#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Trump's drastic VA cuts, House GOP to censure Rep. Al Green, Black Lives Matter Plaza painted over

Episode Date: March 6, 2025

3.5.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Trump's drastic VA cuts, House GOP to censure Rep. Al Green, Black Lives Matter Plaza painted over The Trump administration plans to cut over 70,000 jobs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. I'll speak with a retired U.S. Army Brigadier General about how this decision will impact our veterans. House Republicans are looking to punish Texas Democrat Al Green, who was removed from the House chamber for repeatedly disrupting the speech of the criminally convicted "criminal in chief." Al Green will join us in the studio. Pennsylvania Congresswoman will join us to recap last night's speech and discuss her efforts to persuade the Department of Education to rescind threats to end federal funding for schools with DEI programs. We see the Black Lives Matter yellow letter every day.  We'll tell you why they will soon be erased.  We'll also pay tribute to former Houston Mayor and U.S. Representative Sylvester Turner, who passed away last night. ✨Get your "Don't Blame Me ... I Voted for the Black Woman" tee and #FAFO 2025 tee TODAY #RMU Merch 👉🏾 https://rolandmartin.creator-spring.com/ #BlackStarNetwork partner: Fanbasehttps://www.startengine.com/offering/fanbase This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.  This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. You should read the Offering Circular (https://bit.ly/3VDPKjD) and Risks (https://bit.ly/3ZQzHl0) related to this offering before investing. Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports.

This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today is Wednesday, March 5th, 2025. Coming up on Rolling Mark Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Last night, we saw a liar do what he does best. Lie, lie, lie, and lie some more. We'll talk with Pennsylvania Congresssylvania congresswoman summer lee about the lie fest oh that's also called the joint session of congress speech uh democratic congressman from texas al green republicans want to censure him because he stood up and protested

trump's speech will show you what took place and also we'll hear from Green who will be joining us on the show tonight as well. Also, the Trump administration, they want to cut some 80,000 jobs in the Department of Veteran Affairs. We're going to talk to a retired U.S. Army Brigadier General about the impact. Also, folks,

so much for us to actually cover. We see, of course, Black Lives Matter statement on the street right outside of our building. Well, guess what? Republicans threatened D.C.'s money so the mayor, Miro Bowser,

capitulated and is going to remove the Black Lives Matter from the street here in Washington, D.C. And we'll also remember former Texas State Representative, Mayor of Houston, and Congressman Sylvester Turner, my frat brother and dear friend, who suddenly passed away last night here in Washington, D.C. We'll remember him for his amazing, amazing legacy.

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

Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. Hey, are y'all going to use this? Entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling, Martin. Rolling with rolling now.

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know he's Rollin' Martel Now Martel I'm out of here. Folks, lots of lies last night from the twice-impeached, criminally convicted, felon-in-chief, lead insurrectionist and white supremacist Donald Trump. He stood before Congress,

giving the joint session of a Congress speech. Lots of stuff to say. Long, frankly, boring speech. And what did he do? Lie. He talked about, oh, he was going to, he brought back freedom of speech while they also are talking about government censorship. He talked about how the economy under Biden-Harris was awful.

It was one of the best economies we've had in half of a century. Now, the Federal Reserve is predicting that GDP is going to be going down because of the actions of him. He wants to crack down on protesters, cut funding for school. He also attacked diversity, equity, and inclusion. And then, of course, during his speech,

he celebrates a young black kid who wanted to be an officer by making him an honorary Secret Service officer. That same young black kid fighting cancer, this is the same guy who's cutting cancer research in the federal government. He's a joke. He's a pathetic joke. And Republicans last night looked like idiots, constantly applauding and screaming and clapping. Democrats, most of

them on the other side, objecting silently, some holding up signs. People like David Axelrod said it was despicable what Congressman Al Green did. I think David Axelrod's comments are despicable. I'll deal with that later. But right now, I want to talk with Pennsylvania Congresswoman Summer Lee, who joins us right now. Congresswoman, glad to have you here. First and foremost, let folks know, so, what was the strategy of

Democrats going into last night? You had some members in pink, some folks dressed in black, you had some had shirts that said resist, some were holding up signs, a lot of folks were mocking those signs,. It looked like they were at an auction. And so for folks who don't know these conversations that take place in the conference, what was the strategy last night? Yeah, I would just, you know, keep it real. I don't know that I necessarily knew what the strategy was last night.

I think that when you get down to it, right, we're a caucus of 200 and, what, 12 of us, 213 or so of us. And, you know, there are different caucuses, different groups of people who organize or don't with each other. And I think that what we saw last night was definitely a little bit of a pick-your-own-adventure, when personally, I think we probably needed a more concerted and a more intentional effort that was in one accord. I think that as we're fighting back against the rising tide, quickly rising tide of fascism, of Donald Trump—and not just Donald Trump, but, you know, all of these folks who have been working behind the scenes, that are now coming in front of the scenes, to take over and capture our country—as that is rapidly increasing, we're going to need to see a way more coordinated effort from

all of us. We're going to need to hear from—and people, I think, are rightfully wanting to hear from us. They want to know that we match their urgency. And I think that yesterday is not going to be the last opportunity, right? It wasn't the first. It will not be the last. But it is an indication that we are going to have to get a foundation, a really strong foundation, because the time to start to build so that people from the outside can organize, so that our labor, our black and brown communities, all these folks can organize. We have to start to build that foundation. We've got to do it right now. So I saw this comment last night by David Axelrod on CNN.

I want to play this. Y'all go ahead and roll it. So it's one thing to mine our differences. It's another thing to try and heal our differences. And that is, you know, that's the difference between real leadership and political expedience. Would it have been healing to stand for Mark Fogle? Might have been. No, I agree. You know, you are absolutely right. I will do what you will not. I will say I thought Democrat.

I thought that was just I think there were times when they should have risen. I think what Al Green did was despicable. So let me say this here. David Axelrod's comments are despicable. And he's constantly saying that, oh, the problem is for Democrats, they're playing to the base and Republicans do the exact same thing. I saw what these Republicans did when President Obama was speaking. We saw and heard what they did when President Biden was up there, when they were standing up and yelling as well. And the reality is, one of the reasons why people sat at home last year,

because they felt they did not see enough fight. The reality is that Donald Trump didn't somehow just dramatically increase turnout. That didn't happen. He didn't increase turnout among African Americans and Latinos. That was because of the voter participation of those folks actually dropped. And so, and I said it point blank, and I don't give a damn. David, I said it on Twitter, David Axelrod is full of shit. He has no idea what he's talking about. I actually travel this country. I can guarantee you I speak to far more regular and ordinary people than David Axelrod would

speak to an entire year. And what I keep hearing when I travel around this country, they actually want to see people demanding, fighting, sticking up. Now, here's the reality. Republicans control the House, three-vote majority. Y'all have limited power to stop them from doing what they're doing. Senate Democrats have a lot more power. One senator can hold up nominations and hearings and all sorts of things. But if there's ever a moment where people want to see a post,

they want to see a heartbeat, it's right now. Period. Period. Listen, there is a cacophony of bullshit that's coming out from people right now. Nonsense. And to be quite frank,

his nonsense didn't even register because, you know what, those are just not even the voices that we need to lift up. But right now, let me just say it. I'm going to go ahead and add in Brother Green, Brother Al Green, who stood up, who took a stance because of something he believes in. But that's also what he always does because he's a brother who will speak up. And you're 100 percent right. We're all going to have to dig deep down and figure that one out because 100 percent right. We are all going to have to dig deep down and figure that one out because you're right. There are so many people right now who I am afraid are looking at what they're seeing right now and are going to decide that they have no faith in any of us, that they have no faith in anybody who doesn't have the courage to stand up. And

that's me included. That's all of us. So right now in this moment, when we're talking about meet the moment, we can both and we will have to both acknowledge that we may not have the House, the Senate or the White House, but we do have megaphones, we have platforms, we have a mandate from our own people who are looking for our own leadership. And what I want to say right now is that when we think about what the final failsafe is in a democracy, it's the people. It is the people. And yes, that means that we still need our legislative leaders to stand up. We need our messaging to be tight. We need to look like we're resisting, like we are, like we care, like we understand this. But we need to be doing all of that so that we can empower the real people who are going to move this along, as history has shown

us over and over and over again. The civil rights movement happened the way it did, not because Congress finally moved, but because the people moved it, because there were people on the outside who were organizing, who were agitating, who were boycotting, who were striking, who were doing all of these things at once. And I think that everything we've done in our history and our community is going to lead up to this right now. So I want to be in the voices right now to say that I just feel like we are underreacting. We're underreacting. So whatever Axelrod got to say, he has a vision for America that is different than ours. So because our vision isn't what his vision is, whatever he thinks is, I thought that whole showing yesterday was despicable.

I think the whole showing of what Republicans do every day. Right now I'm watching colleagues, you know, Christian colleagues on Ash Wednesday who want to cut Medicaid. Right. Who want to cut Medicaid. People are going to die as a result of the cuts to USAID. And these so-called pro-lifers are not going to say anything. And the thing that also jumps out at me when I hear the apsarots of the world with their bullshit is this here. And this is my problem.

And listen, God bless them, Biden, Harris, they're riding together, going to the inauguration. But here's my problem. Too many people in the media, they want Democrats to uphold institutions. They want Democrats to act right. They want Democrats to do what's right. They want Democrats to know you shouldn't do these things. You shouldn't be acting that way. No, we have institutions, the peaceful transfer of power.

Yet this son of a bitch, Trump, skips the damn inauguration in 2021. He doesn't come. Melania doesn't come. They don't come. They don't care. Oh, but they want to be treated with deference and respect. Okay?

Last night was a return to the crime scene. That's what you saw last night. And when I sit here and watch these folks like, oh, no, that's not how they should behave. That's not what's going on. Yet, when the right had the Tea Party protests and the Freedom Caucus, they were doing all of those things to Obama. And I'm sorry.

When Michelle Obama said, you know, when they go low, we go high, I'm like, damn that. This is a moment where you got to meet force with force. Throw that one out. We got to throw that one out, right? That was cute. That was nice. It sounded nice. It's time to throw that one out. And listen, I think that, listen, we're going to get right to it. Like, I think that people, listen, we got to.

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

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

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Apple Podcasts. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette.

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

And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. 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 thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Understand we got to live in a reality we live in. People don't care and they don't have expectations of the Republicans because they know who they are. When someone shows you who they are, believe them.

And there are enough of us who know who they are. So when people are looking for sanity, when they're looking for clarity, when they're looking for courage, they're not going to look to Republicans because they already know that that is a party of racism, that is a party of misogyny, that is a party of fascism. That's what they expect from that. What they don't expect is for us to go along with it. They don't expect Democrats to give any space for that. So, we have to recognize that people are going to hold us to a higher standard. And instead of us getting or feeling uncomfortable with it right now, it's time for us to stand in it. It's time for us to say, listen, if the democracy relies on the Democratic Party, then that means that we, each and every one of us, the 92 percent,

everybody, we need to hold the Democratic Party to the highest standard. Because if it fails in its endeavor, then the democracy fails with it. That means that we need to hold our leadership to the highest standards. That means that we need to hold our leadership to the highest standards. That means that we need to hold our institutions to the highest standards. There is very little room for mistakes, little room for us to slip. Because if we lose the faith of these people, then we are never going to have the movement that we need to counteract the movement that the Republicans have been working on for decades. And they have been working on it for decades. So Democrats do got to get—we do got to grow a spine.

We do have to treat them as the criminal party, as the party of hatred and division that they are. We do have to see that they are going to be hypocrites. That's all they know how to do. But I hold me to a higher standard. And after yesterday—listen, that's the standard I'm going to continue. I'm going to hold everybody in my life to that standard, because right now, when I say that the clock is ticking on democracy, the clock is ticking. And after yesterday—listen, we're not going to get everything right.

But after yesterday, after these last 30 days, after this last month, we got to up the ante. Trump doesn't care about decorum. Trump doesn't care about decorum. Trump doesn't care. You know, Republicans, they don't care about whether what they're doing is honest or disingenuous. And I've got so many colleagues who want to chit-chat with us and chop it up with us in the hallway and then go out and do the antics that they do. That's because they're playing a game, and they're playing to win. Period.

