#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Target Fast Ends. Justin J. Pearson Slams Musk xAI Gas Turbines. Florida Anti-DEI Bill

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

3.11.2026 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Target Fast Ends. Justin J. Pearson Slams Musk xAI Gas Turbines. Florida Anti-DEI Bill A year-long national boycott of Target over its rollbacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives has ended. Until Freedom's Tamika Mallory will join us to discuss the success of the boycott. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality has approved plans for 41 gas turbines at the xAI facility in Southaven. Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson will explain why this decision has drawn criticism from local activists and advocacy groups, who argue that the approval process ignored public concerns and violated environmental regulations. Mississippi's Incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith will face Democratic candidate Scott Colom, who won out over two primary opponents, in November.  We'll talk to Colom about his victory.  And Georgia's special election to replace former GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia's 14th Congressional District is headed to an April runoff.  In Florida, State House Republicans have passed an anti-DEI bill that includes criminal civil penalties for elected officials. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The more than year-long national boycott of Target over its Roebuck of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. Uh, has somewhat ended. Uh, the faith part announced by Reverend Dr. Jamal O'Brien has come to his conclusion. We'll explain to you what Nina Turner and Tamika Mallory had to say. Um, Tamika Mallory, co-founder of Until Freedom, going to be joining us right here on the show. Also, local organizers in Minneapolis say their boycott continues. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality has approved plans for 41 gas turbines at the XAI facility in South Haven, in South Haven.

David. Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson will explain why this decision has drawn criticism from local advocacy advocacy, advocacy, as well. Mississippi's incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde Smith will face Democratic candidate Scott Cologne, who won out over two primary opponents in November, will talk to him. Plus, Georgia Special Elections replaced former GOP Congresswoman Roger Taylor Green in Jordan's 14th congressional district. It's head to April runoff. We'll tell you about the brother who was in that runoff. Plus, in Florida, the State House Republicans, have passed an anti-D-EI bill that includes criminal civil penalties for elected officials.

Yeah, they're nuts. It's time to breathe the Fonk on Roland Unfilcher on the Black Suddenette. Let's go. Entity, which is the faith-based initiative, is claiming victory and giving God glory for what it is that we have done. We are effectively today closing this chapter. Folks, later, news conference from the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., three, the national leaders of the target boy. which has survived more than 400 days since launching February 1st, 2025, made this announcement today.

Now, Pastor Jamal Bryant led the Target Fast. That was at TargetFast.org. That was the faith-based component. You might remember, it started on March 5th. It went from the beginning of Lent season until Easter Sunday, and then they continued it. The initial boycott was launched by Nina Turner. And her organization, then she brought in, Tamika Mallory, co-founder of Until Freedom.

Now, Nekima Williams, who is an organizer in Minneapolis, they also launched a boycott as well, and they say that their boycott continues. And so, again, so they're different groups here with different purposes in today's news conference. Nina Turner, she addressed the issue. I'm not encouraging people to go back and shop at Target. It really is a sin and a shame that it took them this long for us to get to this point. I think what the three of us, you know, for a brief moment, let me just speak for the three of us, which is Leader Mallory laid it out, that we came to give an update because the people who participated in this with us all over this country deserved an update and to know where we are. Based on the update, the history, the information, and the update, people have to decide whether or not Target is worthy enough for you to go back in their stores.

I personally, and as Leader Mallory laid out, her mother even, saying she's not going back. I'm telling you, I am not going back. And particularly because we are owed a public apology. And so I want to see the target CEO just as they quit us publicly, they need to reaffirm they love for us publicly. Ultimately, people have to make their own decision. But as for me in my house, we will not be going back to Target. Folks, joining us right now is Tamika Mallory, co-founder of Until Freedom. Tamika, glad to have you.

Is she there? All right, there we go. There we go. All right, so, Tamika, walk us through this because, again, Jamal Bryant announced that the Target Fast was ending. He said that there were four demands that he listed. That's on their website, TargetFast.org. where he laid out in terms that the Target needed to do.

He said that three of those four have been met and that they are still talking to Target about the other one. If you folks go to my website, Anthony, go to my iPad. This is TargetFaz.org and lays it right here. You see right here where they had four demands. Honor the $2 billion pledge to spend with black businesses, deposit $250 million in black banks, fully restored DEI commitments,

pipeline community centers at T and HBCUs, and he said three of those four were announced. Okay, so people have been asking other media folks, people with social, they're saying, okay, but Target, according to the USA Today article, says that nothing has changed. So about the fully restoring DEI commitments, just where are we with that?

And explain to people your position in terms of, are you calling for an end of the boycott? or you phrased it differently as well. So just explain that for people who aren't clear. Sure. Thank you so much, Roland, for giving me an opportunity to come on and talk about where we are. And I'm glad that you played Senator Turner's clip from earlier today because in many ways she sort of frames the difference between an overall boycott,

which I have always said, is a grassroots-led movement that no particular group can just end. Most people who have participated in this boycott did so because they themselves felt disrespected and harmed by Target. And I don't think that any announcement that our group or any other group makes will have people return to Target, especially without there being some real work within the community. But we did feel that we have a responsibility to be good stewards of the energy and the sacrifice of those. individuals who have been following and staying very close to the target fast portion of this. Some folks are saying, which I completely understand, what is the difference? And I'm glad that you mentioned that there are other people who have been organizing various components of this boycott and others of other companies, but particularly in keeping target as a main focus.

And so what happened was that in January, the end of January of 2025, Senator Nina Turner called myself and Pastor Bryant, Dr. Bryant, and asked us to join her in her efforts to start a boycott against Target. She had already announced it. I'm sorry, Tima, Tamica, you said June, you meant January. January. January. I'm sorry. Yeah.

So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, Target's memo got leaked or whatever on January 24th, January 25th. She says, hey, Target, if y'all don't restore this, we launched this boycott and then says, it's going to start February 1st, First Day of Black History Month. Let's reach out to you. And so that's precise, exactly. So she reached out to me and asked me, would until freedom my organization join? And she also had conversations with Pastor Bryant.

And we decided that together we would work on this boycott. the idea of a target fast being a major campaign of the boycott, because of course we could go out and say we're calling for a boycott, but unless, as you have told us and reminded us many times, there are actual activities and ways that people can participate and continue to receive information. You know, folks don't always know, not always updated, and people may begin to wane and sort of return and retreat.

And so Pastor Bryant said, We need to do a fast where the clergy community comes together. And at the time, it was believed that that would only go on for the season of Lent. Because, of course, as you said, March began the season of Lent. And then we would start the fast. And we believed that within 40 days, we would absolutely hear back from Target with all of the unrest that was happening around the country. But that did not happen.

40 days passed and more time passed. And we continue to extend that particular campaign to keep the effort going to keep people again engaged. And so for the last almost 400 days, more than 400 days depending on who's counting, we have continued, we have maintained that. There's some things that have been seen and other things that have not. And that is hosting round tables, meeting with other organizers, different events and occasions. There have been folks that have been in Washington, D.C., outside of target location, this one particular target location, every Saturday since this boycott began. And there are a number of other activities that have been happening.

And so we had four demands. We started with those four demands. We have mentioned those four demands as you laid them out. And we requested a meeting with the. the CEO to discuss the demands, the old CEO who's gone now and now the new and incoming CEO, we requested meetings with them and pretty much Target was silent. They had other people meet with us and talk to us, but we wanted to talk to the CEO directly. Over the last few weeks, we now began to receive some response and, of course, have met with

the CEO in which they laid out for us where they are on, on, on, these different issues, which are for demands. Now, let me be clear that although some of what was requested in those demands has been met, there's still much work to be done, and there's still a need for accountability as it relates to the completion of those things. However, when we put those demands forward, we have a responsibility to be, to be accurate and to look at those demands and see where we stand to be able to measure them. And that is what we did. And so when you talked about the $2 billion commitment, when we first heard targets say that they were ending their diversity, equity, and inclusion program, that was very concerning because we knew that Brian Cornell,

their old CEO, had made this commitment to spend that type of resources with our community. And so we said you cannot go back on that commitment, and we are going to monitor to see to it that it has happened. And at this point, we know that there has been $2 billion plus $100 million in additional grants. And they are probably around 97% there with their investment in communities. I don't want to belabor by going through every single point in detail. But what I will say is that on the diversity, equity and inclusion piece, while they have announced the program, excuse me, for the background noise, while they have announced their program belonging, we have asked them multiple times

to speak to the community and allow people to know that they took their diversity and their inclusion programs and put it under belonging. We ask them to be clear, to clarify such, And other than them speaking to us and other groups individually about it, they have not done so in my judgment in a very concise way. They said that those letters, DEI, have been weaponized and therefore they put all of their inclusion efforts in their belonging program because they still believe that diversity is important. And they showed us where they are continuing to do that work. Of course, the HBCU commitment. We are intending to continue to follow up on that. They have started with a pilot program that is in line with what we asked,

which was for there to be a real pipeline for HBCU students to be trained, to become retailers and many other things. And they are actually in the process of doing that. The college, excuse me, that they are working with first, has been embargoed, but we verified, because they spoke to us about it and told us the name, we verified Dr. Bryant was able to call and speak to the college and we know that that relationship has been established and that they are moving forward. And so the black banks piece is still an outstanding issue. Now, where we started was that they were not invested in any black

banks at all. And where we are now is that we have, through our demand, had them to sit down and begin having conversations with folks who can help to arrange and organize relationships with the right black things. And we have suggested to them a number of black things that we feel they should be working with. And so there's work that has been done. And one thing that I want to be clear about and I'll stop talking is that we are not going to ignore the work that started 400 days ago by our particular group and all those who have supported us and what we have done to maintain it over this time and that we started with no meetings, no conversations, and very unclear determinations in terms of where they would go. And now we can

say that some of those things have been done and not all. And I'll let you go, you know, talk with me more, but I would like to talk about what still is an area of concern for me. And so we can go to that. So for folks to also to understand, when, when, When you were talking about when they say DEI has been weaponized, Target actually is still involved in, has it been a class action lawsuit filed against them? After they go to my iPad, a class action lawsuit filed against them by shareholders

who say that Target should have told shareholders the risk of DEI. They also were being sued because they had, of course, an LGBT display. This right-wing group sued them because of the... that as well. That's a part of that lawsuit. Come on, go to my iPad, please. Okay, this is the story right here. Target

sued by Florida for defrauding shareholders about DEI. So when one of the demands was to restore the DEI commitments, so what you're saying is that Target said that their DEI initiative, which was not just one person being hired,

but the entire program, that has now been placed under belonging. And so, So the things that they were doing, I'm just want to be clear, has not gone away. It's simply gone under a program that's not called DEI. This is what they have said. And based upon what we saw in terms of how they laid out the programs that they are continuing, the work that they're going to continue to do, if they continue in the ways in which they have said,

which we, again, will be monitoring. I'm sure you will and others will. then they are continuing most of their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. However, I stated, and all of us who have been meeting with them, have said that we do not believe they should have changed the words. We understand, or change the initiative, and again, yes, the words. You know, we talk to them and ask them, why is it that other companies who are also dealing with lawsuits, who are also dealing with the pressure from the Trump administration, they decide. decided to stand 10 toes down on DEI specifically by Maine, and we let them know that we think

that they coward and it is not right and that they should have stood 10 toes down on their original name and commitments. And so there was definitely contention around that. And as you know, in any negotiation, everything that we want them to say and do they did not agree to, such as if they had it their way, I'm sure they would not want us to talk about. some of the issues that are still areas of concern for us, but we're going to do that to be, you know, to really give people a clear picture of what has taken place. Very interesting.

