#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Trump impeachment trial day 3; Is Harris' niece profiting off of her? Reparations bill reintroduced

Episode Date: February 12, 2021

2.11.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Trump impeachment trial day 3; The attorney representing the family of Quawan "Bobby" Charles to give us an update on the case; Is VP Harris' niece profiting off of her; Reparations bill reintroduced; Black teens were kicked off a flight for allegedly not wearing masks; Activists in Florida are demanding authorities drop charges against a woman who shot a Jacksonville Officer.Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered 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. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersilling.org brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

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

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10th, 2021. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Today is day, February 10th, 2021, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Today is day two of Donald Trump's second impeachment trial. Man, the Democrats are blistering Donald Trump. Wait until we show you the newest video, including how Eugene Goodman, the black Capitol Hill cop, actually saved the life of Senator Mitt Romney. Also, we talked with Simone Sanders,

of course, senior advisor and chief spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris, about, of course, the American Rescue Plan and COVID-19. In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the Chicago Teachers Union have agreed to a deal to open schools for in-person classes beginning tomorrow. A woman last seen with Kwan Bobby Charles,

the teen who was found in a sugar cane field in Louisiana, brutally murdered, now facing charges in his disappearance. Wells Fargo announced Tuesday that it will vest $50 million into black-owned banks. $50 million? What are y'all doing with black-owned media? Four Louisiana state troopers are facing charters after investigation found they participated in practices of using excessive force and in Utah, parents of students attending a predominantly white academy have dropped their request for the children to opt out

of Black History Month curriculum after a massive blowback and PepsiCo's officially removed Aunt Jemima from its pancake mix and syrup. We'll show you the new logo. Plus, we'll speak with one of the curators of Come See About Me, the Mary Wilson Supremes Coalition, which can be seen at the African American Museum in Philadelphia.

Plus, we'll check in with a woman who created a black tech company in order to help young students excel in math and science. Folks, it is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered. Let's go. just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's Rolling Martin. Rolling with

rolling now. He's funky, fresh, he's real the best. You know he's Rolling Martin now. You know he's rolling, Martin. Martin. All right, folks. House impeachment managers argued today that former President Donald Trump began grooming his MAGA supporters months before the horrific events that took place in the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. During their presentation, the managers used tweets and recall speeches where Trump assured his cavalry that the election was stolen and the results were fraudulent.

Representative Joe McGace used direct quotes from rioters who said they were there to kill members of Congress and that they were following the president's orders. Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett introduced security footage that had never been seen before, depicting the chaos Speaker Nancy Pelosi from Vice President Pence and other members of Congress had to endure. Watch this. Now, some. Have said that President Trump's remarks, his speech on January 6th to be a president. I'm going to be a president. I'm going to be a president. I'm going to be a president.

I'm going to be a president. I'm going to be a president. I'm going to be a president. I'm going to be a president. I'm going to be a president. I'm going to be a president. I'm going to be a president. I'm going to be a president. I'm going to be a president. I'm going to be a president. to scale the walls, break windows, kill a Capitol police officer.

This was not just a speech. It didn't just happen. And as you evaluate the facts that we present to you, it will become clear exactly where that mob came from. Because here's the thing, President Trump's words, as you'll see on January 6th, in that speech, just like the mob's actions were carefully chosen, the words that he used in the election, the words that he used in the election, the words that he used in the election, the words that he

used in the election, the words that he used in the election, the words that he used in the election, the words that he used in the election, the words that he used in the election, the words that he used in the election, the words that he used

in the election, the words that he used in the election, the words that he used in the election, the words that he used in the election, the words that he used in the election, the words that he used in the election, the words that he used

in the election, the words that he used in the election, the words that he used in the election, the words that he used in the election, the words that You will hear over and over three things. You can see them on the screens. First, what lead manager Raskin referred to as the big lie, that the election was stolen, full of fraud, rigged. You will hear over and over him using that lie to urge his supporters to never concede and stop the steal. It's the only way we can be, it's the only way we can lose, in my opinion, is massive fraud. We all know what happened after that. He lost. He lost the election. But remember, he had that no-lose scenario that I referenced earlier. He told his base that the election was stolen, as he had forecasted. And then he told them, your election has been stolen, but you cannot concede. You must stop the steal.

You can't let another person steal that election from you. All over the country, people are together in holding up signs. Stop the steal. The Democrats are trying to steal the White House. You cannot let them. You just can't let them. Now, while he's inciting his supporters, he's also simultaneously doing everything he possibly can to overturn the election. First he begins with the courts, a legitimate avenue, legitimate

avenue to challenge the election. But he ignores all of their adverse rulings when all of his claims are thrown out. Then he moves on to trying to pressure state election officials to block the election results for his opponent, even though he'd lost in their states. You'll hear my fellow managers discuss that in detail. Then he tries to threaten state election officials to actually change the votes to make him the winner, even threatening criminal penalties if they refused.

Here today, do not want to see our election victory stolen. There's never been anything like this. So pure theft in American history. Everybody knows it. Make no mistake, this election was stolen from you, from me and from the country. Now of course, each of you heard those words before. So had the crowd. The president had spent months telling his supporters that the election had been stolen.

And he used this speech to incite them further, to inflame them, to stop the steal, to stop the certification of the election results. We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn't happen. You don't concede when there's theft involved. And to use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal. We must stop the steal. Finally, the president used this speech as a call to arms. It was not rhetorical. Some of his supporters had been primed for this over many months. As you'll learn, days before this speech, as lead manager Raskin noted, there were vast reports across all major media outlets that thousands of people would be armed, that they'd

be violent. You'll learn that Capitol Police and the FBI reported in the days leading up to the attack that thousands in the crowd would be targeting the Capitol specifically, that they had arrested people with guns the night before the attack on weapons charges. And this is what our commander-in-chief said to the crowd in the face of those warnings right before they came here. We will not let them silence your voices. We're not going to let it happen. Not going to let it happen.

But because they believed that they were following his orders, they said so. We were invited by the president of the United States. I thought I was following my president. I thought I was following what we were called to do. President Trump requested that we be in D.C. on the 6th. You heard it from them. They were doing what he wanted them to do. They wouldn't have listened to you, to me, to the Vice President of the United States who they were attacking.

They didn't stop in the face of law enforcement, police officers fighting for their lives to stop them. They were following the president. He alone, our commander in chief, had the power to stop him. And he didn't. Five people lost their lives on that terrible, tragic day. A woman was shot dead 50 feet from where we later certified the election results. And for those who question just how bad it was, criminal complaints recently unsealed

by the Department of Justice are more than revealing. You'll see one of these documents on the screen. The evidence that the police have been able to investigate the case and the complaints recently unsealed by the department of justice are more than revealing. You'll see one of these documents on the screen. In the charging affidavit of one of the leaders of the proud

boys we learned that members of this group said, I'm going to quote, they would have killed Mike Pence if given the chance. In another, we learned of a tweet in real time while they were in the building stating, we broke into the Capitol. We got inside. We did our part. We were looking for Nancy Pelosi to shoot her in the frickin' brain, but we didn't find

her. We were able to find her. We were able to find her. We were able to find her. We were able to find her. We were able to find her. We were able to find her. We were able to find her. We were able to find her. We were able to find her.

We were able to find her. We were able to find her. We were able to find her. We were able to find her. You'll see this in the trial. That in the halls of the Capitol, on social media, in news interviews, and in charging documents, they confirm they were following the president's orders. Folks, the brutal breakdown of what took place was shown by Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett as she unveiled never-before-seen footage of what took place inside the Capitol, including security footage from the government. Watch this. The video is from the west front of the Capitol on the Senate side, the side facing the White House. Watch the red dot, which moves up the lower steps of the Capitol, indicating

the approximate location of the rioters as they surge down the hall. The wider scene carrying a baseball bat in this video is the same one we saw moments ago breaching the window on the first floor. While all of this was going on, Vice President Pence was still in the room near the Senate chamber. It was not until 2-26 that he was evacuated to a secure location. This next security video shows that evacuation. His movements are depicted by the orange dot in our model. The red and blue dots represent the location where the mob and Officer Goodman were and where Officer Goodman led the mob away from the chamber just moments ago. You can see Vice President Pence and his family quickly moved down the stairs. The vice president turns around briefly as he's headed down. As Pence was being evacuated, rioters started to

spread throughout the Capitol. Those inside helped other rioters break in through doors in several locations around this entire building. And the mob was looking for Vice President Pence because of his patriotism. Because the Vice President had refused to do what the President demand and overturn the election results. Speaker Pelosi's staff heeded the call to shelter in place. On our model, you can see the riders in the rotunda in red and the speaker's office again in orange. So this is a security video, so there is no sound. As you can see here, the staff moves from their offices through the halls and then enters

a door on the right-hand side. That's the outer door of a conference room, which also has an inner door that they barricaded with furniture. The staff then hid under a conference room table in that inner room. This is the last staffer going in and then barricading themselves inside of the inner office. After just seven minutes of them barricading themselves and the last staffer entering the door on the right, a group of rioters enter the hallway outside and once inside, the rioters have free reign in the Speaker of the House's offices. In this security video, pay attention to the door that we saw those staffers leading into and going into. One of the rioters you can see is throwing his body against

the door three times until he breaks open that outer door. Luckily when faced with the inner door he moves on. Trump's mob ransacked the Speaker of the House's office. They terrorized her staff. Again that is a mob that was sent by the President of the United States to stop the certification of an election. The Vice President, the Speaker of the House, the first and second in line to the presidency were performing their constitutional duties, presiding over the election certification, and they were put in danger because President Trump put his own desires, his own need for power over his duty to the Constitution and our democratic process.

