#RolandMartinUnfiltered - TX Dems flee state to stop GOP voter bill; Biden meets police chiefs amid crime surge; Ed Buck trial

Episode Date: July 13, 2021

7.12.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: TX Dems leave state to stop GOP voter bill; Biden meets police chiefs amid gun crime surge; Gwen Levi returns home after being released from prison; Ed Buck trial set to begin; U.S. Officials in Haiti to investigate the assassination of President Jovenel Moise; Breonna Taylor bodycam lawsuit filed; Confederate monument removal in Charlottesville; Crazy a$$ NNJ man arrested for yelling racist slurs at his Black neighbors is hit with additional charges; New book examines the unprecedented significance of interracial parents in the United States; Fit!Live!Win! Is vegan meat good for you? Zaila Avant-garde receives several full-ride scholarships from schools in her home state of Louisiana.Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of 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. Today is Monday, July 12, 2021. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, 58 Texas House Democrats are fleeing the state in order to keep Republicans

from advancing voter suppression bills. We'll talk with one of them who's literally on the plane right now. Gwen Levi, the woman who was sent back to jail for not answering the phone when her parole officer called, will join us to talk about her ordeal. The trial of Ed Buck starts tomorrow. Buck is accused of luring and giving fatal doses

of narcotics to two black men. President Joe Biden met with law enforcement officials today. We have the details about their focus on crime prevention. Plus, we'll update you with the latest on the assassination of Haitian President Jovenal Moise. Plus, Breonna Taylor's lawyers filed a lawsuit claiming the Louisville Metro Police Department may have given misinformation about the existence of body camera footage.

In Virginia, another Confederate statue has been removed. Plus, today's crazy-ass white person is from New Jersey. Update on that story, our Fit Live Win segment looks at the pros and cons of vegan meat. Plus, author Richard Alba joins us to talk about his book, The Great Demographic Illusion. It is time to bring the funk on Roller Martin Unfiltered. Let's go.

He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks.

He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's rolling, Martin. Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's rolling, he's fresh, he's real, the best, you know he's rolling, Martel Martel Folks, Texas Democrats, as we speak, are leaving the state to keep the Republicans from having a quorum

and passing voter suppression bills and Others we're gonna break down what all this means but joining us right now is representative Carl Sherman Parliamentary for the legislative black caucus representative Sherman. How you doing? Doing great Roland Martin. How are you doing? Great? You're actually going down the runway. So explain to folks. Why are y'all leaving the state? Well this session it's been poisoned from the beginning. When you've got a governor who threatens to defund the legislative branch by vetoing Article 10 as an appropriator, I know that that's clearly an abuse of power, an act of abusing his power and defunding a legislative branch that is not under his governance. But that's not stopped him. And this, what's necessary, simply put, Roland, we are calling on the president of the

United States to be the Lincoln of our times. And that particular point there, and people don't understand, by Democrats leaving, this happened more than a decade ago to keep them from moving forward on bills. You walked out last time, but if you didn't flee the state, they could lock the chambers and keep y'all inside. That's exactly right. And, you know, we're in this fight, and we're fighting on behalf of those who fought for the Voters Rights Act in 1965. That's why we're fighting now. We're fighting on behalf of those who fought to expand the voting age to 18 years old. We want more people to be able to participate in our democracy. I don't know why they are afraid of opening up elections for fair elections for every Texan to be able to vote.

So we need President Biden to be the Lincoln of our times and come through for us in the passage of the John Lewis Act. I know we might lose you in a second, but it looks like you're actually going down the runway to take off. We are. And there are three weeks. The session is 30 days. There are three weeks left. And so if, let's say, it expires, the governor could call another session. But y'all are going to be gone for three weeks. Are you all coming to D.C.? We are committed. We've got a majority of our representatives that are here. And we are committed to this fight until every Texan is respected, their voices are heard. It doesn't matter whether you're white, black, brown, or yellow. Everyone should have the right to vote in our democracy.

This is about expanding the democracy. And, Roland, you know, every good deed does not go unpunished. We had Looks like we lost Looks like we're losing your signal there, Representative. I'm in the air rolling and Yes, you're in the air.

