#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Sesame Place Class Action Suit, Black Voters Poll, Jon Stewart Rips GOP Senators

Episode Date: July 28, 2022

7.28.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Sesame Place Class Action Suit, Black Voters Poll, Jon Stewart Rips GOP Senators The family who says their child was discriminated against at Sesame Place in Philadelphia is hitting the park with a class action lawsuit. We have the family's attorneys on to break down the case. Anew poll shows the issues that concern Black Voters the most! We'll speak with Alicia Garza of Black future labs and Mondale Robinson of the Black Male Voters Project to unpack the poll. August 20th marks the day enslaved people first stepped foot in North America. We'll speak with Texas Representative, Al Green about a bill for Slave Remembrance Day. Support RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are 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.

This is an iHeart Podcast. We'll be right now. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Rollin'. Be 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.

You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? We'll be right back. Today is Thursday, July 28, 2022. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Blackstar Network. The family who says their child was discriminated against at a testimony place in Philadelphia.

They're hitting SeaWorld with a class action lawsuit. We have the family's attorneys on to break down this suit. A new poll shows the issues that concern black voters the most. We'll speak with Alicia Garza of the Black Features Lab as well as Mondale Robinson of the Black Male Voter Project and a mayor of Enfield, North Carolina to unpack this poll. August 20th marks the day enslaved people first stepped foot in North America. We'll speak with Houston Congressman Al Green about a bill

for Slave Remembrance Day. Also, Vice President Kamala Harris talks about the billions being targeted to underserved communities in New York City. We'll show you what she had to say. Comedian Jon Stewart was not laughing on Capitol Hill, blasting Republicans for blocking a bill that would provide health benefits to veterans. These folks don't give a damn about those

who serve in the military. He says all they care about is the war machine. And we have a number of memoriams of African Americans who have passed away, including actress Mary Alice. Folks, a lot to unpack. It is time to bring the funk and Roland Martin unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go.

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

He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's Rolling Martin. Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know he's rolling Martel Martel Our tag! All right, folks, glad to have you on today's show.

A Baltimore family is suing Sesame Street theme amusement park for $25 million in federal court over claims of racial discrimination. They say multiple costume characters ignored a five-year-old black girl during a meet and greet event. The lawsuit comes after this viral video showing two other black girls apparently being snubbed by a costume employee during a parade at the park. Now, Sesame Place apologized in a statement and promised more

training for its employees after the video went viral earlier this month. The family's attorney, William Billy Murphy Jr. and Malcolm P. Ruff join us to discuss this lawsuit. Glad to have both of you on Roland Martin Unfiltered. William and Malcolm, as I said, we covered the news conference that took place on Saturday in New York where Ben Crump

was representing, Ben Crump and other attorneys were representing the two families, the two young girls who were there. It actually sparked this. You're representing other family members, correct? Yes. Several other families. And the number is getting bigger every day because we've been inundated by news about the park, about other incidents that have happened, about discrimination at

the park. It's been an incredible response to our lawsuit. I think people wanted to see something concrete happen other than just talk of an apology. The initial family, like I said, we were there. They are going to be pursuing the lawsuit as well. They're working with Until Freedom. And there are a number of things that they want to also see done. And so in your lawsuit, what are you laying out?

What are you laying out, and how broad is this? And by placing it as a class action suit, are you hopeful that others will come along and join the suit? Class action suits cover everybody who has similarly been harmed. And so right now we represent everybody who has ever been the victim of this kind of discrimination at the park. And that's why we did it, because I think there are people who are afraid to come forward for various reasons, who may not be comfortable with dealing with the legal system because they've been disappointed with the results in the past, because that's a frequent component in the black community of whether people seek legal

assistance. They may have thought that they needed money to join the class act or to be represented. They don't. We pay all the expenses up front of everything. And if we don't get a result, you don't have to pay us one dime. So it's been one of those kinds of days. And here's what we want out of it. First, let me explain the theory of the case. There's a statute that is rarely used. It's the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

There are very few lawyers who've ever used it to get relief. But it's absolutely appropriate here. And there are many advantages for using it rather than going the typical route. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 says, among other things, that blacks have the same right as whites to enter into contracts and to have them enforced. And that was a necessary step because back then, this was a year after the end of the Civil War, after the North won the Civil War, and all kinds of legislation to make sure that slaves would become full-fledged representatives, full-fledged citizens of the United States, all that legislation was being passed. And up until that time, blacks had no rights that a white man was bound to respect. And so this kind of, this statute has kind of laid dormant. But because we do this stuff so much,

we immediately thought about it, and it fits like a glove. Here's what it says. If your contract causes you to be treated unfairly because of race, if you have a contract where you want the same thing that white people are getting, like the same access to this amusement park, the same level of service that everybody else gets. If you don't get that, that full measure of service that everybody else is getting, you can sue if it's because of your race. And this is a very powerful statute. And there are some people out there who think that,

you know, lawsuits are only about money. Let me tell you what lawsuits really do. Right now, this industry, this entire amusement industry is shaking in their boots. And if you don't think that they're telling all of their top officials, make sure this doesn't happen to us, then guess again. Lawsuits are that powerful. And so just the filing of this suit has caused everyone in corporate America to hit the pause button who deals with the public at large and say, whoa, do we want to be accused of this same kind of conduct?

So you better make sure everything is cool down there in terms of your interactions with black people. You better make sure that you don't do anything resembling anything like this ever again, because we will also be sued. So lawsuits are a very powerful instrument of social change. And so knowing that, we were happy to represent yet another family

who had this same problem. And we knew what to do immediately to get the legal ball rolling. So, Malcolm, how does, explain to folks, how does this work? You have these other attorneys out of Philadelphia

along with Ben Crump. Then you have your lawsuit. How does it work if you have multiple lawsuits from different attorneys representing different families? Well, thank you, Roland. It's good to see you again. I would say that we are hopeful that anybody who is an attorney that's working on these cases and may have a client prior to our filing of the class action lawsuit yesterday would cooperate with us and work with us to achieve all of the relief that we're seeking in the lawsuit, including the injunctive relief that we're looking for, the declaratory relief that we're looking for. Again, this is not just about money. This is about changing practices and changing our culture, right? 1866 was way too long ago for us to be continuing to fight for the fundamental rights of black people.

It just does not make sense that we still are having this fight in modern-day America. So we know that there are some powerful lawyers out there, and we're hopeful that if there are lawyers that represent other folks in this case and these cases that involve discrimination at Sesame Place, that they will work with us to achieve the ultimate goal, which is justice for any black and brown family who's been marginalized, who has been snubbed, who's been ignored, disregarded by Sesame Street, excuse me, Sesame Place. SeaWorld now owns them, have, with representatives, with representatives of these families,

had you had any conversations with SeaWorld prior to filing this lawsuit? No. In a word, no. All right, then. Well, gentlemen, certainly keep us abreast of what happens with this case, and we're

certainly going to be covering it to its conclusion. Now, let me add one last thing to the question you talked to Malcolm about. When class actions get filed, there is a period of time when we are the only representatives of that class of people. And when the class gets certified by a judge meaning that it is as a as a well-founded class action then people can make a decision for themselves about whether or not they want to pursue an individual lawsuit or be part of the class. That's how it works.

And so nobody is locked in against their will. But we hope everyone will understand that we want to represent everybody who was involved because when you get numbers, you get leverage, you get power. And the more we see of a systematic nature in these situations, the more we see patterns of discrimination, that shuts down the opposition that says, well, how do you know this was a discrimination? How do you know it was an intentional act? If it turns out to be widespread, all of that kind of criticism goes away, and it brings the company to its knees. And so then they must come up with a fair offer of a settlement, or we go to court. All right, then.

Michelle, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot, gentlemen. Thank you, Roland. Nice to see you. Likewise. Thanks so much. Folks, I want to introduce our regular Thursday panel. Glad to have them back.

Joining us right now, Erica Savage, founder of The Reframed Brain. Recy Colbert, founder of Black Women Views. Dr. Greg Carr, Department of Afro-American Studies, Howard University. One of the things that I believe here when we talk about not just this lawsuit, but like I said, when we covered the news conference

on Saturday in New York City, and I've had conversations with those attorneys and until freedom as well. I really think Greg, that the idea has to be far more expansive, and this is what I mean. I hearken back to Operation Breadbasket, how they approached these companies.

A lot of people I've already seen on social media. We need to boycott, and I have to keep reminding people over and over and over again that if you actually take the time to study Reverend Louis Sullivan's initiative, which they did there in Philadelphia, he presented the idea to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King asked him to come down to Atlanta to present the idea to Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

They adopted that same plan. That is what became Operation Breadbasket. Boycott was the last thing on the list. There literally was a six-step process, and I'm going to pull the book out in a second and explain to people what those six are. And I really think that people involved in this case and others should study what they did

because it wasn't just filing a lawsuit and you get the clients paid and the attorneys get paid. If you use the Operation Breadbasket model, when they went in, they wanted jobs, they wanted opportunities for black-owned businesses, they wanted money deposited in black banks. I mean, it was far more expansive in terms of how they approached various companies. And I think that's exactly what should happen in this case. Make it far more than just the families who were harmed.

They absolutely should be compensated. But really expand this thing in a broader way so it actually benefits black Philadelphia, black Pennsylvania, black America. I couldn't agree more, Roland. Before I say anything else, let me thank you, man, as an ex-baseball player, a dyed-in-the-wool baseball fan,

and a Jackie Robinson stan. Your coverage of the museum opening was immaculate, brother, including I got to watch that documentary because you streamed it here after Jackie. And I encourage everybody to go back to Black Star Network and watch that documentary. It's a hell of a documentary. My granddad's favorite man was Bob Gibson, brother, and Curt Flood. It's a great thing. But at any rate, you know, we're in dangerous territory with the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

As you remember, as you talked about extensively at the time, this is the same statute which was passed between the 13th Amendment and the 14th Amendment that Byron Allen used to sue Comcast. Of course, they settled out of court. The fear was with this conservative white nationalist federal bench that they could narrow the protections around race of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which I don't want to disagree with Billy Martin, he's a hell of a lawyer, of course, with a long reputation, but it has been used.

Not enough, but it has been used over the years, and in fact, it has many times been looked to, particularly Section 1981, which is the civil component of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, as a weapon to protect our rights precisely in the way that he outlined. But to your point, now, we heard them talk about declarative relief and injunctive relief. I'm sure there will be a call for punitive damages, although that's where I think we get to have a little bit of a difficulty. And for this reason, when we start thinking about standards of proof, remember, the fear in the Byron Allen case was that Byron Allen would not be able to satisfy the but for kind of formulation, meaning what? But for your race, Comcast would have sold you these channels.

