#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Roland in TX; #MarchForDemocracy begins; Biles out of Olympics; Infrastructure deal; CDC mask craze

Episode Date: July 29, 2021

7.28.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Roland in Texas; Day 1 of the #MarchForDemocracy; Track and Field Hall of Famer and Olympian Dr. John Carlos talks political protests at the Olympics; Simone Biles out of Olympics; Bipartisan Infrastructure deal reached; CDC mask confusion sparks madnessSupport #RolaandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. From Houston Tillerson University here in Austin, Texas, we'll talk about the first day of the March for Democracy from Georgetown to Austin. They were from Georgetown to Round Rock today. We'll hear from some of the marchers, including Beto O'Rourke, who marched the entire time. Also on today's show, we'll talk to Olympian John Carlos about protests in the Olympics and also get his thoughts on Simone Biles pulling out of the overall competition after pulling out of the team competition competition citing mental health a lot of conservatives especially white men have been attacking her calling her weak yeah we got a few

words uh to say about them and if y'all have not seen uh reesey colbert's video blasting pierce morgan you might want to take a look at that one also on today's show. The infrastructure bill. Apparently there's a deal on capital. Yeah, we'll see. Not sure. Also, the CDC reinstitutes a mask mandate. A lot of people are not happy. They're frustrated and upset.

We'll break that down. Plus, you will hear from a five-year-old girl who is a huge fan of Roland Martin Unfiltered. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the biz, he's on it.

Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the find. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's Roland. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it it's rolling, best believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for gigs He's rolling, yeah It's Uncle Roro, y'all

Yeah, yeah It's rolling, Martin, yeah Yeah, yeah Rolling with rolling, Martin, yeah. Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know. He's rolling, Martin. Martin. All right, folks. Welcome to Roller Martin Unfiltered.

We're here on the campus of Houston Tillerson University in Austin, Texas. Got to thank them for the hospitality. We were going to do the show from Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Round Rock, Texas. That's where today's March for Democracy ended up. They started at Christ Lutheran Church in Georgetown and they walked about eight miles to Good Hope, but we pretty much finished there at 1145. We of course were live streaming on Roland Martin unfiltered. Then I said, well you know what, let's do the show from Houston Tillerson. So well we put in a phone call and they certainly accommodated us and so we're here on the campus. And so in a moment, we're going to talk with the president of Houston Tillerson. But first, here is what we took

earlier today. Of course, today's march here in Georgetown. What they did was they had multiple shifts of people who were protesting, who were marching. There were some people who were marching today. There are others who are going to be on Thursday, others who are on Friday. So today was the first day. Folks, if y'all have that video, please roll that. You'll actually be able to see what took place. We were streaming that today on Roland Martin Unfiltered. We were streaming that, and so it was an opportunity for you to actually see what took place. There is Reverend Dr. William J. Barber at the kickoff of the march. Right now, I'm playing from my iPad. Go to my iPad, please. THE MARCH. WE ARE GOING TO BE WATCHING THE MARCH FROM THE STREETS. THERE IS RIVER NOCTOE WILLIAM J.

BARBER AT THE KICKOFF OF THE MARCH. RIGHT NOW I'M PLAYING FROM MY IPAD, GO TO MY IPAD, PLEASE. VIDEO OF US ACTUALLY MARCHING IN THE STREETS. POLICE ESCORT IN GEORGETOWN AND ROUND ROCK AS WELL.

AND SO AS I SAID, OUR CAMEREOPLE OUT THERE STREAMING ALL OF THIS. IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE FULL MARCH TODAY, JUST GO TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL. GO TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL TO ACTUALLY CHECK IT OUT. YOUTUBE.COM. THESE WERE THE FOLKS WHO WERE

OUT THERE. WE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO TALK TO SEVERAL OTHER PROTESTERS. We had an opportunity to talk to several other protesters, and one of them, Beto O'Rourke, of course, who ran for the United States Senate. He's a former congressman from El Paso, had an opportunity to chat with him with regards to today's protest and why the march matters. Why the march matters. And so I want to play that for you right now, that interview. Come back to me, folks, so I can set the interview up, please. Thank you. Switch back to me.

Thank you very much. Okay, so I got to set the interview up with Beto here. We were running and gunning here, and so I need to set it all up. And here's our discussion with Beto O'Rourke. Look, I'm out here literally following the lead of Bishop Barber, the Poor People's Campaign, the organizers who helped to put this together, marching from Georgetown to Austin, Texas, to make sure that we are fully in this fight for the right to vote. It's not going to be it's not going to be one on its own.

We're not going to have the president magically ride to the rescue. We've got to push him. We've got to push the folks in the Senate. And we've got to push our fellow Americans to get this done. That's how we got civil rights and voting rights passed in 64 and 65. That's how we're going to get the For the People Act passed today. They don't have the iPad. So hold on one second, folks.

Let's go ahead and get this straight. I'm going to reset this here. So we're supposed to have the federal work interview. Do y'all now have it? We have it. We found the lead of Bishop Barber, the Poor People's Campaign, the organizers who helped to put this together, marching from Georgetown to Austin, Texas.

Okay, all right, Ben. So I'm going to hold that, okay? So we have an issue in the control room with that. So let me go ahead and just hold tight with that for a second. I'll pull that up in a moment. I want to be bringing in my panel right now, then we'll get that straight. A. Scott Bolden, he's the former chair of National Bar Association

Political Action Committee. Robert Portillo, executive director of the Rainbow Coalition Peach Tree Street Project. Glad to have you both, gentlemen. First and foremost, Robert, you're going to be joined tomorrow by Reverend Justin Jackson Sr., who will be here in Austin. Other Rainbow Coalition folks who are already here, Reverend Jackson was in Arizona on Sunday for the protest outside the offices of Christian Cinema. And so just talk about, again, the need for the constant pressure being applied, being applied,

how valid that is to get the people in Washington to pay attention and to pass the People Act as well as the John Lewis Voting Act. On the board is Senator Rob DeSantis, who is going to pick me up continuing the marches this evening. As they work their way from Texas on to Washington, D.C., our National Field Director, Tavis Grant, has been doing great work on this front. And the reason it's important is because the national media seem to have the attention span of a squirrel sometimes. They get distracted by every single other thing, and they keep forgetting that the right to vote is dispositive of every other right.

You don't have an infrastructure bill if you do not have an empowered voting rights set. You do not have a January 6th commission without an empowered voting rights set. Indeed, you do not have a Democratic majority in the House and the Senate and the White House without an empowered voting rights act. So when we're seeing these assaults across the nation, 43 states which are introducing voter suppression bills, where you're looking at what happened in Texas, what has happened in Georgia, the only and final backstop is going to be the federal government. And we do not work and put everything that we have into passing this legislation.

Well, there's going to be a fait accompli when it comes to 2022 and 2024. Republicans have learned how to win on the margins, how to win without having a majority. They lost by 8 million votes last year. They lost by 3 million votes the year before. They haven't won the popular vote in 17 years. They represent 41 million fewer people in the United States Senate than Democrats do. They are not trying to have more people vote. It's not in their best and pecuniary interest. And as America becomes blacker and browner and they lose political power, they're going to do everything they can to hang on to power in whatever ways they can.

And this is why Reverend Jetson and so many others across the nation are imploring our Senate to make this a number one primary issue issue to ensure that if nothing else gets passed, this gets passed, because we will not be able to have any other parts of the agenda without this without these protections for the right to vote. So it's crucial for all of us to keep the heat on both the Democrats and the Republicans, because Democrats seem to get amnesia often when they get into office about who brought them there and ensure this legislation gets passed. Scott Bolden, your thoughts again on what we're seeing down here in Texas and the impact that it could have in D.C.? Well, I think Black people are leading on this. Black women who got arrested last week. I represent Court of Mastersbury. We see black people in Texas and the moral resurrection marchers.