President Trump put a target on their backs, and his mob broke into the Capitol to hunt them down. Folks, chilling, chilling. Let's break this thing down with our panel. Certainly glad to have everybody here. Robert Petillo, of course. Rainbow Coalition, Peachtree Street Project. chilling. Let's break this thing down with our panel. Certainly glad to have everybody here. Robert Petillo, of course, Rainbow Coalition, Peachtree Street Project there in Atlanta. Monique Presley, lawyer, crisis manager, and as well as Mustafa Santiago Ali, of course,

of course, with the EPA as well. Let's Robert, let's go through this. This look, if if you're Donald Trump, if this was a real trial, the jury could probably go in the room, take a seat, go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, come back, convict this fool in five minutes, come out, give the decision, and be home in time to watch their favorite television show. It is abundantly, it is clear cut. There is no denying what Donald Trump did. What this exposes is the shamefulness and how despicable the Republican Party is in that 44 senators. Senator Lindsey Graham has already said he's called Trump and said, don't worry about it. You're going to be cleared. What they're basically saying is there is nothing a president can do that warrants being convicted. He can literally lead an insurrection and they're perfectly fine with it as long as there's an R

in front of his name. Well, you're right. And it opens a very weird legal situation where the more evidence that comes out, you know, I was sitting there, I think I watched every single minute of the coverage today. And much like everyone else, I realized that this was far more significant than even the general public understood, seeing how close those murderers were, the lynch mob was to Senator Romney and to getting into the chambers and so on and so forth. So the question is for the president's defense team, do you agree to the impeachment in exchange for an immunity deal? And what I mean by that is, do you plead to these charges at this point? Because as a defense attorney, if I saw this mountain of evidence rolling in before I even do my opening arguments, basically what what the Senate is giving them is

opening the door for is either the District of Columbia or the Justice Department to prosecute President Trump in his individual capacity. As they're making this argument that he's an individual citizen, that he should not, the entire argument from yesterday about the constitutionality of prosecuting a former president, if your argument is that he should not be subject to the Article I, Section 2 authority of Congress, then you're kicking it over to the court system, which opens it up for the Department of Justice and Merrick Garland as the attorney general to prosecute Trump using all the same evidence that was used at this impeachment trial. And the penalties for a felony conviction on federal charges are far worse than

the penalty for being convicted by the Senate. So I do have to wonder at this point, will the president's counsel inform him that things could be a lot worse? Fannie Willis, the new district attorney here in Fulton County in Atlanta, is also opening up a criminal investigation to President Trump over the call that he made to the attorney, to the secretary of state here. So there are many criminal charges that are coming down the lines. And maybe it's time for Trump's team to pull that ejection seat button and figure out if they can make a deal to save him from jail. Forget about the whole not being able to run for office thing. At this point, he needs to be worried about spending the next five to 10 years behind bars. Bottom line, Monique, what Democrats are methodically exposing,

they are exposing the sheer insanity of Republicans to say, this is really no big deal. This is, you know, for Tucker Carlson last night, this is just a waste of time. I mean, they are flippantly dismissing this. When you hear Congressman Swalwell say he walked it off, they were 58 steps away from where the rioters were. Mitt Romney, Eugene Goodman is saying, no, go this way. Romney was walking to these folks to hear the audio of them saying, where's Nancy? Where's Pence? Them saying we're going to kill them. I mean, you're watching and listening to that and you're going, my God. Yes. Well, obviously at one point, I think I just texted you and said, this is jarring.

And that's all that I could say about it. And I've been around a while and I've seen lots of things. But let me get some things out first. Good job. dynamic stellar brilliant prepared experienced learned team of lawyers because these are some trial lawyers we're looking at who know what it means to try a case and try it to win and you can tell they went deep into their reserves in order to spend the money do the work burn the midnight oil to take advantage of all of the forms of evidence that would make the most sense for a trial of this sort. So for instance, you can have

all different kinds of evidence at a trial, real evidence, demonstrable evidence, demonstrative evidence. You can use technical skills for the evidence. Well, this is largely video, but video that in a regular trial would be considered demonstrative really here is real, meaning you feel it, you hear it, you can almost touch it. It's better than if they had the taser in the room that they circle and show the guy with his feet kicked up on Speaker Pelosi's desk. It's better than if we could see the metal bat actually in the Capitol as they're presenting the trial because they're using graphics, they're using specially created digital examples in order to track what the insurgents were doing.

And it is just very, very well done. I hope that people who are watching see this and understand the difference between what they're seeing now and that hot mess of a display that they saw from General Castor and his sidekick shown yesterday, because that's not trial lawyering. And I don't I don't know what any of that was even about. I don't have anything else to say about it. But what we're seeing is excellent. What they have to do now, though, is make sure that in all the excellence of it, we just don't know the horrors of what happened that day. Nobody can argue that. And especially after we've seen all of this evidence,

forget about it. To stand and say it wasn't a big deal. And these jurors know full well what it was because they lived through it. But we got to go from there to connect the dots that make it such that former President Trump is responsible. And that's very different than if it was you, Roland,

who was up at the microphone, or if it was Robert, or if it was me. What I need to hear from them is because he was the commander in chief, and as they said for a little bit this morning, he stopped being commander in chief, turned into insider in chief. That's fine. But he held the powerful, most powerful office in the land. And they need that in order to prove up that people with their own will, with their own decision-making, with their own ability to decide to commit crimes or to work in concert to commit them, were only doing it because they were told to and that the person who told them to do it is ultimately responsible. And that's a legal hurdle. And that's a very different legal hurdle than if it was just, you know, a normal citizen. So I hear what Robert is saying. I don't

necessarily agree. I don't know why as a prosecutor in D.C., I would give up my opportunity to try him. I don't know why I would do that negotiating because if I bring forward my case and end up getting a settlement, he can't run for president anyway because now he's a convicted felon. So, no, I'm going to keep all my bites at this apple. No, no, no. He's going to stand trial,

and he's going to stand trial, and then he's going to stand trial. He's just going to keep standing trial. Georgia, New York, Dork dc you name it and and i think that that's critically important um mustafa because he needs to pay every single legal um effort whether it is in new york by uh tish james whether it is uh the da there in ge Georgia, every single one he needs to pay. And the people who were involved in this insurrection, they all need to go to prison. Because if you don't, what you're saying is you can go even further and then we might think about penalizing you. What's further? Literally holding members of Congress hostage?

I mean, that's literally what's next. That's the next step. And that's why these Republicans are so shameful. And I'll tell you right now, my position is this is very simple. If any Republican votes to acquit Donald Trump, they have completely they are basically dead to me. I don't want to hear anything from any of them on any topic. I'm not trying to unify with any of them. I'm not trying to negotiate with any of them.

If members of the media had any guts, they would actually say, if you are Republican and after this display, you vote to acquit him. You're not welcome on our Sunday morning shows. You're not going to be provided a platform. This is these people literally are saying we will suck up to Donald Trump so much. That we will let this man get away with this under the guise of, oh, we just think this is unconstitutional. He's a private citizen. This is just gone a little too far. I mean, yeah, most definitely gone far enough. You know, those folks, our Republican brothers and sisters who went through this and experienced it also. And that evening when they went back home,

you know, if they had family that was in the area where they got on the phone and called them, you know, they have to remember that they literally almost lost their lives, that Donald Trump is willing to sacrifice anyone for his agenda. And he's been doing it throughout his four years that he was in office. You saw it time and time and time again. And he realized that he was a Pied Piper, that he could create chaos in situations when he wanted to deflect or when he wanted folks to do something, that he could create pain, could create death. And we saw a death both in this instance, but we've seen death throughout the coronavirus and many of the other actions that he's done.

So folks have to add this up, the totality of this. And I understand they have to stay focused on the set of charges that are in front of them. But if someone is willing to sacrifice you just so that they think that they could get a shot at being, continue to be the president, even though all of the cases, what was it, 61 cases, I believe, and they lost 60 of the 61 cases that, you know, all of the respective judges said, you know, there is no, you know, foul play that's going on in the relationship to voting. These folks were really willing to take your life because of what he said.

So if you're willing to sign off on that, then not only are you failing that oath that you took, you're failing your families. You're failing many of the communities where you come from as well. So he has to be convicted, because if he doesn't, it says something about our democracy and our country. And it also says something about these individuals who have to go because they're placing, you know, their own sets of needs above our country. So we'll see how it all plays out. But, you know, it's very clear that he has to go, that he has to be convicted. And as Monique said,

there is a laundry list of other cases on the state level that, you know, people have very, very strong cases against him. And part of the problem here is, frankly, unlike other impeachment hearings, national media is sort of like, yeah, we'll cover some of it, not all of it. It's being covered some on cable news right now. Let's go live to the United States Senate right now just to get a peek of what is being discussed by the House impeachment managers. Picked up your phone and tried to reach somebody at the White House to ask for help. This wasn't partisan politics. These were Americans from all

sides trying to force our commander in chief to protect and defend our country. He was required to do that. Now the extent of how many people tried to reach the president to get him to act is not known. But what is clear, what we know without any doubt, is that from the very beginning, the people around Donald Trump lobbied him to take command. What's also clear is what Donald Trump, our commander-in-chief, did in those initial hours to protect us. Nothing. Not a thing. He knew it was happening. The attack was on TV. We all know that President Trump had the power to stop these attacks.

He was our commander in chief. He had the power to assess the security situation, send backup, send help. He also had incited this violent attack. They were listening to him. He could have commanded them to leave. But he didn't. The first critical hour and a half of this bloody attack, Donald Trump tweeted his rally speech and did nothing else. And we know why. We know his state of mind that prompted his utter, complete refusal to defend us.

It was reported by those around him. The president, as reported by sources at the time, was delighted. As he watched the violence unfold on television, President Trump was reportedly, and I quote, borderline enthusiastic because it meant the certification was being derailed, end quote. Senator Ben Sasse related a conversation with senior White House officials that President Trump was, quote, walking around the White House confused about why other people on his team weren't as excited as he was, end quote. Trump's reaction to this attack reportedly genuinely freaked people out. I understand why.

We just suffered a very serious attack, attack on our country. We saw it and the people around him knew it. But when Donald Trump saw it, he was delighted. Now what President Trump did next confirms why he was so delighted, why he wanted this. Because it shows that his singular focus that day, the day we were attacked, was not protecting us, was not protecting you, was not protecting the Capitol. It was stopping the certification of the election results. The evidence is clear.

Shortly after 2 p.m., as the siege was fully underway, then President Trump made a call. This is the first call that we are aware he made to anyone inside the Capitol during the attack. Didn't call the vice president to ask how he could help defend the Capitol. Didn't call the next two in line to the succession of the presidency to check on their safety or well-being. Instead, he attempted to call Senator Tuberville. Dialed Senator Lee by accident. Senator Lee describes that he had just ended a is a former senator. He attempted to call Senator Tuberville. Dialed Senator Lee by accident.

Senator Lee describes it. He had just ended a prayer with his colleagues here in the senate chamber. And the phone rang. It was Donald Trump. And how Senator Lee explains it is that the phone call goes

something like this. Hey, Tommy, Trump asks. And Senator Lee says this isn't Tommy, and he hands the phone to Senator Tuberville. Senator Lee then confirmed that he stood by as Senator Tuberville and President Trump spoke on the phone. And on that call, Donald Trump reportedly asked Senator Tuberville to make additional objections to the certification process. That's why he called. Let's be clear, at roughly 2 p.m. when Donald Trump was walking around the White House watching the TV delighted and spent five to ten

minutes talking to Senator Tuberville, urging him to delay the election results, this is what was happening in the Capitol. We'll pause. Thank you. You saw Senator Lankford stop speaking and leave the floor quickly in that clip. Because the insurgents had broken through the barricades and had entered the building. And as these armed insurrectionists banged on the doors, members of Congress were told to put on their gas masks, to put bags over their heads for safety and prepare to evacuate. And Donald Trump was calling to ask. This is why this is why this is critically important um right here and this is

why this is a strange strange not real trial money you see him standing there saying don trump called tommy tubberville who's sitting his ass in the chamber. If this was a trial, you would say, we have a witness. They showed the tweets from Kevin, the story from Kevin McCarthy. They would have said, we call Kevin McCarthy as a witness. Republicans jail, oh, if you dare call witnesses, we're going to call our own. We're going to call Vice President Kamala Harris. We're going to call, which was also stupid. But imagine a person who's sitting there

who can confirm, yes, he did call me, and he called me and didn't want to talk about what's happening. He wanted me to further delay it. He's literally sitting there. He's one of the jurors. So a witness is one of the jurors.