Well, we certainly clearly have this right here. We have this evidence. But if you've got a class action, what does a but for the race of these children look like if you don't have any visual evidence when you're talking about a class action? Now, that's the legal side. On the public opinion side, of course, I think that's really what they're talking about. You're talking about shaking in their boots. I don't even know that a boycott would necessarily need to be organized at this moment if the court of public opinion turns on just the visual evidence we have, particularly as COVID, at least COVID tolerance begins to continue to grow,

and people want to go to amusement parks. Man, this is a public relations nightmare. Hopefully they will not go to court, because if it does, I don't know if they can satisfy that burden any more than I don't think Byron Allen could have satisfied it. man, this is a public relations nightmare. Hopefully they will not go to court, because if it does, I don't know if they can satisfy that burden any more than I don't think Byron Allen could have satisfied it. See, the thing here, Recy, and I'm going to say this again to all the folks who y'all heard me refer to this book, whoever who's watching and listening, and this was the book,

this was written by Martin L. Depp. He was a white pastor in Chicago who was on the executive committee of Operation Breadbasket. This is the book right here. It's called Operation Breadbasket, An Untold Story of Civil Rights in Chicago, 1966 to 1971. A lot of people have talked about Breadbasket, but he literally lays out because he had the paperwork, he had the documentation. And what they did, Reese, is when they went after companies, they first had something that was called information gathering, where they would actually send information to the company requesting their data on employment, on contracts, things along those lines. Then they would have what is called a committee evaluation. And then, for instance,

they said early in our negotiations, we established 20% as a minimum demand for African-American employees. And that was based upon the numbers of black folks in Chicago. Then they had negotiation and education. Negotiation with the company, but educating their churches about what they were doing. The fourth thing was economic withdrawal, their don't buy campaigns. Then if the company came to an agreement and they would establish a covenant, they would sign that. Then the sixth step was monitoring. So economic withdrawal was number four. And I think what is critically important here, if you're talking about Sesame Place, I think

what the lawyers should do, and until Freedom should do, the folks involved, is expand this to say, we're not just going to look at you, Sesame Place, we're going to look at your parent company, SeaWorld. We want to know about black board members. We want to know about black senior executives. We want to know about black junior executives.

We want to know what black companies are you actually providing contracting opportunities with. We want to know what HBCUs are you working with. We want to know are you depositing money in black banks. And so you use this opportunity not just to focus on the incident, but then you go within this company and then you basically say, no, we're going to lift the hood up to look at everything. And you make that all a part of your negotiations. Well, yeah, I think that's an ideal approach. But I think more than likely what we're looking at is a bunch of pissed off parents who are realizing that their kids were a part of a pattern of discrimination and racist behavior. So hopefully, you know, with the organizations that are involved and

the attorneys that are involved, they will go beyond just punitive damages for the particular children that experienced this wrongdoing. But, you know, Roland, I would defer to you, and I will certainly defer to Dr. Carr in terms of the strategy and legal strategy behind that. But I will say, you know, I'm just happy to see black people getting a little bit more litigious because whether or not it goes to a court in a trial and and all that kind of stuff really usually doesn't go that far. But the threat alone, I think, is, you know, is very powerful. And I think we also have to recognize when it comes to things like economic withdrawal, you know, we live in a different era of information sharing. I know for me, if I see one baddie up review, I'm like, you know what, maybe I'm not going to try that place out. And so, you know, people are a lot quicker to kind of hold their fire or find someplace else to patronize than back then where there was a little bit more of, okay, we have to inform our

folks, we have to launch a campaign so that people know not to go there. Now you see Instagram, you see Twitter, and you're like, oh, no, no, no, I'm staying away from there. So I definitely think that the fallout is rather immediate in terms of the impact to these corporations, and that's why they are shaking in their boots, and that's why they aren't taking the typical tack that they do and trying to, you know, completely deny it. But I do think it's a goddamn shame that you have to bias train people dressed up as Sesame characters to not be racist towards black kids. That's a damn shame.

So this is why I am in favor of expanding this, because I think when you hit somebody, Erica, I believe you hit them and you hit them hard. First, a lot of people out here when they heard Sesame Place,

they actually said, oh, Sesame Street. No, they don't actually own that particular park. That is a licensing deal. SeaWorld owns them. Go to my iPad. These are the other SeaWorld properties. SeaWorld Orlando,

SeaWorld San Antonio, SeaWorld San Diego, Discovery Cove, Bush Gardens Tampa, Bush Gardens Williamsburg, Pennsylvania, Sesame Place Philadelphia, Sesame Place San Diego, Aqu Place, Philadelphia, Sesame Place, San Diego, Aquatica, Orlando, Aquatica, San Antonio, Adventure Island, Water Country, USA.

To me, Erica, when you go to SeaWorld, you make it perfectly clear. SeaWorld, you're putting all of this in jeopardy if you don't fix what took place at Sesame Place. That I guarantee you from a corporate standpoint, they begin to shake in their boots when all of a sudden you make this a SeaWorld is that they have been well aware of these racist practices amongst their employees for quite some time now. So they're going back to 2018 to connect with anyone who's been in any type of discriminatory or has been subjected to discriminatory behavior on part of their employees. So what that says to me is that SeaWorld is really living the Americana dream, that they are absolutely participating in the legacy of race,

the legacy of discrimination as established by this country thus far, and have employees that are not yet named for employees that don the costumes of Ernie, of Elmo, of Telly the Monster, and of Abby Cadabby. And that this is what they've been doing for quite some time. So, you know, to me, and not trying to step on anyone that conducts DE&I training, not to step on their bag. But to me, this is not something that diversity, equity, and inclusion training is going to solve. Hell no. This starts at the top. Exactly.

This starts at the top. What Reesey said, it's a damn shame that bias training would even have to be offered for folks that are donning costumes. But this has been the legacy plain clothing that they have made it very much so their inferiority complex lens to ensure that black people, indigenous folks felt less than. So I think when we kind of go back to corporates shaking in their boots, if they really were shaking in their boots, then this would not be their practice. I think that they're shaking because the light has been shined on it. Now, let's see how long this will continue, this campaign for them to clean up their act will continue. And I think that the strategy that you laid out, Roland, with regard to the breadbasket strategy some decades ago would be excellent to do. But do people have the actual longevity? Do people have the patience?

Do people have the actual capacity to actually engage in that type of marathon when it's not going to be some type of immediate satisfaction? But this is precisely my point. Because here's the deal. We have seen stories like this for quite some time. And what happens is folks like, man, don't go there. We need to boycott. You know what they do?

They wait. And they go back. They wait. But they wait for us to die down. They wait for us, for the emotion to go away. They make some, they make, see, again, when you mentioned the whole DEI thing, I don't even want to hear DEI. No question. I don't want, the answer ain't hiring some DEI consultant because the reality is, and in fact, Carol, let me know what you had a sister on,

a sister who's a longtime DEI person. She actually talked about how that frankly was a failure. And most of these DEI positions are bullshit. They got no budgets. They got no power. They got no staff. They got no P&L responsibility. And all it is, is frankly frankly somebody black, somebody Hispanic or somebody who's white and gay who gets hired in the DEI position, they get a salary of $200,000, $250,000, they're good, they have an assistant or a secretary and then that's it. And so I need our people to don't even fall for the DEI okey-doke. What I'm talking about here is this is one of those opportunities where I want us, and this is where black media also, black-owned media comes in, where we have to, again, expand folks' thinking.

Go to my iPad, please. Folks, SeaWorld is a publicly traded company. It is a publicly traded company. It is a publicly traded company. Now, I don't want to, I'm not even going to use, y'all know how I got a flat out opposition to Anthony Kardashian on this show. So I'm not going to use them. I'm not going to use what they recently did with Instagram as an example. But when Rihanna spoke out against changes Snapchat made to their app, this is probably a couple of years ago, they lost $3 billion in value. You know what they did?

They changed that shit. Because they saw what was coming. And so what I am saying, and this is why I'm looking at the breadbasket model, yes, the lawyers are doing what they're doing and they should be doing. Yes, they're representing the families. But as we covered in that news conference on Saturday, numerous families have come forward with their own videos. This is now becoming a systemic thing. This is the opportunity now, say, to SeaWorld, SeaWorld, play games with us.

We're going to tank your stock. Go to my iPad. You see it right here. SeaWorld stock closed at $40.82 today. Listen to me, folks. You organize this thing properly and you knock SeaWorld stock from $44.82 to $40 and you knock it down to $35 and you keep this thing in the headlines, guess what? You're not going to have to worry about,

to Greg's point, going to court and the court's ruling. They're going to say, shut this thing down, resolve this issue, get it out of the headlines. And so what I am saying to all involved, use this opportunity in a much bigger and broader way. So when we've been talking about black economic social justice and where's our money, this is a way to say,

use the moment to fix a larger issue and a broader issue. And I just hope the folks involved actually do that. But can I also say that, can we at least be united on at least recognizing the harm that was done to these children? Because I saw a lot of comments in the wake of the first video that people were saying, well, they can't say hi to every kid. Every kid ain't going to get a hug. And, you know, but them kids was over the line and find ways to minimize it. And it wasn't until four or five other videos came out that

people, some people started to back off of that. It shouldn't take, you know, dozens or, or, or several videos for us to believe black people. The first time they say that something is racist and that there is mistreatment. And to Erica's point about the stamina and the attention span, I think so often we don't even back each other up, even in the short term. And then as soon as somebody sees somebody's getting some money, then the people really start to hate. So I just hope that at a minimum, people can remain united around these families, and

to your point, Roland, expand the scope of what they're looking for. But the reason, here's the deal. I think the reason what you just described has happened is because when people engage in these efforts, they didn't do the homework. Again, if you only go for the quick hit, it's the equivalent of people only holding

the news conference, but having no plan of action on Monday, and then Tuesday, and then Wednesday. And so what I'm laying out here are likely details most folks don't even know. It's like, well, wait a minute, hold up. Sesame Place, that's Philadelphia, not Sesame Street? Wait, SeaWorld owns them? What else? Oh, wait a minute, SeaWorld publicly traded? I mean, we can go on and on and on.

And Greg, I've spent so much time over the last 20 and 30 years really covering these type of things. And I've seen the pattern repeat itself. And I've seen this thing peter out because those who were engaged did not construct a strong plan at the outset. When I did that interview with Fred Gray, what was so amazing about that, they thought through what they wanted to achieve against the Montgomery Bus Company. It wasn't that they said, okay, hold up.

We need to, we got this. Okay, we got the cabs. We got this. We got the transportation. We got the big, they We got this. We got the transportation. They went through all the pieces. What I am suggesting is that what we do is go back to what we did before and be far more sophisticated in how we begin to achieve change because it's easy. And let me be clear.

I want these families and those babies taken care of. But the problem has been when we accept the check just for them and you don't use the opportunity to actually put a dent in the whole system. I'm trying to go way bigger here, Greg. Absolutely. Absolutely, you are, Roland. And I'm glad you mentioned Brother Gray because, you know, obviously 2022 isn't 1955 and 56. And as you have borne witness to and covered for decades now, we, society has changed so much. The atomization of black identity. So some of the things that Recy is speaking to, there was a time when it would have been far less acceptable to say, well, they can't talk to everybody or they can't. And particularly when you introduce social media and the changes in technology that have occurred, we are now in a moment when in some ways it would be easier to organize people, at least in terms of sensibility. But in other ways, it is much, much, much, much, much more difficult.

A Fred Gray, you know, a Fred Gray coming out of law school, his earliest cases ending up before the Supreme Court. He got into the practice of law to defend the race. And at that time, defending the race was seen as a badge of honor. And as you have walked us through many times, whether it be the Chicago Defender, the Pittsburgh Courier, the Amsterdam News, the Norfolk Journal of God or wherever, the black press, the black media also had that objective. But we are living now in a moment when celebrity, entertainment, you know, representation in terms of movie role, everything from movie roles to getting pieces on TV, these things have so shattered a sense of collective black identity connected to political action that it makes it difficult. Now, the last thing I'll say is, and I'm glad you used the example of Rihanna, your frustration, your palpable frustration, I think comes from not only a grounding in these prior eras of being able to weaponize ourselves

and move as a collective, that momentum then in a moment saying, well, this sense of indignity, and I agree with you, Recy. I know you got a baby girl. Looking at that little boy, I'm thinking, you can't even put a price tag on the look of that little boy's face when he

was like, it wasn't confusion as much as it was, you know, in terms of a punitive damage, I don't even know what kind of counselor you would get for these black children to even come up with a number. And, by the way, as I said, they may lose in court. But, Roland, that palpable frustration, if Billy Martin and

them had called a press conference and said what you just said, Sesame Place, I know you had, no, SeaWorld, in fact, all entertainment complexes, we have a message for you, SeaWorld, you now represent every, because Busch Gardens, black folks saying, look, go to Busch Gardens. So,

you say, we coming for all of y'all. And then lay out that breadbasket steps, man, you to Busch Gardens. I'm saying, so you say, we coming for all of y'all. And then lay out that breadbasket steps. Man, you got to seize the time. Yes. But that frustration, you're saying, brother, I don't know how you do that in a moment when there is so much white noise, so much static. Well, you do.

