#RolandMartinUnfiltered - The Inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, Pt.1

Episode Date: January 21, 2021

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This is an iHeart Podcast. 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 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 star-studded a little bit, man.

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Pre-game to greater them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. It is Inauguration Day in the nation's capital of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. In three hours and one minute, it will be officially known as President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The rat Donald Trump, he has left the nation's capital flying to Florida. Good riddance will break down, of course, this important day, what it means for the nation, what it means for African-Americans. Also, what does it mean to have the first HBCU graduate as a member of the executive branch of government? Folks, we've got a great, great lineup for you.

It is time to bring the funk inauguration style. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered. Let's go. is Yeah, yeah. Rolling with rolling now. Yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know. He's rolling, Martel. Now. Martel. The people of this nation have spoken. The people have the power.

On that point of joy, of hope, renewed faith in tomorrow. Bring a better day. It's time for us, for we the people, to come together. United we can and will overcome this season of darkness in America. Are you ready? Welcome to our special edition of Roland Martin Unfiltered. Normally we're live with you at 6 p.m. Eastern, but it is Inauguration Day, the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. It is an important day, an unusual one when it comes to inaugurations.

I was on Capitol Hill for the 2009-2012 inaugurations of Barack Obama. But it is a lot different. The National Mall is closed as a result of COVID. Some 200,000 flags planted on the mall representing Americans who could not be there. That was the orders of the Biden Inauguration Committee, not wanting people to congregate to keep them safe. We lost 400,000 Americans due to COVID-19, and so it is a completely different inauguration than we are normally used to. Also, what is different, for the first time in 152 years,

the living president will not be attending the inauguration. Donald Trump skipping out on attending it. He has already flown out of Washington, D.C., running off like a scurrying like a rat because, frankly, he lost and his ego cannot handle it. And so that's why he will not be there, has had no communication with Joe Biden whatsoever. A lot of the media speculating. Will Donald Trump leave a note on the Resolute Desk like the previous presidents have done before? Don't count on it because that's the kind of person that he is. Thank God we have gotten rid of him and decency has been restored. What's also happening right now,

the White House is being fumigated, literally. Half a million dollars is being spent to clean, a deep cleaning of the White House, a cleaning that they normally do, but it's even more so because the White House has been a COVID-19 hotspot. Numerous people have become infected with COVID-19 who have come through that White House. And so there's a massive cleaning going on right now as we speak to prepare for Joe Biden and Jill Biden after the inauguration when they return to the White House, which will be their home for the next four years. Of course, we're going to have coverage of the inauguration. I want to introduce my panel right

now. We're going to have a variety of guests who are going to be joining us. But first up, Dr. Greg Carr, chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University. Certainly glad to have him on this day. Recy Coburn, Black Women Views. Of course, she is elated. I'm surprised she doesn't have a Kamala Harris shirt with a poster behind her and then a pin on as well. And so probably the only other people who are probably bigger fans of Kamala Harris are AKAs, DeReese, also Erica Savage-Wilson, the host of Savage Politics Podcast,

and also Robert Petillo. He's executive director of the Rainbow Push Coalition Peach Tree Street Project. Glad to have all of you here, folks. I thought about wearing a suit today, Greg. Normally, you know, this is inauguration and folks are always about, you know, it's an important occasion, a solemn occasion. But I called up the COO of Howard yesterday, Toshni. I realized I had a Howard alumni T-shirt. So I said, let me go ahead and rock this Howard University sweatshirt to have the first HBCU graduate, vice president of the United States,

first black woman vice president of the United States as well, Greg. It is indeed quite an historic day. It is indeed, brother. Neither one of us, I assume, have ever worn any pearls, but... No pearls, no pearls. But as members of Alpha Phi Alpha, of course, we send out all the love to our AKA sisters.

And I can say as the president of our undergraduate Alpha sweetheart chapter, I must say that it's doubly proud. So at any rate, yeah, it is really historic. We know for all the reasons we'll be talking about all day. First of all, before anything else, I think I speak for everybody. Certainly our folks to say that. Thank you for doing this, because this is where our people should be today. Watching watching this conversation that you're anchoring. We already see action has started. I mean, the fact that the Biden administration today, by the time we get to midnight tonight, everything from the Keystone Pipeline being stopped to the funding for the wall being taken back to rejoining the Paris Accords and the World Health Organization

stopping withdrawing. There's going to be a lot of action today. And for me, while Amanda Gorman will become one of the youngest poets to ever read a poem, this young sister, the National Poet Laureate, this young sister who finished her poem on the day of the white riot on the 6th of January. That's going to be important. I think for me, the highlight of today, set aside everything else we'll talk about, will be when that Latina Sonia Sotomayor stands there with Thurgood Marshall's Bible and Kamala Harris becomes the vice president of the United States. I think that's probably going to be the highlight for me, but I'm interested in hearing what everybody else has to

say as we get into this conversation. So, thank you, brother. Recy, I'm sure the elation for you has been... First of all, did you even sleep last night? I did. I did. I tried to get a little bit of beauty rest. I don't think it worked, but

I got a little bit. Your thoughts on this day? It's a momentous day. I couldn't be prouder of Vice President-elect, soon to be Madam VP, Kamala Harris. Y'all know I'm A1, day one, ride or die Kamala. I've been getting fried up in the comments for over a year over my unyielding support of VP of the Senate Kamala Harris. But today is all about her for me. Yes, we're going to inaugurate Joe Biden. Congratulations to him. But for me and, you know, even those who don't get it yet, I think that we're going to look back on this moment and really understand the gravity of what just happened here. We just replaced a white

supremacist, white nationalist president and administration, because it wasn't just him. He had a lot of help. And we're replacing the white nationalist Senate majority leader with Madam Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman, the first woman of South Asian descent, HBCU Howard grad, who has a distinguished career, so many credentials, so many receipts. And we're swearing in two new senators, actually three new senators, but two newly elected senators that will make Chuck Schumer the Senate majority leader. Not really too tripping off of that, but we're going to have the majority. VP-elect will be very busy on the Capitol Hill breaking ties. And so this is just such a major, major

event. But I just can't help but feel overwhelmed with joy and pride. And just what people will now see is believable. A lot of Black women are getting a lot of well-deserved praise. I think that Kamala Harris is raising the profile of everybody black, particularly black women, and the importance that we play in this democracy. But today is all about Kamala Harris for me. Of course. Of course. Joe Biden is a side story for you. We got that.

Robert Petillo, you're there in Georgia. Georgia played a critical role in delivering that state for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, beating Donald Trump and Mike Pence. Republicans are still seeing red there because they thought it was a red state. Well, they learned a valuable lesson what happens when you deal with a fusion politics. Black folks there came out in record numbers as well. Your thoughts on this day, What does it mean for you? Well, I think what we're looking at is the power of democracy, that in any other country,

a strong man like Donald Trump, who has 70 million people behind him and no scruples, no class, no cares about decorum, would have simply stayed in power. You know, if this was in Brazil or if this was in Venezuela or some other country, they would not have a republic that could withstand this type of blow. This democracy took a punch in the mouth two weeks ago. This democracy has been getting held down for the past four years. And the fact that we have a democratic system in place that can have a transfer of power,

even if not completely peaceful, the fact that we can withstand it, I think, is a good thing for our democracy. But going further, I think now we have to work on this effort of bringing the nation back together, not bringing the nation back together by forgetting what happened, bringing the nation back together by prosecuting the people who executed an attack on the Capitol, bringing the nation back together by reversing these regressive policies that have hurt African Americans and other people in this country, bringing the nation together by rejoining the global community and understanding that America is strongest when America is part of the world community. So there's a lot going on. And

President Biden is going to have the toughest transition of any president, perhaps, since Ulysses S. Grant after the Civil War, dealing with Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction. So what we have to do, I believe, is the opposite of what we did in 2008 going into the 2009 inauguration. Let's not stay at inauguration for eight years. Now we part, people party, people celebrate. We're glad that the transition of power has happened. And then tomorrow we fight. We return to the battlefield and we start working to make sure that we push forward that progressive agenda that's going to help the downtrodden, the sick, the disabled, the elderly, students, African-Americans, other minority groups. We have to keep that fight up because if we don't fight

and advocate for our interests, then we'll return to those same policies from before where the money, special interests are the ones controlling government. So I'm happy on this day by I am and wrought with trepidation with what we need to do going forward. This is a shot of the Capitol. David Corn shot this morning. I saw his Twitter feed and I said, man, that is a stark contrast. Erica Savage Wilson to what we saw in the nation's Capitol January 6, where literally 10,000 Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Senator Amy Klobuchar remarked that you can still see some of the spray paint on the columns that are there on the U.S. Capitol. The reason we're seeing the massive security all across

the nation's Capitol, some 25,000 National Guard troops are in Washington, D.C. Literally, the entire city is on lockdown. The security perimeter from the White House has been pushed six blocks away in all directions. Of course, the security around the capital is even tighter. That gives you an indication of how fearful folks are that Trump and his white domestic terrorists would try to come to Washington, D.C. and create mayhem on this day. Right. And this is what happens when the son of a president is elevated to the presidency. And he has enablers and a chief strategist like that have seen that. And I've said this several times on this program, who said in February of 2017 that the goal of this regime was to deconstruct the administrative state. And that's exactly what they've done. And now we have the son of a Klansman who is outgoing and coming. We have in Madam Vice President Kamala Harris a true picture of this America.

There's a lot of work to be done. There's a lot of work to be done to ensure that all of the destruction that happened, that there is, first and foremost, some balance. We still have this administration that will be coming in that does not have any confirmed cabinet secretaries, which is unusual for an incoming administration. But this is what happened when a regime goes out and some balance comes in. So there's a lot of work to be done. This is where people are going to have to also make sure that if they did engage the vote, that they are checking those individuals that they help get into this level of power. That's not just talking about the incoming administration, but talking about at the local level across all of those state houses as well. And then we also have to be sure that with all of the protection, so to speak,

that the media, mainstream media rather, because not here, has given this outgoing regime that we are definitely making sure that the narrative does not get pushed in a way that, you know, continues to minimize the folks that, which are the American people that force America to go into the way of democracy and not to continue to get past the regimes and then people who continue to coddle those enablers. So there is a big task ahead of us, but this is our day one. And I just would encourage everybody to make sure that they continue to engage their power by continuing to engaging those people that they help move into a place of being able to say whether or not they want for their electeds to continue to push for democracy.

