#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Sen. Raphael Warnock talks Black Wealth, Miss. HB 102 Unconstitutional, 9 Tenn. Deputies Indicted

Episode Date: September 23, 2023

9.22.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Sen. Raphael Warnock talks Black Wealth, Miss. HB 102 Unconstitutional, 9 Tenn. Deputies Indicted Georgia Senator Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock, is in the studio toni...ght.  We'll discuss many things, including the upcoming election, gun control, and voting rights.  You don't want to miss my conversation with my Alpha brother.  Mississippi's Supreme Court says the state Republicans' attempt to create four unelected special circuit court judges in Jackson, which is more than 70% Black, is unconstitutional.  I'll be joined by Impact Policy Counsel for the Mississippi Center for Justice to discuss this victory.  Nine Memphis deputies are indicted for the beating death of an inmate, and the five former Memphis police officers accused of beating Tyre Nichols to death have a federal trial date.   A new report uncovers the connection between Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the Koch Brother's network.  I'll explain how this connection indeed questions Thomas' case decisions.  Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an iHeart Podcast. stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersilling.org brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English.
Starting point is 00:01:05 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.
Starting point is 00:01:24 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. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We'll be right now. Black power.
Starting point is 00:06:46 Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Stay Black, I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN.
Starting point is 00:07:08 You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today is Friday, September 22nd, 2023, coming up on Roller Barton Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Georgia U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock will be in studio tonight talking about issues in the United States Senate.
Starting point is 00:07:48 Democrats, how they're going to move an agenda forward when you have Republicans who can't get their act together in the House. We also will talk about a 2024 election, what African Americans should be doing when it comes to supporting Biden and Harris. Look forward to that conversation
Starting point is 00:08:04 with my alpha brother. Mississippi Supreme Court says the state Republicans attempt to create four unelected special circuit court judges in Jackson, Mississippi. Of course, more than 70% black is unconstitutional. I'll be joined by the Impact Policy Council for the Mississippi Center for Justice to discuss this court victory.
Starting point is 00:08:22 Nine Memphis deputies are indicted for the beating death of an inmate and the five former Memphis police officers accused of beating Tyree Nichols to death have a federal trial date. A new report uncovers the connection between Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and a Koch brother, the Koch Network, will talk about his connection
Starting point is 00:08:45 and why Clarence Thomas is truly the most corrupt federal judge in America. Also, we had a great time at the Cincinnati Music Festival with Proctor and Gamble. We'll show you some of that fun right here on the show. It is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network, let's go.
Starting point is 00:09:27 Whatever the piss, he's on it the Blackstar Network. Let's go. With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah It's rolling Martin Yeah, yeah Rolling with rolling now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's rolling Martin Now She's real the best, you know he's rolling. Martel.
Starting point is 00:09:53 Martel. Folks, we continue to see craziness happen in the United States Congress. Right now, Republicans are truly losing their minds first over the Senate changing the dress code because of Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman. Okay, gotcha. Now you got the madness in the House where Republicans have literally left D.C. for the weekend, even though we've got a shutdown that is looming.
Starting point is 00:10:21 These folks cannot get their act together. They're literally stuck on stupid. So you've got Kevin McCarthy, that feckless Speaker of the House, who is being held hostage by his nutcase Freedom Caucus. When you've got Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene
Starting point is 00:10:37 doing more talking than anybody else in Congress, you know you've truly lost your mind. The question is, when they come back, what are Democrats going to do? Republicans are demanding massive cuts to the federal government. But aren't they the same people who voted for massive tax increases under Donald Trump?
Starting point is 00:10:57 Which goes added $8 trillion to the debt, representing 25% of existing debt. So what are they going to do? What should our reaction be? Are we going to remain silent and then watch the right lose their minds and then try to force President Joe Biden
Starting point is 00:11:15 to accept their cuts? And let's be real clear, these folks will shut down the government. In fact, I'm going to play a clip a little bit later when Karl Rove talked about that and and he said, because this Fox News person said, well, why do Republicans always get blamed for shutting the government down? Karl Rove said,
Starting point is 00:11:32 because they do. That's literally what they do. Y'all, they shut the government down when Trump was president. These people truly are nuts. My panel, Michael Imhotep, hosts the African History Network show out of Detroit. Joins us, Matt Manning, civil rights attorney
Starting point is 00:11:47 out of Corpus Christi, Texas. Caleb Athea, communications strategist out of D.C. I don't understand any of these nutcases, Michael. They really are crazy. And we don't have Michael yet. All right, so we lost Michael, so they've never been able to get Michael back. I'll turn to Matt and Kelly.
Starting point is 00:12:05 Kelly, I'll start with you. Here's my whole deal. This whole piece. This is where Democrats should literally say. You do you. Y'all let me know when y'all go through all your nonsense. I'll be here waiting. They should not commit to anything until the nuts in the House move forward. And my thing is they fought so hard to get the majority. They fought so hard to keep power, Republicans, and then to use it or, frankly, abuse it in this manner in a way that does nothing for the American people, doesn't even do anything for their caucus or their own agenda. It is like they just thrive on chaos. They thrive on the misinformation and the uncertainties
Starting point is 00:12:49 because the only way they can galvanize their base is if something is wrong and they can blame somebody else for it. But yeah, it's ridiculous up here in DC right now between that and indictments and impeachments that don't need to be here. It's crazy. And it's like no one is paying attention
Starting point is 00:13:13 to the American people regarding what they need, how they need it, and how soon they need it. Because these are jobs and lives that we're talking about. Matt, again, these are the people who, they really don't care. They're insane. They're insane. And they will,
Starting point is 00:13:34 without a doubt, they'll shut the whole thing down just because. And you see, they wouldn't even vote on a budget, and McCarthy was like, man, what's wrong with these people? Guess what, Kevin? They're yours. Yeah. And you see how they even put him in place. I mean, he's in a precarious position to begin
Starting point is 00:13:55 with, considering they had so many votes to even let him be the speaker. And I think the reason is, Roland, partially is because they find that there's political capital to that, you know, in terms of being obstructionist. That's why we're continuing to see it. I don't think that's sustainable. I think at some point even people in their own constituency start to say, you know, you're not getting anything. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.
Starting point is 00:14:37 But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.
Starting point is 00:15:03 Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two
Starting point is 00:15:28 of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man.
Starting point is 00:15:37 We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is.
Starting point is 00:15:55 Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs
Starting point is 00:16:16 podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling, the limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars.
Starting point is 00:16:57 Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org, brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Done, but that I think goes again to the crisis of representative democracy that we see now. You got people who are in office running to stay in office and who are not concerned about their constituents and the greater good. But it's because there has not been a political price to pay for their, you know, asinine actions yet. Michael, this really is one of the funnest clips that I've seen. It was on Fox News Sunday with
Starting point is 00:17:29 Shannon Rehm. And she thought she was sort of trying to make the point defending Republicans for getting blamed for government shutdowns. Karl Rove blew that up in her face. Go to my iPad, watch this. There's another fight that everybody's going to get blamed for, too. Another Hill headline says this, lawmakers prepare for shutdown blame game. Carl, this never seems to go well for anyone, but it does generally seem that Republicans get blamed for these shutdowns. Well, generally because Republicans are responsible for the shutdown. They seem to eagerly want it. So yeah, there's a reason why they get blamed. And look, the American people demand that their government try and run itself in an appropriate fashion. And the fact that the biggest financial and business enterprise in the world, the U.S. government,
Starting point is 00:18:12 can outpass a budget in time and then ends up shutting itself down over things that are on the margin. I mean, we're talking about the difference between this and that. And the Republicans are going to shoot themselves in the foot in the run-up to the 2024 election if they continue to think that shutdowns are a great way to put themselves in front of the American people. And there you go right there, Michael, one of their own, like, yeah, we the ones who act stupid. Absolutely. Karl Rove, you know, I really agree with Karl Rove, but this is a time that I agree with him. And this is something I warned people about during the 2020 presidential election and then the 2022, especially the 2022 midterm election, because during the first two years of the Trump administration, there were three government shutdowns in the first two years. And that last one, December 2018 going into January 2019, that one
Starting point is 00:19:09 lasted 35 days. That one was devastating, okay? And when you talk about the government shutdown, about, well, at least going back to the last government shutdown, 2018, 2019, we know about 18 percent of the federal employees are African-American. So you had a lot of federal employees who went without getting paid for that period of time. They were shut down. But this but also you have federal contractors. You have some African-American owned businesses that have federal contracts. And if this gets to the point where federal contractors don't get paid, that means their employees don't get paid as well. So this we have to understand political self-defense and self-preservation.
