#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Trump Convicted, Josh Gibson's MLB Records, Black Voter Turnout, Remembering Tulsa Race Massacre

Episode Date: June 1, 2024

5.31.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Trump Convicted, Josh Gibson's MLB Records, Black Voter Turnout, Remembering Tulsa Race Massacre Convicted felon Donald Trump slams the judge and the judicial process after a New York jury found him guilty on all 34 counts.  We'll show you some of his incoherent and senile remarks.  Major League Ballball records have shifted since the incorporation of Negro Leagues stats. Now Josh Gibson has become MLB career and season batting leader.  His great-grandson will join us to discuss what it means to his family for this recognition. A Michigan judge is confused by a man driving during his virtual hearing about him driving with a suspended license. Yes, he was driving without a license during his hearing for not having a license. We'll show you what happened during the brief hearing.  And in our second hour, we'll discuss Black Voter Turnout and what needs to happen to ensure we turn out in November.  And 103 years ago today, one of the bloodiest acts of domestic terrorism began in Oklahoma.  Today, we will remember the Tulsa Race Massacre.  #BlackStarNetwork advertising partners:Fanbase 👉🏾 https://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbasePoor People's Campaign 👉🏾 Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington, D.C. and to the Polls 👉🏾 https://vist.ly/37jmv Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend.

At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptuskids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real.

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. folks black star network is a real uh revolutionary right now support this Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. Be 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 scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You can't be black on media and be gay. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Martin! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm Martin. Martin! Thank you. Today is Friday, May 31st, 2024. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered,

streaming live on the Black Star Network. Convicted felon Donald Trump slams the judge in the judicial process after a New York jury found him guilty on 34 counts. We'll show you some of his incoherent and rambling, senile remarks. Also, a former producer for The Apprentice said that Donald Trump used the N-word in reference to Kwame Jackson winning The Apprentice. Kwame joins us right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Major League Baseball records have shifted since the incorporation of the Negro Leagues we'll talk with the grandson

of Josh Gibson right here on the show plus a Michigan judge is confused by a brother driving during his virtual hearing after his license was suspended. Damn. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st. And episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

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

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

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

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives.

Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. That brother's dumb. Plus, we're going to talk about Black voter turnout and what needs to happen to ensure we are voting in record numbers in November. Plus, 103 years ago, today and tomorrow, one of the bloodiest acts of domestic terrorism in American history took place in Oklahoma. We'll remember the Tulsa Race Massacre.

It is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered, on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine And when it breaks, he's right on time And it's rolling Best belief he's knowing

Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling It's Uncle Roro, y'all It's Uncle Roro, y'all It's Rollin' Martin Rollin' with Rollin' now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Martin

Now Martin For the last 26 hours, you know it's been the killing of Donald Trump, being referred to as a convicted felon. The day after being convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, he stood before cameras repeating more false claims, lying about his trial, and really saying some of the most incoherent, crazy, dumb, and idiotic things. Well, then again, that's how he normally is. Roll it. If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone. And these are bad people. These are,

in many cases, I believe sick people. When you look at our country, what's happening where millions and millions of people are flowing in from all parts of the world, not just South America, from Africa, from Asia, from the Middle East. And they're coming in from jails and prisons. And they're coming in from mental institutions and insane asylums. They're coming in from all over the world into our country. And we have a president and a group of fascists that don't want to do anything about it.

Because they could right now, today, he could stop it. But he's not. They're destroying our country. Our country is in very bad shape. And they're very much against me saying these things. They want to raise your taxes by four times. They want to stop you from having cars with their ridiculous mandates that make it impossible for you to get a car or afford a car. But make it very possible for China to build all of our cars. It's a very serious problem that we have.

We just went through one of many experiences where we had a conflicted... All right, I can't listen to all that bullshit any further. President Biden went before the cameras today talking about a potential deal in the Middle East to stop the war there between Israel and Gaza, but he also addressed the conviction of the Orange One. The American principle that no one is above the law was reaffirmed.

Donald Trump was given every opportunity to defend himself. It was a state case, not a federal case, and it was heard by a jury of 12 citizens, 12 Americans, 12 people like you, like millions of Americans who served on juries. This jury was chosen the same way every jury in America is chosen. It was a process that Donald Trump's attorney was part of. The jury heard five weeks of evidence, five weeks. And after careful deliberation, the jury reached a unanimous verdict.

They found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts. Now he'll be given the opportunity, as he should, to appeal that decision just like everyone else has that opportunity. That's how the American system of justice works. And it's reckless. It's dangerous. It's irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don't like the verdict. Our justice system has endured for nearly 250 years.

And it literally is the cornerstone of America. Our justice system. The justice system should be respected. And we should never allow anyone to tear it down. It's as simple as that. That's America. That's who we are. And that's who we'll always be, God willing.

Well, and of course, you know it kills Donald Trump to see these newspapers, the front pages all across the country. Look at the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Palm Beach Post, Tampa Bay Times, you name it. They all saying Trump guilty, guilty, guilty. Has to drive him absolutely crazy.

Now, folks, the day of this actually happened, a longtime producer of The Apprentice came out and stated that his nondisclosure agreement had expired. And he came out and said that he personally heard Donald Trump use the N-word in reference to the potential winning, Kwame Jackson potentially winning The Apprentice. Now, that was talked about in 2016. People say, well, there was these rumors. But this was the first time you actually had someone on the record say they heard him say it. He said there are tapes. And so joining us now from Spartanburg, South Carolina,

is the first runner-up on the first season of The Apprentice, Kwame Jackson. Always good to see you. Scott Bolden, Shanocee, I don't mind having Capos on the show. You always got to give it to you, Roland. You always got to give it to me. Come on now. You know I had to go ahead and reference that. And look, you know, I even got on my little 0 to 1906 black and gold, bro.

I tried to work with you. Remember, without Alpha, y'all just cap a sigh. We always do this. We start with this. Come on, that's how we do it. Always good to see you. First off, I just got to get your thoughts. I had a grand of peeking on yesterday.

I just got to get your thoughts. I had a grand of peeking on yesterday. I just got to get your thoughts and reaction. Really for the first time where Donald Trump is being held a count for his actions, and there were 34 of those counts. That's why I'm rocking my Earl Campbell number 34 jersey today. Okay. Okay. I like that.

I would go with Peyton. I would go with Walter Peyton number 34, but I respect that you're from H-Town. There you go. I respect that. There you go. I put it together. You know, I feel like most black people feel. You know, you're one of the voices of black America, and I feel the same. I feel like this is a jubilee moment, brother. time you can have somebody who needs to be held to account and actually see that person go into

the system, see the system actually work, and then get a conviction on 34 counts on the other side. Now, the second part of that system is what we have to worry about, which is what is this sentencing going to be? Is he going to do any time in jail? Is it going to be community service? Is it going to be house arrest? Hopefully, there'll be some assortment of those options so that we can see some accountability beyond just probation and a check. He had this news conference today and blaming everybody and deny, deny, deny. I mean, you swear he is perfect. He's done nothing wrong and everybody else just lying. Oh, I don't owe any small businesses. I didn't do this. I didn't do that. That right there,

if you are a supporter of him, you are just accepting the fact that you are backing an utterly delusional individual. Yeah, yeah. If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, then we already know the rest. And it's like people start to do all kinds of mental gymnastics to get themselves in a position to control their own mental frame around how they want to see the outcome. So whatever the Pied Piper tells you, you start dancing to the beat. So we already know that installed base of America. We can't go after that. We can't change those people. key swing states, the people who are in the margins, the Philadelphia suburbs, the Milwaukee

suburbs, the Phoenix suburbs, and getting those voters on the margin to swing this election, even in my home state of North Carolina or even now in South Carolina. You know, I've been interfaced with a lot of people on social media, folks, obviously. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back.

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

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family.

They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I've been talking about this.

We've been getting a big kick out of this. There are all sort of memes that have been going around. I saw a pretty funny one. Somebody at, where, do y'all have that photo of the Trump shoe? Y'all have that photo of somebody? I've seen a prison cell called Bar Lago which is good. That was a good one. I saw Trump Tower with the prison

tower watch where it was called Trump Tower in the middle of Plymouth. There's been some real good ones. There's the 34 counts. I saw the 34 counts with the count from Sesame Street. I like this one right here. Somebody put the ankle bracelet on one of them golden Trump shoes. That was pretty good.

And, again, folks are having a good time at it. But the point that you're making there is the ultimate way to shut him up and shut him down and to inflict even more pain on him is to give him that second L in November. That's it. That's it. And we got to hit him where it hurts. And we got to come out. All the folks who are thinking about not voting, we went through this before in 2020. We went through this in 2016. Please come out and vote. Your vote will make a difference. We already know the downstream ramifications of not voting. Folks who, you know, didn't vote. That vote will make a difference. We already know the downstream ramifications of not voting folks who didn't vote. That's how we got the Supreme Court justice we currently have and the three buffoons who come on and change the whole context of the court.

You know, even at the local level, whether it's your county commissioner supporting folks like Fannie Willis, your local district attorney. All those are local voting decisions that need to be made. So people need to give them that second L, like you said, and come out in the fall and, you know, hit the jumper when it counts. So let's talk about this apprentice producer coming out and coming on the record saying he absolutely heard Donald Trump use the N-word in reference to you potentially winning the show. Your thoughts? Well, number one, you know, he didn't say it to my face. Let's be very clear about that because that's not going to work out the way he thinks it's going to work out. So I never personally heard it. But Bill Pruitt is a

producer who was on the show. He was a friend. He was always a stand up guy. And, you know, 20 years later, look, it's a day late and a dollar short. So he's not going to get any profiles encouraged. John F. Kennedy style for me for coming out, you know, 20 years later, look, it's a day late and a dollar short. So he's not going to get any profiles encouraged, John F. Kennedy style for me, for coming out 20 years later when he had that information that could have helped the election. I always talk about in the spirit of Memorial Day, right? Who do we give medals of honor to? The people who show courage. People who run towards charging the hill are the people who hide behind the machine guns. So for me, Bill Pruitt, he hid that information for a long time, regardless of NDA, because leadership and courage is stepping up in the moment and making a decision that may even be with a detriment to yourself. So Bill, I love you, but you know, that's not necessarily going to get

you, you know, a lot of love with me. In regards to what he actually said, using the N-word, that's not even the question we should be asking, whether it happened, whether it didn't. That's very like fifth grade energy. Ooh, you know, your mama's so fat jokes on the bus. You know, that's not what's important, whether he called me the N-word or not. What's important are the downstream ramifications of his racism, creating that environment of permission, creating that permission structure for America to go to its most evil places. We saw that in Charlottesville.

We saw that with Charlottesville. We saw that with migrant commentary and things he said. We've seen that with the rollbacks of DEI initiatives at my alma mater, UNC, and my other alma mater, Harvard. We saw that with Claudine Gay, the president of Harvard, losing her job. We've seen it in so many other areas where racism has been given that permission structure, and that language really started with Donald Trump. So his use of the N-word is really an avatar for America's acceptance of

racism. We are OK with both overt and covert racism. And that's a hard, cold reality of what we need to face. And it presents an opportunity to do the work to pull ourselves out of that hole. Well, it's interesting you have Pruitt who says that this is on tape. But now Mark Burnett is like, oh, this is not on tape at all. Look, I don't think for a second that Mark Burnett would even release those tapes. He's done everything he could to protect Donald Trump and supporting him for the past eight years. Yeah. Mark Burnett, look, has never been, you know, some huge fan of mine. I've never been some huge fan of his. I feel like he's always focused on protecting

the Apprentice brand, protecting Donald Trump and focusing on his money and his next producer deal. So Mark Burnett also is not going to get a profile in Courage for me. I heard that Mark Burnett sold his production rights for The Apprentice to one of the big Hollywood houses, and supposedly they have the tape. But a lot of my friends are saying, oh, maybe I should initiate some sort of lawsuit to create the reason to have these tapes come forward. So we'll see. I don't know. But my thing is, it's not about the N-word. It's not even about me. I'm a big boy. It's not like the first time I've never heard that word or et cetera. But we know he didn't say it to my face. What it's about is the fact that we've created that permission structure in America to go ahead and do whatever you want to do in regards to race,

whatever you want to do in regards to policy, whatever you want to do in regards to funding. And that's the detriment that's happened here in America that we really need to fight. So just want to be clear, you are considering or will consider a suit that potentially could force these tapes to be released. I can be open to it. You know, if that's if that's something that, you know, could create a subpoena to actually have those tapes released, I could be open to it. Look, I'm not going to do all the legal work. That's for the legal minds out there and the context that I have to structure behind. But look, I'm not opposed to doing my part to move the needle with swing voters to get those decisions made that might get information out there that will create, you know, the proper amount of swing state votes to go against Donald Trump. So, you know, I will do my part in regards to that. But that's that's that's not on me. It is certainly been quite a crazy,

frankly, decade, if you will. He for it for it running for president 2011, chose not to announce in 2015. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3

on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

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

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

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

We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more.

Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. And I said when I was on ABC this week, I said the Republican Party, they've allowed evil into their home and now it has consumed them. So now they have to deal with it but the reality is what I also say to a lot of a lot of our folks and conscious folks who are white, Latino, Asian, Native American that what this what this man wants to do there is no bottom he has no bottom there's no such thing as oh he'll learn his lesson even when it comes to this guilty plea and so to inflict pain on him is to do the one thing that he absolutely despises, being publicly ridiculed and losing. Yep. Yep. I definitely agree with that. The fact that what we can do is to do our damage at the poll in November. We can definitely do that. We also

can do our damage by what we did to get this court to move forward with those 34 convictions. So essentially we've done that part. But now, like I said, let's hope that the sentencing is just as hard. But being able to constrain Donald Trump, to constrain his freedom of movement, his freedom of travel, his freedom to communicate, that's going to be something that he's never experienced in his life. And that's what I'm actually, frankly, looking forward to, because he pursued people like the Central Park Five with that same scarlet letter C, right? Convict, somebody who can't be trusted. You're a felon. You've done all these things wrong. You are evil. You're scum. He put that scarlet letter C on that Central Park

Five, and now he has to wear that central park, that scarlet letter C that he tried to put on them. And he has to experience the system that he tried to put people in who rightly did not have any reason to be in there. That's something, a false narrative that he pushed that essentially now is coming back on him. All right, then.

Kwame, always good to see you. And folk keep asking me if I'm going to bring my ascots back. Are you still doing your line of ties and stuff like that? You know, those are collector's items now, Rowan. It's all about if people could find them, they have to find them like on eBay or whatever. But no, it was a good run, made a little money and, you know, moved on to other ventures.

All right, then. Well, look, always good to see you. Keep giving them hell. And you don't look too bad in that black and old gold. Yo-yo to the news. Yeah, uh-huh. You can keep that little okay sign. All right. Kwame, I appreciate it, my brother. Thanks a lot.

Thank you so much. Vote, America, vote. Yes, indeed. Vote. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We'll be right back. Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Yeah, somebody's killing poor people and it's going on now.

When COVID happened, poor people were dying at a rate already of 800 people a day before COVID. If you went to a funeral every single day, it would take you 600 years to attend all the funerals of the people who will die from the ravages of policy,

violence, poverty, and low wages in America in just one year. It would take you two years and 19 days to go to all of the funerals of the people that will die today and oftentimes silence. Nobody talks about this political genocide, but we are determined today to remember their

death and be a resurrection of voting power and voice power like never before. Economic justice and saving this democracy are deeply connected. We, as a nation, must listen to the demands of the poor who are pushing and will continue to push political candidates and elected leaders to lift from the bottom so that everybody can rise. We are the poor, the marginalized, and the underpaid. And we are taking one step forward to say that everybody has a right to live. Poverty is not the fault of those who are impoverished. It is caused by those who make the policy. There are over 135 million poor and low-wage, low-income people in this nation.

The biggest block of potential voters by far is low-income, low-wage voters. I can't afford medicine. Sometimes I have to skip because of the cost. The farmworker community is tired of the violence imposed upon us by greed, exclusion, and denial of basic human rights. Those folk that represented by that casket, poor and low-wage workers who are the most moral people in this country because they go to work every day believing even though going to work is hazardous to their health. I'm tired of working 70 to 80 hours a week and still not have money for the necessity of bills.

I'm tired of getting sick and not being able to go see the doctor. Having to make a choice to pay between rent or the light bill or food or clothes. You cannot claim to care about families and a culture of life and then do everything in your power to rob people of equal access to resources and to force them to live in poverty. Leadership of both parties had waged war on poor people and low-wage workers. And this government has treated people experiencing poverty, including their military families, with disdainful, deliberate, malicious neglect. So the truth is that my son died from poverty. We refuse to accept poverty

as the fourth leading cause of death. The fourth leading cause of death in this, the richest country in the world. We march today for our children and the generations to come. And we need to do it with the loudest voices possible, the biggest actions possible. We will voice our demands and register our vote. When we stand up and when we stand together, things change. There is the electorate that is, and then there is the electorate that should be. Thirty-four million eligible poor and low-income voters did not vote in 2016. If just 20 percent of those voters in swing states were mobilized around an agenda,

they could change the political outcome of every election. So we're launching the most massive voter mobilization and turnout campaign in history of poor and low-wage voters, allies, and religious leaders. People are dying, but we know it doesn't have to be this way. And so we are calling on everyone to join us in this Poor People's dying, but we know it doesn't have to be this way. And so we are calling on everyone to join us in this Poor People's Campaign, a national call for more revival. We are here. We will be seen.

We will be heard. And our power will be felt. We don't need to be an insurrection. We are a resurrection that will be felt across this country. Are you ready? Ready? Ready? Ready?

We are a resurrection and we are ready. And we won't be silent anymore. We are a resurrection. We are a resurrection. We are a resurrection. We are a resurrection. We are a resurrection. We are a resurrection.

We are a resurrection. We are a resurrection. We are a resurrection. We are a resurrection. We are a resurrection. We are a resurrection. We are a resurrection. We are a resurrection.

We are a resurrection. We are a resurrection. We are a resurrection. We are a news anchor at Fox 5 DC. Hey, what's up? It's Tammy Roman and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, y'all. That's S. Dot with the slow whine. But we ain't got a slow whine here. Y'all know we got to bring the funk today. Ooh, I am loving all of the videos and the memes, just dogging Donald Trump.

Hillary Clinton had this to say last night. Thank you. Thank you so much. Anything going on today? I bet she's saying hashtag. I tried to tell you. All right, y'all. This Law & Order send-up really made me smile. ¶¶ ¶¶ Ah, this came from a Tonight Show.

I pay hush money because I've had a lot of fun. I fought the law and the law won. I'll be taking naps until it's all done. I fought the law and the law won. Somehow I'm still allowed to run. I fought the law and the law won. I fought the law and the law won. Take me home, mommy. Oh, my man, you guilty as hell one count you're going to jail two counts that's a large amount 34 counts you fucked around and found out cause you guilty guilty you're so guilty Guilty. Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn. You tried it, man.

Thought you could beat the system with your tiny hands. And the folks at 11 Films, they were up all night dropping this video. We've got a verdict. Ari Melber. We are looking at count one, guilty. Count two, guilty. Count three, guilty. Count two, guilty. Count three, guilty. Count four, guilty.

Count five, guilty. Count six, guilty. Count seven, guilty. Count eight, guilty. Count nine, guilty. Count 10, guilty. Count 11, guilty. Count 12, guilty.

Count 13, guilty. Count 14, guilty. Count 13, guilty. Count 14, guilty. Count 16, guilty. Count 17, guilty. Count 18, guilty. Count 19, guilty. Count 20, guilty. Count 21, guilty.

Count 22, guilty. Count 23, guilty. Count 24, guilty. Count 25, guilty. Count 24, guilty. Count 25, guilty. Count 26, guilty. Count 27, guilty. Count 28, guilty. Count 29, guilty.

Count 30, guilty. Count 31, guilty. Count 32, guilty. Count 33 and 34, guilty. That is Donald J. Trump, defendant, found guilty on all is Donald J. Trump, defendant, found guilty on all 34 felony counts. Oh my goodness, don't you just love it?

That's why again, I'm rocking the Earl Campbell throwback jersey from the Houston Oilers, of course. He was number 34, and so I just love it. I love it. I love it, y'all. Look, y'all see this here? Somebody posted this. This pretty damn funny here.

They put some prison bars over Donald Trump's star on the Walk of Fame. That's pretty cool. And then I thought this photo was absolutely great because you know he's talking about appealing. Here's the problem. These are the judges of the Manhattan Appeals Court. Five black women.

Good luck with that appeal, player. Dr. Niambe Carter, associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy out of D.C. Michael M. Hotel hosts the African History Network show out of Detroit. Jelama Jones, Texas State Representative and lawyer out of Houston. Glad to have three of y.C. Michael M. Hotel hosts the African History Network show out of Detroit. Jelama Jones, Texas State Representative and lawyer out of Houston. Glad to have three of y'all. Neambi, I'm cracking up laughing because MAGA has been losing their minds. I mean,

the crying and the wheezing and the whining and the threatening. I mean, they have been losing it. And I'm sitting here going, I'm confused. Y'all are literally defending somebody who cheated on his wife, slept with a porn star, lasted 90 seconds, then asked his attorney to pay a hush money, hit the payment, breaking campaign finance laws. And that's your martyr.

Well, I mean, we know this has never been about values or someone being conservative or a traditional family man. This is about white male power. And what they're really crying about is the fact that a white man like Donald Trump, who they think of as infallible and all powerful, faced any kind of repercussion or consequence because you know what he could have just did? Cheat on his wife, not paid the hush money, because clearly this cult of people do not care what this man does. Instead, he committed a crime to cover up something that, quite frankly, seemed to be right in his wheelhouse. This has never been a man known to be faithful in his marriages. I mean, we've seen the transcripts

from the various memoirs from Marla Maples to Ivana Trump. So I don't know what this was about other than the fact that these people can't stand that their leader, if you will, lost because they treat him almost like a deity. But I mean, you know, that's the round he found out. Michael, if you really want to see a video of a really just shameful, empathetic black man, it's this dude right here. I can't believe the hoax, the sham, this absolute injustice, justice system, DA Bragg and the judge should be ashamed of themselves. This isn't just ridiculous.

This actually erodes the confidence that Americans have in the justice system. Unbelievable. Un-freaking-believable. But good news is coming. DA Bragg, hear me clearly. Un-freaking-believable. But good news is coming. DA Bragg, hear me clearly. You cannot silence the American people. You cannot stop us from voting for change. Joe Biden's injustice, Joe Biden's two-tier injustice system, weaponizing the justice system of the United States of America against a political opponent?

Un-American. Joe Biden, you're fired. We the people stand with Donald Trump. I can't believe the hoax, this sham, this absolute injustice. How dare you? I mean, this absolute injustice. This year, how dare you? I mean, this is an abomination. This is a sham, like my engagement. I mean, what am I sitting here talking about?

I mean, this is just ridiculous. I mean, Joe Biden, how dare you? No, no, put Tim in the box. How dare you? I'm just, I can't believe y'all did this to my man. All the ass that I've been kissing, I've been sitting here backing this man. I mean, I've been sitting here.

I mean, what is wrong? How dare y'all do that to my patron saint? What's wrong with y'all? This ain't right. This ain't fair. Y'all gonna keep me from becoming the vice president. I can't believe y'all did this. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

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

comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated,

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.

In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means

to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill.

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

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend.

At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. This is not the United States of America. This is a banana republic and this don't make no sense. I'm highly pissed off. This is the most bass I've had in my voice ever in my life. And this is just wrong, wrong, wrong. Dammit, I need a lollipop.

Michael, go ahead. You know, this is what a certified Negro who is still under warranty looks like. Senator Tim Scott is a total disgrace, okay? And I know he likes to talk about he went from cotton, picking cotton, to Congress in one generation and things like this. But his ancestors that picked cotton in South Carolina, if they came back to see what he's doing now, they'd probably slap the black off of him, OK? So this is a just ruling, number one. It was a jury of Donald Trump's peers. He went out today rambling and numerous news outlets have fact checks on the lies he was telling, like the Washington Post from Trump Tower lobby, a gush of falsehoods about the trial. And then also keep in mind that during the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump was saying, you know, Hillary Clinton's emails, Hillary Clinton's emails.

But it was Donald Trump's own State Department. And I'm looking at the article from The New York Times, October 18, 2019. State Department inquiry into Clinton emails finds no deliberate mishandling ofified information. OK, so it's very interesting why he wanted to hang that over Hillary Clinton's head during the 2016 campaigns. And we found out his own State Department exonerated her. He gets busted trying to influence the 2016 campaign. OK, so this is this goes beyond paying just, quote unquote, hush money to an adult film star. This deals with trying to suppress information that he knew and his campaign knew would drastically influence the 2016 campaign against him. He was already saying he was losing votes with women after the Access Hollywood video came out. We have to use this as a teaching opportunity

because these videos and things like this, these are good. But if his ass wins the presidency in 2024, we're all going to be crying, okay? And then lastly, I saw the picture and the meme that you posted about the five African-American female judges. I posted an article about this. There are five of 21 appellate court judges, and they're chosen—if you read the article, misleading photos suggest Trump would face an all-black, all-female panel of judges on appeal. It's from the dispatch. These are five appellate court judges, but it's a total of 21 appellate court judges and it's usually a panel of four or five that are chosen randomly.

Michael, Michael, Michael, there's a phrase in radio called, go with the bit. You go with the bit. That comes from the time during the morning show. It's called, go with the bit. Right now, Michael, you're fucking up the bit. Okay? We don't need you explaining all their twins. No, no, Michael, Michael, fucking up the bit. Okay? No, no. We don't need you explaining. You can go with the bit. No, no, Michael.

Michael, Michael. Go with the bit. Don't mess the bit up. You got it all. I read an article in the Dispatch, and there are actually 21. Michael, go with the bit. Don't fuck up the bit. Okay, I got it.

Okay. No, Michael. Michael, go with the bit, okay? I know there are 21 judges. No shit. I Googled it Michael, go with the bit, okay? I know there are 21 judges. No shit. I Googled it. But go with the bit. I'm providing evidence.

Damn, you Sigmas. Fuck shit up. Go with the bit. No, we don't? Yes, you do. No, no. All right. Go with the bit anyway.

All right. Now, if y'all want to see somebody totally out of control, it's crazy deranged Megyn Kelly. This is her last night on News Nation. And talk about just trying her best to kiss Trump's ass. The organization wrote down legal expenses from the drop-down Adobe menu, and that made as much sense as anything else because hush money wasn't an option. He was paying his lawyer, who had made the payment to Stormy Daniels, and he was, I believe, reimbursing her, though he denied that reimbursing him, though he denied that on the stand.

