#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Sen. Gary Peters speaks; WI Voters urged to vote in person; GOP's Rich McCormick 'Morehouse man'?

Episode Date: October 29, 2020

10.28.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered LIVE from Detroit! Sen. Gary Peters speaks;Rep. Ilhan Omar talks 2020; In South Carolina, No voter will have their absentee ballot rejected based on signature mismatch; Dr. J endorsees Biden/Harris; Wisconsin Voters urged to vote TODAY in person; GOP candidate Rich McCormick says he's a 'Morehouse man'; Hollywood Gets Political with California Prop 16; Arizona realtor fired for racial slursSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered Partner: Ceek Whether you’re a music enthusiast or an ultra-base lover. CEEK’s newly released headphones hear sound above, below and from multiple directions unlike traditional headphones where users only hear sound from left and right speakers. Be the first to own the world's first 4D, 360 Audio Headphones and mobile VR Headset. Check it out on www.ceek.com and use the promo code RMVIP2020 #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, folks, today is Wednesday. That's right, right here.

I'm live in Detroit, Michigan. Our role in my unfiltered. We'll be talking to Senator Gary Peters today from Detroit, Michigan. Also, we talked to Lieutenant Governor of the state. Also, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Minnesota, one of our guests as well. We'll focus, of course, on the election. Tuesday, massive numbers all across the country. Early voting is taking place in numerous states.

We're seeing record-breaking numbers take place in Texas. And so, lots to cover. It's time to bring the funk. A roll of water on the filter from Detroit. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the find.

And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. Yeah. It's Uncle Roro, y'all.

Yeah. Yeah. It's Rolling Martin. 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.

Martin. All right, folks, welcome back. It is October 28th. It is Wednesday. Of course, elections taking place on Tuesday, six days away, six days until Election Day. So many different things are happening as the candidates are actually going down, as the candidates are going down to the wire, traveling all across the country, folks, making the case, making the case in terms of who should win, not just in the presidential race, but also in the U.S. Senate races.

We're going to be talking about all of that. One of the states we're looking at is Minnesota. Democrats thought there was a lock on that state for the U.S. Senate seat, just like here in Michigan. But the reality is it's much closer than they would have liked. A little bit later in the show, we'll be talking with Senator Gary Peters, the incumbent Democrat here in Michigan, who is facing Republican John James, an African-American. But there's also there's a race happening in Minnesota. Michigan is also huge because they have a huge Muslim population.

What role will they play in this election? Joining us right now is Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. She, of course, a Democrat in her first term from Minnesota. Congresswoman Omar, how you doing? I'm doing great, Roland. How are you? I'm doing great. Glad to have you here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. I want to make this happen for quite some time. And of course, coronavirus threw a monkey rich in everything, but certainly glad to have you on the show. First, congratulations winning your primary. One of the things that was interesting, all the folks out there were saying that you, Congresswoman Tlaib, as well as Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,

y'all were facing these tough challengers. All four of y'all blew your challengers away. So what did you make of all the folks who were saying that, ooh, they could somehow lose after their first term in Congress? I think many people, you know, were convinced that our elections were sort of a fluke, something of an accident. I don't think they understood how much we resonated with the districts and the people that we represented. And it was really, you know, amazing to see the results come in for our primaries, for re-election, and to feel comfortable that not only did we win, but that we have a mandate to govern. And on that particular point there, I mean, again, there were so many people who were saying that, oh, y'all are out of lockstep.

But the reality is when you look at the policies you've advocated, there are a lot of Americans who want that and who now understand that. And the reality is, look, on the Democratic side, you've got different folks on the Democratic side. You've got Democrats who are moderates, Democrats who are liberals, who are progressives, some who are far left. And so the Democrats actually have a much larger tent than the Republican Party. Right. I mean, it's been quite unfortunate, right, because we speak about how the Democratic Party is a big tent party. We sort of excuse the way in which there might be a disagreement with the moderate members of the Democratic Party. But when it comes to the progressives, we put them under a microscope.

We analyze and criticize every single decision that they make and every policy position that they speak of. And we give people the opportunity to say, I'm taking this vote, I'm advocating for this position because of my district. And that grace really isn't extended to those of us who are progressives, because we do represent our district. We do speak and advocate for policy positions that are important to the people who send us to Congress. And, you know, for many of us, we come from these communities where urgent change is needed. And we speak from that place of urgency. Let's speak of urgency. Democrats are expressing that was what's taking place in your

home state there. That was considered to be a lock in terms of on the Senate side. Polling came out showing it is actually a very tight race. Give us a sense of what's happening there in that Senate race. Of course, Democrats need to pick up three Senate seats across the country to take control of the Senate. As if Joe Biden, Kamala Harris wins, she would be the tiebreaker. They thought that Minnesota and Michigan were states that they could put certainly in the D column. So what's happening in Minnesota there? Yeah, I mean, our amazing Senator Tina Smith is up for reelection.

And the Republicans are throwing everything they've got against her. But we know that she is a strong candidate. She's done an amazing job, and we're doing everything that we can to turn out the vote to make sure that she is reelected to the Senate and that Republicans not only not have a chance in the 2020 election, but don't ever think that they are able to win a statewide election here in Minnesota. And of course, what you're dealing with there in Minnesota, you're dealing with a lot of rural voters in Minnesota. Donald Trump and Republicans have really been trying to push those rural voters across the line to turn out more.

Also, do you believe that what took place in Minneapolis with George Floyd, is that going to have an impact on this race? Are you seeing larger turnout there? Are you seeing folks who are energized, who are using the power from the streets with protests to actually go into the polls? Yeah, I mean, two things are happening. You know, we're seeing the Republicans go back to a playbook that they've used for many times where they use fear to galvanize their supporters. And they, you know, other members of our community, they like to pit us against one another. And Minnesotans time and time again have rejected that fear and have said we are greater than fear. And, you know, what we

are now seeing secondarily is that people have realized that they are powerful when they come out to the streets, exercise their First Amendment right to have their voice heard. And they realize that they are even more powerful when they exercise their vote through the ballot box. And so we're seeing so many people say, you know, I'm not voting for me. I'm voting to strengthen my democracy. I'm voting on behalf of my community members. I'm voting because of the love that I have for the things that I want to see changed. Last question for you. I'm here in Michigan. Well, they also have a tough Senate race with Senator Gary Peters running against black Republican John James. Michigan

has a huge Muslim population. A lot of people may not realize in 2000, Grover Norquist was the one who was responsible for really coordinating them and rallying them behind President, then Governor Texas Governor George W. Bush. How do you believe Trump's attacks out of the gate when he was in the first month with the Muslim ban. How do you believe that is playing in Muslim communities in Michigan, in your state and across the country? So, I mean, you know, the Republicans believe and Trump really believes in this, that their their fear and hate will galvanize their base. But what we believe is that it will galvanize the Muslim community, the black community, the immigrant community, the refugee community, the Somali community in my own state to come out in mass numbers because they're being galvanized by the love that they have for one another. What we saw in 2016 is that 80,000 votes propelled Trump into the presidency. Those were votes that were cast in Michigan, in Pennsylvania, in Wisconsin. And we believe that we can have turnout that will allow for us to win all of those states, including winning

Minnesota again. All right. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, we certainly appreciate you joining us right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Always good to see you and certainly again, congratulations on one of your primary, you should be coasting to an easy victory on Tuesday night. Thank you. All right. Thanks a bunch. All right, folks. one of your primary, you should be coasting to an easy victory on Tuesday night. Thank you.

All right, thanks a bunch. All right, folks, again, we are here in Detroit broadcasting live. There are a number of folks we're going to be chatting with here. And right now I want to talk with the Lieutenant Governor of Michigan who joins us right now, Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchrist. How are you doing? I'm good, sir. Welcome to Detroit. All right, so just so y'all know, just so y'all know, let me get right in this seat right here. We, of course,

we were in we were in earlier this week. We were first we went to Florida on Saturday and Sunday for the Rights Restoration Coalition. Then, of course, we were in Columbia, South Carolina on Monday with Jamie Harrison. Then on Tuesday, yesterday, we were in Atlanta with Joe Biden. I didn't mind any of that at all. And then we realized we were coming here. I had to pack these damn hoodies. This is there's a reason why I left Chicago after six years. I do not like coming to the Midwest between the month of October and June

2nd, but we're here. I have not worn a wool cap the entire year, summer, fall, but I had to bring one out here, and thank goodness I had my Black Voters Matter one. And they actually were here yesterday in Detroit. They are in Flint, Michigan today. I talked to Latasha Brown and Cliff Albright, and so I look forward to seeing them tonight. So, Lieutenant Governor, let's talk about what's happening. I just finished talking with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar

about Minnesota, but also Muslims. This state has a huge Muslim population. How do you believe the attacks from Donald Trump on Muslims is going to play in this election? He won last time around by winning this state, not by a very large margin. So just share with us again your perspective of what's happening here. Well, first of all, it's good to have you here in Michigan. That hat looks really good on you. Real good, don't it?

It's warm, too. Just letting you all know, it's warm, too. So you're right. Trump won this state by the slimmest margin of any state in the country, 10,704 votes. I think it's going to be different this year in Michigan. I think that we made it easier to vote in 2018. We made it easier for people to vote absentee, made it easier for people to register to vote, and I think that's going to lead to historic voter turnout here in this election.

And so what's going to happen with that, even in the black community like here in Detroit, in the Muslim community and in other parts of our state, we're going to see turnout that's going to send this hateful president home. I want to pick up on that point there because when you say we made it easier to vote, that only happened because the state elected a Democratic lieutenant governor. And what folks, I keep telling people all around the country, we can't think about politics only from the perspective of what's happening in Washington, D.C., what happened in 2008, massive turnout in this country for the incentive of Barack Obama.

