#RolandMartinUnfiltered - TN Black Town Ultimatum; Kaepernick's Autopsy Initiative; LA Senate Candidate Lights Up Campaign

Episode Date: March 18, 2022

3.17.2022 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: TN Black Town Ultimatum; Kaepernick's Autopsy Initiative; LA Senate Candidate Lights Up Campaign Tennessee's Comptroller is giving a majority-black town an ultimatum. Dissolve the town's 153-year-old charter, or the state will take over. The town of Mason already declined to merge into Tipton County Government. The "take over" is happening as Ford plans to build a huge manufacturing facility close by. We have Mason's vice mayor and the chair of the Tennessee Black Caucus to break down what's happening. Colin Kaepernick's organization Know Your Rights Camp has launched an Autopsy Initiative offering free autopsies to families of those killed by law enforcement. One of the medical examiners associated with the initiative will join us tonight. They call him Louisiana's marijuana-smoking, Confederate flag-burning candidate.Gary Chambers, who is looking to unseat Republican Senator John Kennedy, will explain why he is the change the pelican state needs.   Supreme Court Justice nominee Judge Kentaji Brown Jackson is getting support from both sides before her confirmation hearing, which begins Monday. In Idaho, State Senate Republicans pass a bill allowing family members of a rapist to sue a medical provider who performs an abortion. #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Nissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾 https://bit.ly/3FqR7bP Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. I'm real revolutionary right now. Black crowd. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Stay Black. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal.

See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Today is Thursday, March 17, 2022. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network, the Tennessee Comptroller is giving a majority black town an ultimatum. Dissolve the town's 153-year-old

charter or the state will take over. The town of Mason already declined to merge into Tipton County government. The takeover is happening as Ford plans to build a massive manufacturing facility close by. We have the vice mayor of Mason and the chair of the Tennessee Black Caucus to break down what is happening. Colin Kaepernick's organization Know Your Rights Camp has launched an autopsy initiative offering free autopsies to families of those killed by law enforcement. One of the medical examiners associated with the initiative will join us tonight. They call him Louisiana's marijuana-smoking, Confederate-flag-burning candidate Gary Chambers Jr., who is looking to unseat Republican Senator John Kennedy, will explain why he is the change the Pelican state needs. Supreme Court Justice nominee Judge Katonji Brown-Jackson is getting support from both sides of the aisle before her confirmation hearing,

which begins on Monday. In Idaho, state and state Republicans passed a bill allowing family members of a rapist to sue a medical provider who performs an abortion on the woman they raped. I told you all these Republicans are sick and out of their minds. Folks, it's time to breathe the funk. Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. From sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, y'all It's Roland Martin, yeah Rolling with Roland now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best

You know he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's rolling, Martel Martel A small majority black town in Tennessee may have to relinquish its 153-year-old charter to the state. Why? Because decades of money mismanagement. Tennessee's Comptroller of the Treasury, Jason Mumpower, wrote a letter to Mason town leaders explaining why. In my opinion, it's time for Mason to relinquish its charter.

For the last 20 years, the town government has been poorly managed. Audits have been late. Budgets have not been approved. Major infrastructure needs have been ignored, and fraud has taken place, just to name a few issues. For years, we have been told the problems are getting fixed, but the facts tell a different story. Folks, Mason, Tennessee is about 45 miles northeast of Memphis. According to the 2020 census, the census population is 1,337 people. Well, here's the racial breakdown. Whites, non-Hispanics make up 26.18%. Black or African Americans, non-Hispanics make up 68.36%.

And Native Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and others, they are doing a combined 2%. Hispanics and Latinos make up 3.29%. So what's driving the state to take over the black town? Hmm, let's go right to it with the vice mayor of Mason joining us right now. Glad to have her here. And also the chair of the Black Caucus, Representative Antonio Parkinson, the chair of the Tennessee Black Caucus from Memphis, as well as, again, the vice mayor. Let's go right to it, Vice Mayor Virginia Rivers. So what's going on here? First of all,

this, the comptroller's saying 20 years of problems, of major issues. Explain that. Well, 20 years ago, that's when it all started. But that's been 20 years of when someone else did the damage to the town. It had nothing to do with the administration that's here now, even though we did walk into it, it's still, we have done everything we could to rectify the problem that occurred before our time. Okay, when you say they started 20 years ago, what does that mean?

Who was in control 20 years ago? The Caucasians was in control 20 years ago? The Caucasians was in control 20 years ago. So when the comptroller says there have been audits and budgets have been late, what is he talking about? Well, when he's talking about the budget being late, over in 2016 is when the new administration actually took over. And at that time, it was everything was behind. Everything was messed up. We came in and tried to fix what was not right and tried to gather up the things to make it right.

We were we had to pay for things that we had no idea where they were. There were cards that we were paying for we never saw. So we have struggled all these years, well, in the last 10 years, I'll put it like that, trying to make sure we have things in order. Now, granted, we're not in default of anything. All our bills are paid. When that happened back then, when the fraud happened, the courts actually ruled that they were not going to make the man pay the money back. So if they weren't going to make him pay it back, why didn't they bother to allow us to not have to pay for it by writing it off? But they didn't. What I'm trying to understand here, Representative Parkinson, is why all of a sudden, why this year is the state comptroller all of a sudden saying, oh, we're going to take over this town? Well, I don't think it started all of a sudden.

And let me be clear, I am not here to represent the comptroller or speak on behalf of the comptroller. I have been asked to look at this and to have conversations with all of the parties and to make sure that this black town is not being railroaded or being mistreated. However, I think that the vice mayor has stated that this is an issue that has been going on for much longer than she's been elected. I think she's been elected for about two years now. But this issue started with white folks. And now, you know, this issue has exasperated itself, and the comptroller is stepping in and doing what he can do by law. And let's be clear also.

Can you explain that this started with white folks? What does that mean for the people? Yes. You know, all of this with Mason, Tennessee, did not start with the vice mayor and the mayor that's in place right now, nor the mayor that was previously there before them. It started with white folks when white folks were in control of Mason, Tennessee. Okay, so here's the deal. So when did, so even though Mason is 63% black, you had white politicians who were running the city. Absolutely, and I'll let the vice mayor speak to that. Vice mayor, when did

black politicians take over this town? In 2016. So, what was the leadership, what did the leadership look like? First of all, how many council members are there on the Mason City Council? There are six aldermen and seven with the mayor. Okay. So, prior to 2016, are there on the Mason City Council? There are six Ottomans and

seven with the mayor. Okay, so prior to 2016, what was the racial makeup of Mason, Tennessee? Pretty much what it is now. I'm sorry, the city council. I mean the city council. Before that, it was the same.

You still had, but they were all the European Americans. So the whole city council and the mayor was white? Yes. What's the racial makeup now in the city council? We have white and Latino on our board. So the mayor of the city, white or black? Black.

Vice, you're black. How many white members, how many Latinos on the city, white or black? Black. Vice, you're black. How many white members, how many Latinos on the city council? One white and one Latino. So you have seven members, five African-Americans, one Hispanic, one white is on the city council. Yes, sir. So you had white leadership of Mason, Tennessee all of these years. All of a sudden, new leaders come in, and now the comptroller wants to step in. At any point in the last 20 years, did the state comptroller say, hey, Mason, we're going to take over your city?

No. When we knew that they were going to come in, it was in February when they had a meeting with the mayor and aldermen, and that's when we just found out that they were planning, they wanted us to relinquish our charter, or give, they would come in and take over the panel. Those are our options. We didn't have any other options. And it was like a demand. It wasn't like acts. It was a demand. So talk about this Ford facility that's coming in. How significant is this?

It's very significant because Mason can really prosper with this Ford company. We're glad the Ford company is coming. What we don't understand is why this is happening now. The comptroller has not bothered. They talk about our infrastructure of the town. If the infrastructure was so bad, you knew Ford was coming nine years or so ago. So why didn't you bother to come in,

try to help Mason get theirself together if that was the case? But I will also let you know that the mayor that's trying to take over our town, the county mayor, sits on the board. Not only does

he sit on the board, he also has purchased, the county has purchased 300 to 500 acres of land between Mason and the mega site. So you tell me why they want to take over. Representative Parkinson, so what do you see happening here? Well, here's what I see. And I think it's important, too, that we give some context to the narrative. The takeover of the city is the takeover of finances of the city. And the takeover of finances of the city is until the debt in the city is paid and then that takeover will be done.

And so it's not like they're coming in like the comptroller is coming in and becoming the mayor of the city or taking over the entire city. The mayor is still going to be the mayor and, you know, and they still have constituents that they have to communicate with and make sure that they are completely educated on what this process is. You know, and, you know, I just think that there's a need for more communication between the comptroller and the mayor and the vice mayor to so that both mayors understand exactly what it is that the comptroller intends to do when it comes to managing the finances of the city, and so that they also know what the comptroller, what his expectations are in regards to what they think those outcomes are going to be, and how long it's going to take for them to get the city finances in order. You know, here's the thing that I think is important to understand also. Anytime a city is in posture to benefit from, let's say, this Ford deal,

this Ford deal is the biggest deal probably in the history of the state of Tennessee. It's a big deal, right? And so anytime that a city is in position to be able to benefit from that, whether it's through growth, you know, home development, you know, more businesses, so on and so forth, the state benefits from it. And so, you know, I would like to see, you know, this city, the city of Mason, I would like the city of Mason be able to come through this, right, and come out of it shining and have all of the past woes behind them so that they do not miss this opportunity for a plant coming into the city, I mean, coming into the area.

Vice Mayor Rivers, I'm looking at this story from TennesseeLookout.com, and this is what it says. It says, the comptroller points to a 20-year history of fiscal mismanagement, including two major fraud investigations that resulted in criminal indictments. When did that take place? That had to be back before we came in. That's during those years that he's talking about when it was ran by the European American. So I don't think that it was two indictments. I will say this. The gentleman that supposedly have taken the money

that they did not make payback or anything, I know that he went to court and supposed to be indicted, but there was money taken by another individual as well, and they knew it, but they did nothing to hurt. And there's the African-American young lady that was there is the only one that served any time. So here's what I'm

trying to understand. This story says the financial disclosures for the past two years are running late. Between 2004 and 2016, Mason's financials were in such disarray they were unauditable. Well, that's when you had white mayors running the city. So, reading that story when you had white mayors running the city.

So reading that story, so I would assume that in the last six years, your financials have been filed. They have been filed. Our financials, the reason why they're pulling that or talking about 20 years ago is because we have struggled to try to pay it. But, and we did ask for a five-year plan, which they did not or have not even responded to as well. So we have a struggle to try to make sure

that we pay those debts that has been paid. Some has been paid off, but yet we still have a debt that has to be paid, and we're paying it. All we asked them for was a five-year plan so that we could finish up what we have been doing, but no, they don't want to do it. They didn't respond to it, has not yet responded to it, and I don't think they have an intent to respond to it. So, Representative Parkinson, again, I'm looking at this story here. It says in 2011, a former Mason town clerk pleaded guilty to embezzling $100,000 in taxpayer funds. That was 11 years ago. In 2016, a former public works superintendent was indicted by a Tipton County grand jury after investigators discovered he had paid himself an extra $600,000 between 2007 and 2015. The town's financial problems stretched back even further.

