#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Roland Roars! Why The Bank of Black Justice Is Empty—And Who’s to Blame

Episode Date: February 16, 2025

The older generation put in the work—pole watching, organizing, marching—but too many today are making withdrawals from the Bank of Black Justice without ever making a deposit. Are we too comfortable to fight for our future?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast.

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

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early.

Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. There are a lot of people who, frankly, look, they don't consume information like we do. They don't talk to folks.

They're not following this stuff. It's a lot of people like that. It's a lot of people who were like that growing up in Clinton Park in that community in Houston. It's a lot of those people. It's a lot of those people. It's a lot of those people. And I say this all the time, okay? And this is the thing that, because it goes to what Chris Tola was talking about.

It goes to what Greg is talking about. What I need black folks watching to understand, and I need the black folks who are watching to, I need you to share this and spread this to folk who are from the age of 12 all the way up to the age of 40. I'm being specific for a reason. Let me say it again. I need everybody to, you got to spread this from 12 up to the age of 40. Here's why, Noah.

And we don't want to think about this. This is February. My dad is 78 in April. My mom is 78 in November. Amen. My wife turns 60 today. My mom is 78 in November. Amen. My wife turns 60 today. Happy birthday.

I'm 56. Happy birthday. So here's what I need people to understand. My parents' generation, they are tired. They are retiring. What a lot of us who are in our 50s and 40s and 30s and 20s don't understand is that that generation

put in the work. They were the poll watchers. They were the poll watchers. They were the precinct judges. They were the NAACP chapter presidents. They were the ones who showed up with picket signs. They were the ones who worked phone banks. They were the ones who put signs up in yards. They were the ones who started neighborhood clubs, civic clubs. They were the ones who went down

to the city council meeting and the county commissioners meeting, who went to the state legislature, who would come to nation's capital calling on the elected representatives to do what was right. They were the ones who went to the committee meetings.

They were the ones who were doing the work. These are the people who we don't know, who were not in the meetings. They were the ones who were doing the work. These are the people who we don't know, who were not in the newspaper, who were not on television, who were not on radio, who was doing that groundwork. They were the ones who were going door to door in neighborhoods. They were the ones who were raising money for sickle cell anemia when there was a national telethon in the 70s and the 80s, they were the ones who were putting in all the work. They were the ones who were holding up the black community

in the wake of the death of Dr. King in the 70s and the 80s and the 90s and the 2000s. And what we are seeing is the generation after them and the generation after them. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max

Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley, But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st

and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th, ad free at lava for good. Plus on Apple podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the war on drugs. But sir, we are back in a big way,

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

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

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

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

We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org Brought to you by AARP

And the Ad Council After them Are not doing their part To hold up the black community Because you know what A lot of us are 26 and 28 And 32 and 40 And 45 and we're saying today, I'm

fucking tired. I'm tired. But you're not tired of going to brunch on Sunday. Uh oh, come on now. You're not tired of taking multiple vacations a year. You're not tired

of taking from the Bank of Black Justice and constantly making withdrawals from people who are constantly making deposits. And now we sit in 2025 and you sit your simple Simon asses going, I don't know what's going on. I'm frustrated. I don't get it. Because all you've done is take and take and take and take. You've made no deposits. You've made no investments. And now you are wondering why the bank account is so low of the black justice fund.

Because your ass didn't make no deposits. And deposits are not made with your money. Deposits are made with your time and with your talent and with your presence because it's real easy to be present but you need to have some presence.

Ooh, okay. I got to follow that. Alright, so this, to my mind, it is this is about values. Right. You know, I was the guest speaker this week with today. It's today, Thursday. My goodness, this felt like a month. I was the guest speaker at AFGA AFG's civil rights luncheon the other day. And I told this story about how my mother and father met at LSU on the satellite campus in New Orleans. And one of the things that drew my mama to my daddy was the fact that he had this Black Panther mystique, like he would wear all black. You know, he had come back from Vietnam and he just had this swag. Right. And so I grew up in a very civil rights SNCC student movement environment. Right. I went I grew up in an all black city. I went to private school, but it was a black private school

and it was off the hook. You know, like our teachers were no joke, you know, pro black history was all day, every day. So in terms of, you know, I agree with you about, I'm going to use the word apathy again, in terms of what we're seeing from generations that get younger and younger, but also you got to wonder what was happening in the homes too. It makes me remember this conversation with Obama about this post-racial America. And I remember being one of those people on the other side saying there is no such thing. And as I still sit here, still, you know, having the kind of prophetic eye to be able to see beyond the veneer, at that time, people didn't want to hear that. So we are having the people that, yes, all they want to think about is going to brunch with the

grass on the walls. I wish we lived in a country where all we could think about is going to brunch with the grass on walls. I wish we lived in a country where all we could think about is going to brunch with the grass on walls, but that is not the reality of the country in which we live in. So, you know, when I engage with young people, you know, even when I ask my own students, you know, how are you feeling? How are you doing with everything that's going on? We're right in the middle of things. We're in D.C. They don't want to think about it. They don't want to engage in the messy politics. They just kind of want to do their work. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up,

so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. With guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms,

even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th.

Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives.

This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill.

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

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves.

A wrap-up way, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Put their head down and hope that things will work out, right? And I think that's that's kind of like the overall feeling with a certain age group is to put your head down and think and hope that things will work out. Because to your point, Roland, they have always worked out since they've been on the planet

because of the people that came before them, the sweat equity that came before them, the people that were put in jail before them, the people like my father, you know, he had to fight for years to get an honorable discharge from the Air Force because he got into it with a very, very racist commanding officer in the Air Force. And so it's these very real things. You know, my grandfather having to escape rural Louisiana because him and his twin was about to get hanged. People aren't coming from those narratives any longer and they just want to go to brunch with the grass on the walls. And I'm not going to sit here in front and be like, I don't like doing the same thing. You know what I'm saying?

Like, I wish we lived in the country where that's all we could focus on. I just want people to be engaged and understand what's at stake. And because I do spend a lot of time with young folks, that exhaustion, you know, they're thinking about all the things that they had to go through with school shootings and all these things. And the last thing that I want to do is play oppression, you know, Olympics about the things that I had to go through as a 40 something or the things that parents and grandparents had to go through for them, they live in a country where they shouldn't have to go through those things. And that's the lens they are thinking. I should not have to experience any of those things because the people that came before me told me that I was living in a post racial America.

My parents told me when they put me in a white private school that I was living in a post racial America. And all I had to do was focus on getting into Harvard or getting into Howard so I can go to brunch with the grass on the wall. So I want to say quick two quick things. I am really worried about this. Trump over America moment that we are living in. It is really disheartening to me as, you know, someone I'm not just a political scientist, you know, just because that's what my degree says. I really am a student of history and politics. And when I think about those brave Republicans regarding Richard Nixon, you know what I figured out today, Roland and Greg, as the historian here, they weren't brave. You know what it was? The evidence was irrefutable. That has been the problems from day one with Trump.

The things in which the multiple crimes that he's committed, it's been too challenging and too difficult to explain to the public. What Nixon did, a lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up. So now I only buy one. The demand curve in action, and that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives.

But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

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

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

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

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

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

We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pregame to greater things.

Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. That man was on tape! It's that. There has not been a situation yet where the case has been brought to the American public. That was irrefutable. That's one thing. And the last thing that I will say to Reese's point about misinformation and disinformation. I firmly believe that conspiracy theories is the philosophy for the lazy. It is so easy. It is so seductive to believe in conspiracy theories is true because it's too hard to know

the truth. And that's all I have to say. Support the work that we do. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. You heard what we just talked about there. Folks, I can't reiterate this enough. Listen to me clearly. I cannot reiterate this enough. When you've got technology companies running scared, when you've got legacy media not doing their job, when you've got black owned media that has disintegrated, now is more than ever for us to have independent media that cares about the truth, that is willing to say what needs to be said.

So when you support Roland Martin Unfiltered, this show, when you support the Black Star Network,, this show, when you support the Blackstar Network, you're not just supporting me, you're supporting the other shows. Our goal is to add two more shows this year. We want additional shows. We want more weekly and daily shows because we want to be able to speak truth to power. We want to be able to say what is necessary where other people are scared. And when you are scared, when you're looking over your shoulder, oh my God, that advertising contract is not going to come in. Well, guess what? A lot of these major ad agencies, they're not even supporting us

anyway. In six years of doing this show, Group M hasn't done a damn thing with us. Publicist hasn't done anything with us. You've got Horizon. You've got all of these folks. They haven't done a damn thing with us. Publicist hasn't done anything with us. You've got Horizon. You've got all of these folks. They haven't done jack. And so we are calling it like we see it. And we're speaking truth. And unlike some of these other so-called progressives and people who believe in truth, I'm not running around trying to kiss MAGA ass and kiss Trump's ass. I won't be going to Mar-a-Lago, not for a damn thing.

And so this is about us being able to speak truth. So when you support this show and this network with your resources, it is exactly what is happening because we are trying to build something that is bigger and broader. And actually, it has the courage to say what needs to be said, even when it makes other folk uncomfortable. If you want to contribute giving cash app, use the Stripe QR code. This is it right here. And if you are listening, simply go to BlackstarNetwork.com to check it out. Also, if you want to see your checking money order, some of y'all old school, we understand that.

Senior checking money order to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 2003-7-0196. PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And again, folks, we've got some 4 million social media followers. If only 20,000 of our fans contribute at least 50 bucks each,

which comes out to $4.19 a month, 13 cents a day, that's a million dollars. It allows us to be able to continue to build, to add these shows and do the work that's required. So your support is needed.

So please join our Bring the Funk fan club today. If you've not already joined, if you have given to us in the past, please renew your commitment because it's important that we support Black-owned media because Black-owned media matters. A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding, but the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. Small but important ways.

From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops.

They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. know. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast.

Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else.

But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.