#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Russian Mutiny, Cleveland's Missing Children, PTSD Awareness, Mother & Son Murder Charges Dropped

Episode Date: June 27, 2023

6.26.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Russian Mutiny, Cleveland's Missing Children, PTSD Awareness, Mother & Son Murder Charges Dropped It's been a tumultuous 36 hours for Russia as it faces possible civil war and mutiny.  We'll speak with an independent journalist in Kyiv to give us the latest news. The United States Supreme Court paves the way for a second majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana.  We'll examine how the high court's dismissal will impact the 2024 elections.  What's happening with the surge of missing children in Cleveland, Ohio?  The police chief says misinformation is causing panic.  We'll speak with folks from the Cleveland Family Center for Missing Children and Adults about the rising number of missing children cases.  A Chicago mother and son are no longer facing murder charges.  Prosecutors believe the child was protecting his mother.  We'll tell you what the Chicago attorney general's office had to say about it.  It's PTSD awareness month, and in tonight's Fit Live Win segment, we'll speak with a therapist about the signs and symptoms. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication.

Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Today is Monday, June 26, 2023. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Streaming live on the Black Star Network from Atlanta. I'm here for the Lawrence Taylor Family Foundation golf classic, Just Finished Playing. So we'll tell you about that later in the show.

Also on today's show, drama in Russia. As the battle continues in the Ukraine war, a Russian mercenary almost lit a coup d'etat in Russia. He's now exiled in another country. What is going on? We'll talk to Terrell Starr, a black journalist'etat in Russia. He's now exiled in another country. What is going on? We'll talk to Terrell Starr, a black journalist who is there in Ukraine, about what is happening.

Also, a black mother viciously beaten by a black man in Chicago. Her son goes to the car, gets a gun, kills the man. Cops charged the 14-year-old kid and his mom with murder. Charges have now been dropped. We'll tell you about that story as well. Also, what's going on in Cleveland? More than two dozen black kids have been reported missing in just the past three weeks. What is happening, we'll tell you what's happening

there as well and what is being done to figure out the problem there. Plus it is PTSD Awareness Month. We'll discuss that in our Fit, Live, Win there. Plus, it is PTSD awareness month. We'll discuss that in our Fit, Live, Win segment. It is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin. I'm Filchard on the Boxster Network. Let's rolling. Best believe he's knowing.

Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling Martin. Yeah. Rolling with rolling now Yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real

The best you know, he's rolling Martin Now Martin Hey, Anthony Anthony, I'm here. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Folks, it was a weekend of drama in Russia as one of the mercenaries who's been involved in the war with Ukraine literally was making his way to the Russian capital. A deal was struck. He was not going to be arrested.

And now, of course, is now in exile in another country in Belarus. It was absolutely astounding to watch this unfold in real time. Terrell Starr is an independent journalist. He is actually in Ukraine. He joins us right now. So, Terrell, tell us exactly what the hell happened this weekend where this Russian mercenary who had been fighting for Putin in Ukraine all of a sudden turns on Russia and was threatening to troops into Moscow. And Sergei Shoigu.

So the two of them have been in battle with each other pretty much since the beginning of this war. And actually, the Wagner fighter groups are considered to be better trained, a little bit more experienced than the regular soldier. And so one of the ways in which Yevgosian has been able to establish himself as a singular player, a power broker in this all, is that Putin really empowered him. And so that's the reason where it comes from that. So actually, Prigozhin really does not have much of a relationship or he's not connected to the that the, you know, minister of defense was essentially trying to, you know, was trying to weaken him in order to maintain his stature with Putin. So he basically got in the way of their battlefield operations, setting them up. And so he wanted to settle this beef with Shoigu. Now, what I find interesting was that he went thinking that much of the Russian army would back him up, 50 percent of them. And so

one of the reasons why he stopped, one of the reasons why it's reported that he stopped, was that he realized that he overplayed his hand. And so now he basically was trying to find a way out of this deal that didn't make him look bad or feel like he didn't have any, you know, that he lost any power, any positive insight into the Kremlin. And so we really shouldn't be surprised by what's happening in one form or the other, because at the end of the day, you know, pretty Goshen operates in Africa. That's where he exploits and extracts wealth from these countries. And he believed that, hey, you know, since these countries in Africa share some similarity and values with the Kremlin, I'm used to doing this. I'm used to operating in chaos. But, you know, there was a situation where he overplayed his hand.

All right. So there are folks who are watching who might say, how does it impact African-Americans? Well, the rally is billions and millions of dollars have been sent to the Ukrainians in the battle against Russia. I've heard people say, oh, this war really has no impact on us. But the fact of the matter, it does have an impact on us, a financial impact, not just on what we're spending, but also this has impacted inflation. This war, this impacts wheat prices. We can go on and on and on. So for anybody who says that this war has no impact on African-Americans, that's a lie. And I think that because I think a lot of people see that these, quote unquote, two white people fighting each other, that it's an issue just between them.

And that's actually never have been true. And so you saw this delegation of African leaders come here to CAVE a few weeks ago, and they were doing so because exactly what you're talking about in regards to wheat prices. But there's also something else that's happening here, is that the prices have gone up. For the continent, this is pretty much bad business. And so it doesn't work in the interest of a number of for the continent of Africa if this war continues. And so right now, they see themselves as somewhat of a broker between Putin and the West. And so in a sense that Putin really has not had a good relationship with Brussels, with NATO, because he sees them as an imperial power. And then you have these countries in Africa who saw, who generally see the West as their colonizers and never really repaired the historical harm that was done to

them. And so they're really operating in the middle. And so they operate and actually work in concert with Moscow because they see them as a historical partner, one that did not attempt to exploit them, even though, ironically, they are via the Wagner group. stinking rich by extracting resources from the continent, in large part really holding up power structures in various African countries that are autocratic. And so in exchange for providing security for a lot of these autocrats on the continent of Africa, they're allowed to come in and steal Africa's wealth. All right. So, look, you're there. Give us a sense. I mean, does this impact what's happening there? Does this war come to a close? Or is this simply a reset? Second question, last question for you. How does this weaken Putin? Does it weaken Putin or does it actually keep his strength? Okay, so going back to your first question of how does it impact what's going on here, you know, it's really too difficult to make that determination at this point, for one, because people are saying, okay, is this going to impact the battlefield? Wagner have been the most important fighters here because, you know,

Wagner has a lot of experienced fighters, but they also have what's essentially called the meat grinder. They have been able to go to prisons and pretty much get convicts who don't have military experience, but they can send these men by the thousands into, you know, this meat grinder, you know. And so—and these people don't have any agency, any rights to really speak out against the abuse that they're facing. You see them from time to time complaining about their conditions, but beyond that, it's not really much else they can do. The Ukrainians have been undergoing, they've been engaging and shaping operations. I know a lot of people have heard that. All that means is that the Ukrainians have

been, you know, looking for weaknesses and gaps in the defense that they can exploit. And that has not changed as a result of this. Some of the people that I speak to say they've seen virtually no difference in the resistance of Wagner while all of this was going down. And so definitely can't say if this is really impacting the world. It's really too soon to tell. And you hear a lot of intelligent people saying, you know, giving their different takes on what they think will happen.

Look, I don't even think that Vladimir Putin or Pregozhin knows. 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 multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. 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 Dr 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. 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 podcast, 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. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org

brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. What's going to happen right now? Because, you know, even when I was reporting on this over the weekend, a lot of time in 10 minutes and 30 minutes, something changes. I mean, just today, Putin responded really angrily about what took place, not necessarily touching on or saying Prigozhin's name. Will this affect Putin's power? Again, that's too soon to tell. This is essentially a mafia state. And so we don't know particularly, you know, if this is going to really lead to a quick sprint to Putin losing his power. But he definitely leaves the situation looking much weaker than he did before this weekend started. All right. Thrill start, man. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Reporting live from Ukraine. We appreciate it. Thank you.

Folks, got to go to a break. We'll be back on Roller Mark Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Don't forget to support us in what we do. Download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. You can also support us with your dollars. Please join our Bring the Funk fan club. Your dollars make it possible to do what we do, broadcasting news from around this country. You can send a check of money over to PO Box 57196, Washington, DC. Squirt. Two zero zero,

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Audible. We'll be right back. capital. 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. 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. Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punch! I'm real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of Black America. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal.