I don't think there's anything wrong with doing that. I think you pay your lawyer money because he outlaid money for you. You could easily classify that as a legal expense. No matter what it's for, right? Even if it's illegal conduct, you can just put it in legal expense, right? This wasn't this wasn't illegal. There's nothing illegal about paying hush money for an NDA. It's done all the time.

There's not. But when you're doing it to protect your campaign, it is. That's the difference. No. What law are you citing, Dan? Campaign finance laws. You're not allowed to give the- You don't know what you're talking about.

What are you talking- You're wrong. Explain to me. Let me explain to you. Tell me what I'm getting wrong. Let me explain to you. Tell me what I'm getting wrong. Tell me what I'm getting wrong. You're spending $130,000. Go ahead.

I get it because you're saying that there are limits to the campaign contributions somebody could make and this has exceeded them and then they hit it. I understand. That's his theory. However, this has been wrong from the start. It does not amount to a campaign contribution if it is the kind of payment that could ever be made outside of the campaign context. That's not the standard. The standard is substantiality. Yes, it is.

It's not. It's substantiality. No, it's not. Yes, it is. You're wrong. Okay. No, it's not. You're wrong.

There's been Supreme Court precedent on this. Dr. Brad Smith, who is the advocate— Jelani, she can just run her damn mouth all day. Here's what we know. His ass guilty. 34 times. Absolutely. But here's what's killing me, man.

I swear on my mama, I need some grapes, some crackers, and some brie to go with all this damn whining that they're doing. It makes not a lick of sense. And first of all, I don't know why they're whining, because other people, because my other job as a part of being a state representative is I'm a criminal defense lawyer for 29 years. When you get convicted, they normally give you bond conditions. You don't get to just walk free, keep your passport, go and speak everywhere, talk bad about about the judge you don't get to do that other people would be locked up so they should be shouting hallelujah that he's getting special treatment that's one thing that's incredibly bothersome to me they talked about mark burnett i don't know if you remember this roland but i was on a show called survivor and back on juneteenth of 2020, a number of black survivors sued, well, we started negotiating and threatened to sue survivor Mark Burnett, Jeff Probst,

because they were anti-black. And as a result of that, all of a sudden you see diversity. So I have the documents if you ever want to talk about that. So Mark Burnett, even in other shows that he has, has had a bias against black people specifically. So this whole 34 counts, most times that doesn't happen, right? You have a whole bunch of counts, they throw something out. The evidence against Donald Trump was so pervasive and so overwhelming that even people on the jury who supported his dumb ass voted to convict him. So I'm sick of the 100. I'm in need for them to stop doing all that. And as the gentleman said, the first person that you talk to,

what we need to do is we need to vote. And the reason that we vote is because two Supreme Court justices are gonna be on the ballot. They just are, Alito and Thomas are old. And if Donald Trump wins, he gonna put some young ass people on the Supreme Court and they're gonna be there past the lifetimes probably of our children. And if you think that we can't go back to how it was pre Jim Crow, where they're lynching, then we need to worry, because the people that are going to get the most stepped on are us. It's always Black people. When he was talking last night, he was talking about letting people come in from Africa. Newsflash. And notice, he said all these countries that the Republicans hate, Muslims, he said, but he didn't say Europe.

So it's fine for us to let people come in from Europe. I wonder why that is, because they're white, maybe, but you don't want Hispanics. You don't want black people. You don't want Muslim people. He is going to exact revenge on us. So we know what happens when we stay home. It happened in 2016. And things got really bad.

So, we came out and we voted in 2020. Thank God. We better vote in 2024 because our children's lives and our grandchildren's lives are going to depend on it. And that's a fact. Now, you talk about the whining.

This, to me, was absolutely wonderful yesterday. Listen to this. I want to get John in for one final comment. If there is a conviction, what happens to markets tomorrow? Very simple. I think markets crash tomorrow if there's a conviction. But I think they will bounce back because, look, even if they put Donald Trump in jail, I think the American people will vote him into president.

We will vote him into the White House right out of the New York City jail. It's an outrageous trial, and people can see it. But if there's a conviction, you think there'll be a crash? I think the markets will do very badly. What are you talking about, a thousand-point loss? I think we'll see at least a 2% drop. Okay. John Carney, I want to thank you two percent drop. OK, John Carney,

I want to thank you. That was y'all. John Carney. John Carney said the markets are going to crash. They're going to tank. They're going to be down two percent. Here we go to my iPad. The Dow gained 600 points today, y'all. So all that nonsense didn't happen. Do y'all see how crazy these people are? Understand, they predict doom and gloom, and it was up 600 points. Let's beat his ass by at least 400 electoral college votes. Because, again, that's the way you really stick it to them. All right, y'all. I got to go to break. We come back.

We're going to talk about Major League Baseball. Josh Gibson, of course, now sitting at the top. Several different records. We'll chat with his grandson next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Support us in what we do, folks. First of all, join our Bring the Funk fan club. Our goal is to get

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Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Download the Black Sun Network app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. And we come back, some breaking news out of Florida in the case of airman Roger Forston, who was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy. I have that for you when we come back. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered back in a moment. Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media

for the creator economy. This next generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer

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

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice

to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.

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

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before.

I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids,

the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. Now streaming on the Black Star Network. If you look at all the best men, the movies, and then, of course, Sears on Pecan. Why do you think it resonated so well?

Well, I think it's a reflection of us. You know, I think it's a reflection of authentic black people, the way they see themselves. And in some instances, aspirationally so. This is Reggie Rock. Thank you for watching. Roland Martin, unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You hear me? Folks, breaking news out of Florida.

The deputy sheriff who shot and killed Airman Roger Fortune has been fired. He has been fired by the sheriff's department for using unreasonable, deadly force. The sheriff's office made this decision, made this announcement today, just moments ago. He's Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aiton fired Deputy Eddie Duran, who shot Forston on May 3rd after responding to a domestic violence call. This is the body cam footage here when he showed up on the scene. The sheriff here, of course, Forston opened the door. Only then the deputy yelled, drop the gun. The sheriff's office said in the statement, Mr. Forston did not make any hostile.

Go to my iPad. This is from Associated Press. Mr. Forston did not make any hostile attacking movements, and therefore the former deputy's use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable. This tragic incident should have never occurred. The objective facts do not support the use of deadly force as an appropriate response to Mr. Fortson's actions. Mr. Fortson did not commit any crime by all accounts. He was an exceptional airman and individual. Quickly go to my panel, Jolanda Jones.

First of all, now it's time for the DA get involved here. This officer should be indicted. He should be indicted, but the sheriff's department is trying to cover their butt, right? That's what they're trying to do. But also, I mean, you shoot a person who's in the military, bad optics, bad optics. So right now, I think that what they're doing, and there's also been a lot of pressure about it. So this has a lot to do with what it looks like. It remains to be seen what kind of settlements they're going to offer or anything.

But we've got to wait until a trial. And I just think that as more and more of these things happen, the only people that are getting shot for the most part are us. It doesn't matter what we do. It doesn't matter if we're military heroes. It doesn't matter any of that. And so it's going to get worse and worse and worse, but it's unacceptable. The Sheriff's Department is trying to cover its own ass. And I'm just waiting. And I'm thankful that he has the lawyers that, or his family has the lawyers that he has, because it's just wrong on all levels.

And I'm still trying to figure out when are police officers going to value black life? Why are they always shooting us when we're not doing anything? When white folks can kill people, shoot up churches, and they manage to bring them in and feed them no matter what. So it's a problem to me and the Sheriff's Department, and I'll say it again, for the third time, is covering their butt. But let's see how this all shakes out.

Henry, go back to my iPad. This is the Associated Press story. According to a Sheriff's report, after the shooting, when other deputies arrived to render aid, Duran walked to the breezeway outside the unit

and struck a wall with his right fist, saying, fuck. An investigator later asked him why he did that, and he said he thought that he was about to get shot it was um just kind of letting out whatever you know built up emotion and frustration he said according to the internal report it was just one of these things where you know as i'm standing there thinking i'm about to get shot i'm about to die he said once said and done it was all just all the emotion going, oh, my God, like, just let it out, he said.

Niambi? I mean, this is the kind of thing that often happens with police officers. All they have to usually say is they were afraid, they were scared, and then it's all good. In this case, you know, it's a shame that you kind of have to have a perfect victim for anybody to be willing to hold police officers accountable. I mean, this young man is in the military, done nothing wrong. And we have to consistently say what these people's resumes were to give them any kind of humanity, because if not, we'll believe that the police had a right to take their life for no other reason than being scared.

Being scared doesn't allow any of us to shoot anyone, to kill anyone. And yet the police do this with impunity all of the time. And if you are that emotional and you are that unable to handle yourself in a position like that, then you don't need to be a police officer. You certainly don't need to have your hand on the gun and basically unlimited opportunities to harm anyone you please because you're scared. Michael, check this out. According to AP's story from 2003 to 2014, Duran served in the U.S. Army. He served in Iraq. He also worked in military intelligence, moved into military law enforcement, received an honorable discharge, served in law enforcement career in Oklahoma, worked as a police officer and a KDOT officer from 2015 to 2019, fire marshal in Oklahoma, joined the sheriff's office in 2019, resigned

two years later, rejoined the sheriff's office 11 months ago. Sorry, no excuse. He had all the, well, you always hear training, training, training. He had all the training in the world. No, he was trigger happy. He should have never, ever had a gun. Yeah, there's a number of things wrong here. And, you know, Benjamin Crump has walked us through the case on various platforms.

So, yes, he should have never had a gun. Also, it appears that the officers went to the wrong apartment in the first place. But then the other thing is, Fortson is a lawful gun owner. He's holding the gun in his hand, but it's pointing down at the ground. So there is also going to have to be—and I don't know how this is incorporated into their training now, and even though we don't have nationwide standards for police training, they'll also have to be incorporated. What happens when you come to somebody's home and you have to think, this could be a lawful gun owner at the same time, OK?

How do you engage? How do you proceed? So this person, yeah, I think the department is trying to cover their behinds, and the DA needs to get involved and it looks like he needs to be prosecuted also. Hopefully justice will prevail here once again. And again, folks, the breaking news, the deputy sheriff in Okaloosa County who shot and killed airman Roger Forston, he has been fired by the sheriff there saying that he used unreasonable force in that particular shooting. Again, the quote, this tragic incident shouldn't have never occurred.

We'll be right back on Rolling Button Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. First, President Barack Obama's road to the White House. We got about 500 copies of the book available. And so this actually is all of the coverage of the 2008 election. But the other thing is this here. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.

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

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from

the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,

and the Ad Council. Talk to folks like Malik Yoba, Hill Harper, Erica Alexander, Kevin Lowe, Spike Lee, Tatiana Ali. There's a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff in here as well, where I talked about some of the stuff that went down at CNN. Also, when you go through here, a lot of the photos that you see in here are photos that I actually shot, photos that were my time at CNN. And so what I decided to do, because one, I published the book and I own it myself, is that so I said, you know what, I'm going to slash the price to $10. I'm not reprinting the book.

So once we are sold out of these 500, that's it. They're gone. So you can go to RolandSMartin.com forward slash the first to get a copy of this book. Everybody who orders this book through the website, not on Amazon, only through RolandSMartin.com forward slash the first to get a copy of this book. Everybody who orders this book through the website, not on Amazon, only through RollinSMartin.com, I will personally autograph and mail you a copy of this book. It's all of the coverage, the actual interviews that I did with him. And just to show you, of course, when it came out, there's actually even in here the interviews that I did with him and Michelle Obama, which won TV One Cable Network's first two NAACP image awards. And so all of that for $10.

Go to RolandSmartin.com the first and order your copy today. Hi, I'm Jo Marie Payton, voice of Sugar Mama on Disney's Louder and Prouder Disney Plus, and I'm with Roland Martin on Unfiltered. All right, folks, the Negro Leagues announced that they're going to be integrating the records. Sorry, Major League Baseball is going to be integrating the Negro League records into their records after segregating them all of these years. That's right. Took a three year research project. Major League Baseball to do this. As a result, Josh Gibson, the great hitter and player in the Negro Leagues. He is now going to be Major League Baseball's career leader with a 372 batting average, surpassing that of vehement racist Ty Cobb, his.367. He's going to be leading in several other categories as well,

including career on base percentage. That's going to be another one he'll be topping. And other Negro players will be also career slugging. Other Negro players are going to have their records also recognized. Josh's grandson, Sean Gibson, joins us right now. Sean, glad to have you on the show. Of course, Alpha Alpha, the brothers reached out to me from the national office, and they said, hey, get Frat on the show.

And I said, Alpha's always welcome on this show. So just got to get your initial thoughts on Major League Baseball. Let's be real clear. The real Major League stars were in the Negro Leagues, but for Major League Baseball to do right by these players for fans and for the future. Yeah, you're right.

We never considered the Negro League baseball players. We always considered Major Leaguers to our family. But Wednesday was a great day, not just for Josh Gibson, but for all the Negro League family members. This is a long time coming. As you mentioned, this actually started in 2020.