A 2001 state examination of the town's finances found numerous accounting errors and tax and court collections. OK, so again, this is what I'm really trying to understand. And in fact, this says, in 2015, after fraud allegations emerged, nearly the entire town government resigned, leaving a newly elected junior alderman, Gwen Kilpatrick, to assume the office of mayor. She became the city's first black mayor. Since then, the city's leadership has remained largely African-American. So what I'm trying to understand is if I'm looking at all of these examples, they're going back 20, 21 years. So what's the actual picture of Mason in the last two to four years? I mean, it's one thing to say, oh, this person was indicted 11 years ago. Okay, well, what about the last four years? I mean, it's a little hard for me to say

I'm going to hold you accountable for something that happened 11, 15, 20, 21 years ago versus the most recent issues. Right. Well, from what I understand, and forgive me, my daughters are walking in and out. From what I understand, you know, there was some concerns raised in the last administration also by the comptroller. Now, I'm not clear on how the communications went, you know, before that, when it was under the control of white folks. But I think the key here is this, Mr. Martin, they did not give up the charter. And I'm glad that they did not do that. And so what that means is Mason is still a city.

And Mason still has a mayor. And Mason still has a vice mayor. And still has their board. So he was asking them to voluntarily give up their charter. And then, okay, so now that they did not, what now happens? See, the thing is, you got to look at how that was proposed. Hey, give up your charter or we're going to take over. No, you're only going to take over the finances until the finances are right. And that's it. That's all he can do by law. He cannot take the city. And so people need to understand that. And, you know, myself and

other legislators, all of us in the Black Caucus, you know, we'll be monitoring this thing also and seeing if there is a way for us to create an environment where they are possibly working together because by law, because by law, they can take over the finances of a city that may have been in a situation like this. And it has happened before in Tennessee also, and to cities that were not black cities. And so, you know, so there is a precedence of this happening multiple times, actually, before Mason. Do not go out the door, please. Multiple times before Mason. And this situation is another one of those situations where they are exercising that state law given right have the comptroller, you know, help them to become a better city as we're coming through this process,

have the suggestions in place, have the infrastructure. And when I say infrastructure, I'm talking about the financial infrastructure in place for them to be able to grow the city. Yeah, absolutely right. Absolutely. But the key is they did not give up that charter, and I'm glad that they didn't. Vice Mayor, what exactly is next for you as well as the city council? Are you, when you talk about issues that you've had, y'all looking

at a repayment plan, I mean, you know, what is your plan to move forward to address the financial issues raised by the state controller? Well, our plans were to hire a city manager, a city manager, along with maybe having to cut some salaries. And moving forward, we had already presented the things that we wanted to do for us to see the town to grow. But we have got to get out of the situation that we are in. And I'm ready for our town to get out of it as well as to grow. But I would like to know why can't the comptrollers come in and do just what is being said, just help us with our finances so we can benefit and not miss out on anything that Ford has to offer. All right. Well, we certainly will be seeing what takes place next.

Vice Mayor Rivers, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Representative Parkinson, thank you very much as well. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thanks for having? I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Representative Parkinson, thank you very much as well. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me. All right. Thanks a lot.

I want to go bring in my panel right now. Joining us, Dr. Larry Walker, assistant professor, University of Central Florida. Recy Colbert, founder of Black Women Views. Dr. Greg Carr, Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University. Greg, you know Tennessee quite well. It is interesting, again, when you look at the timing of this letter from the state controller, making all of these comments and, again, bringing up stuff that's 10, 15, 20 years old versus what's the most recent conditions of the city?

It is interesting, Roland. Jason Munnpower is a criminal. By criminal, I mean that he has violated even the letter of the law. Remember, shout out to my home state of Tennessee, birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan in 1866. This is an old playbook. In electoral politics, what they try to do is usually dilute black vote by incorporating the county, Nashville, Davidson County, Memphis, Shelby County. In the case of this guy right here, this clown, the Tennessee comptroller,

been there a little less than two years. Back last May, he had a grand opening for a $450,000 comptroller office in Memphis. One problem, he had not, he sent out the invitations before the Tennessee legislature had approved the funds. And then he went off and hired Mike Donovett, who was one of Trump's federal prosecutors. He's a criminal. And by, even in just that one violation. But what's going on here, there are several counties there north of Memphis. One, of course, is the one you just talked about with Mason.

Mason is in a county there that they want to have the municipality take over. And they can't do it because they didn't give up their charter. About eight miles from Mason, in a place called Haywood County, is Stanton, Tennessee. Stanton, Tennessee is another little all-black town. But this blue development that they're putting together, the Koreans and the Ford Motor Company putting together, Blue Oval City, that is going to transform the region. There's talk of a sewage plant going in there. They want to sniff up them little black towns.

And as many as 8,000 workers are going to be coming in and out of that plant daily. And so they could overwhelm them with force. But what these Klansmen, what these white supremacists, what these white nationalists want to do is pave the road for that. And that is exactly what they're doing. It's indefensible. And one other thing, yeah, they don't want to go back 20 years because the history of Tennessee, like the history of the South, is the history of white corruption in politics. I'm old enough to remember when Ray Blanton was the governor, a Democrat, and they were stealing money with both fists. He knows what he's doing. The comptroller is part of a long, proud tradition of theft in the South.

Reese, here's what's interesting. This is what this story says. Mason lies just five miles from the future site of Blue Oval City Ford Motor Company's 4,100-acre electric truck and battery plant. Taxpayers gave them $1 billion in taxpayer incentives. They're going to have 27,000 new jobs, $22 million annually in state taxes after it opens in 2025. But if you keep reading the story here, it's what's interesting. It talks about what is going to happen. Where to house an estimated 33,000 temporary workers needed to construct the site and the 27,000

permanent workforce needed when the plant opens in 2025 has been a central preoccupation for county and town mayors in Tipton, Haywood, and Fayette counties all within commuting distance of Blue Oval's campus. Of course, Mason is about five miles away. So what we're talking about are hotels. We're talking about temporary housing. We're talking about whether or not that's going to be, let's say, trailers, or if it's going to be actual homes. And so what we talk about here is money.

That's exactly what this is all about. I mean, this is the story of black cities across the country. It's all about neglecting black cities and when they feel like they don't have anything to offer the greater area. And then when you do have a potential economic boom, like what we would see with this Ford plant moving in, then it's let's extract as much wealth out of these places and manipulate it and take control of their finances so that we can do with it what we want to do with it, as opposed to helping enrich and improve the lives of the Black citizens that live there. So if you can't neglect, then you steal. And that's just the corrupt way of doing business. And so you can bet that the housing location decisions, the tax incentives, the tax revenues,

all of that is going to be enriching the folks that are trying to take this financial responsibility away from the now black leaders of that city. Larry, what I understand is if you're the state controller and you have that concern, why don't you simply send in help? Why don't you send in expertise to say, hey, Mason, we want to be able to come in, help you and assist you in terms of completing your financial forms, things along those lines. I don't understand why that's so hard. I don't see that that was

suggested in this letter. Yeah, you know, Roland, what's happening in Tennessee and, you know, in a black town reminds me of how the mob moves in, right? They kind of strong army. Wanted them to give up their charter. And, you know, the state rep talked about, you know, them coming in, you know, the state coming in and overseeing their financial, you know, all the financial issues. But you heard, you know, the vice mayor say that they offer to pay this money back over five years and that they never heard back. So this is just strong armed tactics. Roman, the other thing I want to say is this reminds me of so many Jim Crow policies that people don't want to talk about anymore, right? So essentially you have income in the state coming in and telling this black town that will flourish from this economic development that your voice doesn't matter. We're not willing to negotiate in strong arming them and taking over their financials.

The other thing is in terms of what's going to happen here long term. Let's just be honest here. So the next step is that once the comptroller takes over, then the next step will be that the state will at some point pass some law to allow it to be permanent and maybe take over additional control, because we're talking about the intersection of racism and economic development, right? So after that happens, the next thing is will be gentrification. All these jobs and opportunities come into this community, and then the next step will be to shift from the racial dynamics you see now to move most of those Black folks out, right?

And that's another issue, because we always talk about, when we talk about economic development in Black communities, a lot of wealth in Americans is housing, right? So then you'll deny them the opportunity to build generational wealth. So they're strong-arming them like the mob. And once again, this reminds me a lot of Jim Crow policies.

Well, we, you know, look, we are quite familiar with how these things work. And so glad to see leaders there not give up their charter. Makes perfect sense. So I would say to the state of Tennessee, if you are serious about it, send in your expertise. Don't just simply say you're gonna take them over. All right, folks, gotta go to break. We come back. Colin Kaepernick is not in the NFL,

but the Know Your Rights Camp continues to help those in need. They are now offering free autopsies for individuals who have died at the hands of law enforcement. We'll talk to one of those medical examiners next on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА Don't you think it's time to get wealthy? I'm Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach,

and my new show on the Black Star Network focuses on the things your financial advisor or bank isn't telling you. So watch Get Wealthy on the Black Star Network focuses on the things your financial advisor or bank isn't telling you. So watch Get Wealth seat at the Black Table. With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network. Hey, I'm Deion Cole from Black Star Network. Former NFL star and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick

has launched an initiative through his Know Your Rights camp providing free autopsies to families whose loved ones are victims of police-related deaths. It's called the Autopsy Initiative. Forensic pathologist Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr. is a member of the Autopsy Initiative team. He joins us now from Washington, D.C. Dr. Mitchell, glad to have you here. So, have you heard of this being done before? No, this is the first of its kind, providing this type of access to autopsies and medical services like this for free for families that have lost loved ones engaged in the criminal legal system or due to law enforcement force. First of its kind that I've heard of.

Why do you think this is so groundbreaking and so important? Well, you know, it's really about equity. Why do you think this is so groundbreaking and so important? Well, you know, it's really about equity. It's about having access to the things that are important to us as a community. And we know we're in a season and have been in a season really for hundreds of years where law enforcement, the criminal justice system takes liberty with black bodies, black and brown bodies, poor bodies in this country. And now we have an opportunity for there to be an objective look at the medicine and science and forensics that may be associated with the cause and manner of death and making that available to families where otherwise they would not have that in a way that they could rely on.

So, first of all, so how does this work? So how does someone reach out? You know, and, you know, just what's the process? So there's a website, Know Your Rights Camp forward slash autopsy initiative. There's a form that is filled out. That form can be filled out by family, could be filled out by friends, could be filled out by an attorney that's representing the family. And once that form is filled out, that information goes to an individual that has been trained in medical legal death investigation. They'll ask a series of questions. And then it's brought forward to the closest medical examiner in the system, as well as additional forensic pathologists for review. And if it's a case that fits the criteria, then that case will be brought in for a second autopsy,

and in some cases, a first autopsy. Questions from my panel. Recy, you first. Yeah. I mean, do you have any kind of statistics on how often, like, for instance, families are lied to or how often families are even denied autopsies in the first place for these kind of cases? It's a really good question. And I think that part of having this type of initiative, we can get to those numbers. Right now, there's a law in the books called the Deaths in Custody Reporting Act of 2013 that requires the federal government to count how many people are dying while in custody, whether it's the pre-arrest phase, like we saw in George Floyd, or individuals dying from natural disease too early while in the prison system.

