#RolandMartinUnfiltered - TX Approves State Power to Overturn Elections, Gillum Acquitted, DreamDefenders Arrested

Episode Date: May 5, 2023

5.4.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: TX Approves State Power to Overturn Elections, Gillum Acquitted, DreamDefenders Arrested  GOP-controlled Senate in Texas has proposed a controversial new law allowing the state to overturn elections. This has sparked concerns about the future of democracy in the state, and we'll have all the details in this fast-moving story. Former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum has been acquitted of lying to the FBI. However, the jury has deadlocked all other charges against him and co-defendant Sharon Lettman-Hicks. We will break down what this could mean for the former Mayor. Tensions are rising in Florida, where 14 protesters were arrested outside  Governor Ron DeSantis' office. The protesters were demonstrating against new conservative laws in the state, highlighting the growing divide between activists and the governor's administration. We will speak with the Dream Defenders about their fight to make Florida safe and fair for all. ProPublica's bombshell report alleging deeper financial ties between Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Republican donor Harlan Crow than previously known. This raises serious questions about the court's impartiality, and we'll have all the latest details. In New York, calls are growing for justice and accountability after the death of a black man who was placed in a chokehold by a fellow white subway passenger. The urgency for action is mounting, and we'll update you on all the latest developments. 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 platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. 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. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face.

And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, know it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens.

Before you leave the car, always stop. Look. Lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names

in music and sports. This kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real.

Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's Thursday, May 4th, 2023. My name is Recy Colbert. I will be filling in today while Roland is on location at the 35th National Equal Justice Awards Dinner in New York City. Roland will be joining us throughout the show. Here's what's coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered,

streaming live on the Blackstar Network. We begin with a significant development out of Texas, where the GOP-controlled Senate has proposed a controversial new law allowing the state to overturn elections. This has sparked concerns about the future of democracy in the state, and we'll have all the details in this fast-moving story. Former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum has been acquitted of lying to the FBI. However, the jury has deadlocked on all other charges against him and co-defendant Sharon Letterman-Hicks. We will break down what this could mean for the former mayor. Tensions are rising in Florida, where 14 protesters were arrested outside Governor

Ron DeSantis' office. The protesters were demonstrating against new conservative laws in the state, highlighting the growing divide between activists and the governor's administration. We will speak with the Dream Defenders about their fight to make Florida safe and fair for all. ProPublica's bombshell report alleging deeper financial ties between Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Republican donor Harlan Crowe than previously known. This raises serious questions about the court's impartiality, and we'll have all the latest details. In New York, calls are growing for justice and accountability after the death of a black man who was placed in a chokehold by a

fellow white subway passenger. The urgency for action is mounting and we'll update you on the latest developments. Black Star Network has a brand new show joining the lineup. We'll tell you all about it and much more. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin and Filter streaming live on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling.

Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks, he's rolling. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. With entertainment just for kicks He's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Martin, yeah

Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Martin Now He's fresh, he's real, the best, you know he's rolling, Martel! Now! Martel! A Florida jury acquits former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum of lying to the FBI about accepting gifts from undercover agents. The jury deadlocked on the more severe charges of conspiracy and wire fraud against Gillum and his co-defendant, Sharon Letterman-Hicks, related to the misuse of campaign funds.

The 12-person jury could not reach a verdict on one count of conspiracy and 17 counts of wire fraud against both defendants. U.S. District Judge Alan Windsor declared a mistrial on the counts that ended with no verdict reached. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Milligan II said the government would retry Gillum and Letterman Hicks on the conspiracy and wire fraud charges. I want to bring in our panel for this evening. We are joined by the wonderful Lauren Victoria Burke of Black Press USA, the esteemed Dr. Nola Haynes, Ph.D., Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, and Dr. Cleo Mango, Social Advisor, Social Architect and Chief Advisor of the Black

Men's Exchange. Welcome, everyone, to tonight's show. I want to start off with you, Dr. I'm sorry. Did I say your name right, Monago? By the time you were right, yes. Okay, okay. I'm sorry. It's our first time together, so bear with me. Please correct me. I want to start off with you and your reaction to the mixed messages, mixed verdict, but overall probably a win more than anything for Andrew Gillum. What's your reaction?

Well, my reaction is relief. As far as I'm concerned, it was a witch hunt. It was petty anyway. And it was more revenge politics, getting back at the man for having such a strong presence when he ran for the governor of Florida. And they've been after him ever since because he had the nerves to almost win and potentially turn on his head, the white supremacist control of that state, which has been the case for many, many years. And I think they want to teach him a lesson that he wanted to embarrass him,

humiliate him and destroy him to the nth degree. And I'm relieved that him and my friend Sharon Hickman has been found basically exonerated for this situation. I expect the whole thing to go away at some point because it was petty in the first place. So I feel good about it, and I am relieved. So even though the attorney has said they will retry, your prediction is that they will cut their losses and move on? Well, they're desperate. I don't know what they're going to do. I am just relieved that it turned out the way it did at this point. But they're desperate. I don't know what they're going to do. I am just relieved that it turned out the way it did at this point. But they're desperate. They like to make a point. They like to make statements. They like to make people fearful of stepping up, as Gillum did. And I don't know what they're going to do. I would imagine, given how cutthroat they are, they're going to attempt to make this happen again. But I don't think they're going to be successful. Right. Now, Dr. Haynes, I know you are sensitive about weighing in in more political ways,

but one thing I found was interesting was that Gillum was raising money for his legal defense fund. You know, it's interesting that he had so much trouble kind of raising money, where have we seen other kind of white-collar crimes and people of that nature who are up for similar charges not have any problems? Do you think in terms of kind of the challenges that he had with raising funds bared at all in the kind of justice he was able to get here today? You know, when it comes to Mr. Gillum, you know, first of all, for the man to still be able to stand up and continue to fight, I mean, you have to give him credit for that. He has definitely been through the ringer. And as a Southerner myself, you know, it just breaks my heart to see what's happening in places like Florida and Texas.

And I agree with the comment with the Dr. Sater just before me that a lot of this feels like revenge politics. So in terms of the particulars of his case and the kind of political landscape, you're right. You know, I won't comment too much on that. But what I will say is what I have been noticing is what we need to move away from when we're thinking about things like this is framing this in terms of of, like, culture war, you know, sorts of things. I've been talking a lot about this. These types of revenge, this revenge politics, like, this goes beyond any sort of culture war, right? This is something else. This is something different.

And we are waiting in very dangerous territory. And I just want to say, you know, like, props to him. He keeps standing up and fighting for himself. And we all want to say, you know, like, props to him. He keeps standing up and fighting for himself. And we all know he has truly been through it. And I just wish him well on the other side of it. That's really my thoughts and feelings about it. Right. I mean, I think you make a good point. We do tend to sometimes talk about these things in terms of the culture wars. But this was a man who was a father of two, a husband, and this has completely shaken up his life to the point to where he's no longer on CNN.

And some of his opportunities have closed as a result of this prosecution. Lauren, what's your take on the results that we saw today? that Trump is up for similar charges, obviously at the state level, but wire fraud is one of those, you know, kind of charges that usually are pretty easy to get a conviction on. Yeah. You know, I echo what Cleo Monago said, you know, this idea that it just feels, I think our spidey sense is tingling when you see that Andrew Gillum, of course, almost beat Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida. And then Andrew Gillum, of course, almost beat Ron DeSantis to be governor of Florida. And then shortly after that, of course, we get this trial with all of these counts and you get the big announcement. And, you know, he was led into court in waist chains and ankle bracelets

and all the drama and nonsense and everything else. And it turns out to be a big nothing. You have a 17 count, 17 counts of everybody reading everything. It kind of reminds me of the Brian Benjamin situation in New York with the new governor. And, you know, big announcement, big press conference, and then a big nothing. I mean, literally everything was kicked out of court. And so I have a hard time believing that any of this would be happening had he not come very close to winning statewide in Florida, which has been something that has been incredibly difficult for the Democrats to do. And he, of course, almost did that for governor. So in what would have been, of course, a historic moment in terms of him being the first black governor of Florida. So it's just, you know, a situation where

it doesn't feel like something of coincidence. You know, it was a book that came out some years ago from a professor at University of Maryland named Derek Musgrove on this very topic, which was black elected officials being, you know, investigated on ethics matters. You know, what an amazing coincidence. It just feels what it feels. And as for Donald Trump, you know, it is amazing to me the difference in reaction to what is

going on with him with regard to the E. Jean Carroll case. He is on trial for rape, and then CNN decides to platform him, where they're going to platform him next week, which I find quite interesting. You know, it's just that doesn't matter to anybody that this guy is being accused. Now, of course, he has not been convicted yet, but still, to listen to the evidence in the courtroom is quite interesting. And, you know, however the outcome, good for E.G. and Carol for playing it out and going all the way. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I definitely think that we've seen, as you pointed out, the drastic difference in the theater behind it,

obviously going out of their way to humiliate Mayor Gillum with the chains. It's really appalling. And they seem to always find the time and the unlimited resources to investigate Black lawmakers, even costing, as you pointed out, former Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin his job, and it was a big nothing burger. So we'll continue to keep an eye on this story and hope for the best for the Gillum family. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back.

Up next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes, our special guest, Alicia Garza, one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement. We're going to discuss her new book, The Purpose of Power, How We Come Together When We Fall Apart. We live in a world where we have to navigate, you know, when we say something, people look at us funny,

but when a man says the same thing less skillfully than we did, right? Right. Everybody blocks towards what they said, even though it was your idea. Right here on The Frequency on the Black Star Network. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Across the country, cops 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 three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th.

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

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

NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine 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. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule.

Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like, uh, less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. We have one aisle today. And aisle three. So when you say you'd never let them run wild through the grocery store. We have one aisle six and aisle three.

So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I'm like, I don't know. You know, I'm young. I'm thinking, man, I'm good. And he was absolutely right. What show did you have at that? This was one-on-one.

Got it. During that time. And I was so you're doing one-on-one. Yeah. Going great. Yeah. You're making money. You're like. I'm like, I don't need to leave.

