#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Tarrant Co. Texas Jail Deaths, Courting The Black Vote, Bryon Donalds & Jim Crow, Menthol Ban

Episode Date: June 7, 2024

6.6.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Tarrant Co. Texas Jail Deaths, Courting The Black Vote, Bryon Donalds & Jim Crow, Menthol Ban More than 60 people have died in the Tarrant County, Texas, jail since 2017, leaving families fighting for answers.  The latest, Anthony Johnson, Jr.  His sister was removed from commissioners court when she demanded answers.  Anthony Johnson's family and attorney will be here to update us on the case.  The Travis County district attorney is challenging Texas Governor Greg Abbott's pardon of Daniel Perry, the white man convicted of killing a Black Lives Matter protestor.  The Republicans and Democrats are doing what they can to court the black vote. The executive director of BlackPAC will join us to discuss their plan to mobilize black voters this election year.  We'll talk about a recent poll that says black and brown people do not trust the media. That fool Bryon Donalds is doubling down on his Jim Crow comments even after more of what he said surfaced.  We'll show you what he said. And we'll discuss Detroit's efforts to ban menthol products as the Biden Administration delays the ban. #BlackStarNetwork advertising partners:Fanbase 👉🏾 https://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbaseThis Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (link) and Risks (link) related to this offering before investing. 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.

This is an iHeart Podcast. self. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Martin! Today's Thursday, June 6, 2024,

coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. More than 60 people have died, have died in the Tarrant County, TX jail since 2017, leaving families fighting for answers. The latest Anthony Johnson Junior. His sister was removed from commissioners court yesterday

when she demanded answers. Anthony Johnson's family and the attorney are joining us to discuss what is going on in Travis County. Not far from Tarrant County, the VA is challenging the governor of Texas Greg Abbott's pardon of Daniel Perry. The white supremacist convicted of

killing a Black Lives Matter protester. Republicans and Democrats are doing what they came to court the black vote. The executive director of Black Pack will join us to discuss their plans to mobilize Black voters this election. Also, Congressman Byron Donalds releases a video

saying, see, I didn't say what y'all said I did about Jim Crow. And he actually thinks it makes him look better, but it does not. We'll also talk about a new poll that shows that black and brown folks don't trust mainstream white media.

Uh, not a shot. Also, Detroit's efforts to ban menthol products as the Biden administration delays the band themselves will discuss that. And I'll share with you some of the stuff from the Steve Harvey celebrity golf classic yesterday in Atlanta. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered

on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got whatever the piss he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's Roland, best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks

He's rollin', yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, y'all, yeah, yeah It's rollin', Martin, yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's Rollin' Martel Now Martel

On April 21st of this year, 31 year old Anthony Johnson allegedly did not let detention officers in the Tarrant County Jail search his cell during routine cell checks. Jailers used pepper spray to get Johnson, quote, under control. While medical staff examined him, Johnson became unresponsive. He was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. At Tuesday's Tarrant County Court of Commissioners meeting, Johnson's sister, Janelle, was physically removed from the room after yelling and telling County Judge Tim O'Hare to look at her while she spoke about the death of her brother.

Well, it looks like I'm back. It's been a month since my brother's death. A month. And we still have no answers. A month. And now the people who killed my brother are sitting at the house getting paid right now. A month since I seen you guys torture Mr. O'Hare. I need you to look at me.

You guys killed my brother. No, no, no, you need to listen. Mr. Whiteboard has refused to see us, has refused and locked doors. JPS. So JPS is here now. So JPS is here now. How long is he going to sit here and tell us what happened? I'm going to answer you.

I'm going to answer you. Yeah, take Mr. Whiteboard off. Take Mr. Whiteboard off to release the video that you guys killed. I didn't touch. Folks, Johnson is one of more than 60 deaths in the Tarrant County Jail since Sheriff Bill Wayborn, a MAGA Republican, took office in 2017. Wayborn's office partially attributed the death to an increased population and short staffing that's 60 dead y'all but the county also has been the target of lawsuits for jailer's alleged treatment of detainees joining us now is anthony johnson's parents jacqueline and anthony senior his sister janelle and their attorney daryl k was. Glad to have all of you here.

First, let me start with Jacqueline and Anthony Sr. First of all, how long was your son in the Tarrant County Jail? He was in the Tarrant County Jail approximately eight hours. Oh, wait, I'm sorry. Eight hours? Oh, yeah. It wasn't even a full day. Okay.

First of all, what was he arrested for? My son suffered from schizophrenia for almost 10 years. So that Friday before his untimely death, he tried to get him admitted into a facility. In significance of that, Roland was, that facility, he was in maybe February of this year, so a month or two before. They denied him saying that he was not being

a threat to himself or to anyone else. So from that, he went out maybe two or three hours later. He was arrested by a neighboring PD, Saginaw Police Department. And then that next morning, he was taken to Tarrant County Jail. So it was less than 24 hours before his death. What is perplexing to me here is, one, and I think this is part of the problem in this country, where someone suffers from mental illness and the response is to put them in jail as opposed to a mental health facility. He's there only eight hours. Darrell, have they released any, is there any body cam footage? Is there any footage from the jail that way to actually see what happened when they entered his particular cell? Roland, there's actually two different versions of a video.

What you were showing earlier in your clip, that was actually a video that captured the incident on a cell phone. One of the jailers, the guy who's standing at the back, Jalen Marino, was called by one of his supervisors to actually come and put his knee on Anthony's back and neck. You can clearly see that Anthony was not resisting. He was in handcuffs. And this guy kept his knee on Anthony's back, despite Anthony saying on a couple of occasions that he could not breathe. They just clearly ignored it and they just left him there to die. But Roland, let me tell you, what we see in that six minute video is not the egregious part. This video was about 15 minutes. It's what you don't see

is the bad part. And this is the part that we have been trying to get the sheriff's department to release to the public and they've refused to. But when people actually see the remaining eight to nine minutes of that video, people are going to be extremely disturbed by what they witness. Janelle, you were removed from commissioner's court, and look, you got several commissioners there. What have they said? Because has been? Because people understand they are responsible. They oversee county administration. Even though the sheriff is elected, his budget comes from the Tenant County Commissioners Court. What have they said in all of this time? They haven't said anything.

First, Mr. Wayborn, since we've been, that wasn't my first time at the Tarrant County Commission of Work. I was there a month ago, like I stated. So even those two times, Sheriff Wayborn hasn't even shown up to address. But with the meetings, they don't really say anything. They just, you know, allow other people to say something. But what really triggered me and what got me was, you know,

even before then, it was the lack of attention. And when everybody else was on that court, including Ms. Simmons, they were giving me their uninvited. And it wasn't until I mentioned unpaid leave when I see Mr. O'Hare started shuffling his papers. And for me, and as you'll see, my brother's a Marine, my father's a Marine. So I grew up knowing that when you are talking to somebody, especially of this importance or any type of importance, how you'll know someone's listening to you, they'll give you eye contact. They will give you direct attention. Even Mr. Wayborn, when I first spoke with them, even with that, Mr. Wayborn gave me that attention. So when

I'm demanding that from Mr. O'Hare and he decides to, now he wants to shuffle and not give me attention, it's triggering because you killed my brother this isn't like you know an accident or we're just some angry residents you guys murder and then i proved to you guys that you you guys don't know what you're doing and now every step of the way you're proving that and for for him to have politely let us know what the rules were before we even step up to speak and i made sure that i wasn't using any type of preventative or anything like that all i wanted was attention all i wanted was for him to look at me when i'm speaking because it has been a month you guys previously were talking about voter fraud.

You guys were talking about the Texas Rangers while we're sitting there. And it's like, we don't have any answers. So how are you telling the public on the back end what you guys have been working on and what our money is going towards? And yet we don't have any answers. And you're not going to police how I speak to you because it may make you feel some type of way. And I'm the one experiencing the debt. That's not how this is about to work. We've been in this home for 20 years. We're 20-year taxpayers. We pay their salaries. So they owe us that respect to at least give us their undivided attention. Darrell, it has to be absolutely frustrating for someone to die at the hands of, die in a jail, die in a county facility, not even there.

I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st,

and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir, we are back. In a big way. In a very big way.

Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.

We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new

episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you've got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else.

But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. A day and to essentially get blown off by the sheriff and his bosses. Hey, Roland, this has been extremely frustrating. And let me just say a couple of things, Roland.

There's been actually about—there's been 66 deaths since 2017. There's been six deaths alone in 2024. A young lady just actually died in jail last week. But two of the jailers who were involved in this incident were terminated a couple of weeks ago. And because the sheriffs did not follow the rule, these jailers were reinstated. We are hoping that they're now going to be terminated once again, Roland. And we expect them probably within the next week that there should be criminal charges filed in this case. But one of the things you say is something that is very key. People who are dealing with mental illness should not be in jail.

Well, Roland, there was a survey that was conducted, and over 67 percent of the individuals who are in Tarrant County Jail are dealing with a mental illness. Those individuals should not be in jail. They should be in a mental facility. And what we have to realize is that this is jail. This is not prison. A great majority of the individuals who are there, they are there temporarily, and they have not had their day in court. And most of these individuals are going to be found innocent. So they just should not be dying in jail. This is just totally unacceptable. It's been something that's been going on for quite some time, and we demand and change, Roland.

Well, so any—first of all, is the Department of Justice looking into the Tarrant County Jail? That's one of the things, Roland, that we really have been demanding. I know Mr. Johnson has been very vocal about that, Roland. What this family wants to happen, they don't want this to happen to anyone else. But, you know, the sheriff was given an interview last week, and he said, this guy made the comment that Tarrant County Jail is a great place to be. I mean, he was talking about the jail as if he was talking about Ritz-Carlton or somewhere. And this guy is just totally disconnected what's going on. And we just really need change. The Department of Justice needs to come in, because this is just too many deaths.

You said that Anthony Johnson Sr. has been quite vocal about this. Sir, go right ahead and share your thoughts. Yes, sir, Mr. Rowland. This nature should have never even taken place. So for the fact that the sheriff thinks that his facility is surprised, he failed to mention to the public how his staff should have never had Anthony in their custody. And it was he who told me about where he should have gone. So with all that being said, yes, this needs to go higher.

This needs to go higher than the sheriff. When he, the sheriff, fired them, he should have been going with them. My response now, sir, is those above. How do you sit there? How do you policymakers sit where you are knowing that what we have here in Texas, considering all the people that you have coming here now, it's just ridiculous? And for Sheriff Wayborn, come on now. This is beyond stupidity, let alone disrespect. And so I'm just asking for the answer. We already know what happened. So release it.

If you're so sure that everything you've done is so innocent, you got the next hour or the next time Mr. Martin comes on air to just release it, show the public how clean and thoughtful Texas Tarrant County is. Because, see, I've been here for 20 years, and I've been quiet until now. And I apologize to the world for that. But, see, I have more pressing issues at hand. I have a son with schizophrenia.

Coming out of the Marine Corps. So what I have going on dealing with my son, Karen Kelly, you were getting a blessing because I wasn't asking you for anything. He had mental illness and you were supposed to blessing because i wasn't asking you for anything he had mental illness and you were supposed to take care of him from that perspective and that only did not need anything from texas so i believe mr martin that the og needs to step in here they want to hear what i'm and when i say they i'm talking about Tarrant County, they're only policing themselves.

From the Rangers to DA, they're policing themselves. I mean, really, a month. They give you three minutes to speak but they need more than a month to justify deaths? It's ridiculous. And as far as being angry,

I'm beyond angry, Mr. Martin. We need accountability. This is October 13th, 2021. The Department of Justice announced this, that they were investigating a statewide investigation into the conditions in five of the juvenile correctional facilities in the state. I certainly believe that one needs to be happening here with Tarrant County. Darrell, have y'all submitted a letter to Christian Clark in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice? We actually have made contact, Roland, and they are looking into it.

But, Roland, I want to say— One second. When you say you made contact, Roland, and they are looking into it. But Roland, I want to say- Once a second. When you say you made contact, what does that mean? We have spoken with someone with the Department of Justice. And as you know, they have their formalities that they have to go through. They have actually been in Tarrant County's jail once before. But again, we have tried to get the discoveries, tried to get that information rolling. And I will say that there's a commissioner, Commissioner Lisa Simmons, have been a very — she's been very vocal behind that in calling for the Department of Justice to come in.

