#RolandMartinUnfiltered - SCOTUS S.C. Gerrymandering Case, Penn. Elections, Texas Student w/Locs Going to Alternative School

Episode Date: October 13, 2023

10.12.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: SCOTUS S.C. Gerrymandering Case, Penn. Elections, Texas Student w/Locs Going to Alternative School The U.S. Supreme Court must decide if South Carolina's congressional maps threaten to diminish Black voters.  The lead Legal Defense Fund attorney and the plaintiff are here to discuss the case.  Pennsylvania voters will be voting for candidates to fill the state's courts.  The Chair of the state's Democratic party will be here to let us know how those elections are shaping up.  The Black Texas teen who spent more than a month in school suspension over his dreadlocks is heading to a disciplinary alternative education program.  His mom and their attorney will join us.  Apparently, Republican House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan did not get enough of Georiga District Attorney Fani Willis getting into his ass about demanding records related to the election indictment.   It's round two of Jordan versus Willis.  Vice President Kamala Harris continues her "Fight for Our Freedoms" College Tour. And we're remembering the youngest of the Tulsa Race Massacre, who has died at age 102. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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

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Pre-game to greater them. Let's put ourselves in the right position, pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Să ne urmăm în următoarea mea rețetă. Hey, folks. Today is Thursday, October 12, 2023. Coming up, Roland Martin on the filter filter streaming live on the Black Star Network. The Supreme Court yesterday heard the redistricting case out of South Carolina. But do we believe that justices are going to rule the congressional district, congressional district one, unconstitutional. Based upon their questions, maybe not.

We'll talk about it on today's show. The black teen in Texas who continues to be targeted by the Baltimore Springs School District because of his hair, he's now been removed from the school and sent to an alternative school. What the hell is going on in Texas? Also, Vice President Kamala Harris continues her tour of college campuses. I also have part two of my deconstruction on all these stories, you know,

questioning whether she's ready to be president. Also, we remember youngest survivor of the Tulsa race massacre, Uncle Red, passed away at the age of 102. That and more right here on Rolling Mark on the filter of the Voxxed Network. It's time to bring the funk. Let's go. He's got whatever the piss he's on it.

Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling Best belief he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, y'all

It's rolling Martin, yeah Rolling with rolling now Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's Roland Martin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rolling with Roland now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's punk, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Roland Martin now. Martin. The fight over black voters and white Republicans continues. Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard the case out of South Carolina that dealt with how black voters have been moved all around,

impacting their role in one of the congressional districts. After the oral arguments were heard, it was laid out at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Tyjuan Scott, who was a plaintiff, spoke in front of the court. Tyjuan Scott is my name. I'm from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. I'm the president of the local chapter of National Action Network on Hilton Head. And believe it or today because of the connection that we've had throughout these years. We need a voice in South Carolina. We need representation in South Carolina. I'm part of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, and our lands are threatened.

We need an advocate. We need someone who's going to speak up on our historical concerns and I'm praying and I'm hopeful that this is the beginning of having our voices back. Thank you. Good afternoon. I'm Brenda Murphy, president of the NAACP South Carolina State Conference and And I want to say to you that I'm glad we're here. This has been quite an experience because we live it every day in terms of what's happening in South Carolina. Our voices have been minimized, diminished.

And if you look at South Carolina and what's happening throughout the nation, we know that black people are having a very challenging time now in terms of their rights. Not only districts, but which has a lot of major implications in terms of who represents you, but also other challenges that we are faced with and we are dealing with that relate to education. It's all interrelated. Whoever is your representative needs to know what your needs are. They need to be there for you. They need to hear you.

And we have not found that to be true in South Carolina. We hope when we get back, hopefully we have, I guess, a decision on what the outcome will be. And hopefully it will be the right decision that the justices support the district court in terms of what their decision was. And it was the right thing. Those lines need to be redrawn. If it's a true democracy, votes count for every single person, every single person. So we need to be represented. I want to thank some folks.

First of all, this process has been over two years. It didn't just start, okay? We started a coalition in South Carolina, which included ACLU South Carolina, ACLU National, LDF, and we worked together. So when it was time for litigation we knew what we needed to do or what had to be done and we had the resources there already that knew what the challenges were.

So I want to thank them as well as my NAACP general counsel representative that's here, Attorney Anthony Ashton. They've been out beside us as well. They are part of this, and they have supported us in terms of moving forward with this movement, I'll call it. But again, thank you, thank you, thank you, and we're looking to better things in South Carolina. But you know what? If it doesn't happen, we're going to continue to fight forward.

Leah Aiton is senior counsel for the NAACP LDF. She argued the case before the Supreme Court. She joins us right now. Leah, glad to have you here. So before I get to my question, which is just your assessment as a person standing there having to answer those questions, your assessment of yesterday's oral arguments. I remain optimistic despite the tough questioning. It's a tough issue, the relationship between race and party in our country, but we have a unanimous panel decision, and we're defending it. And we believe that the panel was correct on the law and correct on the facts. And as civil rights attorneys, we remain very optimistic and

hopeful that we will get justice. When you say a unanimous panel, explain that to the audience. Sure. So this is a challenge to South Carolina's congressional map. There's seven districts. One district is famously represented by Representative Clyburn, but the district at issue in this case is on the coastal part of South Carolina, anchored in Charleston. And a three-judge panel, three judges, two of whom are based in South Carolina and know the law of the land and the facts on the ground, assessed eight days of trial of evidence, more than 600 exhibits, listened to testimony from about 40 witnesses, some of them live in person, and determined that there was racial discrimination in the design

of the coastal Charleston-based district and determined that mapmakers moved more than 30,000 Black Charlestonians out of CD1, their home district, and dumped them into the adjacent CD6 that was already serving Black voters as a substantial majority black district. So that is what I mean by a three-judge panel. This wasn't one judge. This was three judges. All of them agreed that there was racial discrimination in this map. And on appeal, there should be a lot of deference by these nine justices to what those three judges did, because it's their job as the trial court to look at the evidence and determine whether it shows a violation of the law or not.

Publica did a story stating that Congress and Jim Clyburn tried to protect his district by having more blacks added to the district. Some have suggested that that is going to play a role in this, but it really doesn't, because what you're talking about is at the end of the day, it was up to the South Carolina legislature to actually redraw those lines. And so whether blacks were added, it doesn't matter, because that impacts just the voters. So the law is based upon

not what a politician just wants or desires, but the impact on the voters. Yeah, it would be a wrong reflection of what actually happened in the legislative process to blame the enacted unconstitutional map on Representative Clyburn. He submitted an amicus brief in the case that detailed his very limited role in the design of Congressional District 1. He was, as any politician would, interested in the design of CD6 that he has represented. And more importantly, the panel of three judges determined that the way that the enacted map treated some historic black areas and precincts in historic neighborhoods did not look like the way that Representative Clyburn had treated those neighborhoods in one of the proposals, a proposal that he offered during the legislative process.

So we should be focused on the actual decision makers who were a nonpartisan line drawer for the state. We should be looking at the lead sponsor of the enacted map, and we should be looking at the people in the room who were Senate staffers for the South Carolina legislature. And they elected to predict the political outcome of CD1 using race data. And in so doing, they moved 30,000 Black Charlestonians from their home district. Black Charlestonians work and live in Charleston, but they're now assigned to a district where some of their neighbors are more than 100 miles away. That's not how redistricting is supposed to be done. And just last term, the Supreme Court said that you can have a legitimate interest in diversity,

but you can't get there illegitimately. We believe that you can have a legitimate interest in trying to keep yourself in power, but you can never do it on the backs of Black people. And the Constitution has said that and has been interpreted to say that time and time again. And that's why the court should not reverse what the panel did here. So this court here, this John Roberts court, they previously decided that the Supreme Court has no role in partisan gerrymandering.

But they have ruled on racial gerrymandering. We saw that in the Alabama case. We're seeing the Louisiana case. You've got trials in Florida, in Georgia. We've seen this happen in North Carolina. And so a lot of the questions yesterday were sort of like, well, you know, where's the direct evidence? But your reply was, wait a minute, you're the same court that previously said it doesn't require direct evidence. That's exactly right. And more as a practical matter, the panel of judges recognize who admits that they are discriminating in the 21st century. It would be very rare. And so to hold civil rights plaintiffs up to having to prove through an admission or through some hot document that we stumble upon

where people admit what they're trying to do that would put such an unfair advantage on our ability to prove what the overall evidence shows through circumstantial evidence, which is that race was a better explainer for the design of the lines than partisanship. While partisanship was admittedly part of the decision making, it was done, once again, on the backs of Black people, and that is prohibited by our Constitution. And this court should not allow or send a message that that's permissible, even in the pursuit of a partisan goal. So this, and again, in looking at this map, so let's say those 30,000 African-Americans stayed in the first congressional district. That doesn't make it a black district, correct? Correct. for black people to be treated like their neighbors, where their neighbors were treated

as if they were individuals, and black people were treated as if they were this block of people to be moved from one district to the next. And our Constitution, once again, prohibits that. But there's no particular outcome that we're seeking. We're not entitled to a particular outcome. We are asking to be treated fairly in the process of redrawing maps, and that wasn't done in this case. And so what I found to be interesting, this whole idea of questioning, saying, well, you can't leave out that this was partisan. And as I listened to it, how I interpreted it, it sort of sounded like, well, I mean, we know those black people are going to vote Democrat. So clearly,

this was them moving Democrats and making this more Republican. But the law is clear. It doesn't matter if they're Democratic voters. They're also black. And you don't know. I mean, you could say, we'll assume how they're going to vote. But that was sort to me when I heard that. That's a lot of questions. There are two important things about that. First, the evidence reflects that if they were just worried about removing Democrats from the first congressional district, then you wouldn't have the evidence that we established, which is that black Democrats were treated differently than white Democrats. They targeted the precincts with the most black voters in them because they presumed and predicted how they would vote, but they did not target the precincts with white Democrats in it in the same way. That's discrimination because what's happening there is party is neutral and race is what's different, and they treated black people differently. The second is that, unfortunately, under our law right now,

you could design a district based purely on partisanship, if that's possible to do that. You could use pure partisan data to try to predict how people vote and draw a map where you're only looking at indicators of partisanship. Our Constitution permits that, or at least as our federal court has interpreted right now, that's permissible. But what we proved here is that they were not looking at voting behavior data to assign people. They were looking at race data and assuming how Black people would vote based upon their race. And that is, from the most conservative to the other justices on the Supreme Court. That is not allowed. And that is what we showed the district court.

And that's what they unanimously found, which is why this decision should be affirmed. So for people who are not familiar with how this works, I mean, obviously, this is October, but we may not get a decision from this court until, what, May, June? Or do we expect to get one earlier because the reality is their ruling is going to impact whether or not the lines have to be redrawn in time for the primary season next year? South Carolina, South Carolina, the Democrats have moved up the primary. They're now first in the nation. They go in January. And so this Supreme Court ruling is going to have an impact. So is it possible that we actually might get a decision from them a lot sooner than we normally would? It's definitely possible. The parties, the state and assess plaintiffs have asked for a decision in early January, if not before, because we believe that we are entitled to a remedy in

time for next year's election. There's already been one election under this unconstitutional map, which means black people have been denied fair access to participate in at least one election, and that's one election too many. So we're optimistic that they will get a decision and we will have time to remedy the harm that Black people are enduring in time for next year's election. And we actually saw that in Alabama and Louisiana, where the Supreme Court froze in place those districts. And I mean, if we want, we can throw in even Florida. And so the problem here is that illegal—and I think even in Ohio, same thing was happening. So we had a 2022 election with illegal districts.

