black Americans are facing when they're making policy decisions? Well, I think COVID really just brought to

light the serious disparities that there are in healthcare between African Americans and other populations in this country. Unfortunately, African Americans are at the near bottom of being served by the healthcare industry and also by going to the doctor and getting regular checkups and that sort of thing. And we can go into the history of why that is,

about why so many African-Americans have a fear of going into the doctor and getting regular checkups either financially or because of the history of medical apartheid in this country. So I think what happened with COVID was COVID already put a strain on an already swamped medical system in this country. So Black people, unfortunately, were were gonna bear the brunt of that when they could barely go in the first place. So I think COVID just really, again, exacerbated that.

And unfortunately, until there's some sort of serious outreach or there's some sort of policy put in place to try to elevate the health disparities and the health outcomes of African Americans, this is gonna continue, unfortunately. Absolutely, I mean, we have seen some initiatives in terms of like the COVID racial and ethnic disparities task force that was formed by the Biden-Harris administration. And there have been some outrage in terms of vaccines. And there's been an increase

in people who are insured throughout this pandemic because of the different various relief packages that have passed. But there's still so much more to do. Another area is black maternal mortality, which is something where black women are three times more likely to die during childbirth than white women are. And even if you look at mortality, black infant mortality has dismal statistics, and just the mere presence of a black doctor makes black children more black infants more likely to survive childbirth that should not be a thing in this country and that is irrespective of socioeconomic backgrounds that's a race issue last comment on this um dr cars one of the things that we consistently see persist is unemployment. And the unemployment rate for Black

folks continues to be double that of white Americans. And one of the things identified in their support is that child care, the cost of that is a barrier to entry for some Black Americans in terms of getting a job or ever entering the workforce. We have seen initiatives from the administration or put forth by the Democrats to lower the cost of child care, but it has stalled in Congress. So how do we make progress without, you know, the federal government in terms of the various branches of government coming forward and doing something about this? That's a good question, Recy. I think in the conversation you're going to have with the former mayor who's now working

on the nonprofit in California, I think we'll go away toward helping to answer that. I think one of the strengths of this report is the final part of the report where they break down the data by states. I think this is going to require local and state intervention. When you say, for example, in the report that 38 percent of black folk say that cost is the main barrier to finding child care compared to 27 percent of white folk, the question then becomes how do you disaggregate that data at the state level? Because so many of our people are trapped in the white nationalist rule South.

And we need to break those state legislators, state legislatures. We need to focus on the cities, from Atlanta to Jackson, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee to New Orleans, to begin to put policymakers in place that can address this at the state and local level. Finally, the report reiterated the fact that while we may see progress in some of these areas, the gaps between black and white folk remain virtually unchanged, as we said. I mean, you know, 41.3 percent of white people have college degrees, versus 28.1 percent of black people.

Now, that number has gone up steadily since the 1970s for black people, but it still remains the same gap between black and white people. What does that tell us, and how does that affect policy finally? I think it comes down to this. since the 1970s for black people, but it still remains the same gap between black and white people. What does that tell us, and how does that affect policy finally? I think it comes down to this. Whiteness is still the barometer by which policy is made, and the federal government's role is to intervene on behalf of those who are disadvantaged. So while we're working at the state and local level, what we need now is federal policymakers

who can enhance that state and local efforts and be very surgical about where they can put pressure for the best result. But it's going to have to be state and local. And I think this report does a good job of disaggregating that data so we can at least see what we're dealing with. Yeah, you point out exactly a huge point, which is that the states is really where we can make the most change because black people are not universally spread throughout this country. There ain't that many of us in Montana. But when you have elections like what's happening in Georgia and Stacey Abrams, that's going to be a transformative, you know, governorship as opposed to what we have with Brian Kemp. We're also going to be talking later with State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta in Pennsylvania. That's a key Senate seat that can help make Joe Manchin irrelevant or Kristen Sinema irrelevant if we were to win that seat. But speaking of state action, with that report in mind,

a former California mayor is doing what he can to combat poverty with his non-profit organization in Poverty in California, or EPIC. His organization focuses on ongoing poverty issues by creating a minimum wealth floor and overhauling the state's social safety nets. Currently, California has one of the highest poverty rates in the country. According to the U.S. Census, 15.4 percent of California residents live in poverty from 2018 to 2020. Michael Tubbs founder of in poverty in California joins us from Los Angeles. Michael how you doing. I first let me say I am so excited and proud of you this is such a big day thanks for having me it's I got to watch

last second look at Reese's. Thanks you know you my boy you my buddy you my buddy. So we I got to watch the last segment. I was like, look at Reese and she hosted. Thanks so much for having me. Thanks. You know, you my boy. You my buddy. You my buddy. So we actually have so much to talk about. We just had this discussion about the CBC report and the not promising statistics that we're seeing. You're actually a person that not only has been on the side of making policy changes and implementing transformative policies as mayor,

but now that you are no longer mayor, you are still in the trenches, really moving it forward, not just within California, but nationally, like with your Mayors for a Guaranteed Income. So before we talk about California specifically, tell us a little bit about your Mayors for a Guaranteed Income initiative. Yeah. So in 2017, when I was still mayor of Stockton, we announced that we were going to do

a basic income pilot, really rooted in the civil rights tradition, in the National Welfare Organization, a group of Black women who influenced Dr. King and got Dr. King to adopt basic income as a key way of ending poverty and bring us closer to a racially just society. And we announced this before the presidential campaign, so this is before sort of Andrew Yang and before a lot of other people were talking about a guaranteed income. It's been amazing to see how five years later we now have 63 mayors who are a part of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income.

We have 23 pilots from cities like Jackson, Mississippi, which was led by a phenomenal black woman at the organization called the Magnolia's Mother's Trust, which is focused on giving basic income dollars to black mothers and black mothers on welfare in particular to really combat welfare queen tropes, to St. Paul, Minnesota, to Los Angeles, Long Beach, Compton, to Madison, Wisconsin. Just recently, last week, Louisville, Kentucky, is doing a pilot. So, it's been interesting to see how the idea went from a crazy one to one that's really in vogue and one, again, that's really rooted in how do we use this opportunity of COVID-19

to actually deal with longstanding structural issues, but using this crisis as a chance to be bigger and bolder and more imaginative in terms of how our government and our economy can actually work for everyone. Yes, you gave me so much to respond to, so much to chew on, but I have to put you on hold for just a moment because Roland Martin, the man, is joining us live from Liberia. Hey, Roro. How's Liberia treating you? What's going on? Can you hear me? We can hear you.

Yeah, things are going great. It has been an unbelievable busy day. We, of course, today had sat down with the Liberian CEO. Yesterday, of course, in time, Monrovia City Hall. Tomorrow, I'm actually sitting down with Alex Cummings, former top executive at Coca-Cola, who's actually part of the opposition party and is running for president next year. We've got several tours that are set up for Saturday that we'll be actually live streaming and covering. And then Sunday or early Monday,

I'll be sitting down with Liberian President George W. So it's been very interesting. You're talking about a country that's just, the facts have been just unbelievable. Talking about a nation of 5 million people, but the problem is here in Monrovia, 1.5 million people live in the city, even though it was only built to accommodate 300,000 people.

Then the age, the median age in this country is also unbelievable. The average age is, the median age is 19.4. Wow. So it's an extremely young country. And as Greg, you know, knows all too well, you know, Liberia was the crown jewel of Africa, became the first republic in 1822. And then the problem is, in this country, it was the war in the coup in 1980, and it was in 1989 when the war took place. That lasted 15 years. So all of that progress, roads, bridges, schools, economy, all of that was pretty much destroyed in 15 years.

I was just talking to an Alpha brother who goes back and forth between Atlanta, Liberia, and Nigeria. He said the Nigerian War lasted three years. This lasted 15 years. So they really are desperate to rebuild the country. It's a country with its budget is only 700 million. I was with the minister of information yesterday. He was talking about a roads project that they have there to do to rebuild this country that has an amazing connection in that it is the only African nation with a direct connection to African Americans. The only one. Some 12,000 African Americans came here in between a 30-year period.

And so it really has been interesting as we have been traveling around and seeing what could have been. I mean, just imagine if this country, if you think about Ghana being developed right now, you think about Nigeria, you think about South Africa. Liberia literally was 50 years ahead of where those countries are today. Imagine what this place would look like had that not happened. Really incredible coverage you're doing down there, Roland. And there was a huge push to get Black people, African Americans, to go to Ghana. Are you seeing that kind of push with Liberia, or is this something that you're hoping to spur with your trip and the coverage that you're doing down there

for the Bicentennial celebration? Well, it's, it's, it, this is a huge, huge difference. And, in fact, I had a meeting, we're going to be uploading that meeting very soon, what I had with the Minister of Information. Remember, how you doing?

Remember, Ghana was very ahead. Ghana was planning that for three to four years. You've not had that lead time in Liberia. And so they have been really doing things on the fly in terms of trying to promote the bicentennial. They would love to have the same effect that Ghana received. But again, it comes down also to infrastructure. One of the things that Ghana did was, versus applying for a visa, they did a visa on arrival. They made it very easy. They also were driving the information. I told the Minister of Information and all of their media

people, I said, look, you guys, what are you doing? You've got to be driving your information. I went on Twitter yesterday, the day before yesterday, and I typed in hashtag Liberia land of return. And what happened was that under top tweets, I had personally the top 20 tweets. And I said, okay, where are your photos? Where are your videos? They said, well, most Liberians are on Facebook. I said, no, you're not posting for Liberians. You're posting for non-Liberians. I said, you guys can be pushing content to Instagram, to Twitter, to Facebook. I said, you need to be on TikTok. I said, that's what you have to do. You got to

build a resonance. You know, I've got Liberians who are following my coverage. I said, but you've got to be doing that on the president's page, on your country's page. And so it's a whole lot that they actually have to do. But I will tell you, when you start studying the history and, you know, I, you know, of course, before we planned this trip, I had to get Greg to look at any one of those 38,000 books sitting behind him to say what was the best books on Liberia. And the thing that was interesting, again, was when you look at the history, I mean, the first president of Liberia from Norfolk, Virginia, the contingent of Black

people. Then you had other presidents from Ohio. You got Black folks who came from North Carolina, from Virginia, from Mississippi. And so what I also told the Liberian government, you should be doing bicentennial events in these American states to show the linkage. The Methodist church was huge here as well. The first church, the Presbyterian church. I said, you should be pulling them along and having them be a part of this as well. And yesterday, the deputy ambassador,

and we live-streamed this, he gave some remarks. He talked about creating essentially a, you know, like we have a civil rights zones, if you will, the one in Atlanta, the one in Birmingham, these cultural zones. So he talked about the idea of sort of creating something along those lines for Liberia. And unbeknownst to me, they actually asked me to come up and speak. It wasn't planned. And I walked up there and I said, look, I appreciate the ideas of the deputy ambassador. I said, but I'm here for the money. I said, so what do y'all need to do?

