#RolandMartinUnfiltered - 'Shameful Display On Television': Roland Martin Deconstructs Marcellus Wiley's Kaepernick Commentary

Episode Date: August 26, 2019

Former NFL player Marcellus Wiley weighed in on the the Jay Z/NFL partnership that seems to have left Colin Kaepernick and the protest against police brutality out in the cold. After Wiley's commentary reignited the controversy surrounding Jay-Z's NFL deal and Kaepernick, Roland Martin took a moment to deconstruct Wiley's commentary during Tuesday's edition of #RolandMartinUnfiltered ... ▶️ #PressPlay Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. You can make this possible. All right, folks. Now, y'all know here on Unfiltered, we do something called the deconstruction of different things. We have in the past deconstructed Kanye West, his nutty news conference that took place in the Oval Office. We have deconstructed the nuttiness of Candace Owens and so many others. And so this morning I saw a video that took place yesterday from a show on Fox Sports, their cable network. And it was the show that has Marcellus Wiley and Jason Whitlock and Jim Jackson, Jackson, former NBA star, and Marcellus Wiley, former NFL star,

and Jason Whitlock, who never played professional ball. So we were watching this, and they were talking about this whole issue between Colin Kaepernick, Jay-Z, Eric Reid, and then Marcellus, who I really like. We've had Marcellus on the show. I think Marcellus is a very smart guy, graduated from an Ivy League school. But I think sometimes you can be so smart, you're dumb when you come to a certain form of analysis. And so I was watching this video and was deeply disturbed by what I was hearing out of the mouth of Marcellus Wiley. So what we're going to do is we're going to play for you the segment.

Y'all know how we do the deconstruction. We play the video, then I say stop, then I deconstruct, then we play some more, and then we deconstruct. So class is in session. You can begin. One, Jay-Z told you what he thinks of Kaepernick truly through his actions. He didn't go to Kaepernick to say, can I? Should I? He just did it. You know why? As he said, we're beyond kneeling.

Was this the beginning? You can keep kneeling. I'm going to take this baton from you as you're kneeling and now translate this into the two things that are most important in this whole conversation, which is the money and the power that can give the resources back to those who are underprivileged, underserved and voiceless. And I think that's been lost right now because of Kaepernick and the gestures that him and Eric Reed and Nessa are all following. Here's the thing. Jay-Z is smart. You don't become Marcy Project's billionaire and not be smart and have your spidey sense that can read this. And Jay-Z is guilty of giving Kaepernick a pass

the same way I was guilty of giving him a pass. I was conflicted. From day one, I was against him kneeling. Because I said, get up and get those resources because where we're from, you're kneeling at kickoff has nothing to do with our situation unless you translate that, materialize it it and monetize it.

Stop right there. Now, first and foremost, Marcellus says that he was against Colin Kaepernick initially kneeling because he said, the NFL's commitment to resources to fight social justice did not happen until after this thing blew up. It's not like the NFL said before a protest, hey, we're going to commit ourselves to spend upwards of $100 million fighting social justice. That was the response to the protest. It was a little hard, Marcellus, for you to now say you were against the protest by Kyla and Kaepernick because you were saying, go get those resources to help the community when the resources were not offered up prior to the protests. Press play. Waited long enough and finally said, Lanny!

Step past this dude to get this right. This is an identity issue. You know why the identity of this movement has been lost? You know why the identity has been lost in this platform of kneeling? And what does it really mean? Because the identity of those who are leaving it has always been in question. Let's keep it 1,000 up here, because my past is hot. What does it really mean? Because the identity of those who are leaving it has always been in question. Let's keep it one thousand up here because my past is hot.

My past has expired for this. The past has expired. I've been going back and forth with this from day one at ESPN. Let's go. Kaepernick comes from a situation where he's never felt the full weight of these injustices. This is a mixed race guy who was raised by a white family from Wisconsin to central California. Respect that does not disqualify you. Stop. Now, he said the identity. He then says that Colin Kaepernick was raised by a he's mixed race and raised by a white couple. He says Wisconsin. Do y'all know where Colin Kaepernick was raised by a he's mixed race and raised by a white couple. He says, Wisconsin, do you know where Colin Kaepernick was born? Milwaukee. Do you know the history of Milwaukee and its police department with police brutality? Do you understand the poverty rates that exist in Milwaukee?

It is arguably the poorest city in America. Certain states, certain reports have shown that per capita it is in the top three of the poorest in the country. So what you hear Marcellus say, and I need to unpack this, what he's saying is, well, you really can't trust Colin Kaepernick

to be authentic about these issues because he is not a full African-American. How can you somehow be someone to speak to these issues and you are not a full African-American? Listen carefully. What you're hearing is a purity test, a black purity test. Continue. But when you make missteps and miscalculations, oh, it comes back into play. And he never spoke on this when Black Lives Matter's movement was at its height. Think about it. 2013, 2014, Ferguson, when Jay-Z is bailing prisoners out and doing protesters out and taking pictures and supporting Trayvon Martin and that family. What was happening? You know, he was taking his shirt off, bro. He was. I knew happening back then. He was never talking about this. He meets Nessa 2015. All of a sudden, 2016,

he gets benched. Flip flop. Not mad. That still doesn't disqualify you. But Nessa comes into play now. And we all know Nessa. Respect to her and her ethnicity, but it's not black. Okay? So now we got two leaders who don't... Mmm. Mmm. So Marcellus then lays out who's not black. Then what he says is, oh, no, you didn't care about these issues. You didn't care about him till your girlfriend came along.

Well, first of all, so do do your homework. Colin Kaepernick has stated that it was the shooting of a black man in San Francisco in 2015 that touched him deeply and caused him to rethink these very issues. Now, see, it's very interesting to listen to Marcellus talk about Colin Kaepernick and somebody who has an experience for full weight of these issues. Later in this interview, you're going to hear Marcellus Wiley talk about him growing up in Harlem and experiencing these things and and what happened. Oh, that's very curious, Marcellus. Because, see, Marcellus Wiley, y'all, was drafted in the NFL in April of 1997. He spent 10 years in the NFL.

Do y'all know what happened on August 9th, 1997, in Marcellus Wiley's New York. That's when Abner Louima was brutally beaten and sodomized by NYPD police officers. Can y'all please show me the evidence of Marcellus Wiley saying a word? Can you show me the evidence of Marcellus Wiley standing with the activists in 1997 who took to the streets to protest Abner Luima being beaten and destroyed by the cops? Oh, but let's fast forward two years. February 4th, 1999. Do y'all remember Amadou Diallo, a black immigrant who was shot 41 times by NYPD? I recall they said he was reaching for a gun when it actually was his wallet. Do I'm sorry if the evidence is there, please, by all means, show me where Marcellus Wiley used his platform to stand up and call for justice for the cops in his beloved New York City, who shot and killedth, 2006, the final year. In fact, the final two months of Marcellus Wiley's career when Sean Bell was gunned down, shot 50 times by numerous NYPD officers. Your career was at its end, Marcellus. You had nothing to lose. You could have stood up

and used your voice to call out those NYPD officers. Now, again, if the evidence is there, if the data is there where you actually did these things, by all means, put it up or shut it up. So you're questioning Colin Kaepernick because he's biracial? Because he chose to take a knee? I do recall another young brother who is biracial, who spoke about the injustices in our society. Do y'all recall this moment happening at the BET Awards?

Before we get into it, I just want to say, you know, I brought my parents out tonight. I just want to thank them for being here, for teaching me to focus on comprehension over career, that they make sure I learn what the schools were afraid. Leave it right there. Now I'll go back to the frame. I see a white woman and a black Jesse Williams, the actor on Grey's Anatomy, honored at the BET Awards for his fight for social justice. Jesse Williams is a biracial man. Jesse Williams wasn't raised in the hood.

Marcellus. So are we now saying that if you are biracial officers, then somehow you cannot speak to these issues. OK, Marcellus, I'm a black man who grew up in Clinton Park in Houston, Texas. Mama's black. Daddy's black. Did I experience the full weight of police brutality? No, I've never been in the backseat of a police car, except the one that was actually at the mall when they had some sign up and I sat in the back.

I've never been in a situation. I have never been thrown against a car. I've never been held under duress. I've never had handcuffs on me, but there's no way in hell you can tell me I can't speak to these issues as if it never existed in my community. How can you sit there on a national platform and establish a purity test as to who can speak to the issues affecting our society. How can you do that? Anybody who understands American history knows full well it is filled with individuals who are not black, but who have stood up for various issues. We understand there were white abolitionists.

We understand that there were preachers during the civil rights movement, who were politicians, who were black, and who were Jewish, and who were white, and who were Episcopal, and Pentecostal, who LBJ called on to put pressure on Republicans and Southern Democrats to support a 64 Civil Rights Act, and a 65 Voting Rights Act, a 68 Fair Housing Act. Are we somehow to suggest that their work didn't mean anything? Oh, please, by all means, go read Howard Zinn's book, who was one of the two adult supervisors

who helped SNCC. It was Ella Baker and Howard Zinn. Z-I-N-N. Look it up if you need to. Who wrote a book on these new abolitionists who are within SNCC. He was a white man. So are we somehow saying he didn't matter? Are we somehow saying that James Reed, who was beaten in Selma, didn't matter?

Are we saying Viola Laiuzzo, a white woman from Michigan, who could have stayed at her home with her family, but who traveled down to Alabama to help sign black folks to register to vote, whose head was blown off on the side of the road, returning from Montgomery back to Selma on the day that the king gave that speech on the steps of Montgomery Capitol, are we somehow supposed to say they don't matter? Oh, what they do. So what's up with this black purity test?

And being the question, his girlfriend, to somehow say, oh, he got Vanessa. And all of a sudden, he began to change. Well, Marcellusus praise the Lord because see I can show you in fact since you want to go there let me give you some history Marcellus and again I like you Marcellus I think you're a smart guy I think you got way more sense than Jason Whitlock but let me tell you what Andrew Young told me since you since you want to question Colin Kaepernick's girlfriend for the impact she had on Colin Kaepernick Andrew Young told me this story and I'll be happy to give you the videotape Andrew Young said they were in New York they had moved into a new apartment he had a job

as producing in television they had gotten a new place and curtains and everything. And all of a sudden a phone call came in. We need you down south. And they were watching television. And they were looking at all the injustices happening down south. And Andrew Young's wife said, it's time for us to go. Andrew Young said, go where? She said, it's time for us to go back home.

So you got to understand, Marcellus, Andrew Young was from New Orleans. He experienced the depths of Jim Crow segregation. Andrew Young said, wait a minute, baby, hold up. We just got here. We got us a new apartment. Baby got you some new drapes. Everything is good. She says, well, you can stay here.

But I'm going. See, Marcella's Andrew Young. Ambassador Andrew Young. Mayor Andrew Young. Congressman Andrew Young, Mayor Andrew Young, Congressman Andrew Young, philanthropist Andrew Young told me that the reason they were able to withstand Jim Crow, it was because the black women who they were married to would not allow them to quit the movement. Andrew Young said out of his own mouth, Marcellus, that it was the women who put the pressure and say,

y'all are going to stay with it and you're going to keep fighting. So you don't sit here and criticize Colin Kaepernick's girlfriend when the history shows it was women who stood behind their men and say, baby, you stand up for what's right. So I won't criticize a woman for encouraging him. And loving him. And supporting him. But you present that somehow as a sign of weakness.

Press play. Even feel the weight of the consequences. So guess what you are allowed to do right now? Have convenience. Ain't no cosmetics here, bro. When I'm in Compton, when I'm in South Central and Harlem, that's my childhood to manhood, 0 to 22 years old. Those three places, I know what it feels like.

When you're talking to Jay-Z, who's been through Marcy Projects, Brooklyn and all his successes, he's seen this. We both said, go, Cap or Nick, go. And let the cause blindly support the man. But the character is now coming to question. And then now Eric Reid is taking it and giving him cover. Eric Reid is taking Kenny Stills, another guy. Respect, guys.

Another mixed-race individual who's not felt the full weight of this so when you want to take this see now we back see y'all see what's going on another mixed race individual who's not felt the full force of this fine marcellus show me the evidence of you using your platform to call out these issues. Show me the evidence of you standing up and speaking against police brutality and calling out injustices. Please show me the evidence as opposed to you sitting here pontificating on television saying what they are actually doing press play movement and i hate to play the race card against my own race usually you play the race card against other races right but when i have to see these missteps and these issues all manifest i get back to the identity of those who are leading it, which has always been in question.

And now Jay-Z has answered that question. Come back. Now, first of all, the identity has never been in question. We've known who Colin Kaepernick is. We know that Nessa, her folks are from Egypt and she's also Muslim. I'm sorry, but are you trying to somehow suggest that they can't be aware of these issues and speak to these issues? I do know of somebody who was with a white mama and a Kenyan daddy who actually pushed a bill. It dealt with police accountability in Chicago. the things that President Barack Obama did and things the state Senator Barack Obama did and U.S. Senator Barack Obama did are called into question because, oh, he's not fully black.

Are we trying to say that there are identity issues? Is that what we really are trying to say? So are we trying to say that Jay-Z is blacker because Jay-Z grew up in the projects and he saw these things. So is that what we're really trying to do here? Are we somehow trying to minimize what Colin Kaepernick was speaking about when he has articulated exactly why he did it? Press play. Really knows what this is about. Handle this. We can't have a conversation on this.

Colin is not versed well enough in this subject. He never lived it. So therefore, you have to study it. He's not well informed enough. Where these PhDs who are on ground level say, Colin, we've tried to meet with you. He does his own thing. He goes to the beat of Nessa's drum. Respect, brother.

But then Jay-Z is sitting there saying, I want to handle this, man. And stop with this whole divide and conquer. This whole, oh, these two brothers going at it. Y'all some simple-minded fools. Something back. Or black. Well, what the hell are you? You literally are describing yourself because that's exactly what you're doing with the commentary. You're literally trashing Colin Kaepernick and his girlfriend. You're basically saying that he's a simpleton and somehow he can't think for himself. You literally just say on national television, he doesn't have the intellectual

capacity to understand the depths of these issues when Colin Kaepernick has actually been involved with Know Your Rights camps all across the country. Colin, you said he beats to his, he going to his old drum. Yeah, he does. He's actually been putting in the work, putting his money where his mouth is. Now, I've also been critical. I think Colin Kaepernick should be speaking out more. I believe that he should be doing interviews, should be articulating exactly where we are. But that's simply not his style. Do you know who also styled it up also the same way? That's a James Lawson. The man behind the Niagara, the man behind the Nashville movement, the man who called Keene to come to Memphis. When I interviewed him, see Marcellus, I'm not just somebody sitting on television talking about these issues.

I'm somebody who's talked to the very people who have been involved in these things. So maybe you right now are operating outside of your depths. Like you criticize Colin Kaepernick. James Lawson said, what my role to be on the front row? My job was in the back of the church. He said, cause somebody got to be the one behind the scenes.

But see, when you try to minimize what somebody is doing, I take a shot at his girlfriend. It really speaks to you in your actual view. Press play. Experience is not monolithic brother. So Jay-Z can do his way and Colin, you can do it your way. But brother, we have seen your way and we don't know what your leadership looks like because you're voiceless. You are voiceless in your own message, just like

the people who are powerless or voiceless in our society. So now Jay-Z is saying, I'm going to translate this since I know what it feels like if this didn't work right for me so now you look at this entire situation and you have to address the characters of the individuals because of what is happening in front of us these guys have misled and i gave him paths just like you i knew colin when he was all the way up and he wasn't thinking about this and then when it first happened i said oh my homeboys told me and people in the organization he's pouting you remember day one he was just sitting there he wasn't kneeling and then they were they told him kneel at least in respect and he did that come back all sudden see right there see what i really

can't stand is when you present an argument then you really have no facts to actually back it up. He was pouting. No, he actually was sitting. And it was a special forces member of the military, Nate Boyer, who went to him and said, sitting is actually disrespectful. You should take a knee. What ended up happening? Do y'all recall it was Nate who stood behind Colin Kaepernick

as he took a knee? See, Marcellus is wrong. Colin Kaepernick was engaged in a quiet protest. It was an NFL reporter who actually saw him in successive games sitting on the bench and went to him and asked him, why are you sitting? Then Colin Kaepernick said exactly why he was sitting. He wasn't pouting. We now know why he was actually doing it. So, Marcellus, why are you presenting a factually incorrect understanding of what Colin Kaepernick was doing? Roll it.

The boat got in the water, and that's where we've been for three years. One more thing and I ain't done. And please, please add my name to this list of sellouts that goes like this. Jay-Z, Big Boy, Travis Scott, Malcolm Jenkins. Put my name on that list if you want to, because you know what this is? This cause has turned into a validation and a credit for Colin Kaepernick and Nessa's blackness. And let me tell you, you had your past and your past has now expired. Jay-Z, do you, as you always handle it, stay above the fray and just make this about action? Just make this about action? Well, what is Colin Kaepernick been doing while you have only been talking?

Also, Nate Boyer spoke about this very issue in terms of what happened. This was on HBO Real Sports. Here, go to my iPad. We sort of came to a middle ground where he would take a knee alongside his teammates. Soldiers take a knee in front of a fallen brother's grave, you know, to show respect. When we're on a patrol, you know

And we go into a security hall. We take a knee and we pull security I receptive very receptive he said I think that would be I think I think that would be really powerful And you know, he asked me to do it with him and I said look I'll stand next to you I got to stay on though. I got to stay with my hand on my heart That's just what I do and where I'm from you got called a lot of names I got caught a lot of things from both sides. I was told I was a disgrace to the Green Beret. That hurts, you know, it really does. But then I also had a lot of people in the military say, I think you're on to something.

What you just heard completely is a count of what Marcellus actually said. Then he talked about Jay-Z's part. See, here's the real issue that happened with Jay-Z in the NFL that really was a problem here. And nobody wants to admit this. In the announcement they made, they laid out all the entertainment stuff. They talked about halftime show. They talked about soundtracks. he talked about live albums. What did you hear on the social justice side? All you heard was, we're going to do some stuff on the social justice side. What you heard was this clearly articulated entertainment plan that was well thought out. On the social justice piece, you didn't hear much. And that

was the problem. See, there are a lot of people who I've talked to. We have no issue with JC doing what he's doing. But see, the problem is don't make it an announcement about entertainment and social justice when the whole announcement

is about entertainment and ain't no social justice did y'all hear anything where they articulate exactly what they're going to be doing on social justice did any of y'all hear anything did y'all hear anything i don't recall hearing anything substantive no see this is what this is what happened so so the problem is really your rollout the problem problem is how Roc Nation and Jay-Z, how y'all rolled it out. That's why you're getting criticized because you had no substance behind it. Entertainment and no substance. But to sit here and demean Colin Kaepernick and call him essentially a lackey. And by saying him and his girlfriend are earning their black card

colin kaepernick is a black man he's biracial so are we now to call the black card of jesse williams are we now to question the black card of halle berry are we now to question the black card of Halle Berry? Are we now to question the black card of any brother or sister who's biracial? Are we really going to play that game Marcellus? Because see if we gonna play that game we can play another game. We can play the game of a whole bunch of authentic Negroes who don't say a damn thing. If we really want to play that game, let's discuss authentic black people who don't speak up. If we really want to play that game, let's talk about authentic black people who are not doing stuff in their communities. To suggest that Colin Kaepernick has done nothing is a blatant lie.

And to say it on television is dead wrong. Marcellus, you are absolutely wrong. As you said, playing the race card. What the hell was that? It was shameful. It was despicable. And it was pathetic television. And yet you should apologize for it, because this is not about blackness and who's blacker. What this is about is a man who said he saw the injustice of a shooting in San Francisco. And you know what, Marcellus? Jenna, six happened in 2006 when you were playing in the NFL. Did you say anything about that? See, I don't question like you did. Where was he with Black Lives Matter? Everybody don't arrive at the destination at the same time, Marcellus. There are some people who talk about it early.

There are other people who actually bring it up later. See, I'm not concerned when you came to the conclusion to fight social justice. I'm happy when somebody arrived at that conclusion. And here's what I do know, Marcellus Wiley, that a 26-year-old Colin Kaepernick had the audacity and the unmitigated gall to take a seat and to take a knee because he felt that that was a cause bigger. When you were 26 in the NFL, what did you do? Being so authentically black, being somebody who has felt the weight of all of this,

being somebody who was from Harlem, what did you do when you had the opportunity to use your NFL platform to raise the issue? The silence because you did nothing. You only focused on football. So I appreciate a Colin Kaepernick.

I appreciate a Kenny Stills. I appreciate an Eric Reid and numerous others. Oh, by the way, when you talked about these things don't matter and all things on those lines and, you know, you're agreeing with Jay-Z's time to stop protesting. Since I'm a reader, let me help you out. You need to get this book.

Jason Whitlock, you can get it, too. This book, y''all is called Operation Breadbasket, an untold story of civil rights in Chicago, 1966 to 1971 by Martin L. Depp. And do you know what Martin says in this book? made announcements against companies who they were protesting and then the announcement called off the protest and then they discovered that the company reneged on what they agreed to and they had to go back to the picket lines he says in here numerous times when they had negotiated to add black produced products to the book, book to the shelves, when they negotiated for the stores to bank with black banks, when they agreed to hire black managers, um, companies reneged. So guess what they did? They went back to protesting. So when Jay-Z said kneeling is time to end kneeling and now it's time to do the work.

No, no, no, no, no, no. You keep the pressure up until they show sustained action. What the NFL is just like high, low foods and just like these other companies in here who wanted the protest to end what they'll do is they'll come to an agreement to tamp everything down and go back to business as usual but dr king and operation bread basket taken over by reverend jesse jackson senior led by him in chicago but they understood and martin says it in this book, Marcellus, the biggest mistake that they made was they didn't have adequate follow up to the covenants signed with these companies. This is history. And so for the people who say keep protesting, that's meant to keep the pressure on. That's meant to keep the pressure on. That's meant to keep the attention on.

And maybe five years from now, Marcellus, and we look back and we see sustained leadership from the NFL, then we can say the protest can end because it was job well done. But you might want to read a little history, Marcellus, because here's the piece. I didn't play football, but I damn sure know a whole lot about black liberation. And your questioning the blackness of Colin Kaepernick is a shameful display on television, and it was wrong. One moment. All right, folks, Life, Luck, Jazz is the experience of a lifetime delivering top-notch

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