The commissioner made the announcement to include Nugget League staff into Major League Baseball record books. And now we're here three and a half years later and it's finally done. So it's a great day for Nugget League family members, Nugget League families, Nugget League players, as well as fans. So I'm glad to see this happen. And for so many people, and I've said for years and told folks, listen, they called the Major Leagues, but the Negro Leagues, they were not minor. Because when you look at the MVPs after Jackie Robinson came in in 1947,

the Negro League players won that almost every single year. They were the most talented players. And, in fact, the records also show when the Negro League teams played the major league teams, they beat them more than any other time. Yeah, you're right. I mean, you look at the ones who made it to the majors, you're looking at, what, Willie Mays, who played with the Birmingham Bears,

Hank Aaron. Of course, the biggest name of all, Jackie Robinson. You know, you mentioned those players came from the New Relief, and they were some of the most famous names in Major League Baseball. So a lot of the Major League Baseball players, if you look at Satchel Paige,

he came in in his 50s and played in the major. So the top black players that we talk about now played in the Negro Leagues. And you're right. Some of the greatest baseball players that ever come into the majors came from the Negro Leagues. And now they're finally being recognized. It's unfortunate, though, that these records are coming down

because, of course, most of the players are gone. But, you know, I know they're finally being recognized. It's unfortunate, though, that these records are coming down because, of course, most of the players are gone. But, you know, I know they're up in heaven celebrating and saying finally and about time that this is finally going on and this has happened in Major League Baseball. Questions for our pal Michael, you first. Okay. Thanks for coming on and sharing this information with us Can you talk about the gentleman's agreement Going back to 1887

That actually banned African American Players from Major League Baseball Because you did have African American Players before 1887 Can you talk about that some please Yeah for sure you're right We all know the famous first baseball player, Moses Fleetwood Walker, right?

And we all know he was the most famous in the early 1800s. But, again, with segregation going on, it just has that time that happened that there wasn't a lot of nobody else, you know? And I'm pretty sure I don't, you know, Moses is probably, you know, one of the dominant players back then. And they knew that after the American players can play this game either with the white players or even better. And it was said that, you know, they stopped it back then. But as we all know, Kenneth Salmon Landis, who was the commissioner of Major League Baseball, did not over 3,400 African-Americans to participate in the major leagues. And so it was a tragedy that, you know,

that these players never had a chance to play. Right. All right. Thank you. So how do you think this might maybe bring black kids back to the sport? My nephew played baseball, but I think part of that, I mean, you know, I know so many people like my grandparents and others who loved baseball and it was no small part because of black players. But that representation has been lost, gone. The greatness of these black players has been largely held up by black communities. So what do you think this may mean for black kids' interest and desire to play baseball? Well, you know, I hope this does a great,

it does a lot for black baseball. You know, with these young kids nowadays, there's not a lot of black kids playing baseball right now. A lot of black kids are playing basketball and football. But, you know, right now we're trying to get more kids playing baseball. There's a new video game I call MLB

the show that focuses on the Negro Leagues. So, you know, it's more about educating these young people about the Negro Leagues. But I think right now, even with Major League Baseball, you know, back in the 70s, it was around 27 percent of African-American baseball players in the Major Leagues. Now we're down to about six or seven percent. And so, you know, RBI programs and like you said, your local communities having teams within inner city, hopefully this will bring back the game. But also, I think now when you Google who is one of the top players in Major League Baseball, you're going to see people of color who look like them.

You know, they've taken the tie of clubs in the Bay Roos. So hopefully now our young people can understand that, excuse me, learn the history of the game and also play the game can also be a great part of the game with these young people can understand that, excuse me, learn the history of the game and also play the game can also be a great part of the game with these young people for today. Jolanda? So I think it's about damn time that Major League Baseball recognizes black players. But here's the truth. Whenever we go into white spaces, we dominate. I mean, all you got to do is look at Venus and Serena, Tiger Woods. I mean, you look at when we're allowed,

when they had segregated football, they get a black guy in football. Next thing you know, the Southwest Conference got black people everywhere because they just want to win. So I would actually not at all be surprised if the white people had to play against the black people, then black people probably have all the spaces. That's just what happens. And I'll also say that the black people, the ones that got into Major League Baseball before it was more of a thing, think of the racism that they had to deal with, the anti-blackism, how they were treated. So they did these things, having to deal with racism from even their teammates, because trust me, there were people who believed that they were there and they shouldn't be there. But when it comes to are black kids going to play baseball more? I know, for example, here in Houston, the cost of going to a major league baseball game is not affordable. I mean, it's just not. But anybody can have a football and they can play football out in the streets. And even when I go look at college baseball, say at the University of Houston,

you just don't see a lot of black people because it's never been pushed to us like that. At least when there was the Negro Leagues, the kids knew I can play baseball and I can play in the Negro Leagues. So I think that we have to do a lot, but I also think that we just don't know the history. Like sort of generally, we don't talk about history

and they damn sure ain't learning in school now with this attack on DEI. So I think it's going to take a lot from our community in order for us to get black kids to appreciate baseball and to play baseball is what I think. Sean? Well, you made a lot of good points. I mean, the first thing is, as you mentioned that, you know, the segregation, right? I've been talking about this for the past two days. You know, one thing I want people to understand is that when you see the Nigger League stats, they earned those stats. You know, they were

given those stats, they earned those stats. You know, when Josh came in at 466 in 1943, he earned that. And, as you mentioned, Nigger League baseball players had to endure a lot just to even get to the game and play the game. They had to endure racism, not being able to go to certain hotels, not being able to go to certain restaurants, dealing with the KKK.

And they had to endure all of that and still go to the stadium and still play the game at a high level. Major League Baseball players had they do all that. And so when you talk about the difference between Major League baseball players and New League baseball players, our guys had to do a lot of trial and tribulation just to play the game of baseball and play it very well. But for our young people, though, you know, again, like you said, the main thing is right now is that now they're going to be able to see, do the research, understand. And I think the most important thing is that we have to understand

the New League is not just about stats. It's a whole bunch of history that come with the Negro Leagues. It's all about the history as well of the numbers. It's not just the numbers, but it's also the history as well. Well, absolutely. Well, this is absolutely. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always

be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself

to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated,

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way.

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

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

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before.

I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Fantastic. I'm happy for all the descendants of Negro League players and, again, for the new generation of folks to understand and appreciate the fantastic play of these athletes.

And so it's always wonderful. For folks who don't know, are there any statues or monuments out there for Josh Gibson outside of the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City that people want to visit? Can you tell them about that? Yeah, there's several. There's a statue in D.C. at the Nat Stadium. People always ask, well, why is there a statue of Josh Gibson in Washington, D.C.? Because the Homestead Grays actually

played half their games in Washington, D.C. It was a gentleman's agreement to play half their games in Washington, D.C. There's several landmarks here in Pittsburgh as well. But for all the other Negro League baseball players, there's several landmarks in different cities. St. Louis has a Cool Papa Bell statue.

Wilmington, Delaware, Judy Johnson. So there's a lot of things coming up. And actually, coming up this month, Rony, you may or may not know, there's a huge gang going on in Rickwood at the Birmingham, which is the oldest stadium in the Negro Leagues.

And so I co-founded an organization called the Negro Leagues Family Alliance, which is a group of family members who are working together as one voice. We will be in attendance there. Hopefully Willie Mays will be there. And we have two of our other players, excuse me, Mr. Ron Teasley, who's 97 years old, who plays with the New York Cubans, who will be there. So we're very excited to celebrate that at the oldest stadium in the Negro

League in Birmingham. And that's taking place on Juneteenth, correct? June 20th, yep. June 20th. All right then. Sean, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot, Fred. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right, folks, we come back. Some sad news.

The first grandmother, Maren Robinson, Michelle Obama's mother, has passed away. We'll tell you about that when we come back. Also, we'll talk about black voter turnout. I've been telling you all what the fundamental problems are. We are not voting our numbers, and it's costing us politically. We're going to break that down in the second hour of Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network back in a moment. Now streaming on the Black Star Network. If you look at all the best men, the movies, and then of course, Sears on Peacock.

Why do you think it resonated so well? Well, I think it's a reflection of us. You know, I think it's a reflection of authentic black people, the way they see themselves. And in some instances, aspirationally so. On a next A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie, we're talking all things mental health and how helping others can help you. We all have moments where we have struggles. And on this week's show, our guests demonstrate how helping others can also help you.

Why you should never stop giving and serving others on A Next A Balanced Life here on Black Star Network. What's up, everybody? It's your girl Latasha from the A. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. ¶¶ Folks, Marianne Robinson, the mother of Michelle Obama, passed away today at the age of 86 years old. Many folks, of course, remember her traveling to the White House to stay there along with her daughter, her son-in-law, as well as their two children.

Of course, people always loved how she kept the girls in check. She was, as Michelle Obama said, there was a nudge to get her to move from Chicago. She did not want to leave her house in Chicago to come to the White House, but they needed her to care for those young girls when they were there. She, of course, loved being with them and doing all the work that she did. Of course, she had three children, Michelle Obama, Craig Robinson, Craig and Kelly Robinson, and the children, two children, I'm sorry. This is a statement that Obama's released on Medium that went out today.

Marianne Lois Shields Robinson, our mother, mother-in-law and grandmother, had a way of summing up the truths about life in a word or two, maybe a quick phrase that made everyone around her stop and think. Her wisdom came off as almost innate as something she was born with, but in reality it was hard-earned, fashioned by her deep understanding that the world's roughest edges could always be sanded down with a little grace. And so this is the full statement. She was one of seven children on the South Side of Chicago. The statement says, it talks about, again, raising the two children, being involved with the PTA,

and of course, being very much involved with her children's life and her longtime husband as well. And you see here what they say with a healthy nudge. She agreed to move to the White House with Michelle and Barack. We needed her. The girls needed her. And she ended up being our rock through it all. She relished her role as a grandmother to Malia and Sasha as just as she doted on Avery, Leslie, Austin, and Aaron. And so it says, the trapeze and glamour of the White House were never a great fit for Marianne Robertson. Just show me how to work the washing machine and I'm good, she'd say.

Rather than hobnobbing with Oscar winners or Nobel laureates, she prefers spending her time upstairs with a TV tray in the room outside her bedroom with big windows and look out at the Washington monument. The only guest she made a point of asking to meet was the Pope. Over those eight years, she made great friends with the ushers and butlers, the folks who make the White House a home. She'd often sneak outside the gates to buy greeting cards at CVS, and sometimes another customer might recognize her. You look like Michelle's mother, they'd say. She'd smile and reply, oh, I get that a lot. And so it's a lot more to the statement here. I'll say this here.

One of the things that one of the funniest stories, Obama called into the Tom Jordan morning show and we were talking. It was either right before he went on, before we taped the interview or in the end. He also talked about how she loved going to the casinos. And then when he was talking, finally he went, hold up, we may not even talk about that. So y'all go ahead and strike that from it. So I remember that we all cracked up laughing about Maren Robinson, a lover of the casinos. And so certainly we send our condolences to the Robinson family, to the Obamas as well. Marianne Robinson, 86 years old, the first grandmother, passes away. And so condolences again go out to her.

We'll be right back. We talk about blackness and what happens in black culture. We're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people powered movement. A lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it. And you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us.

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We're behind $100,000, so we want to hit that. Your money makes this possible. Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash App is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated.

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

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

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

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

And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it.

I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherry Shepard Talk Show. You're watching Rolling Mark. Until tomorrow. Y'all have heard us talk about all day the importance of voting. We focus on that a lot. You heard me say repeatedly voting is not the be all to end all. But what is important for our folks to understand

is that unfortunately, what we are not doing is using all of our power. Over the last several election cycles, black voter turnout has been down. Look, now we totally understand that because the historic election, the nation's first black president, caused record numbers in 2008 and 2012. Now we're seeing those numbers drop back towards pre-Obama levels. But here's the problem with that. And this is where the percentage of votes that Trump got in 2016 made the difference. When you see black turnout drop, then that actually makes the 8, 10, 12, 14 percent that he got even more important. We're seeing right now, of course, a lot of these white polls talking about he's going

to get 20, 23 percent. None of the black polls show that. But the problem that we have to understand is that whether we're talking about Biden versus Trump, whether we're talking about Jeff Landry becoming that MAGA Trump-like governor in Louisiana, whether we talk about what's happening in other states, Kemp in Georgia, or county level mayors or whatever, when black people are not maximizing our voting power, what we're doing is we are making it possible for folks who do not support our positions, who do not stand with us, to then have power and for them to then be able to determine our fate. I made that particular point

as the elections were going on in Louisiana. Activist Gary Chambers was on the show talking about that. Gary posted this. Give me one second. He posted a series of things on Instagram talking about this very issue. We kept driving this point home. And you know what? A bunch of other black media was real silent. And see, so my problem for right now is I don't want to see these black media people right now doing stories and posting tweets about what's happening in Louisiana if y'all wasn't saying a damn thing before he got elected. And it's a whole bunch of folks out there now complaining about the bills being passed, the power grab that he's involved in. And guess what? They were real silent when it came to trying to get people actually registered to vote.

And so what do we now have? We now have a far right wing MAGA Republican who is seizing power because they now have a super majority in the legislature. And so they can do whatever it is that they want. And so when we talk about these things, what could happen if Trump wins in November? If you think what's happening in Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama and Florida and Georgia and Arkansas and Tennessee is bad. Oh, boo, you ain't seen nothing until they take the White House and the United States Senate in November. Joining us right now is Gary Chambers, activist out of Baton Rouge. Also, we have Dr. Robert B. Cole Baker, a visiting assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Gary, I want to start with you because we have, let's be real clear, we've got ops right now in our community. We've got black people, black people with platforms, with following, who are saying, don't vote, don't vote, don't vote. They ain't done nothing. They ain't done nothing. I had some dude who's a foundational black American tweet about, oh, yeah, Trump 2024. We're going to make these Democrats pay. And the reality is and I say, well, that's pretty interesting because you you say you want reparations.

