#RolandMartinUnfiltered - SCOTUS OKs Fed Layoffs, Medicaid Farmworker Mandate, PSLF Shakeup, Deltas in DC & Leafy Bamboo TP
Episode Date: July 9, 20257.8.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: SCOTUS OKs Fed Layoffs, Medicaid Farmworker Mandate, PSLF Shakeup, Deltas in DC & Leafy Bamboo TP The Supreme Court has just cleared the way for the Trump adminis...tration to restart massive layoffs across nearly two dozen federal agencies. We'll break down what this means for federal workers and services. The Trump administration is now signaling that able-bodied adults on Medicaid may soon be expected to replace undocumented farmworkers, as mass deportations ramp up across the country. Also tonight, we'll break down what "the orange one" has in store for your loan forgiveness programs. The proposed changes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness could hit borrowers hard. We'll speak with an expert about what's at stake and how it could impact millions of Americans. The ladies of crimson and cream are taking over Washington, D.C., this week for the 57th National Convention of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. We'll speak with the sorority's international president about the significance of this historic gathering. And in tonight's Marketplace segment, we're spotlighting Leafy--an eco-friendly brand that's reinventing everyday essentials, starting with bamboo toilet paper. #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing. 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.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
This is an iHeart Podcast. TikTok could thrive. From overnight stars to the fall that no one saw coming,
we're breaking down what made Vine iconic.
Listen to Vine on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to podcasts.
When your car is making a strange noise,
no matter what it is,
you can't just pretend it's not happening.
That's an interesting sound.
It's like your mental health.
If you're struggling and feeling overwhelmed, it's important to do something about it.
It can be as simple as talking to someone or just taking a deep calming breath to ground
yourself.
Because once you start to address the problem, you can go so much further.
The Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the Ad Council have resources available for you
at loveyourmindtoday.org.
I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?
Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.
Listen to Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Our iHeartRadio Music Festival,
presented by Capital One, is coming back to Las Vegas.
Vegas!
September 19th and 20th.
On your feet!
Streaming live only on Hulu.
Ladies and gentlemen, Brian Adams and Sheeran,
Fade, Chlorilla, Jelly Roll, John Fogarty,
Lil Wayne, LL Cool J, Mariah Carey, Maroon 5,
Sammy Hagar, Tate McCragg, The Offspring, Tim McGraw.
Tickets are on sale now at AXS.com.
Get your tickets today, AXS.com. Get your tickets today at AXS.com. folks today is Monday July 8 2025 coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live
on the Black Star Network. Supreme Court clears the way for Donald Trump to restart massive layoffs across nearly two dozen federal agencies.
Also, speaking of these idiots, they're now signaling that able-bodied adults of Medicaid may soon be expected to replace undocumented farm workers.
Then they say those same farm workers, yeah, y'all ain't getting amnesty.
Proposed changes to the public service loan forgiveness program could significantly impact borrowers, especially African
Americans. We'll talk to the expert about that. Plus, ladies of Crimson and
Cream are taking over Washington, D.C. Delta Sigma Theta has their 57th
national convention here. We'll talk with their international president about
their gathering. Plus, in tonight's shop, blackstarnetwork.com marketplace'll spotlight Leafy, an eco-friendly brand that's reinventing everyday essentials,
starting with, yes, bamboo toilet paper. Plus, how did a provision allowing you to
deduct gambling losses get into the Republicans' big beautiful bill? Told you
they're frauds.
It's time to bring the funk on rolling market on a filter.
On the Black Star Network, let's go. Best believe he's knowin' Puttin' it down from Swords to news to politics
With entertainment just for kicks
He's rollin'
Yeah, yeah
It's Uncle Roll-Roll, y'all
Yeah, yeah
It's Rollin' Martin, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Rollin' with Rollin' now
Yeah, yeah
He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best, you know he's rollin' Marte now.
Marte!
Well, the Supreme Court has cleared the way for Donald Trump to fire millions of federal workers
that they were trying to wipe out with Doge.
Now, the Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling paving the way for this action to take
place.
Now, here's what they basically said.
Remember, in February, Donald Trump signed an executive order directing agencies to prepare for workforce reductions. Supreme Court says that's
likely lawful thus allowing those layoffs to proceed. However, Supreme Court
Justice Kataji Brown Jackson strongly disagreed. She was the only justice to
dissent criticizing the court's decision as hubristic and senseless. She said it's
the wrong decision at the wrong moment,
especially given what little this court knows
about what is actually happening on the ground.
She argued that her colleagues were making judgments
from a, quote, lofty perch far from the facts.
She also cautioned the court that they lack
a real understanding of the current situation
on the ground and described this ruling as the wrong decision
at the wrong time.
Now keep in mind, Justice Sonia Sotomayor,
who often rules along with Jackson,
she agreed with the rest of the court
saying that the problem is what's before the court
is not the actual plan saying
they have been presented with one.
This though, is devastating news for a number of federal workers and this could cause more
chaos.
My pen name is Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, former senior advisor for environmental justice at
the EPA out of DC.
Dr. Larry J. Walker, social professor at the University of Central Florida out of Orlando
and social justice leader and movement strategist Talik Mohammed who joins us as well from DC.
Mustafa, I'll start with you. and social justice leader and movement strategist, Talik Mohammed, who joins us as well from DC.
Mustafa, I'll start with you.
You've been one of those federal workers
working in one of these agencies.
And what we know is that lots of people,
a lot of people have been despondent or unsure.
This impacts not only the workers, their husbands,
their wives, their partners, their girlfriends,
their boyfriends, whatever you wanna call them, the children, folks in college,
people don't understand what it means when you do mass layoffs like this, you
are causing a significant amount of harm up and down the board. Yeah, you know, you
destabilize the economy, which is, you know, something everybody says that they
care about and that they're trying to, you know, to stimulate, you destabilize the economy, which is something everybody says that they care about and that they're trying to stimulate.
Because people think, well, it's just folks in Washington, D.C., but there are a large
number of federal employees all across our country that help to prop up the economies
in mid-size and larger cities, of course, sometimes in much smaller areas.
So you do that. But what's more
important also is the fact that you actually are putting us in a situation where the social safety
net that is so critically important in this country is being slashed by these sets of actions.
There could be service disruptions. There will be service disruptions. Let me be very clear,
because I've worked with over 17 federal agencies over the
year. So I know the work that they do. I know how important it is. I know the high level that they do it at. So whether we're
talking about health care or Social Security, Veterans Affairs, a number of different agencies and departments play a
critical role in making sure that those services are out there. The other question that folks should be asking in this moment, based upon this Supreme Court
decision, you know, is about the power balance or power imbalance, if you will, because Congress
traditionally has been the one who makes decisions about restructuring or building of federal
agencies.
But now we have given deference to this administration, which, you know,
sort of rules through executive orders.
I remember when folks said executive orders
don't really have the power of law,
but now because of the silence from folks on Capitol Hill,
you're giving an individual who has no idea what's going on.
The other thing that I'll say, you know,
before I close here is the fact that folks on Capitol Hill
actually need to do their job.
Because they're not doing their job, they're creating all of this unstable or unstableness
that's currently going on.
And these Supreme Court justices, I know that they have really important cases that they're
often focusing upon, but they need to get out of DC and actually spend some time
in Kansas City, spend some time in Pittsburgh, spend some time in Atlanta and a number of other
locations across our country to actually see how these impacts are happening both physically,
mentally and spiritually on people because these stressors cause additional diseases.
The mental impacts also of not knowing
if you're going to be able to do the job
that you took an oath to do.
There are a number of things that play out
underneath of this scenario.
So yes, I know that this has went back to the lower court
and that folks will continue to litigate,
but as they are doing this, you know,
they put these folks in limbo and in many instances
have taken away the things that people love.
You know, they wanna to serve this country.
They want to do a good job and people just continue to slash and burn without really
having a real understanding of how it's going to play out.
Larry, you've also worked on Capitol Hill and the point that Mustafa makes there about
services, about what people do.
It's important, the delivery of services.
You know, they're talking about cutting thousands of people.
They made these decisions, no plan at all.
It was just very willy-nilly.
There was no strategic decision-making involved.
And that's what's so problematic for lots of people.
So this, what's happening with Doge,
and obviously this particular ruling talked about
is a slash and burn as it released to the federal workforce.
You know, you hear a lot of people talk a lot about, for instance, supporting veterans, but the VA is going to see substantial cuts.
As Mustafa highlighted, there are a number of federal services that Americans take for granted and have for decades, for generations, that are going to be impacted by this decision and the possible cuts.
Roland, I'm going to highlight two other things
I think are really important.
The impact this is going to have on Black folks.
You know, about 19% of the federal workforce is Black,
and we make up almost 15% of the U.S. population,
so we kind of outpace in terms of the percentage
of Black folks in the federal workforce. And so this is going to have substantial impact on black people as Mustafa hollering
with about health care. Another thing we talk about in terms of housing, maintain, paying
your mortgage or rent, etc. The second thing I want to highlight as it relates to this
particular ruling rolling is it's interesting how the Supreme Court during the Biden administration
felt like they had the real the Biden administration in terms of the executive branch. But every decision that comes out the last several weeks is essentially
giving more power to the executive branch, the Trump administration. So there's a contradiction
in terms of what exactly the Supreme Court, what is it doing in terms of the Biden and Trump
administration. But overall, this is a devastating ruling, and as I said, will have a substantial
impact on the black medical arts.
You know, Tyler, one of the things that I think we need to recognize here, and this
is something that you've heard people say. This is a perfect example of what happens
when you exact an agenda, and let's be perfectly clear,
that if a Democratic president did what Donald Trump
is doing, there will be howls and screaming
from right-wing media and Republicans,
and probably some Democrats too.
But this is also what happens when you excise power, when you use power.
And so we've heard this from other conservatives say, hey, you know, Democrats can get back
their power, they can use the same thing.
This should be a lesson to any Democrat who wants to be president one day.
Damn it, when you get power, use it.
Exactly, Roland.
I couldn't agree with you more.
I think we have to play a more aggressive game.
Because as we see here, this is not a government efficiency.
It's about political retaliation.
And I think when we see what Trump has happened, it's been over the prior tens of thousands
of workers without cause.
It's not just a shift in the country, but it's a dangerous
blow to how democratic protections have played in past times.
I would say, as a future president, we understand, like, if he is taking his power to the extent,
we must, you know, do, you know, take that same power to the commission before. And as
even mentioned by our panelists,
this is affecting many black and brown workers
who have historically relied on civil service jobs
as pathways to the middle class.
