#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Roland talks Last season of Power with Omari Hardwick! | #RolandMartinUnfiltered

Episode Date: August 26, 2019

8.23.19 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Roland talks Last season of Power with Omari Hardwick! + City Council candidate in Michigan says she wants to keep her community as white as possible; Arkansas woman who pulled gun on Black teens has disappeared along with her jail administrator husband; Billionaire David Koch has died; A special prosecutor has been appointed to investigate the entire Jussie Smollett case Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Să facem o pătrunjelă cu toate pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Thank you. Să facem o pătrunjelă. I'm Martin. E aí Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă.

Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Să facem o pătrunjelă. Thank you. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered for Friday, August 23, 2019, I'm Dr. Julianne Malveaux, singing for Roland, who's traveling today. A city council candidate in Michigan says she wants to keep her community as white as possible.

The Arkansas woman accused of holding four black teens at gunpoint has disappeared along with her jail administrator husband. David Koch, the billionaire who helped shape conservative politics, has died. Plus, a special prosecutor has been appointed to investigate the entire J entire Jesse Spillette case. And the final season of Power premieres tonight.

You'll see Roland's interview with Ghost himself, that's Omari Hardwick. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin, unfiltered, absolutely unfiltered, let's go. Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the spook, the fact, the fine And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's rolling

Best belief he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's on go, go, go, y'all It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's Roland Martin, yeah. Rolling with Roland now.

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best, you know he's Roland Martin now. Jean Kramer, a candidate for city council in Michigan, shocked a public forum when she said she wants to keep Marysville, a white community, as much as possible. She made the comment in response to a question about diversity in Marysville, a city in St. Clair County, 55 miles northeast of Detroit. After the forum, Kramer told the local newspaper that she's not against blacks, but she believes married people need to be the same race. Mayor Dan Darman called Kramer's comments vile and jaw-dropping, and council member Paul Wessel says Marysville is open to anyone who arrives in the city. But I don't know how open it is, y'all. There are only 9,000 people in Marysville,

less than 1% Black, that's 90, so they were really made very welcome, and I'm sure other Black people are rushing to be in this lily-white enclave, I'm sure. A white Arkansas woman accused of holding four Black men at gunpoint has fled town just a few days after her husband resigned as the jail administrator. Jerry Kelly and her husband Joe moved out of their Arkansas home after receiving death threats. As we reported, the four teens were going door to door to raise money for the football team. Kelly allegedly pulled a gun out on the teens after they approached her house, and she made the young men lay on the ground with her gun drawn until police arrived. She was arrested days later and was released on bond without having to take a mugshot due to a medical condition. And I wonder what that medical condition might be, advanced insanity?

The Koch family announced today that David Koch, the 79 year old former coke industries executive and conservative political activist passed away the billionaire had been dealing with declining health and had stepped down from his role in the family's operations in 2018. david and his older brother charles used millions of dollars to co-pilot a massive movement that shaped conservative politics the justice department said an email sent to immigration court employees this week should not have included a link to a white nationalist website. You think?

The email, which included links to daily stories involving immigration news, including a link to a blog post on VDare, a white nationalist site. The blog post directly attacked sitting immigration judges with racial and ethnically-tinged slurs. The blog post directly attacks sitting immigration judges with racial and ethnically tinged slurs. The Immigration Justices Union complained in a letter to the Justice Department, publication and dissemination of a white supremacist anti-Semitic website

through the Executive Office for Immigration Review is antithetical to the goals and ideals of the Department of Justice, the letter said. And former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb was sworn in today as a special prosecutor to investigate the entire Juicy Smollett case, from the former Empire actor's claims that he was the target of racist and homophobic attack to the prosecutor's sudden decision to drop the charges that he had faked the assault. Webb's appointment marks the end of a two-month search by Cook County Judge Michael Tooman, who in June ruled that irregularities in the case

warranted a special prosecutor. Okay, y'all, the wait is finally over. Tonight at 8, the final session premiere, season premiere of Power. Last month, Roland sat down with Omari Hardwick, who plays Ghost in the series. Here's the interview, and it's a good one, y'all. Omari Hardwick who plays ghost of the series. Here's the interview and it's a good with y'all What's up, what's up