I start off by saying, folks, about an hour ago, the rat Donald Trump finally left the White House, finally, for the last time. Thank God in good riddance that he is out of there. This is some of the video from earlier. Of course, him leaving, critically important because, again, what we have withstood over the last four years has been shocking, has been devastating. Remember, he began his inauguration with this carnage speech, and that's exactly what we got. It isn't amazing leaving after four years and seeing having to fly over the Capitol and seeing exactly what what we also witnessed. And so in terms of all the security here. And so there were some brief remarks that were delivered. Then also, of course, flew out to Andrews Air Force Base, where he spoke

to a small group of reporters. But just so you understand how significant this is, normally when the occupant of the White House, of the Oval Office, and y'all notice, I simply will not call this man president, the occupant of the White House, normally when they leave, normally when they leave, you have cabinet members and others who are there to see him off, but he is such a pariah. He is such a, uh, a, a, a person. No one wants to even be around. Uh, there was, there was a limited group really was only media. He was out there, uh, vice just to show you what this is all about. Vice President Mike Pence, Vice President Mike Pence said that he would not attend the ceremony that took place at Andrews Air Force Base. OK, folks, let me explain to you how hilarious this is. Mike Pence has a motorcade, y'all.

Mike Pence could get through every single security apparatus. He could have easily gotten back to the Capitol in time. He didn't want to be standing next to Donald Trump on this day. That is a reality. And so there was an interesting, if y'all could cue it up, please, the Bette Midler video. You know, there are a lot of folks who have been putting things out, and I've been really laughing. And, you know, there are different folks who put, I saw something that the New York Times put together, you know, a six-minute video of Donald Trump's presidency and all those sort of things. Okay, that's great. I mean, that was great.

But I could not help. I saw this video here, Greg Carr, that Bette Midler decided to put together with Midas Touch as her send off to Donald Trump. Watch this. Goodbye, Donny. Well, goodbye, Donny. It's so nice. You'll soon be right where you belong. You're the only one I love. You're the only one I love.

You're the only one I love. You're the only one I love. You're the only one I love. You're the only one I love. You're the only one I love. You're the only one I love. You're the only one I love. Donnie, well goodbye Donnie It's so nice You'll soon be right Where you belong Writing memoirs Donnie Behind bars

Donnie Once the birth that cursed the earth To Leavenworth Has gone The tax you owe, Donnie. Your last hoe, Donnie. All the lies that we despise at last will end. This is a rigged election, 100%.

You're locked up, sucker. I can just hear your butt pucker. Donnie, you're done. We're free at last. Pack up the clan and make it fast. We never want to see your big fat ass again. I think that was appropriate, Greg Carr. It was.

It was. And listen, it was hilarious. I'll leave the Freudian placement of diamond and silk right at the line on butt puckering. But I will say this, and I got to echo what Erica said. You know, we take this moment of deep celebration and gratitude, and then we don't even let the sun set on using this momentum. Because what I'm afraid of, and Erica said, mass commercial entertainment media and everybody, including Smiley Mike Pence,

who isn't worried about a motorcade to Andrews, he's worried about a motorcade to the 2024 presidential primaries, they're going to try to make this look like an anomaly in American history. And I would echo what Robert said with this caveat. This happens all over the world. There's no such thing as American exceptionalism, except if you try to steal an election the way Donald Trump and him did it in many of these African countries and Caribbean countries, the people come out in the streets and stop it. Ask the people in Guinea or Burkina Faso or some of these other places. They just don't tolerate it.

Here in the United States, we act as if somehow these institutions were given to us by gods named Washington, Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, who had little flaws. And we can talk about the 1776 Commission later. By the way, that's another one of the things that they're going to do today or tomorrow, which is cancel that. But the simple fact of the matter is that while this guy was the most egregious public face, he is a symptom. And as Erica said and Reese said, it's unusual not to have confirmations in place. But you played yesterday, of course, Lloyd Austin on the Hill. And thanks again, Robert, to the folks in Georgia and Erica, for the folks in Georgia, because of that, it's not going to be Marco Rubio playing like he's a committee chairman yesterday, as he was listening to Lloyd Austin. But Avril Haines was on Capitol Hill yesterday.

She's going to be the director of national intelligence. That is the woman who, in the Obama administration, had the kill list when she was the deputy director of the CIA and before that, after that, the deputy director of national security. What we can't do now is lose momentum. And to all the trolls who are saying, well, what are we going to get? We're going to get some tangibles. Where's our reparations? Biden and Harris have already said they got four areas they are hitting the ground on, COVID, economic damage, climate change, and racial equity. Now, if you want to do something productive after we finish celebrating today, let us then hit them in the gut where it counts on these issues. Because, again, it's going to be Keystone, the wall, World Health Organization,

the Muslim ban, mass mandates. All of these things are on the table, and we finally have to do what Erica has said. We've got to now know our list, which means before everybody says, what are they going to do for? Go find out. Look at the checklist. And then state on them like white on rice. Do not resume this drone bombing because Donald Trump is gone. He ain't the only racist.

He is not the only racist. He's a symptom, not the cause. When we look at, first of all, to understand the stark contrast, Recy, between the two. Right now, I mean, as we speak, Joe Biden is in church, beginning this day with prayer. The last vision we have of Donald Trump being near a church was when he cleared the protesters out to allow him to hold a Bible upside down for photo op. Biden invited Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy to attend church service with him. His speech is going to talk about unifying the country. It's going to talk about bringing folks together, wanting to reach across the aisle. Even though Democrats do control the U.S. Senate, it's 50-50. So it's not like they really have

even a 51-49 majority. They have to actually share power. Their margin has gotten a lot slimmer in the House, which means that every Democratic vote must count in order for them to actually get things passed. But I think what this also does, and everybody keeps talking about Joe Manchin and how he could stop a whole lot of things. But in a 50 50 Senate, if you're Senator Cory Booker, you can actually now wield power. Every senator's vote is now critically important. There are no guarantees. There are 59 members of the congressional black caucus. Now they are the largest caucus on the democratic side. The Democrat, this congressional black caucus could be very much like the House Freedom Caucus and say, if we don't like it, it ain't getting passed.

And so I know people are talking about the slim margins, but this is now the opportunity, to Greg's point, if you're going to wield power, this is how you use your power. Right. I agree. And I echo what Dr. Carr said. And I've said it before. Listen, most of the Democratic Party agrees on at least 85, if not 90 percent of the issues. There are variations of how far each person, you know, different factions believe that we should go on the things. But I think that what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have presented as their top priorities, there's a lot of consensus on that. And there could even be some bipartisan support that will get picked up in the process. I think it's critically important to push on the issues, but let's not fight over the issues that we agree on. You know, I noticed that when Biden,

for instance, had announced that he was going to put out the $1,400 checks to make it hold to $2,000, there was all this $1,400, not $2,000. Well, you guys in Congress are the same ones that passed a bill for $1,400, right? So it's like, let's not fight over what we agree on. That way we can get more stuff done, we can hit the ground running. As Erica pointed out, we don't have any confirmed appointees. And so there's really not a lot of time to be fighting over areas of agreement. And then, yes, you push on the areas of disagreement. But there's a lot of work to be done.

And you can't let the perfect be the enemy of good at this point. So push everybody for the folks that want so much from President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Keep that energy with your senators. Keep that energy with your House of Representatives, because that was very critical in the opening days of the Trump administration, where people galvanized against Congress's attempts to repeal Obamacare, and they were successful at it. It was because of remarkable pressure that they put on both the House and the Senate to stop that from happening. So your job is not over if you're watching by just sitting up there and wagging your finger at Biden and Harris. You have work to do to make sure that

you're putting the pressure on all of your elected officials. And don't forget about your local and state officials, because that's a whole nother front that's going to be opening up in terms of voter suppression with these Republicans controlling the state houses, gerrymandering. So we have a lot of fights. We have a lot of fronts that we need to fight on. But let's at least come together where we already agree on and get that done and move on to the other issues that we need to tackle. Folks, this is a live shot outside the church where Joe Biden, his family, they are inside there. He wanted to begin this day with a church service. So literally as Trump was flying off, Biden was emerging from Blair House to go to church, and then they'll make their way to the U.S. Capitol. Joining us right now is Glenda Carr.

She's the president and CEO of Higher Heights. They are committed to getting more black women elected to office. I guess you – so how long did you plan your attire, your AKA shirt and your pearls? Have you had that all laid out since November 3rd? Well, no, Roland, you know we are going hard. I actually started on January 15th on Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority founders day. And so I've had an outfit every day, some of them twice a day. Today, I got two outfits.

I have my checks and pearls. Last night, I was gluing pearls to my checks. And so this is just the first in the series, but I thought I would wear my AKA shirt to be with my Alpha brother. Well, it is certainly a momentous day. Of course, Kamala Harris, member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, pledging at Howard University.

And so that's the other reason why. I could have easily worn Alpha gear, the first Divine Nine member as well, but I said, I'll go ahead and show Howard University some love on this day. So that's why I wore the sweatshirt here. As someone who leads an organization who is committed to electing

black women. Y'all were out front very early supporting Kamala Harris for her run for president of the United States. In a moment, I'll show some of that video when she appeared at your event in Atlanta after the debate there. But what does it mean for the work that y'all do moving forward to see her ascend to this position? What does that mean? Yeah, well, Kamala Harris is actually the blueprint beyond 2020. Here is a woman who has run, won, and governed on the local level as a prosecutor, on the statewide executive level as an attorney general, and on a federal level as a U.S. Senate. And she's about to step into the next phase of her journey as the highest-ranking elected woman in this country. And so that is the work moving forward.

Black women are still underrepresented in this democracy. So we celebrate this moment. But this is also about the charge forward. You know, her ascension to vice presidency actually left a gaping hole in the U.S. Senate. Right. There is no black be in that body at the top of the chamber presiding as the president of the Senate and will be the deciding vote. But we have to invest in Black women. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris once said to us, you have to believe in the possibilities of Black women's leadership, right? And so that's what we need to dream forward today. So as we celebrate today, it is how do we inspire Black women to run for office? But as you know, Roland, more importantly, how do we actually eliminate the man-made barriers and the institutional obstacles that actually have prevented many of the qualified Black women who have run for office over the last decade, so that when Black women do step off the sidelines and run for office, that we are not fighting the questions of electability, that we are not looking for

party infrastructure and institutional support for early support. As you know, Black women still will run a campaign on a shoestring with no endorsements from major party infrastructures until very late. And guess what? We still pull it together and win. But that shouldn't be the case. And it's not just about electing Black women. And I'll leave this in this last piece. Rowland is, Maya Harris said in a poem,

I come as one, but I stand as 10,000. And that is certainly what Kamala Harris is doing today. She is one of the most qualified people to run for office, but her multiple identities as a woman, a woman of color, a daughter of immigrants, a Black woman, a woman who belongs to a historically Black weak letter organization, whose educational foundation started at a historically black college, that her lived experience is actually going to actually help not only unify this country, but help to put a racial and gender lens on every piece of policy and budget priorities that comes out of this Biden-Harris administration. Obviously, that was a different reaction in 2009 with the inauguration of President Barack Obama being the first black president of the United States.