And I think this could just mentally safeguard
to really be loyal to one man or one party.
And I think it's definitely a blow.
Again, I just want people to understand
when you get power, you use it or you lose it.
And that's what we're seeing right here.
All right, folks, gotta go to break.
We come back, we'll talk with the International President
of Delta Sigma Theta.
They're gonna have more than 20,000 deltas here
in the nation's capital for their biannual convention.
And we'll talk about what their agenda is,
especially with this maga hellhole we're living in.
You're watching Roller Martin Unfiltered
right here on the Black Star Network.
This week on the other side of change.
Mass incarceration, Trump administration
is doubling down on criminalization
and how it is profitable.
And there's something really, really perverse
about saying that we need to put people in cages
in order for other people to have jobs.
Like, that is not how our economy should be built.
Only on the other side of change on the Black Star Network.
This week on A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie, we're talking faith, family, fatherhood, and
the pathway to reentry.
Most of us in some way, shape, form, or fashion
have had someone in our lives,
whether it was a grandfather, a father,
a uncle, a brother, or a cousin,
who has been incarcerated or justice impacted.
What does that look like
in rebuilding family and relationships?
What does it look like for us to be able
to have substantive conversations,
come to the
table, love on each other, while at the same time, get it all out in the open so that we
can begin a new journey together?
You know, the last thing you want is in the midst of trying to piece your life back together
or home to not be a comfortable place.
That's all next on A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie here on Black Star Network.
Hello, I'm Paula J. Parker.
Trudy Proud on The Proud Family.
I am Tommy Davidson.
I play Oscar on Proud Family, Louder and Prouder.
Hi, I'm JoMarie Payton, voice of Sugarmama on Disney's
Louder and Prouder, Disney+.
And I'm with Roland Martin on Unfiltered.
ROLAND MARTIN
Hi, y'all.
Lots of red and white here in the nation's capital.
Now, one of my little producers is like,
nah, it's creams and cream.
Whatever, it's red and white.
They're gonna be in nation's capital.
Thousands here.
Convention started yesterday.
Joining us right now is the international president
of Delta Sigma Theta, Sorority Incorporated.
Of course, Elsie is here.
Now look, first of all, let's be real clear, Elsie,
it's a whole lot of y'all here.
How many of y'all here?
How many hotels y'all hanging out?
There's a whole lot of us here.
Hey, Roland, great to see you. Okay, Elsie, hold up.? There's a whole lot of us here. Hey, Roland, great to see you.
Okay, Elsie, hold up.
Yes, there are a lot of us here.
It's only day two.
There are over 20,000 of us registered.
There are over almost 15,000 registered virtually as well.
And you know some of those virtual attendees
travel to DC as well.
So you are right. The town is painted crimson and cream here in the city of Washington DC.
So help me out. You got 20,000 registered in person, 15,000 virtual.
And you know you got a few thousand who ain't registered to the popular town.
So we know.
Oh, you know it.
You know.
Go ahead.
I said you know it. You know that. Go ahead. I said, you know it.
You know that we have many members who have traveled here.
Those who did not get the opportunity to register, who can still come to many events on guest
passes, but they can be in the number.
In addition to, again, some of those who are virtual, who chose to travel to Washington, D.C.
But there are sorrows who are joining
from all over the world as well,
in addition to all who came to D.C.
What jumps out at me right now,
when you talk about your members,
when you talk about how many who are here,
what's your focus with them
being here?
In terms of what do you want them to gain and what them to do when they leave here?
Well, I would tell you, we come to our national conventions to take care of the business of
Delta.
You know, we focus on our guidelines, rules, regulations, and we focus on the resolutions that we want to make sure
that we pass while we are here. And our resolutions are one of our many social actions, social
justice initiatives, and that we focus on specific issues that are of importance of our communities,
issues that we want to make sure
that are part of Delta's advocacy agenda.
So that's a key part of what we do here,
as well as to elect officers for the next biennium.
But I will tell you in the times in which we find ourselves,
we have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps
of our founders and we've had social action
and our DNA since 1913. To be able to hear
from great speakers who will galvanize us. We will hear from Senator Cory Booker. He's
been letting his voice be heard really loudly, not only on the Senate floor, but everywhere
he can. We have a record breaking nine Delta Congress persons,
one Senator and eight in the US House of Representatives.
We will be hearing from them with our calls to action
so we can make sure that we continue to focus
on our legislative agenda, economic justice,
educational justice, focusing on making sure
that we continue to fight for the rights that are being taken away from us
every single day.
Not only on the federal level, but on the local level,
on the state level, anywhere that government convenes,
if you will, from school boards, where we want to fight
for the freedom to learn, to make sure that our history
is not erased,
to city halls, city councils, state legislatures,
where we are fighting for the rights to again,
make sure that we continue to have free and fair elections,
to make sure that our communities,
people in our communities and marginalized communities
can have the right to vote.
So there's a huge agenda and we use this convention
to also galvanize our members for our social action agenda
as well as our programmatic agenda.
So we can go back in our communities in this nation
and around the world and elevate the impact
of Delta and do all important work of empowering our communities.
We were just talking about the cuts the Supreme Court is going to be allowing, allowing the
layoffs of thousands or potentially hundreds of thousands of federal workers.
Does Delta have a specific plan to help your members
who may be impacted by this decision?
We have several things that we do.
We have several programs focused on economic development.
We have a career fair going on right now
to help our sisters through any transition
they happen to be going through,
including the massive layoffs to your point
from a government, on the government level.
But at the same time,
we dig in very deeply with entrepreneurship,
because we know that we have to take care of our own
from the perspective of making sure that
we can support entrepreneurs, making sure that they can grow their
businesses, making sure that they can control their own destinies, and also
making sure that we are pouring dollars back into our own communities. You know
with the the red days where we buy black and making sure that that is a continued focus,
not only on those days, but all the time.
So those are some of the things that we are doing
to make sure that we are supporting our sisters
and also supporting our communities.
Questions from our panel. Larry, you first.
Yes, Madam President, thank you for your hard work.
So I should acknowledge I have several deltas in my family, including my wife, Nicole.
So I have to say that.
I wanted to talk about a full-
Larry, is she financial?
Yes, she is.
Yes, she is.
That is a good question, Roland.
I love it.
I love it.
Don't start.
Don't start, say it.
Larry, Larry, you understand.
Delta is hardcore. That is a good question, Roland. I love it. I love it. Don't start. Don't start, Sayed. Larry, Larry, you don't understand.
Delta's hardcore.
They would have checked her information
as soon as the interview was over.
So, you talk about the women's suffrage movement
and your involvement at that point in Washington, D.C.
And now you're back in Washington, D.C.
And I wonder if you particularly considering
the political, the moment we're dealing with in politics.
And when you reflect on your founders involvement
in the suffrage movement and today,
what are some of your thoughts leading into the convention
next couple of days?
I will have to tell you,
whatever we come back to the birthplace
of Delta Sigma Theta, it is a special moment,
but I will tell you, it also feels different this time.
Because when we think about the courage of our founders
during a time that they fought for women's suffrage,
even when they did not get the right to vote
until the Voting Rights Act in 1965,
if you think about it in widespread numbers.
When we think about that,
and when we think about the fact
that we seem to be going backwards
instead of forwards in this country,
we wanna make sure that we continue to do things
to meet the moment.
But doing things that are relevant for 2025,
whether it's peaceful protesting,
all the way to making sure that we continue to focus.
And we're doing it state by state now,
since there's no national legislation on the table
as we currently speak to protect voting rights.
So we've had lawsuits in Texas
and we were complaints and belong with LDF and we prevailed in a couple
of the provisions to make it easier and not harder to vote.
We engaged in a lawsuit in Georgia around voting rights.
One in the state of Mississippi,
DeSoto County around redistricting.
So we're trying to make sure
that we're fighting on every front,
not just in the streets, but in the courts
and everywhere we possibly can.
So we want to continue to do what we can
to meet the moment.
We will galvanize our members here.
We're coming together in many different areas,
not just our meetings,
but we'll be coming together right there on the campus of Howard University on Wednesday
with our welcome event. And we'll use that as an opportunity not only to welcome SARS
home, but to remind them of the rich legacy we have in social action, and to make sure that we are galvanizing
for the moment and the days and the months ahead.
Mustafa.
Well, Madam President, thank you for 112 years,
you and all the source who have been doing amazing work.
I know your priorities fairly well
since most folks in my family are deltas.
You have one that's focused
on mental health and we know right now in this moment just the incredible weight that many folks
in our communities are carrying. Can you talk a little bit about why that's one of the focuses
that you all have? Absolutely and that was another meet the moment opportunity, but something that has long been very, very important to us
because one of our five programmatic thrusts
is physical and mental health.
But one of the key initiatives of my administration
is the Live Well initiative, focusing on mental health,
but very strongly focusing on mental wellness, on all aspects of mental wellness.
And that is a multifaceted program that is so important.
When I first came into office, it was during the pandemic.
And we know that there were many that were struggling.
We know that there were many on our college campuses,
not only our members,
but other students across our campuses.
We know that there was isolation from our elderly
and all throughout this country.
And so making sure that we focused on the mental wellness
and how to maintain that mental wellness and how to recognize
mental health challenges and making sure
that there are things in place,
whether it's being able to find a mental health provider,
whether it's focusing on programs on college campuses,
whether it's our wellness Wednesdays that we conduct
month after month to focus on the various aspects of mental wellness or our live well summit that we just completed where we focused
on mind body and spirit. It is critical in a time like this. We started in a pandemic,
but we're in another kind of pandemic right now when it comes to the challenges
that we're having with, again, rights being taken away.
Racial injustices where we should have racial justices,
the erasure of our history, and so many more issues
that we are facing as a people, it is absolutely critical
that we focus on our mental health
during this period of time. Tyler. Yes, President Cook Holmes, this is so great to see you as always.
I got to give a special shout out to my home traveler, Alphamu, at North Carolina A&T.
As a proud member of Phi Beta Sigma. I know firsthand that our divine not always
that's just our social best.
That's a nice little youth group.
We're going right ahead.
You got the blue, I got you, I got you.
That's right, that's right.
So we know our organization are not just,
they are strategic pillars in our community
in civic leadership, education and justice.
As a president of a legacy organization with years of strong support in the community,
what will your message be to the next generation of Deltas who are making their way to DC,
which a bunch of my friends are already taking over the city?
Well, I will tell you that the message is that we have to always meet the moment and
we always have to lead the way.