So, you have someone who is a Tarrant County commissioner who is also saying that, look, what we have going on within our jail is problematic. We need some intervention. We need someone to come in because if it doesn't happen, we're going to continue to have these deaths. Oh, no doubt. And that's abundantly clear. We appreciate y'all for coming on. I would absolutely, Darrell, I would say, on behalf of you and the family, submit a formal letter to the Civil Rights Division and Kristen Clark. And I'm highly confident that she will meet with you and the family to discuss this. Absolutely, Roland. We definitely, when that video comes out, Roland, we want to make sure that you are the first person to get it because you highlight these stories and you make sure that the things that are impacting our community, you get it out there when mainstream media will not get it out. But Roland, when you see that video, you're going to see these individuals slapping Mr. Johnson for seven minutes. They didn't even know he was dead. They actually strapped him up in a wheelchair and was checking his blood pressure.

All this while he was dead. So when you see this video, Roland, it's one of the worst that I've seen in over my 25 years in practice. Stunning, stunning. To the Johnson family, we're absolutely sorry for your loss, but we will definitely keep attention focused on this.

I'm sorry, go ahead. Yeah, we are supporters, Roland. So you keep doing what you're doing as well. Yes, and we do thank you as well. And giving us that voice. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. We'll hopefully be chatting with you soon when DOJ

announces they're stepping in because something needs to happen. 66 dead in the last seven years. That is an abomination. Absolutely. Thank you so very much. Thank you very much. Thank you, Roland.

Thank you. Folks, I'm going to go to break. We'll be right back. Roland Martin, Unfiltered, on the Black Star Network. Somebody's killing poor people And it's going on now When COVID happened, poor people were dying at a rate already of 800 people a day. Before COVID.

If you went to a funeral every single day, it would take you 600 years to attend all the funerals of the people who will die from the ravages of policy, violence, poverty, and low wages in America in just one year. It would take you two years and 19 days to go to all of the funerals of the people that will die today and oftentimes silence. Nobody talks about this political genocide but we are determined today to remember their death and be a resurrection of voting power and voice power like never before. Economic justice and saving this democracy are deeply connected. We, as a nation, must listen to the demands of the poor, who are pushing and will continue to push political candidates and elected leaders to lift from the bottom so that everybody can rise.

Take back the money! Take back the money! We are the poor, the marginalized, and the underpaid. And we are taking one step forward to say that everybody has a right to live. Poverty is not the fault of those who are impoverished. It is caused by those who make the policy. There are over 135 million poor and low-wage, low-income people in this nation. The biggest block of potential voters by far is low-income, low-wage voters. I can't afford medicine. Sometimes I have to skip because of the cost. The farmworker community is tired of the violence imposed upon us by greed, exclusion, and denial of basic human

rights. Those folks that represented by that casket, poor and low-wage workers who are the most moral people in this country because they go to work every day believing, even though going to work is hazardous to their health. I'm tired of working 70 to 80 hours a week and still not have money for the necessity of bills. I'm tired of getting sick and not being able to go see the doctor. Having to make a choice to pay between rent or the light bill or food or clothes.

You cannot claim to care about families and a culture of life and then do everything in your power to rob people of equal access to resources and to force them to live in poverty. Leadership of both parties have waged war on poor people and low-wage workers. And this government has treated people experiencing poverty, including their military families, with disdainful, deliberate, malicious neglect. So the truth is that my son died from poverty. We refuse to accept poverty as the fourth leading cause of death. The fourth leading cause of death in this, the richest country in the world.

We march today for our children and the generations to come. And we need to do it with the loudest voices possible, the biggest actions possible. We will voice our demands and register our vote. When we stand up and when we stand together, things change. There is the electorate that is, and then there is the electorate that should be. 34 million eligible poor and low-income voters did not vote in 2016. If just 20% of those voters in swing state were mobilized around an agenda, they could change the political outcome of every election so we're launching the most massive voter mobilization and

turnout campaign in history of poor and low-wage voters allies and religious leaders people are dying but we know it doesn't have to be this way and so we are calling on everyone to join us in this poor people's campaign a national call for moral revival. We are here, we will be seen, we will be heard, and our power will be felt. We don't need to be an insurrection. We are a resurrection that will be felt across this country. Are you ready? Ready? Ready? Ready? We are a resurrection and we are ready! And we won't leave inside anymore. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott.

And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush.

What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you've got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad.

That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Folks, my Thursday panel. Joining us, Recy Colbert, host of the Recy Colbert Show. Sirius XM Radio. Joining us from D.C., Dr. Greg Carr, Department of Afro-American Studies, Howard University. Also to D.C., Lauren Victoria Burke, Black Press USA,

out of Arlington, Virginia. Also joining us on the show is the leader of the organization Black Pack, Adrian Shropshire. They of course very much involved in what's happening out here on the campaign trail. I wanna start with you, Adrian. We're gonna talk about several things, but I want to bring you in on this here. Before I do that, there's a video that you all posted on your social media accounts saying you all been out there going door to door,

talking to voters in Ohio, in Wisconsin, in these battleground states. And so if control room, do y'all have that video ready? It's a video playback. Let's go ahead and play that one first. You know, people ask every day, what have Joe Biden and Kamala Harris really done for us? You got a minute? Because I got

receipts. How about this? The first black woman on the Supreme Court ever. How about $16 billion to support HBCUs and $153 billion and counting in student loans forgiven? Police and criminal justice reform? Joe and Kamala did that too, banning chokeholds for federal officers. They also pardoned thousands convicted of marijuana possession and made historic investments in our K-12 public schools. And remember getting those checks to help with groceries and help to make rent and mortgage payments?

Yeah, Joe and Kamala did that too. And yeah, you might not have heard a lot of this because Joe and Kamala don't run their mouths like that other guy. They just get things done. Adrian, one of the things that I have consistently showed on this show is the contrast between the Department of Justice under Biden-Harris and the Department of Justice under Donald Trump. What we just heard from the Johnson family in Tarrant County is a perfect example of that.

You have a DOJ that has literally had, I think it's now up to 10 Patterson practice investigations of police departments. They have been investigating not only juvenile facilities in Texas, but other jails and other prisons in other counties and other states. They have been actually getting convictions, sending wardens to prison, sending correctional officers to prison.

And frankly, I've been highly critical of the Biden-Harris administration because they haven't talked about it. DOJ, they've had news conferences. We've covered it. They've issued press releases. But the White House is not focused on this although they were unable to, they got the George Floyd Justice Act out of the House, unable to get it

from the Senate. You have seen real work done in criminal justice reform. They just, you're at loose to it, they just haven't been loud about it. Right. Yes. And so this is exactly what we hear from people, whether it's on the doors or in our focus groups that we've been doing for the last several months, is that people feel, literally how people say, well, they need to start running their mouths, or they need to start bragging. We need to know from them. And I think they're beginning to do

some of that now. But it was important for us to be able to put out there the kinds of things that the Biden-Harris administration has done, because they are things like criminal justice reform and many of the other issues that we listed in the ad that are important to our community. And people want to know. And when you tell people about it—and this is the other, you know, issues that we listed in the ad, they're important to our community. And people want to know. And when you tell people about it—and this is the other thing that's important and that we have watched happen as we've been talking to folks—people are unaware of what the administration has done. You tell them what they've done, they're surprised.

And it actually—they move in terms of their support of the president and the vice president. And so, you know, as we think about going into this last half of the campaign cycle, it's important that we make sure that people understand what has happened. It's important that we make sure that they understand what didn't get done, too, but that has the possibility of getting done in a second Biden term. This, Gracie, again, it just sort of just drives me crazy because if you're doing the work, folk got to know you do the work. And I kept saying repeatedly to the campaign, to the White House and others, that January to August should

have been what I call education and information stage where you are flooding the zone saying we did this and this and this and this and this little that has happened but here we now are here we're now in June and I keep saying your runway has now gotten shorter that has to be amped up in a considerable way because Terrence Woodbury has told us, in those focus groups, people come in with an attitude saying this, this, this didn't get done, and then when they're told this, this, this got done,

it literally flips the focus group. Right. Yeah, I'm trying to figure out, what y'all waiting on? Hello? Like, y'all have done a lot of things over the past four years now i mean are three three years and some change a lot of the initiatives that they're just starting to talk

about like a couple weeks back it was about medical debt and um something else like oh the 16 billion dollars for hbcus it's like yeah i was i was covering it two years ago at the white house or three years ago when y'all announced it so y'all just now getting around to talk talk about this. The thing about it is, and we talk about this all the time on the show, Roland, they have not built an information infrastructure. They built a give me five hours, rush five hours, the deadline is coming. And that's why they've raised a hundred million dollars. I don't know what they're doing with it exactly. When they need to be really focusing on the information infrastructure, because the other side has focused on a disinformation infrastructure that has created these attitudes that you're talking about in these focus groups and that Adrian is referring to in terms of the door-to-door

engagement that they're doing, where people have their perception that nothing has been done. That's just flat out not true. But the onus is on the administration. The onus is on the Democratic Party, who has the resources, who has the ability to do more to get the message out. You cannot rely on the mainstream media. You can't just pay a couple of, you know, Gen Z TikTokers, no shade to them, to post a couple things and come to the White House and kick it for a little bit and think that

that's going to move the needle. You have to be relentless about messaging your accomplishments the same way that the progressives were relentless about today is a good day to cancel student accomplishments, the same way that the progressives were relentless about today is a good day to cancel student debt, the same way that the Republicans are relentless about you need to go to the border and a number of other issues. The Democrats have to be disciplined about acknowledging and really touting their accomplishments. And they need to have at least a big three of things that they can tell each time every time so that it just is seared into people's brains and i don't think that they've really done

that just yet adrian when we talk about issues issues issues issues issues and issues uh they absolutely matter uh and you can't rely on tv ads you can't rely on TV ads. You can't rely on radio ads. And the work that y'all are doing, I said that they should be hosting conversations. They should be having black mayors and county commissioners and activists and willing to literally say, hey, come and ask your questions. So when someone says, well, I want this to happen. Hold on one second. Boom. This is actually what happened.

This is how much money was allocated. And if something didn't get happened, say, this is who was responsible. This is why this didn't happen. Right. And I know that the vice president has been doing some of that as of late. She's been convening both on economic issues, economic mobility issues, as Risi said, a number of issues where she's been pulling folks together across the country. But I think that's right.

I mean, one of the things that's of concern to us, and part of the reason why we launched the ad campaign when we did, is because we know that the other side is really clear about the investment that they're making in confusing people. Politico is just reporting today that Tim Scott has a super PAC that is going to spend $14 million engaging voters of color. Well, we know what that engagement is going to be. It's going to be untruthful.

It's going to be misinformation and misdirection and confusion. And if we're not seeing that kind of investment on our side, then we have a real problem. There's a structural communication problem that we've had for some time and we need to address. But I think that, you know, the ways in which that you're both correct in that, the idea that just putting an ad or two up on television is going to move people isn't true. And we know that folks are on social. We know that we need to engage them digitally. Radio is actually really important in our community. And so it's important to be there. The problem is no one is on radio right now. I mean, we are, but I believe we're probably the first to go up. But MAGA Inc. has been up in all the markets of importance. They're talking to black voters for a long time now. And they've

been saying, again, spreading the same kind of misinformation, attempts at division, identifying wedge issues that they think they can peel black folks off from being Biden voters. They've been up, right? And so it is past time. You know, I've been talking about we need to flood the zone for a while now. And I think that's beginning to happen. It will be a problem, though, if anyone thinks that we can wait until post-convention to just sort of, you know, overwhelm people with advertising. The campaign is going to be set now. And so, between now and the convention, there needs to be a really robust effort to be communicating with black voters,

telling them exactly the things that we're trying to say in our ads. This is what the administration has done. But also reminding them of the stakes and the choice that we have to make as a community and what different choices mean, not for ourselves, just ourselves as individuals, but what it means for our families and what it means for our community. You know, Lauren, listen, the campaign, they were pleased with the rollout last week of blacks for Biden-Harris. I'm still going. I don't know how in the hell you were pleased with that. Because, again, what Adrian just said is crucial.

This is not a question of, and again, I have seen it. Look, we've run some of the commercials, you know, on our network, okay? And so I've seen all the commercials. I've seen all they put out. But that doesn't explain policy. And when you're talking about if you're making an investment, again, so let's just say talk about, let's say, black-owned radio. And so you're talking about NABA, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters.