And folks would say, OK, we know when you achieve the first. But we cannot underestimate Kamala Harris ascending to be vice president because it's not even just the fact that she is a black woman. She's also broken the glass ceiling in that America has never had a woman operating as a vice president or president. We think about other countries around the world. We think about England, Israel, Pakistan, India, the Philippines, Germany, New Zealand. I mean, we can go on and on and on. All of these other countries, all these other world leaders have had female leaders. This country, until today, has never had a woman in any of these positions. So for all of America talking about how great and wonderful it is, this has really been a nation not just built upon white supremacy, built upon patriarchy, because it was designed, America was designed for all Trump and his 1776 people.

This was a nation that was designed for men to run, namely white men. White men. White men that had wealth. Yeah, because it was all about landowners. And so that's also critically important. One of the things you talked about in terms of there being no black women in the United States Senate, 2022 is coming up. Pennsylvania, North Carolina, those seats are opening up.

Folks are going to be opposing Ron Johnson in Wisconsin. What is Howard Heights doing right now? Are you identifying, preparing, raising dollars for sisters who are going to be seeking those U.S. Senate positions? Yes. So we are launching and accelerating our work. And that includes, you know, launching a major campaign to raise millions of dollars to support Black women running for office, particularly looking at places where we still, you know, there's no Black woman ever that has never served as governor. We've never had a Black woman, you know, we have no Black woman in the U.S. Senate. So it takes money, right? And so we need to build that infrastructure.

But it is about recruiting, training, and supporting black women. And so we are certainly looking at the map. And this is actually going to be a 10-year strategy. What does 2022 look like? What does 2024? We should never be in a place where we are comfortable with just having one black woman sitting at the table, one African-American, frankly. And so it is about looking at the map. We have an aging Congress. So even just the notion that there'll be open seats if we're not challenging sitting incumbents. And what we found in this election

cycle, as we've always said, that black women, you know, are leaders that will build diverse voting coalitions. And that being said, we can look at statewide offices in the Deep South, in the Midwest, that historically, you know, the notion that, you know, Black women, you know, usually represent Black districts. We've busted that myth. We've seen a Lauren Underwood in Congress represent a district that's only 3% Black. We see Bonnie Watson Coleman in New Jersey that represents a majority White district. And so the work for it is building a coalition and a network. And so we're building and expanding our network of members and supporters and donors to not only raise the money, but also be the volunteer army that we need to get out the vote to support these candidates.

And more importantly, do what you've been doing, which is actually helping to shape and reshape the narrative of what leadership looks like. And that leadership going forward for us is a black is black, is a woman. And it's someone that is qualified, ready to move this country to higher heights. All right. Linda Carr with Higher Heights. Let people know how they can support your work. All you have to do is visit higher heights for America dot org if you are looking for a political home. And that political home centers black women, but it represents allies like Roland Martin, our brothers and women across the racial spectrum. So come check out the political home for black women, and we will help to move, help black women to vote, run, win, and lead. All right. Linda Carl, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thanks.

Let's go to Erica Savage Wilson. Erica, the work that Howard Heights does, obviously critically important. And what we're now dealing with, what we're now dealing with in terms of moving forward here, really is about positioning. There can't just be one. When people say it's lonely at the top, no, that means you didn't bring anybody else with you. And so this is the moment. I remember after the 2012, excuse me, 2016 election when black women were highly critical of were highly critical of the Democratic Party. And they made a series of demands on them. Well, what you're seeing now is, you know, that actually bears fruit. And this is what happens. I keep saying this when you mobilize and when you organize, because that's how you're able to get stuff done. Right, Roland. And I think the big part about that is that when you talk about mobilize,

this is some of the more unsexy work. This is not the work that, you know, is done that's usually covered, right? This is the work where people are strategizing, putting together what are going to be the best ways to talk to communities. Who are the people that are in communities that are trusted voices that people will listen to? Making sure that those communities are then put together with that community voice, getting those events together, making sure that those communities are then put together with that community voice, getting those events together, making sure that people stay in contact, creating email lists, getting phone numbers so that there's a text to talk type of communication. It's all of these things so that when people see what they saw happen in Georgia, not just

during the general, but during the special election, because, you know, listen, we had campaigns that were running all year in 2020 into 2021. So there were people that were doing the work because of the early vote. You had polls that were open from the 14th of December through the 31st of January. So that call for people who are, you know, organizers, people who work in these circles to have to continue to do the work to engage people over the holiday season. But what you saw out of that was that you saw that a Biden-Harris ticket did, in fact, win Georgia. but also went blue as it relates to the senatorial campaign, because there were people that were on the work, committed, who had been on the ground, connected on the ground, talking to people who otherwise don't get talked to outside of an election year, assuring them that they did, in fact, want to see change, not just within their own homes, within their own communities, but larger that this is what needed to be done and that they will continue to stay engaged with that particular constituency. That is the type of work where we are seeing the fruit

that you talked about being there. Higher Heights has been there doing that. The Southwest Georgia Project, Verify, all of these different groups that have been organized for quite some time, not just during an election. So I think as everyone has said, moving forward, that is why it's going to be critically important for an engaged citizenry to continue to engage. As Recy and Dr. Carr and Robert has pointed out, it's not just, you know, engaging at the federal level, making sure that you are engaging right from home, because that is where the fruit that, even though the insurrection has interrupted the work, do-outs that we saw in Georgia happen on January the 6th, the fruits of that are what we are actually being able to enjoy at this moment

for this period of time. So an engaged citizenry is going to be key to making sure that, as Dr. Carr has pointed out in this program many times before, that we take this in two-year increments because there are always races that are happening. So making sure that people continue to stay abreast, continue to stay engaged, and continue to stay connected with their local and their state houses. This is going to be quite interesting, Robert Petillo. You know, obviously on this day, there's always the pomp and the circumstance in terms of and the pageantry. But the reality is there are some serious and fundamental issues that have to be addressed in this country. The carnage indeed that Donald Trump left this nation in his speech, he talked about, oh, how he left it in this great position.

They rebuilt the economy. You know, no incoming president has had it better. Yeah, actually, you did with what President Barack Obama left you. But there is some serious work that has to be done. And to me, this is the moment where African-Americans must put that foot down and press even harder to Greg's point of making those demands and seeing these things through because winning is about a return on investment. You look at Trump. He pardoned all of these thugs, Eli Brody, which was one of the fundraisers, Steve Bannon. We're going to talk about that a little bit later as well, some of the black folks we pardoned or commuted sentences, but that's what elections are about. It's about return on investment. And black folks, I keep saying the election is the end of one process. It is the beginning of the other. Biden Harris won. Now it's time to deliver. But you have to make those demands.

It ain't going to happen all by itself. You're completely correct. I think black folks have to remember that as a community, we are not a subsidiary of the Democratic Party. We do not work for the Democratic Party. It's not our job to elect the Democratic Party. It's our job to push through an agenda that will help our communities. We have been hit hardest by COVID-19. You can talk to Deborah Furr-Holden and the Wisconsin University who can give you the numbers on it. But we are lagging behind when it comes to access to the vaccine. We've been hit hardest by the economic shutdown. Many of us who were small business owners, after that PPP money mostly went to millionaires

and Kanye West and Steak and Shake and so on and so forth, many of those businesses have fallen by the wayside, have not gotten relief in over a year. We've been hit hardest by gentrification, by police brutality, by many of the issues facing this nation. And now that we did our part, now that we have delivered, we have to ensure that we, as Malcolm said, that we didn't put them first and they put us last. We have to ensure that we are at the front of the line fighting with everybody else. I understand we have to fight for the climate. I support it completely. I understand we have to fight for many of these other interests.

I support those also. But we cannot forget the needs of the African-American community, that we are the ones who won Joe Biden the South Carolina primary. We are the ones who turned out in record numbers to give a 50-50 split in the Senate. We will not have the nature and the texture of America that we have right now without the black vote. And we should be compensated, commiserate to what we have put out. So I think it's important we keep pushing forward. Enjoy today. Enjoy the inauguration. Tomorrow we fight. Have infrastructure. If that infrastructure is not organized, Greg, it means nothing. I have made the point on this show I've been making for years. It's one thing.

It's great. It's wonderful for members of the Divine Nine to talk about having one of our own as vice president of the United States. But how do you now take that infrastructure of two million plus members of thousands of chapters and then put them to work in terms of making this thing a reality. That's one thing. How do you begin to drive this thing forward? See, that really is, to me, is how you do it. You have all of these various church organizations. Okay, fine, church leaders.

Is it about your name on a letterhead? How are you organizing and mobilizing your people, not just to come to Washington, D.C., but also in state capitals and county governments and city as well? I keep making the point to people, black folks, we have infrastructure. We just have to know how to use it. That's right, Roland. In fact, brother and everyone, go back and scroll through the years where Roland has been making his point, where you've been making his point, brother. Now, we have a lot of fun with the Greek Little Organizations. You know, we're both members of the Greek Little Organizations, Alpha Phi Alpha. We're proud of Kamala Harris, a.k.a. We have a lot of fun with it.

And so along that lines of infrastructure and also making, you know, having fun with it. You had one of our brothers on last night, Reverend Barber. William Barber is talking about the poor. And so when he talked about another of the Biden Harris things that they've already committed to making that fifteen dollar minimum wage, raising thirty nine million families and sixty two million people who are on less than a living wage out of that bottom rung. That's an issue that our frat brother and a man who you quote all the time, specifically his last book that he wrote before he was killed, obviously, Where Do We Go From Here, Martin Luther King made.

At the end of that book, there's an appendix. He said there are three issues here, education, there's employment, and there's housing. And so when you start talking about infrastructure and the Divine Nine and the black churches, understand that when Martin King, who wasn't even 40 years old when he was killed, Martin Luther King got put out the National Baptist Convention, the convention that I grew up in,

because Reverend Joseph Jackson was like, you young cats are moving too fast. They had to form the progressive national. So the black church is important, but only if it looks more like Reverend Barber, if it looks more like Theodore Harris and the Poor People's Campaign, and not if it's just going to sit back and look for invitations to inauguration events. And finally, the black Greek letter organizations as a member of one. Let me be very clear. We are by no means not even close to a fraction of a percentage of the majority of black people in this country. If we're going to be relevant now, it's not because all these people are suddenly follow our lead.