Last season of power man So it's funny the first time I sat down and talked to To Roland good people, the last time I talked to Roland, we were talking about, as it pertained to power, we were coming out of the jail season, going into season five. Mm-hmm. And it's ironic because at this point,

that season's sort of become, I can't say the epicenter of the journey or the storyline, but the story takes place in eight months when you think about it. It's six and a half years now, six and a half seasons, but it really, the genesis of it is, you know, from whenever you first were introduced to this sociopath spectrum of a genius who also was a dreamer, and that being Ghost, and his brother and Tommy, played by Joseph Shakur. The first time you had

a sight of these guys and the start of Truth as a nightclub, we're now only about seven months from that point. Wow. So that's been the most interesting thing, is if the jail season Roland and I sat down and talked about is the epicenter,

the sort of crux of where we go from there. Anything could have happened where we saw what the anything was. It was this Klay Thompson to Steph Curry taking a shot. That being Tommy, you know, I'm making that analogous to Tommy and Ghost and taking a shot at his best friend and brother and Ghost and trying to kill him. Ghost tricked me into killing my father. And you think I'm going to let some shit like that just slide? Then you don't know who the fuck I am.

I'm sorry about the kids, Tasha. They already been through a lot. And I get it if you've you gotta make a move against me. But this how I'm moving now. All right, just ghost knows you. Motherfucker saw me. Shit, you fucked up, Tommy. Fuck. You took a shot at the devil and you missed.

And obviously Angela, that that character taking the bullet. And so we now don't know what's happened with her. So season six, man, I guess when you play out the eight months that we're speaking about, you needed a lot of time to play out that final season. So we're giving you all 15 episodes so that we have a little bit more time, a little bit more, I don't know, I guess some dirt on the plate

so that you can dig your fingers through a little bit more time, a little bit more, I don't know, I guess some dirt on the plate so that you can dig your fingers through a little bit better than just giving you a 10-part season or whatever. Because it's crazy. Season 6 is crazy. If you look at your career and you talk about all the things you did before Power, there are roles that come along that become career defining, even though there are things you could be doing in the future.

If I think about Kerry Washington, she will always be known as Olivia Pope. Always. Richard Rowntree, we were on the red carpet the other night. Shaft. And he said, there was a long time when he said. It was bothering us. And he said it was bothered he was and he said his daddy said son shut the hell up yeah he said it's a whole bunch of people yeah who have been acting

ain't never been known for nothing and he said and he had to stop himself and he like man like i've done other stuff it was like dude so so how does it feel for you where you look at where you want your career the reality that forever for ever you have people have locked in with you after death ghost yeah i mean it's just that's what it is i think that um it is a compliment. And I understand Shaft's father, Richard Roundtree, who's a dear friend and a mentor of mine. Obviously, we work together on Be a Mary Jane and Special Cat. Reminds me of my father. He's always looked like my father. So I was part of that legion of folks, right? So it's an for uh for me to be able to answer that question because and you asking me that as roland martin who has iconically um become a brand in and of

yourself and itself is if our names are able to be made as an it versus the person it's interesting for you to ask me that because i was i thought about i'm like i guess i'm a part of that group i know i'm a part of the mob that made him Shaft. But then when I was working with him, I made him Richard. And so I guess maybe the better way for me to answer this is the amalgamation of the two is what excites me. Meaning I can forever be defined as that guy as long as you're open to all the other things that Omari has to offer. I'm good with it. And not hate it.

No, it did everything for me. I've met some people, man, who, man, that's in the past, I'm like, God. But Ghost is special, though. So I get it. I get my big brother in Roland, and not the journalist, but the big brother in Roland who's known Omari for 15 years.

I get, or maybe longer, I get you going, but it's special though. We never got to see a character that had all of those layers. They say three, and that being Jamie, James, and Ghost, but it's really like duplicitous and multi-layered at the level of perhaps being stated that you played 20 different guys in this guy. Ghost, we need to talk. Tasha, I took you off the list. How'd you even get up here? Did you follow me after the QCP ground break into Terry's garage?

You said you weren't going to see him again. I know you killed him, Ghost. The cops questioned me about it today. You better hope there were no cameras in there. You better hope so, too. So you were there. I fucking knew it. What did you do to him? Where's the body? I don't know what you're talking about. Bullshit you were there. I fucking knew it. What did you do to him? Where's the body?