I don't need to leave from, you know, Wednesday, Thursday to Sunday. I, you know, I just didn't want to do that. You know, it was just like, I'm going to stay here. Oh, I didn't want to finish work Friday, fly out, go do a gig Saturday, Sunday. I was like, I don't have to do that. You know, it was just like, I'm going to stay here. Or I didn't want to finish work Friday, fly out, go do a gig Saturday, Sunday. I was like, I don't have to do that. And I lost a little bit of that hunger that I had in New York.

I would hit all the clubs and run around. You know, sometimes me and Chappelle, or me and this one or that one, we'd go to the Comedy Cellar at 1 in the morning. I mean, that was our life. We loved it. You know, you do two shows in Manhattan, go I mean, that was our life. We loved it. You know, you do two shows in Manhattan, go to Brooklyn, leave Brooklyn,

go to Queens, go to Jersey. And I kinda just, I got complacent. I was like, I got this money, I'm good. I don't need to go, I don't need to go chase that because that money wasn't at the same level that I was making, but what I was missing was that training. Was that, was that. And it wasn't what I was missing was that training. Yes. Was that, was that.

And it wasn't the money. It was the money. You know, it was that, that's what I needed. Black TV does matter, dang it. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now.

Eee! The Texas legislature advances a bill allowing the Secretary of State to redo elections in Harris County. Harris County is where several Democratic candidates posted strong midterm results and have been plagued by GOP claims of election mismanagement. The Republican-controlled Senate passed the bill Tuesday. It's now going before the House. If enacted, it would allow the Secretary of State to toss out election results in the state's largest county and call a new vote if there is a quote unquote good cause.

To believe that at least 2 percent of polling places ran out of usable ballots during voting hours. Joining me now is Texas State Representative Jarvis Johnson. Representative Johnson, thank you so much for being here today. My pleasure. Thank you for having me. Can you just talk a little bit about how this bill is laser targeting Harris County and only Harris County, as opposed to being something about election integrity across the entire state? We've watched the entire session, even last session, when Republicans passed bills that are targeted and aimed at Democratic cities and Democratic counties. We watched it last session with the whole defund the police, where they created a bill that was specifically for counties over two million people.

That's that's only a couple of counties. That's Harris County in Houston and in Dallas. Then this year, we're looking at a bill that is simply bracketed for 2.7 million people. That's only Harris County. Now, why are they doing that? Because Harris County is a blue county. We have elected all Democratic judges. We have a county judge that is a Democrat. We have the overwhelming majority of the county courts, the county commissioners are Democrats. And so they're going to target and bracket all of these bills to simply overturn elections that they don't agree with. And that's the most undemocratic thing that can happen in this country, not alone this state, but this country. And everybody should be fearful, because you have people like Governor Abbott and the Republican Party that have chosen to undo the law and simply make unconstitutional laws that simply give them authority to overturn elections that they simply don't agree with.

And they're going to make up rules. They're going to make up rules. They're going to make up stories. They're going to, oh, there was no ballots in the, there was no ballots or people, they ran out of ballots. And when you look at the amount of, in Harris County, you can vote at any voting poll that is available. So it's not just, you ran out of ballots at this poll, so you don't have no choice of voting.

You could go to any poll in the county. So this notion is one that I think is unconstitutional, and it's a very egregious law that I think is going to be very harmful, not only to Harris County, but you'll start to see, consequently, in any county where Democrats are the majority. Right. Now, how do you, as Democrats, deal with the messaging behind this? Because on its face, admittedly, it doesn't sound terribly unreasonable, at least that there is a requirement to have paper ballots at every polling place. But obviously, the fact that the secretary of state can then overturn the election is extreme. So how do you really underscore how extreme it is to overturn and order new elections? Number one, you got to call it out what it is. You will see that there will be

election judges that I think will do some very unlawful things. I think that you have Republican election judges in some of these cities that will purposely sabotage for the very reason of this particular bill, to say that, oh, we ran out of ballots, or we ran out of paper, or the line was too long. You know, nobody had a problem when lines in the black community were wrapped around the block for couldn't vote for six hours because that was the only poll that you can go to. That was not a problem. And when the polls closed at seven o'clock and you still had people waiting until three o'clock

in the morning to vote, that's not a problem. But when the elections start to be changed, that's the problem. And so the messaging is very simple. They are going to say that this is wrong and we want to protect all voters. And they're not trying to protect all voters. They're simply trying to make sure that only their votes matter and only their votes are cast and counted. That's why they have put forth so many bills that incriminates, prosecutes, and the fear of jail time for people who simply make a mistake. There's a bill that was put forth that it creates a felony if someone

votes wrong, a felony for a mistake. And so that in itself is what I think we're having. And so you're going to find a lot of people that look, I want to vote, but I don't want to get in trouble. And so that that the ambiguity, that type of and that threat is what I think put fear in people's hearts. And I think that's the mission of the Republican Party. is, we have to fight back against that. And we have to clearly make sure that people understand that we're not going to just sit by and allow these type of bills to be put forward, because they are very, very targeted. And this is a targeted campaign that they have to overturn elections. This is not a democratic process. This is not an American process. This is done so by what is now becoming the king of Texas and what we have a government and making these decisions to say, if it doesn't work for me, then I'm going to change it. And I don't need anybody to stop me. And right now we're almost there.

And unfortunately, his own party is allowing him to do these things without any consequence because they simply think that nobody outside of Harris County should vote for this because the bill says 2.7. So why should somebody in rural Texas vote on this bill? Because it's only bracketed for Harris County. So, but when we're here in Texas and we're in this country, we vote and we make laws that are, that apply to everybody. Everyone should. This is a law that goes across the board. So to the governor and to all those Republicans that want to bracket this, let's make sure it's for everybody. Let's make sure that this rule accounts for the small towns that ran out of paper ballots.

Let's account for, you know, any of these these areas, because it happens over and over and over again. The number of ballots that that were not cast or they didn't have paper was for 40 people out of one point one million. They made this big deal. Oh, my God. We we couldn't vote. Could you have gone down the street? Could you have gone to the next polling place, which is only a couple of blocks away? Absolutely. I've done it myself. Lines have been long. I've gone around the corner. So I push all the time. All bills and all laws should be equal and across the board. But I will say this. When we make laws in this state, I always say laws apply to everybody, but they're only applicable to some.

And we know who this bill is targeting. They've lost the judges. We have elected 16 black women judges in Harris County. And that has blown people's minds, and they're going, we can't let that happen again. And so we're going to overturn it, because something has had to happen as to why these Democrats are winning. So they're trying to take away our ability to elect democratically elected leaders. Well, I have a question, too, about just has there been a different reaction from the citizens of Harris County to this. We've seen Republicans successfully go after absentee ballots, making it more difficult to vote that way,

as well as, you know, all of the advances that Harris County made in 2020. There's still time, I would think, to kind of get people really galvanized around this. Have you seen a different reaction to this specific bill than you have in other voter suppression bills that have been proposed? Well, I think that's the issue. Harris County is absolutely 100 percent in opposition to this bill. We're opposed to this bill across the board. We're all opposed to this bill. Yeah. But that's the point. They understand that they can't beat Harris County, so they need the rest of the state to overtake Harris County. So that's why they go get, you know, Collin County. That's why they go get Tarrant County.

That's why they go get all of these other, you know, maybe Republican-led counties to say, hey, we need you to help us vote against Harris County. So we have 14 members from Harris County out of the 150. And yet you're going to go and get the other 100 and—help me with my math—126 people to make a decision for the 14? And I think that's the problem. They understand Harris County is against this. Leaving it up to us, we're not going to support you to come only audit us. We're not going to let you say, we're going to only audit you. Because it happened when we were talking about ballots, where they had a bill last session that simply said,

hey, we're going to redo all Harris County elections. And I asked all of my Republican colleagues, do you believe that you won your election? Well, yeah, I won my election. So if you won your election, why do you think that Harris County didn't elect fairly? Well, it's all because Donald Trump lost. And so that was the whole, you know, so this is where all this balloting thing comes from. And this is certainly what the problem continues to be when they want to try to

overtake Harris County. But we're trying to stand tall and stand strong. But they're bringing all the resources from all over the state to make decisions simply for Harris County, which is un-American and certainly unjustifiable and unconstitutional. Right, right. And I think that's a horrible precedent that we're going to be—and if we allow something like this to happen, I think Republicans and Democrats have to start to look and understand that you have a governor that will pick and choose when and who he decides to go after, who he wants to be the next election. So these elections are not fair. They're not going to be,

you're not going to be elected by the people. Right. It certainly feels like an opening salvo to just flat out disregarding election results and hoping nobody notices. We do have enough time to maybe get one or two questions from the panel in. So Lauren, I'll start with you.

Do you have a question for Representative Johnson? Yeah, Recy, it goes back to what you were asking. What is the messaging? How do you respond to this? You're effectively dealing with a Republican party that, I think it's an open question about whether or not the Republican party believes in democracy. And so how do you deal with that? Well, their undemocratic mindset, they're trying to, they tell the lie enough, and over and over again, they'll start to believe it. And they think that this is an American, this is certainly, we're trying to make sure things are fair and due process is followed. No, it's not. You're literally trying to overturn an election that was fair, transparent, and open.

But the messaging for us on the Democratic side is we have to stand tall and stand strong. But we have to send a message that this is not going to be just Harris County. The people in this county are not going to go away, and certainly the mindsets will not go away. And what we're going to find is that you're going to have a minority of people running the majority of the state. And so we understand this is a power grab. This is all it is. The white Republican, my white Republican counterparts are simply saying, hey, we're losing our base. What can we do? Well, let's start snatching seats. Let's start telling everybody that everybody else is cheating except for us. We're the only ones not cheating. But we're not going to look. And I think it goes back to the story you just said about the candidate from

Florida. We're only going to look at Democratic counties. We're only going to look at Black districts. Because why? We're not going to look at our own. We're not going to look at black districts, because why? We're not going to look at our own. We're not going to look to see where the cheating was on our side. We're only going to look at you. And that's certainly what they're trying to do, the messaging. So people have to understand it's not if, it's when. They're going to come after you next. But we're standing tall and strong. And I have to even tell my colleagues that are Republicans in Harris County that you have a body of people that elected you, duly elected you. And if you're saying that there has been a problem with the election, then you're saying that you were not elected fairly.