It's going to be because we recommit to the thing we were committed to at our founding. So this isn't about riding the wave of black thrust. And by the way, the percentage of black vote in this election actually went down. If you take New York and California out of the mix, Donald Trump actually got more votes in this election. So before we start celebrating the fact that, you know, we've done all this work, let's be very clear. What Reverend Barber said last night when he said Mitch McConnell said, well, there wasn't a vote for ideological change, or when Nikki Haley already started attacking the minimum wage thing as being radical and extreme, y'all better listen to what Erica said. This thing is by no means over. We've just fought

for the right and won the right to fight. And if the black Greek letter organizations, the black church is not going to get in that fight in earnest, and it's just going to kind of, you know, come at the end. Now, guess what? We're going to be irrelevant. We're going to be irrelevant to what happened. And that's also why, again, the reason, you know, I made this point specifically to Ice Cube. I made it specifically to Diddy. It's one thing to make comments on Instagram, to make pronouncements, but you have to have something organized infrastructure behind that. When you talk about now going to the White House, okay, fine. You want to meet with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

That's great. But the reality is you need to understand who are going to be the key people in the Commerce Department, in HUD, in HHS. I can go on and on and on. And that's one of the things that too many folks historically have not appreciated about NAACP, National Urban League, Rainbow Push, because it's understanding the levers of power. You can talk to the person up here, but you just bypass that bureaucrat who really is the person who can actually make certain things happen, who can actually push through paperwork, who can actually get you around certain things. And that's why, and again, lots of attention is important at Reeves. See, people are paying attention to who's going to be working in the White House or the old executive office building. Sure. I mean, that's like the preeminent positions for staffers. But the thing

that I'm also looking at is where are people going to be placed in every single federal agency because that's also going to be key. Who are going to be the folks at Treasury? Who's going to be at Commerce? Who's going to be at Interior? Who's going to be at HHS? Who's going to be at USDA? Who's going to be at, again, all of these agencies? Because we have to understand that's where the power really is situated to get stuff done. Absolutely. I mean, I think what's being highlighted here is that with organization comes pipeline. The pipeline, these organizations create the pipeline for somebody like Kristen Clark from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Lawyers Committee, who's now going to be an assistant secretary in the Department of Justice and Civil Rights.

That is a huge thing. And so I see a lot of times there's an anti-establishment and what people call establishment. It's crazy these days because I don't think NAACP is establishment or urban legal establishment. But that's how some of these organizations are derided. But as you said, Roland, these are the people that know in terms of infrastructure organizationally who to talk to. And then those are the people that we can get into these positions. There are thousands,

if not tens of thousands of political appointees in each administration. And we need Black people to go in those positions, but we got to have Black people who are in the pipelines. If you don't have anybody in the pipelines, then we keep getting shut out. And so it's important to build a rounded infrastructure, a rounded pipeline, so that we don't have a one and done, so that we don't have an exceptional person that everybody knows this person's name. Let's make sure that person is in the administration when it's really that we need two dozen, you know, a hundred more people in the administration to really make an impact. And so I think we have to stop some of this anti, you know, I hate to use the word establishment, but a lot of times the organizations that really have been putting in

the groundwork, they can't change it alone, are the ones that are attacked the most. The CBC, which I know is not a black, it's not a black outside organization, it's a congressional organization, NAACP and so on and so forth. These are the organizations that are taking the meetings that are in the congressional hearings that are shaping policy and doing things that don't necessarily bubble up on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, but it's important work. And the people that work in these organizations and people that volunteer in these organizations are the ones that are likely to be tapped. So Black people, we have to realize our power. We have to stop being anti the organizations that exist. We have to stop being like the Cubes and the others in the world that want to swoop in and parachute in and say, I'm going to crack the code and do

something with absolutely no expertise, no foundation whatsoever in it. And why don't we all come together and why don't we actually support the organizations that exist? Because they are very effective if they have the kind of financial support, if they have the kind of volunteer support, they could be so much more effective than always trying to reinvent the wheel, always trying to start from scratch and being such a splinter group. I mean, we don't have monolithic, you know, ideas about things, but we can get so much more done if we really for a change galvanize behind these longstanding, credible organizations. Absolutely. We talked about, of course, on this day, a momentous one.

Certainly that is the case for the Howard University family. Dr. Anthony Wuto, Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Howard University. Doc, how are you doing? Good, good. How are you, my brother? Doing great. Due to COVID, obviously, people are not gathering, but I would dare say if this was a normal inauguration, that probably would be the

biggest black party would be on the yard at Howard University on this day. Absolutely. The yard would be packed, but certainly we're doing our best to social distance and adhere to the public health measures. So the campus is essentially very quiet now, but we're looking forward to celebrating Vice President-elect Harris in a number of ways virtually. Doc, hold tight one second, folks. Y'all are watching a video of The church service where President-elect Joe Biden has been this morning, that service is letting out. And in just a moment, you will see him coming out. Also, President George W. Bush, his wife, Laura Bush, they have arrived at the U.S. Capitol. He will be in attendance at today's inauguration, along with, of course, President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Doc, I want to go back to you, Dr. Wooto. You talked about, okay, it looks like we lost his signal.

And so in a second, we're going to pull that, get his signal back. Again, what you are seeing right now, what you're seeing is you're seeing the church service letting out where Joe Biden has been. This, folks, is a look on the National Mall. Normally on this day, you would have hundreds of thousands of people. Remember, it was more than two million plus in 2009 at the inauguration of President Barack Obama. But due to COVID, what the Biden folks chose to do is to plant 200,000 U.S. flags along the mall. They wanted to still be, did not want to have empty fuel there, but they wanted to be able to give folks an indication, saluting the country.

Everything pretty much is virtual this year. There will be a parade, but really that's going to be a virtual parade that takes place. That's one of the things that's going to be happening. And so we'll be showing a lot of those different things. But again, on this day, a lot of different moving parts. Again, the entire city is on lockdown. We lost the signal of Dr. Wooto from Howard University. We're going to go back to our panel here. When we talk about the peaceful transfer of power, that is one of the hallmarks of this

republic, some call it democracy, but really it is a republic. And it is important that President George W. Bush, his wife, Laura, will be there. Obama's, the Clinton's will be there. I don't believe President Jimmy Carter and Rosalind Carter will be there. He, of course, 95 years old, has had some health issues as well. But certainly all of the living presidents, except the super petty one who has flown out of the country will be there. That's an important that's an important thing for us on on this day. Let's go back to the shadow of the church. You see on the far left there, Mitch McConnell, his wife, Elaine Cho, she, of course, actually just went out of frame. And in a second, we should see Joe Biden emerge from there as well.

This is a pool feed from the Associated Press of the church there. He's been there this morning. Folks, one of the things that you're going to be seeing a lot of different events taking place all day, obviously, going from this event going to the Capitol. Some of the folks who have been invited, we're supposed to have Howard University President Wayne Frederick on the show, but he's going to be attending the inauguration. And folks, some of the folks had to be's going to be attending the inauguration. And folks had to be there at six o'clock this morning to go through screening. And so a lot of different pieces, a lot of different things that are moving this day. Erica Savage Wilson, I talked about, again, that peaceful transfer of power. That is critically important. Trump's folks tried to

change that. They tried to alter that. January 6th. Yeah, they did. And they actually incited, he incited his supporters to contest what millions of Americans, particularly Black Americans, said that they did want a change in leadership. And I think that that really kind of, I think, stilled a lot of people to a lot of the calls that Black and brown people had been making for the past now almost six years, which was that he is a racist and that this is the type of behavior that you can expect and why I continue to refer to him as a son of a Klansman because that's exactly who he is and so here we are as he was at Andrew's Air Force Base you know one of the things that I thought about as he was giving his farewell

remarks so to speak before he boarded Marine One was that there was no acknowledgement of the 400,000 dead souls that are not here to testify to this moment, whether or not they were in support of this current administration or not, and that that is blood on his hands that will not wash off for him and for everybody, to include his family that we employ by way of our tax dollars who were unable to secure a security clearance that the mess that they have left behind will forever be a stain. So, no, there was not a peaceful transfer of power because he is not a person of peace. His family is not a family of peace. They came in, they went out the same way they came in, which was chaotic, prophesying doom

and gloom. So as we kind of, you know, rest and get prepared for the dawn of this new day, definitely want to, you know, encourage those people who have lost a family member, a close friend that, you know, you, you know, you are thought about, you have been prayed for, and that I'm glad that there is some acknowledgement by way of the National Mall of all of those peoples in their lives. What you're seeing right now is the east front of the U.S. Capitol. You are seeing this motorcade, you're seeing this motorcade that is arriving on the east front

of the U.S. Capitol. We are moving towards the proceedings. It is 10 a.m. It is 10 a.m. East Coast time. It is 10 a.m. And dignitaries are already arriving on site. There, of course, are numerous folks, numerous elected officials are arriving there, members of Congress and former presidents and other dignitaries. So that's what's happening right now in the nation's capital. Of course, at 12.01 p.m., that is when Joe Biden, by the Constitution, will become president of the United States. Keep in mind, folks, it doesn't matter if he is not taking the oath of office. Per the Constitution, at 12.01 p.m. Regardless of if the program is late, he becomes president of the United States at that at that very moment. The motorcade of Joe Biden is leaving, has already left St. Matthew's Church.

That's what's happening there. What you already what you also see, you see the band is already performing there on the U.S. Capitol. And so this is the pre-program. Those things are already beginning as the motorcade is arriving at the U.S. Capitol. Greg Carr, when we think about historically, when we think about this day, we think about previous inaugurations. We think about momentous speeches and lines from presidents. Frankly, a lot of them we can easily forget. I think a lot of times too much time has been is spent on a particular speech. But I do think what Joe Biden says today is going to be critically important in terms of setting a tone out of the gate. I thought last night was important to have that memorial service at the reflecting pool for the 400,000 people who have died as a result of COVID. That was critically important. Now, you said it earlier, the various executive orders that are going to be signed,

they want to hit the ground running to reshape the narrative of what the United States is, what the United States is all about as a result of what the world has had to endure over the last four years of a narcissist sitting in the Oval Office. It's true, Roland. Brother, I'm sitting here listening to your commentary, listening to, you know, all of us having conversation, and I'm really reflecting. This is very different than 2008. And in some ways, it's different in a way that's unfair to Vice President Harris. Barack Obama was a consummate politician.