Folks did not turn out in 2010. That's how Republicans took over 16 state legislatures. That's when they began passing onerous voter ID laws. And so we can't ignore what happened on the state level. This election, Texas, if Democrats pick up nine seats in Texas, they win the Texas House first time in 20 years. They could win the House in Arizona. They could actually stop some other places as well. And so those state races are just as important because that's where the tone is set when it comes to voting.

Roland, we can win the House here with only four House seats. There's only four House seats we need to flip the Michigan House of Representatives. And when was the last time the Democrats controlled the House or the Senate here? The House and the Senate? The House or the Senate. That was more than 10 years ago. Got it. So we have work to do right now.

We have a path to it. Because, frankly, in 2018, we showed what the path to victory was. Because y'all remember Gretchen Whitmer and I won the election in 2018, right? The reason that we did that is because we had a ground game that was thanks to the Michigan Democratic Party, the organizers, the allied organizations that are represented here in this audience. We knocked doors. We made calls. We continue to do that all the way since 2016. After the victory in 18, we never stopped. And so that's why we built those relationships that have worked even this year.

We had to put it on pause because of the pandemic. That's what's going to get us to victory for those four House seats. We have a chance to flip the Michigan Supreme Court to get a Democratic majority there. Every election on the ballot matters here. So we're not only going to re-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we're going to send Gary Peters back to the Senate. We're going to flip the state house and the Supreme Court. We're going to have a lot of leverage of Democrats to do big things. One of the things that we have been looking at is polling data in this state. We've been talking about this across the country, about what is happening, especially with black men.

In this particular race, in the Senate race you're talking about, the last poll that was produced, black men was around 17 percent for John James. And then we saw the same, well, 14 percent for Tom Tillerson, North Carolina. It was very interesting. I went to the John James website. There's no mention anywhere on his website he's a Republican. Like, I went through the whole website. You swear he's running black. There ain't a lot on that website, period. So, and so, what is happening in this state in terms of really, because look, you got

some folks who say, hey, I want to support the black man for the United States Senate. I make the point, though, he also made it clear that he supports Donald Trump 2000%. So if you vote for John James, you're essentially voting for Mitch McConnell. John James has no plan for black Michigan or black America, period. The reason that I have made it my mission to organize black men across this state, I marched 200 black men to the polls in Detroit two Saturdays ago. I marched black men to the polls in Flint, Saginaw, Benton Harbor, and every place in between. We are going to have record black male voter turnout here this election because, again, we can go vote now.

We can go vote now in Michigan because the voters decided that we needed to be able to vote now and vote early. So I think what you're going to see is black men recognizing their power. We've never had so many campaigns speak so directly to black men in our history. God bless our sisters. You have built the political power to have the leverage to have campaigns speak to you. Now it's time for black men to step up. And as a black man, as the highest ranking black elected official in the history of the state of Michigan, I think it is my responsibility to make sure that our power is felt and will be felt now and always. So that's the difference that we're going to make here in the state of Michigan. All right then. Last question for you. And when we talk about election is one

thing, but I keep making the point to my audience that it's what you also do after the election. Earlier you said y'all didn't stop organizing. And I think that is a lesson for many African Americans. And let's just be honest. If people could disagree all you want to, but y'all know I'm not lying. Obama wins in 2009. I argued that black people were the only folks who stayed at the inauguration parade when everybody else left. That we were so excited to see a black first family. We forgot that he would be said, oh, he's the first black president.

We forgot he's the 44th president. Everybody else made demands. Everybody else had an agenda. And so I keep saying we have to keep pushing after the election. And so Biden-Harris wins. They must understand we are going to be right there saying you said you were going to do this, this, this, this, this. We expect to see this, this, this, this. And the same goes for Senator Gary Peters and for anybody else who's running. If you make promises, we expect you to

keep them. All right. Well, all of y'all know and have seen over the last two years what happens when you elect Democrats to office in Michigan. We elected Democrats all the way across the top of the ticket. And we've had some historic wins. Y'all know about clean slate? Automatic record expungement, the most progressive package in the country to clear people's criminal records. That's something that I worked on and led personally, that we got that for second chances for people in the state of Michigan. The state of Michigan has been the leader in responding to the racial disparities in coronavirus. That virus was killing our people at five times the rate it was killing everybody else. We've been able to flatten those disparities because the state of Michigan, Democrats focused on it. John James and the

Republicans, they have one plan. Their plan is to wait for you to die, whether it's due to the pandemic, whether it's due to your health care in general, whether it's due to the economy, whether it's due to our education system. They want to wait for people to die, but Democrats aren't going to wait for people to die. Instead, we're going to organize, and when we win, we continue to work, and that's what's going to keep us going forward. All right. Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist, I certainly appreciate it.

Thank you so very much. Thank you, sir. All right. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. All right, folks. I got my panel back there in D.C., so I want to chat with them a bit.

A. Scott Bolden, former chair of National Bar Association Political Action Committee, Robert Patero, executive director of Rainbow Push Coalition, Peachtree Street Project, and Monique Pressley, legal analyst, crisis manager. I'll start with you, Robert. The point we've been making on this show has been about black men, black men, black men,

but also black women on the issues. We've been across this country again last week, Raleigh, North Carolina, Florida, Columbia, South Carolina, Atlanta here. I mean, Jackson, Mississippi on Sunday. What we are seeing, Robert, is significant, significant black turnout in early voting and also male in voting. I think you're going to see numerous records broken this year. Well, I think you're absolutely correct. What we've done by focusing in on Republican efforts and voter suppression is be able to plan for these things months ahead of time. We were meeting with the Secretary of State in Georgia back in June and July to make sure we were able to break down some of these barriers that have been put in place for voting. There's always been this almost stereotype of black people

not being as interested, not wanting to turn out, not having inclination toward voting. No, in reality, we had barriers and walls put up through voter suppression and other methods to ensure that we did not have the ability to vote. So because of that, you're going to see people such as Warnock be competitive, sb be competitive jamie harrison be competitive across the board in ways that we haven't seen since reconstruction quite uh quite frankly and as we work on building this political these political coalitions and building this political agenda just as you said uh after the election if we're able to deliver again as we've delivered in the past because remember obama would not get out of the primaries in 2008 it was not for the black vote he would not would not have won uh in

2012 if not for the black vote as we work on building these coalitions when we pull this across the uh the finish line we have to ensure that we are there at that negotiating table to get exactly our share of the governmental resources that we pay into. We cannot simply be running on emotions and turning out as if it's a pep rally. This is a business transaction that we are currently engaged in. And what we are delivering, we must have deliverables from the other side. Monique Presley, sisters have been meeting every single week for the last several months. I challenged A. Scott Bolden last time we were on the show to show me a comparable group of black men doing it. He is still trying to find that.

He never sent me a text or an email. The point I keep making is if you don't mobilize and organize, you can't get what you want. No, you can't. And I am just very thankful for Black Women United, which is not an additional organization because who needs another organization? It's a collective where all of the different organizations that black women have been functioning in and working in and organizing for years have come together around objectives about which we can all agree and unite. One of those being Senator Kamala Harris deserves to be the next vice president of the United States and she should be respected. So we see to it. And before she became the nominee, we saw to that. Making sure that Black women's objectives across the board are being met by constantly producing challenge to the current administration and the next one.

Obviously, we want to see Biden in office, but we're already talking agenda. Just like you just finished saying, Roland, this is not about a feel-good session. This is about putting people in office who can do the things that we need done. And I really wish that there was a Black Men United that was doing the same thing. Scott, Scott, we've seen Ice Cube and others talk about a Black agenda, folks making various demands. The point I will continue to make is you cannot get anything unless you are organized and mobilized to get it. I say it to Ice Cube. I say it to Diddy. I keep saying to all of them, you got to be organized

and mobilized. Simple as that. Yeah, you're absolutely right about that. And while the organizations that focus on black men, like 100 black men, the fraternities, and what have you, while that is okay and effective for those groups that are parochial to their interests, it's still a bit of a scattershot, if you will. When you talk about Diddy and you talk about Ice Cube, their belief that somehow they have leverage on the Democratic Party, it's really a false notion. That's the argument for being even more organized than we are right now. They don't call politics political science for no reason. It's called political science, right? Science is organized and disciplined and has outcomes as well as deliverables.

And I just think when we focus on black men and getting them to the polls, that's a short-term piece. The black women are very impressive. They're independent of any label. They've come together, for example, and said, listen, we're going to make a difference. And they believe that they're going to make a difference. They act like they're going to make a difference. And black men need to do the same thing, not just separated in different organizations. So I agree with you. I want to talk about something in South Carolina where there's a victory there. No voter will have their absentee ballots rejected based on signature mismatch. The argument is that election officials are not trained to actually match signatures in that methodology.

This is a result of a lawsuit filed by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. It was decided in the Charleston District Court. That is, again, Monique, shows why our civil rights organizations are critically important, because Republicans are trying to toss as many ballots as possible. And they argued, how can you know who somebody's signature is if that's not what you're trained to do? And we never would have had that fight if they had not filed the lawsuit. Just hats off to Kristen Clark and to her whole organization and to all of the organizations that are fighting on the front lines for these legal battles. But at the same time, I want to say, hey, all you lawyers out there in the world, law students, almost lawyers, you're needed. From now until legal monitors, and it's a very short training class that you can take to do it. Don't just let somebody hand you a shirt and you go out

and call yourself a legal observer. We need you to actually go through the program because all of these things are happening daily. I'm hearing things from all kinds of polling locations about things that Trump supporters are trying to pull while they're in high, about people, you know, trying to get elderly citizens to change their vote, all kinds of things. So yes, hats off to Kristen Clark, hats off to Sherrilyn Ifill, but we can all do our part. Well, Rowling, you know, that was a brilliant strategy, too, if I may. Just real quick, brilliant strategy. Go ahead.

We think being able to identify someone's signature and then match it up against yours and to the untrained eye, just as a practical matter, as part of the human condition, we can say that matches or doesn't match. That's just simply not true. It's like everybody's signature is like a fingerprint. And the idea that you need expertise or to remind the court that you need expertise on this is a brilliant strategy and a winning strategy because it's really practical. It makes all the sense in the world. If you can't, if you're not an expert in any court, you're declared an expert. If you're not declared an expert in it, how can you make that determination that could affect tens of thousands of voters?