See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? All right, folks, welcome back. Joining me right now is Dr. Julianne Malvo. She, of course, is a dean, college of ethnic studies at California State University, Los Angeles. Dr. Amakongo Dabinga, senior professorial lecturer, School of International Service,

American University out of Washington, D.C. And, Congo, I want to start with you. I made that point to Terrell, and people say, well, how does this Ukraine thing affect us? Well, you're spending our money, and also what happens there has a direct impact on the world gas prices, wheat prices. And so it's nonsensical for anybody to think that we somehow are not impacted by a war happening between Russia and Ukraine. Absolutely. And if you think about it every single day when we talk about this, some of us have a vested interest in making sure that people continue talking about this as a white people's problem. But the fact of the matter is,

I was actually in the Central African Republic in maybe two years ago doing work with youth down there. And I had to be transported around that city in an armored vehicle with U.S. military protection because the conflict was so bad there. And I didn't fully understand Progozhin and all of these guys. And then later on, I learned that he was one of the main people responsible for the conflict that's happening right there in Ukraine. And as Star said, this is happening across the continent. And he also provides security for the president of the Central African Republic. So for those of us who claim to be pan-Africanists and care about black people around the world, this is something we should be mindful of. For those of us in this country who talk about the abuses and things as it relates to mining products

and excess jewelry, diamonds, and all of those things that are making their way into the United States through illicit means, we should be mindful of that as well. But also on a direct basis economically, you talked about this, Roland. You can't just sit there and say Biden's responsible for inflation and not look at what's happening with this war. And when we take it back to Africa, a lot of the food products that are made in places like in African countries come from, you know, the Ukraine in terms of the seeds and things like that, which also affects world production. So in the United States, we have to be a little bit more sophisticated as Black people

and not just look at these folks and just say it's two white guys going at each other. Many of the things that we are experiencing right now in this country are directly related to what's happening in the Ukraine. And we can argue that, oh, people are covering this too much. But the way you are covering it, Roland, you are covering it in a way that should make black people in America understand that it's supposed to be bigger than just looking at Putin or Prokosian. This affects us in every way, shape or form. And we got to do a better job of listening about that. Julianne, you're an economist. The point we made there about, again, wheat prices. You literally have African nations who are saying this may lead to starvation.

And so people need to understand Russia and Ukraine are two of the world's largest producers of wheat. Ukraine has always been a huge producer, and we have not paid attention in the ways that we should. This looks like a conflict around land, but it's also a conflict around wheat production. That's why the African brothers went to Russia to try to meet with Putin, who would not meet with them, but tried to meet with them to talk about how we begin to open up the floodgates of wheat production and wheat distribution. Not here in the United States.

We got it here, but we don't have it all over the world. So what we have to look at in so many ways, Roland, is the fact that Putin has a stranglehold—has had a stranglehold on Ukraine because he's attempted to basically expand his base. The United States has an interest in preventing Putin from expanding his base. We have an interest in all of that because many of our African brothers and sisters depend on Ukraine for the export of wheat and other things. What can I say? I think that it's challenging to look at the ways that Ukraine has been like the wheat basket of the southern states, many African countries, and the fact that Putin, this is like a redo of the Cold War. It's a redo of the Cold War. And Putin is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. We all know he's

wrong. But it doesn't matter that he's wrong. What matters is that he has up to now had strength. Now, Wagner has slapped him in the head, and that's a good thing. But he has had strength, and his strength is in attempting to basically, what can I say, attempting to control food production, which then puts the whole diaspora into his control. So it's not a good thing. And you're right, it's an economic issue that we in the United States have not paid attention to. People see it as white boys going after each other, but white boys are producing food for black countries. And that's the bottom line. Yep, that's exactly what it is.

And so that's one reason why we did the story. And I'm sure some people are saying, hey, why are you focusing on this? Because it has an impact on us. It has an impact on the continent as well. So that's why it matters. Alright folks, hold tight one second. We've got to go to a break. When we come back, I'm going to talk with

the folks here at the Lawrence Taylor Family Foundation here in Atlanta at the Golf Classic today, raising money for their program. And so is a great turnout here. And so that's why we were here. And so we'll chat with them. We come back right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Early days in the road, I've learned, well, first of all, as a musician, I studied not only piano, but I was also drummer and percussion. I was all city percussion as well. So I was one of the best in the city on percussion. There you go.

Also studied trumpet, cello, violin, and bass, and any other instrument I could get my hand on. And with that study, I learned again what was for me. I learned what it meant to do what the instruments in the orchestra meant to each other in the relationships. So that prepared me to be a leader. That prepared me to lead orchestras and to conduct orchestras. That prepared me to know, to be a leader of men,

they have to respect you and know that you know the music. You have to be the teacher of the music. You have to know the music better than anybody. There you go. Right, so you can what happens in black culture. We're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people powered movement. A lot of stuff that we're not getting. You our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting.

You get it, and you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in Black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking

them to cover our stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people, $50 this month, raise $100,000. We're behind $100,000, so we want to hit that. Your money makes this possible. Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash App is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherry Shepard Talk Show. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. 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 Glod. 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 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 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. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at tearthepaperceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Să neem un pic de scăpire. សូវបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបា� The The The The The

The The Să ne urmăm în următoarea mea rețetă. Thank you. All right, folks, welcome back. Roland Martin and Phil Chigley here in Atlanta. I flew here playing in the Lawrence Taylor Family Foundation Golf Classic. I was just here a couple of weeks ago, of course, with the Steve Harvey Tournament, playing the same place, Bears Best. And so joining us right now, a couple of folks who are members of the Taylor family. Step right on here.

We have Tanisha. She is the co-founder. Then Whitney. She is the COO. How y'all doing? We're doing great. So excited to be here. I got you.

I got you. You can relax. You can relax. I got you. We're doing great. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for coming out today. And thank you for helping us raise money for an awesome, awesome, awesome cause.

All right, so for the folks who don't know what the foundation does, what do they do? We do a lot of things. We focus on health and wellness. We focus on mental health, sports and mentorship, and we do summer camps. We do programs, and we basically serve the community. Our big thing is adding value where we are. Gotcha. And so how long has Foundation been going on,

and then how many young folks have come through the program? This will be our third year. We started during COVID. Since then, we've done over 10,000 meals. We've served over 750 students. We've raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, and we're just excited to continue to keep doing the work. Wow.

You do the golf tournament. What other events do you have throughout the course of the year? We have the Lawrence Taylor Fundamental Football Camp, which we did on Saturday. It was great. We served over 200, almost 300 children. So we do that throughout the course of the year. There's an after-school program. During the summers, there's a summer camp.

So we really just work our hardest to keep the kids involved year-round so whether it's a movie night or a family night we might do a family dinner the biggest thing is trying to help families connect so we just kind of meet them where they are so whatever month it is that's what we're doing we do skate nights we do we just try to keep the kids involved in all aspects. Obviously, a lot of people come out for the golf tournament. A number of folks who played in the NFL.

Also had some NBA players in there, too. Absolutely. We had a really great turnout. Thank you to Eddie George, Dale Ellis, Neal Smith, Nick Van Axel, Ricky Jackson, Takiyah Spikes, Roland Martin. Brian Jordan. Brian Jordan. I'm trying to remember everybody.

It's so many, but we're so thankful for everyone who took the time to come out and spend their day with us on the course. One of the things that, I mean, we've done in the past, we did a philanthropic show from NBA All-Star Game. And people were going, like, why would you do that kind of show? And folks not realizing how many players, how many former players, still have foundations and still doing a number of things that take place in the community

that many people have no idea even exist. Right. And that was one of the biggest things for us. We didn't, just being inside of it, we did not really understand how big of an impact our father's name really still has. I think what now that our younger children are in school and these kids are still like responding and they stand, they know who their grandfather is. And like, wow, our kids might go with a camp t-shirt from two years ago

and the kids are still like, how do you know LT? And we are still like how do you know LT and we're like how do you know LT that's the real question so really um that was a big surprise for us and I like wow his name really still means something and that was one of the biggest drivers to try to go ahead and build off that legacy and push it forward beyond just football, just to say that we're here to serve. So. My biggest thing is I just am happy to be here. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, that's all I got right now.

Well, you kind of gotta be here. I do. It's been a long three days, and I'm so excited to be here at the end because that means we did it, right? Like, people literally for the last three days have showed up for us, not just because of who our father was, but for who he is today. You know, his name still rings bells, and it still is making an impact,

not on the field anymore, but off the field. And so we have had the football clinic. We had our cocktail reception yesterday. We had our golf today. And we're just excited to know that God chose us to continue the legacy of something that started on the field. One of the things that I think we talk about the camp. And so you say you had a couple of hundred folks there? Yes, we had a couple of hundred students and which is really big because we took a break because of COVID. This is something

that started out. It was, of course, my sister's brainchild. And the first couple of camps were in Hackensack. The football camp was your brainchild or the foundation? I am the foundation. I'm not even going to lie to you. This is my baby. This is my passion. And then we all found different areas that we add value in. So she's a really big communicator. So she's really big on programs and development and curriculum and things of that nature. But I just love the youth. I love being in it. I love being a part of it.

I love developing what we're doing and setting the vision for where we're going. So, I mean, we all were, and then our younger sister, she does the financing. So we all kind of found a way to take the different things that make us who we are to build up the foundation. Okay. Both of y'all in frame.

Now, before, she did what you were saying. What was I saying? You were talking about the camp. Right. Atkinson. Right, right, right. So, yeah, we served a couple hundred children, which is really big because we took a break for COVID.

