#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Rudy Giuliani hit with $148M judgment; Mortgage Disparities, Miss. Cop Cleared for Shooting Kid

Episode Date: December 16, 2023

12.15.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Rudy Giuliani hit with $148M judgment; Mortgage Disparities, Miss. Cop Cleared for Shooting Kid It's Friday, December 15, 2023. Michael Imhotep is sitting in for Roland. Here's what's coming Up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. A federal jury slaps a multi-million dollar judgment against Rudy Giuliani for defaming two black Georgia election workers.  The Georgia woman found guilty of murder in the death of a hit-and-run driver in May 2019 learned her fate in court today. You'll show you what happened at her sentencing hearing.   The attorney for the unarmed 11-year-old Mississippi boy shot by a police officer will be here to discuss the grand jury clearing the officer of any wrongdoing, why the bodycam video is not being released, and their $5 million lawsuit. The only Kentucky officer criminally charged in Breonna Taylor's death will be retried in federal court.  And we'll discuss a report claiming the nation's largest credit union rejected more than half its Black conventional mortgage applicants. Navy Federal has some explaining to do.  It's Time to Bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. Let's go. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. 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. 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 Lott. 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 starts that 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. It's Friday, December 15th, 2023. I'm Michael M. Hotep sitting in for Roland. Here's what's coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. A federal jury slaps a multimillion-dollar judgment against Rudy Giuliani for defaming two black Georgia election workers. The Georgia woman found guilty of murder in the death of a hit-and-run driver in May 2019, learned her fate in court today, will show you what happened at her sentencing hearing.

The attorney for the unarmed 11-year-old Mississippi boy, shot by a police officer, will be here to discuss the grand jury clearing the officer of any wrongdoing, why the body cam video is not being released, and their $5 million lawsuit. The only Kentucky officer criminally charged in Breonna Taylor's death will be retried in federal court and will discuss a report claiming the nation's largest credit union rejected more than half its black conventional mortgage applicants. Navy Federal Credit Union has some explaining to do. It's time to bring the funk on a rolling marching unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, yo

Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Martin Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Martin Now A federal jury agreed that Rudy Giuliani should pay a pair of Georgia election workers, he repeatedly and falsely accused of fraud $148 million in damages.

After a four-day trial, the eight-person jury awarded Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shay Moss, the multimillion-dollar judgment. The pair testified how Rudy Giuliani's lies supporting former President Donald Trump's bogus stolen election claims subjected them to racist and violent threats, turning their lives upside down. I want to go to one of my panelists today, Jesse Hamilton McCoy, clinical professor of law, supervising attorney, the Duke Law Civil Justice Clinic in Durham, North Carolina. Well, look, Attorney McCoy, I watched the verdict coverage on MSNBC today,

and I was preparing for this show, and I was jumping for joy with this verdict of $148 million. This proves white supremacy does not pay. What is your legal analysis of this verdict? Well, first and foremost, I'd like to thank you for having me on. I, too, was happy and jumping for joy because the depths of which Rudy Giuliani put these sisters through was ridiculous. As we all know, there was an attempt by Giuliani to try to say that they somehow sabotaged the voting process in Georgia, and as a result, led to the orchestration of several different white supremacists and Trump supporting groups and all sorts of things to basically threaten these women with death. I think, if I remember correctly, but lead to the point that they even had to relocate

because of the threats and the FBI communicating to them that they were in serious danger. So we're dealing with people who have met every legal element of defamation. There's been a false statement that was published that destroyed their reputation in the community that they were in. We finally now are seeing them achieve at least the beginning stages of what should be recompensed. And honestly, $148 million, that's not enough for all the stuff that Rudy Giuliani has put in. Well, we know Rudy Giuliani is facing dire financial issues. He has his apartment, $6 million-plus apartment, up for sale. We know that he owes back legal fees as well.

And looking at the reporting from The New York Times, Judge Barrow, a howl of the federal district court in Washington, D.C., had already ruled that Rudy Giuliani had defamed the two workers, Ruby Freeman and Shea Moss, two African American women. And they both testified at the January 6th hearing as well. We heard their rivening testimony that brought tears to my eyes as well as the son of a black mother who taught me to vote and our father taught us to vote as well. The jury had been asked to decide only the amount of the damages. The jury awarded Ms. Freeman and Mr. Moss a combined $75 million. Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss a combined $75 million

in punitive damages. It also ordered Rudy Giuliani to pay compensatory damages of $16.2 million to Ms. Freeman and $16.9 million to Ms. Moss, as well as $20 million to each of them for emotional suffering. So, attorney, can you explain to us and the viewers watching the difference between compensatory damages and punitive damages. Absolutely. So compensatory damages are designed to what we call make the complainant whole. These are damages that you typically have already experienced out of pocket, which we are contrasting to punitive damages, which are additional damages that a judge can allow if they believe that the tortfeasors act was of a particular instance to be increasingly reckless and done for malicious intent.

And so as a result, what the judge is saying by issuing this kind of symphony of damages is that not only do we want to make these women whole again to the best extent that a court can, but they also want to make sure that Rudy Giuliani fills it in his pocket to know what he did was wrong. And I'd just like to add to this, I mean, we have to remember, too, that during the course of this trial, the defamation didn't stop with the actions before the trial. He actually went out in the trial, in the press conference, and continued to defame these women. So I think it's one of those situations where the judge is trying to exact every piece of an award that she can to ensure that these women are brought back and receive some kind of justice. All right. Well, I want to bring to the discussion our second panelist today, a phenomenal woman in her own right, a fan favorite here on Roland Martin Unfiltered, Dr. Avis Jones DeWeaver, political analyst out of National Harbor, Maryland.

So, Avis, it's good to see you again. What did you make of today's verdict? And did you see Rudy Giuliani after the verdict was read outside the court trying to make excuses? Oh, my God. First of all, it's great to see you in the host chair, my man. Wonderful to be here. I have to say I did see the clown show that he put on outside of the courthouse. And it is it is amazing to me how this man can be the coward that he is, not take the stand, not say anything in the courtroom to his own defense, I can't wait until this gets to another court because this was a huge injustice. The man is lying, lying, lying. So though he wants to play towards the sort of fantasy world of the true believers in the Trump universe, the bottom line is the law of the land has ruled in the... 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 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 three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Add 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. 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 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 reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position, pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org,

brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. ...section of the sisters that who he damaged, and he deserves this large ruling in their favor. He needs to pay every damn dime or as much as they can get from him. Absolutely. Now, I don't think they're going to get much from a broke Rudy Giuliani. I don't think they're going to get much. But this proves that white supremacy does not pay. This proves there are consequences. I'm coming back to you here in just a minute, Attorney McCoy. But I saw Ruby Freeman preach a sermon outside of court today after the verdict was read. If anybody missed that, just Google

Ruby Freeman and listen to the sermon that she preached. But she said, today's a good day, Ms. Ruby Freeman told reporters after the jury delivered its determination, adding that no amount of money would give her and her daughter, Shay Moss, back what they lost to the abuse they suffered after Rudy Giuliani falsely accused them of manipulating the vote count. Now, for those that don't remember, don't follow the minutia of politics, Rudy Giuliani helped lead Donald Trump's effort to remain in office, basically overthrow the government. After his defeat in the 2020 election, he was defiant after the proceeding. He said, quote, I don't regret a damn thing, end quote. He said outside of the courtroom, suggesting that he would appeal and that he stood by his assertions about these two African-American women. Attorney McCoy, there's a

history of white supremacists intimidating African-Americans, attacking African-Americans. We look at the fall of Reconstruction with the compromise of 1877 preceded by political violence to keep us from voting. Talk for a minute about the irony that these Georgia election workers helped to expose what Rudy Giuliani and others were doing. And there's a history of voter suppression against African-Americans in Georgia. Keep in mind, Senate Bill 201 was the first Senate

bill that passed the state legislature, signed into law by a governor. And that became a boilerplate for other, especially Southern states, to do the same thing, pushing the big line. Talk about that for a minute, please. Well, one of the things that we have to kind of step back in time and remember is that for so long, Georgia had historically gone red. And what we saw in this election was that there was a sweeping change with the addition of other candidates who were congressional candidates and with the push in trying to organize folks largely in the metropolitan areas. However, Georgia has done everything, including, and this is under the operation of, I believe, a Republican running their board of elections, they have done everything they can to prove to the world over and over and time and time again that their elections were above board.

We've heard everything from the voicemails regarding leaving voicemails for the head of the board of elections to try to get him to change the voting process. We've heard intimidation tactics by members of Congress to people in Georgia. And we've heard Giuliani now go out and say that these two women specifically were responsible for somehow impacting the vote just because essentially they didn't like the result that the vote continued to uphold regardless of the number of recounts that were held in Georgia. So it is an opportunity from that position to try to diminish the voting power and intimidate minorities from going out to exercise their right. But at the same time, I'm glad that these two women were able to stand firm and that Georgia had enough safeguards to be able to show that their election was fair and above board.