And so hats off to that organization and the lawyers behind it, because I just think that's an awesome strategy. All right, folks, hold tight one second. Got to go to commercial break when we come back. Robert, go ahead. Robert, go ahead. About 30 seconds. Go ahead. Well, I think this puts a focus on the fact that one of the first priorities of the next Congress and the next president is going to have to be a nationwide comprehensive reform of our voting rights or what we lost in Shelby versus Holder, in addition to creating nationwide standards so we do not have this scattershot effort where every state has its own different set of barriers put in place to prevent people from voting. All right, folks, hold tight one second.

I've got to go to commercial break. When we come back, more from here to Detroit. A number of other people are going to be talking with in just a moment. From here, we're talking about, of course, the election all across the country. Michigan is a major, major battleground state, and so we'll be discussing that next right here in Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from Detroit. This generation, which gets so much inspiration

from entertainment, you know, this generation is influenced. I mean, every generation has their influence. But I would argue by and large, when you talk about Harry Belafonte or you talk about, you know, how it was, you know, in the 60s, 70s, and even 80s, there was, you know, you had the entertainers, you had the church, you had the activists.

In our day and time, the church is somewhat losing its influence, entertainment influence is growing, the activists are losing their influence. So where do most, this younger generation go? They go to entertainment. And so the influencers entertainment can actually move the needle. And when you see people become active,

I love how this younger group of people are saying, wait a minute, we don't like what just happened with Kavanaugh. We're going to do something about it. We don't like the fact that there's no gun control. We're going to do something about it. And I do think that as tragic as these events are, they are becoming more galvanizing to get this younger group of voters, which is so influential, to get out and do what we know they can do, which is to help move the needle in a massive way. Hey, Michigan, this is Tracee Ellis Ross, and I have four quick things to tell you. One, you have until October 19th to register to vote.

Two, you can vote early in person until November 2nd. Three, if you need a free ride to the polls, use the promo code VOTETOLIVEMI in your Lyft app. And yes, voting is easy and secure. So please vote and visit VOTETOLIVE.org for more information and to make a plan to vote today. Paid for by Collective Future. future. The guy in the White House is a mortal, not a god. The members of the Congress, they are mortals, not gods.

Bowing down is not enough. We will stand up again. We will march again. We will preach again. We will organize again. We are black. We are white. We are Latino. We are Native American. We are democratic. We are white. We will preach again. We will organize again.

We are black. We are white. We are Latino. We are Native American. We are Democrat. We are Republican. We are independent. We are people of faith. We are people not of faith. We are natives and immigrants. We are business leaders and workers and unemployed. We are doctors and the uninsured.

We are gay. We are straight. We are students. We are parents. We are retirees. We are gay, we are straight, we are students, we are parents, we are retirees. We are America! And we're here, and we ain't going nowhere! We are America! Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. Hi, I'm Eric Nolan. I'm Shante Moore. Hi, my name is LaToya Luckett,

and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to Detroit. We are here, of course, focusing on the election. So here's the deal, y'all. We were supposed to do this inside, and I said, well, if we're going to come there, no sense of doing it inside. We might as well. They said we could only have about 15, 20 people inside. I said, well, that's a little boring. So we chose to do

it out here in the parking lot. Anthony, you should have a wide shot there, right? And so we got folks here. I see all my Alpha brothers in the house. We've got other members of the Divine Nine here as well. I see like one, two omegas. That's how it normally is. See, I told you. That's how we do it. And so we've got folks who are non-Greece. We've got other people who are here. We're glad to see everybody out here, of course, hanging out.

This is like summertime for y'all in Detroit. For the rest of us, it's like, we call it nippy weather, but we're certainly glad to be here. We, of course, are broadcasting on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Folks are checking us out. I want to introduce our panel to the far left. We have, of course, the Sheriff of Wayne County, Benny Napoleon. Sheriff, how you doing? Of course, Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchrist, he's with us. And then, of course, we have here the incumbent Democratic senator from this state, Gary Peters. So I just want to kick this thing off with, I mean, this has been probably the craziest four years many of us have seen in our lifetime. Sheriff, I want to start with you because you have this interesting

thing going on in this country where you have Donald Trump who is doing this full embrace of law enforcement, ignoring really community concerns out there. We saw what just happened two days ago in Philadelphia. And one of the things that people continue to say, when you hear people say defund the police, what they really are talking about is you've got to shift resources to deal with people with mental illness and not send folks out who are trained to shoot to kill. And so as a law enforcement officer, how do you make the case to politicians that you have to utilize resources for people to deal with mental illness?

Because we've covered numerous cases where mothers call, I can't get control of my son. The case in Rochester where they put a bag over the guy's head, suffocating him to death. The young brother in Dallas was just playing with a screwdriver, ends up shot and killed. Two weeks after Michael Brown was killed, there was a guy named Kojima Powell. Same thing, knife in his hand, butter knife in his hand. From the moment the cops arrived to the first shot, it was 16 seconds. It was 16 seconds it was 16 seconds and so how do we make the case to law enforcement that there has to be some type of change in terms of how we deal with mental illness and police

well the first thing foremost it comes from uh just having uh progressive police leadership that will stand up and admit that the criminal justice system is broken. When you have leadership that will stand up and say that this is broken, it's not working. We've been doing the same thing. Roland, I've been in police work now for 46 years, and we've been doing the same thing for 46 years, and it hasn't worked. So those of us who understand that, I have the advantage of having been a practicing attorney attorney and I represented people who required treatment in Michigan. So I understand that the mental health system is broken. But the problem is that when you look at the mental health system, it is one of the most ignored populations in this country.

So there are people who just will not accept the fact that you know we need to do more to help people who are mentally ill prisons and jails are not the place for them. We need to make sure that they get appropriate treatment in appropriate environment. And that's one of the things that I've been struggling with and fighting for for the last almost 12 years that I've been sheriff. But that's because of sensitivity I have because I've been a practicing lawyer representing those kind of folks. But the first becau I have because I've been representing those kind o thing is we've got acknowledge

broken that what we have d We can't incarcerate our w out of the problems that w some definite reforms in p to see it. I've been sayin that I've been the police should be willing to live in the communities that they police. You should use if you my saying is you need to lay your head where you make your bread. If you want to police a community, you

should be willing to live there. That's right. Without question. That's in there a lot of other things that have to happen. Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist is a perfect example. In Missouri, Republican leadership legislature. They for some reason, they want to completely control what happens in St. Louis. They actually overruled St. Louis leadership and passed a law that got rid of the requirement that to be a St. Louis police officer, you had to live in the city of St. Louis. And you sort of have this constant effort, this ballot back and forth. And I keep making the argument, black folks are not at war with cops. What we are at war with is being killed by cops. We are at war with being killed.

We are at war with disinvestment in our communities in all of its forms. Every call for justice is a call for equity and investment. And that includes investing in the supports that our people need for the services that they need. Because the sheriff is right. And I applaud Sheriff Fannie Napoleon for being one of the more progressive sheriffs in the country, for being willing to say, we need to get people help, not put people in jail. That the direction is not toward prison, but it should be toward progress. It should be toward rehabilitation. And that costs resources.

That is why, as lieutenant governor, I have been focused on reforming our jail system, saying that we don't need to arrest everybody. Some people do things, they just need to get a citation. We don't need to put people in jail because they don't have enough money to pay a fine. Instead, we should give people other ways to get an incentive to show up to court. There are more creative ways for us to build safe communities, and that starts with, first of all, investing in our people, investing in our education system. Governor Gretchen Whitmer and I have introduced the most equitable education budget that has been put forward in Michigan in a generation.

That is how we begin to make the differences in delivering true public safety for our people. Senator Peters, we just watched Republicans come back, ram through a Supreme Court nomination, Amy Coney Barrett, and then when they finished, went back home, made no move on coronavirus, made no move on the folks who need that unemployment help, made no move when it comes to police reform as well. Yet, I was in Atlanta last night trying to get something to eat, and I'm seeing this ad where the Trump campaign, they're showing clips from Joe Biden, the 1994 crime bill, and all the faces of these black men basically saying Joe Biden put all these black men in jail. And I'm going, what the hell are y'all actually doing to help the very same people? And so speak to what it's like dealing with the United States Senate, where Republicans change the rules at their whim and don't care about any process or customs or anything along those lines. Well, you're right, Roland. And it just it is outrageous when you think about all the time

that we spent to deal with a Supreme Court nominee when people are struggling right now. As I travel all across the state of Michigan and my colleagues here will know, the one thing everybody talks about is how are we going to get through this pandemic? How are we going to deal with the health crisis that we're dealing with? How are we going to keep families with a roof over their head, be able to put food on the table? How are we going to keep small businesses alive so they can continue to prosper when the economy starts moving up? And the Republicans said, well, no, it is more important to put through a Supreme Court nominee right now. And let's be clear about what it means with this new Supreme Court justice.

We know where she is on issues based on writings that she had prior to being a judge. And one of the one that I'm most concerned about is the fact that she believes that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. We're pretty clear she's going to be a deciding vote to throw the Affordable Care Act, the principal legacy of President Obama

that made sure that everybody in this country, no matter who they are, no matter where they live, would have access to quality, affordable health care. And I step back. The reason that that case is coming, and it's going to come a week after the election, is because Donald Trump and his administration has been pushing a lawsuit forward to throw out the Affordable Care Act. And let's put this in context. We have a president of the United States that wants to throw out a health care law

while we are in the middle of a health crisis and a pandemic. It makes no sense whatsoever. It is outrageous. And instead of dealing with this issue, as we should be right now, and making sure that relief is there. And let me just say, you know, my friends in the House, the Democrats in the House, passed a relief package five months ago. Five months ago. Mitch McConnell's refused to bring it before the Senate.