And then you're talking about, let's say, Urban One is a part of that. Well, if you've got your syndicated programming, Urban One has Ricky Smiley Show. They've got Erica Campbell, D.O. Hughley and a host of other shows that reach younger demographics. Not only should you be advertising on those platforms, as a part of that, your deal should be with the money that we're spending, and you should be spending enough, we want to see segments on those shows where questions are being asked, information is being given, so you're explaining in four, five, six, seven, eight minutes about policy.

One of the reasons why the Tom Joyner Morning Show was so effective is because it wasn't just Tom talking. It wasn't just my segment. It wasn't just Jeff Johnson's segment. It wasn't just Jackie Reid's segment. You had multiple conversations happening about policy that somebody could actually digest. The folks who are sitting here at the Biden-Harris campaign and all of these progressive PACs, and I'm going to include all of them as well, plus the DNC and the DSCC and the DCCC, I'm sitting here going, are y'all blind? I know we've had all five or six black polls done the past three months. It's in the data.

Folk don't know what you've done. You might want to get on that horse and start exploring. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way.

Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Be real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush.

What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council.

Yeah, well, a few of the things that Recy said were right on the money with regard to the lack of consistency on a top three messaging strategy. I mean, there's the Democratic Party obviously has a very big tent. And so there are a lot of constituencies to be satisfied. But you should be able to pick out three accomplishments that everyone can repeat very comfortably. The other thing is, there is an attempt, finally, with regard to an information infrastructure. It's called the Courier Newsroom Group, which just really started and is nowhere near the influence of what we see on the right. What the hell is that? What is that called? If you Google Courier Newsgroup or Courier Newsroom. Courier, spell that. Courier, Courier,

C-O-U-R-I-E-R. It's a whole infrastructure they're trying to start on the left to counter a lot of what's going on the right with regard to the right-wing ecosystem. And it's not as well-funded, again, to Recy's point. Where is all this money going? Because if it's not going into communication strategy in a really hard way, I have no idea where it's going. I dare say a lot of it should go to people who know how to do memes on TikTok and Instagram and know how to do very short messaging that is very quick and effective. Right after that Philadelphia event, there were several events in Virginia, which should make every Democrat very nervous, because that would mean that Virginia is actually in play.

And at those events, they did have a very wordy flyer. Biden Harris's team had a very wordy flyer that I think was very detailed about what President Biden has done. I think it was very good in terms of the actual substance. But you've got to kind of bring that to the TikTok. Okay, I'm curious. There were several events in Virginia. Who knew? Who knew?

Like, for instance, for me, where's the results of that? Where are the live streams? Where are the clips from those events that are being sent out and spread across the platforms and are being shared? Again, if I'm looking at an ecosystem, if those things were happening, then BlackPak should have been getting stuff from that. Black voter projects should have been getting.

Part of it is that if you then this is part of the struggle. And I've been talking to a few candidates in Virginia about this issue that you just brought up, Roland, which is everything is very—to quote John Conyers, it's like we're talking to ourselves. I mean, it's like everything is very insular in terms of communications to people who already know and are already actively engaged in party activity. So a lot of these events—I mean, there was an event in Suffolk, Newport News, Norfolk, Prince William. But those people who showed up at those events are already involved with the Democratic Party. So you get to a point where you do have this struggle of not getting the real grassroots. And Adrian, good seeing you. Good seeing you again, Adrian. I didn't mean to ignore

you at the beginning of this conversation. But at any rate, that is a challenge, Roland. That's a huge challenge. But, Edgar, here's the thing that, again, I'm gonna use what we did in November. Don Scott, he hit me up. He said, hey, man, I saw how you were covering the Warnock-Ossoff races in Georgia. I want you to come in. We wanna do some stuff with you.

And we wanna hit five cities in Virginia for them to reclaim the house. Now, here's what was interesting. You had some white folks in the party who said, why are you spending these resources if you're doing this? And Don said, let me. And they were like, well, you know, some of these events, they had 50, 75 people. Don said, what you don't understand is I wasn't concerned about how many people were sitting in a room. He said, we know how many people were sitting in a room. He said, we know how many people were watching the streams. We know how people were sharing the content. So we had all

these different candidates come on every single one in one of those stops. They were taking that video and now servicing it social to their people and kicking it out because Don said the election is going to be won on the margins. He said they got phone calls from people saying, hey, sorry I couldn't attend, but I was watching the stream live. He said, what ends up happening? They reclaim the house.

Because what I say to even corporations, and I'll say to campaigns, and what Lauren just said, you gotta talk beyond the room. Black also travels. So if you're covering an event in Virginia, if you're covering an event in Ohio, you're covering an event in Milwaukee, you're covering an event in Philadelphia, and you're in Houston, in Georgia are seeing that and the content resonates. So you can't just think about that room or that neighborhood or that city. You have to be thinking about how the information is disseminated and received broadly. Right. And we're at that point where we need to be seeing things scale,

right? Boom. Right. So whether it is through our communication platforms or whether it is on the doors, at this point, we should be scaling. And I think my worry is that we're not right now. And so whether it is, you know, when we think about the ways in which we're communicating to black voters, that's important, obviously. Trying to do the education that you said at the top, how are we making sure that people have the information that they need? And that's both to be able to make an assessment about, you know, an informed choice, right, and having the information to be able to do that.

It's also about understanding how to vote, right? Like, we know that things have changed, laws have changed, you know, in terms of the ways in which people can vote or cannot vote. And so, we want to make sure the restrictions that exist, we want to make sure that people are informed about that. We need to be communicating all of that with people as early as possible. We also need to be out knocking on people's doors. At this point in 2020, there were, you know, groups who were right at the point where they were able—they're, there were, you know, groups who were right at the point where they were able—they're about ready to scale their program, meaning they were about to add on more canvassers. They're about to take on geographies. And we're not there right now. And so I worry

about that, because talking to folks on their doors, you know, sort of creating that momentum inside of communities and neighborhoods to say, yes, we're paying attention, we're on top of this, we're taking care of each other politically and around this election. That's important to our community. It's important for us to be engaged collectively in the electoral process. And we have to have the mechanisms and the resources to be able to do that. My concern is that we are going to get to the scale portion too late. I still think that we are behind, certainly. It is not terrible. But we really need to be thinking about how we are moving faster and how we are moving bigger over the next

couple of months. Grant, here is why what she just said is important. Because here's how the campaign and how these Democrats and progressives are thinking. Oh, well, if we look at data, for the most part, we're about at the same point of support in 2024

we were in 2020. Well, what I keep saying to them is your 2020 playbook has to get thrown out in 2024. You have to factor in the reality of the heart and feelings regarding Israel and Gaza. That's a fact. You've got to factor in the fact that if you're talking about voters, the electorate actually is younger. And so you're baby boomers passing away.

And so now you have to look at the hardcore numbers. What do you look like 18 to 45? Black women's roundtable, black census project shows you a decreasing likelihood of turning out and being upset with the process, which means you have to then do what reverse. You now have to, as I keep saying, you have to spend more time and more money reaching folks who are on the fence, who are sort of tapped out. I'm not buying this. I don't like Biden because of his age. I don't like Trump because he's crazy. So I'm just going to sit this one out.

But then you got to walk folks through what this actually means, which is one of the reasons why we walk people through policy, walk them through saying, hey, don't think those 200 federal judges, 58 of them are black, don't matter. Because you see the rulings when it comes to the fearless fund. When it comes to so many other different issues. But you got to explain that. And so they are, and this is where these white, and I got no problem saying it, white democratic strategists refusing to listen to black people who know black people, who marginalize black-owned media, who think, oh, we can just run ads on Complex,

run ads on Cumulus, iHeartRadio stations. We can just keep sending our guests to MSNBC and CNN, and then they're going to get it. And I'm sitting here saying, no, this is an election that's going to be on the margins. And so that 2, 5, 3, 5, 8, 10,000 vote, those are going to make the difference. But if they want to be hardheaded, you might be sitting your ass the day after the election going, damn, we should have listened to those black folks because they kind of knew what they were talking about. New poll out, Greg shows Trump is up five points in Georgia. Warnock and Ossoff ain't on the ballot in 2024 as they were in 2020. So you don't have that intensity on the ground there as well.

And so folk better pay attention. And if they don't, they're going to be sitting here going, damn, we should have done so. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.

We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to,

you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dadication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov.

Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. The day after the election, like Hillary folks did in 2016. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And, of course, we'll be looking like, what the hell are we going to do? Because when this white boy gets back in with his fascists, it's going to get real, real, real quick. No, Warnock and also for not on the ballot,

but I tell you who should be on the ballot, Anthony Johnson Jr. You see, these are the moments when we don't know what's going to be the match that will set everything on fire. Nobody knew who Kaitlin Clark was until they invented a team of villains, Black villains called LSU. And Jill Biden, with that same thinking, wants to invite both teams to the White House. And Caitlyn Clark was like, no, the winner should go.

Well, of course, Caitlyn Clark blew up so real because it's a race war in the WNBA. Let's just call it what it is. And so what happens? The Democratic Party puts ads on the national championship game a couple of weeks ago. Why am I bringing that up in the context of what we're talking about here? People need to know the data. And thank you, Sister Shropshire, for this work that you all are doing. People need to know. It needs to be repeated until it penetrates, penetrates. But that's not what we're talking about. In the world now, we're talking about people who are really like not just low information and not just distracted, but really just completely disengaged. And while that will put a dent in it, we're

talking about margins, as you said, and these people are more interested in pop culture. We just had a man who has made his money off pathology, Curtis Jackson, walking through the halls of Congress, standing up, smiling with his open enemies. The fool. And who was in trail? Ben Crump and half the damn CBC.

Why? Because celebrity is where the eyeballs go. Now, while the media needs to get together, the black media, and God knows you got too much on your plate, Roland, but the idea of a Black Media Summit now, maybe where people get together and try to say, what are the soft targets we can deal with? I'm thinking it's going to be the convention at the end of the summer, looking at how to get some of these celebrities involved and just tell them what to say and saying before we get a few more ice cubes and 50 cents running around here. Yeah, they gave Tim Scott $14 million. And he said in relief, thank you, Sister Trapshire,

for bringing it up, I'm not trying to grow the tent of the Republican Party. I'm trying to shave off some of these black votes. And remember, the RNC back in March closed all their minority outreach things and then make the Republican Party white again, which they have already succeeded in doing. But I'm saying all that to say this. Our voters in the United States of America are highly distracted. The data needs to be put out. The stuff needs to be put out. I mean, the idea, for example, that's why I say that Anthony Johnson can be on the ballot.

If you want some of these white boys, like this punk-ass sheriff Waymore and Tarant Kelly, whose son, if you go back and look at it, his son has been arrested several times for assault and public drunkenness and decent exposure. He didn't die in the damn jail. If you want him out, then you're going to need a Justice Department that you voted for to go in. Maybe we can retire Merrick Garland as a price for participating in this and put Kristen Clarke in as the attorney general in the second term. But none of that works if you don't bring your ass out to vote. George Floyd was the trigger in 2020. When this video comes out, Anthony Johnson could be the trigger in 2024. We just don't know. But at the heart of that lies black media. And unfortunately, we're going to have to make some appeals that bring in some of these people who may not know a damn thing, but damn it tops to 50 cent. That should tell you the trajectory of stupidity in this

country. And stupidity has no color. But any time he can walk in Congress, I don't care how much money he got, and talk crazy and say people are lining up behind Trump because he's a felon, damn it, that's what we're facing. And no amount of explaining people through policy is going to change that. Absent combining that with getting some of this broad based information out in a way that's catchy, it's hard and consistent. And you can never, as I said, never anticipate the X factors. But we got to be nimble and seize the time as it comes, because we're going to be the ones taking the L. They'll shake their heads and we'll be like, what the hell? Now we are in harm's way in a way that you have never helped us with. Adrian, you you you said something, again, when we were talking

about in terms of how you must flood the zone. And oftentimes when we talk about the money that's out there, I'm always explaining to people that you don't just look at sort of the, you know, your traditional folks in terms of campaigns and things along those lines. You got to look at sort of the, you know, your traditional folks in terms of campaigns and things along those lines, you got to look at the billions that are being out there as well. And so you may already be, you may have already had some of these conversations. I'm just going to go ahead and put it out. I dare say the environmental PACs. What is your, what is your specific black plan?

The League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, Sustainable Energy and Environmental Coalition, NRDC Action Fund, on and on and on, Reproductive Rights PAC, Planned Parenthood, NARAL, all of those folks, American Bridge. We start talking about America Votes, Democracy Alliance, Democracy Spring, Free Press Action. Then you start talking about Justice Democrats. You can go on and on and on with a lot of these groups.