That's what I was saying. But we started out, we took the camp to Hackensack, New Jersey first because we felt like New York, the name is big. But it became a little bit burdensome being that everybody lives in the South and we moved it South. And we've been really excited that people have really responded to his name down here, which goes back to what I was saying, like really not understanding the impact that he has. We thought it was like a New York thing, but we brought it here. People responded. We had to break down for COVID, but we brought it back. This is our first year back since then, and the people showed up. And so they were really excited. They loved it. We got a lot of good feedback from it. We feed the kids lunch. We, I mean, breakfast. We started with breakfast. We

sent them home with lunch. They had a mentoring session before they got started. So we really tried to pour into them in a short amount of time. And that's something, that's one of the programs that we really want to build. We really want to do it more often. So that's why things like this are important so that we can be able to support those kind of programs. We did a seven on seven this year. This was our first one. That was dope. We brought out six different schools from across Atlanta and they did their thing and it was awesome. So we look forward to it continuing to grow. Can I add something there? One of the big things that we're doing as an organization is that we are leveraging the name and the legacy to

put money and resources behind people that we truly, truly believe in is that we are leveraging the name and the legacy to put money and resources behind people that we truly, truly believe in. And so one of the people that we are truly, truly so thankful for is the Route King because he literally builds our camp. He literally pours into it. He brings the coaches out. He sets up the whole structure of it. He opens it up to his students. So although the name Lawrence Taylor brings people out, it is the Route King who actually drives what we do. And we really want to create an opportunity for us to be able to, like my sister said, build more into that program because between Route King and LT, we can do dynamic work in the community. So we're excited.

But you also have the advantage, obviously, of, one, him playing for the Giants, named big there, being here, also North Carolina. And so when you think about moving forward, are you thinking about how do you also expand it, taking advantage of all of those relationships where he's played in the history? I would love to take that one first, if you don't mind. Our biggest thing is we want to enhance the quality, not so much the quantity, right? Because you can do a lot for a lot of people, but if you really want change,

you have to really pour into those who actually want to receive what you have to give. So we want to take it one city, one state, one step at a time because we can grow as fast as we want to take it one city, one state, one step at a time because we can grow as soon as fast as we want with the name behind us. But is there quality there? Do the parents actually respond? Do the students actually receive what we have to give? So we want to make sure that we're actually inspecting what we expect. So before we grow too, too far, we want to make sure that what we do really actually does the work that we say it does. So yes, we want to grow, but we actually want to make sure we enhance the quality of what we're doing. No, I second that 100%.

Everything we want to do, everything we do, we want it to be authentic. We want it to be authentic to who we are, what's going on in the moment. So we're going to respond as the moment responds to us. So she's absolutely right. So the other question I have, because we're waiting on LT. I think he's doing the interview. So hopefully he'll be with us soon So the other question I have who idea was it to pair me with some campus? They try to understand I roll up and They got me in a group and it's four cappers.

And I'm going, who was high last night putting the groups together and put me with four cappers who I had to carry the whole round? I can honestly say it was intentional, not the capper part, but Brandon Jones is another person that we really want to put resources and finances behind because he has this program called Next Step Education. So he's bringing information about how to teach our students how to get access to scholarships, how to get access to Next Step Education. So we thought it would be an awesome opportunity for them to be able to tell their story,

what they have going on with you. Now the whole... They ain't mentioned none of that. They ain't mentioned... None of that got mentioned. We of that they mention none of that got mentioned that conversation would kind of like take the lead and then you came out with your cap I mean your arm alpha information and they had their type of stuff and then became no no let me perfectly clear let me perfectly

clear no no no my alpha stuffs completely superseded all late stuff well back shoes daddy is you gotta remember who your daddy is. You got to remember who your daddy is, you know? So it was a whole thing. But most importantly, we felt like they have a story to tell that can help us to continue to further what we're trying to do because we want to bring resources to the community. I don't know what single thing it put me with them, all them cappers. You're the perfect person.

Y'all, seriously, they put me with them cappers. You're the perfect person. Y'all, seriously, they put me with four cappers, and I had to carry them the whole round. Oh, trust me, they were using my shot most of the time, as cappers always do. They always have to follow alphas. That's how we do it. You got two little cappers over there right now. Yeah, two Lil. No, two Lil. Two Lil Capos. L-I-L. Lil. That's right.

All right, so what's next? All right, so besides getting some rest now, what's next for y'all? Go ahead. What's next? Oh, it's about the world is our oyster, you know? And so now that we see that people respond to what we have to offer, the goal is to figure out who we really want to do business with

and who wants to do business with us, you know? We know what we have. We know what we have to offer. So we have more programming coming out. We have more events taking place. And we have more relationships to build because the work only starts here. But getting up tomorrow and continuing to do it is what, you know, is the most important part.

That's the biggest thing. I think moving forward this year, being intentional and really building relationships. We don't want it to be next year that we see everybody. We don't want it to be, you know, we don't want all that time to pass and they don't hear from us and we don't hear from them. We really put a lot of thought into the people that we brought out. And so we really want to nurture those relationships. Like she said, the work continues on the ground. But we want to make sure that the work is continuing in the back office and we're making sure we're connecting with everybody and bringing them on.

Okay, there he is. Yeah, we out here. What's up? And so I'm going to tell you how real black they are. So I get I get an email last night. Hey, can you say a couple of things tomorrow? And, you know, sort of encourage people to give. Oh, I ain't got a problem getting money.

We're going to talk about this. Just in case. I don't. Next year. We're going to talk about this. Just in case. Just in case. So, you know, I raised a quick $15,000. It may have been less than 10 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. No, maybe less than seven minutes.

Yeah, for sure. Seven on the outside. But that was epic. Yep. We're going to book you next year. Yeah, so you said we connected by email. Giving doesn't have to stop because you aren't in the room. We do have a text to give number.

So if you're interested or if you'd love to continue the work, you can donate. You can text LT56 to 41444. You can join us at the LawrenceTaylorFamilyFoundation.org. The funding doesn't stop just because the event starts. I mean, stop. The actual funding starts now. All right. Well, we appreciate it.

LT will join us in a little bit. Nick Van Exel, y'all, was over there just waving for some reason. I don't know why he was waving. So I guess he want to come on. That's what it is. Yeah. He was just waving. And so he also talked about how he watches the show.

So I'm going to go to a break. I'm coming back in two minutes. So go grab Nick. Tell him to come on over here. And so I'll have a little chat with him. I appreciate it, y'all. Congratulations. Thank you so much.

I appreciate it. Thank you. All right, folks. Going to a break right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered, right here on the Blackstar Network. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, a relationship that we have to have. We're often afraid of it and don't like to talk about it.

That's right. We're talking about our relationship with money. And here's the thing. Our relationship with money oftentimes determines whether we have it or not. The truth is you cannot change what you will not acknowledge. Balancing your relationship with your pocketbook. That's next on A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Blackstar Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. I'm sure you've heard that saying that the only thing guaranteed is debt and taxes.

The truth is that the wealthy get wealthier by understanding tax strategy. And that's exactly the conversation that we're gonna have on the next Get Wealthy, where you're going to learn wealth hacks that help you turn your wages into wealth. Taxes is one of the largest expenses you ever have. You really got to know how to manage that thing and get that under control so that you can do well. That's right here on Get

Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Hi, I'm Jo Marie Payton, voice of Sugar Mama on Disney's Louder and Prouder Disney+. And I'm with Rolander Mart Unfiltered. Nick Vann. 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 multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated.

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

and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on 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. stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skill through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves.

Find resources for breaking through barriers at TaylorPaperCeiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Nick Van Exel, former NBA star, joins us. He was out here playing golf and joining us. How'd you do today? I showed up, had fun. It was a great event. First of all, when they start with a sigh, you already know what's coming. I had fun. I hit the ball good, hit the ball bad. I hit the ball good, hit the ball bad, but I had fun.

Okay, that's always a good thing. Plus, luckily, after the storm last night. Folks, you understand, a massive thunderstorm came through in Atlanta. I got here five hours late. People were stranded in the airport last night, but it turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day today here in Atlanta. Yeah. I mean, I got in Friday.

It's raining a lot. We came out here yesterday, actually, and played, tested the course out. I whooped LT, but he didn't tell nobody, but I whooped his butt yesterday. But the event was great. Like, everybody was just having fun. All the sponsors around the course, very nice, very cordial. So it was a great event. You know, look, I play in a lot of these tournaments.

George Lopez, Anthony Anderson, Seth Entertainment, Jeffrey Osborne, Amos Smith. I'm trying to think. I got Chris Tucker back here. And a lot of people really don't understand, one, it's always a great time. But literally hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars are being raised, and for many of them, it's a direct impact on black kids. Yes, I mean mean you the man hey i don't know if y'all seen what he was doing this man was raising some money and they need to bring you

to all the events because the only thing he's missing is i don't need that look this man raises money and like the foundation i, I think it done great. We have some young girls who started their own foundation. You helped them raise some money. So, man, that was a blessing. Well, you know, I believe in that line from American Gangster when Frank Lucas said, I'm going to get that money. And you got it.