Here we are coming up on 2024, and I get a kick out of people in Louisiana who are like, oh, I don't know if we're going to have enough time to redraw this. It's kind of like, oh, so you want Black people to wait again, another election cycle, almost four years, because it's illegal. So that's what's at stake. And we also know and understand that depending upon how this case goes, how Louisiana goes, Florida and Georgia, that plays a crucial role in who has control of the House of Representatives. So this is a huge, huge decision by the Supreme Court. Go ahead, final comment. Absolutely. And I would just want to be clear that our case is a constitutional case. It's not being brought under the Voting Rights Act like the Alabama and Louisiana cases.

And it's distinct from the Florida case that's being brought under state constitutions. But I do want to acknowledge that you teed off cases from the Deep South up to the Midwest. And across the country, we're seeing racial discrimination in the design of the districts that allow us or don't allow us to have the chance to elect representatives who will speak to the vital issues that are important to our communities, from our schooling to our roads to health to environment to reproductive rights. And this is why this fight is worth it, and this is why we are committed as an organization and obviously as a community to keep fighting because these decisions are too important, and we have a right to have a voice in every election on a fair basis.

All right. Leah Aiden, Senior Counsel for the NAACP LDF. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back more on Willard Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We're here from our panel. We'll also talk later in the show. You too. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. But a Texas teen who continues to be targeted by the Ball Springs School District over his hair.

Now they're moving him to an alternative school. What the hell is going on there? And the continued attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris, frankly, it has gotten to the silly season. And we're going to show you this New York Times story,

them commenting on the previous New York Times story done a couple of days ago, and it's still playing the same silly little game. We'll break all of that down. You're watching the Black Star Network. I'll be back in a moment. Peace. I'm Faraji Muhammad, host of The Culture. And brothers, we need to talk. There's been much discussion about the state of the Black man in our community, whether it's in politics, education, or in the home. My brothers, we are struggling to lead the way, which is why The

Culture will be hosting the Black Men Summit, where we'll be redefining and celebrating Black manhood. This special series will kick off on the 28th anniversary of the historic Million Man March on Monday, October the 16th at 4 p.m. Eastern Time. I'll be talking to some of Black America's most prolific, dynamic, thought-provoking Black men activists, scholars, and leaders about our role, our power, and our future. So tune in and join the conversation as an online culture crew member for the Culture's Black Men Summit, redefining and celebrating Black manhood. Starting Monday, October 16th through Friday, October 20th, 4 p.m. Eastern Time, each day, right here, exclusively here on the Black Star Network.

On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, we meet Ricky Fairley. She was given a death sentence by her doctor 11 years ago. But for Ricky, giving up was not an option. She declared war on her disease, turned her entire life upside down, and won the battle. I know that God left me here to do this work. And when you talk about faith, faith is what got me through. I mean, I had to relinquish my faith and give my life to God and say, okay, God, what have you got for me? And he gave me my purpose. And that's why I'm here. Her amazing story of strength, balance, and survival here on A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie on Blackstar Network.

On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. You're going to learn about the silver tsunami, which means that a million people are turning 65 every day, and they're going to need some kind of care. You're going to meet two sisters whose situation with their own family led them to start a business in this industry, and now they're showing others. This is our passion, our mission, our purpose, our ministry. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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

itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams,

NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding

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

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive.

But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling, the limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org, brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Network. All change is not growth. Right.

But thoughtful change is real good fertilizer. And that's what has been so beneficial to us. But you also were not afraid of the kid. Well, and I'm a black woman in business. Come on, I don't care how I dress up. I don't care who I'm speaking with. I don't care what part of the world. Well, when I'm a black woman in business, come on, I don't care how I dress up. I don't care who I'm speaking with. I don't care what part of the world I am in. I still am a black woman in business.

Being afraid of the pivot, being fearful of change is not what got me here. Respectful of change. Respectful of pivot. Yeah. Fearful? No, uh-uh.

No. respectful of kids yeah fearful no uh-uh no we talk about blackness and what happens in black culture. We're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it. And you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in Black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our

stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people, $50 this month, raise $100,000. We're behind $100,000, so we want to hit that. Y'all money makes this possible. Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Hatred on the streets. A horrific scene scene a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence white people are losing their damn minds there's an angry pro-trump mob storm to the u.s capital we're about to see the rise of what i call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting.

I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at everyory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys, guys.

This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Pull up a chair. Take your seat. The Black Tape. With me, Dr. Greg Carr your seat at the Black Table. With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network.

Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherry Shepard Talk Show. You're watching Rolling Mark. Until tomorrow. All right, folks, time to introduce our panel for today. Greg Card, Department of Afro-American Studies, Howard University, celebrating his 23rd year there. Glad to have Greg on the show.

Lauren Victoria Burke, Black Press USA, coming to us out of Arlington, Virginia. Mingyong Gai, Department of African American Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University. Glad to have her here as well with her Time Life Operator headset on. All right, let's get right to it. First off, I'm going to start with you, Greg, and that is this here.

If anybody who listened to the questioning, Supreme Court Justice John Roberts has been doing all he can. He's probably not as hardcore as Clarence Thomas when it comes to the Voting Rights Act, but he's damn close. And they were really trying to find some way to sort of split the hairs to say, nah, this really wasn't racial gerrymandering. It really was partisan. And they've already ruled, hey, we ain't got to say so in partisan gerrymandering. And so they were trying to find a way to get to that conclusion and the questioning. Agree, disagree? Yeah, no, absolutely. And, you know, Attorney Aiden laid it out. And when you listen to the oral arguments, Contagi Brown Jackson brought

this up over and over again. And she was joined by Sotomayor and Justices Sotomayor and Kagan. There's a clear error standard at play here, meaning that it is not the job of the Supreme Court in this instance to scrutinize the fact pattern, to ask for things like Roberts and them asked for Alito and Gorsuch, like, well, where's the alternative map? There was no legal requirement for the other side to provide a map. Their only role in this—this is why the clear error standard is in place, is to determine whether or not the lower court, the district court, overreached.

That's all. In other words, it's a high standard. And they acknowledge that. So if they're going to retry the case, which is what Brown-Jackson, KBJ, was saying, they have overstepped the boundaries. The second issue, which is what Clarence Thomas asked about in Oral's Day, was, you know,

if we do decide that this was a political gerrymandering, what about the idea, as Attorney Aiden said, that they moved black Democrats instead of white Democrats? And then the attorney argued, well, you know, you should return that to the lower court to decide. But the point is clear, as you said, Roland, they're trying to interfere and they're going to use the idea that you can't disentangle race from politics to do it. And Ming-Yong, what I found to be just really interesting is when you, I love these conservatives who say we're tired of legislating from the bench. That's what this court has been doing. I mean, you look at the Dobbs decision.

The fact of the matter is the Mississippi case, they brought that case. They were not asking to overturn Roe v. Wade. This court decided to go further than what the case was presented before them. This is what this six conservative majority Supreme Court, this is what they've been doing. Right, right, right. You know, when I was listening to your guest earlier, I was very concerned about the fact or thinking that the court itself has been so heavily politicized now, right? And the fact that we have these extraordinarily important cases moving forward that would afford basic rights to vote for Black people in this country is actually quite terrifying when you think about it. And I don't know how they work themselves out of this predicament, the Supreme Court,

that they have, because it's almost as if at this point in time, we expect them to have this sort of partisan sort of approach as opposed to the objective Supreme Court justice that we expect. So this is really disturbing and quite terrifying, quite frankly. And they are who they are, Lauren. And the bottom line is they are right wing zealots. That's what they are. And what's crazy is they are so right wing that they damn near made John Roberts a moderate. Right. Yeah, no, that's true. It is funny, isn't it?

That John Roberts looks like the moderate person he did during the health care debate and now during this. Of course, when you have Clarence Thomas sitting around, that is going to happen. I mean, this is a court. This is a district packing case. That's what this is. They moved all the black voters in the Clyburn's district, knowing full well that Clyburn would have a 50 percent black district, which he does not need to win. We had a similar situation in Virginia, where you have some of these black lawmakers who want to have these 60, 70 percent black districts. You don't need that. And when you spread the black voters around the other districts, what happens is it empowers all the black voters in the entire state. So obviously, the Supreme Court is well aware of that. They're well aware

of what this decision will mean for Congress. They're well aware of what the breakdown in Congress is and the Alabama case and all the rest of it. And we're at that tipping point where the geography in this country is becoming more black and brown. They're well aware of all of those things. So just like in the Dobbs case, no matter what the question is, the answer is going to probably be something that empowers the Republican Party. I mean, it is a district packing case. It's a district packing case like we've seen decades and decades before. And I want to pick up on that point right there, Greg. When I was doing Washington Watch on TV One, that was 2009 to 2013. I can't remember the year, but Cornell Belcher, Democratic pollster, was on the show. And he said, we really need to stop talking about

trying to guarantee black districts. And people were like, Cornel, what the hell are you talking about? Cornel said, he said, listen, if you look at the data, and the reality is, if black people are voting 90 plus percent for Democrats, he said, we want power.

So that means, he said, we should be looking at how do we spread African-Americans out to more districts in order for us to impact the election of those members. In fact, in Texas, when Tom DeLay was in the congressional leadership, when Texas chose to do a redistricting, and normally it happens right after the census. No, they did it in the middle of that 10-year period. What did they do? They specifically targeted white Democrats in Texas like Martin Frost. And so their whole deal is we're going to send more black people to Congresswoman Edna Bernice Johnson's district, and we're going to reduce it so Martin Frost loses. That's exactly what happened. The same thing happened in the Houston area. And so what they, and Alabama got busted, and now they

got to create this second opportunity district. And so the reality is, if you have districts that are 45, 48% African-American, the black candidate is going to win. Okay? It's going to win. Now you're talking about, oh, and that's why South Carolina did this here, because Nancy Mace, before she got elected, that was a Democrat in that district. And so this is all about when Tennessee split Nashville into four congressional districts because they did not want to guarantee a second Democratic district in the state because you only got one in Memphis. And so that's what they did there as well. And so not only are they targeting black voters, they also are saying we want to keep Democrats

out of power, which, by the way, if Democrats are not in power in the House, that means the 58 members of the Congressional Black Caucus are not chairs of committees and subcommittees. That's right. That's right. And it's very interesting, Roland. I'm glad you brought these examples up. There was a case, Ashcroft v. Georgia, and this case involved the creation of another congressional district in Georgia that would be majority black. And, you know, the argument was raised during Oral's and in the decision itself. What does black political power look like? Does it look like packing a district, as Lauren said, packing a district so that you have a black person elected? Or does it look like distributing black voters across districts so that they can literally influence who is elected?