And I'll make this final comment before I go to my next guest. And in fact, what we're talking about here really rolls into what our next conversation is going to be. You do that when you, first of all, are intentional on the front end. Second of all, you also operate from a collective mindset that that this thing is bigger and broader. When we begin to go after this advertising piece with the Black Collective, there are some people right now who are benefiting who were like, no, I didn't want to sign on, but they're sitting here now grabbing checks. We know who they are. There are others who want to

make it all about them as opposed to the collective. And so when that happens is what you can't do is get, oh, you know what? I'm just going to check out. And so when that happens is what you can't do is get, oh, you know what, I'm just going to check out. So it actually continues. Although we are seeing small gains, we're actually seeing gains because of what we launched two years ago. I fundamentally believe in the next five years, we're going to see even larger gains,

but one has to stay with it. And I go back to number six in the plan here and it was called monitoring. Debt says the greatest failure that they had with Breadbasket is they negotiated covenants and MOUs, but they did not have the infrastructure to come back and follow up. So that's why you've got companies pledging anywhere from $20 to $50 billion in the wake of the death of George Floyd, but you don't have an institution or a group who say, we're going to come back and count every, what are y'all doing? Give us the checklist. And so that's what has to happen and so all i'm saying here to the folks who are watching and listening is you cannot break down systems thinking you're going to take the system down all by itself with one chunk no that's not how it

happens and so today it's SeaWorld. Tomorrow it's another company and another company. And you gain momentum from the positive movement from taking one down. Then the folks like, oh, damn, they took them down. Because then you say, who's next? And so that's where we are. So when we go after one company, we say, oh, no, we got 30 others lined up. We coming for y'all, too. When we go after one agency, we coming for y'all, too.

And so we've served notice. There were a couple of black folks who I called out publicly by name, and I understand that they're really upset with me because I called them out by name. Well, your ass should have done right by us. Right. If you had done right by us, I would have praised you.

That's right. But your ass didn't do right by us. If I had done right by us, I would have praised you. That's right. But your ass didn't do right by us, so I called you out. This is real simple. I can praise you. I can call you out. My motto ain't change. If you do good, I'll talk about you. If you do bad, I'll talk about you. At the end of the day,

I'm going to talk about you. That has to be the standard, and we have to ensure that we are thinking much bigger and broader. We're going to talk about you. And so that has to be the standard. And we have to ensure that we are thinking much bigger and broader. And so we're going to continue talking to Billy and those set of attorneys, Ben Crump and the others, and Until Freedom. Because trust me, this goes way beyond just those two little girls and those families and Sesame Place. This is this entire system

and how they treat black people. When we come back, we're gonna talk about what do black people want? What are the issues they care about? You keep hearing folks say reparations is number one, people say education is number one. Well, our next guest, they literally did the work to survey thousands of black people.

And this wasn't no small sample. We'll break it down for you right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Don't forget to support us in what we do. If you're on Facebook and YouTube, hit that damn like button. I should have to ask again. We should easily have been a thousand likes.

Hit the like button, share it, pass it on. Also, download our Black Star Network app. Why we want you to do that? Because we want to be to the day. We don't have to be on YouTube and Facebook and LinkedIn and Twitch and Instagram. We can drive our people to a Black-owned OTT network. Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung, Smart TV,

and of course, join our Bring the Funk fan club. Of course, every dollar you give goes to support this show. This allows us to be able to travel this country to cover the news that matters. Checks and money orders to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash app, dollar sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal's R Martin Unfiltered. dollar sign, RM Unfiltered.

PayPals are Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. I'll be right back. On the next Get Wealthy, with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. You see the headlines. All frightening, right? Interest rates are going up.

The recession is on the way. The stock market is up and down. But you know what they say, scared money don't make money. That's why I'm excited on our next Get Wealthy to have a conversation with someone who has written a new book, Fearless Finances, and she's going to share exactly what you need to do to secure your bag, regardless of the ups and

downs of the economy or the stock market. Oftentimes you can start with as little as $5. That's right here, only on Get Wealthy on Black Star Network. Pull up a chair, take your seat at the Black Table. With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Hi, how's it doing? It's your favorite funny girl, Amanda Seals.

Hi, I'm Anthony Brown from Anthony Brown and Group Therapy. What up? I'm Lonnie Wells, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, a few months ago, Alicia Garza was on our show talking about the Black to the Future Action Fund and their survey of African Americans. So if y'all sitting here saying, I see some of y'all in our YouTube chat,

I didn't get the survey because your ass wasn't paying attention. We told you. All right, now they're releasing their findings from a year-long temperature check on black Americans. Joining us right now is Alicia Garza, the principal of the Black Futures Lab and the Black to the Future Action Fund. Also joining us is Mondale Robinson,

the principal of the Black Male Voters Project, also the mayor of Enfield, North Carolina, recently elected to that particular position. Glad to have both of you here. All right, Alicia, what is the top concern of Black people? Well, Roland, it's great to be with you here today, as always. Thank you for having us on the show today. You know, we did. We conducted the largest recurring poll of Black people in America. And the number one and number two priority for Black folks consistently was relief and recovery from COVID-19, especially $2,000 a month stimulus checks to help relieve the pressure from the economic fallouts of the global pandemic.

The second one, of course, was increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour. And then, of course, this was followed by needing to have more accountability and bold action around white nationalist violence and racial terror. And when you bring all these things together, Roland, what you see is that Black folks in this country want to see bold, progressive policies that are dealing with the economy and our day-to-day. We want to make sure that we can keep a roof over our head. We want to make sure that we can send our kids to college. But more than that, we want to make sure we can keep food in our refrigerators. And what we're seeing in terms of satisfaction amongst Black folks with how the Biden administration is doing around improving our economic conditions

and protecting us from racial terror and racial violence is that Black folks are deeply dissatisfied. Why did we do this poll? Well, because in just about 100 days, the midterm elections are coming. And we know that Democrats need to hold on to seats in the House and increase seats in the Senate in order for us to keep passing the types of policies that will address the challenges in Black communities. And yet what we're seeing is that with this deep level of dissatisfaction, that it's quite possible that Black voters who are the core of the Democratic Party will not show up to participate because people don't feel like their issues are being addressed. It's important for people to understand this is not a done deal and it doesn't have to be this way, but we do need to course correct immediately if

we are to reach the goal of expanding Democratic majorities in Congress so that we can get things done for black families, which ultimately means that we're getting things done for America. I want to go back to the first two folks. Pull it up, please. The first two folks. Come on. The first two. Today. Thank you. 56% are dissatisfied with the state of the economy. 46% report their personal financial situation as bad or very bad. When you look at the issues out there, you have, Democratic candidates talking about the issue of abortion. You have January 6th. You have Republicans who are trying to save the economy.

We've had now two consecutive quarters of GDP going down. Folks say, oh, that means now recession. You've got companies talking about potentially laying off people because there's a fear of the recession. Mondale, you just got elected, so the question is, with all of that,

with that being the feeling, well, what does that then say? How are people going to turn out? We already know on Republicans, there's huge enthusiasm. They want to see these MAGA people in office. You've got folks who are black, who are progressives, who don't

feel the same way. They're not as excited about President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris. Pull the numbers up. This is what the survey shows in terms of approval ratings, in terms of President Biden's approval rating, 65 percent. Vice President Harris' approval rating, 66 percent. If you are a Democrat and those are your numbers, you are DOA. So, Mondale, what's going to happen. I think what Alicia just laid out was Black people are more concerned with the issues that's plaguing them, things that are keeping them from being able to pay their usual bills like utilities and also provide groceries to their families.

I think these issues, until Democrats have a plan to address these issues, they're always going to be DOA, not just because Biden and other Democrats have low approval ratings. It's about the fact that they told us, they swear on their name, that they were going to make Black people and our issues important and a priority in this administration. And Black people don't feel protected, as shown in this poll, nor do we feel like people are out here fighting for our issues or prioritizing them.

So I think we could keep capping all we want to about people being motivated about a certain candidate, whoever they are, until you are laying out a platform and also showing people that you're not showing up transactional, Black people are not going to be excited about any damn thing related to elections. When we look at these issues here,

first of all, Alicia, again, how many people participated in this survey? Over 6,000 people participated in this survey over the course of a year. And Mondale is right. It's really important for us to understand that, you know, when it comes to candidates, right, what people are looking for is how you've performed on the issues that we care about. And right now, amongst Black communities, folks are not feeling like our priorities are the priorities of the Biden-Harris administration. That's not to knock them. It's to say that if you need to keep your numbers in the House and you need to expand your numbers in the Senate, and people are looking at you saying, you don't have my priorities in mind, that you haven't done

the things that I voted for you to do, then there's less of a likelihood that people are going to show up. As I said before, this isn't a done deal. They can actually shift and change this. We talk every election cycle, Roland, about the need for year-round investment and engagement by Democrats of Black people and Black communities around the issues we care about, not symbolic engagement, but substantive engagement. We talk a lot, Roland, each time I'm on, about the ways in which the primary strategy of the party has been to chase white suburban voters and actually move towards the issues that they care about. Of course, there was a big frenzy this week about President Biden's budget proposal, which

was released, of course, earlier this year, but he just actually started to shop it around the country, the Safer Communities Act, which is essentially quite reflective of what we saw in 1994 with the crime bill. These are the types of things that make Black voters feel, right, as if we're not being protected, as if our concerns are not being prioritized. And when we start to chase the issues of communities who are, quite frankly, fickle friends to Democrats, as opposed to putting at the center the needs and the priorities of the strongest base of the party, you can understand why there would be a concern about whether or not your strongest base is actually going to turn out for you.

So if that's your goal, you need to shift strategy. And that is why we did this poll. So today the House passed a CHIPS bill that deals with manufacturing semiconductors, a $280 billion bill. The thing that immediately jumps out to me, Mondale, is like, okay, those are, quote, subsidies. If this was another conversation, we'd be calling that welfare. So the first thing that jumps out at me is, okay,

who benefits from this? Who's the money going to? What major companies? Do those companies have HBCU initiatives? How is that money getting to black folks major companies? Do those companies have HBCU initiatives? How is that money getting to black folks as well? $280 billion. Again, to me, if you're the White House, you might want to be explaining that. How is it going to impact communities or small towns like yours in North Carolina?