You got it. I don't believe in letting money leave the room. You got to it. You got to it. Now, you're retired. What are you doing now? What are you working on? A lot of things. I just finished two years with the Hawks. They fired me after they let Nate. Damn, who am I thinking about? The head coach. Nate McMillan, my man. Nate

McMillan. I had a few drinks tonight. It's okay. But Nate McMillan had got fired. And most of the time when that happens, you pretty much know what's about to happen after that. So right now I'm just chilling. I'm doing a lot of stuff on the side. So I'm good, man. I'm blessed. I got to ask you this here. Because I remember when you were playing, when Magic became coach, y'all were like, man, why are these old school dudes trying to come tell us what to do?

No, we didn't say that. But go ahead. So what did y'all say?, man, why are these old school dudes trying to come tell us what to do? No, we didn't say that, but go ahead. So what did y'all say? That was Magic's story. No, we invited Magic. I ain't going to say I was a Magic fan because I was from the Midwest, and I even told Magic that. But when he came to our team, I thought Magic was great for the simple fact that

he was like a rah-rah kind of a coach, and he knew how to get us motivated. And I thought, and I tell him to this day, I said, if he would have stuck with it, he would have been a great coach. But Magic was making too much money. And coaching, like, you got to be invested into that. You know what I'm saying? So Magic, like, he had other things to do. He was making millions of dollars on other business investments.

But Magic was a good coach, and he was cool. Like, this man told us so many stories, and I had a chance to play with Magic when he first came back. And I'm going to share this story with you and your fans that I shared with people before. So one day we were out at Loyola Marymount. He was the head coach. And we're playing bad.

We're playing bad. So Magic was like, come on, y'all, let the head coach. And we playing bad. We playing bad. So Magic was like, come on, y'all. Let's go outside. Let's go outside. So we looking like, everybody looking around. So we go outside and he telling us, take some deep breaths. So we like, no, no, no, no. Take some deep breaths. So now we like,

so he was like, yeah, that L.A LA air smell good. Don't it? It's fresh air. Some of y'all, that's going to be your last breath out here. Cause some of y'all going to be up out of here. And we was like, Whoa. And then, and then as soon as you said that, now let's go practice. We was like, Oh, we done. We done. That was one of my greatest magic stories as a coach. Now, well, what often happens again when you're a player then you got coaches and you're like look i want to ball the way i ball but now that you're a coach do you tend to hear yourself saying stuff that coaches are saying to you you're like i ain't

trying to hear that and now are you trying to explain to this generation how to get it done? Oh, man. Like, true story. So, like, my coaches that I had, college, Bobby Huggins, who I love to death, Dale Harris, Dan Issel, John Lucas. Like, the coaches that coached me, I apologized to them. Growing up, I promised God, like, when I seen him again and I started coaching, my bad. I apologize because I get it now. I get what they were saying. But at the time, I'm caught up in a moment. I'm caught up in I can do this.

I can do that. But look, man, it's a team game. And the coach has the way he wants to coach his vision. But also, he sees stuff that you don't necessarily see as a player. And if you listen to, look, it's no different in my business. You can say, no, I want to do it this way. It's like, no, no, I see around the corner. You just see what's right in front of you.

That's their vision. And as a player, you really don't see that vision. You know what I'm saying? You see it differently. It could be right. It could be wrong. But no matter what, it has to be the coach's vision. And I ain't gonna lie. John Lucas, Dan

Issel, Dale Harris, Bobby Huck. I apologize to all them dudes when I see it. Now the niggas crack up laughing. They cracked up laughing and then they all get, oh, it's alright, it's alright. But no, that's a true story. Like, I apologize because I see it now. I see it and you see

things differently than a player sees it. Like, if you watch them film with a player now, and they say, yeah, I watched the game last night, they're not watching what we're watching. They're not watching what I'm watching as a coach. They're watching what they want to see, and it's totally different. Which is also, I think, the difference between when you have players who they say are essentially player coaches. So when you take a Bill Russell who was actually a player coach, when you look at a Larry Bird,

when you look at a Matthew Johnson, when you look at LeBron James, I mean, they literally are seeing all five positions and operating as a coach on the court. And the smart person is like, I want to listen to this dude. Yeah. And it's, I would say in this league, this era now, it's not a lot of those. Like to me, like Draymond Green, he can talk what Steve Kerr wants to convey to his team. And that's what people don't understand about Draymond Green. They're looking at stat sheets.

That's why, and again, I don't have any inside knowledge or whatever. They gave Jordan Poole a whole bunch of money. After one year, they shipped him out. And people were like, oh, Draymond is next. No, no. That's a special player that does stuff that you don't ordinarily get. Yeah, Draymond is perfect for that situation because you have a clay, you have a staff of guys that know how to move, move without the ball,

which is key in this era, especially with that team. And Draymond fits perfectly. And when you watch them, like before, like when Steph got hurt and Klay was hurt and Draymond was trying to teach the young guys how to play, and I told people, I said, you know what? Once they get healthy, once Steph comes back and Klay comes back, that team's going to be good because those young players are getting reps. And they won it last year.

You know what I'm saying? Because Draymond was ingraining them. Look, this is how we're going to play. Learn how to play this way. He did a good job. I'm not a big Draymond fan as far as like because I've come from the old school, but I love his work ethic and I love the way he approaches the game. Well, I think the, and I'll say this just even in my business,

and I think a lot of, I think a lot of former athletes who go into broadcasting learn it real quickly as well. The reality is you have to approach it the same way in terms of how do you see, how do you study, how do you approach it, but also how do you learn simply by watching, not even talking, watching how a pro moves and operates in their area. Yeah, it's huge. That's why people value, like older guys value, having veterans in the locker room. It is so important for younger players that come into the league to have somebody that can tell them, eat this, be here at this time, get your work done at this time, do this, do that.

Go to sleep. Go to sleep. And people, they really undervalue that. And the better teams have a good locker room presence. Well, Haslam didn't play for like the last five, six years. But UD is great in that locker room. And then they get a butler, you know what I'm saying? So they got guys around that whole organization that, look, this is how we roll.

This is how we do it. If we want to get to that level, this is how we got to do it. A lot of teams don't have that. Do you want to coach next year or do you want to take a year off and do something else you know coaching is what I love if I get an opportunity to coach I would love to do it but I'm I'm tired of beating on somebody door ask them like I think I'm really good but you know in this league hasn't my mom has an HBCU approach you I did coach at Texas Southern one year under Tony Harvey right that's right Has it... I'm going to keep my mouth shut. Has it HBCU approached you?

I did coach at Texas Southern one year under Tony Harvey. That's right, that's right. That was my first job. That was my first job in the coaching. My man Tony Harvey hooked me up with an assistant's job. So look, I love college first. If I can get a college job at some point in the future, I would love to take that. But I love coaching.

I think I got a lot to give to these younger players, to these younger kids trying to come up, especially trying to make it to the NBA. Because, look, they think it's just, I'm going to poop, I'm going to make a shot, I'm going to get you. Uh-uh, it ain't that. And then, on top of that, it's like when I was at Texas Southern, I knew nobody was going to make it to the NBA on that team.

So we had a meeting one day, crazy story, and Coach said something. And he says, well, who in here wants to make it to the NBA? We got 19 kids on that team. How many do you think raised their hand? 19? 17. So I laughed. True story, I laughed, chuckled.

And Coach was like, Coach, coach, what you laughing at? I said, coach, they really disrespecting the game, because it's hard. You can't just show up to practice and have ass through a game and think you gonna make it to the NBA. So that right there changed my mindset into thinking like, these kids think it's easy.

So my thing was like, I need to really help these kids, them to understand like look 19 of y'all not going to the NBA. Well, guess what you can do get the education You can build these relationships in the Houston community and have a great job And guess what you would feel like doing the NBA or the innocent and I've said this to mark Tatum numerous times Who's the number two in the NBA? I've said to him you can be in the NBA and not be a player and what I and what I've tried to I've even said to him

and Adam Silver I said y'all should do an actual campaign of the people who are accountants who are lawyers who are doctors who are trainers who are in marketing who do social media they're all the NBA, but not a single one of them is bouncing a ball. It's a lot of ways. We just take the NBA out of it. You know what I'm saying? Make money. That's what it's about.

If you get your education and you meet the right people, you can make money. It ain't got to be with the NBA, the NFL, the MLB. You can be in the city. You know what I'm saying? And that's an important thing I think a lot of these kids need to understand. You can be in the city. You know what I'm saying? And that's an important thing I think a lot of these kids need to understand. It ain't about just hoping. It ain't about being an entertainer.

It ain't about being an athlete. 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. 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. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, 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 ban.

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. 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.

I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling, the limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org, brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Education and meet the right people. And as long as you got your mind screwed on right,

you can make a lot of money. You can make a lot of money. Because I ain't bouncing on damn basketball and I've been paid. You making a lot of money. Nick, always good to see you, baby. Appreciate you, man. Appreciate you. Thank you.