Well, no. Every juror is a witness. Right, right. All the lawyers are witnesses. Right, but what I'm saying, but specifically the argument he's laying out, Trump calls Tuberville, and Tuberville is sitting right there. Of course, but the thing is,

they're not pumped into not calling him. They know it's a waste of time because you put any of them on the stand, you get more information, and that's the assessment that a trial lawyer makes all the time. You may have a witness list that has 72 people on it. You may call six because you want witnesses where you know you're going to get the stuff you do want, especially if you're calling them. I can't do nothing about what those other folks call. I got a cross-examination waiting for them. I'll do the best I can. I'll object during direct. But when it's my witness, I'm responsible if I call a witness and they get

up there and act a plum fool. And you are guaranteed that as a house manager, if you call a GOP senator as a witness, you're going to get mouthfuls of things you don't want for every one little bite of what you do. So this is much more effective. And if it was a lie, they would object. They would file motions. No motions were filed after yesterday. None will be filed after tonight. That's the way that process works. So yes, normally lawyers wouldn't be almost having a fight breaking down because they're fact witnesses in their own cases the way these house managers are. These are very special circumstances. But also, you know, there are no rules of evidence. This isn't a legal court of law.

That's why it's important that they can make their decisions based on what they hear, whether it follows the federal rules of evidence or not, it's not required. Whether it's a criminal violation or not, it's not required. They can vote, they can vote their conscience. And that's the other thing that I want to say, all these constitutional arguments that the Republican senators are putting up, I just don't believe we should be here. I don't believe that this this is constitutional to have an impeachment trial when a president is no longer in office. Boo. That ship sailed yesterday with a vote. Your obligation now is to be a trier of fact, to listen to the evidence and to decide based on the evidence. If former President Trump was wrongfully voted against and shouldn't be taken to trial, he has vehicles in order to object to that. He has a way of the course. So they got to listen to these facts and vote.

Robert, go ahead. Well, and particularly to Monique's point, let's realize that some of these congresspeople and senators are victims in the case. Some of them are victims and witnesses. Some of them are accomplices who are there also, people like Ted Cruz and Joe Hawley. And so, of course, this process is not going to be fair. Of course, the process is not going to be judicial. There are no federal rules of evidence, all those sorts of things. But circling back, I do think that what the House Democrats are doing, what the managers are doing, are putting alley-oop up there to every single prosecutor in

this country that may need evidence. They're showing them that if there are some MAGA supporters in your hometown who are at the Capitol, here is all the evidence you need to prosecute them, and particularly for President Trump. They're letting him know that, look, the Southern District of New York will be coming after you. The Department of Justice will be coming after you. Fulton County will be coming after you. More than likely, there will be additional jurisdictions when we find out what other states Donald Trump made those sorts of phone calls will be coming after you. I think at this point it's a fait accompli that regardless of what the GOP vote is on this,

all we're doing is putting on record how many United States senators would put the president above themselves, above the Constitution, above this country, above the rule of law. And so it's going to be very difficult for those people. And we aren't seeing 44 or 45 primary challengers and then general election challengers coming up in the next couple of years in these Senate elections, I'll be very surprised because these senators are now on record and they'll either be challenged from the far right, from the Trump wing of the party,

or they'll get a Democratic challenger who will be so appalled by the way that they've conducted themselves that they'll have every reason to run against them. But, Robert, what are their constituents saying? Easy. They're saying, yay, Trump, yay. Well, no, but I guess that's my point. I believe that senators in a situation like this, they've been elected and so now they vote their conscience, right? But senators are saying that they have an obligation to vote along the lines of their constituency. So I don't know about all of these different challengers in those jurisdictions where the citizens are really like. Look, at the end of the day, Mustafa, they this party is the Trump party. The Trump party is the Republican party.

And here's the deal. If they show us they have no conscience, they have no integrity, they have no decency, well, then they have exposed who they are. And that's why I say they're dead to me. I don't want to hear anything from them. There's nothing they can say to me. There's absolutely nothing that they can say to me. I don't want to hear them talk about unity or can we all come together? The answer is no. They took the same oath that I took. So they make a decision if they're going to live up to that

oath, if they're actually going to honor the Constitution, if they're going to honor democracy. And if they don't, then like you said, they're of no value. Simple as that. Got to go to a break, folks. When we come back, we will talk with Mark Anthony Neal about the death of, of course, the Supreme Mary Wilson and what he did with her when it came to collection that's there in Philadelphia. So we will talk to him next right here on roller martin unfiltered you do know that there is not a piece of your life that government in some way does not involve i i cracked up these conservatives down to your name everything down to your name everything i mean i mean just if you if you actually sat down and said okay what part of my life let me try to find something in my life

that government does not have a part of. I can't think of a single thing. You can say, fine, they don't impact my marriage. Which they do. Because you got to get that marriage license. Yep, yep. From the birth to the tomb. And if you're going to be here in the United States of America,

whether you like it or not, you got to know about it. You got to know its history. Because when somebody knows about you more than you know yourself, that's slavery. That's volunteer slavery. So it's almost like double the education we got to pick up of what this place is all about, how it works, how it runs. I'm a firm believer, being in 112 countries, that you got to think global and act local,

but you better ACT, act local. This is the case of America versus Donald J. Trump. Article 1, incitement of insurrection. Donald John Trump engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors by inciting violence against the government of the United States. If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. There's a billion of us out there in the artistic control. Non-stop lies regarding election fraud the courts proved was non-existent.

All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes. The evidence is all there for the world to see. This is not a vote of conscience. It's a vote for truth. Where do you stand, Senators? With Trump? With the truth? The Lincoln Project is responsible for the content of this advertising.

What's up, y'all? I'm Will Packer. Hello, I'm Bishop T.J. What's up? Lana Well. And you are watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered. Many folks are still reeling from the death of Supreme's founder, Mary Wilson. She passed away a couple days ago at the age of 76. Today, I talk with Otis Williams, who is one of the last surviving original temptation. We will share that interview with him tomorrow.

But I saw this post from Mark Anthony Neal. He posted this here on Twitter. I was honored to spend some time with Mary Wilson when I helped curate Come See About Me, the Mary Wilson Supremes Collection, an exhibition of the iconic gowns worn by the Supremes that open at the African American Museum in 2013. It was like being around royalty. Of course, it is the nation's first museum dedicated to preserving culture, history, and art of African Americans. And of course, that was the exhibit that took place when they opened in 2018, excuse me, in 2013. And so he joins us right now. Mark, how you doing, man? Hey, what's up, Roland? Good to see you.

First of all, I swear I saw you all weekend when I looked at the Netflix remastered documentary of the two deaths of Sam Cooke, which was a really great documentary, so glad to have you here. You talked about it was like being around royalty. How so? Yeah, I was only around her a couple of times. We had lunch, and obviously when the show opened and as we were planning for it. But this is the thing, the Supremes represented royalty to black America

for such a long time. And many folks will think of Diana Ross as being the essence of the Supremes, but it's really Mary Wilson, right? Cause she was there when they were first the primates back in Detroit and the Brewster Douglas houses, you know, back in 1958. And she was with the group until the group ended in 1978. Right. So she was always there. And, you know, she really embodied the message that, you know, folks could come up in the world. They could make a person into themselves. They could create an identity.

And she did that for the longest time, and it was representative of this idea of Black glamour. And it was really Mary Wilson who understood the value of these Bob Mackie dresses that had been designed by the Supremes in the 1960s, many of them iconic. And she understood the value of them and began to think of a way to take them around the country so other folks could see those gowns. And I was fortunate that Patricia Wilson Aiden asked me to come in and help curate the gowns back in 2013. And it was a marvelous show, a marvelous exhibit, and really a great opportunity to see the greatness of the Supremes. Also, I think, let's just, if B.B. King was the caretaker of the blues, in essence, the worldwide ambassador, the reason I think we still celebrate and pay such homage to the

Supremes is because of Mary Wilson. I mean, when Diana Ross leaves, Flo Ballard dies, and sure, you had Sidney Bird's song, but it was Mary Wilson who kept that thing alive. Then when the book came out, then she kept talking about them, making appearances. I mean, she was the caretaker of the legacy of the Supremes. Oh, there's no question about that, that she was a person that really carried the bloodstain banner for what the Supremes represented and why they were important to American society. I mean, first, you know, you think about her own memoir, but it's recently two years ago, you know, she did a book that basically cataloged these wonderful gowns that they traveled around with and did these concerts, met with the Queen Mother back in 1968 in London. It was an amazing story for them to come up in the world the way

that they did. And, you know, Diana Ross, Lesser Supremes in 1969, 1970, and she created her own legacy. But it was really Mary Wilson's job, you know, really after Florence Ballot left the group and then, of course, died in 1976. It was her job to keep up that legacy. And I think that, I mean, that I think that's really important because, look, historic acts can very easily get thrown into the dustbin. They can they can pretty much just get ignored get ignored and then we sort of move on. And I mean, if you look at the temptations, the reality is with Otis Williams still being one of the original temptations, carrying forth that legacy. So when you still see them performing, still hear them, you still have a tie to that group because he was, he is still living and he is still active involved. And we'll talk, we'll share it tomorrow where I talked to him about what it meant to be the glue

that held them together. That's really what Mary Wilson also was. And the reason that's also important because black culture often gets overtaken by white culture. Someone sent me an item. Who sent me an item the other day? And this is a perfect example, since I'm going to tie Mary Wilson in with Sam Cooke. You might get a kick out of this, Mark. Let me find the text someone sent me. Variety posted a story that said, for black people, Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come

was the imagine of its time and today. A Change Is Gonna Come came out in 64. Imagine came out in 71. Maybe imagine is the A Change Is Gonna Come. I mean, you saw how that... You know, it's the same thing with Questlove's new movie, you know, that folks want to describe as the Black Woodstock. But, you know, what they did in that park in Harlem in 1969 actually occurred six weeks before Woodstock. You know, if anything, Woodstock was a version of the Harlem Cultural Festival.

Well, that's why for me, folks say, Josh Gibson's the Black Babe Ruth. No, he actually was before. See, and that's what I, And I just think that part of our responsibility to me as the caretakers of our history and as black journalists, as black professors, as black lawyers and doctors and black environmentalists or whatever, is not allow blackness to somehow be diminished and become second to whiteness. We said, no, no, no, no, no. We were the originators of that. Y'all then followed. We ain't about to follow y'all. I mean, that's the incredible part of the story that Barry Gordy built his empire in Motown, basically, you know, pulling from the talent of black kids growing up in working class Detroit. I mean, again,

the Supremes at one time or the other, all three of those original Supremes lived in the Brewster Douglas houses. You know, that was the first federally funded housing project in the United States. You know, you go back to 1930s and you see Eleanor Roosevelt cutting the ribbons to it. It was synonymous for what housing projects looked like and the fact that they would come out of that and you got the Temptations coming out of that same space, Marvin Gaye later. The fact that they became quintessentially

not only Black culture, but what we think of as the best of Black, of American musical culture in the 1960s, right? You know, there's no Beyonce and Destiny's Child without the Supremes. Supremes were the first female group to have six straight number one records. They have a number one album. They did so many things. And the fact that they've been able to maintain that legacy, going back to how great Mary Wilson has been with this. To be able to maintain that legacy for so long when they worked together to tour around the culture and talk about how great we were, we were the Supremes.

