#RolandMartinUnfiltered - SCOTUS to hear AL Redistricting Case; Fmr KY Cop Acquitted; Texas Cops Kill Black Man

Episode Date: March 4, 2022

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Thursday, March 3rd, 2022. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. The Supreme Court is set to hear Alabama's court, first of all, their gerrymandering case next term. And we'll put the Voting Rights Act once again in the hands of conservatives on the high court. We'll talk with an official with the Brennan Center for Justice

about how significant this case is. A Kentucky jury finds the only police officer charged in the raid that killed Breonna Taylor not guilty for endangering people in another apartment. The family of a Texas man killed by police last month says the nine officers in mostly unmarked cars and wearing plain clothes never identified themselves before they opened fire on Cherian Lockett.

The family attorney will tell us why they believe the 27-year-old was ambushed. The 12-year-old Philadelphia boy gets shot in the back by police officers. Yeah, plain clothes police officers, not wearing body cameras. And two Georgia officers plead not guilty for killing a black man who was shot 76 times.

And in Mississippi, police knew a three-month-old was in the car before they unleashed barrage of bullets to stop a murder suspect. Vice President Kamala Harris made a trip to Durham, North Carolina, to highlight the Biden administration's plan to strengthen the economy and raise the quality of life for the working class. We also have a lot more, and we'll talk further about President Joe Biden calling for the fund the police. Is that gonna actually bode well for November? It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network, let's go. Just for gigs he's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah

It's Rollin' Martin Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Martin Now The best you know, he's rolling Martel now. Martel.

All right, folks, a few moments ago, some breaking news. The state Supreme Court in Wisconsin, they affirmed a map that was put forth by the Democratic governor ignoring, in a 4-3 ruling, ignoring the maps put forward by Republicans. This is the latest victory Democrats have seen in state courts in Pennsylvania, in Ohio, as well as North Carolina. Yet, there's a case in Alabama that the Supreme Court decided to take up. Now, you might remember when that came up, the federal court ruled that African Americans were indeed being disenfranchised there in Alabama. They should have been getting a second majority black district. All of a sudden, the Supreme Court says, we're going to now take this case up.

The high court suspended the lower court ruling, again, that would have required lawmakers to redraw the maps there in Alabama because they discriminated against black voters and violated the Voting Rights Act. So the question is, what is now going to happen? Why did the Supreme Court weigh into this? Joining me now from New York City is Michael Lee, Senior Counsel for the Brennan Center. Michael, glad to have you on the show.

Here's what is strange. Supreme Court decides to weigh into this. Now, the previous court under Justice John Roberts said, oh, political gerrymandering, we don't have any role in that. That's really left up to the states. But now they're weighing into this

when the courts rule that if you look at the sheer numbers, there should not be only one black member of Congress from Alabama. Yeah, I mean, I think it's going to be a critical test of what the Voting Rights Act means and whether it offers real protections, because if the Voting Rights Act doesn't apply under the facts and circumstances of Alabama, you know, given the stark history of Alabama, given the numbers that you've talked about in Alabama, Black voters are about 27 percent of the population of Alabama. They were liked only in one out of seven districts. If you had two Black districts, that would be 28% of the district. So, you know, proportional to the share of the Black population of Alabama. And it really is pretty easy to draw a second Black district in Alabama. You just sort of go across the Black Belt, which is an area that has hundreds of years of shared history and shared experience of segregation, discrimination, you know, even going back to slavery, you know, this is a, it's really not hard to create a second

flight district in Alabama. And yet if it doesn't apply, if the Voting Rights Act has no teeth in Alabama, it really doesn't apply anywhere. And I think there's a lot of concern among advocates that the Supreme Court is about to sort of gut what remains of the Voting Rights Act. You know, they've been taking big bites and small bites out of it for years, but this really could be the death knell of the Voting Rights Act and really open the door to wholesale discrimination even more than we've had. And this is one of the reasons why folks were demanding the For the

People Act and the John Lewis Act. And of course, you had two Democratic senators standing in the way, not wanting to get rid of the filibuster. And so you have these Republicans all across the country who want to desperately get rid of the Voting Rights Act because they did not want any federal oversight. I mean, after that Shelby v. Holden decision, I mean, these southern states, they raced to change, closing polling locations, changing districts,

redrawing lines. They could not wait to make these changes. Yeah, that's absolutely right. I mean, and of course, Shelby County versus Holder is a case out of Alabama. So, like, Alabama is, you know, in self-management, you do a lot of damage to the voting rights act. But, you know, literally how crazy the Alabama case is, it basically argues that you can't draw a second black district, then you can't have no liability for a black district. And that just opens the door to states adopting all kinds of crazy rules that are, quote, unquote, race neutral, and then arguing that, oh, well, we couldn't draw a Latino district, we couldn't draw a black district because we couldn't have circular districts.

Your race neutral rule requires that districts be circles. And that is how extreme it is. It's really sort of a state's rights version of the Voting Rights Act, where state law trumps federal law, even though, you know, of course, under the Constitution, federal law trumps state law. And so it really is very wide, wide sweeping. But unfortunately, this is a Supreme Court that seems intent on reexamining the way that race is used in American society. It took affirmative action cases, which you will hear in October. And my understanding is that the Alabama redistricting case likely also will be heard in October. So a lot of race at the Supreme Court coming up next term. And, you know, the Supreme Court, of course, it's very different

than it was just a few years ago. And so we will see how much damage they will do, not only on race and redistricting, but race and American society generally. You know, and look, this weekend is the 57th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. And Vice President Kamala Harris is going to be down there. Many civil rights activists are going to be down there. There are folks who are also going to be,

they're going to be, you know, doing the march from Selma to Montgomery, taking place all next week. And one of the things that we witnessed during the last decade or so of Congressman John Lewis's life, we saw all of these Republicans travel with him to Alabama, and, oh, they would be taking pictures and be so happy. And I remember seeing them there for Selma 50th. And, you know, you had then Senator Jeff Sessions and you had Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina.

And I kept saying, I said, Selma, don't allow these people to come down here again for a damn field trip and some photo ops. Because they will come down and come right back and then do all they could to gut the Voting Rights Act. Yeah, I mean, I think it's, you know, it's really quite remarkable how hypocritical people can be on a lot of this, right? Because, you know, you know, if they're going to talk the talk, they've got to walk the walk. And, you know, so far in Congress, people aren't walking the walk. You know, in fact, you know, the Voting Rights Act, when it was Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, when it was last renewed in 2006, it passed almost unanimously, you know, in the Congress. And yet, you know, with the support of

President George W. Bush, and yet, you know, when the support of President George W. Bush, and yet, you know, when the Freedom to Vote John Lewis Act came up that would have, like, strengthened the Voting Rights Act in really critical ways, you know, it was really hard to get Republican votes. I think there, you know, the John Lewis Act had, like, some, like, Senator Murkowski supporting it at one point in the Senate, but not a single Republican voted for it when it was the Freedom to Vote John Lewis Act. And that is really remarkable. It tells you where our country has come, you know, I think, you know, in part because, like, the country's getting more diverse. Like, you know, people of color provided 100 percent of the population growth last decade. And I think that that growth of the rising power of communities of color, I think, scares a lot of people.

And the modern day Republican Party is very, you know, they don't know what to do. All right then, Michael Lee with the Brennan Center. We certainly appreciate it. Y'all, they are one of the groups on the front lines fighting against this, and so the battle continues. All right, folks, let's go to our panel here. Recy Colbert, founder of Black Women Views, after Greg Carr with the Department of Afro-American Studies

at Howard University. Also joining us is Dr. Larry Walker, assistant professor, University of Central Florida. I started off talking about the case out of Wisconsin where the state supreme court has supported the maps of Governor Tony Evers, who is a Democrat, a four to three decision. Republicans have a majority of the Wisconsin

state supreme court, and I'm sure we're gonna hear another whiny tweet from Chris Christie. He of course is co-chairing the Republicans' efforts on redistricting. He probably is gonna be, upset at former Attorney General Eric Holder, who's leading the effort on behalf of the Democrats. But what we are seeing here, we are seeing naked partisanship and we're seeing racist efforts on behalf of white Republicans, Recy, to try to do all they can to thwart the advancement of African-Americans when it comes to voting? Absolutely. I mean, the Republicans are fully aware that the only path

that they have to continue to be in power is through gerrymandering and voter suppression. And so I applaud the Democrats in every opportunity they have pushed the envelope with your ability to gerrymander. It's political gerrymandering, which is not the with your ability to gerrymander. It's political gerrymandering, which is not the same thing as racial gerrymandering. And, you know, get those seats back, because the only reason why the House isn't completely out of question of staying in Democratic hands is because of lawmakers in New York and California and places like Wisconsin that have very aggressive and Illinois that have very aggressive maps. And so as long as, you know, they can pass the muster of even Republican-tilted state courts,

then I think we're going to be in much better shape than we would otherwise be. You know, the thing here, Greg, when we start, when we look at what's happening here, it was very interesting. You had some Democratic consultants who were saying that, oh, this strategy of Holder and attorney, Mark Elias and Black Voters Matter and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Brennan Center and the Advancement Project and Lawless Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, you know, Transforming Justice Coalition, all these folks, oh, you know what? You guys shouldn't do this. You're actually pushing it too far.

Yeah, you see what happens when you fight. You see what happens when you play hardball. You see what happens when you don't cower into the corner and hoping for incremental change. They literally have gained victories in states where even Republicans hold the majority on the state Supreme Courts.

And so, again, the battle has to be waged. And I think, you know, I just finished reading Will Haygood's book on Thurgood Marshall, on the confirmation hearing, showdown, and reading those cases and reading how black folks in Texas fought the whites only primaries and how they challenged them and how African Americans,

these are people in the 1930s raised nearly $200,000 to fund the lawyers to fight these cases and how they attacked Jim Crow. Folk today got to have the same sense of urgency because on the right,

they know exactly what they're doing and they will do whatever they can to gain an upper hand. Yes, sir. They absolutely will. And as you say, the heroes of Texas in the 30s and 40s, Dr. Nixon, Herndon, in Alabama, of course, the famous case around Tuskegee, where you see a medical doctor coming into the fray,

a black medical doctor in Tuskegee with the ridiculous, absurd, I think it was like 64-sided district that they had drawn that literally excluded all the black voters. So Dr. Gamillion jumps in. But the circumstances, I think, have changed since then. And this is what the Democrats don't understand, or perhaps they do and don't care. There's no such thing as a democracy in this country. This isn't partisanship. This is white nationalism. These white nationalists are playing for all the marvels. In the 20s and 30s, when the white nationalist party was located in the democratic apparatus,

you at least had a bench that had some respect for the idea of constitutional law as a means to an end. There was regional conflict around white supremacy and white nationalism. The United States was becoming a global power. But after World War II, you see, the white nationalist power begins to wane. And it's really after World War II, between 1945 and 20 years later, 1965, just as those countries in Africa and the Caribbean are fighting to get out from under white supremacy, here domestically, people of African descent make their power thrust. And since 1965, the white nationalists have been clawing desperately to get back in the game.