Well, I'll give you a perfect example. Here is one of the most racist members of Congress who has no problem hanging around white supremacists. That's Andy Biggs. Listen to this hypocritical asshole today in a congressional hearing.

Kind of like what I saw on the floor of the House last night. I love the little popsicle sticks with the little construction paper signs. Those are pretty special. Save on money. I appreciate you didn't want to be extravagant. I think I'm going to draw a response here, but that's really what we saw on display last night sophomoric childish not even sophomoric more more juvenile than that attempts to disrupt the joint speech now yield back well i'm waiting for the gentleman yields back the gentleman from maryland's

recognized thank you kindly mr chairman uh let me start with the digression to address my friend from arizona first of all i'm delighted that we were able to show you what a nonviolent protest looks like. And I appreciate the fact that you praise people for bringing signs and popsicle sticks rather than steel pipes and Confederate battle flags and Trump flags to beat people up. Again, that's how you respond. But the person we're dealing with here, and see, I just think it's important when we talk about the person who was just talking, because a lot of folk may not know who we're dealing with when we talk about Andy Biggs. This is the same person, the same person. This is a piece that was in the Arizona Central.

No biggie anymore for Representative Andy Biggs to hang with racists and anti-Semites. He participated in a Second Amendment rally that included anti-Semitic college Republicans united and the right-wing extremist Proud Boys. That's who the hell he is. Yeah, and that's why we can't play into it. Right now, they're galvanizing their forces.

They're getting all, they're all falling in line right now because they have a one track focus, right? Their whole entire focus and their whole entire agenda is taking over this country so that people like them can keep their advantages. They can keep their unlevel playing field because they know that if this is an equitable country, if this is a fair country, they know they can't compete. They know they can't compete with black folks who've come from the bottom for real, pull themselves up by no bootstraps at all, put themselves through school or trades or whatever it may be, and are still finding ourselves in the same room as them. That's why they have to

keep moving the goalposts. So we know what their mission is, but that means that we can't play into it. That means that we got to tighten up. I want to see us not punching left. I want to see us not punching down. I want to see us not kicking people out of our coalition who maybe don't have the same perspective of us. I want to see us looking to understand each other more because we're going to need it. Because when I say that we're in for the fight of our lives, I say, if you don't see that from what they're providing us, then I don't know what's going to get that

message across right now. We have very limited time, right? Democracies and backsliding, they don't last very long. History tells us that. So that means I don't care if you're Black or you're Brown or you're Muslim. I don't care if you are urban or suburban. I don't care if you're black or you're brown or you're Muslim. I don't care if you are urban or suburban. I don't care if you call yourself a moderate or a progressive or a leftist. If you are somebody who cares about the rights of human beings in America, if you're somebody who cares about us having equitable access to education or health care or housing, if you care about poor people and working class people, we have to get it together. We have to get it together. We have to get it together. Because these people are coming for everything that we have.

Yeah, they're coming for everything that we have. And they're doing it in our face. And this same representative, Andy Biggs, along with Paul Goldstar, go to my iPad, both of them refuse to sign a resolution denouncing white nationalism. That's who they are. And again, David Absarot won't say that kind of stuff on

CNN. He won't bring those things out. And the reality is, to your point, which is why we spent three years trying to tell people about Project 2025 that these folks, and people are like, well, we didn't think they were actually going to do it. They told you. They told us. They told you.

They are circulating the memo to get rid of 80,000 people in the Department of Veteran Affairs. What they want to do is decimate this country. They want to shut down these federal health centers you've been talking about. They want to massively cut. And the goal is very simple, to give tax cuts to people who make more than $360,000 a year.

And not only that, they are shutting down. Robert Reich posted this. I'm going to throw this out there, which was just amazing. And people don't understand how these crooks are in charge and what they are doing. He posted this. Trump has dropped investigations and enforcement actions against 89 law-breaking corporations, 42 cases at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 15 cases at the Department of Justice, six at EEOC, seven crypto cases at the SEC. It's a new golden age for corporate criminals. That is who they are working for, representative Lee.

Exactly. Say it again. Because right now, again, we got to say, we got to know who the people are, who the crooks are, and we got to know what they're doing. So I know there are a lot of people who are like, oh, you know, yeah, you're pointing out the problems, but, but, but, no, no, no, no, no.

Everybody actually doesn't know the problem. People don't know that the reason why they're cutting Medicaid is because they want to give a billionaire a tax break. Everybody doesn't know the problem. People don't know that the reason why they're cutting Medicaid is because they want to give a billionaire a tax break. Everybody doesn't know that. Everybody doesn't know that they want to take food out of your baby's mouth so that their already billionaire friends can get another tax break. People don't know that Elon Musk is in the government right now so that he can mitigate and navigate his own conflicts of interest. They don't always know that the reason why they're trying to take out the CFPB, why they are firing, you know, Gwen Wilcox at the NLRB,

they're attacking all of our points of power, worker power, the power of black and brown people, black people especially, black folks, being able to get a good job so that we can get into, so that we can grow our economic wealth and opportunities. They're targeting all of the education, right, so that our kids can't get their leg up. They're targeting all of our points of growth and power, and they're doing it very blatantly because these new age robber barons, tech bros, tech barons, oligarchs, whatever you call them, however

you call them, they're sitting right there in front of us. And we have to name it and claim it because there are a lot of people in our communities who don't know that Elon Musk is a crook because they believe that if you're a billionaire, then you must have worked for it. You had to have done something. I'd be smart, right? Because you're a billionaire. Not that he is somebody who grew up in apartheid South Africa, got his money off of abuse and, right, and, and, and, and, and, and that he is actually not a genius. We got to tell

people that we got to tell that story and we have to tell it repetitively because it takes multiple times for people for it to sink in for folks. So keep on saying it, keep on putting it up there, keep on making it plain because the people of this country deserve to know what's actually going on right now. And they deserve to be empowered and equipped to combat it. We got to get people tools right now. Indeed, indeed. Representative Sarah Lee, we appreciate it. Welcome to the show anytime. Thanks, brother. It's always good to be here, so I'll be back. Absolutely. Appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Folks, again, last night,

I mean, if you just broke down just the lies and the lies, Daniel Dale of CNN did a whole breakdown, and he literally did four minutes of just lie, lie, lie.

Oh, yeah, he lied about this. Yep, he lied about this. Yep, he lied about this. I mean, that's what it was. And so, I mean, to sit there and listen to that. And as y'all know, last night on the state of our union coverage, we didn't carry that joke of a speech. You want to listen to stupidity. UNION COVERAGE. WE DIDN'T CARRY THAT JOKE OF A SPEECH. YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO STUPIDITY. I MEAN, LISTEN TO THIS FOOL RIGHT HERE. LISTEN TO THIS.

THEY DID. THEY DID. THEY DID PROBABLY HAVE TO BEAR WITH ME AGAIN, AND THIS WILL BE EVEN BETTER. THAT WAS GREAT. THE PROBLEM WITH IT WAS THAT BIDEN DIDN'T ENFORCE IT. HE DIDN'T ENFORCE IT. better. That was great. The problem with it was that Biden didn't enforce it. He didn't enforce it. Fifty billion dollars of purchases and we were doing great. But Biden did not enforce it. And it hurt our farmers. But our farmers are going to have a field day right now. So to our farmers, have a lot of fun. I love you, too. I love you too. I love you. Let me remind y'all the tariffs last time that took place in Congress when Trump was there. Taxpayers, we had to bail them out of $28 billion. I want y'all to know, again, taxpayers, American taxpayers, because of this idiot's tariffs, farmers were filing for bankruptcy, losing farms, losing money because of this idiot's tariffs.

That's what we're dealing with when we talk about an idiot like Donald Trump. We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we're going to hear from Congressman Al Green of Texas, a true freedom fighter. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Hello, I'm Isaac Hayes III, founder and CEO of Fanbase. And right now we're accepting investors in our $17 million round to revolutionize the future of social media. Today, for just $399, you can own 60 shares of stock in Fanbase at $6.65 a share. Go to startengine.com slash fanbase and invest today. While the big platforms have grown too massive

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Unfiltered. Folks, last night, Democrats, for the most part, attended the speech. Many were quiet, silent. Donald Trump's walking in. They had their backs to him. Folks weren't shaking his hand. But when he started to speak, the twice only one member of Congress who had the courage to stand up and say, enough is enough. I am not going to sit here and be insulted by this man who returned to the scene of the crime that he led on January 6, 2021. This is what took place last night in the House chamber when Trump was talking

and Congressman Al Green of Texas said, I'm sick of this crap. We won the popular vote by big numbers and won counties in our country. USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! And won counties in our country 2,700 to 525 on a map that reads almost completely red for Republican. Now, for the first time in modern history, more Americans believe that our country is headed in the right direction than the wrong direction. In fact, it's an astonishing, a 41-point jump.

Members are directed to uphold and maintain decorum in the House and to cease any further disruptions. That's your warning. Members are engaging in willful and continuing breach of decorum, and the chair is prepared to direct the sergeant at arms to restore order to the joint session. Mr. Green, take your seat. Take your seat, sir. Take your seat. Finding that members continue to engage in willful and concerted disruption of proper decorum, the chair now directs the sergeant-at-arms to restore order.

Remove this gentleman from the chamber. Thank you. Thank you. Members are directed to uphold and maintain decorum in the House. Mr. President, you continue. Thank you. Over the past six... With that, Congressman Al Green was laid out, and Congressman Al Green of Houston joins us right now on Roller Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

Republicans are trying to move to censure you, sir, but before we start with that, this is also a very difficult morning for you, for me. There's a reason I'm wearing this shirt. We are Houston, because last night, your dear friend, my dear friend, our dear fraternity brother, Congressman Sylvester Turner, died at his home in D.C. Eight years mayor of Houston, longtime Texas state representative, passed away at the age of 70. We're going to pay tribute to him in the second hour of our show. But I want to first start with just.

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

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

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

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

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

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive.

But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skill 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 taylorpapersceiling.org, brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Your thoughts and reflections, because again, it was very difficult, I know, for you to go to the Capitol today after getting the news about losing your dear brother just months after losing our longtime sister, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. Well, thank you very much for the opportunity to express my sympathies, especially to the family and the friends who have known Sylvester over these many years. When Bishop James Dixon called me and shared the news with me, I literally fell to my knees,

tears welled in my eyes, because I couldn't believe that someone that I was with last night, we were on the floor together. I introduced him to someone. He seemed to be quite well. And he walked on away. And to this morning hear this was just very painful. He was such a decent person. He helped so many people. He was the kind of person that you would want to live next door to. He was a good statesman, a person who helped young people. He was always carrying a certain degree of spirituality in his aura. He would end his speeches when he reached his crescendo with, to God be the glory for the things he has done, and to God be the glory for Sylvester Turner and what he has given us over these many decades.

And he was indeed a beloved brother of Alpha, and it was always, again, the photo, this was when the Astros were in the World Series. And I went to Houston, my brother and I, we ran to the mayor, but in the parking lot, walked in together. And of course, us, we throwing the ice up. And so it was always great to see him. Yes. Yeah, I was proud that he was elected to Congress. He served quite well as a state representative for more than a quarter of a century, eight years as mayor of the city of Houston through hurricanes.

Ike Harvey served through the pandemic, the ice storm. He was a great public servant. And I was pleased to see him come to Congress. He was doing quite well. He came prepared. I know of no one who was better prepared to serve in Congress than Sylvester Turner. And he will be missed here and at home. Indeed, indeed. Let's talk about last night.