You've got some folk online who are furious. They're upset. They're saying, you know, this shouldn't happen. The boycott shouldn't end. And to me, here's what I'll say to that. There's a difference between a boycott and an economic withdrawal. An individual or a series of individuals can say, we're not shopping at the store. And in fact, today's announcement, you, Nina, as well as Jamal, no one said, hey, go back to Target.

No one actually said that. But when we talk about a boycott, a boycott has a plan of action in place. These are things that we want. I talk about this all the time, Martin Deppie's book on Operation Breadbasket. And they had six steps. Number one was information gathering. Number two was committee evaluation.

Number three was negotiation and education. Number four was economic withdrawal. Number five was agreement covenant. Number six was monitoring. Boycott is actually the last piece. of that. And I think what happens to Mika, a lot of folk, obviously, who

it is an emotion that people present, people yell boycott without understanding that you don't move in a boycott until you've done other things in order to go there. And that to me, and so

when I'm seeing this reaction, I think people are not quite understanding when you have a boycott, there were demands. There were clear demands. We covered them extensively. We pushed it on social media. So did you.

So did Nina. So did Jamal. So when people say, well, I didn't know about any demands, well, they were there. They were on the website. It was clear. Yeah. And it was announced from the beginning, again, of the fast. We talked about what those demands were.

And I'll be clear. I realized that some people didn't know those demands exist existed because people would ask me or say to me, you guys don't have demands, you guys don't have a structure around this. And that simply was not true. And so some of it is just people not having information. But there's another side of this. And that is that people are 100% rightfully pissed off the target. And they are not going to return, especially when you see headlines, which you know, the headlines are going to come out in the most salacious way possible for the clickbait, and they're not always going to capture exactly what has been stated or exactly where the direction of any particular campaign is going.

And I'm sure that there is some work that is being done by those who are interested parties to make it appear that we believe we can just tell people to go back to Target. Not one of us said that. In fact, at the press conference today, I made it clear that one of the issues that I have with the CEO and the leadership is of Target is that they are unwilling. And I saw Senator Turner said the same thing, that they are unwilling to make a public acknowledgement outside of their staff meeting. A few weeks ago, the new CEO met with the staff members. And it was, you know, many, I think I heard 30,000. someone said it was more than that of the staff members on a Zoom where he spoke to them, he addressed them and said, we have broken the trust with the black community, black consumers,

and with you all, some of you as employees, and there's work to be done to repair that. And so as I sat across the table from him, I asked the question, why is it that you have not made that statement more publicly known and more publicly available because there are people outside of your team, internal team, that need to know that you have acknowledged the harm that has been done to the black community. The statement that he, you know, his return statement to me was that, you know, they were going to think about the best ways to do that. You know, he said he wasn't hiding from it, but they would, they would figure it out. And we've made it clear to them multiple times, that we want to see and hear him or someone who is in the position to speak to the specific harm,

the upset, and the unrest that has happened between Target and the black community. To date, that has not happened. Not that that would make me go back to Target, but if there was any way that I would even consider it based upon the information that I have about what they are doing and what they say they are going to continue to do, and that acknowledgement, I might decide that if I need something quick, I don't have to drive miles to go get it. I might. But at this point, there is nothing that will make me return to Target. I am still 100% locked down in this boycott. And as you have mentioned, there are people who have

various issues. There are folks who are concerned about ICE and whether or not Target is protecting individuals who are being threatened and vulnerable by the ice raids that are happening across the nation, we stand in solidarity with them. There are many people who are in the local community where Target is headquartered who are saying we are not going to stop the boycott, and they shouldn't. And I stand in solidarity with them as well. People have decided, as you said, that an economic withdrawal of Target has happened, and I am one of those individuals. who will not be going back. Now, I also would say, and I said it today at the press conference,

you know, that we don't get as much time as we would like to speak, but I did touch on the question of how we evolve. As we know, the Target FAST, we've said, is it has been, has ended. However, what are we going to do next? What is the evolution even beyond Target, which companies are next? Who else do we want to hold accountable? and how can we come together to see to it that other companies experience a $12 billion loss in market share value? That is something that we have done together, that we have forced Target to drop from the Forbes,

whatever best businesses, I guess. I'm sure you know the accurate description of a list that they dropped from where Forbes said they fell from grace. And so we did that. That's our collective power. And again, Target is important. The work should continue. However, there are other companies that are hiding. They are not receiving the same pressure and the same type of accountability as we have placed on Target.

And I want to be a part of those conversations and that work as well. And let me say that we did that. We held when we think about Reverend Jackson and the work that he did around, you know, looking at economic power for black folks and been involved, of course, in boycotts and other work to bring corporations to the table. We went to Rainbow Push and hosted a roundtable with individuals who are holding boycotts for Tesla, for Spotify, and for a number of other companies. I don't want to miss anyone, but there were people who came to the table to say, we're doing the work and we want to be in coalition

where we feel that we come in and what I want to say to our people is that black folks also have to look at how we use the $1.4 trillion of our spending to hold people accountable particularly for the issues that impact our community. And let me say this here. You talked about local organizers continuing this was a

Instagram post that in the Kimet Williams put out, she said, quote, quote, we're still boycotting target. Don't believe the lies from Pastor Jamal Bryant, Tamika Mallory, and Nina Turner. They didn't start the boycott. We did. I have consistently said on this show, I've laid out the timeline of what took place. And that is January 24th, January 25th, what Nina Turner's group called for, what Nekima's, what Nekima and others call for in Minneapolis, you joining them. Jamal started the boycott beginning, February 1st, the Jamal's target fast beginning of March 5th. And so the reality is no one person owned this.

No one person in control it. And I've had people hit me and I've said, hey, if you're an organization and you want to continue boycotting, you can do this. These are, I said, these are three individuals who have been involved in it, who have parted and work with it, who announced how they are moving forward. That doesn't dictate what somebody else can do. A church denomination, another organization, they can say we're going to continue it. Everybody has that right.

That's right. Yes. Well, let me just also say that I've never claimed that I started a boycott. I've never said it. I haven't said it on this show. I haven't said it to you. I haven't said it on any other show. I've never even said it in the article.

In fact, when Senator Turner called me in January, and thank you, rolling, for what I'm about to say, February 12th, I had a new book coming out. And so I have to be honest in saying that, you know, I was trying to get on shows and to be in front of the public to promote my book, which is my memoir about my personal life. And so while I was involved and I was doing much of the work behind the scenes, I was not attempting to play a very public role. I mean, obviously, I have a major platform. So when I posted that I have joined the boycott and that I'm going to be a part of the organizing efforts, there are different entities that took that message and they ran with it and did whatever they

chose to do. But if you go back and listen to my statements early on, I was very clear that there were a number of other people. I called individuals by name, that they were. They were, there were other individuals who were also organizing. They were organizing locally. They were organizing in different places across the country. And I have said that from the beginning. I maintain it. What I am not going to do is participate in struggle Olympics for who ran the race first and who got there first. That to me is childish. And it is something that I won't participate in because everybody had the ability to do whatever they needed to do to keep the campaign and their boycott going. And I pray that it does continue in the ways in which people feel they need to so that we get to an end

that is not just about again target, but that it is about holding corporations accountable ultimately and what is most important to me is that this boycott is, it sends a clear message to the Trump administration that we may use. You may arrest us. You may try to silence our voices with all the suppression tactics. But the one thing you cannot do is force us to spend our money with companies where we feel disrespected. And so we will use, we will use our voices.

We will use the work that we are doing, the money, excuse me, that we have to be our voice and to scream out loud for us, even though we may feel that some of us are being suppressed in other ways. And so again, I have no intention. You will never, ever see me working to post slander and going back and forth with people. I will defend myself and I will speak up when I feel that I am being mischaracterized or that any of the people who I work with who I love dearly are being mischaracterized. But I will not participate in struggle Olympics that becomes a unnecessary distraction for folks who are attempting to continue to move forward. For me, what I would do if I was anyone, and I'm not speaking particularly to folks in Minneapolis,

but this is anyone who is now saying, well, we're picking it up, more clergy, we're going to do a fast, we have a new campaign, and we're going forward. I will gladly join those efforts. If there is a need for me to share my expertise and support, I will. do so. And if not, I will be like the tens of thousands of people around this country who no one knows their name. They didn't make them so. They didn't do a big announcement. They just took their money and put it in their pockets and said, I'm going to be a part of this in my own way. And so that's where I stand on that. Again, if you ask me, I'll tell you where I stand. But in terms of me sitting here and going back and forth and getting into a dog fight with folks over who started

first, I can tell everybody who is watching today. Tamika Mallory did not start anything first. I was called by my sister, Senator Nina Turner, and I showed up to be supportive to her and the work that she started doing before I knew anything about what anyone else was doing. But I support everyone's efforts, and I hope that we all win. And so I just want to, again, I'm always, I've included, everybody who I'm aware of I included, but there's a group called Strike for All. Okay. And I just want people to understand, this is what was posted on January 25, 2025.

Strike for All is Dean Turner's organization. They posted boycott Target starting February 1st. No diversity, no equity, no inclusion, no dollars, we are somebody. And this is literally what the text said. Starting February 1st, we are somebody calling on a mass boycott of all Target stores. Yesterday, Target announced that they are rolling back diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Understand this moment is a test. Corporations are testing us to see if we care enough about each other to stand in solidarity together. When companies like Target decide to eliminate initiatives focused on carrying products from black or other minority-owned businesses, they're testing us. Let's pass the test. and demand better of the places we shop.

Update. We are aware that there are black and other minority-owned businesses that could potentially be impacted by a boycott. In the coming days, we will be putting together a list of these companies and products so those participating in the boycott are able to buy from them directly. Hashtag boycott Target.

So to everybody who was watching understand this is what took place on January 25th. So we just wanted to go ahead and make that particularly clear. to folks. So Tamika had to go. We appreciate her being on the show. Thank you so very much. I'm going to my panel here and joining us right now on the show.