Be safe. I'll talk to y'all when y'all land here in D.C. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Again, folks, so again, so let me walk you through again. You might remember in the regular session, what happened was in the regular session, the Democrats walked out of the chambers keeping the Republicans from being able to pass laws. They need to have a quorum to actually do so. Texas Governor Greg Abbott decided to call a special legislative session

not only to deal with these voter bills, but also to deal with a lot of other bills that Democrats absolutely oppose. Well, by not having a quorum, they can't move on any of this. And so, over the weekend, Republicans pushed forward two bills prohibiting 24-hour polling places, drop boxes, and drive-through voting in the special legislative session. That is specifically to target Harris County, where the largest group of black voters are in the state. Now, although Texas House Democrats are hoping to persuade the GOP to ease on some of these voting laws they're trying to enact, they say another revolt could be their only option.

That's why they're leading. Now, Governor Greg Abbott went on Fox News on Sunday where he defended the prohibition of 24-hour polling places, drop boxes, and drive-through voting. Listen to this nonsense. So, you say you want to make it easier to vote. That's going to make it harder to vote.

And the question is, why make it harder for some Texans to vote unless the point is to suppress voting by people of color? So you mentioned a couple of things that need to be responded to. One, you mentioned how Harris County did this, and it was Harris County alone. And for your viewers, Harris County is where Houston, Texas is located. Let's go back to Article 1, Section 4 of the United States Constitution, where it says in there that it is the states, not counties, that have the authority to regulate elections. And despite that constitutional mandate, this past election,

Harris County, a county, tried to create its own election system that had never been used in the state of Texas. It was not used in other parts of the state of Texas. But, Governor, why not let it go on? system that had never been used in the state of Texas. It was not used in other parts of the state of Texas. And so what the state of Texas is doing... But Governor, why not let it go on? Governor, I guess the question is, if 24-hour voting worked, why not continue it? Well, first, I'm going to answer your question specifically, but you need to go back to elections before now, because the same allegations were made when Texas passed

a voter ID law and everyone said the exact same thing. This is going to disenfranchise people of color. It will reduce voting. And the fact of the matter is, after we passed voter ID, we increasingly saw every election cycle, more people go vote. It did not make it harder to go vote. It was easier to go vote. And the same thing applies here. And that is with 24 hour voting. One thing that we want to make sure that we have is integrity in the ballot box vote. And the same thing applies here, and that is with 24-hour voting, one thing that we want to make sure that we have is integrity in the ballot box system, and we need to have poll watchers and monitors. And candidly, it's hard even for a county to get people to be watching

the polls 24 hours a day. We are providing more hours per day for voting to make sure that anybody of any type of background, any type of working situation is going to have the opportunity to go vote. With regard to the drive-through voting, listen, this violates the fundamentals of the way that voting integrity has always been achieved, and that is the sanctity of the ballot box. If you do drive-through voting, you're going to have people in the car with you, and it could be somebody from your employer or somebody else who may have some coercive effect on the way that you would cast your ballot, which is contrary to you going into the ballot box alone and no one there watching over your shoulder so that the way you vote, only you will know what the vote will be and to allow other people to pile into a car with you. It will alter that. In addition to it would violate state law because in state law, we have prohibitions on electioneering close to the where people cast their vote. If you do and drive through voting, there's going to be electioneering.

It could be on the bumper sticker in the car right in front of you. We do still, however, Chris, provide what was called curbside voting for those who qualify for curbside voting. That continues to be in place. Bottom line, Chris, is Harris County under the Constitution is not allowed to come up with their own rules. What Texas is doing, we're by adding of voting that Texas provides, it is far more hours of voting than exists in the state where our current president voted in, where they have exactly zero hours of early voting.

It's far easier to vote in the state of Texas than it is in Delaware, and yet nobody is claiming that there's some type of voter suppression taking place in Delaware. That was a lot of bullshit. First of all, you would think that a governor who is confined to a wheelchair would not be tripping on, oh, the secretary of the ballot box,

meaning you have to physically go in. All that nonsense, oh, you could be coerced in your car if your employer's in the car with you, get the hell out of here. That's just nonsense, oh, you could be coerced in your car if your employer's in the car with you, get the hell out of here. That's just nonsense, y'all. Hundreds of Texans were eager to voice their opinions in regards to these new voting laws. The Texas House gave voters a chance

to provide a public testimony at the state capitol starting at 1.40 a.m. on Sunday, but several people showed up as early as 7.30 Saturday morning. Nearly 300 people waited 17 hours to participate in the hearing. While Abbott and other GOP leaders argue the new laws do not suppress the vote, Texas representative Rafael Anchia appeared on Ali Velshi at MSNBC for details of conversations between House Democrats and Republicans. Watch this.