So the threshold there wasn't 50 percent or 40 percent. It might be a third of the district. If black voters make up a third of the district, then coalition politics. And it might not be that a person who looks like the black voters is elected to the legislature. It could be a white person or somebody else who has those people's interests. And look at Bob Brady for years in Philadelphia, in the Pennsylvania House. And when you bring that to bear in this case, you're right. The South Carolina First is Nancy Mace, who, you know, in her latest demonstration of her outsized intelligence, wore his different

scarlet letter, which means she seems to have missed that in high school as some kind of political statement. She was one of the eight people, of course, who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy and says she's being persecuted by it. I don't think you want the A for adulterer when you're trying, especially when you're dealing with Gymnasium Jordan, if you're going to start talking about ethics. But the point is this. Nancy Mace won her election in the South Carolina first by 56.4% to 42.5% in her last election. This is about politics.

You don't need to put a majority black, a majority black in a district to have black influence. That was the issue in Ashcroft versus Georgia. And that's why they micro target moving us around to, as Lauren said, pack as many as you can in one district so that you can prevent that kind of influence from spreading out across several. Indeed. Hold tight one second, folks. I'll go to a quick break. Or so in Colorado, let's go live to the courtroom in Colorado, folks, where we have a verdict in the case of the two officers who were on trial for the death of Elijah McClain. This is a live look at the courtroom right now. Control room, talk to me. Is everyone there? Are they about to determine the ruling?

In about 15 minutes? All right, so, folks, we're going to go to a break, and we come back. We're going to take live this courtroom ruling. That's the young man who was a special needs young man who was stopped. He was killed by these cops. He was injected with drugs by paramedics as well. This was a shameful case that got lots of attention and then led to a number of folks in the police department

and paramedics who were indicted as a result. And two of those former officers, they are on trial. The jury has reached a verdict. And then we are going to have this live to show exactly what their fate is in Colorado. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Blackstar Network. Next on The Frequency with me, Dee Bonds, actress, writer, and advocate, Rae Dawn Chong is here to discuss her childhood and break down her life in Hollywood,

a show you don't want to miss. Even at my peaky peak peak when I was getting a lot of stuff, as soon as I was working a ton, I heard people whispering, oh, we don't want to pay her because we're giving her a break. Only on The Frequency on the Black Star Network. All change is not growth, but thoughtful change is real good fertilizer. And that's what has been so beneficial to us. But you also were not afraid of the pivot. Well, and I'm a black woman in business. Come on, I don't care how I dress up.

I don't care who I'm speaking with. I don't care what part of the world I am in. I still am a black woman in business. Being afraid of the pivot, being fearful of change is not what got me here. Respectful of change, respectful of pivot. Yeah, fearful? No, uh- me, Dr. Jackie, we meet Ricky Fairley.

She was given a death sentence by her doctor 11 years ago. But for Ricky, giving up was not an option. She declared war on her disease, turned her entire life upside down, and won the battle. I know that God left me here to do this work. And when you talk about faith, faith is what got me through. I mean, I had to relinquish my faith and give my life to God and say, okay, God, what have you got for me?

And He gave me my purpose, and that's why I'm here. Her amazing story of strength, balance, and survival here on A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie on Blackstar Network. 007 007 pharmacist and fitness coach and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Alright folks, welcome back to Roland Martin right here on, Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network.

The Elijah McClain story, this took place in 2019. 23-year-old African-American man took place in Aurora, California. It was a violent police encounter. Remember, he was injected with ketamine by paramedics to sedate him. Let's go live to the courtroom. The verdict is being read in the case of two officers involved in his death.

Jurors have returned. I saw that juror number one was carrying some paperwork. Would I be correct to assume that you are the foreperson of the jury? Yes, Your Honor. All right. Has the jury reached unanimous verdicts? Yes, Your Honor. All right.

I'll have my judicial assistant collect the verdict forms. Yes, Your Honor. All right. I'll have my judicial assistant collect the verdict forms. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated.

I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back.

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

what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change

things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

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

Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. All right. The court has reviewed the verdict forms. Presumably signed by the foreperson. The first jury of right 21 CR 2782. People of the state of Colorado we the jury find that defendant Randy Rodima guilty of criminally negligent

homicide second verdict form 21 CR 2782 jury verdict for the charge of assault in the second degree. We, the jury, find the defendant, Randy Rodima, guilty of assault in the third degree. Next verdict reads as follows. 21 CR 2788, jury verdict verdict charge of manslaughter reckless we the jury find the defendant Jason Rosenblatt not guilty of Manslaughter reckless and the lesser included offense of criminally dexed and homicide with the signature of the foreperson Jury verdict 21 CR 2788 people of the state of Colorado v. Jason Rosenblatt.

We the jury find the defendant Jason Rosenblatt not guilty of assault in the second degree. Do any of the parties wish to have the jurors pulled? There you go. There you are. to have the jurors pulled. Ladies and gentlemen, the jury. When I first spoke with you during the jury selection process, I tried to communicate that other than military service, voting, and a few other forms of public service, there's nothing that our citizens do that is as important to one of the pillars of our democracy, that being a jury trial. The question may now arise of

whether you can speak with people about the case, and the answer is it depends what you want to do you can talk to people as much as you want to but if somebody wants to speak with you about it and you're not comfortable doing so you certainly don't have to and actually you should report it to the court if somebody persists in speaking to you over your objection. Furthermore, if anybody becomes critical of your service as jurors, you should make me aware of that as well. I'm going to have Ms. Moore take you folks back in the jury room for just a few moments or perhaps Emily and I'll be back and have a few words with you and then what you'll be officially excused All right. All right.

We're back in the courtroom. With respect to case number 21CR2788, people v. Jason Rosenblatt, any bonds or holds are released in this matter? Thank you, sir. I assume you may see me. You may. Thank you. In case number 21, CR 2782, people via Randy Rodema presumably will need to be set, setting a sentencing date. Are we requesting a PSI?

Yes, sir. All right. The court will order a pre-sentence investigation and be prepared for Mr. Rodema. I'm not sure if you have a consent assurity, but if you don't, I'll need it to be uploaded or faxed in by noon tomorrow. What? All right. The court will presume we'll get to 1.30.

Very well. Anything further? There are. There are. Thank you. We'll be recessed. Folks, as you heard right there, the two officers who were on trial for the death of Elijah McClain, one of those officers, Randy Rodima, found guilty on both counts.

Jason Rosenblatt, he was found not guilty on both counts. The defense attorneys, they tried to actually blame the paramedics for the death of Elijah McClain and actually tried to also blame Elijah McClain for his own death. They both were charged with reckless manslaughter and assault in connection with his death. Rosenblatt was fired. Now, his was interesting. Rosenblatt was fired by the police department. Rodima was suspended. It's Rodima who's found guilty.

Rosenblatt found not guilty. This right here, Lauren, was a case that it got attention. It did not get a lot of attention. It happened in Colorado. It was all sorts of drama with the Aurora Police Department. I mean, it was, because there were other cases as well. Just your thoughts about this split verdict there in this Colorado courtroom. Well, yeah, this is one of these cases where were it not for his encounter with the police, this person would be alive, which is, you know, sad to say. It is interesting. It was a split verdict there. One officer acquitted and the other found guilty on what sounds like a very serious charge. Apparently, there was a civil lawsuit in which McClain's family, I think, got $15 million.

So it seems like the argument, certainly, that something went wrong here is fairly easy to prove, even though it was a very strange case in terms of this whole narrative about him having a ski mask on, which who cares if he had a ski mask on? Of course, this is another case, too, where somebody called the cops on somebody for effectively no reason. And the, you know, he looks sketchy, whatever that is. And then, you know, the introduction of law enforcement onto the scene turns into an outcome where somebody loses their life, which should never happen. It's interesting that you noted that they tried to blame Elijah McClain for his own death. That's a very familiar theme in these cases. You know, remember, it was Trayvon Martin's fault that

he was dead and Eric Garner's fault that he was dead. But it is still interesting to sort of note just generally that these police officers are going to jail for these things. Because I remember when I was a little kid, this was an impossible scenario. And these were the days of Abnoluema. Right. And cases that were like open and shut. Eric Garner's case to me was open and shut too. And nobody has gone to jail for that. So it is interesting that we're seeing a little bit of an uptick here of law enforcement officers actually being prosecuted and going to jail. Mignon, for anybody who is critical of the Black Lives Matter movement,

this is a perfect example why they should shut the hell up. This took place in 2019. Prosecutors initially said they did not have enough to charge these cops. George Floyd dies in May of 2020. That brought renewed attention to this case. It was the pressure. It was the protest and the national pressure that caused the governor of Colorado to appoint a special prosecutor that led the grand jury to invite both of these cops. Now here we sit four years after the murder and one of these cops found guilty. If it was not for protest, Black Lives Matter, take him to the streets, there will be no justice for Elijah McClain and his family. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. And the thing that I was thinking about was, if I'm not mistaken, I think that Elijah McClain had some mental health challenges

as well. Am I correct? Yeah. But he was just, so what happened was they placed him, again, he was a massage therapist musician, and he was walking home from the convenience store, plastic bag and some iced tea. They rolled up on him. This is all captured right here.

They rolled up on him, immediately snatched him. That's what led to this back and forth, placed him in this carotid hole. And then when the paramedics came, injected him with ketamine, he suffers a heart attack, dies three days later. Right, right, right. And I think that some of the comments he was making were sort of like, you know, please remove yourself from my space or something of that nature. You know, in Virginia, I'm also in Virginia. In Virginia, I was just sitting on this Virginia tribunal for—it's a tribunal and basically interrogating the practices of police and detention centers and prisons and jails in our state. But the thing that came up to me, and I was on the panel with a woman named Princess Blanding, whose brother is named Marcus David Peters and was murdered by police here in Virginia. And this story, for some reason, with Elijah McClain always, when I think about Marcus David Peters,

I think about Elijah McClain because both of them were two young black men that normally, had they not encountered police at the moment in time in which they did, would still be with us today. Right. I am forever grateful to all of the protesters and the allies and the accomplices that worked with BLM in order to shed light on some of these cases, because, you know, it's shameful. And, you know, it makes you wonder sort of why they even thought about it all of a sudden. Were they afraid that they were going to get caught? Or, you know, what made them think, oh, we need to open up this case again. For whatever reasons they did, I'm very grateful. And yeah, if it weren't for these young people taken to the streets, these young black people that actually became the catalyst for the Raider movement, a multicultural coalition and movement across this country,

no, we wouldn't have any attention paid to these. And I'm not even sure that we have justice, quite frankly, because as far as I'm concerned, if old boy was with him, he's complicit too, right? And I don't know what charges, but, you know, the fact that he's walking is kind of concerning. Greg, during the trial of pulmonary, a critical care physician said point blank that if these cops had listened to Elijah McClain saying, I cannot breathe, he would be alive. And they said that the paramedics should have intervened. When he kept saying he couldn't breathe, the cops on the scene told nobody that

when the paramedics came on there as well. And again, the prosecutors made it clear, if these officers did not use excessive force, Elijah McClain would still be alive. Of course. Elijah McClain is dead. And Rodima and Rosenblatt killed him. Now, it is not legally murder for Rosenblatt, but no doubt they killed him. He's dead and they did it. The third guy, the first cop that had a point of contact, that hero, Nathan Woodyard, is later scheduled for trial. I think his trial will be coming up along with paramedics. But

like Mignon said, this is really about the people getting out in the street. You know, people think of the law like they're dealing with mathematics or a math equation. You plug this in, this is the outcome. That's simply not the case. The law's capacity to affect some form of—I hate to use the word justice, because if not justice, the man would still be alive. Some form of retribution, some form of punishment is really enhanced by the only thing that supersedes the law's capacity, and that is a critical mass of people. We know when you have enough people in the street, the law all of a sudden becomes flexible and able to do all kind of things.