I said, ain't a single Republican out there standing for reparations. I said everything on your agenda they against. But you holler in Trump 2024. And we have to recognize that there are people who are invested in keeping black people from not going to the polls. And when that happens, then we screw ourselves because we're not taking advantage of our power. You know, Roland, you're absolutely right. We have a it seems like an all out assault from some folks in the hip hop and entertainment industry. A lot of influences out there. And when you say don't vote, you tell me that you fundamentally don't understand how the government works, especially if you are somebody who's paying an immense amount of money in taxes. You don't stop paying your taxes, but you're going to tell me that you're going to stop voting. Every time you go to the store, the government takes some of your money.

So what you're deciding is that I'm going to let other people decide who spends my money. You're also deciding who's going to determine the quality of schools. You're deciding who's going to determine who leaves my police department. You're deciding who's going to determine the quality of the libraries in my community, whether or not my potholes get fixed. There are people who have the privilege of being single-issue voters. I understand the terrible genocide that is taking place in Gaza. And there's a lot of folks who are saying, well, I can't vote because President Biden is leading this effort in Gaza as far as the funding goes. Here's the reality. America has never not been bombing other countries. The reality is you just didn't know about it because you weren't tuned in to what was

taking place with the government that you've been funding. And so now that you're aware, not participating is not the pathway. You can't change the funding if you don't vote for the members of Congress. You can't change the funding if you don't vote for the United States senators. The president of the United States is not the only thing on the ballot. And you're short-sighted, almost cuss, simple-minded individual if you believe that not voting for the president is hurting anybody other than you. You are hurting yourself when you don't participate in the process because you allow your enemies to decide who's at the table deciding what's on the menu. I'm not. I have never been in love with the party. I've never been in love with a politician,

but I have been in love with black people. And for me, when I look at civil rights, for me, when I look at voting rights, for me, when I look at black investment, investment in black businesses, when I look at investment in black colleges, in fact, there was some fool on Twitter today, I might find it, who actually put out a tweet with a screen grab of the American Rescue Plan saying, see what happened when we voted? Because it showed $2.7 billion going to HBCUs,

but $11 billion going to Hispanic-serving institutions. But this person was too stupid to realize that a Hispanic-serving institution is any university that has 25% or 20% or 25% more Hispanics. Texas A&M qualifies. PWIs qualify. So this fool puts out information saying how, oh, we lost out on funding. What he did not post was the $16 billion that HBCUs have gotten over the last three fiscal years. But that's sort of the nonsense that we see.

And what these folks don't understand is, and it's crystal clear, these folks don't plan all of the money HBCUs have gotten of the student loan debt relief over the last three years. We talk about investments in black organizations. Also, not only that, under Trump, they were bundling contracts so only in large companies could compete for them. The Biden administration has been unbundling contracts so smaller businesses can qualify. None of that stuff happens if they are back in charge. That's just a fact. Amen. Amen. And when you look at what's happening across the country with community violence interruption, digital equity grants, you know, infrastructure, you can see the

Biden plan at work. And my main problem with the Biden administration, they did a very bad job telling the story. We all remember during the Obama administration, the signs, the stories, the influences everywhere. Unfortunately, the Biden administration took a little bit too long to warm up. And actually, I'll be honest with you, Robert, Obama was bad, too. He had to come out and admit that we thought people were going to get it. And it was like, no, bro, you got to sell it. That first stimulus bill they passed, they didn't tell anybody, and he was getting nailed.

And it was like, dude, you got to sell it. This is Democrats' problem. As Plies talked about, they don't know how to take credit for stuff. Right. Amen. I'm not going to debate. You know, we can go back and revisit the Obama administration. There's a lot of things that we should have did differently, both as a community and he should have done as a brother. But he was better. He was a much better salesman. And they got a very difficult salesman at the top of the ticket. And I think that's why we need to get people like yourselves, you know, out on the road in these battleground states really telling the story. This is a very clear issue. And I know a lot of my people come from the more radical left and we're looking at Palestine and it's a very horrific thing. But I think even that is clear when you see Nikki Haley in Palestine,

you know, riding on bombs and celebrating babies being killed. I think we have a really big difference and we have to be honest about where we're at. If not, we could be in a lot of trouble. The thing here, I'm going back to not in love with a party or an individual. And what you have with these ops, Gary, they're out here going, ooh, you

butter biscuits, you dancing, you tap dancing, and all this sort of stuff. And I'm sitting here going, no, I know what the hell I'm talking about. Because federal, state, county, city, school board, right now in Houston, the largest school district in Texas, majority minority, folk are pissed off that Mike Miles is controlling the process because the Republicans in Austin took over the legislature.

Well, guess what happens? We don't vote in statewide elections. They have that power. In Louisiana, the reason they are running roughshod, they just voted to give the governor power over every state task force and committee, some 148 different boards, because they now have a supermajority. If they don't have a supermajority, they got to work with Democrats. Supermajority, they can do what the hell they want to do, and they are moving fast to completely dismantle and seize power for the next 100 years in Louisiana?

You know, the reality, Roland, is because people don't understand the power that they have in their vote, not participating in the process is how Jeff Landry became the governor. This is a man who won an election with 30 something percent of the people in the state showing

up to vote. He won 50 plus percent of that vote, which was about 19 percent of registered voters. 19 percent of registered voters is less than 20 percent. I think it's less than 15 percent of the total population of the state decided who the governor is because people just didn't go to vote. When you don't vote, you give other people permission to make decisions on your behalf. When you don't vote, you allow your enemies at the table for you. More importantly, you give the ability to say that everything that you are working for in your community is not of the same value as somebody else. If you don't understand the process, just say that. But don't sit here and say that people aren't doing anything.

If you're frustrated with the speed of the process, just say that. but don't say that people aren't doing anything. I don't believe in blind loyalty, and I'm not one of the people that gets invited to the White House. So when I tell you to vote, I'm telling you to vote because you need to vote for yourself, for your kids, for your grandmom and them, because at the end of the day, these people taking your health care, they're putting your kids' records online, they're now stripping away — they're giving a law right now in Louisiana that you got to be 25 feet away from the police officer if you're filming them when they're brutalizing you. So the question is, does the cop have to take measures, or do I, to determine how far we are from the police officer? The governor is going to pick the chairman of the board of

every state college and institution in the state. He's going to pick the chair of the board for every board that's in the state. Why does one man need to have the ability to appoint the chair of the board if you appoint the members of all of these boards in the first place? Because I want to control what's on the agenda of every meeting in every corridor of the state of Louisiana. And if you got anything on there about diversity and inclusion, if you got anything in there about equity, I don't want you there. And that's because you just decided you couldn't go around the corner five minutes from your house and click some buttons in a machine to make sure that somebody was there to defend you and your family. Here's a reason why this really jumped out at me. And that is when I look at various polling.

Now, first of all, again, I understand a lot of these polls in terms of how some of these are. And so this was a story that was in the Hill share of black Americans planning to vote drops. And it says fewer black Americans are certain they will vote in this year's election than in 2020. Only 62% of black voters say they are absolutely certain they will vote in November, which is a drop from 12.2020. Now, first of all, this is May. It doesn't mean the number is not going to go up. The issue that I have is, and again, I totally understand people's concerns. I absolutely understand genocide, Israel and Gaza. I totally understand people's concerns. I absolutely understand genocide, Israel and Gaza. I totally understand people who say they want the George Floyd Justice Act.

They wanted voting rights legislation. I understand all of those things. But here's what I also know. Republicans, if they get control, if they control the House, the Senate and the White House, every single one of those five million Americans who got student loan debt relief, they're going to roll that back. I absolutely know, it is guaranteed, Donald Trump has already said, y'all find me the soundbite,

he has already said, oh, we're going to let cops do their jobs. We're going to grant them blanket immunity. That's going to happen. You have right now 10 patterns and practices investigations, Robert, with the Department of Justice against police departments. They have been putting prison wardens, jailers, corrections officers in prison for brutalizing inmates, many of them African-American. They have been shutting down banks and others, redlining black communities.

None of those things will happen under a Trump Republican Department of Justice. And so if you was thinking about sitting on the couch, better understand you're going to be real pissed off when another black man gets shot and killed by a cop and you don't have a federal investigation. You're going to be real pissed off when funding drives up for HBCUs. And then you're going to be like a lot of the black folks in Louisiana complaining on social media when they could do something about it. Man, I got to say amen again twice in the same episode. And so, you know, yesterday I was watching your old network, and Brother Tim Scott was on there talking about jobs and justice.

And he was saying justice, getting rid of the FBI and Department of Justice. And it's mind-blowing in the context of Shelby v. Holder and their gutting of the Voting Rights Act and what they've done to make it harder for people all across the country. Now, if all this is going on and they didn't make it harder and they didn't have these tapes of Donald Trump saying the N-word, hey, maybe the Republicans would be a good opportunity for us. But it's not. You know, we're being pandered to. We're being lied to. And unfortunately, the algorithms, Facebook and Instagram, they're lifting up people like, well, Vicky or King Garcia or academics, you know, these bloggers who have absolutely no, you know, relevance in the political. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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

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

And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

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

What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council.

Sphere, and they're making them, their messages hit our youth. And so they're being confused. And even my own son was pretty smart. Yesterday I said, you see, they got Trump. And he said, you know, all politicians are like that, you know, and that's unfortunate. And because our people have so much misinformation. And so hopefully we can do more to get your voice amplified in the, in the battleground states. Neomby, this is a piece from the Brookings Institution. It says here, new voter turnout data from 2022 shows some surprises,

including lower turnout for youth, women, and black Americans in some states. Robert is right there in Milwaukee. Here's a fact. 50,000 fewer people voted in Milwaukee in 2022 than 2018. If those 50,000 people in Milwaukee vote, and we know typically how they vote there, Mandela Barnes is a United States Senator and not MAGA Rob Johnson, Ron Johnson. Now, I've been real clear that Mandela Barnes ain't been happy with me. His campaign should have done more. His campaign didn't do what they were supposed to do. But what I'm saying to black

folks in Milwaukee, we can't wait on somebody's campaign. The fact of the matter is black folks in Milwaukee would have been better served with the Mandela bars as a U.S. senator than Ron Johnson as a United States senator, because he was one of the January 6th co-conspirators. And I think you're you're you and your guests have been exactly right. Roland, this idea that we have to be in love with candidates or parties. We need to make practical choices and we are all constrained because the truth of the matter is whether those 50,000 people show up or not, somebody is going to win this election. And to your point, it's probably not the person you want. And it makes me think of what Jesse Jackson said when he ran in 84, when he was

attending a Baptist in Philadelphia. He said Ronald Reagan won by the margin of despair. And I think we're seeing something similar happening, not just in Milwaukee. You can think about the Miami, the Atlantis, the Durham, the D.C. All of these places where you have people who are disaffected. And like you said, I get the frustration. But politics in and of itself is meant to frustrate. It's not supposed to change quickly. That's the point. But when you think about everything that is at stake, we have to be real clear. We've got to make the best decisions we can with the limited options we have. The options aren't going to change. The political system isn't going to change. And keeping our votes to ourselves just might mean we won't have a vote the next time, because these people are very clear about what they're trying to do. They've already done it in some places, but they're going to do it in other

places. They are trying to destroy our communities. They're trying to destroy progress. They're taking away our citizenship rights. They want us to be what America used to be. They're not whistling Dixie on this. This is a real decision that they've been making and they have been doing it since the civil rights movement. They have been working on this. You know how dogged and determined you have to be to wait for 60 years to do this kind of stuff or to be planning for 60 years to do this kind of stuff. And they finally got their foot in the door. And you better know that if Donald Trump gets in again, Clarence Thomas, Justice Alito are going to step right on down. He's going to stack the lower court. And then we're not going to mention all of the departments that he said he wants to get destroyed. Then you got to think about the people that are coming into governor's offices, into city councils, into school boards who want to restrict our education and keep us learning

from Tulsa and all of these other things that are important to us. I mean, these people have a plan for what this life is going to be, and it does not include black people's well-being. You know, it really drives me crazy, Jolanda, when I hear these dumbasses say, man, there's some scare tactics won't work for us. Earlier, you talked about that Trump wins, Republicans win. They will appoint two new Supreme Court judges.

Alito and Thomas will step down. But we already see what happened with the last three. The reality is Biden-Harris gets reelected, then they got to try to hold on, and they try to step down. Democrats get to appoint two. You already got three progressive judges. That would give Democrats the majority on the Supreme Court. Now, all of a sudden, you're talking about changing laws.

I'm from Texas. You're there in Texas. For folk out there, again, who want to play these games, who don't quite understand what America will be like if Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House, just go ahead and let them know the hell you got to deal with in the legislature. Republicans control the House, control the Senate, control the governor's mansion, and they're just running a rough shot, and they control the state Supreme Court, and they control all state oppositions, what Texas looks like. And all the courts of appeals. So it's very, very, very difficult.