And so I'm going to ask and I certainly will put up an amendment that asked that anybody who votes for this will have to resign their seat, because they're saying themselves that they were not duly elected, that something happened, or there was some illegal, something that was illegal that allowed them to win. So, if they vote for this bill, then they understand that they are complicit. And they're saying to the rest of us that they cheated to get here. YAMICHE ALCINDOR. Thank you. YAMICHE ALCINDOR. Well, Representative Johnson, thank you so much. Keep up the good fight and And they're saying to the rest of us that they cheated to get here. Well, Representative Johnson, thank you so much. Keep up the good fight and keep us posted on how this story unfolds in Texas.

Thank you so much. Thank you. You guys keep up the good work, keeping everybody informed and educated. Thank you. We'll be right back with more Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Blackstar Network. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for

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

I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner.

It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote unquote drug man Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working

and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown never let kids toys take over the house and never fill your feed with kid photos

you'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. And I have one aisle six. And aisle three. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen.

One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by nizza and the ad council hatred on the streets a horrific scene a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence white people are losing their damn lives there's an angry pro-trump mob storm to the u.s capital we're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting.

I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. There's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. We'll be right back. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN.

You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? from Black-ish. Hey, everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. Alright, I want to get the panel back in on the story that we just talked about with Representative Jarvis Johnson. Dr. Monago, I'm going to go to

you first, since I didn't get you to ask a question. What's your reaction to the blatant power grab from the Republicans in Texas? What I wanted to ask the representative is he says they're standing tall and strong. And I'm wondering if that's the people that are his colleagues or the Harris County is standing tall and strong. And if they're being passive in the presence of this or becoming catatonic and complacent, or what they're actually doing. I believe that individually, he and many of his colleagues probably are standing

up hard against this. But I'm wondering how the community is responding. Because I think that there's a lot of fear and a lot of anxiety among Black folks in the midst of this backlash of white supremacy trying to keep itself in place. And I'm just concerned that we are talking to the community and getting them involved. Right. Because some of these political people are in ivory towers and they get upset, but they don't actually go into the community or the community sometimes doesn't even know who they are until they're upset. And I'm wondering about that. And I'm also wondering if the people understand that this white supremacist war is kind of predictable. Yeah.

I want to ask the representative, are you surprised? And if you're surprised, are you doing something to prepare for the next assault? Because it's coming. Yes, absolutely. And I'm just wondering what people are going to do, because I get tired of just the rhetoric around we don't like it. What is the strategy to resist and prevent something that's going to come, that's going to happen. I mean, it was appropriate to reference Gillum while he was speaking because what we've seen him go through, the humiliation, is part of the attack. But often it appears to me that people look at it as a sneak attack

or they're surprised over and over again, which means they don't prepare well when it's going to come again. That concerns me. Right. Dr. Haynes, I know that you are so knowledgeable about foreign policy and democracies across the world. Do you see similarities between what's happening in Texas and some of the things that we claim we're trying to help restore democracy or fight against assaults on democracy around the world? Absolutely. And thank you for asking me a question that way, because that's how I want to address it. What we're seeing is nationalism, point blank, period. And right now, when we're thinking about democracy, and I'm not an alarmist type of person, you know, I like to think through things. I like to employ logic where I

can. But I cannot stress this enough. Right now, where we are in terms of if we had a democracy doomsday clock, I would say the way that it's set right now for a potential nuclear strike, which is 90 minutes to midnight, it's pretty clear that we're pretty close to that. Like, democracy literally is on the line. And usually what happens is when you can, things to look out for when democracies are teetering on the edge are things like when laws are manipulated to suit one particular group, right? When laws are being manipulated and other people are being punished through the law. So the manipulation of law and policy, something that means the world to me, is one of the largest growing threats in this country. And it's annexed to nationalism. The types of bias-led policies

that we're seeing is rooted in a white supremacist ideal that how dare the uppity Negro, you know, tries to advance in any sort of way. And if you do, you will be punished and humiliated like Gillum. I mean, you know, and we're seeing evidence of this time and time again. And another reason why I'm worried is because we have something called stare decisis in our country. We have legal precedent. And what's happening all over the South and being from one of the blacker places in Louisiana, this is definitely something that I'm worried about because what if, you know, they try to use this tactic because it worked in Texas, the things that's happening in Florida. So this has larger implications. And when we start to see bias show up in policies and laws,

we are absolutely in trouble. And again, it does go beyond messaging. I was going to ask the representative about what's the counterpunch here? You know, what is the strategy? What, you know, beyond, you know, saying, you know, we're going to stand up and maybe alter the messaging, what they are doing is co-opting civil rights messages. What they are doing are co-opting civil rights packages. And I want to know, what are you going to do to counter that? Because like the doctor just said, more attacks are coming. And we're going to be in the form of more policies and laws, then what? Absolutely. I mean, all of this is connected, right? We saw them expel members that are duly elected in Tennessee. We see them going after student IDs in, for instance, Wisconsin and around the country.

We see in Texas now they are trying to essentially give themselves to overturn the elections in one county. It all goes back to what we saw in 2020, where the Trump administration or the Trump legal campaign team attacked voters in Philadelphia, attacked voters in Milwaukee. And so all of these things are happening in plain view. And who the hell is going to do anything about it? Lauren, I want to get you back in on this again, because the reality is this is another escalation in what we're seeing from the Republicans. And we can't out-organize. We can't get Cliff Albrey and Stacey Abrams

and LaTosha Brown down there and work miracles when the judges can flat out overturn elections. I think you're muted, Lauren. Sorry, everybody. There you go. Yeah, sorry about that. You know, they're moving extrajudicially without any regard to the way a democracy works. And they're increasing this as they figure out that they're outnumbered. You know, I mean, the fact of the matter is, is that, you know, their tiki god, Donald Trump, lost to Hillary Clinton by three million votes and then lost to Joe Biden by eight million votes. And I know that. Aware of that. So what's scary here is that I don't see a real strategy. In fact, you can't really win a war on different rules. You can't be playing by the rules and the other side is not playing by the rules. This started, I thought, sort of with the Newt

Gingrich era in Congress. And then when President Obama was elected, you saw a clear attempt by the Tea Party to sort of just basically resist everything that President Obama was elected, you saw a clear attempt by the Tea Party to sort of, you know, just basically resist everything that President Obama was doing, obviously. And I think there was a realization within the Republican Party that, you know, we're getting outnumbered, the demographics are changing, and we are not even going to pretend, you know, as Dr. Carr likes to say, they dropped all pretense. They are not even trying to pretend that they are trying to play by the rules of democracy. They are going for the juggler. And the question is, what is the other side going to do about it? When you start seeing people like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan show up, and then Jim Jordan trying to negate a duly elected prosecutor in New York to negate his

actions and haul him in before Congress and all these antics. They're serious. You know, you saw, obviously, President Trump trying to negate the election against, that he lost by 8 million votes to Joe Biden. He tried to negate that. And there was an attack on the U.S. Capitol. This is always all happening, by the way, while we have a media that is increasingly weak, increasingly sort of, you know, not up to the task and not up to the challenge. And so it is an extremely dangerous moment. And we all realize what it is. Everybody sees what it is. Everybody knows what it is.

The question is, what are we going to do about it? And we haven't gotten to the point where that question has been answered of what are we going to do about it? Well, we have to... Can I respond again? Oh, okay. Quickly, before we have to go to a break. Yes, please.

This is going back to Gilliam and kind of doing a contrast between Donald Trump and Gilliam. Even though Donald Trump was indicted, et cetera, the black male image and the black human image in this society has stigma and is sustained. Yes. And attack and sabotage lasts longer in black face than it does in whiteface. I mean, we knew what a horrendous human being Donald Trump was before he became president. He became president anyway. My concern is that these attacks on black people demoralize black people into a paralyzation. And that's why it's important to have conversations like all three of us and say this, what you going to do? Right.

What are you going to do about this? What are you going to do to keep Black people from sinking into paralysis and complacency while the war, which has been blatant, is coming? I didn't have a problem with when the representative used the terms like, this is not American. I don't know what that means, because that kind of behavior has been American all of my life. And some people consider me an old man. I don't necessarily agree, but that's what some people say about me. And some people consider me an old man. I don't necessarily agree. But that's what some people say about me. And it's like, this is American.

Yeah. Oh, it's as American as apple pie. Yeah, and apple pie and as police brutality and the murder of Black people in the hands of cops. This is American. So what are we going to do other than be emotionally upset about something? Emotions don't stop a war. Strategies and tactics and engaging the community and the population and waking them up from complacency

and letting them see what's going on, not the approach that the Congress and the Democratic Party keeps taking, which is an eggshell, let's not offend anybody, let's act like there's not a problem that bad going on. The Republicans are being direct, straight up, and present with their agenda in the Democratic Party and Congress is still sneaking around, allegedly not trying to offend anyone and being raked over the coals, even when they have local elections. Because when they win the local elections, as has occurred in the state of Texas, white people step up their game. And then we get demoralized and this could be reversed. Yeah, I mean, it's obvious that this whole follow duty, follow process doesn't work when one team is cheating and then the other team mailing a lot of voters,

disaffected voters, disillusioned voters, apathetic voters aren't even in the ballgame at all. Pretty soon us begging and pleading for you to vote isn't even going to be an option because you're not even going to be able to vote. So as long as you have the right, you should be exercising that right and exercising that capacity because they're not trying to take it away for nothing. But we got to head to a break.

We'll be right back with more Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, we're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting.

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With me, Dr. Greg Carr, here on the Black Star Network. Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in. Join the conversation. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Join the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated

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

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

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

John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug 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. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like, uh, less than their best. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth

to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out.

Never happens before you leave the car. Always stop. Look, lock brought to you by NHTSA and the ad council. Only on the Black Star Network. My name is Charlie Wilson. Hi, I'm Sally Richardson-Whitfield. And I'm Dodger Whitfield.

Hey, everybody, this is your man, Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, Unfiltered. In Florida, 14 Dream Defenders and allied organization members were taken away in handcuffs for refusing to leave the governor's office. The Dream Defenders sit-in was part of a national protest called Freedom to Learn. The protesters wanted to shed light on many issues facing Floridians and called for a meeting with DeSantis to share the legislative session's impact on communities. Joining me now are two of the organizers of the protest, Ashley Green and Malik Reddy. Welcome to Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hi, thank you all so much for having us.