I don't know what you're talking about. Bullshit you don't. Everything I've lost is because of you. My home, my family, my life. You have no right to take away my happiness, too. You have no right to take away my future. You just said it. You said it's psychotic and genius he was like i would i would imagine that that tommy is more of the psychopathic spectrum i asked courtney years ago i said

we got to a point where in reading whatever she was presenting that year roland i looked at and i said sociopath and she looked at me in a way of like interesting obviously she knows omari's a bright guy so can't i can't play ghost if i wasn't bright, right, Roland? And you can't, you know, it's like a Roland or a Dr. King even getting together and go, oh, Fitz Alpha. And people go, what is that, Roland? You go, he's just Fitz Alpha. He's literary. He's about words. We are. Scientists tend to be more geared toward Omega Sapphire. Shout out to Jesse Jackson and, you know,q who likes that you know he liked those conversations with Shaq about oftentimes the science of something like alphas are very literary and ghost was this poet because Omar is a poet who if you take me as a poet and put it in that which Courtney and

Curtis created and which stars move one thing that they were gonna say yay to and brought in our thing and we made made the network. We made it, bro. So when Roland points to me, he's like, oh, yeah, the show made it. Yeah, the crew made it. And yes, the crew stayed even later than you, who were there until 18 to 20 hours. But if they get the wrong ghost, that's a frat brother and a brother going, yeah, but oh, if you ain't, that shows Michael Jordan.

And then there's not five rings. So it speaks to the fact, because of your point about that, it does equally speak to the fact that when she made me not feel bad about asking, sociopath? Courtney added to it, spectrum, almost to not make me go to a place where if I believed him to be a sociopath, which I think Denzel's character was a lot in the movie. That's the movie I was watching when learning that Whitney Houston passed away, Safe House. Denzel's character was a sociopath, and he spoke on great length about the process of playing a sociopath.

But still brilliant. Which he nailed. He played it with a young Ryan Reynolds, right? Like, he nailed it. Safe House was one of my favorites. I think it's one of Denzel's underrated. And I remember I was watching it and then came out of it and Derek Luke had hit me with the news that our dear Whitney, who we

you know, was our castmate from Sparkle, had passed on. But when Courtney responds in that way of not so far saying sociopath but going spectrum, she's doing due diligence to herself as a writer. You as a journalist know when you write a piece or when you're pitching a new show, it's your baby, Roland. So it's her baby. So I can't be, in the famous words of the character played by Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder,

a fool retard. Not fool. So her point is, you're not fully a sociopath. And we want to stop the show if you become fully any one thing. Because that's what made Ghost Special. He was never fully one thing. He was so many things that if that's my nickname. You hate him, and it's like i can't

fully hate him because i love this i can't fully love this because he's still not doing right and you got a chance and we talked about this also earlier to me i i believe that the greatest thing theme that Courtney, Curtis, you, the whole cast, Joseph, all of them did. This show was a slow burn. Yeah, man. It was, this was, this show was, I used this example the other day. I said, and it was in register, we were talking about it. I said, I said, empire was a skillet. Power was a crockpot. Because, and again, for people, and y'all need to understand, I mean, I love television, I study it. Break it down for them.

Empire comes out, it's hot. It's like a skillet. You pop it into the skillet, and it's a quick meal. What y'all did was, with a crockpot, it slowly is marinating. That's right. And marinating, and it's building. Now granted, 22 episodes and episodes of Power are different, but it's how.

And it was just like the steady build, the steady build, steady build, steady build. And that's why now people are like, what? The last one? Because it's just been the steady, steady, steady. It's not like you hit it, then you drop. But you know what's interesting about that is um you made you made my answer that i'm okay with being called my shaft um denzel was lucky in the sense that take lucky out amara

right don't say lucky because that would that that would denote that richard roundtree's not lucky that he got shaft and that's your whole point in asking it so let me take that away denzel never had to contend with being called one character name right because he was able to do these characters that denzel just happened to be bigger than the character not that he's bigger than Malcolm X, but he had done so much work, even in Stephen Biko and Cry Freedom, even in shout outs to what Spike was able to do with him. Oh, my brother Blues. And Bleak Gilliam. And oh my goodness. He did so much work that we allowed him to be so many different things that in reality, if it's like watching a tennis match and your head is going back and forth, we had to contend with looking at Denzel's work

left and right at the rapidity in which he was doing it. For Shaft, Richard played that character and it went, boom. But when you think about, I know, it was about four of them. But when you think about Ghost and there's not four of them,

we know that this will be it. Honestly, bro, honestly, Roland, you just gave me one of the greatest compliments ever, because you're saying Denzel threw us 20 characters, mostly on film, outside of his time on Saint Elsewhere. Yep, yep. Mostly on film. Idris did it on Stringer Bell, right? Avon Barksdale played by Wood Harris, all of these dear friends of mine played these incredible roles. Idris Stringer Bell was gone pretty quick, right?