Absolutely. And the control room is telling me that we have the comments from Lady Ruby Freeman and Shea Moss. Let's go to those comments, please. Here is Ruby Freeman and Shea Moss. Looks like they are going to make their way up to the those comments, please. Here is Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss. Looks like they are going to make their way up to the mic here, Jeff. OK, let's listen in. Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss are going to give a brief statement and they won't be taking any questions after. Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Shay Moss. I spent 10 years as an election worker in Fulton County, Georgia. The lies Rudy Giuliani told about me and my mommy after the 2020 presidential election have changed our lives. And the past few years has been devastating. The flame that Giuliani lit with those lies and passed to so many others to keep that flame blazing changed every aspect of our lives, our homes, our family, our work, our sense of safety, our mental health, and we're still working to rebuild.

As we move forward and continue to seek justice, our greatest wish is that no one, no election worker or voter or school board member or anyone else ever experiences anything like what we went through. You all matter, and you are all important. We hope no one ever has to fight so hard just to get your name back. We're very grateful to the jury for taking the time out of their busy lives to do their civic duty, to listen to everything that we've been going through. I know I won't be able to retire from my job with the county

like my grandmother did, but I hope by us taking these steps, these very big steps towards justice, that I can make her just as proud. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. I am Lady Rudy. Today's a good day. A jury stood witness to what Rudy Giuliano did to me and my daughter and held him accountable, and for that I'm thankful. Today is not the end of the road.

We still have work to do. Rudy Giuliani was not the only one who spread lies about us, and others must be held accountable too. But that is tomorrow's work. For now, I want people to understand this. Money will never solve all of my problems. I can never move back into the house that I called home. I will always have to be careful about where I go and who I choose to share my name with. I miss my home.

I miss my neighbors. And I miss my name. I've heard some of you. Don't be sad for me. Don't waste your time being angry at those who did this to me and my daughter. We are more than conquerors. Pray for us as we continue to fight the good fight of faith. I tell my attorneys often, my friends say that God knew who to give this assignment to because if it had been them, they wouldn't have been able to go through this.

God chose me to go through this because he knows that I would tell everyone whose path I cross about Jesus. I'm strong and my faith shall never waver. From day one, I said, now faith is the carried us through the most difficult years of my life and faith will carry you through hardships that you faced in life. Understand that the devil is a liar. He is defeated, and no weapon formed against you shall prosper. Trust that God will keep and protect you. Believe that right makes might,

because it does. I thank God that I'm not intimidated by no one or their lies. Give thanks that injustice always surrender in the glorious kingdom of God and that he would always lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace, peace that surpasses all understanding.

Thank you. Hi, everyone. All right. So like I said, Lady Ruby Freeman preached the sermon, whatever religion you believe, the devil is a liar. OK. And for all those that think your vote doesn't matter, why do white supremacists and many conservatives, Republicans work so hard to suppress our vote? We're going to wrap up this conversation. I want to get closing remarks very quickly here. First, Dr. Avis Jones, DeWeaver. Yeah, I just want to say I'm so glad that this case was brought. I'm so glad that they got such a robust ruling. You're right. Rudy is broke as a skunk at the moment. But the bottom line is that whatever he has, they should have it now. And the bottom line is that they deserve it. They were terrorized by these people and they still live in fear.

And so they deserve every last dime. Absolutely. And Attorney McCoy, you have the last word on this subject. Well, I just want people to understand that you don't have to just take it if people are going out here and trying to defame you. And I also want people to understand that the fight is not over. We're glad that we've achieved this result for these two sisters, but the fight is not over. And there are certainly a demographic of people out here who. 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 comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. 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.

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, 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. They're still going to believe everything that Rudy Giuliani and people in that camp say.

Absolutely. And they have to be defeated at the ballot box. This is Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. Grow your business or career with Grow with Google's wide range of online courses, digital training and tools. Thank you. the online certificate program on your own terms. Stand out to employers, get on a path to in-demand jobs, and connect with top employers who are currently hiring. Take one professional career certificate program, or all six. Earn a Google Career Certificate to prepare for a job in a high-growth field like data analytics, project management, UX design, cybersecurity, and more. All professional career certificate programs must be completed by December 31st, 2024.

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Hi, I'm Jo Marie Payton, voice of Sugar Mama on Disney's Louder and Prouder Disney+. And I'm with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. A Mississippi grand jury refused to charge the officer who shot an unarmed 11-year-old black boy in his home. The Sunflower County grand jurors did not find any criminal conduct of Sergeant Greg Capers during the May 20th incident where 11-year-old Darian Murray was shot in the chest when the officer responded to a domestic dispute between the child's mother and her ex-boyfriend. The family attorney, Carlos Moore, is here to explain why the body cam video isn't being released and the grand jury's decision not to indict the officer.

Attorney Moore, thanks for joining us again on Roland Martin Unfiltered. I remember before when you were on covering this case, and I remember being on Roland's show discussing this. Can you give us some insight into why the jury decided not to indict the officer for— well, first, how was the Darien doing, one? Two, give us some insight into why the jury decided not to indict the officer for, well, first, how was Adairian doing, one? Two, give us some insight into why the jury decided not to indict the officer. Adairian is doing somewhat better. He continues to get counseling on a weekly basis, but physically he has recovered pretty much,

and he is happy to be back in school with his classmates, and he is looking forward to enjoying the holidays with his family because he knows that he could have met his maker in May when this man, Greg Capra, shot him recklessly. Yes. So the family was disappointed. The mother was almost inconsolable yesterday when she found out that the grand jury had returned a no-true bill. I had to explain to her that there are two different standards in the criminal arena versus the civil arena, which I'm handling. In the criminal arena, the prosecutor had to show that this man intentionally shot a Darien.

I believe he was reckless, but I do not believe he intended to shoot the child. I believe he intended to shoot an adult. How he got confused, I would never know. He was supposed to be a trained law enforcement officer. But I believe the grand jury decided that they thought he made a mistake versus intentionally shot this boy. Now, in my recounting of this incident, so this was a domestic dispute from my understanding. And if I remember when we talked about this case before a few months ago, the people inside of the home, were they ordered to come out and march out of the home? And then when Darien came out, that's when he was shot. Is that what

happened? Yes, he was ordered to come out with his hands up, and that's exactly what he did. And the officer shot him. I mean, as soon as he turned that corner, the officer shot the young boy, and the boy's hands were up, just as he said. There was nothing in his hands that could have been confused as a gun, nothing whatsoever. His hands were up. So we do not know how this officer made this drastic mistake. We believe he shot first, and then he looked and realized who he shot. Okay. Now, did the officer testify or enter any statements into why he shot a Darien? Grand jury proceedings are private, so I was not privy to what went on in the grand jury. So I don't know if they called the officer alive, if they showed the video, or what they showed to the grand jurors.

All we know is that whatever that was showed was not sufficient enough for them to decide if there was probable cause that he committed the crime of aggravated assault. Interestingly enough, had my client died, I do believe he would have been indicted for culpable negligence manslaughter. But since my client lived, there's a loophole and there's really no other crime besides aggravated assault in which he could have been charged. An aggravated assault requires intent to shoot. Right. Right. Okay. Right. Grand jury hearing. Okay. So now also an issue is that the body cam footage has not been released publicly. And Darian's mother wants the body cam footage released publicly. So what is the delay in getting that body camera footage released? The city of Indianola has asked the federal court to seal the video from public display.

They say that the video is too graphic. It identifies a minor, and they don't think it should be released. Ms. Murray, my client, has asked for it to be released. She's seen it. I've seen it. And we believe that the public deserves a right to see for itself what this officer did to this young boy and decide if it was justified or not. Right. And I'm going to go to my panel here in just a minute. But in the case when you have video of a minor being shot, can't they blur out the minor's face?

I mean, isn't that something that can be done to hide the identity, if they want to hide the identity of the minor? But at the same time, in reports, we know his name. We've seen his face in interviews. So does that make any sense where they're saying, well, there's a minor involved? It makes no sense at all. People across the country and around the world already know his name. He's been on CNN and Good Morning America. So people have seen him and they know his name.