This was the inauguration of 2009, and I'm sure we all remember it, the grandmothers, the grandfathers. The best thing about that inauguration was the elders. Black people projected our hopes and our fantasies onto Barack Obama. And for one day, we imagined that this country was going to be something other than what it is. And, of course, the next day, we were painfully reminded that it wasn't. Senator Harris, President Harris, carries all that burden into this moment, but we should

have had our eyes open. What you said is so very important, Ron. This country hasn't changed, because if it were truly changed in the wake of what happened two weeks ago, Smiley Mike Pence would have been soldered to the Trumps and forced to go to Andrews and barred, banned from this swearing in. So, too, would Mitch McConnell and every other white nationalist who's now trying to hide behind the hillbilly hoard and say, oh, we decry that. No, you would ban them from that. Now, when you talk about inauguration speeches, Lincoln's second inaugural, of course, which is included now in the Washington—so-called

Lincoln Memorial. John Kennedy asked not what your country could do for you. There are lines that move. But Joe Biden is the president of the United States not because we like Joe Biden. Joe Biden is a deeply flawed candidate, and he's bringing back a lot of the people whose policies are not different than the white nationalist party. But Joe Biden has a small window, it seems to me, and Vice President Harris is going to have to push him on that, and she has a small window as well,

because all the fantasies have been stripped away. Barack Obama took that with him when he reminded us that, yeah, I'm black, but I kind of happen to be black. I'll give some medals and I'll dance a little bit, me and my wife a bit, but don't mistake that for a transformed country. Greg, as you're talking, a few moments ago, President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama arrived. Right now you're seeing video of the arrival

of the 42nd president of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton, as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Greg, continue. No, thank you. Actually, that's perfect because Bill Clinton was the black president before Barack Obama, if we listen to Toni Morrison. So, yeah, we have a tendency to make politicians celebrities. And as Linda Sarsour said, you know, politicians are not your friends. presidency and most consequential inauguration speech that we can reflect on possibly would be Franklin Delano Roosevelt's, in the sense that with depression and the Hoover administration

and the lily-white republicanism and the laissez-faire policies of the Republican Party turned out, the country looked to Roosevelt in a moment of desperation. And at that moment, all the racism and the patriarchy wasn't destroyed, but there was a moment of desperation. And at that moment, all the racism and the patriarchy wasn't destroyed, but there was this moment of deep anxiety that came forth. In some ways, Donald Trump provided a perfect villain. Because if we don't never forget, and I think we may have all been down there, I know I was, the day of the Women's March, which took place the day after the inauguration. Our sister, Tamika Mallory, of course, who then got put out the organization, you know, because people weren't ready for it. Think of the hundreds

of thousands that came to oppose that. And in that moment, there was momentum. I wouldn't be against another hundreds of thousands if they hadn't had the white riot coming down there tomorrow. In other words, let's move forward. But the thing that we have to remember is that, you know, what Joe Biden says today is going to be, of course, less important than the policies. But we are at a moment when, if you're truly committed to a different society, that's going to be up to us to push Biden-Harris in ways that Barack Obama was not pushed. And I will say this one other thing.

It was ironic that Trump—the Trumps came out of the White House at 8.12 this morning and walked across and left around 18 minutes after. Oh, and apparently took off the minute you went on the air. I guess you chased them out of town, too, bro. But you know, the War of 1812 is when this country almost came apart again. And people talk about black people who built the White House. Yeah, black people also in 1814 showed the British how to burn it. Why?

Because our commitment has never been to a fantasy. Our commitment has been to a different society. And so unfairly, I think, for the vice president coming in, there are going to be expectations heaped on her because of the failures of the Obama administration that I don't know that any single human being could try to meet those expectations. But today, you know, maybe maybe Biden says something that gives us a sense that they're going to do something different.

You know, we'll all have to just wait and see. Dr. Wooto is back. Dr. Wooto, what on this day, on this day, what are you hopeful that Howard University students will take away to see Kamala Harris inaugurate as vice president? Well, I think in addition to presidents and the vice president's role as the leader of their party and the leader of the country, I think President Biden and Vice President Harris in particular are symbols. And they're symbols in this particular case of hope.

I think that the outgoing administration, as Brother Carl was speaking to, really did not represent the entire country. And they certainly did not represent the interests of people of color. And so I think that there's a certain amount, a significant amount of hope and expectation of what a Biden-Harris presidency will look like. And so, again, to Brother Carr's point, they do have a small window of opportunity to to demonstrate that they represent not just the powerful and not just the elite, but they'll represent the people who put them in office. in terms of the model that she provides for Howard University students

and the role model that she provides for people across the country. Well said. Dr. Wooto, we certainly appreciate, sir, you joining us and sharing your perspective. And certainly it is a big day for the Howard University family. Thank you. Thank you for having Howard University family. Thank you. Thank you for having me, Roland. Thank you very much. Robert Petillo, your final comment on this day before I let you go.

Well, I think one thing we have to remember is that we have to push what we did into power. Just as we were talking about how great it is to have an HBCU alumni in the White House. And I'm a proud Clark Atlanta graduate. HBCU funding should never be an issue again. This entirety of this administration, we should not have to send the HBC a drone war attacking black and brown countries across the world because, you know, representation matters. So when we say we want to push this agenda, we'll celebrate today, but the work continues going forward. We have to have a new voting rights set. We have to have public accommodations. We have to have a focus on entrepreneurship and getting stimulus money into the right hands and not simply to big business and ensuring that we fight for the nation that we believe in.

All of us wanted to make sure to get rid of Donald Trump because that was a cancer to the nation. But it's not as if America was perfect before Donald Trump was inaugurated. Because of that, we have to keep this fight going and understand that Donald Trump flew off today. He's not riding off into the sunset. His work begins the minute that plane lands in Mar-a-Lago to plan for 2022, to plan for 2024, to keep this army going that he has right now. Back in Rome, when a general came back to Rome after a triumph, they made him leave his command before he entered the city gates. The reason was to ensure that you would have a peaceful transfer of power. When we talk about the Rubicon, that's the reference to when Caesar told his soldiers that he was not putting down his command to go into the city and that he

would keep the fight going. And that's when Rome went from being a republic to being an empire. Donald Trump is not laying down his command. He has never conceded this election. He has never said Joe Biden was the rightful winner. Even this morning, he would not even say Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's names as he rolled off into the sunset. So don't think that this is over. This is a momentary victory. This is a moment to celebrate. But the fight continues.

The work goes on. The cause endures. The dream shall never die. Howard Bartillo, we surely appreciate it, sir. Thank you so very much. Thanks, Roland. Folks, again, it is right now. It is 10, 12 a.m. Eastern and you're seeing a live feed here. This is House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer arriving at the U.S. Capitol for the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Joe Biden will be sworn in in less than two hours as the 46th

president of the United States. And so we will be, of course, carrying that live in a moment. We're going to be joined by Chris Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter. Monique Presley will be joining us as well in just a moment. And so it is, things are picking up at the U.S. Capitol. More motorcades are coming in, carrying a variety of officials. Again, they were coming from St. Matthew's Church. And so House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is going to be arriving soon. And so it is almost that time on this day, folks. It is almost that time as things are picking up again on the U.S. Capitol.

The one of the things that we also are looking at on this particular day, Recy, is we are looking at really the future of America and the past of America. Here you have the oldest man ever elected president in Joe Biden, 78 years old. Then you have Kamala Harris, who represents the next generation. That's really what we also are looking at. And so it's it's it's it's very interesting. You have these these this contrast of individuals, not just him being an old white man, her being a younger black woman who's also of Indian descent. But you really have this moment where here we are, 22 years away from America, becoming a nation that's majority people of color, and America still trying to hold on as much as they can to the past

while we're trying to chart a new future. Right. And, you know, I think that President-elect Joe Biden has already said he's considered himself a transitional candidate. And I think that he has put his money where his mouth is in terms of elevating VP Kamala Harris at every step of the way, truly showcasing her as a partner, not a subordinate in all of these decisions. Of course, he is number one, she's number two. There's no mistake about that. But I think that what we are seeing, if we embrace this moment and we don't go back to the whole mentality of it takes a white man to be the white man or white men are the most

electable or they ain't gonna let her win for for president. They're not going to elect a woman. If we don't fall into that trope again and we really realize that we do have the power, and in particular, Kamala Harris was on a ticket that won 81 million votes. She was a major galvanizing factor in terms of fundraising and in terms of energy behind that ticket. Then I think we can see that we will continue to move forward. Recy, hold on one second. The video, folks, that you're seeing right now is the video of, if I'm correct, of Joe, I believe it is Joe Biden arriving.

So just so you know the difference, you saw the earlier arrivals where they were arriving in an open air area going to the U.S. Capitol. This is actually an area that is blocked from overhead. So in this caravan, no doubt is you're likely seeing Kamala Harris or Joe Biden. So anytime you're dealing with the president or the vice president, they do not like for them to be seen. They want it to be in a covered area. And so everyone else actually arrived in open air. They actually are going there under those steps right there in the U.S. Capitol. Go right ahead, Recy. Finish your point. Oh, my point is just that, you know, Joe Biden said he's a transition. Let's continue that transition. Let's continue that progress.

It's going to be a very, very steep hill to climb. I think Dr. Carr has pointed it out. There is a very, very narrow window to really galvanize this momentum, to really make true change. We have a lot of very tall issues that we're facing. And so it's going to be challenging for both Biden and Harris. But I think that if we really do galvanize behind them, and that's not to say that you can't hold them accountable because people love to say, oh, we got to hold them accountable. Yes, hold yourself accountable too while you're talking about holding somebody else accountable. But yes, absolutely hold them accountable. But the last thing I want to say, oh, we got to hold them accountable. Yes, hold yourself accountable, too, while you're talking about holding somebody else accountable. But yes, absolutely hold them accountable.

But the last thing I want to say, because we haven't mentioned it enough, hold the Republicans accountable. So many times we've had this discussion because we are the base of the Democratic Party about what we're going to get out of the Democrats. But guess what? A lot of y'all live in Republican districts. A lot of y'all have Republican senators. And so hold those folks just as much accountable. You are their constituents when they hear from you, then at the very minimum, they get a little bit shook about whether or not they're going to hold onto their seats. And so let's make sure that when we talk about accountability, we're talking about accountability for all people. Let's make sure that when we talk about transition, when we talk

about progress, we are a part of that progress by believing, as Kamala Harris would say, in a future that is unburdened by what has been. And I am a person who is very optimistic today, despite the fact that we haven't always lived up to our ideals, that VP-elect Kamala Harris does signal a change, not just in terms of her being symbolic change, but because of her credentials and what she's fought for over and over again. This was a video that she posted on her Twitter feed this morning honoring her late mother. Responsible for my presence here today, my mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, who is always in our hearts. When she came here from India at the age of 19,

she maybe didn't quite imagine this moment. But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible. And so I am thinking about her and about the generations of women, black women, Asian, white, Latina, Native American women, who throughout our nation's history have paved the way for this moment. Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality and liberty and justice for all, including the black women who are often, too often, overlooked,

but so often prove they are the backbone of our democracy. All the women who have worked to secure and protect the right to vote for over a century. 100 years ago with the 19th Amendment, 55 years ago with the Voting Rights Act, and continued the fight for their fundamental right to vote and be heard. I reflect on their struggle, their determination, and the strength of their vision to see what can be unburdened by what has been. And I stand on their shoulders. Joining us right now is Cliff Albright.