Then Idris goes off to film and he does his thing. Omari's played Ghost for six and a half seasons. Roland will remind the world, Omari did seven movies while playing Ghost. It's not going to eliminate people calling him Ghost. Precisely. He's done music left and right. Well, maybe the music will allow

for a different side of Amari to be seen. Right, right. But he is ghost. When you think about that level of a compliment, what you're saying is you didn't get a part two, three, or four with ghost. You gave us six and a half years of a slow burn. Curtis would be proud of you saying that because he was the one that said, we're slowly going to put this thing out.

We don't want to just go, uh, and it be done. And he knows a little something about business. And delivery is everything. So if you deliver a slow burn product, you're allowing for your fan base to be a part of the call sheet. The fan base is a cast member. They get to go, I'm

slowly growing with this content. So by the time you think about Omari and his completion on that run, or if I left everything on the court in basketball terms, since we're right here during the NBA playoffs, or at its end now, at the end of the day, Roland, I left so much on the court, but with a, as you said, crock-potted, non-scheme,

but an actual Shakespeare with colors that look like Roland Martin, as Courtney, myself, and Curtis, and Natori, and the Latin diaspora, which we cheat New York if we don't include that. Absolutely. And the Italian diaspora, which we cheat New York if we don't include that. And yet, you know me more than anybody, Roland, I played the guy to be

colorless. I'm just a very proud black man playing him. Right. So, there's not the same reality in a Madoff. Madoff is a lot like Ghost. Sociopath, dreaming of all things, narcissistic at times. I'm sure he was lovely at times as a father to his kids and at times not. So when you think about it, some of our greatest figurines that we study historically have been people that really need to be put in the corner and put on timeout because they're crazy in a negative way.

But then we root for them. So, you know, we just never had a character on modern TV as brown people that look like Omari playing 30,000 pounds of bigness. So if that comes with Ghost as the nickname I'll forever be tagged with, bro, that's alright. Especially if Omari is Ghost as the nickname I'll forever be tagged with,

bro, that's all right. Especially if Omari is, as you know, equally as big as the character was big. That's not a bad nickname to be tagged. Not at all. I don't know what Jaleel White feels about Urkel, but Ghost is definitely not that. I'm not being called Urkel, which is relegated to that of comedy, even if the kid is sweet and he's the next door neighbor. That's sort of the balance between the families on that show that he was a part of Family Matters. But Ghost, man, he made Families Matter to be poetic. This dude brought families together on Sunday as a killer. And on the business side. On the business side.

This is the thing I keep trying to explain to people. This, and again, let me take it further. I was watching Stars when Boss came on. Which was dope. Loved it. Which was dope. I worked in Chicago. And Kelsey Graham is dope.

You know Kelsey. And Kelsey is dope. I got both of them on DVD. But the reality is, this show, you throw in Survivor's Remorse. Followed us at one point, too. at one plow right made the whole network the what people identify now with stars yeah I definitely I definitely have been told that you know more you went from the face of the show obviously to the faces in that hard yes yeah and that's huge which is huge let's talk about black love. And I don't think people really understand it.

Share your thoughts about when you are going through airports, shoeshine, going through a convenience store, going to a restaurant, security guards, parking lot attendants, when you get that black love. I mean, I know, whole different thing bruh it it's hard to put in words but for you but just how does it feel when you when you when you get it it feels like uh and the way that the facial expression, Roland, that you have and had at the onset of your question 15 seconds ago,

but still have on your face a smile, that's the specified love that is the love that lifts you, that you drive away from in the car that picked you up at the airport that you're talking about, where you've signed, well, it's not autographs anymore. Selfies. Where you've signed 150 pictures at the airport of destination, but at the airport that you started out, you did 150. And obviously in that is a whole bunch of people that aren't black, especially the way that my characters have been played, what I've brought to them and what the journey has been.