And the family is not objecting. His mother, who is his guardian, has not objected to his picture or face being identified. She's even said that if it had to be blurred, she's fine with that to protect his identity. But the city, for whatever reason, does not want this video released. Had my client shot the officer, I would believe the city would want it released. So I don't see any difference here. We believe that the video should be released. We are appealing the magistrate judge's opinion to the district court judge, Deborah Brown. She was appointed by President Obama during the Obama years, and we

are appealing the magistrate judge's opinion to the district court judge. Okay. I want to go to my panel on this, and I want to start with Attorney Jesse Hamilton McCoy. Do you have a question for Attorney Carlos Moore, Attorney McCoy? Yes. Well, I'm just curious kind of about the history of policing in this city. Is this something that you have seen often by way of them not revealing the video footage? No, I'm quite surprised that they came up with this. I was not expecting them to try to say

that they cared more about my client's child than she does. I mean, she's the mother. If they were trying to do what's in the best interest of my client, they would not have the officer shoot. They would not have had an officer that's scared as born and fight with his own shadow and shot my client recklessly. So that would have been in the best interest to keep them from being shot. But now they're saying they want to protect my client from the release,

and we're not asking for that. Okay. Okay. Thank you, Attorney McCoy. I want to go to Dr. Avis Jones DeWeaver. Dr. DeWeaver, did you have a question for Attorney Moore? Yeah, Attorney Moore, I mean, you know they lie, right? I mean, clearly that's not the reason that they don't want to release that video footage. They know that it implicates this behavior as being minimally negligent, worst case scenario, completely evil, shooting a child. And so my question to you is, what's the next step? Is there going to be any civil action taken? Yes, we filed a federal civil lawsuit at the end of May. That lawsuit is still proceeding, and we will file a state court complaint for the reckless actions of Greg Murray, excuse me,

Greg Capers next month in January. So there will be two lawsuits, one in state court and one in federal court that will proceed simultaneously. And we expect to get justice for this family. And they will never be able to explain to any judge or jury how this cop could shoot an unarmed 11-year-old boy who looks like the kid that he is. He does not appear to be a man in no shape, form, or fashion. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeaver. Attorney Moore,

just a couple of quick questions here. Oftentimes when we see police shootings, even egregious police shootings where we assume that there was recklessness involved. The police unions often come out and defend the police officers. In this case of Officer Greg Capers, has any police union come out to defend his actions? No. We have not heard from any police union that has defended him. The only person that I've heard defend him is his lawyer. And he says that it was not intentional. But that you don't get a free pass because it was not intentional. This boy came within an inch of

losing his life. He was shot in the chest, collapsed lung, fractured ribs, lacerated liver. This boy deserves better and the city needs to pay for what this officer did. Absolutely. And lastly, how is Nicola, how is Darian's mother, Nicola Murray, doing? She is doing better now. Yesterday was very hard for her. When I spoke with her, I could barely hear what she was saying. She was inconsolable and just crying, could not believe that a jury from here, a grand jury in that same county that she lived, would let this man get away with what she believed, what I always believed was aggravated assault. Absolutely. Well, look, Attorney Carlos Moore,

thanks for coming back to Roland Martin Unfiltered to update us on what's going on. And we hope you're also successful in any civil litigation, civil action in this case as well. Okay. All right. Thanks for having me. All right. Thank you, sir. Roland Martin and Filter will be right back after this break. You're watching the Black Star Network.

I'm Dee Barnes. And on the next Frequency, Professor Janelle Hopson joins us to talk about hip hop and its intersection with feminism and racial equality, plus her enlightening work with Ms. Magazine and how the great Harriet Tubman connects with women in hip hop. It was not hard for me to go from Harriet Tubman to hip hop, honestly, because it is a legacy of Black women's resistance and Black women supporting our communities.

That's what Harriet Tubman did. That's on the frequency on the Black Table, with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter, which simply put, is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal article everyone, and I mean everyone, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Vletia Watkins, our legal roundtable team, join us to explore the paper that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture. You crystallize it by saying, who are we to other people? Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other? The structures we create for ourselves,

how we order the universe as African people. That's next on The Black Table, here on The Black Star Network. Hey, what's up, y'all? I'm Devon Franklin. It is always a pleasure to be in the house. You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay right here.

With respect to count one, malice, murder, the court will impose a sentence of life with the possibility of parole. With respect to count two, felony murder, that will merge into count one and is dismissed as a matter of law. With respect to count three, aggravated assault, that merges into counts one and two. With respect to count four, felony murder, that merges into count one it is dismissed as a matter of law. With respect to count five, the false imprisonment verdict, the court imposes a sentence of eight years consecutive. With respect to count six, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, the court imposes a sentence of five years

that will run consecutive to the underlying sentence. Count seven and eight will merge into count six. So the court's total sentence is life with the possibility of parole plus eight years consecutive on false imprisonment and five years consecutive on the possession of fire and jury commission of a felony. And that is the court sentence. A Clayton County, Georgia judge delivers the life with the possibility of parole to... 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 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. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott.

And this is Season 2 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. 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 gotta set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We gotta 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. Hannah Haynes, the woman who chased down and killed 67-year-old Kenneth Herring after a hit-and-run accident in 2019. Prosecutors say Herring hit another car

and drove off. Payne followed Herring, confronted him, and shot him, ignoring the repeated orders from a 911 operator not to pursue him. Defense attorneys say she was told to get his license plate number, so she followed him.

They argued that he shot himself during a struggle with the gun. The jury found Payne guilty of all counts of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. I want to go to my panel on this, and I want to go to Attorney McCoy first, Attorney Jesse Hamilton McCoy. So give us a legal analysis of this conviction in this case, please. Sure. Well, malice murder was a term that was a little bit different from the categories of murder that I learned. But essentially it comes out to being the equivalent of a second-degree murder charge.

And so she was found guilty of second- murder in a sense and given life with the possibility of parole. But the words that you never want to hear in criminal court are consecutive. And that's what we hear with the eight year sentence and the five year sentence. Consecutive means that they're going to be stacked. So if she were to qualify for parole, there will then be 13 years that she would have to serve for those other two charges. I think it was false imprisonment and the possession of the firearm charge. And so this was, for her, a very bad day before the family of Ms. Herron, probably a very good day because they have been seeking justice. If you've been paying attention to the case,

a lot of people have commented about how the case didn't really make sense. It sounds like everybody gave her ample warning to not approach this person, to not try to have a confrontation. And despite all of the warnings, she decided to take the law into her own hands. And this is the result that happens when people do that. Absolutely. You know, Avis, when the 911 operator said, just get the license plate number, and apparently, as evidence proved in this case, Hannah Haynes followed Kenneth Herring and then apparently shot him. This kind of reminds me of George Zimmerman. I was thinking the same thing.

When the 9-1-1 operator told Zimmerman, we don't need you to do that, and Zimmerman said he was following Trayvon Martin. Give us your thoughts on this. Absolutely. I was thinking the same thing. This is several years later, but it's a very, very similar scenario to what happened to Trayvon Martin. And at the root of both of those is this belief in this country that white people, or people who at least identify as white in the George Zimmerman case, believe that they have dominion over Black bodies. They believe that they don't have to hold themselves back in any way. They believe that people are, they can order people around and tell them to stop and get in there literally in their personal space and wreak violence on

them and nothing will happen. Unfortunately, a lot of times that's true. Nothing will happen to them. But, thankfully, this time, the pendulum of justice moved in a different direction than what we saw with George Zimmern and so many other examples. The other example, real quickly, that comes to mind is just we're seeing a whole lot of white women in particular act out in recent years that we're terming as Karens, being very violent, being very aggressive. We're seeing that a lot. And the difference here is that she had a firearm with her. And this is another reason why everybody don't need to be going around with firearms because people who cannot control their actions and people who have a sense of entitlement and believe that they have the right to wreak violence, particularly on black bodies without consequences, will act out in this manner. Unfortunately, a man's life is lost and can never be returned.

But it's wonderful at least that his family is able to have justice, something that's been denied so many others. Absolutely. You know, this is really a tragedy over, you know, he didn't have to die over this. Get his license plate number, turn it over to the authorities.