Again, very specific. What is your black plan? How are you investing these resources? Because a targeted black plan has to be there. If you look at the seven states from a national perspective, obviously they're talking about Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Arizona. But you also have to expand that because if you're trying to regain the House,

OK, what are those critical New York congressional races? What are you also looking at in terms of gubernatorial race, Josh Stein in North Carolina against Mark Robinson? Also, what are the state House races there? Because you need to claw back Republicans having a supermajority in North Carolina. Okay, what is happening on the ground in Tennessee? Same thing. There are states where you may not be able to win the House or the Senate, but you can remove them from having a supermajority, which now forces them to have to deal with the other side.

Then you talk about the Ohio race, Senator Sherrod Brown there. What's his black plan? Tim Ryan was awful reaching black folks in Ohio. And so what are you doing in Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland? Hey, Sherrod Brown, are you doing anything at the Cincinnati Music Festival, one of the largest black events in the state every single year? I asked him the direct question. We met with the senators in the Black Media Roundtable a month or so ago, didn't get a direct answer. And again,

so people don't understand there are billions of dollars being spent beyond the parties from these so-called progressive groups, but they largely are talking to white folks. And so they also have to be called out and directly challenged, saying, where's your black plan? And who are you funding that's on the ground? What black-owned media are you funding now, not in October? I think that's right. I mean, part of the challenge I think that many groups would say right now that we're all experiencing is this sense that everyone is kind of in a holding pattern, that it's clear that there's money out there, but it is also

clear that that money is not moving. And so when I talked about the need for people to start scaling right now, groups can't scale without the money. And so there is this sense of people sort of being in a holding pattern and waiting. And it's not totally clear to me what folks are waiting for. I mean, many of the groups that you talked about, one of the things that we also understand is that this is an all-hands-on-deck type of situation to stop fascism in America, right? And so all of those groups are important. They need to be talking to the constituencies that they are best equipped to be speaking to. Some of those groups are, in fact, long-term partners of black groups. LCV, for example, is a long-term partner of Black

Pack. They understand very clearly the role and the importance of the black vote. They also understand the role and importance of black people in being involved in the environmental justice movement. So some of them get it and are long-term partners. But there is this sense that people are sort of sitting on their hands right now. To your point, there's definitely resources out there that could be moved. It's not clear what it's going to take. You know, how many polls do we need to see, right, before that floodgate gets opened up? And I think that we're getting to the point, as everyone has said

here now, that we're getting to the point where, you know, the window is closing and the resources need to start flowing and we need to shore up our base constituencies immediately. And I think that that is part of the challenge that folks are facing right now. Some of it feels like it's beginning to move. Some of it feels like there's questions being asked inside the campaign. And among many of the groups that—organizations that you just mentioned, there's questions being asked and some new thought about how resources need to start moving. And so I'm hopeful that groups will start to get what they need on the ground. But there is no reason why at this point folks are still trying to figure out, you

know, where money's coming from, if there is money, and that some folks seem to be sitting on their hands. Well, listen, this should be a code red. I don't care who you are. If anybody is sitting here going, oh, no, we're comfortable where we are right now, you are utterly delusional. Y'all are out there on the ground. I spend lots of time away from DC. It is not just in Los Angeles. When I'm in Houston, when I'm in Atlanta,

when I'm in places in North Carolina, when I'm giving speeches all across the country, I'm actually talking to grassroots organizations. I'm talking places in North Carolina when I'm giving speeches all across the country. I'm actually talking to grassroots organizations. I'm talking to activists. I'm hearing from folk what they're talking about. And there's a reality that's happening out there that is clearly not being seen in Delaware. That's not being seen in D.C. And these folks better recognize because, again, you have significant intensity on the right.

They're pissed off because Trump was found guilty in New York. You got on the left, you got people who are, again, concerned about Biden's age. Some still clamoring for another candidate. And I keep saying, wake the hell up. That ain't going to happen. This race is set. It is going to be, unless something happens from a health standpoint to either one. This is going to be a race between

Trump and whoever he picks as his VP and Biden and Harris. And you better understand the Senate hangs in the balance. The House hangs in the balance. Project 2025, the evil that they want to launch there is sitting there in front of us, and we have got to demand the funding of our sources because I think, and just correct me if I'm wrong, you were on the show discussing y'all poll. I think Joanne

Reed had you on. Did any other mainstream organization have y'all on about y'all poll? No. But we keep seeing these damn the New York Times seeing a poll being quoted. Every other poll talking about black folks and they have not talked to any of the black folks who have done black specific polling. And so that narrative is now being set by these networks

and that's only a sliver of black people, which is why our platforms are even more important. Yes, that's exactly right. That's exactly right. I think there is a way in which, and we talked about this before, there is this narrative that is being set about black folks. And part of it is up as the scapegoat for if things go sideways. And part of it is trying to essentially say that we are, you know, going to join with a party that has demonstrated that it is willing to be aligned with white supremacists, that it is willing to, you know, not just, you know, in whisper tones, right, but in very loud tones, be yelling out fascist sort of ideas.

We hear Donald Trump every time he stands in front of a rally. We know what that rhetoric is. We know what it means. Not just what it means for the country, but we know specifically what it means for us. And so the idea that black people would align ourselves with that is just outrageous, and it's offensive, and it's insulting. But that seems to be where, in many ways, the mainstream media wants the conversation to be. It's certainly where the Republican Party wants it to be. And so there's some weird alliance there that is mind-boggling. But we will tell our own story, right? We know what is in our own interests.

We can both act and vote in our own interests. And so, again, our ability to be able to reach our people in all ways possible, to make sure we have the information that we need to make an informed choice and to show up in the numbers that are going to be required to make sure that democracy lives to see another day in this country, because democracy matters for black people. It is important to us in our—as we strive, you know, for all of the things that our ancestors did for us. We require a political system that allows us to be able to do that, and we're not going to just let that go just because there was a news broadcast and some pundits who said

that we ought to. All right. Adrienne Shropshire, second director of Black Pack. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks. Got to go to a break.

We'll come back. We're going to talk about the menthol ban being focused on in Detroit. Also, lying-ass Donald Trump is back talking about how he did more for HBCUs than anybody else. We're going to bust and refute that lie immediately. And Congressman Byron Donald is in his feelings, blasting the Biden campaign, saying, I didn't say what y'all said about Jim Crow so he

releases a longer video about what he said still don't make you look good bro folks support Roland Martin unfiltered on the black star network John I bring the funk fan club your dolls make it possible what to do we do listen we ain't got billionaires and millionaires sending us checks Lauren talked about that Korean news group look you got white billionaires and millionaires sending us checks. Lauren talked about that Corian News Group. Look, you got white billionaires sending this money out. We don't have that. Hell, we ain't got black millionaires cutting us checks.

And so it's regular, ordinary folks who understand the importance of our news. Listen, I was in Atlanta yesterday. Man, so many people stopped me in the airport when I landed and also flying out today. Folks who work there, people who are flying, they keep saying, man, keep it up. We're supporters of the show.

But we got to have more, folks. I'm telling y'all right now. I was on an advertising call today with the Group M agency. We've been dealing with them for three years. Hopefully, we're going to see some advertising money. But there ain't no guarantee that's going to happen. And so your support has been absolutely critical for us to be able to do the work we do. Send your check and money order to PO Box 5.

I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened

when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Ad free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-stud on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette.

MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at

fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Five, seven, one, nine, six. Washington, D.C. Two, zero, zero, three, seven, dad, zero, one, nine, six. Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM unfiltered, PayPal, or Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. We'll be right back. A lot of y'all have been asking me about the pocket squares that we have available on our website.

You see me rocking the Chib that we have available on our website. You see me rocking a shibori pocket square right here. It's all about looking different. And look, summertime is coming up. Y'all know, I keep trying to tell fellas, change your look, please. You can't wear athletic shoes every damn wear. So if you're putting on linen suits, if you're putting on some summer suits have a whole different look uh the reason i like this particular pocket square these shibori's because it's sort of like like a flower and looks pretty cool here versus the traditional boring silk pocket squares but also i like them a

little different as well so this is why we have these custom-made feather pocket squares on the website as well my sister actually designed these after a few years ago. I was in this battle with Steve Harvey at Essence, and I saw this at a St. Jude fundraiser. I saw this feather pocket square, and I said, well, I got some ideas. So I hit her, and she sent me about 30 different ones. And so this completely changes your look. Now, some of you men out there, I had some dudes say, oh, man, I can't wear that. Well, if you ain't got swagger, that's not my problem.

But if you're looking for something different to spruce up your look, fellas, ladies, if y'all looking to get your man a good gift, I've run into brothers all across the country with the feather pocket squares saying, see, check mine out. So it's always good to see them. Brothers all across the country with the feather pocket squares saying, see, check mine out. And so it's always good to see them. And so this is what you do. Go to RollersMartin.com forward slash pocket squares. You can order Shibori pocket squares or the custom-made pocket squares. Now, for the Shiboris, we're out of a lot of the different colors.

And I think we're down to about 200 or 300. So you want to get your order in as soon as you can, because here's what happened. I got these several years ago and they, the Japanese company signed the deal with another company and I bought them before they signed that deal. And so I can't get access to any more from the company in Japan that makes them. And so get yours now. So come summertime, when I see y'all at Essence, y'all could be looking fly with the Shibori pocket square or the custom made pocket square. Again, RolandSMartin.com forward slash pocket squares. Go there now. Hello, I'm Paula J. Parker.

Truly proud of the proud family. Louder and prouder on Disney+. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Well, the Biden administration buckled to a major campaign from Big Tobacco when it comes to banning menthol cigarettes.

In Michigan, activists are fighting for a ban in Detroit. In April, the administration again postponed the ban without a timeline for a final decision on the ban. Black Americans doubt disproportionately from heart attacks, lung cancer, strokes, and other tobacco-related illnesses. Joining me right now from Detroit is Minoo Jones, the CEO of Making It Count CDC. Glad to have you here. So what's happening in Detroit? What are y'all doing when it comes to menthol? We are fighting to save black lives and protect kids, Martin.

As you know, African-Americans are disproportionately impacted by death and disease related to tobacco use. And we, you know, must protect our kids and save black lives. I grew up in a house with two smokers who smoked Newport cigarettes. I lost my dad in November of 2022. And so we are really fighting to have a historic bill package passed in the legislature because Michigan is a state where we have preemption. So we can't do it at the local level. We tried to do it in Detroit where we're considered a tobacco swamp by the Aspire Center.

You know, you think about that on the backdrop of Detroit being a food desert. You know, so we're fighting and hoping that we get a hearing on this bill package next week. So you're trying to actually, so you can't do it locally, so you have to get it passed by the state? We have to get it passed by the state. We tried to do it at the local level, and we're, you know, hit with that preemption piece that, by the way, passed.

It was slipped into our law 30 years ago on Christmas Eve at 4 a.m. So, you know, tobacco industry continues to be up to their tricks and our lives are at stake. So we can't wait on federal legislation. We have to act, you know, in localities where there isn't preemption and where there is preemption, you know, we need to be repelling it so that we're unchained, right? We are, we're coming up on Juneteenth and talking about emancipation and freedom, but for black folks living in the inner city, we're still chained to menthol and tobacco products.

It's killing us at disproportionate rates. We lose 45,000 black lives each year. 72,000 African-Americans are diagnosed with a tobacco-related cancer each year. And it's costing taxpayers money. I mean, our health care costs are over $5 billion because of tobacco-related illness in Michigan. So what has been the response from Democratic leaders? They control the state, the House, the Senate, and the governor's mansion. What are they saying? Yeah, you know, I will say that we have some real fighters on this bill package.

Stephanie Chang, Sue Schenck, they're real fighters. So we have a trifecta, as you know, in Michigan right now, but they have such a heavy load to undo the damage that has been done, you know, for decades now that it's been hard for us to get a hearing. So it's extremely important to me that, you know, I'm able to do this interview with you today and, you know, just continue to urge people to contact the legislature, contact your representative. We'll have, we'll be at the Capitol on the 13th to do some, you know, some lobbying and education. And then we'll have a press conference on the 19th. But we have some real strong Black men stepping up at the local level. We've been able to shut down five vape shops in the last two months for selling illegal products to minors. You know, so I think that on a national level,

it's something that communities need to start looking into. If you don't have tobacco retailer licensing, we don't have that in Michigan either. We're one of nine states in the country without tobacco retailer licensing. You know, start advocating and fighting for that because there's a lot of illegal activity going on in those hookah and vape shops

because they aren't really being regulated in the way that they should be. All right then. Let's keep us updated on the progress there in Michigan. Thank you so much, Roland. I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. All right.