We could not hear. It was very faint. What were you saying when you stood up? And actually, before I get to that, was that your plan going in? Or was there something just in that moment where you said, I just can't sit here and listen to this? That's well said. It was a moment of spontaneity. I was ready to leave because I was not pleased with the president having made the comment that he had a mandate. And as I was about to leave, I was just overwhelmed with the belief that I had to say to him,

you don't have a mandate to cut Medicaid. Medicaid is very important to people who are without means. They don't have the wherewithal that a good many of us have. I have great insurance, but people need this in the richest country in the world. Health care shouldn't be wealth care. So I was telling him that you don't have a mandate to cut Medicaid. And then I said, and we have to take the cap and lift it on Social Security, because in just a few years, Social Security

is going to have a shortfall, and we've got to protect Medicare. Now, these three things, the president really did not elaborate on last night. He didn't talk about how he's going to manage Medicaid, didn't talk about how we're going to save Social Security and Medicare. So I brought it to his attention, and I was vociferous. I did hear the speaker when he suggested that I would take my seat. And I'll be quite honest with you, it was with intentionality that I did not. I did it because it was principle. I represent people who cannot be there to represent themselves. And I wanted to stand for them so that they would know that at least I would be there to take up their calls in their absence. He, the president, has demonstrated to me that they are going to cut Medicaid deeply.

$880 million will have to be cut from the energy and commerce budget. Million or billion? Billion. Billion. $880 billion. $880 billion, yes, approaching a trillion dollars. And if they're going to do that, they're going to have to cut into Medicaid, and that's going to hurt a lot of poor people.

So I didn't do it to see if others were going to stand with me. People have asked me that question. No. I believe that on some questions, it is better to stand alone than not stand at all. And I stood. And I would stand again. And, yes, they are about to censure me for this. But I have told people I knew what I was doing. The people who escorted me out were kind to me. They did not assault me in any way. I knew what I was doing. And I was incarcerated with John Lewis. We discussed peaceful protest. And one of the things that I tell people is, if you engage in peaceful protest, you're going to have to be disruptive. You have got to move things. John Lewis would say, get in the way.

But when you do that, be prepared to suffer the consequences. I'm prepared. Whatever the consequences, I'm prepared to suffer those consequences because I stood on principle for something that will help people. And if I have to suffer, I'll take those consequences. There are some Democrats who may... So there was a debate today. Supposedly the censure vote is supposed to be tomorrow. And I've seen a lot of chat back and forth. A lot of people said any Democrat who votes with the Republicans

and censures you is wrong. What if it happens? What if some members of your own party vote for censure? I won't be offended. I voted present. And explain why did you vote present? I voted present because I'm going to let the conscience guide each person. My conscience led me to do what I did. I will trust the judgment of the people. And if the people believe that I should be censured for this, then I will be censured. And I won't be angry with anybody.

I'm not angry with those officers. They were kind and said some nice things to me as we were leaving. I'm not angry with the speaker. I believe that when it's a matter of principle, you'll be prepared to suffer the consequences. And I'm prepared. I would do it again. And I said as much on the floor tonight that this was something that I did with intentionality and that I would do again if the circumstances presented themselves. And I would. I'm just being candid.

I just had Representative Summer Lee on. And in fact, I'm just being candid. I just had Representative Summer Lee on, and in fact, I want to do this here. So, before I go to that, last night on CNN, David Axelrod was highly critical, and I want to play what he said about you. Frankly, I personally took offense to it,

because I believe in this moment we need people of conviction, integrity, honor, decency, principle, morals and values to stand up to an immoral, lawless, uncaring despot who wants to be a dictator. So y'all play it. So it's one thing to mine our differences. It's another thing to try and heal our differences. And that is, you know, that's the difference between real leadership and political expediency.

Would it have been healing to stand for Mark Fogle? Might have been. No, I agree. You know, you are absolutely right. D.J. Johnson. I will do what you will not. I will say, I thought Democrats, I thought that was, I think there were times when they should have risen. I think SAY, I THOUGHT DEMOCRATS, I THOUGHT THAT WAS, I THINK THERE WERE TIMES WHEN THEY SHOULD HAVE RISEN. I THINK WHAT AL GREEN DID WAS

DESPICABLE. WHAT AL GREEN DID WAS DESPICABLE. I DON'T KNOW OF ANYTHING DAVID AXELROD HAS STOOD UP FOR. I DON'T KNOW IF HE'S BEEN WILLING IN A SETTING LIKE THAT TO SAY, YOU KNOW WHAT, I'M

SORRY, I CANNOT PLAY A GAME OF NORMALCY. I GOT TO REMIND PEOPLE, DR. people, Dr. King's speech on August 28, 1963, was not called the I Have a Dream speech. It was actually titled Normalcy No More. And that, to me, I think is the problem that I have. Too many Democrats are operating where they're treating this guy like it's normal. It's normal what he has done, what he has said.

What I saw for you last night was normalcy no more. Well, Dr. King reminded us that there are times when you have to do that which is neither safe nor politic nor popular. I didn't do it because I thought I would win a popularity contest. I will come back to where I started, and it is this. I did it because there are people who are going to suffer when the president cuts into Medicaid. Maybe this will be the thing that will prevent them from doing what they are sure to do if

they plan to cut $880 billion out of the energy and commerce budget. Maybe it'll stop them. Maybe they'll try to find a way around it. But my suspicion is they won't, and that they will decide that they're going to try to send Medicaid to the states, send some sort of block grant to the states. And Texas was offered $100 billion to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and rejected $100 billion to help poor people, people who are disabled. $100 billion because they didn't want to pay 10 percent of the cost and they let the federal government cover 90 percent. Well, I think that that's deplorable and that's despicable. And as to Mr. Axelrod, Mr. Axelrod, sir, I have no means of saying to you that I regret you said what you said,

to be very honest, but you're entitled to say it. And I was entitled to do what I did and suffer the consequences. There are people who are rallying. They're saying that we need to rally around Representative Al Greene in this moment. Do you want folks to be doing that, or do you want them rallying around the things that you were speaking about? I think the things that I'm speaking about are much more important. It wasn't about me, and I don't want it to become about me. I will say this. There are people who listen to the Axelrods of the world, and then they take that as a license to do things to other people. And I would hope that people wouldn't take it that way.

People say ugly things, and we've received all kinds of ugly phone calls. And I'm not associating the calls with Mr. Axelrod, but we have. So I don't want it to be about me. I want it to be about the people who need Medicaid. This is very serious. And my prognostication is, at some point, we will be saying, I told you so. I told you that they were going to cut into Medicaid. I believe that's going to be the case. I hope that this will deter them from doing it. And as for the president, there are three important things for people 65 and older, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. He did not explain how we are going to save Social Security. It's going to have a shortfall soon. Protect Medicare and prevent the elimination of Medicaid funds being cut. We've got to do something about all three of these. And the president was very pleased to

talk about things that were totally unrelated to these three important things for people over 65. Has Democratic leadership said to you, Congressman, you should have done what you've done? But what do you also want to see House Democratic leaders, Senate Democratic leaders, Democratic National Committee and others do in this moment? Because all I keep being, I'm hearing people who are like, right on, Representative Green. Thank you, somebody who is visibly fighting and standing up. Well, thank you. All of the comments that I've heard have been positive. I didn't seek comments from anyone, but they were all positive, and people came up to me and said positive things.

I haven't had any leadership to say anything negative to me. I would hope that people, as a result of this, would focus on Medicaid and pay attention to what's happening to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. That's where the safety net lies in terms of your health care and in terms of your having some semblance of an emolument to cover your needs when you get older and you're no longer working. That's what Social Security is there for. I hope that people will focus on these things. And as for what other people are doing, I think that there are many ways to get to the same destination. This is my way.

I will accept others and let them move in their direction without any degree of antipathy or any kind of thoughts that maybe my way is their way. I let them do what they may. I do what I must. again, not because of the need for attention, but because of the need for people to have medical attention when they are poor and they cannot afford what I have. I have the best medical attention that a person can get. My medical care is excellent. I want that for everybody in the richest country in the world. Health care should not be wealth care in this country. And we've got to change that. Let others do what they may. I do what I must. Indeed, indeed. Congressman Al Green, my brother, it's always good to see you. Good to talk to you. Thank you for standing up, for raising that cane

and letting folk know how you feel. And in these moments, I believe a lot of people are encouraged to see you do what you did because they said, man, at least somebody is showing some emotion and caring. You know, holding a paddle up like at an auction is one thing, but being willing to stand up and be ushered out of the House for people to criticize and ridicule you is another. And we need to have more folk who believe in nonviolent protest. And that's more important because what you did in the House in front of Trump was far different than those thugs that he unleashed, those domestic terrorists that he unleashed on January 6, 2021. Thank you, dear brother. And I would hope that you would continue to get the message to the masses as you do. There are many places where I'm not welcome, but I know that I'm always welcome

and you always treat people with a great degree of dignity and respect, and it means a lot to me to know that we can get a message out to the masses. So thank you for helping us do this. Well, you're welcome anytime, and as I'm rocking this shirt, we are Houston. We are Houston. Yes, sir. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Folks, we're going to go to a quick break. We'll be right back. We'll bring in our panel

and talk about all of this right here on Rolling Black Unfiltered, the Black Star Network. Don't forget, support the work that we do, y'all. I'm telling y'all, last night's event was major. I can't we had 250,000 people watching live. 250,000 people. The number, we got 11,000 watching live right now. All y'all on YouTube, y'all should be hitting that like button. Man, the grandmothers and the grandfathers and the uncles and the aunts. I mean, we were in so many family group chats. I was blown away 10 minutes

into last night's show. We were at 64,000. It was unbelievable what took place last night. But we can't make it a moment. It must be a movement. And so your resources are critically important. Man, we raised thousands for Tiffany Lofton's Student Leadership Conference. We're going to give you the website because we actually want to keep raising money for that. So y'all do me a favor. Support. If y'all want to give to us via Cash App. Cash App closed down our accounts.

You can't give it to us direct. So here's the QR code through Strike for you to contribute via Cash App. It's right there on the screen. So pull it up right there. If you're listening, go to BlackstarNetwork.com. Send your check and money order at PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. PayPal is rmartinunfiltered. Venmo is rmunfiltered.

Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. If y'all want to get that shirt I had on last night, don't blame me. I voted for the black woman. Here's where you get it. RolandMartin.Creator-Spring.com. Go to BlackstarNetwork.com. We'll be right back. We begin tonight with the people who are really running the country right now. Trump is often wrong and misleading about a lot of things, but especially about history. Donald Trump falling in line with President Elon Musk. In the wake of the unsettling news that MSNBC has canceled Joy Ann Reeve's primetime

show, The Readout, Roland Martin and the Black Star Network would like to extend an invitation to all of the fans of Joy Ann Reeve's MSNBC show to join us every night to watch Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming on the Black Star Network for news,

discussion of the issues that matter to you and the latest updates on the twice-impeached, criminally convicted felon-in-chief Donald Trump and his unprecedented assault on democracy, as well as co-president Elon Musk's takeover of the federal government. The Black Star Network stands with Joy Ann Reid and all folks who understand the power of Black voices in media. We must come together and never forget that information is power. Be sure to watch Roland Martin Unfiltered weeknights, 6 p.m. Eastern at youtube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin or download the Black Star Network app.

This week on the other side of change. Environmental disasters and systemic exploitation. From the wildfires in California to the unexpected snowstorms in the South. We are in the climate collapse. These extreme weather events are becoming more disastrous. And it is Black and brown communities that are often hit first and worst. Watch us on the Black Star Network. So tune in to the other side of change.

This is Reggie Roth-ker with... You're watching... ...Rosie Martin, unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamn believable. You hear me? Bring my panel, Rebecca Carruthers, Vice President of Fair Election Center out of Washington, D.C. Daniel Blackmon, former Biden appointee and founder of Renaissance 94 out of Atlanta. Dr. Julian Malvo, economist, president, Emerita Bennett College, author of Surviving and Thriving, 365 Facts in Black Economic History out of D.C. Glad to have all three of you here. Rebecca, I want to start with you.

You heard what Congresswoman Summer Lee said, Congressman Al Green. This is a moment, I believe, that people, as I said, they want to see a pulse. They want to see some fight. They want to see, frankly, Democrats. I've heard people, someone said to me, Democrats need their own Tea Party movement.