And if we look at Rosenblatt's attorney, Rosenblatt's attorney made some points during the trial that I think the jury probably listened to and may have in fact changed what they might have done in terms of meting out this punishment. They say it wasn't Rosenblatt that put his, that jerked his arm, that jerked his arm. It was Rodima. It wasn't Rosenblatt that had the knee in the back. It was Rodima. And Rodima's the one who picked him up and slammed him.

I think those are critical distinctions that Rosenblatt's attorney, and I'm sure there have been a number of white supremacists that, you know, they usually flood these GoFundMe or some shadow billionaires that have made Rosenblatt's pockets fat enough to pay his attorney, but he should pay him quite well for making that difference. Because I think that probably was critical in the fact that, you know, he obviously escaped punishment and Rodima got it. But again, the guy who was the first on the scene, Woodyard, he's yet up for trial. This isn't over. But yes, I agree with you, Prof. I agree with you, Mignon. This is about people getting in the street and putting people in a place,

like that jury was in a place, to affect some form of punishment. And, of course, there's more to come. Yep. All right, folks, hold tight one second. I've got to go to break. We come back. Why is a Texas school district

continuing to target a black teen because of his hair? Wait until I tell y'all what these fools are doing now. If you're watching on YouTube, hit the like button to float. Folks, we should easily be at 1,000, 2,000 likes. Also, we need your support for what we do here. Please join our Bring the Funk fan club.

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You hear me? All right, folks. So we've been telling you and covering this story out of Texas, Balt Springs School District. They suspended this young man over his hair, saying that they have rules. The hair should not be past the ears. Here's the problem.

He does not wear his locks down. He actually wears them up. Well, guess what? That's unsatisfactory for the school district. And so he's been, he's had in-school suspension. And there's been lots of back and

forth, back and forth, back and forth with them and activists and lawyers. And now the school district has said, OK, you know what? We're going to take this thing further. They're now sending him to a disciplinary alternative education program. Right. Eighteen-year-old Darrell George is a junior at Barbers Hill High School.

And actually, I'm sorry, he's in Mount Bellevue. Again, he'd been suspended since August 31st. Now, he was told to attend an alternative school program from October 12th through November 29th for, quote, failure to comply with multiple

campus and classroom regulations. His mother, Demesha George, joins us right now along with Daryl. Glad to have both of you here. What I understand, Demesha, is first of all, this school district,

they are fighting the Texas, the Crown Act in Texas. They say it doesn't apply to hair length, but the bill deals with hair discrimination. What the hell else do you call this? I call it some BS. They're just trying to get around.

They're trying to do wordplay on the Crown Act and trying to just, they want to break us down and for us to move out the district. And that's not going to happen. Darryl, what has been the effect on you? I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future

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

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

Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way.

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

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

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more.

Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. On you, I mean, clearly, it's not like you want to be involved in legal skirmishes, constant back and forth, letters being suspended. Has it had an impact on you in the classroom? Yes.

How so? I haven't been able to learn anything. And so even when you're in school suspension, are you not getting your education there? Are you not in the classroom? No. This is... Are there... What I'm confused by,

and Demetia, I would love to hear your thoughts on this, do you believe that district officials have decided we're just going to dig in our heels and we are going to make life as difficult as possible for Darryl to get him to relent and cut his locks?

Yes. Yes, I feel like they're picking and picking and picking till they want to see him break down. They want to see us break down, but we're not doing it. We're not giving up this fight. We're going to stay here to the end. And that's what they're not liking.

So they're throwing these accusations. They're throwing these whirlwinds of referrals out of the wherever to say he got to go to DAP. But y'all haven't given me any referrals. Y'all haven't given me the referrals saying that he was disruptive, he was this, he was that. Remember, they forget that they supposed to give me everything in documentation, and they haven't gave it to me. So basically, they're lying on my child to get him in D.A.P. Trying to they're trying to put him in for something else other than his hair. When it all draws down to his hair. Ali Booker, the book of law firm is your is your attorney.

She does right now as well. Ali, do you agree with that assessment that this is just a this is a battle of the wheels and and they want to wear Darrell down, wear his mother down, wear you down, and get you all to relent? Absolutely. Mr. Martin, I've never met a more disingenuous set of disrespectful, disruptive adults in my life. It's sad that they're over a school, but that's exactly what they're trying to do. The superintendent has went to, he's actually started sending out mass emails to parents

taunting this child, a child. They will put him in a room, hurl insults at him, the administrators. And if he says something, write him up for it. They're stooping to every level they can. And when that doesn't work, they then dangle him in front of my face, Roland. And they tell me things like, oh, don't you want this to end? If you want this to end,

why don't you pull this case out of federal court? If you want this to end, oh, don't you want him out of ISS? And it's not gonna work. But that's exactly what they're doing. Every time I make a move in court, Mr. Roland, here they come. Darrell, are you getting support from fellow classmates?

Yes. Demetria, what about you? Are you hearing from other parents? Are they standing with you? Yes. Allie, what is the next step in this legal battle? The next step in this legal battle is that we are not going to remand, we're not going to agree to remand this case and pull it to the state court. So there's going to be a bloody battle, Mr. Roland Martin. That's what's going to happen. And they're trying right now to try to push the case back to state court. I'm getting ready to move forward with an injunction. Since they've opened the door, I'm going to shove it open and step right on through, sir.

Litigation. All right. Allie, we appreciate it. Demetria, thanks a bunch. Daryl, thanks a bunch. Good luck in your fight. Thank you. Thank you. Mignon, I want to start with you. I mean, this is precisely why the Crown Act was passed. And for the

district to say, oh no, and then they went and talked to one of the legislators who sponsored the bill, said, oh, no, my bill didn't mention length. Well, I'm sorry, what the hell are we talking about then? Yeah, well, so yes, this is about a lot of things, right? One of them is about the Crown Act. One of them is about sort of Black people being able to express themselves in their true beauty and nature and things like this. But I think there's something different that's happening here based on what the attorney was saying, which is each time they push back, they end up sort of the district ends up upping the ante. This is about a district that has a that has a serious issue or problem with a black, young black man or black family

asserting their rights, right? Because it seems like every time that they seem to like up the ante, basically. That's what I thought that I heard. And so I'm thinking, oh, this is a district that's saying, okay, we're going to show you, right? We're going to show you, boy, where your place is, right? So I think that there's so much more than just the natural hair and the crown act. I think that there's really this issue of, no, we're going to tell you people exactly what you have to do and where you have to be and how you have to respond, and you're going to do it. That's what I'm very concerned about that I do want to address, which is I really hope that this young man, I'm so concerned because I think that in some ways I understand standing up for your rights and I understand he and his mother's position. I'm concerned about the amount of time that he's losing in school and in education, right? And I hope that the community is able to stand with him

and to make sure that that's supplemented in some ways when he's not in detention or when he's not in this other space. Because I'm really concerned about what he's losing out in terms of his time being educated, quite frankly. You know, I totally understand that point, Greg, as an educator. I get it. But here's what I also realize that we've seen numerous stories like this.

And unless somebody decides to stand up and say, we're not going to sit here and keep this up, they're going to target other kids. We saw, remember a couple of years ago, the black kid that was wrestling, who was on his way to winning, and the referee literally said, if you do not cut his hair right now, he is going to be, he's going to have to forfeit this match. I mean, it's that sort of thing.

And what did they do? They actually cut the kid's hair. And it was shocking. It was stunning. And it was shameful. And this stunning, and it was shameful. And this is what I want to know. And again, your professor, Mignon's professor, what the

hell does a length of hair have to do with getting an education? Well, Roland, you know, as Mignon said, I mean, this is warfare. That little district, that little funky district that he's in, that high school he's in is 3.4% black, 64.8% white,

as of the latest statistics in about a quarter Spanish-speaking community, but 3.4% black. The entire independent school district that he's in is around the same percentage. This is race war. I'm a graduate of in-school suspension, okay? But I earned mine at Hillsborough High School in Nashville, Tennessee. And so, you know, this boy didn't earn his. You know what I'm saying?

This is a race war. They're against him. And when you read the actual legislation, when it says in this section, protective hairstyle includes braids, locks, and twists, and it includes the words grooming, the point you made at the very beginning, Roland, the point you made at the very beginning wipes out any ambiguity. This young man wears his hair up. That fits under grooming. So even if you had a problem with the length, what the hell are you talking about, potential length?

Let's be deadly clear about this. They're not only going to lose. They're gonna pay off some money. Lauren? Yeah, I mean, I'm not... I'm They're not only going to lose. They're going to pay off some money. Lauren? Yeah, I mean, I'm not clear on what the disposition of the legal case is, but what they just did was retaliatory.

I'm not sure whether they're in federal court or state court, but it seems to me that not only do they have a huge case for discrimination, but they just had a moment with clear retaliation against him. It's not about the length of hair. This is about dominance. It's about control. It's about assimilation. It's about you have to do what you're told. This has been going on for 400 years. I mean, there's nothing new here other than the fact that there's a new creative idiot way to annoy somebody who's a member of a minority group that, of course, historically has been in so many ways dehumanized.

I mean, there's nothing wrong with his hair. He looked fine. This is all ridiculous. The very questioning of it or the very discussion around there are some things wrong with his hair or something is a bunch of nonsense. And that's the, of course, narrative that they have set up in their head. But I'm shocked that this is a multimillion dollar lawsuit, it seems to me. And they just pulled a major act of retaliation against him that is added to any

legal involvement that should be happening here. It's fairly clear. It's going to be interesting to see what the final outcome is. But this is absolutely about trying to get him and his family to relent. That's what it is. It is to bring him to his knees. In fact, I dare say this is this school district trying to say, Toby. Yes, sir. That's what they're saying. They are trying to say Toby. Yes, sir. That's what they're saying. They're trying to make Darryl and his mama and the lawyer say Toby. That's why they got to keep saying Kunta.

All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back more on Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Mignon is cracking and laughing. That's what happens when you get a black show, Mignon. You ain't going gonna hear this on MSNBC, CNN, or Fox, or ABC, or CBS. They only know what the hell that reference is. All right, I'll be back in a moment.

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

of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at every university calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people.

The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, we meet Ricky Fairley. She was given a death sentence by her doctor 11 years ago. But for Ricky, giving up was not an option. She declared war on her disease, turned her entire life upside down, and won the battle. I know that God left me here to do this work. And when you talk about faith, faith is what got me through. I mean, I had to relinquish my faith and give my life to God and

say, okay, God, what have you got for me? And he gave me my purpose, and that's why I'm here. Her amazing story of strength, balance, and survival here on A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie on Blackstar Network. Farquhar, executive producer of Proud Family. Bruce Smith, creator and executive producer of The Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. You're watching Roland Martin. Să ne urmăm în următoarea mea rețetă. Vice President Kamala Harris continues her college tour. Yesterday, she was in Charleston, South Carolina.