And here's where Democrats are making their fundamental mistake. They think there are rules. There are no stinking rules. So when you say that, you're absolutely right. In terms of constitutional law, what the Supreme Court has decided over the last decade or so, that there is no difference between politically justified or politically motivated gerrymander and racial gerrymander. They have destroyed the concept of using race. When they say race neutral, when they say colorblind, what they mean is white. That's code speak for white.

So when you exclude all the voters and say we did it because it's political and the Supreme Court says that's okay, what they've done is say we're going to take race out. And finally, they are angling now. You asked your brother the question and he didn't really quite answer it because I believe he believes in constitutional democracy as well.

And that's kind of unfortunate because these lawyers don't understand, except the ones who are fighting, that there are no rules. When you asked him what they're... if they're gonna try to get rid of the Voting Rights Act, and he said, yeah, looks like they're gonna. If they do, if they do, do you please understand, this is the apartheid case.

This is what they've been building for for 50 years. When they get the number, they're gonna run a Boston. Look at Shaw versus Reno in North Boston. Look at Shaw versus Reno in North Carolina. Look at Georgia versus Avcross in Georgia, where the question on the table was, the court had to decide, is it more important to have black political representation in the form of a black face in a majority black district, or do you spread them out over multiple districts? This is the football they have been kicking back and forth for 30 years. And now that

they have the numbers to run the Boston, they're just going to straight create an apartheid government. Damn the Voting Rights Act. You know, the thing that we see here, Larry, as we break all of this down, is that the reason they're playing for keeps here, you take also in Georgia, federal judge ruled that the map that was drawn there

has to stay in place because it's too late to change it because you have primaries in May, which is crazy because it's March 2nd, 60 days. You can actually get it done. But what's interesting is the judge said, yeah, there's likely discrimination against black people. I mean, so you're sitting here going, so let's just go and have an election. Yeah, you're likely discriminated against black people. Let's go and have an election. And that person can likely discriminated against black people. Let's go ahead and have an election,

and that person's going to be locked in for two years, and then, oh, let's hopefully we can change it in the next two years. They want to lock this in for the next decade before the next census gets taken place. You know, Roland, you know, Dr. Carr, basically, it's all hands on deck, and that's the bottom line.

And, you know, you talked about the, you know, judges ruling. And listen, you know, Dr. Carr talked about this. Democrats have to be super aggressive. And I think, you know, you highlighted what happened in Wisconsin. This is great. But, you know, time's ticking. You know, when LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act, the day after the Republican Party was prepared for what we see today, right? So this is decades in the making, as Reesey and Dr. Carr talked about.

And we really have to continue to be very aggressive. And I commend Eric Holder and his associates for doing God's work. But if we don't have a whole hands-on deck in terms of the Democratic Party, then we will experience essentially as the new Jim Crow. And we see it in the terms of some of the gerrymandering and some of the voter suppression laws throughout the United States. And if Democrats think playing to centrist, you know, individuals that follow self in the middle,

then I can tell you right now that we're going to be in big trouble come this November and then in two years when we, presidential election. You know, but this is the thing here. This is the thing here, Recy, where, and I know all black

folks, they can't stand it if you say anything negative about Obama. But this right here is what, on this issue here, was one of the greatest screw ups of President Barack Obama. He didn't give a damn about the Democratic National Committee. They lost more than a thousand seats on the state, local and state level during his presidency. And they were not paying attention to this very issue, the battle that

was going on. Yeah, yeah, they were fighting, you know, Shelby Beholder in the Supreme Court. They were fighting, you know, different cases. But they did not properly understand nor use the apparatus of the party to do battle. And so really the work right now, you know, because he's working with Holder on this redistricting thing, really it's trying to play catch up. This is why you have to use power when you have it.

Absolutely. And I think the problem that Democrats have is Democrats play to win a new cycle. Republicans play for keeps. To win a generation. Exactly. For decades. And so what Democrats have to stop doing is they have to stop trying to placate the media. They have to stop trying to placate different factions of social media, critics, Twitter, all that kind of stuff. And I say that as a social media Twitter critic, okay? But I try to help y'all more than I try to criticize y'all. But, you know, they have to start playing hardball

and start realizing that even if you lose a news cycle, you're going to win if you manage to stay on message, if you manage to be ruthless, if you manage to play hardball, and if you manage to realize that you're not playing by the same set or you should not be playing by the rules that the Republicans set, because they're going to change them as soon as it benefits them. So they need to stiffen their spines, and they need to be disciplined, and they need to really do a much better job of explaining what's at stake here. You know, Hillary Clinton was mocked roundly for talking about the

importance of the courts, you know, and we still do not do an adequate job of messaging why the courts are so important. And so that's why we continue to lose ground, not just in terms of the federal level, but also at the state level and the local level. As I've said before on this show, Republicans are playing for the school boards. they're playing for the council positions, they're playing for state positions, attorney generals, secretaries of state, governors. They are leaving no stone unturned. And we're sitting up here arguing and debating about sloganeering. We're throwing tantrums over specific pieces of legislation that haven't passed. And we're dropping the ball on every level because our focus is just not there

and our galvanization is just not there, despite how deplorable the Republicans are acting and despite the fact the Republicans are making it very clear that they want to enshrine second-class citizenship for us. And they're going to be a step closer in 2022 if we don't do what we have to do to stop them. And I know people are sick of hearing it. I know they're sick of hearing outvote the opponents. But I don't see any other alternative unless you want to go the Dr. Carr way. And I'd rather go the voting way. Let's just put it like that. I know that's very lazy of me. That's not revolutionary of me, but we only have two ways out of this.

And one way, maybe it will work, maybe it won't, but at least it's free and it's not violent at this point, is voting. All right, folks, got to go to a break. When we come back, we are going to break down what is happening on the battle to get Judge Katonji Jackson Brown on Supreme Court. Now you know the races do what they do.

And white supremacists talk across and doing what he also does. Maybe that should be a crazy as white people segment. Also, of course, we'll talk about policing in the country. What is happening there. It's just, again, so much more that is actually taking place when we talk about these cases and how police still are not doing what they should be doing when it comes to our kids,

when it comes to protecting our people. So I'm going to break down all of that next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Nå er vi på veien. Don't you think it's time to get wealthy? I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, and my new show on the Black Star Network focuses on the things your financial advisor or bank isn't telling you. So watch Get Wealthy on the Black Star Network. 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 Vivian Green. Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, unfiltered. Now, we all know that the leader when it comes to white nationalism in America

and leading the issue of white fear is Fox News. Just the reality. And that's just, you know, in terms of what they are. And folks, you gotta understand that this is nothing new. I mean, the Republican Party, they know doggone well for a long time how they've been operating and in terms of it is all about whiteness. We've seen that, we know that.

And what you're seeing right seen that, we know that. And what you're seeing right now is a continuation of that. In fact, someone actually had posted this on Twitter. Give me one second, don't pull it up yet. I thought this was pretty interesting when I saw this. And the article, go right to it now It says, this is from 1965. Jack Germond wrote this piece. GOP seeks to change white man's party image.

That was 1965. Well, clearly not a damn thing has changed since then. So this is a little Tucker last, actually tossing this out, which is utterly hilarious when you actually talk to people who don't really focus on the LSAT. Listen to this. So is Kentangie Brown Jackson, a name that even Joe Biden has trouble pronouncing,

one of the top legal minds in the entire country? We certainly hope so. Biden's right. Appointing her is one of his gravest constitutional duties. So it might be time for Joe Biden to let us know what Kentaji Brown Jackson's LSAT score was. What helped you do in the LSATs? Why wouldn't he tell us that?

That would settle the question conclusively as to whether she's a once-in-a-generation legal talent the next learned hand. It would seem like Americans in a democracy have a right to know that and much more before giving her a lifetime appointment, but we didn't hear that. See, it's always hilarious when white folks go to the test.

First of all, little Tucker, who says, ooh, release her LSAT, and that's going to settle it in terms of is she a bright legal mind. I think she finished magna cum laude from Harvard. It's a good bet. She's kind of smart. But you know, Greg, here's the other deal. No one's legal mind is based on how they did on an LSAT.

It's kinda what you did after law school. It's kinda what you did in the law firms you work with when you were a judge, when you were on the sentencing commission. But people need to understand, and we get it, this is what black people have to deal with when you have mediocre white men like Tucker Carlson who love to want to challenge black people in this way.

And people need to understand, Tucker Carlson is the kind of white person who hurt Clarence Thomas' feelings so much when he was called an affirmative action recruit at Holy Cross and then at Yale. And that's why to this day, he has such disdain for affirmative action because frankly, Clarence Thomas didn't have enough self-esteem

to go tell someone like Tucker Carlson to go to hell. Absolutely. And Clarence Thomas, to be fair to Clarence Thomas, is a mediocre at best intellect in the first place. He is as close as you're gonna get to affirmative action in a white nationalist world. He was absolutely an affirmative action hire when he was put on the Supreme Court. And in the moment when those white men were deciding to throw Anita Faye Hill and the other sisters under the bus, when he felt just a little pressure, he sat there and said,

this is a high-tech lynching. So he hid behind race. Clarence Thomas, of course, who is so far, so beneath contempt that he's almost not worth mentioning, certainly is an example of affirmative action on the white nationalist side. And Lil Tuck, who, I wonder if this obsession with black women, whether it be Michelle Obama, Vice President Harris, Kamala Harris, whether it be Ilhan Omar, I mean, I wonder if it's from the same place that many times we see white male obsession with black women comes from, which is a secret desire.

But that notwithstanding, you first, Latuck, you first. Oh, wait, you didn't go to law school, so you never took the LSAT. OK, well, what about your SAT scores? Wait, how exactly did you get into Trinity College? Oh, yeah. You told Columbia Journalism Review that you spent most of your time in undergrad drunk.

And then, when you applied to the CIA and got rejected, your daddy told you, and you'll appreciate this, Roland, as a journalist for whom this will never be true, his daddy told young Tuck, why don't you go into journalism? Because they'll take anybody. And then he got his first job at the policy review. And he said he told the Columbia folk

that the standards were so low that he could get a job there. He is the embodiment of affirmative action, which is white male economic privilege. Now, that hasn't been said. He knows that. Now we have three, no, actually seven more letters to add to the assault, this anti-Black racism, because of course we know that Tucker Carlson is the weekly, is the nightly source of white nationalist

talking points in the world. He has added KBJ. He has added LSAT to CRT. This is nothing but politics. And so, yeah, I'll end with that for now because I enjoyed those clips of Tucker Carlson because it's the only time I get to see him.