That they want to see some folk who are willing to put something on the line and not play the go-along, get-along game. You know, Roland, it's not that the Democratic Party needs to have a Tea Party movement. The people in this country needs to have a Tea Party movement. Because one thing about the Tea Party

is for a while they did act independently of the Republican Party until they started to merge. And so just looking at this and then even hearing the words of David Axelrod, it just made me think of what it looks like for white supremacy to show up. You have Representative Al Green, who's standing in the gap in Congress, standing up to a president who is looking to go after the least of these in this country, who is looking to do things that many Americans do not support and other folks find to be corrupt. And some of the courts have said it is illegal or unconstitutional for some of the president's

actions. And you have someone who is willing to stand up. But then you have David Axelrod, who directly benefits from white supremacy, who directly benefits from the system, he is more outraged and is calling out the person standing up in this moment, rather than the outrage of the proposed budget cuts to Medicare, to Medicaid, to Social Security that this president has outlined. And then finally, I'd like to say, Roland, congratulations on last night.

I wanna point out the reason why it's so important in this moment. Last night, you kept referencing Nehemiah and building the wall. You know, being a good Christian girl who was raised Kojic, one of the things about the story of Nehemiah that keeps coming to mind is there's a constant refrain in the book of Nehemiah that keeps coming to mind is there is a constant refrain in the book of Nehemiah that talks about, and the people had a mind to work.

So it's not even about the Democrats right now. It's about the people. As the people, we have to have the mind to work in this moment and move forward and force lawmakers to do right for this country. Absolutely. Absolutely. lawmakers to do right for this country. Absolutely, absolutely. And so it was a great night. But as I keep saying to people, we have to build upon what took place last night and not just see it as just one thing. Daniel, again, this moment that we are in, when we look at these cuts and we

see these polls and Trump's like, oh, the American people love what we're doing. Oh, folk are about to find out how they're going to be impacted by these massive cuts and these changes. And this is not a moment for people to be silent. Not at all. And, you know, Rebecca stole a lot of my thunder. I do want to congratulate you, Roland. I think last night was a part of what I think people have been waiting for, you know, not just opposition, but people have been waiting for there to be a discontinuation of normalizing a normal behavior. And I think where we are today, I want to absolutely agree.

You know, the same people that echo the sentiments of what Congressman Lewis. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

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

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Drugs Podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves.

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

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

subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million 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. What stood for are the same ones that tear down the character of those who walk and march in his spirit. And I want to thank Representative Green for his work and for all he's done. Now, to your point, you know, folks are going to feel it. I think most people don't realize that 30 percent of the federal workforce, they're veterans, right? We're not just talking about losing people or disrupting a workforce that we'll be able to

recover from. What the Republicans are doing right now under the Trump administration is potentially setting us back an entire decade, if not more, by removing positions that are not just critical to the federal government operating. I mean, we saw it a few weeks ago when they removed staff from the nuclear side that ultimately they had to scramble to rehire. We're not going to have a my bad moment long enough for us to be able to recover at a scale that this country won't feel it. And I'll tell you right now, if we continue in the trajectory that we're going, it won't just be an economic challenge. It'll be a national security risk across the board, not only with our federal government, but it'll tremendously impact the way we're able to respond. We're going in to the largest, one of the largest projected hurricane

seasons we've seen in a long time. And you look at what happened with NOAA and them cutting a significant number of individuals that work. I think the number is somewhere around 80,000. I mean, I don't think people understand. This is the 20-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Imagine if we faced another Katrina with a lack of first responder emergency management and individuals that can respond to this capacity, we're going to find out really quickly how essential those workers are. Julianne? Roland, first of all, again, I want to echo my fellow panelists in congratulating you on last

evening. I was toggling between you and I was halfway watching that man, halfway. But brilliant evening and right on time. And I hope that people will, of course, subscribe to the Black Star Network. $250,000 was a massive accomplishment, and we need to see a lot more of that. Who else is telling the truth out here? The fact is, the truth is not being told. And so, again, thank you for that. Now, this man came in saying that he was going to contain prices and lower inflation. Everything he has done since he got in has been inflationary. Tariffs are inflationary. When you put a 25 percent tariff on Canada, a 20 percent tariff on China. What you're saying is that the goods are coming

in here priced over. Now, some manufacturers will eat it, but many will not. Why should they? And so what you're going to see—and guess what? Trump—what's that name? That Elon, the Africanner—let's be clear, the Africanner, and so many others, they can afford a little tariff, a little increase, a little price increase. The people at the bottom cannot. And that's what we need to continue to emphasize, as Reverend Barber did last evening. The people at the bottom cannot afford to absorb 20 percent price increases. So we—you know, this is a moment—I, again, got to shout out Al Green. Love him, love him, love him. And join you Houstonians in mourning Sylvester Turner. But about Brother Green, he did what many should have done. David Axelrod

ought to be shamed of himself. How dare he? How dare he call anybody disgraceful? The disgrace is that this white man, let me say it, this white man, this Clinton collaborator, has never been on the side of us. And so now he comes out and calls somebody disgraceful, all he does is amplify his own disgrace. Last evening was a call to action for us. It reminded us that we have everything that we need to resist. I'm reading this book now that talks about Woodrow Wilson. I don't know why I'm reading this. I guess I have to. But reading this book, Woodrow Wilson's Civil Service and the Betrayal of Black People. And as I'm reading this book, I'm thinking, we've been here before. And that's all I have to say. We've been here before, so people, we need to—it's Women's History Month. We just came out of Black History Month. We have to have the resilience of a Mary McLeod Bethune, the brilliance of a sojourner of a

Harriet. We have to be clear that we will not, we will not go back. We have to be like Sadie T.M. Alexander. My personal shero, first Black woman to get a PhD in economics, you know, I loved her. But one day she was walking across the Penn campus. She asked a white woman, where is the building? The girl told her she didn't know. Sadie ended up, after a few minutes, finding her classroom. When she found the classroom, the white woman, I said woman, I'm behaving, was sitting in the front row and smirked at her.

She wrote in her diary that night, I am so alone, God, all I have is you. was sitting in the front row and smirked at her. She wrote in her diary that night, I am so alone, God, all I have is you. Black people, all we have is us and God. All right, folks. Thousands of jobs, some 80,000 jobs in the Department of Veteran Affairs are at risk of being slashed, according to an internal memo

from the Trump-Musk administration obtained by the Associated Press, the agency that provides health care for retired military members plans to cut those jobs. Again, 80,000. Those job cuts are going to affect employees as well as the VA as the VA scaled up to its workforce during the Biden administration and to accommodate veterans impacted by burn pits

under the 2022 PACT Act. Trump lawyer Alina Haba told a reporter, frankly, how they really feel about veterans who work. President, starting to think about maybe some of those veterans who worked for the federal government and maybe what the administration can do to at least help salvage their lives? Well, as you know, we care about veterans tremendously. I mean, that's something the president has always cared about, anybody in blue, anybody that serves this country. But at the same time, we have taxpayer dollars. We have a fiscal responsibility to use taxpayer dollars to pay people that actually work. That doesn't mean that we forget our veterans by any means. We are going to care for them in the right way, but perhaps they're not fit to have a job at this moment or not willing to come to work. That doesn't mean that we forget our veterans by any means. We are going to care for them in the right way but perhaps they're not fit to have a job at

this moment or not willing to come to work. I'm sorry perhaps they're not fit to have a job? Run that back. Is the president starting to think about maybe some of those veterans who worked for the federal government and maybe what the administration can do to at least help salvage their lives? Well, as you know, we care about veterans tremendously. I mean, that's something the president has always cared about. Anybody in blue, anybody that serves this country. But at the same time, we have taxpayer dollars. We have a fiscal responsibility to use taxpayer dollars to pay people that actually work. That doesn't mean that we forget our veterans by any means. We are going to care for them in the right way, but perhaps they're not fit to have

a job at this moment or not willing to come to work. Wow. Joining me now is retired U.S. Army Brigadier General Arnold Gordon Bray from Rocky Mountain, North Carolina. General Bray, glad to have you on the show. When you hear that comment, perhaps they are not fit to have a job right now. These are individuals who have served multiple tours of duty, individuals with PTSD, who've had limbs blown off, who literally have made the ultimate sacrifice, something Donald Trump never did with his fake bone spurs. And so when you hear something like that, what goes through your mind? Thank you.

First of all, I'm going to join the rest of the crowd in giving you some props for what you've done in 06. But if I can, let me kind of set the stage for a little bit of who I am so that, you know, I'm definitely not on anybody's radar, one wing or the other. But when you're talking about veterans, what got me in 2017 to starting to watch the presidency of Trump was, first with an inkling, when he first talked about the POW in McCain, John McCain, I said, OK, well, he's a political opponent. And so maybe that was a misstep. But then when he told a friend of mine, Mark Milley, at the World War II landing sites, because the weather was inclement, I knew that one of the values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage that was ingrained in me,

and regardless of service, some of those characteristics, I got concerned. What I see now is a person who is trying to use business propositions for people who have put their lives on the line. And let's be fair, lives and families on the line for the idea of this nation. And we've got to make sure we understand those things. So when I hear comments that may be a slip of the tongue, it's like a drunk person speaking, and my mom always said a drunk man speaks a sober man's mind. And so I think what I'm hearing is the absence of conscience of who you're dealing with. My grandfather fought in World War I and died in 1938 of mustard gas when he passed. So when you talk about injuries,

just as you talk about the burn pits in Iraq and veterans, veteran wounds don't always show. That's why there are so many homeless veterans, people who served honorably, who digested all that we tried to instill in them about the honor in this country. They're suffering sometimes silently. And if you ever really want to see the impacts of veterans, don't talk to them. Talk to the family members around them. And you'll see the change, and you'll see the pain, and you'll sometimes be able to see the wounds, but the wounds are there.

We've killed people. And anyone who's ever killed someone, unless something's wrong with him, he is changed. He or she is changed. And what they're doing right now is they are dealing with life. A young Marine wrote a poem one day. He talked about the strange land, and the strange land he talked about was coming back home. So when you've got someone that's handling military veterans,

you've got to make sure you're looking at the holistic view of who they are. And so it's not a misstep. Most Americans, the 51 percent that did not vote for this current commander-in-chief, they voted for something else, in some cases against this current president. And I wish I could call the GOP because anyone who doesn't support President Trump is not part of the GOP. He's called a rhino or something else. And I pray for the days of somebody like McCain being able to stand up again and be able to bring balance and civility. Unfortunately, General Bray, I don't believe

that that's not gonna happen. This Republican Party is completely taken over by Donald Trump. They're not gonna stand up to him. One of the weakest, most pathetic, feeble, impotent individuals I've ever seen was the person who people thought was going to follow in McCain's footsteps. That's Lindsey Graham. He is totally capitulated. He kissed so much Trump ass, he walks around in brownface. And they're not going to do it. And I believe that they are going to allow Elon Musk, they're going to allow these folks to make these cuts,

and they don't give a damn. And you've already seen veterans, individuals who voted for him. They have been crying. They have been posting stuff on social, calling into conservative talk shows. Oh, please reverse this. Guess what? That's actually what they voted for.

Yeah. Many people thought that, no kidding, nobody could be that extreme. And let's be fair. Many of them actually voted against Kamala because she was African American and a woman. And the worst part about it is there are some people who are African American themselves, and the male 20 percent, you know, I hope you really realize you didn't study her well enough to know she was.

She was actually the most qualified—I'm going to say this again—Kamala Harris was the most qualified candidate for presidency since George Bush I. Her preparation for world leadership was there. And so we kept—we didn't let her be who she was, and we didn't promote her for the holistic view that she carried for this nation and the fact that she's a product of this nation. But so that's my shout out to her. And thank you for being who you were and for putting your name in the hat to be our president. So, but I also, I'm a member of the 3M club. That means Mandela, Malcolm, and Martin, of course. Those three people carry what I carry with me, both to combat and as a citizen that Ronald Dellums described me with more power, because now I am a civilian citizen of the United

States. And so now I have the opportunity to, one, speak without denigrating my commander in chief, but rather talk to my commander in chief as a citizen and provide—help—for hopes with providing him the idea of those three. One is I carry the hope of Martin. I carry the belief and fire and fight of Malcolm to not rest because. And, of course, Mandela makes me say for a moment, I need to make sure that I'm willing to forgive and move forward.