Folks, a recent study found that social media is playing a significant role in distributing misinformation for the black community. A public opinion poll commissioned by Free Press BSP Research and the African American Research Collaborative surveyed 3,000 people and found that black and Latino folks are more likely to access news on platforms like Facebook and YouTube than their white and Asian American counterparts. The survey shows that black adults are significantly more likely to encounter false information online. The survey also revealed that only one in four Americans feels very informed about local elections. We've talked a lot about this, Recy, and other polling shows that they're getting misinformation from TikTok and Instagram,

which means you have to counter that with information. If you don't, then all of a sudden, you're going to be screwed up. Looks like I think... Yeah, I'm... I think is Recy's screen frozen? I think so. Let's do this here. Let me go to Greg first, then I'll come back to Reese.

Greg, go ahead. Yeah, yeah, of course. You know, it's interesting. We see this all over the world. We're seeing all kind of misinformation. I was watching the South African elections pretty closely over the weekend. And just watching the comments in social media, you can see how the rumors get started, how the information is spread.

The biggest democracy in the world, India, just voted. And you saw how there, Modi, the prime minister, you know, this close, on a razor's edge now, whether he'll be prime minister, because, while he went in all confident, the mass of people, millions of people showed up and voted, and his party, the BJP, lost their numerical majority. What does that have to do with misinformation? This is a global phenomenon. All this stuff, Facebook, you know, China right now. In China, they are trying to restrict social media and ban certain platforms from even being able to be used in China, because they are concerned about,

of course, people say they're trying to suppress their electorate. Sure, they're trying to manage their population, just like the United States is, too, a little bit differently. But they're also concerned about misinformation. The guy who's going to jail now, Steve Bannon, you know, it's so funny. I don't run into a whole lot of Black folk when I go to bookstores around in the DMV, but I'll tell you who I've run into on a couple of occasions in places where I've never seen no black people. Steve Bannon. Steve Bannon is constantly in this intellectual war. And it isn't just based on the United States. It's based globally. And misinformation is a serious quill in their pen.

I think it's very important for us to understand that when you've got fools like this dumb, dumb Tim Scott running around or Byron Donald, it doesn't matter whether it's true. All that matters is that it's being blasted at you from every rooftop. And that is why we are in a war of misinformation. And you're right. We can counter it with data. We can counter it with correct information. But we have to be very, very careful not to be trying to get into some back and forth with somebody who's a straight, total lie. You got to call him a liar and take the gloves off at this point. The thing here, Lauren, it is about, again, how do you counter? How do you do with real information? Again, you were talking about the courier newsroom.

And this is where I say it. You got these progressive billionaires, white folks, who are funding these efforts. You've got the white conservatives who are funding it. The white conservative billionaires figured this out long before the progressive folks. That is, you know what, I'm not wasting my time with mainstream media. I'm not trying to convince

MSNBC, the New York Times, Washington Post. They've always been labeled liberal, liberal, liberal, but they've also been white. And so I know from our vantage point, from African-Americans, and here's that we understand what it looks like. And see, Lauren, here's what also happens. And when Reese, when we get her signal straight, she's going to talk about this here.

It's amazing to me how many prominent black people I see posting clips from mainstream media. And I'm like, damn, we discussed that two, three weeks earlier on Roland Martin Unfiltered. And it kills them to actually post a clip from this show talking about the stuff. And then also it garners all these different views, garners thousands upon thousands of views. And you heard what I asked Adrian Shropshire. Other than joining Reed's show, how many other folk booked y'all on Y'all Pack? None. So, again, they're controlling the information.

And so the reason, so when I'm talking about, okay, access to capital to be able to build and grow, oh, I have a plan. I have a very clear plan on how we can have 10 to 15 people in different cities across the country covering things happening there and streaming it. But you got to have the resources. And this right here, this misinformation effort is a direct result of significant funding to spread the misinformation, to get black people saying stupid shit like 50 Cent did yesterday saying, oh, black men are responding to Trump because they got RICO charges too. Sorry, 50. We all don't have no, see, I'm about to see. I was about to straight ass go off. But that's the bullshit I'm talking about when that is thrown out.

And then the right goes, see, see, black men down with Trump because they all criminals too. What's up with Lawrence Audio? I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? What's up with Lars Audio? the country, cops called this Taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company

dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus

King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. Got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.

Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you've got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth.

Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Laura, I can barely hear you. Guys, y'all figure it out. Let me go to Recy. Yeah, I mean, listen, I've been sounding this alarm for years upon years upon

years, and I've still yet to see it taken seriously, at least not when it comes to investing in black dollars. I mean, there are a lot more white people, analysts and things of that nature that you do hear talking about it, but that money ain't coming to us. And so I think that what the Democratic Party is still lacking is a recognition that there's a credibility gap in our community between, you know, the people that are getting to them first, the people that are getting to them more often, more frequently, that are better invested in, and laid out a number of packs. There are so many organizations. What kind of outreach have they done to Black-owned media or somebody like myself? I'm on SiriusXM Urban View, which reaches 3 million Black listeners or listeners of all backgrounds. And my colleagues, we were talking about going down there and somebody was like, Ozdoe, we were paying for ourselves. And I'm like, hell no, I'm not going down there for free. And that's the problem. We are expected to do the heavy lifting that other people are getting paid millions to do.

We're supposed to do it for free. We're supposed to do it out of the love of community, which we do obviously because we have no other choice but to do it, but it's unfair. And we can only go so far without the investment that the other side is consistently doing and putting money in. And so we are always at a disadvantage, no matter how pure our intentions are, no matter how diligent and relentless we are. Rolling Your Show covers these issues daily, covers it better than any ad can, better than any TikToker can, and yet you still need the investment. And so they have to wake up. This is a dollars and cents thing, not just a common sense and information thing. Until they recognize that, we're going to be at a disadvantage. And unfortunately, the disadvantage that we have,

being people with credibility who can move the needle but don't have the investment, is going to be detrimental to our community at large. Lauren, it is about, again, you have to be in a constant battle on TikTok and Instagram. You have to be flooding the zone with real information. You can't do that if you don't have

people, if you don't have resources. Lauren, are you on mute? Lauren, check to see if you're on mute on your end. All right. I think something was up with your microphone. Not quite sure what's going on. All right. So y'all let me know.

We'll get that figured out, what's going going on because we literally cannot hear you at all. Lauren, let me do this here. Y'all. One more thing, Roland. Yeah, because I just want to be clear. And that's what people don't seem to understand is the there's nothing organic about the way that memes and disinformation is spreading. There is a distinction between disinformation and misinformation. Disinformation is deliberate propaganda spreading of information that you know to be false. Misinformation is just, oops, my bad. I didn't know what I was talking about. There's nothing organic around it. It is supported by algorithms. It is supported by strategic bot farms, troll farms. It is supported by the fact that it is profitable to traffic and these kinds of things that get the people going. And so that's where I am emphasizing the importance of investing,

because this is not just a coincidence. There is very much a concerted effort with money behind it to get people to think negatively so that they can be dissuaded and disengaged and stay home. All right. We figured out what's going on with Lauren's audio. All right. So. All right. So y'all let me know when it gets all figured out. Let me go here for the Congress and Byron Donald is still trying to defend his Jim Crow comments. So he was ticked off when Congressman Hakeem Jeffries ripped him in the Biden campaign, posted a 26 second video, 26 second video of him having this conversation. He was being interviewed by Michelle Tafoya about blacks in the Republican Party. I don't know why in the

hell they talking to her because she ain't black. And so she's absolutely been a hardcore MAGA since leaving the sidelines. And so Byron, so I'm going to read the tweet he posted. This, y'all going to love this here because like Derek Johnson, the NAACP criticized him and so many others. He tweeted this, Joe Biden, Representative Jamie Harrison, Derek, NAACP are gaslighting black America. I was talking about black families, conservative mindsets and conservative voting receipts are a beautiful thing.

And don't clip my words to keep lying. I'm watching. Okay. Byron, you watch a roller Martin unfiltered on the black star network. So we're going to play your comments. Go. I grew up with my mom. My dad and my mom, things didn't work out. As an adult, I look at my father and I say, bro, I don't know what happened, but you're my father and I love you. Wow. I don't know what happened. I wasn't there. Wow. But I'm going to tell you this, growing up, the one thing I knew I wanted to do, and this is not about my father. This is about what I wanted to do, is I wanted to be a father to myself.

And so one of the things that's actually happening in our culture, which you're now starting to see in our politics, is the reinvigoration of black families with younger black men and black women. And that is also helping to breed the revival of a black middle class in America. You see, during Jim Crow, the black family was together. During Jim Crow, more black people were not just conservative because black people always have been conservative minded but more black people voted conservatively and then HEW, Lyndon Johnson and then you go down that road and now we are where we are. What's happened in America the last 10 years and I'll say it

because it's my contemporaries, it's Wesley's contemporaries, you're starting to see more black people be married in homes, raising kids. When you're home with your wife raising your kids and then you look at the world, you're saying, now wait a minute, time out. This does not look right.

How can I get something to my kids? It goes back to the conversation of generational wealth. Not just having a job, generational wealth. I'm looking at my kids, how can my kids be on my shoulders when they take off in life? That's what's happening. So, so, so,

so, So, so Byron Donald's, oh, we're seeing a resurgence, a reinvigoration. Okay, I'm going to get to that in a second. Let me first deal with that. First of all, why are you invoking Jim Crow? Now, if you wanted to say in the 1930s, 40s, 50s, and 60s, it was this. You could have said that. You invoked Jim Crow. You, Byron Donalds, gave the impression you implied, so therefore we inferred that you were saying things were better for the black family during Jim Crow.

That's on your ass. Now, you can't sit here and get pissed off at people because of your choice of words. That's on you. That ain't on us. You didn't have to invoke Jim Crow. And what you then try to imply is that, oh, things for the black family were stronger doing Jim Crow, but then when these liberals came in with these laws that ended Jim Crow, things got worse. That's literally what you were implying.

You can't sit here and try to dance around it because that might work for the other people. But that don't work for me. That's what you did, Byron Donalds. So that's on you. But then Byron Donalds went on to talk about, oh, we're seeing a reinvigoration. Marriage and children. Okay. Okay.

Anthony, go to my iPad. United States Census Bureau. Marriage prevalence for black adults varies by state. District of Columbia had the lowest percentage of married black adults 2015-2019. In this article written by Chanel Washington Lakita Walker, it said US marriage rates have been under decline since the latter half

of the 20th century and both men and women are marrying at a later age. But the decline and delay are even more dramatic among black adults. The median age at first marriage has risen for both men and women. In 1970, The median age at first marriage has risen for both men and women. In 1970, the median age at first marriage was 23.2 years for men 20.8 years for women.

50 years later, those figures climbed. 230.5 years in 20.81 years respectively, although there have been drastic changes in marriage patterns for all race and Hispanic or origin groups, differences have been especially pronounced in marriage patterns for all race and Hispanic origin groups. Differences have been especially pronounced for non-Hispanic black adults.

1970, 35.6% of black men and 27.7% of black women were never married. But by 2020, these percentages had jumped to 51.4% for black men and 47.5% for black women. While the percentage of all adults who were never married increased by 7.6 percentage points for men and 7.9 percentage points for women, the corresponding change for black adults was more than double that at 15.8% for men and 19.8% for women. Similarly, the median age at first marriage for black adults increased more dramatically than it did for the overall population. So, Byron Donalds, you just lied.

You have no doubt in the back of what you said. What you just said is literally a lie. This is for 2022. Now, unless there was just some dramatic shift in the last two years, like we just had this influx of COVID marriages, what you're saying is lying. Now, I am not anti-marriage. My parents this month will be married 57 years. Me 20 plus, my brother, my sister, and her husband. Numbers are the numbers. But what the Byron

Donalds don't want to confront, even when he's talking about black foster and Jim Crow, is the economics. Byron Donalds also, by mentioning HEW, Lyndon Baines Johnson, see this is a familiar narrative from conservatives. Conservatives have offered this whole deal that, oh, the reason the black family has been destroyed

is because the government funded black women and said you can make more money if the man is not in the household than if he is. Oh, they forgot that was really for white women. What the conservatives and Byron Donalds never want to talk about is that that funding was because they were seeing an increase in women having children and not having resources to be able to provide for them. They have created the narrative that the law was specifically passed for black women.