But when it's the black person, the one that would make it where you're smiling when you ask about it, then if Roland's smiling to ask about it, you mean it's those of us, as I'm looking out to people who perhaps don't look like Roland and I, but for the most part do, and watching this interview, it's you guys saying, I rock with you, O. I really do. Or I rock with you, Ghost. After a while, you know, just the tonality of the phrase that precedes Ghost, I rock with you. That's right. The notes that you rock with me pretty much on all the things that I do. Whether it's talking to Roland, whether it's working right here in Miami and Dade County and Broward respectively with the Omari Hardwick Blue Apple Poetry Network, working with kids, whether it's the podcast that I now have, whether it's prior characters or characters as Roland

said, subsequently will follow goes. When you rock with me, different kind of love. And so I've ironically learned that the love includes those that don't necessarily rock with you. So that's what I want to answer to. I've gotten to a place, Roland, where maybe the Christian in me has been able to corroborate. Because I'm such a street kid, but I'm very Christian and I'm educated. Which is why ghost was what he was. I have equally learned that black love first and foremost is most exemplified when the black person who's giving me the love loves themselves. When they love themselves, bro, they're the love that made you ask me the question with a smile on your face.

When they don't love themselves, I have learned in my journey, which is quite bountiful at this point and long, I've learned that they equally love me. They just haven't given themselves permission to love themselves. And so it comes out in these forms we call hate or we call, you know, minimizing one, making one only relegated to one character or what have you. But I think it's just because they haven't figured out. I know it's just because they haven't figured out. I don't think I know it, that they haven't figured out how to love themselves. So equally, I've learned to embrace when the love is not necessarily love from my own people. Like they just aren't at a place where understanding that thing, as you say,

people just don't get it. I equally make it all joy on them. Like even if you're hating on me, it's like one day you'll get it. like those of us that are in Omari's position or in Rolla's position who really love us as a people. You can't help but to one day figure it out in a way of, it's hard to not love them because they love us. And I love our people so much

that it's really... I'm a black man in America who was raised by beautiful black families, so I can love everybody because I love me. I had a dude who told me, he was like I had a dude. I'm a black man in America who was raised by beautiful black families, so I can love everybody because I love me. Had a dude who told me, he was like, man, man, the street don't rock with you. And I started laughing. Did he say that to you? Brother, I started laughing. I said, brother, let me explain something to you.

I said, I said, I started laughing. We were in National Harbor. I'm walking by leaving. Brother, oh, my God, Roland Martin. Oh, Martin oh my god dude I fucks with you he said no you don't understand tell my girl I want a street so he's like my girl will tell you he said bro let me tell you something anybody mess with you I got you and I was like I appreciate that he said no he went no he went now I'm thinking like my man pulls his shirt up the middle of his chest you see all the scar tissue his chest had been cracked open he had been shot he had been on the

operating table he went no no anybody fucks with you I got you and I was like got it got it and I and I tell people that that's a great story because I've had prisoners that's a great story I've had prisoners say dude I watch your show you got me through prison yeah and so but you know what you're talking so... But you know what, Roland? So we talk about that. But you know what, though? For any leader of any religion, and you and I know we both are,

and it's ironic because that book to your left says religious. Mm-hmm. Does it not, Roland? Mm-hmm. It says religious. Yes, it does. It also says restless next to it.

Restless ambition. Restless ambition. So the reality is anybody who is of power has restless ambition. It never stops. And it's not about you sitting down and talking to somebody who doesn't contain or possess or uphold your religious beliefs. It's about someone knowing there is a higher power over them. That's right. The reality is all of those different embodiments of leaders in all respective religions, traditional religions, they all rock with sometimes killers. And the lowest common denominator of the brown or the ethnic world that they come from or the minority existence that they walk around in. That doesn't denote killers. But they rock with either killers or the lowest common denominator who might go, nah, I got you for real. And I've been there.

Doesn't mean that that brother's not now at the highest numerator reality. At one point, he was at a lower common denominator of brother, been shot, been to jail, what have you. Sometimes, bro, that's the greatest compliment in the world because they are the ones that are thoroughly able to sift you out as to how real you are quickly it's like a kindergartener who can call out a teacher who substitutes for that one day. The kindergarten is only 5 but they can say now run all over this

teacher. So when they rock with you which often have realized is the greatest compliment to me. It's sometimes the lower common denominator of our people that fucks with O the most. And what blew me away is that... Which is why Ghost was so big. He wasn't the first prisoner. I've had multiple cats. Of course.