He's a clan. He's a clan. And the thing, Larry, and this is really how we have to learn to fortify black folks. I don't get bent out of shape when mediocre white men like Tucker Carlson say stuff like this because that's what they've always done. And see, they think that, ooh, if I call the black person the affirmative action hire, again, they think we're all like Clarence Thomas.

They think we have low self-esteem. Man, white boys trapped in a Texas A&M, and this is exactly how I responded. Oh, I'm sorry. Y'all think I give a damn what y'all think? I mean, it's simple as that. Look, I've worked with mediocre white people, especially white men when I was at CNN.

And I would sit there, they would be in the newsrooms, and I remember we were discussing an education segment once, and I said, it was some Supreme Court ruling dealing with busing. I said, let's book Floyd Flake on the show. Somebody goes, who's Floyd Flake? And I said, I'm sorry, you're a producer for CNN in New York,

and you don't know Floyd Flake. Former Congressman Floyd Flake. Reverend Floyd Flake. I said, President of Wilberforce University, Floyd Flake. I'm like, who the hell do y'all know? And see, that's the reality. And we have to get black folks to understand this is the game they're going to play,

and they're going to try to find those buttons to push, and then that's... Which is, and let me be real clear, which is why, yes, it pisses me off that Biden had to step out there and talk about how the Fraternal Order of Police is backing Brown. See, again, it's the it's the and again, I didn't feel as if she needed to say even in her own speech that, oh, I have an uncle who got caught up in the drug trade and life in prison. Oh, but I also have family members who are in law enforcement. I'm not explaining shit to these people.

And that's the thing. They want us to always qualify ourselves to make them comfortable. I'm just not in... I have no interest whatsoever in making mediocre white people comfortable in their racism. Yeah, let me tell you something, Roland.

I'm not explaining to anyone anything about my credentials or the work I put in, uh, late nights, et cetera. And let's kind of... First of all, let's talk a little bit about this mention of LSAT for a second in the history of standardized testing in the United States, which is based in- in racism, right? It's basically created more barriers to prevent Black people and other minoritized groups from getting an opportunity. So let's first of all talk about standardized testing.

Second of all, this idea that George Jackson is not qualified and asking about LSAT is like if Patrick Mahomes, who obviously won the Super Bowl, et cetera, you ask him about his high school stats, right? It doesn't make any sense. But once again, you know, Black women in particular have to deal with these racial stereotypes. And if we want to talk about, once again, this idea about asking about some of his academic credentials, President Obama heard the same thing about, you know, what his grades look like in the undergrad and law school, right? So once again, these are echoes of things that we've dealt with for the last several years. And you're right. Black folks shouldn't have to explain to individuals about their credentials. Jurisdictions credentials speak for themselves. She's highly qualified. We know that. And it's

the same game that we've played for decades in this country. And listen, I believe she's going to get confirmed. She should be confirmed. She's highly qualified. And when I looked at other members of Supreme Court, her qualifications far exceed many of them. So this idea, once again, we're gonna play this game with a lot of these racial tropes about black people, particularly black women.

As a black community, we're not gonna have it. We're gonna support her nomination, and I look forward to her confirmation. See, the thing, Recy, and I want, and I saw an to her confirmation. See, the thing, Reesey, and I want, and I saw an essay the other day on this, and I actually agreed with it. And I want

black people listening to me to be, to really listen. And that is, when we talk about we have to be twice as good, we all heard that. But the thing that I want us to be real careful about, and that is this notion that we have to present this above average excellence and we have to show folks that we are so exceptional. And what ends up happening is, and again, I need people listening to really and watching to understand what I'm talking about. What it ends up happening is, is that we overcompensate to make them comfortable with who we are.

I remember reading a story. It was an Associated Press story, and these black men were talking about how they had to change how they talked and how they operated in the workplace. One of them talked about how when they would, they would always keep a copy of the Wall Street Journal with them when hailing a cab, and they would hold up the Wall Street Journal with them when hailing a cab. And they would hold up the Wall Street Journal.

And so if the white people who were around them saw them holding up the Wall Street Journal, those white people would then go, oh, he's not one of them. And Peter Bino. Peter's like a $2,000 an hour attorney. Used to be a minority owner of the Denver Nuggets basketball team. Peter told me this great story.

He was on the plane. He was sitting in first class. And Peter's like 5'4", maybe. And Peter tells me this story. He was playing golf. I'm sorry, Peter and I have played golf together. He's on a plane. And so white guy goes, well, you're not tall enough to play basketball.

You're not big enough to play football. So what do you do to sit in first class? And Peter, without missing a beat, says, I'm the biggest drug dealer in Chicago. And then crossed his legs and opened his newspaper. That's right, Peter. I mean, that's, And for a lot of us, we walk around with this,

you know, I've got to prove to them. I ain't proving shit to them. I'm not going through all that. You know, first of all, I would be embarrassed to admit that goofy shit about the Wall Street Journal. Like, just keep that to yourself next time, okay, or do it anonymously. But here's the thing.

We don't have to perform our worth for white people. We have power in our presence. The fact that we're there already got them shook. The notion of us being there even before one of us is named for that position is enough to get them shook. So why should I perform my work for you? Who the fuck are you? Tuckums, Tucker Carlson. Why the hell does Katonji Brown Jackson

have to answer to you? Who the fuck are you? She doesn't have to release her scores. I could run down the difference in her education versus his, but I'm not even going to, to perpetuate elitist talking points because at the end of the day, the value doesn't come in these specific degrees and the magna cum laude and cum laude and all that kind of stuff. You know, it helps. You have to have that if you want to ascend to the position that she's

ascended to, but we're not going to even engage on that level. The fact of the matter is she's there and that's why you're mad. It don't matter what she has on her resume or what you believe she doesn't have or what you think is hiding somewhere in the background. She's there and that's why you're mad. And the only energy

we need to have is stay mad bitches energy, okay? And happy woman's history month. We just came off of Black History Month, and she about to own woman's history month. And all you white supremacists out there that got your knickers in a bunch, you're going to have to keep it that way. Because we're not answering to you. We're not doing this qualifications dance. We're not doing this credentials dance. We're not doing this worth dance. If you don't feel comfortable, you're going to have to just sit with that. Because we ain't got nothing to do with your discomfort and your insecurity and your inferiority.

That's really what it is as well. How dare this Black woman ascend to positions that you could have never, ever, ever dreamed to. So I'm done playing games with this whole, we have to prove that we're exceptional and we're extraordinary when we amongst a sea of very, very mediocre white men, because that's the real affirmative action is whiteness. Oh, it is. And I, you know, I remember when I, um, when I was at CNN, I filled in for Campbell Brown

for two months, um, which was probably, in my six years there, the worst experience I had there, because I couldn't do me. I knew how important the opportunity was, and I never got to do me. But here's what was very interesting about that. I remember there was this white female senior producer, her name was Claire.

Yeah, I call names. And she was a senior on Campbell Brown's show. And I remember we were having a conversation. It was dealing with Michael Vick. And we're in a staff meeting, and they were like, okay, we have this panelist, this panelist, this panelist, and this panelist is going to say that Michael Vick doesn't need to get a second shot.

And I said, well, have we checked with her? And it was Lisa Bloom. And they were like, she's like, Roland, Lisa Bloom is, um, what's that doll group? What's that doll group, you know? ASPCA? No. No, uh, PETA. PETA. I saw the animal group, PETA.

They like, oh, she's a big supporter of PETA. I said, no, I get that, but have you asked her? She snaps at me. So I turn to the booker. I say, yo, can you, it was Tara. I said, Tara, can you please call Lisa? I want to know exactly where she stands. So she calls Lisa, and Lisa goes,

Lisa tells her, if he serves his time, I believe he should get a second chance. And she comes back, we've got a problem. I believe he should get a second chance. And she comes back, we've got a problem. Lisa believes he should get a second chance. And the producer, she just throws me a look. I said, see, that's why I asked. You should check first. I said, because see, that's what y'all do with me.

Y'all assume y'all know my position, so therefore you don't run it by me, and then we go on the air, then you're shocked. She was so pissed that I dared challenge her that she went to the producer, executive producer Scott Matthews, and demanded, no, David, off of the show, demanded off of working with me,

and they moved her to Anderson Cooper's staff for those two months. She said, I can't work with him. Because I dared be a black man to question her. And I remember I was in a meeting with Scott Matthews and he was telling me, we're going to have an HR problem. I said, no, we don't actually have an HR problem. I said, the problem is your white senior producers,

because they ain't used to having no black person challenge them. I said, no, the rest of your staff ain't got no problem with me. Cause I walked the floor. I talked to them. I asked them things. I said, they told me, man, we communicate with you more in one day than we talked to Cam Brown in two years. I said, so the real problem is your senior leadership. They don't like someone challenging them. Because see, what he didn't realize is that, see, they just saw me as some black guy they want to put on TV. And I had to remind him, dude, I've been the managing editor of three newspapers where I was the decider of what content ran.

I said, so you need to understand, I've run newsrooms. Y'all have it. And that was the thing. And so what happens is, and then he was very paternalistic in talking to me, saying how I should really back off and how I should take this situation. I said, Scott, let me help you out. I got four revenue streams.

Y'all number three. And then he started thinking like, hold up, he making more money. I'm like, yes, at two of my other places. I said, so let's just be real clear. If I leave here, that's just one revenue stream gone. I just move to the next thing. And that was really the fundamental problem that white executives had with me at CNN. It's because I did not bow down to them and would not allow them to talk to me like I was crazy. And what we have to do is we have to get black folks who are in these corporate offices, who are in these places, yes, who are in politics, who may be in the law, that we are no longer going to sit here and do a happy dance in front

of you and we get, oh, let's just strip out all of our blackness just to make you comfortable and, oh, my God, they're just like us. See, that's that guess who's coming to dinner stuff. I'll criticize Sidney Poitier. It's the state of mind. And that has been problematic for a lot of black people. And that has to end. And we've got to be training our children.

You do not, you do not have to do a tap dance. You do not have to be a tap dance. You do not have to be Mr. Bojangles. You do not have to sit here and play this game that they have forced black people to play since 1619. It is not going to continue to happen, even when it comes to being on the Supreme Court.

Barone, let me just say this to her. What you said earlier about how Judge Brown Jackson mentioned her uncle and then went immediately to law enforcement, folks shouldn't speed over that. You should listen very carefully. I think the law is a little different in this regard. I think the age of the heroic intellectual on the bench is over. It's deep mediocrity from here on in, as far as I can see, when it comes to the federal bench in general and when it comes to the black people on the federal bench in particular.

And let me see what I mean by that. Prior to the end of Jim Crow, the warrior lawyers, whether it be Constance Baker Motley, whether it be Charles Hamilton Houston, you know, everything, we were at a war, just like Dr. Walker said. I mean, we were in a fight for our existence. So the best and the brightest came out. There's a reason they call Howard University the West Point of the civil rights movement.