Starting point is 00:19:50 You cannot let crazy people have control of the government. You can't let them have control of the House, Senate, or the White House. So this is why, you know, 2022, the House flipped to Republicans based upon about 7,000 House votes in a handful of districts. This is why every vote counts. This is why elections have consequences, and we have to be smarter at this.
Starting point is 00:20:15 And I always get a kick out of listening to that, let's say, underage lover, Matt Gaetz. Love to see him when he is whining and crowing about Kevin McCarthy. Remember when Kevin McCarthy was kissing his butt to get his vote for House Speaker? Ooh, I love how he repays him. It's Kevin McCarthy's fault that the government... You believe the government is going to shut down. Yes, and it's Kevin McCarthy's fault that the government is going to shut down. Yes, and it's Kevin McCarthy's fault that the government is going to shut down because we didn't move individual spending bills. We cannot blame the Democrats for having not done our job to comply with the coalition agreement that we made at the beginning of the year.
Starting point is 00:20:59 That is the fault of the speaker, and I believe that if he does not immediately remediate that, he will likely face a motion to vacate. I'm not for everyone. I get that. But a deal's a deal. And if Kevin McCarthy wasn't willing to honor the deal that he made to assume the speakership, then he should not have agreed to those terms. Inside Washington, D.C., people think they can just lie all the time with impunity and
Starting point is 00:21:23 that no one's ever going to call them on their bullshit. But, you know, Kevin broke this deal. And I intend to hold him to that deal or to hold daily votes on a motion to vacate. Yeah, I'm pretty frustrated. And I had so much hope when Speaker McCarthy made this agreement that we could turn this place around during both Republican and Democrat control. But instead, all we've gotten are lies and broken promises and failure and shutdowns. And while that may be Kevin McCarthy's legacy,
Starting point is 00:21:51 it will not be mine. Yes, it will. Because you're a liar, too. Got to go to a break. We come back. We're going to talk Mississippi, what's happened there when it comes to judicial races. Supreme Court, shocking 8-0 decision.
Starting point is 00:22:06 We'll explain next. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. And on the next Get Wealthy, you'll meet Jandy Turner, who took her love of sports, expanded her network, and created a thriving business. I settled on developing a golf event planning business, which in and of itself has been very viable for me. One of the things that I've learned from producing hundreds, if not thousands,
Starting point is 00:22:41 of golf tournaments is that business gets done on the golf course. All on The Next Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not be white. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance.
Starting point is 00:23:11 We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Hi, I am Tommy Davidson.
Starting point is 00:24:12 I play Oscar on Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. I don't play Sammy, but I could. Or I don't play Obama, but I could. I don't do Stallone, but I could do all that. And I am here with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. Folks, a surprise decision out of Mississippi where the Supreme Court unanimously agreed
Starting point is 00:24:41 that the attempt by Republicans to create four unelected special circuit court judges in Hines County, where Jackson, Mississippi, is, is unconstitutional. The justices sided with the plaintiffs that HB 1020 Section 1 said they said that Section 1's creation of four newly appointed temporary special circuit judges in the Seventh Circuit Court District for a specified almost four year term violates our Constitution's requirement that circuit judges be elected for a four-year term. Blake Feldman is the Impact Policy Counsel from the Mississippi Center for Justice. Blake, glad to have you here. So here's the thing that people have to understand, what's really going on. We're seeing this in other states as well. Republicans in Mississippi are using their supermajority to impose their will on
Starting point is 00:25:26 Jackson, Mississippi. They hate the fact that it's Democrat. They hate the fact that it's 70% Black. But what's hilarious is, without Jackson, a broke Mississippi is broker. Yeah, absolutely. There's
Starting point is 00:25:41 been a complete just Jackson was targeted in a way that we have not seen yet this past legislative session. Uh, this is a big win. Uh, people, the coalition that organized quickly when this bill and others were introduced this session were vindicated yesterday. And this is great, but there are no one is naive enough to believe that the legislature is done targeting Jackson, that it all of a sudden now will believe that black people should be entrusted with the same rights to vote, the same rights to self-determination. Jackson will continue to be targeted, but it's been really deprived and starved of resources for a few decades now by a majority white legislature and all white statewide elected officials,
Starting point is 00:26:45 which is really unfortunate. It cripples the state. It hurts everyone. It hurts white and black Mississippians. But this mentality of black people should not be able to govern themselves in the same way that every other municipality in the state is allowed, in the same way that residents of every other county in the state are allowed. Hines County and Jackson were treated in a very gross, unfair, and discriminatory way this past session. And we're not just talking about this bill. There's so many others. These are the same people who literally refused to, I mean, the governor, when he said he was treasurer,
Starting point is 00:27:27 he was proud of not funding Jackson, Mississippi. And then they told Chukwue Lumumba, the mayor, okay, you actually think, because he told me the story, he's like, you actually think you're going to go to D.C. and get Biden to give you some money for the water system. Lumumba came here, got 600 million. And then when he got back, they were like, yeah, we're going to run the water system now. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:27:55 We will not give you resources. Then we will blame failures on you. If you are able to secure those resources, we cannot trust you to use those correctly, so we will use them even though the state has no track record of doing things correctly. It's a very entrenched and sustained mentality of white supremacy that is just devastating to people in the community, which is why this bill of lies that the legislature tried to sell this past session with this is to help the people of Jackson. The people of Jackson want solutions to problems that they're facing, but they do not want the state to dictate to them these non-solutions that were provided with these bills.
Starting point is 00:28:48 This won't address anything. All that it does is take a little bit more power from black people and give it to the state and the statewide elected officials who happen to be white. And what we're seeing here is, but this is nothing new because it's happening in other states. I mean, in Texas, my home state, the Republicans passed a bill that says Secretary of State, if certain things happen,
Starting point is 00:29:13 has the power to overturn the election only in Harris County. 254 counties in Texas, but they passed a bill against one county in Texas. And they've been targeting Harris County because it's a blue county. And so this is what Republicans are doing. They're wielding their power,
Starting point is 00:29:29 and they are, all the so-called local government, no big government, you know, local control, it's amazing they only believe that when they're in power. Exactly. And I think that another thing that's very important, I'm glad you brought up Texas. Mississippi and Texas share the same court of appeals in the federal judiciary system. I think that these state legislatures that are very conservative, believe the federal courts aren't going to stop us. The state courts aren't going to stop us. We can do whatever we want. And we're seeing this was a radical piece of
Starting point is 00:30:15 legislation, House Bill 1020, Senate Bill 2343, expanding Capitol Police in those ways. These were very radical pieces of legislation. I think that it really speaks to the people of Jackson that organized and said, we have to fight this with every arrow that we have in our quiver. One of those arrows is litigation. And the people of Jackson said, we're not just going to roll over when we're targeted, especially when fundamental principles of our democracy are attacked. That is a paraphrase of what one of the plaintiffs said in our case, in her case. And people didn't think that we would get a decision like this, that the Mississippi Supreme Court would side with them, that when the Mississippi Constitution says that circuit judges are elected, shall be elected by the people in this state, it means what it says. But that's what they did. In an eight to zero unanimous decision, the Mississippi Supreme Court said, yes, the Constitution means what it says.
Starting point is 00:31:24 These four appointments that are being forced onto the people of Hines County, The Mississippi Supreme Court said, yes, the Constitution means what it says. These four appointments that are being forced onto the people of Hines County, which would deprive them of the right to vote and choose their elected leaders of their courts, is unconstitutional. And it was struck down, and it really speaks to because we're not done, and the community knows that we're not done. We will use every avenue available, and the people of Jackson will use every avenue available to demand equity and equal treatment from this state legislature. We appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Matt, I want to go to you first. Look, I keep trying to explain to people, again, to all the people out there who sit on their asses and don't vote,
Starting point is 00:32:10 this is what happens when you let people have total control, when you don't exercise your power. There are thousands of black people in Mississippi who are eligible to vote who do not vote. That's absolutely right. And it's also what happens when you don't hold politicians to account for what they say, even if they act hypocritically. I think you made a really astute point earlier. I mean, they crow, Republicans primarily, crow about local government and federalism and all of that stuff. And then you pass a bill where you basically want to divest the people of Jackson of that, that's an indefensible position. And that's something against what you said for all these years. And on top of that, to your point,
Starting point is 00:32:54 I mean, not only is it about local control, but when you have 70 percent of the population is black and you want to create basically a conservatorship where white people get to decide what happens in those black people's lives and they have no meaningful say, I mean, that's abhorrent in 2023. And it's one of those things that only happens after you have seen fomenting of this kind of rhetoric, right? The kind of rhetoric just like I actually spoke to, that black people can't take care of themselves and that we've got to take care of themselves. And, you know, they don't have the means of intelligently pursuant to their Mississippi constitution, electing the people who represent them. So this is why elections matter, and this is why holding politicians
Starting point is 00:33:29 to account for what they say matters. Because if you're talking about local government and federalism and all these things, then you cannot pass bills that directly controvert that, and that's precisely what they intended to do here. But I am still concerned, Roland, I didn't hear, if they're going to still create the district, how is that district or that circuit actually populated? I know that these judges have to be elected, but are those circuits going to be- They struck it down, but they did approve one of them. So again, it's sort of a weird ruling there, but basically they got to go back to the drawing board for these four circuit judges because they're supposed to have like three who are supposed to be four terms, and so that's what's up with that one.