Y'all, President Lyndon Baines Johnson literally launched his war on poverty in Appalachia, in West Virginia. He didn't launch it in the Mississippi Delta. He didn't launch it in the Mississippi Delta he didn't launch it in the black belt in Alabama he launched that talking to broke illiterate

illiterate can't access healthcare white folks they don't want to talk about that you never want to hear them say oh he launched it in Appalachia, which, by the way, is hardcore conservative today. They still illiterate, still broke, still got jacked up health care. Those are facts. What the Byron Donalds of the world

don't want to talk about is that black people, since you're referencing Jim Crow, were being denied economic mobility, were being denied jobs. See, it's real easy to sit here and say, oh my goodness, see, it's these liberal policies. That's why people not getting married, people not having kids. First of all, y'all, can we please stop tripping? Marriage at the outset was a business.

It wasn't about no love. It was about property. And if you were a woman, the negotiations took place. Negotiations took place between your daddy and that man's daddy. You were property. It was an economic arrangement. And what we are seeing are folks making economic decisions as it relates to marriage. So, Byron Donald, you can sit here and you can be all mad, but you brought up Jim Crow. You opened that door. The moment you open the door by mentioning Jim Crow and how

black families were together, and we had kids, and we loved each other, then you can't ignore the other stuff that was happening outside that home during Jim Crow. And that is why you're getting jacked up. And that is why you don't want to be honest about welfare in America. That wasn't about black folks.

We couldn't access it when FDR put that in place. That was about white women. We talk about free lunch programs. Oh, I'm sorry. That wasn't about us. That was because skinny white boys could not, were being malnourished and the federal government established eating standards in this country because they said it's a national security issue that we can't recruit folks to serve in the military because they're too skinny.

Look it up. Byron Donald, let me be clear. All of the policies that were passed in America through the New Deal, through Truman, through Eisenhower, and even LBJ, that was not for black people.

Now, yes, the poverty rate was critical. Clay Kane actually posted about that. Again, this is one of those comments that you're never going to see people like Byron Daniels, Byron, Byron Donalds want to talk about. This is what Clay posted for Byron Donalds is to imply the black family was stronger under Jim Crow is a Jim Crow lie. In 1959, the black poverty rate was 55.1%. Jim Crow was hell, not a golden era,

which is why black people, regardless if they were Democrat or Republican, fought to end it. This is the poverty rate right here for black individuals. You see right here, y'all, it was in 1959, a high of 55.1%. Then you then begin to see the poverty rates drop, and now it was 17.1 percent 2022 why is that this this was because one black folks were being able to access uh corporate america and other jobs and then we were actually beyond menial jobs also because you had government assistance programs that were

specifically dealing with the issue of poverty byron danielss, what are you, Byron Donalds, what are you voting for when it comes to poverty? What are you voting for? Are you opposing student loan debt relief? Because guess what, Byron Donalds? One of the reasons why a lot of young folks right now are postponing marriage is because they have massive student loan debt.

You take a woman with $150,000 in student loan debt, oh, Byron, by the way, black people have a much higher rate of student loan debt. You take a woman with $150,000 in student loan debt. Oh, Byron, by the way, black people have a much higher rate of student loan debt than white people. So if you've got a black woman with $150,000 in student loan debt, you've got a brother with $100,000 in student loan debt, you've got two people with a quarter of a million in student loan debt. Oh, I'm sorry, your party hates student loan debt relief. So now we have, of course, a tax on a fearless fund,

affirmative action being wiped out in colleges. Y'all, you're saying conservatives want to get rid of all the programs in corporate America that actually help black folks and others in a limited way. But then you want to talk about liberal poverty programs that ran the black man out the family. I'm sorry, aren't you in the same party that got upset when people were getting increased amounts of money during COVID for unemployment? I recall a certain Senator Lindsey Graham complaining that people were making more money

off unemployment insurance than they were on jobs. And so South Carolina was one of the first states to actually slash unemployment benefits. Oh, guess what? South Carolina also lagged behind everybody else in recovering from COVID because fewer people had money. So I want all y'all to understand when the people like Byron Donalds loves talking about black folks in the black family and economics,

you then need to go to the next level and say, but what is your voting pattern on economics as it relates to individuals and families? Byron Donalds, let me ask you a question. Did you want to get rid of the child tax credit? Did you want to get rid of assistance to folks to aid them out of these programs? Oh, I would love to get his response to that. Folk, when folk like Byron Donalds run their mouths.

I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. B one two and three on may 21st and episodes four five and six on june 4th ad free at lava for good plus on apple podcasts i'm clayton english i'm greg glad and this is season two of the war on drugs by sir we are back in a big way in a very big way real people real perspectives this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way.

Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.

We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really them. It makes it real. It really does.

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves.

A wrap-up way, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Just listen. And when you have to still be explaining three days after the fact what you said,

that means your ass wasn't clear. So you can't blame everybody else. That's on you. Lauren? Byron Donalds does not have any expertise in any of this subject matter. He surely cannot speak for 40 million—over 40 million people in the country. He has no idea what he's talking about.

So this is kind of an interesting proposition to be analyzing really anything that he says. And part of the misinfo—disinfo campaign from the Republican Party is to find black people who will say dumb things like this and put it out there, so that they can then reference these dumb things. And so he's teamed up with Tim Scott and Mark Robinson and all the rest to say these things about black America, and, of course, leaving out things like the war on drugs, the school-to-prison pipeline, the disproportionate incarceration, the sort of effort in this country to be extremely unjust when it comes to Black men, and really taking them out of communities in one way or the other.

And when you give people felonies, you take away their ability to earn a living. I mean, that is a huge issue that no one talks about. Even Democrats rarely talk about that. So while everybody is so, you know, wanting to talk about these issues, I'm not sure, again, you're right. I don't know why he brought up Jim Crow. But I just think he has absolutely no idea what he's talking about. So it kind of is very hard to analyze somebody that has no idea what they're talking about. But it just sort of fits in line with the usual thing of wanting to blame Black people for their, for the things that this country historically has put upon them. That's always their, that's always their go-to. You know, they never refer to any of the history behind any of the subjugation that has gone on for 400 years in this country. That's why they got all mad at the 1619 Project, bringing those facts up. That's why

they're trying to change the teaching of history. And that's why misinfo and disinfo on these subjects is on the rise. That's why they're really trying to create a sort of parallel education system to ignore a lot of these facts, because it can never be the United States. It can never be the history of the United States. It has to be the individuals who are, in fact, in a minority who have been the victim for over three centuries of systematic policy often built into the law. And, you know, Byron Donalds is not worth paying that much attention to when it comes to that. I mean, these things are much bigger than him.

And he just has no idea what he's talking about. Recy. Byron Donalds is full of shit. He's a propagandist. He's a foot soldier of white supremacy and the white nationalist party. For him to sit up there and act like we're all too fucking stupid to understand what he meant by Jim Crow, specifically invoking the term Jim Crow, as being a time, an era where the black family was together, shit and poverty. That ain't something we want to return to. But the tell is in his tweets after that. He says in one of his tweets, his most recent tweets, LBJ's Great Society was destructive to black families in America.

A lie. We need economic policy to help all Americans thrive. Let me tell you something. For him to say that and refer to LBJ's Great Society as destructive in the same week where MAGA judges have used and weaponized the 1866 Civil Rights Act against a Black woman venture capital fund that only provided $20,000 to the 0.2 percent, making up 0.2 percent of the funding that Black women receive, to say that we need an economic policy, to say that he's somehow for that in the same way that this decision came out, and he's spoken nothing about that, no outrage, is ridiculous and it's gaslighting. What he is doing is deliberately sowing disinformation about the effectiveness of the programs that the Republicans want to undo.

They want to do the Reconstruction-era civil rights movement. They want to re-undo the civil rights movement of the 1960s because they don't want us to have jack shit. So if they can put a Black man who is nice and, you know, goatee, whatever, his fucking cigar, his brandy or cognac, whatever he was doing, maybe it was 50 cents cognac,

and sit up there and tell people that the policies that actually led to drastically cutting Black poverty down from 55%, 17% is still too high, that led to increased health care. Medicare was a big push for that. Mind you, a lot of these Republicans are the ones still refusing to expand Medicaid, as it was under Obamacare. It's just disgusting, despicable behavior. We're not stupid, Byron Donalds. We see right through you. Unfortunately for us, though, he's picked a good time to be a propagandist, him and Tim Scott and all these other Black Republican grifters, because people are beyond low-information voters. They are very susceptible to this kind of disinformation.

And while they're doing that, the Edward Blooms and the Republicans are marching right along, undoing all of the gains that have been made because of programs like the Great Society. So don't sit up there and patronize us and try to act like you're the victim. And to the mainstream media that continues to platform him under the guise of having a discussion and trying to challenge him, but what you're doing is you're allowing him to perpetuate this disinformation. Y'all need to think twice about this shit, too. Greg? Yeah, I agree with everything that's been said. You know, Byron Donalds has benefited from the policies pushed by the very party that he is attacking now.

When he was down there at FAM, and I know that all the Rattlers out there are relieved that Byron Donalds transferred to Florida State from Florida A&M so that they don't have to claim his funky ass. But, you know, whether it be the check case, that theft case back in 2000, or the marijuana possession case, you know, the kind of things that almost tripped him up as a young man, but the state of Florida, perhaps less conservative than it is now, had diversion programs in place so that he could actually—un unlike his master, his lord and master, Donald Trump, who's now a convicted felon who can't vote in the state of Florida. But, you know, Donald's had a path forward. You know, it's interesting, Roland, you, of course, just walked us beautifully through the history of Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty, which kicked

off, of course, in 1964. That was the same year of a Supreme Court case, McLaughlin v. Florida. They had a law on the books in Florida that said that a white man and a black woman or a black man and a white woman could not cohabitate if they were not married. And at the time, Florida was one of 17 states that banned interracial marriage. Of course, the Supreme Court said that was a violation of the 14th Amendment. And as you say, Recy, that Civil Rights Act of 1866, which presages the 14th Amendment, that now, because of the colorblindness of the white nationalists on the federal bench, another reason to vote to prevent putting more of them on, including a couple on the Supreme Court, as you've said, Roland, that's how they can weaponize these laws

that were passed to do the exact opposite of what the white nationalists are doing with it now. But McLaughlin v. Florida said that you violated the 14th Amendment, so they struck that law down. Three short years later, of course, you had Loving v. Virginia, which made interracial marriage constitutional. It said that bans on interracial marriage in the 17 states were unconstitutional that had them. And I only bring this up as a prelude because 11 years later, Byron Donalds was born. And when he got married to his wife of 23 years, this white woman, Erica Donalds, he wouldn't have been able to sleep with her and live in the same apartment when he transferred to Florida State, which is where they met. Had he been living in the state, had he been alive and a young man at the time, 19-year-old, sniffing around Florida State looking for a girlfriend, at least, Tim, did you get that

sand off your knee? What happened to your girlfriend? I saw you propose. Anyway, point is this. He wouldn't have been able to sleep with her and live with her, because it would have been against the law. In fact, his marriage would be against the law. I mean, I don't know why Byron Donalds is talking about the Black family, but I will see. I will

leave that as a footnote. Finally, he's auditioning for vice president, of course. They're all kissing that booty, you know, little Marco and Byron and as you did so beautifully, Tim Scott and so many others are auditioning. But the New York Times had an article a couple of weeks ago on his wife, this Moms for Liberty board sitting, getting 10 percent of her company's money from the state of Florida charter school hustle, Erica Donalds. Erica Donalds might be caping to be the secretary of education in the second Trump administration. Byron's going to do whatever the hell he can to get his wife, perhaps, that job, and he can get into social circles.

Hey, you love who you want, but damn, bruh, why you got to bring up Jim Crow? Which, by the way, I have my own opinions about in terms of the Black family. Let's be very clear. I don't know. We probably need to talk about the nature of Black cultural grounding and how it has changed and hadn't changed over the arc, because I won't necessarily get into that. But, Byron, you don't want to go back to the days of Jim Crow. You were

Clarence Thomas, because you couldn't have the woman of your dreams. Well, anyway, I'll stop with that. So I told y'all in terms of how, again, you see the line, the massive line that's going on. And we have refuted this nonsense over and over and over again. But I want to show y'all again, this is what happens when Donald Trump lies.