And I literally turned to the ambassador and turned to the mayor of Monrovia. I said, what you need to do is tell someone like me how much you need. I said, and so when the Congressional Black Caucus arrives on Sunday, you tell them. And when we go back, I said, we're going to amplify it, and we're going to say to Pelosi, to Schumer, to members of Congress, this is what is needed, because there is a story. There is a story of people of African descent who came from America. They're in Liberia. And it's one hell of a story. And too many African-Americans don't know what that story is. And so we all went to Ghana to reflect and touch upon all of those people of African descent who were placed on slave ships to come to America. But too many of us have no clue about the people of African descent who left America, who returned back to Africa.

Well, I can't let this opportunity go by without letting Dr. Carr weigh in and ask you about your trip in Liberia. Dr. Carr? Oh, thank you, Recy. It's good to see you, bro. Man, we've all been watching, man. And by the way, Greg, tomorrow night the Alphas are doing a reception for me. And the Minister of Information of Ghana is an Alpha. So they're doing a reception for me tomorrow night.

We'll have that for you as well. So the brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha are fully represented here in Liberia. That's right. I'm glad to hear that, man. Yeah, I've been watching, man, along with everybody else in the stadium. I love that blue number you had on the first day that Sky Blue joined. And, of course, watching President

William's speech there in the stadium of the Bicentennial, and then watching that interesting panel on the economic future of Liberia. And my old professor, I saw Malefia Sante gave the keynote. Y'all covered that. And then the Monrovia Day, that was interesting as well. And then, of course, you couldn't I mean, watching you stop by Joseph Roberts statue, man, was was really something.

I guess. Oh, you got connected. I guess if I had a question, it would be about. What role do you see the United is the United States still interfering in the politics of Liberia? As you know, I mean, you know, you you said, what do you see there in terms of that? Or any other country for that matter? Well, the three countries that have major embassies here in Liberia, here in Monrovia, the United States, Mexico, and Germany. That was quite interesting. What you have here is you have what you see all across African continent, where you're seeing folks who are not from Liberia,

who are starting businesses, who are controlling a lot of things in this country. I had a great conversation today with Rima Fawaz, who is the CEO of Rural Multiple Businesses. She talked about the need for skill labor, for training. So, you know, I really think there are opportunities for African-Americans here. But what we have to understand is you're also dealing with, again, really poor infrastructure in terms of your roads. Only 20 percent of the country has electricity. And so one of the things that the president said in his speech on Monday is that he wanted them to be able to, you know, not just have everyone come to Monrovia, but build up the other cities in the country.

Well, the problem is you can't access them in a timely manner. In fact, where he's from, it's an eight-hour drive from Monrovia when it really should be a two, two-and-a-half, three-hour drive. So you know how it goes when you talk about investment. You talk about putting money into a country. They want a return on that investment, and many African nations have been held hostage by that. And so that's one of the things. And so a lot of these entrepreneurs, they basically, a lot of money they get, build a bit more, get more money in, build a bit more. So there's no investment from the government. So really, it's from them as individuals. So you have these forces.

Last point I'll make is this here. Firestone, okay? Firestone gets most of its rubber from Liberia. Firestone has never built a manufacturing plant here. So they have employees on their plantation, the rubber plantation. Well, they take the rubber and send it back to the United States. Last year, iron ore is the third, some of the three biggest industries in Liberia, rubber, timber, iron ore. Last year was the first time ever that a steel plant was built here. So like so many African nations,

other countries are, businesses are taking the resources, but they're not actually doing job development in these countries, and that's one of the fundamental problems. I hate to hear that, brother. There's a brand new book that just came out I'm looking at called Empire of Rubber. Firestone has been running a criminal enterprise in Liberia forever, man.

I'm really disheartened to hear that they're still there in that fashion. And I'm surprised the Chinese are not there. You haven't seen the Chinese? I have not seen the Chinese, no. You're right. They have been all over Africa, many other countries with their resources. Really what you have here, you have a number of Lebanese

who are here, Indians who are here. You got, look, you got some folks who've been here, you know, several decades. But that's really what you have. And in fact, we had, if y'all saw the Instagram post I made, you know, that was a hotel and resort that Bob Johnson had opened here in Liberia when President Erlen Johnson's release was there. And so we had lunch there. I mean, it was just sitting out there having dinner. The breeze was amazing, sitting by the ocean. But he sold it to a Ghanaian investor.

Part of the problem, like in the United States, like black businesses, COVID has had a tremendous impact and has slowed down so much. And many of these entrepreneurs have gone out of business. They're trying to make ends meet. So you've seen a lot of that take place as well. So it is a nation that is trying to recover. But, again, that civil war had such a huge impact economically on this country. And, look, it's one million Liberians in the United States if you think about that. 20% of the

population. Yes, sir. Man. Wait. You still there? Risa, you there? Yeah, I think we lost Roland. I'm here. I'm here.

Oh, you're back? Okay, great. I'm just looking, brother. Look, we can talk. I know we got to get the mayor back on. I'm just looking. Hey, man, this footage. I think we lost the mayor, so Roland, it's your show.

So, first of all, hit the mayor back and tell him my apologies. You've got to understand, it's 11.33 p.m. here, and literally we've been gone since 7 a.m., and so I said, hey, I said, let me just pop on, just give you all some feedback for this live hit, because we have to be back up in seven hours because the mayor of Monrovia wants to present something to me tomorrow morning. Essentially, she's the staff of the president of the country to discuss my interview. So it's a whole lot going on. I've been on Liberian television and radio. So it's been a whirlwind.

But again, it's been really great. Well, it's wonderful to have you on. You know, this is your show, so we always enjoy hearing from you. One thing I did want to ask you, though, real quick, is I saw that just beautiful painting that you showed on your Instagram of the little girl. What other kind of swag are you bringing back to the States? And how are you getting it here?

Because I know you've got some good first-class seats that you're lying back on. Well, first, again, if you look, I've been to Ghana twice before, so I brought an empty duffel bag, this huge duffel bag that I got from the OJ's golf tournament. And so if I want to buy some fabric or some things along those lines, and luckily with the art pieces are canvas and so I can just remove them from the black and just slide them right into the bag.

So it's totally got some eye on stuff. There's amazing carvings and things along those lines. And so yeah, we'll have time to do some of that shopping. But yeah, there were art pieces that were all over City Hall yesterday. And I saw that one, and I said, yo, I got to get that one. It really stood out. So my wife liked that one as well. So she was like, yeah, get that one.

So it was pretty cool checking that out. And, you know, I think I still go back to this for many of us, and that is it is important for us as African-Americans to not be so locked into our mindset of just what's happening in the United States, what's happening with our people globally. Because you guys had the story the other day. When you look at the black immigrant population, it's growing three times faster than African Americans in the United States. Again, there are one million Liberians in the U.S. They are significant in Houston, in Philadelphia, in Washington, D.C., in many places. And so I know you got people out there who all be concerned about African Americans. But the reality is this. If you have those type of numbers,

we've got to recognize that we've got to be in partnership and not in competition. Right, Roland. And we've been discussing how we're not really moving the needle that much economically in this country with the statistics that we're seeing around the wealth gap and home ownership. And, you know, you talked about it

when you've done your programming on Ghana, that one of the real opportunities for economic investment is actually back in the motherland. So, you know, hopefully people watching your coverage will see more ways that they can get involved and perhaps, you know, harness some opportunities in Liberia. Anything else you want to share with us, Roland, before we go to a break? We've got more stuff that we'll be bringing back. It will be live tomorrow, live Saturday. And again, I hope right now the president is going to send it this Monday. I think we're leaving on Monday. So we're trying to figure out, OK, because our initial flight got bumped. So we're trying to work through that. But we look really forward to bringing that conversation as well.

And let me say this, and I really want our fan base to understand this. CNN is not here. MSNBC is not here. Fox News, ABC, NBC, CBS, Washington Post, New York Times, all these people here. Okay? We run through some French reporters who are here. So I want our people to understand this network is called Black Star Network. It's named after the cruise ship of Marcus Garvey. Why did Marcus Garvey want that cruise ship? To connect African Americans with the African diaspora. That's also

what we're able to do with the network. So the coverage that we're providing, we are talking to Liberian Americans. We're sharing this story. And so when we talk about support, what we're building, we literally are building what our ancestors wanted us to build. And so you've got to hate us out there who do what they do. And so when we ask for folks' support, understand this is why we are doing it. This is what we're trying to accomplish. And I've got people who come to me, okay, hey, man, when you come to Senegal, when you come to Nigeria, when you come into South Africa,

we have to be completely in control of telling our own story. And so I appreciate it from our fan base when you guys are able to support us. And so y'all know what I do. Cash app, go ahead and pull it up. Dollar sign, RM Unfiltered. Of course, PayPal is RMartinUnfiltered. Venmo is RMUnfiltered. Zelle is rolling at rollinglessmartin.com.

And if you pay the PO box, okay, I can't remember off the top of my head. It's new. Right there. PO box 57196, Washington, DC 20037. My screen is blocking it. I think it's 37. Trust me, when you are able to contribute, you are making trips like this possible for us to tell the story that mainstream media, and let me also be clear, no other American Black-owned media is here either. So, Racy, keep holding it down. Great. Thanks a lot. Tell the mayor my apologies, but we're going to put him back on the show. Put him back on and give him his time back. All right. Thanks, Roland. And like you guys heard it, you can only get these stories here on the Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

We'll be right back. Субтитры создавал DimaTorzok Norske Kulturskapet ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА Don't you think it's time to get wealthy? I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and my new show on the Black Star Network focuses on the things your financial advisor or bank isn't telling you. So watch Get Wealth seat at the Black Table. 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. When I look at the future, it's so bright, it burns my eyes. Oprah Winfrey. With the high poverty number in California and the rise of inflation across the country, another California person is fighting to raise the minimum wage. Let's see, the wrong thing. Let's see. Businessman and anti-poverty activist Joe Sandberg is proposing California lawmakers raise the rate from $15 to $18. However, several states are fighting to keep minimum wage right where it is at across the nation.