Because they trained those lawyers to kill Jim Crow. When you look at a Pauli Murray, Pauli Murray couldn't get on the Supreme Court today. She was far too brilliant and opinionated. Now, Ruth Bader Ginsburg could get on, using Pauli Murray's work. When you look at Title VII and look at some of their work around gender, that's Pauli Murray's work.

But let me fast forward. When we hear, uh, Judge Katanji Brown-Jackson... And-and Ruth Bader Ginsburg was highly criticized because she virtually had no Black clerks. Well, and this is where I'm going with it. Go right ahead. This is exactly where I'm going, brother. No, no, no, this is very...

This is why we got to pay very close attention. Remember, Katanji Brown-Jackson was on the short list when Barack Obama handed the election to the white nationalists by, uh, nominating Merrick Garland. If he had nominated her then, Remember, Ketanji Brown Jackson was on the short list when Barack Obama handed the election to the white nationalists by nominating Merrick Garland. If he had nominated her then, we probably wouldn't have been talking about Donald Trump, because black women would have come out in even higher numbers. I think that would have happened.

But here's the point. Thurgood Marshall didn't hire black clerks. Thurgood Marshall didn't hire one clerk from Howard the whole time he was on the bench. And the chief judge at the court that Kataji Brown Jackson is on right now, Spotswood Robinson, who was hardly the most brilliant student ever to come out of Howard Law and a classmate of Thurgood Marshall,

could have provided the pipeline. Constance Baker Motley by that time was on the federal bench. So when we look at Thurgood Marshall, who, let's be just quite candid, was not the most brilliant among us. The appointments to the bench are political. As you just finished reading Will Hagan's book, they had to move Clark off the bench

to give Thurgood Marshall a shot to get on the bench. Fast forward to Katanji Brown Jackson. She's clearly qualified. She's more qualified than damn near anybody on the court right now. And she went from a public high school to the Ivy League and came out twice. But when you look at Judge Childs, who was being pushed by Jim Clyburn, this is a

working-class sister as well, but she went to public schools. And this is a problem. You got a double Howard alum, top of the thing, law journal, all the top academic accolades, still, still got to play this game, because who you pick to be on the bench is going to be decided by politics. And when you said that, she brought up her uncle. This is a brilliant wordsmith. She said that trying to get ahead of the white nasties is going to try to use her uncle who died years ago against her. And when she used the conjunction, but like you, I cringed. You didn't have to do that.

Why did you do that? You did that because you can never cringed. You didn't have to do that. Why did you do that? You did that because you can never be good enough. And when you get in that legal game, trust me, those students who's showing up at law school, they're being trained to use how Katanji Brown Jackson has advanced as the model. Don't say nothing to nobody. Move this way, make this move,

and put yourself in a position where they can't disqualify you. I don't, you know, I don't, in fact, I even think Sotomayor kind of snuck through. I think Sotomayor snuck through because she might be the last vestige of somebody who came out of the working class. And look at how Sotomayor uses her position to make not only statements as a judge, but as a social figure. I think Justice Sotomayor will see, but I wouldn't be surprised if 10 years from now we were still looking at Justice Sotomayor as as close as it gets to a social justice presence

on the Supreme Court, even with Justice Brown-Jackson. And I wasn't intended to go deep down this path, but again, as you begin to peel layers back, it is important for people to understand. When we talk about, again, Thurgood Marshall, a brilliant lawyer, absolutely brilliant lawyer, a change agent, alpha brother to three of us sitting here. But this is also something that is important, again, how many, the fact that he couldn't pick one Howard Law student to be a clerk.

Come on, brother. Now, I need people to listen. This is the exact same thing we talk about in every single field. What happens, Reesey, Larry, and Greg, and people listen to me carefully, is that what happens is when we step into power positions, folks, listen to me very carefully. When we step into power positions, we then

essentially do this. We got to take this off. We got to remove this. And so what then happens is we then begin to take on heirs of them, which then we start challenging even more our own who walk into the door and we hold them to a higher standard than we do others because we say, oh, you're not going to embarrass me. So therefore, you have to be a super Negro. Yes, sir. Which is why, if you look at all the black CEOs that we've had,

only one replaced himself with a black CEO, and that was Roger Ferguson, the sister who is now the CEO of the financial company. Think about that. When you look at all these black CEOs we've had, what was their pipeline? Is it similar to NFL head coaches? Oh, I remember, and recently we talked about it.

I mean, I remember when people, oh my God, Rowland, you're going to put that foul-mouthed woman, Recy, on a panel? When Larry emailed me, he wanted a shot on a panel. I was like, all right, give him a shot. See, why am I saying that? It's because when we get in a position, we should not be thinking like them.

We should be saying, how can I not hold the door open, but take that son of a bitch off the hinges and rush folks in? Because I don't know how long I'm going to be here. I don't know how long I'm going to be here. I don't know how long I'm going to have this power. What I'm damn sure going to do is flood the zone while I'm here. And that requires us,

Reesey, to learn to stop playing games and not take this off. But literally, if you need to put on that suit, wear this underneath your damn suit yeah i mean you know we are our presence i said is powerful but sometimes we get content thinking that our presence alone is enough to represent change it's enough to represent progress and we don't do enough to open up the doors or we just shuffle

the same people that are already put on into these spaces because that's a lot of it too you know a lot of times black folks they want to see you there before they're like oh okay okay so you already you you on the inside all right so you cool you got somebody else's co-sign instead of bringing new people along that's why when i hosted your show roland thank you for letting me host it or when i host Clay Kane's show, I always make sure, okay, I'm passing the mic to other Black women that are not part of the Black Women Cool Kids Club

that you see on MSNBC and CNN and that they shuffle around on podcasts, stuff like that. I want to introduce people to new Black women and new Black men. And, you know, that's, I don't have the mic that long, but when I do have it,

I make it that a priority. And, you know, one other, I don't have the mic that long, but when I do have it, I make it that a priority. And, you know, one other thing I want to discuss, too, is when it comes to Black politicians, one of the biggest things that I try to communicate is let people fail. We don't let Black people fail. We say that Black failure means no other Black person can ever come after you. It means that let's shut the door on Black people if they don't perform at the level or if they don't win. We want to, you have to sign a blood oath to guarantee a Black person is going to deliver you record, you know, profit or record winning, record votes, record fundraising and this, that, and the other just to keep that pipeline going. No, we have to normalize giving Black people the same leverage

and the same grace and the same space to fail. White folks fail up all the time. We don't get the luxury of failing up, but at least failing and let somebody else come behind and fail too.

So it shouldn't always be about Black excellence. Sometimes it needs to be about Black failure being okay. And it's not a failure of the race. It's not even a failure of that individual. It's a failure of that circumstance. But let's create

the next circumstance through keeping that pipeline open so that black people can come through and thrive like we are perfectly capable of doing. Because if you want to talk about failure, Larry, tuck her ass, cancel at CNN, cancel at MSNBC, cancel at PBS.

I mean, his ass been canceled. He got more shots than anybody black ever got. That's right. And then, of course, slides into Bill O'Reilly's seat doing the same thing that Bill did. See, this is just... But again, what we have to do is resist this temptation that we have to completely alter who we are to make them

comfortable. And unfortunately, that's what too many of us have had to do. Final comment before I go to break. Larry, go ahead. No, so I was going to say, Roland, that, you know, I'm thinking about the book, The Spook That Sat By The Door. I know Dr. Carr, Brother Carr knows that book well, right? So we need to take the information, gather information, and take it back to the community, right? You talk about creating a pipeline. The other thing is you talk about, you know, Tucker and, you know, his failure at CNN, I think Crossfire, and some of the other opportunities he's had. But in terms of, in recent talk about, in terms of black folks, listen, we know the margin of error is small. But you have to give opportunities to other folks and strengthen the pipeline. Because, you know, as G Money said, we all we know the margin of error is small, but you have to give opportunities to

other folks and strengthen the pipeline. Because, you know, as G Money said, we all we got, right? So we got to make sure we give as many Black people as possible a shot, whether, you know, we're talking about, you know, the judiciary or working on Congress or, like I said, giving a brother like me a shot on your show, Roland, which is appreciated. But we got to make sure that we understand that we have each other's back. And if we don't make sure we strengthen the pipeline and provide more Black people with opportunities, then we're going to be in the same situation that we're, you know, in terms of some of the challenges in terms of lack of Black folks and journalism and law,

et cetera, 10 years from now than we are now. And I got to tell you, I'm tired of that. So I think it's important, like I said, for the folks who are watching this, obviously, the panel, people on the panel already know what time it is, but for Black folks who are watching this, it's important to make sure, like I said, you strengthen that pipeline, you give other Black folks a shot and let them shine. Absolutely. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back,

we're going to talk about a case out of Houston where the family and the attorneys say that this brother was ambushed by the cops. What's going on? We'll break that thing down. Folks, if you want to follow what we do, please download the Black Star Network app.

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You see it on our side. I'm sorry. I'm going to go ahead and get my bag. Thank you. It's going to be dark inside. You might not see too much, but you're going to feel everything. Just imagine seeing prisons in the yard in the United States. A lot of us get to be real hot, but it's required in 2019, 2020, specifically for us to be reprogrammed. It just doesn't make sense that the richest continent in the world should be inhabited by the poorest people in the world. Part of that is by design. Self-hatred has been a very tragic part of our whole

existence. And I'm not blaming anybody for it, but if you look at most characterizations of being of African descent in the world, it's with these kind of tags. I always say, you're going to do a lot

of shopping, they go, oh, I don't think so. And then they come, so they brought limited reserves, and then they spend all their time running to the ATM because they see all these clothes they want and fabric they want. It's overwhelming. I've been here for eight years, and I'm still taking pictures out of my car

because it's just, it's a feast where the eyes are on any given day. The kind of opportunities you have in Africa, you don't have those in America. The kind of money that you can make in Africa, very few of you would have that opportunity to do that in America. Cordy, who was working for the Congress in the United States,

she has started a waste management company. She's the number one here in Ghana now. She looked at... She's about to find the trash. There it is. What used to be jeans... Used to be jeans. ...is now a huge problem.

In Ghana alone, we have a 2 million unit deficit in housing. Two million. Two million. Two million. I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy!

I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy!

I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! be trying to figure out how to connect. Because the Lebanese are. The Chinese are.

Everybody else is doing it. We will be crazy to do it. And it's for people who look like us. We will be crazy to do it. We will be crazy to do it. We will be crazy to do it. Folks, I'm excited. Tomorrow night, we are going to launch

our 10-part docuseries on 16-19-2019, the year of return. Right here, we'll do it tomorrow at 7.30 watch. We went to New York. We dropped off the hard drive to our editor working on our Liberia packages. And so, next week, we're going to have the interview with Liberian President George Weah. And so, again, now you understand how, again, what happens when you have your own platform. You're not asking someone else for permission for us to cover the stories that absolutely matter.