And right now there's not full participation in that law. So we don't know how many people are dying associated with our criminal legal system. And so by having an initiative like this, we can support families that may have some questions. Larry. Yeah, sure. I'm wondering, this is a very important initiative. And one of the things I want to ask you, if you guys are partnering with other organizations, right,

to expand your reach and also in terms of being able to communicate to let people know that you guys are out there. Looks like our Skype machine just completely went down, so we lost our guest as well as our panelists. And so we're going to try to get that taken care of, and then hopefully we'll be right back up. So I do want to read some headlines in between. Let's go ahead and do our Black and Missing folks. 14-year-old Marcel Thomas was last seen in Danville, Virginia on March 13th. Marcel is six feet tall, weighs 180 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a tan jacket and light blue jeans. Anyone with information on Marcel Thomas should call the Danville, Virginia Police Department at 434-799-6510, 434-799-6510. A white Ohio woman faces two felony charges for sending threatening and racist messages to two black lawmakers. Sandra Bachman

allegedly left hate-filled voicemails to Michigan State Representative Cynthia Johnson as well as Sarah Anthony. One message to Representative Anthony said, hey, I need to cancel that bill against the vets, you little traitor, and you won't see the bullet coming, let me tell you that. So stop this shit and you're fired. We'll be coming to Michigan soon to remove you from your post. The other voicemail allegedly sent to Representative Johnson says, well, baby doll, nigger lip bitch monkey, we are going to get you. You will die. You're one of the worst offenders. We actually have a tier two in like points for how much you're worth once we kill you. You're going to die and I'm happy about it.

The whole world will be rejoicing. Just know that. Sleep well. Well, that's vicious. Bachman faces over 20 years in prison for a count of false report or threat of terrorism, a count of ethnic intimidation, and two other counts related to making a threat using a phone. Her arraignment is in two weeks. A former Kansas City detective will spend six years in prison for the killing of Cameron Lamb in 2019. The Eric DeVaucanier was convicted, folks, of second-degree manslaughter, an armed criminal action. He and another detective entered Lamb's property without a warrant, and DeVaucanier shot Lam in his garage. A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Lam's three children. Again, that cop is headed to jail.

A Russian court is extending the detention of U.S. basketball player Brittany Griner. Last month, Moscow authorities arrested the two-time Olympic gold medalist for allegedly smuggling drugs. A Russian state news agency reports Griner remained in custody until May 19th. The 31-year-old has been a part of the Russian UMMC basketball team since 2015. Earlier this week, former First Lady Hillary Clinton called for her release, sharing an article on her Twitter account with Free Britney. So we'll see what happens in the case of Britney Greiner. I want to go back to Dr. Mitchell. We were talking to him. He was answering a question with regards to these free autopsies being supplied by Colin Kaepernick's Know Your

Rights camp. Doc, go ahead, please. Well, yeah, what I was finishing and discussing, I think one of your panelists was asking me about partnering with other organizations. What I explained was is that I'm the vice speaker of the House of Delegates for the National Medical Association, the oldest and largest group of Black physicians. So the National Medical Association is involved and will be doing some discussions on deaths in custody. The National Bar Association, we're hoping that we can present at the upcoming conference this summer for our Black attorneys to bring more awareness to this initiative. And so we're hoping that to get the word out so that families aren't suffering in silence and they know they have access to this resource.

Grant, question you have for the doc. Thank you, Roland. And thank you, Dr. Mitchell. And looking at the team, your team there, the five doctors, I was intrigued by the fact that both you and Dr. Okoye served at one time as DC's chief medical examiner. And of the two women, three men, there are three Black folk, including one sister, Dr. Wilson. Could you say a little bit about how this team was picked and maybe what is some of the conversation that you all are having? It looks like a kind of remarkable group to convene. Yeah, I think it's pretty remarkable. And I don't know if that group is done looking that way. I think that there probably will be additions to the team. You know, Sarah Wecht is one of the

senior statesmen in forensic pathology. And I believe that he made most of the phone calls. I know that he reached out to me. I've written one of the biggest pieces on deaths in custody in the forensic pathology literature on how to conduct these investigations along with a group of national experts, but I led that group. So that's what's put me in the mix. And then obviously Dr. Wilson has been involved in several high profile cases as well. And so this was a good start of people that believe in deaths in custody as a public health issue and working through and helping families. So we hope that we will have additional forensic pathologists join us as we continue to provide services to these families. Thank you. This is certainly a quite interesting initiative. Recy? Oh, I already asked my question. Well, I just want to make sure, like I say, when we went out, so threw everything off there. I just want to give everybody a shot there.

Doc, the last question here, is there a certain number of autopsies that we'll provide every single year? No. You know, we have not been provided some, you know, ceiling on these cases. Right now, it's just, it's about letting communities know that this resource is available and being able to provide what this functionally is a second opinion, like any other diagnosis you would get if you got a terminal or if I got a terminal diagnosis of cancer, then you best believe I'm going to go to a similarly situated oncologist to give me a second opinion. And oftentimes that second opinion may be the same as the first, but when it's not, when it's not, it's worth having a deeper look. All right, Ben. Doc, I certainly appreciate it.

Thank you so very much. Absolutely. All right, then, folks. Got to go to a break. We'll be back. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Don't forget to support us in what we do. Download the Black Star Network app,

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There you go, thank you very much. PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037. Cash App is Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. I'll be right back. Let's go. ТРЕВОЖНАЯ МУЗЫКА On the next A Balanced Life,

as we grind down to the end of another long winter, it's easy to slip out of balance and into the foggy doldrums. On the next A Balanced Life, ways to push through the gray days until the warm days of spring arrive. Join me, Dr. Jackie, on A Balanced Life on Black Star Network. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day,

right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. I was in the telephone booth on 63rd and 3rd Avenue. Brought my coins in and dialed a number. Mr. Parks, this is Richard Bountree. Oh, yes, yes. Well, you know, it looks like you got the role. I didn't know what this... Oh, really? Okay.

Well, wait, wait, wait. You can't tell anyone. Can I tell my parents? And I'm walking around town, and my fellow actors and models are saying, hey, you know what? Tree, I think I might have gotten that role. You hear this two or three different times. Right.

Well, wait a minute. Was I dreaming that? Then Gordon calls me up. I call Gordon, and he says, we're having the press announcing you are the chef. I get in the limo, and when I pull up, I saw this, oh, Lord. What we used to call, I'm shitting in high cotton.

Yes, in high cotton, yes. I get out. All the press is there and actors. I walk in and Gordon announces, yes, this is Richard Bountry. He's going to play the character Shaft. Magic. Oh, magic. Go to the wide shot. All right, folks, so welcome back to Roller Martin Unfiltered.

Gary Chambers, y'all might remember when Gary first drew our attention. Do we have the school district video? Y'all might remember when Gary went before the school district in Baton Rouge and let's just say he let them know exactly how he felt about them when it came to one of the schools there in terms of renaming it. You had some folk there who were not too pleased

with what he had to say. He has been very much involved in Baton Rouge for quite some time, an activist on a variety of issues. Then Gary also ran for Congress against others. The seat, of course, was won by Troy Carter.

And so now Gary is running for United States Senate. And let's just say he got the attention quickly of folks on the right when he dropped this first, shall we say, provocative commercial. Every 37 seconds, someone is arrested for possession of marijuana. Since 2010, state and local police have arrested an estimated 7.3 million Americans for violating marijuana laws, over half of all drug arrests. Black people are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana laws than white people. States waste $3.7 billion enforcing marijuana laws every year.

Most of the people police are arresting aren't dealers, but rather people with small amounts of pot, just like me. I'm Gary Chambers, and I'm running for the U.S. Senate, and I approve this message. Well, that one, of course, got folk attention. Then Gary said, what the hell, let's just do the next one. They said, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. But here

in Louisiana and all over the South, Jim Crow never really left, and the remnants of the Confederacy remain. In 1873, when a black man named PBS Pinchback won a U.S. Senate race, he was never seated. They claimed election fraud. The attacks against black people, our right to vote,

and participate in this democracy are methodical. Gerrymandered districts are a byproduct of the Confederacy. Our system isn't broken. It's designed to do exactly what it's doing, which is producing measurable inequity. One in 13 black Americans are deprived of the right to vote. One in nine black Americans do not have health insurance. One in three black children live in poverty. It's time to burn what remains of the Confederacy down. I do believe the South will rise again, but this time it'll be on

our terms. I'm Gary Chambers, but this time it'll be on our terms. I'm Gary Chambers, and I'm running for the U.S. Senate, and I approve this message. Well, so check out Gary's next commercial, one he, of course, dropped against his opponent. I'm running for the U.S. Senate, and this is my opponent, John Kennedy. He used to be a Democrat that talked like this. Well, we have another program here at Treasury that we're very proud of. But then he became a Republican, switched accents, and now he talks like this. I will not let you down. I'd rather drink weed killer. Oh, and by the way, now he's good buddies with this guy.

John Kennedy inspires people like this and has now raised $15 million to keep ruining Louisiana. We need to build a grassroots movement to defeat John Kennedy and build the margins of the Democratic Party in the U.S. Senate. Chip in today. We're a long way from 15 million, but people power can catch up. Let's go to work. Senate. Chip in today. We're a long way from 15 million, but people power can catch up. Let's go to work. Avocado toast eating insiders elite. Fake ass John Kennedy. Now, I really can't wait. I doubt John Kennedy will actually choose to debate Gary.

But, you know, I really, really do hope that if they do debate, we get to see Gary raise his hand to John Kennedy like he did this. I had intended to get up here and talk about how racist Robert E. Lee was, but I'm going to talk about you, Connie, sitting over there shopping while we about how racist Robert E. Lee was, but I'm going to talk about you, Connie. Sitting over there shopping while we're talking about Robert E. Lee. This is a picture of you shopping while we're talking about racism and history in this country. Only white members of this board got up

while we were up here talking, too, because you don't give a damn, and it's clear. But I'm going to tell you what the slaves, my ancestors, said about Robert E. Lee since you don't know history, sister. Let me tell you that they said when he got the Lee, since you don't know history, sister. Let me tell you that they said when he got the plantation, after he got off the field where 27,000 people died at Gettysburg, Connie. I'm sorry, I had to stop it right there. Connie! Okay, let me go back.

Robert E. Lee was a brutal slave master. Not only did when he whooped the slaves, he said, lay it on them hard. After he said, lay it on them hard, he said, put brine on them so they'll burn them. That's what Robert E. Lee did. And you set your arrogant self in here and sit on there shopping while the pain and the hurt of the people of this community is on display because you don't give a damn and you should resign. You should have resigned two years ago when you choked a white man in his house. You should have resigned two weeks ago when you got on TV and said foolishness and

you should walk out of here and resign and never come back because you are the example of racism in this community. You are horrible. Now to the rest of the board. You have an obligation to the people of this community. And 81% of them are black. And do you need a Klan rally outside, Mr. Golday, before you end it? Because holding it up means that you put that building in jeopardy. You do, sir. Because all over the country, they're burning stuff down. And black folks in this city have stood with protesters. I ain't seen you elected officials out there with them, making sure that nothing goes south in Baton Rouge.