But I think, Roland, my thoughts I share with your thoughts over the past weekend, when you talked about building a coalition of people who are outraged at voter suppression. I see a lot of Black people protesting, but where are my white Democratic and Republican friends, as you say? Where are my gay Democratic and Republican friends? Because this voter suppression affects our democracy that affects everyone, if you will. And so I think you're absolutely right. I think that a coalition

of folks other than Black people need to go out and get arrested. They need to take time and be marched, because clearly the Biden administration, while they're doing infrastructure and while they're doing their economic development plan and they're cutting deals, not enough with Joe Manchin or Sinema, but we need to make him do more with Manchin and Sinema, make him do more to get this Voting Rights Act piece. With the past, we keep letting them off the hook. And I think we're at a point now where we now,

we have to put it to them and demand that folks that don't look like the three of us get out here and protest, get out here and vote and tell us that it matters. Because when we win, America wins. And we shouldn't be the only ones leading the fight on voter suppression. I think that was very powerful this past weekend on what you said. And I've been repeating it over and over again since you went on national TV and started demanding more participation

from Democrats and Republicans who don't look like us. I want to bring in now Dr. Colette Pierce Burnett, who is the president and CEO of Houston Tillerson University. They are, of course, hosting us here on campus, and I certainly appreciate that. Glad to have you here. First and foremost, there's a lot of drama, obviously, happening in the state capitol. You have the folks who are leading this effort, who are protesting. Just talk about why that matters, the level of activation, the level of political organizing and mobilizing we're seeing. I'm excited about it because it sets the tone for my students. As the president of the Socialist Black College, we instill this kind of be a part of the movement. organizing mobilizing we're seeing for some reason we're not getting her so

hold on one second let's get this microphone fixed right, go ahead and talk. Hopefully we're getting you now. Are y'all getting her now? Yes. Thank you. Go ahead. As the president of the Sorghum Black College, we instill in our students that you need to be good citizens, understand your civil rights, understand who you are as an individual. So for this to be happening right now, that they see I'm going to put it in place, that's inspiring to me because they can come through place.

And I think that after this, the civil rights movement is going to be a love to see, and I will be shaking away. So it emphasizes what we teach here on campus. Speak about on campus how, I mean, obviously y'all have been impacted by COVID. And so are you bringing students back in the fall? Sure. And I would assume that when they come back, they might be engaged in what's happening on the state campus. They definitely will.

We actually have a cadre of students who have been engaged even though we've been virtual. Mr. Clements, who is one of my students we will be talking to later, my NAACP chapter, since I've been at the institution in 2017, we reactivated our NAACP student chapter. And they've had voting as their primary mantra from the very beginning. We voted together as a campus, walking to the polls together as a campus.

So they've been energized by that. Even while we were on break, they stayed, continued to stay engaged from a city perspective as a state government. Now obviously, I'm going to come back to the voting march issue with our panel here, but talk about how you have had to lead this university in this very difficult time. I've had other university presidents on. They say this has probably been the most, the biggest challenge they've ever faced in their university presidency. It's very true, probably in my professional life.

Three of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make have been in the last 18 months. The first one was closing residence halls and sending students home because of the pandemic, where we are their home in many cases, their home away from home, a safe space for many of our students. So that was hard.

The second one is postponing commencement because commencement is a rite of passage. We graduate families, not individuals. So to have to postpone that rite of passage is a very hard decision. I want to emphasize postponement because we are having our commencement celebrations with Nate Jimison as our speaker on August 7th for both the class of 2020 and the class of 2021.

So it's a dream no longer preferred for our students because walking across that stage is a right passage, particularly at APC. It's a graduation and a commencement. Absolutely. That's one of the reasons. I think I've done 18 commencements, 14 at HBCU, five honoraries, going through all the numbers. And it's interesting because for a number of them, the president, they stand up, they talk about how this is a solemn occasion. And I get them like, man, the hell it is. A family reunion. No, because it sort of drives me crazy when these folks, no, a graduation, I mean, look. It's a celebration.

Right. So they kill me with that, you know. Our pomp and circumstance. The pomp and circumstance. And I hate that graduation song. So I don't even know the name of that damn song, I can't stand it. So that's why when I do it, I make the band play something funky. They got a choir, make them sing. Don't give me that choral crap. Give me a gospel song. Then when I did Virginia

State, they didn't have the band or the choir, so I just pulled one of the grads out and I said, yo, who in your class can sing? Because I was like, y'all, I can't do the board graduation, can't do that. Our graduation is not boring. It is truly a celebration. We have 5,000 people on this campus doing our mission. So that was hard for me as the president to have to take that away from our students. How is your enrollment? We're doing okay so far.

We watch our enrollment. We track it very closely. And we're doing okay. We did have a minimal impact because of COVID, obviously, like most institutions of higher education. But we took a minimal impact. We worked really, really hard to keep our students engaged during that process. We provided everybody with a tablet. We sent hot spots for people. I learned very quickly that the internet is not a utility.

Everybody doesn't have it. We provided hot spots and did a massive fundraising campaign. We had no furloughs, no layoffs. My campus really pulled together. I'm very proud of that. It's been tough. Speaking of fundraising, in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a number of black organizations or HBCUs have seen a significant increase in giving. Have you experienced that in the wake of George Floyd's death? Not to the magnitude of my sister and brother institutions, but www.htu.edu can give. First of all, you went way too fast. If you're going to get that website asking for money, you've got to do that slow so that everybody gets that.

I'm going to go very slow. And I want to add that we're an investment, not a charity. When people give to the university, you're really investing in the future. We call our students the genius generation because they are geniuses and they deserve the best. So it's www.htu.edu to invest in business and there is a button there to click easily to get to the institution. We're very, very proud. We're Austin's oldest institution of higher learning, which I just love to say because we are older than... So older than that little campus up there. Exactly. See, being a Texas A&M graduate, we don't acknowledge that little university up there. So we were founded in 1875, 10 years after Juneteenth, and that just speaks to the campus's grit, resilience,

and beauty and the academic excellence that first appeared for us. And I'm very, very proud of that. All right. Well, sounds good. You got to go because you got to go have dinner with a donor. Exactly. So in the words of Frank Lucas, American Gangster, go and get that money. Go and get that money.

Go and get that money. And thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you, sir. All right, then. All right, folks.

Again, we're here on the campus of the Houston Tillerson University in Austin, Texas. That was President Dr. Colette Pierce Burnett, President and CEO of Houston Tillerson. Do we have our video figured out? Because I want to go to our Beto O'Rourke interview. So let me go ahead and get that ready. And so again, earlier today, we were participating in the March for Democracy, live streaming that whole deal, and we talked with Beto, as well as a bunch of other folks out there.

Here is that conversation. Look, I'm out here literally following the lead of Bishop Barber, the Poor People's Campaign, the organizers who helped to put this together, marching from Georgetown to Austin, Texas, to make sure that we are fully in this fight for the right to vote. It's not going to be one on its own. We're not going to have the president magically ride to the rescue. We've got to push him. We've got to push the folks in the Senate and we got to push our fellow Americans to get this done. That's how we got civil rights and

voting rights passed in 64 and 65. That's how we're going to get the For the People Act passed today. So that's what this march is all about. 50 years ago since you've had, you know, any really big change in voting rights. What do you say? Like, I mean, there's a lot of Americans out there that think that this fight is kind of localized. Well, I'll tell you, I was just talking with Eugene about this. The day you win that victory on August 6th, 1965, is the day that the fight really begins, because ever since then, you know, people have been trying to withdraw the right to vote and to restrict who can vote and whether your vote is even counted at all. And it's come to a point

where we're really about to lose our democracy. That's why we're out here. And we're not, we're doing this for ourselves, each and every single one of us, for our families, for the generations who follow, for the grandkids who will look back on us and say, when all of this was under attack, what did you do? And everyone here is going to be able to say, you know what? I marched, I fought for it, and ultimately we won. So that's what we're doing. That's what it's going to take. And that's why this fight is so important. And what's next from here? We're going to keep marching over these next couple of days. And then it's so important that anyone who's interested in being part of this fight

join us in Austin, Texas, this Saturday at 10 a.m. in front of the state capitol. That's where we're going to rally in large numbers and make sure that we're heard in the nation's capitol. Thank you. All right, folks, that was Beto O'Rourke, of course, a former U.S. Senate candidate, former congressman from El Paso. There was a brother who was with a group called Pure Justice out of Houston, and we had an opportunity to catch up with him as well during the March. That may come a day when they take our rights and run over us but today's not their day. Today they got a rude awakening. We're marching through the streets of Georgetown and Round Rock and huddle and everywhere else to lift our voice and let me know that we ain't letting nobody turn us around.

All right. All right. First name, last name? Greg Norwood. And your title and justice? Member. Okay. All right.

Maystown? Yes, sir. What high school? High school? From Houston? Yeah. No, I'm not from Houston. I'm from Milwaukee.

Oh, there you go. Yeah. Oh, really? Ask that question. High school. Oh, right, right, right, right. No, no, no. First of all, you got the right color. You got the jacket. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. That's right. I know. I know it's coming. I'm from there. I'm from there. That's right. I'm mad. I ain't mad though. I ain't mad. When did they march? 2017. We got to take the closest gap a little bit.

2017, yeah. When did you come out? That was one of the marches there, and so we had a really good time talking with people, chatting with them, getting their thoughts and perspectives on voting. Now, remember, tomorrow is going to be day two. We're going to pick up there in Round Rock. We're going to come all the way to North Austin. We'll have day three on Friday. We'll be live streaming all those days. And, of course, we'll be live streaming on Saturday as well, the rally at the Texas State Capitol.