He's got many members who want to think that there should be zero help for anybody. That's their negotiating position. It's hard to negotiate with someone whose beginning and ending bid is zero. It's because they just simply don't care about what is happening in my mind in this country going forward. And it's really why the Senate matters. When I say that health care is on the ballot in just a few days, it truly is. But it's not just health care.

The Supreme Court is also going to be taking up, they're going to hear a case in November, a voting rights case out of Arizona that could very well gut Section 2. Section 4 was already gutted, and the Shelby-Beholder decision, now you have Section 2. We ought to see where Kavanaugh stands on that. We clearly know where Clarence Thomas stands on voting rights. Damn, anybody looks like him, and on and on. And in any of your debates or the questions with John James, has that come up as an issue of voting rights? Because again, is he going to side with Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell on voting rights, which African-Americans care about or not? You know, I assume so in the fact that he's very proud and you see him screaming into the camera that he supports Donald Trump 2000 percent.

That's a pretty big percent to support somebody. And we know where he is. He doesn't speak out on these issues. You don't hear. Why is he not doing that? He's been running for the Senate for four years now. We've had all of these instances and things that have occurred. He doesn't speak out on it. He just sticks back and he gets millions of dollars from Mitch McConnell. In fact, right now, all the folks have been watching the TV. I don't know if you had a chance to turn on the TV at all last night when you came in, but there's nonstop commercials, all negative, nasty ones that James and his buddies are putting against me. All the independent fact-checkers say they're false.

They're either false, they're demonstrably false, they're smears. And Mitch McConnell and his super PAC is funding that. In the last three weeks, they've put $20 million of negative nasty ads against me, trying to buy this seat for Mr. James because he said he supports Trump 2,000%. He was just at his rally here yesterday, again, supporting him. So we know where he is on that issue. It's very, very clear, which is why we have to get out and definitely make sure that we take back or hold this Senate seat. And we really need the majority in the Senate. Pulling my panel here, Robert Patilla, I want to start with you. The voting rights issue is

critically important. I keep saying I fully understand what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris talk about the Affordable Care Act. But I think when we look at these judicial rulings that have been coming down from the Supreme Court, from state Supreme Courts, we cannot ignore the reality that there is an effort to steal this election by limiting people's right to vote. Robert, I can't hear you. Fine, get Robert's mic fixed. Scott Bolden, take that same question. Absolutely right. You know, I often say that the Democrats, despite the polls, have got to run like they're behind because the

Democrats are running against Donald Trump and the GOP. They're running against voter suppression and they're running against Russian interference. And the empirical data is out there to support that. And so we've got to keep the pressure on. We've made you six days out. Seventy million people have voted already. This election is pretty important, those 70 million, because that's an active and energized Democratic base. I don't care what Donald Trump's 40 percent is Detroit doing to get people to the polls, their Democratic base out? Six days out, it's now about taking them to the polls and making sure their vote counts. And I heard the lieutenant governor talk about taking 200 black men in

various jurisdictions. I think that's awesome. From a statewide effort, right? How are you getting them to the polls and counting those votes? Because if Michigan is going to be close, counting those votes is super important. Monique Presley, pick up on that particular point, how critically important voting rights will be with the Supreme Court and who controls the United States Senate? They're both... ...to stress it. Frankly, I'm concerned, Roland, and I've been concerned. You know, I've got my Black Voters Matter shirt on. Tonight I see your sweatshirt because we've just kind of leaned in to do everything we...

...possibly can to ensure that people are informed, that people get to the polls early. Well, early is almost over, guys. So if you're still holding on to a mail-in ballot, and Roland already told you this yesterday or the day before, but if you're still holding on to a mail-in ballot and thinking about putting it in a U.S. Anthony, pull up the YouTube page. holding on to a mail-in ballot and thinking about putting it in a U.S. Postal Service mail. Or you need to put that sucker in the trash and get your mask on, get your voting plan, get your snacks, get your chair, get your water, get your parka, whatever it is for your temperature and go get in the line. I went A and it was an easy process for me. We just started in Maryland on the 26th. But I was busy on 26th, so I went in today and it was easy.

But even if it's hard to go because they're doing every single thing they can. So on Moss has to be astounding, overwhelming to the point that even the vote they steal from them don't matter. Robert Petillo, go right ahead with your comment. I was on Iraqi TV trying to explain this election to the Middle Eastern audience, and they couldn't get over the concept that people are waiting in line in the world's most developed democracy for 45 minutes, an hour, three hours at a time to early vote. They don't understand the concept that our democracy can be hacked by foreign governments. We're looking at foreign influence from everyone from Iran to China to Russia.

So this election security issue, which this administration has not taken seriously, has to be at the forefront. We are now in a battle for the question of democracy itself. That's not hyperbolic in any way, shape, or form. And I think one of the things we have to make sure is a crucial and central element in this next administration, assuming that the right side wins, is the fact that we have to reform our voting system from the bottom up. Because right now, we have not had confidence in any election since the year 2000, and I don't know how much longer we can continue riding this broke-down car down the street

before the wheels start falling off completely. Come back here, Lieutenant Governor. I want to come to you on that point. When we talked earlier, you were talking about the changes that were made in this state when it comes to voting. I mean, the attacks that we are seeing on voting are astounding. Literally, Donald Trump is saying, do not count any ballots after Tuesday night, which is ludicrous because we've had numerous elections where stuff happened where they kept counting. First of all, states don't have to certify the results for the electoral college until December. So this idea that you can't continue counting ballots after election day is nonsense. And also, if it's postmarked by their

deadline, what's the issue? I mean, this is a clear, blatant attempt to steal not only a presidential election, but Senate elections as well as state elections and local elections. Donald Trump is such a criminal, y'all. I mean, there's no other way to slice it. And he lies about everything, but he told the truth about voter suppression. He really does want to make sure that our votes don't count. Well, the thing that I believe about elections is that you can't cheat if we blow them out.

The record turnout that we're going to see in Michigan is going to make it that much more difficult for Republicans to cheat. We have to overwhelm the cheaters and the liars. That's why I'm encouraging people to step up. I use a different phrase. I use that scene from the movie, Room of the Titans, where he said, Herman, leave no doubt. Hey, my Michigan- Now, y'all hear Obama use that same line? Y'all know I've been using that line for a while, so. I mean, so, Barack, stop tripping. You know you took it from me, so stop tripping. Go ahead. No, no doubt. We look, we know what we have to do. We made it easier to vote.

We just need to finish the job. And I know that Donald Trump also, when he was in Lansing, don't get it twisted. He is encouraging people to come to Michigan polling places and intimidate them. He wants people to stand between you and your ballot box. Voter intimidation is illegal under federal law. But Amy Coney Barrett, she wouldn't admit that. Tammy Klobuchar, when she got asked about that, she didn't remember that. But it's illegal under federal law. And I know that sheriffs like Benny Napoleon are going to make sure that voter intimidation doesn't happen in Detroit and in Wayne County. And we're going to make sure that we don't give them a chance to intimidate us out of voting because I believe that voters are going to go vote before Election Day.

Again, November 3rd is the last day of the election, not just Election Day. So you can go make a plan to vote and make sure your friends and family, your neighbors, everybody you love, everybody who loves you, makes a plan to vote, too. Because we have something to vote for, not just to vote against Donald Trump, but to vote for our future here in Michigan. Sure. We've seen people, we've seen folks out there recording individuals dropping out their mail ballots. We've seen we saw in Minnesota where there were privately there were private guards hired to purposely intimidate folks at the polls. As somebody who's in law enforcement, you speak to that and also speak to, frankly, other law enforcement leadership in this state. I was one of the few people to step up and say immediately that I will be prepared to assist any community in Wayne County that has an issue with voter intimidation.

I will be ready, and trust me, I will be ready to assist in the event that that is happening. Law enforcement leadership has to change. And honestly, we're going to need some federal legislation to mandate that, Senator Peters, because it won't happen on the local level because the thought process in a lot of communities is a lot different than the progressive thought process that you see really dominating this country. And until this time, as we kind of force some people to do some of the things that really need to be done from a law enforcement perspective when it comes to reform, it really is not going to happen. So we really need to start looking, Roland, at making sure that we get a mandate in the Senate, that we have a Congress totally that's supportive, and have a president that will sign it to see some real criminal justice reform. If that doesn't happen, you are not going to see it. I'm just going to be blatantly honest with you.

So I want to pick up on that point right there, Senator Peters. I have been befuddled and confused as to why Democrats are not taking credit for the First Step Act. First of all, Donald Trump is running around making it sound like he is the criminal justice messiah when the reality is the First Step Act passed the House first. Democrats control that. Trump, folks, wanted this to do prison reform they were forced to do criminal justice reform when it went to the senate there were people like senator cory booker senator kamala harris senator dick durbin uh even republican chuck grassley who said this is not good enough i don't understand why democrats are letting this man run as if he was the sole force behind the First Step Act when Democrats made it possible.

Take credit for stuff y'all do. Well, I'm with you, Roland, and we do. We need to speak out because you're right. It was Democrats that pushed it. We do want to take it even further, though it doesn't go far enough, as you know, which is part of our efforts. But, you know, I think we've got to get back and we've got to remember, too, when we're looking at police reform and the bills after the horrific murder of George Floyd. When we needed to take immediate action, we're past the time for studies and discussion. It's time to take immediate action now. And we've got to call out the Republicans for that.

We had the opportunity. The House passed a very comprehensive bill, as you know. Things that we know that we can do. We can ban chokeholds. There's no reason to have chokeholds. We don't need to study it. We don't need to investigate it. We just need to ban it. We've got to pass a law to do that. Other things that we must do, and the Democrats have leaned into, but we're going to need to take the majority in the Senate to do it, is that if a police officer is accused of wrongdoing, there needs to be an independent investigation outside of the department where you have a fresh set of eyes. You don't need to study that anymore.