We go in. We, the Republicans, have a majority in all the courts of appeals. So it's very, very, very difficult. We go in, we, the Republicans have a majority in all the branches of government. So Democrats very rarely are able to get bills out of the House to get to the Senate. When we do get bills from the House to the Senate, the Senate is overwhelmingly Republican. They vote down all of our stuff. And then the governor goes and he signs all of this anti-black stuff. So I'm talking about black people. And, Roland, I want to say this really quickly. I'm really thankful that you have this station because the mainstream media is whitewashed and they don't tell the truth. But I think that what we need to be as black electeds is we need to go into our

communities and we need to connect the dots for them. People that are struggling, we have lights. We didn't have water. We got evicted all the time. My mother was trying to figure out how she was going to pay the rent, how she was going to pay the car note, how she was going to fix a broke car. So my mother wasn't paying attention to that stuff. Of course, we were worried about how we ate. So what's—and also, Roland, there are digital divides.

So some people who are poor don't have access to the Internet. I say that to say this. When you're struggling, you're worried about the thing you can't pay or the thing that's keeping you down right now. We as elected officials have to go, and we have to speak to people and connect the dots for them. Like, you're mad that they've taken over H-I-S-D? Well, we need to have more state representatives and more state senators and a governor who appreciate public education.

So you can't miss that election. Or you don't like, you know, what they're doing in a school or how much they're paying. Well, you need to go to the school board. People don't know that. And I'm ashamed to say that when I ran for office and when I was 37 years old, I'm about to be 59. But when I was 37, I didn't know there was early vote. So a lot of people don't vote early, Roland, because they don't know there's early vote. And I was a lawyer by then. So we that know the system, we've got to go talk to people. And we also need for local electeds to go and talk to the people because they're around us.

But one thing I'll say, and let me be clear, I'm a Democrat and I'm voting Democratic, but I'm challenging the Democratic Party in Harris County and in Texas to do better by Black people. You were the only media initially who followed that the Harris County Democratic Party, led by white men, were trying to remove black women from the ballot who were running for judge. So we can't get media to cover these stories. They don't want to do that. We've got the same problem here with pride. Pride, which I happen to be the first openly gay person in the Texas legislature, it finally has black people on it while a white group is coming.

They're trying to take pride back. The mainstream media won't cover it. And so what I'm saying to you is the people that are in the trenches where they are need to go and explain to their constituents because we're proximate to them. We're close to them because some people are just struggling so hard. And I think that we have time, Roland. That's what I'm excited about. We have time. It's what, May? It's going to be June. So we can go out and we can make a commitment. The elected, we have things that we can talk about. We can come to you. We know you'll talk about it. But it's way more complicated than we think. But we cannot speak over struggling people's heads. We've got to connect the dots for them.

Otherwise, we are going to be apathetic and we're just tired. And the thing here, and I appreciate talking about terms of the role of the show here, I love these fools. I love these fools. Man, you sitting here begging for the money.

Guess what? Let me be real clear. The political advertising money that we got in 2020, that paid for the staff for the first six months of

2021. Because advertising dropped. Now, all y'all fools who talking all this mess, Sinclair, right-wing Sinclair, after the 2022 election announced they made

$314 million off of political advertising. And for all y'all folk who run y'all miles talking about, man, you trying to beg for dollars. Understand this here. Every media

company in America, Box, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS, Salem Radio, Westwood, Cumulus, iHeart Radio, Urban One, Radio One,

every single media company projects they're going to make 30 to 40 percent more money in an election year because of political ads. And that's going to handle their budgets in the first two quarters of the following year. And so you can't on one hand go, man, we got to do for self when the reality is this here. If we're able to get two, three million in advertising, that's more than our fan base is giving. And that keeps me from having to keep begging folk to give because they should be advertising on this platform just like they do on all the other networks.

We talked about connecting the dots and that's what all this is about. Robert, I'll come back to you before I go to Michael. Here's the thing. And for the folk who don't understand, Robert, you're there in Milwaukee. Who is more likely to meet with and communicate with black people in Milwaukee?

Would it have been a Senator Mandela Barnes and his staff or Ron Johnson and his staff? I mean, that's a no-brainer. You know, salute to Mandela Barnes. And you have me on right after the election, and I have my own problems with the way he ran his campaign. But that's a no-brainer. You know, salute to Mandela Barnes. You have me on right after the election, and I have my own problems with the way he ran his campaign, but that's a no-brainer. Mandela is still out in the community, and I just saw him at an event with Vice President Kamala Harris,

and he was there smiling and shaking hands, so that's a no-brainer. No, no, no. The reason I'm asking the question, because part of this thing that I need people to understand is is that a lot of the issue people to understand is, is that a lot of the issue with politics, Michael, is access. One, can you even get them on the phone? Two, can you even get a meeting? Three, can you get a meeting to make demands? It's one thing to

say we want this, this, this. It's something else when they don't even return your phone calls. You just had a runoff in Texas. Dan Phelan, who was the Speaker of the House, got reelected. The Republicans said the only reason he won the runoff because Democrats crossed over. It doesn't matter if he went. They are his constituents. But the way Republicans operate, they operate as, oh, we don't even talk to Democrats. So I'm trying to tell our folk this is why we can understand who's in power.

Yeah. And that last word that you mentioned, Roland, is key power. And this is what I've explained a number of times on this show. We have to explain to our people that you don't vote for exercise. You vote for power. You vote for policies that are beneficial to you, your community, your people, policies that are good for African-Americans, are good for America in general. You have to look at why Republicans work so hard to suppress our vote. Why Shelby County v. Holder, U.S. Supreme Court case 2013 was filed? Because they've been trying to repeal or weaken the Voting Rights Act since 1965, OK? And then

we—then when we look at those who are in support of a ceasefire in Palestine, and they're saying they're not going to vote for Joe Biden or go do something stupid like vote uncommitted. Well, if you listen to Donald Trump, Donald Trump said he will cut off all humanitarian aid to Palestine. Number one. Number two, when he was in power, when he was in office, he banned Muslims coming from seven countries. Three, Netanyahu wants Trump in office as opposed to Biden because he knows Trump will allow him to do whatever he wants to do. So we have to understand consequences. And I wanted the two brothers just to talk about how they explain to people on the ground how they connect policy to conditions, because a lot of this is disconnected from us.

We hear these different laws. We hear policies. We hear American Rescue Plan, things like this. But if you can just give us, if you don't mind, one or two examples of how you connect actual policies in existence to conditions to connect the dots for people. Gary, you first. One of the things that I thought is critical is that, you know, if you are not having conversations with the people that are running in your local community about what's taking place, then you can't expect those people to deliver on something that you're not putting a demand on. We're expecting people to come into our

communities and do things that we haven't even asked for. When I first got into advocacy, there wasn't an emergency room close to my home because the previous governor, Bobby Jindal, closed hospitals in the state because he privatized health care. Black folks helped elect John Bel Edwards. That expanded Medicaid expansion. And then we put a demand on it that we wanted an emergency room. Now there's a $10 million investment after the term of John Bel Edwards, where an emergency room is within two miles of my home.

When you talk about police policy, after Alton Sterling was killed, we had a mayor in our city who was ignoring the calls of the community to change police policy. I don't know how many times I've come on Roland's show and talked about the advancement and the things that we've changed as a result of making Mayor Shan Weston-Broom the mayor. Matter of fact, we had the chief go viral because he was challenging the city council about the things that he was doing to hold police officers accountable in Baton Rouge. That doesn't happen if we don't elect the mayor and we're not involved in the conversation. And so some people are just being too shortsighted and looking at what's making you angry. That's making an emotional decision.

Voting is a business decision. This is a business decision. Every day we go in the ballot box and vote, That's to do business on behalf of our community, business on behalf of our family and business on behalf of the future generations that cannot vote right now because there were people who went and voted so that we could have the liberties that we have today. Strong men make good times. Good, good times make strong men make good times and good times make weak men. Weak men make bad times. Too many people are being weak in their decision making. And we are producing bad times for the future of our children if we're not doing our responsibility and showing up. Robert, the thing that that is jumping out at me again as we're having this conversation, and again, I love it when the haters start talking because my parents are watching.

So I had the opportunity as somebody who was 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

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

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.

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

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before.

I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. All the way up to now 55. To be able to see two folk who never went to college, two folk who never made more than $50,000 combined, worked with others to create a neighborhood civic club in Clinton Park in Houston.

And I watched as these folk, a handful of people, most of them, none of them went to school, went to college, talk about what they want in their neighborhood. But here's what they had to then do. They had to then go, okay, well, if we want some overgrown lots cut, and we want some abandoned crack houses torn down, that's government. We got to go to government to get it done. Then they were like, well, you know what? We need some new sewer systems and sidewalks and streetlights and the park refurbished.

That's government. That took place through a bond election. They were concerned about security in the neighborhood. So what did they do? They said they went and met with the police commander. They didn't go yell to the city council person. Who was the commander over

the area where we lived? And knew him on a first name basis. I remember there was a little young white cop. My brother, he was a Texas A&M. He was a freshman. I was a senior at Jack Hicks High School and they stopped by our house

from a choir event in Beaumont and they were lining the street when a cop decided to come down blaring his horn tell them to move their car or say a fire truck couldn't get down it was crazy so my dad was pissed off

and they called the commander and get down. It was crazy. So my dad was pissed off. And they called the commander called the I need everybody listening. Called the commander and had that cop come back to our house to apologize. That doesn't

happen if you don't understand how government works. Now imagine if my parents didn't vote. Imagine if the folk in the neighborhood club didn't vote. Ain't nobody taking their phone calls. Ain't nobody listening to them. And so part of the point about mobilizing and organizing is when a group of folks show up at your office and you have organized a civic club, the first thing a politician, city councilman, school board member, state representative, state senator, governor, member of Congress, U.S. senator,

the first thing they think is these folk vote. And when voters show up, they get responses. But what all folk do is whine, complain, and never show up. That's when they ignore you. What you're talking about, sir, is black power. We're living on the shoulders of giants.

Unfortunately, many of us have integrated into this burning house and really have given up our blackness. And what that does is allows us to be politically weak so that because we don't have an agenda and so many young people, what we're really talking about is a young thing because the ops are in the young people's ear on social media so much. It's coming through so many channels and I feel bad for them. But we're living on the shoulders of giants.

And if our elders fought for this, why would we even think about giving it up? Because some guy went to prison? That's sort of insane. And I don't think that young people really think like that. They're funny. They're ironic. Unfortunately, we have to put our arms around our babies and really raise them up.

Because if not, they are going to be deciding a future that they don't want. Robert B. Kopech, I appreciate it, brother. Hopefully, we will get the resources needed. And I hope to bring the show to Milwaukee to broadcast from there, the Dewitt Town Hall. Trust me, it's on my list. I mean, my goal is to go to Milwaukee, is to go to places in Michigan, go to places in North Carolina, go to places in Georgia, and to do the show, but to have these many town halls, if you will, hearing from the people, and I keep telling everybody, and this ain't hating against nobody,

ain't no other black-owned media outlet doing this. Come on now, we need you. Just letting folks know that. So, Robert, I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Neombe, I want to go back to you. This is the thing. Gary, stay right there.

Neombe, the thing that why this is so important is because I believe, and I have said this numerous times, I've said this to the Biden campaign, I've said this to Senator Chuck Schumer, I've said to all these folk, that I believe, and I said this last year, first of all, I said that Biden and Harris should have started re-election the day after the inauguration. That was one. So I think they started too damn late. Two, I say the beginning in January, they should have been doing this, going to these cities and having different surrogates and not just them, having black mayors, Randall Woodford in Birmingham, having Mayor Andre Dickens in Atlanta, having the mayor of Arkansas, having the former mayor, Sylvester Turner, in Houston.

They should be doing these conversations in these towns, again, inviting someone like us in to livestream that, and answering people's questions. If people say, well, I don't know what they've done on this, boom, we got the answer for you. What about this? And because I believe that January to August was what I call the education and informative stage.

Then when you go August, September, you're trying to get folks registered. September, October, November, you're trying to get them to vote. It moves in stages. So Vice President Kamala Harris, she's done some of this on reproductive rights, on economics. But no, you got to be fanning out across the country having these type of conversations because i can't get somebody interested to register if i don't educate them but they can't vote unless they registered exactly and you have to do this in many places a month in advance of the election so if you decide on the

day of hey my mind has changed and you don't live in a place with same day registration, it's USOL, right? So I think you're exactly right. And I feel like it's a little bit of groundhog day because I feel like we've had shades of this conversation before, which is part of the reason you feel some of this resentment in our communities. It's like you only come around when you need our votes. Where are you in the in-between time when the election isn't raging? How do you communicate to us? How do we know what you're doing? Even something in the mail to say, hey, this happened for you.

Did you know, you know, if you're a homeowner and you just replaced your water heater that you can get a tax abatement for that? I mean, that's something real. That's something tangible. I have my student loans forgiven. I've known so many Black professional people who've had their student loans forgiven. Where's that conversation, right? How do you not go to these places where Black people are and just talk to them? And it won't be easy conversations. There are people who are still pissed about the George Floyd Act. There are people who are still pissed about voting rights, who have real concerns about the economy. So these are not going to be easy conversations. But I think people would respect it a lot more if you had it and didn't just come begging hat in hand, as you said, when it's almost too late,

because we've already had primaries in many places. So now all that's left is the general. And you know, that's a big ramp up and it can't just be about the convention because voting happens at the local level, neighborhoods, communities. And these people seem to forget that black people are like everybody else. We want to be courted. We want to be told we're pretty. We want to be told we're valuable. We want to be told we're valuable. And we want to be shown that every day. And if you can't make policy happen because you have an obstructionist Congress like what you have right now, then you need to communicate that to people and tell us what you're doing to remedy that and get around it.