The hashtag is March for Democracy. You can follow us there. Of course, you can also follow us via hashtag RolandMartinUnfiltered. We've got to go to commercial break. We come back. More news of the day. Infrastructure bill on Capitol Hill. We'll talk with Olympian John Carlos about athletes in protest. Also get his thoughts on Simone Biles pulling out of another competition in the Olympics, citing mental health.

And what's up with all the criticism against her for making a decision that impacts her well-being? All of that next. Roland Martin Unfiltered broadcasting live from Houston Tillotson University here in Austin, Texas. The American Pronunciation Guide Presents ''How to Pronounce Economic Justice'' The same folk that blocked you from having living wages are the same folk that wouldn't fix your utilities problems. In this time when our voting rights are under attack and economic justice is being denied. We're launching a season of nonviolent moral direct action to demand four things by August the 6th, the 56th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act. Number one, end the filibuster.

Number two, pass all provisions of the For the People Act. Fully restore the 1965 Voting Rights Act. And number four, raise the federal minimum wage to $15. Pass the For the People Act. That is the last best hope for voting rights, not just in Texas, but Georgia, Florida, and about a dozen other states. Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill and the For the People Act. Let our people vote.

The Latinx community is the rising electorate in Texas, and our representatives are threatened by these shifting demographics. Our pathway to citizenship, to a living wage, depend on our access to the ballot. This is not just a black issue. That's right. This is a moral, constitutional, and economic democracy issue.

Poverty is reinforced by public policy. And what happens in Texas, as well as in America, we create policies that perpetuate poverty, and then we criminalize the poverty that we create. There's only so much we can take and it's time for us to stand up and speak loudly against what's happening here. I think in Texas that it is time for a Selma-like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we ought to one from Georgetown to Austin. And we ought to come to Austin, but we ain't coming to Austin just for Austin. We come to Austin to save the Washington,

D.C. Which side are you on? And don't tell us you can't do all of this. You must do all of this for the soul and the heart of this democracy. Forward together! Forward together! Forward together! Hello, I'm Nina Turner. My grandmother used to say, all you need in life are three bones. The wishbone to keep you dreaming, the jawbone

to help you speak truth to power, and the backbone to keep you standing through it all. I'm running for Congress because you deserve a leader who will stand up fearlessly on your behalf. Together, we will deliver Medicare for all. Good jobs that pay a living wage and bold justice reform. I'm Nina Turner, and I approve this message.

I believe that people our age have lost the ability to focus the discipline on the art of organizing. The challenges, there's so many of them and they're complex and we need to be moving to address them but I'm able to say watch out Tiffany, I know this road. That is so freakin dope! Hey, I'm Amber Stevens-West. Yo, what up, y'all? This is Jay Ellis, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. So we are on the campus of the University of Michigan. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus.

We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus.

We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus. We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus.

We're going to be doing a little bit of a tour of the campus of Houston Tillerson University. This is of course is an aerial shot of the campus and we're located here in Austin, Texas. Glad to be here. And so you'll see for a second exactly where we are set up. We're set up right in front of the University Bell Tower. And so glad to be here to do the show from here and do Roland Martin unfiltered and give folks a sense of Houston Tillerson. A little bit later, we're going to be talking to one of the students here with the NAACP chapter at Houston-Tillotson. All right, folks, let's talk about what's happening on Capitol Hill,

where supposedly there is an infrastructure agreement, a bipartisan agreement. This is what has been a huge priority for President Joe Biden. He has been working with Republicans and Democrats in the past to get this agreement. But you already have Arizona Senator Kristen Sinema who says she doesn't support the bill. So the question is, is it actually going to happen? Robert Patel, I want to start with you. So much attention being put on here. The White House has made this a priority, an infrastructure bill.

But you've got Republicans who aren't trying to play any ball whatsoever with Democrats. Well, you know, it's the oddest thing because I feel like every single week during the Trump administration was infrastructure week. We've been talking about doing a large, massive nationwide infrastructure bill. For four years. For four years, yes. And even during the Obama administration, we talked about infrastructure. Let's understand, the last time we really invested in infrastructure was the Eisenhower administration and the creation of the National Highway System. Eisenhower, during World War II, saw the Autobahn in Germany and realized we needed something

like that in America because in the wars going forward, we need the ability to transport military hardware across the nation at an expeditious rate. And also we need emergency airfields and those sorts of things. And that's the impetus behind the national highway system. But let's understand, if you take a flight from LaGuardia or JFK and you land in Abu Dhabi or Dubai, you realize how far behind we are when it comes to infrastructure. If you look at our roads and bridges and the collapses that take place, if we look at the seaside condo collapse down in Miami and realize how old much of the

infrastructure in this country is, it is a national security risk, it is a health risk, it is damaging to the environment. If you're in Texas right now in the West, we have wildfires across much of the nation, 115, 120 degree temperatures on a regular basis, but Republicans have refused to address climate change. It also is about the economy of the future, investing in things like electric cars, charging stations nationwide, the ability to have jobs in the future that aren't dependent on the fossil fuel industry and building pipelines. So Republicans support all of these things.

The only thing they don't support is Joe Biden getting credit for doing it. So when it comes down to it, they've already bifurcated the bill where they'll have the hard infrastructure bill, which is the one being negotiated now, then also the soft infrastructure bill or the human infrastructure bill, which they can pass through reconciliation. That's the $3.5 trillion bill versus the $1 trillion package. But the issue right now is getting the entirety of the Democratic caucus on board so they can pass the human infrastructure bill through reconciliation. So you have to have Sinema, you have to have Manchin. Why is Joe Manchin not necessarily on board with the bill?

Because they invest heavily in green energy, and he is from the number one coal state in the country. So we have to break through the coal lobby in order to get something like this done. So it's no longer just a question of will Republicans be recalcitrant when it comes to investing in the future. Now it's a question of how much power do coal lobbyists and fossil fuel lobbyists have over some of even the Democratic senators when it comes to making the progress needed to turn America into a first world nation.

Because look, I've been to Tokyo, I've been to Abu Dhabi, I've been to Dubai, I've been to Taiwan. We are no longer the leader of the world. We are way behind. We're so far behind, I think most people don't even understand how far behind we are when it comes to infrastructure. We're going to need an investment like this. And maybe we'll just pencil it into the Constitution that every 50 or 60 years, we make a massive investment in infrastructure to keep us ahead or even even the rest of the world let's go back to a live look at the floor of the United States Senate where they are voting to a closure bill which will of course end debate if you will to allow the bill to go forward earlier today a Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made it clear that this bill has been his priority all month. I believe that we intend to do two things in July.

One, a bipartisan infrastructure bill, and two, a budget resolution reconciliation construction. We are on track to do both. Tonight, I'm intending to call a vote to move to proceed to the bipartisan infrastructure bill. I believe we have the votes for that and we will then proceed to do amendments and go forward on that bill. We are also in very good shape to move forward on the budget resolution with reference to the infrastructure. So both tracks are moving forward in very good way.

Thank you. All right, Scott Bolden. So, again, I'm going to move on to this. Okay, fine. If you're able to get this bill, if you're able to get this infrastructure bill, Scott Bolden, then it's going to put pressure on these Democrats to move on the voting bills. Scott there? Sorry.

Scott, on me, dude. Seriously? Seriously? seriously wait say what now on the dog on thing unmute well okay anyway on the infrastructure bill they they they're banking on republicans which is why they've had these joint meetings with republicans and so i don't think it's going to be a very close vote even even if they bifurcate the vote. They're going to have enough Republicans, hopefully, to be able to pass the infrastructure bill because there's enough in there for each of these states, for the senators and the representatives to be able to go back home and tout. They may not want Biden to get the credit, but Republicans and Democrats want credit for bringing infrastructure

needs to their home jurisdiction. I mean, Robert, I can't tell whether you're for or against the infrastructure bill, because you're right. We certainly do need it. At the same time, though, this is something we can get our arms around. We just haven't done it yet as Republicans and Democrats. And so I don't know what pressure that lends itself to the Voting Rights Act, because Republicans don't see that Voting Rights Act as an issue that they can take credit for at home on the infrastructure bill. It's a much different piece.

And it's right consistent with what Robert said about them not wanting Biden to get any credit for the Voting Rights Act. But I've changed a little bit. This outside pressure, these arrests, these protests, you know, we've got to make Biden do what he promised to do because we're his leading constituent. And so I do think these worldwide protests or these countrywide protests and these arrests, but again, somebody's got to be in Biden's ear saying now is the time to do something about this, to bring this vote to a head. So I like the infrastructure bill. It's got some good stuff in it for urban America and rural America. And I also think that it may put pressure, but we'll have to see how much pressure it puts on the Dems to do something about the Voting Rights Act. Because without the Republicans, we've got a steep hill to climb.