It is up to us.
If not us, then who?
And so it's not enough to sit back.
It's not enough to stroll.
All the fun things we do, it's not enough to step and stroll. It's not enough to just focus on the things
that are happening on specific campuses even,
or in communities.
But it must be brought across this country.
The things that we do must be global,
and we must stay in the fight.
And I will tell you, in addition to that,
one of the things that we share with our members,
and I certainly talk about with my fellow presidents
on a regular basis,
that our collective power is unparalleled.
We're almost three million strong
if you look at the collective power of the D9.
So in addition to us leading the way,
I will tell you that the D9 should be leading the
way.
And we always say our hashtag is D9 stronger together.
Because if we know that we if we continue to exercise our collective power, there's
nothing that we can't do.
Whether it's focusing on some collective buying to be able to own our own things
like conference centers, own our own museums.
There's so many things that we have the opportunity to do
if we use our collective voices and our collective power.
So that's the other message that we wanna lead the way,
but we have to also do it together.
Absolutely.
So look, I speak a whole lot, travel a lot.
And when I felt my voice being lost
when I was at Essence Fest,
I always carry something with me.
So President Cook Holmes, tell your staff,
go to store and buy you this,
and keep it with you.
I keep it in my bag at all times.
Tamela Mann and David Mann hooked me up and said,
anytime you're losing your voice
or you're getting ready to speak a lot,
take this as an herbal spray.
It will help you keep your voice.
I actually have some in my purse,
but I don't think I have been using it enough today.
But Roland, I thank you for that tip.
I'm going to use it because I have a whole lot of talking
I need to do tomorrow, so I need to figure this out quickly.
You ain't lying, because you on day two.
I want you to tell my sorry, Jackie, hello.
You on day two.
I don't want to lose it.
You on day two.
You can't be like that. Listen. I'm on day two. No, you on day two. You can't be like that. I'm on day two.
No, you tell her hi.
You can't be the end, not the beginning.
You tell her hi.
I ain't seen her.
I got back from essence.
She was already gone to the convention, so you tell her hi when you see her.
I will look for her until you say hello then.
All right, then.
Do that.
Well, I appreciate it.
I know she got me a couple of tickets or something, so I'll be popping through.
I'll see you.
We look forward to seeing you.
I'll see you at the convention center.
And last question, how many hotels y'all got?
Y'all feel up here?
I don't know of a hotel in the district
where we don't have members.
So I am, I'll be honest with you.
I think I lost count, you know,
after we got 50 or 60 contracts,
but I would tell you, there is not a place
within the district, not just the downtown area,
but as far north as the hotels that are almost in Maryland.
So we're all over, and we know that we have
SARS-AIDS in Virginia and Maryland too. All right then, President Cook-Holmes,
we appreciate it.
Good luck to a great week.
Thank you, thank you so much.
All right, thanks a bunch folks.
We're gonna go to a break.
We come back more on Roland Martin,
on the filter, don't forget to support the work that we do.
Join our Breena Funk fan club.
Your work is critical to what we do.
So if you wanna contribute via Cash App, do so right here.
Go to use the Stripe QR code and of course click the Cash App button to contribute checks
and money in order. Make it payable to first of all Roland Martin Unfiltered. Send it to
P.O. Box 57196 Washington D.C. 20037-0196. PayPal R.. Martin Unfiltered, Venmo, RM Unfiltered, Zell.
Rollin' at Rollin'SMartin.com.
Rollin' at RollinMartinUnfiltered.com.
We'll be right back.
Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr.
The enigma of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
What really makes him tick?
And what forces shaped his view of the world, the country,
and Black America?
The answer, I'm pretty sure, will shock you.
And he says, you know, people think that I'm anachronistic.
I am.
I want to go backwards in time in order to move us forward into the future.
He's very upfront about this.
We'll talk to Cory Robin, the man who wrote the book that reveals it all.
That's next on The Black Table, only on the Black Star Network.
Hey, what's up, y'all? I'm Devon Frank.
I'm Dr. Robin B., pharmacist and fitness coach, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. So The guy who hung out with Donald Trump. Remember this photo right here? Donald Trump claimed he didn't know him.
Well, we know that's a lie.
And we know Jeffrey Epstein.
We know that's a lie.
And we know that's a lie.
And we know that's a lie.
And we know that's a lie.
And we know that's a lie.
And we know that's a lie.
And we know that's a lie.
And we know that's a lie. And we know that's a lie. The guy who hung out with Donald Trump. Remember this photo right here? Donald Trump claimed he didn't know him.
Well, we know that's a lie.
And we know Jeffrey Epstein helped out a lot of Republicans.
And remember, he cut a deal in Florida with prosecutors there.
And Trump's Labor Secretary was the one
who helped him out of that deal that they also
wanted to keep secret.
Everybody allowed him to go to jail in the daytime
and go home at night.
It was really, I mean, it was a sweetheart deal.
So a lot of people, especially Republicans,
believed that it was a coverup.
And who are the names?
I remember Pam Bondi, when she came as attorney general,
she was like, I have the list on my desk.
But then now they claim, oh no, there's no list.
And again, MAGA is losing its mind.
So today, at the cabinet meeting a reporter asked
Trump about it and I swear he almost soiled the adult diaper he's wearing.
It left some lingering mysteries. One of the biggest ones is whether he ever worked for an American or foreign intelligence agency.
The former labor secretary who was Miami US attorney Alex
Kostak, he allegedly said that he did work for an intelligence
agency.
So could you resolve whether or not he did?
And also, could you say why there was a minute missing
from the jailhouse tape on the night of the study?
Yeah, sure. If I could-
Hey, ma'am, could I just interrupt for a second?
Sure.
Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy's been talked about for years. You're
asking, we have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things. And are people still talking
about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable.
Do you want to waste the time?
And do you feel like answering?
I don't mind answering.
I mean, I can't believe you're asking a question on Epstein
at a time like this, where we're having
some of the greatest success and also tragedy
with what happened in Texas.
It just seems like a desecration.
But you go ahead.
Sure.
Sure.
Sure.
First, to back up on that, in February I did an interview on Fox, and it's been getting
a lot of attention because I said I was asked a question about the client list.
And my response was, it's sitting on my desk to be reviewed, meaning the file along with
the JFK, MLK files as well. That's what I meant
by that. Also to the tens of thousands of video, they turned out to be child porn downloaded
by that disgusting Jeffrey Epstein. Child porn is what they were. Never going to be
released, never going to see the light of day. To him being an agent, I have no knowledge about that.
We can get back to you on that.
And the minute missing from the video, we released the video showing definitively the
video was not conclusive, but the evidence prior to it was showing he committed suicide.
And what was on that, there was a minute
that was off the counter.
And what we learned from Bureau of Prisons
was every year, every night, they redo that video.
It was old, from like 1999.
So every night the video is reset,
and every night should have the same minute missing.
So we're looking for that video to release that as well,
showing that a minute is missing every night and that's it on Epstein
But here's the thing it's the right that's making a big deal out of this
They're the ones who are angry and upset and mad and yelling and screaming
even Tucker Carlson went off on this whole deal
and just said how, oh, this could cause a massive,
massive storm on the right.
Here was an interview that he had
with somebody on that issue.
Particularly not only deceived by the people
like the FBI director and the deputy director Dan Bongino
But the attorney general who went on camera after assuming her office on the White House lawn
These are supposed to mean things and said thousands of victims. We have the client list. We have the flight logs
She held a little press conference whatever event with so-called influencers in which she gave them the Epstein files an infamous photo
with so-called influencers in which she gave them the Epstein files, an infamous photo that was released.
It turned out that that binder actually had redacted
information in it, which was already public,
just to demonstrate how they were turning the South La-
they're turning the White House effectively
into a performative show and making light of the fact
that there are hundreds, if not thousands,
of underage victims.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of underage victims.
Mm, Magga, big man. Like, Magga's really upset,
and they are just going crazy on this issue.
Now that was him talking to Sagar and Jenny.
And again, they're just, I mean,
they are really, really upset.
And Dan Bongino lied to the people.
It's the same Dan Bongino, who just beloved by the right,
who left his media perch to go work for Trump.
So, I mean, they are just big mad.
Now, Trump and them are sitting here.
You heard them say, that evil man. And Trump, people are sitting here. You heard them say that evil man.
And Trump, people are still talking about Jeffrey Epstein. They're still talking
about Jeffrey Epstein. That despicable man. You mean this one?
Trump.
Trump.
Trump.
Trump.
Trump.
Trump.
Trump. Boy, look at having a grand conversation. Chummy, chummy, chummy, chummy, trummy. But they're like, oh, that despicable man.
That man, how dare he.
I mean, Trump was kicking it with him.
You had one woman who was actually suing Trump
saying she was raped.
That's a fact, y'all.
Like, don't get mad at everybody else. That's y' y'all. Don't get mad at everybody else.
That's y'all boy.
And the right is so upset.
Matter of fact, look here.
This is collage of photos of Donald Trump and who?
His boy Jeffrey Epstein.
Ain't that interesting? I just think it's a trip Larry. Trump and who his boy Jeffrey Epstein.
Ain't that interesting. I just think it's a trip Larry, that MAGA is so mad.
So Trump gets mad at the reporter for asking the question
when it's the people that voted for him who are pissed off.
Yeah, this is a role and this is a situation where you eat,
you know, you know, people eat their
own.
They constantly, you know—for the last several years, they have fed on all these conspiracy
theories.
And you talked about just a few weeks ago, we had that, you know, the infamous photo
op in front of the White House with the Epstein binders.
It was circled on news, talked about for days. And DOJ, attorney general says she had some information
that she, you know, she phrased it a little bit differently
than she did from the interview.
But they fed this conspiracy theory,
and people waiting for the payoff based on
what we've heard for the last several years.
And now they're backtracking.
So all that does is feed more conspiracy.
Well, Larry's talking, hold on Larry,
while Larry's talking, go to my iPad.
Larry, remember this, they held up these binders,
the Epstein FBI files, go ahead.
Yeah, I mean, and you know, they talked about having these
social media influencers who then went on their podcasts
and once again, just went on and talked about how this information was coming out.
And so once again, people who, you know, entered these conspiracy theories or, you know, follow
these kinds of things are looking for a payoff in it.
And now it never came.
And those same folks are now going to turn on the administration because now they think
there's up, there's something think there's up to something.
So there's a conspiracy inside the conspiracy.