It's been folks in this community who give a damn, not just when it's comfortable, but every time. And four years ago, we came down here. Mr. Drake, they say you're a good man. Be a good man. Black folks say you're a good man. White folks say you're a good man. Your legacy is attached. Black folks say you a good man. White folks say you a good man. Your legacy is attached to tonight, brother. Your legacy. Now, let me say to the black members of

the board, it's the most solidarity I've seen out of y'all in forever. Let's keep it at it. Let's stand on this moving forward because we don't need to apologize for Connie, Evelyn. She showed you who she was when she was sitting next to you while you were talking shopping. we don't need to apologize for Connie Evelyn she showed you who she was when she was sitting next to you while you were talking shopping you don't need another example now when do we as Baton Rouge stop being in 1856 if you want to name the building after somebody how about PBS Pinchback the first black governor of the state of Louisiana when he was governor during reconstruction you want another name Dunn, who was the lieutenant governor of the state of Louisiana in the 1860s that gave the right for Darius Lannis and Don Collins and Evelyn Ware Jackson and Tramiel Howard to get here. You want to name it after somebody from Reconstruction? Name it after the

people who fought for abolition of slavery. If you want to name it after somebody, honor the right people, the people who are on the right side of history. But it's your ancestor that the school is named after. So you're holding on to your heritage. But we built this joint for free. And we're done begging you to do what's right. Thank you, sir. Next. Connie, join us right now is Gary Chandler.

Gary, what's up, man? What's good, brother? Thank you for having me. Man, you got these white conservatives all mad, upset. Fox News pulling videos of you talking about Farrakhan and, man,

you got them mad! Well, we're going to stay on them all year long because we're going to speak truth to power and justice every step of the way. Well, what really tripped me out in that third spot, fake-ass John Kennedy with that fake-ass accent trying to be all homespun and trying to be all down to earth. And what gets me is he comes to D.C. to act dumber and sound dumber in appealing to these dumb Republicans.

Well, I call him Foghorn Leghorn, Senator Foghorn Leghorn, you know, because he spends more time pretending than he does actually legislating. And excuse me, my eyes watering over and over, Roland. But John Kennedy is an embarrassment to this state. He voted against infrastructure dollars. That's billions of dollars that would have come to this state to help the people of this state. Why does that matter? Because at the time he voted against infrastructure, Hurricane Ida had just happened in Louisiana. We had power lines down all over the state. We had people in the home of Louisiana who were without power for a month while John

Kennedy was on Fox News talking trash. And, Roland, this is a man who was elected with 536,000 votes. There are 900,000 black voters in the state of Louisiana, 1.2 million eligible black voters in the state of Louisiana. This is simply a question of can we raise resources to activate a populace of people to flip a seat on the U.S. Senate? So when it comes to running, are there other Democrats who are running in the primary or are Democrats giving up on even running against John Kennedy? So, you know, we have a jungle primary. There is another Democrat in the race, but that person has been in the race since October. They raised about $195,000 in three months. We exceeded $600,000 in fundraising in our first month. We're continuing that momentum into the second month, and we're going to close out the quarter strong. We know that we're the frontrunner in this race, and we're the only candidate that the country is talking about as it relates to the U.S. Senate in Louisiana.

John Kenney is beatable, but he's only going to be beat by somebody who can build a grassroots movement to touch voters that are not typically touched to get them to show up to the polls. John Bel Edwards is the governor of Louisiana. He's a Democrat. And 50 percent of black New Orleans did not go to vote when he was on the ballot. Yet he won. This is a way for us to be able to activate a piece of the pie in this state that has never been touched, never attempted to touch. But we can get those people out and we can be candid. So how do you get them out? I mean, that's the real issue there. How do you get them out? How do you connect with them? How do you explain to them why voting matters? You got a lot of people out here complaining, saying, look, man, this stuff, it's not going to make any difference. So how do you connect with them?

Well, one, I think you talk about the things that are important to them, Roland. I've mentioned to you for years, I talked to the Democratic Party about whether or not they were effectively messaging to Black communities, right? We are not just somebody who talks about it. I've been about it. I've shown up in communities consistently over the years, helping to create change in communities. And people know that. And as a result, when we show up in the community, we have some credibility with them. That's number one. Number two, we know how to speak a message and a language that connects with those people through our digital advertising. And that message is penetrating young people and old people alike in different demographics. And the third thing, Roland, is I do a ground game like nobody else. In our congressional race last year, and you understand this because you understand advertising, we spent $33,000 on TV,

$7,000 on radio, and not a dime of direct mail. And we got within 1,500 votes of making it into a runoff for a congressional race. And that's the power of our ground game that did that, our digital presence. And what we want to do is activate our non-conventional stuff by raising these resources the way we've been traveling around the country, having fundraisers to raise money so that we can do the TV, radio, mail, to layer that on top of the ground game so that we can defeat Kennedy. I'm not keeping it a secret because we want the whole country to know that this is doable. Louisiana is 34 percent black, 5 percent brown, and there's 20 to 30 percent of white voters in this state who don't believe that we should rank 50th in the nation.

We just need the rest of the country to see that the four million people in this state are as valuable as the races that we've seen won in Georgia. We can do what Georgia did, too. So when is the primary there in Louisiana? So it's a jungle primary. So it's all in November. So we've got to be able to go through from now until November with our message, keep Kennedy under 51 percent and end up in a runoff with him in December. So ultimately, this will be one of the last seats in the U.S. Senate if we get there. If a Democrat, the other Democrat chooses to run for another position or not run for this, that leaves us wide open head to head with Kennedy November the 8th. And we believe that we can beat him head to head given the opportunity. So explain that when you say it's a jungle

primary. So like, for instance, in Texas, the runoff primaries are going to happen in May, and then whoever wins in the primary then faces in the general election in November. That's not the case in Louisiana? That's not how we do it here. You know, Louisiana got to do everything a little different. So everybody who's decided to run Democrat or Republican is placed on the ballot for November the 8th. The two people who, if no one gets to 51 percent, the two top vote getters go into a runoff in December, and then that is kind of functions like our general election. Has that December date been set?

That December date is set. I believe it's December the 8th or the 11th. Don't quote me on that. I know November 8th is the day we got to get busy first. Right. So the goal is to keep Senator Kennedy, the incumbent, under 50%. Is it 50 plus 1%? So if he gets 50.1%, does he get 50.1%? Then no need for a runoff. So you got to keep him under 50%?

We keep him under 50%. We know we can keep him under 50%. And if we keep him under 50%, we go into can keep him under 50%, and if we keep him under 50%, we go into a head-to-head runoff with him in December. Got it. Got it. All right. Questions from our panel. Let's see. Greg, you're first.

Thank you, Roland, and thank you, Brother Chambers. I'm a big fan, brother. Given what you said, we've all known those numbers for some time. Mike Espy should be in the United States Senate from Mississippi if we could have activated it. And Roland has kind of set the stage by asking the broader question. I guess I want to ask you, you know, I think about Cori Bush. I think about Ilhan Omar. And now looking at you in a statewide run for the federal legislature, how important is it for us to speak the kind of truth to power that you are speaking? And I guess a follow-up with that would be, do you imagine that this can resonate among particularly our younger voters, younger potential voters, as I'm assuming that many of these people haven't been registered to vote yet? Thank you, brother.

Thank you, brother. I think that, yes, we can resonate with young people. I can tell you since the cannabis video, everywhere I have gone, I have had more young people walk up to me than I've had in any of the previous times that I've gone viral. And I've gone viral a few times fighting for us to the question of is it necessary for us to speak this truth? Absolutely it is because the conditions of our it necessary for us to speak this truth? Absolutely, it is, because the conditions of our people has not changed in this country, and playing nice is not going to advance our communities. We need to be able to be truthful. We need to be able to be honest. We can be respectful if that's the temperature of the conversation, but if we got

to get a little disrespectful, sometimes we need to do that as well so that people understand that we're going to be serious about the fact that we're not going to continue to be silent about the injustices that happen in this country. And we're not going to be passive about it, that you're not going to continue to just meander around pretending that you're doing so good by black folks when you're not. We want President Biden to be true to what he said in the campaign and decriminalize cannabis at the federal level because he has the power to do so. And you need U.S. senators who are going to have used their bully pulpit to say that to the president or their quiet conversations to say that to the president and leverage their vote if necessary. Raci. Hi, Gary. I appreciate your outspokenness. I'm completely with you on being disrespectful,

if need be. But what I'm curious about is your economic priorities or three of your top policy priorities that you plan to bring to the United States Senate. Well, number one, that's a good question, and I appreciate it. Number one, when we look at the economy, we've got to raise the minimum wage. That's something that I'll be an additional vote in the U.S. Senate to see happen in this country. I think it's possible for us to do it. We've got to figure out how do we make that happen. And it doesn't just happen by electing a Gary Chambers. It happens by paying attention to Val Demings in Florida, paying attention to Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin, Charles Booker in Kentucky.

All of these folks, if we get our margins larger, all of these policies that President Biden has proposed, like Build Back Better, are possible if more people are in the U.S. Senate. And so I think that caveat has to be there. The minimum wage has to be increased. We've got to figure out there's a lot of good components to the Build Back Better plan that I think would have helped people, the child tax credit that people were given, the ability for people to pull their families out of child poverty. A big major thing for me is the Green New Deal, because I believe that the jobs that can be created for the state of Louisiana and the future of our economy are important. Our economy ranks number 50 in the nation. We also rank number 50 in environmental quality, and we rank number 50 in environmental quality,

and we rank number 50 in crime in Louisiana. And we're married to the oil and gas industry. The jobs of the future are in the energy sector and in technology. And we've got to figure out how do we build a robust, comprehensive plan for this country that addresses energy and creates jobs in that sector. And I wantiana to be at the forefront of receiving those benefits when that happens larry yeah mr chambers thanks thanks and so i want to talk about start with a quote it's uh the truth that shall set you free right and the reason why i started with that is that from you reading connie to the ad set you know roland was kind enough to replay for us you use history as a tool right to talk about this this country, you know, Roland was kind enough to replay for us. You use history as a tool,

right, to talk about this country's disturbing history of racism in America, particularly in Louisiana. So can you talk about how you, in a time when people are pushing back on history, accurate history, and particularly racism in America, how you're using it as a tool to reach the voters and even some voters who are not comfortable talking about Louisiana's history and this country's history of racism? Well, I think it's important that we talk about the history because so many people don't know the history, which is why they perpetuate a lot of the lies that they tell. Many of the reasons I talk about PBS Pinchback is because I've watched how in the digital space, especially, so many of

us talk about the wealth of our ancestors. Those of us, we talk about how they burned down Greenwood and all of those things were terrible. And our ancestors did go and create commerce, but they also elected their peers to represent them. And they don't want us to know about that because that's where power lies. You can have Jay-Z have a billion dollars, but a governor controls $20, $30 billion a year, right? And so that's power to be able to influence the social conditions of people. We need to be able to understand that this portrait you see behind me has Oscar Dunn in the middle of it, and PBS Pinchback is on it as well. Those men were

elected in the 1800s. They created some of the first civil rights ordinances that existed in this country, some of the education policies. That's how Southern University got created, Grant and State University, as a result of what these men went into the state legislature to do. But what they don't tell you is that PBS Pinchback becoming the governor was a ricochet effect, kind of like what we see with Raphael Warnock becoming the U.S. senator from Georgia, that it caused a reaction by the white majority to try to prevent it from happening again. And so, from PBS Pinchback, it is 1990 before Douglas Wilder becomes the governor of Virginia. And what I'm trying to convey to us is that we are in as serious a moment as they were in Reconstruction,

that there will be attempts to prevent us from achieving the excellence that we know is possible through the democratic process by restricting our votes, by gerrymandering, by creating all of these outlandish voter laws that they are creating. PBS Pinchback actually won a U.S. Senate race back in the 1870s. And a word that they use now, voter fraud, is what they use to prevent him from being seated. And what we need to know is that the devil don't use new tricks. The question is, do we know his game? And we teach history to learn the game so that we don't fall for the same mistakes again.