This is the thing that jumps out at me, Gary, when we're talking about mobilizing and organizing and what has been done. And again, this is how I operate. I operate in facts. If Donald Trump and the Republicans poured $16 billion into HBCUs, I would be saying that's the largest investment in HBCUs ever. It's a fact. But it's not a fact. So when Senator Tim Scott goes on TV lying, what he does not say is that the two, and they love touting this $250 million program, but first of all, Trump zeroed that out of his budget. It was Congresswoman Alma Adams who put it back in. That's how it got passed.

And Trump takes credit for something his budget folk want to get rid of. That's a fact. If the Republicans had appointed 58 black judges out of the 237 Trump appointed, I would be saying they appointed the most black judges of any president in history. They didn't. Of the 237 judges Trump appointed, 4% of those judges were black. Fact, Biden, Biden-Harris, they appointed, they appointed 200 federal judges so far. Go to my iPad. 58 of them are black. 37 black women, 21 black men, and every one of you punk-ass brothers

out there who's been talking shit, oh, he appointed more black women than black men, that's because previous presidents appointed more black men than black women. For folk who don't understand facts. And so this is where, when somebody comes at me, I'm just answering with fact.

And the fact of the matter is, if Biden-Harris has done this is through loans, this in HBCUs, this in fund, I'm going to lay it all out and I'm going to compare it to what Trump has done. To me, this is an easy-ass vote. It's not difficult at all. You know, you don't have to be a chief spokesperson for Joe Biden to do what's in your best interest. And I think that, you know, there's a host of things that we can complain about with the Biden administration, but we also have to be honest. When you look at the stabilization of what he did after COVID because Donald Trump left us in a mess while a bunch of your grandmothers were sick or dead as a result of COVID and the pandemic, when you look at the ability to pass the infrastructure plan, the reality is government is like a big boat, not a speed ship, not a speed boat. You want government to respond and turn in mechanisms

that it doesn't happen. It takes a year to two years before you start to see the impact of some of these policies. And when you see those policies, what will happen if we don't show up is all of the work that was made over the last four years will be for nothing because they'll come in and undo it all. They've already got their plan. They've already got their people in place that they want to put in to execute their plan. While you are sitting there making emotional decisions, people are being strategic about what they're going to do with your resources.

So the question really is, are you going to do what is in your best interest or are you going to make an emotional decision? Joe's old. Joe's slow. Joe doesn't communicate as well. You'd like him to communicate. Joe is funding the genocide. We know all of these things. Donald Trump is worse every day of the week. Every day of the week, he's worse. And the people that he's going to put in power,

this is where it really gets tricky. I'm from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and I know how many people that are competent from the state of Louisiana that are leading in the U.S. Congress and leading in this White House to make a difference for Black people because of people in key positions that Joe Biden listens to. I may not agree with those people, but I understand the impact of the work being done on behalf of Black people. When you put Donald Trump in there, a lot of those competent, educated, qualified Black people who are in there doing things on your behalf, they're no longer going to be there, and they're going to be people there that are unqualified, incompetent, working on your behalf, they're no longer going to be there. And there are going to be people there that are unqualified, incompetent, working on your behalf to your detriment

every single day. Joining us right now is Kadida Kenner. She is founding CEO of the New Pennsylvania Project. Kadida, his was very interesting. I have seen some of these clueless damn rappers talk about, man, the hood said

our pockets were full when Trump was president. Look about them STEMI checks. Henry, go to my iPad. This right here is what is called the American Rescue Plan. It was passed under President Biden. And look at this here when it goes, here's the help with the American Rescue Plan. I need help finding a vaccine. I need help getting health care coverage. I need help buying food. I have kids. I need help with rent. I need help finding a vaccine. I need help getting healthcare coverage. I need help buying food. I have kids. I need help with rent. I lost my job. I need help getting a rescue payment. I want to offer my employees paid off of vaccines. My small business needs help. Oh, I'm sorry. Did somebody actually say stimulus checks? Does anybody remember under Biden-Harris, $1,400 checks that actually went out to folks?

The problem is, Kadida, he didn't put his name on the checks like Trump did because he wasn't trying to be so narcissistic and taking credit. And so, again, these folks are running out here, first of all, forgetting we were in a 100-year pandemic where they were providing insurance, things along those lines, and all these folks who think these checks are going to start flowing if Trump gets back, Project 2025, they plan on cutting everything. And all y'all folks out there who are pissed off that your taxes are higher. That was a part of the Trump tax cut where your taxes went up in 2024, 2025, and they want to make the Trump tax cuts for the rich permanent next year. Absolutely, and that's what we're dealing with right now

is overcoming the misinformation and the disinformation. I can't tell you how many people were coming across here in Pennsylvania on the ground who have no idea who was actually responsible for these pandemic checks. And as you mentioned, because his name was written in the letter that came in close with the check, multiple people believe that it was Donald Trump that was responsible for these pandemic checks. And so we are spending so much time on the ground right now trying to overcome the misinformation and the disinformation. We can't get to the purpose of our work, which is to do voter registration here in Pennsylvania and turn out Black folks to vote. We have to overcome the

misinformation that is keeping folks from wanting to be registered to vote. And I'm here to tell you today, as an organization that has registered 40,000 Pennsylvanians to vote in the last two years, we have people who are registering to vote who choose not to be aligned with any political party because they're not sure of who does what and when. Last year, it was 17 percent of the folks we were registering to vote, registered as unaligned, not choosing to belong to the Democrats or the Republicans. This year, that number has gone up 11 points to 28 percent of those we are registering here in Pennsylvania choosing to be unaligned from political parties.

And mostly because they don't know who the Democrat is, who the Republican is. Civics have been taken from out of their public school systems. And so we're having to provide all the civic education on the ground. At the same time, we're trying to get folks registered to vote and turn them out. And I'm just and again, for all the folk who sit this in, man, you sit in the cape and no, I'm stating facts. These right here, what I'm about to read are actual facts that were in the American Rescue Plan put forth by Biden Harris. American Rescue Plan increased the earned income tax credit from five hundred and forty three dollars to one thousand five hundred and two. That's almost $1,000.

Also, those with children, they increased the child tax credit from $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child for children over the age of six and $3,600 for children under the age of six. And they raised the age limit from 16 to 17. The plan also made more people eligible and increased the total credit to $4,000 for one qualifying individual and $8,000 for two more. Oh, remember the unemployment insurance? Republicans, remember Lindsey Graham?

They stopped increasing unemployment insurance in South Carolina. The American Rescue Plan extended unemployment benefits until September 6th with a weekly supplement benefit of $300 on top of the regular $400. And the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits were tax-free for people with incomes less than $150,000. Kadita, the last point is this here. John Hope Bryant was on our show. He also reminded people the earned income tax credit is retroactive. So if you forgot to actually get it, you can go back and get it applied to your taxes.

None of that happened because of Republicans. So for the folk who say, man, our pockets have been empty with Biden, y'all sure wouldn't have complained about that money. Absolutely. They were not. And there's so much more that this administration has done. If you think about the last 30 years, this administration has helped to put forward more black entrepreneurs than any other administration in the last three decades. You know, there's two point six million more jobs for black folks in this time. And so if we are trying to actually, as the previous speakers mentioned, this is voting is a business decision, this is absolutely a business decision for you and your family.

And if you are trying to put more money in your pockets and not allow for your tax dollars to go to the rich and those who are highly favored by the Republican Party, then you need to make sure that you are casting your ballot this November or before if you can do that. This is the last round of questions and answers before I got to go to my final guest. And so, Jolanda,

I'm going to go to you first. We're talking about Black turnout. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

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

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

Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey.

We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids,

the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. 1983, 85% of all eligible Black people voted for Harold Washington to become the first black mayor of Chicago. The white races in Chicago supported the Republican candidate in a hardcore Democratic city because they didn't want to see a black man win. If 85 percent of all eligible black people voted, I don't know who the hell the other 15 percent were, if were, he doesn't become mayor unless they vote.

Andrew Young said at the Alpha Public Program last year at the convention in Dallas that I moderated the conversation, when he ran for Congress, and it was in 72 or 74, he got 72% of all eligible black people who were registered to vote voted. The facts are clear. If black people vote at at least at least 65, at least 65, but let's say 70. If we vote 65 to 70% of our capacity, we can sweep elections. Because if they're going to be voting here, and we vote

here, that additional 20, 30, 50, 75, 100,000 votes, that's the difference between winning and losing. And so literally, the power is in the hands of black people. Somebody on Twitter

got mad because I said yesterday, I said I don't care what white folks are going to do, Latinos are going to do, white women are going to do. What I'm saying to black people, if we literally use that ballot and vote our capacity, we can sweep races, whoever we want to win. Absolutely here, black people are the Democrats that determine who wins. So they determine which white person wins and which Hispanic person wins.

People just don't understand that. And as I've said before, the world is run by those who show up. So it could be a city with a million people. If 500 people show up, then the majority of those people are going to decide what happens to us with the million. And there's a reason why they are, the powers that be, Donald Trump's of the world, are suppressing our vote. And I will say this is black people.

You hear people talking about all the time trying to get black people right to vote if they lose it when they get elected. Here in Texas, if you are a convicted felon like Donald Trump, you literally do not have the right to vote. And if you are on paper, you do not have the right to vote. So in Texas, Donald Trump, if he lived in Texas, couldn't even vote for himself. And then you can't get a job, you can't get an apartment, you don't qualify for certain things. I don't think that we should let Donald Trump be able to do what we can't do. If we go to apply for a job and we have a felony on our record, if we go apply for an apartment and we have a felony on our record, we don't get stuff. So we need to try to do to Donald Trump what the system does to us, because that is what it was designed to do.

But black people, we have the power. But I'm going to say this again, Roland, we've got to connect for people. People just don't know. They don't know that government are the ones who put the sidewalk around Kelly Courts, you know, in Houston, which is a North Side Section 8 place. They don't understand that, that they put lights in Law Park in Sunnyside where they were dumping dead bodies and crime was taking place. They don't understand that. They don't understand like your parents did in Clinton Park. But I will tell you,

politicians pay attention to two things. The first thing they pay attention to is people with money. Most of us don't have money like that. The second thing they pay attention to is people with money. Most of us don't have money like that. The second thing they pay attention to is what you said, Roland, and the other gentleman said. They pay attention to people who are organized and who vote. And guess what? Votes trumps money. Absolutely.

You know what? You're right. You know what? Because I will say this. People can contribute a lot to your campaign, but they can't vote for you. And I was literally talking to Representative Allen and we're both representatives. And we're talking about people that had a whole bunch of money, like more money than us. And, you know, we do. I literally went to Isaac Elementary School yesterday.

I was the only elected official that showed up myself because they want extracurricular activity. They want to perform in Arts Center. And they were so thankful that I showed up and that I listened to what they want extracurricular activities. They want a performing arts center. And they were so thankful that I showed up and that I listened to what they want. And I told them, I will try to help you get this performing arts center. That's what we have to do. So now they've connected this select show to, oh, we can get a performing arts center

and we can learn ballet. There you go. Very simple things, right? And there you go. And for everybody who's watching in Texas, before I let Jolanda go, go to my iPad, Henry. Folks,

Texas has the largest number of eligible black voters in America at 2.9 million. 2.9 million. As eligible black voters. I didn't say black population. That's eligible black voters.

So, folks, if you do the math, if you do the math and you talk about if you have 70 percent of black people in Texas, that's 2 million votes alone. 2.9. No, no, no, no, no. No, that's 2.9 million. I said, but if we vote at 70% of our capacity. Okay. Now, here's the whole deal, y'all. Here's the whole deal.

Let me see here. Ted Cruz. Who? Beto ran against Cruz. And he ran against Abbott as well. Yeah, Ted Cruz beats Beto. I just want to see the vote total. Hold on one second.

Vote total. So on one second. Vote total. So right here. The vote total was Cruz 4.2 million, Beto 4 million. If we voted at 7% of our capacity, we alone deliver half of the votes needed to win. But guess what? Makes it

harder if we vote at 30%. 40%. That's how the game changes. But guess what makes it harder if we vote at 30 percent, 40 percent. That's how the game changes. Representative Jelani Jones, I appreciate it. Michael, your final comment. You know, this is a fantastic conversation. You talked about the American Rescue Plan rolling two quick things. Number one, no Republicans in the House or the Senate voted for the American Rescue Plan. We have to drive home that point. The only reason why that got passed is because of Democrats.

One. Two, Vice President Kamala Harris was the top-breaking vote in this. It was 50-50. She was the top-breaking vote. So, all these people out here saying Vice President Kamala Harris hasn't done anything, the reason why you got those $1,400 stimulus checks plus was because of that black woman. Call her whatever you want to, but that's why you got them. And you're at whitehouse.gov, Roland, fantastic website. Everybody look at, and Roland, if you could bring this up quickly, the Biden-Harris

administration advances equity and opportunity for black Americans' immunities across the country. I refer to that oftentimes as a 36-page document at whitehouse.gov that breaks down category by category how the policies the Biden and Harris administration are helping the African-American community. Republicans overwhelmingly voted against these policies or are against them and will reverse them if they get back control of the White House, the Senate and keep control of the House of Representatives. Elections have consequences. Michael, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Neonby. No, I was going to say, you know, you were talking about what Black people voted at their capacity can do. I mean, we see Wes Moore in Maryland, right? I mean, he's the only Black governor currently serving.