Rebecca Caruthers, President, CEO for your election senator at D.C., Tyler McMillan, Director, Youth and College Division, NWACP, Dr. Avis Jones DeWeaver, author and co-founder of editor-in-chief, Max Blacks Media, National Harvard. You said Tamika's back? Okay, cool. All right, so we got Tamika back. So, Tamika, and again, the bottom line is this here.

Who called it first? I made clear that there are local folk Nakeem and others in Minneapolis who call for a boycott. Strike for all. We are somebody, call for a boycott. Nina calls you and say, can we help? While this is happening in Lentis February 1st,

because I remember I had her on the show before February 1st. That's right. I got her on the show. I called you and said, please put Nina on to talk about this. And then Jamal's watching this and then says, hey, the church has some role in this. And so that's what you had here. And so these things happened.

Again, it's a whole lot of folk. And I did a whole video last year where I said, folk, boycotts cannot be emotionally driven. They must be strategic. And responding emotionally is one thing. but the reality is you don't achieve something without there being a plan of action and somebody posts something on my social media said well sounds like that

they just got target to do what they initially were going to do that actually was one of the demands number one was number one was was follow through on your previous commitments to DEI I'm trying to understand like that literally was one of them. Yeah. Well, let me tell you another thing that's really important about that.

There are companies who canceled their DEI programs and stopped doing any of the things that they had committed to or their, and really dismantled the entire diversity, equity, and inclusion departments within their companies. We said to Target, you better not do that. You need to not only fulfill the commitment. but do more. And again, the HBCU commitment was important. The black bank is something that they have not been doing at all.

Yeah, I mean, I mean, look, I'm not, listen, this, I need people understand. When Jamal sent, when Jamal sent the Target FAS idea to me, he said, hey, brother, can you look over this? I did. I said, it was two things I said to tomorrow, add the banking component and add the HBCU component. You did.

You did. What people don't understand this. I think people don't understand. All these people who are like, hey, Nina was on the show, you're on, Jamal hits, we were all communicating, and then there were many others as well. There was a target strategy group.

People who say, well, it was just these three. It wasn't. Y'all were seeking input from a number of people all around the country. Absolutely. We were in council and sometimes in therapy. You know, I want to say also, it wasn't easy. This has not been easy.

The same way that there are folks online right now who are upset, some of them, not all of them. I've received so many text messages from people today saying, we know what you were doing, we understand the integrity, because let me say very clearly that not one of us went into those meetings or had conversations where we asked for anything person. No personal money, no deposits to our personal bank accounts, none of the institutions that we have suggested, do any of us work for? And so that's before we get that narrative going, let's say that right now, the Target will never, ever be able to say that they wrote to make a Mallory a check because that just did not happen. And so that's there. But this was not easy because those individuals who may be feeling that we should have continued, or why did you all give this update today? There are folks on the other side who were equally as loud telling us that this boycott

needed to end, that we were harming black businesses, that we were harming black vendors, that how long are we going to keep this gone where people had to walk away from sponsorship dollars and other things. There are people who were trolling us that it doesn't matter. The boycott is not working. And so folks are going to create whatever storyline they want. We know what we've done. We're proud that we were able to stand 10 toes down and hold something together.

There are people, even within our movement, who really, throughout this process, were not cooperative. There are many people who we had to have very tough conversations with. And if I'm being honest here, there's a lot of stuff that people in the public did not get a chance to see because we held. this thing together and upheld our integrity and continue to ensure that Target knew we would not back down. And I, again, am still not backing down because as my mama said, I ain't starting Target. She already let me know. Don't even come tell me anything about Target because she is upset that it is a place that she went to, respected and had a relationship with. And now what they have done is probably for her irreparable. And for me, I haven't been in Target. I have figured out,

hardware stores and other ways to get the things that I need. And it's not that hard. I have no intention of walking back in the doors of Target, especially if it is not very clear and concisely stated from the corporation that they have harmed us. They apologize for it. And that they state their process for moving forward with rebuilding the relationship. That's what the CEO said to his staff. but he has not said that to the people. And I think that that is, it is wrong. I think it is further disrespectful.

And it begs the question, why are you unwilling to apologize to black people? Who are you hiding from? Absolutely. To makeup, we appreciate you joining us to break all of this down. Hopefully, this answers people's questions. We wanted to give it this much time because this, is not like these other networks. They give five or seven minutes

or don't do anything at all. And we have covered this from day one. When I hear people say, oh, black people didn't know what the demands? I'm like, well, what the hell? We did our part constantly talking about it for a whole damn year, pushing on social media. And maybe I'll say this here.

If there are black people out there who say, oh, man, we didn't know about any of this, maybe that's why you should watch this show every night. Yes. See, anybody's saying that? They basically are telling on themselves because every step of the way of this target boycott,

we have been covering it every step of the way since January 25th to present day. And so maybe folks need to double check and triple check the sources they're getting information from because we've been laying it out and giving updates over and over and over again. And so, and listen, I reached out

to other folks as well to say, hey, come on to share your thoughts as well. So that's the whole point of black-owned media. So we're not under the same BS as corporate media. We can talk about this something that impacts us. Tamika, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Thanks a lot. Great job. Let me do this here. Panel, hold tight one second. So I want to bring in Tennessee representative of Justin Pearson because XAI has received permission to install 41 natural gas turbines at a site in Mississippi. that would generate power force data centers in the area.

Of course, they have been having issues with that in Memphis. On Tuesday, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, granted Elon Musk AI company, maker of the Grockchatbot, a Clean Air Act permit, turbines which will be installed at a former Duke Energy Power Plant site in South Haven, Mississippi, will power XAI's Colossus 2 data center located a few hundred meters from Tulane Road

across the state boundary in Memphis's White Haven District. They will also supply power to the firm's upcoming Colossus 3 data center in Mississippi. In a joint statement, the Southern Environmental Law Center in the NWACP, accused the state of violating its own policies and ignoring public concerns. Representative Pearson Joneses right now, so they're installing this in Mississippi, but it's going to impact the air quality not only in Mississippi, but also across the lines in Tennessee.

That's exactly right. They knew when they developed this that the air quality of Mississippi, DeSoto County, Northern Mississippi in Tennessee and Shelby County and Crittenden County in Arkansas, already had F's in air quality that we've been in non-attainment as it relates to the level of smog that we have. And now this power plant, and we have researchers from Harvard who backed us up in the research here, that this power plant is going to have serious impact on people who live in White Haven, people who live in Westwood, in addition to the people who live most directly and closest to the power plant now. They are already operating 27 gas turbines illegally. And now

they've been given permission by the Mississippi Department of Environment of Quality to operate another 41. Despite the fact that 300 people showed up at the MDEQ board meeting about this, over 300 people, I would say 275 of them white folks from DeSota County speaking out against this because of the air pollution and also the noise pollution that's making it almost inhabitable for them to live there. And XAI says, well, we're just going to build a taller sound barrier. But you know what, that doesn't stop pollution. And so our community is going to likely see more premature deaths, more hospitalization, more asthma attacks. And the researchers have shown it's likely to cost $30 to $44 million a year just in the economic loss of life and productivity in our community.

And what we're saying is, I mean, there's a fervor for these data centers. I mean, all of a sudden, listen, they're targeting Virginia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi. I mean, all over the country, and people are voicing all sorts of concerns, economic concerns, air quality concerns, water concerns. I mean, you name it. They're saying, hey, we don't know about all of this. And others are saying, like, how many debt, some people are even calling for it. There will be a moratorium on these data centers because it's like they're spreading like wildfire. Absolutely.

Billionaires have created a data center playground. that we are all being forced to live in and deal with the consequences of. I was just in Texas, and there are communities that are dealing with the lack of water or their water being destroyed and polluted because of data centers. Our air quality is suffering substantially due to these data centers operating illegally and now being permitted against the Clean Air Act and against the own regulations and statutes in Mississippi of being able to operate. They're destroying the lives of the people who call these places home

and who have called these places home well before data centers were ever a word that we knew or there have been uttered. What we know is this is likely to increase because the billionaires are corrupting the democratic institutions, Lord Case D. We're seeing mayors, count out to billionaires. We're seeing elected officials

silencing themselves or being silently complicit in the degradation of our own communities because they're afraid Elon Musk or XAI is going to spend money against them in the next campaign. This cowardice is literally killing our communities. And yet we are seeing people

who speak up, who rise up, who are protesting, who are marching literally for their lives, and other people are saying, oh, they just want cloud, when in fact what they want is the right to breathe clean air, which is a human right that our laws, such as the Clean Air Act, already support. But we are seeing, again, these institutions, whether it be the Shelby County Health Department or now the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, abdicating their responsibility to really protect our communities.

What's next? We tonight I've got a town hall that I'm hosting an emergency town hall about XAI and these data centers. And then we're doing an in-person one as well at the Healing Cathedral right here in Memphis. We're talking with lawyers and amazing folks at the Southern Environmental Law Center who are really, you know, at the forefront of this fight alongside us to determine what our next steps would be in potential appeals process. The NAACP has been a champion for environmental justice and Aubrey Connor has been leading the way here. and so there may be some other avenues that we can work to stop this from happening, to slow it down, and hopefully get the voices the community heard. I mean, this is my last point. They held the hearing at 9 o'clock in the morning on Election Day three hours away from where the plant is actually located.

They didn't want to hear our voices. They didn't want to hear the research. And still, we were able to get half a dozen folks there to tell them. And they went into executive session to make this decision. They didn't even do it in front of the public. And that's what happens when billionaires are corrupting our communities for their benefit. and we have to have people in positions of power who stand up, speak up, and fight back for us.

And that's what I hope to continue to do. All right, Representative Pearson, Michelle, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. I appreciate you so much. God bless. All right, folks. Let me bring up my panel,

so I definitely want to get their thoughts about the whole target boycott and what Tobika talked about. And so let me bring them in, of course. And I'll start with you, Avis. And this went on more than 400 days. And we're also living, We also have to be honest about a world that we're living in.

And that is, you have never seen, we have never witnessed an administration that will exact revenge on companies, on law firms, it does not matter. So a lot of these companies are scared to death. I mean, I can tell you, telecommunications companies, they've been told by the FCC that get rid of anything, D.E.I. are we going to stop mergers, acquisitions, or anything? And so you heard Tamika say, the Target said they put their DEF program under another particular program. And so what do you make of today's announcement and how folks are reacting? Well, you know, I think that the, first of all, I just want to recognize Tamika and her heart work. She has been in the field for black people literally ever since she was a child.