So what what jumps out here is I'm going to go back to this whole deal of turnout. One of the issues that we saw in Georgia was that black folks had been saying for a very long time. Hey, Democrats, this is what y'all need to do to turn people out. But they didn't want to invest the money. Have you heard from the Democratic Senate Committee, the DSCC, being the chairman of Senator Gary Peters out of Michigan, who faced a very tight race in 2020 running against John James, an African-American, a black Republican? Peters squeaked by. Have you heard our Democrats statewide? Are you talking with them? Are they saying, hey, we want to invest to ensure people turn out? Because the number that you laid out, and I want you to lay those numbers out again, because people need to understand

the numbers. When Senator Kennedy won, you say it was 500 and how many thousand? 536,000 votes is what he was elected by. That wasn't in a presidential year. That was in like a midterm, correct? I believe he was elected in 2016, but the caveat is

he won in a runoff. So he got those 535,000 votes in a runoff? In a runoff. So he got those 535,000 votes in a runoff? In a runoff. So the argument here... Go ahead, go ahead. And there are 900,000 registered Black voters in the state, 1.2 million eligible Black voters,

but the Democratic Party in the state of Louisiana has been cash-strapped, and the National Party does not support Deep South parties. I heard somebody brought up Mike Espy earlier. Mike Espy should be the U.S. senator from Mississippi, but the Democratic Party does not invest in Mississippi and Louisiana. So you're saying that there are 300,000 eligible but unregistered African-Americans in Louisiana? Yes, sir. And we intend to get them registered. So have you had conversations with Cliff Albright, LaTosha Brown at Black Voters Matter?

Have you talked with NAACP and other groups saying, hey, y'all need to be seizing upon this in Louisiana? We can do in Louisiana what happened in Georgia. We had preliminary conversations with Black Voters Matter. They are very supportive overall and were supportive last year in our congressional race and anticipate that we're going to be able to get support from them as well. To your first point about the Democratic Senate Central Committee, they have reached out to our campaign. Those conversations are progressing, and that is a result of the work that we've done in the digital space to create a conversation about Louisiana that I don't think that has been anticipated. What needs to happen at this point, though, is people need to jump on early so that we can gain the momentum necessary to make this happen. If the Democratic Party can't talk to me about flipping Texas blue,

if they can't flip four million people in Louisiana, that's Houston. Houston is 3.8 million people. Louisiana is 3.9 million people. If you can't do it in Harris County and if you can flip Texas, you can't flip Louisiana? That doesn't make sense to me. See, this point is so critical because, again, numbers don't lie. Numbers don't lie. So if you use the 500 in, let's just say 600,000 as your marker, basically what you're arguing is if you pick up 400,000, you said 1.9 million African Americans in the state. 1.2.

Let me give go even further. If you pick up 400,000 of the 1.2 African Americans, and hell, you pick up 200,000 white Democrats in Louisiana, yeah, that's 600,000.

And here's the thing. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, is the governor of Louisiana right now, Roland. He was elected with a little over 700,000 votes. Over 450,000 of that 700,000 were black folks. Okay? So don't tell me we can't do it. We know we can do it.

We have elected a Democrat twice since 2015 in Louisiana. He was elected in 2015, reelected in 2019. And if we are wise, we seize on this opportunity so that we can win not just the U.S. Senate race in 2022, but the governor's mansion again in 2023, hopefully with a black Democrat. So from an internal standpoint, so are you saying, is your target saying, hey, if we hit 500,000 African-Americans and we turn out a quarter of a million white Louisiana Democratic voters, you can absolutely win the U.S. Senate seat? We can absolutely win the U.S. Senate seat, and it's doable. The power coalition with Ashley Shelton, though they've been doing grassroots organizing much like the New Georgia Project has been doing in Georgia, they've been touching voters, and over 60 percent of the voters that

they touch in their registered 800,000 list show up to vote in every election that they contact them in. The question is, is the party going to get on board with a black Democrat that can win in this state? So when is the, what is the voter registration deadline in Louisiana to be able to vote in November? All the way in October, brother. We got another seven months that we can register people in this state. We got time and opportunity. All we need is resources and manpower. All right, then. Well, I certainly look forward to coming down to Louisiana, doing our show down there, chat with folks there. So it shall be interesting. And so keep us abreast of voter drives that you're going to be doing there in the state of Louisiana so we can certainly get down there to cover it. Thank you, Roland.

Let me make one more point, Roland. Everything that we have done in this race has been done with a staff that is 90% black, brother. All right, then. All right. Gary Chambers, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. I want to go Chambers, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. I want to go back to our panel on this.

The reason I'm always pressing with those numbers, because it boils down to is it's all about the math. It comes down to the math. And I remember, and it was 2012. It was election night was 2012. It was election night 2012. And I was waiting to go on CNN. May have been election night or may have been after the election or slightly before.

But it was definitely 2012. And we were here in D.C. and we're waiting to go on. And Chris Van Hollen, then Congressman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, was head of the DCCC. He now is a U.S. Senator from Maryland. And so I was talking to him,

and I said to him that, look, man, y'all can actually flip two states. You can flip Georgia, you can flip Texas. I said, you got 2.1 million eligible with unregistered Latinos in Texas. I say at the time, I think there was like there were like eight hundred thousand eligible, but unregistered black and Latino voters in Georgia. And he shook his head. Now, he said, Red, I said, no, you've got to do the work. I said, Doc, I said, y'all just keep giving up, saying no, there's no shot. I said, if you've got the eligible but unregistered people sitting there, you've got to go out and get them. Well, folks like Stacey Abrams and Raphael Warnock and others got sick and tired of waiting for these Democrats to do that.

So, yes, they created the New Georgia project. They actually went out and raised the money independently. And what happened? They drastically, they changed the laws there, drastically reduced the number of unregistered people. And so that paved the way eight years later for Warnock and John Ossoff to win in the runoff to become the U.S., become United States senators. And so the same thing. Why are Republicans gaining ground in South Texas?

Because Democrats didn't put the resources in there and just automatically assume, oh, they're going to keep voting for us. And so now Republicans have made inroads in South Texas. Now Democrats, oh, my God, we got to do something. Well, you should have actually been proactive. What Gary is laying out is what we call a real strategy. And this is why I've been saying, look, black people, we can't wait for parties to do what they do. So supporting a sending money to Black Voters Matter allows for Cliff and LaTosha and their

organizers to go in and register those people Gary's talking about to be able to change elections. If you don't actually get the folk registered, ain't no way in hell they gonna vote because they ain't registered. Yeah, but even with the numbers that Gary laid out, even with just turning out the registered voters, that would be a game changer in this election. And so I think the problem that we see from the Democratic Party is they focus so much on, you know, activating voters in the 11th hour, the 25th hour. And what you really need is you need to have ongoing credibility and conversations with your base so that they will be activated at all times.

And that's a wider network instead of having, you know, staff or volunteers who have to do this outreach and kind of drag people to the polls kicking and screaming. So I think that the numbers definitely line up as Gary Chambers outlined. I was very heartened to hear his stance in terms of his policy positions because he did, you know, he quoted Build Back Better. That's not, you know, too often you hear from a lot of progressives these days. And he did immediately kind of set expectations of, well, we need more Democrats in the Senate, et cetera, et cetera. So I like that he's not out here selling pipe dreams, but he has the map to back him up, and he has the voice that's authentic and substantive. And so I hope the best for him. But to your point, Roland, you know, if you're waiting around for the Democratic Party on

a national level who raises absurd amounts of money, I mean, every quarter, Jamie Harrison is saying how they've raised a record amount of money for that particular fundraising cycle. And yet we don't necessarily see it translate into these individual races and really activating voters. I don't know what they're doing with the money other than begging for more money. But I would like to see him get the resources and really stay true to what he is he's pushing out there because i think you know i'm always for black candidates getting to run their race and be taken seriously and being funded and lets the chips fall where they may um larry i'm live on my show right now and and the

thing that that as i as i think about this and and and i'm always talking about history and i need the people who are watching and listening right now to understand something and that is when we're talking about the history of African Americans when we look at how the Voting Rights Act changed when you had some six percent of black people who were registered in Mississippi in 1964 when the vote got passed and signed into law, that number went up to 60%. When you saw the turnout in Alabama, in these places, when you saw black folks who were funding these various initiatives themselves, what we're talking about is black folks who were saying, it's about our interests. And so the point there is, yes, Gary could be

pressing the Democrats there, but this is where if you're black entertainers, if you're other folks as well, should be saying, hey, damn them. We're going to ensure that a Black Voters Matter has one, two, three, five million dollars or more to go in, hit the ground, have citizenship education training programs, go to rural Louisiana. Don't just go to New Orleans or go to Baton Rouge or Shreveport, but go to Opelousas, go to Leonville, go to northern Louisiana, central and southern Louisiana, to these small towns and getting folks out, that's how you change the game.

Listen, Roland, you hit it right on the nose. You have to till the soil, right? You have to invest in the folks in our community, other minoritized communities, that don't feel like you've been listening to them. And so, you know, that hasn't been happening. Now, look, I'm a former congressional staffer, workforce CBC member, and this has been a complaint for years, right? So we got to go into communities. We have to let people hear why you should vote, you know, why you should vote in every election, not just presidential

election in the midterms. But we have to make that investment. And Roland, listen, I want to highlight something you've been talking about and continue to talk about. We got to talk about the investment in Black media, right? Because if you don't invest in shows like yours, then Black folks don't get the message, right? And you have a massive platform. We have to invest in Black media. We have to also, like I said, we have to, like I said earlier about Tilling the Soil, we have to make those investments, long-term investments, right? So we can't, like you said, Recy talked about, we just can't wait to, you know, like we have a midterm election and say, oh, now we need to go out and we need to reach out to the Hispanic and Black communities and we need to get them to vote for us. No,

you can't do that. And as we've seen in Georgia, when you till the soil and you continue to wait for the rains to come, right, and let the crops grow, then what you get is, you know, you get Senator Warnock, right? But you have to do the work. That means including the investment in black media and black nonprofit organizations. And you have to also listen to black folks. You know, Greg, for the folks who are listening, and again, so you have folks who say, OK, I can give to Gary's campaign or I can give to groups like Black Voters Matter who is going to go into states like Louisiana. We always talk about this. This is how we're talking about you change

the game. If all of a sudden, and I need people to understand something, numbers don't lie. What Gary just laid out, y'all, it's there. If John Bel Edwards won by 30,000 votes, that's how he became governor of Louisiana. Y'all, it's a statewide race. There is no difference between a gubernatorial race or the U.S. Senate race. Literally, what happened there could happen again in November. It's just a matter of people actually turning out. It is. It is, Roland. And as we have heard over and over again, you've said this, Marisha, you've been saying it for years. This is about infrastructure. It's about institutions. The white nationalist party and the Democratic Party are not the home for of America as means to an end.