Safe travels. Thanks a bunch. All right, folks. I got to go to a break. Hopefully we'll chat with Lawrence Taylor in a little bit, of course, in high demand. In the next hour, we'll talk about this case out of Cleveland. Some 20-plus kids have come up missing in the last three weeks. What the hell is going on in Cleveland?

That is in the next hour right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network, live from Atlanta at the Lawrence Taylor Family Foundation Golf Classic here in the ATL. Back in a moment. Up next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes. She's known as the Angela Davis of hip-hop. Monet Smith, better known as Medusa the Gangsta Goddess, the undisputed queen of West Coast underground hip hop. Pop locking is really what indoctrinated me in hip hop. Mm.

I don't think it's, I don't even think I realized it was hip hop at that time. Right. You know, it was a, it was a happening. It was a moment of release. We're going to be getting into her career, knowing her whole story, and breaking down all the elements of hip-hop. This week on The Frequency, only on the Black Star Network.

Next on The Black Table, with me, Greg Carr. Succession. We're hearing that word pop up a lot these days as our country continues to fracture and divide. But did you know that that idea, essentially a breaking up of the USA, has been part of the public debate since long before and long after the Civil War, right up to today? On our next show, you'll meet Richard Crichton, the author of this book, who says breaking up this great experiment called America might not be such a bad thing. That's on the next Black Table, right here on the Black Star Network.

Hi, my name is Brady Ricks. I'm from Houston, Texas. My name is Sharon Williams. I'm from Dallas, Texas. Right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin. Unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamn believable. You hear me? All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network.

And so in a second, we're going to grab Lawrence Taylor. He's out there. He's out there. He's out there chatting. So I just want to chat with him. See, he wasn't smoking his cigar. Come on out here. See?

Come on, come on. Just come on. Come on. You got three minutes. Come on out here. I Just come on. Come on. You got three minutes. Come on out here. I brought myself out here. I'm doing my show live. Come on.

What's up, baby? What's up? The LT's in the house. I know you want to smoke your cigar, but I'm like, I got you. I got you. First and foremost, how does it feel to have your daughters running this foundation and the great job they did with it? And listen, I'll tell you what. Hey, if they would have ran the house like they ran this foundation, I would have never got divorced.

Okay? No, but listen. I tell you, my daughters, they're great. They know what they're doing. Tanisha is phenomenal because, you know, because she was, I could never really fuss at Tanisha when she was growing up, even though she was a mess. But, hey, at the end of the day, she knows how to get things done. And I'll tell you what, unlike my sons and wives, she knows how to get things done. And I'll tell you what, I'm grateful for her. You what it's just long as she's every now and then let me have some rest oh no no she gonna put you to work no The trouble I've seen. No, but this is, she's a, she has surrounded herself with some really interesting people.

You know, and I tell you what, and they work hard and, and, and, and try to, to give her what she envisions. You know what, you know, um, and that's great. I mean, her mama doesn't really help her. So, um, just petty, just petty, just petty, just petty. No, but I am. I am. I am grateful, thankful for everything that the world of football has given me. I mean, tell you what, guys, I remember sitting when I was 13, 14 years old, that

where am I going from here? You know, and a football has given me a life that I can be proud of and I'm happy. And look, I play lots of golf. I play golf. A lot of people play with happy. And look, I play lots of golf. I play golf. A lot of people play with you. They say

you... It's different playing golf and playing good golf. You play lots of golf. No, no. I play great golf. Okay. I'm like... I can be petty too. You want to believe that? And it's not...

Hey, LT. This is my show. I can be petty, too. You want to believe that? And it's not, it's okay. Hey, hey, hey, LT, this is my show. I can end it right now. We can go play. I can go tell them we're on a taped interview. I ain't got no problem. Okay, man, listen, I'm waiting on it. Because, let's say, where you want to go? Okay, but listen, man, your show, like you said, your show. Like, you might be

number 56, but I cut you deep. I cut you deep to let you know, let you know. And listen, how long is this interview? God almighty. First of all, you only been here for three and a half minutes, okay? Three and a half minutes, okay? We trying to raise some money, all right? I mean, I raised 15 grand in there. You weren't even in the room. Wait a minute. I raised more money in the three-minute loan

than you done this interview. That's great. That's great. So the interview is going to last longer than the amount of time I raised that 15 grand. Okay. So what's next for you? Where are you going next? You going to last longer than the amount of time I raised that 15 grand. Okay. So what's next for you? Where are you going next?

You going to play somewhere? Actually, I'll tell you what, I'll go with my next move is because I'm in Atlanta for a while. So I'm going to sit here and count cars as they pile up. Because you got a lot of traffic in this town. What the hell is wrong with you guys? Well, don't drive when anybody else drives. I can't tell you what I'm trying to do, but listen. Hey, they don't like when I'm out at 3 o'clock in the morning.

That's wise. That's wise. They like keep your ass at home. Okay's did we get back to what we were what to the you ain't brought up driving it and i end up being at three o'clock in the morning i ain't bring it up i asked you what's next for you like i'm gonna go drive at three o'clock in the morning life is good i mean i'll tell you what you know life is good you know I I enjoy myself I my health is decent I I I love my kids I love my grandkids I love all my ex. I love them all. Not all of them. Y'all, pray for them.

Pray for them, y'all. Pray for them. I just need to get some anointing all. I need to get some anointing all and just hit them. And just hit them. We got 30 seconds left. Tell everybody who's watching and listening why they should support

the foundation. Tell them why you should support the foundation. You got 30 seconds. Why? This is what we do. Okay, you know, and people actually hey, can you explain everything? No, I can't explain nothing. But I know this is what we do.

Okay? I mean, I look at kids and I look at them, how they But I know this is what we do, okay? I mean, I look at kids and I look at them, how they come off the streets and they come into a program and then they add a program and then they expire. They're going, you know, I looked at what's the what's the no, what's the golfer? Golfer, the golfer. Tiger Woods. You know what? They made a big deal about

Tiger Woods coming in second. I listen. Forrest Golf. Forrest Golf having golf and stuff like that. With our program, you know what? We got a golf program that's in Florida. We got a program that's in Florida. We got a program that's in Atlanta.

Shoot. You want me to create the next Tiger Woods? We better than Tiger Woods. Okay. Your program that bad, huh? That kid. That kid, that kid, they're going to grow up to be something special. They're going to grow up to be something special.

Something special. That kid, that kid, and that kid. Lawrence Taylor, I enjoyed, and that kid. All right? Lawrence Taylor, I enjoyed coming out, man. Now you can go back and enjoy your cigar. And listen, and if you keep on doing interviews, you're going to turn out to be something special. Now, you're in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the College Hall of Fame, and what, North Carolina Hall of Fame?

Listen, listen. No, no, no, no. I just want to let you know. You were three Hall of Fame. Every avenue, my name has been retired. I understand. You were three Hall of Fames. So am I. Ooh. Ooh. Yes, I am.

What, hockey? National Association of Black Journalists, Society of Professional Journalists, Texas A&M. Don't smoke your cigar. Y'all, that's Lars Taylor. I appreciate a good chat with him. Gotta go to break. We come back. We'll talk about a case out of Cleveland, folks, missing black kids.

Look, a sad story. We got to find these children. That is next. A roll of mud unfiltered on the Black Star Network. I'm Faraiji Muhammad, live from L.A. And this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation. You and me, we talk about 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 one, Taser Incorporated on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, 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. 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 this is pre-tirement.org brought to you by aarp and the ad council culture weekdays at three only on the black star network hatred on the streets a horrific scene a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not replace us. 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. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, you're about covering these things that matter to us uh speaking to our issues and concerns this is a genuine people-powered movement a lot of stuff that we're not getting you get it and you spread the word we wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us we cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about

covering us. Invest in black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people, $50 this month, raise $100,000. We're behind $100,000, so we want to hit that. Your money makes this possible. Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. My name is Lena Charles, and I'm from Opelousas, Louisiana.

Yes, that is Zydeco capital of the world. My name is Margaret Chappelle. I'm from Dallas, Texas, representing the Urban Trivia Games. It's me, Sherri Shepherd, and you know what you're watching. Roland Martin on Unfiltered. Kashawn Williams has been missing from Cleveland since June 17th. The 15-year-old is 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighs 120 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Kashawn was last seen wearing a cream-colored Ohio, Police Department at 216-626-5418. 216-626-5418.

Now, Kashawn is one of a number of missing black children in Cleveland. Social media is claiming upwards of 30-plus children are missing. The police chief of Cleveland spoke to this issue. We do have missing individuals in the city of Cleveland, no question about it. Now, we take every single one of them seriously. Our detectives take it seriously. Our officers in each of the five neighborhood districts take it seriously, and officers in the specialized units. And that's why in the city of Cleveland, we have dedicated detectives in each of the districts. That's how serious we take this particular issue. Also, we have to have context. It's important that we

bring context to this particular issue that we have today. If you look at the stats, and you look at the stats, they are startling. They're very startling. We have a number of missing juveniles reported year-to-date as 1,072. But also, and again, that number is 1,072, but the number returned is also 1,020. So we have obviously outstanding missing juveniles. The vast majority of those juveniles are missing, are missing juveniles, I'm sorry, are actually runaways. And sometimes some of those are habitual runaways. Joining us now is Sylvia Colon.