Dude came to me, he said, Roland, my limo driver who started his own company, he said, spent 20 years in prison. He said, he said spent 20 years in prison he said he said bruh the he said the prison decided to take tv one off he said they led a prison revolt because they said no no no we got to watch roller show in the morning yeah and so what medicine we don't we don't do these things for i never played ghost for god never did that roland i never was able to do that that's maybe why he's so it's the first time i've said it on an interview i've said it to friends i might have said it to my security guard on the way over here

i i said it i did say to him but i'm an activist so you can't put ti who one time worked in the trap house you can but he's an activist his nature was an activist right his nurture right made it where he had to work in the trap but his nature is that of an activism is that's an activist His nature was an activist His nurture made it where he had to work in a trap But his nature is that of an activism Is that of an activist, excuse me So you can't put his activism in music And not have it activate something You can't make an activist Who's a poet, play ghost

But a trained actor Who's trained by the street as well The amalgamation makes the frenzy Of Sunday night where you might love Tommy, you might love Lila, Angela, you might love Notorious Tasha, but the people that rocked out with Ghost, they were seeing something that you and I

both share in common, which is I was activating conversation by playing Ghost. It wasn't for me to play a character to jack off to and show my kids for the remainder of my life on Earth with them. Nah, it was for people to go, yo, that's a conversation piece. Check in with myself when I brush my teeth in the morning. Where do I stand based on the work that O did with Ghost?

It was an outreach. Ghost was, yeah, I paid bills with it. And I made it where Curtis and Courtney are able to not only have me say that I changed their lives, I mean, that I say to them that they changed my life. Equally, I perhaps aided their life even though they were bigger than I was. She wasn't, but obviously Curtis was. But equally, man, at the end of the day, I did it for people.

For people that look like us. And we got a lot of us that are in jail. So if you can relate to Ghost, I don't know, five minutes away from being incarcerated, which he's always five minutes away from incarceration, then you're sitting in jail one day mad that TV One is off because Roland can't be watched. And you're equally mad when the

Sunday night in the jail doesn't show power because you now have a relatable reality. You can have conversation without having conversation with Omari. I'm not even there. But if my character is on TV in your cell, I'm kind of there. There you go. Which is powerful, bro. That's powerful. That's a gift from God. So they're giving me the rap signal. So I'm going to ask you this question. I'm going to play off of what you just said over here.

Restless Ambition, that book that's sitting right there. That's crazy, bro. Which I've never even seen the book before. That's crazy. How do you, for the person sitting out there, how do you explain to them to be happy and content where you are but still have restful ambition? You got to get that show going, bro. You got to get that show going.

I'm working on it. Rolling? I mean that. On the shield, bro. I'm trying to make it happen. Okay. All right. On the shield. For real. I'm working on it. Roland, I mean that. I'm brother. On the shield, bro. I'm trying to make it happen. Okay, all right, on the shield, for real. I'm trying to make it happen.

All right. That's a show that's going to come to y'all that's created by Roland, and y'all are going to see what I meant when I just gave that little. So, because it's such a great question is what I'm getting at. It's really a great question. Because we do teach about, we do teach that it's important to find contentment and to find satisfaction. But we know that we come from a people that have a poverty mentality. And what that means for all of you young kids listening is getting on first base and marrying the local girl or local boy that you were raised with and having a safe job and going to college and at least getting to those are safety realities that we are not

only born into but it's put on us every day you're not necessarily promoted as a brown youth to dream to be of ambition mm-hmm you are only promoted to get on first base and if it's analogous to baseball stay there don't try to steal second base and for damn sure don't even think about third to get on first base, and if it's analogous to baseball, stay there. Don't try to steal second base, and for damn sure, don't even think about third base. Stay on first base. And we forget even trying to own a stadium. You can't own a stadium at all. So I think for me, Roland,