I know that's not necessarily in vogue with a lot of my friends, but that's what I think you're going to have to do, because otherwise we're going to be in gang warfare. You know, we're hearing it. This last night really just stunned the crap out of me, because we got folks talking about embarrassment and talking about how it was an embarrassment. The reality is, is that in some cases,

they are reaping what they have sown since, really and truly since McConnell stood up and before Obama ever took the mantle as commander in chief, he said his whole job was to ensure he's a one-term president. That, in my mind, was the greatest trigger of change in our politics from an overt level. And so now you have the folks right now who are trying to be vindictive in their minds because they think this is something new. But if you look at the persons who looked at Obama and called him a liar in public and chanted him down or tried to chant him down, but because President Obama would not succumb to the platforms that they wanted him to represent, he tried to lead a nation. And even those that pushed against him cannot deny the civility that he brought to the position.

He was a commander in chief. Like him, love him, whatever. He was a commander in chief, and he listened to his staff, and he made decisions. That's what you really want to have in a commander in chief. And oh, by the way, he never made it about him. It was about the nation, about our people. And for those that don't know, the greatest increase of dollars to our military forces actually occurred under President Obama. The increases you'll see now that happens under most of the administrations that are not democratic. They have been for that part of the funding

that goes to systems, and systems mean businesses. What are you, what are you, I mean, look, y'all have chat discussions, all kinds of stuff like that. What is being said among veterans with what they are seeing right now? Yeah. There's an element of concern from many veterans, because what people don't realize is that

when you first join the military, you take a oath of allegiance to the nation, and part of it says, to the President of the United States and to the orders of the officers appointed over me. After you get more senior and you actually get into a position of authority, and it's the same one, by the way, that the congressional leaders take, it's an oath of office, and the president's name is removed and is to the Constitution of the United States. And so what the concern is, is that those who believe that, and I'm going to use the adage

most Americans know, mine is not to question why, mine is but to do or die, that dies after you have been matured in the service and you understand ethics and leadership, and you've been trained to understand those things. So all of a sudden now your oath is to the Constitution, and the idea is that what you will do is you'll use common sense. You'll use the Constitution and an understanding of the Constitution. I read the Constitution once a quarter. I read the Declaration at least once a month, because those are the foundational documents that drive my thought process,

that give me that hope I talk about from Martin that talks about—it's the same document that every time you listen to folks like Martin Luther King Jr., he uses that source document for this idea of a nation that we're supposed to be. We are a great experiment, still in production, still trying to validate some of the ideas and thoughts. But we are still in this experiment, and we are still able to use those ingredients to go forward. So that's what I use. And that's what many of our veterans are concerned that some of our people in formation are still thinking theirs is not the question why theirs is, but to do or die. And they're in leadership positions. And it changes. And one of my British counterparts gave me the best colloquial expression of what that's supposed to feel like.

And that is, Her Majesty made me a major that I might know when to disobey. And see, that is what happens inside of most of our formations. Contrary to popular belief, in our uniforms, there is great discussion about all that we do, and there are free-thinking, brilliant minds who are debating an issue. And then at the very end, we've got such great leaders in all of our formations that they will process, listen, and they build consensus for decisions when time allows. I'm going to say it again. Decisions when time allows. But they've got the strength of courage, the training, and education and background to make informed decisions. And that's what the fear is,

is that we're going to get syc single fence as opposed to those who've been trained in the art of war. Yep. Well, trust me, uh, there are single phantom on the leadership, especially when you replace a four-star retired general secretary of defense for a Fox news host, uh, general brain, uh, glad to have you on the show. We'll see what happens. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

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

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

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

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

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

episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper.

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The key is to the oath of office. And I appreciate you giving me this time and opportunity to speak to our nation. I appreciate you. Thank you very much. Brad. Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

Folks. Just outside of our building in the nation's capitals, black lives matter Plaza. And of course, when we talk about black lives matter Plaza, you know, we broadcast from out there. Let's go ahead and show it. So, Plaza, you know, we broadcast from out there. Let's go ahead and show it.

So, you know, we broadcast them out there. We were out there, of course, on the anniversary of the death of George Floyd. We've had the Floyd family out there as well. And, you know, talking about these issues, talking about his brutal death on that day, May 25th, 2020. And of course, here we are. This may be the fifth anniversary. And guess what? That's about to be no more.

Why is that? Well, because Republican out of Georgia, Andrew Clyde, he recently introduced House Resolution 1774 that seeks to remove the Black Lives Matter phrase from that plaza. If passed, the bill would withhold federal funding from Washington, D.C., unless Mayor Muriel Bowser removes it and designates the area as Liberty Plaza. Well, guess what?

Mayor Muriel Bowser is capitulating to this. Quote, we have long considered Black Lives Matter Plaza's evolution, and the plaza will be a part of D.C.'s 250 mural project where we will invite students and artists to create new murals across all eight wards. The mural inspired millions and helped our city through a very painful period, reflecting on how the Black Lives Matter mural

became a symbol during the protests against police brutality in 2020. But now we can't afford to be distracted by meaningless congressional interference. The devastating impacts of the federal job cuts must be our number one concern. Our focus is on economic growth, public safety, and supporting our residents affected by these cuts. That was the statement that she released. I just got to just go ahead and say it.

That's a bullshit statement, Mayor. It's a bullshit statement. What you should be saying, Mayor Bowser, is Republicans, how dare you always talk about government? How dare you always talk about local control? And now you want to tell the residents of D.C. who are not a state, who are taxpayers, who give their lives to this country, you're now telling us how we must conduct ourselves in this country. This is where the mayor should be rallying D.C. residents to let this Republican and

Republican leadership know. In fact, what her statement should be saying is that I call House Speaker Mike Johnson to say, don't allow this to move forward. Don't bring it up as a bill. This is the capitulation I'm talking about. Liberty Plaza? That's what they want? And that's the statement?

Now, oh, well, you know, the job cuts are number one priority. I understand number one priority. But, David, what's number two? Number two, three, four, five, 10, 20. What about the dignity of standing up for something? And let's be real clear. That wasn't meant to be temporary. And we know that.

We know this. What this is, oh, we gonna make y'all do whatever it is we want y'all to do. Bend over. Do what we want. We can run it. That's all this is. They're not fooling us. We know what they're trying to do. They've always used Washington, D.C. for their own purposes. They've always done that. And see, when I think about my native Houston, this is just outside of my high school, Jack Yates High School, where I graduated from, where George Floyd graduated from. And what they are saying is, yeah, so this is one Republican from Georgia telling D.C. how it should operate,

and the mayor, oh, yeah, we're just going to go ahead and give in. I'm sorry, Julian. I expected more fight from Mayor Bowser than this. You know what, Roland, so did I. I understand where she's coming from. I'm extremely and profoundly, as a D.C. resident, a victim of gentrification that I've called the mayor out on a number of times because she never met a gentrifier she didn't want to slow dance with. I'm disappointed. I do understand her reasoning, $300 million on the line. The

district's finances are funny. She did go and kiss the Trump ring. And she welcomes workers back to downtown, which has been relatively deserted at times, like lunchtime, when our restaurants depend on patronage. But I think she had other options. I don't think she needed to capitulate so quickly. And I think the capitulation really speaks poorly as we look at the other mayors who have been called in. Brandon Johnson from Chicago. Eric Adams has already capitulated just to stay out of jail. That's another story. The other, Brendan, from Baltimore. But the sanctuary cities' mayors who are also being asked to capitulate, and some of them will

and some of them won't. But here's what we know. If we all capitulate, we have nothing. And so, as I said, I appreciate Mayor Bowser, but I'm disappointed with her action, especially taking so quickly. Why do you have to do it right now? Can't you wait a minute, girlfriend? Come on. But, Rebecca, something at least deserves some kind of pushback, not just, oh, okay, okay. Exactly. OK, exactly. Shout out to council member Robert White, who actually spoke out about this last night in opposition to the mayor's decision. Here's the bottom line. To tell merified since I've lived in D.C. to where it's no longer Chocolate City because the rapid violence of gentrification in D.C. I think that's what people need to understand, that gentrification is not just displacement.

It is a violent displacement. It's literally removing generations of people from where they lived. Like, you know, if this was a key and pill sketch, like if I was pitching to them, I would say, you know what, if you're going to tell the story of D.C., have a bunch of murals of Black people all around the city, and those are the former residents who used to live here, and then maybe at night they could come out and play around. And that's the thriller. That's the horror of what's happening within D.C. because there's no—because many of the historic Black areas of D.C. are no more. But, yes, you really can see murals of Black people in some of those neighborhoods where Black people used to live. And now they no longer—not no longer do they live there,

but they're no longer welcome there. And it's very unfortunate and it's very sad. Here's the thing. History teaches us that appeasement to an authoritarian never works. It never ends successfully. And so I can't even respect someone at first pushback. All of a sudden they roll over. And in essence, the city deserves a strong leader, a leader who will speak truth to power. It's one of the reasons why, you know, I said even at the top of the show,

we can't rely on political parties here. And remember, all power to the people. It has to be a people-led movement that people have to push back, because unfortunately, we are seeing leaders just like this decision that Mayor Bowser just made, that are making wrong decisions in this moment. Daniel, this was June 7, 2020. This is a story that was on CNN. Civil rights icon John Lewis calls Black Lives Matter mural a powerful work of art during a visit with mayor. Remember, so this, he actually visited this mural when he was, he was dying from pancreatic cancer. In fact, this is a tweet that the mayor had actually posted. And this is a photo of him overlooking that. Maybe Mayor Bowser needs to remember this.

Yeah, I mean, not only does he need to remember this, but I think those of us who are in Georgia are familiar with Mr. Clyde, who is not only an election denier, not only fought against shelter in place throughout the state of Georgia, is one of the same individuals that wanted to help lead the effort in Fort Benning. I mean, I grew up, my father was in the United States military. Fort Benning was named after a Confederate general, just like Fort Bragg. Both of those names were changed under the previous administration, and Fort Benning became Fort Moore.

And now, under the new leadership, we're spending more time talking about a street that was birthed out of not only the violence of gentrification, as my dear sister just mentioned, but a street that was laid on the backs and the blood of many civil rights leaders at a time where we're now seeing, and I hate to keep on bringing his name up, but Elon Musk liking a tweet, excuse me, about giving a pardon to Derek Chauvin, who is the police officer responsible for the murder of George Floyd. We're seeing this in real time. We're seeing Confederate-based names being returned to where they were and excuses of why they're doing it.

But yet and still, a congressman from my home state, which I'm ashamed to say, is now getting into politics outside hundreds of miles away from our state, not to focus on job security, not to focus on protecting veterans, not to focus on affordable housing, not to focus on veterans that are reliant on SNAP and other critical services and individuals around this country that are losing their job, but to focus on the street. And I think that's very telling of where their priorities are. Both of my colleagues today on this show, including yourself, have been very adamant about where we are with this. There's nothing more to say. This is a reflection of where they stand, what their priorities are, and the lack thereof. Indeed, indeed. And speaking of priorities, another white Republican governor is letting a cop out of prison who killed an unarmed black man. A former white sergeant in Virginia who killed an unarmed man who was sentenced, his sentence is now being commuted by Virginia Governor Republican Glenn Youngkin. He granted clemency to Sergeant Wesley Shifflett, who was sentenced to three years in prison for fatally shooting Timothy

McCree Johnson in 2023. He was convicted of recklessly handling a firearm during the shooting. Johnson was accused of shot lifting at Tyson's Corner Center. Shifflett and another officer chased Johnson before firing three shots. The investigation found that Shifflett fired the fatal shot. He was terminated because he did not meet the expectations of the police department by violating the use of force policies, protocols, and procedures. Shifflett contends he was protecting himself from a suspect who refused all police commands. The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus released a statement condemning Youngkin for commuting a former Fairfax County Police Department sergeant's sentence. And this is what we're dealing with.