How is it going to impact African Americans? How is it going to impact inner cities? How will it impact HBCUs? Because you don't want it to simply seem as if, oh, it's going to benefit these major Silicon Valley companies and it's going to benefit the oracles of the world when you have Larry Ellison, who believes in the big lie and is backing Donald Trump. Yeah, listen, I think Alicia was playing nice on your show with your listeners when she called them fickle friends. White suburbans are not Democrats' fickle friends. They are Republicans. We just got to say that. It's not just rural people that are Southern,

Southern rural people that are conservative voters. The Democrats have not won the majority of white voters in this country since the 60s, and they're never going to do it again as long as they're playing politics about the 60s, and they're never going to do it again as long as they're playing politics about progressive issues, even if they're doing it in a light manner. What I will say, though, is just like this chip bill, there's no checks on where that money is going to go and who's going to get it. Most likely none of it or very little of it will end up in Black communities or benefiting Black people. And the reason the Biden administration isn I mean, the Biden administration isn't or can't talk about it is because they didn't think about it when they was writing that bill. Like you said, they weren't intentional

about ensuring that Black people benefit from this $280 billion they're about to spend with some of the richest people in this country. Furthermore, we still got some checking to do and finding out where funds are spent from COVID relief. We know that a lot of these resources already went to police departments around this country. Some of it was supposed to be to benefit rural communities. We got to address where that money is. Who's checking on that? You were talking in your last segment about having the resources to go back and check on that. I think Alicia Garza and the team over at Black to the Future Action Fund have started that conversation, but we need to get real serious about figuring out

who is receiving all these funds that supposedly are to benefit Black people. And the reason I'm talking about rural Black people so often is because in Black spaces in the South, we are overpopulated in rural spaces. We have 33% of that population. So that's more than our national average. So people need to really think about

what's happening to rural people and how we're being ostracized, especially from resources, especially when you're a black person. The survey also shows 73% support progressive measures on abortion rights, 85% favor Congress authorizing $2,000 monthly COVID-19 relief checks for every American until the economy recovers. And so that's also what it says there. I got questions for my panel. First off, Erica, I'll start with you. Yeah, so thank you, Alicia, and congratulations to you, Mayor Robinson. And I was kind of interested in a bit of both of what you said with relationship to the SAFE Act, that there has been some disinformation around what that bill actually

contains. And my good sis, Recy, who's on the panel as well, does a lot of work around disrupting disinformation. Have you, both of you, have you all seen in your respective places where disinformation, even withholding those that represent the Democratic Party to court for what they have said that they're going to do for folks who have voted for them, have you all seen an infiltration of disinformation, even with information that you all have been putting out? And what are some measures that you are both taking in your respective places to help combat them, especially with the Safer Communities Act, where there's some disinformation about that being parallel to the 1994 crime bill? Well, I'll start off and just say that there are some deep concerns, and those concerns are valid. And part of the way in which disinformation is able to

spread and proliferate as it is and as it does is because there is such a gap between engagement and investment in our communities that in that gap, what gets inside, right, are operatives and people who don't have our best interests at heart or in mind, and they're able to take a grain of truth, right, and turn it into something that it is not. And so if we want to, and the best way for us to counter misinformation and disinformation, especially as it's targeting Black communities, is to increase our investment in making sure that Black communities are being engaged, not just when we need something from us, but year-round and ongoing, even when we have

disagreement about what the outcome is. Certainly in the Safer Communities Act, for example, there are some things that are very interesting. I would call it both a carrot and a stick kind of a bill. And yet there are some real deep concerns that Black communities do and should have about some of the punitive measures in this bill. Now, again, if Black communities are deeply engaged in the process of both crafting and putting forward their solutions around what it is that they want to see happen as it relates to addressing crime and violence in our communities, what it looks like to do violence prevention work in our communities, then we wouldn't have to do the work around disinformation and misinformation that we're

doing now. With that being said, the Safer Communities Act is not the only place where we see misinformation and disinformation proliferate. We see it in governor's races here in my state in Georgia. We see it in every place where, in particular, it's possible to wield and expand Black political power. That is the point and the goal of misinformation and disinformation. We spent all of 2020 really trying to break down myths around voting, around access to voting, around whether or not people could vote. And we also spent the entire year breaking down myths and facts about people's records and what they're proposing. I think we've got to find a healthy tension, right, between what we think the appropriate measures are and can and should be around

addressing some of the most prolific and ongoing challenges in our communities. And we have to make sure that we're closing the gap with engagement if we're really trying to take on this question of disinformation and misinformation. Racy. Thank you. Erika covered the disinformation and misinformation. Recy. Thank you. Erica covered the disinformation part. I actually am very familiar and I deeply respect the work of the Black Futures Lab and the Black Voter Project. In 2019, when it was released, I did a deep dive on it because I was a supporter of Senator Kamala Harris at the time.

And her policies all hit all the marks. The $2,000 relief checks is actually a proposal from Senator Kamala Harris that she introduced in Congress. So, you know, I think my concern is I think that the results are very illuminating. And I think that it's a great basis for formulating conversations as opposed to making assumptions about what Black voters want. But then it seems to me like it still goes back to kind of the regular, broader talking points about what, you know, is not being done in terms of messaging or what is not being done in terms of outreach. What's the next step in terms of actually marrying what Black voters want to what's actually being proposed?

Because I do see a disconnect in the way that it's being talked about, in terms of what is being done legislatively with the executive branch, in comparison to what Black voters want. And I think it also only talks about Democrats, as opposed to Republicans, who are completely on the opposite side of everything, lowering insulin, lowering the cost of insulin, expanding Medicare, a number of things. So is there any kind of plan to do like a congressional scorecard or gubernatorial scorecard or anything like that? Because I feel like we keep having these conversations about perceptions as opposed to having real. I don't want to say we're not having fact-based conversations, but having something tangible that we could say, yes, this person is hitting the mark.

No, that person is not hitting the mark. Well, I want to kick it to the mayor, because I know the mayor has been doing work in 17 states across the country for years now, engaging black male voters to try to close the gap, right, between the party engagement and what communities actually need. We are doing the same thing, both in partnership with the Black Male Voter Project, but also in partnership with Black organizations in more than five states across the country. We know that organizations like Black Voters Matter are giving the tools to Black communities that we need in order to make sure that we're not just paying attention to the problem, but that we're crafting the solution. I think the challenge here,

Risi, and I appreciate your point so much, that we need to figure out how it is that we're moving forward. I mean, one of the things that we say all the time is that what we want the Democratic Party to do is engage our people the way we engage our people, because we know that that work works. And what tends to happen in each election cycle is that the burden for doing that work lands on grassroots community-based organizations, and we need to be able to actually share some of this load. Mayor, what would you say in response to this? I mean, I don't think you're too far off the mark at all. I think the fact of the matter is the bulk of the resources around engaging people or turning people out to the poll goes to the Democratic Party and its auxiliaries. But a majority of that work is done by organizations like ours that work year round with our community, highlighting and learning what issues are most

important to us. And then we are told supposedly by white consultants that we just need to message better or react better based on an ad. I think the problem with saying that, you know, the engagement isn't isn't or there's a gap between engagement and then action is that I think that's a chicken or egg situation. Whereas if we are engaging people more, that that also means we are educating people more about the issues. And the scorecard goes out the window. We don't need a scorecard when we're always talking to people about what issues are important to them and telling them who's already right on those issues. So through engagement, I think the scorecard is natural. When we engage Black men,

the conversations are automatic. These brothers, we shouldn't assume that just because people don't play politics, they don't know what's going on and what's not going on around them. I think the best part about black people and this disinformation, we can say what we want to about how much money Republicans spent on disinformation. It was epically, it epically failed in 2020. And we saw that. We saw a record number of people coming out to vote. We saw black men who were old enough to vote for Barack Obama, but didn't come out and vote in primary election seasons and states, even when the Democratic nominee for president had already been named, which means these people were not motivated by statewide or federal candidates. They were motivated by local candidates, nonpartisan races, and also issues that were super important to them. And I think the Democratic Party continues to miss that part. It's not to say

that the Republicans aren't your opponent. It is to say that I will stay at home if you continue to ignore me. And we saw that this election cycle in 2022 in Georgia's primary, where we lost 7 percent of the black voters. GARCIA WILLIAMSON- Greg. GREGORY WILPERT, Thank you, Roland. And thank you, Mr. Garza. And thank you, Brother Mayor Robinson. I really, you know, listening to Terese and listening to Erica, don't know that I have anything other than to ask what we need, not just what you need, at the Futures Lab, the Black Male Portal Project,

but this is a Black-owned network. It's trying to punch through the noise. And during COVID, everybody was at home who could be at home. Many of our people had to work, obviously, but versus streaming, everybody's locked in. But now, this blitz, I live here in the D.C. area, and developers carpet-bombed voters with all types of ads to try to stop progressives from

getting in. How do we—I guess it's kind of a two-sided or the same question. What do you need—what do we need in terms of resources that can help close this gap, this engagement gap you're talking about, Alicia? And how do we really, as they perfect getting ready to steal these elections if they can in two and four, and you say you're in Georgia, Lisa, you see it up close with Hershel Walker in particular. How do we answer those of our comrades, our colleagues, our brethren and sistren who are self-declared on the left and say there isn't enough of a difference between the Democrats and the Republicans for us to even get in this conversation? And in some ways, that's being used to kind of stoke black voter apathy.

But what do we need? Is it more resources? Is it more networking? It just seems like we're getting carpet bombed by these billionaires and all this money trying to just create confusion. And some of our people seem to be abetting it, albeit with the best intentions. I'm really glad that you asked this question. And I think it is absolutely the million dollar question. There's a few things I would offer here. Number one, those of us who know better need to jump in our cars. We need to get next to an organization that

is knocking on doors and trying to reach people that aren't being reached. And why that is important is not just to expand the capacity of these organizations that are taking on Herculean tasks, but it's also to just stay connected to what real people who don't play politics but are political are really talking and thinking about. You know, the fact of the matter is elections do matter. And we talk about this all the time when I come on this show. And this is a place where Uncle Roland and I come together without fail. Elections do matter, and they don't just matter in terms of what's happening in the White House and in Congress, but it matters in terms of what's happening in your neighborhood.

You know, Mayor Robinson mentioned earlier that we have been doing a range of FOIA requests to try to understand better where the COVID-19 relief and recovery dollars are going. And what we're finding in the five states that we're targeting, California, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Georgia, and North Carolina, is that upwards of 40 percent of those dollars have gone to law enforcement efforts, when they were supposed to go to housing and eviction relief. They were supposed to go to education. They were supposed to go to economic relief. And so it's important for us to do more listening than what we're doing. And anytime people say elections don't matter and there's no difference between Republicans and Democrats, I just encourage them

to go sit at kitchen tables with people, bounce somebody's grandbaby on your knee, you know, sit on people's porches and really talk to people about what they're experiencing. Second thing I would offer here is that I think what we need to focus more on, you know, the left is going to do what the left is going to do. And I consider myself to be a part of it. And I can tell you this is a place where we diverge. But where I think we really need to be focused on is, you know, people for whom they feel like everybody's left them behind.

And that's really the place where we can dig in and make a difference. In our organization, we are doing scorecards. You will be able to go on our website and develop a voter guide based on the issues that you care about. We want to make sure people have the tools they need when they go to the polls. But we also want to make sure that our communities have the tools we need to change the rules and make the rules. We are also doing a Black Census project where we're serving 200,000 Black people before October 31st about what it is that we deal with every day and what we want to see done about it so that we can have a legislative agenda that we're moving beginning in the next cycle in January of 2023. So I think what we need to continue to do, right, is stay focused on the prize. We are going to continue to push to make sure that there is investment and engagement from the party that Black folks uplift and basically make what it is. But it's also important for us to just stay engaged on the ground. Mayor, what would you say?

I would say, well, I would say everything you said. Plus, we got to stop referring to the Democratic Party like it's something in the third person. That's our party. We are the power behind the Democratic Party. They don't win elections without the black vote. So to say the Democrats are messing up, what we need to say is the money behind the Democratic Party needs to start demanding more listening from black people and love black people, because that's our party.