I found out very early in the career that it was that of a slave mentality and earned earnestly, meaning that, duh, it's a part of our makeup. So I don't say it in a negative connotation. It is what it is. We were raised in this for 400-some years in this country. We were raised in a reality that

that which is minimal is us. That which is maximum doesn't look like us. So I think I came in very early realizing that from Sammy Davis Jr. to what I could be one day, Sidney Poitier in the middle and Bill Russell in the middle while making $3 per basketball game, 11 rings, coach one of those years, and would march with Martin and Malcolm after those games, and the hip-hop greats who curated hip-hop that the young kids who do hip-hop now are benefiting

from everybody from that spectrum they were allowed to entertain in front of the camera I think really early on man maybe the Alpha and me Rowan understood that if I relegate myself to simply that, then that is being someone, and it does denote slavery mentality a bit, who is content and happy with the world, not just saying ghosts when I walk by, but maybe screaming a couple other characters that they might connect with Shabu from Next Day Air, Free from Gridiron Gang,

all the shit why I'm a bad guy, because being bad connects to people. We all have the reality of good angel, bad guy, because being bad connects to people. We all have the reality of good angel, bad angel. And it's fun to be bad. It's harder to be good or to maintain being good. So even if they're yelling that out, they're yelling that out for characters played in front of the camera rolling. It's not me looking at you and going, Roland, make sure you produce that project that you said you're going to do. I'm working on it, though. Well, equally, what happened for me is I realized that the restless ambition did not state to god that i don't feel blessed right or that i'm not satisfied

right or that i'm not okay or that i don't think brave and over eating well enough or that i don't hear the family members who actually don't just have a dream but have plans to execute it so i might invest in their dreams no i hear it all and I count it all joy. And you and I being from the South, we get this, but at the end of the middle of the country, but at the end of the day, Roland, God would look at me like, man, I didn't give you all of those wits and smarts about yourself

to stop at having a couple people yell at you while you make it to first base and go, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it is relative. Because Roland and Omari's first base might not be a lot of the people that are listening to this interview's first base. Their first base might feel like home plate and they never really left. So it's relative. But my first base, to Roland's point, my first base couldn't have just been something where

people went, man, he's good. That brother's good. And I always wanted people that look like me to to at least get get get I don't know to at least got a bit of permission from an Omari who said I'm a still second base and I'm going to third I'm a comeback over. I'm going to attempt to own the stadium. Attempt is operative. But hey, maybe I wipe out the

word attempting at I'm a own the stadium and you know, it's a very difficult thing as a black American to figure that out Nipsey Hussle's whole thing was I'm trying to own some shit and bring it back to our neighborhood but equally make it as viable as the the properties owned by people that don't look like me and the people from my neighborhood, but how do I and I got a and I got and got blessed at 33, 0

young man for executing a lot of those. That's right. But equally Nipsey knew at the end of the day, man, I can't be a slave to my own master. Right. I got to be a master to my master. That's it. I mean, Invictus says it best. You and I learned that poem for a reason. The master of one's own fate. So I think captain of my soul. That's it, bro. So restless ambition for me would be simply staying. I'm alive. Some of those greats like a Puffy says,

man, you can sleep when you die. So as long as I'm alive, why would I kind of, because my son and my daughter, Roland, they're always looking up and saying, did Papa take a break yet? Man, if Papa ain't taking a break, then we can't say nothing. There you go. So I think that's how I take it on.

But I'm so thankful for God that I even get an opportunity for Roland to ask me that. The fact that you care about what I have to say. Because of social media, everybody thinks they got a microphone. Right. And that they're Roland Martin. Roland Martin has tried and tribulated for eons. Becoming as mastered a craftsman as you are at holding court with people that are equal your brain. Man, that takes a lot.

So I never forget about the journey on the way to getting to your table and for my big brain to rock with yours. So I see the journey in slow motion. But I definitely have a ticking clock that won't ever stop. That's right. I definitely do, bro. Well, I would say this for the cameras. I also appreciate is that you always take in time. You made it clear.

Yo, y'all want me to y'all want me to do all these other major shows. No, no, he don't get time and read as important is important because I think this is something to care Washington because a lot of people who you can talk to them early on. And as they go up. No,'t got time. But the key is also saying, no, no, it's the connection. And saying, no, all along the way, as you said, I'm gonna rock with the folks who always rock with me.