He is the co-founder of Black Voters Matter. Cliff Albright, the work that y'all have done over the past several years brought us to this day. Hey, thank you, Roland. Yeah, great to be here. And, yeah, you know, it's a combination of the work that we've done and the work that a lot of organizations have done, you know, not just here in Georgia, where I am, which obviously played a critical role, not just in getting both Biden and Kamala Harris elected, but obviously in also securing the Senate that will let them actually move on this agenda that they've laid out. And so, yeah, this is the culmination of years and

decades of work that Black organizations have been doing all around this country, not just over the past four or five years, but literally decades in the making, you know, going back to the Voting Rights Act itself, you know, that we fought for, we marched for, in some cases bled and died for, you know, this right to vote, not just because of the tradition of voting, not just to participate in the process of voting, but because we wanted to see concrete changes in our lives, right? And that's where we are right now,

is still wanting to see concrete changes in our economic development, in our employment, in our schools, in our safety, in dealing with domestic terrorism that has been anti-black domestic terrorism, all these issues. This is what we're expecting out of this administration. But today is really a celebration, really, of the power, the power that we have collectively that, as you mentioned, has gotten us to this point. Absolutely. And when you talk about that power,

I keep saying the election is the end of one process, the beginning of another. Now, this is when we make folks do what they what they said they were going to do. Exactly. You know, and one of the things that we always talk about at any level of election, whether it's presidential Senate or even the local elections, which we're going to be seeing a lot of in 2021, is that when you force candidates to run on issues, when you have a clear agenda, right, when we as the community are defining the job description instead of it being the other way around, well, then what happens is when you get into that second phase that you're talking about, Roland, that accountability phase, it's much easier because you have something on which to hold them accountable. If we continue to allow candidates to engage in campaigns where, you know, it's really just about

personality or about who went to what school or who goes to what church or who has the amount of money that's necessary to even qualify for some of these things, when we can get away from that and really have it be based on a collectively defined agenda that we are coming up with, then the accountability part is a lot easier. That's the phase that we're going into in 2021 with this administration. But at the same time, we're still dealing with the other aspects of power building, right? The other elections that are going to be taking place, dealing with redistricting, right? And so, you know, we are in a position now where we can just celebrate, you know, maybe for this day, maybe for a few hours, right?

But we aren't in a position where we could just be celebrating for weeks and months after today. We've got to get right about the business of accountability for these positions, but also looking at all these other issues that could be going on in 2021. We've already got folks reaching out to us about city council races and mayor's races and DA's races that are taking place, not just in the South, but all across the country. That's the work that we got to be about.

That's why at Black Voters Matter, we say we matter 365. Well, you're absolutely right. And that was the thing that we've always talked about. That is making this not just an election season effort, but an all-around effort, because it's not just about the presidential race or U.S. Senate races or congressional races. It's those local races, those statewide races, really where more people are impacted by politics. Yeah. And, you know, even when we talk about voter suppression, right, we talk about voter suppression, this presidential race,

you know, voter suppression isn't just something that takes place, you know, on a national race or something that just takes place, you know, on the first week of November, the first Tuesday of November. So even right now, you know, speaking about these local issues and these local offices that you're talking about, even right now in several states, including the state of Georgia, including the state of Tennessee, where you've got a bill being proposed, where they're trying to do away with their process of how they register voters, is that you can have a deputized registrar who can register folks, in addition to having to go to the official registrar on the Board of Elections office. They're trying to do away with that, which means what?

You've got less, people have less access to even how they can get registered. But it's not just Georgia. It's not just Texas. We're seeing this in state after state after state. And this is stuff that is happening at the local level. A lot of this oppression that we're talking about, yes, you've got Trump out there talking crazy about voter fraud and all that. But most of this oppression that takes place, takes place at the local level, at the state level, at the county level, at the board of elections.

And so we've got to be about the business of getting involved in those offices and watching what those folks are doing. Again, 365 days out of the year. We can't wait until November and October to start talking about voter suppression. We've got to be dealing with voter protection and voter power all throughout the year,

including at the local level. This Cliff Albright, we sure appreciate it, man. Black Voters Matter. Thank you so very much. All right. Thanks for having me. Folks, the video you're seeing right now is the arrival of Joe Biden, President-elect Joe Biden, to the, going to the U.S. Capitol. This is the arrival as we speak. We are moments away, of course, from from the inauguration, actually starting the arrival of the arrival early. You saw under the under the Capitol. That was Mike Pence. That was Mike Pence, the vice president arriving. But this year, of course, right here, you're seeing the rivalry. It's a gorgeous day, folks. It's a gorgeous day in the nation's capital.

Forty-three degrees, sunny, 43 degrees. Not, well, winds about 16 miles an hour, but still. I can tell you all right now, this is a huge difference. My God, it's a huge difference between what we saw, what we saw before. Guys, come back to me on this one again. The motorcade we're seeing here is tremendous. Lots of security here as well. We're going to be joined in a moment by Monique Presley. We're going to be joined by Latasha Brown. And then also in about three minutes, we're going to be doing a simulcast with WHUR Autumn Joab. Going to be sharing some thoughts with her as well as we're seeing what's going on. Let's go back to more of the arrival

of all the dignitaries to the nation's capital. it's very interesting to watch all of this, Erica, to watch sort of the timed arrivals and to watch. As a matter of fact, I swear, I think every available black SUV in Washington, D.C. has been used. I mean, you talk about limos and black SUVs. If you own a black SUV, you might get yourself caught up in a dog on a in a parade all of a sudden today, my Lord. Oh, absolutely, Roland. And this is the part that I still get giddy about, right? And the video we are seeing right now, this is President-elect Joe Biden, and you see there...

First of all, I couldn't tell if that was Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, because normally I'm used to seeing her in a pantsuit. She got her purple on. I know she got a purple on. But I was like, who is that? Look, I can't I can't tell. Last time I saw her in a dress, I can't remember. So that's why I was like, I don't know who that is. But yeah, folks, this is the arrival of President-elect Joe Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. You see you see them there. Let's drop a little third, please.

You see them arriving at the U.S. Capitol. Y'all, this is a day. Joe Biden, of course, served nearly four decades in the U.S. Senate. He was Barack Obama's vice president. And this is the day, folks. He has long, long wanted, never thought he would actually see this day, but ran for president on three different occasions. And, well, guess what? He actually made it happen. And of course, Vice President Kamala Harris, look, y'all, she started running for president

the moment she was in, the moment she joined the U.S. Senate. Don't let anybody fool y'all on that one. But this is an amazing day. This is the videos here. This, folks, real quick, this is a tweet. Do we have any audio, guys? Do we have any audio? Bring the audio up, please. I think President Reagan got it right. All right, so they're taking photos.

We're taking photos there on the U.S. Capitol. This is a tweet that President Barack Obama sent out. Go to my iPad, please. This is what he posted. Congratulations to my friend, President Joe Biden. This is your time. And this is, of course, a photo of when they were in the White House together. Let's go back to the U.S. Capitol. Again, you're seeing President-elect Joe Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

You're seeing Dr. Jill Biden. You're seeing the second gentleman, Doug, there. They are on the steps of the U.S. Capitol as they're about to head in. And we are moments away. I'm not sure who that is. Is that Missouri Senator Blunt? That's exactly who it is. Roy Blunt and Amy Klobuchar are the chairs of the knockout. Gotcha. All right. I'm sitting there going, I'm going, yeah, I'm like, I've spoken, I've met him several times, and I've spoken, of course,

in Missouri. I met him. I was like, wait a minute. I was like, what are he doing up there? I got you. I was like, what are he doing up there? All right. Okay, fine. The black is coverage. I was like, what the hell are he doing up there? I'm just saying. fine. The black is coverage. I like the hell he doing up there. I'm just saying when they go into the Capitol, folks, President-elect Biden, they lead him to

his own green room. The other presidents who are there, Bush, Obama and Clinton, they have a separate room set up for them as well. You see the arrival of the others. I believe that is Speaker Nancy Pelosi. You see her in the turquoise. Them saying, move out the way. Make way for her. Make a hole. Make a hole. You see you see the Grim Reaper there, Mitch McConnell and his wife Elaine Cho. Yeah. All the money they've got brought to Kentucky. We ain't going to get that started on that one. I'm just going to leave that one alone. But do we have Monique Pressley?

Is she here? All right, guys, let me know when she joins us. Also, y'all should be – let's go, folks. Let's go. Are we ready to go? W-H-U-R, Autumn Joy. Hey. Hey, hey, hey, Roland.

Can you hear me? Autumn Joy, you're live on Roland Martin Unfiltered, and we're live on WHUR. Well, hello, your audience on Roland Martin Unfiltered. I feel honored. How's it going? It's going good. I mean, I don't know about you, Roland,

but I literally, it feels like there's electricity in the air right now. I mean, this transfer of power is electricity in the air right now. I mean, this transfer of power is something that we've been waiting for and just watching it live. It's like a overwhelming feeling of happiness and just relief, you know? Well, I agree. I was on the Hill literally sitting very close to the main podium in 2009 when I was on the CNN for the inauguration. I was on the Hill in 2012 for the second inauguration of President Barack Obama. There was no way in hell I was going to be on the Capitol Hill in 2016 for the Trump inauguration.

I didn't even watch it. I didn't listen to any of it. I had no desire to be anywhere near. And so it is great to go back. Donald Trump, frankly, never respected the office of president. And so it is great to see decorum of morality, principles, values return. And then it is great to be able to use the word, the phrase, Mr. President again. And then, of course, it's even more great for the first time in American history to ever say Madam Vice President. Yeah. And I saw your tweet the other day. It was so relatable when you did say that, because it's true. I think for a long time, the term president was just dropped for a lot of people because we didn't feel like we had a president that represented us. So finally, you know, four years later, we've got a president, a Madam Vice President, who we feel like is going to represent us appropriately. But I mean, I know I speak for everyone. I'm excited

to see Howard's marching band, Delaware State's marching band. It is going to be amazing just to have that HBCU pride right there with Kamala as she's being ushered into the inauguration. So I'm excited for that. Well, that's one of the reasons why I was I was going to wear a suit on our coverage today. Then I said I was going to wear a suit on our coverage today, then I said I was going to wear Kente cloth. But then at the last second, I called the COO of Toshney at Howard University. I said, hey, I realized I did not have a Howard University sweatshirt. And I said, you know what? What the hell? I said, you know, one, this is a black show. It's black owned. And so we don't have to play by anybody else's rules. And so that's why I'm rocking the Howard University sweatshirt in honor of her being a Howard University graduate.