And so I think that what her work is real, it's honest, it is not self-aggrandizing, and I appreciate the labor that she has given to advance the black community for decades. I think it's unfortunate that they're receiving both her and as well as Pastor Bryant, Nina Turner. It seems like they're receiving a lot of blowback from the community about this. And for whatever reason, I think people were not fully aware of all the aspects of the negotiations, the demands, the movement, the non-movement. But at the end of the day, as you said, it was a very difficult context. Now, I will say, had their business, had their leaders shown a bit more courage, they might have had a very different fate. because if you look at what happened with Costco,

who was under the same environment, under the same threats, they took a stand very boldly with maintaining their DEI commitments. And guess what? They have done well as a result. Their stock value has gone up. Their sales have outpaced that of where they were previously. They have really found themselves growing,

as a result of taking a stand. But I'll say this, Avis. I'll say this here. Do you know what I have not heard? I've not actually heard what Costco is doing for black people. Here's what I mean. Sure. I understand the stock price. I understand the statement.

I said when this first happened, okay, all right, Costco, how many black owned products are in their stores? What investments are they making? So again, I get on one hand saying, no, no, we down with DEI. I still want to know what you're doing, what you're doing, not what you're saying. That's just me. Sure. Tyler, I think that makes sense.

Go ahead. No, I was going to say as well, I don't know about y'all, but I don't miss shopping at Target. I think this public statement should be just as loud as a disrespect that we saw. And I think too many companies are willing to market diversity when it's profitable for them, but retreat from it when politics get uncomfortable. And I think this should be a sign to all the young folks out there watching and listening that boycotts aren't not just symbolic protests. They are the economic engine to organizing. And we can force these institutions to listen. But I think the bigger challenge is this, that we must remain, remain.

keeping our foot on the next of these corporations. And we need to invest in equity because it's right, not because that it's trending. And I think, you know, we have often saw that these corporations are profiting from our culture, our creativity, our spending power, but also retreating behind the scenes. So I would just say this. You know, this isn't just about restoring trust with activists

and folks in the community, but it's about restoring the trust with the community whose dollars help build the brand that it is today. And so nobody is telling y'all to go back to Target and I continue to encourage folks to spend money where you are valued. But I think the question is, you know, how can folks, you know, in the public who are watching in this moment,

determine whether these promises are actually being fulfilled? And I think that level of accountability must continue to be sought out. But as I said before, I don't miss shopping in Target and I don't plan on rolling the cart back in there, even though they got some good cards. I must say that. Rebecca.

They have some good cards, Ty Leek. So here's something that we know. Economic sanctions and boycotts are meant to be targeted and for a specific duration of time. It's not supposed to be for forever. But to the point that the other panelists are making, when we're talking about economic disbetsment, that's really what we should be talking about here.

You should be spending money based upon whether or not people like you. If they don't like you, you shouldn't spend money there. As far as I'm concerned, Target has shown that they don't like me. They don't care about me. So guess what? They don't have to worry about little old black me and my dollars. I mean, you know, in my everyday life, I was thinking about who my doctors are, who my dentist, my nail tech, my ascetician, just thinking through even where I go get a massage or where I do yoga, where I lift weights at. I try to support black businesses. And so even though I don't like how this thing has ended, because I think the messaging gets a bit murky and a bit messy.

I think moving forward, black communities in this country do not give money where people don't support you. Final comment on this here. If you're one of the people who are upset with Jamal, Nina, Tamika today, lead your own. Let me just say it again. Lead your own. If you mad,

if you think the boycott should continue okay announce it lead it organize mobilize see my problem

is to sit here and watch people who have been sitting on the sidelines who have not been taking meetings who have not been traveling around the country who have not been strategizing who do did nothing to get people to sign up, who posted nothing on social, who weren't sitting here

meeting with corporate leaders and civil rights folks and didn't partner with the U.S. Black Chamber Inc. to drive black folks to buy from there. It was a whole lot that was done by these three and others to get us to this point. So if you're sitting on the sidelines coaching, get your ass in a game. Get in the game. Here are people who put work in and you're complaining about them saying this phase ends. And Tamika said they are targeting other companies.

They are doing that right now. But people are complaining. People who have sat on the sidelines who have put in no energy, who put in no money, who've done nothing and you mad.

Okay, again, you are more than welcome to pick up the baton and take off. Let's see if you do it. Quick break and we'll talk to the brother who's running to be the next United States Senator

in the state of Mississippi. You're watching Rollin Mark Unfiltered on the Black Stud Network. With medicine and science under attack, I want to keep you and your family informed and healthy. I'm Dr. Ebony Hilton, and I knew at the age of eight that I wanted to be a doctor. So I studied hard and became the first African-American female anesthesiologist hired at the Medical University of South Carolina since this opening in 1824. And I always say I was made into a doctor, but I was born to be a mom. And as a new mom, wife, sister, daughter, and friend, I understand

how frightening a medical crisis can be. I care for individuals on some of the worst days of their lives. my mission to provide you with a safe space and gain clarity on issues of your mind and body. I recognize that there are health disparities, particularly as it contains your race. And I want to help bridge the gap between you and your health care providers. Join me every Thursday for Second Opinion on the Black Star Network, where each week I'll invite experts from various medical fields to share the latest health things.

We'll discuss topics such as the vaccine debate, mental and central health, medical bias, fertility, menopause, andropause, nutrition and aging. Together with my medical colleagues, we aim to provide you with a second opinion. Don't miss it Thursdays only on the Black Star Network. How you doing? I'm Mark Curry, and you're watching the Black Star Network. That's why I got these glasses on, because that Black Star is bright. Folks, elections took place last night in Mississippi.

Longtime Congressman Benny Thompson crushed his opponent. more than 70% of the vote, like I said, wasn't even close. In the U.S. Senate race, Scott Cologne, he was able to win the Democratic primary. He is going to face incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde Smith. And y'all remember, we were down there in Mississippi when Mike Espy was running against her. She is truly, I'll say this here, Scott ain't got to say it, okay? Cindy Hyde Smith is truly one of the dumbest members of the United States Senate. That child is not the brightest bulb in the dark room.

and she's a Confederate-loving individual. We remember the nonsense that she said previously. And so Scott joins us right now. Scott, glad to have you here on the show. Listen, you've got, look, you're a DA there, your attorney. You should have been on a federal bench, but Republicans, of course, were blocking that from happening. And how do you deal with, I'm going to deal with black people first.

How do you deal with black people in Mississippi, where you got so many black people who are not voting their numbers but they start off with, man, you can't win. Man, you ain't got no shot. A black man can't win in Mississippi. A Democrat can't win in Mississippi.

That's literally what you're starting with, unfortunately. Well, I'll tell you, Roland. First of all, I've got to say, what's up, Frat? You know, I'm happy to be on your show. Thank you for having me. I lead with first listening. You know, that's, I think, one of the problems we have

with too many candidates. They do all the talking. They never listen. And so I go out and campaign all across the state, and I ask voters what matters to them, what's on their heart, what do they need from their senator? And then after they tell me, they're so, it's so uncommon for them to be asked that

they start paying attention to me. And then I tell them my story. When I ran for district attorney in 2015, against a 27-year incumbent. I'm in a district that people thought I had no chance for winning. We were able to win. And so I know how to win tough races.

And you do it by finding the issues that motivate your base, but also have crossover appeal to the disaffected independence and the people that are open to putting Mississippi first. And so, you know, I listen first and then I tell them

about my record. When you look at the map, SB lost by about 65,000 votes. And there was a lot of people, a lot of black folks, a lot of poor white folks who simply did not vote. How are you putting together the ground game to reach those people and to get them to under? I mean, these are people who are complaining about rural hospitals shutting down. People are complaining about lack of economic development. They're complaining about jobs. They're complaining about air quality, air quality, water quality.

How are you putting this thing together in terms of are you trying to hit a certain number of volunteers? You know, what is your plan to really reach these folks and turn them out? Well, I'll tell you a few things. One, I have support that a lot of Senate candidates in the past have not had. I got Congress Thompson support from the very beginning. And his ground game is behind me. That's something that's very important to winning a state like Mississippi. I also have relationships with the NWACP and, you know, one of my people that have been a mentor to me in politics, Derek Johnson.

I'm connected to his ground game. And we've been, you know, putting cracks in the glass for a while. And so we have infrastructure set up. The other thing that I think people don't recognize when they think about Mike Espies race is he did not get a lot of attention. I mean, Rooney, you are smart enough to talk about Mississippi. and you're smart enough to talk about it now. I went down there. I went down there.

We broadcasted by there. But you're one of the few people that covered the race. He only got money at the last minute when she made the comments about the public hanging. But what we've been doing is we've been raising money early. Like I raised more money at this particular point to any Senate candidate Mississippi's history. I've outraged Cindy Hyde Smith in Q4 last year.

They told me I could never do that. You would never be able to do it. We did it. And we're going to continue to do it because we're working hard. We're talking to voters. We're talking to donors. We're getting people excited. You know, if you look at the primary numbers results from last night, we overperform any

Democratic midterm and who knows how long. I mean, I think about 20, 30,000 more Republicans voted in the Republican primary and the Democratic primary. I don't have to tell you how drastically that is different than most elections. And that's because we were on the ground, listening to voters, building a campaign that was on digital because you got to go digital now and you have to go on people's doors. And so we have people, we have the right partners, we have the right message, and it's also the right time rolling. I mean, in 2018, nobody knew what Cindy High Price is what's going to do, right? We didn't know what she was going to do.

Now we know. She's going to vote against infrastructure that's bringing billions of dollars to the state of Mississippi. She's going to vote against money that fixed the Jackson Water Crisis to make sure, you know, children and mothers had clean water. We know that she's going to totally betray us when it comes to farmers and to consumers with the tariffs. I mean, we're struggling with the high prices. Our farmers can't sell soybeans to China. And last but not least, and this was the final straw for me. We know she's going to betray us when it comes to health care and hospitals.

She put 140,000 working Mississippi at serious risk of losing health care. Republicans at Democrat. As you know, Republicans are going to lose health care too. 200,000 more are losing health care because they're losing the federal support that they've been getting on the Affordable Care Act that exchange. So 350,000 Mississippi

are going to lose health care and gas prices are up. I mean, this is a unique moment. She's a uniquely bad candidate. She hadn't done a town hall in six years. She would never do an interview with you. Not in a million years. She couldn't stand one minute of scrutiny

for anybody that could ask where she's been, what she's been doing for Mississippi. She's totally MIA. And, Roland, one final point, I'm sorry, I know I said one about this is it. We found out recently that she has been using campaign finance funds, corporate and lobbyist money, to pay for vacations and banks. That's why she's so disconnected that when asked about high prices and beef, she told the people of Mississippi to just pick another protein. She doesn't know what's going on.

She's totally MIA. You're right. I remember that. and I mean, you had Robert Kennedy Jr. Like, boy, eat liver. Eat liver. I mean, they've said some absolutely crazy stuff. But that was pretty wild when she said, yeah,

there are other forms of protein as if you can't comment, you know, for real on the whole deal here. That just made no sense. As a matter of fact, some of y'all may think I'm lying, y'all. Y'all may think Scott are telling the truth. Listen, this actually happened. Listen. What do you think Republicans are doing right now? You're involved closely with agriculture. You're on the committee.