And so, you don't want to miss, again, our book, The Story of Liberia. you have your own platform. You're not asking someone else for permission for us to cover the stories that absolutely matter. And so you don't want to miss, again, our Black Star Network special, The Year of Return. That's tomorrow night, beginning with an airing every Friday for the next 10 weeks right here on the Black Star Network. All right, folks, let's go to my hometown of Houston where the family of a 27-year-old man was shot and killed by Houston police

during an attempt to execute an arrest warrant. They say the officers never identified themselves before they opened fire. And so Taft Foley, he's the attorney for Jerry and Lockett's family, says the released police body camera footage of the February 7th shooting supports their belief that Lockett feared for his life in the moments before he was killed. But police say Lockett was the aggressor firing at officers while running from his car towards the front door.

Folks, do we have the video? All right, let's roll that, and then we're going to talk to Taff Foley. He's down, he's down, he's down. Parker, you good? Parker, get over here. Cover. I got him. I got him.

He's down in the doorway. He's down in the doorway. Down in the doorway, guys. Hey, it's Devin. Devin, come back over here. I got you. Moving. Moving.

Everybody good? Yep. Down the doorway guys. Hey, come back over here. I got you. Moving, moving. Everybody good? Yep. I'm gonna move the bikes. I'm moving the bikes. Yeah. He shot at us and the Lincoln. Jones is right now from Houston.

So, Taft, set this up for us. What happened here? Why were they pursuing Mr. Lockett? Well, first off, thank you very much for inviting me on your show. I'm a big fan of you and of the show. Roland Martin is Roland. I'm sorry. Cherry and Lockett was a graduate of Sam Houston State University. He had a master's degree in criminal justice. And was studying for the law school admissions test at the time of this incident. To set it up, Mr. Lockett was accused by a young man with a very long rap sheet of aggravated robbery. The police, in their pursuit of him as a robbery suspect, they swore out a warrant for his arrest.

The first judge rejected that warrant. The second judge signs off on this warrant. Mr. Lockett gets a phone call at 9.30 in the morning. He explains that he has no idea what these charges are about, that he would like to speak to a lawyer, and that he had planned to turn himself in. Less than an hour later, Cherian Lockett was dead in the doorway of his house. And if you don't mind, Brother Martin,

I'd like to comment on what you just showed on your show. Go ahead. Yeah, go ahead. You just showed your viewers what's tantamount to a drive-by shooting. You have an unmarked car with a plain-clothed officer inside. Stick his gun out the door. What you don't hear is him saying,

-"Stop. Police." -"This is a police officer." Freeze. police. Nothing to that effect. He pulls up in a cherry red car. In Houston, Brother Martin, you know we call that a slab. He pulls up in a cherry red car, sticks his gun out the window,

and shots are fired. So hold tight one second. All right, so what I want folks to do is go to the beginning of the video. I want you to cue it up, turn the sound up. And again, we're going to hear exactly what is said at the beginning of the video. Okay. Press play.

Sound up. up he's down he's down he's down park are you good stop so that's the beginning of the video guys roll it back roll it back I need people watching this to understand here Okay, I want you to now go to freeze the video. Just cut to the video. Don't play it You see right here folks. The door is closed Door is closed window is up Gun is drawn. So obviously To taps point nothing has been stated. There's no speaker or anything like that they can speak over. Now press play. What is HPD's response, Taft, to nothing being said? No, no, no, no, stop, police, nothing.

And to your point, it's an unmarked car. You don't know who the hell this is? Absolutely. That's a very good point, Brother Martin. And the answer is HPD is silent on that issue. What they did do was they put out a Hollywood-edited video and sent it to the general public and expected the general public to accept their version

of what happened as the truth. Their problem is that nowhere on the video does it show our client firing at the police upon arrival at the scene. Nowhere on the video does it show that officer identifying himself as a police officer before he sticks his gun out that window.

So this officer, this video we're seeing right here, was that the only officer who fired shots? No, there were several officers who fired shots. This video is the first officer who arrived at the scene. After this officer fires his shot, other officers fired their gun, and Mr. Lockett was shot and killed. He was hit several times by police gunfire. Their narrative in the beginning

was that our client walked up to a police car with his gun drawn, shooting at the police, which doesn't make any sense. I want to remind you that this kid had a bachelor's degree, a master's degree in criminal justice, and was studying for the bar exam. First, did he have a gun?

Yes, he did, and let me talk about that. He did have a firearm, and as you know, as a resident of Texas, in Texas, you can have a lawful license to carry a firearm. Well, actually, didn't they just also change the law? You don't have to have a permit. You don't even need a permit to own a license,

to own a, to have a firearm. And to add insult to injury, this brother was sitting in the driveway of his own home. The average citizen in America who had a license or a permit was, who's sitting in the driveway of their own house, they look up, they see a red car pull up on them and a gun being drawn on them. So hold up. Hold up. Hold up. So hold up. He's sitting, what, driver's side or passenger side in his driveway?

He's sitting in the passenger side of the car in his driveway. So what, did he just return from somewhere or was about to go somewhere? Do you know? Well, according to the mother, he goes, he sits in his car from time to time. Okay. He was studying for the LSAT and every now and then he would sit in his car, meditate a little bit, read a little bit. I get it.

I mean, look, when I get home, I can finish a phone call. I might be sitting in my car 15 minutes, sending text messages. So he's sitting on the passenger side. He has a gun, which you can't a phone call. I might be sitting in my car 15 minutes sending text messages. So he's sitting on the passenger side. He has a gun, which you can't have in Texas. All of a sudden, red car pulls up. We already seen it. Nobody says a word.

Next thing you know, shots fired. Obviously, he's reacting. Now, guys, if y'all have queued up the other body footage, I want to play this, because I'm just trying to see what angles do we have. Roll this one, then we'll come back to Taft. Oh, shit., get back.

Cover. Yep, get back. He's down by the front door. He's down by the front door. Freeze the video. Okay, Tav, I'm just... How many cops were on the scene? I think the last count is that there were seven police officers

on the scene of this attempt to secure the arrest of our client. Another thing compelling about that... Hold on, hold on. A client who they talked to who said, I will turn myself in? Absolutely. And a client who has no criminal record at all whatsoever. This young man hadn't been arrested for stealing a pack of gum at a Walmart. Nothing at all whatsoever. And to add insult to injury, Brother Roland, they never attempted to interview him before procuring this warrant.

If you live in Bel Air or River Oaks in Houston, Texas, and some known criminal accuses you of committing a crime, the police will interview you. They will sit you down, talk to you, and determine whether or not you committed this before trying to secure a warrant. Wait, wait, wait. So he's accused... He's accused of theft with a weapon?

Yes, he was accused of aggravated robbery. Okay, so he's accused of aggravated robbery. They... I'm sorry. I'm just trying to... I'm piecing together. of aggravated robbery, they... I'm just trying to... I'm piecing together. He's accused of aggravated robbery. They don't interview him. They go get

a warrant to arrest him, but it hasn't even been established if he actually did it. Absolutely not. Brother Martin, the Fourth Amendment requires that a warrant be sworn out based upon probable cause.

Right? You have to swear out this warrant. A judge has to sign the warrant. There has to be sufficient probable cause for a judge to sign their name on this warrant. Now, remember, the warrant that they were actually executing was their second attempt. They tried the first time to get a warrant, and a judge rejected that warrant. If you look at the two affidavits that the police used to square out the warrant, they contain conflicting information. One warrant has the name of some guy who has

never been identified. If you look at the last page on both warrants, you'll see that the name of the affiant, the person who signs it, their signatures don't match on the first warrant and the second warrant. So somebody forged a signature on this warrant, in my opinion, whether it was the first warrant or the second warrant. There's just lots of problems that happen with this case. And one of my important issues is that young Black men in America are not given the benefit of the doubt with respect to these things. We have to deal with police shootings, but we also have to deal with a corrupt system and run the risk of being victim of police officers who are

not honest with respect to even the basic police principles, which is swearing out a warrant in a case like this. Larry, again, here we are having this conversation two days after Joe Biden stands before Congress and talks about fund the police

and how more resources, more training. And here in this case right here, Taff, when did this shooting take place? I believe the shooting took place on February 7th. You look at this case right here. I mean, the video clearly shows no attempt whatsoever to say, police, stop, put your hands on...

Nothing. This reminds me of Tamir Rice. He comes out the car, guns blazing. When it comes to young Black men, they shoot first and they ask questions later. Larry, go ahead. It's not supposed to be, Roland, but these stories, every time you refresh social media,

watch TV, we're seeing the same stories. And as a father of a Black male, these stories frighten me beyond belief, right? Now, forget about my own personal safety, but the safety of my son and family members, et cetera. And I want to know, I'm curious of what elected officials, Black elected officials in the metropolitan area are saying. Because once again, this keeps happening. And it's not like it's weekly, it's daily. And like most people watching this, I'm tired. I'm sick and tired of watching, you know, black folks be killed by law enforcement for simply existing. Now, we have another gentleman. We were just talking about the Supreme Court. We have a young black male whose life was snuffed out who possibly could one day could have been, you know, be a nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. You know, we don't know in terms of what his life,

what path his life would have taken him down. And once again, we have to mourn the death of another talented, brilliant, young Black male who didn't deserve this. And then we need to hold those officers and even, obviously, the judge who signed the will, we need to hold people responsible because we can't continue to allow this to happen. And you can't talk about democracy

or issues about law enforcement, increasing funding for law enforcement when black people are still catching hell in America. Recy, the thing about this that, again, that is so galling is all these people who talk about, oh, the NRA, oh, the Second Amendment. I mean, that don't work for black folks if you packing. I mean, you definitely guaranteed to get shot by cops. And then for them to say here, oh, he was firing at them. I'm sorry.

Where's the footage? Where's the footage? Out of all those cameras, surely one of them would have picked up gunfire coming from him. Uh, Reese, go ahead. Yeah, the thing about it is you don't have Black folks out there hunting the way that police hunt Black folks. This young man was not waking up deciding he wanted to get into a Guns of Navarone-style shootout with the police. In fact, he was trying to figure out what was going on

with the charges and was willing to turn himself in. That does not sound like a person who wants to go off like Cleo and set it off. He was not in the process of robbing a bank. He was not in the process of getting out of a hostage negotiation situation that's going to be hopeless, and he was going to never see the outside of life again. He was a person who was probably facing very flimsy charges, as his attorney pointed out. The first warrant was even dismissed, and they probably trumped up some more shit to sit up there and get a second warrant. But this was not a life or death court case or charge that he was facing. So there's no logical reason why he would decide to engage in a shootout but for believing that his life is in danger. And I'm telling you,

if you roll up to my house in a cherry red car with your gun out, if I do, if I am strapped, and I ain't going to say whether I am or not, I'm not going to incriminate myself on TV, but if I were strapped, then we would be in a situation because that looks suspicious in and of itself. Unfortunately, this young man, his life is lost, but we really have to figure out why these cases involving...