Last week, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration for increasing the minimum wage for any federal contractor to $15 per hour. Ada Brasino, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, joins me to talk about the push for $18. Welcome, Ada. How are you this evening? Great. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to speak about the increase of the minimum wage. So to be clear, in California, the minimum wage is already $15. Is that right? That's right. As of January 1st of 2022, it's $15 an hour. Okay. So talk to us a little bit more about the push for $18 and what has been the reaction so far from the business community and the local community with this proposal? Well, look, I've got to say that there is an increase that we are looking for of a dollar per hour. So effective January 1st of 2023 increased by an hour to $16. And then in the next of the two years to $18 an hour in 2025. So look, I'm really focused on what it does to the working

families, to workers across the state in California. So I represent hotel workers for Local 11, the Hotel Workers Union. We represent cooks and dishwashers. And specifically for the industry, for the hospitality industry, raising the minimum wage is critical to making sure that people get back to work and to save the industry. So there is no larger group that will be benefited from this but the folks who are underrepresented. So it will help women, underrepresented groups who usually are the backbone of the hospitality industry. And Unite Here Local 11 has been committed to raising the minimum wage for some time. And this measure, we are pushing to get signatures as we speak.

We have dishwashers and cooks who are on the ground speaking to voters across the state and specifically here in the Los Angeles area to gather signatures to pass this particular minimum wage increase. So our campaign is moving forward. It's of working people. It's for working people. And we're very excited. There's no worker in California that can make $15 an hour and that they will tell you that it's enough.

One job should be enough to put a roof over your head and pay your bills for your family. But unfortunately, with, as you noted a little bit ago, with the rising cost of living, everyday Californians are finding it very difficult to make ends meet and having one job no longer works for them. So we've got to help change that. that when these corporations and billionaires have seen their wealth and profits really skyrocket in the middle of a deadly pandemic and that it's essential for us to increase the wage so we can keep our economy running. So thank you so much for having me here to speak about it. Thank you. So can you talk a little bit about the strategy? Because from my understanding, this is a ballot initiative. Why did you guys choose to go the ballot initiative route as opposed to the legislator route when you have Democrats that are in charge of the legislature and you have Governor Gavin Newsom? Talk a little bit about that strategy.

Look, there's nothing more democratic than putting something on the ballot. And so this November, California voters will have signatures in the next two months in order to qualify the ballot for 2022. And are you anticipating any kind of legal challenges if this ballot initiative were to succeed? We see that all the time in the state of California. There's a lot of opposition to measures even after they've passed. Well, we know obviously that there are folks that are not going to be interested in this moving forth, and those are the billionaires and the corporations. But I believe in the will of the people. And even through challenges, I believe that especially if it's voted by the voters in California, that it will do well. And have you decided on a strategy of making this an issue locally in terms of Los Angeles as having big primaries, a big mayoral race there?

Are you kind of approaching things on a local as well as state level? Or are you trying to focus on the state level first and see what happens there? Well, our particular union is based in Southern California, in most of Southern California, and Los Angeles is a big part of where we're at. And so we are going to do everything possible to ensure that the voters understand that this will be on the ballot and that they have an opportunity to give themselves a raise. And, you know, it's crucial. Small businesses, you know, move forward when we see raises come in for workers. We know

that the minimum wage will help our industry grow, that raising the minimum wage doesn't only lift workers, but it gives families more resources to spend in local restaurants and businesses. It's a step towards ensuring that people can take vacations and stay in hotels. And, you know, similarly, that they have a chance to serve people that go into hotels. They can also, you know, stay in those

establishments, you know, and it rebuilds the industry, our economy, and it creates a thriving middle class. Look, we know that before the pandemic, there are so many things broken that have been broken with our systems and as it pertains to working families. And we're not willing to go back to the same place. It's gotten worse for working families. And we've got to figure out how to lift workers, you know, out of where they're at in this in this economy. We need an economic recovery for all. And I believe that this ballot initiative gives us a strong tool towards that. Ada, thank you so much for being here and giving us insight into this push for $18 an hour. Thank you.

Thank you so much for having me. All right, let's go back to the panel. Terrain, I'm going to start with you. So much when we discuss minimum wage and the increases that are associated with that, we talk about the impact of businesses and on profits. But I think it's really important that we center the impact of actual individuals because this nation is built up of a lot more people that are relying on the minimum wage to determine their quality of life than millionaires and billionaires.

What's your take on this push? Well, first, I want to commend her for the initiative. And secondly, I want to say that it's really a shame that it takes grassroots people to have to push legislatures and politicians to do things for humans that they're supposed to represent. There seems to be this attitude amongst legislatures in this country and among people who are wealthy that, you know, let the poor and the working class fend for themselves without giving them any kind of safety net or any kind of job security. And I think that's extremely dangerous because you can't have a permanent underclass that's completely living in fear and living in financial stress and doubt and have a healthy working economy.

And I think there has to be a removal from billionaires and people who are wealthy, controlling the narrative, and getting to talking to people who go to work every day or trying to make ends meet and trying to figure out what their needs are, because there's a definite disconnect there. And if that disconnect continues, it's going to be disastrous for this economy and this country, I feel. You're right. There is a disconnect there. And it's good that we're seeing more moves in the local level and state levels, but there needs to be federal action on this. Dr. Carr, I'll give you the last comment on this. You know, the other story that I briefly touched on was the fact that Texas and several states are suing the Biden-Harris administration for the executive order where he determined that the federal minimum wage for contractors is $15.

And they're saying that that's going to hurt their ability to compete. Now, I've worked in federal contracting, and I know that they got plenty of money in those contracts. They are not starving for wages. They're not laying people off because of minimum wages. And so what is your take on basically the Republicans basically saying very clearly that the minimum wage is the way that they're going to continue to be competitive, even if that's at the expense of the people that are working, making $7.25 an hour? Absolutely. I think it's because of that that they will be competitive. First of all, I'd like to congratulate and continue to encourage white nationalism's chief lawyer, the attorney general of Texas, Ken Paxton, lawyer with the firm of KK&K, for his latest lawsuit against our common humanity aimed at the federal government.

And he's entirely right. People are leaving California coming to Texas, companies, that is, because they can engage in the type of hypercapitalist exploitation of workers that Texas has made possible. That's another reason why they want to suppress the vote in Texas. Another reason I think, as you were talking to Ada, it makes sense to go for a referendum. It might even insulate them a little bit better against lawsuits. And so you rather than go through the legislature. But anyway, I sounded to say this. The disconnect we have is that we are inching closer to a showdown with capitalism. You see, you know, the wealth inequality in California has grown even during the pandemic. And so it's not that people can't afford it. It's that

there is no such thing as too much. So the hyper-profiteering is why the Klan adjacent Paxton is suing again and joined by Mississippi and Louisiana. And I think ultimately what's going to happen is we're going to see, to echo Terrain's point, we're going to see a fracture in this country. We've seen this before. This is the basis of the Civil War. This is the basis of the Civil War. This is the basis of the white lash in the wake of the civil rights movement. Capitalism does not like people. They want to exploit people. And so when you see at the state level, this type of action like California is engaged in, and then you see Texas trying to take on the federal government, they're trying

to preserve the framework of this country for capitalism. And I think it's fair. I should say one other thing. Howard University announced today that they got 40, they're part of a $40 million grant from the Hewlett Foundation. Harvard, Howard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins, and another network, Omidyar Network, they got this $40 million to what they call it, establish multidisciplinary centers to reimagine capitalism. Now, when's the last time you saw people with millions of dollars invest in institutions to reimagine capitalism? They're not reimagining capitalism. They're trying to figure out how to hold on for one more pass by the bank.

And so that's why it has to come from the people. Because if you leave it up to the capitalists, they just keep renting politicians and at this point policymakers at universities to stay in power. Interesting. I'm sure when you heard reimagine capitalism, Dr. Carr, you were not feeling that at all. For real? Really? Okay. That's very nice. Let's see. Can we reimagine it? Right, right. Well, listen, we still have a lot more to come. This is Roland Martin, Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. We'll be right back. I'm sorry. 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. 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. 007 007 Hey, everybody. It's your girl, Luenell. So what's up? This is your boy, Irv Quake. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. 007 007 You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. 58-year-old Lori Page was reported missing on January 23, 2022.

Because Lori suffered a brain aneurysm rendering her mentally unstable, the Baltimore Police Department considers her a missing vulnerable adult. Lori is 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighs 100 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone who has seen her or knows her whereabouts should call the Baltimore Police Department at 410-396-2477. Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey shocked the GOP with his retirement plans, leaving his seat open to the possibly changing

the tide of the U.S. Senate. Over a dozen people have thrown their name in the Senate race. One of them is State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta, the youngest elected state representative in Pennsylvania and the first openly LGBTQ person of color elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in the state's history. Here's his announcement that he's running to become the next senator of Pennsylvania. Government hasn't worked for working families like mine. I know what it's like to see an eviction notice, to work a minimum wage job. My first one was at the age of 12 working to support my family. My dad was a social worker.

My mom was a home health care aide. No matter how hard they worked, they struggled to make ends meet for me and my siblings. And unfortunately, my story isn't that unique. It's familiar to Pennsylvanians all across the Commonwealth. Working families from Philly to Erie, from Scranton to Johnstown, from Bethlehem to Uniontown are resilient and leaning on one another.

But Pennsylvania and America are at a crossroads. After four years of division, and just over a month since a failed coup at the United States Capitol... Second floor! ...we face a question of who we want to be as a country. But we also face a recognition what's been broken has been broken for more than four years.

We have to answer the question at the heart of every campaign. Who should government work for? We need policies that actually speak to working families and lift them up. We have to choose. Are we going to go down the path of darkness? Or are we ready to bring a new day to Pennsylvania? A new day that demands we acknowledge how out of reach the American promise has been

for too many of us. A new day where we confront head-on challenges in healthcare, in climate, in gun violence, in poverty. A new day where we don't just talk about justice, but we make it real in our lifetime. A new day where no matter who you are, who you love, how you worship, you get a fair shot.

It's time for a new day, Pennsylvania. I'm Malcolm Kenyatta, and I'm running for the United States Senate. Malcolm Kenyatta joins me now. Hey, Vogue. Hey, Malcolm. First, let me start by saying congratulations, newlywed.

How are you? Thank you so much. And I know I'll get in trouble if I don't say hello from Dr. Matt. And we just want to say congratulations to you. The way that you use this platform to educate and engage people and on all the big things that I know are coming your way.

So really proud of you. Thank you so much. Okay, so tell the viewers out there who are not familiar with your campaign, what is the biggest difference you're going to bring to this race as opposed to your opponents? What are your platform priorities and why is what you're bringing to the table missing from the U.S. Senate? You know, first and foremost, I can win this race. I think a big part of this is folks who might not be from Pennsylvania, I think, don't understand a couple of important things. That first of all, we do have to answer this question of who do we think government should work for?