Price of food is high. We just did a story this week on price of beef continuing to go up. What are Republicans doing to get this cost of living under control? Well, the good thing is we passed what we call the one big beautiful bill. There are so many things in there. Just the child tax credits, that will affect 40 million families. There are all the reduction to make the cuts permanent. It is so many opportunities there that once that they go into play, just with getting your tax refund in 2026 is going to be bigger. And once we can get those things implemented, you're going to see a difference.

But right now, you know, the cost of fuel. Everything in this place at one time was on a truck. So anytime you go to purchase anything, if you're going to build anything, the price of fuel affects everything. So with that being down, you know, with the Gulf of America right out our door right here, beautiful Gulf Coast, no permitting, no drilling for four years, no permitting. So now that we can undo some of those cumbersome things that restricted energy production, you're even going to see that in a more significant way.

But it is on everybody's mind. You know, it certainly is me at my house. And, you know, you have so many proteins to choose from. And all commodities go through peaks and valleys. You know, it is a global market. But we will be seeing a difference. I truly believe because of... Scott, she's lying about energy.

I mean, the rally is America became energy independent. We were producing mass amounts of energy under President Joe Biden. That's a lie, this, oh, no permits and stuff like that. Yeah, I mean, that's what happens when you're too busy party in Vegas to actually be concerned with the truth or was actually facing hardworking Mississippians. And now the price of gas is up. I mean, so her whole selling point is backfired because we're at war in Iran, and she's totally MIA there. She's giving away our voice when it comes to the most important decisions senators can make for our sons and daughters in Mississippi. So, yeah, I mean, it's rambling nonsense, but it's the betrayal of the voters.

And that's why we're going to beat her. That's why she shook. In today's paper, she said, I'm worried. I know I'm in trouble for a tough election, general election. She knows it because she has nothing she can run on. Her commercial is all about I'm 100% MAGA. She's 100% MAGA. I'm 100% Mississippi.

We're not a state that can afford leadership that's focused on anything except for higher wages, lower costs, saving our health care in hospitals. That's the type of leadership Mississippi has to have in D.C. All right. Let's get the questions from my panel. I will first start with you, Rebecca. Congratulations on the wind last night. I lead a national and voting rights organization.

You are in the Fifth Circuit. And Mississippi has some of the worst voter registration and voting laws in the country, specifically that permanent voting ban. And for the audience, Mississippi has disenfranchisement, particularly for would-be black voters, where if you commit a certain type of felony, you are permanently prevented from registering the vote

for the rest of your life. What is your plan to overcome all of the voter restrictions in Mississippi? Make sure you have enough folks, especially black communities that are turning out for you, understanding that there's probably a cap on how, many white voters that you will be able to persuade the vote for you? You know, what's even more troubling is there's a report that just came out where the Secretary of State used unverified, experienced credit reports to determine whether voters were

actually active. And, you know, I had a good friend of mine who votes in every election. I mean, if there's a dog-catcher election, he votes. And because of this unverified way, he was rude inactive. And luckily, he was able to catch him. by voting absentee before election that he would have had to vote affidavit, which is going to discourage a lot of voters. The good news is we know about the problem, and we have time because we have an early primary to educate, mobilize, and be ready to fight.

And we've got, you know, we've got partners that are ready to do that. NWACP is ready to lead that effort. We've got Fair Fight, Mississippi, that's ready to lead that effort. we're going to do our part. I can't do it alone, of course. We've got to have partners that are ready to mobilize to make sure that the voters in Mississippi have their voice, their will.

That's how we've always made progress in Mississippi is that people have, people of goodwill across the country and the good people of Mississippi have come together to try to make a difference. And so anybody out there that we need your help, we need you to volunteer, and we're going to do it, but we have time to prepare for it, is the short answer. Tyler?

Yeah, of course, congratulations on your victory again. I think that Cindy Hyde Smith reminds us that these same political forces against civil rights, that white supremacy is alive and well, is to organize, it's funded, and it's determined to hold power in the South. And I think you have a great opportunity to shift that for a new generation of leadership. So congratulations. Mississippi is almost 40% black. So when we talk about democracy in Mississippi, we're talking about,

the power of the black vote. The question is whether that power exists and whether systems will allow that power to be fully realized in how we show up and how we organize. What is your message to black voters who don't believe in that power and feel we don't have a shot,

but we actually do when we look at the percentage of what we make up in the state? I have to be honest with you. Part of that frustration, I feel because too often Mississippi has been ignored I mean, most of the time when people think about what states matter to Democrats and what states the Democrats to care about, it skip right over Mississippi. And so if you're a young, disaffected Mississippi voter, you know, you're responding to the marketplace. They don't seem like they care too much about making your life better or trying to figure out how to motivate you to vote.

And so, you know, what we've been able to do is also convince, you know, those, when you have to listen. You've got to listen. You've got to show up and listen. I've been out campaigning. If anybody follows my social media stuff, every Monday I drop videos and me asking voters what matters to them. And I'm not talking. They're telling me what matters. And a lot of it is what you're talking about.

They want to know their voice is going to be heard. They want to make sure the person that they elect is going to do what they say they're going to do. And I had to point to my record. I ran on criminal justice reform. I committed that I was going to be tough on violent crime, but to be smart or non-violent crime. I can tell them I kept that promise. I'm tough on violent crime,

but I put more people in a diversion problem. program to help them not go through the felony system, get a GED, get rehabilitation. I put more young people on that program in one year than my predecessor put in the eight years combined. So I kept my promise. And so I have to make sure they understand they can trust me. The second thing is you have to work hard to raise the money to get those voters mobilized, get them energized, and get them to the polls.

And that does take people all across the country believing because you don't just have enough money in Mississippi to win an election. you've got to get money all across the country just like a lot of these states. And so that's my other thing is I'm very proud of the work my teams put in to raise the amount of money that we've raised so far.

And, you know, we're going to keep fighting and doing our part because Mississippi matters. It's important to me as a native of Mississippi born and raised, graduated from law school, did very well, chose to come back, get back to my state. And I do everything in my power to deliver for the voters and make a difference.

Avis. Good evening. Once again, congratulations on your win. When we're thinking about getting you across the finish line and the general, obviously we know that maximizing the black boat is going to be critical. But we're also going to need to figure out how to make sure that you can get over the 50% range in order to win the general election statewide. And so my question to you is, given this current environment in which there seems to be a lot of win at the back of many Democrats. who are overperforming in many different states across the nation, many districts that went for Trump in large margin, they're either losing now or if there are Republicans that are winning available seats, they are winning at a much smaller margin. Given this particular moment then, do you see this as a time where if there ever was a time that there would be a black person elected to the U.S. Senate to represent the state of Mississippi, this would be that time.

And how do you find yourself leaning into this moment in order to make that a reality? Yeah, I mean, what you've got to do is you got to talk about the issues that unite Mississippi is. Like, if you go to the grocery store, it doesn't matter if you're a Republican or Democrat. The prices are affecting you in a way that hurt. and you are promised low prices. You've been betrayed. If you are somebody that's working your butt off and then all of a sudden,

now you've got a door dash at night or door dash on Saturday instead of spending time with your family, you don't care about political parties. What you care about is making your life better. If you're a farmer who is planning to sell soybeans to a customer for years, you've been planning to do that.

Now, all of a sudden, you're facing bankruptcy, you're facing foreclosure, you've been betrayed. You've been betrayed. If you're someone that's on health care that have been getting federal support because you're an independent contractor, you now all of a sudden, your health care is 300 times percent higher.

We got to talk about the economic issues that affect people. You know, I'm in a district where it's swing. I outperforming vice president here about 11 points in my district. As a DA, I talk to grand juries all the time. And you would be surprised how many Republicans, Republicans think that President Trump is for raising the minimum wage. And it's because in Mississippi, they never get a Democratic message.

They get, they don't watch the news, their uncle or their grandfather tells them, well, this is what the Democratic Party stands for. And to me, that's an opportunity because what I say to them is, listen, I'm focused on bringing good paying jobs in Mississippi. I'm focused on getting the cost down. I'm focused on making sure you have a hospital in your community. Those are issues that unite Mississippi. You know, we're not a state. I can honestly tell you all this. I'm not trying to go to D.C. to be a big political person.

I'm not trying to be the best Democrat, the best, you know, best anything. I'm only committed to the state of Mississippi. You know, my parents, they, you know, my mom was a chairstall in court judge. She got elected here. My dad. I mean, I just think Mississippi is a unique state. It's full of good people. We've got to have leadership that's focused on us.

And that's why Sydney High Fifth is vulnerable because she's violated that principle. You know, she is voted against things that are clearly beneficial to the state of Mississippi. Voted against. If you won't vote for clean water for citizens and Jackson, we can't trust you for anything. And there's that campaign all across the state, I'm telling you, even Republicans, no, she is not delivering for Mississippi. She has betrayed us, and that's why we're going to win. All right, folks. So, again, y'all, hear me always talk about data.

Here's the deal. In November 2018, that was a special election. Cindy Hyde Smith, she beat Mike Espy. Go to my iPad. She beat Mike Espy by 68,000 votes. Two years later, they ran against each other in November 2020. And in that particular race, she beat him by 130,000 votes. And so when you look at those numbers there, Scott, you know that you're going to have to go out

and find another 150,000 votes when it comes to try to win this. And that is so I would assume you are studying those maps, studying those counties, studying those precincts, and seeing where those 150,000 votes are sitting. I'll tell you, first thing is she got 2020 those numbers because of President Trump. That had absolutely nothing to do with her. Zero. And the advantage that President Trump had in 18 and in 20

was the economy was pretty good before COVID. And a lot of people gave him credit for that. You know, whether he deserved it or not, it's hard to explain that to a working class voter. That ain't paying attention to it. But now gas prices are up, food prices are up, you know, businesses that can't deal with the chaos of the tariffs. We're in bad shape in Mississippi.

And she's never been as popular as President Trump. So that's the first thing. The second thing I will say is, you know, we're absolutely identifying the counties, the places we need to mobilize and energize, places where there are some persuadable voters. But ultimately, in my opinion, the first thing you got to do as any candidate that's trying to gain trust is you got to show up. You got to be known as a election. And that's how I was able to open forum, rolling. Listen, if you look at the numbers, the other numbers you can look at, look at the numbers from last night,

and then go look at the midterm in 2022, 2024. You know, we out, I mean, the enthusiasm is on our side. That's why we were able to break the super majority in the state Senate last year. People didn't think we could do it. We broke it. Brandon Presley, three points from becoming a Democratic governor for the state of Mississippi. Three points, $20,000 votes. We've been putting cracks in that glass.

We're about to break it. We're about to break it. And go to Scott Colon.com to help us make it happen. Well, I, I got it. I got it. I got you, I got you, I got you, I got it up. I got a frat, I got it, relax. If y'all go, before I do that, and I also know that I was, we were talking to Ken Martin.