All of that is about the history of what they did and it's still untouched 50 years later. As somebody just posted on my YouTube channel, Meryl Streep is the white Cicely Tyson. That was Abusaki. That was a good one right there. What Cheryl Lee Raff talked about,

Mary Wilson was always fun-loving, but also was a diva. Was she quite particular with you in y'all meetings? Or was she one to see done? You know, it was good because I always had the buffer of Ms. Aiden Wilson, who was the CEO of the museum at the time. But, you know, I knew not to cross any lines, right? I'm sitting there with Mary Wilson, right?

I know where my place is. Yes, Ms. Wilson, what do you need? Yes, Ms. Wilson, we'll try to make sure that gets done. You know, when you have folks of that stature, you just try not to mess it up. You want to represent them in the best way that they can be represented. All right. Mark, Anthony, and Neil, we certainly appreciate you sharing your thoughts

about the passing of the legend, Mary Wilson. Thank you. Appreciate it. Again, folks, tomorrow we want you all to tune in to Roland Martin Unfiltered. I will have my interview with Otis Wilson, the last surviving original temptation. It's an audio interview that we did, but you don't want to miss it. He shares some great things about growing up down the street from his longtime friend, Mary Wilson,

talks about the Motown days. And remember in the movie, the movie, The Temptations, when the David Ruffin character said, Otis, anybody buying tickets to see you? Did that actually happen in real life? Otis will give us the scoop. That's tomorrow right here on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Going to break when we come back. We'll tell you about this strange case out of Louisiana. Young black boy found dead. For the longest, the cops had not arrested this white woman and her son,

who they suspected had some involvement. She now has been arrested. We'll also hear from Simone Sanders, who will talk about the American Recovery Act and what it means for African-Americans. That is next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. The U.S. uses more than half the world's health care resources, but we're ranked 43rd in the world for life expectancy. How did we get here? The political determinants of health include how we structure relationships, how we distribute resources, and how we administer power.

What does this look like at the individual level? Take Jessica, for example. Jessica is 19. Her dad relies on mental health and substance use programs, but when these programs get cut, he becomes too difficult to live with. She leaves home. The neighborhood Jessica can afford has no grocery stores, limited public transit, and limited health care. To save money, policymakers change the water source to a more polluted river. Jessica has a minimum wage job

with no health insurance at a convenience store that offers free snacks while she works, which she takes advantage of because they're free. When Jessica becomes pregnant, she can't get health insurance because pregnancy is a pre-existing condition, and she doesn't realize that the salty, fatty snacks that she eats at work are bad for her baby. Jessica gets a ride to the closest clinic for a prenatal appointment, but the doctor is rushed and rude to her. She doesn't go back. Jessica develops preeclampsia and almost dies during her son's premature birth. He's born with cognitive defects because of poor diet, contaminated water source, and

lack of access to prenatal care. As he grows up, Jessica learns that her school district doesn't have the resources to accommodate her son's special needs. He drops out after eighth grade and will repeat the cycle of poverty. Through Jessica's story, we begin to see how social determinants, environmental determinants, health care determinants, and behavioral health determinants take their toll on our lives. And Jessica's story shows us

how political determinants supersede personal responsibility. Equity in our policies is a process and an outcome. Change comes when we can identify political champions at all levels and figure out how our most pressing issues align with their policies. For more actionable solutions to close the health gap, read The Political Determinants of Health by Daniel E. Dawes.

I'm Bill Duke. This is DeHala Riddle, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay woke. 37-year-old Janet Irvin is now facing charges in the Kwan Bobby Charles case. The 15-year-old boy was found dead in a sugar cane field last November after investigators say Charles was last seen with Irvin and her 17-year-old son. According to the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office, Irvin is facing charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and failed to report a missing child. On October 30th, Irvin and her son

picked up Charles outside of his father's home in Baldwin, Louisiana. Charles' parents said at the time they didn't know Irvin or her son and never consented to Charles leaving with them. These charges come months after the family has been demanding Irvin be charged with Charles' disappearance. The Charles family says they believe law enforcement dragged their feet because Charles is black. Lawyers for the family issued a statement on Tuesday saying, quote, we will continue to fight. We'll continue to advocate for Kwan's family and we will work tirelessly in our pursuit of justice, transparency and accountability. This is a this is a very, very troublesome case, Monique. Yes.

We show, y'all show it again. I am going to, so let me, I got to pull it up, but let me warn our audience. I'm going to show you the photo, but I'm warning folks. I'm giving you about a 60 to 90 second head start. So I will literally show it in two minutes. But if you need to turn away, please do so. This young boy leaves. Y'all

roll the footage, please. This is what he looks like. You'll see in here what he looks like, but then I'm going to show you what it looked like when his body was found. And it never added up in this case. My problem here is when the cops initially, when they got the call, their position was, oh, he's probably at a football game. Based on nothing, like nothing, then all of a sudden it was different when his body was found. So she has not been charged with murder. But this is at least a start, Monique. Yeah, they're still not there though yet. This one is sinister. And I don't know.

I always, my gut told me the family knew more than they were saying, but law enforcement to me is complicit in this. And I just have had a feeling from the very beginning that a small circle of people knew exactly what happened and that some of them were in power and were not sane. That was that is certainly the case, I believe, Robert, as well, because it just, it just, it made no sense whatsoever. And it reminds me a lot of the Kendrick, Kendrick Johnson case here in Georgia, particularly in small towns in America, without the ability to bring national attention to the case. As I often do, I like to substitute our young black victim in this case for our fictional young white woman named Lily White, who's the same age, wearing a Girl Scout uniform or cheerleading uniform. Depending on the situation, what would the national response be if that was Lily White who was missing? Would the police just say she probably had a football game and put no more thought into it? Would there be no more national press attention on it? No, we know

exactly what would have happened. Nancy Grace would have been down there. Anderson Cooper would be there. They would have helicopters, 24-hour coverage until they found out what happened. We have to do the same. That's why Black media is so important. That's why Black organizations are so important, because the only way to shine that bright light on subjects is to have people who care about it. And sunlight is the ultimate antiseptic. And the more we pay attention to this case, the more likely justice is to be served. And again, when we talk about Mustafa, what is so strange about this? And again, so folks, this is a warning. So please turn away if you like.

On the left is Bobby Charles. On the right is how he was discovered. Teeth missing, knocked out. I'm sorry, folks. That is shades of Emmett Till. Something clearly nefarious happened here. And this boy and his family have not gotten justice, Mustafa? Yeah, first thing I thought of when I saw it was in the till. You know, this just speaks to the

disparities that we have in relationship with law enforcement. You know, everybody watches the first 48 and they understand, you know, that if folks don't get real focused real quick, that you're more than likely not going to find whomever we think may have been murdered or assaulted. And we also know that when they said it themselves, when it comes to black boys, you know, he's probably at a football game, instead of assuming that he had been, you know, taken away and getting the work done very quickly.

So you got the two dynamics that are going on. You have this dehumanization of black boys and black girls way and getting the work done very quickly. So you've got the two dynamics that are going on. You have this dehumanization of black boys and black girls and how they're viewed. And then you also got the dynamics that go on with, unfortunately, with law enforcement, where there are some who don't take their job as serious when it comes to black and brown bodies and getting engaged and putting the full resources of their respective departments behind the search. Again, so, well, folks, we're going to keep updating you. We did reach out to the family's attorney. Folks were under the weather. So we'll try to get them on as soon as we can.

Let's stay in Louisiana. We're on Monday. The Louisiana State Police arrested four state troopers accused of using excessive force, deactivating their body-worn cameras, and making false statements about two arrests in 2019 and 2020. A months-long investigation found three of the four troopers arrested on Monday include 26-year-old George Harper, 28-year-old Dakota DeMoss, and 30-year-old Jacob Brown. All three troopers faced state charges of simple battery and malfeasance in office in connection with a police chase that took place in May 2020. The other officer, 34-year-old Randall Dickerson, is accused of using excessive force, deactivating his body camera, and making false statements while handcuffing a driver in 2019. The newly appointed state

police superintendent, Colonel Lamar Davis, said the use of force in both instances was, quote, inexcusable and tarnishes the exemplary work of our dedicated men and women. He told troopers in an email obtained by the Associated Press, quote, although we once again face a situation that will undoubtedly bring negative public attention to our agency, we must remain committed to holding each other accountable. That's what I'm talking about, Mustafa, when I keep saying when cops turn off those cameras.

This is why I say bottom line is the moment you sign on, when you walk out that door, you turn it on, it should never come off again. If it comes off, you turn it off, you should be terminated. Yeah, without a doubt. I mean, that's the only way that we're going to be able to document what's going on, you know, whether it is, you know, harassment or some of these other more egregious behaviors that we unfortunately find law enforcement doing. And even when we are able to document what's going on, it still makes it really tough for folks like Robert and Monique and many others to to be able to get justice for their clients. So, we just gotta continue to push on that. And the accountability thing in that statement is necessary. But they have no problem when it comes to policing

in our communities and making sure there's accountability. But of course we know that the police unions continue to push back and fight when we're asking for accountability to also be on that side of the ledger. Folks, I always love talking about community accountability, Robert, but I really hate it when you talk about it involving cops. Well, this is why I still say that if you have a case where a body cam is deactivated, the case should be thrown out. Take away the incentive to

have rent-seeking behavior. Take away the incentive to have rent-seeking behavior. Take away the incentive that officers will have to turn off those body cams. Because just like with anything else, let's put it this way. If you had a camera in your house, and then you notice every time you go out of town, your spouse turns the camera off, after about the third or fourth time, you're going to be wondering why they turned the camera off. Same thing with these officers. Why are you turning the camera off if you are confident in the policing that you have done? And quite frankly, as we've said, the technology exists today to have tamper-proof body cameras, which record directly to a cloud that will, or tamper-proof, where you cannot turn them on and off.

They can stream 24 hours a day that are saved on an external server. So there's no real reason for this not to be taking place already. And we have to push for federal funding and federal guidelines. Let's say that if you do not institute these policies with your state and local police forces, do you lose access to federal funding for weapons and trainings and other things that the federal government funds for local police departments? This is where all that military equipment keeps coming from. So it can be addressed on the federal level, but we do need to push for changes on the state and local level where we have the most influence of our public officials.