Ronan, you always rock with me. When I was on, coming off of Saved, where I played number two to Tom Everett scott that's before dark blue that's after green eye gang during during uh uh guardian with kevin costner like bro that's that's that's omari who's michael b jordan's present age you've been rocking with me for so long it's like roland cares so it's the same person that goes you remembered me the fan that says you remember me and i go in the airport you tripped over right to get to me to take a picture there you go you tripped over the court a lot of people would have remained in the

embarrassment and gone i'm good you tripped and then you got up like a football player and kept and you scored right right you scored like i took the picture with you how could I forget you I might not nail your name but I'm almost pretty good with nailing a person's name and see what I do is when somebody go you remember me and I go no and they go that my wife always tells me she's like bro and she's making me feel good I said no no because what you just said I said no because when I actually remember yeah I says I came from that's right I said but when I actually remember then it'll be more genuine right I said but I don't I don't yeah but when I said no I came from. That's right. I said, but when I actually remember. Then it'll be more genuine. Right. I said, but if I don't, I don't. Yeah.

But when I said, no, no, no. You had this on. So you know where the irony is at? And you, you, you, you, you, same thing. You, you, you walk this way. They were like, damn, you remember all that? I said, I told you. Like a lasting impression.

I told you I remember. I tell young cats all the time. I say, I got zero problems with taking a picture. If I'm with the family, it's family time. But when I'm alone, I take 9,000. My issue is they forget often to say, I'm so-and-so pleasure to meet you there you go I like your work so much do you mind if I get a picture there you go like it's reciprocity it's not oh you if you don't give me something right right you

mean me giving you my name is something absolutely now I have something of your lineage your grandparents made your parents who then gave you a name when they made you give give me that. Let me have something. Right, just stay high. They don't care that we need something. But we do need something. High is good, bro.

High means that you acknowledge that I wasn't the lion at the zoo. And what I do with the young brothers that I know, the people about to drop, they're like, I'm about to cut them. I make the young brothers, I will not take a photo unless they smile. That's true.

I would take off the shades. I tell them. I'm big on the shades. We don't take prison photos. I done had some brothers that keep the shades on. I'm like, I will not take a photo unless they smile. That's true. I don't take off the shades. I tell them. I'm big on the shades. We don't take prison photos. I done had some brothers that keep the shades on. I'm like, I can't see your soul, bro. You got to take the shades off. I said, we ain't taking the photo.

That's dope. Because guess what? Because most of them being raised, you got to be hard. I said, no, no, no. You can smile in the photo. No, no. And you can say you like a brother. Like there's no problem with it.

Always be there for you, bro. Always good, baby. I appreciate it. Always be there for you, bro. Good luck in everything that's next. Thank you, bro. Same to you. Yes, sir. I'm going to mess with you. I told you. I i appreciate it for you bro good luck and everything is next thank you bro same to you yes sir i'm gonna mess with you i told you i'm on it i'm on it all right done peace y'all Thank you. I remember going to see Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I remember seeing John F. Kennedy when he was running for president. You always thought of ways to involve us so we understood that the community was really our family

and we had to be involved in the community to have progress. Well, I think it was very important for you to see the action, to see what adults were doing to work toward things that would be better. I learned about the issues as I became involved in the community. You and Emmett were in elementary school, and I became PTA president. I wanted you and Emmett to get the best that you could in regard to education in terms of growing up and be able to choose whatever field you'd like to go into.

And if I recall, you started protesting and there were rallies, but you also decided to go back to school. I decided that I wanted to go back and get my bachelor's degree. Then I heard about a fellowship that was being offered to change agents at Case Western Reserve University, and I applied for that. And you became a professor at Cuyahoga Community College.

That's correct, right? But that was in early childhood development. And you actually ran the early childhood department. Oh, yeah, I was head. One of your experiences was working for the first African-American mayor in the city of Cleveland, Carl Stokes. That makes me think of working with the ministers

and the Council of Churches when Martin Luther King came to Cleveland to encourage people to vote for Carl Stokes and his talking about the importance of not only voting, but for what he always said about the character of his children. I remember sitting around the kitchen table and talking about how you can work within your community to strengthen your community. And I've got a really a profound respect for public service.

Well, I'm glad we can sit down and talk. I am very proud of what you and Emmett have done, have taken your own path, and love you. Love you too. Wasn't that a great interview with Lee Saunders and his mom? That concludes today's edition of Roland Martin Unfiltered. I hope you enjoyed the show. Be sure to tune in Monday. Roland will be back. He's going to have new, fascinating stories, great panels, the whole bit.

But don't forget, while you're thinking about it, go to RolandSMartin.com and join the fan club, RolandSMartin.com. Roland's created this thing out of whole cloth, and he needs your support. So check it out. Join the fan club. Here's the latest list. we'll see you again next

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