We know that is the way to maintain trust in a community, and I think the sheriff will agree that trust is the most important part of making sure that law enforcement is integrated in that community. And if you have wrongdoing and it goes to an investigation in the department, there's a perception it's the good old boy network, once again, taking care of their own and not dispensing true justice. We don't need to study that. We don't need to look into it as the Republicans were talking about it. We just need to pass the bill. It passed the House. It didn't pass the Senate. In fact, the bill that they put before us had such a low bar,

it was an embarrassment. They just wanted to appear like they're doing something, when in reality they weren't. The bill was before us. I talked to Reverend Wendell Anthony, the NAACP, Reverend Bland, the Council of Baptist Ministers, folks from the Urban League. They said, Senator, don't vote for that bill because you can't start negotiations at the floor. You've got to bring it up and we've got to lean into it. But it was clear that Mitch McConnell and the Republican Senate had no desire whatsoever to deal with it. And I can guarantee everyone in this audience, when I get reelected, when we take the majority in the United States Senate, it will be a priority. We don't need to talk about it anymore. We don't need any committee hearings. We just need to put it on the floor, send it to

President Biden and get it signed into law. And that is what we will do. Well, and I have to because it's just talking about that. Look, the citizens in especially in urban communities need to have more say so in the hiring and the firing process when it comes to the people who police their community. When I joined the Detroit Police Department many, many years ago, one of the final steps was an oral interview. I had three cops on that interview. Why shouldn't they have had a citizen from the city of Detroit sitting on that interview

judging whether or not I was somebody they wanted to police their community? Same thing goes when we fire people. I have fired many officers to go to arbitration, people that I don't believe should be in law enforcement, and you have an arbitrator who gives them their job back. Why aren't citizens involved in that arbitration process to determine when someone comes back into their community? But the arbitration process, though, the problem is not the arbitration process. The problem is what was negotiated that allowed it to happen. So, for instance, in Georgia, until there was outrage in Georgia,

a police officer who was possibly looking at being indicted had the right to sit in the grand jury in Georgia up until two years ago. So it's not a secret. A secret grand jury. Now, mind you, if any of us got called into a grand jury to testify, we couldn't even bring our lawyer in. State law allowed the officer to sit in the grand jury to hear testimony against him or her. You also have the rules that says that, oh, if an officer is involved in a shooting or some incident, they

could wait five days before they give testimony in some places. They allow them to review the testimony with the witness interviews before they make their interview. So that's really where on the front end what has to happen as far as I'm concerned, city leaders, county leaders, and state leaders have to draw a line in saying, no, that will not be in the contract. If that's not in the contract, we're not signing a contract. There cannot be two systems, one for law enforcement and one for the rest of us. I don't disagree with you at all. I agree with you 100%. I do support the arbitration process

when it comes to wages and benefits and things of that nature, but there are other parts of it that really just don't make sense. I don't see any reason why I can fire a person as the leader of the agency and then someone decides, well, the sheriff said that, but, you know, I'm going to bring that person back. And then that person comes right back into the agency, and everybody says, well, I guess the sheriff can't really do that. You know, people that you know don't belong in the profession. And that happens, unfortunately, frequently. And, Lieutenant Governor, not only that, not only the issue that I also have,

we saw this with the case in with Tamir Rice. Officer gets fired, he goes right next door, gets hired. I believe that if an officer gets fired, if they have been fired for a shooting or whatever, that license should be pulled and they should not be able to be rehired in a county next door. So one of the things that we have worked toward in our administration, we have something in Michigan called the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards. That's what literally sets the standard for how law enforcement professionals govern themselves. This is a body that until we took executive action this spring had no civilian participation. It was all law enforcement professionals deciding how law enforcement professionals act. Last time I checked, law enforcement professionals don't only deal with

law enforcement professionals. They deal with regular people. And so therefore, we needed to have a role in how we define what it means to be a law enforcement professional in this state. When we have that voice, including the Michigan Director of the Department of Civil Rights and other civilians who we've appointed to that board, that begins to change the culture and what it means to be a law enforcement professional, how we train people, how we support law enforcement professionals. Because don't, let's be clear, law enforcement is a hard job. We need to have supports available. And people are empathetic to that because we want law enforcement professionals to be successful. But we need to work together on this by setting a different standard. And that would include

defining accountability. Because yes, if you have broken a rule or broken the law or hurt someone in one jurisdiction, that's relevant to what you would do in another jurisdiction. So we should take that seriously. Have a process to deal with that. And so that there can be not only accountability, but also a chance to be able to make these things right. We've started that process here in Michigan and I believe that that's a model how that can go forward nationally. To my panel back in D.C. get ready I'm going to come back to you in a second. Senator Peters, on that same vein, let's say things go well on Tuesday, you win re-election, Democrats get control of the Senate. What will be, I mean, will the issue

of criminal justice reform, will that be one of the top three priorities once the new Congress is sworn into session? There's no question it is going to be the top priority, although I was to be clear that the top priority and what I hear, and I mentioned this earlier in the program, is getting through the coronavirus crisis. I mean, that's just got to be clear that the top priority and what I hear, and I mentioned this earlier in the program, is getting through the coronavirus crisis. I mean, that's just got to be number one. We've got to make sure we get through this health. Here we are still sitting here with our mask and doing social distancing. We shouldn't be doing this so long.

It's a result of the fact that we have a president who ignored the severity of what he was dealing with, did not manage it properly. And quite frankly, he needs to be fired for messing up on the job and why we're still here. So we've got to do that. Well, they just put together a report saying that mission accomplished. Yeah, look at all of us here. Is this mission accomplished? Look at all of us here. You're right.

It's the constant spin that we see. So we've got to fix that. That's got to be first and foremost, dealing with that and making sure jobs. But then we've got a long list, and there's no question that we are far past time for criminal justice reform. It will be a top priority that really fits in with all of that as well to go forward. And if I may mention actually legislation to deal with what Sheriff Napoli had mentioned too in having folks in the community and the lieutenant governor as well, is that I want that to be part of that police reform. I've introduced legislation to help police departments recruit folks. As the Lieutenant Governor mentioned,

being a police officer is not an easy job. It's tough and it's sometimes difficult to recruit good folks into the profession. So how do we do that and how do we also strengthen something that we know is incredibly important for trust in the community and that's community policing and understanding that when you have folks who live in the community who understand the community those are the folks you want to hire to be in law enforcement because they know the community and equally important the community knows them. It's a two-way street. So the legislation I have that we would hope to put in there is a grant program

to have Sheriff Napoleon can recruit, and then we'll have a grant, a federal grant, that will pay for police academy, pay for any courses that you need in criminal justice to get your certification to be an officer. It's all paid for. It's a grant, and it will all be forgiven under one condition. You spend at least four years working in the police department or the sheriff department in your own community. If you serve in your community, all of that will be forgiven. I understand after four years, people will probably stay a whole lot longer,

but the idea is let's recruit from within. Let's have our own come in and work and make sure that we can set them on their life. And that's got to be a priority. That's not a foreign concept because we're the same thing when it comes to folks who go work, who are doctors who work in certain areas. I want to go back to my panel. I have three lawyers on the panel on this whole issue here. We're actually seeing this. I talked about the First Step Act.

I talked about, again, how I think Democrats are not taking more advantage of this. Robert Petillo, I'm going to start with you. You know, this is going to, this is, look, it's an Achilles heel for Joe Biden, the 94 crime bill. We see this in focus groups. Senator Kamala Harris, people still criticize her record as attorney general and district attorney as well. Again, I believe the Democrats have to be far more aggressive on explaining what they have actually done with criminal justice reform and not let Donald Trump somehow act like he's been the king of it.

Robert, I'm going to start with you first. Well, you know, it makes me think back to LBJ. If you looked at LBJ in 1936 all the way up until 1956, you know, he was a Southern Dixie crack segregationist senator who blocked every piece of civil rights legislation he could find. But as president, he governed in that tradition of Kennedy. He governed as the president of voting rights, as the president of civil rights legislation he could find. But as president, he governed in that tradition of Kennedy. He governed as the president of voting rights, as the president of civil rights, as the president ending redlining and ending racial segregation, where you're having important

cases on the Commerce Clause and the ability of African-Americans to live outside of segregated South. So with that in mind, looking at Joe Biden, the 94 crime bill, and even the 86 of the 84 crime initiatives, looking at Kamala Harris and the baggage she carried from both being district attorney and attorney general, I think this gives them a tremendous opportunity to be more aggressive on criminal justice reform and criminal prosecution reform than any president previously. But President Obama always had the Achilles heel of not trying to seem as if he was favoring the African-American community, that he was doing more for them being the black president. Well, the old saying, he's not the president of black America.