Obviously, but the pressure, the pressure, the pressure. I was talking with Reducing MD Barber today, and he said again. Mark, Mark, Mark, what do you do with the pressure? This is an inside game. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's not. No, no, it's not. No, it's not. There's no such thing as it's only an inside game. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's not. No, no, it's not. No, it's not. There's no such thing as is only an inside game.

It's an inside outside game. Either you got the purpose of the external pressure. No, no, no, Scott. No, Scott. Scott. Scott. Scott. No, listen, Scott.

Stop talking and I'll tell you. Well, I was just trying to get my words in because you talked over me. On Sunday, on Sunday, you saw Virginia Senator Mark Warner come out and say that he now supports a narrow use of ending the filibuster. That's what he said on Sunday. Okay? That pressure's been working. It's not just Manchin and Sinema. You also have Coons. You also have Feinstein. And so the reason you have to ratchet it up

called, he has called members to the white house on infrastructure, but he has not done that on voting. This is where you have to force him to say, you've got to be far more aggressive. He has to specifically call Feinstein, Coons, cinema, mansion, and look them in the eye and say,

I need these two voting bills done. I need the filibuster ended specifically on this. That's why the pressure. You have to be a nuisance keep in mind dr king understood lbj saying one thing and doing another thing are two separate things here the same thing when it came to kennedy they knew they had to put the pressure and so that's why we have been saying robert that that you're going to have to have folks chaining themselves to the White House fence. You're going to have to have the constant pressure.

You cannot have black civil rights organizations solely being at the table on the inside, because if Biden feels that he gets no pressure externally, he's not going to move on the inside. Robert? Well, that's absolutely correct. And let's understand that we've seen this again and again as African Americans, when it comes down to issues for black folks, all of a sudden it's like, oh, dang, we just ran out of time. We'll get to you next time. We can't afford to do that again. We turned out in record numbers. We got out there, we elected Warnock and Ossoff. We turned Georgia into a blue state. We competed nationwide. Nobody did that to hear, well,

maybe we can get to it next time. I think you run the risk not only of allowing these Republican voter suppression bills of standing nationwide if you don't get the voting rights, but also all those hotels, all those Tariq machines of the world out there who say you don't need to be voting. Voting doesn't matter. What are you black people getting from voting for the Democrats? What are the tangibles you get? Well, now they will have an absolute argument to say, see, I told you so. If you're not able to get voting rights done in this term, they're going to end up alienating many of those young voters who turned out for the first time in record numbers if you're not able to get their agenda items done, because they will simply say the system

is so broken and so corrupt. It doesn't matter what we do. They're going to do what they do anyway. They're only going to go for the money and the corporate interest. They're going to go for the infrastructure bill because that lines everybody's pockets, but they're not going to do anything on voting. So this is a generational battle. You risk losing these voters for a generation. And that's how that MAGA movement ends up winning for decades to come because those people are intense. Those people that stormed the Capitol, you don't have to worry about whether or not they're going to show up and show out and be intense. Our base, you do have to worry about that. So we're not able to deliver for them. You were alienating and losing that generation of young voters and African-Americans and Latino voters who turned out for this exact reason. Yeah, but you know, Robert, one of the things

that really... And hold on, Scott, hold on, hold, one of the things that really – statewide policy and so it goes beyond just dc goes beyond just the election and so that's also how they're expanding the view on this go ahead yeah here's the link though with the infrastructure bill that is perhaps biden and others are leveraging in negotiations on the infrastructure bill for that voting rights bill that's going to come up next I'm going to put pressure on that maybe he's leveraged some of that in this bill you don't think they're leveraging any of that that deal making a contingent parts of the bill contingent on support for the Voting Rights Act why not no they're not because they're not but why not why isn't that a good because they're not well I didn't say it was a good political strategy, though?

Well, I didn't say it wasn't a good political strategy. You asked, are they doing it? I'm telling you, no, they're not. Yeah. Well, they should be, because there's a ton of money in that $1 trillion budget, and money and goods and the beef in all of these jurisdictions is what makes people get reelected. I don't care whether Republican or Democrat. And that's why what President Biden should be saying, unless you vote for the 40 People Act and the John Lewis Act, ain't sending the money. Yeah.

Yeah. See, that's how you do it. But that's not what's going on. I want to talk now to a student leader here at Houston-Tillotson University about what's going on here. And this really is important because we've been talking about students and the impact of these students. First of all, how you doing? What's your name? Good. My name is Jeffrey Clements. So, Jeffrey, how's it going? I'm doing all right. It's hot out here. Wow, it's not hot? Man, please. This is spring day. So, one of the points that I've been making is that if you do not see action on the For the People Act and the John Lewis Act,

it is going to cause a lot of young folks to say, why in the hell should I turn out in 2022 when you didn't do a damn thing with what the Democrat majority gave you in 2020? Your thoughts? Yeah, you know, I talk to young people every day. I'm a young person, obviously, and everyone's frustrated. We're tired of seeing the back and forth in Congress. We actually want to see them take action.

There's already tons of young people who are disenfranchised and disillusioned with the system and don't want to get involved in the first place. They came out in unprecedented numbers last year, and they came out for a reason. They came out to see action from our senators, from the Senate, and from the president. So we didn't do that just on a whim. And so when you look at the pressure that's being applied, when you look at the protests that are taking place, when you look at the daily, actually every week in D.C., do you think that a younger generation is going to embrace that and be willing to engage?

Because as Reverend Barber said, the issue is not just D.C. The bills that are being passed in these states, beyond the voter suppression bill, will impact the same group. Absolutely. Yeah, you know, Texas is ground zero, in my opinion, for this voting rights battle that we have. We have millions of people here and we have millions of young people who, again, turned out to vote. And they want to make sure that they

actually have that opportunity continue to have that opportunity so they can voice their opinions because the right to vote obviously trickles down beyond just you know voting for a particular candidate to do something but it actually affects schools like mine Houston-Tillotson if you can't get representatives in office we're actually going to fund your institutions who are going to support your institutions then you are going to support your institutions, then you don't have your institution. You lose your community because of it. What would you say to a Senator, Kristen Sinema, a Senator Joe Manchin, or other Democrats who are holding out, or even President Biden when it comes to being unwilling to get rid of the

filibuster to pass these voting bills? What would you tell them? I would tell them that we're going to vote them out if they don't get it together. You know, we do have these midterms coming up next year. They have a razor-thin margin in both the Senate and the House, and if they're not willing to take action, then there are going to be a lot of people, young people who don't show up, and there's going to be a lot of young people who don't want to vote for them or don't vote at all. One of the things that I was talking to Bill O'Rourke today and he said that President

Joe Biden, he needs to specifically come to Texas to speak on the issue of voting rights. So Vice President Kamala Harris, she went and spoke at Howard University. Have y'all issued an invitation to President Biden saying you should come to Houston-Tillotson and speak on the issue of voting rights? We would love to see President Biden here. And we're actually having an HBCU conference here in October, at the end of October. We would love for the vice presidents to come and see what's going on here in Texas. No, no, no, no, no.

You need to invite the president. No, no, no, no. I'm serious. You need to make him show up. Yeah, I mean, this is ground zero. They're talking about having a field hearing in Georgia. They need to have a field hearing in Texas. That was last Monday in Georgia.

Alright, well, they need to have one in Texas now. They need to come here from people in Texas about how these laws are affecting them, how their representatives are not representing them, and why it's so important to pass it for the people like right now. I'll say, y'all drop that letter and send it and say he needs to come to this campus.

Don't go to University of Texas. Don't go somewhere else. Tell him to come here. Yeah, please come here. You know, the Orange County School gets all the press anyways. So this is a beautiful campus. Great location to talk about this kind of thing. And, of course, I don't give a damn about other schools.

So that's how it works. All right, then. I appreciate it. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Rose. All right, thanks a bunch. All right, you take care. All right, folks. We are, are again here at Houston Tillerson. We're waiting to see this

vote take place, this vote on the campus of, excuse me, in the United States Senate, this closer vote that they are discussing when it comes to the infrastructure bill. We're following that. In a moment, we're going to sit here and the COVID-19 infrastructure bill. We're following that in a moment. We're going to we're going to sit here and talk a bit about COVID the CDC mask that make mask mandate will also talk with the was to talk with

John Carlos about athletes in protest. Can't wait to hear what he got to say about George Foreman and his comments on Fox News the other day, as well as Simone Biles pulling out of the, not only the team championship, but the all-around in gymnastics, citing mental health.