Well, I'm certainly glad to see that the actual state troopers are rested their own. And then you have a superintendent there, Monique, who is demanding accountability. Absolutely. That to me is the headline for this story, that we've got a department that knows this is going to bring a negative press. We're in it. And it should, because these are the things that need to be reported. But doing the right thing anyway, and not just the body cam, the to me more important part is these were four that had excessive force violations that needed to be prosecuted. So these are humans who should not have been assaulted and battered by police officers that are now are going to get some form of justice. And these officers perfectly will never be able to be a part of law enforcement again. Folks, let's talk now about the American recovery plan. President Joe Biden is

pushing Congress to do all they can to help those who are in need. Now, granted, they act like they can't do two things at one time. The House is in session, but the Senate, of course, is preoccupied with Donald Trump's impeachment. Had a conversation with Simone Sanders, who works with Vice President Kamala Harris's office, about what this means for African-Americans. All right, Simone, this has been this bill is critical. We've lost 41 percent of our black owned businesses. African-Americans are greatly impacted by COVID. We talk about the deaths as well. What will this American rescue plan do specifically for African Americans?

Well, thank you so much for having me today, Roland. Just last week, the vice president sat down with the secretary of the treasury and members of the black chamber from across the country to discuss this very issue. The reality is that folks need relief right now. Black businesses, businesses all across this country cannot afford to wait. So this American Rescue Plan is really a relief package, a survival plan, if you will, for businesses across this country. From November to December, 82,000 Black women were moved out of the workforce. 82,000 Black women. As you know, before the pandemic, they were the largest, fastest growing entrepreneurs. And so this plan provides relief to those Black businesses by ensuring that the next go around, when those checks are going

out, those PPP checks, Black businesses and those businesses who are really in need are pushed to the front of the line. And the last time they were at the back of the line. This bill ensures and will work on CDFIs, which I know for some folks sounds like some very complicated term. But it means a lot to Black businesses and small businesses across the board. And that's something that Secretary Yellen and the vice president will be working together on. You know, I could go on and on, but the reality is this, that we know that in businesses across the country, communities across the country have all been affected by COVID, but we know the effect has not been equal.

We know Black businesses, the African-American community, communities of color have been disproportionately affected by this pandemic, by this virus, both the economic crisis and the public health crisis. And the American Rescue Plan is a plan that seeks to provide some relief for this crisis. Obviously, one of the issues that is significant is the $15 an hour living wage. And there's been lots of back and forth on that. Then, you know, folks also talking about means testing when it comes to the stimulus checks as well, the assistance there. And so folks keep saying, are Democrats going to do what is necessary to thwart Republican efforts to

stymie this and get this done? Well, Roland, I can tell you this. The president has been extremely clear about where he stands on both the $15 minimum wage and getting relief to families via these relief payments, as we're calling them, those direct payments to families. When it comes to the minimum wage, the president believes there's something that we have to do and that we have to work with Congress to do, which is why the minimum wage, raising the minimum wage, was in the plan that we sent to the Hill, was in that original package for the American Rescue Plan. When it comes to these relief payments and these direct checks, the president and vice president believe that we have to finish the job on the $2,000. What Congress did in December is not enough. $1,600

is just, pardon me, $600 was just a down payment. And $1,400 will finish that job. Now, the president and vice president also believe that this relief needs to go to the families and individuals that need it most, which means if you are making more than $300,000, upwards of $250,000, you are not someone that this relief will be targeted to. So the president is committed to getting this done. When we think about, again, what is happening across this country, for a lot of people, it is the illusion that things are better. You know, Donald Trump often would focus on the stock market.

Other folks would say, oh, no, that's an indication that things are going well. But there are so many people who are still hurting, who are still being impacted. Then you have folks out there like Larry Sumner and then you have former Senator Phil Graham who's saying, no, this bill is just too big. How does the White House respond to this notion that this bill is simply too big and it could hurt the economy?

Roland, the reality is that 11 million people are out of work. 15 million folks are struggling to pay their rent. They're behind on their rental payments. 12 million children are struggling with food insecurity. Folks are standing in food lines right now. The question on the table isn't, can we do too much? The question on the table is, can we afford to do too little? And President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that we can't do too little. We have to ensure that the relief that is handed down to families and

communities across this country is sufficient. And that is exactly what the American Rescue Plan does. You know, the president did not design this package with a number in mind. He designed it with the need of the American people in mind. So we believe that this package matches the scale of relief that is needed. But we also believe that we need recovery, which is why in a few weeks' time, the president will lay out a plan for recovery for the American people, for jobs. But first, we have to give some relief. And so that is what the American Rescue Plan does. And the president and vice president are currently working with Congress to get this passed and get that relief

to the American people that greatly need it in this urgent time. Obviously, President Biden is going to be addressing Congress in a couple of weeks. And so when you talk about that longer plan, I mean, this really is what is immediate in short term. And that next phase is critically important. And one of the things that I have been really locked and loaded on and focused on on my show has also been to ensure that african americans are able uh to access the billions being spent annually by the federal government the study was done a couple years ago showing when it comes to media advertising the federal government 5 billion spent over five years black media gets 51 million when we see what's happening

in the department of defense when it comes to contracts as well. And so when you talk about that long-term plan as well, you know, will that also include massive changes to the federal government to say, wait a minute, here's the federal government spending these billions of dollars. How do we ensure African Americans are getting 10, 15 percent of these contracts, because that also speaks to when you when you were able to fund black businesses, they're hiring African-Americans, they have children, they have other family members. And so it's also building, building up black businesses and building up black wealth through accessing the federal government. But right now we've been cut off in a huge, huge

way. So, Roland, this is something, this question of equity, that's what I hear you saying, talking about equity as it relates to the federal government, but really the entire administration's approach. And this is something that is of keen importance to the president and the vice president, so important, in fact, that the president signed an executive order on day one on this very issue, instituting a whole of government approach to addressing racial equity. A crisis of racial injustice is one of the key four crises that the president and vice president, in advance of being sworn in, laid out throughout the course of the general election campaign and all throughout the transition. And when we talk about racial injustice, oftentimes people go directly to criminal justice reform. And while that is just

a part of it, there is something here, another piece of it, where we talk about economic injustice, economic equity. And if the president were sitting here right now, he would tell you that if we only address criminal justice reform, we're only addressing part of the issue. We have to address the economic inequalities as well. And so this whole government approach that the president signed his directive on is really saying that, look, it's not on one person or one department or one agency to ensure that the administration is conducting itself in an equitable way across the board. It is on all of us. And so this approach will really be, this work will be anchored in the Domestic Policy Council, led by

Ambassador Susan Rice, who is battle-tested, crisis-tested, and the president and vice president couldn't think of a better person to take this issue and effort on. And so, yes, contracting and procurement, as you mentioned, will be part of that effort, and we will hopefully have some more on this very soon to share and read out. All right, then. Simone Sanders, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Look forward to having you back, and I can't wait when we can also get a chance to sit down and chat with the vice president and the president about these critically important issues for African-American. Absolutely. Noted. We will see you soon. Thanks a bunch. Yeah, y'all see, you know, I'm going to get that request in while we there.

Let's go back to our panel here. Mustafa, I want to I want to start with you. We talk about the whole issue of race equity. The thing I always get a kick out of these people, these these wannabes out here who don't know nothing about the law. I got some fools out there doing little videos talking about, oh, look at this. Biden did this specifically for the Asians, not realizing that actually it dealt with the issue of anti-discrimination and the Department of Justice. And so you have leeway there. But when you start talking about contracts, the Supreme Court Bakke decision is there when it comes to how you can use race specifically in contracts. But, you know, excuse me, because I actually read a book or two or a thousand and

some folks don't. But I do think it's important for us when we're having the conversation, what we should be doing is saying, how far can we go when it comes to the issue of race and driving race equity? Because you have to figure out the precise language to use so it withstands court scrutiny and doesn't get shut down. Yeah. And if we don't do that, we're going to lose out on literally billions of dollars that could be going inside of our communities. First of all, let me just say that I appreciate what the Biden administration is currently doing with a number of the various policies and executive orders that they put out there. But I also want them, and I've shared with those who I work with, that equity and justice

have some similarities, but there are also some differences there, and making sure that we are also addressing the past egregious actions that have happened that have actually disinvested and removed wealth from our communities. So I appreciate, you know, that they're focusing on black businesses and businesses in general. But we also got to understand that as we are getting these funds now in place for what's happening in this moment, there are a whole lot of folks who have lost businesses that we have to also address that

to make sure that, you know, we can help to make them whole. When we're talking about $15 an hour and the fight that's going on with that, which is ridiculous, because we're talking about $32,000, a little less than $32,000 a year, that there are a number of other dynamics that go on, even if we can get folks to that $15 an hour.

So we're gonna push and fight to hopefully be able to make that happen. It should happen inside of this relief bill, because I have a feeling that if we take it to Capitol Hill, we may run into some real challenges there. But you raised an important part, Roland, is that this huge amount of money, we've always had a difficult time in getting a fair share of the percentages. And some of the cases that were there before created some of the challenges. But we now have $2 trillion that's a part of the climate economy,

and 40% of that is supposed to go to communities of color. The question is, how do we help people to get prepared to be able to fully compete for those dollars and then also build the necessary criteria so that, as many people have said, they get a chance to move to the front of the line, especially since they're coming from communities that have been disinvested in. So that's the you know, that's the dance that we have to do.

But it means that a whole lot of people are going to have to stay engaged. You're going to have to work with people who understand policy and who understand how we can build the right criteria in there so that folks actually have a fair shake. And many of these dollars that are coming, because if you don't, if you don't, there are others who are already positioning themselves to get these resources. And if you understand how the federal government and down to the states works, if you hit bottlenecks, then folks will redirect those dollars to places of least resistance, if you will. So we've got to make sure that we really understand this game and that we are being educated and getting activated to make sure you get those resources.

See, the thing for me, Robert, that really bugs me the most is when you have folk who don't know what the hell they're talking about popping off, and then you got other people who are also even more less informed, who don't know what the hell they're talking about. And then you got other people who are also even more less informed who don't know what the hell they're talking about. And so you got black folks running around. Well, why can't they should do this and do that. So you think all of a sudden you, you, you, you, the brightest bulb in the room and your ass, just the one figured that out, that if it could be done, a very specific remedy like that didn't happen before. Like you were so good that you saw you just so brilliant that you did is your idea. Well, well, just show me then how it can actually be done then.

So that's how I challenge these ignorant folks out here who post their videos on Twitter and Instagram and YouTube, who actually don't know anything about the law and the limitations. And so you have to create ways. That's one of the reasons why they use disparate impact. That's one of the reasons why they use census tracts. That's one of the reasons when they say we can target things to zip codes. So there are ways that you have to say race on the federal level where you can't do it explicitly. There are other ways around it. That's one of the challenges that folk have. And so when the Biden folks are saying this is what we're going to be pursuing when it comes to race equity again, like, for instance, perfect example. You talk about access to capital. We hear that all the time. I argue that if you're the federal government and you are putting federal government money in banks, you should have a provision that say in order for us to place the federal money that are in these banks,

we are requiring said banks to provide credit loans to businesses that receive federal contracts that might be in a disadvantaged category or just simply say that require you to provide credit lines to such businesses. Guess what? If you now are a black owned business or a Latino owned business or whatever, and now all of a sudden you have access to capital, and now because of that simple change, it now creates a credit line for you, that's not a race-specific remedy. That's a remedy where they even say if it's for companies less than $100 million in revenue or less than $50 million in revenue. There are ways for you to create those type of programs.