Sylvia is the co-founder and executive director of the Cleveland Family Center for Missing Children and Adults. And the organization's board president, John Majora, the chief of police of Newburgh Heights, Ohio Police Department. Sylvia and John, glad to have you here. So you heard the chief there talk about most of these folks being runaways, but the reality is they're still gone.

That is still an issue. And so is it misinformation, or are these numbers correct that we keep seeing on social media? Sylvia, you first. I think that the numbers are correct in terms of what we're seeing on social media. Every day can be a different day. Some kids come home and other children still go missing. I think our concern at our organization is missing is missing, regardless of how they go missing or why they're missing, they're missing. And their loved ones, their family and their friends are looking for them frantically. In the case of Kashawn Williams, he's been gone for over a week now. We've been working with his family and they're

desperate to just bring him home. John? I would agree with what Sylvia said, but I also want to add that one person or one child missing is one too many, and this is why our organization exists, and that's to help families. But the city of Cleveland is no different than any other city, and as you heard the chief say, that they've got a really good return rate, which is very good. And I commend the department because they do. They have dedicated detectives to work these cases and so on. But again, you know, the number is a little startling, as Chief Drummond had mentioned, and I echo his concerns here. But again, our organization is aimed to help the families, and we want to just bring these kids home safe. That's what we want to do. When we talk about one of the things that we constantly deal with on this show is that

cities don't have the same urgency when black kids come up missing. And in fact, they're trying to create a separate system for black and brown kids other than the Amber Alert in California because this is such an issue. Well, I'm not familiar with what California is doing. It's the first I'm hearing it. It sounds a bit unusual. I don't see why it should really matter a whole lot. A missing kid is a missing kid, male, female, white, black, gender, race, it really doesn't matter. And so I think that it's really important that all resources are dedicated as much as possible

to bring these kids home safe. And it really saddens me when I hear stories like that, because none of that stuff should really matter. And at the end of the day, there's a family who's hurting. And as Sylvia noted, that there's families that are desperate for answers. And we really need to get them those answers. And so this is sometimes as law enforcement, we have to put ourselves in the minds of the victims and look at it from their perspective and how important it is to them. And it should be equally as important to us. Oh, I absolutely agree, John. It shouldn't matter. But look, I've run, the reality is I've run, you know, I've run three black newspapers. I've been at TV One, major broadcast agree, John. It shouldn't matter. But look, I've run rallies. I've run, you know, I've run three black newspapers.

I've been at TV one major broadcast, the cable network now my own platform. But it's a reality. We covered a case out of Louisiana where a black kid was missing and the cops are like, oh, he just may be out with friends. who later found dead. And unfortunately, Sylvia, I mean, this is an issue in terms of how police treat black kids that come up missing. It's a problem nationally. Yeah. And what I would say is that media plays a big role in this, because many of these cases where a black or brown person will go missing. Media might pick it up for a quick second if we're lucky, but other times they don't. And it certainly is unfortunate. We see that with many of our cases, whether it be an adult or a child, the media doesn't always pick these cases up for probably a myriad of reasons. I mean, we have a cold case

right now that is eerily very much just like the Gabby Petito case, except she doesn't look like Gabby Petito. And you don't hear about that on the media at all. And you may have heard about her once here in Cleveland. And I would say that the police department that's working this case is working very hard. But unfortunately, the media hasn't picked up this case. I don't know why. We certainly keep it out there. We're constantly posting it. We're constantly engaged with the family.

So it is peculiar to me that the media doesn't always pick that up. I'm going to bring in my panelists here. Julianne, question for our guests. I'm really puzzled by the preponderance of what's happening in Cleveland. It's happening all over the place, but this seems to be just a lot. What's different about Cleveland than, let's say, Los Angeles or New York or Washington, D.C.? What particular factors are making this such an acute situation? I can attest to that.

And I think that the best answer to share with you is that our organization is Cleveland Missing. ClevelandMissing.org is a one of a kind in the whole entire country. There's no other organization that exists like ours. And it was founded by Sylvia Colon, who's with us tonight, and Gina DeJesus. And Gina was one of the victims of the Cleveland kidnappings and held against her will for nearly 10 years. And during her captivity, Sylvia was the family spokesperson. And this whole awareness was brought forth by one of our board members, who's also a member of the Cleveland media with Dan DeRose on WOIO Channel 19. And he's the one that first brought it to our attention. And I give him props for that because if you go to any other

major city, odds are you're going to find a very similar number depending on the population. And so while this may look unfavorable for the city of Cleveland, we need to look at this through just a little bit different lens. And that is that look at the awareness that we have created towards missing persons and the awareness and the heightened and elevated thinking that we've generated for people. So unfortunately, we've had cases in the media where they're saying kids are vanishing and things like that, which is a little bit sensationalized, in my opinion. There's not flying saucers coming down to picking up kids off the street. As Chief Drummond had noted, the majority of these are runaways. And so we really need to

bring attention to that. Now, in the case of Sean Williams, this is an active ambriolet. And this ambriolet has been active for 48 hours, which is an active ambler. And this ambler has been active for 48 hours, which is really long. And we really want to try to bring him home. But at the end of the day, I don't think it's really fair to just point out that this is a Cleveland problem. This is a much bigger problem than just Cleveland. And really what we want to do is we want to tell the public, listen, you are the biggest asset to law enforcement. And that is that when you see something, you say something. No matter what the tip is, no matter how big or how small, please share it with law enforcement

because that one little tip might be really the big one that's going to bring a kid home safely, and this is why we need your help. Roland, if I could just get a quick follow-up. Your question. Yeah, go ahead. What's the evidence that they've run away? I mean, there are young runaways, but it seems to me that there's something else going on, and I think it's really easy to just say, oh, they ran away without looking at what's the evidence that they've run away. Well, make no mistake, just because they're classified as runaways does not mean that it's being discounted by any stretch of the imagination.

And it's a very good question to ask. And I applaud it because the evidence is basically what the family gives to law enforcement. And depending on what that is will depend on how law enforcement will classify it. But you also have to understand that there are juvenile and youth centers in Cleveland and in Cuyahoga County alone where kids can walk away from there and the workers there are not allowed to detain them. And so, you know, that would be classified as a runaway. Or if they have a habitual runaway status, if they've run away before but yet come back. And so, but make no mistake, these are not being discounted by any stretch of the imagination. Missing is missing no matter what, whether it's a runaway or just situations unknown. And in Gina's case, it was a situation unknown because she she was abducted.

But there was no physical evidence to show that. And at first they thought that she was a runaway, but she really wasn't a runaway. She was taken against her will. And so, again, this is why none of these cases can be discounted. And so Cleveland is not doing that. And as you heard the chief say, they're dedicating resources to it and I commend them for that. Omicongo. One of the questions I had for you, Ms. Colon,

is are you seeing... Post pandemic. I'm sorry, you cut out. I didn't hear the question. I was wondering if you were seeing increases in people who are considered runaways or otherwise described pre-pandemic and post-pandemic. Is there an increase with maybe lack of resources, programs shutting down, and other issues like that? I think that certainly, I don't know that there's an increase. I would tell you that in the city of Cleveland, when we talked to detectives during the pandemic, there was actually an increase in adults that went missing. With kids, it's a little different because they have access to media. And believe me, there are so many different apps. We learn about them daily. And this is where the online predators kind of hang out. They hang out on gaming systems and that kind of thing. And

that's exactly where they go to talk to kids. And so if a kid does leave their home, they might be going to meet somebody, an adult or, you know, some other people. Or unfortunately, in Kishan's case, he just went to a party. And beyond that, we don't really know what happened after that. There's a lot of conjecture. But again, it's still an active case and an active Amber Alert. But with online gaming systems and that kind of stuff, kids are kind of, they're being primed for it. All right, then. Well, look, we hope that the folks that are missing in Cleveland are going to be found. Again, those families are in deep pain not having their children. And so we thank you for the work that you do, Sylvia and John, as well.