Don't take the law into your own hands. But Attorney McCoy, number, turn it over to the authorities, don't take the law into your own hands. But Attorney McCoy, oftentimes African-Americans are blamed for their own deaths in situations like this. I remember an article from HuffingtonPost.com I use sometimes in lectures that I do, which talked about how white victims, how white suspects are treated better than black victims, OK? And it dealt with nationwide news stories of how African-Americans who were the victim

of violent crimes were often blamed for what happened to them. Here, according to the article from WSBTV.com, the defense argued that Kenneth Herring shot himself during a struggle with the gun. Talk a little bit about this phenomenon of African Americans who end up dead in situations like this, being blamed for their own death. So this is very interesting only because, you know, there was video footage that was also introduced to show that she was the one who made the approach to the vehicle with her firearm. And yes, the defense's argument was that there was a struggle over the firearm and that somehow Mr. Herring ended up shooting himself. There was also some forensics that were, a forensic expert that testified as to the double

latch that would need, that would require two hands in order to release and kind of, kind of died down some of the argument that defense was trying to make. But I think you're right. I think it's common that people are used to a system that is going to envelope whiteness in the sense to allow whiteness to have, you know, either through tears or through just, you know, a tacit understanding, an ability to escape accountability for the actions and criminality that they engage in, particularly against the black community. And I'm just happy that in this case it didn't work out. I also think it's very ironic that the person who is giving her the time was also an African-American judge, which I think

also instills some of the importance of people being involved in the system. Absolutely, because judges are either voted into office or they're appointed by governors or they're appointed by presidents, like federal judges, and then confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Very quickly, before we go to break, Attorney McCoy, you mentioned the term double latch. Can you talk to us, explain briefly to us, maybe 30 seconds to a minute, what that is, double latch? So my understanding is that there was a double safety system on the firearm itself, and that in order to release the two safety systems so that the firearm could dislodge, you would need two hands to do it.

OK. All right. Thank you for that clarification. Roland Martin Unfiltered will be right back here on the Black Star Network. 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

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. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Glott. 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 ban 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. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org.

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

increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women and this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation, you and me. We talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together,

so let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into. It's the culture. Weekdays at 3, only on the Black Star Network. Bruce Smith, creator and executive producer of The Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. You're watching Roland Martin Unkilled. Federal prosecutors in Kentucky say they intend to retry former Louisville officer Brett Hankinson for his role in the 2020 death of Breonna Taylor. A judge declared a mistrial in November after the jury deliberated for several days

but could not reach a unanimous decision. Former Officer Brett Hankinson fired 10 shots the night of the deadly raid but did not strike anyone. His shots went into Breonna Taylor's apartment and into a neighboring unit where a child was sleeping. This new trial will be the third attempt to prosecute Hankinson for his actions on March 13, 2020, during the botched raid that left Breonna Taylor dead. He was acquitted last year on state charges of wanton endangerment for shooting into Breonna Taylor's window and a glass patio door.

US District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings set a tentative trial date for October, 2024. And I want to go to Attorney McCoy here first on this. So we remember that Attorney General, State's Attorney General in Louisville, Kentucky, Daniel Cameron, did not prosecute officers for the actual death of Breonna Taylor. Here we see in this case a hung jury, and we see that Officer Brett Hankinson is going to be retried. So what are your thoughts on this case from a legal perspective? So from a legal perspective, I think that we were all dismayed initially at the state level

with A.G. Cameron and his decision not to prosecute. Obviously, there was a police action that resulted in the death of Breonna Taylor. And obviously, the community wanted some change and at least accountability from the police department in the form of criminal charges. And yet and still, we didn't get it. The federal case is an attempt to try to protect the civil rights and try to enforce the fact that her civil rights were, in fact, violated. The problem, though, is that with this particular officer, if we're saying that the bullets from this particular officer weren't the ones that killed Breonna Taylor, essentially what they are trying to seek is a punishment for his endangerment or what could have happened as a result of him acting in what may be deemed to be a reckless capacity by shooting within a house, shooting, I think, the bullets that traveled through to an adjacent apartment. And it seems like for the last time when they tried to do this

at the federal level, the jury was hung on this and declared ultimately a mistrial. We don't know the composition as far as who was for and who was against, but we do know on that jury there was at least one black juror. And there was a question that was submitted by the jury last time to ask what would happen if they can't reach a unanimous decision. And they were told that, you know, just keep trying. And they tried, and we're at an impasse. So we are hoping that this will be another opportunity for some kind of standard to be established that hopefully will do something to adhere to Breonna Taylor's legacy.

Okay, thank you. And I'm going to come back to you with another question, but I want to go to Dr. Avis Jones, the Weaver. So, Avis, first of all, this was federal prosecution. We know that the Attorney General, that the Merrick Garland Department of Justice has reinstituted the investigations into the patterns and practices of police departments and has been going after prosecuting police officers as well as prison guards, et cetera.

It's totally different than the Donald Trump, Department of Justice. What are your thoughts on this decision to retry Officer Hankinson? Well, I'm glad that that is going to happen because it didn't have to. And so I'm really glad that this department, this Justice Department, is saying that we are going to keep trying to get justice for Breonna and her family. The fact of the matter is we cannot lose sight of the fact that this was a completely innocent woman. Let's also remember that she was someone who was an essential worker during the pandemic. She was out here doing, you know, saving people's lives. And here she is

trying to sleep in her own home when she is gunned down in a barrage of bullets based on incompetence at minimum. Okay. Completely no reason why she should not be alive today. And so the fact that this could happen, that the police could act so brazenly around not only her, but as you mentioned, her neighbor and her boyfriend, I mean, it was just a tremendously violent act to make, for that to happen and for no one to pay any price for that legally is a tremendous injustice. So I'm so happy that at least there's going to be another attempt to make sure that justice does indeed prevail in this case. Absolutely. Now, Attorney McCoy, so the narcotics investigation and this attempt to serve a search warrant that ended up taking the life of Breonna Taylor is described as

a botched narcotics investigation. And all those seven officers were on the scene to serve the search warrant. Only three fired their guns. The charges against Officer Hankinson were violating Breonna Taylor's civil rights, as well as those of her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, and three neighbors. The federal government contended that Officer Hankinson willfully used unconstitutional excessive force while his defense attorneys argued his actions were justified based on his perception that he was saving his fellow officers' lives. When it comes to the federal government, they, based upon limitations, they can file charges based upon violating someone's civil rights.

Can you talk about, for a minute, the standard that has to be proved, the elements that have to be proved when it comes to a violation of civil rights? Because from my understanding, you have to prove willful intent that someone willfully intended to deprive someone of their civil rights as opposed to just proving that they did violate someone's civil rights. Can you talk about that for a minute, please? So what I will say is I am primarily a housing attorney, so this is a little outside of my scope. But ordinarily, when we're dealing with any kind of civil rights case, we're dealing with state action that we believe has created a violation of someone's civil rights. And what we're saying in this case ultimately is the fact that this officer, because we know that

he was part of this investigation, part of this attempt to enter and breach into Breonna Taylor's household, and that he also was one of the officers who did, in fact, fire his sidearm into the house, these were, these would constitute violations of her right to be in her house safely, her civil rights. And so I think that ultimately there's going to have to be an assessment of whether or not this particular officer, I'm not sure what the defense's argument has been up to this point, but there's got to be an assessment as to whether or not what he did was reasonable police activity in trying to execute this warrant. And I think that's going to be a very difficult standard to prove.

Okay, absolutely. But at the same time, you know, Avis, if 16.9 million African-Americans did not vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, you would not have these prosecutions. You would not have the Department of Justice going after arresting over a thousand alleged domestic terrorists who tried to overthrow the government, getting plea deals or convictions and 600-plus of of them also going after prison guards, et cetera, as we've talked about here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. And then 150 federal judges confirmed also under Joe Biden as well. Talk about for a quick minute how we should proceed when we go into 2024 presidential election and people are comparing one political party to another and what has been accomplished these first two, almost three years of the Biden-Harris administration.

Right. I think people need to remember that you're not just voting for the individual at the top of the ticket. You're not just voting for the president and vice president, that team. You're voting for everything that happens as a result of the change of an administration. What type of people will they appoint to different positions? What's going to be their policy priorities? What are going to be those policies that they no longer care about or that they want to completely eliminate altogether? You want to think about the broader agenda and compare that when you're making these voting decisions. And so, as you mentioned, the difference between a Joe Biden Department of Justice and a Donald Trump Department of Justice is night and day. People might forget one of the very first things that Donald Trump did when he came

into office was to eliminate, completely defund a program that was in place under the Obama administration that was specifically meant to root out and, in essence, destroy white supremacist organizations. Yes. That was one of his first acts as president of the United States. So I wish people would stop romanticizing that period as if it was something that, oh, my goodness, that we just like him because he's strong. OK, think about what that means and also think about what happened during his presidency. Now, after he did that, and also, I think, riled up with the messages in his campaign, we have seen a record increase in the number of white supremacist organizations in this nation. He's making the racist feel very, very comfortable, okay, and aggressive.

Is it any wonder why we're having Karens go out here and shoot people, right? So I'm just saying that the implications of your vote is much bigger than any slogan. It's much bigger than any cute hat, okay? It is about all of the various things that will happen, not to mention Supreme Court justices that will be there for the rest of their freaking lives. And if you think they're going to stop by rolling back abortion rights, I have to tell you, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you because they're not stopping there. They're going to keep going. Absolutely. And they were able to

repeal Roe versus Wade or do away with Roe versus Wade because of the three Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump got confirmed through the U.S. Senate that Mitch McConnell controlled. And those justices came from lists coming from the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society. I'm coming to you, Attorney McCoy, to wrap up this segment. But for everybody who's confused, I encourage you, you hear me talk about this document at WhiteHouse.gov many times.