And Malik, it looks like you are graduation ready. Congratulations. Before we get into the story, what are you graduating with? What's your degree in? My Associate of Arts in Political Science. That's awesome. All right. So talk a little bit, I'll let you start off, about exactly what this protest was and what you were trying to bring attention to formally? Yeah, I think we were, and we had some goals, and those goals were to bring attention to the fascist governor that we have in the state of Florida with the bad bills, like abortion bills, education bills, and the immigration bill that was just passed. And we did that as part of our Camp Banda's

campaign. And so we have to continue to show that Florida is the place that he's going to use to try to puppet some things through. And we got to make sure that we stop him now so that he does not get in the White House. And this is just the beginning. There's more to come from us than the Dream Defenders. Ashley, I know that the word or the phrase Dream Defenders has a very specific meaning. Can you talk about what that means for the audience? Yes. We came into existence after the murder of Trayvon Martin, obviously, and I think we're part of a renewed arc fighting for justice across this country that was really being informed by a lot of civil rights elders and a lot of Black Power elders, and so really embodied sort

of that spirit in the name Dream Defenders. But over the years, I think it became really a lot more critical just to think about what is the dream worth defending for our youth and our communities and making sure that there is a dream for ourselves, for our peers, and for the people who are now, you know, 10 years later, a generation under us who are still fighting for freedom and still fighting for justice in their neighborhoods and in their communities. And so for us, Dream Defenders is really a rallying cry that, like, not only are we fighting for a dream, but that we deserve to have a dream to fight for in the first place. Absolutely. And we see Ron DeSantis getting legislative win after win after win. for organizing are going to be critically important in highlighting the fascist that he is when he inevitably launches his national campaign. Do you have any reaction to the ways that the

legislature right now is moving to make it easier for Ron DeSantis to run for president and maintain his position as governor of Florida? I mean, it's a classic story in Florida that they change the rules in order to fit them and benefit them. Ron DeSantis is no different than a Rick Scott, than a Jeb Bush, who has been consistently focused on gaining more and more power and rigging the game in their favor. I think someone previously said you can't win a war when the rules are played when there are a different set of rules. And Florida is really ground zero for that. There should be no reason why Ron DeSantis is both trying to govern the state of Florida and run for governor based on a more than 20-year policy across the state.

And yet he changed the rules so he could do it. And when you look at the two black district seats that we lost last year, it's through gerrymandering that was specifically to make sure that black people were denied a voice in Congress, even though the state of Florida gained two more congressional seats through the census process. And so this is just a continued arc of rigging the game against black citizens in Florida, but really rigging the game for their pursuit of petty political power. And it's unacceptable. And we're going to keep fighting back against it. Yeah.

Malik Ashley talked about how Florida is kind of like ground zero for so many things that are happening. It's hard to keep up with it all because Xantus is on a roll. What's something other than, like, for instance, the attention-grabbing Disney-Reedy Creek battle that's going on? What's something that really is flying under the radar in Florida that people should be paying attention to that you all are trying to shed light on? Yeah, our priority bill, this legislation, was HB99, which we call the mega university bill, which had parts of diversity, inclusion, and equity that have been taken away that was given to these programs in our DEI. And that is important, especially with we have so many HBCUs here in the state of Florida. And actually, Florida has one of the highest debtors in the nation. And so

as we continue to see these things being rolled back, we got to pay attention. You're definitely correct. And for me, that is an HB99 bill, especially I'm about to go to FAM in the fall that's coming up. And I would still, you know, I would love to go there. I would be a third generation rattler. So, you know, that is a bill that is striking home for me. Okay. Sounds good. I definitely have seen that they were successful in getting that passed. And I'm not sure if he signed it or if it's going to his desk, but that is something that people warned about that kind of just flew under the radar a little bit. I'm going to go to the panel and give them an opportunity to ask you all questions.

I'm going to start off with you, Dr. Haynes. Oh, thank you both for the work that you're doing. I have so many questions. As a political scientist, congratulations, Malika. I am incredibly proud of you. I hope you DEIA programs for many, many years, just cross cuts across a lot of things that I personally care about. So my question will be very similar to something I was thinking about with the representative from Texas earlier. I love the fact that sit-ins are happening and that there are actual things that are being done on the ground. But in terms of fighting back, say, through the legal system or in other ways,

what are some of the strategies, if you can talk about them, that you all are doing, along with these kind of very strong and symbolic gestures like this sit-in? Yeah, I can start. Florida is a state that I said earlier has been working to rig itself against us for over a generation. And there's a supermajority, not just in the legislature and in the executive branch, but they have rigged the courts in ways that has made a lot of these policies difficult to fight back against. And so we've been consistently filing suit with partners like the SPLC against bills like HB1, which really limited protest rights. We'll be doing the same around some of these immigration policies, around some of the education policies. But the way that Florida has been set up over this last generation has made it difficult to know what avenues and routes we have beyond taking civil

disobedience and direct action in order to fight for justice in our communities. Even when we get things done at the community level, the state regularly pre-imps local policies and makes those policies inadmissible or impossible to implement. So when we get wage theft ordinances passed, when we get minimum wage policies passed, when we get protective policies passed, the state will come in and actually limit the ability of a municipality to do that. And we'll, you know, can file suit after suit after suit. But we're in a project of trying to build long-term political power here because it is the only solution that we have in a state like Florida that keeps exporting its bad policies across the country. Yeah, I think that's a really key point that these policies are going national. I mean,

all of the Republican Party nationally is trading one bad idea for the other, and they keep escalating with these oppressive and fascist policies. So people can't just ignore what's happening in one state or another because it's probably coming to a town or a state near you. I'm going to go to Dr. Monago. Yeah, you said these ideas are bad. Now, I personally agree that they're bad, but it's relative and subjective depending on your agenda. To some people, what's going on is good. So I want to say that because I believe in looking at contrasting perspectives, even if I disagree with them, that they're indeed based on what people think is good for them.

And white supremacist control freaks in this country who want to sustain power believe everything they're doing is in the good, it's right, it's justified in terms of what they think should happen in this world. But I have two questions. One is, earlier it was referenced that Florida was ground zero for so many basically problematic things. I was wondering if Biden's cabinet or Biden has addressed Florida and all that he's dealing with to kind of use his position to throw a wrench in the injustice norms that are occurring there. That's one question.

The second question is, and it's similar to what I asked the representative earlier, is there's a community involved as a collective against resisting this white supremacist scorched earth approach to power in Florida. Is it still, or is it small groups of people, or has the community become alarmed? And for example, when they attacked Gilliam, this is a Florida phenomenon, is the community become alarmed? And, for example, when they attacked Gillum, this is a Florida phenomenon, is the community looking at all of this from a collective perspective, or is it mostly the traditional activist types who are in the streets?

I hope you remember my first question about Biden. Is that... I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

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

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

Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player,

Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.

Marine 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. You say you'd never

give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You'd say you'd never

put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen.

One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. Well, how do you answer that, Malik. I feel like we do a good job of not just having the activist industry. That's why we're here, right?

We're trying to build that dual power and people power. And that is getting the folks that are not necessarily educated about the things that's going on. And I know I haven't got to your first question. I'm going to actually give that question to AG. But I do think that we are doing a great job of trying to get those that are not necessarily knowing what is going on. It's actually funny you said, you know, that should be the governor of the state right now, Andrew Gillum, and he just got a non-guilty verdict today. So right now we have to take that information to the streets. And so I think we do a good job of that. And Dream Defenders, that is our ultimate goal. And I'll toss it over to AG. Yeah, obviously, we are first and foremost invested in building power amongst people and community, not amongst other activists or people in the echo chamber. I will say that the

right, again, has had a generational agenda of building political power of their own. And so when we talk about these voucher programs and dismantling of public education, when we're talking about these immigration policies, people have been told to turn against one another and turn against a collective interest. And so we have to do that education work in community. I think in terms of Biden, whether or not he has been proactive enough as a president in Florida, I think is definitely up for debate. We have seen different parts of the administration be supportive and fighting back and offering support around combating some of these policies.

But we definitely think that the federal government has a larger responsibility to intervene in what's really some unconstitutional policies that are being forwarded. And I think the way that this legislature has been so aggressive in just rubber stamping any outrageous policy that the DeSantis sort of administration is forwarding has definitely given a lot of space, I think, to see DOJ intervention. And so we're hoping that we actually can see, you know, more aggressive action taken by the Biden administration as these policies start to take effect. Right. And of course, I have to add that Vice President Kamala Harris was in Florida within a month or so ago, taking it to DeSantis on the specific issue of reproductive rights. Lauren, you get the last question for this segment.

I'm wondering from the two of you, did you have you seen any improvement with the Florida party since, of course, they lost big as i'm sure you know last november um do you see any improvement in the local uh wing of the party or is is it just starting to rebuild how's that going i'm going to be honest with you the state of florida is six different states and so malik might have a different answer that i do. I think in central Florida, where I'm at, the party is in a real rebuilding process. I'm sort of in the I-4 corridor part of the state. I think when we're talking about South Florida and just sort of the collapse, especially amongst Latino voters on behalf of the party, there's a long project ahead. And I think when you're looking at North Florida, Malik can speak to that more,

but probably are a little bit more developed in terms of building and rebuilding a strategy to win. Obviously, we just had redistricting happen last year, and so the map has been reset. And the pathway to power looks a lot different. But it's going to be a long road and one that we're committed to really being focused on over the next decade. Thanks. Yeah, Ashley, I think it's so important that you talked about that commitment and the fact that it's a long road, because so often we kind of score wins in terms of our agendas in terms of every two years, when the reality is that Republicans play long game. They cheat when they have to.