Today, she was in Nevada. She participated in a moderated conversation with students at the North Las Vegas campus of the College of Southern Nevada. Here's some of that conversation. I really love and admire your use of language. Not fighting against, fighting for. Talking about the solution because there is a problem.

This is our democracy, this is our government. Taking it back. I remember the first time I went to the White House, I heard it called the people's house. Yeah, right. And that, for me, did a complete paradigm shift on how I saw my government and feel comfortable now to call it my government, my democracy. Right. So thank you for that shift for us, and I'm sure a lot of us in this room are gonna go back

and, you know, really fight for something and not against something. And you have been fighting for most of your life with your family and with our government. And what are some things that you are most proud of that you've been able to put into place thus far? Well, one of the things that we, again, because people voted, again, I'm going to ask to raise hands. Who here has a family member who has diabetes? Look around the room. Okay.

How many years we've been hearing the stories, in particular of our seniors, who have had to make a terrible choice about whether they could either afford their insulin, taking it at the prescription a doctor gave them, versus paying their rent or being... I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser the revolution but not everyone was convinced it was that simple cops believed everything that taser told them from lava for good and the team that brought you bone valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission this is absolute season one taser incorporated I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way.

Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King,

John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette.

MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars.

Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersilling.org, brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Able to buy enough food to eat. So many for years and years and years. One of the great accomplishments that we have made is we have now capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month for seniors. It's huge. It's huge, especially when you know how many in communities of color, immigrant communities, the high rate of diabetes that exists and how this is going to be a game changer for our

seniors. I'm proud of that. I'm proud of the work that we are continuing to do to fight for student loan forgiveness. We still have more to do. We know that we have a lot of students who, for example, are Pell Grant recipients and what we're doing to increase that grant, but also to bring down. We tried to do it so that Pell Grant recipients

would get $20,000 in loan forgiveness. The court undid what we did, but we're still fighting. And so we've been dealing with debt relief. But that's something I'm very proud of. And then there's the work that we are doing on climate. You all have only known the climate crisis. I mean, here in Nevada, they call it whiplash in terms of weather experiences, right? Either there's a drought or there's a flood, right? So it's like whiplash weather, right? And I've been, you know, and I'm sure many here have been to Lake Mead.

You know, we talk about the circle, the bath ring, because of how quickly the water receded in Lake Mead. And so it is a big issue and what we have been doing on this is saying that one, stop the denial of which there was a whole lot. We are saying that we're very clear extreme weather which causes extraordinary damage, which is damage not only in particular to low-income communities who have a very difficult time recovering, but also just damage that is to this beautiful earth that we are blessed to live on. But extreme weather connected to greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions connected to human behaviors. It's kind of a no-brainer. And so what we are doing is saying that we need to

reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We need to invest in renewable energy. We need to invest in the clean energy economy. Things like solar paneling, wind turbines, electric vehicles. The work that we can do to actually bring down the harm that we are doing to this planet. And I'm very excited about that work, and I'm very proud of that work. We have, our administration has invested, and this has been a total game changer, in the time we have been in office, we are now on track to invest $1 trillion in addressing the climate crisis around adaptation and resilience and investing in a clean energy economy.

Wow. Wow. And I will tell you, we are making a particular effort to also acknowledge that while the climate crisis impacts everyone, it does not do so equally. Because when you look at how the effects are on low-income communities, in communities that have been historically low-income, and the damage to communities that they cannot recover from, it's pretty significant. And so we are paying attention to what we are doing with those resources. But again, I will also say, like we talked about voting and some of these other issues, there is what we must do and where we must go with a sense of urgency. But also understand there are folks out there who are trying to get in the way of the progress.

Understand that when we're looking at big oil and what they've historically done in trying to slow, first push the denial narrative and then slow down the progress. And saying, oh, it's going to be too difficult to transition so quickly into a clean energy economy. You know, the same kind of people who will say, oh, it's going to be so difficult for us, any of us to do what we do. You know, those kinds of people who say, oh, nobody like you has ever done this before. So maybe it's not possible. It's possible. And so it's possible. It's possible. And we did it, Joe. And on the issue of the climate crisis, it is very doable, and we are seeing the progress that we can make.

Now, here's Vice President Kamala Harris talking about policies and issues and things along those lines. And so last night, y'all heard me on this show break down these constant stories. Oh, my goodness, Kamala Harris is the problem. Kamala Harris is in trouble. Why is she on the ticket? You got these folk at the Washington Post sitting here writing stories,

trying to make the argument why she needs to be replaced on the ticket by Biden and all this bullshit. And I had somebody in the YouTube channel telling me, Roland, you shouldn't be saying that. Well, you can kiss my ass. This is some bullshit. Then the New York Times today came back with more bullshit. Go to my iPad, Henry.

Look at this. Kamala Harris' biggest challenge. The vice president seems to be unwilling to help voters understand what she believes so let's go on through it this David Leonhart okay and so he goes as part of his

reporting on Vice President Kamala Harris for Sterling Times Magazine my colleague Steve Herndon is a black had a revealing conversation with Jamal Simmons a former Harris aide, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. To get elected to these positions, lawyers usually do not need to lay out a broad vision of society in the way that governors or members of Congress do.

Prosecutors tend to focus on specific policies, while other politicians focus on reflecting and shaping the zeitgeist. Quote, often in the White House, national leaders have to base their arguments on emotion and gut, and as a prosecutor, that's not the job. Okay? So David Leonhardt goes on, blah, blah, blah, and then he goes, but Harris still struggles with what George H.W. Bush, one of her predecessors

in the vice presidency, once inartfully called the vision thing. And so he goes on, she often speaks in platitudes that creates grits for mocking Fox News videos, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then in some ways, Harris' much-discussed political problems are simply part of political truism.

The vice president can be a miserable job, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And we're going on and we're talking about Pence and Gore and Mondale, and all the people, you know, we keep going on and on and on, and blah, blah, blah, blah. But then they go, yet Harris is not a typical vice president. She's the first woman, black person, and Asian-American person to hold a job, and she also serves along as the nation's oldest president.

Okay, then they go on and on and on with more BS. Then it's like, oh yeah, she does face discrimination, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then she's being spoke dismissively to a steed about lovely speeches and fancy speeches, contrasting them with her emphasis on actually doing the work. And then he cites this article in The Atlantic,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Now this is where, right here, why this is bullshit. Harris has several options for doing so. She could, as most, see, I want y'all to see this stupid line. She could, as most eventual presidents do, signal to swing voters that she is more moderate than her party. Then it goes on, who is she and what does she believe? Even Democrats who want to like her often aren't sure.

And then it goes on and on and on, on and on and on. Harris has made it very far in politics without quite having done so. Her chances of taking the final step was significantly increased if she tried to be voters where they were Okay, this is getting up. Okay. He got now This is stupid shit not Now, I already told y'all. Kamala Harris can't be walking around saying, here are my thoughts on this, my thoughts on this, my thoughts on this. Why? Because she has to follow the big guy. I know for a fact that there were things that Joe Biden disagreed on with Barack Obama.

But because Joe Biden was President Obama's vice president, do you know what Biden's job was? Get his ass in line. That's your job. The vice president is not a U.S. senator who can take whatever position that they want. The vice president is not a member of Congress who can say, I'm representing the 700,000 people in my congressional district. No. The vice president's job is unique in politics in that they have to follow lockstep behind the boss. Mike Pence, his ass was a ventriloquist for four years. Donald Trump would say some of the stupidest, dumbest shit you have ever heard in your damn life, and Mike Pence would stand there like a Stepford husband

and would say, I stand clearly behind the most important and the greatest president that we've had in the history of the United States, Donald Trump. Now, that was a thought bubble. The thought bubble will say, this is some bullshit I'm having to say about this lying, narcissistic asshole, but I got to say this because I'm the damn vice president. It's a fact. So, all these reporters, they sit their ass at the Atlantic of the New York Times, why won't Kamala Harris, why won't she define herself, why won't she tell the voters how she's more moderate, blah, blah, blah, blah.

She can't because she's the vice president. Because let me tell y'all what's going to happen. The moment Kamala Harris says something that's partially different from Joe Biden, Kareem Jean-Pierre, Anita Dunn, the chief of staff. Why is the vice president contradicting the president? Why is the vice president not saying the same thing Why is the vice president not saying the same thing? Is the vice president and the president on the same page? Is the vice president and the president, are they having friction? Are they not getting along?

Those are going to be all the news stories. So then, the same people write these stories and then go, I don't understand why her polling numbers are down. I don't understand why she's not popular. I don't understand why voters are confused about who Vice President Kamala Harris is. Easy, because you dumbasses keep writing stories like this, which then casts doubt as to whether she has an opinion on stuff. And then this fool actually wrote, which is just beyond stupid to me, is that, oh, if she's going to be a president one day,

she's going to have to speak to these issues. They're running for re-election. Everybody knows. The moment the vice president starts acting like they're running for president, it's a problem. Am I the only person who watched today on West Wing? Am I the only person who watched Sc on West Wing? Am I the only person who watched Scandal? Everybody know this shit on TV.

You cannot have a VP running around trying to change positions. Guess when the VP can do that? About six months before the election. Because even when Al Gore was running for president, Al Gore couldn't do and say a lot of stuff that was really different from Clinton because they were still in office. They were still governing. They were still, and Clinton was still the president.

So I'm unpacking all of this so y'all watching can understand how idiotic members of the mainstream white media are when they craft these stories and they create a narrative and then question Harris about the narrative that they've created and then they want her and her staff to somehow recalibrate to create a new narrative from a narrative that they created. it when it's basic and simple. When you're the leader, if I'm the boss and your ass and your job is dependent upon me, your opinion is a private opinion. You get to say privately, up to a certain point, how you feel. But the moment we walk out that door, I expect your ass to be right here. Do you know who knows that? Football coaches.

Basketball coaches. When the last time you seen an assistant head coach after they had a loss go before the media and say, man, that was a bullshit call the head coach made. I don't know why his ass made that call. I would have made a whole different call. If that ever happens, I'm going to tell y'all right now that assistant head coach going to have a new damn job or going to be looking for a job 24 hours later. No. Your job is to fall in line

with the leader. And so, that's what you're seeing here. And so, they create the narratives that then become self-fulfilling prophecies. That's why I really hope the team around Vice President Kamala Harris stop giving these fools all the damn time in the world to write these BS stories. Here's my whole deal. Go talk to Aaron Haynes with the 19th.