Starting point is 00:34:10 Michael, I want to go to you on this because this is the thing, again, we're seeing this in Tennessee. We're seeing it in Texas. In Tennessee, they literally split Nashville into four different congressional districts. They're trying to take away the airport authority from Nashville. Republicans in Georgia have been trying to do the exact same thing. Our people need to understand again, if we do not vote, what is happening? These Republicans are trying to, we might say, oh, hey, we got Democratic mayor. These Republicans are saying, no, no, no, we're going to control your city from the state capitol.
Starting point is 00:34:42 Absolutely, and especially in the form of Confederate states like Mississippi is, like Texas is, like Tennessee is. And, you know, your guest mentioned the state constitution of Mississippi. That's the Mississippi state constitution of 1890. And you don't have to read the whole thing, but if you understand it, they impose poll taxes, literacy tests, but also a felony disenfranchisement law so that if you committed a felony or certain types of felony, you lost your right to vote for life. And all this was targeting African-Americans. The presiding judge over the state convention, his name was Solomon Saladin Calhoun, he said, we came here to exclude the Negro, okay? And then when we look at Hines County,
Starting point is 00:35:29 Hines County is 70%, more than 70% African-American. So this is a continuation, okay? This is a continuation of what happened after Reconstruction ends and these voter suppression tactics that they keep playing. This is why we have to understand politics as well as history and vote not just for people who can do things for us, but also vote to stop people who are trying. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.
Starting point is 00:36:06 But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1.
Starting point is 00:36:34 Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1,
Starting point is 00:36:54 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at LavaForGoodPlus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs. good plus on Apple Podcasts. Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher.
Starting point is 00:37:37 Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.
Starting point is 00:37:52 It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to,
Starting point is 00:38:22 you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. To do things to us. Okay, so this is extremely important.
Starting point is 00:38:51 Kelly. I agree with my panelists here. My main concern with this ruling, even though it was overturned, is that the court still emphasized that there's no constitutional impediment to what they did, meaning that they can do it again given they have exigent circumstances. And knowing how Mississippi Mississippis, they can absolutely more or less force an exigent circumstance upon Jackson, upon this county, to do what they just did. And that's still a problem just because it was overturned because of, you know, some type of loophole doesn't mean it can't happen again by another loophole. So we still need to be aware. We still need to be proactive in this.
Starting point is 00:39:39 And for Mississippians, vote, make sure that you're holding your people accountable so that stuff like this doesn't happen again and that y'all will actually vote judges in who can make sure that jurisprudence like this doesn't apply. Folks, we come back. We'll be chatting with Georgia United States Senator Raphael Warnock. He is in the House. Lots to talk about. Calls for New Jersey Senator Menendez to resign. President Biden said he's going to walk the picket line. Republicans can't get their act together in the house. Black people are saying, what have you done for me lately?
Starting point is 00:40:13 What was going to happen in the 2024 election? Lots to discuss. Next, right here, a rollback on the filter of the Black Star Network. Don't forget, folks, to please, if you're watching on YouTube, hit the Like button, all right? Don't be lazy. Hit the like button. Also, join our Bring the Funk fan club. Your dollars make it possible. I keep telling y'all,
Starting point is 00:40:30 I'm out here fighting these, look, I found out today there's one advertiser they did not want to advertise with us because they did not like a commentary I gave about Texas Governor Greg Abbott. But I see they adds on Fox News. So y'all need to understand how they do black- owned media.
Starting point is 00:40:45 And so your support is absolutely critical. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing on average 50 bucks each, that comes out to a million dollars a year. Folks, that's four dollars and 19 cents a month, 13 cents a day. A lot of people say they can't afford that, totally understand.
Starting point is 00:40:59 Had a woman today at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, AOC, she's like, I don't want a picture, I'm making my contribution, I don't want a picture. I'm making my contribution. I don't know how to use Cash App. So I punched it in for her, and she gave her contribution. I certainly appreciate that. So see your check and money order at Appeal Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196.
Starting point is 00:41:18 Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at bookstores nationwide. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Chapters, Books A Million, Target.
Starting point is 00:41:37 Download the audio copy on Audible. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture. We're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people powered movement. A lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it and you spread the word.
Starting point is 00:41:59 We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people.
Starting point is 00:42:21 $50 this month. Weigh it to $100,000. We're behind $100,000. So we want to hit that.000 people, $50 this month, wait to $100,000. We're behind 100,000, so we want to hit that. Y'all money makes this possible. Check some money orders. Go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash App is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered.
Starting point is 00:42:37 PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Call. Democracy in the United States is under siege. On this list of bad actors, it's easy to point out the Donald Trumps, the Marjorie Taylor Greens, or even the United States Supreme Court as the primary villains. But as David Pepper, author, scholar, and former politician himself says, there's another factor that trumps them all and resides much closer to many of our homes. His book is Laboratories of Autocracy, a wake-up call from behind the lines.
Starting point is 00:43:21 So these state houses get hijacked by the far right. Then they gerrymander, they suppress the opposition, from behind the lines. So these state houses get hijacked by the far right. Then they gerrymander, they suppress the opposition, and that allows them to legislate in a way that doesn't reflect the people of that state. David Pepper joins us on the next Black Table, here on the Black Star Network. All change is not growth.
Starting point is 00:43:43 Right. But thoughtful change is real good fertilizer. And that's what has been so beneficial to us. But you also were not afraid of the pivot. Well, and I'm a black woman in business. Come on, I don't care how I dress up. I don't care who I'm speaking with. I don't care what part of the world I am in.
Starting point is 00:44:02 I still am a black woman in business. Being afraid of the pivot, being fearful of change is not what got me here. Respectful of change, respectful of pivot, yeah. Fearful, no, Life with me, Dr. Jackie, we're going to be talking about common sense. We think that people have it, know how to use it, but it is something that people often have to learn. The truth is most of us are not born with it and we need to teach common sense, embrace it, and give it to those who need it most, our kids. So I always tell teachers to listen out to what conversations the students are having about what
Starting point is 00:44:56 they're getting from social media and then let's get ahead of it and have the appropriate conversations with them. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Blackstar Network. Next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes, the amazing Drew Dixon. She gives us the details behind the HBO documentary that shed light on the alleged sexual assault by Russell Simmons. And we're talking about the Netflix documentary, Ladies First, right here on The Frequency on the Black sexual assaults by Russell Simmons. And we're talking about the Netflix documentary,
Starting point is 00:45:25 Ladies First, right here on The Frequency on the Black Star Network. I'm Faraji Muhammad, live from L.A. And this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation, you and me. We talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard.
Starting point is 00:45:50 Hey, we're all in this together. So let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into. It's the culture. Weekdays at 3, only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Jo Marie Payton, voice of Sugar Mama on Disney's Louder and Prouder Disney+. And I'm with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. Thank you. Folks, he was re-elected to a full six-year term.
Starting point is 00:47:09 Remember, 2020, there was a runoff. It was Raphael Warnock, John Ossoff. Both of them were in highly contested runoff elections in Georgia. You know, we dang near moved to Georgia for those five weeks to help them with that. Well, for Senator Ossoff, he had a full six-year term, Senator Warnock, he had to run again in 2022, but now he can go, all right, cool, I'm here for six years. After folks turned out in big numbers, he joins us right now.
Starting point is 00:47:40 Frat, been waiting for you to get in here, to come sit in the chair. Good to see you, brother. It ain't like it's a hot seat, you know, but sometimes it can get a little hot. Look, I won five elections in three years, but who's counting? Here we are.
Starting point is 00:47:56 Good to see you, man. A whole lot of elections. Absolutely good to see you. A lot going on in D.C. Corruption of the Black Caucus Foundation, AOC is going on. We'll chat about that in a second. But it's been a crazy news day already. One of your colleagues
Starting point is 00:48:07 indicted in New Jersey. Democrats in his state have been calling for him to resign. Your thoughts on this indictment of Robert Hernandez, $480,000 in cash found in his home, and literally the feds say DNA of one of the folks involved who was bribing him found
Starting point is 00:48:24 on envelopes. We have a very narrow margin already in the United States Senate. Well, listen, all of us who are elected to public office, for me, that represents a sacred trust and a covenant between the person elected and the people who elected you. We'll see how all of this plays out.