And then folks like Senator Tim Scott runs to Fox News and constantly, he is lying on CNN and MSNBC andc and fight doesn't go msnbc cnn and fox news over and over and over again i'm talking about massive lies i'm about to play something y'all and if y'all want to just hear sheer stupidity um just watch this we i funded the colleges and black colleges and universities. Nobody else did that. Nobody else even thought of it. And what we I funded the colleges and black colleges and universities. Nobody else did that. Nobody else even thought of it. And what we I funded the colleges and black colleges and universities.

Nobody else did that. Nobody else even thought of it. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Binge episodes one, two and three on May 21st and episodes four, five and six on June 4th. Ad free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people Greg Glod. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people,

real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding

of what this quote unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working

and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content,

subscribe to Lava for Good plus on apple podcast sometimes as dads i think we're too hard on ourselves we get down on ourselves on not being able to you know we're the providers but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves a wrap away you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else but never forget yourself self love made me a better dad because I realized my worth never stop being a dad that's dedication find out more at fatherhood.gov

brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council Kimbrough put this tweet out. It's past time for all HBCU supporters to push back on this narrative. HBCUs have received federal funding since 1966. This is the graphic that Walter posted. This is Title III funding from 1966 through 1997.

Y'all, these are the facts. Now, let me explain to y'all what you have going on here. The lie that Donald Trump keeps promoting. First, it was a $250 million program that first happened under President George W. Bush. It was continued under President Barack Obama. Actually, it expired.

They actually reauthorized it. Now, it's a $250 million program. Now, here's what's interesting, folks. Again, people don't want to deal with. Only about $90 million of that program goes to HBCUs. It is called the Future Act. The additional money goes to HispanicBCUs. It is called the Future Act. The additional money goes to Hispanic-serving institutions.

That's what it is. The Trump folks zeroed the program out in their budget, meaning they ended it. It was Congresswoman Alma Adams, Congressman Bobby Scott, and Democrats who said, no, no, no, no, we're putting this back in, fought for it. When it went over to the Senate, they filibustered it. Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and then Representative Adams, Representative Scott and others were pressing them.

When the HBCU presidents had their meetings here in DC, and when he brought them to the White House, remember the whole photo of them all standing behind him, and Kellyanne Conway with her little country ass, you know, shoes off, knees all in the Oval Office couch on her phone. They said, we need to push this particular bill. Then he goes, oh, oh, a win.

Oh, a win. Oh, a win. So, oh, yeah, let me get involved in this. And so what he then did was he then tried to claim that he was the one who came up with it. It wouldn't have happened without him. So I don't know what we are to do. Y'all, Anthony, go to my iPad. Y'all see this right here?

HR 5363, who the sponsor is right here. Committees, House Education and Labor. Who's the chair of that subcommittee? Congressman Bobby Scott. Y'all, that's what happened. Donald Trump is lying. Tim Scott is lying. And anybody else who's out here talking about

how Trump was a savior to black people, and you notice they never, ever give a number. Donald Trump has done more funding, this is Tim Scott, Donald Trump funded black colleges more than anybody else? And you never hear Margaret Brennan, you don't even hear Abby Phillips, you don't hear any of these people saying,

Senator, can you give me the number? Can you tell me how much HBCUs received in funding under the Trump administration? You never hear them ask that question because they're not well versed on these topics. Well, there's a weird sort of agreement, too, of just not wanting to counter these people or have sort of this sort of both sides thing that it's going on where the media, instead of protecting the truth, lets these people say this stuff over and over again. Because they don't know, Jack, let's be real clear, Lauren.

They don't know jack about HBCUs. They don't. Even the black people on mainstream television, they don't. But really, also on top of that, I mean, remember when everybody tied up the knots four or five years ago over whether or not we should use the word liar when it came to- Oh, yeah, I remember. Liar.

Should we use the word liar? That entire ridiculous conversation. And what they were doing was getting on national television and repeating lies over and over again, knowing that that would platform it, knowing that about 60 or 70 percent of the audience was going to believe it until finally the media started to wake up but yeah to your point they don't know anything about hbcu funding so that's the other problem you know it's uh but it's amazing to me the extent to which straight up lying gets routinely platformed on national tv it happens all the time. Mm-hmm. These folks, they're lying, and you got... And here's the...

This is where misinformation comes in. You got Negroes running around left and right, Greg, coming back at me on social media, repeating the lie, because Donald Trump repeated the lie and made it sound like he was the

savior of HBCUs. 16. This is also why. Go ahead and comment on that, Greg. No, no, no. I mean, all I was going to say, thank you, Roland, is that, you know, they have figured out the strategy. The question you asked a few minutes ago is the question, how do we counter it? It's got to be a multi-pronged

strategy. And, you know, Recy, thank you again for distinguishing between dis- and misinformation. Trump has figured it out. Let's just take our hat off to him. It doesn't matter whether it happened. You just have to—the fool said a couple of days ago he never said lock her up. It doesn't matter. You know, the Roots picnic was this past weekend in Philly. And back in February when Sexy Red was added to the lineup for the Roots picnic, Questlove

defended it. Said, you know, we want to have diversity. People listen to Sexy Red just like they listen to 50 Cent, just like they listen to other people stupidly. Lil Wayne and them come around, you know, talking crazy. Sexy Red, you know, talking crazy, sexy, you know, sexy red. Oh, yeah, man, Trump was giving out them checks. The challenge is how do you counter foolishness? How do you counter lies? You counter them with facts. You counter them with doing what you're doing right now, what we're doing right here.

But you also counter it by creating a narrative that is very clear and that not only says we have a clear choice coming up in this upcoming election, but that we should—I really think this—we need to start narrating this not only in terms of the right and the left and Democrats, Republicans and fascism and—no, good versus evil. I mean, you know, Black folk gonna go spend their money on a Tyler Perry movie, gonna watch every possible iteration of 50 Cent's pathology stuff on Starz,

and all this kind of stuff. And people generally like good guys and bad guys. You can't counter a straight liar who will look you in the face and say anything. It's just like when we were children. Somebody breaks something, and one sibling come in and say, I didn't do it.

The other sibling says, I got evidence. But if you get into too big of a back and forth with the one who's telling a bold-faced lie, both of y'all take an L. At some point, you got to decide that this is a bright line. And when you have the courage of your convictions, you were not going to stop them from lying, but you can back people up off of you with the simple fact that no, we got to do. I mean,

you, you know, it's done here, but it ain't going to, it's not just about a matter of fact. He know he lying. He knows he's lying. He doesn't,

he understands it's effective though. Cause most people ain't going to check it out. Yep. In fact, again, Reesey, here is lying Tim Scott. This is...

This ain't even, oh, this is your opinion. No. This right here is Senator Tim Scott lying on Fox News. Listen. Who's the president who brought the most money in for historically black colleges and universities? Donald Trump. Straight-ass lie.

Just, I mean, like, straight lie. And watch this here. Listen to this here. This is another conversation on Fox News. I think the Biden team needs to make a positive case for what they're doing. Investment in HBCUs. He just had a bunch of them to the White House, their leaders recently.

A lot of employment opportunities for black Americans. They have a positive story to tell. I also think they do need to draw the contrast with Trump. The way he talked about Black Lives Matter, the Central Park Five, those are real things Donald Trump has said. There's a story out today about Trump's very... Now, so here's the thing that, again, that folk got to pay attention to,

got to understand, and this is also what happens when you step on your own message. It was a couple of weeks ago, Recy, when the Biden White House announced that we're beginning on a Thursday 16 billion HBCUs. Well, guess what? The next day, the Department of Justice came out, 16 billion HBCUs. Well, guess what?

The next day the Department of Justice came out, reclassification of marijuana. There were more posts on the Biden-Harris social media pages about the reclassification of marijuana than the 16 billion. I then went to, and remember, we had Cameron Trimble, who used to work at the White House at the Digital Operation, on the show, and he was talking about, oh, he saidimble, who used to work at the White House at the digital operation, on the show.

And he was talking about, oh, he said, oh, he said, I'm sure the information is on all of the HBCU Instagram pages. I pulled them up. It wasn't. It wasn't because I immediately checked. It wasn't on Watch the Yard. It wasn't on all of them. And again, this is a perfect example of how not only the Biden-Harris administration, but also their campaign absolutely screws it up because he, and here's what I've never seen. I've, I've literally never seen the Biden-Harris campaign pull the research and say HBCU's got this in the four years of Trump. Let's say $4 billion. Biden-Harris, $16 billion. Contrast it! Don't just let the last stands go. No, you gave them this.

We gave them this. You tried to get rid of the program that you claim. And this is actually how we saved it. I'm like, damn, if you're going to fight, damn it, fight. Right. Well, here's the thing, too. In addition to inadequately taking credit for the things that are happening under this administration, they concede too much ground to Trump in terms of what he actually did. Here's a headline, March 22, 2018, from News 1. Secure the bag. Kamala Harris helps get millions for HBCUs. A funding increase was included in the Senate's omnibus spending bill.

This was something that I talked about so many times as an advocate for Kamala Harris. It was a 14 percent increase in the Senate omnibus. Be clear. I know we talk a lot about what Congresswoman Alma Adams did, but Vice President Kamala Harris and Senator Kamala Harris, and Tim Scott was her colleague, he would know this, was in the Senate securing additional funding for HBCUs as well. I remember during COVID where she secured $5 million for Howard. They have a hospital and a medical school. And she got into a microbreed because he was like, why are they getting $5 million? And so she did so much work. And Democrats, remember, there was a time under the Trump administration where the Democrats had the House. They don't do

enough to counter the fact that a lot of the things that Trump wants to take credit for were actually spearheaded in a result of the Democratic majority in the House and through advocacy and actions that were done through senators. And so they have a winning story to tell under the Biden-Harris administration, $16 billion for HBCUs. That's not even including the things that they did around HBCU safety grants. They're constantly bringing in HBCU presidents, the Divine Nine presidents, and all these other Black organizations. And then it's crickets about it. I mean, you can't just post a picture on your Instagram or on your Twitter and then leave it alone. They let these stories become a one-hour, two-hour story as opposed to being incorporated into their greater disciplined messaging strategy.

And so that's where they continue to fall short. And unfortunately, the other side is very smart. Trump, he had the Trump-Platton plan, which was bullshit, but he knew how to message it. He'll say HBCUs. He don't give a damn about HBCUs, but they know how to message it. He'll say HBCUs. He don't give a damn about HBCUs, but they know how to message it. In fact, this person by the name of Andre Johnson, who is

a professor of communications, also is an author. He put this tweet up. He said, the reason why folks think Trump gave more money to HBCUs was because of this photo. The photo speaks volumes. So what is the moral of the story?

And so here you go. So this is what he did. It was stagecraft. What he did was brought them to the Oval Office, look at all the folks sitting here. Not everybody sitting here is skinning and grinning in this photo, but that's the whole deal. You brought them all in the Oval Office

and gave the impression, oh, I just love y'all, when he was really trying to slit their throats until Congresswoman Alma Adams, Congressman Bobby Scott said, no, we're not going to let that happen. Well, you saw the photograph. Hold on, hold on. Greg, then Reese, then Lauren. Go. Just very

quickly, you saw the photograph there. You saw who on, hold on. Greg, then Reesey, then Lauren. Go. Just very quickly. You saw the photograph there. You saw who was standing right there to our left, to his right. And that was, of course, the president of Tennessee State, who has been deposed by the white nationalist legislature there, and they flipped the board. That's President Glenda Baskin Glover. She is not a Trump supporter. She's behind the cotton curtain. The president of the United States calls. And I just want to wrap this up with my little comment, and I'll get out of your way,

Reesey, with going back to where you started tonight's show, with a federal intervention, calling for a federal intervention in the rogue white nationalist state of Texas. The same thing happens with higher education. Right now in Mississippi, they're going to go after several HBCUs again. Valley is under the threat. They're going to keep digging at Jackson State. In a second term, what we need to hear from Biden-Harris is not only what they've accomplished, which is very important, but what they're going to do next. All of the money that is owed the HBCUs, it's time to go to court now. And it's time for you to put that in your

stump speeches when you travel through the South. It's time. The vice president can't do that. The president's going to have to green light that. Y'all need to get off the fence chasing these three-toothed white voters and decide whether you want to win this election or not. And that's going to require some debts that are going to be paid forward when you win in November if you want people to come out. And one of those debts, as it relates to HBCUs, is going after these white legislatures who have made a blood oath to destroy black colleges behind the cotton curtain in the neo-Jim Crow South, including Mr. Donald's almost alma mater, FAMU. We've got to be aggressive now on what you're going to do

going forward, tied to what you've already done. At least that's my opinion. Rishi? Yeah, I agree. I completely agree with Dr. Carr. You have to take credit, but you have to contrast. I mean, look at what Trump did. I did this. Nobody else did it before me. Nobody else thought about it until I did it. He's always contrasting when he takes credit. Too often, this administration and their messaging, they don't contrast between what they've done and what the other side is doing. Like to, this administration and their messaging, they don't contrast between what they've done and what the other side is doing. Like to Dr. Carr's point said, when they're talking about the HBCU funding and the support they have, they need to be contrasting to what the Republican governors are doing across the states when it comes to HBCUs, as well as to

these DEI departments that are being dismantled. I haven't heard enough about outrage around that whole department's being shut down in the state of Texas and in the state of Florida. So until they really wrap their minds and their messaging around the fact that you can't just put it in a meme that's $16 billion in big font, you have to learn how to talk and message and contrast and do that with a disciplined, relentless manner, not just you, but your surrogates who are on TV, that are on the radio, that are on the role-modeling filters, et cetera, if you value them enough to send them here, then you're going to continue to be losing to a very simple message. Donald Trump did all this stuff for Black people when it isn't even true. Lauren? So, I think that

to get back to the photo that you put up there, Roland, I was actually there that day in the Oval Office when that happened and it's kind of like what just happened to 50 Cent yesterday. You know, he comes in there with a substantive issue and it's all blown away because he takes a picture with Lauren Boebert.