I'm on here. Fact sheet, the Biden-Harris administration advances equity and opportunity for Black Americans in communities across the country. It's a 36-page document that breaks down how these policies are benefiting the African American community. Talk for a minute or two, Attorney McCoy, about the importance of federal judges. In the 2016 presidential election, I heard many people who were voting for Donald Trump, many Republicans say that this election is about the U.S. Supreme Court and the federal bench, and these are lifetime appointments. Donald Trump got 226 federal judges confirmed, and these were judges that came from lists submitted to him from the Heritage Foundation

and the Fairless Society. Talk about the importance of this. So I just wanted to reiterate the fact that voting is important for all of the reasons that you all mentioned. But with federal judges, one of the things that people on the outside of the industry don't always understand is that they are lifetime appointments and that federal judges wield a vast array of power and oftentimes are going to be appointed because of a political commitment or a position that they have taken historically through the judgments and the orders and verdicts that they have issued along the way. So if you are against some of the social issues that that presidential candidate is running on, the likelihood is that if you do not exercise your right to vote and that person wins, they're going to install judges who are going to share that same viewpoint. And I think we've already seen that happening.

On top of that, you know, these judges, because it's a lifetime position, it takes years, usually decades, to get cases up to the Supreme Court to change things. And with a stroke of a pen, those things can change the landscape of the law in general. So it is vastly important for people to be engaged, not just because we say so, but because you need to look around and see what has been the results of your vote up to this point. And I won't even stop at just the federal level. I think that in many ways, state and local politics are even more important because you need to know who are going to be the people that are going to be leading your society or your community or your state when it comes to many of the powers which the federal government has not reserved for the federal government. So all these things are vastly important. And I think they go kind of unaccounted

for just because people don't traditionally see federal judges' names on the ballot. Absolutely. Well, I'm a bill on Capitol Hill. We need Schoolhouse Rock 2023 Civics 101. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. And on the next Get Wealthy, what do the ultra wealthy know that most of us don't? Well, the truth is that there is financial exclusion. And unfortunately, far too many black folks haven't had access to this knowledge. And that's exactly what we're going to talk about on our next Get Wealthy with Melinda Hightower, a banker who's doing something to share exactly what you need to do to make it into the

high network status. They weren't just saving just to save. They were saving for a purpose. That's right here on Get Wealthy with me, America's Wealth Coach, only on Blackstar Network. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, how big a role does fear play in your life? Your relationship to it and how to deal with it can be the difference between living a healthy life, a balanced life, or a miserable one. Whenever the power of fear comes along,

you need to put yourself in that holding pattern and breathe, examine. Find out if there's something that your survival instinct requires you to either fight or take flight. Facing your fears and making them work for you instead of against you. That's all next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. 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 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 one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June

4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. 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 man. 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 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 thisispreetirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council.

Farquhar, executive producer of Proud Family. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. According to a CNN report, the nation's largest credit union has the most significant loan approval gap between Black and white applicants among the top 50 lenders nationwide. The report reveals that Navy Federal Credit Union approved more than 75 percent of the white borrowers who applied for a new conventional home purchase mortgage in 2022. The bank, which lends to military service members and veterans, based on the data and CNN's findings, showed African-American mortgage applicants were twice as likely to be denied as white applicants. Navy Federal Spokesperson Bill Pearson says the CNN report does not accurately reflect the company's practices.

Now, I want to go to you first with this story, Attorney Jesse Hamilton McCoy, because I know you do with housing. And this is a story I submitted to Carol, the producer of the show, that I wanted to talk about today. Oftentimes, I remember back April 4th, 2018, there was, if I remember correctly, there was a Gallup poll that came out. Now, this was the 60th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King. And the poll stated that 40 percent of white Americans believe that African-Americans could be equally as successful as white people if we just tried harder, if we just tried harder. And going into the 2024 presidential election, you have people who think racism doesn't exist or that white people are the biggest victims of racism. Talk about what a study like this means and how it impacts African AmericanAmerican generational wealth? We have to understand that housing and home ownership is the main catapult into entering middle-class society and to any kind of income elevation. So by restricting access for people

to be able to go and secure housing, you are setting back not just the person who's seeking the housing, but generations that can achieve wealth as the homes purchased increase in value over time. But the main thing I got from learning about this story is, are we surprised? This isn't something new that just happened today. This is something that's been happening historically. And the fact that that's the reason why we have federal law that is trying to try to make parity amongst this. But it's not a shock. I think that one of the things that the Navy Credit Union maybe looks at a little bit differently is that because it's a credit union,

I think we gave them a false sense of security. We felt like, OK, it's a credit union. It's not one of the traditional big banks that we would expect to engage in this kind of behavior. And maybe because of that, it'll be more equitable. However, what we are seeing in these numbers doesn't necessarily reflect that same degree of equity. And it looks like this is a continuation of processes that have happened before. The fact that their gap between white applicants and black applicants is so large, especially compared to the bigger banks, does raise cause for concern. And I know that a Navy federal can have spokespeople who will say it's not an accurate reflection of what their practices are and doesn't take into account

other factors such as credit score. But it looks like on the CNN app, the CNN article, that they did factor in the credit scores and they did still have this huge disparity in the number of people who were approved. I think the other thing that was telling about the article was when people find out that they aren't approved. So it wasn't that people found out initially as soon as they applied. It was usually right before they were getting ready to close on the house, which is probably the worst time to find out that your mortgage didn't go through. And what that does, particularly in a market that is increasing in value, means that if you have to go back out here and find another bank and all of them seem to find another bank within two weeks, well, the value of that home may have gone up because there may have been additional offers

that increased in value on that home. So now you may be taking out a larger loan. So it's all kind of part and parcel to barriers to home ownership and thus barriers to creating that generational wealth. All right. Thank you. Avis, the article goes on to say the disparity remains even among white and black applicants who had similar incomes and debt to income ratios. Notably, Navy Federal approved a slightly higher percentage of applications for white borrowers making less than sixty two thousand dollars a year than it did of African-American borrowers making $140,000 or more a year, so much for all you need to do is work harder. Now, a deeper statistical analysis performed by CNN found that African-American applicants to Navy Federal were more than twice as likely to be denied as white applicants, even when more than a dozen different variables, including income, debt-to-income ratio, property value, down payment percentage, and neighborhood characteristics were the same.

Avis, you've been helping African-Americans start businesses, grow their businesses, build generational wealth, et cetera. Give us your take on this study and what it means. Absolutely. And even before that, I was part of the Ford Foundation's Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative. And so this work around access to housing is a huge one, as was mentioned, because access to home ownership is a big variable when we talk about the wealth gap that exists. Right now, whites typically have about 10 times the wealth as a typical Black family. And a big chunk of that has to do with the wealth that people can amass through home ownership and be able to pass down that level

of wealth from one generation to the next. So what we're seeing here is just another example of, in essence, I would call the black tax. I mean, we pay more for things in one direction. We pay more for things oftentimes in our white counterparts. I would argue oftentimes you'll pay more for car insurance. We'll pay more for lots of sort of things like that. But in addition to that, we're less likely to gain access to wealth acquisition vehicles like home ownership. I've seen other studies

that have shown even steering by sometimes real estate agents who are less likely to show Black customers who would qualify to purchase a home in a certain area, one would think, given the statistics, are less likely to show them those homes that might be in what they see as being a largely white neighborhood. I mean, this is a problem that we've had in this country for years, and it's very disturbing that this particular finding would come out with this specific credit union that I think a lot of people would have expected more from, number one, because it's a credit union, number one, number two, because it's a very popular credit union. And then when you see the huge disparity in the income, it almost makes me think about the fact that another sort of disparity if you think about the fact that, you know, white, black women,

for example, tend to have to make, earn almost a PhD before they make on par with their, in terms of their wages as a white guy with a GED. So as you mentioned, there's so many ways to put it. Working harder does not get us the same results. We can't outwork discrimination. And this is just one example of it. Absolutely. Attorney McCoy, we know that the median household net worth for a white family is about eight times that of an African-American family. Now, it's not because white people work eight times harder. It's not because they're eight times smarter. It's because of laws and policies and the history in this country that has maldistributed wealth, power, and resources into the hands of Europeans.