Thanks a bunch. Thank you. Folks, got to go to break. We'll be back on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Don't forget, download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Also support our Bring the Funk fan club. phone android phone apple tv android tv roku amazon fire tv xbox one samsung smart tv also support our bring the funk fan club uh of course you can send a check of money over to the p.o box 57196 washington dc 20037-0196 cash app dollar sign rm unfiltered paypal r martin unfiltered bimbo is rm unfiltered zelle rolling at rolling s martin 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. 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 podcast. 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. ....com, Roland Martin, and Folsom.com. Be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear,

How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at bookstores nationwide. Also, download your copy on Audible. We'll be right back. We have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home, you dig? Early days in the road, I learned,

well, first of all, as a musician, I studied not only piano, but I was also drummer and percussion. I was all city percussion as well. So I was one of the best in the city on percussion. There you go. Also studied trumpet, cello, violin, and bass, and any other instrument I could get my hand on. And with that study, I learned again what was for me. I learned what it meant to do what the instruments

in the orchestra meant to each other in the relationships. So that prepared me to be a leader. That prepared me to lead orchestras and to conduct orchestras. That prepared me to know, to be a leader. They prepared me to lead orchestras and to conduct orchestras. They prepared me to know, to be a leader of men, they have to respect you and know that you know the music. You have to be the teacher of the music. You have to know the music better than anybody. There you go.

Right? So you can't walk in unprepared. Hello, we're the Critter Fixers. I'm Dr. Bernard Hodges. And I'm Dr. Terrence Ferguson. And you're tuning in to... Roland Martin Unfiltered. A Georgia prosecutor's office withdrawing from criminal cases as a result of the city decision by Atlanta to build Cop city. DeKalb County DA Sherry Boston cited disagreements with Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, including the decision to change the charge of legal observer with domestic terrorism as a reason for her decision. Now Carr will have sole oversight regarding more than 40 additional cases connected to

the stop cop City movement. Those people are facing domestic terrorism charges in connection with violent protests. Protesters say the charges are overblown and are meant to scare others from joining the movement against the $90 million training center. This, I'm a Congo, is big here, and this is part of the issue that we're having in Republican states, in red states, where you have African-Americans who are DAs and who have taken a different view than many of these white conservative attorney generals. Yeah, Roland, and this is a really big concern for me. We have to respect Ms. Boston for standing on

her principles and values and saying, you know, I'm not going to be the one to issue these types of marching orders on these protesters. But then at the end of the day, they're left in his hands. And we saw how this worked out with Ron DeSantis and how he weaponized voting with former inmates who actually had the right to vote or weren't sure about their vote, what their voting status was, and the terror that was inflicted on the community. This is a country where the Senate and the House have not made domestic terrorism something that is, you know, really on the books. They're not calling organizations like the Proud Boys and all of these other groups domestic terrorists, though they're doing it in places like Canada with American organizations. But here we see in Georgia right now, this is going to be the next example where this

DA is going to use his authority to rain down terror on these communities. And who's going to be the people who are going to be out there following his marching orders? The same people who are going to be the occupants of Cop City. And so we have to figure out a way to continue to use, well, not figure out a way. We have to continue to use platforms like this to raise this awareness because we have to start getting the attention of the Justice Department with these types of issues that are going on. We've got to remember the Justice Department was founded after slavery ended, right? And so we have to understand that there's a mission and a history that's there that we have to keep doing this work to attract federal attention. And so I'm hoping

that the Justice Department will see what's going on. You can't be charging protesters with domestic terrorism. We're not seeing any acts of violence, of murder, of threats, of people showing up at people's houses and vandalizing these things. Folks, and I know there's different levels of protests that are going on, but now that he's the main person in charge, this is just going to be a blanket charge that's going to be thrown against everybody, many of whom I'm sure do not have the resources needed to actually fight the state.

And so they're going to need support in that way as well. Julianne. Cop City is an aggravation. It's aggressive. It's unfortunate. It's wrong. And this DA or whatever he is, is going at it the wrong way. Omokongo is absolutely right about everything he said about this, but it's more than that. What we have here is an attempt to weaponize land against people who need land, weaponize space against people who need space, weaponize in so many ways this police industrial complex against the people who live around there. And it's absolutely wrong.

So as Oba Kongo has said, and I fully agree with him—I don't always fully agree with him, but I do today—I think that what we have to look at is how we push back on this and who pushes back on it, and whether the state legislature and others can push back on it, whether or not there's federal legislation to push back on this. This—COPCITY is wrong. And then to say that people who protest it, who have their First Amendment rights to protest it, are going to be essentially railroaded into criminal possibilities is wrong. We know that this is wrong. And I'm just disappointed.

Atlanta is a city that is still majority black. The city council is majority black. Why did they do this? What are they thinking? That's the question that I have. All right, folks, I told y'all what was going to happen. Did I not tell y'all what was going to happen in this country when it came to DEI, when it came to CRT, that it wasn't just about CRT? I wrote about this in my book, White Fear, and I kept trying to explain to people what was going on.

Now we're seeing it in Wisconsin. The legislature, the Republicans in Wisconsin are literally threatening to strip all DEI programs across the state. Of all the state's university systems, why? Because they're angry that state officials were defending DEI. Again, there are 180 related DEI programs, jobs in the state's systems, 13 universities. Okay. So what are they trying to do? Affect their budget. They have a, folks, a $7 billion state budget surplus, largely due to money coming from President Biden and Democrats in Congress. And so they say the university, the system could get $32 million back if, if they decide not to have DEI. Julianne, this is going to continue to happen.

We've already seen it in Texas. We're going to see it in Florida, where Republicans are in charge and where Black people are. This is going to continue. It's going to continue because they've laid out a gauntlet, which is a wrong gauntlet. They keep saying that this is reverse discrimination. They just don't want the truth. DEI programs, if you look at them, I was just looking at a report earlier, it's really about white women more than anybody else,

not by black folks, Latinx folks. It's about white women being included. So basically, but these white women so are repelled by us that they will not get down with it and say this is ridiculous. But more than that, the whole concept that you can't teach the truth. I have a faculty member who just moved to Florida. He got a letter that said you cannot mention the words diversity, equity, inclusion, or race in your class. This is a Latinx brother who teaches Chicano studies. So what's he going to talk about? But that's not unusual. It's happening all over the country. And what we have to do is push back. And Roland, here's the deal. Too many people are scared, not scared, but scared, and they're not willing to push back. Any member, any black, brown, Asian, Latinx person who is a

member of anybody's faculty needs to be a part of something to say, we're pushing back. This is unacceptable. But so many folks are under the radar. They're trying to get tenure. They're trying to go along to get along. And as long as they go along to get along, the devil is going to go along to push us out. So it's absurd. Wisconsin, I'm surprised at, but not totally surprised. We know that Florida and Texas have been leading the pack, and we don't know where else it's going to happen. But what's going to happen is that you're stripping the academy of the ability to teach the truth. I'm not surprised Wisconsin is doing this because Republicans there, they have gerrymandered themselves into power,

and they have been dominating, controlling, even stripping the Democrat governor of his powers. But what I'm trying to get people to understand is they are going to drain the money. And I need black folks to understand that you're going to be countering this because it's going to happen. Tennessee, you just rile these states off, okay? We already see Florida. We already know Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, South Carolina, North Carolina. It's a lot of black folks in all those states. Yeah, absolutely. And they don't vote.

Yes. Yeah, absolutely. You know, and as somebody who travels the country doing this work in DEI with corporations and schools and as well as government organizations. I see in different states that I used to go to regularly how they're starting to back off, how they're starting to shy away, because when Trump issued his national ban on it, that's when it really started to take effect. And now people are trying to do it on a state level. We also have to understand that what they're also threatening with this Wisconsin issue is there are look, there's about 200 employees who already have their jobs on the chopping block with this type of program. And so in addition to Black people needing to step up, one of the things that you also talk a lot about, Roland, you know, on the show many times and in your book, you know, White Fear as well, is that we need to understand that they come for us first. I talk

about this as well as in my book, Lives of Our Black People. They come for us first while other people are sleeping. And then when they wake up, they realize, oh, this affects us too. Because when we're talking about DEI, we're not just talking black and we're not just talking race and we're not just talking gender. It's going to go into things relating to sexual orientation. It's going to go into things relating to people who have physical ability challenges or what people will call disabilities. It's going to go into things relating to religious intolerance as well. The list is going to go on and on.

So if people haven't realized by now that you've got to jump on these issues that are directly targeted at Black people first before they invariably go towards everybody else, you're going to turn around and there's going to be nothing for you. And so students, this is the time where y'all got to start getting together

and protesting, because it's not just, it's the whole Wisconsin system of, what, 13 schools, I believe. Y'all got to start showing up at deans' doors and other places to demand this. Parents who are sending your kids there, you got to do that as well. Sponsors who are giving grants and different things, you got to put pressure on these politicians as well, because if you don't do that, this is going to be the next example of, you know, Wisconsin becoming like Florida, becoming like what's happening in Virginia as well. We have the power to stop it in voting in our elections, but also challenging the university, really get it. People don't want to march anymore. People don't want to shut stuff down. The people who are involved in this shouldn't be able to make it to their

offices. I'm not talking violent threats. I'm talking about people getting in their way, letting them know you're going to address us. But unfortunately, Roland, too many times we respond when it's too late, and then we end up playing catch-up while they're already moving on to the next thing that they want to take over. And you raising attention to this now should be the call that people need to start getting organized now as well. Folks, let's talk about what's happening with the police in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They're no longer basic traffic stops. The police department has said that they are not going to, the new measure is going to prohibit Ann Arbor police officers from stopping or detaining drivers based on race, religion, gender, or socioeconomic status.