So it's going to be really interesting
over the next several weeks, couple months,
to see what this does in terms of public opinion
for those who are right-wingers
who follow this kind of issue.
But bottom line is, Roland, they fed the beast
and the beast expected to be fed.
And it's like being at the zoo and throwing red meat at a tiger. And,
you know, you didn't throw the tiger any food this time. And,
and now those folks have turned on administration.
Tyler, like Midas Touch published this. The tweet was,
here are 14 phone numbers associated with Donald Trump from Jeffrey Epstein's
little black book. I mean, I, I,
I guess that's why he doesn't want to talk about it.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think, you know, there's a double standard
in how powerful men like Donald Trump are treated
when it comes to associating with predators
like Jeffrey Epstein, despite, as we just saw,
years of photos, videos, and testimony,
and public connections to him.
Trump has never faced full accountability.
And I think the real question for his ties to Epstein, you know, is dangerous.
And I think the silence of his administration and his silence sends a chilling message
that if you're rich, if you're well connected and if you're white, you get to walk away
free while survivors carry the weight.
As you said before, even the survivor who came out
or as we look at how Trump has talked about treating women
and I think he has not faced full accountability
and I think it just sends a chilling message
that many of us have already known to be true.
This is Brian Shapiro was on Piers Morgan show.
And of course, all of these little Trump defenders who always complain.
Mustafa listen to what Shapiro lit them up on and he's absolutely right.
When Haba did your show, where did she get that information from?
Where did that come from back in February?
I would also say to Pam Bondi, she lied on Fox News, or maybe she was telling the truth.
She said she had a list that was on her desk, Pierce.
Where did that list go?
Was she lying?
Was that made up?
And I'd also say thirdly, and I know this is something that Jack probably doesn't want
to bring up, but the fact of the matter is that Jeffrey Epstein's on audio saying at
one point Donald Trump was his best friend.
We also know that Donald Trump was on the Epstein flight log seven times.
We learned that in the Maxwell case.
So I don't think it's a stretch to say maybe Donald Trump might be somewhere in these files.
Maybe. We don't know that for sure.
But I know if it was the other way around and if it was Joe Biden that was best friends with Jeffrey Epstein at one point,
that's all Jack and MAGA Republicans would be talking about
I think Donald Trump is on this list and I think Donald Trump is in these files and I think the Trump administration is
Oh
Here we go is hiding something that he's all right when how is that your show? What is here's the thing that cracks me up?
Mustafa
What's the thing that cracks me up? Mustafa.
Trump, you asked that question?
This feels like desecration.
Oh, oh.
So now all of a sudden,
you wanna talk about the more than 100 people killed
in the floods in Texas,
and the fact that 161 people are still missing.
Oh, so now you want us to focus on that.
Oh, so you don't wanna answer any questions about that.
Maybe that's Mustafa because when the flood was happening,
look who was golfing.
Three days ago, he's on his way to play golf.
But now, you don't want us asking about these things
because, oh, because of great things happening
and the flood in Texas.
No, it's called the First Amendment.
We can ask any damn thing we want.
And at some point, I wish one of these reporters
would actually say, hey man, we can ask what the hell we want
whether you like it or not.
Yeah, exactly.
And the fact that we can multitask,
we can take in multiple types of information
and be able to analyze it and make some decisions
for ourselves. It's interesting. We know that Trump hung out with Epstein, that Trump partied
with Epstein. As the gentleman said, his name also appeared seven times on the flight logs.
We know that Epstein was a test pilot. 17 times on the flight log.
We know that Epstein was a... 17 times on the flight log.
17 times, okay.
I've read seven times before, so thank you for the correction.
And then also, we know that, you know, based upon the way that we're looking at sex trafficking now,
that Epstein was also moving folks over to the island and all kinds of different things.
So, you know, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, we all know how the saying goes.
So, of course, no one wants to have that attention on them
when they're associated with someone
who's done those types of things.
But he had a history of not just one time being seen
with this individual, but multiple times.
And, you know, no matter who else it might have been,
if you found yourself in that situation, if people had all this documentation,
both video and photos, then they're
going to ask questions about, were you also participating
in those types of nefarious behaviors
that Epstein was convicted on?
Not, you know, that people just, you know,
said maybe this is something that he's done,
but he was actually convicted in relationship to the list.
Yeah, that was the red meat that everyone kept talking about.
And we're really interested in whose names on the list.
I can't tell you how many times people would make,
guesses about who might be on there.
And of course, Trump's name came up
along with a number of other folks.
So you can't get upset if you are going to, you know,
affiliate with individuals who do those types of behaviors,
criminal behaviors.
And if you're gonna sit here and trash Hillary Clinton
or Obama or Biden or Harris, then you gotta own it.
Now, I heard Shapiro say 17, one lawyer said Trump
said it was seven times on the flight log,
so I'm gonna double check that.
But I do wanna read this quote,
this is from a New York Magazine story.
Trump quote, I've known Jeff for 15 years.
Terrific guy, he's a lot of fun to be with.
It's even said that he likes beautiful women
as much as I do.
And many of them are on the younger side.
Know that about it?
Jeffrey enjoys his social life.
That was Donald Trump on Jeffrey Epstein. So I see why he doesn't want
questions being asked about Jeffrey Epstein in the White House. All right, y'all, going to break.
We'll be right back. Roland Martin on the Black Sun Network.
This week on A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie, we're talking
faith, family, fatherhood and the pathway to reentry.
Most of us in some way, shape, form or fashion have had someone in our
lives, whether it was a grandfather, a father, an uncle, a brother or a cousin
who has been incarcerated or justice impacted.
What does that look
like in rebuilding family and relationships? What does it look like
for us to be able to have substantive conversations come to the table love on
each other while at the same time get it all out in the open so that we can
begin a new journey together. You know, the last thing you want is in the midst
of trying to piece your life back together for home to not be a comfortable place. That's all next on A Balanced Life with
Dr. Jackie here on Black Star Network. Hey, what's up? It's Jami Roman. Hey, it's John Murray,
the executive producer of the new Sherri Sheppard Talk Show. It's me, Sherri Sheppard Talk Show. It's me Sherry Sheppard and you know what you're watching. Roland Martin Unfiltered.
Folks, the Georgia chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is suing the state park
over its plan to create an exhibit addressing slavery, segregation, and white supremacy.
The lawsuit focuses on racist stone mountain,
which features a monument depicting racist Confederate
President Jefferson Davis,
white domestic terrorist General Robert E. Lee,
as well as white domestic terrorist,
racist Thomas Stonewall Jackson, all on a horseback.
The monument was carved in 1915. In 2021, the Stone
Memorial Association voted to relocate the Confederate flags at the monument
and to build a quote truth-telling exhibit. This exhibit aims to inform
visitors about the site's role in the revival of the Ku Klux Klan and its
segregationist roots. It will also discuss how Confederate groups,
including the Sons of Confederate Veterans,
promoted the racist lost cause ideology,
which portrays slavery as a positive institution.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans argued
that relocating the Confederate flags violates Georgia law
and that altering the monuments
to fit the
present political climate is illegal. They believe these charred changes are
an attack on their history and show disrespect for Confederate soldiers.
Okay, first of all, last I checked, they're not altering the monument, even
though yours truly believes blow that
shit up. But to say that you have a visitor area,
telling the truth, Mustafa,
and what the problem is, because that's not altering the monument.
It's actually showing as Paul Harvey would say now the rest of the story.
And that's the point right there. You know, there, there's fear and truth. showing as Paul Harvey would say, now the rest of the story.
And that's the point right there. You know, there's fear in truth,
especially for those who know
they're coming from a dark place.
They're coming from a place of misinformation
and disinformation.
And we need to be able to set the record straight.
And people have a problem with that
because they wanna create their own narrative,
even when it is a false narrative.
So, I hope the folks continue to move forward
on making sure that everybody who visits
has a real understanding of all the trauma
that was a part of slavery
and the truth about what it really was,
because if you don't do that,
then people will continue to paint it in a picture
that is not what our people actually experienced.
Cannot stand, Larry.
Truth.
What they still want is white history
and not truthful history.
Yeah, Roland, we need to make it real clear about, you know, when I think about my
enslaved ancestors, what they had to endure, the trauma, the rape, et cetera.
No, we need to tell the truth.
I mean, isn't that what the country's all about today?
We're about truth telling, right?
Isn't that what the country's all about today? We're about truth-telling, right?
So you have to—this country struggles with its history.
And I always tell people, I'm first generation, post Jim Crow.
These—when you start these conversations, it's not that long ago, in terms of we can
have conversations with individuals who were enslaved Africans.
And so, yeah, the atrocities that these organizations
in the Confederacy committed against enslaved Africans
needs to be made clear.
Their history, why they chose what they did,
at the years after that, in terms of,
like we talked about the KKK and these other organizations
that traumatized black communities for decades,
they all need to be called on the carpet
for what they did.
And if you're an active member of the organization, you need to face what your ancestors did,
and the fact that also that you're still involved in this organization that once again upholds what
the Confederacy did as some kind of shining example when they once again traumatized black people for decades. So no, we needed
something that was completely honest and we needed a nice big poster or something right next to all
those figures. Tyler, it's real simple for me. These folks despise the fact that we actually got
an opportunity to read. They despise the fact that we now are in positions of power and they despise the fact that we actually got an opportunity to read. They despise the fact that we now are in positions of power.
And they despise the fact that racist white men no longer control everything.
And so they're going to suck it up.
And I think they're going to lose this lawsuit because they're lying.
The monument is not being changed.
Having a visitor sit right next to it, nothing wrong with that.
So bring it.
Absolutely.
I saw a quote this week that said, offended by everything, ashamed of nothing, entitled
to everything but contributing to nothing.
And I think when I think about, you know, these symbols, they're in just mere history,
they're ongoing living patriarchy, racism, and omission,
especially in states like Georgia.
And I think the lawsuit is more than just
like a legal maneuvering that they're trying to get around,
but it's a fight over memory.
It's a fight over power,
and those whose stories get to be told and honored.
And this monument is a living insult
that legitimizes white supremacy. And I think
real equity demands that removing these public honors for oppression and oppressors and telling
the fool, and as we said, the fool and honest truth, we must stand up to it and be present
in this moment to ensure that they're trying to erase our history, but we
must stand firm in how our history is being told.
All right, folks, let's talk about something else these idiots are doing and the impact
it's going to have on a lot of black people.
Donald Trump and his people are unveiling plans for a major overhaul of student loans.
And so what they're trying to, first of all,
they're trying to shift which department.