They bend the rules and get as Democratic voters. So often we're looking for a win yesterday. So activists and organizers like you are so critical in keeping us focused on the fact that we have to stay engaged in between elections, irrespective of what the legislative map looks like and what kind of wins the other side is racking up. So thank you so much for your dedication. Florida is very lucky to have you. Thank you all so much for having us. And beyond the party, we know we still have to be in a project of building political power by any means necessary. Absolutely. It's not just about Democratic or Republican. It's about

Black political power in particular. Before you go, how can folks follow the work that you're doing with the Dream Defenders? Dreamdefenders.org is our website. At Dream Defenders is where you can find us on Twitter, same on Instagram. We're across multiple social media platforms. We're on TikTok. And so type Dream Defenders into your search engine, and it's going to pull up ways to get involved. But that primary website is DreamDefenders.org. And we are ready not just to take on the fight in the state of Florida,

but actually expanding nationally. And so coming to a city near you very soon. All right. Thank you so much, Ashley. We'll be right back with more Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, nurses are the backbone of the healthcare industry, and yet only 7% of them are Black. What's the reason for that low number? Well, a lack of opportunities and growth in their

profession. Joining us on the next Get Wealthy is Needy Barton-Nilley. She's going to be sharing exactly what nurses need to do and what approach they need to take to take ownership of their success. So the Black Nurse Collaborative really spawned from a place and a desire to create opportunities to uplift each other, those of us in the profession, to also look and reach back and create pipelines and opportunities for other nurses like us.

That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, what does it mean to actually have balance in your life? Why is it important and how do you get there? A masterclass on the art of balance. It could change your life. Find the harmony of your life. Why is it important and how do you get there? A masterclass on the art of balance. It could change your life. Find the harmony of your life. And so what beat can you maintain at a good

pace? What cadence can keep you running that marathon? Because we know we're going to have, you know, high levels, we're going to have low levels, but where can you find that flow, that harmonious pace? That's all next on A Balanced Life on Blackstar Network. Hello, everyone. It's Kiara Sheard. Hey, I'm Taj. I'm Coco.

And I'm Lili. And we're SWB. What's up, y'all? It's Ryan Destiny. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. We're going to stay in Florida. Republicans approved two bills to ban diversity programs in colleges and expand the quote-unquote don't say gay law. The bills, expected to be signed into law by DeSantis, have sparked criticisms from Democrats and highlighted the divisive cultural issues dominating the state's legislative session.

To bolster his conservative agenda and presidential aspirations, Governor DeSantis has driven a hard line against diversity programs and higher education with the proposed bills banning colleges from using state or federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion. According to DeSantis, such initiatives, sometimes called DEI, are racially divisive and have no place in Florida education system. The bills were passed by the Republican supermajorities in the House and Senate. What DeSantis expected to sign them into law soon. These bills have fueled Florida's already divisive political climate. As the legislative session ends, the state's lawmakers remain divided over the direction of Florida's future and the impact of these bills on its citizens.

Feels like a broken record here, Dr. Monago, but how does it not feel like outright war against the citizens of Florida with all of the hell that Ron DeSantis and his Republican acolytes are raining down on anybody who is not white, male, and straight? Listen closely so I won't confuse you, because I can talk in ways that can be very, very layered. Earlier I mentioned, did Biden come to ground zero to get the troops excited about their power and what's in their hands and the capacity to resist? I'm aware that Harris, Vice President Harris,

went there to talk about the issue that she raised. But, for example, even despite the indictments, Trump is the leading Republican candidate because he uses his image because it's iconic and it can influence. Well, Biden is the poster child, the leader of the Democratic Party. He is the person who is the leader and the one who everybody sees as the most powerful Democrat in the country. So it would be strategically powerful if he agreed with me that what's happening in Florida is not a good thing for democracy. And he could go there and make a statement to fire up people, to get more people to support the defenders and have them come out into the streets to be more resistant and loud about this anarchy that's occurring. So I say that to the Democrats and to Biden, if he's listening, he probably is, that if he really believes that what's happening at Ground Zero in Florida is unconstitutional and racist and wrong, that he said so.

That's a strategy that will wake people up. He got into office during a Democratic process, which means that there's millions of people, including in Florida, who voted for him. It's time for him to speak to them. It's time for him to speak to people in Texas. It's time for him to be the president of the Democratic Party, as well as the country, and raise people's ire against this war that's going to continue on us. Those people have a leader, including Trump and others, who are fighting for them from an iconic perspective, not a passive, only congressional

or legislative perspective, but they're coming out personally to say, I don't agree with this. Everything that's happening in Florida, including being against the equivalent of CRT, critical race theory on a local level, the people in the Democratic Party can say something about this in ways that are not passive or quiet or silent and take a stand. That's part of a good strategy to throw a wrench in this stuff. Yeah, I absolutely agree. I mean, I think that it's important that the bully pulpit is used. I know that President Biden was in Florida in February. That was several months ago. So maybe that's not frequent enough travel.

But I want to go to you, Lauren, on this because you made the point about the media and the role that they play in giving a microphone, normalizing DeSantis or even a Donald Trump, and tending to not find as much excitement in covering people like President Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris, really taking it to the Democrats. What's your take on how this whole messaging around Democrats being strong enough against DeSantis in Florida? Yeah, the media, you know, to your point there, obviously, when you're making money through clicks and view counts and you find that the thing, the person that made you money, which was Donald Trump, is gone. And I think this is the dangerous paradigm that we find ourselves in. He's gone, but he may return. And as you can see just from CNN,

the media is not interested in anything other than, just like most big, you know, corporate entities, making money. So I don't know that they're that interested in saving our democracy, per se, even though every time you look around, you're seeing some saving our democracy forum. But the fact that they're so, you know,

not into Kamala Harris and not even really into Joe Biden. I mean, the critical a lot of times is Joe Biden, despite all the stats on how well he's doing on the employment numbers and everything else. You know, the fact is the media wants Donald Trump to come back. That's why we're seeing him next week. That's why there's a town hall with Donald Trump on CNN. I mean,

give me a break. It's so obvious what this is. And DeSantis does not bring that same level of excitement. You know, he had that foray that he went on and there was kind of a shrug of the shoulders from the donor class. And I think to some extent the media class, they're looking for somebody, they, the media is looking for somebody that's going to bring the gate, that's going to bring the money, that's going to bring the clicks. Okay, I think we lost Lauren for a second. Media is racist. So that's the paradigm we find ourselves in. And really until you throw people out of office, you've got nothing.

And on the local level in Florida, that's what has to happen. There are people who have to be thrown out of office. There has to be a forward strategy from those actors on the ground to dismantle who is in charge in Florida on the local level. And then, of course, it goes up from there. But when you run people like Charlie Crist and he loses by almost 20 points, I mean, you can't make those types of mistakes over and over again. You just can't. But Florida, to me, is an example of what happens when one of the parties really just loses its grip and loses control. And then the other party that's just sort of playing for keeps dominates. And that's what you're seeing in this moment. But of course, that can change. That can change in two or three years. But there's got to be some strategy behind it, some really serious, deliberate strategy behind it. And we're not seeing that right now. Yeah. I mean, Dr. Haynes, I'm going to get you in on this. I wrote, you know,

two books about the midterms and DeSantis was dishonorably featured in both of them. They were about how radical Republicans are. And Lauren just mentioned Charlie Crist, who was already governor. He served in the House. He had a pretty robust and I think far more compelling platform. But it doesn't seem like policy and accomplishments are really winning over Democratic voters in the same way that these attacks on non-white, non-heterosexual voters are winning over Republicans. What's your take on how DeSantis was overwhelmingly successful? 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. 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. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like, uh, less than their best.

You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there no it can happen one in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out never happens before you leave the car always stop look lock brought to you by nitsa and the ad council and being re-elected with these kinds of focuses that he made the centerpiece of his agenda. Because the central character here is ideology.

We're not talking about policy because if we were talking about policy, then a lot of people wouldn't vote against their own interests. And historically, that's just been the case in this country. When we think about the way that some... Hello? We can hear you. Go ahead. Okay. When you think about the way that some demographics of women vote,

they absolutely vote against their own interests time after time after time. So we're voting for ideology in you know, in this instance. And this ideology is wrapped in a mantra. It's wrapped in an idea. It's wrapped in this concept that they're coming for you. They want to take everything away from you. They want to disempower men. They want to, you know, turn all the little boys and the little girls into LGBTQIA. So all of the fear tactics around this mythical identity that they are clinging on to, that they have created, is driving this. It has absolutely nothing to do with policy. And, you know, I'll even go so far as to say that it does have its own logic.

If you are constantly concerned with your own demise, if you are constantly concerned that your own power is waning, you're going to do everything within the power you still believe yourself to have to make sure that that does not happen. And that in and of itself is why this is white supremacy. And I want to be very clear about, you know, when I say that, I am not saying all white folks. There are some cool allies out there, absolutely. What I am saying is when you prescribe to the idea that white is superior and must at all costs be in control of all things, that is absolutely white supremacy. And there are people out there that look like us

that also traffic in those ideas. That also are, you know, uh, pushing this, their agenda too. So this thing is layered. And again, you know, as a Southerner, I have a very kind of, um, unique understanding of people who think this way. And it's concerning because when I think about what had to happen in the South,

you know, all the different elements lining up in a very particular way for civil rights to even happen, a thing that people do not contemplate. You know, like, there's a question out there in the political science sphere. What would have happened if JFK wouldn't have gotten assassinated? Would the civil rights package have passed if LBJ was not in office, right? It's a hard question

to contemplate because that was such an ugly moment in our history, but so many things had to align perfectly for that to happen. And so when we're looking at the moving backwards, the descend, you know, the descending nature of all of this, what things need to align perfectly for this country to get back on track if we were ever on track in the first place? But the direction that we're heading in right now, it's nothing good. And I am worried. I am absolutely worried. I think for good reason. To Lauren's earlier point, our best bet might be the fact that the media isn't particularly enthused.

With DeSantis, he has zero charm, no charisma. He's very awkward. He's not just saying it. So I don't think that he's going to capture the hearts in the same way that, unfortunately, Donald Trump has. So that might actually be the best thing the rest of us people who are sane have working for us because he, in my view, is a lot more dangerous than Trump because he's actually competent and he's a lot more craven.

So we're going to keep an eye on what's happening with Florida and DeSantis. We'll have more Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network after the break. Up next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes, our special guest, Alicia Garza, one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement.