We just talked last week on your show, Roland, with another case, Moreno, Mr. Moreno, where 20 cops show up to execute a warrant. What is the situation? Y'all don't have nothing else better to do than show up with five police cars, unmarked cars, 20 cops,

guns blazing, to execute these warrants? It sounds to me and it looks to me like they already have a preconceived notion about how it's going to turn out. And they're not there to arrest somebody. They're there to kill. Taft, look, you got Black mayor in Houston, Sylvester Turner. You've got other African-American elected officials.

What are political leaders saying in Houston? Well, there's some outrage. The NAACP has sent a statement to the district attorney's office. We have organized with other leaders in the Black community. The young man on the DA's task force for civil rights is an African-American who's a very progressive person. I know his family. And so there has been some outrage on behalf of the Black community.

I just can't get over the fact that there's two systems of justice in America, one that applies to suburban America and one that applies to suburban America and another that applies to black men in our communities, in our neighborhoods. There is not a presumption of innocence when it comes to our children. And as the brother just mentioned on your show, we have to have that talk far too often with our young black men about what to do when the police pull up. We have to teach them to act and perform a certain way because there is a life-threatening risk that you will not survive an encounter with the police in America. When you combine the threat of that encounter with the shoddy police work

that took place in this case, it makes you even more fearful for your safety, let alone your rights, as a Black American in this country. Something has got to change. This family is mourning. They will never get this young man back. But what we will do is we will fight with everything that we have in us to get this young man the justice that he deserves in this particular circumstance and situation. Greg, that's the point that I'm always making on these cases. You can't come back from death. No, you can't.

Roland, I mean, we've seen it over and over again, and thank you, Attorney Foley. And again, this is why we support, we've seen it over and over again. And thank you, Attorney Foley. And again, this is why we support, we have to support Black Star Network. They perfected it. These bastards have perfected it. It's taken them the better part of a century, but they perfected it. Their method now, as Rishi said, hunt, wait.

When they die, lie. And so, Counselor, I'm thinking about this North Belt crime suppression team. They organized gangs now, federal and local. They do these task forces. That's their hunting crew. I'm wondering if that can be dismantled. And we have to fight, like I said, with everything we can. The perfection in these bastards, these hunters, these pat-a-rollers, that they have now moved to camouflage, because if you were going to shoot some deer, you would wear camouflage,

so the deer don't see you. Their camouflage is called plainclothes and unmarked cars. So now what can we do to address camouflage in the form of unmarked cars and plainclothes? And the bastard who rolled up with his little manhood in his hand and started letting off shots, I'm assuming that he is on administrative leave, paid or unpaid. What can we do not just to have them lose their jobs, but have them drive them out, in fact, of the municipality, perhaps the state,

because there is no justice for someone who has been killed. And like you said, Recy, I mean, now, you know, I got my friends on the left-left who will say, you know, I'm not a revolutionary because I advocate for voting. But to underscore the points you made earlier, what can we do to organize people so that they can intervene in this kind of policy debate? And voting is a tool by any means necessary. But quite frankly, if the only tool we have left when the patirolers show up in unmarked cars and start shooting is to blow their fucking brains out, then, quite frankly, we are looking at the end, the disintegration of this society as we know it.

So, Counselor, I mean, what's off limits at this point in terms of struggle? Can we disband these suspension, these squads, these teams, these task force, what can we do about the idea that they are in plain clothes and unmarked, because that's their camouflage now? And what can we do about just being suspended without pay? What can we do to drive these people not only out of their profession, perhaps out of association with any decent human being? JOHN BARRON- Well, I think the first step would be to criminalize this behavior and to act on it.

These officers need to face criminal charges if it's found by a grand jury that they engage in criminal conduct. I'm looking at these two very different signatures on the first warrant and the second warrant. If somebody forged a signature on a warrant, they need to go to jail. Yes, sir. If somebody pulls up on you in an unmarked car and sticks their gun out the window, and later you are killed because they didn't announce themselves as a police officer, well, then you need to go to jail. Brother Malcolm once said,

I have no compassion for a society that's willing to crush a man and then penalize him for not being able to stand the weight. That's what's happening to brothers and sisters in the Black community. We are being crushed by a system that is inherently racist, that is stacked against us, that puts us against the odds,

where cops can roll up in an unmarked vehicle, stick their gun out the car, shoot first, and ask questions later, and then we're penalized for not being able to stand the weight of that same oppression. Now listen, we don't know who shot first. We know that you can't see our client on that camera shooting a single

shot. But even if he did, when the police roll up on you in an unmarked car and you see a plainclothes individual with a gun stuck out the window, at that point, it is fight or flight. Because you don't know who it is. I mean, this is, we just had

the brother out of Florida. This brother literally has been charged with attempted murder because the cops bust into his home, he had his gun, he fires a warning shot, then fires, he has no idea who the hell is busting into

his house. And then they charge him with attempted murder. He's like, I don't idea who the hell is busting into his house. And then they charge him with attempted murder. He's like, I don't know who the hell y'all are, just busting through my door. And if he hadn't been a brother, they probably would have called to let him know that they were on the way. They might have

sat him down if he was Caucasian and invited him some milk and cookies over an interview to find out whether or not he was guilty of the crime. In this case, Cherry and Lockett didn't even get the benefit of that. They never called him. They never sent him an email. They never went to his house to determine whether or not his word was more valuable than the word of this known criminal who accused him of aggravated robbery. But what they did do is they made several attempts to procure a warrant that we believe is based upon false, fraudulent, made-up information.

They attempted to show up and serve out this warrant without interviewing him. They did not give him the benefit of the doubt, and as a result, this man's mother is putting him in the grave at 26 years old with two degrees a week after he was studying for the LSAT exam to go to law school.

Something has got to change. People need to stand up and fight against this type of injustice. We are all sick and tired of being victimized by a system that doesn't have the inherent protections built into it to secure our basic freedom and safety on the streets in America. If this happened to Cherry and Lockett, it could happen to your child. Because as we

see, a degree doesn't separate you from being a thug or criminal in the eyes of law enforcement. Two degrees doesn't give you the benefit of a phone call before a police officer shows up and sticks the gun out the window of an unmarked car. There are no protections that separate innocent young Black men from the police officers who assume that they're guilty as opposed to innocent and act aggressively and cause them their lives.

And the sad thing is, this young man will never be back. He won't go to law school. He won't kiss his daughter on her cheek as he tucks her in at the end of the night. He won't be the world's greatest civil rights lawyer or a prosecutor or a civil defense attorney. His life was taken out, and he will never have an opportunity to fulfill his true potential.

And it's based upon and rooted in the fact that these cops did a horrible job. They pulled up in an unmarked car and shot this man dead. They gave him the dignity of a drive-by shooting. Who are the thugs here? Who are the real criminals

here? Last question. Was his gun tested? Were there any shots fired from that gun? Any shell casings recovered? Was an autopsy done on him? Was there any powder burns on his fingers?

So we don't know yet. That's the short answer. We don't know whether or not there's casings. We don't know whether or not there's powder burns on his hands. But at the end of the day, Brother Martin... There has been an autopsy. Have y'all done an independent autopsy? The family did do an independent autopsy.

They tested for powder burns, and we're waiting for the results of that. But at the end of the day, Brother Martin, you have to also remember that even if he did shoot first... Oh, no, no, no, I understand. I understand. I totally get that. The only reason I was asking, because if there are no powder burns on his hands

and there are no shell casings, what's the lie now? Right. And if it turns out that these signatures on these two warrants don't match and somebody forged the signature, they didn't have probable cause to be there in the first place. Absolutely.

Absolutely. Taff, certainly keep us abreast of what happened. If there are going to be there in the first place. Absolutely. Absolutely. Taft, certainly keep us abreast of what happened. If there are going to be any public demonstrations, anything like that happening in Houston, please let us know as well so we can stay on top of this case. And certainly give our condolences to Mr. Lockett's

family. Thank you, Mr. Martin. And you continue to speak power to justice, and we admire you and we respect you. And you are a great alpha man. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Well, there's two other brothers on here as well. So we appreciate that. Thank you so very much. You're welcome. So for folks, y'all understand why we do what we do. Y'all understand. I'm literally texting some other journalists who are national journalists who are completely unaware of this story. And we keep seeing these stories all over.

I told y'all the story when I was at TV One, and Brad Samuels, who was Brad Siegel, I'm sorry, who was the president of TV One, he was white, was questioning me why it seemed like this is the same story every day. And I was like, yeah, Brad, because black people keep getting shot by cops every day. And when they keep getting shot by black,

they keep getting shot by cops, I'm going to keep covering them. And I literally looked him in his eye, and I was standing in his office. I remember he was sitting at his desk, and I was standing up. I said, why don't you focus on primetime? I'll handle the news show.

I had no problem telling that to his face. And so, y'all, if we don't provide the space for attorneys like Taft and for these families, the brother out of Florida who we had on last week, the brother, the Jamaican immigrant who was shot and killed by the four white guys in Pennsylvania. And those guys were never even arrested. The black woman found dead in her bed on a date with this white guy. He's the one who called the cops six hours later. And the cops never really even analyzed, Bridgeport, Connecticut, never even analyzed the evidence.

Let me just be real clear. You ain't seeing these stories consistently on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ABC, NBC, CBS, News Nation, even Black News Channel. And so we have to understand. We have to understand. In fact, I wish, Anthony, if you could turn that camera around. If you look at that wall, that mural that's in my office, and it's in my office for a reason, it says,

Black-Owned Media Matters. When you see that wall and you see, uh, the images of Negro Digest and Emerge and the crisis, and when you see, uh, Essence and Black Enterprise and Savoy, uh, when you see Chicago Defender and Pittsburgh Courier, and Land Daily World, when you see all of that, that's why Black-owned media exists. And that's why we also need

you to support what we do. And so, I'm going to go to a break. I'm going to say it again, folks. You'll see it right there. You see those images right there. That's why. Everything that's on there is Black-owned. BT is on there because they used to be black-owned.

But those are the publications that covered our stories, and that's why we are here today, because we have to do exactly what those black folks did over the last 200-plus years. The first black paper said it the best.