Starting point is 00:48:43 This is very fresh. And we'll witness a judicial process at work. And I saw one story before that he has already given up committee gavel. But some of the Democrats are saying, look, there's no way you can, I mean, he's already been indicted before. There was a hung jury there saying,
Starting point is 00:49:03 look, the feds put out literally the cash and the envelopes, things along those lines on the Department of Justice website. And with already a very tenuous situation, a very small margin, you do not have a lot of room to work with there in the United States Senate with Democrats. Well, one of the great things about our country, at least we extol, is that no one is above the law, no one is below the law. And I will wait and see how this plays out. Another issue, President Joe Biden has been going back and forth over this UAW strike.
Starting point is 00:49:39 The UAW folks announced that they're going to be expanding their strike across the country. Go to my iPad, President Biden. Apparently, it's going to be joining the picket lines for the 90 auto workers. Your thoughts about that? Well, listen, I'm a big champion of workers. And, you know, I watched my dad. He wasn't a member of a union, but I watched him work hard with his hands. He was a small business owner.
Starting point is 00:50:01 I don't think people, most people mind working hard. They just want to share in the prosperity that they're helping to create for others. And so the strength of collective bargaining is an important tradition in our country. We're seeing it play out. And by the way, I don't buy this political divide you see often between being pro worker andbusiness. I want to see businesses thrive so that families can thrive, but it's important for workers to have that kind of collective strength so that they can negotiate.
Starting point is 00:50:35 And when that's not there, we see this increasing wealth divide and people are not able to thrive. And so we'll see how this plays out. One of your colleagues, Senator Tim Scott, made a statement that if people go on strike, they should be fired. President Joe Biden's team did not wait long to turn a lot of these Republican. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.
Starting point is 00:51:16 But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.
Starting point is 00:51:44 Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated It's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.
Starting point is 00:52:11 In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all
Starting point is 00:52:25 reasonable means to care for themselves music stars marcus king john osborne from brothers osborne we have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing benny the butcher brent smith from shine down got be real from cypress hill nhl enforcer riley cote marine corvette mma fighter liz caramouch what we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things Be real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.
Starting point is 00:52:53 It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Here's the deal. We gotta set
Starting point is 00:53:19 ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We gotta make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Comments into an ad. We'll have to play this, get your thoughts on it. Go to my iPad, Anthony. When you have a president that's constantly saying, go union, go union, this is what you get. The unions get emboldened and then they start asking for things. The first bill he passed had $86 billion for union pensions.
Starting point is 00:54:06 This president clearly does prioritize union jobs, and he's made very clear here that union workers deserve more, that their pay increases have not come close to the success and the money that all of these auto companies have enjoyed. The thing that's interesting is we're seeing numbers. Union support is at almost an all-time high. The last six, seven years has been stunning, even to folks in unions,
Starting point is 00:54:39 with how the American people have responded. Because for the longest it was, unions are awful, let's be right to work. And so many folks are now saying, wait a minute, you know what? Collected bargaining ain't a bad idea. Look, Americans across the political spectrum, I think, have witnessed over the last few decades this growing divide between the compensation of the average worker and their CEOs.
Starting point is 00:55:04 And these are the issues that are being raised. This is just one example. But, you know, when I hear one of my colleagues talk about who ought to be fired and people doing their job, I'd love to see my colleagues over in the House do their job. I'd love to see Congress do its job and keep the government open, because certainly that's not helping working families in Georgia. The people I'm talking to are thinking about the high costs of prescription drugs, the costs of health care in general. They are concerned and trying to keep their families safe.
Starting point is 00:55:37 We've had more mass shootings this year than we've had days this year. I just did a panel discussion over at the Congressional Black Caucus weekend this week. It featured Quavo, who's undergone his own tragedy in recent months. My colleague, Lucy McBath, who lost her son, transformed her pain into power, got involved in politics. We're witnessing all of this American carnage, and Congress hasn't done nearly, nearly enough. And so I'd like to see us get something done on gun safety, on prescription drugs, on creating jobs and opportunity for average Americans.
Starting point is 00:56:23 And to that point, we see the energy. We saw the energy in Tennessee when the Republicans booted out two out of three, both African Americans. Gloria Johnson wasn't booted out. And they were responding to the people who were demanding change after there was a shooting at this Christian school.
Starting point is 00:56:46 Then the Republicans there then began to literally throw people out who were holding up signs. And so they spent more time attacking the folk who were crying about their children being killed than they did with the issue of guns. It's awful.
Starting point is 00:57:02 You know, what we witness in Tennessee, we've seen time and time again, another tragic flashpoint. And for folks who are trying, you know, this happens so often, I'm not sure people even remember what happened. But a killing at a Christian school involving the youngest of children and others, and you had a movement emerge, people responding to that. And rather than using their power
Starting point is 00:57:26 to do something about safety, we saw this anti-democratic effort afoot in the Tennessee legislature. They threw these young legislators out. One of them visited my church in recent months, and I was certainly inspired by their leadership, by their voice. But we are seeing, Roland, this kind of assault,
Starting point is 00:57:48 this unabashed, unembarrassed assault on our democracy from people who know that they're losing the argument. They're losing the argument on gun safety. They're losing the argument on reproductive choice. They're losing the argument on a whole range of issues. And so rather than have the people pick their representatives, the representatives are trying to pick their voters or throw out the representatives that the voters have selected. You won't hear me say this much,
Starting point is 00:58:16 especially on Roland Martin Unfiltered. But a Fox News poll said that 87 percent of Americans believe that we ought to have universal background checks. We ought to at least know who's owning the guns, and yet no real discussion, something I was pushing my colleagues on in recent weeks and in recent months. No real conversation about that. As divided as the country is,
Starting point is 00:58:43 I don't think the people are as divided as is reflected in the politics. And that's a democracy problem. And the Congressional Black Caucus, whose weekend I chair this year, has always been at the center of that conversation. We've got to do something about all these issues, but I think job one is fighting for the democracy itself. And I do think that black people, given our history, given our struggle, just to have our humanity acknowledged, to have our voices heard, have always had a special role to play in that. And I'm proud to be a part of a movement that centers racial equity, but it's multiracial in its expanse and it's focused on giving the people their voice back
Starting point is 00:59:28 in their own democracy. Talked about the CDCF. I host a moderated panel today of Congressman Hank Johnson about expanding the courts. And what he argued is that, first of all, we've expanded the courts before. They did not begin at nine. The country has changed.
Starting point is 00:59:47 The circuit courts have changed as well. Do you believe there should be an expansion of the Supreme Court? We look at a lot of these critical issues first, and then got to get your thoughts on should there be ethics reform? There's a new story from ProPublica about Clarence Thomas literally participating in Koch Network fundraisers. Republican judges are saying that absolutely
Starting point is 01:00:10 crosses the line. A Supreme Court justice should not be attending fundraisers for right-wing conservative groups. Well, sadly, you know, the Republican leader certainly believes in expanding the courts. He's perhaps the only living senator who's actually done it. But certainly there ought to be ethics and in expanding the courts. He's perhaps the only living senator who's actually done it.
Starting point is 01:00:26 But certainly there ought to be ethics and accountability in the courts. I mean, this is a foundation of what it means to live in a democracy. And we are watching what's happening in the Supreme Court. Clearly, it seems to me there is not a willingness to hold themselves accountable. And so we've got to do something, I think, at the congressional level to push ethics reform. Whether you are elected to office or you're serving on the court, people have to know. I mean, this is how this is how the democracy works. We people have to know that that decisions are being made and that it's not one's own self-interest that's guiding those decisions.
Starting point is 01:01:09 Like private plane rides and yacht rides and your wife getting several hundred thousand dollars from these conservative groups. The influence of dark money, I think we are witnessing, whether we're talking about Supreme Court justices who seem to be enjoying themselves in ways that are quite interesting. If you talk to the average American, or you're talking about the outsized influence of dark money influencing something like the debate around gun safety.
Starting point is 01:01:40 Again, there's movement on this issue in the public. And I think what your viewers and others ought to be asking is, if there's movement in the public on this issue, even among Democrats and Republicans, why isn't there movement in the highest levels of our government? And that's because of the outsized impact of dark money in our politics, because of racial and partisan gerrymandering, people who are in districts and the only thing they're worried about is being challenged by somebody more extreme than them.