So it's important when we hear Brother Chambers mention Oscar Dunn or PBS Pinchback and all those elected officials throughout the South during Reconstruction, they used the Republican Party to advance the agenda of Black people. What held Black people together at that time, of course, was they had all come through and from enslavement. The Republican Party in the South was created by Black people, and the National Republican Party used Black people to achieve their agenda, namely to cement their laissez-faire attitude toward growth that enabled them to basically carry the United States into the 20th century. It was, in other words, a pragmatic deal. And once the Republicans got what they needed, they abandoned black people.

Now, we fast forward to the 1960s, as you've talked about many, many, many, many times. Fannie Hamer and all of the crew in Mississippi with the Mississippi Freedom Democrats were not Democrats as much as they were going to use the apparatus of the Democratic Party to advance the agenda of black people. They organized independent of the major political parties, and they inhabited the Democratic Party because it was one that was close enough to them. But in the 30 years before that, what you saw was the white nationals of the South attempted to destroy any option for black voter participation through a private group of network of organizations which tried to privatize the Democratic Party

in the South. That's all the voting rights cases in Texas, Herndon and Nixon and all those cases. They tried to make the white primary the source of their electoral power by beginning with their independent organization. They inhabited the Democratic Party. Finally, after the Voting Rights Act, as you've just said, what we see is that there was a cohesive enough network of black institutions, the black fraternities and sororities, the black church, the black social organizations, that when black people went out to vote, they

were being driven by organizations that had nothing to do with the Democratic Party. That's what put those first couple of waves of elected officials in. Now, where are we today? Black politicians in the Democratic Party are, by and large, wholly owned subsidiaries of the party. This is the mistake in black politics. Independent party building doesn't mean that you are no longer voting in the Democratic Party. It means that you have an independent institutional source to drive your participation in whatever the electoral politics are, which is exactly why what you said is essential. You fund the institutions that are independent of the Democratic and white nationalist party. And then when they go to work, they inhabit whichever of those parties at the moment advances our interests. And that's why Georgia flipped. You had Black Lives Matter folk down there who are not Democrats. You had folks in Until

Freedom who are not Democrats. You had. But they said, if we get Wannock in there, if we get Ossoff in there, we can advance our agenda. It's just that simple. You can't get turnout. What do you say, Roland? You can't be black media and be scared? No. You cannot be black on media and be scared. And you can't be black politics and be scared. When Gary

Chambers talks, and I agree with you, Recy, he's got the policy talk, but when you hear him, he's talking like a black person. Now, Jamie Harrison can't do that because he is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party. There's no independent black political base in the Democratic Party. That's why they're

scared of their own shadow, and that's why those white boys don't keep screwing us until we have an independent organizational formation that will use the Democratic Party the way everybody else uses it. Now, see, on that particular point right there, which is, see, this is what Dr. Carr just said, is exactly why I need all of you punk-ass trolls

who love to run your little comments, rolling you on by the party. First of all, anybody knows me. I ain't never identified as a Democrat. I have never identified as a Republican. I have never worked for a candidate. I don't ever plan on working for a candidate. All of you dumbass trolls talking about Roland trying to get the press secretary job.

First of all, that's a pay cut. Two, I can't say what the hell I want to say. So I ain't never even thought of wanting to be. I don't ever want to be a press secretary because I'm just letting y'all know right now, go back and look at some of them Richard Pryor news conferences when he was the president.

If you want to see what the press conference is going to look like while I'm up there, that's what it's going to look like. That ain't going to happen. So, but I need these fools to understand that people say, like when I hear people say, we got to have our own black political party. Y'all, what Dr. Carr just said is actually what you should be articulating. There are two parties in America. Y'all, it's simple. It's Democrat and Republican. Look, now, do I believe we should have as many parties like we see in Israel?

Like in the UK? Hell yeah. Ain't going to happen. It's two parties. The last significant third party in America was the Reform Party, okay, which was funded by Ross Perot. They had an opportunity to actually do it, but they got caught up in ego, power, and control. That's it. That's what happened there, okay?

Yeah, you got the Green Party, whatever, not significant. Yes, you got the Libertarian, not significant. I'm just telling y'all right now. So the question is, is how do you use, you gotta make a decision, Democrat, Republican, Democrat, Republican. How do I use one of these parties to advance the interest of our people?

So a lot of y'all, when y'all sit here and run your miles and y'all talk all this trash and y'all want to sit here and yeah, and normally I don't name the punk, so-called fake new black media that you never ever see cover anything in black America. You just sit their ass at home behind laptops and hide their faces. See, what they will not tell you is how power actually works. See, I love the people who are sitting here posting stuff saying, ooh, HBCUs got $2.7 billion in the American Rescue Plan, and Hispanic-serving institutions got $11 billion, and Asian and Pacific Islander and Native American-serving institutions got $5.5 billion.

What the fools did not tell you is that black people also go to those same schools. But they didn't tell you all of that because you don't understand power and how it's used. And so right now, there's 50-50 in the United States Senate. And so y'all have heard me say, if Mandela Barnes, who's leading in the polls in Wisconsin, if Mandela Barnes is able to beat Ron Johnson, now

the United States Senate is 51-49. If Sherry Beasley is able to beat more than likely the former governor of North Carolina and North Carolina, now the Senate makeup is 52-48. That's assuming Democrats hold their seats in Georgia, New Hampshire, and Nevada, and Arizona. So now all of a sudden, oh, we don't know who's going to be the Democratic nominee in Pennsylvania,

but if a Democrat wins in Pennsylvania, we now are at 53-47. That's right. If black turnout goes up in Louisiana, it's now 54-46. If Val Demings can somehow beat Rubio in Florida, it's now 55-45. That's right. If Tim Ryan is able, first of all, whoever wins, he's leading the polls. I know there's a sister who's running as well, but let's say the person leading the polls right now is Tim Ryan. If Congressman Tim Ryan is able to win in Ohio, you now at 56-44. That now means that cinema and mansion are now

irrelevant. Now they don't control the agenda because if those two say, no, we don't want to Now it's 54-46. You got numbers. So folks, it comes down to math. So when I cuss out the fools who say, man, this is bullshit. I ain't going to vote. We ain't got tangibles, tangibles, tangibles. Okay. So let me say this about tangibles. Y'all got to promise this.

It don't matter if Gary makes a promise if he never wins. That's right. Let me repeat that again. Switch to this camera, please. Switch to this camera right here. Let me try to explain to you all real simple. It doesn't matter if a candidate makes a promise if they never win. It doesn't matter if a candidate makes a promise and your ass not registered. It doesn't matter if a candidate makes a promise and your ass registered, but don't vote.

They kind of all go together. And see, that's the thing, Recy, that just really gets on my nerves when we're talking about power and how to use power and how to affect change. to ask these simple Simons, they can't ever really deal with that because they love talking blackness, they love hollering, we need reparations, we need tangibles, we need a black agenda, but you cannot execute anything if you do not have the political power to do it. That part. And to be honest, all the things that they are demanding are things that are in process. But because the power isn't there to get it across the finish line, then it remains, you know, a priority.

It remains a policy position as opposed to a result. And so this goes back to the conversations we've had on the show plenty of times. I remember when Ice Cube was on the show with his, what did he call it, Black reporter, Black something or another. And I asked him, well, I said to him, a lot of the things that you're suggesting are right. I can name the specific legislation in the Congress right now and the people that are pushing that through. Why not partner up with those folks? Why not create a scorecard? Why not align with people that are already pushing your priorities forward and put your political backing behind that as opposed to trying to create this whole separate entity that doesn't have infrastructure.

You need infrastructure to get things across the finish line. You need political will beyond just people using hashtags and slogans and being chaos agents and disinformation agents on the Internet. at. And so I'm with Dr. Carr on using these outside, or maybe you said it, Roland, outside entities to help push the Democratic Party. But the rub is you have to have something substantive that you're even aware of and that you're aligning yourself with to actually make a serious demand. Because if you're making demands on shit people are already working on, then what is we even talking about? You just yappity-yappity-yappity-yappin'. And so I think when you have, like, for instance, Diddy had his

new Black Party, who endorsed nobody in 2020. They put no resources behind Mike Espy, behind Raphael Warnock, behind any of the many Black folks that were running for office. There would have been a historic number of Black people winning.

They put nothing behind it. And so I'm all for building political capital. That's what we're trying to do on this show as we educate our viewers. But we have to be strategic. And that doesn't mean throwing out everybody who's actually running, you know, working on this stuff. It doesn't mean immediately coming from a posture of, oh, the CBC ain't got nothing for us, ain't doing nothing for us.

When they're doing everything that you say you want done, you're just not paying attention. See, see, see, Larry, let me be real clear. Because, see, I, I, I, I, I, for all, for all of the simple Simons, see that rolling gold, dogging us asking for tangibles. Fool, y'all ain't

the only ones asking for a damn agenda. NAACP has an agenda printed out. National Urban League has a black agenda printed out. Black Voters Matter had one. Black Lives Matter had one until freedom had one. So don't act like one. Black lives matter. Had one until freedom. Had one. So don't act like that. Hell, I've talked about specifically black owned advertising. I've

talked about make sure we're getting our fair share. I've talked about make sure we're getting our fair share of the $660 billion that's going to be spent in the infrastructure bill on roads. I specifically said to Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary on the Air Force Two with Vice President Kamala Harris, that very thing coming back from Selma. See, so and then I specifically asked Secretary Cardona about dealing with the education and the black belt in Alabama. So I don't want to hear none of you punk asses out there talk about man, roads are sitting there, dogging us, talking about our tangibles. I don't care. ADOS, FBA, B1, B12, I don't give a damn what the hell all your names and letters and your numbers are. We all are talking about having a black agenda. But let me be clear again. If all you're talking about over here is opposed by the party on the right, that means you only got one shot to get it

and who you gonna get it through. So the question is, who are we going to push and then stand behind to actually get it done? Larry, that's what it boils down to. If we're talking about, if basketball is about rebounding, playing, taking good shots, and playing defense, politics ain't that damn hard.