This deals with the Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Program.
It was established 18 years ago,
the PSLF allows government employees,
such as teachers, firefighters, and nonprofit workers,
to have their student loans forgiven
after 10 years of qualifying payments.
Education department could strip the benefit
from organizations involved in quote, illegal activities.
Mangala Deskens, Director of Advocacy for Engagement
at EdTrust joins us right now.
So first and foremost, explain us what the hell
that even mean, illegal activities.
Thanks for having me this evening. I think before we talk about the specifics, I just want to
kind of lay the groundwork so that we can really understand what we're seeing here.
The Republicans in Congress in service of the MAGA agenda are making it clear. They don't want
black and brown students going to college. This is about making the rich richer by attempting to smother the aspirations of students of color across this country.
And by passing this bill and by putting these restrictions and eliminations and changing to the rules and repayment plans,
this is an attempt to make it so that black and brown students cannot go to school
at all.
So I just want to start there.
The idea is to keep us from being able to go to school or put us in a level of debt
that we can never get out of for the privilege of attempting to access the American dream.
So walk us through this in terms of what do we know so far about these changes?
Sure. So, you know, the changes really affect two sides, the loan side and the repayment side.
On the loan side,
they eliminated federal loans that help graduate students pay for school and added borrowing
limits to Parent PLUS loans.
Parent PLUS loans are loans that Black and brown families disproportionately use.
So this will force families to either go to banks and take higher interest loans that
will create more debt for the family or make decisions on whether these students
can go to college at all.
On the repayment side, they've changed income-based student repayment loan plans, making them
more expensive and adding longer timeframes.
And this was part of the way they were going to pay for their tax cut to billionaires,
by making it more expensive for students who are giving
their lives to public service to be able to repay the loans that help them achieve that
ability.
And if I could just pause you for a quick second, I just, I want to make this real for
folks in a way that we can understand.
You know, I attended college, Florida A&M University,
as a first-generation low-income student,
and I graduated with over $50,000 in debt.
Now, when you look at why I was low-income,
you might wanna look at my grandmother being a sharecropper
or my mother picking cotton as a kid on that same plantation.
But alas, you see me, I was able to make it to college.
By the time I was able to start repaying my loan,
I struggled to find employment, as many students do.
And as a first-generation student,
I didn't have a lot of familiar family help
to help me move forward.
So by the time I was able to start repaying my loan,
my loan had ballooned to over $80,000.
By the time I was able to get
on an income-based repayment plan,
it went over to $100,000.
Now, I'm here to say
that public service loan forgiveness helped me.
It helped me get out of a debt
that would have saddled me for the rest of my life,
a debt that I had because I spent my entire career
fighting for people who look like me, who came from a debt that I had because I spent my entire career fighting for people
who look like me, who came from the circumstances that I came from, so that people could have
the ability to achieve what we call this American dream.
This is what these changes did.
They are taking that ability away from further generations of students who are coming from
backgrounds like me, trying to give their...
All right, looks like our guest is frozen, so we're going to try to
reconnect with him. So let's see here. Let's see it spinning. Mangala, are you still there?
Sorry, can you hear me? Yeah, yeah, you actually froze there, but go ahead, keep going.
I don't know where I froze, man. I was just getting into it. Well, again, we were talking about,
in terms of how this thing is being put together,
and who is going to affect.
First of all, when do these changes start?
I mean, is it right now?
What must folks do to prepare themselves?
Yeah, for sure.
So the changes start right now.
Folks are already seeing their repayment
plans change. They're already seeing a raise in the amount of money that they have to pay.
They're already seeing hits to their credit scores. And then as far for the repayment
side and for the loans, this is for any future borrowers. So these are for students whose kids have did everything they were supposed to do and
were able to get into college for this fall in 2025.
They're going to have to deal with the consequences of this and the limitations on how much money
they can borrow.
And it will also affect the students who have already graduated, who are starting to repay their loans,
now they're gonna have to give more and more of their income
to be able to keep this from hitting their credit
or defaulting or hurting them financially
as they sit under this debt burden.
Questions from the panel, Tadek, you first.
Yeah, absolutely.
As we know, I say education is a right, not not a privilege and no one should have to choose between groceries and a loan repayment just for wanting to learn. My question for you would be, what does this pause in payment tracking mean for boroughs who have already dedicated years towards forgiveness from a lot of these like firefighters, teachers, and police officers. Yeah, absolutely.
So, you know, there's,
as what we often see with this current administration,
there's a lot that is opaque,
things we don't quite know yet,
but we know that they will probably not be legal.
But that hasn't stopped anything before.
What we know right now is that people are now unable
to check their payment status,
where you used to be
able to see how close you were to public service loan forgiveness.
We know that some portions of public service loan forgiveness have went away. The true
fallout, what we will see in total from this, we don't know yet. But what we do know is
all of those folks, whether you talk about teachers, whether you talk about
civil rights activists, whether you talk about folks who work in the public sector,
all of those folks should be very concerned. And there are some actions that we think that folks
can take, but I want to pause because we didn't get to that yet.
Larry?
Yeah. Thank you for all your work at Air Trust.. I want to give a shout out to your CEO, my friend Denise, while we're having a conversation.
And so let's talk a little bit about what happens if you're not able to pay these loans,
because I think the Wall Street Journal reported that some people who are actually retired
are actually having wages garnished.
Can you talk a little bit about that
because this is disproportionately
going to impact black folks also?
Oh, absolutely.
So we are seeing wage garnishment actually happen.
We are seeing folks take major hits on their credit
for being delinquent in their loans.
And I think that it's been widely reported
that there are many people who are struggling to pay these loans already, for being delinquent in their loans. And I think that it's been widely reported
that there are many people who are struggling
to pay these loans already,
and we expect that that's gonna get worse.
And so, you know, in doing this,
it's not just creating more expensive repayment plans
that will saddle folks with a debt burden,
but they are also garnishing wages on the other end.
So it's leaving you with really a very limited set of options
for what you do if you're not able to afford these loans,
which many students are not.
As we may remember, the administration's policies
have caused many workers to be laid off,
many workers to lose their job,
whether in the federal government
or in related parts
of different departments. So when you think about folks who are contractors for education
services, when you think about folks who work for a variety of companies and entities that
support the public needs, those folks are getting laid off because those loans are being
illegally held or sorry, those grants are being illegally held
by the administration.
So right now, you know, folks are really caught
between really a rock and a hard place.
You have to pay it, it's more expensive,
but at the same time, if you can't,
then your loans can be garnished.
I mean, sorry, your wages can be garnished, sorry.
Mustafa.
Yeah, well, thank you for what you
and your organization does.
Can you walk folks through,
so, you know, there's a huge amount of money
that's tied up in this.
Now people are paying more money.
We know there's a push to privatize education.
So can you talk a little bit about
where do the dollars go now? Does it go to
Treasury? Does it go, I know it doesn't go to the Department of Education, but I'm just
going to say does it go to the Department of Education? Where do these additional dollars
go?
Well, these changes were passed as a part of this boo boo bill, bad, bad bill, big, bad, terrible bill, whatever
we want to call it.
The reason why these things were put into place outside of making sure that black and
brown students don't have access to higher education or to college, which of course is
the number one goal, the reason why they were added to this particular bill was in order to pay for tax cuts and
tax breaks to billionaires that the administration wanted to make sure they got through.
So as far as like how these dollars move through the system, again, some of these things are
opaque.
The key thing to know is the reason why these
additional dollars are being collected is to cover the cost of tax breaks for rich people.
At Ed Trust, we like to call this, we call this bill the great heist, and that's what
that's about. It's taking these folks' dreams and aspirations to be able to create a better
life for themselves and their families through college and through the careers that come from that, and taking the debt that
folks took on in order to do that and taking that and raising that debt and charging folks
more in order to pay for tax cuts to rich people.
Which really shouldn't surprise me, surprise us because, remember, this is the same Trump
administration. You remember Trump. He created a fake university in order to defraud students
who were trying to get a better life out of their funds in the first place. So this idea of stealing
from people who are looking for a better life in order to pay billionaires, millionaires and
billionaires is not a new idea for Donald Trump,
and it's not a new idea for what we've seen from his policies.
Well, for all the people who chose to sit the election out,
well, they now have to continue with this
because we tried to tell them.
We told them what was going to go down.
And then there was a whole lot of people
who were yelling and screaming,
why hasn't Joe Biden gotten rid of student loan debt?
No, maybe you should have sat your ass out the 2016 election.
And then Trump went out of the point at three Supreme Court justices.
Just saying.
Angela, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot.
Thank you so much for having me.
All right, folks, quick break.
We'll be right back on Roller Mark on the filter, the Black Star Network.
Don't forget, support the work we do.
Join our Bring the Funk fan club. The goal is to get 20,000 of be right back on Roller Mart and on the Filchers of the Black Star Network. Don't forget to support the work that we do. Join our Bring the Funk Fan Club. The goal is to get
$20,000 fans contributing on average $50 each a year. $4.90 a month, $13 today. You support this
show. You support all of the other shows on the network. You want to contribute via Cash App. Here
is the QR code for Stripe. Use this QR code. You can also use it for credit card payments as well.
Make it payable to Roller Mart and on the Filchers. You can also use it for credit card payments as well. Make it payable to Roland Martin Unfiltered.
You got to check your money order and send that to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 20037.0196.
Paypal is R. Martin Unfiltered.
Venmo RM Unfiltered.
Zell, Roland at RolandSMartin.com.
Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.
We'll be right back. Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr, the enigma of Supreme Court Justice Clarence
Thomas.
What really makes him tick?
And what forces shaped his view of the world, the country, and Black America?
The answer, I'm pretty sure, will shock you.
And he says, you know, people think that I'm anachronistic.
I am I want to go backwards in time in order to move us forward into the future
He's very upfront about this. We'll talk to Cory Robin the man who wrote the book that reveals it all
That's next on the black table only on the black star network
On the other side of change the mass incarceration This week on The Other Side of Change.
Mass incarceration, Trump administration is doubling down on criminalization and how it
is profitable.
And there's something really, really perverse about saying that we need to put people in
cages in order for other people to have jobs.
Like, that is not how our economy should be built.
Only on The Other Side of change on the Black Star Network. ["Alone"]
This week on A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie, we're talking faith, family, fatherhood,
and the pathway to reentry.
Most of us, in some way, shape, form, or fashion
have had someone in our lives,
whether it was a grandfather, a father,
an uncle, a brother, or a cousin,
who has been
incarcerated or justice impacted.