If the black people sat out that party, it doesn't exist at all. And I think too often we don't recognize the power in owning what's ours. That's the first thing. The second thing I would say is usually when people are saying that there's no difference between Democrat and Republican, they're trying to say, I don't understand what's going on and not feel like they are ignorant. So it's our job to hear that, like Sister Alicia said, make sure we're listening properly, because that's a red flag to say this person needs more information about what's happening in their community, what's happening at their state level, and also nationally. Because you can't see these two parties and say there's not much difference, unless you're just looking at Joe Manchin. But what I would say, there's a ton of stuff that we can do on talking about Black people.

There's Black resources in our community that's not being spent with Black organizations. We know some Black people have the ability to give, and they'd rather give to the party than give to our organizations. I think that is the worst of return on investment you can do. Giving your resources to the party is a bad idea. Those resources should be going to organizations that talk to Black people year-round, that are trusted messengers, that understand what's important to our community and have already figured out holistically what's necessary to move voters from the sideline to the poll. And I don't call people sporadic voters because it lets the party and all of its auxiliaries off the line, when, in actuality, we know when you spend more resources on voters or

people, they're more likely to become super voters. So they're less invested in. So we call them low-investment voters, not sporadic. And I think Black people make up the bulk of the low-investment voters, whereas people like the white people in the Democratic Party, even those that look like us, sometimes think white when they want to go chase these conservative-leaning Republicans or Republican-like Democrats. And I mean that because if you listen to the talking points about critical race theory all through 2021, it cost us everything in Virginia because we were talking to Republicans and we weren't talking about the issues that were plaguing Black people, i.e. the economy, i.e. the loss of that $2,000 monthly check,

i.e. trying to understand how one in five of us had contracted COVID and all 40-some percent of us knowing people that had died from COVID. That's a massive loss, not just in resources, but in human life that Democrats can't say nothing about. But they damn well talked an entire election season about critical race theory as if any of them know what it is. All right, then. First of all, where can people see the full results, Alicia? You can go to black, the number two, the future dot org. You can also check out the black census at black census dot org. Make your voice heard before October 31st. All righty, folks. We certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much, Alicia and

Willis Mondale. Thanks a bunch. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back. Slavery Memories Day. Congressman Al Green wants that to be official. We'll talk to him next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. We'll also we'll show you what Vice President Kamala Harris had to say today about billions being targeted to underserved communities. And she spoke in New York City. We'll have that. Jon Stewart laid into feckless, weak, and impotent Republicans who voted against veterans.

But they voted for the same thing two months ago. We'll explain what happened. And he was not holding back. You're watching Roller Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood Martin, and I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for a balanced life with Dr. Jackie.

We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together, and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Black Star Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day, right here on The Culture, with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. Hey, I'm

Qubit, the maker of the Qubit Shuffle and the Wham Dance. What's going on? This is Tobias Trevelyan, and if you're ready, you are listening to and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Folks, it was on August 20th, 1619, that the first people of African descent came to this particular country. Twenty of them arrived at what is now Fort Monroe, then Point Comfort in Hampton, Virginia. No, it was not Jamestown.

They came here against their will. Thanks to Texas Congressman Al Green, the House has passed the Slavery Remembrance Day Resolution. The final vote was 218-207, bringing the creation of the National Day of Remembrance for Slavery a step closer. He joins us right now. So, Congressman, obviously we have Juneteenth, but it's now a federal holiday. What exactly is this day? What is this? What's the official name of this day?

And will it be on August 20th? And what do you hope to achieve with this? Well, thank you for having me. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to share information. And I would like to salute you for what you do to make sure that this information gets to the masses as well as others in the classes. This is not a paid holiday. It is not a substitute for any other day.

As you know, we have Juneteenth, which is a celebratory event celebrating the freedom that persons who were in Texas, generally speaking, received. But it has become national in scope. This holiday, this day, excuse me, Slavery Remembrance Day is the name of it, is something that will take place because we understand the necessity to understand our history and not allow it to be whitewashed or sanitized. In the state of Texas, there's a movement afoot by some to rename slavery involuntary relocation, which is not even a nice way of saying what actually occurred, not a proper way. So we

want to make sure that the history is written properly. And we also want to give ourselves an opportunity to recognize what happened during slavery. Slavery was one of the most atrocious things to have been committed upon human beings. And we don't want it to appear as though they were happy people, that they were singing as they were picking cotton, that this was a joyous time and they were well taken care of. It was brutal. Persons who were brought to this country were sold at an auction block. Families were separated, children taken from the arms of their parents, husbands and wives

separated. It was a time of great crisis, a great turmoil, great pain and great suffering for people of African ancestry. And I hope that we will find on the 20th of August of each year, some time to just pause for a moment of silent solemnity. Put your hand on your heart and just think about the millions who suffered under this horrible institution, abominable institution called slavery. And when you do this, I believe that this will help us to stay in touch with our history. This is not all of it. This is the beginning. There is much more to be said and done.

Clearly, you got no Republican support for this bill. So what are its chances in the United States Senate? And what do you want our folks to do? Do you want folks to be picking that phone up, calling, hitting folks up? So what do you want to be done? Well, this is historic. Make no mistake about it. More than 400 years ago, this white lion ship landed, as you pointed out, in Point Comfort, with 20 persons on it who were enslaved. And while we passed it in the House, there was one. Ms. Cheney did vote with us on this. So in that sense, it's bipartisan, but barely.

And what we'd like to do is now, rather than move immediately to the Senate with it, the president can sign an executive order. That ultimately is what we're trying to accomplish. We want to get the president to sign an executive order similar to the way former President Trump signed an executive order honoring Holocaust remembrance. We would like to get this president to do a similar thing. And if he would do this and give it the recognition that it deserves from the country that enslaved people, I think that would be very meaningful. It would say something about the country, how far we have come, about our desire to atone for the atrocity. So our next move is to move toward the president

to try to get the president to sign an executive order. We'd like to do it, get it done for this year, for April, August the 20th, this year. That would be great if he would. My hope is that he will, and we'll be approaching the president about doing this. All right then, Congressman Al Green, we certainly appreciate you joining us, letting us know about this, and we'll see what happens.

Thank you very much. All right, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Folks, let's talk about congressional inaction. The House moved on a bill that would extend relief to many veterans who have been impacted by these toxic pits, these toxic burn pits. Now, it passed in the Senate a couple of months ago,

84 to 14. But there was an error in it, so they came back to fix that. Well, Republicans blocked this in the United States Senate. I mean, literally. It's DOA. It was 55-42. They would not vote for it. Now, here's what they claim. They claim that, so what happened here was McConnell said that if Democrats don't move on using reconciliation to raise taxes on the rich and deal with climate change, that they

would support this bill. Well, what happened was the bill got passed in the House. Then Dems announced this deal with Manchin. Republicans got pissed off. So therefore, they voted against this bill. Right now, you have Senator Susan Collins saying that because Democrats are going to put forth this bill to deal with climate change and taxes that she's even

saying Republicans may doom a bill to codify same-sex marriages. Hmm. They're upset because Democrats are using their power. Isn't that what you're supposed to do? Didn't they tell us elections have consequences?

That when you win, you're in control? I did recall that that's what Mitch McConnell and others actually saying, right? I think so. Well, comedian Jon Stewart, he has been very much involved on Capitol Hill for quite some time on veterans' issues. And he came to D.C. today. And when I say Jon Stewart went to the Reesey Colbert School of Preparing for a News Conference,

that's exactly what he did. Listen to this nine minutes. And I'm going to play all of it. I sent Jon an email saying, Jon, I'm playing all of this. Folks, listen to this nine-minute and 38-second response, what Jon Stewart had to say to these shameful and despicable Republicans who sit in the United States Senate. So ain't this a bitch? Ain't this a bitch?

America's heroes who fought in our wars, outside sweating their asses off with oxygen, battling all kinds of ailments, while these motherfuckers sit in the air conditioning, walled off from any of it. They don't have to hear it. They don't have to see it. They don't have to understand that these are human beings. Do you get it yet?

Do we see that these aren't heroes? These are men and women, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers. That we just let stand outside in the heat when they can't breathe. I'm going to read you something. This is beautiful. I'm going to read you something beautiful. You know what? I said a curse word, and I'm sorry about that.

That was my fault. Let me say something beautiful. This is a tweet from Senator Rick Scott of Florida from yesterday. It's beautiful. And I'm sorry about the cursing. And let me say something beautiful to make it up to you. I was honored to join the USO today and make care packages for our brave military members

in gratitude, in gratitude of their sacrifice and service to our nation. And there's a beautiful picture. I wish you could see it. He's standing with a little package. Did you get the package? It's like it has M&Ms in it and some cookies and some moist towelettes. I don't even know. Honestly, I don't even know what to say. I haven't come down here 10, 15 years. I'm used to the hypocrisy. Christina Kino tell you from VFW, they, she sat in an office with Mitch McConnell and a war veteran from Kentucky. And he looked that man in the eyes and he said, we'll get it done. And he lied to him because Mitch McConnell yesterday

flipped. I'm used to the lies. I'm used to the hypocrisy. Senator Pat Toomey won't take a meeting with the veterans groups. Sends out his chief of staff. I'm used to the cowardice. I've been here a long time. Senate's where accountability goes to die. These people don't care. They're never losing their jobs. They're never losing their health care. Pat Toomey didn't lose his job. He's walking away. God knows what kind of pot of gold he's stepping into to lobby this government to shit on more people. I'm used to all of it, but I am not used to the cruelty. They passed it. June 16th, they passed the PACT Act.

84 to 14. You don't even see those scores in the Senate anymore. They passed it. Every one of these individuals that has been fighting for years, standing on the shoulders of Vietnam veterans who have been fighting for years, standing on the shoulders of Persian Gulf War veterans fighting for years, standing on the shoulders of Vietnam veterans who have been fighting for years, standing on the shoulders of Persian Gulf War veterans fighting for years, Desert Storm veterans to just get the health care and benefits that they earned from their service. And I don't care if they were fighting for our freedom. I don't care if they were fighting for

the flag. I don't care if they were fighting because they wanted to get out of a drug treatment center or it was jail or the army. I don't give a shit. They lived up to their oath. And yesterday they spit on it in abject cruelty. These people thought they could finally breathe. You think their struggles end because the PACT Act passes? All it means is they don't have to side between their cancer drugs and their house. Their struggle continues. This bill does a lot more than just give us health care.

Gives them health care, gives them benefits, lets them live. Keeps veterans from going homeless, keeps veterans from becoming addicts, keeps veterans from going homeless, keeps veterans from becoming addicts, keeps veterans from committing suicide. Senator Toomey's not going to hear that because he won't sit down with this man because he is a fucking coward. You hear me? A coward.

And like I say, I'm used to it. But this type of cruelty on those that we say we hold up as our most valued Americans, then what are we? Pat Toomey stood up there, Patriot Pat Toomey, excuse me, I'm sorry. I want to give him his propers. I want to make sure that I give him his propers. Patriot Pat Toomey stood on the floor and said, this is a slush fund. They're going to use $400 billion to spend on whatever they want. That's nonsense.

I call bullshit. This isn't a slush fund. You know what's a slush fund? The OCO, the Overseas Contingency Operations Fund, $60 billion, $70 billion every year on top of $500 billion, $600 billion, $700 billion of a defense budget. That's a slush fund, unaccountable, no guardrails. Did Pat Toomey stand up and say, this is irresponsible, the guardrails? No, not one of them did. They vote for it year after year after year. You don't support the troops. You support the war machine. That's all you care about.

He personally signed the dark proclamation to send me to war. Boy, they haven't they haven't met a war they won't sign up for and they haven't met a veteran. They won't screw over. What the fuck are we? Barbaric. And now they're going to go away. Pat Toomey says, I've got veterans groups behind me. I call bullshit. These are the veterans groups.