Starting point is 01:02:12 All of these kind of anti-democratic efforts afoot in our democracy are the reason why we've got to pass the Freedom to Vote Act, which I introduced a few months ago, and also later this year I'll introduce the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. I'm going to come back to that. You mentioned the CBC a little bit early in terms of what their focus is. One of the areas they have really been focused on is on your side of the aisle, and that is they have been challenging Senator Dick Durbin to say, dude, the blue slips. You got federal judges,
Starting point is 01:02:48 you got U.S. attorneys and others that are being held up by Republicans. They want him to end that practice. Have you had conversations with him about the blue slip and the concerns of CBC members in the House? Because literally, black folks, bottom line is, he's not chair of the committee
Starting point is 01:03:04 unless black folks and others put you in office to secure that majority. And there are black people who are voting in all these other places around the country, and people aren't getting appointed because Republicans are holding them up. Now going on three years. Well, you know, this is not a new controversy. We've heard it before.
Starting point is 01:03:22 And depending on who's in office and who has the majority, it plays a couple of different ways. And it's something that I'm interested in as a member of the Senate, obviously. I vote to confirm all of these folks, if they're brought up for a vote. That blue slip has been used. I just want us to recognize in a few different ways.
Starting point is 01:03:44 And it's a relic from the Jim Crow era. Well, there are a whole lot of, a host of things that are a relic from that era. There are people watching, and I deal with this every single day. And you talked earlier about the things that have been accomplished and how the American public is moving. But you have a significant number of African Americans who believe not enough is being done. Folks are talking about potentially sitting the election
Starting point is 01:04:09 out, having protests vote. And that could have a real impact whether Biden-Harris is reelected. What do you say to those people who are frustrated? George Floyd Justice Act wasn't passed. I've broken down
Starting point is 01:04:26 that Senator Tim Scott and Senator Lindsey Graham didn't come through with that. You talked about John Lewis Act and others that President Biden has not delivered on what he said to African-Americans. What would you say to those people who are angry and upset? Well, first of all, in a very real sense, there is no such thing as sitting out a vote. To not vote is to vote. But the last four cycles, the black vote has gone down. That has implications. And, look, I wish that this were just another ordinary election, as consequential as that would be.
Starting point is 01:05:04 But I think this is an election to save the democracy itself. And we have fights about a whole range of things. Change has been slow and hard in this country. Black folk know that better than anybody. It comes in fits and starts. But the democracy is the framework in which we get to fight. And we are clearly in a fight
Starting point is 01:05:29 at a fundamental level between those who believe in democracy and those who don't. That's the choice in this election. And I would argue... But you tell the White House they have to make a better argument? Because Terrence Whitbury has his data.
Starting point is 01:05:46 When he actually tells people, people go, nothing's been done, they're frustrated. But then when he literally explains, they go, it literally changes the data. So it seems as if those who have actually passed things might want to do a better job explaining what they've done. That's what a campaign is all about.
Starting point is 01:06:02 And I think that story will be told over the next few months. Look, President Biden has and Vice President Kamala Harris have been most effective. Here they were elected in the midst of a pandemic, unlike anything we've seen in our lifetimes, with a 50-50 Senate, thanks to what we did in Georgia, gave us the slightest of majorities we could have had. And with that slightest of majorities possible, we were able to pass the American Rescue Plan, which strengthened businesses, which kept our municipal governments flowing and operating, and had a provision, which was one of my favorite, it expanded the child tax credit, which would cut child poverty 40 to 50%. I'd like to see us extend that expanded child tax credit.
Starting point is 01:06:55 We passed the first bipartisan. I want to talk to Senator Joe Manchin about that. We passed the first bipartisan infrastructure bill. After folks talking about infrastructure for a generation, we finally got something done on that front. We passed the chips and science bill. We passed the largest veterans benefits program in a generation. And then we went back and passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which invests in American manufacturing, clean energy, and it contains my bill, which capped the cost of insulin for folks on Medicare to no more than $35 of out-of-pocket costs per month. that that literally changed their lives and I'm hopeful that sometime between now and the end of the year we will move another prescription drug bill through
Starting point is 01:07:50 the Congress which will include my provision my bill which would cap the cost of insulin for everybody people with insurance people who don't I can tell you that that matters in a state like Georgia where we have a million diabetics 12% of the adults have diabetes. This has been an effective administration, and yet there's more work to do. Last question. I think it's an easy one. So what do you tell those folks who say Biden's just too old? He should not run again. He's too old. Well, listen, that's part of the conversation. But I would say point to look at how effective he's been.
Starting point is 01:08:31 Look what he's got done. And look at the alternative. I'm proud to stand alongside this president and this vice president. And I look forward to working with him over the next few years. All right. Senator, glad to have you. Look forward to having you back again here in the blackest newsroom in the country. Good to be with you, my alpha brother.
Starting point is 01:08:52 Oh, yeah. You ain't going to find as much black art in any other news show. Never not a scene in MSNBC. It looks great. You all should see what I'm seeing. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,
Starting point is 01:09:08 have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company
Starting point is 01:09:34 dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there, and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th.
Starting point is 01:10:04 Add free at Lava for and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This kind of star-studded a little bit, man.
Starting point is 01:10:23 We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding
Starting point is 01:10:38 of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things.
Starting point is 01:10:55 Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves.
Starting point is 01:11:33 A wrap-away, you've got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Absolutely. Appreciate it. All right. Take care, man. All right. Thanks a bunch, folks. Got to go to a break. We'll be back. We'll chat with our panel. More on Rolling Button Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Back in a moment.
Starting point is 01:12:12 All change is not growth. Right. But thoughtful change is real good fertilizer. And that's what has been so beneficial to us. But you also were not afraid of the kid. Roland, I'm a black woman in business. Come on, I don't care how I dress up. I don't care who I'm speaking with.
Starting point is 01:12:31 I don't care what part of the world I am in. I still am a black woman in business. Being afraid of the pivot, being fearful of change is not what got me here. Respectful of change. Respectful of pivot. Yeah. Fearful? No, uh of pivot. Yeah, fearful? No, uh-uh, no.
Starting point is 01:12:46 No. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, we're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it. And you spread the word.
Starting point is 01:13:17 We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people, $50 this month, raise $100,000. We're behind $100,000, so we want to hit that. Your money makes this possible. Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196,100,000. We're behind $100,000. So we want to hit that. Y'all money makes this possible. Check some money orders. Go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. The cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered.
Starting point is 01:13:59 Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, we're going to be talking about common sense. We think that people have it, know how to use it, but it is something that people often have to learn. The truth is most of us are not born with it and we need to teach common sense, embrace it, and give it to those who need it most, our kids. So I always tell teachers to listen out to what conversations the students are having about what they're getting from social media, and then let's get ahead of it and have the appropriate conversations with them on a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr.A., and this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation.
Starting point is 01:14:53 You and me, we talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together, so let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into. It's The Culture, weekdays at 3, only on the Black Star Network. Next on The Black Table, with me, Greg Carr.
Starting point is 01:15:20 Democracy in the United States is under siege. On this list of bad actors, it's easy to point out the Donald Trumps, the Marjorie Taylor Greens, or even the United States Supreme Court as the primary villains. But as David Pepper, author, scholar, and former politician himself says,
Starting point is 01:15:36 there's another factor that trumps them all and resides much closer to many of our homes. His book is Laboratories of Autocracy, a wake-up call from behind the lines. So these state houses get hijacked by the far right, then they gerrymander, they suppress the opposition, and that allows them to legislate in a way that doesn't reflect the people of that state.
Starting point is 01:16:03 David Pepper joins us on the next Black Table here on the Black Star Network. What's up, everybody? It's your girl Latasha from the A. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, let's go to our panel. Camera. All right, let's go to our panel. We'll talk about that conversation with Senator Raphael Warnock, Matt Manning. Reverend Warnock, smooth with the answer regarding blue slips in the Supreme Court. Didn't want to really take a stand on that one. The panel discussion we had earlier, what kills me, the number of people who have no concept of American history because the Supreme Court didn't start with nine.
Starting point is 01:17:11 It was actually fewer people. And we've actually had more than nine people as well in the Supreme Court. And it's so interesting how people swear, oh, no, you can't change anything, when it's actually changed many times before. And really, I see right now there is a significant problem. Clarence Thomas absolutely is completely corrupt. When you see that ProPublica story where now attending Koch Network fundraisers, his wife getting money essentially under the table,
Starting point is 01:17:44 you can't tell me she's not having conversations with him about Supreme Court cases, flying on private jets, yacht rides, things along those lines. How in the hell can anybody trust the Supreme Court that literally is being purchased by billionaire conservatives? Trust them. And not only can you not trust them, the problem with this is we're talking about the branch of government that has to most be above any appearance of impropriety, right? These are the people who are calling the balls and the strikes, so to speak. So if they're slanted, that puts everything into the context that you can't trust anything. And here's the reality of it. I like Senator Warnock a great deal, but I feel like a lot of the conversation was the same rhetoric we hear. And the reality is a lot of people don't want to be involved in government for two reasons, or rather vote for two reasons. One, we say the United States is a democracy.