What does that look like in
rebuilding family and relationships?
What does it look like for us to be
able to have substantive conversations?
Come to the table, love on each other,
while at the same time get it all out in
the open so that we can begin a new journey together.
You know, the last thing you want is in the midst of trying to piece your life back together
for home to not be a comfortable place.
That's all next on A Balanced I'm Dr. Bernard Hodges.
And I'm Dr. Terrence Ferguson.
And you're tuned in to...
Roland Martin on the 50s.
Protests have erupted across Kenya with tensions boiling over in the capital city of Nairobi. Eleven people have been
killed, more than 560 arrested during widespread anti-government demonstrations according to
police. Fueled by anger over corruption, police brutality and a soaring cost of living,
protests broke out Monday in 17 countries and 17 counties. The unrest coincided with
Saba Saba, the July 7th day that commemorates Kenya's fight for
democracy.
But instead of celebration, the streets were filled with bonfires, tear gas, and a new
generation demanding change.
Protesters are calling on President William Ruto to resign, accusing his administration
of failing to address the people's needs and deepening economic hardship.
Now, while that is happening,
we are seeing significant unrest in Haiti as well.
In Haiti, a very prominent hotel was burned down
by gangs in the continuing problems that we see
in that particular country.
We're just quite unfortunate.
It's the Hotel Olufsen, which was, of course,
a Gothic 19th century mansion that was gutted.
This is what it used to look like right here.
And this is what then happened when it went up in smoke.
This is a aerial view of what it looks like now.
They continue to see massive unrest there
in Haiti as police, a multinational force, try to keep the peace in that particular city.
But the reality is we continue to see gangs dominate and control so much of what happens
there. Now, there are some folk who have a different view of the hotel, say it was a haven for NGOs as well as spies.
Well, at the end of the day, that hotel has been burned down
and we don't see any substantive things happening
from this country to help the folks there
in that country as well.
And so this right here,
it said before it became a hotel all of a sudden,
it was home to the Sam family until 1915.
This is an image right here, and of course,
and also it was built by the son of a Hades president
as well, and so it was converted to a hotel
by the Swedish Gustav Olsen and gave it its name.
And so you see right here the information on it.
And then of course, this is what it looked like as well.
So we hate to see the continued unrest there in Haiti.
Let's talk about deportations.
Haiti is one of the countries that Donald Trump has been targeting along with other
African nations.
And guess what?
Well, the Trump folks have made it clear to any of these undocumented workers on farms,
you ain't getting amnesty.
Also, they're attacking folks
who what they call able-bodied Americans on Medicaid,
in fact saying that they may force them to take jobs
fueled by undocumented farm workers.
Listen to the agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins,
saying that 34 million able-bodied
people in Medicaid could serve as potential labor force for farms.
There's been a lot of noise in the last few days and a lot of questions about where the
president stands and his vision for farm labor.
The first thing I'll say is the president has been unequivocal that there will be no
amnesty.
And I think that's very very important
I and the rest of our cabinet certainly
Support that effectuate that and make sure that happens every single day
The second thing to your question about mass deportations the president and I have spoken about that
Once or twice and he has always been of the mindset that at the end of the day the promise to America
To ensure that we have a 100%
American workforce stands, but we must be strategic in how we are implementing
the mass deportation so as not to compromise our food supply. Ultimately, the
answer on this is automation, also some reform within the current governing
structure, and then also when you think about there are 34 million able-bodied
adults in
our Medicaid program. There are plenty of workers in America, but we just have to make
sure we're not compromising today, especially in the context of everything we're thinking
about right now. So no amnesty under any circumstances. Mass deportations continue, but in a strategic
and intentional way as we move our workforce toward more automation and toward
a 100% American workforce.
Hmm.
Really?
This initiative is part of Trump's one big, beautiful bill, which introduces the first
ever federal work requirements for Medicaid recipients.
Um, I really can't wait to see Larry, uh a lot of these white folks being sent to farms.
Yeah.
So the reason why you have migrant workers, among others, you know, obviously making a
serious contribution to our economy is that Americans don't want these jobs rolling.
And that's just the bottom line.
This is hard work.
And so what you hear the secretary describing is servitude.
Let's be clear about what we're hearing here.
The other thing that's really interesting about this comments about those individuals
on Medicaid is that they're talking about a lot of their voters.
And I don't think, when a lot of this language is used,
the way they switch it up,
I don't think when they talk about people being at home
and lazy, et cetera,
they're talking about a lot of their voters in red states.
And I think those folks only hear immigrants
and other people, but then they're talking about you,
and they're gonna take, they're taking your Medicaid.
And the other thing is,
as it relates to this overall conversation, is it also talks about how they value
other people's humanity.
The majority of significant individuals,
a percentage of Americans work at jobs,
but they don't even qualify for things like healthcare.
So this is really more of an issue in terms of
economic healthcare structure, in terms of individuals
not only making a living wage, but also providing with comprehensive health care.
But we're not going to have that conversation, because then that will force people to critique
local, state, and federal government.
So what you hear from the secretary, once again, is essentially describing some kind
of servitude for Americans.
And secondly, once again, Americans are not taking those jobs. Yeah, I mean, so you see, I saw this video here,
100 undocumented workers at Glen Valley Foods in Nebraska
got arrested.
And so now the right is saying, oh, my goodness,
it was packed.
People were filling out forms for those jobs.
Yeah, that's working at a plant.
I'm telling you right now, Mustafa,
these white folks ain't gonna be in that heat
picking no damn fields.
Right.
You know, most Americans, I've worked on farm worker issues
of beginning in the early part of my career.
So I know I've
seen personally how hard that work is. And it's interesting because when we talk about
the folks who are on Medicaid, we're talking about people who are poor and sick and elderly
and disabled and folks who are just trying to make it. I thought that they actually were
going to go after the prison population. We're going to try and get them to do a lot of this
work.
But the reality of the situation is, you know, you've got a whole lot of people across this
country, you know, are dealing with opioid addiction and dealing with fentanyl, dealing
with all these different types of things that, you know, has already lowered their immune
system, made them weaker.
So you're going to put them out there in the fields when it's 100 plus degrees, sometimes 110
degrees, working 12 hours, sometimes making, you know making just literally pennies on the dollar.
Americans are just not gonna do that.
I mean, there's just no way that you're gonna be able
to make that become a reality.
And so when you make these snap,
well, they're not snap decisions.
When these folks make these sort of decisions
that have these huge ramifications,
they're not fully thinking it through.
They're assuming that people, you know, as Larry said,
are gonna be okay with being indentured servants.
But that's just not the case.
Whether you're talking about folks in Appalachia,
you're talking about folks that are in the Rust Belt,
you're talking about folks that are down in the Black Belt,
you know, it is just not a reality.
And of course, it is a whole lot of their folks.
So they voted for this
without probably having the full understanding
that you are also sacrificible
because that's exactly what they're doing.
They're finding people who they feel that have no value
and they're going to try and push them
into these very difficult jobs.
And there's a reason why, you know,
folks demonize folks who are immigrants
to our country. And but the reality is, is that they're helping to hold up this economy.
And now you are completely destabilizing it. And now they're going to be looking for the
next set of scapegoats to push this capitalistic set of actions forward.
But these right folks are not,
so check this out, I'm gonna read it first.
This is from the American Business Immigration Coalition.
I said I'm gonna read it first.
Come to me, before I play it.
No, no, no, no, no, no, I'm gonna play it,
I'm gonna play it, hold on, I'm gonna read it first.
Immigrants are critical to the farming industry,
said Rebecca Shee, CEO of the American Business
Immigration Coalition.
Wait until y'all hear these numbers
that she lays out in the video.
And I'm telling y'all, I'm telling you, Tylee,
these white folks are not gonna be on farms.
They are not gonna be in the heat 12, 14 hours a day.
I'm telling you.
So listen to this.
This is from February of this year.
The Trump administration's push for mass deportations has major cities like Chicago on high alert,
but some residents in rural areas are also expressing concerns, specifically farmers
who are worried about losing their workforce. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates
that 42% of farm workers are undocumented immigrants. Joining us now with more on the potential impact are Rebecca Shee,
Chief Executive Officer at the American Business Immigration Coalition.
And joining us via Zoom is Stephen Dorloff, a professor in educational policy
at the University of Chicago and the director of Stone Center for Research
on Wealth and Equality and Mobility. Thank you both for joining us.
Rebecca, I want to start with you. How important is the immigrant workforce to the farming industry?
Thank you so much for having me. Immigrants are critical to the farming industry. Agriculture
is a $3 trillion industry, and 72% of the ag workforce are immigrants.
You know, what do you say to those people who have many different opinions on what's
going on with immigration and who should be, who is illegal and who's not, especially when
it comes to such big workforce-like farming?
Right.
Well, we appreciate having eggs on our shelves.
I mean, I'm having a hard time finding eggs right now, and I'm sure a lot of viewers are
as well. We appreciate having
avocados and milk and if you were to just remove a significant part of our farm workforce we're
gonna start seeing $20 lettuces, $16 cartons of eggs or no milk because nearly all of the dairy
farmers and farm workers here in our nation,
including in Illinois and the Midwest, are immigrants.
I also need that extended warranty.
Are these people crying and whining, Tyllic, and they voted for Trump?
Absolutely. And I think this is a—just a sign of when you do not vote your interest in how it plays a game, you now become
on the menu, per se.
And I agree even more with my fellow panelists that this is nothing short of modern day,
a nature servitude, and it's cruel.
And I think it also mirrors a part in American history from sharecropping to chain gangs.
And this is just a mirror of that.
And I think it's clear you cannot pick your way out of poverty.
And people deserve health care without being treated like their state-owned labor.
And as you said, if they're going to tell people to get out there in them fields,
I can already hear the mean, the micro Jackson meme.
They were like, uh-uh, get somebody else to do it.
to me, they were like, uh-uh, get somebody else to do it.
I'm just saying, I'm, you know, it's going to be a lot of people just sitting here,
just whining and complaining and I'm just going to sit here and watch it all happen and watch them sing, you know, cry because again,
they thought they were talking about some other people.
They thought they were referring to some other people,
but they are about to learn real quick,
no, it was y'all.
It was y'all they were talking about.
And that's what I'm gonna enjoy the most, Mustafa,
because all these people,
that's why we had a shirt, pull the graphic up,
FAFO 2025.
And we got Project Crossed Out.
This is, that's for y'all,
because they're about to learn.