Do that. Come sit down and Haynes with the 19th. Do that. Come sit down and have an hour conversation with me. Go talk to Ricky Smiley and D.O. Hughley and Steve Harvey and Dee Dee in the morning. Go talk to black radio. Go talk to black

columnists at different papers, at the L.A. Times, at the Chicago Sun-Times, at the Houston Chronicle, at the Shoal Observer, around the country. Enough with playing their games because you're not going to win their games. What they are trying to do is they are trying to box this vice president in, and she's already in a box. Because the truth be told, there are some people around Biden who don't want

her having a larger position. Oh, I'm being real clear. And let me be real clear. I said it again last night. There's a bunch of people in the Democratic Party who don't want VP Kamala Harris to succeed

because they've got some candidates that they are standing behind who are going to run in 2028. Do not be. So when y'all read these stories, you need to understand that there are agendas at play. And listen, here's the deal. I ain't got no agenda. I ain't. I had a phone number when she was in the Senate. I ain't got no agenda. I ain't. I had a phone number when she was in the Senate.

I ain't got a phone number now. I ain't got Doug's phone number. I don't get it. I mean, I got invited to the hip-hop party. I've never had a private conversation with the vice president last time when she was at Essence when she was running

for office. Sure, sure. I speak to her. We had a quick, when she was running for office. Sure, sure, I speak to her. We had a quick interview when we were in Selma. So I ain't got no dog in this hunt. Actually, I don't. What I do have, the dog that I do have in this hunt are the folks who want to minimize black political leaders. And the folks who are playing games and they want to act like a lot of us don't see the games that they have been playing. Y'all need to understand what's at play and so you're going to keep seeing these stories

and they're going to justify by saying, well, you know, we're just asking these questions, you know, because he's, he's 80 years old and she could be the president. I'm going to leave y'all on the note before I go to the panel. Do y'all remember when George W. Bush was president and he was in the residence alone watching a football game? His ass choked on a chip and passed out. If George W. Bush had choked on that ship and bust his head on a table

Dick Cheney could be the next president United States So this whole idea about oh my goodness If you know he's 80 and you know any day now she can be the president hell any day now Anybody can be the damn president We just saw in New Jersey, Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey, a sister, she passed away. She had cancer. We've seen elected officials die in plane crashes. Y'all, these things actually happen in the real world.

But you need to understand the games being played. Lauren, I want to go to you first. I just, it's just, when I see one of these stories, it's amazing how they all say the exact same thing, just in different ways. Yeah, you know what I need?

I need the black reporters who get, you know, somehow involved in these stories to sort of wake up to what the game is here. She is actually the most criticized vice president in the history of the United States. So, Astede Herndon and Zolan Cano-Youngs and these people who always end up being the face of these pieces, they need to wake up to the bigger game, which is you work for a news organization that has no history, whether it's The Washington Post or The New York Times or The Atlantic, it doesn't matter, has no history of writing

positive things about black elected officials. That's not what the history of the press has been in this country at any point. It's never happened, right? We've never had a Democratic Party that's championed black elected officials. That's never happened. When Barack Obama ran, he was made fun of by the Clintons. He should be serving me drinks. This is nonsense. He had to fight through the Democratic Party, had to fight through the Clintons, had to fight through the entire establishment, set up his entirely separate organization because he couldn't trust the DNC, right? There's never been a time when white Democrats have championed any black politician. So, I mean, if we just look at history, basic recent history, we don't have to go back to the 50s or, you know, when the parties flipped or any of that stuff.

We can just look at that. We had a vice president once upon a time who shot somebody in the face at a hunting trip. That would be Dick Cheney. To my knowledge, Kamala Harris has never done anything that crazy, right? We've had, you know, vice presidents named Spiro Agnew who were later indicted. And yet we sit here talking about Kamala Harris, and you can see this theme and this narrative, which is clearly being built by some of the allies of the president. There's nobody that can convince me that this is not coming from the White House, because she is a threat to—when you have an 80-something-year-old

president around who's stumbling over his words every now and then, even though I think he's done a very good job, Joe Biden, there's just the reality that he is getting older. And we've got this consequential historic election coming up, where we have a guy that is talking openly about dismantling our entire democracy and the entire federal system. So this Kamala Harris discussion is huge in so many ways. But the idea that you have black reporters who somehow can't figure out that what they're doing is somehow related to the game, the bigger game, which is that you have a lot of white Democrats out there who don't want to see anybody black in power. And she's the first female vice president. Let's just be clear.

We saw this, by the way, with Hillary Clinton. So when Hillary Clinton ran, there was all this sexism around Hillary Clinton. She was treated completely differently by the press. You know if you see it with a white woman, you're going to see it with a black woman. Got it. And obviously, you know, we see this across the country. It's not just on this game. This is the big game. This is the presidency of the United States.

Mignon, here's the deal. Here's a piece by a writer with The Atlantic who interviewed the other writer with The Atlantic who wrote the story on Vice President Kamala Harris. Here's why I'm laughing, okay?

First of all, the headline is called Kamala Harris is trying to change the narrative. That's what the headline is. This is why I find this to be hilarious. I'm going to read the first paragraph. First paragraph. Since taking office, Vice President Kamala Harris has struggled to communicate her vision and the nature of her role to both the press and the public.

It ain't her vision. It's Biden's vision. She struggled to communicate her role. What's her role? Sit your ass down in case anything happens. I'm sorry. We all know the role of a vice president. Nobody asked.

We asked shit for eight years. What Joe doing? Where Joe going? What Joe up to? Nobody asked them questions. Because he wasn't the president. Go ahead.

Yeah. So here's there's something that's that's underplay, I think, here, which is, yes, we're talking about a black woman, but we're also so you were talking about New York Times, Atlantic. I might have to cancel my subscription to Atlantic now because it's kind of pissing me off. But they have a very specific audience, right? These are more highly educated or educated white people, oftentimes liberals, right?

That's getting this information, okay? Which oftentimes people will say to you the most dangerous people in the world are white liberal people, right? And I think that in that respect, they could very well be because oftentimes these writers are writing things that their audience wants to hear. There's one thing that's really concerning to me about all of this, which is it's almost vision, what's she supposed to do, that kind of plays with this, well, black women don't play by the rules. So, you know, but this one is playing by the rules. So we're not really sure what she's doing. And it's just this weird, very strange, like, kind of way of playing on these stereotypes about black women are supposed to be assertive. Black women are supposed to be loud, Black women are supposed to be

out front, right? And Kamala's not really that. So maybe she's just not Black. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company

dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free

at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way.

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

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

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree.

It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Right? They'll do that later on. She can't win. No, she's playing. She's playing her the role well. And that's what's driving them crazy. And she's playing it to a tee. You're right. She's supposed to support the president. That's her job. And it's making them crazy that she's so successful. Yeah. I mean, this is great. I just sit here, and again, everybody who's watching, this is not, ooh, I have to go out and defend Vice President Kamala Harris.

No. I'm just tired of, I'm sick of lazy-ass media people. I'm sick of every story being the same, whether it's political, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Atlantic. Because see, everybody watching, and Greg, you know this, all these damn reporters, they all read each other. People ask me all the time, oh, Roland, did you read so-and-so's piece? No, I didn't read that shit. Oh, did you read Maureen's Dial column? No, I have never actually woke up and said, hmm, I wonder what Maureen Dial is thinking today. No, never.

I don't. I don't. I don't read any of this crap. When I was at CNN, they'd be like, oh, did you see what so-and-so wrote? No. You know why? I call my own people. I can actually get information from my own sources.

I'm not going to base my opinion on what somebody else write. And they all talk to each other. Look, I'm going to tell you straight up, CNN, the Washington, D.C. people at CNN never wanted me. Greg, they never wanted me. Because I came through New York, and they were like, I don't know who this guy is. We don't know him. Yes, because y'all keep talking to the same boring, bland-ass people who go to the same boring, bland-ass dinner party

conversations, have drinks with one another, as well. They all sound the same. Then when a Negro like me come along, they be like, damn, he sound different. Yes, because I don't hang out with y'all simple Simon asses. And that's what all of this is. So this becomes reverb. It just becomes reverb and it's written a different way and different publication. And it then creates the impression in the public, oh, I heard she's a problem, problem, problem, problem. What does reverb do? Problem, problem, problem, problem, problem, problem, problem, has a direct impact on ratings. So then

to Mignon's point, you got these white Democrats and they whole deal and they drama. Then you got Republicans who are attacking her left and right. And let's not forget, when she ran for president, she was the target of more Russian trolls than any other candidate. To Lauren's point, Greg, somebody's like, you know what? That's a threat. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, Roland, you know, and I've been a subscriber to the New York Times for about 30 years, and I read the paper every day. I mean, I will admit that, you know, Paul Krugman is probably the one who I've looked most at consistently.

David Brooks just makes me laugh out loud with his ridiculous worldview. And the Times has tried to move. They were never a left paper, contrary to what people might think. And now they got Bret Stephens in the rotation with his silliness from time to time, trying to pair him with liberal columnists over the years. But, I mean, you know, Lauren has laid it out, and she named it. You know, this is her bailiwick. So you're talking about a cat like a Steve Herndon.

He's trying to get put on. That long-ass article that the white dude is basically giving a preview to that dropped on the 10th is for the New York Times Magazine. So it's going to run on Sunday in the print edition. And, you know, I'll read it again. I mean, I've read it already. It dropped on the 10th. But let's be very clear. What you said, Roland, is all that needs to, people need to know to understand what's going on here. I don't know whether it's the governor of New York, whether it's just the Biden people. Hell, I don't want to sound like Beer Kavanaugh

and blame the Clintons, but let's not forget Maggie Haberman wedding up to Trump and back in the day, Judith Miller with the Iraq War. The New York Times is damn near unreadable at this point, particularly given the events of the last week in the so-called Middle East. I mean, at this point, it's pure propaganda.

And when you start, I don't want to sound like Noam Chomsky on this either, but in the case of a Steve Herndon, let me be very careful, because some of these people are my friends. Not this dude, but I'm saying that the New York Times has

a kind, and the New York Times is not alone. As you say, it could be the Atlantic, it could be the New Yorker. They're very careful on who they curate. And they know that they can't keep running out these same white boys and white girls all the time. So at this point, they've got a bench of black folk who are younger, who are ambitious, who are willing to do the hit pieces. And a Steve Herndon, who claims he interviewed 75 people for this and talked to the vice president one time and they canceled the second interview and he lets the world know it in the end of his long-ass article.

He's getting dragged for filth on social media about that article by people who were at some of the same events. He's reporting on in there to say that people weren't enthusiastic. White reporters are saying, I was at that same event. And that's a lie. He's catching hell on social media, but let's be clear. The New York Times, the Atlantic, the New Yorker, the New Republic, they are not

written, as you heard Mignon say, this is not for the hoi polloi. It ain't for hoi polloi. It ain't for the people. It's for the policy makers, the inside baseball people, and they got the long knives out for Kamala Harris. And one of them long knives might be coming from the West Coast,

even though the governor, Newsom, appointed in the Senate seat one of Kamala Harris' backers who is quoted in the article. This is some intrigue, Shakespeare, Julius Caesar shit going on right now. And again, in the TV version, they all watch Morning Joe. Oh, no question. And that's just the real deal. All right, y'all. I gotta... Manion, I told you, look, we don't hold back

on this show. This ain't the Mother People show. This is black and independent. And for everybody out there wondering, because I love the people sitting there telling me, I had some food yesterday.