We're going to discuss her new book, The Purpose of Power, how we come together when we fall apart. We live in a world where we have to navigate. You know, when we say something, people look at us funny, but when a man says the same thing less skillfully than we did, right? Right. Everybody blocks towards what they said,

even though it was your idea. Right here on The Frequency on the Black Star Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach, nurses are the backbone of the healthcare industry, and yet only 7% of them are Black. What's the reason for that low number? Well, a lack of opportunities and growth in their profession. Joining us on the next Get Wealthy is Needy Barnanilli. She's going to be sharing exactly what nurses need to do and what approach they need to take to take ownership of their success. So the Black Nurse Collaborative really spawned from a place and a desire to create opportunities to uplift each other, those of us in the profession, to also look and reach back and create pipelines and opportunities for other nurses like us. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network.

Everybody, it's your man Fred Hammond. Hi, my name is Bresha Webb, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. And, well, I like a nice filter usually, but we can be unfiltered. A new report by ProPublica alleges Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has deeper financial ties with Republican donor Harlan Crowe than previously known. According to the report, Crowe paid for the private school tuition of Thomas' grandnephew, Mark Martin, who Thomas claimed was his son. The report claims that in 2009, Crowe paid $6,200 monthly tuition for Martin's attendance at Hidden Lake Academy,

citing a bank statement and an interview with a former administrator at the school. Crowe's office has denied any wrongdoing, stating that the donations were made solely from personal funds and were meant to support at-risk youth through schooling. The report has been seized upon by Democrats pushing for greater oversight and a formal code of conduct for the Supreme Court. However, any legislative efforts to implement such a code will likely face opposition from Republicans who defended Thomas during a recent judiciary hearing. The justices have also resisted proposals for independent oversight and mandatory compliance with ethics rules, instead pledging voluntary adherence to a general code of conduct.

All right, y'all. Clarence Thomas is the gift that keeps on not giving. Dr. Monago, I'm going to start with you because this is such a juxtaposition between how all of these resources were devoted to prosecute the now acquitted slash mistrialed Mayor Gillum. And yet it's a big shoulder shrug. Obviously, Clarence Thomas, Justice Thomas doesn't have to adhere to any conducts, code of conducts. But it's such a huge difference in the way that these two black men are being treated. And it's looking kind of like Republican and Democrat to me. What's your take? My take is that this redundant, systematic perspective and activity is boring. That's my perspective. They're doing what they do.

Yeah. Someone earlier said that people are supporting, I think the sister said that people are going against their own interests. Well, this billionaire was supporting his own interests by underscoring the power and the resources of Clarence Thomas. They're just doing what they do. I mean, what's next?

That's how I look at it. Yeah. But I want to say, and I hope it doesn't sound off topic, is that I don't agree that people are voting against their own interests. I think people have multiple interests.

I think the women that voted for Donald Trump, even though he was grabbing body parts, which remain nameless, were supporting white power because that's their interest. I don't fully agree with Burt when she mentioned that CNN is just chasing dollars. I think that's true, but CNN is chasing dollars and also keeping white power in place and making decisions, including bringing on Barkley and these other people that they now have

as their token black people, to perpetuate a certain white supremacist or a certain apologetic for white supremacist narrative. And it all goes back to different ways of keeping white folks in power, and that's what this billionaire was doing when he supported Clarence Thomas.

This issue is going to go power, and that's what this billionaire was doing when he supported Clarence Thomas, this issue is going to go away, and we're going to be talking about something else, because nothing's going to happen to Clarence Thomas. Oh, well, we know that. Unlike Gillum, he is steeped in whiteness, and his lifestyle is steeped in whiteness, and he affirms through his behavior and his legislative decisions, or his Supreme Court decisions, white supportive legislation. So he's, his back is covered. Gillum's was not.

Right. Lauren, Dr. Monago called out his disagreement with your statement. Do you want to respond to that? No, I mean, it's all about money all the time. All about money all the time. You know, you saw it the first time Trump showed up. I mean, there's really nothing to see here. It's obvious that what the media does has to do with dollars. That's why I was really surprised, actually, to see Fox let Tucker Carlson walk out the door, because he was bringing money. And so

that was a surprising moment. It couldn't have been because of what they've cited. But the point is... That's an example that it's not just about money. That's an example that it's not just about money. I mean, I agree with what you're saying, Lauren, that money is in there, but the narrative and the deduction

of white people needing to be in power is there, too. I mean, they don't have... I mean, you know what role Roland used to be on the show and what he got rid of? What did he got rid of? Come on, now. They want whiteness to be the blanket of consciousness for the United States of America, too,

at the Caucasian News Network, at CNN. But, I mean, to be fair, and I'll let Lauren jump back in because you guys are talking back and forth. If that is the case, Tucker Carlson was literally the poster boy for white nationalism and white supremacy at Fox News. So I do tend to agree with Lauren's position because ultimately, you know, what Tucker Carlson ultimately ended up being is a liability because of the massive settlement that they had to pay out. And they were facing even more. They still are facing more cases against them. So, I mean, we can't afford it.

And there'll be another Tucker Carlson coming. Oh, absolutely. They have a conveyor belt. That's the thing. Yeah, there's definitely a longer pipeline of white supremacists, white nationalists willing to get on TV and espouse that, as opposed to a Roland Martin that you get to have on CNN. OK, Lauren, back to you, and then I'm going to get Dr. Hayes in on this.

I mean, but to go back to what you were saying, Recy, about the whole Clarence Thomas situation, you know, what you're seeing is a political party with no shame that will do anything to win. Right. And the Democrats have not reached that point where they'll do everything and anything to win. They're still holding on to some of the old-fashioned politics, the old-fashioned rules, right? So, you know, you have not only a political party and the Republican Party that will do anything to win with absolutely no shame and no apologies, but they are actually, you know, they're to a point really where they just don't, they have no rules. They have no internal rules or episodic rules. They just do

what they want. And they have a media echo chamber that they organized really, to me, right after Barack Obama showed up. It was the Breitbart folks. It was, you know, Tucker Carlson owning Daily Caller. They have that ecosystem. And that right-wing ecosystem pushes the narrative really hard, and they all push together. The Democrats don't do that. And frankly, the Democrats have a bigger umbrella of people that they have to please. That's a tricky thing to take care of, right? You've got the big umbrella. You've got to please all these constituencies. The Republicans don't have that problem.

And so they're all pushing in the same direction. That is why Clarence Thomas can find himself in this laughable situation where, you know, to Roy Wood's point on Saturday night, we have a person that owns a Supreme Court justice. So, you know, I mean, this is just what this is. This billionaire owns Clarence Thomas, and nobody's going to do

anything about it. The Democrats aren't going to push hard enough. They're not going to play by a set of rules that's really going to make something, quote, happen. And so when you do that

up against people who are going to make something happen no matter what, you're going to lose. It's as simple as that. It comes down to who wants it more

a lot of times in life. And that's what we're seeing in politics. Well, to be fair, somebody owns Neil Gorsuch, too, because he's gotten a windfall. Brad Kavanaugh, all of them got something going on. It's just Clarence Thomas is

the easiest target, and for good reason. Okay, Dr. Hayes, I'm going to rely on you to be the non-cynical one, my Gus, and tell us if you think that we shouldn't be shrugging this off. What's your take on this Clarence Thomas situation? Gotta hear this. Well, you know, I'll go back to my earlier statement about the doomsday clock. I'm not

saying that to be histrionic, but really democracy is like teetering on the brink right now. And, you know, one of the things that's interesting when you belong to a populist party and pretty much right now, this version of republicanism is what we are looking at. The one thing that you do not need is a coalition. The only thing that you need are your followers or your fans, right? Your acolytes. That's the only thing that you need. And the way that a lot of these, the way that the judicial system was maneuvered over the past few years, we are in a situation where that populist group of people are the people who can decide the fate of a Clarence Thomas. Now, you know, as an appointee myself, I got to say it's very disappointing to constantly read,

which has been great journalism by ProPublica, by the way, shout out to real journalists out there, that all of these things are happening and it's just being brushed away by, oh, you know, it was just, we're friends, we're buddies. You know, it's just being brushed away by, you know, it was just we're friends, we're buddies. You know, it's so cavalier when I think about other people, you know, who aren't lifelong appointees like justices are. But when I think about other types of appointments, you know, you're going to get in some trouble here for a fraction of the things. You know, even the hint of impropriety is, you know, damaging. So I think for the system, for people to believe in it, for people to buy into it, for you to think that, you know, I'm going to act in a certain way because if I don't,

there's a level of punishment. But if there's no accountability for anything, then what is that buy-in? What is that buy-in for democracy? What is that buy-in for, you know, I want to do my duty and work for my country and all these different things? So this is a crisis in my personal opinion, because when you sign up for any sort of duty for your country, you're signing up because you believe in some of the values that America says that it stands for. So right now, this is a true test. This is a true test about who we want to be. And democracy is absolutely wrapped up in this, because if Clarence Thomas gets away with this, I don't know where we stand. class policy, policy, law and politics. I cannot tell you how many students over the years, even before all of this stuff with Clarence Thomas and taking away women's rights,

would always ask, well, how is the court impartial when we already know their ideological leanings? And that is not the way law is supposed to function, right? So that in and of itself has always been hanging over the court's head in terms of credibility. But where we are right now, the credibility of the court is literally in the ground. So what are we going to do about that? If we are out there talking about democracy, selling democracy, trying to convince other countries that this is the way to go. This situation right here is a test and we need to pass it. And right now, I'm not too sure. Yeah, I think we're going to fail this epically. I think we lost the Supreme Court when Hillary Clinton did not win the Electoral College, because the bottom line is who's going to check and boo? The Senate is completely out of the question to get the 60 votes.

This is not on the table in terms of expanding the Supreme Court. So it looks like we're stuck with a really messed up situation. We'll be right back with more Roland Martin and Filter streaming live on the Black Star Network. That was a pivotal, pivotal time. I remember Kevin Hart telling me that. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

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

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

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

We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. 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 podcast. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown.

Never let kids toys take over the house and never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late. And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there,

no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens before you leave the car. Always stop. Look, lock brought to you by NHTS and the ad council he's like man what you doing man you gotta stay on stage and i was like yeah

you know y'all think i'm good and he was absolutely right what what what what show was the other time this was one-on-one got during that time and i was so? This was one-on-one. Got it. During that time. So you're doing one-on-one, going great. You're making money. You're like. I'm like, I don't need to leave. I don't need to leave from Wednesday, Thursday to Sunday. You know, I just didn't want to do that. You know, it was just like, I'm going to stay here.