That's called being smart within the law. Well, you're absolutely correct. And let's understand why it's so important to be able to draft legislation properly. Many of the legislation came out of the 1960s and 70s that was meant to address, to ameliorate issues of racial disparities because of the way the laws were drafted ended up helping other communities besides African-Americans. One of the biggest beneficiaries of Title IX, for example, ended up being white women. One of the biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action programs who were meant to integrate many of the Ivy League schools, for example, ended up being Asian-Americans who vastly outpaced African-Americans in those schools. So when we talk about having these race-specific programs, we have to make sure that it's drafted properly

so that it properly addresses the needs of the community. And also, as you said, that it doesn't get struck down by the court. If we look at the holding, and when the Supreme Court struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, one of the issues that they brought up was the fact that the act was still using criteria set out in 1965 to address voting laws and voting issues in 2014. So you have to have legislation that was drafted, which is nimble enough, and that addresses all the needs, not just to maintain constitutional scrutiny now, but to affect the community that needs to be affected.

One more thing in your conversation with Sanders, we talked about the stimulus, and people saying, or Republicans more so saying, that it's too big and it could break the economy. That's not how any of this works anymore. They're talking about a pre-gold standard form of governance and austerity model from the Chicago school under Friedman. into the 21st century, what the IMS, the International Monetary Fund, and most supply-side economists say, the bigger the stimulus, the better for bringing you out to prevent a recession, prevent a depression. If you look at the New Deal, the reason the New Deal failed was it was not big enough. You needed World War II levels of spending to break you out of that negative economic cycle which was in place throughout the 1930s. So this idea of a stimulus being too big, we never talk about a tax cut being too big.

Congress has never found a tax cut for billionaires that was too big for them. But, oh, Lord, if a poor person wants a sandwich, all of a sudden we got to start pinching pennies and going into our pockets to see if we can find the money. Let's get rid of this idea that stimulating the economy can be too big, because at the end of the day, all this money is imaginary anyway. So let's just give it to the people who need it. See, Monique, the thing for me is I do my best to try to ignore the grifters. The problem is when the grifters are purposely driving disinformation and misinformation to our people and they think something can be done when it actually cannot. And what we have to understand is I don't spend my time going, well, do this.

No, what I go is what can actually be done? What can be done? What can get passed? What can get implemented? See, everything that can be done don't require press release. Everything that can be done don't require a big old party. Sometimes you can do stuff and you ain't got to sit here and blast it out. You just go ahead and get it done. And I think that's one of the pieces here. And I think too, you know, unfortunately, black people need to understand there's a reason they target us with disinformation.

There is a reason. And it's even more shameful when our own people contribute to it. But that's part of the master plan. The plan is for the cancer to eat us from the inside out. That's always been the plan. We perish for the lack of knowledge. Ignorance is not bliss. Knowledge is power. So the only answer, truly, when we have people who are on the grift or the misinformation, disinformation campaign is the way that they earn their livelihood, whatever the case may be. Their particular politician does not get an office, so then it's scorched earth mentality and everything else has to die and everybody else is wrong

and they just sit out here looking like petty betties, nitpicking and not offering any solutions. Away with all of it. I don't have time for any of it or any of them. The best resource to me is us in that we have the power to provide real-time accurate information, tools, tips, ways of doing things so that our people can advance. So when you have interviews like the one you had with the lovely Simone Sanders tonight, Hey Simone.

Really? Really? Really? You knew it was coming when with black women. So I'm true to this now. So when you have interviews like that on your very important substantive show, Roland Martin, then people can trust that because it's not a cakewalk. You're asking the right questions. You're not giving them a pass, but you're giving space for real answers. And that's what our folks need. And what they also need, what we all also need, like you just said a minute ago, you read a book or a thousand. I dare say you've read a book or five thousand.

Leaders read. If you don't read, you will always depend on the people who do. So read for yourself. Whitehouse.gov or wh.gov. Read every single executive order. Know which ones say what. If you have questions, submit them. Submit them to people you can trust like Roland or submit them to the White House or submit them to whomever until you get answers.

But read first and read as much as you can. And don't feel shame about what things you don't understand. We're all in this together. And it's going to take all of us to get it done. And again, here's the whole deal. If you are following somebody and their time is spent talking about what I talk about, as opposed to actually talking to policymakers, you should stop following fools like that. Because here's the deal. I don't discuss them because they're not worth it. Too many of our people are getting bad information. Too many of our people are walking around, think people telling you this can be done when it actually can't be done or they don't understand policy. They don't understand

how laws are made. They don't understand how to even lobby. And also last point, um, if somebody who you follow is now trying to have an opinion on what the Biden administration should or shouldn't do, and they the same punk asses who told you don't vote, they can go to hell. Because if you follow somebody who told you not to vote, their opinion right now don't mean a damn thing to me. And it shouldn't mean anything to you. And you sorry asses know who you are. Folks, let's talk about Chicago.

It's been nearly a year since schools were shut down due to COVID-19. Yeah, I said it, Monique. But some students are slated to return to school tomorrow for the first in-person classes after the city's teachers union voted in favor of reopening agreement with Chicago Public Schools. Months of mulling over safety concerns. Both parties were able to agree that the first and second close, uh, vaccinations,

uh, will be provided for all employees and students will return in phases beginning with pre-K and special education. This week, kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high school students are scheduled to come back to school in March.

Watch this. We are here to announce the very good news that our children will be returning to in-person learning this week. These past 11 months have been a whirlwind for our entire city, pushing us to limits, not once, not twice, but countless times. We've lost jobs, and we've lost loved ones. We've grappled with the losing the certainty and predictability of our lives and been left instead with instability, uncertainty, and we have all been on a nonstop emotional roller coaster

that we have individually and collectively tried to navigate a set of circumstances that none of us experienced before. All right, then, folks. You know what? I got to ask you real quick here, Monique. There's been a lot of back and forth. Same thing's happening in Prince, Georgia County right now as well. They're trying to work it all out. From the three of you. Is it time for kids to go back to the classroom? Oh, I got an email from one of the schools for three children, three different schools. And during the virtual session today

for one of my children, the lead teacher said, oh, Ms. Presley, are you in the room, Ms. Presley? Which, how far away could I be? So I'm like, yeah, I'm here. And is your child gonna be coming back on such and such a date? And I'm like, oh, I was just assuming

it was gonna get kicked again because this is like our fourth start date for a hybrid type scenario for that school. I'll say, like I said, the last time I was on your show, let's go with the science because I don't believe that it is failing us. Schools that are putting the proper protocols in place are having very good results, not just for children who we know are less susceptible, but also for teachers. And it has been proven that where schools are doing it safely, the schools are safer than community at large. They're safer than church. They're safer than the malls. They're safer than, you know, the McDonald's that's still open or the patio cafe.

But let's look at schools like D.C., and that's not even the worst example. Schools that don't have the financing, the wherewithal to be able to do it properly, teachers are dying. Student numbers are up and the teacher and staff numbers are up even higher. So I think this can't be a blanket. It has to be either the federal government is empowering and funding and superimposing funding on the states such that they can do exactly what is necessary for it to be done safely with the smaller amount of students in classes, the requirement of masks, the requirement of testing where testing is necessary, the low number of staffers, the VAC systems, because the two of my kids that are in hybrid, they've spent a whole bunch of money changing the entire way

that the place receives its air filtration system. And my kids say all the time, oh no, I need both of those sweaters and a coat because they keep that cold in there because they figured out how to stay alive and teach our kids. So if they're not going to do all of those things,

then no, because staying alive is more important. Robert, time for back in all of those things, then no, because staying alive is more important. Robert, time for back in the classroom. Yeah, you know, I'm uncertain on this because we just had another, I think, two teachers and teacher aides in Cobb County who died recently here in the metro Atlanta area. And I understand parents' concerns. I understand the need to get students back in the classroom. I understand the dangers involved with having them outside of it. But I'm thinking of it from the perspective of a school employee.

And do you really trust the same school district that will not supply you with markers and magic markers and pens and paper where you have to reach into your own pocket to provide supplies for students? I know teachers who bring children's laundry home to wash their clothes for them, bring food for children, all the things that teachers are doing already. So to trust school districts to put in the type of health and safety measures that the NFL has not been able to do, that Major League Baseball has not been able to do, that the NBA has not been able to do, that Congress has not been able to do, that the White House has not been able to do. I would have serious concerns and trepidation if I was a teacher going back into an environment, because again, you're not getting the same kind of health care that these multimillionaires who

still haven't been able to deal with this pandemic are able to do. So we have to really follow the science, not rush these things, understand the dangers involved by not going back, but also prioritize the teachers and the staff members and their lives and their livelihoods, because at the end of the day, they have families they would like to go back to also, so let's not rush this. Mustafa. Well, this is a tough one for me. You know, my little niece and her brother just had COVID just a couple of weeks ago. So, you know, to have them be in a situation like that, or others, I should say, to be in a situation where they might get infected, you know, is really tough. I'm just like everybody else. Everything I do is grounded in the science and policy and the law. And, you know, until we make sure that we have the

infrastructure in place to make sure that folks are protected. And that infrastructure is beyond what's going on in those four walls of that school. You're also talking about bus drivers. You're talking about a number of other folks who are part of the educational system who could possibly be, you know, exposed and infected. You know, they have to make sure that they have the protections in place as well. So, you know, no two schools are the same. So if we can make sure that the resources and the infrastructure and the science says that it's safe, then I think we're moving in the right direction. And also, I would be remiss if I didn't say, you know,

we also got to address the broadband issues if students are staying home because we got far too many kids of color who can't even learn because they don't have the infrastructure in place. Absolutely. Folks, Wells Fargo has fallen through with a pledge in May last year to invest up to $50 million in six black-owned banks. The banks include Broadway Federal Bank, Carver Federal Savings Bank, Citizen Saving Bank and Trust, Commonwealth National Bank, M&F Bank and Optus Bank as part of the investment. The banks will also have access to Wells Fargo's team for financial and technological development in order to help each bank grow and benefit. Bill Daley, vice chairman of public affairs at Wells Fargo, stated these investments are designed to help the banks become stronger and more impactful to the minority communities they serve, which leads to economic revitalization and job opportunities. Now, now, here's what I would like to see Wells Fargo is. I would like for Wells Fargo to have an intensive assessment of their advertising agency to see how much money they're spending on black ad agencies, black ad agencies, but also black media.