And that that that really is important because to think about the fact that that an HBCU graduate is vice president of the United States, knowing full well what black folks have had to endure in this country when it comes to education, making our own way. You talk about 243 years of slavery, 10 to 12 years of reconstruction, 92 years of Jim Crow. And then you talk about the fact that Dr. King assassinated in 1968. If we had to use a marker, if you will, when black folks were free in this country, I would say 1970. So we're only talking about a 51 year period. And for us to have the nation's first black president in 2009, and here we are 12 years later with the first black female vice president, what it says is where we have come from, where we are going, and that's the most important part, where we are going.

I really hope our folks recognize that we can do even more, we can use our power more than a lot of us who did not vote. And so this is a time, frankly, where we use the phrase in sports, this is where you run the table. Right. So let me ask you this. Now, literally, you know, they're walking into a sugar honey iced tea show, if you will. What after the inauguration is done, the dust has settled, what are some things that you think is very important that this administration needs to do as far as it concerns hitting the ground running, if you will, and trying to repair the country. Well, they've already announced what they're going to do. They're going to be signing a series of executive orders. First of all, they're going to be getting rid of that 1776 commission,

that trash commission that Donald Trump announced, which was in response to, of course, the 1619 project. They're going to be getting rid of that. They're also going to be stopping the Keystone Pipeline. That's one of the things that they're also going to be doing. And so you're going to also lifting the Muslim travel ban. That's one thing that we see. Also, they're going to extend eviction student loan repayment, pausing that, and then dealing with also repealing a Trump, repealing a Trump executive order, dealing with discrimination, dealing with gender identity and sexual orientation. Also, you've got census issues. You've got creation of a COVID response coordinator. I mean, it's so many different things. And that's just, that's literally going

to be in the first 24 hours. COVID has to be the number one issue. Yesterday's ceremony honoring the 400,000 people who've lost their lives due to COVID is important. Biden wants to push through a $1.9 billion COVID plan. That's one of the things that's on the agenda as well. And so we're looking at all of that. And so, you know, they certainly want to move very quickly to undo a lot of the carnage that was left by Donald Trump. Right, right. And last but not least, I know you can join me when I sing. Na, na, na, na. Hey, hey, hey. Actually, actually, I prefer ideals. Get the hell on.

Get gone. I prefer that one. It was a little gratifying to hear the White House, the military band literally practicing, and they were playing Hit the Road Jack on the White House grounds. Trust me, somebody with a very good sense of humor had the band play that. I love it. I love it. Oh, man. Roland Martin, thank you so much. As usual, my live squad appreciate you checking in with us on this historic day.

I know you're live right now with your Roland Martin unfiltered. If they want to follow you and keep up with your moves, shout out your social media. All you got to do is go on YouTube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. And then, of course, follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat at Roland S. Martin. And so we're live every day from 6 to 8 p.m. Eastern. Not today, only because of our special inauguration coverage. Just go to RolandMartinUnfiltered. Martin. And so we're live every day from 6 to 8 p.m. Eastern. Not today, only because of our special inauguration coverage. Just go to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Awesome.

Roland Martin, thank you. Autumn Joy, thanks a lot. I appreciate it. All right, bye-bye. All right, folks, that was us live on WHUR here in the nation's capital. I was just referencing the military band. I'm going to play this video for y'all. Listen to this.

This was the band practicing on the military grounds. I love this video. Somebody got a good sense of humor, Erica. Yes, they do. And I love that. And they exercise and flex. They will flex it. Hard. Yeah, I think that is the song in many Americans' hearts as he did hit the road down to his favorite place to wine in Mar-a-Lago. So, yeah, shout out to the military man for flexing.

Yeah, yeah. That was, I saw that video and I said, oh my God, that is too funny. Folks, the video you're seeing, go back, go ahead to it, folks. People are again arriving, members of the United States Senate, U.S. Congress, special guests, they're all arriving to, they're all arriving right now on Capitol Hill as we speak for the 59th inauguration for President-elect Joe Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Last night, they had the We Are One celebration. It was all virtual. And it was a salute to African-Americans. My man D-Nice was spinning last night. I don't know, Reesey, Greg, let me know if Monique is there, if y'all caught any of last night's events.

I thought it was pretty cool. Of course, you had HBCU leaders. You had, of course, other folks as well. And my homeboys, the Mighty Mighty OJs, did one of their songs and they put a little spin on it. We're going to play it in a second. You're seeing again, folks, as they're coming down the hallway there, what they're doing is they're actually announcing each person. And then they're leading them out to the floor. Give me my iPad and preview, please.

And so that's what you're seeing. Here's some of the OJs last night. ¶¶ Well, well, now The world knows just how it works And Camilla, she feels the same It's a unanimous decision Let's end this trial and make a change Well, well, now Don't you cry, find that Paris ticket Well, well, now Give people what they want, don't jump out, find that, justice, and equality. They chicken. Give people what they want.

Oh, well, oh, well. My dear, there is chicken. Give people what they want. My dear, there is chicken. Come on. Give people what they want. Well, well, well, well. Oh!

Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Go. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Give people what they want. Well, well, well, well. Oh, well. Don't just go, go, go. Give people what they want.

Well, well, well, well. Come on. Well, well. Come on. Woo. Don't just go, go, go. Give people what they want. Well, well, well, well.

Come on. Well, well, well, well. Woo. Don't just go, go, go. Give people what they want. Well, well, well, well. Come on. Well, well, well, well. Woo. Don't just go, go, go. Give people what? Give people what? Give people what? Give what they want, they can't understand Give people what? Give people what? Give people what? Give people what? Give people what? Give people what?

Give what they want, they can't understand Give people what? Give people what? Give people what? Give people what? Give what what? Give people what? Give people what? Give what they want. I don't make Paris, yeah. I don't make Paris, yeah. People want better nature. Nah, nah. People want better food to eat. People want better housing.

People need money, money. People need equality. People need understanding now. People need freedom. Freedom. All right, then. See, Greg, look, I just couldn't tolerate the other little inauguration show. No, no, it had to be black. It had to be black. I just couldn't.

I had to have a little rhythm today. I just could not. I just... We gonna do it our way. We gonna do it our way. Look here, man. Philadelphia International. You can never go wrong with the sound of Philadelphia. That's from that 1975 album, Survival.

That whole album was about uplift. So the OJ is bringing that. You know, I'm interested, Roland, and I don't know whether y'all think about this. There was an article in the Washington Post a couple of days ago, finally, the first one I've read anywhere, really, that finally profiled Brother Donald Jasper Harris, who actually lives in D.C. He's done some work with the International Money Fund, World Bank, The Economist, and the father of Kamala Harris and Maya Harris from Brownstown, Jamaica.

So all the Jamaicans out there, St. Ann's Parish, the birthplace of Marcus Garvey, you know, he's the only living parent in, whether it be Joe Biden, Jill Biden. I don't know about Douglas and all parents. I suspect they're not their ancestors. But I wonder. I don't think there's any real animosity, at least from public reports between them. I hope he's there today. If for no other reason than, you know, it'd be nice to have. You know, I know I would want to see my child sworn in. So, you know, shout out to Donald Harris in this moment, because we don't hear very much really anything about him. And he actually lives in D.C. So as a black space, we should probably always at least observe that

protocol. You know what? I don't know. And that fact, you mentioned that and I thought about it when I played that video. You see the rival there, President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. I thought about that as well. I know, Recy, you talk a lot more with VP-led Kamala Harris and her husband, Douglas, than anyone else. Does anyone know? Was her dad invited to the inauguration? I don't know that, but I do know that the time that he did speak up, it was to throw her under the bus during her presidential campaign. So he was an active, very fatherly and very supportive of her presidential aspirations.

So, you know, kudos to him. You mean about? You mean about? Yeah, he just, you know, he didn't he didn't. He renounced that yeah that was that was I get it but that was unnecessary because you know he just had to pile on during a time

where she was already getting piled on so that was a lack of loyalty to me I don't you know I don't know much about their relationship to be honest but for me it's like well maybe you should have been a little bit more supportive and maybe you will be up there. So I don't know. I mean, but that's that's fine. We're joined by Monique Presley, attorney, Howard University graduate.

Monique, your thoughts on this day? Listen. Hold on. Don't be holding up the shirt. Put the damn thing on. I mean, look. I mean, I put a sweatshirt on. Don't be holding it up.

You put it on because this is the only day you really ought to be wearing it. This is my Yeah, this is the only day I will be wearing it. You got that right. That's it. Thank you for the respect. Thank you. Yes. I'm dressed for the inauguration because the first

black and first woman and first black woman and first black woman and first Asian American woman is about to be the president of the United States. I'm dressed for it too. It's cold as hell. Yes, yes.

See, I'm in the warmth of my virtual showing today so I'm dressed for that but I'm also, this is close by and close by to my heart. And I am elated at what we are seeing today for so many different reasons. And there's just not a single thing that anybody can say that can take my joy, my black joy, my woman joy, my human being joy. I'm thankful for this representation. I'm thankful that this country is coming out. Monique, Monique, as you are, hold on, as you were talking, we're seeing the arrival

of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. Yes. And they are looking right regal, as they should. I saw when they walked in and they came from the cars and looked at them. Here they come. Yeah, she's wearing nice Texas A&M maroon. But go ahead. I'm sorry. Well, I'm sure they coordinated. It's close enough to regalness because soon-to-be Vice President Harris was wearing that royal purple this morning.

But I am joyous, and we worked hard. So many of us who are right here, hey, Recy, on your show this morning, we worked very hard for this day to happen and not just for our benefit, but for the benefit of the citizens of the United States and for the world. So this is a good day. And right after this day, we'll be back at it, you know, first thing tomorrow morning. But for today, I'm going to allow myself some well-deserved joy. You're seeing President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush arriving on the U.S. Capitol as well. They are being led to their socially distanced seats. A whole lot has changed. Again, as we're seeing and we're seeing now the Supreme Court justices now being led

in as Chief Justice John Roberts, as Justice Sonia Sotomayor, as they're coming in as well. I want to play this here real quick before we show them and

Recy was tweeting about this last night. Y'all, it was real funky last night at the it was real funky last night at the at the celebration. The we are one celebration. And they even had a little battle of the bands. Now, I know y'all seeing you see it right now. they're playing, of course, the trumpets that they're announcing. President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, they're about to come out in just one second. And we're going to go ahead and show you that. But after we show them, I got to play, give y'all a little something-something from night uh when they had the battle of the bands at the we are one celebration uh again you're seeing right now president barack obama and michelle obama coming out on uh the west uh side of the u.s capital uh for the uh inauguration so

uh he certainly is feeling good to see his uh vice president uh monique you don't have to be that black uh you're gonna be that black you ain't gotta be right now hold up and and that's that's a departure from that that twitter post she put up on her birthday oh yeah okay bouncing and behaving she was like look i'm letting y'all know, okay, whatever. Yeah, I know it's my birthday, but I have folks cracking up. Let me find that photo, y'all. It was too funny what she posted. It was on Instagram.