Officers are also prohibited from stopping drivers based on equipment violation offenses except when the violation poses an immediate risk of danger. The decision was made to build trust with the city's minority population and limit interactions with police officers. It comes just a day after the city council introduced an ordinance of the same policy to be written into the city code. It has received unanimous support in the city council meeting and is expected to pass when voted on in July. This matters, Julian, because we've covered too many of these stories where traffic stops, basic traffic stops, escalate. I saw a video the other day where a cop stopped his brother and said that he made a legal lane change, but then said he stopped him because the air freshener that was hanging from his rearview mirror,

he said the law says there can be no obstructions for the driver. An air freshener. An air freshener. You know, Roland, we've talked about this time and time again, the issue of why you stop people and what it's about and discretion, your discretion. So these police officers are using their non-discretion to just stop black and brown people because they feel like it, because they want to, and they get away with it. So any move to say you don't stop people behind bullshit, excuse my language, behind bullshit is unacceptable. And if we stop these pulling over people for minor offenses, the number of people who are harassed, beaten, tased, killed will go way down. It's just an absurdity and the discretion issue is the issue. Who gets discretion to stop who?

I'm a Congo. This needs to be national policy. 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.

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professional journalists, whatever, we know our hearts still can still be when the cop rolls up on us. And we also know that there's been financial incentives in many of these counties in terms of pulling people over to raise revenue as well. But in this day and age, when you've got cameras everywhere, it's so easy to get people's license plates and send citations to people. That is what needs to happen right now, because as we said, too often this ends up in a violent situation. But let's also be mindful of the fact that just coming off of your story with Wisconsin, this is what happens when you have a state that's run democratically from top to bottom, right?

I mean, it's like night and day. And we could probably see in places like Wisconsin, you know, even though, you know, they may, you know, they have the Democratic governor, but we may see in places like that, they're going to make more efforts to try to increase police interactions with people. I mean, you see in Florida where the types of laws that they're introducing, where they're getting average citizens the right to run over people just if they're blocking their way in the street. And so when you get into these democratically held states and cities and counties, you are seeing policies like this that speak to the need to protect primarily Black people first, but by default, everybody else, because we've been the main

people who have been suffering from this. So this is another reason why we should want to get out there and vote. And just like Republicans have these blank slates of terms of legislation that they propose, and then they just pass it around to every other state and say, just fill in the blank here, just fill in your name here. We need to take what they're doing in Ann Arbor and start passing it around to all of our other city councils. I believe they did this in Philadelphia as well to make sure that this is something that also becomes national policy. All right, folks, hold tight one second. When we come back, we're going to talk about PTSD and how that affects so many of us,

and we don't even think about it. You're watching Roland Martin on the Black Star Network, broadcasting live from Atlanta. Download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. You can also, of course, join our Bring the Funk fan club. See your ticket money orders at PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal, RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle Rowland at RowlandSMartin.com. Rowland at RowlandMartinUnfiltered.com. We'll be right back. determines whether we have it or not. The truth is you cannot change what you will not acknowledge. Balancing your relationship with your pocketbook. That's next on A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie,

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And I'm with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. folks uh june is ptsd awareness month it is an issue a lot of people they really don't think about we don't think about this in terms of veterans, but the reality is anybody who has had to deal with any type of trauma suffers from PTSD. Joining us right now to discuss this is from Texas, Dr. Estrelita Bruce, a licensed professional counselor. Estrelita, glad to have you on the show. Again, when we talk about PTSD, we only talk about this in terms of veterans, but again, folks who have been sexually assaulted, folks who dealt with other forms of abuse, domestic violence, there are multiple types of PTSD. Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me, Roland. I really appreciate

it. Well, PTSD is a post-traumatic stress disorder. It develops in some people who have experienced, as you mentioned, very shocking, scary, or dangerous events. But before we discuss PTSD, because the trauma is post-trauma, so it's important to understand what trauma is. And so the definition of trauma is anything outside the normal range know, having to deal with traffic or even having to meet deadlines, that is something that is usually within our normal, usual ability to cope. But when you think about something that's outside of that range, such as the things that you mentioned, when we're talking about abuse, we talk about war, even vicarious trauma, something that we can actually witness, these things can truly impact us in such a way that those traumatic symptoms do not go away. And so it impacts our everyday lives. And so with that being said, this is where a lot of us can be diagnosed post-distress, post-trauma,

because it's something that is very difficult to manage. Well, I'll tell you. So I'd love to get your thoughts on this. So how about this throughout Chicago, which got lots of attention over the weekend, where this man started beating on, viciously beating this black woman in a restaurant in Chicago. Her son goes out to the car, gets a gun, comes back, kills the man. This caused lots of drama on social media because they initially charged the son, 14 years old, and the mother with murder. Decision was made today to drop the charges against him. That's, that's one thing that, I mean, imagine that woman and that child, they're going to have to deal with PTSD over this incident. Absolutely. Absolutely. That is so unfortunate that that happened. And if you think about the altercation that happened,

the reason why, not saying that it's not, it's the right thing to do, but when you think about in those moments of fear, we all have that kind of natural fear built inside of us because it's our way to respond to danger. We can either fight or flight. We can either fight or we can either flight, as in move away, or sometimes we often freeze. But in this situation, there was certainly a fight that happened that ensued. And unfortunately, there was gun violence. But even in that situation, the child was definitely scared for his mom. And so his natural defense is to protect her. And so even post that, as you mentioned, if those symptoms or not being able to process that situation is not handled,

if it's not directly addressed, then ongoing, they can certainly impact them in such a way that will impact their lives every single day in interactions with others. And so this can, of course, create fears ongoing. And so this is what can continue to happen if we don't address those traumatic experiences. All right. Questions from our panel. Omikongo, you first. Dr. Bruce, thank you for your work in this area. You know, growing up, I felt like in the Black community, there were so many issues that we were having that we didn't realize were PTSD in some way, shape, or form. You know, shooting would happen and we just kind of see it as normal. Someone get killed at a school, we wouldn't get the counselors that come to our school, but they'd go to like those schools in the suburbs and the like. But now I'm seeing athletes talk about this stuff. I'm seeing

musicians, you know, talk about this, you know, Roland's constantly talking about this in segments like this. My question is, are you seeing progress in the Black community in the way we are addressing our mental health or is not enough being done? Thank you so much for that question. I definitely see progress that's being made just because, as you mentioned, because of social media. You know, when you think about the difference between, you know, 20 years ago and today, the difference is definitely exposure in social media. And people are talking about it and the importance of it, specifically in the African-American community, in athletes, and especially in our communities. If you think about our history, we are truly rooted in faith as well. And so when you think about the way that, you know, even church and our

communities continue to discuss the importance of this, it certainly has made progress which is really a great thing. Julianne. Sister doctor, thank you so much for your work and for raising this issue up. I'm concerned that there's big PTSD in terms of you witnessed a murder, something happened, you were part of something, or like the case that Roland lifted up. But there's many PSTD, I think, in terms of some of the ways that we live.

And I'm looking at the post-COVID implications for people, especially as we've seen the loss of women's economic stability and the loss of learning with children. What about many PTs? You know, you didn't have to have a huge situation, but a smaller one. What do we do about that? And are we as equally concerned or less concerned about that kind of thing? Thank you so much for your question. Well, when you think about PTSD around COVID, we all experienced what I call a global trauma, right? This was something that was totally unexpected. We didn't have the tools or the resources necessary. It was something we all

experienced in this kind of new space together. And so we were really trying to find our way in ways to stay healthy as well as continue life, which was very difficult when everything started to shut down. And so when you think about that kind of post-COVID experience and all that you mentioned, what can certainly help is continuing to educate those who have been impacted. And you're absolutely right. You don't have to experience something as traumatic as maybe a sexual abuse or some type of murder or violence or anything like that. But when you think about the symptoms of PTSD, a couple of those symptoms include, you know, avoidance, you know, hyperarousal. When I say avoidance, many times we may avoid maybe certain crowds, you know, in fear that we're

going to get COVID. And so when you think about post the situation into now, if that is certainly something that continues, then it's something that will continue to perpetuate in our communities. Thank you. All right. If someone is out there looking for more information, good sources online, where should they go? I'm sorry, say that again. I said if someone out there is looking for some good social information dealing with PTSD, where should they go? They should go to the National Institutes of Health.

They specifically have a subject or category for mental health, there is a plethora of information out there that talks about how trauma impacts us, the resources and ways in which you can access a therapist or counselor to be able to process that trauma. All right then, Doc. We so appreciate it. Thank you so very much for joining us. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Folks, that is it for me, again, here in Atlanta. I want to thank you folks with the Lawrence Taylor Family Foundation for working with them on this golf tournament. Don't forget, if you want to support the work they do with kids, with sports, text LT56, LT56241444. That's LT56241444. Or go to the Lawrence Taylor, thelawrencetaylorfamilyfoundation.org.

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