See, let me explain, folks, why I'm saying this. See? So think about that there. Wells Fargo announces they're going to put $50 million in black banks. But the question is, how are you also helping grow black businesses? Listen to what I'm saying, y'all. Listen to what I'm saying. So what happens is I'm not talking about if you're Wells Fargo and you're buying tables at black events. I'm saying, how are you also investing in what is your minority supplier development? What is your black supplier development? What black companies are you using? Are there black PR agencies, black advertising agencies, black accounting firms, black law firms, black bonding firms? You see what I'm talking about

right here? See, this to me is how granular we have to get Robert when we started holding people accountable with these announcements. And so, okay, sure. Wells Fargo sent it out. We got the press release. And let me be real clear, same thing. Netflix, they sent me a bunch of press releases touting different shows they have. I'm like, okay, that's great. But Netflix, when are y'all going to start spending money? When are y'all going to start actually advertising? Stars. Oh, y'all got P-Valley. So y'all had Survivor's Remorse. Y'all got Power. Now you got Power 2, y'all got P Valley. So y'all had survivors remorse. Y'all got power. Now you got power to all the spinoffs. How much money y'all spending on black

advertising? See, we have to be making a level of demands of companies that go far deeper. And again, I'm not just saying who wasn't black media you're supporting because I have a black media company. I want to know, are you supporting the whole black ecosystem? And I don't want to see the minority number. I want to see the black-owned number, not the black-targeted number. Because, see, BET, that's black-targeted. Complex, that's black-targeted. I can go down the line, all the folk, the root, that's black-targeted.

That ain't black-owned. I'm talking about what's black owned. You're completely correct. And we have to rethink how we look at these things because representation as an idea is a great thing. We need representation matters. But representation is passe at this point. Now it's about spending. So beyond not just what you were saying, how many black law firms are on retainer when you do major litigation? How many black, not black people who work for another law firm, how many black-owned

law firms are doing major litigation for your company? How many black caterers do you have on site? How many black drivers and limo companies are you using? There are places across the board where those markets, which have been historically closed to us, this is the idea of systemic racism, that because your father's, grandfather's, us, this is the idea of systemic racism, that because your father's, grandfather's, grandfather started this catering company in 1932 and Sony has been using the same catering company since 1932 or wherever it may be, that because we did not have access to enter that market, we're still being systematically deprived of the rights to that market and the ability to compete in a meritocracy on that level. So we have to start making demands up and down the boards to create equity, not simply equality.

I love seeing all the faces in the representation, those shoehorn, you know, a black neighbor in here and there just to make sure to have those diversity numbers up. But in reality, we need to find out not just who's in front of the camera, but who's behind the camera, who is behind the pen and paper at the agency? Where exactly are all the funds going? And what is your commitment to diversity? Do you have a chief diversity officer? Are you recruiting on HBCU campuses? So while we have the ear of power, we have to make sure that we're making demands and making demands strongly. Look, that's why we have the seven calls. Where's our money? Black economic justice. That's what this is about. And again, this is to me, this is one piece. I appreciate the Wells Fargo putting 50 million into black banks. But also, I remember a whole bunch of black people who lost their homes in a home foreclosure crisis as a result of Wells Fargo as well, as a result of Countrywide,

as a result of other banks. And so I don't look over that because if you actually add up, remember, we lost 53% of all black wealth due to the home foreclosure crisis. That's more than $50 million. Monique. Is it my turn? Yes, it is. Yes.

I agree with all of that, and I bank at Wells Fargo, just full disclosure, one of my accounts. But I'm still going to say this. I know personally of two vice presidents, prior vice presidents of Wells Fargo, who have left for other operations within the past 70 to 90 days, and they controlled diversity books, and they controlled a large business targeted at minority businesses. And I mean, you know, 250,000 and above initial investment type books for one of them and one diversity interest lending. And they both left to be places where they had more autonomy and being able to do business

with businesses and individuals that could most benefit. So I just don't think it's a coincidence. So when I looked at what Wells had decided to do, I'm like, is that a part of litigation or what? Maybe I'm jaded, but those are my two cents. Mustafa, I'm laying this out because what I'm trying to get African-Americans to do is to think vertical and horizontal. See, so again, perfect example. Netflix, they announced that they were going to put $100 million into black banks. Cool. What else?

See, that scene from Malcolm X, I'm not satisfied. That's one thing. Okay, but see, I want to know your commitment vertical and horizontal. I'm perfectly cool. Netflix. Y'all hired Bazoma as chief marketing officer. Yay. Y'all gave a content deal to the Obamas.

Yay. Y'all gave the richest content deal to Shonda Rhimes. Yay. There's some other black people who've gotten content deals. Yay. But I'm going deeper. To Robert's point, I want to know, are you saying on all of the productions who got the limo contract? Who got the catering contract? See, this is how, when you start talking about driving diversity, that's when you get real deep. That's when you start saying, hey, Netflix, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, any other company.

When y'all buy your T-shirts and your hats and your jackets, who you buying it from? When y'all buy the pop-up tents that you use, who you buying it from. See, I'm talking about across the board. And what I'm not talking about is a few black folks who you promoted. I'm talking about how deep are you drilling down when we talk about diversity and spending with black companies? Yeah. You know, the thing that I share with everybody who I work with is be very careful of window dressing, because window dressing look good until you pull the curtain back. And then you find out if there's really investments in the infrastructure, in the priority setting, in the policies that you're developing inside of your institution to make sure that every element has justice built into it or has equity built into it.

So when Robert was talking, I'm nodding yes, because you have to look at every one of these elements and ask, are you making a commitment in this space? Because it all comes back to actually being able to build wealth and build power based upon those sets of investments. So window dressing doesn't build power. It allows, you know, a handful of people maybe to be in a better position. And we, you know, we're not going to stop anybody from that. But what we're looking for is that real systemic change. You know, we talk about systemic racism, and we understand how that has dismantled and deconstructed our communities.

Now we're talking about systemic investments, about how we rebuild Black wealth and Black power, so that we then can make sure that our narrative, our stories are moving forward, and then we can help a whole bunch of other folks. So that's where my mindset is, and I'm sure that's where a lot of other people are now focusing. And we got to get even more people to understand that you actually can have power if you can work and hold these folks accountable and say, you know, just this one time investment is not what we're talking about.

We're talking about long term investments that actually can be quantified and that we can actually see real change happening. Absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, and I and I just get I just get a kick out of the people who love to whine and complain. But the question is, what are you doing? Are you doing the work? If you aren't, shut the hell up. Going to a quick break. We come back. I'm going to talk with a sister who started her own defense company. She's really focused and invested on STEM and technology. We'll talk about that next in our Tech Talk segment. Back in a moment.

I'm Roland Martin in the filter. I grew up wanting a lot of activities in my neighborhood that was in close proximity. You know, my mom wasn't always there, so I didn't always have a ride to places. And, you know, you want to be able to walk down the street and get to something that's some food for your soul in your community. You know, I relished, you know, the days of being in Clarksdale, Mississippi,

and when i had to go out there and live with my people they had actually black owned corner stores my uncle owned one my uncle donald on the cleaners and uh um in a corner store and he um he's a city councilman down there now it's like that was big for him he was like yo, yo, man, you got to own something. Got to own something. His wife was named Louise. It always killed me. I used to call him George Jefferson. His name was Donald. Because his wife was named Louise.

And that was big to see my family own and stuff. And it just cultivated what my dad told me. My dad, he didn't say a lot of good stuff, but the three things that he did give me, play chess, you'll be a thinker,

you don't have to work for nobody. He told me that. He said, you don't have to work for nobody. The same energy that you put into for somebody else, you can put that same energy into it for yourself. And then he'd go into his field. See, they talking about black people don't want to work. Black people just don't want no jobs.

You know what I'm saying? We don't work for nobody else. We want our own stuff. Give me my own stuff, I come to work every day. You know what I'm saying? He go into his own field. And, like, I don't work for anybody. Hi, I'm Gavin Houston. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy Jacob Lattimore,

and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Eee! All right, folks. My next guest started a company called STEM Board, which creates systems and solutions for federal and large-scale private sector clients. Ayesha Bowe, a former NASA aerospace engineer, founded the company in 2013 in order to make a difference and create opportunities to get young people engaged in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, also known as STEM. Now, according to Inc. 5000, STEM Board is one of the fastest growing companies in America.

She joins us now. Aisha, how are you doing? I'm well. How are you, Roland? It's great to see you. So let's, first of all, before we talk about the company, let's talk about you. Look, double degrees uh university of michigan uh but uh you were not one of these brainiacs always a straight-a student uh and you want this perfect student uh you actually have a story that when you talk to when you talk to young folks they can identify with as somebody who um who stuff, but again, got it together and now

is in a position to really impact and change lives? Yeah. So I like to consider myself the accidental engineer. I started my undergrad in aerospace engineering with pre-algebra in a community college. I was what you'd call truant in high school because I was not focused. I had no career aspirations and I was just trying to find a way to feed myself. I just wanted a job. But it was in community college that I discovered a love of math and science that would propel me to complete an undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan, which is one of the top four best aerospace schools in the country and eventually a master's in space engineering and earned me a role at NASA in Silicon Valley, working

on small spacecraft and supporting the Aeronautics Mission Directorate. And so as somebody who, again, who had to really lock down focus and really chart their own path, why did you go this route? What was it? What was interesting about getting two degrees as a real rocket scientist? People joke a lot, I'm not a rocket scientist. Well, you actually are. Yeah. So it was this idea that everything I thought about myself was wrong. For so long, I felt ashamed because I was black. I felt guilty because I was poor. I felt like I couldn't achieve because people like my guidance counselor said,

hey, I think you should be a cosmetologist. And it's not that there's anything wrong with that. It was that was all that she thought that I was capable of doing. And so once I entered the community college environment and I started to realize, hey, maybe everything that everyone told me about myself was wrong. I was determined to be everything that I thought was audacious. I wanted to live a big life. And so I said, hey, I'm going to go to the University of Michigan because you know what? I don't think I could get in. I'm going to study engineering because I love math and science. And if I'm going to study engineering, I'm going to be an aerospace engineer because I think that's the most incredible thing that I could do with my life.

And I did. And since then, I've been on this mission to help people challenge what they think is possible for them and their lives. So you went this route, then you went to go work for NASA, but then you left. Yeah. And when you leave a government job, your family will think you're crazy. Like, listen, I love my family. But when I said to them that I was going to leave my government job for a company that I was going to create, they thought I lost my marbles. It was just like, it was a non-conversation. Are you kidding me? You, you're an aerospace engineer.

You're a rocket scientist. You're just going to go. But yes, I was going into the community and I was talking to kids in schools on behalf of NASA and I would show up and I would say, Hey, you know, I am really excited to talk to you about the small spacecraft mission. I'm really excited to talk to you about what I'm doing in flight trajectory optimization. And they would look at me like, you're an engineer. You're kidding.

I mean, I literally had my degrees in my trunk rolling and I would pull them out and I would show them to the kids to prove that I got the degree and I was supposed to be there. And there was something about that to me that was like, this is wrong. We as a society need to normalize minorities in these fields. And I'm going to start a company that's not only going to do that, but that's going to do something better than that. It's going to be impactful and it's going to provide engineering services to the U.S. government in a way where we can have national reach. And that's what's become STEMboard and eventually Lingo, our at-home self-paced coding kit that's being used by thousands of school kids right now in America, including from HBCUs, to teach computer science. And so with that, how has that gone?