Starting point is 01:18:32 It's not. It's an oligarchy, right? There's a small number of people who really run things, and the rest of us are left out. And with Congress, they're not passing bills that stop school shootings. It's hard to pay for your bills at the grocery store. The gas pump is expensive. It's hard to get health care and to pay for it. You know, so on the ground, I feel like your average American feels like their concerns are not really being met because all we see is political pageantry. And I say all of that to say the same is the truth with the Supreme Court. Now, if you look at the way our government was founded, the Supreme Court was never intended to be the strongest branch. In fact, one of its
Starting point is 01:19:09 first major decisions gave it the power to do what it does now, which is review the constitutionality of the laws. So for them to be very clearly slanted, we obviously need to change something and we need to do something differently, particularly where that branch has developed the outsized power to decide on the ground what happens to our lives, right? The healthcare decisions we can make, who we can marry, where we can live, all these kinds of things are in their hands. So when you have somebody who is very clearly slanted one way, then you cannot expect that there's ever going to be a fair shot when you come up to argue. And you're not wrong. There's no way that Jenny Thomas is not talking to him about the cases coming before him, as are the people who are sending Alito on these private jets into these
Starting point is 01:19:54 private events into Italy. So, you know, the reality is there's corruption afoot, but it's particularly insidious because that's the branch that is supposed to be most above the fray and the branch who seems to be most resistant now to putting in ethics to hold itself accountable. Michael, this is a ProPublica story. Go to my iPad. You see right here, Clarence Thomas secretly participated in Koch Network donor events. And you go into the story, you'll see here, it says on January 25th, 2018, dozens of private jets descended on Palm Springs International Airport. Some of the richest people in the country were arriving for the annual Winter Donor Summit of the Koch Network, the political organization founded by libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch.
Starting point is 01:20:36 A long weekend of strategizing, relaxation in the California sun, and high-dollar fundraising lay ahead. Just after 6 p.m., a Gulfstream G200 jet touched down on the tarmac. One of the Koch Network's most powerful allies was on board, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. During the summit, the justice went to a private dinner for the network's donors. Thomas has attended Koch donor events at least twice over the years, according to interviews with three former network employees and one major donor. The justice was brought in to speak, staffers said, in the hopes that such access would encourage donors to continue giving.
Starting point is 01:21:17 Michael, there's without a doubt Clarence Thomas should be resigning from the Supreme Court. He is completely compromised. Absolutely. Yes, he should resign. But also, we have to really connect the dots with this and understand the role that Leonard Leo plays, understand the role that not just the Koch brothers, but when you look at somebody like Mitch McConnell, who blocked 103 federal judge nominations from President Barack Obama after Republicans took back control of the Senate in 2014, and then Mitch McConnell blocked Merrick Garland, who was Obama's Supreme Court nominee in 2016.
Starting point is 01:22:11 And, you know, there's talk back and forth about expanding the courts, things like this. But what was really, really important for people to understand is that Donald Trump got three Supreme Court justice nominations confirmed. OK, these are conservatives. And this is one of the reasons why you have so many people sticking with Trump, because he said he would only nominate Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe versus Wade. He basically got that done. And we have to understand what happens, why voting for president is so important, but also the Senate, because the president nominates federal judges and Supreme Court justices, which right now are lifetime appointments, but the Senate confirms them. So a lot of people don't understand how all these dots are connected and they keep seeing these negative things taking place. This is not as difficult to remedy as many people think.
Starting point is 01:23:13 We got to vote better people in the office and vote more competent people in the office and vote criminals out of office, regardless of whether're Democrat or Republican. Kelly, look, when I asked the senator specifically about obviously expanding the courts, but also what's happened with Senator Dick Durbin, the bottom line is this here. Democrats don't necessarily want to take fire at their own, but the CBC has been very, very clear about Senator Durbin saying, man, look, we put you in power. The voters put you in power. The voters put you in power. How are you letting Republicans still dictate with this old blue slip practice?
Starting point is 01:23:51 Democrats are afraid to do anything because, oh, what happens if we're not in the majority and they are? Well, hell, Senator Lindsey Graham did the exact same thing. So this is the thing that drives me crazy when it comes to Democrats. Republicans flex power. They use power.
Starting point is 01:24:09 They wield power. Democrats, oh, I don't know if we want to really do that because, you know, what might happen if we don't have the power? You deal with that when you don't have it. Facts, right? My issue with this is the fact, like you said,
Starting point is 01:24:26 you know, when Republicans have power, they wield it. The irony is if Democrats wielded their power, they would be 10 times more powerful than Republicans have ever been. We always tout the mantra that Democrats are the big tent party. Well, how about we actually leverage the fact that we're the big tent party, and if people don't want to be part of the big tent, risk it. We're still going to be a big tent, and we're still going to have 10 times more power than the Republican Party because we are so diverse,
Starting point is 01:24:57 because we have this marketplace of ideas within the party that we can leverage to get even more of what we need across the board. But because we are so scared of looking like Republicans, which frankly at this juncture is impossible unless you want to be racist and monolithic too, just leverage it. liked about being in CBC, ALC this week is seeing all of these congressmen, all of these powers that be in rooms with solutions. We actually got to see what
Starting point is 01:25:33 the big tent looks like and what the ideas are in this big tent. And all we need to do is leverage it well enough for it to actually be realized. All right, hold on a second, folks. We come back.
Starting point is 01:25:49 What the hell is going on in Memphis? First, the cops who killed Tyree Nichols. Now we got these folks in the jail who are awful there as well. My God, Memphis, really? We'll discuss that when we come back right here on Roller Mark. I'm Phil Trudeau on the Black Star Network. YouTube folks, hit that Like button. I see y'all commenting, hit the like button.
Starting point is 01:26:06 Also, your donations are critically important to our survival. It's important for you to support us in what we do. I purposely am not charging people to be subscribers because we want our information to be available. I can't tell y'all how many people have been stopping me at Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, ALC, saying they watch this show, they appreciate this show.
Starting point is 01:26:24 Young people, older people, I've had college students. And so don't think for a second that we're not having an impact. In fact, I got a post from a woman in Henderson, North Carolina. She hit me on Instagram. She hit me on Instagram, and she said to me that she is running for city council here in North Carolina because of what she learned watching this show.
Starting point is 01:26:52 She said, please keep teaching young folks like me. Folks, that is a reality of what's going on. So you're checking money. Order the PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash Shappers, Donaldson, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, or Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com.
Starting point is 01:27:12 Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. And of course, be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds. And of course, download the Black Star Network app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV.
Starting point is 01:27:29 We'll be right back. I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. And on the next Get Wealthy, you'll meet Jandy Turner who took her love of sports, expanded her network and created a thriving business. I settled on developing a golf event planning business, which... I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?
Starting point is 01:28:00 Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated.
Starting point is 01:28:34 I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way.
Starting point is 01:29:08 In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher.
Starting point is 01:29:34 Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.
Starting point is 01:29:49 It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. Arapahoe, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for
Starting point is 01:30:25 yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. In and of itself has been very viable for me. One of the things that I've learned from producing hundreds, if not thousands, of golf tournaments is that business gets done on the golf course. All on the Next Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes, the amazing Drew Dixon. She gives us the details behind the HBO documentary
Starting point is 01:31:09 that shed light on the alleged sexual assaults by Russell Simmons. And we're talking about the Netflix documentary Ladies First. Right here on The Frequency on the Black Star Network. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Cole. Democracy in the United States is under siege. On this list of bad actors, it's easy to point out the Donald Trumps, the Marjorie Taylor Greens,
Starting point is 01:31:33 or even the United States Supreme Court as the primary villains. But as David Pepper, author, scholar, and former politician himself says, there's another factor that trumps them all and resides much closer to many of our homes. His book is Laboratories of Autocracy, a wake-up call from behind the lines. So these state houses get hijacked by the far right, then they gerrymander, they suppress the opposition, and that allows them to legislate in a way that doesn't reflect the people of that state. David Pepper joins us on the next Black Table
Starting point is 01:32:10 here on the Black Star Network. and you know what you're watching. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Nine Memphis jail deputies are with the, have been charged, first of all, in jail, with the death of a black man who died in custody nearly a year ago. 33-year-old Gershon Freeman died inside the Shelby County Jail after an encounter with jailers on October 5, 2022. According to an autopsy, Freeman suffered cardiac arrest while he was restrained.
Starting point is 01:33:01 His manner of death has been classified as a homicide. Stevon Jones and Courtney Parham are charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault in concert, resulting in death. Second-degree murder and aggravated assault in concert, resulting in death. Damian Cooper, Ebony Davis, Larico Elliott, Anthony Howell, Chelsea Duckett, and Jeffrey Gibson are facing one charge of aggravated assault in concert, resulting in death. The ninth jailer has not been identified. A May 2024 federal trial date has been set for the five former Memphis cops accused of the fatal beating of Tyree Nichols.