We saw the same thing, Daniel, in Missouri, where the Republican governor there commuted the sentence of a cop who killed someone that a judge. I mean, it was a trial and everything, and this is a... Again, Republican governors allowing cops who were convicted by a judge and jury and sentenced to let them off free. And don't forget, Donald Trump pardoned some D.C. cops who also killed a man as well. And not to mention the January 6th insurrectionists. I mean,

this is a pattern. We're not in any way, shape or form looking at something that is normal. I mean, this is a pattern from the governor leadership that we're seeing around the country. So it's a pattern on this very, very intentional rebuke on justice for the lives of individuals that are not convicted due to protest. They are convicted by a jury of their peers. What bothers me more than anything else is where are all the Black Republicans that are standing up for Trump and standing up for all these things going on? They're dancing at the White House when we see them, you know, celebrating certain things and laughing at Democrats. It has nothing to do with Democrat or Republican. This has to do with right

and wrong and the amount of black blood that was shed throughout this country. Now, you know them shiftless Negroes ain't gonna say nothing, do nothing. They just happen to be in the room. And you're absolutely right, but it's... Hold on on Julianne

get your finish yeah but and I'll finish really quickly and I know that you know I mean and we share the sarcasm in that but the challenge

that I'm having is that we're seeing this in real time and whether it's in Virginia or it's in Missouri or it's the January 6th situation I mean this is a playbook that they're using

that I think until we see a legitimate stance against what's going on, we'll continue to see governors around the state do the same thing for cases that we might have forgotten about, but we'll see these things happening more frequently. Jillian, now you can go. Thank you. Well, you know, we've seen jury nullification. We have seen white juries basically absolve white people for killing us. We've seen it time and time again. And here we go again. I'm, our colleague Lauren has documented what's been happening in Virginia. But what we are seeing is the resurgence of lynching culture. Lynching culture says you

can do anything you want to to a Black person, and you will not have to pay any consequences. You can shoot them. You can kill them, you can take their property, and there will be no consequences. And under the Biden-Harris administration, there were a few consequences. Under the Obama-Biden administration, there were a few consequences. Not enough, but a few. Now this orange man, this convicted felon, rapist, et cetera, he's saying, I want to absolve all of that. I want to go backwards so that in our history books this will not be reflected. So we're not surprised.

We're chagrined. But I'm happy that you segued this from the Black Lives Matter to this, because basically what they're trying to say to all of us is that Black Lives do not matter. And we got time enough for them. We will resist. We will resist. Rebecca? You know, listening to both Dr. Julian's point and to Daniel's point, what's concerning me is that we're seeing these folks play in our faces and using white supremacy to do so, it's almost like they want to bait us and get us angry and get us out in the streets. And then, you know, I saw something, yeah,

I saw something on social media saying, you know, if there's enough, if the fire's turned up and it's hot enough, where people start protesting, especially now where there are a lot of anti-protesting laws on the books, not just in the South, but across this country, what happens then? Does that give the president the pretext to then declare martial law? I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

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

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

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

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

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

and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive

content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. long game. We got to 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 thisispreetirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council....artial law in certain areas. So my concern is that this is intentionally getting hotter. They are intentionally doing things to bait people to act. I think this is why, because even more important, to have teach-ins, to teach those who are of conscience, to teach those who support liberation and justice of this is how we have resisted in the past. This is what civil disobedience looked like in the past, because

these people are intentionally trying to bait people in this country. So, yeah, go ahead. I just want to say really quickly, I'll keep it short. Let's not forget that a month ago today, Jackie Johnson, who's the former DA on the Ahmaud Hathaway case, her case was dismissed in the courts in the state of Georgia. So we're not just talking about law enforcement. We're talking about district attorneys and individuals that were tasked to do the right thing, getting off in these same instances as well. So here's how we do, quote, take the bait, Rebecca.

In November, there's a gubernatorial election in Virginia. And Winsome Sears, MAGA black woman, is running on the Republican side. This is how you mobilize and organize. You beat her ass. You make sure she doesn't win. And then what happens is, if Democrats control the House and the Senate and the governor's mansion,

then they want to pass a law that can make it retroactive to restore voting rights to the formerly incarcerated. They can then make the kind of changes that we're talking about. That's how you do it. That's how you actually do it. So they want us to go into the streets? Yeah.

I say take to the streets. Teach people, educate people, register people, then vote. Use that power. That's how you actually do it. All right, folks, taking a quick break. When we come back, we will remember Congressman Sylvester Turner, who passed away last night here in D.C. at the age of 70. You're watching Roller Mark Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network.

Next on the Black Table with me, Greg Carr. Dr. Gerald Horne, a man regarded by many as the most important historian of our time. He provides us a history lesson I'm betting you've never heard before. Texas enslavers who plan to continue the conflict even after Appomattox, even after the formal surrender of Robert E. Lee.

Dr. Horne talks about his new book, The Counter-Revolution of 1836, Texas, Slavery, and Jim Crow and the Roots of U.S. Fascism. You do not want to miss this conversation. Only on The Black Table, right here on the Black Star Network. What's up, y'all? Look, Fanbase is more more than a platform it's a movement to empower creators offering a unique opportunity for everyday people to invest in black-owned tech infrastructure and help shape the future of social media investing in technology is essential for creating long-term

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And you're tuned in to... Roland Martin, Unfiltered. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 As we say at the top of the show, folks, former Houston mayor and congressman of the 18th Congressional District, Sylvester Turner, passed away last night at his home here in D.C. He died after suffering a medical emergency following Donald Trump's speech to Congress. Before the address, Turner did a lot of interviews with a number of different influencers, including Elizabeth Houston, talking about the issue of Medicaid. Here is some of that interview.

Congressman, I appreciate you for highlighting this. Please tell us why you decided to bring your guests tonight and also why Medicaid is so important to you. They are slashing nearly a trillion dollars for Medicaid. When you do that, you are hurting real people, real lives. And I wanted Angela to be here out of my district to tell her story, to put a face on what they're doing. Don't let them do it. Sylvester Turner had been diagnosed with bone cancer. DON'T LET THEM DO IT. DON'T LET THEM DO IT. DON'T LET THEM DO IT. DON'T LET THEM DO IT.

DON'T LET THEM DO IT. DON'T LET THEM DO IT. DON'T LET THEM DO IT. DON'T LET THEM DO IT. DON'T LET THEM DO IT. DON'T LET THEM DO IT. DON'T LET THEM DO IT. DON'T LET THEM DO IT.

DON'T LET THEM DO IT. DON'T LET THEM DO IT. This is Angela Hernandez, my guest tonight for the State of the Union. Angela is here to advocate on the importance of Medicaid. I'm Angela. I'm from Houston, District 18. My daughter is Basie Garcia. She's two years old. She has a rare genetic disorder, chromosome 8P, inversion, duplication, deletion. It causes a lot of developmental and medical challenges. So losing Medicaid would be devastating to us. So please let people know, don't mess with Medicaid.

That was that, that was one of the videos again that, that literally he posted last night with, with his guests. And, you know, there were so many people shocked and stunned as a result of this announcement. He had a long career in public service that spanned several decades at both the local and state government levels. His political career began in 1989 when he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives for District 139, a position he held for nearly three decades. Despite facing early setbacks in his campaigns for mayor in 1991 and 2003, he was elected mayor of Houston in 2015

after a heated runoff against Bill King. He secured a second term in 2019 by defeating the wretched Tony Busby. Following the death of longtime Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, his good friend, Turner announced his candidacy for Texas' 18th congressional district, the same position that was held by Barbara Jordan and Mickey Leland. He was elected just in November. Folks, Houston Mayor John Whitmire had this to say about the passing of his predecessor, Mayor Turner. But it reminds us how vulnerable life is.

Puts things in perspective. Council, as you witnessed, is very sad that we lost a public servant the size and record of Mayor Turner. He's fought a courageous fight with his illness. I saw him Saturday at the rodeo parade, and then, as I mentioned, he and I were on a program together a week ago Sunday at Acres Home, Robert Williams' installation. He and I are both very close to the family.

So we shared that program, Robert Williams installation. He and I both are very close to the family. So we shared that program and many folks, certainly many of you that are new to Houston do not realize our history of being partners. I got elected at 23 years of age. He ran for county commissioner in 1981. I was involved. Then he went to the legislature. We worked for 24 years. We worked as a team representing the same community.

So I have nothing but fond memories of his partnership and our representing the same people. Politics is a tough business. I ran for mayor three times. I witnessed each of them. And I think anyone familiar with that successful race would say I played a vital role, helped them get the police firefighter endorsement, which was really important. Other support, I think I did a pretty good job of firing up crowds for him. And certainly presenting him to Houston as the winning candidate on election night.

We had disagreements but they were never personal. personal and our families were close. You know, no one knows the pressures of public service in general until you serve and no one knows the pressures of being mayor until you have the honor of being a mayor., Sylvester's on our mind today. Very tough loss for the city of Houston. And, you know, Rebecca, it's very difficult because, like, literally losing Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and then Turner. She ran for his seat for mayor, lost to Whitmire.

And then literally a month later was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She was gone three or four months later. And then now having to now deal with this loss as well? I didn't know him personally, but I knew and know of some of his staff, including some of his staff when he was mayor and some of his campaign staff. But to your point, the vacuum in leadership that Houston is going through, even the realignment of leadership that's happening within Houston. You know, it's tough. It's tough when you lose that continuity, when you lose those folks who have been around. They have the battle scars of the different various political fights that they fought. And then you start to bring in that new leadership that isn't necessarily battle tested in the same way. And what's really sad and unfortunate is that this moment really requires those who have been battle tested.

But, of course, we still have other people like Congressman Al Green in the Houston area. We still have other people there to help fill in some of that gap. But it is sad. It's sad to lose two great, wonderful Black politicians back to back within a year. Daniel? The night I got the news that I would be appointed to serve as the regional administrator for EPA Region 4. I was in Houston, and Mayor Turner was one of the first mayors to congratulate me. And I remember he vaguely said, you've got to come back to Houston. And I kind of softly said, you know, sir, I'm in the southeastern region,

and, you know, unfortunately, Texas is not one of my states. And he said, I can ask you that. And so, you know, I want to say that I had, you know, a very, you know, great opportunity to meet him. The last conversation he had to show you the stature of this man, he convened all of the black utility executives in the country. I didn't even realize there were over 25 black utility CEOs. He convened them. And I want to say thank you for his life, his legacy, his promotion of the city, the rodeo, all the things he invited me to, all the things that he did is a testament of a legacy of a

generation of men and women and civil rights leaders that we have lost, but that their memories will hopefully remain within all of us. One of the last interviews he did at the National was on Reverend Alice Sharpton's show on Sunday. And this was that interview. And so, you know, I had reached out to him. I had reached out to him to be on our broadcast last night, but he was attending the speech. And you know, Julianne, the Congresswoman,

Joyce Beatty said, she was the first caller I got this morning, I was actually asleep. I woke up to the news, because I didn't go to bed until like 4 a.m., had my phone on sleep mode, because I knew, I said I needed to get some sleep, after last night's six and a half, almost seven hour broadcast. And, you know, she said that she had left him last night to come here.

And he had talked about he told her, he told her to tell me, hey, he had respect for what I did. We were longtime friends. I've known him for years growing up in Houston, covering Houston politics. He's my alpha brother. And again, it was this morning. It was very difficult for CBC members when they even had their noon meeting today because so many just saw him last night after the speech, again, doing interviews, and he went home and had his medical emergency. You know, Roland, I had the pleasure of meeting Mayor slash Congressman Turner on a couple

of occasions. I enjoyed and appreciated, we discussed some of his environmental stances. He was close to a number of African American people who are environmentalists. It is a great loss. I mean, I echo what my colleagues have said. It's a great loss. And beyond that, I mean, there are a couple of things that we all have to think about. One is succession planning. The loss is great. We will all mourn. Who's next? I think that all too often we have our Black leaders who are on their own by themselves, and we've seen it time and again. And so who's next? Who's up next? Who's got next? I think the other thing that we really

have to think about is the double blow that Black Houstonians are experiencing with the loss of both Sheila Jackson Lee and Sylvester Turner. That's a lot. It's really a lot. So we have to lift them up with positivity to talk about, yeah, again, what's next? But the third thing, you know, joy comes in the morning. Something positive will come out of this, even though personally, like I said, I didn't know the brother well at all. But we have been in each other's company a couple times. He actually teased me about something I said or did, which is not unusual for anyone.