Maryland, one in three voters in the state of Maryland is Black, right? And it was because 80 percent of the Black vote said that they were going to turn out for Wes Moore and did, because only about half of white voters were going to turn out for him. So it actually does matter. And it particularly matters at the margins. Like when you show in Texas, you're talking about a few hundred thousand votes, which seems like a lot, but it's really not. So we're not talking about massive blowouts in a lot of these cases. We're talking about thousands of votes, in some cases, handfuls, as we saw in the presidential election. So, I mean, I think part of the issue we have, again, I go back to Jesse Jackson, is that you have people not mobilized and people who were left kind of out of the equation.

And then when you looked up, it's like we need those people. We waited too late. And then the election is over. Absolutely. Well, appreciate it. Let me now go to, let's see here, Kanita. A lot of election deniers that are currently sitting

in our state legislatures. And that is something that we should all be considering in this moment. I look at the black vote here in Pennsylvania in 2022 and the rate in which we showed up to the polls ensured that we have our first black woman Speaker of the House in our

state legislature. Also sure we have a black man as our Lieutenant Governor. And so the power of the black vote can do incredible things if we come out in record numbers. In Pennsylvania, we need to come out at the 70 percent number that you mentioned, Roland. We were 67 percent in 2020. And so we need to make sure that we vote at more record numbers here and the youth must come out and cast a ballot. And unfortunately, if you have four grandchildren, the likelihood is only one of those four are registered to vote. So let's get the children involved. Let's get the young folks involved and let's get everybody to the polls. Absolutely. Closes out, Gary. You know, I live in the 50th ranked state in the nation, and it is the second blackest state in America. When I ran for Congress, 18 percent of the population showed up in the second congressional district here in Louisiana,

which at the time was the only black congressional district. Because black folks thought we were going to get a second black congressional district rooted out of Baton Rouge, which gives us another seat in Congress for somebody to go and fight for millions of dollars for the people of Louisiana. There are other states that are getting more representation. That is going to be transformative for your community only if you vote. It doesn't happen because of osmosis. It doesn't happen because we hope it gets better because we pray it gets better. Faith without works is dead and faith ain't foolish. If you ain't getting off your tail and go do something,

it's not going to happen. And for those of us who sacrifice for my families and go out there and do this work every day, you spit in our faces when you tell us you're not going to vote because we sacrifice every day and go out here and do this work. And so if you appreciate the work that I do, if you appreciate the work that Roland does, if you appreciate the voices that you've heard and the things that we are consistently doing to advocate, don't spit in our face and tell us that you're not going to participate because too many of us are out here every day doing things we don't have to do on your behalf for all of us. And all you got to do is go around the corner and cast a ballot. Do your part so that we can all do better.

Absolutely. So just trying to let folk know. Again, let me be very clear. What everybody here has said, this ain't about a party. This is not about an individual. This is not about who I'm in love with. This is not about somebody that excites me. This is not about somebody that gets me energized. This is about us. When you cast a ballot,

you ain't just voting for you. You voting for your sons and daughters, your nieces and your nephews, your cousins, your aunts and your uncles, your mama and your daddy, your grandparents, your friends, sorority sisters, fraternity brothers, church members. That's who you voting for. This is not a moment. And we've had now four consecutive elections, actually five. We can go back to every election since 2012 and we have seen the black turnout drop. We've seen it drop. We see the numbers where voters 65 and older who are black, they say, oh, we voting. We see voters 55 to 64 saying, yeah, we gonna vote.

But then when you go below 54, eh, I don't know. man, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I'm going to stay on the couch. Yeah, I ain't feeling it. Yeah, you know, he too old. Yeah, I don't know. Neombe said it.

Somebody going to win. You can come up with every excuse you want to about the election, but let's be real clear. Somebody is going to be the president and the United States senator from your state and the congressional member from your district and the governor from your state and the state senator and the state rep and the mayor and the state rep, and the mayor, and the city council member, and the district attorney, and the judge, and the tax assessor, somebody's going to win. And if you choose to sit at home, not a problem. I can guarantee you there's somebody else who's like, ooh, yes, them black folks, they sitting their asses at home.

Oh, yes, we could win everything because they ain't voting. And let me remind y'all, in 2016, who thanked black people for not voting? Not for voting. Donald Trump did not thank black people for voting for him. He thanked black people for not voting in the election. And what he was saying is you fools helped me win. The question is, do y'all want to help him win in November

by sitting your ass at home? It's really up to you. When we come back, we'll talk to one of the descendants of the Tulsa Race Massacre. About the 103rd anniversary today and tomorrow. You're watching Rolling Mark on the filter on the Black Star Network. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

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

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.

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

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill, NHL enforcer Riley Cote, Marine Corps vet, MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things.

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

We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more.

Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. Fanbase is pioneering a new era of social media for the creator economy. This next-generation social media app with over 600,000 users is raising $17 million, and now is your chance to invest. For details on how to invest, visit startengine.com slash fanbase or scan the QR code. Another way we're giving you the freedom to be you without limits. A lot of y'all have been asking me about the pocket squares that we have available on our website.

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

But also, I like them a little different as well. So this is why we have these custom-made feather pocket squares on the website as well. My sister actually designed these after a few years ago. I was in this battle with Steve Harvey at Essence, and I saw this at a St. Jude fundraiser. I saw this feather pocket square, and I said, well, I got some ideas. So I hit her, and she sent me about 30 different ones. And so this completely changes

your look. Now, some of you men out there, I had some dudes say, oh man, I can't wear that. Well, if you ain't got swagger, that's not my problem. But if you're looking for something different to spruce up your look, fellas, ladies, if y'all looking to get your man a good gift, I've run into brothers all across the country with the Feather Pocket Squares saying, see, check mine out. So it's always good to see them. And so this is what you do. Go to RollinsMartin.com forward slash pocket squares.

You can order Shibori Pocket Squares or the custom-made Pocket Squares. Now, for the Shiboris, we're out of a lot of the different colors. And I think we're down to about two or three hundred. So you want to get your order in as soon as you can, because here's what happened. I got these several years ago and the Japanese company signed the deal with another company. And I bought them before they signed that deal. And so I can't get access to any more from the company in Japan that makes them. And so get yours now. So come summertime when I see y'all at Essence, y'all could be looking fly with the Shibori pocket square or the custom made pocket square.

Again, RolandSMartin.com forward slash pocket squares. Go there now. He's Sherri Shebra and you know what you're watching. Roland Martin unfiltered. 103 years ago, tonight and tomorrow, a vicious mob of white domestic terrorists burned down Tulsa's Greenwood District, the predominantly black neighborhood that was a thriving economic, social, and cultural hub known as Black Wall Street.

The Greenwood District was reduced to rubble during the murderous terror unleashed beginning on May 31st, 1921, spanning into June 1st, 1921. It was the first time that literally Americans were bombed from the air. No, not 9-11. It was Tulsa, called the Tulsa Race Massacre. Raven Williams is the great-granddaughter of A.J. Smitherman. He's the co-founder of the historic Black Wall Street. He also, of course, was the publisher of the Tulsa Star. She joins us from St. Petersburg. Raven, glad to have you here. I'm going to be in Tulsa tomorrow. They're having the celebration there. Two of the last living folks from that era will be there tomorrow.

We look forward to being there tomorrow. And you continue to have, obviously, folk talk about Black Wall Street, Black Wall Street, Black Wall Street, Black Wall Street, Black Wall Street. But that wasn't just I mean, that that wasn't just a thing thrown out. I mean, this was a real thriving deal. And in fact, it was rebuilt after it was also burned down. But a lot of those folks were there also left like your great grandfather. Well, left is is a nice way to put it. He was absolutely driven out of town for fear of being lynched, as well as the rest of my family,

and had to ultimately wind up all the way in Buffalo, which was near the Canadian border, because he wound up dying a fugitive. They tried to extradite him all along the way. And so he was advised by the NAACP at the time to be close to Canada. And he developed a new newspaper there. But yes, many, many had to leave. So it wasn't a choice on his part. There are many folks who are trying to do their part to keep the memory alive. Just for Greenwood is doing their battle. You're working on some efforts as well. Talk about that. So I'm launching on Juneteenth, launching a platform called Black Wall Street 100. And you can find that at blackwallstreet100.com. And it's a podcast and a community because really what I feel like we need more than ever is to join as a community to have.

And there's many, you know, online hubs. I'm making this platform on a platform that's independent. It's not on Facebook or YouTube or one of the social media platforms that we don't really have control over. So this platform is something that anything I post and anything that we post as a community, no one has a filter. There are no algorithms that are going to keep the information away, but it's a classroom platform that's going to be teaching things because as we know, there's such an effort to make sure that these things can't be taught in schools. But, you know, my great grandfather was about, as he had to be in every person in that black person in that generation that

wanted to build had to be, was about doing things ourselves because no one was, no one was helping us then. And if no one really, you know, if people aren't needing, wanting to help us now, that's okay. We can help ourselves. I really believe in that. I believe that that's the spirit of Black Wall Street. And that's why it's called Black Wall Street 100, because a hundred years later, we still have the same blood running through our veins. And I know I feel my great-grand grandfather's blood running through mine. And that's why I created the platform.

And so you have the platforms to be open to anybody. And look, there's also needed because we're seeing how Republicans are attacking black education all across public schools. Public schools, you know, and then private schools, some have already had that agenda. And I think that school in general, institutions, universities, if you look at the statistics, they're on the decline. And what's on the growth is online learning platforms. And so that's another reason why I'm investing in that platform, as well as the fact that it's global. We can reach anybody with this education. The platform is very, very heavily rooted in teaching AI to our folks,

because I believe that we as people with AI is such an incredible resource and a lot of people give it a bad rap, but, you know, people are like, oh, it's the enemy. Well, my, I've been taught, you know, if it's, if something's the enemy, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. So I dig, I started digging in late 2022 and, uh, just like any other form of technology or media, it's what you do with it. Um, I have found that it will be extremely resourceful for those of us who maybe don't have the resources to start our business. So Black Wall Street 100 is very much for entrepreneurs, people who want to build a brand, people who want to not only grow generational wealth, but also heal generational trauma. It's a big passion of mine as well, obviously with what my

family history is and what we went through with the Tulsa massacre, I have had to heal a lot of generational trauma as well and helped a lot of people do the same. So it's a mission and passion of mine as well. So what do you hope folks will gain out of it? um what do you want to do uh beyond this so i would like people to go to black wall street 100.com and sign up to the community there's free resources there i will have a podcast that's like i said launching on juneteenth that i have a huge network of uh black entrepreneurs black business people health practitioners, mental health practitioners, and AI experts. So I am going to be able to provide such resources there. So that's what I hope. I just hope that we can be a community, share resources.

I have so many people who have actually been asking me to launch this platform for a while. So I'm just very glad that I'm finally able to do it. Technology has kind of caught up to the vision. All right, then. Well, look, again, tell people where they can go to check it out beginning on Juneteenth. BlackWallStreet100.com. And for your audience only, you're getting the first exclusive here. It's already up for you guys.

So go ahead and join. But the official launch of the podcast and much more content will be available starting Juneteenth, but you can go on now. All right, Raven, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much, Roland, for having me. Folks in Tulsa, I will be there tomorrow. Here we go to my iPad. The Black Wall Street

Legacy Festival 2024 presents Anthony Hamilton. And so again, that's going to be tomorrow, June, at the historic Greenwood District. For more information, go to blackwallstreetlegacyfest.com. Folks, that is it for us. I really appreciate all the guests we have on today's show.

Thank you so very much for you joining. Be sure to support the work that we do here. Join our Bring the Funk fan club. Your dollars make it possible for us to do the work that we do. And so you can give, check some money, order the PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash app is Dallas Santa, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered.

Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com, RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Then, of course, download the Blackstar Network app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Be sure to get a copy of my book, White Fear, How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds, available at bookstores nationwide. Get the audio version on Audible.

And I only, I got 300 copies of my book, the first, from my brother's house in Houston and my house in Dallas. That's it. If you want to get an autographed copy, folks, and I'm autographing them this weekend. I'm mailing the books on Monday. A bunch of y'all keep hitting me up, but I just got the books, y'all.

You can get it at relevancemartin.com forward slash the first. They're just 300 copies. That's it. I'm not printing anymore. If you want a personally autographed copy, be sure to get it. Let me thank Gerald Gray, Trina Hodges, Charlie Stokes, Rodney Hampton, Patricia Daniels, Josephine Turner, Jeffrey Parker, Fred Childs, Trina Hodge, Norma Neek Holmes, Clarissa, Joan Warren, Eric B. Van Slyke, Marcus Gutner, Renee Reese, Y. Willie, Francis Blount, Alicia Creer, Kareem Brooks, Gerald Gray, Cynthia Phillips.

They all gave during today's show. Folks, that's it. I will see y'all on Monday right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Shout out to my man, Michael Williams. He turned 70 years old today. His wife, Donna. I think Donna was Donna's birthday yesterday.

Hold on one second. I think Donna's birthday was yesterday. So Michael turned 78. His wife Donna, she turned 63 on yesterday. Y'all get y'all age out. Holla! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm Martin. More time Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend.

At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast.

Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that in a little bit, man. We met them at their homes.

We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.