Starting point is 01:33:32 Attorneys for Tadarius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmett Martin, Desmond Mills, and Justin Smith agreed on the May 6th trial date. The trial is expected to take eight or nine days for all five officers. The former NPD officers were indicted by a federal grand jury last week, charging them with depriving Tyree Nichols of his rights following a traffic stop that led to his death. Nichols died three days after being punched, kicked, and hit with a baton by the officers doing a traffic stop. These officers faced state charters, including second-degree murder as well. They pleaded not guilty.
Starting point is 01:34:03 Matt, this is, I mean, this is absolutely crazy, and I've said repeatedly how the Department of Justice has been very aggressive in going after wardens and jailers and the kind of stuff with these correction officers, and
Starting point is 01:34:21 you know, people act as if, man, this is no big deal. These are people, these are just folks who are in jail. No, this is serious. This is major. And there should be a massive crackdown on these thug jailers. Yeah. You know, this is particularly timely today because today I had a conversation with an expert that I hired in an excessive force case, a former chief of police. And he told me the reason this stuff happens is because these people never get punished. And the people in the department recognize they're not going to get punished. And they recognize there is no real price to pay for doing this.
Starting point is 01:35:03 This kind of thing happens all the time. This is probably 40 percent of my practice, Roland, to pay for doing this. This kind of thing happens all the time. This is probably 40% of my practice, Roland, is filing lawsuits like this. And just like your prior guest talked about with the Fifth Circuit, every time I file one, no matter how bad it is, I have to bake into my strategy the reality that the Fifth Circuit
Starting point is 01:35:18 is likely going to rule against my client no matter how bad what happened to him or her was. I tell you that. That's because the Fifth Circuit rule against my client no matter how bad what happened to him or her was. That's because the Fifth Circuit is an absolutely hardcore right-wing MAGA court. It's incredibly conservative. And that's why on this show, every week I'm on, I mention the gulf between what we talk about with the Constitution and the reality of vindicating your constitutional rights if something like this happens. So I said that to say, the reason we really need the Department of Justice is because when they prosecute these offenses, they prosecute them from a criminal standpoint, right, which gives them a different
Starting point is 01:35:59 latitude than I have with a civil case, because the civil law does not give me the same latitude, essentially. And it's not as easy to prove the cases, because when you have the power of a grand jury subpoena and law enforcement and other things, it has a different gravitas. So I say all of that to say, you should be shocked by this. This is abhorrent. Anybody with eyes can see that. But what we should also be shocked by is how difficult it is for the families in these circumstances to actually hold somebody accountable. And I'm hoping that the Department of Justice continues to do the good work it's done, because every time they get involved and they prosecute somebody, that family
Starting point is 01:36:36 has a true assurance that something's actually going to happen. Whereas every time I file a lawsuit, no matter how crafty I am with how I bring it, I have to tell my clients this is going to be an uphill battle. And that's because it is so hard to hold people accountable in these circumstances. It is just it is mind numbing, Michael, when we look at these cases and you look at Fulton County Jail, the number of people who died there. Remember that nutcase in Milwaukee was the sheriff and how many people had died there, died in those jails as well. And again, this is still human beings.
Starting point is 01:37:13 These are human beings who are dying in jail, viciously beaten. Then you look at the conditions. A lot of these places, no A.C., no air conditioning, so of these places, no AC, no air conditioning, so they're freezing, excuse me, no heat. They're freezing to death or they're profusely sweating. I mean, sewage and flooding. We've covered this just Mississippi and Alabama all over.
Starting point is 01:37:38 This is an epidemic in this country. Yeah, it really is, Roland. And, you know, when you deal with county jails, you'll have people who may be serving less than a year, they may be serving a sentence, but then you may also have people who are awaiting trial as well. So they haven't been found guilty yet. But regardless of they haven't been found guilty yet. But regardless of whether they've been found guilty or haven't had a trial, that jail is still responsible for their wellbeing. Okay?
Starting point is 01:38:17 And this deals with just a basic humanity issue, respecting people's humanity. And a lot of these conditions are unlivable. And if it was a situation where we were awaiting trial, or even if we were convicted of something, we wouldn't want to live in those conditions, and we would not want one of our loved ones to live in those conditions either. So this you know, this has to change. This deals with who you have in political offices, this deals with legislation also. But yeah, this is totally unacceptable.
Starting point is 01:38:54 Kelly? Every time I hear one of these stories, it breaks my heart because like we... the panel has already said, we... they're human beings. And the point of any type of prison or jail system is supposedly, supposed to be about it being rehabilitative. How do you rehab someone in a condition like that? You don't.
Starting point is 01:39:20 Animals are treated better than some of these prisoners. I remember the story of, I can't remember which jurisdiction it was, but the young man who, I think it was Atlanta, died with bedbugs, like the bedbug infestation. Yeah, that was just absolutely disgusting to me. I mean, I can't think of even terrorists who have conditions like that for prisoners of war. And we're talking about American citizens in America who are supposedly supposed to be being rehabbed to get back into society. How do you do that when you have conditions like this. So absolutely something needs to change. Something needs to give because this is absolutely
Starting point is 01:40:07 an injustice system with things the way they are as it stands. Oh, that's exactly what it is. All right, folks. Appreciate it. Kelly, thanks a bunch. Michael, thanks a bunch. Matt, thanks a bunch. Folks, when we come back, just a little bit of some of the fun we had with Procter & Gamble
Starting point is 01:40:24 at the Cincinnati Music Festival. We'll have that for you next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstone Network. I'm Faraiji Muhammad, live from L.A., and this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation, you and me. We talk about the stories, politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard.
Starting point is 01:40:54 Hey, we're all in this together. So let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into. It's the culture. Weekdays at 3, only on the Blackstar Network. Next on The Frequency with me d barn the amazing drew dixon she gives us the details behind the hbo documentary that shed light on the alleged sexual assaults by russell simmons and we're talking about the netflix documentary ladies first right here on the frequency on the Star Network. All change is not growth. Right.
Starting point is 01:41:26 But thoughtful change is real good fertilizer. And that's what has been so beneficial to us. But you also were not afraid of the pivot. Well, and I'm a black woman in business. Come on, I don't care how I dress up. I don't care who I'm speaking with. I don't care what part of the world I am in. I still am a black woman in business. Being afraid of the pivot, being fearful of change
Starting point is 01:41:51 is not what got me here. Respectful of change. Respectful of pivot. Yeah. Fearful? No. Uh-uh. No. I know. Me Sherri Sheppard with Sammie Roman. I'm Dr. Robin B, pharmacist and fitness coach, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks. When we were in Cincinnati for the music festival, we went to several of the P&G activations, had a lot of fun at one of the activations where they were focused on Kings and Queens. Check it out.
Starting point is 01:42:58 All right, folks. Roland Martin here. So all around Paycourt Stadium, P&G, they've got numerous activations. And so this is their Kings and Queens activation. So let's go in and check it out, see what they got over here. All right? So here we go.
Starting point is 01:43:13 All right, y'all. So we're going to skip the line. Come on, let's go over here. So all right. Hey, y'all, what's happening? What's happening? What's happening? Y'all good?
Starting point is 01:43:24 All right, so you see they got the red carpet out here happy y'all good all right so you see the guy she got the red carpet out here y'all and so and so we go so we go okay what what's up yeah what happened all the shirts I'm sorry we'll have more tomorrow seriously we really been here by 30 minutes however you can win a year's worth of P&G products you can enter by clicking this worth of P&G products. You can enter by clicking this QR code. All right, y'all, so let's go on over here. All right, so let's see what we got over here.
Starting point is 01:43:54 Okay, okay, what you doing? What you doing? So we have, this is Olay. We have two different hydrating moisturizers here. This is a vitamin C with peptide. We don't have any parabens, any synthetic dyes. It won't leave any sticky residues. It won't go on your skin.
Starting point is 01:44:19 But I see these orange pills. Is this edible? No. You'll just use it for your face and like your neck. I see orange peel. I thought you could eat it. So the orange is because it has a citrus fragrance. OK, I'm just checking.
Starting point is 01:44:35 Yep. I'll make sure you know that. Yes, I do. OK. All right, what you got over here? And the retinol is good for rejuvenating your skin. If you feel like you might be aging a little bit, we got you covered. So it is fragrance-free, but it's really good for sensitive skins.
Starting point is 01:44:50 Okay. Yeah. You want to try some? You got a little test room. What it do? It rejuvenate the skin. So we feel like you— Let's see if you can—first of all, I got good DNA.