He's the president of all of America. And for some somehow black America got forgotten in that saying. So I think what has to happen going forward is that because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have this baggage on criminal justice, they should be more aggressive in setting in, setting out their vision for what will happen within the first 100 days of being elected. Articulate that you're going to release black political prisoners who have been incarcerated for decades. Articulate that you're going to retroactively expunge records on marijuana, which crippled families and communities for generations, and now other communities are becoming billionaires off of. You can have a bold, strong, and assertive message, and it is our job as a community to ensure they follow through in that, because they're going to depend on us for this win. Monique, it was very interesting sitting in that restaurant in Atlanta last night, seeing

that commercial. The sound wasn't up. What I saw was grainy video. I knew what the video was. And all I saw were these black and white images of these tight shots of these black men. And I saw the Biden video and I said, really, is that what the Trump folks are doing? I mean, they are really trying to make it seem like that. Oh, like he is just the absolute benefactor of black men in this country. So let me just start by correcting the immediate record from what my colleague Robert just said. I'm going to start with Senator. She's not carrying baggage regarding criminal justice reform, regarding criminal prosecution. What she's carrying is the banner of a prosecutor and an attorney general, statewide attorney general, first black woman ever to hold the office

in California, who did her job with excellence. Part of doing that job was pioneering a re-entry program for our returning citizens who have been incarnated and modeled by every other attorney general to enact similar programs in the United States of America. And it is not that she has not been saying that. It is that when sometimes a woman, especially a Black woman, talks about the things that they've accomplished, the voice gets lost in the shuffle. So what I kind of need is for Black men, like my two colleagues who are on with me right now, and anybody else who wants to, to echo and repeat. Here's what Senator Harris did in order to enable citizens who were

re-entering the criminal justice system. Here's what Senator Harris did for moms who were concerned about their sons being slain in the streets. Here's what Senator Harris did about sexual abuse perps going unanswered and unprosecuted because all of those things are not baggage. Those are medals of honor and she should be treated where Vice President Biden is concerned and the 94 crime bill and anything that happened before that. Let's just be honest. People who were in office then who were black in the Senate and in the House, who are still in office now, were also in support of that legislation. So he hasn't thrown anybody else under the bus and thus he's still trying to survive himself and say what is the truth, that they had a misunderstanding of the

right way to handle crime in 1994. And there were cause of that, that were unforeseen and unwanted. And for that, they all owe an apology. And there has already been a correction. But as far as I'm concerned, yeah, that's all I got, Roland. Slight correction. Not all Black caucus members in 94 actually voted for the crime bill. But I understand your point overall. Scott Bolden, you got a response to Monique? Well, that's hard to follow up. I'll supplement by merely saying. Hey, hey, hey, well, just look, you got to follow it. So suck it up.

You're a Kappa. Alpha would follow it. So go ahead. He says it much better than I can. But let me say this. I'll say it more clear, if I will. There were a lot of white Republicans that supported that bill. And it wasn't about criminal justice.

It was about crack addiction and drug addiction. And they addressed it as it was a criminal problem. It was a health issue. It was a health issue then. And all of a sudden, the opiate crisis that affects more white folks than black folks affects both of them. Now the Republicans want to treat it as a health issue. I'm glad they've come to the realization, but they can't apologize or take their hands off for the 1994 crime bill. And I wish Biden and Harris would just say that. They supported it too.

Mitch McConnell supported it too. And so I think the Democrats could do a better job of messaging on that. And then secondly, I was a former black prosecutor in New York City, right? I was an asset to the community because I treated drug addiction and put people in programs because I didn't see it as a crime. I treated drug dealers differently, if you will. And I brought my set of values and my life experiences from my community in Joliet, Illinois and in Atlanta and my life experiences to exercising that incredible power of discretion. We better be glad we got black prosecutors if

they're committed to the community in those positions. So I have no problem with Kamala's leadership. She was outstanding, and she did more help for the black community than incarceration for the black community. It's a bottom line proposition, and it never stops being that. All right, folks. I could have lawyers talk all day. We'll be here all day. Got to go to a commercial break. We will come back on Roller Martin Unfiltered

more from our panel here in Detroit. Lots more to talk about here with this election right here on Roller Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from Detroit. We'll be back in a moment. I mean, if you like the way it's happening, what's going on around you, and that's the way it is, then fine.

But I said, if that's how it is, then sit it out. Whatever happens, then you own it. And if you own it, then you can't complain about it. I thought I caught my first felony when I was 17 years old. I felt like basically I just, I didn't count. My probation told me, you can't vote, you got a felony. It just made me feel like I wasn't wanted or I wasn't supposed to be involved. My mama told me like, son, you need to be, get involved. There's a lot of things going on in the world.

Your voice matter. And I'm like, I can't, I ain't got no voice. I can't vote. And she's like, oh yeah, yes you can. So I called my lawyers, because I wanted to make sure that I wasn't doing anything wrong. And I figured out I qualified, and I just felt like, damn, let's do this. To me, it was an accomplishment.

Like, damn, like I graduated high school or something. Look what we done so far. It still need to be ten times better, but you got to vote. That's what changed the rules. That's what changed the laws. I really feel good voting, like, because I was told I couldn't. I was told I wouldn't be able to clean up or get away from my past. And look where I'm at now.

I voted. And I was able to be a part of where I live, which is here at home in America. My voice matters. It's Nia Long. Listen, I'm where I am today because a lot of people believed in me. They knew I could make an impact if I had a chance to have my voice heard. In this election, voting is our chance to make an impact if I had a chance to have my voice heard. In this election, voting is our chance to make an impact. So please, South Carolina, vote early in person between October 5th and November 2nd. And if you need a free ride to vote, use promo code VOTETOLIVESC in your Lyft app.

Visit VOTETOLIVE.ORG for more information. Paid for by Collective Future. All right, folks, welcome back. We're live in Detroit here at the 14th Congressional District, the 14th Democratic Office. It was like all different titles here. And so what happened was, let me tell you, I called Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence and I said, Congresswoman, I'm traveling around the country doing the show. Would love to come to Detroit. She said, fine, done, taken care of. And so she set this up.

She was supposed to be with us. Had a death in her family. Her sister passed away, and we certainly want to offer our condolences. I chatted with her earlier, and so we certainly wish she was here, but she has to be with her family there in San Antonio. We certainly understand that and appreciate that. So condolences go out to her and prayers for her family as well. We're back here, of course, with Sheriff. I call him Sheriff Benny.

I told Sheriff in the break, I said, you need to get you some new masks, Sheriff. That mask is a little small. He was struggling trying to talk. He kept pulling it down. I was like, come on, man. Come on, get you an extra large mask. You're trying to have that baby mask down there. And, of course, Senator Gary Peters is with us as well.

Just for a few more moments, Senator Peters, I want to start with you. We talked last time about priorities. One of the things that people want to know, they've witnessed what McConnell has done. They've witnessed Lindsey Graham lie and say, roll, save the tape, roll the tape. We're not going to put a judge through. This was after Kavanaugh. So when he tries to say Kavanaugh changed everything, he full of crap because he actually changed everything. I have been getting this around the country. Folks want to know if Democrats get control of the Senate, are they going to learn how to use power and wield power and fight as opposed to say, well, no, we're going to play

by the rules because obviously they ain't playing by no rules. Well, there's no question that we have a long list of things to deal with, as you mentioned, dealing with criminal justice reform, getting through the COVID crisis. We have to take action immediately to do that. And we would certainly welcome Republicans coming along with us. But I'm not naive. You're not naive. We understand what happened when... I wouldn't ask him. Yeah. Senator, look, I'm just telling, I'm just being perfectly honest with you. I'm of the school. If they ignored me when they had power, I'm going to ignore them. I saw a tweet the other day from Senator Marco Rubio. He says 52 legitimately elected United States senators went through a process and legitimately passed, voted for Senator Amy Coney Barrett for

the Supreme Court. When I listen to them criticize, talk about court packing, first of all, let's be real clear. Let's be real clear. The United States Constitution does not require non-Supreme Court justices. We've had less. We've had more, that's all there as well. Democrats, if they choose to expand the court, the Constitution allows that power. I'm just simply saying that if they ignored y'all, y'all could just give them the hand if you got the numbers and say, we about to roll this thing through because I just don't believe, I know Michelle Obama said, when they go high,'t believe I know Michelle Obama said when they go high we go low I say when they go low hit the ass and ankles that's just me that's just me

but I'm just saying but I'm saying I think a lot of people want to see Democrats fight and say since that since y'all clearly do not want to play by the rules. Fine. No rules. Gotcha. We're going to show y'all we can play this game, too. Go ahead. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just wanted to get that out. You know, I'm just saying. Well, no, it's it is obviously we've got to take action. We've got to move it. We know what the House Democrats have done. We've got to be able to get it through the Senate and get it to Vice President Biden. We know that for the last four years, things have not happened that is impacting the lives of everyday folks all across Detroit, all across Michigan and the country. And when we have the majority, when we take the majority, which is why it's important, then we need to be held accountable for actually delivering to the people in Michigan and delivering

to folks all across the country. The needs are great. You can be assured that we're going to do what we have to do to get this country back on track. A couple of more. We've got one more minute with you, and that is, obviously, no Democrat can win without significant black support. Make the case to African-Americans who are watching right now around the country why you should be the one they pick over John James to go back to the United States Senate. Well, I think folks should look at my record. I've had the privilege of actually representing the city of Detroit when I represented this congressional district in the 14th district, focused on issues that matter to folks in this community as well as around the state. I've been a champion for health care, and right now health care is definitely on the ballot right now. Health care, the ability for that, to get health care is impacting the lives of hundreds of thousands of folks here in the city of Detroit and places all across the state.

And I guess I'll just tell you the story related to the Affordable Care Act and what I think folks want in an elected person. You know, I came in with President Obama. When President Obama was elected, I came in with President Obama. When President Obama was elected, I came in in 2008, and immediately we had the Affordable Care Act. I was in a tough district. I was up in Oakland County, and I actually won a district. I was the first Democrat since 1893 to represent that district. And the president went forward with the Affordable Care Act. And as if you remember how contentious that was, and the big town hall meetings, and people hollering and screaming.

And in my district, we had one town hall meeting with 1,200 people at a high school that were yelling and screaming. Another 1,200 outside that were yelling and screaming to come in. And I said, well, I'm going to read this bill. And I'm going to read it and determine whether or not. I had my political folks say, Gary,

if you vote for this bill, there's no way you're going to get reelected. It's just not popular. This is too Republican of a district. I read the bill. The more I read, I said, yeah, it's not perfect, but it really moves us in a way that we have to go. And at that time, thousands of people died because they didn't have access to quality health care. So I made a decision. I said, I don't care if I get elected or not. I'm going to vote for this. This is too important. And I'll tell you, I still remember vividly that

day when it came up on the board in the House of Representatives, and I walked up, and you have to push a little green button to vote yes. And I remember when I went up there, I said, this means I will not be coming back to the United States Congress. But the reason I ran for office was to make a difference. And if I can push a button and literally save the lives of tens of thousands of people, that is all that matters. And I proudly voted for Obamacare. And then what happened? I actually got re-elected. I got re-elected because if you believe in what you do and if your heart takes you forward and says this is the right thing for people. I don't care about elections. That's not why I ran for political office.