And we have to be talking about the real reality that the basic bargain, this idea that you can have one good job backed up by a union, that your kids can go to a good school no matter where you live, that if you or them get sick along the way, that you're actually able to go to the doctor and fill the prescription when you leave, and then finally that you're able to retire

with that home you were able to afford in the first place in a neighborhood that's safe, has clean air and clean water. But for us to be able to deliver on those priorities and make that basic bargain accessible, we have to win. 52% of all the people in Pennsylvania live in southeastern Pennsylvania. And so we need somebody who can go to every single county and speak with a level of urgency and authenticity about what is at stake, about how Democrats can continue to push the Biden-Harris agenda through a Senate that has blocked progress on so many of the things that I know the president and vice president want to accomplish, and can put together the coalition that flipped Democrats, flipped the Pennsylvania for Democrats in 2020. I know a lot about what

it took to put that coalition together. Our campaign is re-putting that together, reforming it. And now we're ready to go to Washington and deliver on all the things that I just talked about. You said it very plainly, you can win. And I think with Pennsylvania being such a key race, we always hear this ugly term rear its head when a Black person is running, and it's called electability. And you're running against two relatively popular white politicians in this state who are raising a lot of money. Can you put people's mind to rest, people that are believing that you have to go with the status quo in order to ensure a win, even though those same status quo candidates have lost to Pat Toomey in the past? Can you just

explain why it's time to bet on a Malcolm Kenyatta instead of the same formula that hasn't worked in Pennsylvania in unseating the Republicans there? Yeah, I think first and foremost, whoever the Democratic nominee is will have tons and tons of money. So that's not going to be a problem. In Virginia, Democrats didn't lose the governor's mansion because we didn't have enough money. We will have enough money. and I think, you know, on Saturday, I've been in this campaign for a year. And so, I think the questions of viability, electability are frankly moot. I'm in this race, we're running every single day,

we're putting endorsements on the board every single day, and we've built the type of coalition that it's gonna take to win in Pennsylvania. A coalition that includes, first and foremost, the type of regional diversity that you need, the type of generational diversity, and frankly, an ideological diversity. We have a big tent party, and we have to be able to bring it together. That was one of the reasons I supported the president so early, because I felt like he had the ability to bring our party together and then bring in those disaffected voters. When people talk about who

can win in this race, the first question is, who can win in southeastern Pennsylvania? My opponents have no track record of winning in southeastern Pennsylvania. Turns out, I do. My district is diverse economically. It's diverse racially. And I think that there is a reason that the president trusted me to be a voice and face of his campaign, not just in black communities, but he-election in tough districts in 2020, red districts, blue districts, purple districts. And so I have a real experience in going around, talking about how we build back better, talking about how we restore that basic bargain, and talking about the things that people want to see us accomplish, like extending the child tax credit, which we know is putting money into people's pockets, dealing with some of the hard costs that are making things more expensive for families,

like child care. You are a mama, and you know how expensive child care is. And we have to do things like universal pre-K, build on so much of the economic progress that we've seen. And I think if we don't have a nominee who is able to bring out Black voters, able to bring out young voters, get low propensity suburban voters to come out, then we won't win. And I think I'm best positioned to do that. I believe in you. Absolutely. Normally we would go to the panel, but we're running a little bit behind. But I do want to squeeze in one more question for you, Malcolm.

And I think we have to move beyond just, you know, people tend to enjoy the folks that have the nice rhetoric and things like that. But you're an actual state elected official and you've actually have, your receipts in the state General Assembly, that you think demonstrate why you're the right person for the Senate race. You know, first and foremost, you had other folks in this race who were on TV talking about Republicans trying to overturn the election. I was actually in the room making sure that they didn't. I am the Democratic chair of our subcommittee on campaign finance and elections. And I was in the room and helped to lead the effort to upend what the Republicans called their election integrity committee, where they wanted to actually investigate the 2020 election in real time and throw out ballots and all of that nonsense. And so we got that done. And you know what? That ended up being pretty important to making sure the people who actually won Pennsylvania, President Biden, Vice President

Harris, that those votes were actually counted and that we respected the will of the people. I worked on things from criminal justice reform, cybersecurity, and also on a big issue that's been incredibly important to me, mental health care. Folks should, there's really tragic statistics out here showing that rates of suicide have increased the most among black men. The toughest day I've had as a legislator is getting a call from Linda, who has now passed, letting me know that her 11-year-old grandson had died by suicide. His name was Little Phil. And we got some folks who had been supportive of me over the years to pay for that funeral and to

deal with all the different needs that the family had at that moment. But one of the things I promised them, promised them, is that we would never forget Little Phil. I introduced Phillips Law with a Republican to reimagine the way that we provide mental health care in our schools for our kids, to have an actual ratio of how many mental health professionals per student. I talked to President Biden, then Vice President Biden about this, and he actually added it to the Biden-Harris agenda. You go on the website, you'll see it there, that those are one of the things that he wants to get done. And so there's a lot that we need to do in Washington to help move forward this agenda. But I will tell you this, when I get to stand behind the president

with little Phil's family and say, we got this done, that will be the most important thing that I do, frankly, as a U.S. senator. Wow. Our hearts go out to Phil's family. And thank you for really taking up that mantle, because we are seeing an alarming increase in suicide and mental health is something that many people are struggling with. We're actually going to have on a guest later to talk about that. Last thing, how can people support your campaign, follow you, contribute if they want to see you win this primary? So I'm at Malcolm Kenyatta on everything, every everywhere. And so folks can really engage with with with our campaign, because, listen, we're going everywhere. We're talking to everybody about how we make this basic bargain real for people. And that is the way that not only

we're going to win, but listen, I'm running to be the senator for the day when the election is over. So often this becomes just about a campaign. It's not about a campaign. It's about people's real lives and what we can do to make their real lives better. And so, again, you know, so incredibly proud of you. Thank you. And also, I'll tell you this. I'll end with this.

You're having on, or maybe you've already had on, one of Dr. Matt's oldest friends, Mayor Tubbs. Oh, yeah. I love him. Mayor. We lost him for a second, but having both of you on this show, that's the dynamite lineup as far as I'm concerned. So thank you so much, Malcolm, for joining us and good luck to you on your campaign. Thank you so much. All right, going on to our next story. In Florida, a Florida state senator plans to get 40,000 Black and Latino voters registered to vote by mail ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Chevron Jones' Operation Blackout is an effort to combat the state's restrictive voting laws, limiting voting by mail and disproportionately affecting voters of color. Jones believes this project will encourage more black people to vote since they will

not have to wait in lines at the polls. In Texas, Texas has similar voting restrictions and the Young Black Lawyers Organizing Coalition is filing a federal lawsuit against the voter suppression laws. Abdul Dosumo, founder and chief strategist of the Young Black Lawyers Organizing Coalition, joins us now to tell us more. Hi, Abdul. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. And so Texas right now, I'm seeing alarming reports, specifically in Democratic strongholds of 35 percent of the mail-in. I'm not sure if it's the applications or the ballots themselves are being rejected.

So the work that you're doing in Texas with your lawsuit is really critical in trying to undo the tide of these really restrictive voting laws. Talk a little bit about your lawsuit and how that relates to the rejections that we're seeing with absentee ballots, or is there something else that this is related to? Absolutely. Well, first of all, to your listeners who don't know us, we're the Young Black Lawyers Organizing Coalition. We are a network of young black lawyers and law students who are mobilizing to provide community-centered voter education and empowerment to black voters across the country, including in Texas. And just to be clear, we have filed an amicus brief, which is not the same thing as a lawsuit. It's a friend of the court brief that essentially brings in new information that the court should be considering in their evaluation of a case from interested parties.

And the argument that we're making to the court is that you know that this bill is horrific for black voters, but what you may not know is that it's also horrific for black civic organizations that are working to protect and empower black voters. So this bill is bad on a number of bases, including that it introduces a number of criminal penalties for constitutionally protected civic engagement by organizations like black churches, black fraternities and sororities, black civil rights organizations like ours that are active in helping to protect and empower black voters. And so the point that we're making to the court is that this bill is harmful in a number of ways,

including the impact that it has on black civic organizations that are working exactly on the issues that you've laid out with respect to vote by mail, with respect to making sure that voters are empowered and informed about their rights. You bring up a really excellent point because so many times when people think about voter suppression, they just think, oh, somebody, it's harder for them to register to vote. But the criminalizing support from organizations is just an abomination. It's unconscionable. I'm going to bring in the panel a little bit earlier than normal on this one since they've been on standby. So, Terrain, I'll give you the first question for Mr. Abdul. Hello, Mr. Abdul.

My question is, do you think that what you're seeing in Texas is sort of like a rehashing of what happened right after Reconstruction when there was like an active mission for white supremacists to start rolling back black voter rights and black legislation at that time? It's exactly what we saw right after Reconstruction. You know, we actually do voter education work in partnership with community-based organizations, so black churches, black community groups. And we actually walk the participants through the history of voter suppression in the state of Texas. And one of the points we make is that what we're seeing now is very reminiscent of what we saw immediately after the Reconstruction era in Texas. During the Reconstruction era in Texas, you start to see

black elected officials increase in number. You start to see black voters reach political parity on the voting rolls in the state. You start to see rural counties where black voters have a political majority start to take their seat at the table. And then almost immediately after, in reaction to that, you see the introduction of whites-only primaries. You see the introduction of poll taxes. And the important point that we often make to our audiences is that the public pretext that was used in that moment was fighting voter fraud. So the exact pretext that's being used right now to justify voter suppression was being used in the early 20th century to justify voter suppression at that time. So it's exactly reminiscent. The players have changed, but the playbook is still the same.