I'm going to find it in a second. But, again, you're seeing the folks come in. I got to play this here, y'all. This was last night at the We Are One celebration. Y'all check this out. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 Thank you. ¶¶ ДИНАМИЧНАЯ МУЗЫКА We'll be right back. E che ti puoi risalire ¶¶ We'll be right back. Woo! so Amazon's Jeff Bezos Stud investors recently When he revealed That one emerging technology That was the celebration last night

And I'm sure Greg was very happy To see Tennessee State Member of the aristocrat of man Tennessee State University I stated my eyes wide And watch your nose And I will say only one other thing brother aristocrat of bands, Tennessee State University. My eyes widened watching those, and I will say only one other thing, brother. I love to see Dr. Nicole

Roebuck, the Grambling State University Director of Bands, first woman to do that. That was a tribute, brother. That was a beautiful moment. Yeah, absolutely. And so I wanted to be sure that we played it, that folks actually got to see.

And, in fact, that was actually a breakdown. First of all, we were playing it from the YouTube feed last night. Here's still some more of that. I want to play the rest of it. Go ahead. Actually, come back. I think what happened was we missed that. Come back to me.

I think we missed, I think that was the Howard University band that was performing. This is the end of Florida A&M. This is South Carolina State, I believe. Go ahead. Go ahead. Thank you. ДИНАМИЧНАЯ МУЗЫКА ¶¶ We'll be right back. ¶¶ Ladies and gentlemen, as we celebrate this momentous occasion, let's welcome from Jackson, Mississippi, the famous sunny boom of the South. We're proud to be living in America. We now pay tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

One of his dreams was a nation united, and the Biden administration is committed to making it happen. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 All people, no matter race, creed, or background, we are all America united. Jackson State University salutes the USA. With ProForm Plus, you get a little... Yeah, wanted to show you, wanted to give you some of that little flair last night. Analyst Candace Kelly. Candace, just your thoughts on today, on this momentous day,

inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, VP-elect Kamala Harris. Well, this is just a great kind of a welcoming home party when we look at President-elect Joe Biden, as well as a wonderful going-away party for Trump and what we saw this morning. It also just gives me such great pleasure to be a graduate of Howard University, to see all of the marching bands.

I wasn't in the marching band at Howard, but I was in the marching band in high school and know what it means to be out in the field and representing, spreading messages, playing amazing music so people can understand and support what's going on with music behind them. Also, it gives us the opportunity right now to just on the worldview, not be the pariah that we have been to let go of that. But it's also the beginning of a lot of work that has to be done. When Joe Biden began his campaign, he said that he was becoming a part of the campaign and

being a presidential candidate in order to get rid of racism. So right now, he has a lot ahead of him. He already, as you've talked about, talked about the executive orders and everything that he's going to do from climate change to uprooting this systematic racism that we have. But he got into office because of Black women. So I also think that there's a special challenge for him and vice president-elect to honor those people who honored them, went to the voting polls. There's a lot that's on our plates in terms of being Black women, our expectations. We've done for them, and now we're also asking, what are they going to do for us? But overall, the day is just an exciting moment and a moment

to just exhale, a moment to just breathe, take in a little bit of hope and just kind of begin to stomp out what we've seen for the past four years. All right. Before we go to the, you're seeing video there. That is Tony West, the brother-in-law of Kamala Harris. That is her sister, Maya Harris. You're seeing right there. Before we flip over to the feed to go to the inauguration of the Capitol, real quick comments. First, Monique Presley. This is an extraordinary day, and we are seeing the culmination of centuries of sweat, toil, sacrifice, labor, blood, tears, death for the sake of the advancement of freedom in this country. And this is one of those days where freedom and justice are taking a gigantic and long overdue step forward. I'm ready. I am ready to get in and, yes, hold this administration accountable,

but I am ready to get in and undergird and support so that they can be successful. And I pray that each and every American will join in that effort. Recy. Just got to give a shout out to my girl, my friend, my play auntie, Kamala Harris, VP elect soon to be Madam Vice President Kamala Harris. Shout out to all the Kamala Harris day ones out there. Not the bandwagoners, even though you welcome, but shout out to all the day ones. This is all about Kamala Harris for me today. Congratulations, Madam VP. Let's go to Candace. Your thoughts before we go to the

another one? It's a long time coming. And it's something that I'm so excited about. I'm just, you know, waiting for today's events to see how they unfold and just to begin again, to begin again, because this also, again, is the ending of something, but it's really the beginning of something even bigger. So it's just an exciting day, a wonderful day to just breathe, be excited, and just be a part of what this United States was supposed to be. It's a work in progress, right?

It's always been a work in progress, but we try to inch a little bit closer for justice for all. And hopefully hopefully hopefully this is a step forward uh in the right direction i'm certain it will be great car thank you for covering this role i think we're all i think it's been said and i share the patient i saw josh holly out there he should be banned from that place let us not forget that this is a settler colony we live in. It was never meant for us to even be in a Congress. And at the end of the day, anything we see positive in this moment comes in spite of the original project of America, not because of it.

So let's see what they're going to say. Folks, we will come back after the inauguration. You see right there, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. She's about to be introduced. Let's go to the inaugural feed from the Biden folks. December 2nd. Officer Goodman. In a light brown coat. Well, that's going to be quite a moment. Quite a moment. What you're seeing there. No, no, no. Keep be quite a moment. Quite a moment. What you're seeing there, no, no, no. Keep the feed, please. Keep the feed. Just simply pull my audio up. Pull the audio down there. The police officer that you see in that tan coat in a moment, that is Eugene Goodman. That is the he. Eugene Goodman is leading Vice President-elect Kamala Harris out onto the west side of the Capitol. You just saw him right there. They have their own feed going.

And so in a moment, you're going to hear them introduce VP-elect Kamala Harris. Let's go back to their feed. Eugene Goodman, Eugene O. Goodman. Private First Class, United States Capitol Police. Very soft-spoken gentleman. Says four words a week. He's a familiar face to us and to our colleagues in the guide service. And he's a face that you all may have seen recently. And some photographs and video of the Capitol.

We can hear the footsteps of VP-elect Harris coming down the stairs from the crypt. Officer Goodman, this is a walk he's made many a time, but never as part of the procession in quite this way. Don't you feel like he's, and he is, he's on duty. You can see his eyes sort of going back and forth. Of course, he's seeing familiar faces all around him, but... Ladies and gentlemen, accompanying the vice president-elect, seeing familiar faces all around him.

Ladies and gentlemen, accompanying the vice president-elect, the chief of inaugural ceremonies, Maria Miller-Lohmeyer, the acting deputy house sergeant at arms, Kevin Grubbs, and the acting deputy senate sergeant at arms, United States Capitol Police Officer, Private First Class, Eugene O. Goodman. Well, crescendo of applause, and we know who that's for. Yeah. Officer Goodman.

His actions, more than her own. Speaker Pelosi. And it looks like the rest of the J-6 there preparing for the fossil gas. We've got to spell out our acronyms. It's the joint congressionalional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. The vice president-elect of the United States, Kamala Devi Harris and Mr. Douglas Imhoff. Vice president-elect Harris, who resigned her seat as a senator from California just yesterday.

And today, very shortly to be sworn in. All right. I can't listen to these announcers. Oh, my God. I don't know who these folks are who are sitting here talking, folks. This is certainly a momentous occasion. You saw it just before they walked out. Kamala Harris took a look at her husband, Doug, and said, we're about to do this. And you're seeing them come out on that platform. It is amazing to see that's her greeting her nieces, of course. You see she giving a fist bump to President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. The first folks she greeted were her nieces. And of course, her sister, Ma Harris, is there. They're now leading them

to their seat. Of course, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, she is going to be sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. That is, you see that hug there. She is speaking to and addressing Vice President Mike Pence and his wife. He is the only person with the Trump administration who is attending as well. When she walked in, she also greeted Congressman Jim Clyburn and others. Of course, folks, all the leaders of Congress, they are there. This is a lot different. It's a lot different. You see Congressman Clyburn coming in right there. He is wearing that maroon hat there. And so Congressman Clyburn, a good brother there. It is, again, it is a gorgeous day, nice day, sunny day, the nation's capital. Wind is brisk. So that's one of the reasons why you see the folks still wearing those big coats. In just a moment, we're going to see the congressional leaders come out.

And then we will see President-elect Joe Biden and Jill Biden step out. And then the actual inauguration will begin. And so this is a historic day that we're seeing. That's one of the reasons why we wanted to be on here giving our own perspective. You see Congresswoman Edith Bernice Johnson right there, fellow Alpha Kappa Alpha member for Senator Kamala Harris. You can tell the delight in her eyes. You see Michelle Obama right there as well. This is an absolutely incredible sight to see. I'm going to pull some of my panel up just simply by audio. Recy, we cannot see four faces because of the mask, but there's a huge smile behind that mask of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Absolutely. You see pure joy, and she

has earned this, and it's just so incredible what this moment means for her and decades of hard work, and what it means for Black women, women of South Asian descent, and of course her mother who couldn't be there, so I'm sure she's really basking in this moment. Also, we are seeing right there, that's the video of President-elect Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden. This was, Candace, this was a day Joe Biden desperately wanted to be

president. And he finally arrives at this stage. Yeah, he finally does. He spent he has spent most of his life serving America in this career. And in terms of him running, when he spoke of his son yesterday and and and you saw how much it meant to him to know that he was completing a journey that he thought his son should have completed and encouraged him to complete even in his passing. We see that he wanted this. This is going to be probably the last time that he runs for anything. This is his last hurrah. So this is something that he has been building for and waiting for all of his life.

And to see this come into fruition is amazing. It's also slightly saddening to see that it's not inauguration that we have seen like other people have ushered in. Right. I would have been there. You would have been there. People on this panel probably would have been there. But in spite of it all, we know that that's OK. And that's what is the good thing about this, that we can see hope in this and that we understand that regardless of what happened over the last four years and especially January 6th, we go on, we move, we grow, we have negotiations, we build and we build better. So it's just it's an amazing time to see all of these people. It's also amazing to see a lot of people, quote unquote, change their minds all of a sudden. As you know, many people who were against the vote of the Electoral College were invited by Joe Biden to come and worship with him this morning.

Right. As we know, Joe Biden does not go without being in a worship service in his travels. And so we see all of that change, but we see the farce behind it. But that's okay, because we know and we've been here before. We are Black in America. 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. Yes, sir. 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 star-studded 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. 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 dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov.

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