See, when they talk about 34 million,
see, a lot of white folk in America go,
that's them black folks.
That's them black folks.
We played on the show, Tommy Tuberville,
talking about them inner city rats,
them inner city rats taking federal aid.
We gotta sit here and do something about them inner
city rats. And see they do that and they love thinking as somebody else but then
they look up and realize no they talking about you and see all these folks in
these red in these red areas all these folks in these red areas they love
talking about and they think as everybody else.
See, these broke white people, and let me be real clear,
I'm using the phrases for a reason.
These broke, illiterate, sick white people
in red states, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Arkansas, West Virginia, parts of Virginia.
All these folks, they love thinking,'s somebody else.
It's them people.
It's those people.
It's them people.
That is not us.
We the good people.
We the nice people.
They not talking about us.
They not gonna take our healthcare.
They not gonna take money from us.
No, they talking about you,
this is Tommy Tupperville talking to the man who took a bunch of money from the
Russians, Benny Johnson. Uh, again,
he talked about inner city, but he talking about white folks in Alabama.
Listen.
Yeah. You know,
I've spoken several times with Tom Holman who is basically running the inner city ice programs and
You know, he told me he said he's been pushed at every corner when he goes these big big cities
I'm sure if you get a mayor like this that takes over it'll even be worse
And that's when you can you can stop the federal funding you can do anything
President Trump can do anything he wants when it comes to the federal. Again, these these inner city rats, they live off the federal government.
And that's one reason we're $37 trillion in debt. And it's time that we find these rats
and we send them back home that are living off the American taxpayers that working very
hard every week to pay taxes. Even though his state gets is the sixth largest in the country
that gets federal dollars.
I guess he's talking about rural rats too,
like in Alabama.
Yeah, if that's the criteria that he's gonna operate from,
that's just the reality of the situation.
You know, I've worked with a lot of communities,
over a thousand communities in our countries,
and you know, a number of those
have been lower wealth white communities. And you know, a number of those have been
lower wealth white communities.
And, you know, when I come back to Washington, D.C.,
and hear how, you know, some of these folks
talk about poor white folks,
they don't see them as human, right?
They see them as less than.
And I wish that, you know, you know,
our lower wealth white brothers and sisters understood,
you know, that these wealth white brothers and sisters understood, you know, that these
folks do not value them and that they should be operating, you know, in partnership with
all the other vulnerable communities and individuals who are out there so that you could actually
make real change happen because these folks just use you.
That's the reality.
I know it personally.
You know, I grew up in Appalachia.
I've seen the disinvestment
in so many different types of communities,
of course, black communities and brown communities,
but also in lower wealth white communities.
And so when you see people like Tuberville
or all these other individuals, you know,
who are making salaries that, you know,
folks who are out there just trying to survive,
would love to have, you know,
that's the dynamic that's playing out.
So I'm gonna give everybody a quick stock tip as well,
Roland, as I pass it back to you.
If you wanna make a whole lot of money right now,
then go out and invest in Sunblock.
And I guarantee you for all those folks
who are gonna have to be out there in the fields,
you're gonna make some money.
Yeah, absolutely. All right, y'all, gotta go to break, we. Absolutely.
All right, y'all.
Got to go to break.
We come back.
Our shopblackstarnetwork.com
marketplace segment will talk about,
that's right, Black-owned Tissue Company.
Yeah, seriously.
Back in a moment.
On the next Get Wealthy with me,
Deborah Owens, America's wealth coach,
less than 5% of the top executive positions
in corporate America are held by women of color.
We know it's not because of talent.
A recent study says that it's micro-aggressions,
unconscious bias, and limited opportunities
being offered to women of color.
On our next show, we're gonna get incredible advice
from Francine Parham, who's recently written a book
sharing exactly what you need to do
to make it up into the management ranks
and get the earnings that you deserve.
I made a point to sit down and I made a point to talk to people and I made a point to be
very purposeful and thought provoking when I spoke to them.
That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network.
This week on the other side of change.
Mass incarceration. Trump administration is doubling down on criminalization and how it is profitable.
And there's something really, really perverse about saying that we need to put people in cages in order for other people to have jobs.
Like that is not how our economy should be built.
Only on the other side of change on the Black Star Network.
Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr, the enigma of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
What really makes him tick and what forces shaped his view of the world,
the country,
and Black America?
The answer, I'm pretty sure, will shock you.
And he says, you know, people think that I'm anachronistic.
I am.
I want to go backwards in time in order to move us forward into the future.
He's very upfront about this.
We'll talk to Cory Robin, the man who wrote the book that reveals it all.
That's next on the Black Table,
only on the Black Star Network. All right folks, it's time for our segment, ShopBlackStarNetwork.com.
Now we talk about going green,
but what about when it comes to the bathroom?
Alright, we're spotlighting Leafy, the eco-friendly brand
that's reinventing everyday essentials.
And so, they've got bamboo toilet paper,
they've got tissue paper as well.
Joining us right now, co-founders Marvin Green, Charles Peaks.
Glad to have both of y'all here. So, all right. So,
how'd y'all decide to say,
we're going to do eco-friendly toilet paper and tissue?
I mean, well, funny story. Going all the way back to 2020,
I mean, well, funny story, going all the way back to 2020, I was in an accelerator program for a previous business, tech business, that I was, what I was funded for.
Long story short, COVID hit, kind of shut everything down.
But in the middle of that, what it did was sit me down or allow me to sit still and witness the civil unrest that was breaking
out everywhere, COVID which basically put everyone in their homes, and then you know the staple
after all of that is people going out losing their minds over toilet paper, so
you know I kind of put all of those things together because I've also seen
a lot of us running out and going and grabbing toilet paper.
So thought about it.
I had a dream.
All of this came to me in a dream, actually.
I hit up my partner Chuck and said, hey, man, we need to come out with our own brand, you know, Toll Paper and add a central enterprise piece
to it and kind of, you know, add a mission that elevated
and educated people and the benefits of bamboo
and the rest was history.
So you sitting there laying down
and you dreaming about Toll Paper.
Hey, it sounds crazy.
It was a few different factors.
I don't know if I ate something and I just jumped up like,
whoa, wait a minute.
Why am I thinking about toilet paper?
Or if you ate something and you went to the bathroom
and ran out.
Yeah, but listen, man, it hit me.
One of them things though that once it hit me,
I just grabbed my phone, started taking notes,
called Chuck.
And we always,
we brainstorm ideas back and forth.
We're serial entrepreneurs, so it was nothing new to us to bounce different ideas back and
forth.
And once we put our heads down and really started to brand it out, put it together,
and go with the actual raw materials that we wanted to go with.
We put it out here with everybody, so that's what you're saying.
Okay, so first of all, this is an individual package.
And this right here is the six pack.
Yes, sir.
So explain to me why the individual,
okay so explain the black wrapping or the gray,
like is there a reason behind it or just because?
So that is, so the individual row is two ply row.
No individually wrapped mainly for,
we have for businesses and also for residents.
So this one here, this is two ply?
Yes sir, yes sir.
Okay, so different between two ply and one ply.
No, well the two ply is a lot thicker.
You mean your fingers ain't gonna break through.
That's what you don't want.
That's a good point.
That's 100%.
And then the six pack we have is three ply.
That's the premium right there.
This here is three ply?
Yes, sir.
Okay.
And then you got in the back, why choose bamboo?
It says lint free and no tree.
What does that mean?
It means no lint.
You know, when you go,
and we're not really trying to examine the toilet paper.
Hey man, listen, we trying to sell,
we trying to sell some damn toilet paper.
So you got to need to explain
why to buy you a nice Charmin.
Listen, so Lent free though, like toilet paper,
it's gonna leave length.
It's gonna leave, you know, those, those, those little barriers, but it's gonna leave all that. Man, look, hold up, it's going to leave lint. It's going to leave, you know, those, those dill berries.
But it's going to leave all that.
Man, look, hold up, dawg.
You can't be trying to steal toilet paper,
and you scared to talk about toilet paper.
Listen, it's not going to leave no lint.
You know, all natural, no lint behind, none of that.
So, and another thing we also like to push
is the educational piece behind it.
We chose a bamboo because as we started doing our own R&D,
we realized traditional toilet paper was poisonous.
I mean, there's a lot of forever chemicals that we're using.
We're using formaldehyde, bleaches, chlorine,
and we're putting it on the most sensitive areas of our body.
And once you dig into that a little bit deeper,
you realize that those are, you know,
colon cancers, kidney cancers,
things like that are on an uptick.
Yeah, are on an uptick.
I'm not saying it's because of the toilet paper
that you're using, but it can't,
you know, the traditional toilet paper can't help you,
or can't be something that's helping you as far
as health.
So when we went the bamboo route, we wanted to not only just sell toilet paper, not only
to add sustainability, we also wanted to help, excuse me, add that health safe cost, I mean
that health cost savings to your life as well because down the line, you eventually are
going to have medical bills also septic system
pieces to it you know people down the line you're going to have to replace your septic system it's
biodegradable so there's a lot of many or many different benefits when it comes to bamboo opposed
to the traditional toilet paper and why we chose to go, you know, the opposite route.
In fact, I came across a video the other day and I'm trying to find it. I was on, I don't know if it was Instagram, I don't know if it was on Twitter as well, and it was a video of
a guy and he was talking about the forever chemicals that are in toilet paper.
And he was talking about that.
He was talking about that,
look, you are applying this to a part of your body
where it gets into your body quite quickly.
And it was the first time I actually had seen a video
on that very thing.
Go straight to your bloodstream, you know,
most sensitive areas, so yeah.
It's crazy when you start to really think about that.
All right, so we done covered the lint-free and no tree.
We covered the biodegradable part,
the no chemicals part, the 100% ambu,
100% bamboo, and the and the high quality three-ply
okay so explain the more oxygen part more oxygen bamboo more hold up hold up
you gotta let your partner talk I want his family like, damn, he ain't get to say nothing.
Go ahead.
So bamboo actually produces more oxygen than actual tree.
It's a natural anti-biotic.
So the fight is a lot more diseases than actual tree wood.
So, I mean, those things that,
those are the things that we bring to the table
outside of just having trees and chopping
and messing up the ecosystem.
We're saving a lot of trees and we just,
I mean, we just don't wanna mess up the ecosystem
with just chopping on every tree
that we have here in America.
So we chose to switch it over to bamboo.
All right, so, okay, I'm letting my panel ask a question. They might ask what I'm about to ask, but I'll wait. So let me go to them. And so Tylek, you're first.