You're right, Abdul. And what's interesting, too, is, you know, with Texas, it's still pretty much a red state. Right. But of course, you know, we can look at measures like this and determine that it's not a red state because of the ideological bent of the kind of the state, but because of the voter suppression and the way that it's gerrymandered to prevent every person from having an equal voice in the government. What's also interesting is that they aren't waiting for a person, a Beto to win or for a Biden to win statewide in terms of the electoral college votes. They are getting started now fast and furious with making sure that it never happens. We saw with the 2020 elections, there was a huge push for vote-by-mail. And now that is one of the first things that they have attacked. Can you explain just why it's so effective to attack the vote-by-mail process? And do

you think that there needs to be a change in strategy in terms of educating the voters to not do vote by mail? Or, you know, what do you think is next in terms of outside of the lawsuit, the logistics of voting right now in Texas? Well, you know, the reality is, is that we saw unprecedented numbers of voters and Black voters vote by mail in 2020. Let's not forget, we're still living in a global pandemic that is disproportionately impacting Black communities, right? And so it is critically important that Black voters have unfettered access to vote by mail as an option. And that's exactly why vote by mail has come under attack by the forces of voter suppression in the state. You mentioned it earlier, but in some counties we're seeing

vote by mail ballot applications rejected at some 40 percent, rates of some 40 percent. And so the issue in Texas, as you know, is that on your vote-by-mail ballot application, you're now required to include the ID, the voter ID that is on your voter file, right? And the problem, of course, is that most people don't remember what voter ID is on their voter file. And so a number of ballots, thousands of ballots across the state, a number of ballot applications are being rejected because the numbers don't match. So the strategy is not so much from our perspective to discourage people from voting by mail. The strategy is to provide

actionable and timely voter education information to voters so that they can successfully vote by mail. So what we are encouraging, what many voting organizations are encouraging voters to do who wish to vote by mail is to actually include both your Texas driver's license number and the last four digits of your social security number on your vote by mail ballot application. One of them is bound to be correct. One of them is bound to match what number on your vote-by-mail ballot application, one of them is bound to be correct. One of them is bound to match what's on your voter file to minimize the risk of your ballot application being rejected. So what we've got to do as a community is really mobilize around voter education. We do a great job on voter registration. We do a great job on voter mobilization. What we don't often do a great job on is voter education and voter protection. And that's the work that we're doing. And that's exactly why the amicus brief that we filed in federal court this week is so important, because what the state of Texas is trying to do is to really clamp down, shut down on the ecosystem of black-led organizations that do this critical work

of empowering and educating our communities. And we cannot let that happen. Right, you're absolutely right. Dr. Carr, last question goes to you. Oh, thank you. Thank you, Recy. And thank you. Thank you, Brother Dazumu.

I look over your shoulder and I see Margaret Ed's book on two of the baddest lawyers of the 20th century, Spotswood Robinson and Oliver Hill, man. And I tell my students all the time, it's a time for heroes. So my hat is off to you, man, and your comrades, because in terms of intellectual warfare, this is

when heroes are made. So I think about Spotswood Robinson and them, and I say, this generation here, y'all lying enough for that. Man, there are so many questions I would love to ask you, but I'm going to keep it brief. Red Jaws' amicus brief and then the Brennan Center's complaint, when you say that this statute can't survive strict scrutiny on First Amendment grounds, the 14th Amendment grounds, my question is, do you think that might be the strongest part of the case? Because it seems like they're going to tear their little Constitution up. Either these amendments mean something or they don't.

And then the second question really is about the 15th Amendment. I'm thinking about Gamaliel versus Lightfoot, you know, and years ago. Why don't you think the 15th Amendment is used more in these cases? Since it seems to be fairly on just a plain reading of the amendment, we should at least be able to introduce that argument. I'm really wondering about your thoughts. And thanks again, brother. Really, really, really impressed and grateful y'all on the wall. Well, thank you so much. I'm a big fan of yours. So thank you for the work that you're doing. You know, we really do consider ourselves to be, you know, inheritors of the tradition of so many tremendous civil rights lawyers and law students who have been involved in the fight to protect our rights.

And, you know, I think the reality and one of the things that we were motivated by in introducing the amicus brief is that there are so many grounds upon which this law is plainly unconstitutional and should be struck down. You know, it is clearly, if you look at the statute and you look at the provisions that we've laid out in our amicus brief, it's clearly overbroad. You've got clearly murky language. There are no limiting principles around the prohibitions on speech in this bill. the court has everything that it needs, from the discriminatory impact on voters to the discriminatory impact on civic organizations, to strike this law down. And we certainly urge that they do. But let me just end on this note. It is absolutely critical that we not leave this to a

court-by-court, state-by-state fight. This is why it is urgent that we pass federal voting rights legislation. It's critical that we pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, right? Because so long as we are leaving this to the courts, which in many ways we have lost over the last decades, we're going to be fighting this in a piecemeal way. We need a comprehensive federal commitment to protecting our voting rights. Abdul, thank you so much for being here. Before you go, let the viewers know how they can support your initiatives or keep in contact with your organization. Absolutely. Anyone who wants to support our work, any law students

or young lawyers who want to join us can go to our website at yblock, Y-B-L-O-C.org, or you can follow us on social media at Young Black BLK Lawyers. Thank you, Abdul. Roland Martin Unfiltered will be right back after this break. You're watching the Black Star Network. Nå er det en av de fleste stående stående i landet. Don't you think it's time to get wealthy? I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and my new show on the Black Star Network focuses on the things your financial advisor or bank isn't telling you. So watch Get Wealthy on the Black Star Network. Pull up a chair, take your seat. The Black Tape with me, Dr. Greg Carr,

here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. I always had something to shoot for each year. To jump one inch further. Olympic champion, Jackie Joyner-Kersee. In Georgia, a federal jury heard more testimony

about racist and hate-filled language Travis and Gregory McMichael and William Roddy Bryan used against Black people. The three men are standing trial for federal hate crime charges and the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. Travis McMichael's friend Derek Thomas testified McMichael would respond to funny videos using expletive language. Once, in response to a black person playing a prank, McMichael said, I'd have killed that N-word. Jurors also saw evidence, memes, posts, and pictures

shared by all three men showing their hate for black people. The cop who regularly patrolled the Satilla Shores neighborhood also testified there was no evidence of Arbery stealing or breaking anything in the home he was seen wandering around in. Hundreds gathered in Minneapolis for the funeral service for Amir Locke, the 22-year-old black man

who was killed by Minneapolis police serving a no-knock search warrant. During the service, Amir's family members spoke to the legacy of the late Locke and sent a clear message to police officers across the nation, we need change. The service took place at Shiloh Temple International Ministries, where Daunte Wright's funeral took place. A D.C. police officer is on administrative leave due to a pending investigation surrounding the officer's alleged involvement with the right-wing group named the Proud Boys. According to the Washington Post, the investigation centers on communications between Lieutenant Shane Lamont, a 22-year veteran of the department, and Henry Enrique Tarrio, a leader of the Proud Boys.

D.C. Police Chief Robert Conte said it was his decision to take the officer off the streets. The investigation... Upon my review of those concerns, I have decided to place one of our members in an administrative leave status. That member is currently in that status as of yesterday. And part of the reason why we have placed a member in that status is, again, based upon my review of what we know so far. From day one, I have been committed to transparency and accountability, not just for members of the Metropolitan Police Department, but anywhere, any space in the Metropolitan Police Department, in any space in community where there are things that are happening that should not happen. In this particular space, where we talk about transparency and accountability, we want to make sure that our members, the members of the Metropolitan Police Department, have the

utmost trust and respect of the communities that we serve. And again, based upon my review of the concerns that have been raised, it was my call to put this member in this current status. Again, I'm very limited in terms of what I can say. I will tell you that is an ongoing investigation, and we will continue to work through this investigation to see ultimately. The investigation is still pending. The International Olympic Committee dismisses comparisons

between U.S. track star Sha'Carri Richardson and Russian figure skater Kamila Vlaeva over their doping scandals. IOC spokesperson Mark Adams says people shouldn't rush to judgment with the decision made by the committee. We have an absolute duty to follow the letter of the law. Due process is very, very important um we all talk about due process uh when it's someone else when it occurs to us it's very very important so think of the personal issue

of person involved we all need to follow the due process this person has not even had their b sample opened the case is not even finished yet so to make all these grand statements is, I think, a little bit premature. In terms of Mrs. Richardson's case, I mean, she tested positive on the 19th of June, quite a way ahead of the Games. The results came in early order for USADA to deal with the case on time before the Games. Mrs. Richardson accepted a one-month period of ineligibility, which began on June the 28th. So I would suggest that there isn't a great deal of similarity between... Richardson called out the IOC after allowing Voleva

to participate in the games despite failing a drug test. Okay, I'm going to bring in the panel here. There's a lot to chew on what I just said, but let's start with Sha'Carri Richardson. Terrain, I don't know what they just said about there's no comparison, but come on. We already know what the real deal is. What's your

take on the IOC spokesperson trying to say that there isn't a double standard here? Well, first of all, I want to say it's definitely a double standard, but I want to take it out so much. I want to remove it from race so much because even though race is a factor, there's this mythology around the Olympic Games that the Olympic Games are about egalitarianism and brother, universal brotherhood.

The Olympic Games are about nationalism and politics. So what you saw happening with Shaqari and with the young Russian skater is definitely politics at play. You know, if I'm not mistaken, the Russian Olympic Committee is running a lot different than the International Olympic Committee and the American Olympic Committee. And the Russian Olympic Committee is very much state-funded, and a lot of nationalism is caught up in Olympics and sport in Russia, going back to the old communist regimes. The situation with Jokari, I think, was absolutely based in bias, because, um, if we're gonna talk about performance-enhancing drugs, I mean, let's be real.

Nobody ever got fast after smoking a blunt. You know what I mean? It's not a performance-enhancing drug. Marijuana is not gonna enhance your running ability. That was about nationalism, and that was about trying to move this person, who also, I feel like, was a very outspoken young woman. I'm talking about Sha'Carri. She was a little bit different than what

the Olympic Committee would say is, you know, Olympic decorum and the way an internationally world-renowned athlete is supposed to act. And I think that was absolutely a part of it as well. So I think what we're seeing is definitely a double standard. If this young lady who's a skater is allowed to run with a performing and enhancing drug, there should be no reason why Shikari should be able to run the way off the smoke as the blunt. It's ridiculous. Dr. Carr, Terrain does bring up a good point. I mean, just let's look at the aesthetics here. Sha'Carri Richardson is a black woman.

She has this great, you know, bright hair, long nails, outspoken. This Russian 15-year-old, I figure skaters, obviously has a much more delicate look. You know, the kind of look that typically the society runs to their protection. Do you think that aesthetics as well as race play a role into this, as well as Sha'Carri's personality, which I love personally, okay? I love a black woman who is outspoken. But do you think that that is as part of what we're seeing and the difference in the way this has been received? Oh, I'm sure in the court of public opinion, no doubt, no doubt. It's a little white girl. You know, that's the baby doll. Some people would prefer that aesthetic. Shame on them if they

have children that look like something other than the baby doll. If you prefer that, then we need to send you back to the 1950s. You probably picked that white doll during the doll test yourself. But I have to agree with you and agree with Terrain. I agree with you, brother. I mean, this is about money and politics in a great deal. The International Olympic Committee, I don't know, I mean, I don't even really know who would win if you set up the people that run the International Olympic Committee versus, say, FIFA and the World Cup, as to who's the most corrupt.

You got bag men. You got millions of dollars. You got camp. Do we have to postpone the Summer Olympics in Japan? I mean, there's so much money in this. And, yes, as you say, terrain nationalism is at play. But I do think, in terms of what Adam said, and this ties back to what we were talking about a moment ago in terms of the voting rights cases, there's a difference between procedural due process and substantive due process. His defense in this instance, by saying these are two different situations, he's saying that the investigation has not yet continued, has not yet completed, meaning that her B sample hasn't even been opened yet.