And the DNC, shockingly, they were putting money in Mississippi, putting money into that state. And that has always been one of the complaints, especially in the South Korea, so many black voters. The Democrat, DNC, national donors going, waste of money, waste of money, waste of money, waste of money. well, you're guaranteed to lose if you never invest. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And listen, also, there's too often, I would say the establishment of media talks about the same type of candidates,

the same type of states. And that's why I give you credit, rolling. You will talk about Mississippi. You will talk about Louisiana. You will talk about the voters in rural America that we're going to need if we're going to be a national party. And so, you know, that's the other thing. We've got to get attention to these races.

in a way that it can excite people and get people to believe that things that they haven't seen before are possible. Absolutely. All right, folks. So this is the website, S-C-O-T-C-O-M dot com. You see as soon as you open it up, boom,

hitting you up for money. Look, you've got to have that. You've got to have money, folks, put people on the ground, for billboards, for yard signs, Mississippi. It's a rural place. Listen, you've got to be able to have those signs on the side of the road, those billboards

as well, and then once you go to the site, you can see all of the information that's here, play video, more background information about Scott, you name it, it's all on there. And again, the volunteer as well, if you clicked the volunteer

button right here, is there. And here's the other piece, y'all, you don't actually to volunteer, you don't actually have to live in Mississippi. They got phone banking, they've got other things they'll be doing, and so, hey, If you want to assist with this campaign, go to ScottKollom.com, S-C-O-T-T-C-O-M dot com.

And I know, listen, organizations like Alpha-Fi Alpha as an organization cannot endorse, but members can certainly, they got their first amendment rights. And so I would hope, and I would assume, Scott, that the brothers mobilizing, organized there in Mississippi on your behalf. Absolutely. Alpha NPAC Delta's into the great fundraising for me

I'm telling y'all, on the ground Mississippians are so excited and that gives me the energy I need to put the foot down on the accelerator all the way till November 3rd. We're going to show the country Mississippi matters, y'all. All right then Scott Colon. We're certainly appreciate it. Thanks for joining

us. Thank you. All right, folks. Got to go to a break. We come back. BlackSlaught Network headlines with Brittany Noble and more on today's show. Don't forget support our work. Your donations are critically important. Y'all, you heard what Scott just said right there. And the bottom line is this here, national media ain't putting Scott on. They're not. They're not covering the stories that we cover. They're not going to give that much attention

to the target boycott to walk you through and explain what's happening there. This is why this show matters. In fact, we were one of only two outlets who live streamed today's news conference from the National Press Club. This is why black-owned media matters. This is why we're doing the work and I told y'all one of the reasons why we were trying to raise that a million dollars at the end of last year we launched two new shows a daily news show we launched a health show but also I need the resources to take this show on the road we want to be in Mississippi we want to be in Texas in North Carolina in Georgia in Florida in these places so we can be broadcasting the show, having these town halls, allowing local candidates to be able to get, come on,

and talk about what's going on. Listen, the redistricting election, April 21st, hey, we're going to be on the road here in Virginia, talk about that as well. And so, I'm not trying to cede this stuff to these other national media outlets. You know, I don't give a damn what they're doing. I don't even watch them, y'all. And so I say this all the time. They ain't covering what we're covering.

And so why do we keep, why do we keep hoping and praying that they put us on the air and you sitting there just waiting and waiting and waiting and hopefully they say something? No, we ain't doing that. We're not doing that. Like I said, Target Boycott, man, we were covering this stuff every single day. We run just every now and then. Tomorrow, Congressman Jim Clyburn is making a big announcement regarding whether he's going to run for re-election or not. You know what? You're covering that as well.

So that's what we're about here. Your support is critical. I had some folks. I went to the mailbox, y'all. I went to the mailbox yesterday. It's a whole bunch of folks who sent stuff. I've got, just a handful of stuff right here. Matter of fact, I took a picture of that.

Let me show you all. Because I was a friend of mine, I was explained to her, you know, the people who give to the show. And she was like, what? I said, listen. I said, we got black folk who do not believe. in PayPal, Venmo, who do not believe in any of those forms. These are people who absolutely are about checks and money orders. I say, you know what?

Hey, it takes some time, but guess what? It cashed just the same. And so I took a photo and I sent it to her because she thought I was lying. I said, nah, I said, no, they straight up like, yo, I ain't doing that. And so I got y'all. So understand, and listen, let me be real clear. If y'all going to send checks and money orders,

y'all got to give me time. I keep telling you about 60 days, because we've got to open every envelope. We have to sit here and sign the back, mobile deposit. It is not a quick, thing when it comes to doing that. So you've got to give us some time to do that.

But I'm telling you all, I appreciate everybody who's been a donor. We're more than 37,000 donors. This right here is when I want, to the post office on yesterday. That was what was waiting for me in the post office. And I go every two or three weeks because of where the post office is. And so do me a favor.

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or Roland at rolandmartin on filter.com. We'll be right back. A decade of love, joy, and power. Black Voters Matter is 10 years old, and we are just getting started. This is love with the purpose. This is black joy in motion. This is unstoppable power.

Across campuses, neighborhoods, back roads. Let's go. We show up, not just to vote, but to be seen, to be heard, to belong. We ride together, we organize together.

We remind each other that our voices matter because they always have. Black Voters Matter is about more than ballots. It's about housing and health care, clean water and living wages, education, reproductive freedom, and dignity. It's about turning pain into action, turning belief into movement, turning community into power. We don't wait to be invited. We bring the energy, we bring the love. We bring the

people. Because when black communities come together, we don't just survive. We thrive. This is how change happens. This is how history moves. We organized, We build We win Welcome to the other side of change Only on the Black Star Network And hosted by myself, Rebaaker and my good sis, Jemira Burley

We are just two millennial women tackling everything at the intersection of politics, gender, and pop culture And we don't just settle for commentary This is about solution-driven dialogue To get us to the world as it could be And not just as it is Watch us on the Black Star Network

So tune in to the other side of change My name is Bill Duke And you're watching. Rolling Hart on filtered. All right, folks. Time for Black Star Network, Hail Liza, Brittany Noble. A federal judge in Alabama

has dismissed a $36 million lawsuit against the city of Mobile and to police officers, Jared Hutto, and Christian Davala. This is regarding the 2023 death of John Dallas. Judge Christy DeBos ruled that Officer DeVallas' use of force was objectively reasonably,

reasonable and that he is entitled to qualified immunity. Dallas died in July of 2023 following a struggle with police at the Plantation Mobile Home Park in Theodore, Alabama. After he was mistaken for a burglary suspect, police responded to a possible break-in. Police questioned Dallas, which they say matched the description of a burglar suspect and then got into a physical altercation when he tried to run. During that confrontation, DeValla used a taser gun. The court determined that the officer's actions did not violate the Constitution, specifically finding that the 44-second laser drive-stun gun used by Officer DeValla was justified under the circumstances.

Attorneys for Dallas's family, including Benjamin Crump and others called the ruling flawed based on the video evidence and announced plans to appeal the decision. A Houston social media influencer is behind bars, along with, several of his family members, and it comes after they were convicted in a federal fraud case tied to a massive multimillion dollar Medicaid fraud scheme. Prosecutors say Brandon Sims and several relatives were sentenced after pleading guilty to an operation generating more than $12 million to a fraudulent billing tied to addiction treatment services. They each received combined sentence of more than 14 years in federal prison. Authorities say the group operated Life Touch LLC, a treatment provider based in Kinstin and Goldsboro, North Carolina.

Investigators say that the business lured Medicaid patients dealing with substance use disorders by offering gift cards and other incentives. Prosecutors say patients were then directed into unnecessary treatment programs and drug screenings while companies billed Medicaid for services that were not legitimately provided. Historic Black churches granted millions. in National Restoration Initiative, the National Trust for Historic Preservation African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund awarded $8.5 billion in preservation grants to 33 historically black churches all across the U.S. This initiative, part of the preserving black churches

program, aims to protect these sacred and historic buildings, which are central to the African American experience, and that played a significant role in civil rights and community leadership. The grants cover a range of projects including structural repairs, conservation work, and long-term preservation planning, addressing the maintenance and challenges faced by these institutions. The program supported 170 churches nationwide with a total of almost $34 million to ensure the preservation of the cultural heritage and legacies. Former Black in May, Kerwin Pittman, makes history as the first ever in the United States by a prison facility. Pittman, who is the founder and executive director of the recidivism reduction education program services, purchased the abandoned Wayne Correctional Center in Goldsboro, North Carolina, which sat vacant for more than a decade for $250,000.

The social justice activist and criminal justice reform expert who served 11 years in prison champions himself as a voice for the voiceless. The 19-acre campus will be transformed into a hub for second chances, skills and opportunities. most people coming home from prison rarely see. The facility will be home for nearly 250 men at a time for over the course of six months. While house there, the men will have a chance to learn skills, prepare them for daily life and the workforce. The program will offer vocational certifications such as brick masonry, welding, and plumbing. Pittman hopes to expand this endeavor to other campuses in the near future. And former Mississippi anchor Barbie Bassett loses her discrimination appeal after claiming a black

journalists would not have been fired for saying, Fasizzle my nizzle on air. Bassett was fired from WLBT after she quoted Snoop Dog's phrase, but shizzle my nizzle during a live broadcast back in 2023. In case you missed it, this comment has been deemed inappropriate due to its association with the N-word, leading to her removal from the air and the station's decision to terminate her. Bassett has since been absent from the network and has been seen on air, hasn't been seen on air since March 8th of 2023.

She has faced criticism for her previous comments, including a remark about a black reporter's grandmother, calling her grandmammy, which she did apologize for. All right, folks, the attacks on DEI continues. Florida Republicans have introduced several measures to limit diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the state government. Public universities, K-12 schools, including the official actions of local government's bill on Tuesday.

The Florida House approved legislation banning local governments from funding diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives by a 77 to 37 vote. The bill says local officials who violate the DEI ban could face removal from office, and it allows residents to sue those officials in state court and collect damages if a judge finds they violated the law. The Senate approved the bill last week and now heads to Governor Ron DeSantis for signing.

Republican and Florida Representative Dean Black, who sponsored the bill criticized DEI programs. This idiot said this here. Over more than a decade, we have seen the philosophy of properly known as diversity, equity, inclusion used to divide our society to competing factions.

He's lying. Not only have millions of taxpayer dollars been wasted in the name of DEI lie, but this philosophy has also fostered mediocrity, big-ass lie, undermine merit, bullshit, and divided our society against itself. More damn lies. Democrats warned that this legislation could have a chilling effect on cultural and diversity programs run by local governments.

Here's what the bill would do, and exceptions included in the bill. Stop using public funds to operate DEI offices, hire DEI officers, or provide DEI training and programming. Avoid official actions that promote DEI as defined in the bill. require contractors and grant recipients to satisfy that local tax period dollars would not be used for DEI training or related materials.