Man, you need to stop cussing. First of all, kiss my ass. That's first. I mean, we're going to start there. And I just want y'all to understand. All I want y'all to understand, this is what MLK wrote in, first of all, that slogan from the nation's first black newspaper. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us so we get to speak for us on this show. But the other quote came from Dr. King in his book, Where Do We Go From Here, Chaos of Community, when he said there are four institutions that are structured to liberate black people.

One of them he called the Negro Press. And this is what he said about the Negro Press. He said that there are too many Negro newspapers, too many Negro newspapers have veered away from their traditional role as protest organs, agitating for social change, and have turned to the sensational and the conservative in place of the substantive

and the militant. That's why we do what we do, because we're not about to sit here and bend over and bow down and repeat what everybody else talk about. That ain't how we roll. Going to a quick break. We come back. We're going to remember one of the three survivors of the Tulsa race massacre who passed away at the age of 102. Back in a moment.

On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, you're going to learn about the silver tsunami, which means that a million people are turning 65 every day, and they're going to need some kind of care. You're going to meet two sisters whose situation with their own family led them to start a business in this industry, and now they're showing others. This is our passion, our mission, our purpose, our ministry. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Next on The Frequency with me, Dee Bonds, actress, writer, and advocate, Rae Dawn Chong is here to discuss her childhood and break down her life in Hollywood,

a show you don't want to miss. Well, even at my peaky, peak, peak when I was getting a lot of stuff, as soon as I was working a ton, I heard people whispering, oh, we don't want to pay her because we're giving her a break. Only on The Frequency on the Black Star Network. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, you're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting.

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The Cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. This is Essence Atkins. What's the love, King of R&B, Raheem Devon? Me, Sherri Shebron, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio

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

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

Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things Stories matter and it brings a face to them It makes it real It really does, it makes it real Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app

Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts And to hear episodes One week early and ad free With exclusive content Subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before.

I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptuskids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 Hughes Van Ellis, also called Uncle Red, folks. He's one of the three survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre that took place in 1921. Passed away on Monday at

the age of 102. His daughter said he passed away in a va hospital in Denver where he had been dealing with cancer that had spread to his brain. Folks, this is a man who went through a lot.

He was barely one years old when the massacre took place and also barely surviving. One of the other took place and also barely surviving. One of the other survivors is his sister, Viola Fletcher. She is 109 years old. And so the two survivors, one is left is 109, 108. This video here is from the parade in Tulsa in 2021 when we were there to commemorate the 100th anniversary of that. And so, first of all, do we have audio on that, folks?

Is that me interviewing him? Okay. All right. So, all right. Not sure what's going on video. So, not only that, when I say he was always full of energy, he had no problem going places. Here's a video, folks, of the Tom Joyner Fantastic Voyage cruise. This, y'all, he was always on the cruise. And just so y'all know, this probably was about 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. I called Tom Joyner on Monday and his son Oscar,

and oftentimes here he had his 70-year-old daughters be coming up to Tom and Oscar going, do y'all know who my daddy is? Uncle Red would literally be hiding from his daughters because they would want him to go to the room. And he was like, man, forget that. I'm going to the party. Y'all, this is not the only time I had this video, y'all.

I'm telling y'all, this happened a lot. I got lots of video of Uncle Red. And here's the deal. When we were on the cruise, we didn't know that he was one of the Tulsa survivors. We didn't know this. the cruise, we didn't know that he was one of the Tulsa survivors. We didn't know this. What happened, we didn't. What happened was when we were in Tulsa, and we were in Tulsa, and that's when we saw that parade video.

What happened was I was sitting here and I said, wait a minute. That's the brother from the cruise. And I went up to him and actually we shot a video, pull that video up, we shot a video and I sent this video, no not that video, the video of me interviewing him, we sent a video where I interviewed, don't go to that video, I'll kill that one. We sent a video, I sent a video of the time joining him

and Red was like, oh yeah, I'm gonna be at the next cruise I'll be there. In fact, let me see. I'm gonna see if I can find it cuz I sent the video I sent the video to Tom and to Oscar it was after y'all had a video. It was absolutely hilarious show It was absolutely hilarious. I mean he was full of life He was always He was gonna be at the party. He was to be in the mix where everything was going on. And, of course, in all these years, he was an ardent advocate, fighting on behalf, trying to get the reparations for what took place.

He testified before Congress as well. And he was always there. And this man, again, lived his life to the fullest. I'm going to play this video in just one second. Pull my iPad up, please, the audio. I'm going to play this video once it finishes loading. And so, and I went over to him and I was like, wait a minute. Y'all see it?

I said, you read from the cruise. He's like, that's right. And so this was the video, y'all, that I sent to Tom Joyner. All right, go ahead. I'm going to see this. Go ahead and talk to him. Say something to Tom. I'm going to send this video to him.

Tom, if you on the crew, I'll see you November 6th. All right. I'll be there. Dancing. Dancing. With all the women on the crew. With all the women on the cruise. With all the women on the cruise. And the sisters used to love Uncle Red on the cruise.

It was always four or five surrounding him. And again, that right there, Greg, is what you call living a really long, fruitful life. Yeah, brother. Red, brother. Travel well to the ancestor by baba hughes uh uncle red um of course and you know my sister our sister adjoa batway osmoy who was also the architect of the crown act generally she killed me if i didn't mention this of course because ajwa was at the ghanaian embassy here.C. earlier this year when they had a ceremony reinforcing what they had done in Ghana, where he—his honorary name as a chief is Nialante, and that was extend citizenship to Uncle Red and his sister.

And of course, we know that his sister, Viola Flora Fetchers, who's 109, and Sister Leslie Benningfield Randall, 108, are the last known survivors of the massacre now. But Uncle Red, Uncle Red was the man and is the man. Brother, I just hope, look at, man, y'all, that just brings you to your face. I take 102 today, brother, as a black man in America. So travel well, Uncle Red. You're going to be a powerful ancestor, brother. Ashe.

You would get the kick out of seeing those videos, man, y'all. I am because he was just so full of joy and so full of life. But, you know, it's funny because I'm looking at the ages and I'm like 102. You know, I'm a biomedical, biobehavioral researcher, right? And I'm thinking 102, 108, and 109. I'm like,

how did they get there, right? And it could be this collective struggle, this this this. I mean, obviously, you see that he's connected to his world and his people and his being. And, you know, whatever his came forward in his past, you know, he fought for something, for justice, for accountability, for, you know, liberation of of of those that were wronged. And so, yeah, he just makes me very happy, right? But I do, I'm just wondering what was in the water back in Tulsa in those days,

because 109, that's pretty, 109 is a long time to live. So I think it's all that collective struggle. And unfortunately, he did not get to live to see them win their fight, Lauren. The battle continues. Demario Solomon-Simmons is their attorney. They continue to fight the city of Tulsa, state of Oklahoma, and the federal government. Yeah, and that's the problem.

And if they don't get anything, which it looks like what the strategy is to wait them out, obviously. I mean, that's obviously the strategy. Again, when have we ever seen it in history where anybody who has been, anyone black who has been treated in this way, gotten repaired financially? And obviously these plaintiffs should have a long time ago. But I think their strategy is to just wait them out and just keep delaying, et cetera, and so on. But that's the real question. Is anyone going to actually win in court? Obviously, you know, obviously we're rooting for DeMario and I think he's done a great job, but it's incredible to me that something so clearly wrong and we can see it from a distance and they love to have their little commemorations and their little discussions and all that, but nobody's allocating any money. That's a huge problem. Indeed. In a second, we're going to play the interview that I did with Uncle Red and his sister Viola to end the show, but I got to go to this

quick breaking news here. The Republican conference is a total mess. Congressman Steve Scalise has withdrawn his name to be Speaker of the House. They had a meeting tonight, and he did not get the votes to become the next Speaker. And his quote says, our conference still has to come together, and we're not there. There are still some people that have their own agendas. So, Mignon, after they bounced Kevin McCarthy, they threw around Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise. Folks thought they were rallying behind Steve Scalise. That didn't happen. Now he's now withdrawing from the race. Now they got to figure out how they're going to get the 218 votes. And then you got people saying, what the hell? They're trying to give more support

to Israel, trying to give more support to the Ukraine. A lot of work to get done. And these idiots can't even figure out how to elect somebody. And Hakeem Jeffries is sitting over there just chilling, looking like Bill Duke in the police interrogation room in Minister Society. Hakeem Jeffries is just eating popcorn in the corner. He's just watching the show and eating popcorn in the corner. Laura, what are you making this mess? Well, we have a completely dysfunctional political party, a completely dysfunctional major political party. And in the House, they want the MAGA Republicans to run things. And this is how they run things. They don't believe in government. They're here

to dismantle everybody else's ideas. And they don't have any ideas. And, you know, Jeffries actually is the one with the most votes right now, which is 212. I can't wait to see all the think pieces that are going to ask why the Republicans don't just support Jeffries for the, quote, good of the country, like we saw with regard to this idea that everybody should have voted for McCarthy, that Democrats should have voted for McCarthy, because these Republicans can't get their act together. The party right now, the Republican Party, the modern Republican Party, stands for absolutely nothing.

And that is why they can't even elect their own leadership. They want to, quote, own the libs and press people on Fox News and do absolutely no governance. And that is why we're seeing what we're seeing. Greg? No, I agree. And Lauren just said it. In fact, it's already trending. It's been trending over the last couple of hours in social media, certainly on the app formerly known as Twitter, the hashtag five Republicans, because that would give Hakeem Jeffries 217.

But I tell you, Roland, you think about that earlier story you covered on the Alexander versus South Carolina branch of the MCP. You know, is this Jim Jordan? I mean, there's nobody who can reach 217, but... Tom Cole?

Well, I mean, yeah, exactly. This is insane. Here's the reality. The Republicans are going to need Democratic votes to pick a leader. And so, here's what Democratic minority leader Jeffries has

actually said. He said, hey, we're ready to deal. If y'all change the rules to allow a bipartisan bill to go to the floor and bypass committees, we'll support a

bridge candidate. But what they're saying is if y'all want to still be hard asses, we ain't releasing a single vote. So they're extracting power. That is a very smart move because they're saying, because again, without Democrats, it's eight to ten

hardcore Republicans who ain't voting for anybody unless they are Matt Gaetz or whatever. And so, who can you trust? Jeffrey should get out of the way and let it burn. Let it burn. We've got an election in Virginia in 26 days. And Virginia's election is going to answer a lot of questions. This is the Republican

Party. Let the voters see exactly what this Republican Party is and what their governance means in real time. They can't even pick a speaker. They can't even pick a speaker of the House. This hasn't happened in like 100 years because that's how dysfunctional they are. That's how crazy they are. Let the voters see it. Let the voters in Virginia see it. We have 30 days until we run out of money for the government. This is Republican governance. Jeffrey should allow it to just burn and witness it. That's what he should do. Alright, folks.

Ben Young, Greg, and Lauren, we really appreciate y'all being on the panel. Thank you so very much. Folks, we're going to close out the show with an interview that I did with Uncle Red and his sister Viola two years ago at the 100th commemoration of the Tulsa Race Massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Here's that conversation. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Actual anniversary. The massacre started after sundown on this day and went through a sunrise. And so on this day, we wanted you to hear from two of the survivors.