VFW, American Legion, IAVA, Wounded Warriors, DAV, AMVETS. They're all here. This is the veterans community, Senator. They don't stand behind you. In fact, you won't let them stand in front of you. Cowards, all of them. Cowards, all of them. And now they say, well, this will get done maybe on the after we get back from our summer recess, maybe during the lame duck, because they're on Senate time. Do you understand? You live around here.

Senate time is ridiculous. These motherfuckers live to 200. They're tortoises. They live forever, and they never lose their jobs, and they never lose their benefits, and they never lose all those things. Well, they're not on Senate time.

They're on human time, cancer time. Don't you have families? Don't you have people who are deciding how to live their last moments? I know some of them. They've been down here advocating with us. They spent their remaining time advocating so that other soldiers didn't have to face the indignities and the depravity and the desperation that they faced. And none of them will hear it. And none of them care. Except to tweet, boy, they'll tweet it. Can't wait to see what they come up with on Veterans Day, on Memorial Day. Well, this is the reality of it. I honestly don't even know what to say anymore,

but we need your help because we're not leaving. These people cannot go away. I don't know if you know this. You know, obviously, I'm not a military expert. I didn't serve in the military, but from what I understand, you're not allowed to just leave your post when the mission isn't completed. Apparently you take an oath, you swear an oath and you can't leave. But these folks can leave because they're on Senate time. Go ahead, go home, spend time with your families because these people can't do it anymore. So they can't leave until this gets done. Because these people will not give up,

they will not give in, and they will not relent. This is an embarrassment to the Senate, to the country, to the founders, and all that they profess to hold dear. And if this is America first, then America is fucked. Wow. I'll let Erica respond first because of your military service. He let it all hang out there, Erica. Erica? first because of your military service. He let it all hang out there, Erica. All except for a few things.

So all of those individuals that were back there did not represent all of veterans groups. The Black Veterans Organization, which is a Black-led organization that does do research, litigation, does storytelling that really tells the story of black veterans. When you think about two to three million folks in this country are black veterans, when you consider that 33 percent of homeless people, and we see that very easily here, Handley and the DMV, are black veterans. So I will have to say that, you know, the picture that most people get when they think about veterans is the picture that's before that you're showing on the screen now. That is not representative of all veterans. I also have to

say that to the point about what the blockage, what Republicans stood together to ensure, because it wasn't the Senate, it was Republicans that actually made sure that this failed, that this did not go forward for veterans specifically, is that my partner and my boyfriend has served in Afghanistan. And so he was exposed to those toxins because there is no trash pickup. So everything is burned. Everything is released in the air. So I am with him when he's up coughing all throughout the night and there's not a medication that he can take. It's something that's in his system. So as a person that is intimately involved with a person that's been exposed to these burn pits, and then for the question to be, well, why don't people go and just fill out the documents, fill out the paperwork for getting

help? Well, then there are barriers there as well, which is why I would encourage people to go to blackveterans.org, that particular organization. When you look to see the barriers that black veterans face, when it comes time to seek to get those benefits, to seek to get help around these things that have happened on a very large scale, that you have folks that are in positions, doctors that are in positions. So now here we are talking about disparities again. And you see that claims that Black veterans make with regard to being exposed to toxins and the different outcomes as it relates to having been exposed to those toxins, the outcomes that they have, how those claims usually don't go through or go through at a much lower rate than white veterans.

So there are all of these different systems that are in place that are repressive to black veterans. And so I would say that when people think about black issues, black veteran issues are black issues. So this is something that the Biden-Harris administration did put forward to say that we want to make sure that veterans do receive some level of relief, that we want to make sure that veterans do have expanded health care. But you have Republicans that are standing firm to say we don't care, you don't, and we feel like you don't deserve it, and we're going to ensure that it's blocked, even if it's for people that look like us. So I would just say as a person who is a veteran, a person who is from a family of veterans, someone who is intimately involved in veterans, that when we think about the issues that are whenimately think about how this impacts not only the veteran community, but not only the veteran community, but the black veterans that are within the community as well. Bottom line here is, Recy, we can look at a number of bills where Republicans have voted against veterans. And this is where if you're Democrats, you should be hammering these fools

in congressional districts, in Senate races. And as John Stewart said, oh, they have no problem funding the war machine, but they don't care about those human beings who we also call soldiers. Yeah, you're absolutely right. First, I mean, thank Erica for that brilliant breakdown. I think you gave a lot more substance in that than even what Jon Stewart did in his nine-minute speech. Not particularly impressed by it, but I do hope to see all the people who get their panties in a bunch about me cussing every week. I hope to see all your comments in the comment section

after this about how horrible it is. I can say in one minute, wrapping it up, from what Jon took nine minutes to say. Republicans ain't shit. They ain't never going to be shit. They don't give a fuck about anybody.

They don't give a fuck about them, about veterans, children getting their heads blown off, black people getting blown up at our getting shot in grocery stores, women, children, 10 year olds getting raped and getting pregnant by their rapist. There's a whole list of things they don't give a fuck about. So this whole if this is America, we're fucked. We've been fucked. they don't give a fuck about. So this whole, if this is America, we're fucked. We've been fucked. I don't know where the hell Jon Stewart has been. But I do give him credit because that's something that's going to go viral and it's going to bring attention to how terrible Republicans are. But what he didn't say is that every damn Republican needs to be voted the hell out. At Toomey, old ass, yes, he is retiring. But you got crazy-ass Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania. You got all

kind of people up and down the ballot box that needs to be voted out in 2022 period. So I would like to have seen him take that extra leap. But the bottom line is you can't make appeals to Republicans about the humanity of people,

about logic, calling out hypocrisy, because they really just flat out don't give a damn. There's no reasoning with them. The only solution is to vote their asses out. And then the last thing I'll say, I do hope we'll get a chance to revisit a little bit of that conversation earlier about the Black survey, because I do have some comments on that. But if you don't want to revisit it, fine, but I wanted to put that out there. I would like to revisit a little bit of that. Greg, the candidate who's running for the Democratic nomination for

the United States Senate in Missouri, he, let's just say, he's got a few words to say to Republicans. Lucas Kuntz, he I didn't realize he was following me on social media, to Republicans. Lucas Kuntz, he I didn't realize he was following me

on social media. He sent me, he just sent me this DM and I want to show it. This is what he just posted. Stationed in Iraq, I lived near an open air burn pit. Smoke filled the air all the time.

And I had to run through it. To the Republicans who decided to screw veterans like me today, fuck you, every last one of you. I mean, this is, I mean, look, I mean, and the thing, and I know people who are watching and they're like, oh, all that cussing. I know it's gonna be somebody sitting here sending me an email saying oh, all that cussing. I know it's gonna be somebody sitting here sending me an email saying the Lord is against cussing

and all that sort of stuff like that. I got you, that's fine. But here is the reality, Greg. We have to sit here constantly and watch these Republicans wave the flag and talk about first responders and veterans and they were trashing Kaepernick. How dare you disrespect the American military, the families, the Gold Star families. You won't even kneel.

You punk asses won't even provide them the health care. And this is not just even on this. The folks with vote vets have been highly critical of them in the past when they have stood up, stood out against. And what they'll do is they'll trash any Democrat that's saying you're weak on the military, you're weak on defense. And then what they do is they force them into giving them more money to the Defense Department. I mean, hell, they added, I saw a story where Congressman Anthony Brown said,

you know, in the committee, in the House Armed Services Committee, $30 or $40 billion was added above what Biden was asking for. He said it wasn't even a debate, but they don't sit here and care about them when they come back. And this is truly shameful. It would be shameful if there were any morals involved, but we know they're not. I mean, Erica laid it out. When they say military,

they mean white nationalism. And it would spend all of your tax money. I mean, it's not going to improve. You know, your penis envy is real. And in the case of Mitch McConnell, the answer is very simple. Charles Booker, what did Gary Chambers tell you

in this very program? I mean, it's enough people in Louisiana to send John Kennedy's punk plan adjacent ass home forever. You've got to break their political backs. This is the last generation that's going to live in a United States of America that's majority white. In a couple of weeks, we'll be talking with Richard Kreitner on the Black Table here on the Black Star Network. He wrote a book. He's corresponding

with the Nation magazine called Break It Up. He traces the history of the United States of America. The history of the United States of America is not unity. It is secession. The 13 colonies that our brother out of Houston, Brother Al, has this bill for, those 13 colonies were British colonies. The first Africans were enslaved here by the Spanish a century before. But when we think about Al Green's bill, it speaks to a nationalism that doesn't exist. The 13 colonies only agreed that they need to get away from the British. And ever since that happened, people have been trying to get away from each other. And in this settler mess, black people have no friends. Please understand, we have no friends.

You know, and you mentioned this at the top of the show, Roland, $280 billion Congress voted yesterday to invest allegedly in manufacturing and technological stuff to challenge China. Well, China is mining cobalt in the Congo right now, and lithium got at least black children, some of them as young as the kids we saw getting egged at this place, to get into this damn war they have with America. The only thing holds the United States of America together is its enemies. There is no such thing as United States of America. So you can't appeal to their patriotism. Jack Robinson, like our sister Erica, was a veteran.

He said in his autobiography in 1972, I don't salute the flag and I can't stand for the anthem because I've never had it made. John Stewart, bless you, but let's be very clear. I don't give a damn. You can have that flag. You can have all that war talk that you think somehow is going to elicit some sense of solidarity. The white nationalist party only understands rule. And they are holding on for everything.

So you need to stop waving flags and hiding behind uniforms. No, we got to go to war. We go to war every day. And a bunch of black people, black men come home from World War I getting lynched in the streets, the red summer. Black people coming home from World War II.

Black women and men got to watch their back overseas because half the time they get shot as friendly fire. Damn it. Stop pretending this is a nation and let us go to war. Break Mitch McConnell's Klan adjacent back! Break his back! Stop talking to these people.

And guess what? You said that Bill Susan Collins, her old dried up ass out of Maine, what Susan Collins said, it ain't just LBGTQ, it ain't just same sex. Do you know what else is in that legislation that she's saying? Archer in trouble now. Archer in trouble now. Interracial marriage. So those of you who like

white boys, y'all want to marry one, guess what? That's a bill that they trying to pass to protect your right to do it. Because that nigger on the Supreme Court married to a white woman is eyeing that too. And his black ass will be the first one they throw in prison. We ain't got no friends.

Folks, it's real simple. I keep telling y'all and again, for all the people out here who say, oh man, don't vote. I keep telling y'all, how do you change this game? Easy. Tim Ryan beats J.D. Vance in Ohio. Okay? It's real simple. Ryan versus

Vance. You're likely going to have Mandela Barnes against incumbent senator Ron Johnson Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin against the Republican incumbent Ron Johnson the bounce Ron Johnson's ass out of the United States Senate Pat to me is retiring in Pennsylvania, but you get my met Oz running against the tenant governor John Fetterman Fetterman needs to beat him. You got Senator Rand Paul, incumbent Republican, running against former state Senator Charles Booker. Booker, turnout, those poor white folks, black folks hit record numbers. Black turnout in Kentucky should be at 85, 90, 95 percent. Maximize the numbers, bounce Rand Paul's ass out. Sherry Beasley running against Ted Budd in North Carolina. Elect Sherry Beasley. You got Representative Val Demings in Florida running against Marco Rubio.