We've got all of that coming up, so hold tight one second. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered back in a moment. Trying to pass these bills across the country here in Texas to suppress, to stop, to undermine the vote. The same folk that blocked you from having living wages are the same folk that wouldn't fix your utilities problem. Same folk! In this time, when our voting rights are under attack, and economic justice is being denied. We're launching a season of non-violent moral direct action

to demand four things by August 6th, the 56th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act. Number one. End the filibuster. Number two. Right. Yes. Pass all provisions of the For the People Act.

Fully restore the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Yes. And number four, raise the federal minimum wage to $15. Pass the For the People Act. That is the last best hope for voting rights, not just in Texas, but Georgia, Florida, and about a dozen other states. Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill

and the For the People Act. Let our people vote. The Latinx community is the rising electorate in Texas, and our representatives are threatened by these shifting demographics. Our pathway to citizenship, to a living wage, depend on our access to the ballot. This is not just a black issue.

That's right. This is a moral, constitutional, and economic democracy issue. That's right. This is a moral, constitutional, and economic democracy issue. Poverty is reinforced by public policy. And what happens in Texas, as well as in America, we create policies that perpetuate poverty, and then we criminalize the poverty that we create. There's only so much we can take,

and it's time for us to stand up and speak loudly against what's happening here. I think in Texas that it is time for a Selma-like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we ought to run from Georgetown to Austin. And we ought to come to Austin, but we ain't coming to Austin just for Austin. We come to Austin to save the Washington, D.C.

Which side are you on? And don't tell us you can't do all of this. You must do all of this for the soul and the heart of this democracy. Forward together! Forward together! Forward together! together. Racial injustice is a scourge on this nation, and the black community has felt it for generations. We have an obligation

to do something about it, whether it's canceling student debt, increasing the minimum wage or investing in black owned businesses. The black community deserves so much better. I'm Nina Turner, and I'm running for Congress

to do something about it. George Floyd's death hopefully put another nail in the coffin of racism. You talk about awakening America, it led to a historic summer of protest. I hope our younger generation don't ever forget that nonviolence is soul force, right? Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up, I'm Lance Gross,

and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered here on the campus of Houston Tillerson University. We are in the middle of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. And one of the things that the IOC did, they made it clear they did not want to see athletes protesting at the games. But, of course, you saw Gwen Berry, who protested during the national anthem at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Boy, a lot of people were not happy about that, largely white conservatives. And we know, of course, there's been a history of protests with the Olympics, and none greater than 1968, when Tommy Smith and John Carlos in Mexico City, when they took their shoes off and raised their black fist with the gloves.

Boy, that angered people all across the country and the world. Joining us right now is John Carlos, one of those two. John, glad to have you on Roller Martin Unfiltered. It's good to be with you, Roland. It's good to be with you. First of all, I just got to get your thoughts on how the IOC and all these people are so sensitive, not wanting there to be any protests, not wanting there to be – not wanting there to be – folk could do any kind of action.

I mean, it's like they're so scared, but so they want athletes, frankly, just to shut up and play ball. That's absolutely what they're trying to express. You have to take into account that this has been going on for some time now, say 50 some odd years. And I think that what it is, they're afraid that they will lose control. They have control over the black athletes for many years. And not only black athletes, there's other individuals that came from other countries as well that had concerns, humanitarian concerns that they tried and block. My question to them would always be, did you block the Nazis in 36? Did you block the Nazis when they put the SWAT stickers all over the

stadium? Or did you block when two young black men, with the help of a young white man from Australia, come in and make a statement for humanity in 68, and then they're penalized? So we need to get some clarification, and the International Olympic Committee choose not to even answer any of the questions. They ask them what type of punishments

will prevail upon these young individuals. They ask them what type of punishments will be prevailed upon these young individuals. They never would respond to that. So they're trying to use scare tactics all over again to intimidate and suppress these individuals. Well, absolutely. And of course, they want to threaten them, if you will, and to impact them. And I got to ask you this here. I'm trying to find the video because just the other day I caught George Foreman on Sean Hannity's show. And, you know, George Foreman, of course, won the gold medal in boxing, has never uh has never been one to really uh talk about the issue of protest and so let me let me go ahead and play this because he said some absolutely crazy comments

he he said that there's no place for politics in sports which is the dumbest thing in the world because there's always been politics in sports always i mean hell you had a former judge john landis who was hired by major league baseball to be their commissioner and so here is what george foreman had to say and i just want to get your thoughts on this he's straight you're high-fiving with strangers now you bring politics into it and i don't see any good coming out of it. George Foreman, do you? No good has ever come out of it. I remember John Carlos and Tommy Smith. I don't know how dedicated they were, but they put on a demonstration that's still talked about.

It was so great that the world saw it, and went down to germany and killed those kids representing israel that's what a demonstration will get you it shouldn't be in sports should take it out let us let us go over there and have a good time and stay out of politics because it's a dangerous thing you know and the thing is in the end if keep, you know, plummeting the way that. So I'm confused here. So, John, you and Tommy are the reason that the Israeli athletes were shot and killed. Well, that's his philosophy. You know, I never had a chance to discuss any of this with George. were shot and killed? Well, that's his philosophy. That's his philosophy.

You know, I never had a chance to discuss any of this with George. You know, so I don't want to make too much comments on what he said other than to say that, you know, he's talking about what we did was brought politics into the games. I think he brought politics into the game when he raised the flag, when he waved the flag and ran around the ring. I think that was apolitical. My statement didn't bring any harm. It was a nonviolent statement. And for him to say that we don't have the right or we shouldn't have the right to make a statement

relative to humanity, George is out of sync. And I wish George would, you know, talk to me before he just go and make blatant statements. See, the thing that bugs me the most about this, John, is when I hear these folks make these comments, when I listen to these white conservatives, when I listen to people like George Foreman make these comments, they are completely and wholly ignorant of the reality of politics playing a role. I'm sorry, did we not skip the 1980 Olympic Games in the Soviet Union? Absolutely.

Did we protest the 80 Games? Absolutely. Have we not had calls before? I mean, haven't we had other examples of nations infusing politics into the games? So this idea, and not only that, in professional sports, you've got these mainly conservative owners who invite politicians, governors and presidents, members of Congress to sit in their suites for the games. Is that not politics? Well, politics only applies when they say black people apply politics to whatever the equation is. See, they don't see themselves doing this. These are good, Christian, honest Americans that's making these statements.

It's only the blacks and those that are supposed to be downtrodden, those individuals when they get up and make a statement about humanity or make a statement about racism, make a statement about poverty, then they're out of line. And they're talking politics. They're bringing politics into the games. The games are politics in itself for the simple reason that if you sat back and said, well, why don't we have one Olympic flag to represent all the nations? And if you want to put your logo from your country on your sweatsuit, you can have a little logo there. But why don't we have every national flag planned throughout the state? And that's politics in itself.

All of the way the individuals receive the games is politically orientated. So for them to say that we brought politics to the games or we brought that tragedy that took place in Munich to the games is absurd. And I say once again, I would like Mr. Foreman to get down and sit down and have some discussion with me before he just go and make blanket statements to make it look like he's not awake in this life that we have. Well, see, Tommy, I think what you're also also dealing with here you're dealing with to your point about uh black athletes also i just think that they can't stand when an athlete chooses to use their voice and platform to speak to issues that's what angers them they don't mind it when the officials do it no it's a it's a double standard amongst the athletes as well. I can give you one in particular. In 1968, when the three individuals made the statement on the victory

stand, it was another young lady from Czechoslovakia that made a political statement on the victory stand because she was disenchanted with Russia invading her country, which I don't blame her for making that statement, but they chose not to penalize her for what we did. You know, when you sit back and think about individuals that was in Munich in 72 that was on the stand twirling their medals, felt like they didn't owe allegiance to anyone because it didn't help them get there where they were. Then they had a white individual, which is another good friend of mine that was on the victory stand.

He was out of protocol. He had his hat on. He was spinning around like a top when he was playing the national anthem. There was no criticism whatsoever towards him. So there is a distinct double standard. And this double standard goes so far as the rings that host the Olympic Games. You sit back and think about a double standard relative to now when you sit back and say just about every nation has hosted games, but the nation of Africa. Why is that the centerpiece of the Olympic rings and they've never hosted games? That seems like it's biased and prejudiced.

They said at one time, well, they're not capable of doing it. They can't handle some of that task. But yet and still, they handled the World Cup soccer, which is the next thing to the games. When South Africa applied to host the games, they were rejected right away and kicked up under the table. So we have very much prejudice, bias, and segregation going on within the Olympic movement. John, I do want an opportunity. Let's talk about your John Carlos collection with Actively Black. Here is, if they go to my iPad, please, this is a photo on their Actively Black page.