OK, what they're going to hide behind right now is process. And they're going to say that every case is different. We have to wait now. How does that converge with the politics? Well, simply put, they, like FIFA, like World Cup, the IOC has always got its finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing. If there were enough public outcry, then you might see this white girl get disqualified. But they're hoping to whistle past the graveyard

and let this blow away. Now, finally, in terms of Sha'Carri, I think it does come down to this, quite simply put. The cases are completely different because she's Black. It's just that simple in the

broader sense. These criminals have been at this criminal enterprise called the Olympics for a very long time. And so whether it be disqualifying Jim Thorpe, because they say he played professional basketball, football on the weekends, whether it be stripping medals

and making John Carlos and Tommy Smith go home, these criminals been anti-non-white for a long time. And so this is just, you know, more of the same. Well, the bottom line is Camila loss anyway. She plays fourth. She fell several times. Perhaps all of the media buzz around it got to her. So it's a moat point in terms of meddling. But you know who that was, right? You know who made her fall, right? Oh, well, there you go. The ancestor.

She tripped that joint. You ain't got to worry about that. What was the thing Apollo did? Calling the African angels. Calling the African angels. You ain't got to worry about that. Grandma took care of that. Big Mama took care of that. Well, there you go. That's going to be a meme by tomorrow.

Well, the ancestors might take care of somebody else when we talk about our next story, which is the NFL hires a former U.S. Attorney General to help defend against a major class action lawsuit. Former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch will be taking the National Football League side in a highly publicized racial discrimination case. Ex-Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores is suing the NFL for racial discrimination after being overlooked for job openings. There are currently just two black head coaches among the 32 teams in the league

where nearly 70% of the players are black. Lynch, a Harvard Law grad, is the first black female U.S. Attorney General in U.S. history. I tried to hide from the story because I was like, Lord, they tagging me in it. Oh, God, they tagging me in it. Oh, God, you know, I, you know, I try to give black women grace, but this is bad, Loretta.

I don't know what you're doing. I don't know, baby, what is you doing? You know, this is the kind of thing that just is, are you that hard up and pressed for money? Are you desperate for money? All checks don't have to be taken. This isn't like some, you know, everybody's entitled to a defense. We're talking about the NFL, who's clearly discriminated against black coaches time and

time again. So what is you doing, Loretta? Terrain, I'm scared for what you're going to say, but go ahead. What you got? I promise I'll behave, kind of. Okay. I talk about this a lot on social media, but I think it's important for Black people

to kind of get out of this idea that just because somebody looks like you, that they're for you. That is not the case. Just because somebody who is Black and a woman or a man reaches a high office or gets into a very prominent position, because of our history in this country, we tend to celebrate that. And it does deserve to be celebrated.

But we really got to look at the character of these people who we celebrate, and we got to look at their motivations. That's the first thing. The second thing is what's happening with Loretta Lynch, outside of her deciding to take this case in the first place, is something that happens all the time when there's any kind of racist collusion or there's any kind of racist, any kind of organization or individual says something racist or does something racist. The first thing they do is find the first black preachers they can find, make an apology tour, get those people to stand behind them and say, see, we're not racist because we got black people who will come up here and they're willing to hug us and they're willing to stand on our side. We have to stop doing that and

we have to stop being suckered in by that sort of thing. There's no, look, there's no history and there's no mystery about what the NFL has been standing for for the past five years. Look, this is the league that has end racism on their helmets, but they won't give Colin Kaepernick a job. This is the league that's dealing with a collusion case and also dealing with a discrimination case against Brian Forrest and other black coaches who have said that they weren't able to advance.

So the fact that they have Loretta Lynch out as the point person in this, it really muddies the water and it really doesn't help their case, to be frank, because it's going to draw more attention on the fact that all of a sudden you have a job for a black person, but you didn't have any on the field beforehand. You didn't have any in the front offices. You didn't have any in the front offices. You have very little black ownership. I think it's really ridiculous, and I think it's sad, and I think we have to really be clear about what kind of checks we want to take and what does representation mean to us, because all representation is not good representation

and all skinfolk ain't kinfolk. That's just the bottom line. I can't argue with you there, Terrain, because this is definitely not a kinfolk move on Loretta Lynch's part. And, you know, Dr. Carr's Terrain pointed out, they do very often try to put a black person as

they push them out in front. We ain't in the back making any of the decisions in the executive rooms, but when it's time to clean up on all six, they are very quick to find a black person. What is your reaction to this story? Yeah, no, that's true.

You know, as we were sitting here, I was listening to you and listening to Terrain. I'm thinking about these other black women. I thought about how they get screwed at the Olympics. Surya Bonley, that was my girl. Remember the sister that did the backflips from West End? They screwed her every time on the judges. I mean, and shout out, of course, to Lauren Jackson,

who took that speed skating gold medal and said it's for the black girls. So I just wanted to preface that before I come for Loretta Lynch, and I'm coming for her. Because I feel like that I'm not coming for her because she's a black woman. I'm coming for her because she's a petty bourgeois representative.

And I think that we should treat people. This isn't a question of gender. This isn't a question of gender. If it was Lawrence Lynch, we'd be coming for her equally. Because, you know, we had this conversation last night. I was in class at the law school. And we sat there for a long time chewing this over. A couple of things for people who wouldn't know.

Paul Weiss, the firm that Loretta Lynch is working with, working for, that's one of those white shoe law firms. That's a senior law firm. So, you know, it's Paul Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton and Garrison. But people refer to it as Paul Weiss. We were talking last night. Even junior associates have the option to decline a case. Now, will that hurt their possibility of being promoted and eventually becoming a partner? Maybe, maybe not, because office politics is office politics. But Loretta Lynch is not a junior associate. Quite frankly, I would be shocked if she did not have the option to turn that case down. She's a former attorney general.

So at a law firm like that, someone like that with status, they have the option of saying, no, I'm not going to do that. So she took that. She and Brad I'm not going to do that. So she took that. She and Brad Karp are going to defend them. You know, cowardice, thy name is establishment. So please understand what we see is going on here. Brian Flores and his lawyers are going to have to fight the NFL, Paul Weiss and them, the Dolphins, Stephen Ross got his own lawyer. And then the guy who has minority

stake in the Dolphins, but who has right of first refusal in case they come for Ross, he got his own lawyer. The Texans are going to get their own lawyer when they're attached. The Broncos have their own lawyer. The Giants have their own lawyer. You got billionaires going to pay money out the wazoo against one

dude. Now the rest of y'all out there in the NFL, I'm talking about all the coaches, all the administrators, the players, if y'all stand by and watch this guy get murked, you know what? You deserve everything you get. Every dancing Negro in prison uniforms at a halftime show, you deserve

everything you get. Sean Carter, wherever you hiding and cowering, you deserve everything you get. And every Negro that watches the league, you deserve everything you get. And every Negro that watches the league, you deserve everything you get. I ain't mad at Loretta Lynch. We've seen this show before. It's called Massa.

We sick. So the whole point is that at the end of the day, Loretta Lynch ain't the problem. Power is the problem. And we have the power if we choose to use it. But if not, hey, go on, let Loretta Lynch get her little check for Paul Weiss, because she just wrote her name in the annals on the wrong side of history. And I kind of feel

sorry for her. Well, that is that on that. See, you thought I was going to do that, and then it was Dr. Carr, see? No, no, it didn't do it gender. It did nothing to do with gender. Well, you know, she ain't got a friend of me on this one, child. I'm not going to get dragged like I do every week,. I'm not going to get dragged like I do every week,

but I'm not going to get dragged defending Loretta Lynch. You on your own, sis, on defending the NFL. You could have turned that check down. So I don't want to hear nothing. Don't tag me in nothing. I don't want to hear you on your own. But we still have more to come. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

We'll be right back. Folks, Black Star Network is here. Hold no punches. A 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.

Stay Black. 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 scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home.

You dig? Hello, everyone. It's Kiara Sheard. Hey, I'm Taj. I'm Coco. And I'm Lili. And we're SWB. What's up, y'all? It's Ryan Destiny, and you're watching

Roland Martin Unfiltered. Our beloved sister, Erica Savage Wilson, has been vocal and transparent about her journey to recovery after a traumatic brain injury last March. Her life has changed in many ways,

but her spirit and determination remain strong. In January, she launched The Reframed Brain, a podcast that will focus on brain health tips and ways to cope with life after unseen injuries. She joins me now to talk about her podcast. Hey, sis. Hey, sis. How you doing? Good, good. It is so good to be with you.

Before I get into anything, I got to give, you know, Dr. Carr, I got to give Dr. Carr a chance to say hey. So, Dr. Carr, what you got? Be together. No, I'm just watching. Hey, I'm a fan. Look, we got to throw the fist up. Come on, look. Come on, Terrain. Pump the fist, right?

You got to join us. This is what we do. Do it on Thursday. Hey, look, I'm loving the podcast. I'm going to get out y'all's way so y'all can talk, but you know I love you, and if y'all haven't seen it, well, y'all about to talk about it. So, you breaking it down, sis. Loving you. You make me want to get some plants,

although I'm scared I'll kill them in here, so. But anyway, that's all good. You know, listen. Love you, Greg. I'm still not 100% there on the plants. We're going to talk about the plants. But you are very, very persuasive, Erica. So, Erica,

you are now on your second episode of The Reframe Brain. First, just give us some logistics. Where is your podcast streaming appearing? How can people get in contact with it First, just give us some logistics. Where is your podcast streaming, appearing? How can people get in contact with it? And then give us a little bit more insight into what the purpose is and what you're discussing. Absolutely. But I would be remiss if I did not say you are doing an excellent job hosting Reefy, pulling double duty, co-hosting earlier on Sirius XM View, Urban View, and then here on Roland Martin twice this week. So you're doing an excellent job.