You know, and that is generally what happens in this media. Yeah, so first of all, here's a photo. This was the other angle. This was the Kellyanne Conway photo I was telling you about. And then it was all imaging right there. And to your point about the 50 cent, we find that because actually I commented on this here. So he decided to post his photo with Boebert, which I'm like, ugh.

So first of all, again, to your point, here's a photo of 50 Cent all smiling. Congressman Steve Scalise, Republican majority leader, Louisiana. He puts, boom. He puts that. Then here's the photo. Lauren Boebert, Colorado Republican, making the White House look good. That's what 50 Cent posted about her.

And then Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, my fellow Shreveport friend, said he has happened to see me making things happen, creating lots of jobs. Go ahead, Lauren. Yeah. So as you can see from that photo array that you just put together, you know, he met with a bunch of members, Democrat and Republican, right? So you've got to be, of course, sophisticated about what is likely to happen when you are trying to advocate for an issue and you're black in this country and you meet with a bunch of Republicans who clearly don't care about that issue. And I asked him at the press conference and Ben Crump answered, what exactly did you guys talk about with the speaker when it came to Black economic empowerment? What exactly did the speaker have to say about that? And I take it from Ben's answer that the answer was pretty much nothing. OK, so there's that issue. The other thing is, and it kind of makes me think something Risi said about, you know, the way that the White House packages their information, I mean, we do have to

remember that we live in an era where the media is completely changing into something else. Their business model is failing, and their desperation to get traffic and to get people paying attention is wrapped up in the fact that, you know, they are giving us things that are not important because they know that that drives traffic. So when the administration puts out important information, the struggle becomes getting this version of the media to actually broadcast it, which I think is a really bad, a really big struggle that is not necessarily their fault, even though, yes, they could do better, certainly, with the short-term information platforms like TikTok

and Instagram. I'm totally in agreement with that. But one of the things that I keep seeing with this media, particularly these bigger platforms, The Post, The New York Times, etc., they're not necessarily interested in anything that doesn't drive traffic. And so there's a collision between important information and driving traffic. And when they become less interested in important information, then the community is not served very well. No community is served very well. And that has become a massive, massive problem. A massive problem that I don't know that anybody has the answer to right now.

Well, and here's the deal. For anybody out there, this is real simple. I love all y'all folks who run y'all mouths. You sit here on the plantation. You got your biscuits. We're stating facts.

We're stating facts. We're stating facts. 200 federal judges under Biden-Harris, 237 under Trump-Pence. 58 of Biden-Harris' 200 federal judges are black. 4% of Trump's federal judges were black. More than 25%, Biden-Harris. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion- dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.

Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real.

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-up way, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else. But never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth.

Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. 4% for Trump. Facts. Facts. Facts. That's what we're going to do between now and November.

And so when you have folks say stupid stuff and what 50 Cent said was stupid about, oh, black men supporting Trump because of recode charges, that's stupid. It's bullshit. We're going to sit here and then all the people who are sitting here going, oh, oh, how, oh, my goodness. The Trump White House, they were partnering black people left and right, and they made the First Step Act reality.

Fact, Democrats controlled the House. Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Congressman Sheila Jackson Lee, Congressman Cedric Richmond, they were driving that. It passed the House. When it went to the Senate, Republicans control, guess what? Senator Dick Durbin, Senator Kamala Harris, even Senator Chuck Grassley said,

Bill ain't good enough, make it better. Then it was improved. That don't happen without Democrats in the House and Democrats in the Senate. Those are facts. So if y'all want to give Trump credit for the First Step Act because he signed it, that's like giving Ronald Reagan credit for MLK's birthday when he opposed it the entire time, but he was forced to sign it.

These are facts. That's right. They're undeniable facts. And I need y'all out there telling your family members and telling your friends who keep believing the bullshit. And even when it comes to student loan debt facts, Republicans hate student loan debt relief. They don't like the fact that 5 million Americans have seen $167 billion in student loan debt relief. They don't like it. Those are facts. And so we're going to have a 2024 conversation between an 81-year-old

Joe Biden and a 77-year-old Donald Trump about black people. Then we're going to have a conversation about facts. One patterns and practice investigation in the Trump DOJ Attorney General Sessions, Attorney General Barr said we're pulling back on investigating

police because they feel uncomfortable. Ten under Biden, Harris, and cops have actually been sent to prison for their actions. Facts. If we're going to talk about black facts, we're going to talk about black facts.

And let me be real clear, Senator Tim Scott and Congressman Byron Donalds and Congressman Burgess Owens and Congressman John James and Congressman Wesley Hunt, if any of y'all start lying about what Trump did for black people, I'm going to call your black asses out. Now, if you got a record to stand on, stand on your shit. Stand on your business.

And if you actually did it, I'm going to give you credit. Say, yes, that happened. But what you're not going to do is lie to black people and step out with your black face as the front man for the lies and not get called out. I'm just letting y'all know right now. That shit can work with Fox News. Y'all can lie to Will Kane because he ain't going to read like I do. Y'all can lie to Campano and Hexeth and y'all can lie to Kill Mead and other airhead, Ainsley Earnhardt.

You can lie to that child Harris Faulkner because she don't know about none of this black stuff. She ain't got no damn clue. Y'all can lie to all of them. You can lie to Shannon Breen. Y'all can lie to Abby Phillips. Y'all can lie to all the people on CNN, MSNBC. Y'all can lie all y'all

want to, but I'm telling you right now, your ass is getting checked every day. That's a damn promise. Hey, Roland, please say a word to our young people and others

who are looking to drink champs and the Breakfast Club for their information. To fools like Kodak Black, who would say that Donald Trump's a Gemini like me, so I'll F's with him. I need all voters, whether you are 18 to 80 plus, to understand, when we see something reported, like in the case of David Hilliard, they put this story out, oh, the Black Panthers supporting Trump.

His family immediately contacted us, and we had his grandson on the show. We're going to fact check it all. And y'all need to understand, when I see stuff, if I see Envy or Charlamagne, if I see Ebro, if I see Sway, if I see Aaron Burnett on CNN, if I see any of these folks

out there, if I see somebody lying and they put the stuff out and nobody got corrected, I send them a text. Here's a fact. Here's the fact. Here's what's real. And so I need folk out there. I need y'all to understand.

I was listening. I popped in last night. My men from Earn Your Leisure were having a conversation. There was some stuff that was said that wasn't factual. Guess what? My ass was in the chat room on YouTube going, that ain't true. That ain't true.

That ain't true. That ain't true. We don't play propaganda here. We deal in facts here. And we are going to call out anybody that spreads BS, that lies. And let me be real clear. Anybody can get hit. If you say something that's wrong and you don't correct it, I'm telling you right now, I'm going to hit you.

The philosophy is saying, if you do good, I'm going to talk about you. If you do bad, I'm going to talk about you. At the end of the day, I'm going to talk about you. And I ain't got no problem with Donald's coming back on the show. Tim Scott can come back on the show, too. As my man, the late Chris Metzler, a black conservative, he always told his black conservative friends, Chris, why you always go on his show? He don't treat you like he treat us, Chris said,

because y'all ass is lie. He said, Roland don't cuss me out because I don't go on his show lying. And that's what I need y'all to understand. And so if y'all are watching the rest of these people and they start lying, ain't nobody correcting the lie. Y'all should stop watching them. But we're going to be here with truth every single day. It does not matter. Lauren, Reesey, Greg, I appreciate it, y'all.

I'm going to talk about the Steve Harvey Golf Tournament tomorrow with that particular video. Some other stories we didn't get to as well because we added some stuff. So this is how we going to roll, y'all. Oh, by the way, did y'all see Reesey, Greg, and Lauren? Did y'all see Dave Rubin post this? It was last week. He posted some video challenging...

Let me find this real quick. Last week, he posted some video and he was like, you know, he was feeling himself. And he was talking about, yeah, if anybody wants to come on my show and dispute what I'm saying. And then he said, I will only debate somebody with a following,

a big following. Well, Dave, I got four million. So you ain't gonna find that many other people, Dave, with a bigger following than me. And then my followers jumped. I said, I raised my hand. Just like when that punk ass Brandon Tatum said, child, I'll, I raised my hand. Just like when that punk-ass Brandon Tatum challenged, I debate anybody on George Floyd. I went, I was like Bernie Mac.

I was jumping. That punk-ass never called. So Dave Rubin, where you at? Where you at? You said you will only debate somebody with a following. Okay, Dave, where you at? I'll go on your show. But we're going to simulcast it because guess what? Don't think for a second that it's going to be live. But I just want to let y'all know, I ain't scared of none of these people.

Y'all need to understand there's a reason why Fox News don't call me. There's a reason why some of these progressive folks don't want to call because they don't call me. There's a reason why, hell, even some of these progressive folks don't want to call because they don't want to handle that heat. I'm telling y'all right now, the way you deal with these right-wing crazed, deranged MAGA people is you ignore what

Michelle Obama said. You bust their ass. You bust their ass every single time. They lie, you bust they ass. They keep lying, you bust they ass again. I need to be on a t-shirt. That's right.

When you lie, we going to beat that ass. That's what I'm telling y'all. That's the only way because to all y'all, I'm telling y'all. That's the only way because I'm telling to all y'all. I'm telling you. The amount of lying is going to quadruple between now and November. Absolutely. And we got to swing on them as every chance we can. Somebody in the chat goes, y'all leave Michelle alone.

No, she said when they go low, we go high. Hell no. When they go low, we go high. Hell no. When they go low, we go lower. We go... Matter of fact, I just want y'all to all know as any wrestler,

how do you win when you wrestling? You gain leverage when you go lower. You ain't never seen somebody win wrestling fighting with the shoulders. When you get their ass

by the thighs and the waist, then you can take them down. Some of y'all gonna get that by tomorrow morning. I appreciate it, folks. Thanks a bunch. I'll see y'all gonna get that by tomorrow morning. All right. I appreciate it, folks. Thanks a bunch. I'll see y'all later. We gonna keep doing what we do.

Folks, don't forget, support us in what we do. Y'all know how we roll. We gonna bring the funk every single day. Don't matter who you are. We gonna hit you. And so we want y'all to support what we do. So please, join our Bring the Funk fan club. See your check and money order.

P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 2003-7-0196. Cash app, dollar sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Download the Black Star Network app.

Y'all, we at like 80. We should be at 100,000tered.com. Download the Black Star Network app. Y'all, we at like 80, we should be at 100,000 downloads easy. Download an Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One,

Samsung Smart TV. Be sure to get my book, White Fear, how the browning of America is making white folks lose their mind. Available at bookstores nationwide. Get the audio version on Audible.

All right, folks. I got to go. I'm going to see y'all tomorrow. Y'all know how we do it. Holla! Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punches! A real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of Black America.

All momentum we have now. We have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home, you dig? Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers,

but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council.

I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the war on drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war this year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. It's got to start studying a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.