It's to make a difference in people's lives. I demonstrated that when I supported President Obama in passing the Affordable Care Act. I will continue to fight for the Affordable Care Act, that we make it even better and stronger. And if folks vote for me to have another term in the United States Senate, please know I do it from my heart and I'm constantly focused on what's right for the people of the state of Michigan. That's what I do each and every day.

And I'll continue to do it for another term. All right. Senator Gary Peters, I certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you for joining me. And so if you're asking, yes, we did reach out. I did reach out to John James office. They didn't hear this back. So the black guy won't come talk to a black uh black media show so y'all just factor that in when y'all go vote uh sit again please i appreciate it thanks a lot i'm gonna go to a break we're continuing our panel here but actually i'm not going to break i'm gonna toss this back to our panel first and i'm gonna throw this question out uh i guess i'll start with scott bolden i normally start with monique or robert because you know scott talks

too damn long um uh but scott i'm right One of the things that I'm righteous in my word. Yeah. Yeah. OK. One of the things that we also will be looking at, Scott, here, when you look at these closing days. I mean, bottom line is this is not about trying to lay out more policy plans. This is really about stating your case right now to the voters. What should the closing argument be for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris? What should it be for Democrats in these closing days? Up and down the ticket, it ought to be corona, the state of the economy because of the COVID virus, our plan versus their lack of having any plan, and then health care and improving Obamacare.

You believe in the Democrats and you believe in your vote. It's a vote for hope, not fear. It's a hope for science, not fiction. And it's a hope for a better tomorrow for all of us, not just the 40 percent of the Republicans who are diehard Trump supporters. That's really what this election is about. And if I was Biden and Harris, I'd be hammering that home. If I'm running for the Senate, I was Biden and Harris, I'd be hammering that home. If I'm running for the Senate, the House or State House, I'd be hammering that home. 70 million people have voted already. Majority of them Democrats based on some reports and many more are going to vote.

But that's really what's at stake. And the right to vote and the voters, the saturation of reminding people to vote has been more powerful than ever. But that's the choice voters have to make. And hopefully they'll make them for Biden, Harris and Democrats up and down the ticket. Robert Petillo, closing arguments. What are they? We're in a battle for the nation's soul. We are in an existential crisis. We are living in a place where right now there are right wing militias roaming multiple U.S. cities, where we are seeing a rise in white supremacy and white nationalism. We are seeing a situation where we do not have a national plan to contain an international pandemic.

And while all these things are going around, we have a far right-wing media that is focusing on conspiracy theories and Russian propaganda. We have to have a return to normalcy where we have a government which is focused on the needs of the American people, your economic needs, your health care needs, your family needs, and every other need which the American people have, and not simply the enrichment of a small group of oligarchs. This is a question of what America will be for the remainder of this century. If we get this wrong, we do not know from where we'll have to come back from. Monique Presley, closing arguments. In case anyone has ever doubted it, leadership matters. And the absence of leadership matters even more. This in right now is directly because of an absence of leadership by the United States Congress, specifically the Senate, and by the highest office in the land and supposedly the world, the United States president. stop having to go to virtual weddings, virtual funerals, virtual birthday parties. We can stop

having to grieve separately. We can stop all of the things that we are experiencing due to failure of leadership by electing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and voting blue all the way down the ticket so that they are not stymied when they get into office, but they have a Senate and a House who will back their plan. Our very lives depend upon it. All right, Monique, Scott, Robert, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. We're going to go to a break. We come back live here in Detroit. We'll have a panel here, and then we'll talk to actress Cheryl Lee Ralph as well. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live from Detroit. We'll be a panel here and then we'll talk to actress Cheryl Lee Ralph as well. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live

from Detroit. We'll be back in a moment. I mean, if you like the way it's happening, what's going on around you and that's the way it is, then fine. But I said, if that's how it is, then sit it out. Whatever happens, then you own it. And if you own it, then you can't complain about it.

Hey, it's Nia Long. Listen, I'm where I am today because a lot of people believed in me. They knew I could make an impact if I had a chance to have my voice heard. In this election, voting is our chance to make an impact. So please, South Carolina, vote early, in person, between October 5th and November 2nd. And if you need a free ride to vote, use promo code VOTETOLIVESC

in your Lyft app. Visit VOTETOLIVE.ORG for more information. Paid for by Collective Future. What's up, what's up? I'm Dr. Ricky Dillard, the choir master. Hey, yo, peace world.

What's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devon, and you're watching Roller Martin Unfiltered. Y'all clap, clap, clap, clap. Hey, folks, welcome back to Roller Martin Unfiltered here in Detroit. Glad to be here. Let me bring up my next panel, Al Elvin, president of the Detroit Alphas, and state senator from the 4th District and chair of the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus, Marshall Bullock. Hey, folks, how we doing? What's that little group you in?

Well, first of all, you can't be talking about how you're in Omega. You can't grab the microphone. I mean, see? Check, check. One, two, one, two. Y'all ain't used to being on. Y'all ain't used to nice stuff. I know.

I mean, you come on. You start talking. Ain't no microphone. The Alpha grabbed the microphone. See? I mean, you know. I have a comment for that, but I'm going to keep it to myself. Yeah, uh-huh.

Uh-huh. Yeah, uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah, uh-huh. See? See, that's how it goes. Welcome to Detroit, Roland. I'm glad to be here. Glad to be here. Glad for folks who came out.

We certainly appreciate that. Let me ask you this question. Again, we talk about, I talked earlier about how state houses have flipped. And one of the things that I really think that we have to get back to in every single city, we've got to actually have civics lessons. Because the average person really doesn't understand how legislation happens. Folk go, I haven't seen your name on the bill, I don't see you on TV. And the reality is a lot of the changes happening in this country are happening on the state level and not in the nation's capital. I agree.

Most of the things in politics are local. And I go back to teaching. When I go to schools, I like to teach civics to the kids. I think the earlier we start, the better they'll be. It's all about political literacy. And as the Lieutenant Governor said earlier about flipping the House, those of us that are in the legislature have to do things that we're not accustomed to doing is go help our other counterparts in marginal areas. So I was just knocking doors on the west side of the state and knocking doors up in Saginaw, knocking doors in Benton Harbor. So those are things that we have to do. And they only need

four seats to flip the House. And we keep that momentum. In the state of Michigan, we can flip the Senate with just four seats. And so we have a close margin to overturn all of that and still have a Democratic governor, which we haven't had in almost half my lifetime. Al, on that point, I gave the Brotherhood speech at the Alpha Convention a couple years ago in Baltimore, and I have been saying this for more than a decade, that there are a lot of, we talk about alphas and omegas and kappas and sigmas and AKAs and deltas and zetas and sigma gamma rho, iotas, and got on a whole line with the Divine Nine.

I said, but there's a bunch of folk who don't see us on a regular basis. I think one of the areas that we can do, aside from our internal meetings, is literally have these citizenship training classes. We saw a lot of that during the Black Freedom Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, where people were being taught. Because again, you got folk who say, I got a problem with my water bill, and they call in a state rep. Exactly. I got a problem with this, and they call in a state senator.

Or, I can't get my Social Security check. No, baby, that's your member of Congress. And I think also how you connect the dots, because folks say, well, in this state, 90,000 people left the top of the ticket blank in 2016. 70,000 in Detroit. If half of those folk did not leave the top of the ticket blank and chose Clinton over Trump, she wins by 25,000. And I think people don't understand who points to federal judges. President, who confirms the federal judges, senators. So if you want federal judges that are going to be right wing judges, then you're going to vote for John James.

If you see him, I'm going to vote for him because he's black, but he's going to vote for judges like Falk. Donald Trump has had 218 federal judges. He's appointed one black. One out of 218. So the question is, who would John James vote for? Those are the federal judges who are rolling on voting, who are ruling on the environment, who are ruling on civil rights. And so we have to connect the dots for a lot of time in schools with our go to high school, go to college program. I know that other groups do the same thing. And maybe it's time that we look at what we're doing together and do some sort of civics lessons so people understand what's going on. We spend time in the classrooms with parents, too, when we're ministering to the kids.

So we definitely need to do that. I'm saying I believe that the Divine Nine should say we're going to have community-based civic training once a week. And look, it's nine groups. All you got to do is take yours once every nine weeks. Exactly. And Detroit, I would say this about our Divine Nine. We are actually close and do a lot of things together. More often what we do is the men, the fraternities work together and the sororities do their thing. But we probably do need to stop operating in those two silos and do it all together and map out a real plan structure about civics and political literacy. Right. And I'm just talking about and again, if you look at if you look at the Saturday workshop that Reverend Jackson has done in Chicago for all these years,

that's what that Saturday workshop was. It was sort of that training piece. So what I'm talking about is, if it's this particular church, or if you move it around or whatever the heck, but it's easy if you have one location, and you say, alright, fine. First week alphas you got, go from who was the first all the way down to who's the last. And it's again,

you got one. We're not asking you to do it every week. Ask you once every nine weeks, you can invite politicians in, you can invite other people in and allow people to come in who want to learn about politics. Because I believe that once we begin to educate more people, especially younger folks, especially people who are disaffected, now they begin to understand how this thing works. Now they realize, oh, so we talking about what's going on with schools. I'm going to the wrong person. I should be going over here. Yes. To me, that's that's that should be a part one of the things that we do post this election. Your point is well taken, and Marshall said the same thing.