Thank you for all you do to my big brother, Roland. Y'all, Roland texts or calls me at least two or three times a week. And a text I can literally hear is from me. You need anything? How you doing? So thank you to big brother Roland, all the great things that he's doing. And of course, to my great friend, my dear heart, our living library, Greg Carr, Dr. Carr, love him. He continues to give away his mind to us seven days a week. And I want to send a shout

out to Terrain. He's an incredible journalist. And so say hello to that brother we haven't had an opportunity to meet. The Reframe Brain podcast. So thank you for kind of laying it out. The podcast was really birthed out of the experience that I'm having now. Having sustained, as I've shared with all of you all, this life-changing injury. I was traveling for work in March of 2021, having came off of a general election work that my political data, political consulting and data management firm had done. We'd also done work, senatorial work in Georgia, was rolling into COVID work. And I was actually headed to my home state of Georgia to continue that work when on March 15th, about 11 o'clock in the morning, I was hit twice by an

18-wheel truck. And I went from a high-performing executive to what my brain practitioners told my family and my boyfriend that I was, they were dealing with a toddler at the time because my emotional state was very unpredictable because what had happened for folks that do have brain injuries, and this also speaks to people who are suffering with dementia and the debilitating and very traumatic disease known as Alzheimer's, is that the root system for my executive functioning part of the brain, that is the new brain, that frontal lobe, that root system had been damaged and compromised. So a lot of what my response system was coming out of was from my amygdala. That's the reptilian, the old brain. That's the fight or flight. So everything around me was a threat

because I had significant memory loss. I had sustained injuries on my left side and the unseen injuries that I talk about recently, and then I go on later to discuss in my writing were also PTSD, anxiety, stress, a host of other things that are unseen, but they're very real in my life. And so because my life changed 180 degrees, the great medical team that I had surrounding me from the polytrauma unit to the mental health staff that I want to pause and say some of the things that you've discussed throughout the show today are really strongly in line with what the podcast talks about. I have a psychiatrist, I have a neuropsychologist whose scholarship is in the brain. And then also a therapist. The neuropsychologists and therapists meet with me

weekly. And so you're talking about a whole team of people that have been engaged in my life so that I can now come before you all and speak with you all. But there are a lot of tools and techniques that I use to sit before you all tonight. So what my podcast does is I have branded myself a brain injury champion because I feel as though I have been able to have some of the healing leaps and bounds because of this incredible team that I have. And I feel healing and recovering's not a finished work. But what I want to invite everyone, and that's the people who do not have a diagnosis, inviting people because we are all traversing a global pandemic. We are in the second year of a global pandemic that has worldwide killed over 5 million people. And in the United

States alone, over 900,000 people have passed away due to this global pandemic. So what I am inviting people to is to understand brain health. Our brain is the most powerful and complex organ that we have. And because in the pandemic, there has been a rise, and these are statistics that you can look up on any mental health, the CDC, any of these sites. There has been an uptick of people that are suffering with insomnia during the pandemic coined the term coronasomnia. stressors. Even if a person does not have a specific diagnosis, all of us have dealt with anxiety. We have dealt with some level of stress, perhaps some level of depression. And what is not spoken about, but is underlying, which is grief. Because even if we have not lost someone that we've known or loved dearly, just turning on the news and seeing those numbers, and then everything else that is happening

politically, everything that has happened around us with regards to the number of how prices are going up in the grocery stores. And you all have talked about when you highlighted the CBC report and economic piece of that report and what this show has been talking about not only this week but over the past few months over the past years and talking about how grocery prices have gone up exponentially we've seen grass gas prices go up exponentially those are stressors that are really really um impacting every person no matter what um how much money you're making, but especially those people who are struggling to make ends meet. So what the Reframe Brain podcast does is that, listen, we understand that these are things that are affecting all of us. We want for you,

that means the person on the other side of the screen to understand the power of your brain and to understand that now is the best time to understand how to take care of your brain and how to make sure that your brain is healthy. Because black and African-Americans overrepresent in the number of dementia and Alzheimer's cases. We overrepresentrepresented those places. And you and Terrain and Dr. Carr had a conversation. You all were talking about disparities in African-American health when you were talking about that report. Okay, so now let's go to, and I want to warn everybody, this is a bit of a trigger warning because I am going to be talking about something that is a little bit difficult, but about suicide. We have seen largely in the news, and I don't want to repeat the names of those individuals or the families of those individuals, but we've seen people well-known

who've had people that they know and love or people themselves who have died by suicide. We are 13.4 percent of the population as it relates to Black people, and that's including Hispanics that identify as Black. We represent 7.4 percent of suicide, 7.4 percent. That's over half of what we are as we relate to the population in this world, when we look at Black and African American women and men, Black men's suicide rates are four times that of Black women. We are losing our Black men to death by suicide. And then when we look at our babies, when we look at the youth, that the suicide rates are twice that of white youth. We have a problem. So looking at all the disparities, looking at how Terrain talked about this in the segment when you all were talking about the disparities in health,

that Black people don't go to the doctor. And I can relate myself as when I initially had to go to the doctor, that when I said initially that I said, I feel like I've had a couple of cocktails. And let me tell you what this white boy asked me. Have you? It was 11 o'clock in the morning. I had just been hit by an 18-wheel truck. That is what he had for me. Have you? That is medical racism. But let me tell you, I still persisted. There was no way in hell I was going to allow that to be the end of that, because turn right around. And as you said, Recy, when you talked about Black children who have better outcomes in the world when they are seen by Black doctors, that it was a Black woman doctor who said to me, no, ma'am, you have a traumatic

brain injury, and, and, and, and, and, and she was the one that got my treatment course started. All of that to say, please do not allow what I have experienced, what I'm sure people to your left or your right to experience to be your experience. There are things that you can do immediately right now to center and to begin to understand how is it that you can ensure that you are not represented in those disparities that I mentioned around dementia and Alzheimer's to make sure, okay, I do have difficulty sleeping and I'm not sure why. Do I have access to a primary care doctor? Okay. In the meantime, before I, if I don't have that access, what are some things that I can do within my own home, my environment to create space where I'm able to sleep a little bit better. Perhaps call maybe a friend who might be in the same position that I'm in income-wise. If not, I can reach out to my local person that is in office. I can reach out to the Medicaid, Medicare office to find out how can I be seen so I can have lab work done. And so the Reframe Brain podcast really sets itself in saying these are some of the things that you can do to center your own brain health and perhaps unseen injuries that you didn't know about that you were suffering from and perhaps find some remedies for. And I share that. And then there will be other guests that will be coming on that will be medical practitioners, wellness experts that will be able to contribute as well.

Well, I've listened to the first two episodes and I have to say I love it because it's really practical. You know, like for me, I'm not a person to be, I don't like a whole bunch of flowery language and inspirational quotes and, you know, woman empowerment type of stuff. Yeah, that's not really my judge. And what I like is that, you know, for a person like me, I'm a little bit more like I'm not organized. Let me just say more methodical. And so you really give practical like you can do this when you wake up or, you know, you give insight into, for instance, like plants and the benefits of that. So talk a little bit about just the importance of giving people practical, easy to follow steps as opposed to trying to appeal maybe more to their emotional side and try to be a motivational speaker as opposed to a guide and a champion the way that you are. I love what you said, Recy, and I'm glad that you led with that because feelings are not facts.

And, yes, we do have the ability to emote, and it is a beautiful thing. It is what makes us human, but feelings are not facts. And that's one thing that I am repeatedly running into and learning in my own brain injury and coming to a place where I'm not moving up and down out of my amygdala. And some of those practical things that you talked about, I will start with this. For instance, in the morning, a lot of times in the morning, we wake up and immediately we reach for our phone. Well, one of the things I talk about on the Reframe Brain podcast is that when you wake up in the morning, your brain is just coming into a place of conscience. Like,

I'm here. I'm awake. It's another day. I made it through this day. Use that opportunity to take one hand, put it on your heart, take another hand, put it on your belly, and you speak to yourself. You say to yourself, I'm very grateful that I'm here today. And one of the things that I do is I speak to every one of my organs. I tell my liver, I tell my kidneys, I tell my spleen. I'm not saying that it is an organ, but I tell my lungs, I say to my heart, I say to the arteries, I say to the capillaries, I say to enzymes to sell, I thank them, I give them gratitude. And what that does for me is it is getting me to a space where I'm understanding that I am operating in a space that is telling my brain to start showering those endorphins that make my brain come alive in a good way so that my perception of the way I see things is not as sharp as it would have been had I woke up, reached for my phone,

and immediately gone into social media. And a lot of times, the things that we see first on social media, particularly when you're a political voice, when you're a voice of commentary as you are, it's Dr. Gregg. People are looking for certain things from Dr. Gregg. They're looking for specific things from terrain. A lot of the times that things people are seeing are things that are going to get us upset or to get us activated or to get us anxious. So before we enter that space where we are going to be scrolling through all of the social media platforms. Speak to yourself. Create within yourself an environment of healing so that when you do engage, you're engaging with purpose, but you have already given yourself grace. You have already

commanded who you are. You have already established what your day is going to be like. And so don't allow the news, don't allow the television, don't allow your phone or any other device to command or give direction to your day. The other thing that I talk about is something as simple as breath work. Taking breaths is something that we do when we go and visit the doctor. They always tell us take a deep breath in, take a deep breath out, and we usually do that three times. Do that within yourself, and what you will notice is that there will be a sense of gravity that will go throughout your body and really feel you in the moment. Another thing that you can do that is also very simple, I talk about yoga poses,

and I'm going to have someone on that is a certified yogi instructor that will go through very simple poses. It's nothing that you have to enter a class to do. There's something, some very simple poses that you can do in your bed, and they don't take 20, 30 minutes, five. We're talking about two or three minutes for simple poses that actually do help your body. They help your spine. They help your posture. Another thing that I like to do is I like to keep my blinds open in the bedroom just a bit so that when I open up my eyes in the morning, guess what? The sun is kissing me. I mean, we got melody anyway. Why not go ahead and get a kiss? Hello. Okay. So why not have the sun tell you just how beautiful you are or go ahead and begin to

give you the vitamins that you need. So it's not, as you said, Reese, leading from a place that is saying, that's giving you all of these things that are going to keep you in feeling. It is the fact of the matter. There's research and science that backs up what gratitude does for the brain. There's research and science that is backed up in what diaphragmatic breathing does for the body. There is research and science because I keep a piece of fruit, a couple of pieces of fruit on my nightstand. When I wake up in the morning, I'm drinking water. That water is room temperature water. So my body doesn't have to do the work of a gladiator to start breaking it down. I am saying to my body without speaking, I love you. You are what carries me. You are my instrument. And I want to treat my instrument

well. And so I'm going to have that water. I'm going to have that piece of fruit in the morning before a device can have any of my attention. Erica has all of Erica's attention because I am a believer. I'm going to repeat scripture over my body. I'm going to pray. So that is my practice. And so for a person, whatever your faith is, whatever those repetitions or whatever chance you do, do those things, pronounce those things over yourself so that in 20, 30 minutes, an hour, however long it is before you introduce or you come into the world fully as Terrain, fully as Greg, fully as Reesey, fully as Roland, you have spent the most important part of your time,

which is the beginning of your day, with you. And nobody can mess with that. And that's how we reframe the brain. So, to be clear, I know I said it's not all flowery language but you are preaching a word okay so don't don't get viewers don't get me wrong erica be preaching okay but she just preaches and she's practical at the same time before i go to the panel though i just want to mention this one word this one concept that you talked about in your latest podcast which was so powerful and it was about forgiveness.