Oh, I didn't want to finish work Friday, fly out, go do a gig Saturday, Sunday. I was like, I don't have to do that. And I lost a little bit of that hunger that I had in New York. I would hit all the clubs and run around. You know, sometimes me and Chappelle, or me and this one or that one, we'd go to the Comedy Cellar at 1 in the morning.

I mean, that was our life. We loved it. You know, you do two shows in Manhattan, go to Brooklyn, leave Brooklyn, go to Queens, go to Jersey. And I kind of just, I got complacent. I was like, I got this money, I'm good. I don't need to go, I don't need to go chase that because that money wasn't at the same level

that I was making, but what I was missing was that training. Yes. Was that, was that. And it wasn't the money. It was the money, you know, it was that, that's what I needed. Up next on The Frequency with me, Dee Barnes, our special guest, Alicia Garza, one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement. We're going to discuss her new book,

The Purpose of Power, How We Come Together When We Fall Apart. We live in a world where we have to navigate. You know, when we say something, people look at us funny. But when a man says the same thing less skillfully than we did, right? Right. Everybody boxed towards what they said,

even though it was your idea. Right here on The Frequency on the Black Star Network. Roland Martin, unfiltered. I mean, could it be any other way? Really, it's Roland Martin. Kenner Lismore disappeared from his Fort Pierce, Florida home on April 2nd, 2023. The 15-year-old is 6 feet tall, weighs 155 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about Kenner Lismore should call the Fort Pierce, Florida Police Department at 772-461-3820. Here are a couple of stories that we're following today. The Memphis, Tennessee District Attorney revealed Tyree Nichols' cause of death to his family. According to the medical examiner's medical autopsy report, Tyree died of brain injuries from blunt force trauma. First responders told Nichols' mother that her son was drunk and high. The reports contradict that. The medical examiner's findings show that Tyree's blood alcohol level was 0.049, less than the legal limit to drive. Nichols died three days after officers beat him

during a January 7th traffic stop. Footage of the altercation shows police striking Nichols repeatedly. Seven Memphis Police Department officers have been fired for their roles and the arrests. Five of them have been charged with second degree murder in connection with Nichols' death. A former Alabama sheriff's deputy pleaded guilty in federal court to sexually assaulting a woman while he was on duty more than three years ago.

Joshua Davidson, a former deputy with the Dallas County Sheriff's Office, confessed to placing the victim in custody and then driving her down a dark road to a desolate area where the woman performed oral sex on him against her will. Prosecutors say the woman reported the assault immediately and said she was scared that Davidson would shoot her if she did what he said. Davidson faces life in prison. His sentencing is scheduled to be sentenced August 25th. The man who had Metro Atlanta on lockdown Wednesday is behind bars, facing multiple charges. 24-year-old Dion Patterson is charged with murder and four counts of aggravated assault. Police say Patterson opened fire Wednesday at Northside Hospital Medical Midtown, where his mother had taken him for an appointment. He had fled the scene,

causing an eight-hour-long search over several metro counties before being captured. Patterson's mother told the Associated Press the former Coast Guardsman had some mental instability going on from medication he got from the Veterans Affairs Health System and began taking Friday. She said her son wanted Altavan to deal with anxiety, depression, but the VA refused to give it to him, saying the drug would be too addicting. His mother has apologized for her son's actions amy saint pierre a cdc worker was killed lisa glenn georgette whitlow jasmine daniel and alicia hollinger were critically injured well that is a lot of heaviness to cover. I will leave it to you all to decide which story in particular you want to start off commenting with. This week we have two stories where we have former veterans, or veterans, I should say, that are talking about mental health issues. And we've seen it manifest differently. We saw it with Jordan Neely on the subway when he was, you know, killed.

It was ruled a homicide by a former Marine. And now we see this with Dion Patterson in Atlanta. Absolutely abhorrent on both sides. But I do wonder if there is something to examine there in terms about his mother's claim of mental health. Dr. Managa, I'll start with you. What's your take on that? Well, clearly, the young man was dealing with mental health challenges, and that's a problem in this country. As a matter of fact, if you look at this statistically, it's a growing problem. Suicide, homicide, all the sides, and depression are booming in this country. Some of that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. But not only is mental health, which

has been a problem all of my career, which is based around addressing mental health. I remember being on a panel 30 years ago with a psychologist who was the consultant to the Cosby Show, whose name escapes me, I believe his name was Alvin Toussaint. We talked about mental illness, particularly among Black people on a panel 30 years ago, because he had a book out about the disproportionate problem of mental illness and particularly among Black people on a panel 30 years ago, because he had a book out about the disproportionate problem

of mental illness and suicide among Black people. But the other underlying issue that's going on here is the problem of the lack of gun control... Right. ...or the lack of legislation or systems in place to prevent the, as I predicted on this very show some years ago, problem of growing murders by guns in this country is going to get worse.

So we need to all be careful and watch our surroundings. But getting back, and this is my analysis, getting back to the issue of white supremacy control, one of the reasons why we may never see an effective gun control policy in this country is because white folks who are concerned about backlash and who are concerned about Black power and losing their numbers in terms of control want to be able to defend themselves in case something goes down.

And no matter how many people who are murdered, including children, on massive levels, they're resistant to not having control of their guns. It's my perspective that that phenomena is at the core of why, despite all this insanity that's occurring at the hands their guns, is my perspective, that that phenomena is at the core of why, despite all this insanity that's occurring at the hands of guns, there's been no legislation or serious resistance to stop that occurring and stopping that phenomena. So this issue is relevant to mental health and an ongoing example of the problem of a

lack of gun control and relevant policy in this country. Right. And Georgia, Brian Kemp has made it easier to access guns. We don't know, at least I haven't seen reporting on whether his guns were legally purchased or anything of that nature. But this is why we have red flag laws or that's why we have people advocating for red flag laws for background checks. And it's questionable if you have a history of, you know, mental health struggles, whether you should have a gun or not. That was a big issue in the Senate race down there with Hershel Walker admitting to having mental issues and having experiences with guns.

Nola, I'm going to open up the floor. I don't want to frame a question to you. Anything in particular you want to comment about from these three stories? Like you said, you know, they're all heavy. Yeah. And reading yet another story about police violence and a young black man losing his life, that that that just does something to you. It makes you feel, it just makes you feel exhausted in another way. And I think, you know, because we are having these conversations around mental health, and I do believe this is mental health month. Yeah, actually it is. I completely agree with these issues are exacerbated by COVID and quarantine in a way that we are not talking about.

There is something going on. You know, we've always, in this country, we've suffered from gun violence for quite some time, for quite some time. Since quarantine, the level of violence, the level of mental illness that is peaking, it seems extraordinary. And I think this is a wider conversation about why folks are resulting to such extreme ends, right? And on a daily, nearly hourly, like what appeals to a person about massive violence? And the way that I think about this is, I think about this along with terrorism and why terrorists decide to do the things that they do. And typically it's for some sort of attention. So if that is the case, if we can apply that here, if we can apply that logic here, what attention are these people seeking, you know, when they commit these massive violent

attacks? Now, in our country, if you look a particular way, you're going to be given the benefit of the doubt. And that analysis is going to try to get to, you know, why this person decided to do what they did. But when you're black, we don't often have the benefit of the doubt for people to say, okay, what were the triggers here? What were the causes here? But I think we are definitely in a, in a crisis and we need to figure out why are people resorting to this tactic? What attention are they needing? And how can we begin to address this? Because my suspicion is the summer is going to be even more violent. That is my suspicion.

And, you know, because we are stranglehold by the NRA and people who support the NRA and people have access to guns, I am very worried about very basic things. You know, there are tons of concerts that are happening, tons of people gathering in public locations and inflation, all these different things that pile onto this mental health. So I'm very curious about what is the attention that they are seeking and the triggers? You know, are they even being, are they visiting places, you know, in the internet that are kind of radicalizing people? Like, what is drawing people to do this? Almost as if it's romantic in a kind of dark sense.

You know what I mean? Like, what are the triggers here? So that's my thinking around all of this. What's driving people to do this? I don't know, but I wish they would leave the rest of us out of it because I think it's insane to go to work or to go to a doctor's appointment and somebody decides to have an episode and now four women are dead. And we don't know if that was targeted because they were women and

that's why he shot them or if it was just an opportunity. He just got whoever he saw first. But either way, it's exceedingly appalling and nothing is going to happen in Georgia, we know, because there's no appetite for any more gun control there, just like there hasn't been in Tennessee, despite the shootings there. But there was one thing in particular about the Tyree Nichols story that bothered me was the way that the cops lied to the family and said that he was drunk and high. We saw the same thing happen with Ahmaud Arbery, where his family was told that he was breaking into the house. And so we consistently see that it's not enough for these people to summarily execute black people for traffic stops, but they have to

humiliate them and to impugn their character, even though eventually it's going to come out on tape, whether it's body camera footage or maybe some Samaritan's footage. And so that's just so disturbing that they had to further debase him after leaving him on the scene unattended, taking pictures, allegedly one of the cops was reportedly doing. It's just egregiously tragic. It's also a cliche. It's also a cliche. I mean, that's the way they do it. That's the way they did it in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2020s. This is a redundant cliche.

This is part of the playbook. It's what you do when you kill somebody as a cop. Lauren, it's a little bit more than a redundant cliche. The Atlanta case, obviously, was mental illness. The gentleman on the subway in New York. Lauren, can you hold that thought? I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's

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

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

You say you'd never give in to a meltdown. Never let kids' toys take over the house. And never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule. Never lick your thumb to clean their face. And you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best. You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it. Never let them stay up too late.

And never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, while through the grocery store. We have one aisle six. And aisle three. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, no, it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens. Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock.

Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. Take a break. We'll come right back straight to you. Be right back. All right. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. We look at one of the most influential and prominent Black Americans of the 20th century. His work literally changed the world.

Among other things, he played a major role in creating the United Nations. He was the first African American and first person of color to win the Nobel Peace Prize. And yet today, he is hardly a household name. We're talking, of course, about Ralph J. Bunch. A new book refers to him as the absolutely indispensable man. His lifelong interest and passion in racial justice, specifically in the form of colonialism. And he saw his work as an activist, an advocate for the Black community here in the United States, as just the other side of the coin of his work trying to roll back European empire in Africa.