State and federal holidays and observances, including Juneteenth, patriotic events, monuments and memorial, single sex shelter or programs are used with separation is necessary for safety, content neutral event permits in public safety services. If signed, we know he will, the official actions of local governments,

it won't take into effect until 2007. Tyler, They don't believe in local control. It only means when they are in charge. Yeah, absolutely. And I think if you talk about the attacks on diversity, equity, inclusion, exactly what it is. I think it's part of a broader backlash against progress towards racial justice. And I think, you know, we saw it in reconstruction.

We saw it in the civil rights movement. And we're seeing it again now. I think, but the truth is, like, the same folks who are attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion, keep calling it what it is. often have no problem when, on the other hand, it benefits them from a system that has historically excluded us. And I think the policies that we continue to see, like, what's happening here in Florida, don't move us forward. They move us backward. But history is also teaching us something that every backlash that we see, we have to continue to produce a larger footprint of how we

organize, how we show up against what's happening here. And I think when we talk about white supremacy in this context. We're not just talking about extremist groups. We're talking about systems and ideologies that have historically centered one group's power over another who says that we can't get a piece of the pie. And I think we must continue to organize and show up because they're trying to erase us.

But we understand our power, and we can't allow them to try to take our power from us. Davis. Absolutely. I mean, once again, this is mimicking what we're seeing. on the federal level, not surprised to see it happening in Florida. What else do we expect from Florida? But what we are seeing, broadly speaking, is a desire to return to a time in which unqualified white men are given opportunities that they don't deserve.

And if you need any better example of that, just look largely at the cabinet of this administration, which includes unqualified white male after unqualified white male in multitude of positions and also some unqualified white females too. So what I'm saying here is that we know what the game is, we know what they're doing, but it's time for us to fight back with figuring out and actually moving forward with ways in which we can support our own and develop our own ways

of supporting our economies and creating opportunities for ourselves. Rebecca. When you remove black people from, government, guess what? We go and do unnecessary wars. The government doesn't function well because a lot of qualified people have been systemically removed out of government. When you

remove black people out of corporate America, guess what? Stock prices go down. So, you know, let them have their thing. It's all going to fall down. Then they're going to come back to us because, quite frankly, we overperform in this country. So when they come back to us, we need to have our list of

demands. What do we want this time around? All right then, folks, let's talk about Georgia, where the race to feel GOP congresswoman Marjor Taylor Green's seat in the 14th district is head to a runoff. That's right, Republican Clay Fuller will face Democratic Sean Harris in a runoff on April 7th. Buller who resigned from his position as a DA to run in the special election, searched to the front of a crowded field of Republican candidates after receiving an endorsement from the twice-impeached criminally convicted felon in Chief Donald Trump. However, Trump's support was not enough to narrow the field.

of a dozen GOP contenders, preventing any candidate from winning the seat outright. Harris, who narrowly led Fuller on election night, stated that the results indicate a Democrat can succeed in this heavily Republican district. Harris is a retired U.S. Army Brigadier General. He previously challenged Green in 2024 but lost by nearly 30 points. He has described this special election as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to flip the seat. The reality of it is, like I told you a few days ago, you know, we was going to win this thing. I never told you that we was going to win it by 50%, 40% or whatever.

At the end of the day, you have to take baby steps. And this was the first baby step. Our goal was to come out of tonight winning this election being number one at the top. And that's exactly where we are. And now we're going against Fuller. President Trump came here two days ago, two weeks ago. And guess what? His candidate came in second place.

And I'm a firm believer that when we get on head-to-head come April 7th, You're going to be talking to me again because we're going to win it. Again, the runoffice scheduled for Tuesday, April 7th. All right, y'all. Y'all remember this woman here? Remember her? Tiffany Hanyard. She was mayor of that Chicago suburb. She came on our show.

She was lying. She spent all sorts of money. They had an audit and they bounced her ass from office. Well, guess what? Tiffany's back. But this time, Tiffany is running as a MAGA Republican in Georgia. Why your eyes getting big, like there, Rebecca?

Wait a minute. Why your eyes getting... She's in Georgia. Oh, no, no, no. She has signed up to run for the Fulton County Commission as a Republican in District 5. Check this out in this story here. It says Gillespie pointed out that Henriot lost her mayoral seat

in February 2025 and quickly registered to vote here in Georgia. She registered to vote here on Georgia on February 27th. Now, it's an overwhelming Democratic district but she's running as a MAGA Republican and Gillespie said, listen, I am known in the community and this person is a newcomer

yet who hasn't earned the trust to be able to, you know, run cruelly for this office. Article says the judge recently ruled that Henriott has to pay $10,000 in unpaid rent in Illinois. So she now wants to bring that madness, Rebecca, to Fulton County. Oh, I love this. That fraud to black MAGA pipeline, that's strong.

So I'm so excited about this. I had no idea. I didn't see this in the producers' notes. Oh, I about the call a bunch of people in Fulton County tonight. I'm sure that joke of an individual, Vernon, Jones is sitting here excited to have her presence there, Avis. Well, you know, just to carry on the thought here, frauds of a feather block together.

I mean, I'm not surprised that she was drawn to the maggot end of the spectrum. What's going to be really funny is I think she's going to be embraced. I mean, this is a cohort of folks who seem to enjoy lies and scandals and, you know, people who break the law for various different reasons. So she'll probably be embraced by her little cohort. But I don't think the broader population of Fulton County will be very welcoming of her. Tiley, don't be surprised if she lands a speaking slot in the 2008 Republican National Convention. Oh, yeah, they're excited to have, right?

They said before, birds of a feather flock together. She's a bird, and a bird has found her flock. I just sit here. I just sit here. And I'm telling you, if you want to be a grifter, the best place to be, the best person to be is a black Republican. Because, oh, oh, my, oh, my, you can have a grand time grifting. Speaking of grifting, yesterday we talked about this black Republican in Virginia

who has been running these, who sent these mailers out, okay, regarding voting in the April 21st Redistricting deal and he got busted because he's like oh this is about Jim Crow it's about Jim Crow and I thought that was quite kind of interesting

that they were pushing that out and then of a sudden I sat here and I was going through I was going through some of this and I saw I literally saw one of their videos.

Y'all, when I say the video was strange. First of all, it was edited strange. It was weird as all get out as I was trying to understand their argument. And what they're trying to do.

So, y'all, When I find a video, y'all are going to crack up. So there are all these black people who sit there, the Democrat taking the way I right to vote. The Democrat taking the way I right to vote. They're stealing our seats, which, no, because Jennifer McClellan will still be in Congress. Bobby Scott will still be in Congress.

And so that's just straight up. A lie, they were pushing. Y'all, pull a video up. I need people to see. because I want you all to see this is what happens with these Maga people. So this is the flyer they were sending out

to black neighborhoods. This right here. This is the flyer that they were sending out, all right? Claiming that by redrawing the lines, they were hurting black power. That's a lie.

Y'all, it's just a straight up no-hoes barred without a doubt lie. And they've been pushing this campaign. And so we know it's real easy to pay some black people, to lie to black people about something when what we real know is that the Republicans

don't give a damn about black people. They don't. And show the flower again. They said, just like Jim Crow, they want to silence your voice. I That messaging is off rolling We wouldn't say just like Jim Crow That sounds like someone trying to

Act like a black person talking We would say this is Jim Crow Or we would say Jim Crow 2.0 We wouldn't reference Jim Crow In the way it's referenced I bet you was a white firm Or at least a The person who wrote that copy was white

I don't think that was a black person That sent that out or wrote that Mm hmm What say you, Taelic? Well, of course, we want folks to vote yes on this. And as we look at the person who is definitely behind this is the only black man who lost his election. And I encourage you to look up who that is.

And, you know, they're trying to use our community at their advantage to continue to disadvantage us. and I encourage folks to not get lost in the Souths, you know, always verify, and, you know, do your due diligence and ensuring that your neighbors and your folks in your community know about what they are trying to do in Virginia.

And I will continue to encourage folks to vote yes on this, when this comes down the pipeline. Apes. Not surprising, unfortunately. I mean, we know that Republicans, oftentimes do very, very unscrupulous activities around election targeting the black community. There can be lies on flyers. They call people, tell them the wrong day to go and vote.

I mean, there's all sorts of nefarious actions that they have known to do over the past years. And so I'm hoping, I'm hoping that the Democratic Party has a nice response to this, a well-organized response to this, a way to really. make sure that people are aware of the reality of the situation and are very aggressively letting the black community know about it because unfortunately it's horrible. It's just horrible to see someone leverage our suffering and our history with lies and twisted lies for their political benefit.

But we have to know this is who we're fighting against and we have to be ready to go blow for blow. In fact, so I need a two box. Put me the two box. So I want to play for y'all this hilariously edited video of these folks. Listen to it. Put my iPad in the box. Come on.

Because I don't want to play this where it looks like it's a commercial. So give me a two box. Okay. All right, here we go. Watch this, y'all. If y'all want to laugh, let's watch this. We've seen this before. They count our bodies for representation.

But past sham laws to silence our voices. They'll let us on the bus, but tell us where to sit. They tell us be quiet. Tell us to stay in the back. In the back. In the back. In the back. In the back.

In the back of the bus. But we didn't fight to sit down. We didn't stand up just to be silence. We fought to be heard. To have our voices counted. To have our votes counted. to choose leaders who answer to us. Now they want our numbers,

but not our voices. They want our presence, but not our power. They are so bold in their lives that they call it fair when they silence us. But we will not sit down. We will not be silent. We will never. Never, never.

Not ever again. Not ever again. Vote no. Vote no. Vote no on April 21st Vote no Vote no on April 21st

First First of all If y'all gonna do a commercial Can y'all Y'all at least can afford board of one camera And the lighting And if you're going

Are they real people? They look like AI You know what? And let me help you all out So Let me help you all out See, I ain't even want to have to do this here. But y'all, go to my iPad.

Go on, y'all see this here? Now, let me explain something, y'all. What in the world? Let me explain something, y'all. These Negroes... It's $299. No, no, no. These Negroes are using...

They're using... Lord have mercy, these people so bad. I mean, if you're going to sit here and... I mean, listen, I... y'all might want to call somebody to help with your production okay so let me just give y'all a little tip

a little tip to the people okay so go on back, show the shoulder a little okay they're using the DJI microphone now y'all there are two types of DJI

microphone and yours truly, I've got them right here. I got them right here. Okay, so this is the DJI little microphone. So this DJI microphone, you can clip this microphone on, and that's what it looks like, you know. That's what it looks like when you clip it on, a little big old box.