We wish to plead our own cause to long of others spoken for us. And that was Freedom's Journal, March 16, 1827. Please download the Blackstar Network app, folks. This is why we matter. Apple TV, Android TV, Android phone, Apple Android phone,

Roku, Amazon Fire, Xbox, Samsung. Also, support us with your dollars. I was just telling you about that story in Will Hager's book showdown where black folks put together their dollars and nickels to help fund the NAACP legal fight to open up the white

only Democratic primaries in Texas in the 1940s. Well, guess what? Your dollars, your one dollar and five dollars, two dollars, the money orders we've gotten, the people who have given us on these various platforms, all of it helps us to do what we do. Not only go to Ghana, go to Liberia, Your $1 and $5, $2, the money orders we've gotten, the people who have given us on these various platforms, all of it helps us to do what we do, not only go to Ghana and go to Liberia, but be able to cover these rallies.

And I was very serious. If there's something happening in Houston, we'll go down there and cover that as well. PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037. Cash App is dollar sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is rmartinunfiltered. Venmo is rmunfiltered. Zelle is roland at rolandsminsmartin.com we'll be right back I'm sorry. Nå er det en av de fleste stående stående i verden. 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. network. Hey, I'm Antonique Smith. Hello, everyone. It's Kiara Sheard. Hey, I'm Taj.

I'm Coco. And I'm Lili. And we're SWB. What's up, y'all? It's Ryan Destiny. And you're SWB. What's up, y'all? It's Ryan Destiny. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Folks, the perfect example of no accountability. The only officer to stand trial connected to the death of Breonna Taylor

was today acquitted of all counts of felony wanton endangerment in the botched raid that led to her death. This is what happened today in the courtroom. Under verdict form number one, we, the jury, find the defendant, Brett Hankison, not guilty of wanton endangerment in the first degree under instruction number four, as that applies to Cody Etherton. Verdict form number two, as to Chelsea Knepper, we the jury find the defendant Brett Hankison not guilty of

wanton endangerment first degree under instruction number five. As to verdict form number three, wanton endangerment first degree as to Zayden F., we the jury find the defendant Brett Hankison not guilty of wanton endangerment, first degree, under instruction number six. Mr. Hankison, this jury has found you not guilty. This court, therefore, finds that you are not guilty of these charges. You are free to go and your bond will be released. All right. Thank you. The jury deliberated, folks, for about three hours before reaching the not guilty verdict.

Hankerson did not testify in his defense, telling the jury Brianna didn't need to die that night, as explained what he did and why he did what he did. As I made that corner back out towards the sliding glass door, I get illumination, bright illumination from a muzzle flash. And the reason I say it's a muzzle flash is because it's a bright illumination, a bright flash, and with the loud percussion I get from what sounds to be rifle fire. And as I made that corner, that, um... Understand, folks, I'm not playing all of that. Uh, understand he was not charged, Recy, in the shooting of Breonna Taylor.

It was the bullets that actually went into other apartments. That's led to the charge. So the reality is, no one has been properly held responsible for the death of Breonna Taylor. Not one cop. And punk-ass Daniel Cameron, who's the black Republican attorney general there, didn't even present charges to the grand jury

about the killing of Breonna Taylor. So there's also that. But, you know, the crazy part about it is, you know, there are these cases that we've seen where the cops get up there and they perform this theater and they cry and they pretend to be, you know, sorry or regretful about the distress and the injury that they caused. But Hankinton didn't even do that. He said absolutely not when he was asked if he believed he did anything wrong. So, you know, this is par for the course.

This continues to open it up and make it be open season, not just to the folks that are actually, you know, directly hit by these bullets, by these cops who come in, guns blazing, but by their neighbors. Anybody can get it, as long as it means

that these white police officers because again we've shown on this show multiple times if you're black if you're asian if you're latino are they gonna convict your ass or you have a much higher chance but as long as these white cops get up there and now i guess he's he's performing with the tears there but he was not he was unrepentant about what he did. But as long as they have the ability to exert their will, particularly over Black people, that's perception, even though white folks

get killed by the cops all the time, too. They're willing to sacrifice a couple of them as long as the white cops continue to do what they do to terrorize Black citizens. Larry? You know, Roland, first of all, thank God for your platform. Right. Because like we talked about the last story, if we we wouldn't be talking about a lot of these stories.

You know, this this situation would be out of here. He's right. She shouldn't have been dead. But, you know, once again, we have to talk about in terms of law enforcement and behaviors, particularly when it comes to the deaths of black folks. Listen, these constant stories about black people being killed at the hands of law enforcement, it's just racial trauma, right? And we're only talking about earlier, we've been here since 1619, and we're constantly dealing with these same stories. These people, any of these individuals that were killed could have been me, could have been a cousin, could have been a neighbor, could have been a pastor, could have been a teacher, a principal, anybody in our community who looks like me. So it's time for us as a society to put an end to this. I don't think that's going to happen,

but I'm once again sick and tired of reading these stories, sick and tired of having to deal with the racial trauma of these murders. And then once again, the bottom line is, in terms of the justice system, seeing these individuals walk out of court and not being held accountable for their actions. Breonna Taylor is one of a number of black folks each year that are killed by a hand of law enforcement. And like I said, it's time that we do something about it.

And we can't allow this to continue to happen to members of the black community. Greg? Yes, I agree. I agree, Dr. Walker and Recy. I mean, you know, when we see this guy, Brett Hankison, with his tears, we understand, again, we see a pattern here. First of all, they've organized these hunting bands, these subgroups among the patirolers, these task forces, these warrant-delivering crews, these wrecking crews. And so they're out hunting, they're out doing something that will allow them to shoot.

The sister who was looking at you rolling from the wall, Adebelle Wells, when she wrote in her reports, lynch law in all its phases. She was very deliberate about that. It doesn't start with the no-knock. It doesn't start with the pistol. For a guy like Hankerson, it starts in the barbershop. Look at that crew cut. Look at that buzz cut. This is a mentality. It starts with the television shows we grow up on. Washington thinking these are the good guys, and it recruits a certain, shall we say, shriveled

type of personality to want to go into this, because they want to kill people, because they have a deep insecurity themselves. Lynch law in all its phases. You know, they came out and lynched. The legal definition of lynching involves group action where you dispense what you claim to be justice without any trial. That's what you do, and that's what they're doing. And then finally, they have defense now.

The defense in the courts, as you say, Reese, the man said, I did nothing wrong. Why? Because I followed procedure. And even if the jury had convicted him, who knows, perhaps like Judge Chu in Minnesota who decided and looked at the white woman, Kim Porter, and moved by her tears, said, I'm going to give you two years because there really wasn't no human involvement. I can see your heart. We understand that these things cannot be reformed. Joe Biden wants to increase funding needed to say, whether he believes it or not. But what you don't understand

is that now that you have this organized violence in a form that is legally acceptable, and you're right, Recy, Danny Boy Cameron made sure that he protected his patty rollers, you're leaving people with no other choice. As Ice Cube said, I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by six. Folks, similar to talking about the story out of Mississippi, a police call log reveals that Mississippi police were aware that a three-month-old baby was in the front seat when they opened fire on a vehicle during a May 2020 deadly shootout. Three-month-old LaMelo Parker was killed

after a high-speed chase and police shootout involving his father, Eric Smith, in May. Smith was a suspect in a Louisiana double homicide. Both Smith and LaMelo Parker died at the scene. So, again, that child, no shot at a life. In Philadelphia, police shoot a 12-year-old kid in the back, killing him. Police believe that Thomas Sedaro shot at four plainclothes officers investigating an incident involving a gun Tuesday night. Officers say someone opened fire on their vehicle, causing them to shoot in return, striking the seventh grader in the back. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw tweeted this statement about the incident.

Last night, a young child with a gun in their hand purposely fired a weapon at our officers, and by miracle, none of the officers suffered life-threatening injuries. However, the life of a young man was cut tragically short, and we should all be questioning how we as a society have failed him and so many other young people like him. I ask that our community come together and be

the community, the village that we were intended to be and that our children need. I assure the public that a fair and thorough investigation will be conducted by our Internal Affairs Division. Per protocol, these officers have been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation.

The thing here, Reesecy, is that every time we see one of these stories, sorry, because we're so used to cops on the scene lying, we can't always believe that what they say happened actually happened. Right, because he was shot in the back. And he was fleeing.

So, the math ain't mathin' on that. And, you know, as far as a three-month-old, how does it make sense that you're pursuing somebody who allegedly committed two homicides and you commit two homicides in the process of it, one of which being a child, a three-month-old, for Christ's sakes.

They continue to demonstrate their mentality, which is a depraved mentality, because as much as the victims of that double homicide deserve justice, that three-month-old did not deserve to be executed because he was in the car with his father or with a man that was alleged to have committed a crime. He had no parts of that. He deserved to live. And the fact that they shot in that car, irrespective of that, LaMelo Parker, and irrespective of his life, is beyond disgusting. And then the one last thing I'll say

as far as the commissioner, by some miracle, the cops weren't, you know, harmed, but a little boy is dead. That's not a miracle, honey. Don't do that. That you could have saved all that first part because it's, you, something wrong with you

to even craft that statement where you start off touting a cop being a miracle and a child being dead. And you used the miracle for the cop part. No. No, there's something wrong with you. I'm just saying, Larry, but look, I'm serious. I just, the problem is because we've seen too many cases like this,

I simply cannot believe what police say happened until after the fact. Because we've seen it play out a different way way too many times. Yeah, first of all, the family, you know, obviously the two homicides and now the death of a three-month-old, I can't even wrap my mind around that, Roland, to be honest with you. But I want to talk about Philadelphia also. This young man that was killed, it's very personal

because I was 12, about the same age when I moved to Philadelphia, right? And I have to say that, you know, I think, you know, Recy talked about the commissioner's outlaw statement is, it doesn't hit the mark, right, in terms of, you know, trying to bring the community together with this tragic, you know, tragic death of this 12-year-old. And you're right, Roland, as someone from Philadelphia, you know, the city's got a long history of law enforcement not telling the whole truth when it comes to these kind of deaths. So I will call on Commissioner Outlaw and the black elected officials and other officials in the air and the city to make sure that this is properly investigated and we found out, you know, what exactly happened. Because once again, shooting a 12-year-old in the back is not it's not, it certainly wouldn't be consistent with the kind of, you know, morals we want to

have when the individuals walk around with a gun every day. So we need a thorough investigation in my hometown and I look forward to finding out what the final report is, but also I look forward to seeing NAACP and the various other civil rights organizations in the metropolitan Philadelphia area, what they have to say about this.

And Greg, this is the deal. Again, our culture has been, oh, we don't believe the police. Cops have lied way too many times and too many chiefs have believed what the cops on the scene said and they had to walk it back. So I'm sorry. I'm with, I mean, look, I get her whole point.

Yes, thankfully no cop was injured, but we still got to deal with the fact that a 12-year-old kid is dead, shot in the back. What happened? Yeah, that's right. And being a police chief is an impossible job these days, particularly in big cities. And you got a sister

who was recruited to that job, one of several black women who were considered for the position. And she's in an impossible situation. And you're right, Doc. You know, I lived in Philly for almost 20 years. I consider it my adopted hometown. This happened in South Philly. There's a white boy that got shot. Now, during the days of that punk Frank Rizzo, that would never have happened. South Philly. They shooting white boys in South Philly to police. Can you imagine that? Well, they don't even give you a damn ticket for parking in the middle of the damn street. You know how that is. But what's fascinating, again, we see, and Roland, I promise you, I almost felt like today you curated all these stories with these common themes.