So talk about this clothing line that you've launched in partnership with Actively Black. Well, first of all, let me just say I was honored to be able to work with a black company, you know, to see it in its inception, to take part and to help it to grow, to grow with it, to have Black people have confidence that they can rely on their own textiles. They can rely on representing themselves. That's why I pushed it. As well as my 53rd anniversary of Mexico City, I felt it was appropriate that I would come and do a spinoff for my demonstration and come out with a black clothesline relative to my history in the Olympic Games. John, before I let you go, I do want to get your thoughts on Simone Biles, her decision to stop performing, citing mental health.

You've got a lot of folks upset, especially a lot of these white conservative men angry, calling her a traitor. The Texas Deputy Attorney General blasted her, and she's a Texan, but clearly these people don't understand that what she said was, if you're going up in the air, if your mind is not into it, you could literally kill yourself with the kind of acrobatic moves that she makes. Absolutely right. Break your neck. But you have to realize that she's not just a Texan, she's a black Texan. So, you know, that gives no credibility to her at all. This is the things that we're fighting for now, fighting against right now. But yet still relative to the complexity of her activities, the general public don't know. All they know is that here's

a young girl, regardless of her health or mental health or any other health that she might have, that doesn't even stand a chance to be reconciled in their minds and say, well, the young lady had a mental issue or the young lady had a physical issue. It doesn't matter just the mere fact that she's a Black individual that didn't meet their dreams and their expectations. America sometimes reminds me of the mom and dad at the Pop Warner Little League baseball game, you know, where they're just so excited. They want to be on the sidelines fighting referees and fighting everybody, opposed to letting their kids get out there and play. They want to run. And this is not 1968.

This is 2021. It's a new day, and they're going to have to realize that what they're doing in the International Olympic Committee and those conservatives out there, they're tearing the Olympics apart because pretty soon they're going to have to start getting their kids out to train in the rain, send their kids to shovel snow so they can get out there to train to represent America, because Black people are getting to the point where they're tired of going there, like going to the war. We go to the war, and when we come home from the war, it's worse for Black people as it was before they went to the war. When you go to the Olympic Games,

you see this is the largest nation in the world, Fortune 500. I've seen smaller countries, the athletes go to the Olympic Games, they come back, they get them a house, they get them a job, they get them something. Many, many, many athletes down the line, we have a track record that has gone to the Games, represented this country violently, vehemently. And then at the same time, they come on, man, they don't even have a job. We go to Europe and represent America for three months out of the year during the summer. We get back, they think that somebody held up our bills and said, oh, cancel them bills because

they represent America. No, when you get home, those bills will stand you in the face. There's no help for you. And then when you cry about it or when you raise hell about it, then they want to tell you, you're running the pity game. You're running the black game. Ain't no pity game, ain't no black game. It's reality. It's a double standard that needs to stop. And every black man, every black woman, every child should raise their voice about it and let them know enough is enough, and

it's time to step up. Stop being so meek and so mild. Step up in their face and let them know that I'm not going to put up with this shit no more. All right, John Carlos. Folks, you can get his collection at activelyblack.com. That's

A-C-T-I-V-E-L-Y black.com. John, thank you very much. Thank you, Roland. Have a great day. God bless. Yes, sir. Thank you very much. All right, folks, I want to now bring up Robin May. She's a licensed clinical psychologist. And Robin, glad to have you on the show. I'm going to bring in Robert and Scott as well on this conversation because, you know, we saw Naomi Osaka make it clear that she wasn't going to be doing interviews talking about her her mental uh situation now you have Simone Biles this huge stage I mean the greatest uh gymnast of all time step away and and the thing that that

that I thought was amazing for the people who have been criticizing her not realizing that she said if I did not step away I could have actually cost the other girls the other young women a chance at a medal so her decision was indeed courageous because had she stayed in it and failed then they could have not won the silver or the bronze and went home with no medal absolutely talk about well about that talk about about that, what it required for her, the level of strength for her to say, in the biggest moment with sponsors and everybody watching, I got to step away.

Roland, can I tell you, first of all, thank you so much for having me, but can I tell you that this has sparked such an amazing opportunity for me as I am raising three daughters, two of them who are gymnasts. who is almost double her age. What she taught us is the importance of closing your ears to outside noise and prioritizing your soul care. See, we talk a good game about the importance of mental health. We talk a good game about self-care. There's a difference between self-care and soul care. That's a whole nother conversation. But we talk a good game about it. But when the rubber hits the road, many of us, and I'm going to be the first to admit, I have even sacrificed things because I wanted to appease others. This young woman literally just taught the world what it means to put blinders on.

Many of us know that when a horse is in a race, the jockey puts blinders on the horse so the horse isn't distracted by everything going on around it. When I tell you Simone just taught us how to put blinders on and to pay attention to whether or not what I am doing, whether or not this is still serving me in the capacity that it was before. She was so courageous that she was willing to sacrifice her opportunity to make sure her teammates did well. I actually saw someone say, I couldn't believe it. I could not believe, I should not be shocked, but I saw a commentator say that she was a sociopath. I couldn't believe it simply because she prioritized herself. As a former gymnast myself, I hate to tell everybody, I was going to stay humble but i'm gonna go ahead and say i am the state floor champion at 12 years old in texas so as a

former gymnast myself who never rose to that level she literally made the decision to save her life she made a decision to save her life and what we are seeing go ahead and and and the thing here, there was a tweet that was sent out where one person said, y'all don't understand, this woman has performed on the world stage with broken toes.

She has fought through significant injuries. And when Simone Biles said that she was not placing other people in front of her, which she did before. She said she could have easily said, oh, I'm going to remain strong. But we also got to remember, she's 24.

We're not, I mean, we literally are not talking, we're not talking about somebody who's 30 or 35 and 40. She's 24. She's 24, and she's even competed rolling with kidney stones like at this point her legacy has already been set well before she got on the plane to go to the olympics her legacy was well set and so she has to stand assured in that but i will say this i want to make sure i say this point, because this is a conversation I'm having with my daughters after they saw what happened with Simone. We have taught a principle, and this often shows up in my work with clients. We've

taught a principle of don't quit, don't quit, no matter what, don't quit. And I love the idea of the principle, but it cannot be taught in isolation because at some point you have to step back and say, does the risk outweigh the reward? There is no gold medal that is worth her life or even worth her being paralyzed for the rest of her life. And so while we teach the concept of don't quit, I think we need to expand that to make sure we're asking the right questions. Does the risk still outweigh the reward? Is this causing me to compromise my values? If we take it into our world, most of us, if we're working at a job, there comes a point where we have to step back and say, is this job still serving me? And if it isn't, we have to make the right decision. So yes, we want to teach our children to go strong, not to give up, but we also want to teach them how to ask the right questions as they make their own life decisions.

Robert Botillo, I want to show something. This was a tweet that was sent out by Eric Erickson. He is a conservative radio talk show host there out of – don't go to the iPad yet, folks. I'm trying to find the tweet, so come back to me. This is the thing he said, Robert, and I'm paraphrasing here. He said that based upon what he heard and learned, he said. I'm paraphrasing. He said that clearly Simone Biles made the best decision for her teammates, and that's what's most important.

In fact, he just sent out another tweet that I thought was interesting. He said, I've never heard Simone Biles say or do anything disrespectful to America or her people. I've never seen her take a knee. She's always been grateful for her victories. I will not throw her under the bus for making what had to be a very tough decision. It is. I'm sorry. That's that's my apology.

That's Bo Smirtley, Bo Smirtley, who used to work on Rush Limbaugh's radio show. Eric Erickson retweeted that. It is amazing, Robert, to listen to these arrogant yes bitch ass in his men white men like clay Travis like Buck Sexton like Charlie Kirk and like Piers Morgan condemned this woman because she did not bring them satisfaction for winning a gold medal for America. Not just Simone Biles. Let's look at what happened to Kyrie Irving last season where he took time off for mental health issues. There were commentators in the media saying he quit on the Nets and he should be released.