You've got in Louisiana, you've got several people in the jungle primary. But Gary Chambers Jr. has been out there against the incumbent Senator John Kennedy. There's a sister who's running as well. I can't remember her name right now. I met her when I was at SSU New Orleans. The bottom line is this here, folks. They got to go. They got to go. I'm telling you right now, if you have a Senate that's 55-45 Democrat,

56-44, 57-43, trust me, you have a much better shot at things getting done. But as long as it's a 50-50 game, I'm telling you, you're not going to have stuff done. As long as you have Manchin and Sinema who are in control, holding that power, it's not going to change. And so, again, play games if you want to. Georgia, don't mess around, Georgia. Let me be real clear, Georgia. These white folks are going to vote for that idiot Hershel Walker. They do not care.

They want power. They want to take down Mark Kelly in Arizona. They want to take down the Democratic senator in New Hampshire as well as the one in Arizona. They want those seats. Those four must be held by Dems. You must pick up others. And again, and I love these people who post, man, you ain't nothing but out here

shilling for Democrats. Let me repeat, Republicans blocked the bill when it came to voting for healthcare for the veterans. It was nearly every Republican who voted against the national remembrance of slavery day. It was every Republican except one who voted against the domestic terrorism bill after 10 black people were gunned down in Buffalo. It was Republicans who voted against price gouging at the gas pump in the House. It was Republicans who voted against lowering insulin prices in this country. So y'all can kiss my ass with all that, oh, you shilling for the Democrats.

Here's what I do know. And let me real clear. I got issues. Well, I put them on the table. You heard Alicia and Mondale lay off the issues. I got issues. But what I do know is we going to have some real issues if them fools in charge. If y'all ain't read that Axios report about

what these conservative think tanks are, they literally are plotting the coup right now. The plan of action that they have for if Donald Trump wins in 2024, if y'all thought

them four years he was president was crazy, oh what they have planned is bonkers compared to what you saw for four years. But y'all go ahead and keep playing these games.

I'm not saying you don't challenge Ryan, Barnes, Beasley, Demings, Booker, and all the candidates on your issues. What I am saying is, go ahead and play games. Go ahead and play games. And you see what these fools have planned for black people. If they get back in charge.

It ain't going to be pretty. Got to go to break. We'll come back. Headlines on role of the black star network. That's it to me is the exact same feeling as right. Ever flowing. Water always finds a way to get through. And so when you know that you're sexy,

there are no questions about it. It is an ever flowing emotion. It is an ever flowing feeling. When you question it though, you stop the water. I actually, I struggle with this a lot, mainly because I've been told what sexy should look like, what it should feel like. As a model who did Sports Illustrated,

you're told that this is what sells sexy, but then you travel the world and what's sexy to one person is not sexy to another person. I'm more of a mind fuck kind of person. How can you stimulate the brain? To me, that's that's sexy. Pull up a chair. Take your seat. The Black Tape.

With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Carl Payne pretended to be Roland Martin. You are watching Roland Martin, and I'm on his show today, and it's... What? Huh? You should have some cue cards.

Hey, what's up, y'all? This your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Eee! All right, folks, our black and missing for the day. Avery Potts disappeared from Dallas on July 19th. A 13-year-old is 5 feet tall, weighs 178 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Avery Potts should please call

the Dallas Police Department at 214-744-4444. 214-744-4444. In Mississippi, a white man finally gets arrested for attempting to run over nine black teenagers. Parents and community members are still outraged at 49-year old Mark Hall after he posted a video of himself driving his truck into a group of black teenagers riding their bikes in Ripley, Mississippi.

The video was initially shot initially on his Snapchat. It was later screen-recorded and reposted on his Facebook page. Hall is charged with nine counts of enhanced simple assault. He is currently in the county jail there. Eight women have filed a lawsuit saying they had a traumatizing experience at an Indiana county jail. The women allege they were beaten and raped by male inmates in exchange for $1,000 in October. They say a Clark County jail official gave the male inmates the keys to the pod the women were in and stood by while they were getting attacked.

The women say they were punished by the guards who kept the lights on for 72 hours, interrogated them and removed all their personal belongings. The Clark County Sheriff's Department says one now fire officer is responsible for the entire incident. David Lowe is charged with trafficking with an inmate, aiding escape and official misconduct. The women say they still suffer mental and physical damage after the terrifying incident. In 2018, the Bureau of Justice reported over 27,000 rapes happening in prison.

Staff members committed 42% of them, while other inmates committed 58% of those rapes. And folks, how about this here? A black Trump supporter who said in court that he actually wasn't black because he was MAGA, he participated in the January 6th insurrection. He received a long, well, he actually tied someone else for the longest jail sentence for those impacted on January 6th. Mark Ponder, a native of D.C., was sentenced to five years in federal prison for assaulting law enforcement with a fire extinguisher

during the January 6th insurrection and breaking a riot shield. After he was arrested by the FBI, Ponder refuted Trump's false claims about the 2020 election in the Supreme Court. The FBI has arrested around 850 people in connection with January 6th with hundreds of cases in the works.

I gotta say, it was pretty hilarious where you see him saying, oh no, I'm not, I'm sorry, I'm, me? I'm not black. I'm not black. No, I'm MAGA. That's what he said. He said, I'm not black,

I'm MAGA. Oh, like, you not black, you OJ? Well, shit, they got OJ there, too, okay? So, if anybody was gonna go to jail, it was definitely gonna be your black ass, and they was definitely gonna throw the book at you. So, it probably doesn't pay to be an

insurrectionist foot soldier of white supremacist home boy. My ass going away. No, I'm just kidding. It's not Blackie Packer. My ass going away. Listen, he F-A-F-O.

He F-A-F-O. He fucked around and found out. So he sure did. Got those 63 months, baby. those five years and three months, another quarter. So shout out to Mark Ponder. And it was mentioned that he had decades of a criminal record. I said, look at that. You're getting the all-star black treatment. They are rolling out the carpet, baby, not just talking about the crime that you committed for which you're being jailed for, but they went back decades to say that you are

a career criminal. So I hope that he gets in real good with the Aryan nation there at the prison that he'll be in. Shout out to Mark Ponder, a latest victim of FAFO. But he got his N-word wake-up call.

But even though he got his N-word wake-up call, it wasn't that much of N-word because he got a lot of licks in for a Black man hitting an altercation with the police. I mean, he was beating them cops' ass. Normally, we do not see Black people survive those kind of encounters. So if he wasn't a MAGA person,

I might almost have been rooting for him just for the culture to have gotten a couple of licks in. I'm not saying I'm not condoning violence against the cops, the Capitol Police. They wasn't doing anything wrong in that case. But I'm just saying for all the licks that he got in, he survived it, and he got five years. I don't think that's a bad deal, even though he got more than most people did.

Grant, a bottom line as far as I'm concerned for this dumbass. Some people are like, well, you know, this is unfair that the black man got the most. No, he got traded. He ain't on team black. You're right. Well, you know, and here kind of, again, it brings it all into perspective, doesn't it? The judge, the U.S. District Judge that handed this sentence out actually contemplated giving him more. She actually gave him three

months over the prosecution's ask. That judge is named Tanya Chuktan. She is an African-American. She's from Kingston, Jamaica, raised here, went to school at George Washington here in the district. And she has been holy hell on the January 6th protesters. There are many more that are going to appear before her before it's done. She's also the one who she was presiding over that, the case where Trump was trying to keep his records sealed and away. But Tanya Chuktan is not playing. So before anybody says that the black man got different, understand the black woman was like, oh, hell no.

I'll put all of y'all in jail. So, you know, sit on that as Clarence Thomas tries to hide his wife from a whole ass insurrection, because if she prepared before Tanya Chuk time, her ass going to jail too. And last I checked, the feds are thinking about bringing her to testify. So maybe we'll see Chuck time play in place and we'll see a black woman gather this one right here. Well, speaking of Thomas, law school student at George Washington University used their

First Amendment right to remove him from teaching a seminar. Nearly 12,000 people signed the petition to have Justice Clarence Thomas removed from his teaching post. The petition cites Thomas' views on abortion, gay marriage, and his wife, Jenny Thomas' participation in the attempted coup as reasons he should not teach at the law school.

The university has said Justice Thomas is unavailable to teach during the fall semester. No, your punk ass simply got shut down. You were scared of protests. See, I love how y'all sit your little ass in your damn robes in the Supreme Court behind all your security. Then you pass

Bill's judgments how people can protest at abortion clinics, but you erect fences around the Supreme Court because your asses are scared, and now you're scared to go in the classroom. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you did mind dissenting opinions. Right.

But I think that he was barely put on pause. I don't think that he was removed totally from the co-teaching position. So this will kind of be, you know, to take us back full circle, what you talked about in the monitoring piece with the breadbasket model. Those students, you know, the 11,000 people in addition to the students that signed the petition will have to make sure that where he stood in his co-teaching position, that he does not pick that up next semester or the year after that. So I think it's great that they did come together to say that that is not somebody that we want to receive teaching from, but there we'll have to make sure because GW has not effectively removed him, just only put him on pause. Well, I would agree with that. I don't

think he, well, we'll keep, keep in mind BET announced the hiatus of Monique's talk show on BET. They never officially canceled it. Right. Well, I mean. It's officially still on hiatus. Still on hiatus. Now, how did Monique get in here? No, no.

I'm making the point BET announced her show was on hiatus. It ain't come back from hiatus. So they can say he on hiatus. He ain't coming back. No. I mean, I'm not even torn. I would have preferred him to teach.

Frankly. The dean of the law school there and the provost both said they were not going to remove him. I would support that. If I were a law student, I would have come to that class and set his black ass on natural fire. I agree. You know what I'm saying? I mean, because what happens is, and again, I know I'm sure there were some black students that signed it and black. But we have to understand that this is a double edged sword, you see.

So when Ben Crump or Kristen Clark or someone, you know, gets an appointment and the petition comes up, there's a precedent. Now, well, actually, it's not a precedent because they will say that they defend their academic freedom as well. And Clarence Thomas didn't didn't come. Now, interestingly enough, tomorrow at the Black Table, we're actually going to sit with a professor at the CUNY Graduate Center, Corey Robin, who's written a book called The Enigma of Clarence Thomas. And I would encourage everybody to tune into the Black Star Network and download the app, download the app and watch, because what Professor Robin does is walk us through all of Clarence Thomas' opinions. And what you see is someone who would probably

characterize himself in some ways as a Black nationalist. In Clarence Thomas' vision of America, it's basically like it needs to get so bad that Black people will finally stand up and do something for themselves. It's quite bizarre. But in terms of that, I don't know that I would have tried to get him out of the classroom.

I would have said, come on, baby. Come on. Come on, baby. Come on to this classroom. Let's dance. That's what Clarence Thomas was afraid of. See, yeah. But I guess he can hide behind his wife. She certainly, you know, looks big enough for him to hide behind. It should be okay.

Well, again, he didn't come back to the classroom. Hey, y'all, today Vice President Kamala Harris was in New York City talking about the efforts to fund numerous organizations dealing with underserved communities. Billions of dollars are in this initiative. Here are just some of the remarks that she had today. So it will have a profound impact and we are excited that these pieces of legislation have now been passed through both the Senate and the House. And in the meantime, of course, while that is going through its process, our administration remains focused on additional

efforts to build a strong economy, an economy that works for all people. And that's why we are here today, gathered with leaders from our administration. As I mentioned, the administrator of our small business administration, Isabel Guzman, who I've traveled the country with, and I thank you for your work. Our deputy secretary of the Department of Commerce, Don Graves, who is just an extraordinary leader, so talented and experienced. We're lucky that you have decided to come back to public service. And we are joined by leaders of this great city and state, including, of course, the great mayor, Eric Adams, who is here and has been doing extraordinary work. There he is. I thank you, Mayor Adams. We have met and

convened and talked about your leadership here in New York, in Washington DC, in the White House, and in many other places, and so I send you best from the President. And Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, who is here, who I knew from his work in Congress, and now he is a leader of this state and really is one of the shining bright stars of our nation. So, Lieutenant Governor, I'm glad to be with you this afternoon. And to all the community and corporate leaders who are here, because this gets me to what we're about to talk about, which is why we are here on the occasion of this visit. America is a nation powered by the ambition and the aspiration of her people.

The ambition and the aspiration to turn dreams into reality, including the aspiration and dream to start a business, to own a home, to get an education. That is the energy and the ambition that has always been a driver of America moving forward. It creates jobs, it sparks innovation, it expands the economy, and it makes our nation more competitive. But achieving that success requires a number of very specific things. And in particular, it requires access to capital. For what? Well, for example, to buy inventory, to make a down payment, to hire employees. And it requires access to financial services, services like checking and savings accounts,

home and auto loans, financial education and advice. And what we know is not everyone in our nation has equal access to this essential support. Consider, for example, in our nation black entrepreneurs are three times more likely to report they did not apply for a loan for fear of being turned away by a bank. That fear being based on the stories and the experiences of their family, friends, and neighbors. Black and Latino homeowners are rejected by traditional financial institutions at a higher rate when applying for home loans. And this is the case even when they have credit profiles that are similar to other applicants. For many Asian American business owners, in particular immigrant business owners, language

barriers limit their ability to access capital and banking services. And people who live in rural communities, including many Native Americans, often lack access to traditional financial services of any kind. So like many of you here today, I have worked for years to address these disparities. In fact, one of the last bits of work that I did when I was in the United States Senate was to team up with Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Mark Warner, Senator Cory Booker, and Chairwoman Maxine Waters, to invest $12 billion in community lenders.

$12 billion. Nothing to scoff at, Recy. And, you know, this is something that Vice President Kamala Harris has a very lengthy record on in terms of ensuring equitable access to funding, to capital, and to different programs. And I think that this administration has been especially good at ensuring that when money is put out there, that there is access for minorities, Black people specifically, that normally isn't there. So going back to the conversation a little bit earlier, I do take exception when there's kind of narratives being pushed about a lack of engagement, a lack of even attention being paid to the Black community when you have somebody like Vice, well, the Vice President of the United States, not somebody like

the Vice President of the United States that has really been she's really been barnstorming the country, primarily focusing on black major conventions, as well as going to these states, these critical states that we need in the midterms, but also going to red states like Indiana and meeting with black legislators, black lawmakers, and really convening people from across the country to mobilize around a lot of these issues. So one of the things I would like to see, instead of consistently perpetuating perceptions about what's not being done, if we could have more conversations like the one that you are facilitating by showing Vice President Kamala Harris's remarks and show what's actually being done. We can argue if it's enough or not, but I know that the many times that I've been at

the White House and I've written articles and I've covered the leadership of Vice President Kamala Harris in particular, it gets crickets. When Kamala says that she's a woman in a blue suit, everybody and their mama sees that shit. But nobody sees stuff like this. And so I just want to challenge us to be more aware of what's going on and to have these conversations that aren't feelings-based, but are facts-based. And if you don't know, then let's have a conversation and let's talk about it instead of just always defaulting to these longstanding narratives that I don't think hold true as much when you look at leaders like Vice President Kamala Harris, people in the administration like Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan,

who really does exceptional work, and you almost hear nothing about him, Secretary Fudge, who does exceptional work as well. Let's have some conversations that are fact-based. So, and the one last thing, I just have to get this out, because when the mayor said we wouldn't need scorecards if we're engaging, that's. No. The reason why I always suggest, I suggested it to Ice Cube scorecards is because that level sets the conversation and we can all go off of the same set of facts because we have too many feeling-based conversations, too many conversations that are fueled by what people see on social media. Usually it's disinformation that they react to and get all spun up about, and we aren't even talking about

what's really being done. And we're not even fighting the things that we really disagree on, because we're fighting on some shit that ain't even true to begin with. We're talking about $12 billion, Erica, from a coalition of 23 companies and foundations to underserved communities.

And we talk about that money going to community lenders. I mean, that directly impacts black-owned businesses. Absolutely. So when we talk about black issues, when we talk about things that directly are benefits, that definitely yield benefits for black communities, this is an example of that. And I completely agree with my sis, Re Recy around, you know, these things that aren't being mentioned when we continue to look and how Roe v. Wade is impacting, especially Black women, Black women being three to four times more likely to pass away, giving birth, and then up to

a year after that child has been in the earth. When we think about Vice President Kamala Harris and all of the work that she's done around Black maternity health issues, that is a real Black issue. We're talking about life being created, Black life being recreated. And so that is definitely an issue. So it's, you know, moving away from things that are kind of like, that have the propensity to rile people up, to get people really upset and become mean worthy. We have to get out of the business of that because Alicia talked about being in my home state of Georgia and during this primary of the governor's race, gubernatorial race, that there was a 7 percent decline in folks participating, specifically Black folks participating in the primary. That does not bode well for a state that absolutely needs a governor

who's paying attention to not only the things that impact Georgia economically, but health care-wise. We're talking about leader Stacey Abrams. So there has to be, and I know that there are folks that do work in the communities, both rural and in metro parts of Georgia, to really message out and that they're out doing that work. We have to make sure that people are also hearing and seeing and understanding the work that is being done on the executive level that definitely does yield benefits for my home state, Georgia, and other states around it, that they're not being neglected, that their issues are being addressed, and that if they do want to raise their voices, do that, but they have to participate in the vote. Greg? Again, yeah, I mean, I can only echo what Risi and Erica have said. You know, Kamala Harris, regardless of any political differences any of us might have with the Democratic Party in general, with the vice president or anyone else in this

administration in particular, I think it's fairly clear. What am I saying? I think it's fairly clear. What am I saying? I think it's fairly clear. Everyone, I think it's unanimous that, unanimous for observers, that this administration has not used her well, has not cut her in as a full partner in the project. And it's almost as if the Biden administration is trying to lose, is trying to. I mean, you know, even the news that broke, of course, in the last 24 hours with this feckless cosplay coal miner out of West Virginia coming to a deal. You know, this is major news.

And, you know, there's only so much that we can do to try to prevent this freight train that is bearing down on us from hitting us. Kamala Harris could be used much more effectively in many more ways, but it's almost as if in that White House she is not only an afterthought, it's almost like you got to work to kind of evade the vice president like that. Whatever skills, whatever talents, whatever ability she has, whatever demonstrated capacity to kind of push that she has, and certainly she spent time in the United States Senate before she came here.

You know, this is really indefensible. And at the end of the day, we're going to get stuck with the bill, just like we got stuck with the bill for Obama. Black people are going to get stuck with the bill. So I don't have any hope that this administration is going to change course. I mean, I almost wish the vice president would go rogue. But, you know.

I mean, because she's going to end up holding the bag, too. Can I push back just a little bit on that, Greg, Dr. Carr? I mean, I think if you talk about politically, in terms of optics, in terms of messaging, do I think she's been effectively utilized?

No. But I can say as a person who I consider myself the encyclopedia of her record, I can absolutely say I see her fingerprints in every single major policy initiative that this White House pushes through. She's doing the work in terms of the agencies, the executive agencies. She's right there arm in arm with Michael Regan, EPA administrator, with Secretary Fudge, whether it's Becerra at HHS. She is convening executives. She's doing cross-agency collaboration. And that was a hallmark of her work

when she was attorney general in California. So I won't accept that she is not being utilized in terms of doing the work. She's absolutely doing the work. Now, is she getting credit for it? No. Is she getting beat up in the media? Absolutely. But I do think we're seeing different policy outcomes and different priorities than we would have otherwise seen if Vice President Kamala Harris was not in that there's no penetration of any of what you just said. And it's one thing for you to say it. It's one thing for us to say and embrace that. It's quite another for her not to be able to embrace all of that. Because if people heard that,

whatever individual line by line thing they might want to say, they could not say she's not doing the work. And I'm just bemused as why she can't, you know, yeah. So no, I'm with you 100% on that. Absolutely. Absolutely. Alright, folks. We have lost some great people. Emmy-nominated actor Tareem Black

died at the age of 82. He made appearances on sitcoms such as Sanford and Son and Good Times before rising to prominence for his role as Detective Neil Washington on Hill Street Blues. His performance earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 1982. Black was also an advocate for adoption.

He adopted 10 children and eventually became a national spokesman for adoptive services during George H.W. Bush's presidency. He is survived by his 12 children, 18 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Again, Tareem Black was 82 years old. Emmy-winning character actress Mary Alice Smith, she has died of natural causes. She was 85. The actress, her family announced her passing today. The star on stage and screen is best known for her role as Letitia Letty Bostic on NBC TV sitcom A Different World and Effie Williams in the 1976

musical drama Sparkle. Mary Alice also performed on Broadway and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1993. She also won a Tony Award in 1987 for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Mary Alice, of course, she participated in The Matrix as well. Mary Alice Smith, again, passed away at the age of 85.

The founding president and first CEO of Black Public Media has passed away. Mabel Haddock died of kidney disease Saturday in New York City after a brief hospitalization. She created the National Black Programming Consortium in 1979 after seeing a need to diversify the stories told on TV. She also supported black filmmakers and producers in their films, TV programs, and series.

Now known as Black Public Media, the national media arts nonprofit focuses on creating and producing media content about the black experience. A private funeral will be held in Clover, Virginia on August 4th with public memorials in New York and Columbus, Ohio. Haddock was 74 years old. And Hollywood Black Film Festival founder, Tanya Kersey, she passed away last week at the age of 61 of cardiac arrest

at a hospital in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Before founding the Hollywood Black Film Festival, Kersey worked as an actress, model, entertainment journalist, and radio host. She first launched the film festival in 1998 to celebrate black cinema by bringing together established talents of independent films and filmmakers. The festival screened more than 1,000 independent films in the U.S. and 25 other countries. Tonya Kersey, folks, dead at the age of 61.

And I certainly knew Tanya. I covered the Hollywood Film Festival. Often running to her, talked with her. She certainly was one of the leading voices in amplifying black folks in cinema. So certainly our thoughts and prayers go out to the loved ones, the family of all of the folks who we mentioned who are now ancestors. That is it for us, folks who we mentioned who are now ancestors.

That is it for us, folks. Erica, thanks a bunch. Recy, thanks a bunch. Great. We appreciate it as well for joining us on this week's panel. Thank you so very much. Folks, we want y'all to support us in what we do. What we try to provide for you is something that no one else is doing right now,

a daily two-hour, sometimes two and a half, news show that speaks to our issues. But it's not just Roland Martin Unfiltered. It's also the six other shows on the Black Star Network. Of course, Deborah Owens' show, Financial Literacy, airs on Monday. Then you've got Dr. Jacket Hood and Martin's show on Wellness, Balanced Living.

That show, you've got Faraji Muhammad, his show every single day. You got Greg Carr in his weekly show. You got Stephanie Humphrey with The Pivot on her show, talking to entrepreneurs. We got Rolling with Roland which airs every two weeks. We've got a fantastic interview

with Damaris Lewis. She's an actress. She's a dancer. She performed with Prince. Folks, you don't want to miss that interview with her. So go to the Black Star Network app and check it out. We got lots of content on there, a lot of stuff that you've missed, so go to the app. How do you get it? You download it.

Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. You can download it on all of those platforms. And of course, we want you to support our Bring the Funk fan club. Your dollars make it possible for us to do what we do here. So please support us. Checks and money orders go to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash App is Dallas Sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered.

PayPal is RM Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Folks, thanks a bunch. We'll see you tomorrow right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Howl! This is an iHeart Podcast.