Yeah, let me let me just say I learned so much about toilet paper. I'm about to when I go into Barry, I'm about to get my phone toilet paper. I first want to say thank you for your vision and showing how entrepreneurship can drive
both environmental sustainability and community uplift.
I think you all are challenging the myth that social impact and business success are exclusive
for one another, especially during this time when corporations are leaning away from those
priorities.
My question for you would be, what advice would
you have for other young entrepreneurs from underserved communities who are looking to break
into this green industry and this space? I would definitely, out the gate, I would just think
completely out of the box. I mean, me and Mark, we didn't grow up thinking that we were on a
toilet paper company. That just wasn't an option or occupation to even pick up. So whatever you do think of or you have a you know I mean just a weird inkling of
try it. I mean that's what I that's the number one thing I would definitely do is try it and you
never know it may work but you don't know until you give it a shot. So just quick I mean traditional
businesses and traditional jobs and careers and things like that as you as we know I mean, traditional businesses and traditional jobs and careers and things like that, as we know,
I mean, America's changing, the world is changing, you know what I mean? You can make millions of
dollars from sitting in front of a computer screen right now. So you never thought that was possible
back in the day. So now, I mean, I would just say completely think all the way out the box,
and it should work. I mean, you never know. And I just add in there, I mean, as both kind of see,
just be persistent.
You're not going, you're gonna go through some days
where it's like, man, this ain't it,
but one, you gotta stick with it.
You gotta go through those ups and downs.
You gotta learn, you gotta go through the fire
and basically be refined to become the person
that you're supposed to be in order to handle
what it is that you're trying to create.
So I would say just be persistent
and stay firm in what it is that you believe
and make impact happen.
All right, Larry.
Yeah, gentlemen, congratulations for thinking
outside the box.
So my question deals with what are you projecting over the next three to five,
even 10 years out in terms of market share,
or percentage of market share you think you could capture
over the next like three to five or 10 years out?
Great question.
So we've actually, we actually believe
that we can capture about 10%.
And that's been aggressive with it, 10%. But we also have community that's been, you know, aggressive with it, 10%.
But we also have community that's backing us.
Going back early 2024, I would say we realized
we had community is because when everything shut down
with DEI, we were actually onboarding with, you know,
Cleveland clinics, we were onboarding with a lot
of major corporations and then supplier diversity
programs shut down, which kind of put us at a pause. But what we did was we took a video that
we had with Chase Bank that was already featured across the country through Chase and shopped it
around through social media. So we really got to see the impact of what social media could do.
And it allowed us to go viral. But from that, we're pushing almost close to about a million in revenue this year,
just from that social media impact that we have seen over the past few months.
And then that allowed us what we just launched maybe a few days ago,
is our equity crowd fund campaign,
which now takes our mission and then allows
to educate and elevate our people,
but now gives them an opportunity to invest in our company
and grow with us.
So our valuation right now is about 6.8 million,
but we look to grow this thing along with community
and bringing them on board
through crowd equity you know to push it a little bit higher really capture a lot of the
the market share because right now everybody's focused on there are there are a few that are
oh hold on one second one second hold on one second you hold on one second.
You started breaking up there.
Finish that last point.
Can you hear me?
Yeah, go ahead.
Okay.
Finish this.
Yeah, so no, yeah, we plan on capturing about 10%,
I would say eight to 10% over the next three to five years.
Okay, so where is your, let's see here,
I'm on a website here,
where's your equity crowdfunding campaign?
Equity crowdfunding campaign is on WeFunder.
People can find that at www.wefunder,
W-E-F-U-D-E-R dot com backslash leafy.
Yep. Backslash leafy and it'll pull this right up.
All right. Here. Let's see here. All right.
We just launched it a couple of days ago.
That actually is about the update to around 42,000. But it's going pretty fast and we're going to
we're going right now this is just friends and family round
but we're going to lock it we're going to shut it down at
100 K and then it's going to open back up at a different
valuation but so right so so so right now it says 17,800
over the time ago but you're going to800 of a $50,000 goal,
but you're gonna actually raise that to $100,000 goal?
Yes, yeah, the goal is $100,000,
but once it closes at $100,000,
we're gonna reopen it again,
but it's gonna be a different valuation.
This is just friends and family round.
Got it, got it.
Okay, all right.
Mustafa.
Yeah, well first of all,
congratulations y'all doing amazing work.
I mean, I personally invest in greener forms,
green businesses and greener forms of energy.
Just real quickly, you know, we,
I think it's about 38,000 trees,
no, 85,000 trees that every day are called
to create toilet paper.
It's about 34 million a year.
You all are actually in a really good space
and being able to also help our communities,
both breathe and the waste impacts
that often are inside of our communities.
I'm curious about, you know,
you currently have the toilet paper,
but are you also thinking about other products?
And if so, what do those look like?
Well, here we go right here.
We've got the, this is the tissue.
That's the facial tissue.
Facial tissue right here.
What else you got?
So we are working on right now,
we're working on our paper towels.
Those should be released in here
within the next three to four months.
Then also we'll move over to paper plates
and forks and napkins, bar napkins and CFOs
and things of that matter.
Yeah, the facial tissues are already, they're in beta tests through our hotel partners.
Yeah, so we're getting real-time feedback from the actual people who stay at these hotels
to kind of, you know, integrate if there's anything that we need
to change before we release it to the public. So those are about ready to go.
Okay. All right then. So let's see here. So again, folks, if y'all want to get the product,
go ahead and pull it up. shopblackstarnetwork.com.
That's where you can actually,
no, that's not what I want.
I don't want the graphic, okay?
No, guys, y'all gotta do better.
When I ask y'all to go to shopblackstarnetwork.com
to buy the product, I need y'all to go to the website, okay?
So go to the website.
So you see it right here.
I'm on the website, and you see right right here. I'm on the website and you see right here,
Leafy Products and it says,
co-founded by Marvin Green, DeAndre Martin, Charles Peakes.
And you see right here where you can get it.
So people have been asking the question.
So to get a 24 single roll box is 32.99.
To get a 12 single roll box is 22.99.
Explain to us how I mean, obviously,
look, people make pricing decisions.
And so how do your prices compare to toilet paper
that we see in grocery stores or at big box retailers?
So right now we're neck and neck
with a lot of the major brands. We do have to switch our pricing
a little bit due to us not having any chemicals or anything at all. So pretty much like shopping in
the organic section of the grocery store. So if you were to go buy organic apples or anything
like that, you'd probably have maybe a 5% markup if that. But with the volume that we're seeing,
we're able to fight those type of prices
and be able to compete with the major brands as well.
So we're right neck and neck with them.
Okay, all right.
Any additional questions from the panelists?
All right, cool.
So again, y'all, go to the website.
You will see right here where it says Leafy Products.
If you go to the homepage, one second,
you go to the homepage, you will see right there,
they are at the top right there.
These are the other products
that are on ShopBlackStarNetwork.com.
We've had some of these folks on the show as well.
And so again, these are black owned companies,
great products. At the end of the day day I don't give a damn who you are
yes buy toilet paper you know you do so you can support a black-owned company
and get more information read more about them as well here and so the product is
called leafy and as I said they have course, this is the single row here.
This is of course is the,
this is the six pack,
but really as you see right there it says,
six equal 18 because this is the three-plot, correct?
Yeah, yes sir.
All right.
And so again, on the website,
they have a 24 single row box,
or they have a 12 single row box. Those are the two products they have right now.
And so folks, please support them.
And gents, we appreciate it.
Good luck on the crowd fundraise as well.
Yes, sir.
Appreciate you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you so very much.
Folks, that is it for us right here on Rolling
Martin Unfiltered on this Tuesday.
Let me thank Mustafa, Larry, and Tyler for being on today's show. Gents, I certainly
appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Folks, don't forget, information you get on this
show, y'all, you ain't getting this other places. You're not getting other places.
Ain't nobody else in black on me doing what we're doing. So we need your support. Let's
continue doing our work. Support us, join us by joining our Bring the Funk Fan Club. Your
dollars allow us to be able to
Fund the operation fund our five shows do all these that we do. So please support us and so
Cash out you see the stripe cure code. Here we go right here
Uh, and then if you're listening go to blacks go to rolling martin unfilter or blackstarnetwork.com
To get the link, uh checks and money order make them payable to Roland Martin unfiltered send it to P. O box
five seven one nine six Washington DC
two zero zero three seven dash zero one nine six
Paypal's are Martin unfiltered Venmos are in unfiltered Zell Roland at Roland s Martin comm Roland at Roland Martin
unfiltered comm don't forget download the blast Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. You also, of course,
can get my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds
available at bookstores everywhere. Be sure, course to get our swag. That's right get our
shirts and all our good stuff. The role of Martin dot
critter that spring dot com on this a little you know we're
also doing a test of with another company we've been
having some issues with custom spring a lot of the email and
so I'm working on that to test a second company and we hope to have that up very soon like
real real soon. Don't forget you can also get listen to our
audio podcast. You can go to I heart radio and you can have
the podcast network to hear content as well and of course
be sure to download the app fan base and download there and of
course you can get more information
on the crowdfunding raise.
They've raised $12.5 million of $17 million.
So go to startengine.com forward slash fanbase.
Y'all, that's it.
I'll see you tomorrow, right here.
Roller Marter Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.
Holla, right now it's time for Truth Talks. and it vanished in its prime. I'm Benedict Townsend and this is Vine,
six seconds that changed the world.
The untold story of genius, betrayal,
and the app that died so that TikTok could thrive.
From overnight stars to the fall that no one saw coming,
we're breaking down what made Vine iconic.
Listen to Vine on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to podcasts.
In sitcoms, when someone has a problem,
they just blurt it out and move on.
Well, I lost my job and my parakeet is missing.
How was your day?
But the real world is different.
Managing life's challenges can be overwhelming.
So what do we do? We get support.
The Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the Ad Council
have mental health resources available for you
at loveyourmindtoday.org.
That's loveyourmindtoday.org.
See how much further you can go
when you take care of your mental health.
I know a lot of cops, they get asked all the time,
have you ever had to shoot your gun?
Sometimes the answer is yes. But
there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This
is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and
it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeart Radio
app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Fade, Glorilla, Jelly Roll, John Fogerty, Lil Wayne, LL Cool J, Mariah Carey, Maroon
5, Sammy Hagar, Tate McCragg, The Offspring, Tim McGraw.
Tickets are on sale now at AXS.com.
Get your tickets today at AXS.com.
This is an iHeart Podcast.