But we got a good laugh out of it. So we'll all miss him. But as we miss him, we have to, A, lift up his legacy and, B, live in his light. Folks, February 4th, he posted this video talking about the dismantling of these federal agencies. Listen. This is Sylvester Turner. A lot has happened in D.C. over the last 14 days. But one of the most egregious things that has taken place is that Elon Musk, this billionaire, this tech information, information on your Social Security, Medicaid, and the list is endless. Now, on January the 20th, we inaugurated a president.

We did not crown a king. But since January the 20th, one executive order after the next, this president and those who work for him on his behalf have gone too far. To have your personal, private information in their possession, and no one knows how this information will be used, is outrageous. It's egregious. And it's repugnant to all of us as Americans. And no one knows how this information will be used, is outrageous. It's egregious.

And it's repugnant to all of us as Americans. Today, there was a huge rally in front of the U.S. Treasury. By the thousands, people showed up and said, I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for

Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June

4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. and this is season two of the war on drugs podcast we are back in a big way in a very big way real people real perspectives this is kind of star-studded a little bit man we got uh Ricky Williams NFL player Heisman Trophy winner it's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher.

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

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. podcast. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. is the long game. We got to 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 thisispreetirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Enough is enough. Our information belongs to us. It doesn't belong to this B&M.

It doesn't belong to this tech guy who can use your information and my information any way you can. It is now time for all of us to stand up, to hold our ground, and to say, no, it doesn't work that way, Mr. President. And we will do everything in our power to change and overturn this abuse of power. We need your help. Speak up and let your voices be heard. And in the meantime, this congressperson from the 18th Congressional District will do everything I can to brighten this room. We talked about it a few months ago when Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee passed and then, again, outgoing Mayor Sylvester Turner, delivered this eulogy at her funeral.

Thank you so very much. We thought, Elwin, that we would all come and do this together. To the special dignitaries, Elwin, Let me just say that it takes a special man to be married to Sheila Jackson Lee. Thank you. And God chose you to be her husband. And my brother, you have done it well. So I want to congratulate you for a job well done.

To Erica and Jason, my parents used to say that the best thing that I can give you is a good name. Your mom has given you a good name. And Erica, you have channeled her spirit. And there's so much of her in you. Jason, she would be proud of what you're doing right now. She was an ambassador with a special assignment. From the local perspective, I want to thank her for standing by North Forest

when they were trying to shut North Forest Independent School District down. For the church in Acres Home, Cliffdale, small church, needed a contractor, didn't have the money. She found the contractor. She made the repairs at no cost to the members of that church. Thank you.

To Cheryl Ropolo, who didn't, doesn't even live in the 18th Congressional District. Her daddy needed medical care. She reached out to Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. She made the call and her dad was with her for another seven years. Cheryl Ruppel wants to say thank you to the homeless man that was on the street. But because she came that person's way, that homeless man is now in his own apartment with the wraparound services. Sheila Jackson Lee, the homeless man, wants to say okay. To the many COVID drives she set up, working right alongside me and others, The thousands of people whose lives have been saved want to say thank you. And in her final months, when her body was frail, when people

needed food and water, Rodney, we were out there. She got out the truck, moving slowly. We said, Sheila, we can, we'll do this. She said, no, brother, no, I'm here. And then when we finished that stop, we said, it's time to go home. She said, brother, I have one more stop to make. We went to a shelter. She got behind the line and served them food and stayed there until we said, that's enough. I'll close with this. Sheila wouldn't take no for an answer, but because she was an ambassador on a special assignment, there was one person she had to yield to. And God said to Sheila, Sheila, your work on this earth is done. You have ran a good race. You fought a good fight. And now it's time, my sister, for you to come right on home. Sheila, I want to thank you on behalf of the local community for bringing the world to the 18th Congressional District. To God be the glory for the good he has done.

And the same, of course, can be applied to Congressman Sylvester Turner, dead at the age of 70. Julianne, Daniel, Rebecca, we really appreciate you all being on today's show. Thank you so very much. Folks, the show's not over. 2023, I held a Juneteenth discussion in Houston. And if you want to understand the impact of Mayor Turner, he did some amazing things as mayor of the city of Houston, really especially when it came to black business.

And so we're going to close the show out. I'm going to sign off right now, but we're going to play this for you all, for you to understand the work that he did on behalf of African-Americans, African-American business owners as the mayor of the city of Houston. We will greatly miss him, and I will personally miss him as well. Folks, I will see you guys tomorrow from New York City from Susan Taylor's National Cares Mentoring Gala. Here's that conversation with Mayor Turner from 2023.

Coming to Houston, we understand heat, so I wore one of my African outfits. In fact, Len from a turkey-legged hut called me. He said, hey, man, what's the dress? Because you know it's hot. I said, Doc, it don't matter. I said, you come dressed like a chef. He said, cool, linen works.

So when he sees you, he going to be real happy. Well, I am certainly dressed down today. No, no, no, no, no. This is how we roll the Black Star Network. We good with that. All right, glad to see you no, no. This is how we roll the Black Star Network. We good with that. All right. Glad to see you here, Mayor. First off, I wanted to have this conversation because you're in your final months as mayor.

This is about the future of economic freedom for African-Americans. Right. And Commissioner Ellis spoke earlier. He got his point. He came in for all y'all got here, so he had a mic first. And we talked about literally the billions of dollars that exist out here in the public sector. And unfortunately, we're not fully tapping into that. You understood that coming into the mayor's office. And so what was your focus to make sure that black folks were getting a piece of this pie when we are significant tax payers in the city? Well, Roland, I looked at it in two ways. Certainly the people in our city need the services. You know, the basic services.

And you want to make sure that you're improving every community, every neighborhood so every neighborhood is a community of promise and hope. So services are important. But secondly, economic empowerment because that is what will last far beyond my term. Making sure, for example, that we're providing opportunities for businesses to add capacity and then to be able to scale. They can then hire, and then that continues. So that was critically important.

Number two, the city of Houston, for example, our budget, we just passed a budget a week or two ago, $6.2 billion. And then that doesn't necessarily factor in everything that we're spending, for example, like at the airports and our utility system, all of that. So it's a lot more than that. So it was very, very important when you say that you are the most diverse city in the country, that that diversity be reflected beyond just ethnicity, but in terms of where those economic dollars are going I will and I am proud to say that in my term in office that we have done more businesses with MWSB East and more so than any time in the history of this city and if and if you drill that down they'll say we just want to focus on African-American businesses, we have awarded more a billion dollars going specifically just to African American businesses.

Wow. And if I wanted to be exact, you're talking about $927 million. I like specifics. Yeah, I'm talking about $927 million, and that's just up to 2022 that's not factoring in in this last year and the reason that's important and we talk about this because when you talk about that much 927 million going to go on the black businesses now you're talking about companies that have employees folks who are buying houses. When we had my TV One show, the weekly show was four years

and the daily show was four years. The sister who did the makeup, she came, when the show was over, she was in tears and she says, Roland, I gotta thank you. I was like, why? She said, doing makeup for your show allowed me to buy my first house. And that's, and here's what, by her doing makeup on our show, she's the makeup artist for Supreme Court Justice Katonji Brown Jackson.

Wow. So when you saw the judge in Vogue, she did her makeup. Wow. So when we talk about creating opportunities for black-owned businesses, you're creating not just that opportunity, but what's coming down the road. And now houses, sending kids to college, them giving to HBCUs. And so that $927 million is not just going to one person. It's the multiplier effect. And look, when I came in as mayor in January 2016, we had 2,500 certified MWSB businesses, 2,500. As of today, we now have a little more than 5,200. We have more than double.

Wow. More than double. And again, if you want to drill that down to African-American businesses, of that 5,200, 40% of them are African-American businesses. Forty percent of them. So we've more than doubled the number of certified businesses. We have given out more contracts in dollars and cents to MWSBEs than in the history of this city. We are working on building capacity. That's just the city. After the murder of George Floyd, there were a number of us, African-American primarily, entrepreneurs and businesses, that started the Houston Social Justice and Economic Equity Fund. And partnering with various corporations and banks, in this case Wells Fargo, which ended

up giving $20 million to the Houston Social Justice and Economic Equity Fund. We have provided grants anywhere from $10,000 to $60,000 to more than 220 businesses, minority businesses in this city. And we're getting ready in the second round to provide another $8 million. We decided that the $10,000 to $60,000 was not high enough. And so we've increased that threshold. These are not loans. These are grants that are being provided to businesses themselves. So, you know, it's, I'm, you know, I am proud of that because, you know, services, we have to provide services. But economic empowerment and feeding into these businesses, and for most of these businesses, you're talking about less than, you know, 10 employees or less. But the goal is to build capacity and to enable them to scale up.

And then for some of them who need technical assistance, they can now go online and get technical assistance 24-7 that we are offering to these businesses. So we want to help in so many different ways. See, the thing, I had a conversation. We were in D.C., and they kept talking about, oh, black-owned businesses, we need access to capital. I said, no, no, no, we need contracts.

I said, it don't mean nothing for me to have access to capital, credit line, if I don't have contracts. And so we were in this battle. I said, because for me, I built this, we have no debt, we owe nobody. I said, I'm going to have capital if I get contracts. And that's the thing that people have to understand. Or then you have the people out there that say, well, you know, we want to create, you know, back-end services, you know, legal support. I say, hey, I got a lawyer, an accountant.

We got all that. Where are the contracts? Well, I'm, you know, look, when you start looking at construction, professional services, and goods and products, over seven plus now years coming up on eight, we have 29% on average are going to these MWSBEs, 29%, 29%. And the way we do it, I mean, we have these goal levels. Every Thursday morning in the executive committee, as we're going down the agenda, we go through each item to see whether or not these companies and others are meeting their goals

that we have set. If they're not meeting those goals, we pretty much pull them, okay? And so you need to meet these goals. But at the same time, we're not just trying to promote MWSBEs as subs. We are now very intentional with promoting them as prime. And so now we allow MWSBEs who are primes to account for 50% of those goals so that they can build that scale and add that capacity. So we are now seeing more MWSBEs who were serving as subs who are now stepping in as primes. And again, that's just a way of building in our communities, putting people in a position to hire folk.

Again, lasting way beyond. Whoever is mayor, you want these businesses to continue to survive and thrive and grow. See, I think that that was the key point you made. And I said this when Obama was president. I said, guys, look, when you terminate, that's it. You're only there eight years. Finite years. But to

your point, these are businesses that can be here 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 100 years and is having the opportunity. The prime contract piece is so critically important because that's what Maynard Jackson had to deal with when he became mayor of Atlanta. And what happened

there was, we were always forced and the way the rules are, I covered City Hall when I was in Fort Worth. The moment you become a prime just one time, you can now be on other prime contracts. Absolutely. So the system was set up that we were only subprime.

We could only become subprime contractors. And then, and so what he did was they broke up a lot of the contracts to smaller contracts and said, now we're not going to do one big prime. A bundle. Right. And now you have, so versus $100 million, now we're going to do 20, 20, 20, 20, 20.

And now if they can apply to become a prime in one of the 20s, they now can apply for that another deal, for that $100 or $500 or whatever. And you know what else we were finding? We were finding that, let's say, if 24% of that contract was supposed to go to MWSBEs, well, when you look at that 20%, they may have had eight different subs, one getting 1%, 2%, maybe 3% to add up to that 24%. Well, hell, you can't build capacity when somebody's getting 1%, 2%. They'll always be at that level so we say no that's not working here that's not working here and so you've got to

provide people with the opportunities where it's a meaningful impactful opportunity otherwise you're not really doing anything at all and then you just can't get to the point where you're putting people down and you're not utilizing them so you're putting people down and you're not utilizing them. So you're putting them down to get the business,

but you're not utilizing them. Or you're saying, well, we put them down, but they couldn't do the work. No, that's not going to work at all. So it's letting people know that we're looking at everyone. I don't care who you're doing business with. I'm not interested in the names. I'm simply interested in the fact that you are giving meaning to the program. Okay?