All right. Okay, so this is a Jack right here. Hey, A.C. Cordoza and all y'all Black Republicans in Virginia, that's a little, that's a little hole right here. You can use a lava, turn it, you can use a lavalier microphone. So you don't want the big-ass DJI box on somebody lapel. What you do, and these costs $2,99. I know the white Republicans gave y'all enough money for this.

Okay, so what you do is you get this little thing called a lavalier, and you plug it up into the DJI, and then you put the DJI in your pocket. So all you do is just when you clip it on, you clip it on like this here. You clip it on like this here. And then that way, it looked like a normal microphone. See, this is my studio microphone over here.

This is the DJI. That's all you got to do. Okay, also, can y'all please stop going back? Can y'all please stop? This shit gets on my nerves. Can y'all stop putting the furry-ass part on the microphone? Let me explain to you, dumbasses, what that is. I can't stand seeing people on Instagram and on Twitter doing videos with the furry-ass thing on there.

Okay, let me explain to y'all. Do y'all want to know what that furry-ass thing is? this shit is call a wind screen. Okay? It's a wind screen, so when you're shooting outdoors, okay, it's actually knocking down the wind, so you're not hearing

the wind whistling. Why your ass got a windscreen on indoors? Is the AC unit blowing real hard? What the hell are we doing? while y'all got the furry you don't need the furry ass cover

for the microphone because your ass is indoors okay damn are y'all black Republicans that damn dumb y'all don't know TV production one-on-one

y'all are literally sitting here and matter of fact I'm looking at it that might even be that microphone might even be the DJI Mini. Do y'all, why you got that big ass furry thing? Y'all. Let me help y'all.

According to, according to silence in the comments, he says all the hot air. Y'all, this is the DJI wireless mic one and two. This is the DJI Mini. The many does not need a big-ass fur cover on it. Oh, my God. I mean, the lighting back, y'all got, it's black people in the video. Y'all asses that black people need lighting?

Did y'all only afford one light? It was a lamp. Right, right. Took the lamp shade off. They took the shade off. And they tilted the lamp. I mean, look, look, y'all, this is awful. This is just awful.

This is just awful as, the awful as lightning, I mean, lighting. And then what gets me, I told y'all two bucks. Don't do the, I don't want to look like something down commercial, we ain't paying us. But if y'all, and then the opening, they're just saying shit.

We're not going to sit down. We're going to stand up. While they're sitting down. Wow. sitting down, exactly. They count our bodies. They tell us where to sit. Hold on.

They tell us to be quiet. They tell us to sit in the back. In the back. In the back? In the back of the bus. But we didn't fight to sit down. We didn't stand up to be silence. We fought to have our voices counted.

They ain't explained what the hell they're talking about. They just sitting here just saying, like, I'm telling you, I think Rebecca right, a white political firm probably went, okay, here are some great phrases that the Negroes say. So what we're going to do is we're going to put all of the Negro phrases together and then we're going to just run them all together. Can we make it sound like a rap? No, no, no, we can't do that. We can't do that? Okay, no, no, we can't do that. So, we're going to put all of the Negro phrases together.

And Matt, or what they, you know what that, I think they probably did. They probably put this shit through ChatGPT. And ChatGPT kicked out Negro phrases. We're not In the back. In the back. We're not going to sit down. We're not

going to the back of the bus. They are still in our voices. But we wanted to sit down in the back of, we wanted to sit down on the bus, though, right? It don't even make sense. Look at this. Choose leaders who answer to us. Now they want our numbers, but not our...

Matter of fact, what does she say? They want our numbers, but not our power. They are so bold... That's why everybody can't come to the cookout roll. They are so bold in their lives that they not want our numbers. They all sound like Foghorn. Was it Foghorn Leghorn?

That was damn. What we're going to do? You're all going to do. You all got to vote against that on April 21st. Y'all got to vote against it because they want, but we will not sit down. Look at this. We will not be silent.

We will never, this is a hostage video. Let me look at this video. They held these Negroes hostage. I think they sat here and saying. That you got the Tyrone Biggams hat on. The dude with the orange hat, it looks like Tarone Biggams. Right. Look at how.

Never again. Not ever again. No, never, ever. Not ever, never, never, never. No vote no vote no vote no what you vote no for I don't know that Negro just vote no April 21st What we vote no for I don't know hell we just said The white folks that paid us to tell y'all Negroes just to vote no

That's right look at this here vote no for the redistricting plan this April 21st Just vote no please vote no because you know why because they told us look at this here y'all Look at this right here. It's like look at it they count our body's representation But we've seen this before so they passed sham laws. Is this like the three-fifth compromise? I don't even know what these Negroes talking about. They'll let us on the bus,

but tell us where to sit. We now, we got a sign seating now? My Lord. Let me tell you something. Hey, white Republicans, if y'all paid for the production, look at this shot right here.

How your ass got more lightened on the way? wall. On your face. I see more light on his head. They are, they are bouncing, they are bouncing light off of his head. Yes, they are. They are bouncing.

And that beautiful, melanated men, man, deserve better. I mean, he literally got more light on his bald-ass head than he does on his face. Okay. They clearly... Who daddy is that? They, y'all... Who daddy is that?

Do we know any of these people for real? Y'all, let me help y'all out, y'all. It's basically... They call it basically three-point light. You know what that is? A light in the middle. A light on the side. A light on the side.

Because, see, the light in the middle is hitting your face. Then all of a sudden... Matter of fact, Anthony, can you turn the side light down? Let me show these Negroes. How can you... Can you...

Oh, they all could... See, y'all, right there. Give me this one, turn this one off right here. Okay, so y'all, this is a single light in front of me. So now turn on that light. That light over here. Okay, that light's now hitting this side of my face. Turn on that light.

That light's hitting this side of my face. None of you Negroes went to lighten school. Y'all got the wall lit in the top of his head as opposed to his face. that's absolutely awful. So we got some furry, we got our furry-ass cover windscreen on the microphone because we can't afford a lavalia.

We indoors. We got bad lighting. We got bad writing. And we got bad policy. And paid actors. Matter of fact, if they paid actors, they need to quit acting because that's some bad-ass acting.

They let it off the bus. Hold up. What's my line again? They told us to sit down. Did I get there right? They told us to sit down. Got my line right? They literally are just, they just strung together a bunch of phrases.

I'm telling you. Their chat GPT said, go to Dr. King's speech and give me all of the black applause lines. Somebody in the comments said, only eyes and teeth showing. Y'all, this is, this is,

I mean, this bad, this bad. And then this, hold up, hold of this thing. What did they say? Oh, and look at this Negro. Guns save lives. Okay, he got this bright-ass cap on. First of all, you look like a damn fool with that bright-ass cap on.

Roland, he looks like Tyrone Biggams from the sketch, from the Dave Chappelle's sketch. Oh, my God. I'm just sitting here. I don't even know. I don't even understand what I'm looking at, y'all. I'm just looking at, oh, my God, what we're going to do here? That's right.

I just want to show y'all something. See, this is what happened when you only got one camera. See? Let me show y'all how this works. See, this is a side shot, and then we're going to see the orange cap dude, okay, in a shot facing. Y'all, they only have one camera. Now, y'all, y'all could at least call to us, because, you know, we got by 10, 15, 20, 30 cameras. we could have let y'all

nah I would have charged your ass we could rent at you a second camera I mean I'm just saying if you go if you're going to do a commercial just do me a favor buy three lights and get at least two cameras

and get a new script writer because your ad is trash it's trash it's absolutely trash um yeah I just had to go ahead and just lay that out.

Y'all got anything else to say? Anybody? I think, you know, the sad fact is, you know, that folks are actually going to watch this, and I think that's why we have the responsibility of how we organize and how we show up in Virginia, how we're making calls about the importance of this. Because, I mean, there's going to be some folks

who can't think past go. And it's, I think, and it's our job to ensure that we can help get them to the finish line, to the ballot box, to vote yes because there's going to be some some folks who ain't got it all who are going to see this commercial

and I think they should be voting no in their benefit but it's really to their detriment and so we got some work to do. First of all they got some work to do because their group is called Gatekeepers Virginia they got four followers

no they're following four they only got three followers Oh, my Lord. I literally... But wait a minute. Isn't it four of them in the commercial? They not following it?

Oh, you know what? That's a good question. Let me count. Let me count. Let me see how many in the commercial. Okay, let's see here. We got one, two, three, four... Oh, where to count here?

One, two, three, four... Four, five. They got five. Right. How y'all got five in the commercial, but y'all only got three followers. Lord, have mercy. My only other comment is we shall overcome someday.

I bet you not when they're one of these Negroes know even the first verse lift of your voice and sing. No. Absolutely not. We know they don't know all three, but they don't even know the first verse. They probably don't even know you're supposed to stand up when they come on. Okay, I'm done.

Virginia, vote yes on April 21st. Please. Because I don't want, that's probably the most views they got of their video ever. Ever. Ever. Yeah, we ain't going to the back of the bus, but y'all can throw that ragged-ass video under the bus and roll over it, throw it in reverse,

and roll back, and then pull forward again. That's how I feel about that ragged-ass video. But guess what? Great job lighting the wall. The wall looked great. It looked great. Shout out to the barber, too. The barber did an amazing job, I must say.

He got no hair. Shined it up good. John did it up. Okay. I'm done with this. Amos Tyler Rebecca, I appreciate it Thank you so very much

Folks, that is it for us Do y'all see why y'all need Roller Martin Unfiltered The Black Star Network And here's the other deal y'all So I got this shirt I got it online It's called I Am Black History

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first of all, if y'all watch it on YouTube, it's a whole bunch of y'all sitting here riding dirty. Y'all need to be hitting that dogg on, hit the dogg on a like button, okay? I don't know why we ain't sitting here with 2,000 likes. I mean, I don't understand. what y'all doing. Okay, so do me a favor

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Yo, man, they got great stuff in here. We got HBCU shirts. I'm still winning Lavalier because the Negroes can't afford one. We got our HBCU. We got chips. I mean, we got sauces. We got all sorts of stuff here. We got a whole carwack, car cleaning,

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I got to go because that video has taken me out. especially with all of the bad lighting and all of that. And tomorrow we got a new episode of Dr. Ebony and Jane Hilton's weekly health show. Second Opinion with Dr. Ebony and Jane Hilton. We stream it every Thursday, so be sure to check it out.

11 a.m. Eastern, and then, of course, you can check it out. Also, we're going to re-air on the show. Keenish should have it. Right now, if you miss today's news conference, does the stream set up? I'm going to toss straight to it, right? So if you miss today's news conference, regarding Target Borkot, we're going to restream it right now.

So Kina's going to send all y'all to that stream right now. I'm going to see you all tomorrow. Hello. Your Music Awards are coming back. Thursday, March 26th, live on Fox. Watch as we honor the biggest stars from all genres of music that you loved listening to all year long on your favorite IHeart Radio Station and the IHart Radio app. Hosted by Ludacris. Icon Award recipient, John Mellencamp.

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