But you cannot change a damn thing if you're not registered and if you don't vote. Yeah, I mean, and folks are complaining about all kinds of issues. And like you said, they don't have a foot in the game, right? So, you know, and listen, Roland, you talked about it, having a platform, right? So we also have, you know, they may not have an understanding of how politics works. You talked about Giddy, and I'm quite sure what he was thinking was he thought it was in the right

place, right? His heart was in the right place in terms of creating some kind of independent platform. But you need to first talk to folks who have been in the game, like yourself, like Dr. Carr, and we have, you know, Recy on the end also, who understand how the dynamics work, right? So like you said, and I also feel like a lot of these people are shadowboxing, right, in many respects. So if you understand, if you don't understand the dynamics, but you have the resources, then you need to talk to the folks who've been involved in the political game. Understand GOTV. Understand how all these dynamics work. In terms of looking at the data at a micro level, in terms of what communities we need to turn out to win elections in Louisiana and Georgia and Texas, some of these other places, right?

But we need to, once again, the folks with resources have to stop shadowboxing. The folks, the trolls on social media, et cetera, have to get behind those social media platforms, and they need to put their hands in the soil, right? That's what we're talking about when I talk about telling the soil. We need to put our hands in the soil. We need to collaborate with the folks who have platforms, who have the years of experience in politics, in media, et cetera. We need to collaborate as Black folks. And then when we do that, we come together collectively. Then we can address the issues in the Senate in terms of making, you talked about, you gave us the numbers in terms of what we can do. We can get folks to come out to vote, but we got to give them something to come out for. And then we have to continue once again to invest in those communities, highlight why we

care, and then we can continue to change things for the better for this country. See, here's what's going to be real interesting to find out. See, this is where now, now, now, Dr. Carr, are the folk going to put their money where their mouth is or they're going to put their feet where their asses are. Here's what I want to know.

If you look at what Gary's standing for, ADOS, FBA, B1, ain't that y'all agenda? So here's the question, ADOS, FBA, and B1, and you know what? I'm going to go ahead, and I don't normally do this, but I'm going to go ahead and do it. ADOS, FBA, B1, Yvette Carnell, Antonio Moore, Vicky Dillard, Jason Black. Y'all going to take your asses, Louisiana? Y'all going to broadcast y'all shows from Louisiana?

Or y'all going to go with Gary and register black people in Louisiana? That's what I want to know. So let me just go ahead and put it out there. Antonio, Yvette, Boyce, Vicky, Ms. Bad Lace Front, Jason Black, hiding your ass behind your camera. Roland Martin Unfiltered is going to be in Louisiana. We're going to spend time on the ground in Louisiana broadcasting from those small towns talking to black people. Where y'all going to be? What y'all going to do? Your agenda? Gary, back in your issues. Are you going to go there to try to register those 300,000 unregistered African-Americans in Louisiana? Are you going to go there to get them registered and turn them out? That's the challenge I'm

putting out there for all y'all. Greg, go ahead. Well, that's the challenge, Roland. That is the challenge if they will do that. And I'll say a couple of things. There's so much there that you laid out. One, I don't think any of the people that you named have much influence at all. The appearance of keyboard warriors and social media influencers is direct evidence of the failure of black politics. Organizational structures, and again, that's why I mentioned a few minutes ago, we talked about what happened in the wake of the Civil Rights Act. We did not carry forth the momentum of memory.

When we heard Brother Chambers say that we now have to build the number, he's not out there caping for the Democrats. What he's saying is you've got to get that number over 50. We saw Joe Manchin isn't a Democrat. He is in the United States federal legislature in the Senate as a member of the Democratic Party as the wholly owned subsidiary of energy. His party is the Energy Party, you understand. But he uses the D because they don't, they don't have an energy party. So they bought a senator.

And when he kneecapped Sarah Bloom Raskin the other day to make sure she couldn't become the vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, it was because she is a threat to the energy agenda. She's talking about global warming. So they called him and said, hey, boy, get your ass in there and kill the damn nomination. Click. And then he went in with his voting card,

which has a D on it, to kill the nomination. So when Chambers said we got to build the number, people mistake the party with the politics. Yvette Carnell, there ain't nobody following you. If Yvette Carnell go down to Louisiana, you know how many people will be down there? One. And hey, come on down.

If Antonio Moore come from L.A. and go to L.A., go to Louisiana from L.A. to L.A. to do his work, no problem. You know how many people will be there? One. These people on social media. Organizations are, you may be able to catch somebody's attention on social media, but you've got to be on the ground and work. And that's why we have to de-link party politics

from agenda and issues politics. And there is a disconnect that has become wider and wider from the 1970s forward as generation after generation after generation of black elected officials don't have the institutional support to be able to bring that thunder. I don't really have a critique of the Congressional Black Caucus. What I have a critique of is black community, because this is finally, this is what I'll say, this is what happened. The class politics within the black community have been so shot through with not understanding how class works that we have now mistaken people who look like us as people who will

represent our agenda. And when you don't have institutions strong enough to force people to deal with your agenda, what you're left with is people who will do the best they can, but who don't have anybody to push them to do the work. And at that point, it don't even matter the color of the elected official. You can buy politicians. So yeah, if you want to support Brother Chambers, and I think we all should, he's reaching out to people who have mistaken DNR with the agenda of black people.

What are Democrats doing for us? Ain't the question. The question is what you're going to do for yourself and use the Democrats to get it. That's a different question. Let me, so let me just, let me say this real clear. Cause see, again, because see, I know all y'all little loud mouths going to do videos on me. Because that's the only way y'all get clicks.

Jason Black, Vicky Dillard, Boyce Watkins, all y'all. See, so here's why I'm putting it out the way I am. And just so y'all know, I had Gary on before he ran for the U.S. Senate. I had Gary on before he ran you're going to talk trash, if you want to call somebody, oh, you're a Democratic pawn, you're a Democratic sellout, you now have a black candidate who's speaking to your issues. That's right. You got a black candidate who sat there and lit a blunt in a commercial. You got a black candidate who burned a Confederate flag. I mean, you got a black candidate who said that he is high respect. Minister Farrakhan, you got a black candidate who is who pointed out point blank when it comes to reparations. He stands with it.

This real simple. Antonio, at Tone Talks on Twitter. Yvette Carnell, at Browning Brown, Breaking Brown, whatever the hell your name is. Jason Black, Black Authority, whatever the hell your name is. Again, all the letters y'all want to use. All your ADOS people, your FBA people, your B1 people. The man just said it. The Democratic governor won with 700,000 votes.

Won by 30,000 votes. 450,000 of the 700,000 were African American. I want to know, when are y'all going to go to Louisiana? And let me be clear again, Vicki, Boyce, Jason, Yvette, Antonio, when are y'all going to mobilize y'all people to do door knocking for Gary Chambers? When are y'all going to do passing out registration or having events, getting people out to register? See, this ain't a call out. This is a call to.

Let me say it again. I ain't calling you out. I'm calling call to. Let me say it again. I ain't calling you out. I'm calling you to. Because see, all y'all who run y'all mouth, I know I went to St. Louis to help Tashara Jones become mayor. Yes, sir. I know we went to Fort Worth to help the sister there try to become mayor.

I'm going to Texas to help Jasmine Crockett become the next member of Congress, actually my member of Congress in Texas. We going to Georgia to cover Warnock to make sure he gets reelected. I'm already reaching out to Sherry Beasley's office to go to North Carolina. We waiting to see who's going to become the nominee in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to see what, see, so I know what we're doing because I also know. And when we talk about a black agenda, we talk about who's going to stand for us.

Ain't going to happen if you ain't got Mandela in Wisconsin, Sherrod Beasley in North Carolina, Val Demings in Georgia. You got Malcolm Kenyatta, who's running for the nomination in Pennsylvania. We don't know. Again, he's not leading in the polls, so we know what's happening there. The point I'm making is, where y'all at? So I ain't calling you out. I'm calling you to. So it's real easy to tweet.

It's real easy to make little cute ass little videos on YouTube, running your little video, talking about, ooh, you in the boule. Yep, damn sure I am. But the one thing I know, the boule is mobilized and organized to turn out and spend money. Oh, you can say

what you want to say. Oh, yeah, you see it right here. Yeah, I'm an alpha. Damn sippy. Damn skippy. Got the tracksuit on as well. But here's what I know. Alphas all across the country got voter turnout programs. That's right. Oh, I know. Got voter turnout programs.

That's right. Oh, I know. You can talk trash. Oh, you Prince Hall Mason. Yep. I know they also turning folk out. That's right. So here's my question.

To all y'all talk all that shit about the boule and the black frats and all y'all call the black elite? What y'all punk asses doing? What y'all doing? How you mobilizing? How you organizing? Who you helping? What school board members are y'all electing? What city council members are y'all electing?

What county board members are y'all electing? What members of the state legislature are y'all electing? What gubernatorial candidates are y'all electing? What county board members are y'all electing? What members of the state legislature are y'all electing? What gubernatorial candidates are y'all electing? What members of the House are y'all electing? Members of the Senate? I ain't calling you out. I'm calling you to. And so what I want to know, are you going to show up for the game? And are you going to help coach or play in the game and are you going to help coach or play in the game

or are you going to go talk shit in the stands? Better yet, you can't even afford a ticket to the game. You're going to talk shit from your couch at home. Don't do it. Don't do it, brother. That's all I want to know. Don't do that. Because if we don't have time

for the bullshit YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook games. Today is March 17th. Primaries are happening in states right now. Runoff in Texas is in May. You got runoffs happening around the country. You heard Gary say keep it under 50% in November, come back in December for the runoff. All I'm asking is what y'all gonna do?

What you gonna do? Are you gonna show up? Are you gonna help? And if you're not, get your ass off and stop talking. Because if every single one of y'all don't go to Louisiana to help Gary, then you know what? You're full of shit. I'll be right back. ДИНАМИЧНАЯ МУЗЫКА Hi, everybody. This is Jonathan Nelson.

Hi, this is Cheryl Lee Ralph, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Supreme Court nominee Judge Katonji Brown-Jackson, she is making her rounds with members of Congress ahead of Monday's confirmation hearing. Wednesday, she met with Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock, who reminded everyone about the importance of her nomination. I'm happy to welcome Judge Katonji Brown-Jackson. And, you know, this is a historic time of nation. And the people of Georgia certainly want someone who is fair and qualified and who will support their constitutional rights and freedoms.

So I look forward to having a hearty conversation. Reese, I've been getting a kick out of one of the weakest members of Congress, this fool Josh Hawley. He's been sitting here whining and complaining. Now you've got Senator Mike Lee. So here's their new attack on her. Senator Mike Lee, the White House says, what about his response to Judge Jackson's very real record in child pornography cases?

It's dismissive, dangerous, and offensive. We need real answers. So now Hawley is trying to say, oh, she is just too soft on child pornography cases. He's been posting all kind of stuff. They ain't got none of this nonsense. You ought to hear this here. So this is Howley. So other than these juvenile histrionics, the White House has no substantive answers for the judicial record of a person they nominated. I mean, that's all they got.