We're all doing the same things, but we're doing them separately. We do need to get together and put something together where we can explain the processes and the electoral process and things of that nature to some of our residents, some of the people who live here, so they can be informed when they go out to vote. We're all trying to inform our citizens to vote. We're just doing it differently, but maybe we do need to come together and get something done. I'm down. But also, Marshall, this is another piece right here, because I'm a huge believer in this, is there has to be data collection. Absolutely. Because one of the things that we are good at,

we're good at organizing marches and protests, but you have to collect data. So, for instance, if there's an education protest, I need to collect the data, everybody who's there, because when I need folk to then come to the school board meeting, I already have a group who I can tap into to say, hey, I need 50 of y'all of the 500 y'all who were there i just need 50 of y'all to show up to the school board meeting or i need 50 of you to show up to the city council meeting or 50 of you to go to the county commissioners meeting again that's that to me that's that's how we take our numbers and mobilize and organize yeah i think with all the electronic and technology we're doing that more and more now and then again if reach them, the earlier we reach folks about civics and civil liberties, once that kid becomes a first-time voter, they usually become lifetime voters. And we wait until you're 38 to vote.

That's a different story. We've got to persuade you, convince you. But if we teach you all these things earlier, your maturation process is to always be involved and collect that data. And I think we have all of that, the tools at our disposal now, to keep that and put it in one place. What are you all seeing on the ground here six days before the election? What do you see happening in communities?

Are people energized? Are there areas of weakness that folks need to be focusing on over the next six days before Tuesday? One of the things I'm seeing, I can speak for what I've seen, there has been a tremendous effort to get out the vote like I have not seen in recent history. We were part of an event with the NAACP last Saturday when we worked to get the vote out, and we went out and canvassed in the neighborhood, all in the new center area, which is like mid Detroit so we we I've seen a lot of effort I've also seen some some voters who are some people who were not

voting and I've tried to talk to them because I'm actually running for an office so I tried to talk to them about making sure they're doing the right thing and get running fun school board got it and you can't be on a broadcast say I'm running for office you going to name what you're running for. You got to take your shot. Yeah, alpha. So I'm running for school board in Oak Park. Don't get hurt. That's what I'm doing because I want to affect change in my community. Gotcha. Yep. What do you see on the ground? I think it's the 14th in particular, but just all over the state there is a mega swell of people coming out. People have lawn signs. It almost feels like the 08-ish, but not as much. But it's really moving swell. And then you've got folks who are, you know, saying they haven't voted in a while.

They're coming back. They're registering to vote. And we made it easier in Michigan. You can register the day of at the polls. No excuses. No excuses. Now, is that only in early voting, but it's on November 3rd as well? No, you can, yeah, you can register at the polling site. You can register on the day of, on November 3rd. If you don't have, I mean, we've made sure we've been informing returning citizens. They have a right to vote. As long as you're not incarcerated in Michigan, you can vote. So you shouldn't have any excuse for that either. So if you serve your time,

you can vote. You can vote. You can vote. As long as you, you could be in jail waiting to be sentenced and you're still eligible to vote in Michigan. So they have to get you a ballot, et cetera. So it's about informing, making sure people know what's happening on the ground. And then also making sure people know about the nonpartisan part of the ballot, which is proposals, which is the judges, which is the school board. Those things are just as important locally than they are. Actually, they're even more because you're more impacted by those local positions. So, yeah.

So, you know, and then, you know, I mean, I'm fighting for my man, Gary Peters, and I've yet to see the other candidate even mention Black Lives Matter, where I've seen Gary say those things. So I'm just, you know, making sure that we're out and we're doing what we can. We're knocking doors all the way up until the day of. We need more volunteers to count these ballots. In Michigan, we passed legislation to actually start counting the ballots the day before. We try to get a longer time, but at least we got an extra day to start a day ahead so it'll kind of combat some of these things that's coming out of Washington.

All right. Gentlemen, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Keep up the good work. Thanks for having me. All right. Thank you so very much. Hey, folks, Dr. Jay is one of the folks who also is talking about the importance of getting out to vote. This is what he had to say. Hi, it's Julius Irving, Sixer fans. Pennsylvania

is one of the states that will decide this election, and the road to the White House begins here. Donald Trump won this state by less than one percentage point, and we cannot let that happen again. Joe Biden is the president we need to slam dunk COVID-19,

fight for equality, and build this country back better than ever before. Your voice matters. And we need to hear it on November 3rd. So please register to vote on iwillvote.com. Our vote is our voice. Make yours heard. Thank you, Billy, for Joe. All right, folks, my next guest, she always says she married her politics,

actress Cheryl Lee Ralph. She joins me right now in Roland Martin on the filter. Cheryl Lee, what's happening? Everything is happening, and I'm loving the conversation that you are having there in Michigan. Those brothers right there, they are all talking about the truth, and I'm loving it. You have been somebody who has always been active in politics, really pushing people to be aware of the issues. Just share your thoughts about this election and what you've been seeing, what you've been feeling. You know something, this election, like you've had people there there saying it is the election of our lifetime literally our literal very life there are people out there who would like to squeeze shoot beat

hang slug the life out of us we are seeing it take place in ways between meetings at stop signs with police officers that are ending in death, mental issues that are ending in death for young black men. This is obviously systemic racism showing itself to us on the daily. And it is happening because COVID-19, under the complete lack of leadership of that orange occupier in the White House, has shown us just how bad it is. And anybody, anybody of color, black, brown, who sits this election out, we all don't deserve what you're going to give us. So I encourage everybody, please get yourself together, go out and vote. If you've got to vote, if you've got to be there, you're going to have to vote early, plan to vote successfully. If it's cold, bundled up, you can't stand, sit down, bring a chair. You need water, make sure you bring water. You need to work out, have the right music in your headphones, but stay online and vote like

your life depends upon it, because it really does. Shirley, let's talk about California. We were talking earlier about you must focus on what's down ballot. A ballot proposition there in California looks like it's lagging behind. Tell our viewers about that ballot proposal. You know something? It's interesting. It's Proposition 16, and that is the equal opportunity ban. And I'm like, why are we letting the past divide us? Why can't we come together and vote on what is needed for the future? How we battle, how we combat systematic racism is by making sure that everybody has an equal opportunity and an equal shot at education. Back in 1996, I believe the governor was Pete Wilson. Pete Wilson and all of his cronies in the GOP at that time, they kept using race to divide us, to divide us. And they said, look,

everybody has an opportunity. If you're black, if you're poor, that's no reason for you to have a leg up. Well, yeah, it is, because for so long, people have had their legs, their knees, everything at our neck. Vote yes on Proposition 16 so that we can have equal opportunity programs. We need them more than ever right now. And to say you don't want Proposition 16 is to say that,

hey, people of color, Black lives, they don't matter. And that's got to stop. Yes on 16, California. Well, and on that point, there are other ballot initiatives all across the country. And in fact, there was a ballot initiative in 2018 that created a commission that would redraw lines here in Michigan because they got tired of the gerrymandering happening in the legislature. That's how people can change the Amendment 4 pass in Florida, giving voting rights back to those who are formerly incarcerated. Republicans have been fighting that as well, opposite of a million four people. And so we can't ignore those ballot initiatives, Shirley. We cannot ignore these things. And very often we vote for things not having the proper information, which is why what you were proposing, that organization, social organizations,

sororities, fraternities, make the commitment to teaching young people about what it means to vote and vote properly. Now, we've got record numbers of people coming out to vote in this election season. We need them to come back in two years. We need them to come back two years after that. We need them to keep up so that we can get the people, the leaders at the gate that we need who understand what our needs are. But it doesn't happen unless people get into the habit of voting and knowing what they're voting for. Proposition 16 in California, it should not be lagging behind. People should be voting yes on that

because we need equal opportunity and we need it now. All right, Shirley Raff, I appreciate it. It's always great to have you on the show. Tell your husband what's up. Well, darling, like you said, I don't just live with my politics. I sleep with my politics.

Senator Vincent Hughes of the great state of Pennsylvania, the great city of Philadelphia. OK, it's having a little rough time right now, but all things matter. All right, then, Shirley, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thanks, darling. Bye bye. All right, folks, that appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thanks, darling. Bye-bye. All right, folks.

That is it for us. Hey, we want you to support Roland Martin Unfiltered, joining our Bring the Funk fan club. Look, we've been all over the country for the past week. Last week, we were in Raleigh, North Carolina. North Carolina A&T. We're at, of course, North Carolina Central, and we're broadcasting in Raleigh from an early voting location. Over the weekend in Florida for the Florida Rights Restoration

Coalition, their march, which took place in Orlando. Then, of course, on Monday with Jamie Harrison in Columbia, South Carolina. Tuesday with Joe Biden, Raphael Warnock, and John Ossoff. Of course, here interviewing Senator Gary Peters in Detroit and others. Back in D.C. tomorrow, but on Sunday, I'll be in Jackson, Mississippi,

with Mike Espy for a big Get Out the Vote rally taking place there. Then, of on Sunday, I'll be in Jackson, Mississippi, with Mike Espy for a big get-out-the-vote rally taking place there. Then, of course, we'll be back in studio Monday, and we have an election night coverage. We're not going to be live from 6 to 8, because we're going to be broadcasting eight hours at night on election night, covering all the races. And we're also going to have our show. We'll be simulcast on iHeartRadio's Black Information Network radio stations, about 20-plus stations across the country. So we will be actually on national broadcasts on radio,

plus right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered, every single on our YouTube channel, Facebook, and Periscope as well. Support us, of course, via Cash App, dollar sign RMUnfiltered, paypal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered, vidmo.com forward slash R M unfiltered. You can send a money order to New Vision Media, NU Vision Media, Inc.

1625 K Street, Northwest, Suite 400, Washington, D.C., 2006. We've got about 13,200 folks who are now fan club members. Of course, we want to get 20,000 of those folks joining us. So please do so. So I will see you guys tomorrow. That's it. I want to thank everybody for making this possible, for setting this whole thing up. Literally, y'all, this thing was put together real quick.

I called Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence last week, and she said, hey, we're going to do it. And so I want to thank all the staffers, everybody who made it possible, the folks who came out here, my frat brothers, folks with Divide Nine, so many others who are here. We certainly had a great time. Thank you so very much. Y'all keep supporting Roland Martin Unfiltered. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Y'all always know how I end the show. Real simple. Holla! Here's the deal.

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