Author Cal Rastiala will join us to share his incredible story. That's on the next Black Table here on the Black Star Network. Up next on The Frequency with me Dee Barnes, our special guest, Alicia Garza, one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement. We're going to discuss her new book,

The Purpose of Power, How We Come Together When We Fall Apart. We live in a world where we have to navigate. When we say something, people look at us funny. But when a man says the same thing less skillfully than we did, right? Right. Everybody blocks towards what they said,

even though it was your idea. Right here on The Frequency on the Black Star Network. Black TV does matter, dang it. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your boy, Jacob Lattimore. And you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Yee. Lauren, I had to cut you off right before the break, but I want to bring you back in to finish your thought. Thanks. Thank you. Yeah, I was just going to say that,

obviously, the situation in Atlanta was obviously mental illness. Ahmed Aubrey and Jordan Neely and all of these other things that we've been talking about, Tyree Nichols, Tyree Nichols was beaten to death by police as the paramedics looked on and did absolutely nothing. This really crazy situation with Jordan Neely on the subway, the level of, the lack of compassion around that is just really stunning and really embarrassing. But, you know, when we take this all as a full picture over the last, like, maybe 10 years or so, maybe less than 10 years, we've been watching now, you know, black male after black male after black male getting murdered on video now for quite a while. Yeah. Walter Scott getting shot in the back five times and Eric Garner getting choked to death, you know, and Philando Castile, all of this. If it was any other group of people in American society, I think there'd be a little bit more of a reaction.

And I'm not saying that, you know, black women haven't been killed and other people haven't been killed, but that that particular group, black men, we're seeing this on video. We're seeing people get murdered on video. And, you know, when Philando Castile put the Facebook Live on of really himself being killed, this type of thing should not be seen as normal. The idea that a guy that's homeless is getting choked out on New York City subway, and the freaking governor and the mayor have no reaction to that other than to be like, oh, well, you know, mental illness, whatever, New York Times, mental illness, because nobody wants to deal with the fact that this shouldn't happen in a

civilized society. What is everybody doing? I mean, I'm from New York. You know, I've been on subway a trillion times. And this idea that everybody's just sort of standing around while a guy gets choked to death because, you know, well, he's homeless, so no big deal. So, I don't know where our compassion is or where our humanity is, but something is wrong here. We are spiraling in a way that I think is just not normal. And I know that part of it is the advent of video and social media and the fact that we see these things. Before the cell phone, we didn't see a lot of these police shootings. We heard about them.

John Lewis, of course, referred to police brutality at the March on Washington. Malcolm X talked about police brutality all the time. So we knew that it was going on, but to see it, to see people getting murdered on video is a thing. And we shouldn't be okay with any of this. We just shouldn't be. I wholeheartedly agree with you. I'm going to be real. I'm sorry. Oh, just let me get this point and then I'll go right to you.

I do agree with you because when it comes to Jordan Neely in particular, the chokehold part was something that we as black people have been saying we want to get outlawed as part of the justice and policing George Floyd justice and policing act and there's been rightful dissatisfaction with the fact that that hasn't passed and then we see a video of another black man this time not by a cop being executed essentially through the same kind of chokehold that we don't want to have police be allowed to do under any circumstances. And there's a lot more justification around this because he was screaming, because people may have been scared, because I've heard that crime is up,

and it's been scary lately on the subway. But a human being who is clearly distressed about being thirsty, about being hungry, and nobody seems to react in a way of trying to offer any kind of aid in that way, offer a bottle of water to see if that de-escalates. It just goes right to violence against this person. And we definitely are lacking an empathy chip in our society. Lisa, your point about crime is absolutely correct. I get it. And, you know, and obviously somebody who's the daughter of a cop in New York, I totally understand what you're saying. But when I, you know, we saw the George Floyd thing, we're talking about watching a guy begging for his life over some, yes, 20 counterfeit nonsense that somebody freaking called about. And it's another black

male. It's another, to me, these things are forms of lynching. Yeah, I agree. And this history repeats itself. And now we're seeing it on video. There's nothing slowing it down. Nobody's saying, OK, wow, we're seeing it on video now, so I guess we should stop doing it. No, we're just seeing it on video, and now everybody's just watching people get murdered and choked out, and we're acting like this is normal, and it sure as hell isn't. Right. So it's a wild thing to think about, you know?

Dr. Bernalgo, you wanted to jump in there? Yeah, I want to make clear what I was referring to when I said this was a cliche. What I was referring to was cops lying about what happened. That's a cliche. So I want to be real clear, because I would never want to normalize or dismiss the horror of black men being murdered,

which is a norm in this culture, frankly, as a cliche, because there's too much humanity to put that in the category of cliche. I was talking about the fact that cops lie about putting down. I used to work in law enforcement. I used to wear a deputy sheriff's outfit in East Los Angeles in California. And I saw young black men be disfigured,

murdered, maimed on a weekly basis, sometimes all day, every day in a week. I was one of these people back in the day who rebelled against police brutality and was dismissed because no one really cared. I was also alive and well when the first main videotape attack came on television, which was Rodney King. And people, including in L.A., acted like that was, oh, my God, that's a cliche in terms of a normal thing that happens to black men all the time. And that's why I made the contrast earlier between Gillum and Trump in terms of what they look like, though both of them have been indicted.

The black man is more dismissible, more dehumanizing, but not just among people who are not black, but among black people, too. Not because we're deficient or something's wrong with us naturally, but we're trained to be anti-black as well. Somebody used a term earlier that Clarence Thomas was owned. Clarence Thomas has no problem being owned by white people because he has such distaste for black people. We have work to do among black people to teach us to unlearn what I call the anti-black trauma trends that we're in as a people that makes us go into a default short circuit when it comes to successfully, effectively defending black life in this country. Oh, I agree. We've been talking about public brutality for everyone.

I was a baby and I was looking at the been talking about public brutality for everyone. I was a baby and I was looking at the police at the Black Panthers. That was what motivated them to come into being was people being murdered by the cops. And there was a guy named Gates,

Daryl Gates, who used to be the chief of police for LAPD, who was murdering Black people left and right and publicly said it's because we're not normal, which is why we were killed.

Then we went on about our business. I'll close by reiterating that there needs to be more focus on waking up black people from what I call the trauma trance because it's that trauma trance that's getting worse, that's making us go crazy instead of go effective. Someone also said that they believe it's attention-getting. I think it's implosion based on the dismissiveness of people's capacity to have a critical analysis. People are being dumbed down by the Internet.

People are being dumbed down by people becoming celebrities based on how many hits they get or whatever. But common sense and intelligence is not really supported. And some people are just going crazy and going off because they're imploding based on a lack of space to express what's really going on with them in a society where the Republican Party in particular is constantly oppressing people's common sense, and the Democratic Party is complacent enough to look like they're cosigning by the lack of action against it. And I must say one more time that the president of the United States, who's Biden,

can step up and explicitly resist some of these things and get some momentum going against them because he is indeed the president of the United States of this country. And I haven't seen enough of that. Sending Ms. Harris is the same thing as sending the president. Dr. Haynes, I heard you trying to jump in there. What's your comment? Yeah, I was playing a little bit of double dutch there. You know, I just want to say we can go back historically and we can find photos of literal black bodies being hung by trees and people standing around as if, you know, that's the Friday night date. So Black Death as entertainment has been something that's been entertaining for people in this country for quite some time.

And now that we are in a social science way treated, and what I mean by that is that we are kind of preconditioned in a way. We've been preconditioned to accept a set of things, right? So we have been preconditioned to the violence that is enacted on Black bodies. And I'm not using Black bodies in an academic sense. I mean that in a very real and physical sense that is supported by decades of data. Black bodies, particularly the male, has fascinated and also emasculated other men, right? And so it's something very particular about Black men who just try to live their very best lives without, you know, people trying to harm them are threats because other people have made them threats because of their own inferiority complexes, whatever they may be. And Black men can also have those same

inferiority complexes against other Black men. So that's one historical point that I want to make. Throughout history, you can go back and see photos of black people hanging from trees and white folks gathering around as if it's a picnic, right? So this is an extension of that. And because we see it over and over and over again, that's the treatment part. We are desensitized and that's dangerous because you're like, oh, another one. Oh, another one.

Yeah. Another one. And that's problematic. And so the last thing that I'll say really quickly here is until there was a substantial drug problem with meth in suburban white areas, people started to care about the drug epidemic that was happening in this country. When it was crack, people did not care. Yeah. Right. But when it was meth and when it was other drugs, people started

to care. So we're in this weird situation where even little white kids that are being murdered, guns are still out there. So what's going to happen if little white kids are being murdered, but guns, it's still perfectly fine for any and everybody to be able to get a gun. What does that say about Black folks and other folks of color in this country when even little white kids that are being murdered isn't enough for gun violence to cease in this country? Where does that leave us?

Right? So I think collectively, we need to strategize around these very pivotal questions because we need to save our own lives because that's very clear. Because us continuing to die and it being used as entertainment, that ain't it.

Right. Well, I think that's a great way, a call to action to end the show. We got to save our own lives. And part of that means not dismissing the Jordan Neelys of the world and not justifying preemptive violence against Black people

because somebody feels like they are did you say three minutes? You might feel like they are a threat. I'm sorry. I feel like I missed a cue there. That does it for us

tonight on Roland Martin Unfiltered. I want to thank my panel Lauren Victoria Victoria Burke, Dr. Nola Haynes and Dr. Clea Monago. Thanks to Roland for letting me hold it down in the studio while he's in New York at the Legal Defense Fund's 35th National Equal Justice Awards dinner. I'm sure having a very fabulous time. Don't forget to download the Black Star Network on all platforms, including iPhone, Apple Plus, Fire TV. 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. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown, never let kids' toys take over the house, and never fill your feed with kid photos. You'd never plan your life around their schedule, never lick your thumb to clean their face, and you'd never let them leave the house looking like less than their best.

You'd say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it, never let them stay up too late, and never let them run wild through the grocery store. So when you say you'd never let them get into a car without you there, know it can happen. One in four hot car deaths happen when a kid gets into an unlocked car and can't get out. Never happens.

Before you leave the car, always stop, look, lock. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports.

This kind of 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. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeart Radio app,

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