One of them is 107 years old. She was a seven-year-old girl when all of this happened. The other, he was only six months old. They are the they are two of the three survivors. They are brothers and sisters. We had an opportunity to catch up with Big Red and Viola on yesterday at the Survivors of the Tulsa race massacre that took place 100 years ago today, where 36 blocks of blackness was utterly destroyed by white domestic terrorists. Listen to their conversation.

This week from folks and photos and interviews and all kind of stuff. Are they running your racket? Now, I have to start with a little harder hearing on that side. I said folks have been sitting here taking pictures and a lot of energy having y'all in the parade and other events. Are they running your racket? Oh, yes. Oh, yes, yes. But I love the parade. The horse, we had a chance to ride in a horse and wagon.

Yes, sir. That was my, really enjoyed that. And I'm sure he did too. I enjoyed this. This excited me. This history. There's so many people. I'm just overwhelmed with this.

I didn't think this would ever happen to me in my life. So my life has been good, but this is special. And I just, I love attention. I love attention. Yes, I do. So I'm so overwhelmed with just, I can't get over it. I'm just so happy about this. How does it make you also feel to see a younger generation learning the history and really now wanting to understand what happened here 100 years ago?

I think it's wonderful, but I don't think enough history has been said about it throughout the years because I've met so many people that said they've never heard about it. So I think more history is what we'll have to have, you know, to make everybody realize that it happened. I have a niece, she's 70 years old. She says she didn't know about it. Just right up that Martinsville. She's 70. Yeah. So I hope more history. And every year have a little celebration like this, You know, it would be not this big.

Oh, this is too big. But you should always, you know, recognize it. No, I say have one every year. Make it bigger. Yeah, make it bigger. That's right. I tell the young people, look up. Don't turn back.

I tell them, you are number one. So it's only one. We are only one. All of us is the same. Racist, preach. We are Americans. And I want you to believe you are number one. So that's what I tell the young people.

Yesterday, I was glad to see mixed kids, you know, black, white, green, all colors. So that brings us so close together. We are only one. My nephew out there, he said, Uncle Reed, tell them what it's all about. You are number one. We are in there, all of us. So I want to speak to you like I'm there. I want justice. That's what I'm looking for.

So many people got a chance to listen to y'all's testimony before Congress. And I must say, to listen to you speak, talking about remembering what happened and painting a picture of that night of the terror was just was just so hard to listen to. And folks don't understand the pain and agony that black folks have had to experience in this country. I know that we still have some of that pain and action. Like, I don't sleep all night in the darkness and any little sound. All these years later? Oh, sure.

Every day. Why not? Every time of day that it happens, look like you think about it. It's something that will never pass with me. No, sir. Describe for folks what that community looked like and felt like and what it was like just the folks that i saw was falling being shot and killed and bleeding houses burning and here smell smoke and seeing fire and heard airplanes raining and just a rumor you know and it's wondering how you had to be gathered up and moved out of the community

my parents was told to to save our lives. So that's the part that I can remember hearing. Where did y'all go afterwards? I think to a little town called Claremore, Oklahoma, from here. We live someplace up there out on the north end of town and you know so i don't i don't know the name of the highway anything but that's where we wouldn't stay live for and that was a the pleasure of me in the parade today is having this to have a chance to ride in a drawn by a horse i don't know what what was the name of the wagon we rode in? But it was so nice.

I thought that was really nice, you know, to represent it. Because I think then most people was using horse and wagons, and thus my family didn't own a car, and that was our way of transportation. How old were you when the massacre happened? Six months old. Just? Six months old. Only six months old. I was born January 11, 21. That happened in June.

So where did your family, after the massacre happened, did your family stay here? Did they flee? Where did they go? Well, we all went together. That's my sister there. We all went together. Got you. Got you.

I'm sorry. Yeah. We went to Claremont, Oklahoma. That's my sister. Now, how far is that from here? I don't know. I don't know. I have no idea.

It took quite a while to get there with a horse wagon, you know. So. It took quite a while to get there with a horse wagon, you know. So you go there. How long did y'all live there? And did you return back? Not until then, no. Well, my parents were sharecroppers, and, you know, you probably know about or heard about how we didn't plant the harvest where we would have to do it. And that was his way of making a living for us. Now, as I've said,

I never did see any money exchange, but the way of living, of housing, and food is what to receive for that kind of service. Was it hard for you growing up in Greenwood having that experience and seeing it destroyed and never being able to come back? Well, later in years I did, but not until I was a teenager. So being with the family, then as I said when we

left there, that type of work, we didn't have a chance to attend school, the full school term, because if it was summer you had to plant the crop or in the winter you had to harvest the crop. So we wasn't able to go to school. So all of my family, we got very little schooling. And that is a part of life that i miss so much too yeah now you you you go into the u.s armed services and this is the thing that that we always talk about black folks loved america more than america loved black folks and so to fight

for a nation knowing full well what it did to your family and your community. It was a segregated army. It was a black army and a white army. Well, it was. We had two black officers, a first lieutenant, a second lieutenant, rest of them, the captain was white, the colonel was white, the maid was white. And that's the way it was.

And to lay it on up in years, you know, to start mixing what we had. It was just like you living at home. You were separated from the other audience. But you still served. We still served, though. We still served. Well, may I say, you know, I had two brothers, two sons, and two grandsons in service.

I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Sir, we are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding

of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things.

Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one

week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you've got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself.

Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's that occasion. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. He's saying, you know, I've heard that three different generations of times and they've served on different terms. And each one of the three was in the, with the Army or the Navy. And I've learned from their testimony that it's a life that, well, you just don't, you don't have your idea. You have to do what you're compelled to do. And it's pretty

rough on them, really. You have now this reinvigorated emphasis on Greenwood. You have folks talking about emphasizing Black Wall Street in businesses. It's 100 years later. Think in the future. What do you hope a hundred years from now greenwood and tulsa will be like for african-americans what do you what do you hope it will be it's being able to get back to normal like it was before but it's going to be some help because if everything that i've raised on then they should be in burst for it before

Greenwood can get back like it was. But now maybe it might be different, but that's why I thought about it. What do you hope for 100 years from now Greenwood will look like? I hope it we get back to like it was, like people own their own business, their own jewelry store, their own banks, funeral homes, police stations, tailor shops. They worked hard to get that. They're one of the people in Oklahoma that lend them the money. They had to go to different states to get that money to fill that bill. I'd like to see that. I'd like to see that again. Now, I got to ask you this. I've met him before coming here. How you let this man go on the Tom Joyner cruise every year dancing with all those young women?

I got video of him on the dance floor late at night having a good time. I think I was president at that time. I've been with them. You've got to plan. You don't have to have a lot of money. You plan it for years, then you decide what you want to plan. You don't have to have a lot of money. You plan it for a year, then you decide what you want to do. You save a few dollars every month, and when time comes to go, you can go. Yeah, well, I went with him, and I think I was with him during that time when he was dancing.

But they invited me. 99. Yeah. It was 99 years old when she went on. Well, it was about 1 o'clock in the morning when I ran to him at the party. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. He was out late.

That's it. You see, when I went, I had to be pushed in a wheelchair. Tom Turner and his son would take care of me. They'd say, where's Dad? I'd say, we got him. So I didn't worry. I had people that looked after me on the floor. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. He was taking tequila shots. Oh. Oh, he was on that dance floor just getting it. Oh, I'm sure. I love life. Huh? I love life. I love people. Huh? I love life.

I love people. What did he say? He was shot. I had to think twice what kind of shot that would be. Now, what kind of shots are they getting? What's this little herb that's growing? Oh, they're taking all kinds of shots now. I mean, but it's a...

What are they? That's a lichen shot. That's my trouble. I can't think sometimes of the next word I want to say. It's all good. It's my trouble. I can't think sometimes of the next word I want to say. It's all good. It's all good. So you absolutely love life and you live it. I tell people all the time, look, my hashtag is live life, love it.

You got one. Ain't no sense in going through life being sad. Yeah, and I think being active like that, you know, because he had a large family and everything, and he and the family was always together. I think you dance more with your little granddaughter than, you know. And so that makes a difference, you know. I love to dance. Just love it. It's part of my life. Yeah.

Well, my philosophy is if my legs still work, let's go. Well, sure, sure. I know. I wish mine did. But my knee, this knee don't go very fast for me. Well, that's why I said, people ask me all the time. They say, man, you always dancing and stuff. I say, look, there's every day I can't dance, there's going to be some video of me getting down. So I can always say, just play the video or you'll see the evidence. Oh, now when they give a little tune, I can move up the upper part. You got the shoulder dance?

What's going on now, it's taking pleasure away from the people. It's not going to be like it used to be. See, you like when you wake eight hours a day, you want to come home and like to have a nice dinner weekend. You like to go somewhere. You like football. You like to go to football or baseball or basketball. You can't do that no more.

Well, hopefully if folks take their COVID shots, we'll be able to get back to normal as fast as possible. That's what I'm hoping. Well, we have enjoyed being here. Greenwood is sacred ground. More than 300 folks lost their lives. But our mission is to keep speaking truth and keep the story going and not relying on somebody else to tell our story. And we're going to make sure that folks always are aware of your story, what happened here. Well, I appreciate you digging me up and pulling me in on this.

Well, I appreciate it. Well, like I say, I'm always running to him late at night on the dance floor. So, see, I didn't see you late at night on the dance floor, but I got video with him. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. Well, I appreciate it. I hope you all enjoy the rest of the weekend. You get that Hollywood attention with all the photos and all the love they've been showering on you all.

We will. We will. I'm sure we will. It's something just special, you know, to be honored, to be telling a story about history. That's what I like. I bet you didn't mind that $100,000 check presentation up there, huh? Oh, man. Oh, my goodness. I didn't think this would ever happen to me. I've never seen that much money.

Huh? Say it again. I've never seen that much money. There you go. We never had no money. Get this back on you. There you go. I used to work 10 hours, I'd get 10 cents an hour. 10 hours, $1.

Yeah. Well, yeah. You know me, I've done the same. But this is an honor. I appreciate you folks including us. We've all enjoyed it. It was 5 o'clock in the morning, and you quit as fast. And my grandson, freezing.

My grandson, Ike. Ike's right there, so he's about to come get you. Yeah, well, that's all right. If it wasn't for him, now I couldn't be here, you know. Well, we're glad Ike hooked you up. Oh, yeah. Well, that's what I'm dependent on now, my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Well, that's what they job.

They'll help me enjoy. You took care of him. Their job is to take care of you. Whatever that check is, well, we'll all enjoy that. Like I tell them, well, I won't be here much longer to help you all do it, but we're going to have fun. But you're going to enjoy it while you can enjoy it. Well, sure, sure.

I mean, there's so many things we need, you know. So just getting things that you need makes you feel better and be able to live longer and be satisfied. And so it's it's a. Thank you. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home.

You dig? Pull up a chair, take your seat. The Black Tape with me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin,

and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering in the weight and pressure of the world that's consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for a balanced life with Dr. Jackie. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The new show, Get Wealthy, focuses on the things that your financial advisor and bank isn't telling you, but you absolutely need to know. So watch Get Wealthy on the Black Star Network.ご視聴ありがとうございました you Thank you. I know a lot of cops.

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

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs Podcast Season 2 on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-up way, you got to pray for yourself

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