And that's what's important. And you're utilizing people that can do the work. Now, when you go to Hobby, we had a big deal over this contract at Hobby. But when you look at Hobby as the prime sort of contract, on one of those contracts, you had

MWBEs in it that represented about, what, 96? 96%, 97% of the deal. That's on one of the major ones, okay? So it's affording people opportunities. And then what I say to people all the time is that, you know, you have people sitting at the table, and people say,

well, let's focus on people who have had the previous experience and they've been doing it. And let's look at them. Well, everybody started somewhere. Everybody started somewhere. And so if you're only utilizing folk who have been at the table, then there are no new people sitting at the table. So everybody started somewhere. And in this sense, I borrowed the philosophy from my daddy.

You know, when you have nine kids and two adults and a kitchen table that only sit five people at a time. And my daddy wanted everybody in the house eating at the table. So he would say, okay, you five, y'all go in there and y'all go eat. And, you know, your mama got plenty of food, so don't rush. So go sit in there for five, I mean five of you. And then when my daddy thought you had been at the table long enough, my daddy would walk into the kitchen and tap you on your shoulder. And he said, now you five, y'all been sitting here long enough.

There are another five waiting to eat. So you five, you get up. And, you know, that stuck with me. He was the mayor of the restaurant. We got to flip this table. But, you know, when you're living in the most diverse city in the United States, as long as everyone believes that they will have an opportunity to sit at the table, you're not going to have a lot of fuss and confusion. Because everybody knows they will have their turn. The problem that you will have is that if there are people who have been sitting at the table and they don't want to leave the table and there are others who are saying, when is it my turn?

And it's opportunity. I was at a black contractors convention. I gave a keynote several years ago in D.C. And there was a sister I met and her job was to certify companies to make sure they actually were minority-owned. And she came upon this company in North Carolina, and they were the largest construction company in North Carolina. So she was talking to these two guys. Well, how did this company get started? They said, well, our dad started this company.

He was in the military. And they said that when the war was over, World War II he asked them well we got all this surplus equipment, can I just keep some of this and oh yeah, go right ahead so he started this construction company with

a government handout military construction company military construction equipment And used that equipment to start the company and then began to get all these contracts in North Carolina. And now his sons are running the company that daddy started using government equipment. And as she was, she and I were talking, I've used that example, I said, because you can't show me a black soldier, who they will will walk off the base even with a shovel.

But he left with actual equipment. The government funded his business. And so I explained to a lot of my, to a lot of white folks out here, I don't want to hear that bootstrap stuff when the reality is, for decades, it's been, you've been, and even when we were paying taxes,

we were funding their contracts, their businesses. And right now, in this whole age, folks fighting CRT, I got my book over there, White Fear, how the brownie of America is making white folks lose their minds. Folk getting all upset and everything and you're going, look at the numbers. Y'all been eating well for a long time, and now you get mad because we're saying,

can we get a chair at the table to eat? But you know, Roland, what I would say, though, yes, people get mad. But we can do. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and

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

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

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

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to 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. What they do.

And what I mean by that, we have to cross every T. We have to dot every I. I came in fully aware that everything that we do with me as mayor was going to be scrutinized. And so you have to dot every I. You have to cross every T. You have to be even more intentional with following the process. Because when you start saying providing more opportunities for people that look like you and I, or people who are diverse, everybody's not going to be pleased with that or happy with that. So we have to be extra careful.

Extra. So we have to be extra careful, extra. In order for you to sleep at night, you have to be extra careful knowing that you have crossed the T's and dotted the I's and followed the process. Because it may not be fair, but that's just the way it is. Yep. So that's what I tell mayors across the country, okay? You know, make sure that you're following your process. Make sure that you have two and three different checks

because that's so important. But at the same time... Somebody checking on the checker and the checker. And everyone, people will tell you, in all of our meetings in my eight years, number one, I never meet with anybody by myself. That's number one, I never meet with anybody by myself.

That's number one. Number two, we discuss all of my deals before my executive meeting. We go through every last one of them, every last one of them. If there's something that seems out of whack. See, Mayor, you sound like a preacher on that one. I ain't going to name the preacher, but that was a woman who wanted to go to counseling. And she came in, and there were two other people in the room. It was a dude. It was a brother. It was a woman who wanted to go to counseling. And she came in, and there were two other people in the room. It was a dude, it was a brother, it was a woman.

And she says, she goes, Pastor, I thought I was doing counseling with you. He said, no, darling, they're paid not to open their mouth. And she's like, but this is supposed to be a meeting between you and I. He said, we will not be meeting if the two of them are not in the room. And I will tell you, and I came in with that room. Think meeting just with me. Because whatever you have to say, you can say to all of us. And if you can't say it to all of us you can't say it to me so somebody say no the mayor told me like i had some backup in the room

there are these gonna be two or three other folk uh and especially when we are discussing anything dealing with um awarding that's in that's in front of my entire executive team. You know, because, I mean, that's just the nature, that's just the nature of, I mean, those are just the realities. Those are realities. But having said all of that, you know, we've made significant progress.

I won't say mission accomplished, but it is important for us to do everything we can to build capacity, to put the business in a way that they can scale up. And then what I say to businesses, you need to be able to do the business. I can't put you someplace and you can't do it. No, that's not be crazy now. I mean, you know, you're applying for something and the people are asking, can you do this?

No. Do you have this? No. Why are you down here? Well, I'm an MWBE. So what you want me to do? So we can't help you if you're not taking the steps to help yourself. Now that's one of the reasons why we put a lot of emphasis on apprenticeship programs.

So there are steps that we can take you through, like on the small business rotation program that we have. We can take you through those steps on technical assistance, financial assistance, all of those to build you to that point. And then you go to the next step and to the next step. But the Office of Business Opportunity, I want to give a lot of credit to Marsha Murray, sister, who has just done an incredible job in the Office of Business Opportunity. And all of my directors, that's important because quite frankly, before the matters

even get to me, I'm on the back end. They have come through the system. So you got to have the right people in the right place and in order to move things forward well speaking of moving forward last year again after after Juneteenth last year folks were celebrating that the first year being a federal holiday. Yeah. And I was seeing all these different events and stuff, folks doing stuff. Then I started seeing all the planning and I said,

we got to make sure that Houston remains the epicenter in terms of national celebrations. CNN last year did California. They did something from the Hollywood Bowl. They broadcast their broadcast again From the Greek theater and I was like, uh-uh I said I said I y'all gonna broadcast a concert from

California about Juneteenth Hell when they entered the Union they didn't even have slavery All right, so So I had this idea and then reached out to my brother, reached out to different people in Houston. I said, Mayor, we've got to make sure. And so we began to meet with different folks, met with the mayor that beginning next year, we're going to be holding the National Juneteenth Freedom Festival here in Houston. Black Star Network, my partners with Urban Edge Network. Our goal is to have our exhibits, have concerts, bring our tourists in, but really make Houston the centerpiece of Juneteenth celebrations,

because that's the way it should be, and everything coming from here. And look, and let me thank you, Roland. You reached out. We want to be fully supportive. You know, I saw that last year. You know, you try not to be jealous or envious or whatever. But, you know, I said, CNN, going to L.A., talking about Juneteenth.

I mean, I was at my home, and I said, what the hell? I mean, that's fine. But you can't ignore the fact that General Granger came to Galveston and on that veranda read Article 3. And you can't ignore the fact that after he read it, and quite frankly, before he got to the last line, those slaves, some of them already taken off, you know, heading down to Freedmanstown to Fourth Ward. And then when he finished it, the others, well, there were some,

because even when they were told that they were free, you know, just the words don't set you free. You've got to set your mind free. So there were some who were still standing still after the man said, y'all are free. So many of them stayed at Galveston.

But the rest of them took off. So how can you ignore that? And then I got to give my brother, good friend, former state representative Al Edwards. Yes, sir. I got to give him a lot, a lot of credit. Because Al took a lot of crap in the legislature. Well, I was in D.C.

Tuesday for the Juneteenth concert at the White House. His son was there and saw Opal Lee there, gave her respect. I told a whole bunch of people there, I said, let me be real clear. I said, first of all, y'all, this was a state holiday in Texas

first. And it was my Alfred brother, Representative Allen Edwards, and I said, let of all, y'all, this was a state holiday in Texas first. I said, and it was my Alfred brother, Representative Edwards, and I said, let's not lose sight that it was a whole bunch of folk for years and decades who were saying it should be a federal holiday. Right. So, you know, I certainly want to acknowledge you, Alex Edwards, because if we are not careful, we will rewrite our own history. And that's precisely why I said, no, we've got to do this

thing, National Festival in Houston, multi-event. And we want it done big. Oh, yeah. Now, I won't be the mayor next year when it happens, but I can certainly help feed the success of the program while I'm here.

I don't know who the next mayor will be, but I know that I'm the mayor right now. So we're already planning to assist for next year. Yes, sir. And so when I was in D.C. and I pulled Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lea aside, and I mentioned this, she goes, now, you know, I'm sponsoring this Juneteenth trail, and they got all this stuff. Don't leave me out. I was like, Congresswoman, I got you. Breathe.

I said, breathe. I'm not going to leave you out. I was like, breathe. Breathe. So I told her, I said, don't worry about it. I said, it's all good. Take your time. But thank you, Ro.

Thank you for what you're doing. But the whole point of this is absolutely to make it big, to make it national, and make sure those morning shows are broadcasting from here, and then when we're telling the story, but not just telling the story, getting people to understand the locations, Freedman's Town, Emancipation Park, all of that history there, because you're right, my fear, and I've been telling everybody, don't just be having concerts.

Because don't let me say it's a party with a purpose. We're flipping this. This festival's going to be a purpose with a party. And economic freedom is going to be a part of that. And that's why we definitely want to do it here and keep it here. So I appreciate your support for it, and we're looking forward to doing it up.

Well, you know, you're placing your name on it, and you've got that national name. You know, you started with the Defender, you know, and now you've got that national brand. So we want to take advantage of that national brand to now redirect the attention to this particular region, you know, Houston, Gadsden. There are a number of national brands that are very interested in being sponsors as well. Right.

So we definitely, I mean, so we're talking about exhibits. We're talking about having all that stuff happening on Friday and Saturday, in addition to having the concerts, in addition to having empowerment panels and discussions, lectures, things along those lines. And we wanted to really be centered, and as we talk about here, a major part, it would be utilizing African American vendors and companies and wanting them out to showcase their wares because that's for me, and I keep telling everybody, Juneteenth for us was not about just barbecue. We had voter registration taking place at Juneteenth events. We had economic discussions.

So when we talk about freedom, we're talking about freedom. And all of those issues are as pertinent today as they were 100 years ago. And in many, many ways, they're even more relevant and more pertinent. And information is empowerment. And if people, if we don't make sure that we educate ourselves and those that are coming after us, then we are shortchanging our future. And you don't want to do that. So let's party. But at the same time, information is highly important and is relevant today. Absolutely.

So we want to make sure that we are working with you and providing the necessary support because, you know, either you go big or you go home. And if you can't do it on a Houston style, Houston scale, and I think that may be one of the reasons why they went to L.A. You know, maybe people felt, you know, the Hollywood, you know, Hollywood,

you know, that imagery and, you know, maybe entertainers and stuff, and so they're looking at it from the Hollywood perspective. And then they say, well, you know, yeah, General Granger, Galveston, Houston.

But see, for me, that's always a problem. If you only want to focus on the Hollywood angle, but you want to leave the history out, then all it ends up being is just a concert. But we can do the history and we can give you Houston Hollywood.

Oh, no, don't talk about it. Thank you. We'll be right back. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to 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.

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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. Sure. 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.

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