This was a task force. What the hell is a social media gun task force where you monitor social media and if there's a report of a gun, you send the cops out. And next phase, they're camouflaged, which is plainclothes. They're sitting in plainclothes. And then they say, this guy over here looks like somebody who fits the description of what we saw on social media. So they arrest a 17-year-old and let him go.

They ain't saying, wait, is that the guy? Did the 12-year-old have These task forces, these subsets, and you know who gets recruited to these task forces. These cats who can't wait to unhitch their trigger. Nobody cam footage in this. And then when we look at Biloxi, oh, they couldn't wait.

Who all was involved in this chase? Who was involved? The Harrison County Sheriff's Office, the Hancock County Sheriff's Office, the Louisiana State Police, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office, the Gulfport Police Department, the Mississippi Highway Patrol, and the U.S. Marshals. The worst of them all.

They ganged up, and then they're gonna say this boy who killed this child's mother and her nephew, indefensible, they're saying they're using the baby as a human shield. Well, I don't give They're saying they're using the baby as a human shield. Well, I don't give a damn if he was using the baby as a human shield. You know why you shot in their car? Because there were no humans involved.

And in y'all's mind, you're just eliminating a four-month-old threat before you get old enough to shoot back at you. These people are beneath reform. They're beyond reform. This thing has to be dismantled at this point. And if you don't understand that, Joe Biden, well, God bless you. Because guess what?

People are going to start taking stuff in their own hands. I mean, I'm not saying that because I want that to happen. I'm saying it because you're leaving people with no choices. Indeed. All right, folks, got to go to a quick break. We'll be back to finish up the show. You're watching Roland Martin on the filter on the Black Star Network. Norske kvinner I'm Gavin Houston. Hey, what's up, y'all?

It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Eee! All right, folks, let's talk about what happens when you kill a whole bunch of people and all you do is pay a settlement to get out of it. The Sackler family, they paid $6 billion in a civil settlement related to Purdue Pharma's role in the opioid epidemic. Connecticut led the way in the multi-state negotiations. The state's attorney general, William Tong, says the money will help fight the epidemic and the families who lost loved ones. Tong says this agreement does not release the Sacklers from potential criminal liability in the future.

The Sackler family founded Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin. As part of the agreement, institutions can remove their name from buildings as well as scholarships. The thing about this story that is quite unique, Larry, is that we're talking about a company that aggressively marketed these drugs, knowing full well the impact. When you read some of these stories, when you read how the hundreds of thousands of pills were being sent to certain cities that far exceed the number of people living there, how they were targeting doctors.

I mean, this company literally created a marketing campaign that has killed thousands of Americans, and they get to write a check. Yeah, you know, you know, $6 billion is not enough money for the lives they've ruined. And let's keep in mind, the folks that are still dealing with addiction, right? So even long after this money is spent,

those folks will still be dealing with addiction. Let me also add, when you talk about the Sackler family, when you go to museums and various other – go to city from city to city, I see their name everywhere. It should be removed from all scholarships, as you said. Any museums or any other entity that took money from the family, it should be removed and they should return the money. But the damage that it did to this community, to this country, to the community, and all the, like I said, all the folks that, you know, are nameless, that we don't know anything about, that lost their lives because of addiction, and all those who are still struggling with addiction. While I'm quite sure for the, you know, Attorney General in terms of getting this settlement, it certainly is a relief

for him. But generally speaking, you're right, Marlon, so many thousands of people have lost their lives. And like I said, many of those folks are still doing addiction, are still alive. And $6 billion is not enough. In fact, they should have every single dime they've ever made from, you know, getting into this glossy marketing campaigns they use to get physicians to market, to give these pills to, you know, citizens that didn't know that they would become addicted. And some lost their lives, lost their families, lost their jobs, lost their pensions. And the long-term impact, it doesn't even equate to $6 billion. Recy, I'm sitting here reading the New York Times story here, and it's quite interesting reading this story. And it says that as the opioid crisis began to wreak havoc across the country, two branches of the Sackler family, whose forebears along with another branch,

founded the privately owned company in the 1950s, presided in various leadership roles at Purdue in the last 20 years. The company worked with a cadre of doctors who spoke at medical conferences, praising OxyContin for being safe and effective. Though many other opioids soon crowded the market, OxyContin stood out for the no-holds-barred aggressiveness of Purdue's sales force and the market dominance of the drug. 500,000 Americans have died as a result of opioid overdoses since the 1990s. They made billions. Essentially, these are serial killers who only

have to write a check. Yeah, and how much money do you need to make? You make so much money that the check that you're cutting is $6 billion. And trust me, they wouldn't be cutting a $6 billion check or agree to a $6 billion settlement if it wasn't a little bit of skin off their back. It's excessive. You know, drugs really kind of sell themselves because don't nobody want to be in pain anyway. So the fact that they went this aggressively and they had to inundate the market and create this false demand for it is so depraved and so unconscionable.

And there were real life consequences to it. But what I will say on the other hand is where is the settlement from the CIA for pumping crack in the communities? Because all we got is a bunch of crack cocaine disparities and prison sentences and lives ruined as well. So there may, I don't know, maybe a trillion dollars. They need to cut that check. We're talking about opioid crises and how it's devastated. Addiction has devastated American families. Let's talk about that part as well.

The thing here, Greg, that people have to understand is that when we have this conversation, what are we talking about? We're literally talking about companies when they are targeted. They just simply write checks. You look at when JP Morgan got busted for their practices. Okay, we'll write a check. And here's the deal people don't realize. When these companies, when these companies do these settlements with the federal government and they write a check, it's a tax write-off. Yes. It's a tax write-off. The legal bills and the settlement is a tax write-off.

That's right. That's right. That's right, Roland, which means we end up funding it or we end up suffering in terms of not having public dollars available for education, not having public dollars available to put safety nets in place. And as you say, Recy, when it comes to the Sacklers, between 2008 and 2017, they pulled close to $11 billion out of Purdue Pharma, beyond the scope of being able to attack. One of the reasons that the Connecticut attorney general did not want to settle this on these terms, he said, quote, they will be able to fund this little den, as you say, this little skin, they'll be able to fund it through their average investment returns alone.

They've got until 2030 to pay this off. Not only are they not going to miss any money, they are going to make that back long before 2030. This is nothing for them. And to underscore what you said, Dr. Walker, you know, they're probably more worried about prestige right here in D.C., the Smithsonian, the Asian Museum, across from the National Museum of African Art. That was the Sackler Museum. Well, guess what? They took all the signs down, except their name is still chiseled in the stone above the museum.

I saw it last week when I was down there. They're not going to miss this money. And as you said, the money they did pay, which they'll be able to get back on their average return on investment without doing anything, that money tax write-off means the burden shifts to the very people, including

all the people whose families were victimized, to make up for that if they want to have any services from the government. This is how capitalism works. The rich truly are different. Indeed. Folks, final two stories. Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh visited Durham, North Carolina to highlight the administration's work to empower unions and boost the job market. Vice President Harris took a tour of Durham Technical Community College, where she praised the diversity of American workers. Vice President Harris, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President

of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States

of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the United States of America, Vice President of the inclusion, in terms of America's workforce and our future. And I met some of those great stars and leaders today who I believe are all part of a new era of the American labor movement. All right, folks. And, you know, she's a Howard University graduate. And speaking of Howard University and the battle of who's the real H.U., Howard and Hampton will win $100,000 each from Peanuts Worldwide LLC. They're giving those universities that for their endowment. Peanuts Worldwide has launched the Armstrong Project. It will provide funds for scholarships, mentorships,

and internships for students studying arts, communications, animation, or entertainment. The project honors Robin Franklin Armstrong, the cartoonist who inspired the first African-American character in the Peanuts comic. So certainly congratulations to both of those universities. All right, folks, that is it for us. I certainly appreciate it.

Glad to have you here, Recy, Greg, Larry as well. Greg, this was one of the outfits, Greg, that I was given in Liberia. I loved that, brother. I was going to ask you about that. It was maroon and black, too, so it's in was given in Liberia. I love that, brother. It's maroon and black, too, so it's in Texas A&M colors. I can go ahead and rock that when I go to university. It's old school. That kind

of fabric there, that's that heavy fabric. I was going to ask you about that. That's one of the ones they gave you. That's one of the pieces they gave me. I have several others, and so I'll be rocking those again. And, of course, folks, again, as I said, next week we're going to be running some of the pieces that we did in Liberia. But tomorrow we're going to have the docuseries, the first part of the docuseries of, of course, when we were in Ghana. Folks, we had some amazing interviews. You do not, trust me, you do not want to miss

what we have put together for this. It's going to be 10 parts. We're going to air a new episode every single Friday. You don't want to miss that. Also, y'all, you got to watch the content we're doing on Black Star Network. I mean, Deborah Owens' show, Get Wealthy, where we're dealing with financial issues.

You know, there was a meme that went around saying black folks and, you know, black folks with resources and talking about we're teaching people about the Bible. But look, we're teaching people about financial literacy. So her show about wellness with Dr. Jackie Hood Martin. Greg's show, of course, The Black Table, Farajit Muhammad's daily show. He's daily in the culture. And, of course, Rolling with Dr. Jackie Hood Martin, Greg's show, of course, The Black Table, for Roger Muhammad's daily show, his daily in the culture, and of course, Rolling with Roland. So a fantastic interview with my man, Jeffrey Osborne. You don't want to miss that as well.

So we got some great stuff providing for you every single week right here on the Black Star Network. And so we are creating something that is fantastic, that's amazing, that other people simply are not doing. Your support is important to do so. So first, we want you all to download the app. There's a bunch of you all watching on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and on YouTube. So please download the Black Star Network app. Of course, all platforms out there, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Android TV, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung. And of course,

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PayPal is RM Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandisMartin.com. Hey, if y'all are watching at 925 Eastern, I'm going to be on Dan Abrams' show, which is on News Nation. We're talking about President Biden's comments on fund the police. Dan is a huge supporter of the police. And so we're going to be discussing this whole issue of defund the police. And so trust me, y'all don't want to miss this conversation. Y'all know I'm going to bring the funk.

Guaranteed. So just check your local listings to look up Newsman Nation. Dan Abrams' show. So I'll be on at 925 Eastern. And so trust me, you don't want to miss it. And so we'll be rolling on it as well. So we'll show you on it as well.

So we'll show you some of that tomorrow right here on Roland Martin unfiltered. All right, folks, until then. This is an I heart podcast.