Starting point is 01:44:59 You do. I see you. I'm just saying for your friends at Bay Night. I don't know. I got good DNA. That's good to know. I'm fully rejuvenated. Okay, come on. What you going to do? Go ahead and get you a tester. We're going to put it on the back of your hand. And you tell me what you think.
Starting point is 01:45:16 I thought it was for the face. You can, but right now just try it on your hand just to test it out. I just made my mind. Just to test it out. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.
Starting point is 01:45:50 Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 01:46:25 Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way.
Starting point is 01:46:45 Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.
Starting point is 01:47:11 We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. It really does.
Starting point is 01:47:25 It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the war on drugs podcast season two on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcast and to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content. Subscribe to lava for good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up.
Starting point is 01:47:55 See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council.
Starting point is 01:48:25 Ooh, I feel rejuvenated. I know. I know. She ain't got no sense. So, whole point is here. You sit in the chair. You got, of course, a hashtag of feels like CMF. And you got, of course, you got the concert in the background here. And so, you see the folks over there. You see they taking photos over there. And you see what the whole look is like. Remember, we used to go to the club and they had the wicker chairs. And they had the wicker chairs.
Starting point is 01:48:33 And they had the wicker chairs. And they had the wicker chairs. And they had the wicker chairs. And they had the wicker chairs. And they had the wicker chairs. And they had the wicker chairs. And they had the wicker chairs. And they had the wicker chairs.
Starting point is 01:48:41 And they had the wicker chairs. And they had the wicker chairs. And they had the wicker chairs. And they had the wicker chairs. And they had the wicker chairs. And they had the wicker chairs. And they had the wicker chairs. And you see the folks over there. You see that you see they taking photos over there. You see what the whole look is like. Remember, we used to go to the club and they had the wicker chair. That's what this feels like. So I might need one of these for the house. But we got a big problem. First of all, this chair is purple and gold. I am an alpha, black and old gold. These are mega colors. So I'm gonna have to talk to the P&G people. Next year, we got to have black and gold chairs.
Starting point is 01:49:09 We can't have this purple and gold. That ain't gonna happen, okay? I just wanted to let y'all know. All right, y'all, so here's the thing. I'm about to get up, about to go over here to the Old Spice booth. So let's see what they got over here. All right, so what y'all got? What y'all doing over here?
Starting point is 01:49:32 Oh, man. Say what? We got Old Spice. Got you smelling real nice, man. I'm Donnie here at the Old Spice stand. What's going on? Who am I talking to right now? Really?
Starting point is 01:49:41 Nah, I'm just playing with you. You about to get cut. Nah, I'm just messing. But, yeah, to get cut. Nah, I'm just messing. But yeah, we down at the music festival. My name's Donnie. We got Old Spice. I'm giving them away right here. It's a king booth.
Starting point is 01:49:53 So all the beautiful kings and queens, no matter your skin color, you still a king, you still a queen. Come down and show some love and have fun and be safe. All right, so look, they gave me this bag. I ain't got nothing in it. What's up? Let me hook you up in. Look, this the first stop. All right, so look, they gave me this bag. It ain't got nothing in it. What's up? Let me hook you up in. Look, this is the first time.
Starting point is 01:50:09 All right, come on. Bam. That's it? That's it? Yeah, that's it right here. Obviously, we can't get in. What's the rest? What you got over here?
Starting point is 01:50:18 Y'all got exfoliate? Is that the Dion Cole special? Yes. So what is that? This is the new Gentleman's Blend that you can find inside of Kroger's. Old Spice Gentleman's Blend. Yes sir. If you could look, if you could smell this through the microphone, he'll tell you right now. How it smell? All right. All right. Smell pretty good, right? Then we got the two-in-one, we got the face wash, and then we also got the body wash as well. Just got the little bit of oatmeal smell in it.
Starting point is 01:50:45 Go ahead and take a whiff of that. Let them know how it smells. I want the creamy wheat. I heard that. But yeah, that's all we got right here so far. Cool. All right, Donnie. All right.
Starting point is 01:50:58 Take care. Holla. All right, what y'all got? Hey, first and foremost, 06 of the good bros. All right, what's happening? What's happening? What's happening? So it's KC Gillette. So we have some beard balm.
Starting point is 01:51:08 Gonna keep the beard nice and soft for you. So you need this to grow the beard out. This is gonna be the beard thickness. No, I ain't. 14 days. First of all, this right here is, see, what I got right now is too thin for me. Oh.
Starting point is 01:51:21 Was too thin for me. So yeah, I gotta keep it down. We can still use some of this, though. Keep it soft. Oh, really? Good, for me. So, yeah, I got to keep it down. We can still use some of this, though. Keep it soft. Oh, really? Good, absolutely. All right, so let's see.
Starting point is 01:51:28 So how much, boys, like a dab? About a nickel size. A nickel size. Like that? A little bit more than that. There you go. Like that? Rub it together.
Starting point is 01:51:39 Get it smooth in there. Yeah, there you go. Good job, man. This one smells good, too. Charlotte! Listen, it's going to be dangerous for you out here with that on the tuggle. It's going to be dangerous for you out here with that on the tuggle.
Starting point is 01:51:54 Charlotte's supposed to be snapping. I don't know what she's doing over there. Snap, Charlotte! All right. Good job. All right. All right. No, what was that?
Starting point is 01:52:03 That's a beer cone. See, you ain't a few. Yeah, I'm saying, no, see, I can't. I can't. Yeah, I can't see your name. I'm still good. I'm running the program. All right. Now, what's that? That's a beer cone. See, you ain't a few. Yeah, I'm saying, no, see, I can't have it thick. Nah, but don't worry.
Starting point is 01:52:11 I got you. I can't do that James Harden. I got you, though. I got one right here. It's a nice little product. Keep it smooth. Keep it smooth. I say mine every two days.
Starting point is 01:52:21 I am not, no, that ain't happening. It ain't for everybody. No. It ain't for everybody. Everybody can't look like this. I ain't't for everybody. Everybody can't look like this. I ain't mad at you. Everybody can't look like this. I ain't mad at you.
Starting point is 01:52:30 No doubt. All right, so we got that. We got the green. What is this? What does this do? So that's for the people that got a couple patches here and there. They need to grow it out some.
Starting point is 01:52:39 No patches. You got the beard thickener. Use it about 14 days. You're going to start seeing some results. Rub it in. Get it nice and smooth. Use your beard comb. Use it about 14 days. You're going to start seeing some results. Rub it in. Get it nice and smooth. Use your beard comb. You're in good shape.
Starting point is 01:52:50 Look, all I'm saying is, all y'all brothers, if y'all going to have beards, y'all got to trim y'all beards, OK? This unruly look. Treat it or trim it. I can't deal with that. Treat it or trim it. One of the two. And here's the other thing for me. I shave your neck.
Starting point is 01:53:02 I cannot deal. I can't handle hair on the neck. Oh, man. No, I can't. Dang, man shave your neck. I cannot deal. I can't handle hair on the neck. Oh, man. No. I can't. Dang, man. Come on. Literally, every other day, boom. It gotta go. There you go. It works for you. It works for you. That's right. I can't do it. Because I know I
Starting point is 01:53:17 already look good, so, you know, I'm just saying. All right, bro. All right. All right, 06. Y'all know how we do it? That's how we do it. All right, 06. Y'all know how we do it. That's how we do it. All right, folks. That is it for us. Yo, Instagram.
Starting point is 01:53:30 I'm sorry, YouTube, really? How we got 901 likes? All right, man, y'all got 120 seconds to add 99 likes. We can hit 1,000. This don't make no sense. I got to be asking y'all. Hit the doggone button so we can get the likes, okay? So hit the dadgum button.
Starting point is 01:53:46 Now, support us in what we do. Download the Blackstar Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Okay? Graphic, y'all. No, no, don't be playing that. Don't be playing that. Thank you.
Starting point is 01:54:02 Come on. There you go. Right one. Let me plan that. Thank you. Come on. There you go. Right one. Let's get it together. Senior Check and Money Order, PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196, Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, or Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered.
Starting point is 01:54:20 Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Then download the Blackstar Network app. Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. You can also, of course, be sure to
Starting point is 01:54:37 get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at bookstores nationwide. Don't forget, you can also watch our 24 hour, seven day a week streaming channel on Amazon News. Go to Amazon Fire, go to Amazon News, and you can check it out, or tell Alexa, play News from the Black Star Network,
Starting point is 01:54:54 and the audio will play. You can also watch our 24 hour streaming channel on Plex TV, that's right, go to Black Star Network, search for that, or go to Live TV News and Opinion. All right, folks, that is it. I'll see you guys on Monday on Roland Martin Unfiltered on Blackstar Network. Holla! The Thank you. The Thank you. The The The សូវបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបា� I'm Martin. Thank you. The Thank you. I always have to be so good no one could ignore me.
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