And it was about forgiving yourself because we are our own worst critics. We are in a pandemic, as you still point out. And a lot of us, myself included, we beat ourselves up because we didn't get through our to-do list or maybe we are on our phone too much or any number of things. And I love what you said about forgiveness. I can't say it as good as you. So please, before I go to the panel, tell the viewers what you said about the podcast about forgiveness. Sure. So I believe, and this is Erica Savage Wilson, this is not a gospel. I believe that forgiveness is one of the highest forms of healing. And just like how we came into the world as a process, healing forgiveness is a process as well. And so when I

talk about that part about forgiveness, even me and myself in my own recovery, I have to be able to forgive myself for any number of things throughout the day. So again, that hand over heart, or even if I just sit, and this is one of my favorite chairs, I sit in this chair, and one of the things that I've learned through my therapy is around dropping my head. I don't drop my head. But I say to myself out loud, Erica, I literally forgive you for that thing. And that thing is not a defining moment and it is

well. And the way we get well is what I have said is one beautiful breath at a time. So for me, that high form of forgiveness, that level of forgiveness then opens up the environment for me to be forgiving of. And I'll share this with you all very briefly. One of the things that I do when I do go to the market, because I'm very, very strategic about how I do things, is I use self-checkout. I very rarely now use a checkout where I have to engage with another human. And so I was in a self-checkout line. I was checking out, and I have a very methodical way that I do it. And I had checked out, and the light was kind of blinking for another person to come up. And this white guy, he kind of like came like right up behind me, and I was still putting my

things in my cloth bag. Now, at that moment, what I was thinking, because I had two bottles of ammonia, was that I was going to take the cloth bag with the ammonia and swing it around and hit him with it. And as my therapist had told me, you know, you have all the letters TBI, PTSD, throw them out there. But I caught myself and I said to myself, he doesn't know who he's messing with. He has no idea what a blessing it is for him to have been waiting behind me in line. I'm going to let this go. So I was like a duck. I let it shake off my day. And so that for me was extending forgiveness to a person who I don't know what he may have had on his mind. He may have been intentional about what he was doing. He may have been an insurrectionist. I mean, I don't know. But in that moment, I took time enough to say, let me allow that to fly off because I'm sure I'm

going to need that same type of forgiveness for something that maybe was perceived in a way that I did not mean for it to be that way. So that kind of an example, but forgiving yourself, doing that, making sure that that's something, even in your own practice before you go to bed at night, to say to yourself, and for this day, whatever it is that I'm trying to hold myself hostage to, I released myself. I will not be a prisoner of that thing. And I'm going to go to sleep and I'm going to sleep well and I'm going to dream well and move sleep and I'm going to sleep well and I'm going to dream well and move about until you go into the next day oh that is beautiful release y'all release y'all heard Erica okay we have just like just a couple of minutes left so Terrain I'm going to

give you a question if you have one or comment for Erica well all, Erica, this is my first time being familiar with your work, but I'm automatically a fan and I'm signing up for your podcast. So I don't have no fear of that. What I want to say is it sounds like, first of all, what you're saying is beautiful. And I think what you're saying sounds a lot like what's happening in this culture. This culture teaches you to burn yourself out. This culture teaches you to go nonstop, you know, get up, work out, get up, check your phone, run, do this, do that, do that, do that. And you have no time to really sit and center yourself and try to figure out how you can heal yourself and be mentally at peace with yourself. I'm an absolute victim of that. And I fully admit that I'm very bad at that.

And I'm trying to learn how to get over that. But what I want to say is what you sound like, you're saying is something that's very organic and it's very ancestral because up until we got into this industrialized society, this is the way that people lived their life. You know, you had a strong family foundation. You had an equilibrium with the earth. You had an equilibrium with the season. You had an equilibrium with the elements.

And I think in this society, we've gotten away from that, especially as black people, because, you know, we were brought here to work, not to really work on our mentality, not to work on our physical and definitely not our spiritual selves. So I think what you're saying is very, very important. It's very necessary. And I just want to thank you for putting this out there. Thank you. Oh, and I'm so glad you brought that up.

Thank you. Because that's another thing that I talk about on the Reframe Brain. And it's available on YouTube. I'm very thankful you'll like and subscribe there. Apple Podcasts, Google Play, it's Amazon Music. It's on all those podcast forms as well, so you get the visual and the audio effect. But the grounding piece, because that's another thing that I talk about on the Reframe Brain, walking with your shoes off, on in your house, socks on, shoes off. But even if you can go outside in your backyard, if you do have access to a green space and staying grounded with the earth, and if not, all of my plant babies that I have, I'm able to put my hands in the soil whenever I

feel myself being overwhelmed. And I'm able to put my hands in the soil to stay grounded with the earth. Or even if I'm not even to utter a word, just put my hands in the soil to say grounded with the earth, or even if I'm not even to utter a word, just put my hands in that soil. And I immediately feel the overwhelm coming down for me. So I'm very grateful, brother, that you brought that up around the ancestral practices that we ourselves have to be really intentional about. And it is only because of this brain injury that I have been able to be as intentional as I have been. So I am very much so out of the lane of grind culture and into more the appreciating life,

one beautiful breath at a time. So I really appreciate you, Terrain. Dr. Carr, close us out. Oh, no, listen, I'm just listening. Carr, close us out. Oh, no. Listen, I'm just listening. Look, when you said don't look down, I had to look back up because I'm taking notes. You know, I'll be writing notes down, but I can watch the recording. I know everybody is.

I'm just, I kind of echo what Terrain said. This is how we lived before. And you had me here putting my hand on my chest and my belly. And the notion of being kind to oneself. I saw a glimpse of that earlier, Erica, though, before the trauma when you said you was going to take that bag and tighten that white boy up. I know I missed Thursday night, sis. Don't we miss it recently? Yes, yes.

For you, for real. But I guess if I had a question, I think you've already answered it so many ways, but I'm just thinking about the you that we all know and love before what happened. And I'm thinking about us being in the studio and you and Reesey and Avis and, I mean, the energy, the camaraderie. And then after this, is there anything that other than what you said that you look back now and say, I'm grateful. I'm grateful that I sat down, that I don't carry anymore. Because when I think about us all together physically, there was this perpetual motion. But is there anything that you're saying now I'm being kind to myself in a way? And I left that. I left that. I dropped it. And I'm just grateful for that.

That is such a profound question. I'm so glad you asked me that, Greg, because there was a literal grieving of my old self because I died. And my therapy, neuropsychologist, therapist, psychiatrist helped me see that, that I literally died and there's this new person that has risen up. One of the things that I can say, and I think you all know, we're aware of this, my biological father in 2020 began to suffer with dementia, didn't really have any idea of going on. So 2020 was a big year with the election, the senatorial election in Georgia. And then I was going back and forth to Atlanta. And so he is in the care of my sister and has been there for the past two years. Bless my sister, Kim Jones.

And one of the things that I'm grateful for that I would say is that though I was raised by my father, my daddy, who was not my biological father, I'm very grateful that in that time that I was kind to my biological father in March 2021 would be in this place where I would need the kindness of strangers, where I would need people who had no idea who Erica Savage Wilson was to give me the kind of grace, the kind of love, the kind of kindness that I extended to the person who didn't essentially raise me, but he is the reason that I am here. And so I'm very grateful to God that I had forgiven that part of my life, that I had made peace with my biological father. So when that call came in the middle of a pandemic to say, hey, this is what it is, I got on a plane. And then me and my sister got together and we talked and we prayed

and we cried, but we made a commitment that we were going to give the grace and the love that the person who brought us into this world, so to speak, and any human being deserves, right? So that's why the things that you hear me echo in the reframe brain are lived things. So I would to answer your question, I would have to say I'm grateful for that. And I am grateful for everything that was before was a foundation for who I am now. And so the way that I'm able to talk about those people that try to come against me, that is because of the foundation of the Erica Savage Wilson that you all knew before. What is coming forward now, you know, it's something that is, I can't even begin to describe how wonderful and beautiful it is, but it is because of those experiences that I had before. Well, Erica, you are a gift and you are wonderful and you are beautiful and you are a blessing to us. The reborn you, the prior you, all of you, you have just blessed us so much. And it's been an honor to have you here again.

It's an honor to listen to your podcast again. It's the Reframe Brain. Tell people just one more time in case they missed it, how to keep in contact with you. Absolutely. So again, thank you. Thank you to my big brother, Roland. It was great to meet you, Terrain. Thank you always. I love you, G. I think you know that you are a living library, a genius, a luminary.

And to my good sister, y'all know I love Reese. Don't fuck with Reese. I'm coming for you. And I did drop that little word. Don't mess with her. That is my sister. Don't mess with Reese. That is my sister. Don't mess with Reezy. Leave it alone.

Okay. Don't do it. The Reframe Brain podcast, you can find it on YouTube. It's the first and third Monday of every month. So it'll drop the first and third Monday of every month. There's an intention of why it's on Monday. So we're kicking out Monday blues. But you can also find the Reframe Brain on wherever you get your podcast, Google Play, Apple Podcasts. And if you go to thereframebrain.com, you'll see everywhere it's available. And I have five best brain health tips. I also have a special playlist, and I have the newsletter that Recy talked about that has eight great ways to create an environment of healing.

So go to thereframedbrain.com, and you can get all of that info there. It takes about four or five seconds. Thank you, Erica. Thank you once again for joining us. Thank you. Before we go, here's a reminder for you HBCU juniors or seniors, time is running out for you to apply for that scholarship from Roland and McDonald's. If you attend an HBCU and Thurgood

Marshall College Fund member institution, you can submit your application for the chance to receive a $15,000 scholarship. The deadline is February 28th. Go to tmcf.org for details on how to apply. Now, in addition to the free money scholarship, recipients will also have the opportunity to engage with McDonald's executives working within their respective fields of study. Well, that does it for us here at Roland Martin Unfiltered. I want to thank my panel, Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeaver, Dr. Greg Carr, Terrain Walker, and all of our guests.

A big thank you for joining us here on Roland Martin Unfiltered Streaming on the Black Star Network. If you haven't done it yet, download the Black Star Network on all your devices. You can download it on iPhone TV, Apple TV, Android, Android TV, Roku, Fire TV, Xbox One, and Samsung Smart TV. If you would like to support us so we can continue bringing you the stories that matter to us, then donate on Cash App. It's dollar sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RM Unfiltered.

Venmo, RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland S. Martin, Unfiltered vimmo rm unfiltered zell roland s roland s martin unfiltered i am reesey colbert ray baker will be joining with you tomorrow have a great night i know a lot of cops they get asked all the time have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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