Now, to be fair, I talked about this at the beginning of this segment. I'm going to come to you again, Attorney McCoy. In a statement, Navy federal spokesperson Bill Pearson defended the credit union's lending practices. And he said that the CNN analysis, quote, does not accurately reflect our practices, end quote, because it did not account for, quote, major criteria required by any financial institution to approve a mortgage loan, end quote. Those factors included credit score, available cash deposits, and relationship history with lender. So talk about what that means. Is that a good argument? Because there's a huge history and discrimination when it comes to African-Americans getting home mortgages, refinancing home mortgages. And also, if you look at the research from the Brookings Institute a

few years ago, Andre Perry, African-American homes are valued collectively at $156 billion less than comparable white homes. Talk about that, Attorney McCoy. So, first of all, if the question is, is that a good argument, my response is no. I think that we've already seen that even with similarly situated credit scores, there's still not going to be the same acceptance for mortgage applications across these different across different racial metrics. I think on top of that, if there are other factors that he's saying that Navy Federal is using to differentiate, we should be able to know what those factors are. And I think one of the problems

is that right now there's no federal law that allows us to really find out what the internal mechanism is for credit unions to be able to make these decisions. So he can kind of hide his hand at the same time as trying to kind of toe the company line. What I will say, though, is nothing that he's doing is uncommon or nothing that AV Federal Credit Union is accused of doing is uncommon. All of the banks have disparities, just not in this great of a proportion of the 2023.

And so these are things that, as we've mentioned before, if we are unable to access home ownership and develop from the appreciated value of that home ownership, wealth that we can pass down to other generations or use to start our own businesses or use to send kids to college or whatever the case may be,

then it's furthermore a thumb on the scale of trying to achieve income equality. Absolutely. And very quickly before we wrap up this segment, Attorney McCoy, if you could just take a quick minute and talk about what can the Department of Justice, for instance, do when we have proven, not just a study, but an investigation and then proven evidence of discrimination? What type of legal action can be taken? If you can talk about that for maybe about a minute, about 60 seconds.

Well, certainly that would be a violation of several federal policies. So one would be federal, the Fair Housing Act. One would be truth in lending. If you're finding that there are deceptive ways that they're trying to connect people with lending practices, or if they're trying to deny you for some standard that is not necessarily incorporated into any of the mortgage application evaluation processes. But the problem for that is these are federal statutes for which you have to sue, which means you probably have to get an attorney, which means that's going to cost more money to bring the action forward and to get the justice that you're seeking from a court system, which a lot of people just don't have the resource to do, particularly if they're seeking a mortgage to buy a home.

OK, thank you. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. We'll be right back. Grow your business or career with Grow with Google's. 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 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. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. 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. Pre-game to greater things.

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The Cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Me, Sherri Sheppard, and you know what you're watching, Roland Martin Unfiltered. Unfiltered. Andre Jones has been missing from his Washington, D.C. home since December 6, 2023. The 14-year-old is about 5 feet 8 inches tall.

He weighs 120 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a pink shirt, black jeans, and a blue jacket. Anyone with information about Andre Jones is urged to call D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department Youth and Family Services Division at 202-576-6768. An Alabama family is seeking $36 million in damages against the city of Mobile related to the July 2nd death of Jawan Dallas. On July 1st, Mobile police officers mistook 36-year-old Jawan Dallas for a burglary suspect. The wrongful death lawsuit claims the unnamed officers displayed, quote, willful, Dallas, quote, of his life and his rights under the United States Constitution, end quote. The lawsuit alleges that Dallas, quote, was accosted, beaten and excessively tased and that he was under no suspicion of committing any criminal activity, end quote. Juwan Dallas, who was 36 years old, died on July 2nd in Mobile, Alabama, from injuries

sustained during an altercation with police, who tased him multiple times during his arrest. The family has viewed the body cam footage, but it has not been publicly released. The family of a Chicago woman whose frozen body was discovered inside a Rosemont Hotel's walk-in freezer will receive more than $6 million in a settlement. 19-year-old Kanika Jenkins was found dead in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in September 2017, after she had been missing for nearly a day. A lawsuit against the hotel, the hotel's security contractor, and a restaurant allegedly leasing the space initially sought more than $50 million in damages. The parties settled in October of 2023, though the terms were sealed until Tuesday. It took authorities almost a day to locate Kanika Jenkins' body after she disappeared in the early morning of September 9th, 2017.

I'm going to go to my panel with these two stories. I'm going to go to you first, Dr. Avis Jones DeWeaver. What are your thoughts on these two stories? And as far as Kanika Jenkins, I remember when it happened. I remember the effort of the mass protests in Chicago to get answers behind her death, et cetera. But give us your thoughts on these two stories. Well, I'm glad that they did reach a settlement in that very tragic case. It was just completely tragic. It's horrible what happened to her. But I am definitely hoping that, you know, the families, at least this will help them a little bit in that grieving process to know that there is some level of justice with that situation. In terms of the previous case, I would just say that it's just, once again, it is just so tragic that it seems as if we're just in a space in this country where these tragedies just keep happening. And to see how life is so fragile and things can happen to people,

and all of a sudden, it becomes very hard oftentimes to get answers. I just feel so bad for families who sometimes have to wait years to get the whole story and to ultimately receive some manner of justice to allow them to move on. Absolutely. Attorney McCoy, give us your thoughts on these two cases. So both of these situations are incredibly sad. Now, I'll start with the situation in Chicago. I remember that case, and I remember that there was a lot of concern about how could this have happened and why can't we have any kind of conclusive answer. And so while I know that no amount of money will ever be sufficient to bring back or to recover the life that you are deprived of, I am happy to see that there has been at least

some degree of accountability to put some degree of closure on that case. As far as the Georgia case, in reading that, I was shocked to learn that one of my good friends, Harry Daniels, is the attorney on that case. I know Harry personally. He's going to fight for that. I think that even though we might not have the videotape public right now, I think that before long it's going to be available. And I think that they're ultimately going to have to meet him either in the courtroom or at a settlement table and try to deal with the ramifications of what was on that video.

Okay, thank you. You know, Avis, oftentimes when African-American women are the victims of violence or end up dead, it's hard. Sometimes it's hard to find out exactly what happened. And sometimes there could be a lack of desire to prioritize that death. Now, in this case here, the Cook County medical examiner ruled that Kanika Jenkins died of hypothermia, though alcohol and a drug used to treat epilepsy and migraines were, quote, significant contributing factors, end quote. A Cook County judge has dismissed the case, court records show. So talk about for a minute the importance of getting justice for African-American women when it comes to various cases like this, either in a civil lawsuit or a criminal case.

We just talked about Breonna Taylor still trying to get justice for Breonna Taylor. Talk about that for a minute, please. Yeah, I mean, these are just reflections of the degree to which black life in general is not valued in this country and black women's lives specifically is not held in high value in this country. And it happens when you have tragedies like this, where Black women end up dead and there doesn't seem to be the same level of vigor oftentimes related with the investigations around it. It also happens when Black women are missing and, you know, the search for them is not

prioritized. It is just a sad reality that in this life, in this specific country, Black life and Black women's lives do not raise to the top of priorities of our law enforcement forces. It does not raise to top priority of those who are doing investigations in the aftermath of tragedies like this. It does not raise to a top level of wanting to handle with care in terms of just interactions with human beings as a result of it, similarly to what happened with Breonna Taylor.

So it is a broader reflection of the degree to which this country continues to devalue and deprioritize Black life. Absolutely. Well, when you say Black lives matter, Black women's lives matter also. Roland Martin and Filter will be right back here on the Black Star Network. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, how big a role does fear play in your life? 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 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. 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 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 thisispretirement.org.

Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Your relationship to it and how to deal with it can be the difference between living a healthy life, a balanced life, or a miserable one. Whenever the power of fear comes along, you need to put yourself in that holding pattern and breathe, examine. Find out if there's something that your survival instinct requires you to either fight or take flight. Facing your fears and making them work for you instead of against you. That's all next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. I'm Faraji Muhammad, live from LA. And this is The Culture.

The Culture is a two-way conversation, you and me. We talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together, so let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into.

It's The Culture, weekdays at 3, only on the Black Star Network. Next, on The Black Table, with me, Greg Carr. We featured the brand new work of Professor Angie Porter, which, simply put, is a revolutionary reframing of the African experience in this country. It's the one legal article everyone, and I mean everyone, should read. Professor Porter and Dr. Valetia Watkins, our legal roundtable team, join us to explore the paper

that I guarantee is going to prompt a major aha moment in our culture. You crystallize it by saying, who are we to other people? Who are African people to others? Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other? The structures we create for ourselves, how we order the universe as African people, Governance is our thing. Who are we to each other?