What has been the reaction when you bring this kit to young people? So I love lingo. Our clients include Microsoft, GE. We have Fayetteville State. We've got Bowie State and a number of other HBCUs that we're working with. And one of the most touching pieces of input I received was from a student who sent us an email and said, this is the first time that I've seen this subject taught by somebody who looks like me.

The head instructor at Lingo is a woman by the name of Danielle Regis. She's double degreed from Cornell, and she takes the students through the activities with passion. We tie it to art. We tie it to music. We tie it to fashion, because guess what?

I never thought I was going to be an engineer, and I don't assume that you want to be one. And so our content is designed to engage. It's designed to say, hey, this is how you can use this to do something that you're really passionate about. Just stay tuned. We're going to teach you how. And we also provide all of the material within our kits to make sure that students can not only build our lesson, but they can continue to tinker at home. And so we're getting input from 13-year-olds that say, hey, I just did this. I didn't need parental support, and I've built self-confidence. I'm seeing students say, guess what? You know, I thought engineering was really boring, but watching you guys makes me think

differently about it. And I'm also hearing from parents and teachers that they're enjoying our content because we aligned to national learning standards. We created a curriculum framework and we made it easy for organizations to build capacity while leveraging our content. Before I go to my panel with questions, one of the things that I always say is that you have to make something accessible and easily digestible for somebody to say, man, this is not bad. And so is that the approach you take as opposed to people who sit here? Because I take it if you walk into the room, they go, hold up, you ain't an engineer. But you walk them through that so they understand that, no, no, no, this thing is not as hard as you think it is. But let me just sort of explain it to you and put it in a different way that might get you excited about the field.

That's exactly right. I mean, our example is not, hey, let's show you how to do some calculus. It's let's teach you how to build a backup sensor for a driverless car. Right. You've seen a Tesla. You've heard the noise that cars make when they back up. You've probably ridden with your mom or a guardian. So you get that basic concept. So we're going to show you how to build that. And what you're going to see from us at Lingo is our follow-on lessons are around music and sports. We're getting ready to release the kit that shows you how to make your favorite beats with a microcontroller, which I call internally trap lingo. Like I want you to pull your favorite music from Megan Thee Stallion or whatever it is,

just a few bars, not enough for us to worry about any type of copyright issues, but just a couple, a little bit of a melody so that you can play it on your board and you can see how, wow, all of a sudden this thing that seems foreign is actually something that is applicable to a career field that I want to go into. And oh, by the way, it's not as hard as I thought it was. I got a feeling Mustafa is geeking out right now. So, Mustafa, I will go to you with the first question. First of all, thank you for everything you're doing. I'm actually the son of an engineer, so numbers used to scare me when I would see what he was doing.

But I know that you have had some incredible experiences with young people. Is there one that just kind of stands out that made you say, I'm moving in the right direction? Yeah, I never thought that I was a role model. And I can remember meeting a girl named Claire when she was 13 and she walked up to me. I was at a aviation museum in Northern California, just kind of fulfilling a speaker request. And she said, hey, I want to be an engineer when I grow up. I want to be an aerospace engineer. And so I gave

her my card and listen, I've given out so many of these NASA cards. If you call me great, if not great. Right. And she sent me an email and she was so enthusiastic that I invited her in. And that one day turned into her coming back for a shadow day. It turned into her becoming a NASA intern. And now she's graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with an aerospace degree, and she's going to work for Blue Origin. And she said to me, Aisha, I never doubted that I could do it because I saw that you did it. And from that experience, I was like, you know what? I'm going to do this. I'm going to do it bigger. I'm going to do it again. And I'm blessed that I run a contracting company where

we've been in operation now since 2013. We're leveraging the U.S. taxpayer dollar to invest in the infrastructure that's necessary to make a long-term change in how we educate minorities and women in America. Next question, Monique. Oh, I don't have a question. I have a person. Okay. Do you want to elaborate? Here she is.

I've got your next one. Hi. This is Grace. Grace has a life in tech that her mother never could have dreamed. Say hi to everybody. Hi. This is Grace. Grace has a life in tech that her mother never could have dreamed. Say hi to everybody. Hi. But especially to this rising queen right there who's doing big things in tech. She's gorgeous,

right? Okay. Thank you. Keep doing what you're doing. We need you. Oh, thank you. Roland, I mean, listen, can I come back? Because this is amazing. Thank you. Yeah, it's my show. can I come back? Because this is amazing. Thank you. Yeah, it's my show. I ain't got to ask nobody. That's what happens when you own your shit. Robert, what's your question for Ayesha Bow?

All right. Your story about the guidance counselor struck me because literally almost word for word, the exact same thing happened to me. I went to Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville in high school. And when I came back, I told my guidance counselor, I wanted to go to MIT and be an aerospace engineer. They asked me, do I want to go to technical school to work on air conditioners? And that's the last conversation I had with them on the subject. Right now, you mentioned Blue Origin. So there's a whole renaissance in private rocket companies, everything from Blue Origin, space sets, of course, and many of the other countries, Electron, more than anybody can count. How can African-Americans work on moving into this new and growing field?

Because we just saw Jeff Bezos step down from Amazon to focus on low Earth orbit, and then eventually the New Glenn going for the moon missions, and so on and so forth. So there's going to be a trillion-dollar economy that, for the most part, we are shut out of on the front end. How can we work on remedying that? So I love this question because if you look at venture capital and large investments, 75 percent of that funding is concentrated in just three states, right?

New York, California, Massachusetts. But when you're talking about George and when you're talking about SpaceX, guess where they are? They're in Florida. And when you have states with a high concentration of Black, Latinx, and female graduates with STEM degrees, such as Florida or Georgia, and they also have an affordable cost of living, that's key. So what I would like to see is more investment in these areas that already have that population, as opposed to investments where they would kind of require that that population moves to them in order to be part of their workforce and potentially even acclimate to their culture. The other thing that I actually have thought is maybe a perk of the pandemic is

this idea that you can now work where you are, right? I mean, it was a really big deal for me to move from Michigan to Northern California. I knew a lot of other minority students that simply said, hey, we're not going to do that. We want to go to other areas where we feel more welcome. And so this is an opportunity for these companies to say, hey, we can tap into this talent pool, which we all know is existing, by working with these EPCUs and organizations that are designed to cultivate this talent directly and allowing them to stay in environments that are familiar to them and it can support their academic as well as professional growth. One of the things that I was just talking about is this idea of business.

And again, with contracts and race equity as well. And I want people to really listen to what I'm about to tell you all right now. That thing I should too often again, we're not understanding how these stocks act. If you look at Elon Musk, worth billions on the use of federal taxpayer dollars, federal contracts, state giveaways. Donald Trump's daddy made all of his money, federal housing contracts. And so it's important for us to obviously, and most important to amplify what you're doing because, and let me be real clear to everybody listening. I need everybody listening to what I'm about to say. What Aisha has laid out is not a damn nonprofit. Why am I saying that?

Because there are too many people who want us as black folks to give our expertise away for free when others are earning millions and billions on the same expertise. And that's important to say because we have to have African-Americans also advocating for folks like Aisha when you're trying to get defense contracts, when you're trying to get contracts from other agencies, because that builds your business. And if Aisha Bowe grows her business from 10 to 20 to 50 to 100 to 500 million to a billion dollars. Imagine how many black children you now can impact when it comes to the area of STEM. That's what I mean when we talk about how we have to connect the dots and use each other's platforms. And just so everybody understand also what happens when you own your shit. I went to dinner with Aisha

and a friend of hers was a friend of mine Friday. She's on the show today. Not MSNBC, not CNN, but this is what happens when we are black and we own, we get to make the decisions on what we do and how we control our dollars. Now you can go ahead and respond. Roland, look, you know that the federal government spends so much money, right? In 2019,

$4.4 trillion, not billion, trillion dollars was spent by the government. And one of the things that I'm excited by is that the campaign outlined a 400 billion dollar plan to support small businesses and tackle inequities in the federal contracting system. This is likely to increase the dollars that are going to go to small and minority owned businesses. But guess what? There aren't enough small and minority owned businesses. These are what? There aren't enough small and minority-owned businesses. These are opportunities that people need to begin to prepare themselves for now. And one of the things that I want people to take out of my story and my time with you is that what I did isn't rocket science. You can start a company that is a small minority-owned business, and the government has resources that are designed to support you,

and you can grow without taking outside capital. Everything that was accomplished from the lingo kits to our operation was done by bootstrapping through using government contracts to generate revenue. We are not a nonprofit. We choose to use our profit for good, and that's a decision that I can make because I, like you, own. But it's important for minorities, women, African-Americans, veterans, disabled community members. Please know that these opportunities are available to you in the U.S. federal contracting system. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Aisha, you're doing a great job.

Is there anything that I can do to assist? Certainly let me know. And I'm sure there'll be more great things that we will be seeing and hearing from you in the future. Thank you. All right. Thanks a bunch. Folks, that is it for us. We got to wrap this thing up. I do. Did I get some mail today? I think I did. I don't know where I put it. Okay. thing up. I do. Did I get some mail today? I think I did. I don't know where I put it. Okay, all right. I'm going to read the letters tomorrow.

For our Bring the Funk fan club, if y'all want to support what we do, y'all know how to help us, please join our Bring the Funk fan club. Your dollars make it possible for us to do this kind of show, to provide a platform to folks like Aisha, to be able to get the story out and get the word out about what she's doing and the great things that she's doing. And, of course, to feature commentary. Folks have been loving you on YouTube and Facebook, Robert. They say you've been real spicy lately.

Somebody said, are you eating spicier food or something? They said that you have some oxtails before the show. I'm just saying what the folks are just saying there. And so again, the opportunity to have Robert and Monique and Mustafa on the show to be able to offer commentary is critically important, folks, as we able to have our expert voices out here, because if you watch cable network right now, you swear black lawyers don't exist.

I mean, you just you just swear they don't exist, but they actually do. And we feature them. All right, folks, support us via cash out. Dollar sign RM unfiltered PayPal PayPal is paypal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered. Venmo.com is forward slash rmunfiltered. And of course, Zelle is roland at rolandsmartin.com. Please support us. Also, shout out to Latasha Brown, Cliff Albright. I'm rocking Black Voters Matter today. So they always hooked me up with gear. So we were out on the road, of course. I had to. As a matter of fact, I know it's cold.

So, you know, I told them, I said, we got to do it right as well. So, you know, when you're out there and, you know, and it's freezing. So, you know, you got to represent even when it comes to the beanie as well. And so I appreciate that. And they're the ones we reached out to when we bought our gear. They hooked us up with the company as well. And so I appreciate that. And they're the ones we reached out to when we bought our gear. They hooked us up

with the company as well. Folks, I'm going to see you guys tomorrow. Tomorrow's Thursday. Look forward to seeing Greg Carr, Reesey, and Erica. Thank you so very much, folks. I shall see y'all tomorrow.

You know how we always end the show. Ha! Here's the deal. We gotta set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We gotta make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback.

Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispretirement.org brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time,

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Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does.

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