He used to retire from the league, shouldn't be allowed to play anymore. We've seen this happen throughout. We have to get rid of this separation between mental health and health. Mental health and health are the same damn thing. I want folks to understand that this is part of the reason that we have so many issues in the black community

when it comes to mental health, because we, for some reason, think a sprained ankle is different than having a mental health crisis. They are both injuries. They both have to be are both injuries. They both have to be taken care of. They both need to be treated by professionals. There's no distinction between the two. So when someone says they are having a mental health issue, they are having a health issue. We've seen this consistently in sports. You can look at Ben Simmons in the NBA

finals. There came a point when my hawks were beating them down that he got afraid to shoot. He was six foot 10 under the basket and wouldn't even do a layup because he was having mental health issues and was destroyed in the media. We saw Chuck Knobloch when he played for the Yankees, just completely forgot how to throw to first base, had to change positions. Rick Ankeo was a pitcher for St. Louis. He had to play center field because he couldn't throw it across the plate anymore. It's been consistent that this is part of sports. This is part of any athlete's professional career. And so when you break it down and take away that line between mental health and health,

you realize that she did what was best for herself and for her teammates and, frankly, for America by doing this. Because the selfish thing to do would be to go out there knowing that you're not 100%, knowing that you are not in a position to help your team and still doing it out of vanity, still doing it out of narcissism, still doing it because you want to secure your legacy even further beyond being the greatest of all time. You want to take it to the Tom Brady level of putting it out of reach for anyone to ever touch it again. That is the wrong thing to do and what we need to teach people to not be doing. So these people who can't even touch their toes or do a back flip or get out of a chair if I'm rocking three times who want to criticize her for being a quitter somehow, I think they have to reevaluate the way that they see mental health versus health issues.

And let's look at the way athletes have treated this in the past because we did come from generations that told us, well, suck it up, fight through it. This is why so many athletes in past generations ended up being alcoholics, drug addicts. We criticized Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry and so many other players for succumbing to drugs and alcohol. But guess what? Many of them were treating mental health issues the only way that they could because they didn't want to be seen as a quitter on their team. So we have to change the conversation around this, put our arms around people, support them, and help them get through these issues. And look, if a fat person tells me anything about sports, I don't want to hear it. So Buck Sexton or whoever these other people are, until I see them on a balance beam, I want to hear what they have to say about Simone Biles. Scott, it's amazing to look at the arrogance of people.

And again, we're not the ones who are tumbling in the air, flipping. We're not the ones who could be paralyzed if you make a misstep. It's her. Yeah, and the people who are criticizing her, I think Robert is right, but the people that are criticizing her want her to perform as if she's got to perform and required to perform because she's representing the USA in the Olympics. Let me tell you something. Have you really watched what this young woman does in the air? I mean, she describes this as getting the twisties. That means essentially losing your sense of balance or where you are as you're twisting

and flipping better than anyone else, higher than anyone else. I mean, she's doing things in the air that the Olympics can't even rate her on. And so when she gets the twisties, you're right. She could seriously injure herself if she falls on her face or her back and what have you. And so it's just nonsense for those who criticize her. They're just being selfish. But, you know, they're confusing mental toughness, right?

Because part of being a superstar, we talk about mental toughness and physical toughness and physical attributes. At the same time, though, there's a fine line with it's okay not to be okay, which is what Michael Phelps said about this. It's okay not to be okay, right? And she'selps said about this. It's okay not to be okay, right? And she's courageous and she wants her team to do well. But listen, I don't care what profession you're in, right? Whether it's media broadcasting, whether it's making an oral argument in court, there's some days when you can't go. It doesn't have to be a professional athlete,

right? If I get the twisties and I got an oral argument to make and I can't go, if I got a partner who can do better and doesn't have the twisties, then he's got to go because the client is the most important thing and we have to put our best performer out there. I remember Johnny Cochran said the hardest thing for him to do in the OJ Simpson trial was not to cross examine Furman. He spent his whole life fighting police brutality and racism. And yet he knew what was best for the client was that F. Lee Bailey would do that cross versus him because he knew he wasn't right and he wasn't mentally in the right mental state to do it because it would

have been overwhelming for him, given his passion for civil rights. And so I applaud her actually. And this debate in the media is just the debate. Her health is most important. She's probably bigger, better, brighter, and stronger because of it. So God bless her. Robin May, final comment, please.

You know, I really think the bottom line is if we really think about what's really happening, Simone basically exposed the reality of how many people are frustrated because they would not have had the courage to do what she did. I think that's the bottom line. When you find yourself having this intense of a reaction

from something that went on with someone else, it really exposes what you were unwilling to do in your own sphere of influence. And so the bottom line is when it comes specifically to mental health, because that's my lane, when it comes specifically to that, I think she is a poster child of what it looks like to be well. You can't just talk it. You have to walk it. All right, Robin May, we really appreciate it. Thank you so very much for joining us. Thank you.

Alright, folks, got to go to break. When we come back, we're going to talk about the CDC reinstituting a mask mandate. Boy, why are these conservatives losing their minds? That's next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasted from the gorgeous campus of Houston-Tillotson College,

Houston-Tillotson University here in Austin, Texas. And so we'll be back in a moment, folks. Same force that trying to pass these bills across the country, here in Texas, to suppress, to stop, to undermine the vote. The same folks that block you from having living wages are the same folks that wouldn't fix your utilities problem. That's right! In this time when our voting rights are under attack and economic justice is being denied, We're launching a season of non-violent moral direct action

to demand four things by August the 6th, the 56th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act. Number one, end the filibuster. Number two, pass all provisions of the Foroting Rights Act. Number one, end the filibuster. Number two, pass all provisions of the For the People Act. Fully restore the 1965 Voting Rights Act. And number four, raise the federal minimum wage to $15. Pass the For the People Act. That is the last best hope for voting rights, not just in Texas, but Georgia, Florida, and about a dozen other states.

Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill and the For the People Act. Let our people vote. The Latinx community is the rising electorate in Texas, and our representatives are threatened by these shifting demographics. Our pathway to citizenship, to a living wage that depend on our access to the ballot.

This is not just a black issue. That's right. This is a moral, constitutional, and economic democracy issue. Poverty is reinforced by public policy. And what happens in Texas, as well as in America, we create policies that perpetuate poverty, and then we criminalize the poverty that we create.

There's only so much we can take, and it's time for us to stand up and speak loudly against what's happening here. I think in Texas that it is time for a Selma-like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we ought to run from Georgetown to Austin. And we ought to come to Austin, but we ain't coming to Austin just for Austin. We come to Austin to save the Washington, D.C.

Which side are you on? And don't tell us you can't do all of this. You must do all of this for the soul and the heart of this democracy. Forward together! Forward together! Forward together! And I wasn't just about hurting black folk. Right. We gotta deal with it. It's injustice. It's wrong. I do feel like in this generation we've got to do more around being intentional and resolving conflict. You and I have always agreed.

Yeah. But we agree on the big piece. Yeah. Our conflict is not about destruction. Conflict's gonna happen. Hello, I'm Bishop T.D. James. Hi, how's it going?

It's your favorite show. I'm going to go get my baby. From the campus of Houston Tillerson University in Austin, Texas. And so we're glad to be here. Seeing, of course, the folks here. They've been hosting us. and we certainly appreciate it. It's always great to be on an HBCU campus, and we thank them for joining us here. We have the president, of course, and one of the students as well. You heard us talk to the president who said, you know, they've been impacted by COVID-19 here on the Houston-Tillotson on the campus. They're going to have students returning to the university in a couple of weeks.

And now we're back with a new CDC mask mandate, which really should have been the old one. But folks were so hardcore about trying to get back to business as normal, even though we've been around trying to tell y'all there was no such thing as business as normal. This Delta variant has really changed a lot of things, and it has people now saying, if you're going to be even indoors and you're vaccinated, to wear a mask. Joining us right now, we've had him on the show before, Dr. Georges Benjamin. He's been on the show before. Glad to have him back. He, of course, works in the healthcare industry. We had him on a lot last year. He's executive director of the American Public

Health Association. Glad to have him here. Doc, the thing that is a trip to me is there's no flip side to death. And I keep saying that you have these people who are so adamant, these people who would say, oh, you know, I'm not trying to get sick. Now you have people who are begging for a vaccine because they're in the hospital. I saw a story the other day, a 24-year-old guy needs a double lung transplant, and his mom is now telling everybody, please don't do like my son did, make fun of this vaccine, and then desperately need it. But the CDC, some are saying that the CDC is giving conflicting information. I saw an interview where Dr. Anthony Fauci said no. He said the problem is the Delta variant is what changed, not the CDC.