The structures we create for ourselves, how we order the universe as African people. That's next on The Black Table, here on The Black Star Network. I'm Dee Barnes, and on the next Frequency, Professor Janelle Hobson joins us to talk about hip hop and its intersection with feminism and racial equality, plus her enlightening work with Ms. Magazine and how the great Harriet Tubman

connects with women in hip hop. So it was not hard for me to go from Harriet Tubman to hip hop, honestly, because it is a legacy of black women's resistance and black women supporting our communities. That's what Harriet Tubman did. That's on the frequency on the Black Star Network. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the

new Sherri Shepherd Talk Show. You're watching Rolling Mark. Until tomorrow. A Virginia judge says Governor Glenn Youngkin's office does not have to release the criteria for restoring voting rights to returning citizens. The Virginia State Conference NAACP filed the suit to compel the governor's office to hand over the criteria for how the governor's office determined whose rights would be restored. Under Virginia law, anyone convicted of a felony is stripped of their voting rights and cannot get them back after serving their sentence without action from the governor's

office. Previous governors from both parties streamlined the restoration process, but Governor Glenn Youngkin's team goes about it on a case-by-case basis, citing state law that gives the governor sole discretion. The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents has voted to accept a deal with GOP lawmakers to cut back diversity initiatives in exchange for state funding. University system officials said that the agreement allows for more than $800 million for several initiatives, including pay raises and projects. In return, the university will freeze the number of diversity, equity, and inclusion positions, also known as DEI. The system will also, quote, realign, end quote, dozens of diversity, equity, and inclusion jobs through restructuring, quote, restructuring and reimagining of the DEI function, end quote, according to the Board of Regents meeting book,

according to the Board of Regents meeting book. The vote in Wisconsin comes as DEI university programs are being cut nationwide. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, expressed disappointment over the board's decision. In a written statement, Governor Tony Evers said, quote, the vote today represents a vast overreach by a group of Republicans who've grown exceedingly comfortable overextending, manipulating, and abusing their power to control, subvert, and obstruct basic functions of government, end quote. He went on to say, quote, I am disappointed and frustrated with this result, this proposal, and the process that led up to this point. It is also my expectation that every individual who promised in this process that the important work of building diversity, equity, and inclusion and making sure our campuses are welcoming and work for everyone would not be diminished by this action, by this action we'll be working in

earnest to make good on that commitment. And I'm going to make damn sure that they do, end quote. That's Governor Tony Evers of Wisconsin. I'm going to go to my panel on these two stories. I'm going to start with you first, Attorney McCoy. Give us your take on these two stories, especially dealing with what's known as felony disenfranchisement, when you lose your right to vote because of a felony conviction here in Georgia. Talk about that, please. So, one of the things about the Virginia case that was interesting is that this was actually something that was thrown out on a procedural issue. The understanding here is

that the governor created a certain list of criteria for which he's going to evaluate anyone who's applying to be able to be reinstated for voting. The problem is that criteria isn't transparent and everybody doesn't know. So the NAACP was trying to kind of find out what is that criteria. And, you know, I hate to take it back to voting, but essentially this does go back to voting. The governor has certain exclusive powers that just fall within that executive branch. And so what the court is saying is essentially the governor made the program. It's within his powers and within his branch. And so what the court is saying is essentially the governor made the program. It's his, it's within his powers and within his branch.

There's nothing that the judiciary can really do to compel him to reveal what this criteria is. And I know, you know, we can say that it's not fair, it's not right, but I think these are things that you have to hold leadership accountable for when you see them on the ballot. So now we know he has no intention of releasing what his criteria for reinstatement is. You have to factor that in when you go to vote the next time he's up for election. Absolutely. Well, elections have consequences, and it looks like Governor Glenn Youngkin, Avis,

is saying it's my prerogative not to quote Bobby Brown, but it sounds like this is what he's saying. You know, I remember in the I think it was 2022, 2022, I think it was Governor Glenn Youngkin was elected. Former Governor Terry McAuliffe ran and lost. He's a Democrat. Democrat, and even though Terry McCollum did not reach out to the African-American community, as it was talked about here on Roland Martin Unfiltered, we still also have to stop threats. We still also have to stop threats that are clear and present dangers, okay? So talk about either one of these stories that you want to discuss or both, Avis. Sure. Well, about Youngkin super quickly, and it was also interesting that you want to discuss or both, Avis? Sure. Well, about Youngkin, super quickly. And it was also interesting that you might recall in his campaign, he made attacks against critical race theory.

You know, what they define as critical race theory. The center of his campaign, that was one of the issues that I believe hurt Terry McAuliffe when he was asked about that and how Youngkin was really sort of creating his, you know, right-wing bona fides by jumping on the bandwagon of that at the time. He was doing what parents' rights involved in education. Yes. Absolutely. Attacking our history and all of that. And so it is sad that given that, you know, people should have known that, you know, what his priorities are and should have had a clue as to what some of the things that would happen once he's in there. So I'm not surprised that we're seeing that. But I am glad to say that with the most recent elections in Virginia, he's lost all, Democrats have retaken control of the state

House and Senate, so they can help to mitigate some of the damage that he could have been doing. However, this issue is very clear. There needs to be transparency there. Absolutely. Because it allows him to claim to be, you know, moving in the direction of legally what he's supposed to do. But without that transparency, he can just say, well, nobody's approved and there's no way for you to know. OK, generally speaking, though, this is this is just another example of why it's important that we focus on leadership. What's going to happen in elections, every election, not just the presidential election. But as was mentioned earlier, all the way down to your school board dog catcher. We need to make sure that our voices are heard.

Absolutely. You know, Attorney McCoy, oftentimes I talk about how we need to stop telling African-Americans to exercise their right to vote. I tell people, if you want to exercise, you go to the gym and work out. You don't vote for exercise. You vote for power. You vote for black power. Politics is the legal distribution of scarce wealth, power and resources and the writing

of law, statutes, ordinances, amendments and treaties, their adoption, interpretation and enforcement. And when we look at the history of felony disenfranchisement laws, we see them definitely starting right after the Civil War ends. We look at Florida, their 1868 state constitution. They imposed a felony disenfranchisement law where you lost your right to vote for life. And this is at a time when African-Americans made up 48 percent of the state population of Florida.

And they talked about how they feared a Negro legislature. They feared African-Americans voting and former slave owners then have to abide by laws that former slaves are voting on and getting elected into public office and passing laws that white people have to abide by. Talk about the need for us to have a better understanding of consequences when it comes to elections and these felony disenfranchisement laws. Well, mainly the one thing I want to say is all voting matters, right? And so not just federal, not just state, local as well. But there is a demographic of our population who, depending on the state that

you're in, have already been deprived of their ability to vote, despite the fact that they've already repaid their debt to society. And all they are looking for is to be reinstated. And there is a vested interest by one side of the aisle to keep them from being reinstated, because we know typically how people in that demographic are going to vote. And if the numbers on one side increase and they're not in your favor, you're going to enact laws and rules that are going to either inhibit their ability to vote or reduce the power of their vote, right? So it is important. It's vastly important, particularly when we look at that in conjunction with how we have established criminal statutes to criminalize things that,

you know, crime happens in all communities, but it's more so about where are the police looking to go pick up people for crime. And we know that the police are going to be disproportionately in communities like ours, solely for this fact. So it's kind of a bookend, in and of a sense, to keep us in one place, when in actuality all of these elections matter and all the people who have ability to vote matter. Absolutely. And just as a footnote, I want everybody to check out this article from NBCNews.com.

Most states disenfranchise felons. Maine and Vermont allow inmates to vote from prison. And this is something a lot of people don't know. When you study the history of felony disenfranchisement laws, and I have because I teach a lot of this history, it largely had to do with African-American populations and trying to keep African-Americans from voting, especially African-American men, after the 15th Amendment of 1870. Right now in Maine and Vermont, if you are a convicted felon sitting in prison, you can vote from prison. And the reason why is because Maine and Vermont historically did not have large African-American populations.

OK, so we have to understand how all this works and understand elections have consequences. I want to go to this next story here quickly. The attorney generals in Massachusetts and New Hampshire are turning the tables on a white nationalist group. John Formella of New Hampshire and Massachusetts of Andrea Joy Campbell filed a civil rights violations lawsuit against NSC 131 and two of its leaders, Christopher Hood and Liam McNeil, accused the group of engaging, quote, in violent, threatening, and intimidating conduct that violated state civil rights laws and unlawfully interfered with public safety, end quote. According to the complaints, the group repeatedly targeted drag story hours, attempting to shut down the events and attacking members of the public. The group also targeted migrant shelters in Massachusetts from October 2022 and October 2023, prosecutors allege. A New Jersey man whose racist rant went viral back in 2021 will spend eight

years in prison for harassing and using racial slurs against his neighbors. According to court documents released by the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office, Edward C. Matthews pleaded guilty to four counts of bias, intimidation, and possessing a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute. In 2021, a resident filed a harassment complaint against him for shooting, throwing rocks, and smearing feces on cars in his neighborhood. Sounds like a good upstanding citizen. When officers arrived, they found Matthews using racial slurs while engaging in a verbal altercation with four residents. Matthews, who has been in custody since his arrest, will get credit for the time he's already served and will be eligible for parole in

about 16 months. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and on the Next Get Wealthy, what do the ultra-wealthy know that most of us don't? Well, the truth is that there is financial exclusion, and unfortunately, far too many Black folks haven't had access to this knowledge, and that's exactly what we're going to talk about on our Next Get Wealthy with Melinda Hightower, a banker who's doing something to share exactly what you need to do to make it into the high network status. They weren't just saving just to save. They were saving for a purpose. That's right here on Get Wealthy with me, America's Wealth Coach, only on Black Star Network.

Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. On that soil, you will not be free. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history.

Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist

in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. 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 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. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season 2 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 uh ricky williams nfl player hasman trophy winner it's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves music stars marcus king john osborne for 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. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Me, Sherri Shevrit with Sammy Roman. I'm Dr. Robin B, pharmacist and fitness coach, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. I want to go back to my panel regarding those two stories that I just introduced.

And I want to start with Attorney McCoy first. Give us your thoughts, especially dealing with the story out of Massachusetts, the Attorney General of Massachusetts and New Hampshire turning the tables on white supremacists, and this deals with a civil rights violation. Talk about that for a minute, please, Attorney McCoy. So one of the things that I wanted to note on that story is that the attorney general there is Andrea Campbell. This is a black woman who is the attorney general. And I know we keep hammering this, but this is why it's important for you to vote because the attorney general is usually somebody who has either voted or who is appointed. And so in her being here, she's recognizing uniquely that there's a violation of Massachusetts state civil rights law that this group seems to be engaged in.

There also seems to be some disruption in, I guess, the drag performances, which is something that I think has been commonplace throughout the nation. There's an orchestrated attempt to try to stop particularly members of the LGBTQ community from engaging in this kind of work. And what has been happening is, for so long in so many states, nobody was really doing anything except lip service and saying, OK, well, we would appreciate if you'd not come. She's taking it a step further and saying, no, these are actually violations of rights that we have on the books in Massachusetts, and we plan to enforce them.

So I think all this stuff comes back to the fact that the people who are in these positions of power matter. Absolutely. Avis, I know oftentimes we have economic empowerment gurus who say things like, well, we don't need to vote. We don't need to get involved in politics. We just need to do economic empowerment like the Asians. You've probably helped more African-Americans scale their businesses up.

I see you talking about the type of deals your clients get. You're the real deal, okay? I know like some of the other people out there, but you're the real deal. And I have a background in business. I've managed African-American-owned companies that had government contracts, city of Detroit, county, Wayne, state of Michigan. We had African-American employees, et cetera. Talk about either one of these stories that you want to discuss. Yeah. Well, so what I was going to say is, if we're going to talk about this as well, just in terms of the civil rights focus and why it's important to have people in positions of power that can hold others' feet to the fire. It can be with regards to this white nationalist organization, but also

when we're talking about what the government does, the reason why voting matters and can be something that you can intertwine with your economic power is that people who are in office get to create scenarios where they can either appoint individuals or they pass laws that can impact their lives in numerous ways. This is just one example. But think about how you can have certain programs that are like, for example, with this administration that are meant to expand opportunities for Black businesses. You know, economic empowerment is critically important, but political power is important, too. And the two actually work synergistically together.

So I would say, yes, go out there, get your business up, make your money. OK, but there are lots of things that government can do to make that even an easier process, number one. And also we have to think about you have to live in a nation where you want your rights to be protected, because I can tell you, you can make all the money in the world, but if you found yourself in a very precarious situation, you don't want, for example, white nationalists to be running amok. You want to be able, if you're a woman, to have control over your body. You want to be able to have control over your life. And I find that who is in office has a big impact on all of these things that affect our lives potentially in either very negative or positive ways. Absolutely. Well, as somebody myself who has a degree in business administration, who taught entrepreneurship for seven years, who managed a business consulting, an African-American owned who taught entrepreneurship for seven years, who managed the business consulting, an African-American-owned business consulting company for seven years,

and was also involved in writing public policy for the city of Detroit. I can see how laws and policies and politics shape your economic empowerment. This is what people have to understand, OK? Fourteen million jobs created, 14 million-plus jobs, about 3.7 percent unemployment rate. You had supply chain issues a couple of years ago. That's been taken care of. So a lot of times people, and I'm coming to you for another legal analysis on this, Attorney McCoy, a lot of times people think that your economic empowerment operates in a vacuum and is not impacted by laws and policies.

That's totally incorrect. Would you rather have 14 million plus jobs and 4.5 million net job gain or lose 14 million jobs as well? So talk about this as well from a legal perspective and whatever legal analysis you want to weigh in on this as well, dealing with, in your experience, from the housing sector as well, how we look at increasing interest rates, for instance, how that impacts African-Americans' ability to buy homes, and then going back to the story from CNN analysis,

how we're negatively impacted when it comes time to try to get mortgages from homes. We're negatively impacted by discrimination when it comes to business, et cetera. Give us your analysis to wrap up this discussion. So there's so much to discuss there. So I think, first of all, interest rates oftentimes are going to be a huge hindrance for people who are trying to borrow in order to buy a home. So if you're independently wealthy, interest rate may not necessarily mean as much. But most people do not have independent wealth to be able to buy a home. The golden rule has always been 20 percent down for a home. But if the home prices are continuing to go up, as they have been, you're going to be asking the bank for more and more money and they're going to establish more and more interest. Furthermore, we also have a historical

precedent that banks have seen opportunities to also treat these in predatory fashion. So it's one of those situations where they say, well, how bad do you want it? If you want it bad enough, you'll pay this exorbitant interest rate, which also causes problems because say you do get in the home and then because of the interest rate or because of an increasing interest rate, which also causes problems because say you do get in the home and then because of the interest rate or because of an increasing interest rate over time, you're unable to maintain and hold the home. That home can be taken back from you through the process of foreclosure. So it is very important for people to understand kind of the roles that all these things play in not just your ability to go vote, but your ability to pass down generational wealth,

because I think everybody at least tacitly wants to leave their offspring and next generation in a better financial position than what it is that they inherited. And the only way that you're going to be able to do that is to make sure that you're maximizing your opportunities to engage in commerce and engage in home ownership and be able to provide that for your kids. Absolutely. Well, as I explained to my students, if you think that laws and policies don't impact your business, then you try to open up a restaurant. You're going to be regulated by the health department. That's government. If you want to sell alcohol in your restaurant, you have to get a liquor license. That's from state government. And the health

department is going to come and check to make sure that your restaurant is clean. It's going to make sure that you meet certain safety standards. Also, when it comes to buying food, then that food is going to be inspected by the Food and Drug Administration. That's another government entity. And your restaurant is also governed by zoning laws from the city. That's another government entity. So you can think that you can do economic empowerment and not deal with politics, but you're going to find that you're sorely mistaken. The last story that we'll look at today, a black man will serve on Louisiana's U.S. Western District Court for the first time

after the Senate confirmed two of Democratic President Joe Biden's Louisiana judicial nominations. Shreveport, Louisiana's Jerry Edwards Jr. was confirmed in a 66 to 24 vote. Edwards will serve in Alexandria when he takes his seat on the bench. Edwards has served as the first assistant U.S. attorney in the Western District in Shreveport since 2022. Before that, Edwards served as chief of the civil Division from 2020 to 2022 after joining the office as an assistant US attorney in 2019. I'm gonna come to you, Attorney McCoy, for a one minute quick analysis of this. Give us your thoughts on this, please.

So it's always good to see somebody reach judiciary with support, with overwhelming support. That doesn't happen often, particularly for a black person becoming a federal judge. And as we talked about before, this is a federal judge appointment, so he will have that for life.

So this is a great day for the state of Louisiana and for the federal government. Absolutely. And Avis, give us 30 seconds on this, anything you want to say on this story. Well, I would just say Black Judges Matter. I mean, it's very important that we have representation here because as we see, our rights are under attack. And so it's very important that we have people in position that

will likely look out for our rights rather than attempt to take them away from us. Absolutely. Well, that's going to do it for us today. I'm Michael M. Hotep sitting in for the one and only Roland Martin. Thanks, Roland, for letting me guest host. Thanks, Carol, for helping me out as well. And the entire Black Star Network team there in the control room. Everybody have a great weekend. Blue Fire Gold Mob to my brothers at Phi80 Sigma Fraternity Incorporated.

Have a good weekend. We'll talk to you next time. Thank you. 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 this is pre-tirement.org brought to you by aARP 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 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 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast.