#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Shanquella Robinson No Fed Charges, Justin Pearson Rally, MO GOP Defunding Libraries, New EPA Rule

Episode Date: April 13, 2023

4.12.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Shanquella Robinson No Fed Charges, Justin Pearson Rally, MO GOP Defunding Libraries, New EPA Rule The U.S. Department of Justice has announced it will not file charges for Shanquella Robinson, who died on holiday in Mexico in October 2020 due to lack of evidence. We will discuss what happens next in the case of Shanquella Robinson's death. The Shelby County Commission in Tennessee voted on whether to reappoint Justin J. Pearson to his legislative seat after the Republican House expelled him last week. We will tell you what happened. Cliff Albright, Co-Founder of Black Voters Matter, will join me live from Tennessee for more details.  In a 136-10 vote, the Texas State House passed House Bill 1, a $302 billion state budget for fiscal years 2024-25 that would provide billions in funding for higher education. However, if the House proposal becomes law, colleges won't be able to use any state money for "the design, implementation, or administration" of DEI practices and programs. We will explain what this means for the future of education with Texas State Representative Jarvis Johnson. Missouri State House of Representatives voted to strip all public libraries of funding a week after lawmakers debated the budget proposal by Governor Mike Parson, which eliminates $4.5 million for libraries, diversity initiatives, childcare, and pre-kindergarten programs. To explain the dire situation, we will speak to Jamie Johnson, Missouri State Representative of House District 12. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new pollution rules. We will speak with the Former Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice, EPA, Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, to tell us how these changes will impact our everyday lives. Black Maternal Health Week has started in the U.S., and Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than White women. In our tech talk segment, we will speak with the creators of the IRTH App, who are helping to empower black women in their health journey. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Today is Wednesday, April 12th, 2023. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. The family of Shaquille Robinson, angry at the Department of Justice, announced they are not going to charge anyone in the death of that Charlotte woman killed in Mexico. We will show you the news conference that took place today with the family's attorneys. In Shelby County, where Memphis is, unanimous decision, Justin Pearson heads back to the Tennessee State House after he was expelled

by Republicans last week. We will tell you what happened and show you what took place today in Memphis. Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter and Tequila Johnson, co-founder and executive director of the Equity Alliance, will be with us as well to talk about what's happening and what's next in Tennessee. Missouri, Republicans there voted to strip all public libraries of funding. Yeah, this comes after much debate over the budget to eliminate a paltry $4.5 million for the state's libraries, diversity initiatives, child care, and pre-kindergarten programs. I'll talk to a Missouri state representative about what's happening in that nutcase of a state. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposes new pollution rules. We will talk with former Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice at the EPA, Mustafa Santiago Ali, about these changes and how they impact African Americans. It's also Black Maternal Health Week. Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women.

In our Tech Talk segment, we will speak with the creator of an app which is helping to empower black women in their health journey. Folks, it is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin. I'm Phil Chard. On the Black Star Network, let's go. He's got it. Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the 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 Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Robo, y'all

Yeah, yeah It it's Uncle Roro, yo. Yeah, yeah, it's Rollin' Marten. Yeah, yeah, rolling with rolling now. Yeah, he's broke, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Rollin' Marten now. Ah! Martez! Să ne urmăm. No charges. That is the DOJ's decision in the case of Shankwela Robinson, the black woman who died while vacationing with associates in Mexico in October 2020. The DOJ says there is insufficient evidence to charge anyone for her death.

The Robinson family attorney, Sue Ann Robinson, no relation, says the DOJ's decision is extremely disappointing. That's why I say, on behalf of the family, again, we're very disappointed, very deeply disappointed. But we're not deterred because it's something that we've seen before.

And we know that we have to carve our own path to justice. Ms. Robinson knew that when she asked me to go on a fact-finding mission to Mexico, that we were obviously in a state of affairs where there's two different justice systems in America. And we know that in ours, we have to fight for our justice. We have to rally for our justice. We have to beg for the same constitutional rights. And Shankwila is doing that even in death. Even in death, she's having to fight for her rights as a U.S. citizen, as a victim of a crime. The U.S. authorities have to understand and have to know that even if for them it's not about Shangri-La, that United States citizens cannot go to Mexico, commit a crime that we all saw on a video, and then come back to America and say, we're on base, we're safe, we're not going to be charged with a crime.

That cannot be the message that the U.S. authorities want to send. So again, discrepancies caused or discrepancies in the autopsy results between Mexican authorities that we've all been discussing, that we've been discussing, unfortunately, and not being discussed by the right individuals have caused have all been caused by delays if it had been taken serious from the very beginning if the internet and the people and social media didn't have to create the movement behind the case and the authorities would have gotten involved the minute the video surface there wouldn't have been a delay there would have gotten involved the minute the video surfaced. There wouldn't have been a delay.

There would have been immediate statements taken from the individuals involved. There would have been time to take an immediate autopsy of the body before it was embalmed. All of those things would have been done. But because it was the death of a young, black, beautiful, brilliant, educated woman who was on vacation. Justice was delayed. Robinson died on a trip with several associates, according to Mexican authorities. She was a victim of femicide and a hate crime by several individuals, including DeJuan Jackson, one of the people she was traveling with. Robinson's family subsequently received a death certificate that stated that she died of at least a dislocation. First of all, her brain was swollen, also a broken neck and a spine as well.

U.S. authorities conducted an autopsy on Robinson and based on available evidence, have concluded insufficient evidence to support the prosecution. The DOJ has not provided details of their autopsy, although it is a crime to murder a U.S. citizen in a foreign country under the U.S. Constitution. The FBI has not called Robinson's death a murder. Mexican authorities ruled Robinson's death, again, a femicide. Robinson's family continues to seek justice, and they plan a march in Washington, D.C. to the DOJ on May 19th. Robert Portillo is host of People, Passion, Politics, News & Talk, 1380 WAOK in Atlanta. Rebecca Carruthers, vice president, Fair Elections Center. Joe Richardson, civil rights attorney.

Glad to have all three of you here. Robert, I'll start with you. So the point that Sue Ann Robinson makes is that if authorities in the U.S. did not wait, they could have recovered critical evidence. But waiting and having to respond to pressure allowed those involved to, what, delete phone calls, text messages, potential evidence, and also not having a rigorous examination of Robinson's body. Your thoughts on this decision? Well, it's an absolutely tragic situation. I hope that the people who are involved sleep well at night knowing that they will be haunted by the specter of always the opportunity of more information coming to light. And there's always an opportunity to reopen these cases once more evidence is discovered. There's no statute of limitations on murder.

So they may have not had a prosecution at this point, but that does not mean there's not an opportunity for a prosecution down the line. If anybody who's watched the show First 48 understands the importance of those first 48 hours after a murder, because it's so important to be able to get fresh DNA evidence, to get forensic evidence, to be able to analyze the body immediately at the point in time after they have been deceased to find out exactly what the cause of death were and also to ensure that you are able to get those documentary evidence such as phone calls, such as text messages, emails, et cetera, that may go towards proven culpability. All that was absent here. And this was part of

the difficulty with the criminal justice system, particularly when you're dealing with international cases, making sure that this evidence is brought to life. And then also the fact that Ms. Robinson in this case did not have anyone with her who was willing to call the authorities there. You're only with the people who are covering up for whatever happened, as opposed to somebody who could actually be on your side. I think this is a warning to all of us. Be careful who you are around. Be careful who you are traveling with. Be careful who you think is your best friend and who are your homies, et cetera, because at the end of the day, all these people simply act to cover their own trails. And right now, it seems that they've gotten away with it. But hopefully more evidence will come to light and they'll be able to be prosecuted down the road.

Joe, this woman is dead. No one is going to be held accountable. And what's crazy is Mexico is not the problem. Mexico seemed to have a more accurate autopsy, at least in that there seemed to be some consistency between what they came out with and what we saw on that video. Often video is pretty powerful evidence that gets you to a place. You don't always investigate knowing how it's going to come out. Investigation is not about a predetermined result. It's about taking what you have and seeing where you can go with it. And so it is a shame that the U.S. government is

not putting the full weight, putting their weight on it, as it were, pertaining to this issue, particularly when you have someone that could potentially be brought to justice, certainly ask questions. You can certainly take some trees, as it were, some informational trees and find out everything that there is to be found out, I wonder aloud if they've done that. They have done an autopsy that seems to have a different result from Mexico, but there's no word about them really uncovering every stone that they need to to find out everything they can about getting justice for this person and for this person's family. And so if I'm them, I'd be wondering aloud, too, does this system fail us not only when we're alive, but when we're dead, because she is an

American citizen. And there's some things that should be brought to bear related to that. And, you know, you wonder out loud if this person was of a different persuasion, would there be a little bit of a different reaction? It's a shame we have to think that way, but they could be doing more than they're doing for sure, regardless of where it came out. I don't know that they've gone as far as they could go. And to me, that would be an outrage. Rebecca? Well, I definitely hope that the Robinson family decides to pursue a wormhole death lawsuit against those who went to Mexico with Shankwela and murdered her. And also, you know, murder is a crime in Mexico. So there still is room and time for the Mexican authorities to actually pursue murder charges

against those folks who accompanied Shankola in Mexico. Indeed. All right, folks, we will continue to follow this case and see what happens in the future. All right. Got to go to break. We come back. We'll talk about Memphis. What is happening there when it comes to Justin Pearson? He is headed back to the Tennessee state capitol. We'll tell you exactly what took place today. We'll also talk about what happens next in that state. This thing is bigger than Justin Pearson and Justin Jones.

We'll tell you about that next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Be sure to download the Black Star Network app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Of course, you can always support us in what we do by joining our Marina Funk fan club. Send your check and money orders to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. Cash app, dollar sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zale, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.

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at Ben Bella Books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Bookshop, Chapters, Books A Million, Target. You can also download your copy on Audible. We'll be right back. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. White people are losing their damn minds. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storming the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history.

Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because

of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. 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, yo, peace world, what's going on? It's the love king of R&B, Raheem Devine.

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. Well, folks, on Thursday, Republicans in Tennessee, they threw out two of three members who they tried to expel, both African-American, Representative Justin Jones of Nashville, Representative Justin Pearson of Memphis.

Well, Justin Jones was restored yesterday in Nashville. Today, it was Pearson's turn. The Shelby County commissioners voted unanimously to return Justin Pearson back to the Tennessee House. This is how he responded. Come on, guys. But they didn't know the Shelby County Commission. Still with some courageous leaders. Who had threats of not giving us resources wouldn't stop. The threats about withdrawing funding or stopping funding wouldn't stop. They didn't know that Justin J. Pearson was only standing with the moral courage of people who he comes from. Only standing with the moral courage that's built in Memphis, Tennessee.

Built in Shelby County. Only standing with the moral courage of people. Who know what it means to be in a fight. Who know what it means to never quit. To never kneel. To never bow. To never break. To never forget.

That's who we are. And that's who we will forever be. We got a problem in this state. We got a proliferation of gun violence because of policies and practices and legislation coming from the state legislature of Tennessee reducing the permit to carry weapons. Reducing the age from 21 to 18. Saying that to fix school shooting just arm

teachers. We got a problem in Nashville and it's caught on a promise that they're holding on to with this end quote. Their allegiance is to the way that things are. Their allegiance is to business as usual. Their allegiance is to the National Rifle Association. Their allegiance is to the Tennessee Firearms Association. When we went to the well of the house myself, Representative Johnson and Representative Jones, what we did was say we have an allegiance to a people. People who are tired of business as usual. People who are tired of same old, same old politics. People who are tired of same old, same old politicians.

We have an allegiance to who are willing to march for justice. Fight for justice. Vote for justice. And in that spirit, which I will head back to Nashville with. We have shown here in Shelby County, what we have shown here in Memphis, Tennessee, with my fiance, my brothers, my family, my parents, my family here, is that we do not speak alone. We speak together.

We fight together. And so the message for all the people in Nashville who decided to expel us. You can't expel hope. You can't expel our voice. You sure can't expel our fight. We look forward to continuing to fight. We look forward to continuing to fight. Yeah! We look forward to having a game of chess that rolls down like water.

Yeah! We look forward to having a game of chess that rolls down like water. Yeah! Let's get back to work! Yeah! Joining us right now is Cliff Albright. He's the co-founder of Black Voters Matter. Cliff, glad to have you on the show.

What we saw here, first of all, we saw Republicans thinking that they could use their power in the supermajority to show these two brothers and also Representative Gloria Johnson to teach them a lesson. What they've discovered is that they've actually pissed off a whole lot of people. Yeah, pissed off a whole lot of people. And as Representative Pearson said, once he went outside the commission meeting, he said, you know, they woke him asleep in giant.

And so that's exactly what's happened. I mean, the energy today, I wasn't in Nashville the other day. I was in Memphis today. I was actually in that commission meeting, uh, for that powerful speech that you just played. And that's only a fraction of the energy that was outside. When he came outside and gave another speech where he got happy and caught the

Holy spirit and did it, did the Holy ghost dance and all of that. And the people were right there with them. There is so much energy right now in this city, and I dare say in this entire state, around this issue, around the power that the people have. Because at the end of the day, because at the end of the day,

it's the power of the people sticking with these two representatives, recognizing their leadership and their courage, but sticking with them, refusing to be scared by the threats coming from the state of Tennessee, which had the audacity to say that they were going to cut off money to Memphis and Shelby County, but stood firm. The seven commissioners in particular, please note that none of the Republicans even showed up for the vote, but that's okay because we didn't need it because we got the majority. We had the votes. And so, yes, the energy here is just incredible and that the

challenge is going to be to continue this energy onto the issue that started this all, which was gun violence, and then all the other issues that Representative Pearson talked about today. He talked about environmental justice. In fact, he said this movement really started before the environmental justice issue when he and others came together to fight a pipeline that was going to come through Memphis, Shelby County. They won that battle in spite of opposition and big money that was behind that. Now we've won on this battle. And so we're just going to continue winning, winning, winning because the people have the power at the end of the day. And as long as we remember that and we stand firm in that, then our history shows us we can't lose. And that's the thing I want to focus on because,

again, I keep telling people, if you make it just about the two Justins, you lose sight of exactly what's going on. Reverend Barber was on this show 48 hours ago, and he said 75 percent of those Republicans in the legislature, they ran unopposed. It's a little hard to try to say, well, how do we fight power if you don't run against power? Yeah, no, I mean, you're exactly right. And we've got to recognize where the power is at. You know, and it's an important point that we make. And this is not to take anything away from the two justices. They are incredible leaders.

They are leaders that, you know, should have been recognized even a long time ago. And I know they have great stuff in the future, but we can't measure this movement off of them, off of their, or race, off of their personalities, right? This has got to be a people-centered movement, and they recognize that, because they are constantly trying to bring this issue back, not just to them, right, not just to the insult that was made to them when they were chastised and kicked out of the legislature, but then it's about the people, it's about democracy, it's about representation for the districts. And it's about this issue, gun violence and all the other issues that our communities want action on.

At the end of the day, 70% of Tennessee agrees that there needs to be some common sense gun reform, right? And so as long as we remember that and we don't get too caught up in just putting all of our hopes and dreams on these two individuals. Because that's a heavy weight for them to carry, right? They can carry a lot, but they don't need to carry all that on their own. So we have to remember that this is about movement. And as long as we do that, and as long as the—at the end of the day, there's a lot of cameras there that ain't going to be in Memphis come tomorrow, that aren't going to be in Nashville after this week.

We know you and your crew will be there because you're always going to be where our people are, where our issues are. But there's a lot of folks that always going to be where our people are, where our issues are. But there's a lot of folks that are going to turn away from this after the next couple of days, but this movement is still going to be ongoing on. And I think that we've got some leadership in the form of these two justices and others within the city of Memphis

that are doing incredible work, that need to get our support because they have been doing this severely unnoticed, severely under-resourced. That has got to change in terms of the way that the entire national progressive movement views the state of Tennessee. You're absolutely right. We were live streaming what took place in Memphis. Guys, go to my iPad. This was the scene outside of the chambers today. You've got to serve the people who sit you that's the work of an elected leader and i'm

so glad he's here today and i wanted to share a few words with thank you justin and thank you everybody that's here this is a great day we've restored democracy the new york times today has two editorials facing each other. Both of them are about Tennessee and saying democracy was thwarted in Tennessee and things are changing and there's a picture of Justin on each page of the New York Times editorial. Today is Justin's day. Today is District 86 day. Today is the day for the coveted children, the three children and three adults who were killed.

I've got an F in on here. That F stands for my grade from the NRA. May you get another F. Now that the Shelby County Commission has done their job, I'm so glad we get to get back to doing our job. And what is our job? It's to elevate the voices of the six kids, the six people in Nashville. Three children who

are just nine years old. To elevate the five folk in Louisville who died from gun violence that was preventable. We know it's preventable because there are good laws that exist. We know it's preventable because there are good laws that exist. We know it's preventable because there are organizations advocating for the change of the law in order to save people's lives.

It's not enough, as William Lambert, the leader of the Republican Party said, to put a tank in front of every school. Because we go to banks, We go to businesses. We walk the streets. We go to church. These false solutions that they are advocating will not help or save anybody. But a movement is rising. A movement is rising. See, they tried to kill democracy. They tried to expel the people's choice and the people's vote.

And they awakened a sleeping giant. I'm going to go to a break. When we come back, I want to talk about that sleeping giant. I'm with Cliff Albright, but also with Tequila Johnson. Again, we're talking about, folks, what has been happening in Tennessee. Because, trust me, it is a much bigger story, and we'll delve deeper when we come back. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

Those of you who are watching on YouTube, please be sure to hit that like button, folks. Trust me, those likes impact the algorithm. And so we want to easily be over 1,000 likes in the next 30 minutes. So if you're commenting, hit the like button. You can go back to commenting. And we'll be right back right here on the Black Star Network. I lost my daughter. I didn't know where she was.

So I had to figure out how to survive, how to eat, how to live. I don't want to go into the details because she's here first of all. She may not want me telling that story. But possession of her, the family broke down, fell apart. I was homeless. I had to figure out I didn't have a manager or an agent or anybody anymore, and I'm the talent. So I got to figure out how to be the agent.

I had to figure out how does business work. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, it's spring. Hallelujah. But hold on. It's not all fun and games. With the sun and the warmth comes the need to clean the clutter mentally, physically, emotionally, socially. All of those things need to happen. Getting rid of the clutter and clearing the cobwebs in our head and in our home. That's next on A Balanced Life on Black Star Network.

We feel the hidden impacts of climate change that land harder in Black, Brown, and Native communities. Not many people talk about it because they clearly don't know our lives. But with President Biden's landmark infrastructure and climate plans, our issues are finally seen. Removing lead pipes means we know our water is safe. Cutting carbon pollution helps our kids breathe easier. 1.5 million new jobs means stable work in communities. The impact we need. Right now. We gonna build this movie. We gonna build this movie. We gonna build this movie.

You and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you to fight back, you have to mobilize and you have to organize. This is not a situation where people just be upset, pissed off, show up at rallies and stand with Justin Pearson and Justin Jones. No, that means showing up, today is Thursday, means showing up Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, because the election's not until next year. I mean, folks have to be prepared for the long haul. That's how change happens.

That's right. It's for the long haul, and it's at multiple levels, right? Because we've got to keep in mind, this is the same Memphis where I'm sitting today with that rally and all those videos you've been showing. This is the same Memphis where the murder of Tyree Nichols took place, right? That is still unresolved. And there's still organizers that are catching the hell because they're still trying to raise the issue of justice for Tyree Nichols and justice for our community. This is the organizer here, Amber, who's been kicked out of city council meetings, right, because of that issue, because of trying to get accountability. And so, you know, there's, again, there's a whole

movement taking place in this city. There's a whole movement taking place in Nashville, whole movement taking place in Knoxville that a lot of people don't know about because it's Tennessee, because it's a so-called red state. And we always say there's no such thing as a red state. There are only states that have been under-resourced and ignored. And so these groups, these activists, from Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, to all the others that are doing incredible work, this movement that Justin Pearson was talking about in that clip, this movement needs support. And so we want to make sure that folks that are watching Tennessee right now continue to watch, continue to engage, continue to send support, whether it's to the Pearson, to the Justin's campaigns or to the other organizations that

are doing work in the state, that people stay engaged, continue to share these stories, that they stay engaged, continue to make phone calls and send the emails to let that at all levels, including this legislature, that they're being watched. You know, part of what's happening right now is that people are learning about how undemocratic Tennessee is. It is the worst. There was a survey done that shows that Tennessee is 50th. It's dead last in terms of the nature of democracy.

We've seen that. You know, you hear some of these Republicans that are saying, oh, you didn't have to go to the well. You didn't have to use a bullhorn. You could have just passed the bill. But there have been stories done showing the ways that the Republican legislators and control committees won't even let these bills be submitted, won't let amendments be submitted, won't bring things to a vote. And so a lot of what's been going on in Tennessee is being exposed. We need for people to continue to be passionate

about that and to support this movement even after this week. And so if we do that, if we recognize the leadership and there's great leadership and if we get them the support that they need, then our history shows us there's nothing that we can't do in the state of Tennessee. This is the state of Tennessee that gave us Diane Nash.

They gave us a lot of the original SNCC organizers, right? They gave us Fisk students and all of that. There's nothing. We can't just ignore that history and we've got the ability to recreate that kind of a movement if we support these folks, and if we join these justices and go into

the well, right? We can't just go to the well once, or we'll never go to the well. We collectively have got to go to the well. And the support does not mean we're praying for you. It also means supporting with your dollars, your time, and your energy. Cliff Albright, we appreciate it, man. Thanks a bunch. Catch that plane. All right, man. Thank you, brother.

I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Let's go to Tequila Johnson. She is another organizer, co-founder, executive director of the Equity Alliance. She joins me from Tennessee. Tequila, are you there in Memphis? I am in Nashville. In Nashville. All right. Glad to have you on the show. And, of course, my panel is still with me as well, Robert, Rebecca, and Joe. Tequila, the thing that and the reason we're staying on this is because I need people to understand both Justins were on this show before they were even in the legislature. And we've been talking about what's been happening in Memphis, what's been happening in Nashville, and all the different things like this. And so for the people who are watching, national media, they're going to leave.

Let's just be real clear. MSNBC, CNN, all of them, they're going to leave. They're going to be gone. ABC, NBC, CBS, once they've decided that the two justices are no longer the flavor of the moment, they're not going to be calling them, but the issues are still there. And so what are you and others doing to take advantage of this moment moment and transform it into a movement that could first reduce the grip that Republicans have on the legislature, get rid of that supermajority, and then really begin to run people across the state, even in red places, because if somebody runs unopposed, hell, they're guaranteed

to win. Yeah, so, Roland, I always tell people, people like to say Tennessee is a red state. We're not a red state. We're a non-voting state. The largest voting bloc in Tennessee are the non-voters. I mean, we have, on any given election, less than 10% of

black Tennesseans turning out. And like you and Brother Cliff Albright stated earlier, this movement is going to take more than just Justin and Justin Pearson mobilizing people via action in the well. It's going to take us lacing our shoes up, getting out there in the streets and bringing people one by one, vote by vote, brick by brick. And we've been doing that. And I said this yesterday on Twitter and it caught a lot of fire, but it is so true. Tennessee is not a state that lacks strategy. We're not a state that lacks preachers or speakers. What we lack are servants and resources. And right now, every

national media outlet, every national organization is pouring into Tennessee, and they're talking about what Justin Jones and Justin Pearson did in the well, but they're not talking about Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, the organizers. They're not talking about Justin Jones, who consistently went to the Capitol every week, every day, and I was there with him with students protesting to get the Nathan Bedford Forrest bus removed. They're not talking about Justin Jones, who has consistently, as a student, proposed policy

to allow students to be able to use their voting vote, their student ID to vote. They're not talking about Justin Pearson that took down a multimillion-dollar oil pipeline from coming through Shelby County. They're talking about the sexy moment that's happening right now. And so we can't stop right now. We got to keep going because we know just like we're out here organizing and all of the Democratic leaders are coming in. Friday, we got Trump, Pence, and everybody else coming in, and they're not coming in with media.

They're coming in with a fundraiser. And the thing that's important here is what you just outlined there. And I'm going to say this, and I need people to understand. There are a lot of black politicians, even in the legislature, right now who are standing with Jones and Pearson, but who were talking shit about them two weeks ago. A lot of them were telling them, hey, y'all need to calm down. Y'all need to stop doing what y'all doing. And so then they saw what happened. And when they were fighting that pipeline, it was a whole bunch of black people,

civil rights people, and politicians who were going, what y'all doing? So I just need people to understand not everybody has been down with their activism. Absolutely. In fact, the Equity Alliance was one of the only organizations that came out and endorsed Justin Jones. And I can tell you, and I said this when I spoke at the rally, when Justin Jones decided he was going to run, I helped him by making phone calls, calling pastors, trying to bring other organizations along because Justin has always had a commitment to movement building and he just has that undeniable it factor and the morality that it takes to do bold things like go to the well

and I had a lot of people and matter of fact I'll be real with you Roland I lost our organization lost resources because we put our name behind Justin instead of other candidates and so I on the stage I looked everybody in their eyes and I told them, remember what I said. When we say bet on black women, we don't just say that because we magical. We say that because we are proven to get results. Now, look, people arguing and said Justin Jones and Justin Pearson wouldn't get anything done in the legislature because they couldn't work with Republicans. Now, at the same time, these same black folk, as you stated, were trying to work with Republicans and didn't get anything done. Now we're in a place where

they have literally mobilized hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, Republican, Democrat, and independents who care about these issues and that we can pull and reach and bring over. But like you said, Roland, we can't just be out here making speeches and every big name preacher want to get on the stage. We need people who are willing to lace their shoes up with us, go out there in the streets, get these people registered to vote because we have more people. We have twice the number of black people who are eligible to vote that are unregistered in Shelby County, which is Memphis, and Nashville alone to fill a governor seat. So that red state mess, that ain't flying with me. We are under-resourced. People haven't invested

in Tennessee since the Obamas. And that right there is what I'm talking about. I'm constantly talking about that. I'm constantly saying, if we actually vote our numbers, if we vote, if we literally vote at just 70 percent of our eligible numbers, we could sweep elections. I got to go to break. We come back. My panel has questions. Rebecca, you're going to be first up and Joe Robert, because, again, I just need everybody listening. Okay. Being emotional is one thing. Being fired up is one thing. But I have to remind y'all what Dr. King always talked about. He said the focus is not on the march or the protest. It's what happens after the march and after the protest.

And this is also why black owned media matters. I'm telling y'all, okay? And I've been watching all the networks, okay? Justin Pearson, Justin Jones, Gloria Johnson. Oh, Meet the Press, CBS, ABC, they all want them. I'm telling y'all right now. In fact, go ahead and write this down. It's April 12th, 6 43 PM Eastern. I can guarantee you, I can guarantee you on April 19th,

they are not going to have them on their networks. But we will. And that's what I need people to understand. You cannot build movements unless you also have black-owned media there, because trust me, they are going to pack their cameras up. Let's see how many

of them are going to be there with Reverend Barbara and Moral Monday on Monday. I'm just saying. That's why you got to support us in what we do, folks. Look, the math is the math, okay? When I'm always talking about this here right now, between YouTube and Facebook and all other platforms, let's just say you got 3,000 people, 4,000 people who are watching. Let's just say 3,000 people. If those 3,000 people actually supported this show to the tune of 50 bucks each, of course, what we want for the course

we ask for each person, that's $150,000. Because none of this stuff is free. And I'm telling you right now, if we don't support our own, we're going to be asking somebody else, hey, can y'all please show up? And then we wonder why the cameras are not there. Matter of fact, I'm gonna try to find a photo from the NAACP convention. I think it was 2018 when we were in San Antonio. We were the only people who were on the platform.

And then the next year when the candidates came, all was jam packed. But in 2018, wasn't nobody there. Trying to tell y'all how the game goes. Checking money orders. PO Box 57196, Washington DC, 2007-0196, Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, RMartin Unfiltered, Venmo is RM Unfiltered,

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RolandSMartin.com. 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 Blackstar Network for 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 Blackstar Network, a balanced life with Dr. Jackie. Y'all, it's Brian Destiny, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. We, of course, Tequila Johnson is still with us, an activist there in Nashville, Tennessee. Let's go to our panel. Rebecca. Hey, Tequila.

I lead a national voting rights organization. And the fact when Justin Jones was a student at Fisk, we actually represented him in court when he was fighting to make sure that students had the right to vote using student ID in Tennessee. My question is, one out of five black adults in Tennessee are disenfranchised because of felony convictions. What is the plan or what types of support does organizations like yours need in order to make sure that we could have more eligible black voters in Tennessee? Thank you. That's a great question. In fact, that's something that we've been working on legislation to pass to try and minimize some of the barriers to voting for people who've been impacted by the system. So if you guys don't know, I'm sure you know, but just for the audience in Tennessee, we have about half a million people who've had their who've been released from whatever crime they committed.

They have served their time. They've done their due diligence, and they still cannot restore their rights. We're also one of the only states in the country that views child support as willful unemployment when you're incarcerated. So in Tennessee, the average person who's being released from prison leaves with about $25,000 to $30,000 worth of debt. So when you go to prison in Tennessee, you are immediately viewed as, that's immediately viewed as willful and gainful unemployment. We have proposed several bills to try and remove that,

and that has failed multiple times. So if you want me to be really honest, the plan that we've put in place is to try and build a database of as many people as possible. As we're out, my organization, the Equity Alliance, you may remember rolling from 2018, we registered 91,000 people to vote. We are all about getting people mobilized, organized, and building power. So we're out tabling, we're throwing parties, we're organizing club promoters, we're going to churches,

we're going laundromats, everywhere where people are registering them. And we always come in contact with people who need their rights restored. So we're putting them in a database. And within that database, we're reaching out to national leaders such as my mentor, Desmond Meade, and people like that to help us raise money to just one by one pay them off. We've proposed several bills. Many of them have been bipartisan and each of them have failed. And we know why, because it's easier if people like me and people who look like me aren't voting than to get them voting. So the plan is to keep doing what we're doing. The only way we're going to pass legislation like student ID laws and voting rights restoration is to break up the supermajority.

See here, Robert, what's your question for Tequila? Absolutely. I think a big part of what has to happen, what we did here in Georgia, when we were in a very similar position of trying to transition the state from being theoretically on paper a red state but demographically a blue state, is reaching out to young people. There are companies like Movement Labs that are working on revolutionary text message technology that helps to reach young voters. We did things to put people on the ground in all 159 counties to register young people and

African-Americans to vote. What do you think it's going to take to motivate and to get the Democratic Party to invest in reaching out to all parts of the constituency base to get those people registered and get those people to the polls? because that's what it takes to kind of transition from being a quote-unquote red state to a purple state to a light blue state to a solidly progressive state. Yeah, you know, we are building a multiracial democracy, so we realize and recognize that we have to engage the entire rising American electorate, which is single women, young people under 35, Black people.

What people don't like to talk about at the Democratic Party is the crust and the foundation of flipping a state is Black people. And so that's why our organization unapologetically focuses on Black people. We do have a youth organizing arm, but I will tell you the problem is not the strategy, the tools, or the people to do the work. The problem is the resources. It takes about $25 per person to get them registered into the polls. And I can tell you, as a Black woman, we started our organization with $250. We didn't have seed money. We didn't have investors. We didn't have mentors. So I think what it's going to take is for people investing in a complete Black pipeline of entities that raise issues like this,

all the way down from what Roland said, investing in black media, making sure we have platforms such as this to tell our story, but also putting black dollars in black organizations like the Equity Alliance. As of now, with everything going on, we haven't raised a ton of money.

I think today was the first day I got maybe $5,000, $10,000 from this, but there are national organizations that are planning to pack up and leave with national media that have flown in and parachuted into Tennessee. And they're raising millions of dollars. And when they leave, my fear is that we already have developed a resistance to fight back crazy Republicans with the minimal resources we have. But now we know that they are going to retaliate. And so we're going to be forced with our minimal resources and our small infrastructure to fight back the retaliation. So if you're asking what we can do, I agree with you. All those strategies, reaching out to young people, all those things have been proven to work. And Georgia is a great blueprint. Nse Ufot from New Georgia Project is one of my friends. She's someone that I lean on as an advisor, but it takes money to do those things. And a lot of people talking a good game right now

about Tennessee, but I can tell you ain't nobody making it rain. Question for Tequila. We appreciate you doing the work all day, every day. Tequila, give us a one-on-one on some of the organizations that you work in conjunction with you've already talked about this some but i want you to be specific for us for those of us that are outside of tennessee but we want to help we want to help consistently we want to get a vision and i don't know even though you're doing the work all day every day are there particular flashpoint events that are coming up that can be an impetus or be used as an impetus for people on the outside to get to know your organizations, organizations that you work with, and to do support on a consistent basis?

Yes. So I will run down a list of names. I am a part of a couple of coalitions where we have about 15 to 20 organizations that are core. And we have also started to build our own black roundtable of smaller, more kitchen cabinet style organizations that maybe don't have the infrastructure. They don't have a 501C3, but we're bringing them in so that they can learn how to incorporate voter registration and civic engagement into their existing infrastructure. But I will start with Civic Tennessee, which is our C3 state table led by a black woman. We work very well with them. TURC, the Immigrant Rights and Refugee Coalition, they have also been a partner organizing black immigrants and brown immigrants. We work with the American Muslim Association.

Stand Up Nashville, which does racial justice work from an economic lens. Free Hearts, which is a coalition of women who were formerly incarcerated. They've so far been leading the charge on voting rights restoration. We work with Memphis for All, which is an organization based in Memphis that comprised of several different entities, most of them from labor. Tennessee for All. Oh, God, I hope I don't leave nobody out. There's a new organization that was just launched called the Southern Movement Code. They utilize the assembly style networks to kind of build things like that. And then I'll be honest with you,

the way that I do my organizing is I go where Black people are. My organizing is culturally relevant and it is outside of the box. So we work with IMF, which is the Interdenominational Ministers Fellowship. We did a program with them back in 2019, and we relaunched in 2022 called I'm a Faithful Voter. So we have organizers going into churches, registering as many people as possible on Sundays. That works as well. We launched a program around civic disciples where we're training two or three members from each church to be those point people every Sunday. I also organize the party promoters. So one of the biggest club owners in Tennessee who owns the largest nightclub,

one of the largest nightclubs in Nashville and has two clubs in Memphis, Black Rob is on our board. And so every time there's a big party in the state, we're there registering voters. Like we're doing it. Excellent. Tequila, that is great work.

If people want to support, where do they go? So you can visit www.TheEquityAlliance.org. Scroll up to the top. You can see our work. You can see some of the things we've done. And that's where you can donate.

You can also reach out to us at the link at the bottom where you can email. We're on social media, very active. If you want to follow what's happening in Tennessee, you can go to The Equity Alliance on Facebook and The Equity Alliance on Instagram and The Equity Alliance 1 on Twitter. All right. We appreciate it. Thanks so much. Good luck. Thank you, Roland. I appreciate you. Absolutely. All right, folks. Got to go to a break. We'll be right back. Roland Martin, Unfiltered,

right here on the Black Star Network. Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Koffman. Dr. Kwasi Kanadu, author, scholar, and healer. He is one of the truly representative thinkers and activists of our generation. I had a dream, you know, a particular night, and when I woke up, several ancestors came to me, and they came to me and said, we really like what you're doing, but you have to do more. His writing provides a deep and unique dive into African history through the eyes of some

of the interesting characters who have lived in it, including some in his own family. The multi-talented, always- fastening Dr. Kwesi Kanadu on the next Black Table here on the Black Star Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, have you ever had that million dollar idea

and wondered how you could make it a reality? the next get wealthy you're going to meet liska askalise the inventress someone who made her own idea a reality and now is showing others how they can do it too positive focusing in on the thing that you want to do, writing it down, and not speaking to naysayers or anybody about your product until you've taken some steps to at least execute. Lease Scott, ask a lease. On the next Get Wealthy, right here, only on Blackstar Network. on our network. right now. All right, now I told y'all what's happening with these Republicans all over the country and the crazy stuff they are doing. And if you want to know how stupid these folks are, look what's happening in Missouri.

The house, the Missouri house, remember, Republicans have a veto, they have a super majority. They literally voted, y'all, to defund libraries. They're pissed off because the ACLU is suing them, so they actually voted to cut $4.5 million out of the public library fund, but also for DI initiatives. Now, I've been telling y'all this, and y'all can sit here and think I'm tripping. I put in my book, White Fear, what's going on, what's happening. They are sitting here targeting anything that's dealing with black people, okay?

And all you white gay folks, y'all better understand, they coming after all y'all people, okay? And all you white gay folks, y'all better understand, they coming after all y'all too, okay? They coming to drag shows, any book that mentions LGBTQ, it is happening. So we're talking about Missouri, Florida, Texas, Georgia, we can go all Tennessee, we can go down the line. So that's what they've done in Missouri. Joining us right now is Representative Jamie Johnson

out of Missouri. And Representative Johnson, somebody posted a tweet last night and they said, done in Missouri. Joining us right now is Representative Jamie Johnson out of Missouri. And Representative Johnson, somebody posted a tweet last night and they said, man, I need Democrats to fight back. And I said, you do know Republicans have a super majority, which means they can do whatever the hell they want to do. So just tell folks just how crazy it is in Missouri with what they're doing. Rolling. There we go. I can hear you now.

I got you. Do you hear me? Uh-oh. No, no, no. I can hear you. Go ahead. I can hear you. I can hear the producer, but I can't hear you guys.

Okay. I can hear you. Okay. I can hear you now. can hear the producer, but I can't hear you guys. Okay. I can hear you. Okay. I can hear you now. There we go. All right. So, yeah, just let people know literally how crazy things are in the show me state. Yes. Absolutely.

So it's kind of wild here. And I would posit that this is happening in super majority states all over the country. We just a few weeks ago passed a budget in which a representative introduced an amendment that would basically not allow us to send state money on any consultants, staff, programs, initiatives that would fund DEI initiatives. So there's that. I know what's making headlines right now is defunding libraries from state money. We're talking about $4.5 million, and there's a whole lot of information about that. Just yesterday, we passed out of the house, the Missouri House bills that would prevent parents from seeking gender affirming care for their children who are transgendered. So it's a lot of crazy stuff happening right now.

I mean, the thing that jumps out at me is like, literally, they're pissed off because the ACLU sued them. So they're like, OK, yeah, we just like go fund libraries. Like, libraries. Right. Like, damn, damn, everybody. They're screwing over Republicans who go to libraries. Right. That's an interesting point because these actions would actually disproportionately affect rural libraries more than urban or suburban ones because the urban and suburban libraries have a tax base, a local tax base that supports them, and they also get federal money. So what they're defunding is the libraries in their own communities, in those rural communities that already we know has a lack of infrastructure

and broadband access. So, yeah, it's wild. Yeah. And that just to me is just how insane this is. And so we were just talking about Tennessee there. And again, you know, what is the strategy to combat this supermajority that they now have where they can just ignore Democrats? And for people to understand when I say supermajority, there are 34 Senate seats. They have control 24. And it's, what, 111 out of, what, 163? Out of 163. There are 163 seats in the House, and they have 111. So basically, they have a veto-proof

majority in the state of Missouri. So even if the governor vetoes something, they have the two-thirds majority they need to overturn that veto. And that's a very dangerous situation, not only in Missouri, but other states like Tennessee that have supermajority Republican-led legislatures. And we spent some time in Kansas City, and what they're also doing, states like Tennessee that have super majority Republican-led legislature. And we spent some time in Kansas City. And what they're also doing, so what, the governor, he controls the police department in Kansas City by appointing the board. And they desperately want to run St. Louis.

Yeah, well, we actually passed a bill in the House just a couple weeks ago to take state control of the St. Louis Police Department. So they have already done that. That bill is on its way to the Senate. And we'll see how that turns out because, yes, both St. Louis and Kansas City are the only two states in the union that either have or may soon have no control, no local control over their own police department. It is absolutely wild here. And to your point earlier about the going back to the library situation, it just shows that Republicans have this hostility towards any sources of knowledge and education. And what I found recently in a room, you know, Republican talking points do

not hold up in a room full of well-educated people. And so keeping people ignorant, keeping people without knowledge benefits their bottom line, benefits them because then they can gin up the base and people cannot seek information on their own, which is unfortunate. Indeed. Representative Johnson, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Absolutely. See, Robert, this is why, look, Kathy, he's coined the phrase information is power. This is what information matters. This is why Donald Trump and Republicans, they love low information voters. What's low information voters? Voters who have high school diplomas or less.

They love them. That's their bread and butter. And so they do worse when it comes to some college or college educated as to their targeting. Yesterday, I broke down the right wing site Rumble signing DJ Academics to their platform because you know what they want? They want low-information black men. That's what they want. That's who they are appealing to, and they know they can lie to them, throw stuff out at people who are not smart or educated,

and they'll believe it. And so that's what their strategy is. That is the GOP strategy all across this country. You know, we're in this phase of America that I call the insurrection part two, electric boogaloo, because what we're seeing is the insurrection part one was January the 6th, where they tried what's called a decapitation strike on the Capitol, similar to what Russia did in Kiev in the opening stages of their war. And when that fails, you move towards what we're seeing now in Ukraine. You go to trench warfare.

And that's what we're seeing in these legislatures. These Republicans have gone to trench warfare to try to take over this country through a slow-moving fascist coup. And they do this by taking out the educational system, by re-educating the youth in the ways of the great nationalists, by changing the way that we vote, by ignoring democracy, by taking over the judiciary and having that unelected branch of government rule over us with an iron fist, saying that they control what the FDA approves. Now, do they control what judges will

be on the bench? You see the anti-democratic measures being taken in North Carolina and Tennessee and Wisconsin. We are in the second phase of a slow-moving coup, because what we saw in Germany in 1933 and the Munich Putsch was that they tried to raid the Capitol. It didn't work. They put Hitler in prison. Well, guess what? They didn't just give up and go home. No, it took them some years. They reorganized and then they came back and they were elected into office. Hitler was elected chancellor. So if you don't think all of these things are part of a connected plan, a connected

fascist plot to take over this country, you're ignoring all the things around you. This is why, Rebecca, all these people, and I love these people who sit here and want to say, oh, you're this, you're that, you're a Democratic shield. Dumbasses. I'm trying to explain to y'all. If they want to defund libraries, they don't want folks reading. If they are sitting here, again, they love talking about Democrats want to defund the police. They're on

Capitol Hill talking about defund the FBI. Robert talked about Insurrection 2.0. People need to understand, when did this whole really insurrection thing started? Waco. What did Republicans do?

They defunded the ATF. They literally would not even confirm a permanent director for the ATF. That's law enforcement. And so these are the people who as you take how crazy they are about guns, this is how nuts this is, Rebecca. The mayor of Louisville, guys, find me the clip. The mayor of Louisville had a friend die in that mass shooting earlier this week. They have a law. The law in Kentucky says Louisville cannot confiscate that AR-15 and melt it. The law in Kentucky says they have to auction it off. That's how nuts these people are. Play it.

The second thing, and to those in the national media that are joining us here today, this may be even more shocking than it is to those of us locally who know this and are dealing with this. rifle that was used to murder five of our neighbors and shoot at rescuing police officers will one day be auctioned off. Think about that. That murder weapon will be back on the streets one day under Kentucky's current law. My administration has already taken action to remove the firing pin before turning confiscated guns over to the state. Because that's all that the current law allows us to do. Utterly insane, Rebecca. Well, I want to see leadership here. Okay, cool.

The law says that Louisville can't do anything with that gun, but turn it over so it could go and be auctioned and then put back on the streets. If I was the mayor of Louisville, I would take that gun and I would melt it and then see what happens. Like, what are they going to do? Are they going to throw them in jail? Like, we need to see some civil disobedience and we need to see some challenges when we have nonsensical laws in our country i don't just buy the oh well there's nothing we could do because it's against the law at some point we do need to see our elected leaders standing up and making a point that

enough is enough i'm with you i'm with you melt the son of a bitch live on tv on TV and say, I dare you to do something. Absolutely. F-A-F-O. What are you going to do? Stop me from doing this? Even if you throw me in jail, there is one less AK-47 that's on the streets. Great. Especially, it wouldn't even take having a loved one or a close friend who was killed. But this is simply, we need to see, especially on the Democratic side, we need to see leadership. We can't just have this feckless behavior anymore because we're now in a crisis in this country. Things are getting just too weird and too nonsensical. And we need to see folks on the progressive side start to stand up and start to fight because that's also how you engage people. Like we've talked about what's going on in Tennessee.

And we see lots of emotion, lots of enthusiasm. All that stuff is great. But now we need to see action. That's how you galvanize and get people pulled into our system. Get people to say, hey, I actually want to support you because you are doing something that's beneficial to my community. And then finally, Roland, what's really interesting is that hit strategies with Terrence Woodbury, they just put out some new data about black voters and black folks who aren't currently engaged into the system. And one of the things that they saw with a lot of black folks across the country, they're like, look, my life was what it was under Obama.

It was what it was under Trump. It is what it is under Biden. I'm not seeing any change. Those are the black folks that we need to speak to, that we need to get engaged because they're not feeling very engaged with what's going on across the country, regardless of political party, regardless of what administration's in the White House. So we have to speak to those issues and speak to those people. Well, Joe, that's what we try to do every single day, walking people and explaining those things. But, you know, but again, when you're also competing where people for people's eyeballs and ears and they are mired in reality shows, gossip shows, things along those lines. It's very difficult.

But I'm just going to keep warning people. I'm telling you what these people are planning to do. If they take back the White House and take control of the Senate, they already got the House. If you think what you're seeing is crazy in Mississippi and Tennessee and Georgia and Florida? Just wait. Yeah, I mean, the issue is, well, there's many issues, but one of them is that, you know, people that aren't voting or that aren't engaged or accepting a suggestion that their vote doesn't make a difference, that they don't have the power to actually change things for the better, to hold people to account, etc. Much of what gets done on a daily basis in government by people that are, quote,

popularly elected, but not so much because everyone that could vote didn't necessarily vote. Much of that that goes on is nonsense. Brother Jones and Brother Pearson are talking about things and addressing things that are absolutely nonsense. And that chamber, the guy that urinated in the seats didn't get kicked out. You know, folks that have all kinds of ethical problems, you know, crimes, everything else, aren't getting kicked out. But somebody that speaks to the will of the people is getting kicked out. And you go from state to state. And when we accept that suggestion,

we get ourselves in a problem that's really, really hard to undo. And I think one of the one things that the Republicans do well is they speak in simple language, okay? And so I believe that we have to find a way to speak to folks in simple language. And it should be easier

because we're talking about common sense. We're talking about two plus two equals four kind of stuff. So, you know, we have to speak in simple language the way that they do. But I think that it can ring true and be better because it is the truth and because it actually fundamentally makes sense. Indeed. All right, folks, hold tight. Once again, I go to the break. We come back. Give you an update in the Ronald Green case out of Louisiana. We'll talk about black maternal health. Also, how vital climate action is.

All that next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Don't forget, download our app, Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Your dollars make it possible to do what we do. So please support us here at Check and Money Orders, PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartin Martin dot com. Roland at Roland Martin on the filter dot com. And of course, you can get my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds.

Available at bookstores nationwide, Amazon, Barnes & Noble. Barnes & Noble. Also, download it on Audible. I'll be right back. Hatred on the streets. A horrific scene. A white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence white people are losing their damn mind there's an angry pro-trump mob storm to the u.s

capital we're about to see the rise of what i call white minority resistance we have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University

calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. 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. Y'all know who Roland Martin is. We'll be right back. Roland Martin. Unfiltered. I mean, could it be any other way? Really. It's Roland Martin. Martin! សូវបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបា� We'll be right back. Brianna Jackson from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has been missing since November 19th. The 16-year-old is 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighs 110 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Brianna Jackson should call the East Baton Rouge, Paris Sheriff's Office at 225-389-5000. 225-389-5000, 225-389-5000. The five white Louisiana state troopers who were involved in the death of Ronald Green pleaded not guilty to charges for their alleged roles in his May 2019 death. The officers appeared before a third judicial district court judge on Tuesday to hear the

reading of the charges. Trooper Corey York faces a negligent homicide charge and 10 counts of malfeasance in office. The four other troopers are charged with malfeasance and obstruction of justice. A sixth trooper, Chris Hollingsworth, died in a car wreck before charges were filed, but admitted to beating Greene with his flashlight. Greene died after leading troopers on a vehicle pursuit that ended with him crashing into a tree in rural Union Parish. The troopers' body cameras showed Greene being beaten, kicked, dragged, and shot with stun guns.

State police in the initial autopsy attributed Green's death to the car crash, but a review of the forensic medical report led to a different conclusion. Details of the fatal incident didn't emerge until Green's family sued state police for his wrongful death. The next court date, it will be on May 12th. In El Paso, the police department is reviewing a cell phone video depicting officers during a violent arrest of three young men. The video, which has been circulating on social media, shows at least four officers and three young men on a sidewalk. It reportedly took place on Easter Sunday with two officers wrestling a young man in

the dirt. At one point, the officer puts the teen in the headlock and the second officer punches him in the face, leaving him bloody. A man goes up to the officers fighting with the teen and then is pushed up against a car by another cop. The viral video does not show what led to the confrontation nor explain the reasons for the arrest. The El Paso Police Department is investigating the incident. All right, folks, one of the critical issues that we see in exit polling data shows how vital climate change or the action to deal with the climate is impacting our society. Folks, it is a significant, significant issue, especially for young voters. And it's an increasing issue for African-Americans.

Folks in the environmental lobby really have been doing their best to try to do more to make this a dominant issue for African-Americans. And one of the things that we talked about this year, people often talk about environmental activists. They think about tree huggers and things along those lines. But the reality is our communities are greatly impacted by climate change. Mustafa Santiago Ali, you see him all the time as one of the, of course, the panelists on our show, formerly with the EPA, has been very much involved in this space for quite some time.

He joins us right now. Mustafa, some folks may have seen the ads have been running for the past week dealing with this whole issue of climate. And it really is a fundamental issue that we are facing in this country. It is one that has a serious, serious impact on African Americans. Now the EPA is proposing new car pollution rules that could see electric vehicles, counting of the two-thirds of new vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2032. Of course, these new rules will cut, of course, the issue of pollution and, again, these gas vehicles.

People may go, okay, yeah, I hear you, but we got to own up. What has happened to our environment is real, and we really are being impacted. Yeah, we continue to be disproportionately impacted from air pollution and water pollution and the things that are happening on the land. So let's just bring it home for folks so hopefully it will help them to understand how significant this is. We've got, you know, 350,000 people who die prematurely from air pollution every year in our country. More people are dying from air pollution than gun violence, from car crashes, from overdoses of drugs. And this new rule that EPA moved forward on today, we've got 20,000 people who die from the pollution, the air pollution that comes out of our tailpipes, out of our cars and our trucks.

And tied to that in our communities is elevated levels of asthma and emphysema, lung cancer, heart disease, and a number of other medical conditions. So often when we, you know, see these disproportionate public health impacts in our communities, it's tied to the pollution. It's tied to, you know, the food that we have in our communities and the food deserts. So this is critically important to help to protect our lives. It also is going to create jobs. It is also going to help us to deal with the climate crisis because we know that our communities are hit first and worst when we see both the hurricanes and the floods and the wildfires and these extreme heat events. All of this is tied to

pollution, to fossil fuels. And that's why this particular set of actions today around both the light duty vehicle and heavy duty vehicles is critically important because it helps us to lower those emissions and begin to heal our communities. And so we talk about, obviously, impact is one thing, but speak to what is required to really get the public, get African Americans to be far more engaged on this to where it then becomes one of the issues, one of the many issues, of course, that are on the black agenda. Well, we just always got to bring it home to the things that are going on inside of our

communities, whether it's our children. We know that we've got 24, 25 million folks in our country who have asthma, 7 million kids, and disproportionate is African-American and Latin X folks, the ones that are going to the emergency rooms and the ones that are losing their lives. Many of us work outdoors in the environment. So this pollution is impacting us first by what we're breathing in. Then it's impacting us by it's raising the temperatures. So it's making it more difficult for us to be able to work. We know pollution also lowers the days that you can make it to work. It lowers the days that people end up missing school.

So we know that education is important in our community. So we need to make sure that our kids have the opportunity to learn. We know that this pollution also, when you talk about black maternal health, we see all these impacts that are happening to black babies as they're being formed and as once they're here on developmental types of things. So if we care about our communities, if we care about the women in our lives, if we care about these economic opportunities that are being stripped away from our communities because of exposures, then we have to get engaged. And there are now resources to actually help us to be able to make the change. Joe, your question for Mustafa.

What is it? I mean, sometimes I get a little bit optimistic because it seems like even though Republicans will tend to be wrong on how to deal with this, there's less denial about the existence of global warming, as people called it, or environmental problems. First of all, please feel free to like me if that's really not the case. But based on that, what do we do proceeding forward to let brothers and sisters know that are just dealing with their day-to-day lives, how important these environmental issues are and affect them where they are? Because so often, geographically, we have the worst air because we have businesses that emit, you know, incredible amount of dirty stuff, refuse, garbage, et cetera. And we're just driving by and back and forth every day and not really making the connection that other communities aren't dealing with this the way that we are, including the relative health of it.

Mustafa, go ahead. Well, that's why the Roland Martin Unfiltered Show is so incredibly important in the Black Star Network, because it's one of the few locations where we actually unpack what's happening inside of our communities, both, you know, from the impact side of pollution, but also on the opportunity side of the jobs that are in this space and the business ownership. So we have to have more entities that are actually bringing forward our voices, those who have expertise to walk folks through what's going on. The other part of it is also tying our vote to these sets of opportunities and challenges that are going on and helping people to understand the power that exists to be able to make change happen and to make change on both the legislative side of the equation, on the courts as well, who interpret the laws that are put in place. So we have that. But you've got to have entities that are willing to have real talk with people to unpack it and to bring it home for individuals, because not only are we shortening our lives, but we're losing out on huge amounts of resources

that are in this place. And I'll just hit the last point that you ask as well. We still unfortunately have too many Republican brothers and sisters who will either say climate change is not real, the impacts that are happening in our communities are not real or not happening to the level that they are. And evidently, it's because they don't understand science. They don't understand the research that has been done by numerous different organizations and entities, or they just don't care about our lives inside of our communities and refuse to do the actions that are necessary. Rebecca. Let's talk economics. Going green can be expensive, especially for our communities. So how can we take, so can you

walk us through how going green could be more affordable? Like if we're looking at vehicles that are now like electronic vehicles instead of the traditional fuel-based vehicles, some of those are entering in the market at $60,000. So how do we make going green affordable for our communities? Yeah, no, that's an excellent question. And it's real for so many of our communities. So first of all, the actions that happened today will bring $2 trillion worth of economic benefits back into our economy and into our communities. But let's bring it a little bit closer home because we're talking about electric vehicles, whether cars or trucks. There is a $7,500 tax credit that is a part of the most recent, not bipartisan infrastructure bill,

but the Inflation Reduction Act that will help people to find EVs more affordable. But it's not just about EVs. It's also about buses and other types of vehicles that are important inside of our communities for those who are not interested in driving or interested in having an electric vehicle. So those rebates are going to be critically important both for local governments and individuals to be able to afford what's going on in this space. It will also lower our health care costs. And we know that for lots of families who are trying to keep food on the table and keep the lights on, health care costs can often be a budget buster. So these sets of actions will also help to lower health care costs in our community since we are the ones that are overburdened, both with the highway system, which is a part of the policies, the redlining and restrictive covenants and zoning. And we all know the history that's in that space. And then also inside of the Inflation Reduction Act is opportunities for energy efficiency and resources that are there to help you swap out your heat pump or to get a newer and more

efficient stove. A number of different things that move folks to more electrical sort of sets of opportunities that are in space. And there are resources for that. But we still have work to do because we believe in real talk here on this show. And for those who are renting, we know that some of those benefits never make it to those communities. And that's where community solar and a couple of other things come into that space to be able to help folks. Robert? How can we better educate people about this confluence between gentrification and environmental racism? You know, when these cities were created, heavy industry was settled to the outskirts of the city. So you had rail lines, you had chemical factories, you had

your salty, your coal for the wintertime, et cetera, they were stored outside of the city limits. But now that more people have gentrified inner cities and destroyed low-income and African-American housing, more of our communities are moving out to those very areas and creating communities right at the foothills of landfills and by high-voltage power lines. How can we better educate people about the dangers of these areas and then also better regulate to ensure that we are keeping people safe and they're not simply searching for low prices at the risk of their health long term? No, that's an excellent question. I think we do some of that by forcing and working with the folks who are in the real estate industry. You know, they have to share some things around lead, but when it comes to many of

these other public health impacts and toxic impacts, they don't have to share some things around lead. But when it comes to many of these other public health impacts and toxic impacts, they don't have to share that data. We also got to work more effectively with our civic organizations and social organizations to make sure that they are also sharing the dynamics that are happening in this space. A couple of our fraternities and sororities have done some work, but we need the Divine Nine and others to do a stronger set of messaging and education to help folks there. The other part that I'll raise back again is that we've got to have more shows like this, more networks like this, helping to make the connections for our folks. And if we do that, then I think folks will be enlightened when they utilize their vote so that we can make sure the additional resources and educational opportunities are also built in both state and federal legislation.

Oh, absolutely. And so, look, this is definitely an issue for us. And so, you know, we're going to keep focusing on this. And so we appreciate you being on the show because it does impact. Look, I grew up right next to the Ship Channel in Houston in Clinton Park, and look, those chemicals, I smelled them every single day coming out of those plants in the Ship Channel, and trust me, it was never a good day when a certain funk hits you. You knew what was going down.

Mustafa, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. All right, folks, going to break. We come back. We're talking maternal health. Also, Senator Tim Scott forming his four-tier committee to run for president. It's like a tree falling in a forest. You're watching Rolling Block Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

We feel the hidden impacts of climate change that land harder in Black, Brown, and Native communities. Not many people talk about it because they clearly don't know our lives. But with President Biden's landmark infrastructure and climate plans, our issues are finally seen. Removing lead pipes means we know our water is safe. Cutting carbon pollution helps our kids breathe easier. 1.5 million new jobs means stable work in communities. The impact we need. Right now.

I lost my daughter. I didn't know what she was. So I had to figure out how to survive, how to eat, how to live. I don't want to go into the details because she's here, first of all. She may not want me telling that story. But possession of her. The family broke down. Fell apart. I was homeless. I had to figure out I didn't have a manager or an agent or anybody anymore. And I'm the talent.

So I got to figure out how to be the agent. I had to figure out how does business work? Hey, I'm Deon Cole from Black-ish. Hey, I'm Arnaz J. Black TV does matter, dang it. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Stay woke. all right folks this week is black maternal health week and black women dying and three

times the faster rate than white women when it comes to childbirth led to my next guest launching an app it's called earth i r t h uh-T-H. No B, but it's Earth. Kimberly Seals Allers created this. It's made specifically for black and brown birthing people to find the best options for their care. Kimberly joins us now from Queens, New York. Kimberly, thanks a bunch. What is your background when it comes to maternal health? Well, my background, in addition to being a mother, I come to this work really as a journalist by trade. In your field, Roland, working as a former senior editor at Essence Magazine, a writer at Fortune. But what I am, I have a passion for storytelling and my own story in my own birth, where I did all the research. I was looking for

the best hospital to go to, I read all the ratings and reviews at that time, and none of it really applied to me. I walked out of that so-called highly rated hospital feeling disrespected, traumatized, and unseen. And what I realized was that people are not being treated the same way, even as the same place. So I created Earth, which is like the word birth, but we dropped the B for bias, really for us to be able to see the reviews of other people just like us. Cool. Now you launched it when?

So it opened in the app stores back in March of 2021. So we're coming on two years now. Still a baby. Gotcha. And how's the growth been? So the growth has been great. We are excited to see our users grow about 60%. We now have reviews from over 47 states. And so more importantly, we turn these reviews into data on the back end to work directly with hospitals, payers and providers to help them learn from the living

instead of waiting for another Black maternal death to realize that they have problems on their team or even bias on their team or even bias on their staff. And so we are working with several hospitals around the country who really have recognized that they need to learn from our lived experience and not just learning from the, you know, dire maternal mortality morbidity statistics. Absolutely.

Rebecca, I'll start with you. Great. Can you talk more how we can use technology to help figure out how to make sure that birthing persons, especially black birthing folks, are able to have a successful and healthy birthing process, both prenat and post-partum? Absolutely. I think technology can really leverage our power. As you know, I have a story. Someone you know might have a story. Everyone has a story. But what if we use technology to put all these stories together, leverage our power as consumers,

and then on the back end, that technology allows us to turn that into data so we can actually improve care, that we can actually extract lessons and action plans as we develop and work with hospitals where they are literally learning from the lived experience. That's the power of technology because it allows us to actually shift the power dynamics. Instead of black and brown people being the victims of the black maternal mortality crisis, with our tool, they are agents for change, right? We are powerful people as consumers. And we've seen what publicly shared ratings and reviews have done to other industries, and we think technology can help us leverage consumer power to bring that same dynamic

to the health systems and address some of those power imbalances that have contributed to systemic racism and, quite frankly, the treatment of black women in hospital systems. Joe? I'm thrilled with the work you're doing. I appreciate that. My sister-in-law is a doctor, and so we talked through some of these things. Kind of building on the question that was asked before, are you finding, I mean, obviously as an information provider, trained as a journalist, you're getting the information. People are saying, this is my experience at this place. Interesting how it

varies from place to place and at the same place from persons to person. But how has it been when you presented information and used this opportunity to kind of become an advocate to these medical centers and these medical providers and these companies? Are they responsive and are they responsive because they want to be or because they have to be? Great question. So I take a lot of no's in my work reaching out to hospitals because our reviews are transparent and our data belongs to the community. And so, quite frankly, a lot of hospitals do not like Earth because we are transparent. We think that this information belongs to the community. However, I will say this.

They are being forced to acknowledge that black and brown folks are not responding to HCAHPS. They are not responding to other hospital-administered surveys because of this earned distrust that has existed. So many of them come to us because they simply don't have the patient experience data. They only have clinical outcomes. Yes, they can know that they haven't killed us or nearly killed us in the past five years, but how many of those people had a five-star experience? How many people had a three-star experience? They simply don't have the data.

So it works both ways. We have those that are reluctant, but we often have reviews on them without them, which is also something they are not used to. They have had a chokehold on data. They have had a chokehold on our communities. And we are using technology to break free of that and to say, we can inform and protect each other by sharing publicly where we're getting good care, the hospitals now have to pay attention. So when we, often when they give me a no and then I show them how many reviews we already have on them and what those reviews are telling, then we invite them into an opportunity to improve that with our improvement plan and program. And then often that changes the tune. And so we're excited about all of our

hospital partners, regardless of how they came into our program. Robert? I absolutely love what you're doing. Could you talk a little bit about just in stark terms, the childbirth crisis in Black America? I don't think a lot of people understand just how stark the numbers are when it comes to both maternal mortality, but also complications with regard to childbirth, extended hospital stays, complications for the child, medical malpractice when it comes to childbirth. Can you talk just a little bit about that, just so people understand just how intransigent this issue is currently? Yeah, so we know that Black women in this country are three to four times more likely to die during pregnancy or after childbirth.

We know in places, in many places, in New York City where I live, the black maternal mortality rate has been as high as 12 times that of white women. It is currently nine times that of white women. And so across this country and many places where there are deep pockets of people who look like me, we see that black mothers are dying at disproportionate rates. We are also more likely to have a low birth rate baby and a preterm birth. All of this is regardless of income or education. And I think it's important to note that for white women, education and income are protective factors. Their birth outcomes improve with class and education. However, for black women, these are not protective factors. Their birth outcomes improve with class and education. However,

for Black women, these are not protective factors. In fact, the recent study that was based on California data showed that the wealthiest Black moms were still at a higher risk than the poorest white moms of dying during or after childbirth. So when we're talking about these disparities, it's important to note two things. A disparity means that they're getting it right for some, but not getting it right for all. And then when you look at who happens to be the ones they're not getting it right for, it falls directly on black women's backs. And so when we look at these disparities, we know that we have power as black women. I was a senior editor at Essence. I'm very much aware of the power that

we hold in the world and as consumers. And I think it's important for us to wield that power to address these statistics and to let health systems know that we are watching and we are holding them accountable for our care. All right then. Again, how can folks access your platform? Yeah, so please go to the Google Play or Apple App Store, wherever you get your apps, and download Earth. Please search. If you are pregnant and you would like to know what other black and brown folks say, then please search in the app. Put in your zip code. You can search by hospital name.

But also leave a review. We accept reviews of your prenatal appointments, your birthing experience, your postpartum appointment, and your pediatric visits for baby up to baby's first birthday. We have the power to use our stories to hold these systems accountable and push for change. All right, Kimberly, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We come back. More news right here on Rolling Mark, unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We talk about blackness and what happens in black culture. We're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns.

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Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, it's spring. Hallelujah. But hold on. It's not all fun and games. With the sun and the warmth comes the need to clean the clutter mentally, physically, emotionally,

socially. All of those things need to happen. Getting rid of the clutter and clearing the cobwebs in our head and in our home. That's next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. Hey, what's up, everybody? It's Godfrey, the funniest dude on the planet.

I'm Israel Houghton. Apparently, the other message I did was not fun enough. So this is fun. You are watching... Roland Martin, my man, unfiltered. All right, y'all want to see some silly shit? Look what the hell Tim Scott put out to announce his presidential exploratory campaign. On this day, April 12, 1861, in this harbor, the first shots of the Civil War were fired.

And our country faced the defining moment. Would we truly be one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all? America's soul was put to the test, and we prevailed. Today, our country is once again being tested. Once again, our divisions run deep and the threat to our future is real. Joe Biden and the radical left have chosen a culture of grievance over greatness. They're promoting victimhood? Did a black man literally begin hit

Roll that shit back. Go to the beginning. Is it queued up? Hit play. Hit play. On this day april 12 1861 in this harbor the first shots of the civil war were fired and our country faced the defining moment would we truly be one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all? America's soul was put to the test and we prevailed. Today, our country is once again being tested. Once again, our divisions run deep and the threat to our future is real.

Joe Biden and the radical left have chosen a culture of grievance over greatness. At that point, we were going to see some January 6th video. OK, go ahead, play. Victimhood instead of personal responsibility. And they're indoctrinating our children to believe we live in an evil country. And all too often, when they get called out for their failures, they weaponize race to divide us. Freeze. Just in case y'all don't know,

his ass is from South Carolina. Do y'all know who first seceded from the union in the Civil War? South Carolina. Hit play. On to their power. When I fought back against their liberal agenda, they called me a prop, a token, because I disrupt their narrative. I threaten their control.

They know the truth of my life disproves their lies. Freeze. First of all, you ain't the only black Republican that ever existed. In fact, if there's actually a model for a black Republican, Tim, you ain't him. His name is Senator Ed Brooke. See, yesterday, Tim, we celebrated the 55th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act. Do you know who the co-author of that? It was two people, Walter Mondale from Minnesota and Ed Brooke. You're the one who stopped the George Floyd Justice Act from moving forward. Go ahead and hit play. See, I was raised by a single mother in poverty. The spoons in our apartment were plastic, not silver. But we had faith.

We put in the work and we had an unwavering belief that we, too, could live the American dream. I know America is a land of opportunity, not a land of oppression. I know it because I've lived it. That's why it pains my soul to see the Biden liberals attacking every rung of the ladder that helped me climb. Really? But you ain't say a damn thing

about Moms for Liberty taking over school boards in South Carolina and firing black superintendents. Press play. If the radical left gets their way, millions more families will be trapped in failing schools, crime-ridden neighborhoods, and crushing inflation. Do y'all know how much money South Carolina gets from the federal government? They get more money than they actually send.

So South Carolina is actually a welfare state. Just in case Tim left that out of his ad. Hit play. On my watch. This is personal to me. I will never back down in defense of the conservative values that make America exceptional. And that's why I'm announcing my exploratory committee for president of the United States. I will defend the Judeo-Christian foundation our nation is built on and protect our religious liberty. I will stand up to communist China and restore opportunities for hardworking Americans to thrive and prosper. I will fight to give every parent a choice in education so their children have a better chance in life. I will defend our

borders and our neighborhood streets, and I will protect our most fundamental right, the right to life itself. I bear witness that America can do for anyone what she's done for me, but we must rise up to the challenges of our time. This is a fight we must win, and that will take faith. Faith in God, faith in each other, and faith in America. God bless our United States of America, and God bless you. Which one of y'all want to go take a crack first i would love to start this the reason why i want to start this with when deconstruct this i think we're gonna have to continue this um on another day as well is i was raised pentecostal i was raised church of god in christ and what we're seeing here is a rise of black evangelicals what we and and I use black a little loose here

because this is someone who identifies. Black conservative evangelicals because there are black evangelicals who absolutely disagree with everything he just said. But let me break this down. Tim Scott, like Jason Whitlock, they identify primarily as Christian nationalists. Yep.

Being black and being a black man is a distant, I can't even say it's a distant second, it might be 20th on their list of identifying factors. So we see this all throughout this, through this commercial that he put out. Judeo-Christian, which if you talk to people of the Jewish faith, that's a very offensive term. But it's all spread through there with strong conservative evangelical themes. So we're not dealing with someone who identifies primarily as being Black. We're identifying someone as a Christian nationalist who rose above the ills of the Black community. So I just want to start that there, but I'm going to give the rest of the panelists time to also talk, because we all got a lot to say about this.

Rob, go ahead. How are you going to do this with, like, four minutes left in the show, Ro? You know we can talk about this for about three hours. But this black man went to Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and referenced the first shots of the Civil War and did not say one word about slavery. A black man went to where the Civil War began and did not say the word slavery, did not talk

about the sacrifices of the people who died and were tortured and killed. He talked about his mother being a single mother in poverty, but didn't talk about how she got into poverty. Are you saying your mom was dumb, Tim? Are you saying she was lazy? That she didn't know how to lift herself up by her own bootstraps, Timmy? Is that what you're saying about your mother? What the hell is this? Why would you sell yourself out like this just to get beat by 90 points by And just in case anybody is confused by any of this, if anybody, like I say, is confused, let me go ahead and I just want to just show y'all something real quick. Hold on. Let me go ahead and get it set up.

Y'all, this literally is what, this is how South Carolina seceded. Go to my iPad. The issue before the country is the extinction of slavery. The southern states are now in the crisis of their fate, and if we read or write the signs of the times, nothing is needed for our deliverance but that the ball of revolution be set in motion. Literally, slavery was in their opening line, Joe. But, oh, no, he couldn't mention that one.

We're going right ahead. And what's bad is, running in the Republican Party, they're not going to hold into account on those issues. So it's going to be interesting to see how much or how little all of that actually comes up. And they'll look at him and say to us, see, you can be like this too. But the fact of the matter is, they're thinking of him as more of an exception than, you can be like this too. You know, but the fact of the matter

is they're thinking him, of him as more of an exception than the rule, more miraculous than indicative. It doesn't make them say there's more like him. It says he's not like the others. So he's not like us. But one thing about presidential campaigns is bad. You know, they didn't get the, he didn't get the George Floyd justice with policing act done consistent with what the Republicans wanted to do and not wanted to do. He talked about faith, but faith without works is dead. But GOP politics and politics in general has an ability to amplify weaknesses, point out inconsistencies, and everything else. And the GOP is going to be the GOP.

They'll let him come out for five or ten minutes, and then he'll go right back and sit his behind right back where he was, and he'll continue to do the GOP's bidding. And we'll just see how it goes. Just so y'all know, Robert, go ahead. Just real quick, just as a Judeo- Christian, how does he feel about Donald Trump's prostitutes? You know, all the ones he's paying these hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Is that within his Judeo-Christian-ness, or is he okay with that? Precisely. All right, y'all. First of all, y'all, he ain't even polling at.5%. So, look, he ain't got – write it down. Tim Scott not going to get above 2% in any poll. Just letting y'all know. Knock yourself out, player.

All right. Joe, Rebecca, Robert, I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch, folks. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Don't forget to support us in what we do. Download the Blackstar Network app. Please support us in your check and money orders. PO Box 57196 Washington, D.C.

20037-0196 Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered PayPal, RMartin Unfiltered Venmo is RM Unfiltered, Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com I'll see y'all tomorrow. But you know Tim Scott, he ain't gonna be calling us back.

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