Your assessment of this new mask mandate, what's going on? Yeah. Let me just tell your listeners, Roland, by the way, it's good to see you again. This vaccine is important. And this new Delta variant is no joke. It is highly infectious, more infectious than the original virus. And that's why they're saying, look, we need to take a step back. We need to wear that mask, which you know is protective. But at the end of the day, this pandemic is now in the communities of people that are unvaccinated. And that's the fundamental problem. At this point, it's get vaccinated or get COVID. And COVID, as you can see, it's very serious. And it's now impacting

not only the folks that are unvaccinated, but unvaccinated young people are getting this disease. So it's very serious. And the CDC, I think, did the right thing by pointing out the fact that not only does it infect people who are unvaccinated, but even infects a small number of people who are vaccinated who could then spread it to others. And so the work they're trying to do is trying to get ahead of the curve here and just protect us all. well and i think that and we've seen these numbers explode in arkansas and mississippi alabama louisiana uh and and we're seeing i mean i saw i posted one or retreated when this one doctor i think was in arkansas who said uh every icu in the state and in four neighboring states are completely filled no no question about it. Look, 22% of the new cases are in Florida alone. And about 40% of the new cases for those five states you

just mentioned, Florida, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Nevada. So we know these are also states which have very low vaccination rates. And in fact, you know, half of the counties in our country still have vaccination rates less than 40 percent. So we have a lot of work to do because this is a very dangerous strain of this virus. Yeah, but I thought everybody was hailing Governor Ron DeSantis for being showing leadership when it came to dealing with COVID. Not me. As you know, I've been I've been highly critical of many of the things that have happened in Florida at the leadership level, not necessarily at the health department level. Although I know they've been struggling to try to to try to deal with the challenges of really policies that don't make no sense. How do you have such a big outbreak and say that even private

businesses can't require people to wear a mask or can't require people to be vaccinated? That makes absolutely no common sense. And I don't know how some of these communities have lost common sense. It's just beyond me. And I, you know, as a physician, I only care about their health. I don't want to get into the politics of it. But at the end of the day, this has become a very political and politicized disease. And that has to end or people are going to die. Questions. Scott Bolden, you first for dr george benjamin yeah hey doc scott bolden here the delta variant we weren't as impressed with it let's say one to three months ago we knew it was in europe and and asia and other parts and stuff if i now have to wear a mask and I've been vaccinated,

will there come a time where I will need a booster shot for my vaccination, to join my original vaccination if this Delta variant begins to spread more? Yes, Scott, thank you. Yeah, you know, we've watched this, unfortunately, this virus grow. And we had anticipated that people would get more people get vaccinated and that it would, that would bring it to a screeching halt, but that did not happen.

And so now we're having to deal with this particular variant, which is highly infectious. And the answer is, it's possible that we may need a booster shot, but I got to tell you, it may not be for this Delta variant, Because one of the things I am more concerned about is the fact that as this virus spreads from person to person, we may develop a homegrown variant of an American variant of this virus, which will escape, totally escape the vaccine. And then we'll all have to be revaccinated. And so it's possible we'll all have to be revaccinated.

And so it's possible we'll need boosters down the line because there is some talk about that. We're not there yet, but I'm more worried about the virus that's gonna follow Delta because people aren't paying attention to it. Well, how does that happen, if I may, Roland? How does that happen? And how does this variant attack our bodies

different than the original one, the original pathogen? So let's just understand that every time you get infected by a virus, it makes copies of itself. And it doesn't make one or two copies of itself. It makes millions of copies of itself. Wow. And sometimes when it makes copies, it makes mistakes.

And sometimes those mistakes make it more virulent, meaning it makes it more dangerous, and sometimes it makes it less virulent. In this case, it made a virus that is more transmissible. And the way I like to think about it is it sticks to your body tissues more readily. And in doing so, that means it can go into your body easier. And when that happens, it can reproduce much more quickly, make more copies of itself. And the more copies it makes of itself, and the more it sticks to your body, the more likely it is to infect other people

when you come in contact with them. So think of it as being contagious. Even though you're vaccinated, you can, with this new virus, this new strain, a small subset of people, it attaches to their body so tightly that it reproduces itself. It still doesn't make those people real sick

if you're vaccinated, but it does still allow those people to contaminate others. And if you're totally unvaccinated, you get, you know, you can clearly make other people really sick as well as yourself. Thank you.

Rob Portillo. My question is about vaccine hesitancy, particularly as it relates to the African-American community. I feel like we, as communicators, we could have done a better job of explaining the vaccine and what to expect to the to the community at large to try to quell some of these concerns. People have the concern saying, well, it was developed so fast. No, it wasn't. We've

been working on coronaviruses for the last 20 years in developing a vaccine or explaining exactly how an mRNA vaccine works compared to other sorts of vaccines. What do you think the community can do better to communicate the nature of the vaccine and its effectiveness to individuals who are still hesitant to ameliorate some of these concerns and raise vaccination levels? Yeah, Robert, we need to do exactly what you did. Before Doc answers, hold on, Doc, before you answer that, I'll preface this before he answers that. The federal government needs to make sure that the ad agency that is sending all this money out is spending it with black-owned media.

Here's the problem. They just sent all this money out to all these different people, largely ignoring black-owned media, where we could have been able to do a lot more specials, could have been on the ground. Doc, I can tell you, my folks, we submitted a plan for us to actually do micro-targeting, going to specific cities, specific neighborhoods, broadcasting our show, bringing the experts there, could not get them funded, yet we saw the ad agency spend millions of dollars. And the phrase that was used was uh spray and pray that just throw it all over the place and pray it works yeah and i'm sitting there going what's going on and so and i'm telling so that's part of the deal and black groups were grossly underfunded when it

came to covet and then it's like oh can you please come and save our ass and that's always being a problem go ahead doc you know i'm glad you said that look i've been i've been doing public health and then it's like, oh, can you please come and save our ass? And that's always been a problem. Go ahead, Doc. No, I'm glad you said that. Look, I've been doing public health since 1990. I was a health commissioner in Washington, D.C. And you know how we got to the black community? Obviously, even in D.C., which is, you know,

predominantly African-American city at that time, we went to radio. We got people banging on doors. We went into communities. We put ads into African-American newspapers. We went and talked to people in the hood. And this is not rocket science. This is not something that is a new revelation. So everything you said about the importance of not only using the right messages and the right messengers in terms of people, but you also have to have the right messengers that are the communications vehicles that people listen to. Because I can tell you, I don't listen to many of the same radio stations or watch the same TV stations or even be on the same social media networks that many other

communities that don't look like me are on. So you're absolutely right about that. And we should have done this earlier. We should have had a much more targeted conversation about communication. The whole issue about the fact that this is a vaccine that has been put together and researched very quickly because of this new virus. But we actually know that, as you said, for over 19 years, we've been researching coronavirus vaccines and using mRNA vaccines in our studies for Ebola and the flu and other diseases and you know not a comprehensive communications plan and we've all been critical of that hmm well bottom line is this here is look I will show you the priorities

where they spend the money and I'm telling you that's been part of the problem and so now they're trying to play catch-up. And, Doc, the thing that's frustrating, my team gave a detailed plan, and we said we want to target southern states where our people are, especially in rural areas. And, again, they chose to spend this money. And this is what happens when when you got black targeted media they want to spend the money on bet and complex because all they reach african-americans online guess what it's a whole bunch of black people and this is a digital show who are not sitting here on these social media websites they're not doing that you got to be able to touch them you gotta be able to

talk to them uh and that's the whole deal and so hopefully and so we want our people, folks, we want y'all safe. We want y'all living. We want y'all, you know, to really be a part of this. And it's just don't, please, Doc, I want you to close us out. Just give people a direct plea

so they understand what's going on? I want everybody to get vaccinated because if you get vaccinated, you won't get COVID. You won't get COVID. You won't get sick and die from COVID. That's the important thing.

Get vaccinated or don't get serious COVID. And then wear a mask, particularly if you're in a hot zone, because if you do that, it will help, but you still need to get vaccinated. And we now also recommend that everyone working in a school K to 12 now is vaccinated while you're indoors

because we think that's very important to protect our kids. By the way, our young kids are not yet eligible to be vaccinated and that's why they want everybody to protect our kids. By the way, our young kids are not yet eligible to be vaccinated, and that's why they want everybody to wear a mask. All right. Dr. Benjamin, we certainly appreciate it.

Thank you so very much. Well, anytime you need me, just call me. All right. Will do. Will do. Folks, that's actually it for us. It is being quite a busy time here in Texas, Robert and Scott. We're going to keep pressing the issue, not worrying about these frauds out here who are running their mouths and the people who don't care, all they need is clickbait, all the little nonsense.

And so we're going to keep doing what we do. Appreciate both of you being with us. Folks, we want you all to support us, what we do here at Roller Martin Unfiltered. Joining our Bring the Funk fan club, every dollar you give goes to support this show. Support us via Cash App, dollar sign RMUnfiltered, Venmo.com forward slash RMUnfiltered, PayPal.me forward slash RMartinUnfiltered. Then, of course, Zell is rolling at RollerMartin.com. All right, folks, thanks a bunch.

Y'all have a great one we'll see you tomorrow morning 8 a.m. Eastern we're broadcasting day two of the March for democracy here in this is an iHeart podcast