Grasping at straws. I mean, you know, as a judge, she has a very extensive caseload. And, you know, as is with any kind of profession, you can cherry pick one or two things here to try to portray a certain image. But the reality is that Judge Katonji Brown Jackson is unimpeachable in terms of her record, in terms of her credentials. And you know what? They're really out of step with even the Republican Party at this point, which by and large has been quite supportive of KBJ's nomination. There really isn't a lot to gain from the average Republican in the Senate to oppose her, because she's going to sell through without an issue. And so I think this is more so for Holly,

an audition for 2024, trying to get on that ticket. But guess what, boo? Trump ain't trying to go nowhere. And DeSantis definitely is the biggest flaming white nationalist outside of Trump. So you need to just go on ahead and hang it up. You're not going to be president. Larry, this is what he's saying. Ooh, she has a long record of letting child porn offenders off the hook. Howie, go sit those little silly ass down?

Yeah, so what we have here, Roland, is throwing something against the wall and seeing if it sticks. You know, we've talked about this for the last couple weeks, and you know, Judge Brown Jackson is highly qualified. You're grasping at straws.

There's nothing, you know, she has an impeccable background in terms of serving in the U.S. Sentencing Commission, D.C. nothing, you know, she has an impeccable background in terms of serving in the U.S. Sentencing Commission, D.C. Circuit Court. So, like I said, her background is impeccable. So, they're just coming, they're just grasping and trying to find something. I think the other thing to keep in mind, Roland, is, you know, talk about people who want, members who want a judiciary committee in terms of how they use, they, you know, in terms of what happens next week. Some will use this as a platform, perhaps to catapult their presidential aspirations, so to speak. So for people like that who we know have aspirations beyond the Senate, certainly want to keep an eye on them and see some of the things that happen, maybe some of the antics in particular that take place next week. But the judges, like I said, her credentials are impeccable,

and we really should be just talking about when she gets confirmed. And then seeing her with Senator Warnock, I'm thinking of two people in the years down the line we'll be naming schools after. So that's what I'm really looking forward to. But I think the next week, the hearings in the Judiciary Committee will be very interesting. But like I said, throwing something against the wall and just see if it sticks, and it's not sticking. And Greg, look, you got folks like Howley. He's so embarrassing. Even his own damn biggest newspaper in the city,

excuse me, in the state, said he's an embarrassment to Missouri. And the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ain't the most progressive newspaper. No, that's right, Bronley. And yet they voted for him in Missouri. This story and the one before it with Brother Chambers are of the same piece. You can't expect Raphael Warner to burn a Confederate flag in Georgia. He doesn't get elected there, not yet. You can't expect Gary Chambers to do it. Now, both of those people will have a D by their name. Just as in the white nationalist party, you have chinless Josh Hawley, young chinless Josh Hawley. Another piece of a man, chinless Tom Cotton in Arkansas.

And another piece of a man, Ted Cruz in Texas. These are all pieces of men, pieces of men holding their tiny manhood in their hands as they go forth and try to broadcast something they don't have when they are driven apoplectic by black women. They are in the same party as others who are not as diminished. And yet they cover for each other, because when you put them all together, this is how party politics works. Now, what does that do? What we just saw, chinless Josh Harley, chinless Ted Cruz, and chinless Tom Cotton are driven apoplectic by the sight of a Katanji Brown Jackson.

And certainly sitting next to a Senator Warnock when they say there was a time when we could have had you all whipped. Well, that time has passed. And simply put, I agree with Reesey and I agree with DeWalker, I agree with y'all. You know, let's just get to the vote. We know you're not going to vote for them anyway. We know you're trying to position to be president. We know that you have been attacking women, particularly black women, who have been nominated for the federal bench.

Josh Hawley went after Arianna Freeman, who Biden put up for a seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. And in chinless time, Cotton jumped on Nina Morrison, who has been nominated for a district court position, for a district court position, a federal district court position in New York. This is on the front page of The New York Times today. You know what they went after them for? Being public defenders.

And guess what? Katanji Brown Jackson wasn't even really a public defender. She had 10, maybe a dozen cases that she appeared in as a PD, and they were all appeals cases. It wasn't like she was sitting in the courtroom holding the hand of people who were subject before the law. But the white nationalists say that you can't be a defender. You can't be a public defender in the United States. I'm sorry, I'm going to end with this wrong, because you had Gary Chambers on here tonight, and now I'm fired up. These people are our enemies. You're not going to build a bridge to them. There's no aisle to go across. You must destroy them.

Tom Cotton is an enemy of humanity. Josh Hawley is an enemy of humanity. Ted Cruz is an enemy of humanity. You must crush them. Crush them. And if you don't think voting is important, then there's really not much more we need to say to you tonight. You just need to go on and play with your two or three radical friends over here, or your two or three 8-ounce friends over here, and get out of the way of people trying to fight for liberation. Because when we win, we

help all of humanity. Let's not even argue with these Negroes no more. You must crush the head of those who are your open enemies. They would kill Katanji Brown Jackson if they had the chance in their diminished manhood. Folks, as simple as that, last story here. Ohio's May primary

elections will likely get postponed as the state Supreme Court strikes down the Republican in favor of a legislated map for the third time. The State's Redistricting Commission has until March 28th to develop and approve a new plan. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled the map is unconstitutionally slated

in favor of Republicans. Actually, this is going to be the last one because I got to get y'all comment on this. In Idaho, the state Senate has passed a bill allowing family members of rapists to sue medical providers who perform abortions. Y'all, seriously, the bill heads to the state house for consideration. I'm going to show y'all, listen to this, and I'm'm gonna get the comment from the panel and we're done but i saw this when i told y'all these republicans are sick and demented listen to this y'all i understand that that a uh someone who has committed a rape would not be able to uh sue if an abortion would take take place. Would a family member of said rapist be able to sue? Would they have standing?

Down from 21. Thank you. If it is the parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, grandparents, then yes. Same question then for incest as well? Down from 21. Thank you, yes. So if I am raped and choose to have an abortion and my rapist has 10 siblings, is there anything to preclude

all of them and their spouses from bringing a lawsuit for $20,000 each? Down to 21. I'm not sure their spouses are included in that list, but no. Recy, these fools are literally saying No. Recy. These fools are literally

saying that if a woman gets raped, they're pairing this bill off the Texas bill, that if a woman gets raped, a family member of the rapist can sue

her or the abortion provider. These people are sick as hell in the case of rape or even incest. Sick ass, demonic ass motherfuckers. That's what we talking about here. I mean, this is just disgusting. If you can sue me for having an abortion

from your rapist, degenerate, sorry ass family member, then you should be up in the jail with his ass doing the time for rape. Matter of fact, we're not even gonna do no jail. We're gonna do some street justice when it comes to that. These people are sick. And this is another instance of the lack of humanity that these white supremacists have.

And this doesn't just impact Black people. This impacts women as well. A lot of times women, white women, are stooges and foot soldiers of white supremacy, even though they have second-class citizenship, even within their own racial hierarchy. So this is going to impact them because we're talking about Idaho here, okay? But it just goes to the depraved, sick mind of these people and the control that they want to exert over people's bodies. And what's even more disturbing, if you think about this, this creates a financial incentive for people to be rapists. That's even more sick. You should be ashamed of yourself if you have a...

And maybe, let me not say that. You should be ashamed of your family member who's out there raping people, not try to embrace it to the point of suing a victim of your degenerate, sorry-ass family member's crime to have a baby or because they chose to have an abortion. It's sick, depraved, disgusting, and they don't see anything wrong with it, which is even more crazy. Larry, they are so pro...

They are so anti-abortion that in their minds, if a man raped a woman, if a man raped a child, they will say, suck it up, carry that baby to term, or if you abort it, you can get sued. Yeah, you know, those video clips are a lot, you know. And, you know, it's interesting because this is Women's History Month, and they're debating this bill during Women's History Month, which really shows how they have blinders on. The other thing to keep in mind, Roland, is that women are victims of sexual assault numerous times throughout the year. And the country needs to do a better job of making sure we're supporting women and encouraging women if they're victims of sexual assault to come forward. This bill doesn't do that. In addition, you have to consider

who's asking for this bill, right? I'm quite sure women in Idaho aren't asking for this bill. And then we've seen similar attempts in other states throughout the United States to pass legislation like this. And the country is heading in the wrong direction on issues like this. Once again, there are a lot of women who are victims of sexual assault and don't report it because they're worried about the scrutiny. So this kind of legislation, it doesn't make any sense. It's not certainly doesn't consider the needs of women. And the legislators who are proposing this and looking to pass this should be ashamed of themselves. Fifty-three percent of white women voted for Donald Trump, Greg. Let's see these white women say something about this here.

They won't for the reason Recy said, Roland. I mean, you know, last night I was in class, and one of my law students, actually, this is a sister who is getting an advanced degree, LLM. She's from Barbados, and she noted that they

just had a vote on a constitutional change. You know, if you're from Barbados, that if you are a man born in Barbados, I'm sorry, not Barbados, And she noted that they just had a vote on a constitutional change. You know, if you're from Barbados, that if you are a man born in Barbados, I'm sorry, I'm not Barbados, Bahamas. If you're a man born in Bahamas, Sidney Poitier's home, and you have a baby with a woman who is not from Barbados, the child is a Bahamian citizen. If you are a woman in Bahamas and you have a baby with a man who is not a citizen, the baby is not a citizen. They had a vote to change that in the Constitution to make it co-equal so that everybody is citizen. She said almost 70 percent of the voters voted to leave it the way it is. And Barbados is about 50-50 men and women. She said the deciding factor was that the conservative Christians in Bahamas

flooded media, radio, television, with this is out of the biblical order for women to have equality. Now let's come to the United States. Under his eye, the Lord owes this handmade thing we've seen going on now, and not just in Idaho. In Tennessee this week, they introduced similar legislation. Same bill.

And Rebecca Alexander, a Republican at Jonesboro, was the one talking, a woman. What we're seeing is beyond race. This is patriarchy tied to religious extremism. I'm not going to call it Christian extremism. It would be as erroneous to call this Christian extremism than it would to call al-Qaeda Islamic extremism. This is religious fanaticism we're seeing going on right now. And the reason they're shaving margins off with voter suppression around this country, the way the reason they're withdrawing power from localities to put it at the state level, the reason it's like, is because they know that a minority of people in this country stand for this foolishness. This is the pre, this is the preface to the handmaid's tale. They've got a handmaid now on the Supreme Court, and

they can count. They are going to overturn Roe versus Wade because in this society women are not human. This is the point that Reese is making. And you know what? It's a bunch of Negroes who believe that too, because they got a twisted version of Christianity in their mind. And they think

somehow women are not human. And the bottom line is, when this country comes apart, and you know what? I'm not going to weep one time. Why? Because society doesn't need for the United States to look the way it looks if this is where it's going to end up. You let them get away with this, will you say a rapist can get away with that? You know why? Because a rapist has a penis.

And a man is the only human. And at the top of the chain of man is white man. And that's it. There's no other way to read what we're watching right now. Folks, it's absolutely outrageous. That is it for us. I appreciate it. Recy, Greg, Larry, thanks for staying over with us.

Did not mean to go this long, but we had a couple of things to get off our chest. So I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Folks, don't forget, if y'all want support in what we do, please download the Black Star Network app. We're trying to get to 50,000 downloads. Apple phone, Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Xbox, Samsung, Smart TV.

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