Over and over again, we've asked Republicans, including the governor, to go ahead and give us examples. They've never been able to provide any. The reality is that our Republican Secretary of State called this election safe, secure, and successful. No examples of voter fraud. Now, they're trying to prosecute a guy, poor guy in Houston who waited in line forever. Turns out he's an American citizen, was eligible to vote, but for the fact that he was still on some sort of parole. So they're coming hard at him. But other than that one single case, which really is a technicality and a mistake, not the intention of committing any type of irregularity. There is no example of what's going on. Look, my brave colleagues in the House have been sitting there overnight in a committee

hearing that just ended moments ago. For 24 hours, they sat and listened to overwhelming testimony by Texans that say, don't take away my freedom to vote. He's talking about Herbis Rogers, a Black man facing decades in prison for illegally casting a vote. Rogers, who believed he was eligible to vote, cast ballots during the November 2018 and March 2020 primaries. Rogers says he was confused about his voter eligibility.

Many argue the new voting bills will continue to add to the confusion of voter eligibility and continue to disproportionately affect black communities. Folks, what we're seeing is a huge mess, but we also are seeing why the For the People Act needs to be passed in the House, the John Lewis Act. And so what Texas House Democrats are doing by coming to D.C.

is to put pressure on the very people who are here in D.C. to get these Democrats, especially Senate Democrats like Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia to have some guts and end the filibuster. My panel, Dr. Julianne Malveaux, she's the Dean, College of Ethnic Studies at California State University of Los Angeles. Terraine Walker, founder of Context Media.

Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeaver, political analyst. Avis, I want to start with you. There's going to be lots of things happening this week. There's a big event taking place on Thursday. Melanie Campbell, Black Women's Roundtable, and National Congress of Negro Women, and so many others are participating in. And so we're going to be at that event. They're going to be actually having an event tomorrow.

We're going to be live streaming that tomorrow night at 8 p.m. President Joe Biden is going to be in Philadelphia tomorrow speaking at 2.50 p.m. Eastern about voting rights. We're going to be carrying that speech as well. And so what you're seeing with these Texas Democrats, they're actually showing Democrats in D.C. how to have some guts. They are literally leaving the state for three weeks. They're leaving their families, everyone, for three weeks because if they had stayed in Texas, they could have

actually, the Speaker of the House could have actually locked the doors or had the Texas Rangers arrest members to bring them to the state capitol. In 2003, they fled the state, went to Oklahoma and other places. When they tried to keep a gerrymandering bill, they were actually changing the districts. And it was actually a black state rep, Ron Wilson, who broke ranks, got with the Republicans, because he was hoping he was going to, they were carving out a new congressional district in Houston,

and Ron thought he was going to get it. Guess what? Ron got his ass whooped in that race and got his ass whooped again when a former teacher ran against him and just drove him into the ground. He got lots of payback from black voters for siding with Republicans

who screwed Democrats in the state. And so this is a strong move for all 58 to leave Texas to fly to D.C. It sure is. I mean, they are showing what it looks like to have a spine, to have fight in them. They clearly understand the gravity of this situation, which I have to tell you, I've been very disappointed with the Democratic Party, rich, large in terms of their laissez-faire attitude with regards to this issue. You know, I don't understand why it's not logical to them to get the fact that if we don't fight like hell right now around these issues, those things that they want, it's not going to happen because they will likely lose Congress in terms of the midterms, and it will be that much harder to get a second Democratic presidency, whether President Biden runs again or whether

there's another presidential candidate, perhaps a vice president, moving up to the presidential stake. So, you know, the issue is not just around issue of voting rights as important as that is, and particularly as it is specifically targeting our community. Because, you know, I'm kind of used to people not giving a damn about what happens to Black folk. But if you are talking about the implications of not having our voting power, which is an absolutely necessary, it's an absolutely essential part of the Democratic coalition that brings victories. That's why

he's in that White House today. I don't understand why he keeps getting pushed aside to another thing, to another thing, to another thing. Finally, I will say, honestly, I'm a little perturbed with white progressives who I believe have muddied the water with H.R. 1 versus H.R. 4, which I think is a much cleaner bill and specifically focused on our voting rights in a much more targeted way as it relates to trying to repair the damage that the Supreme Court has done to the Voting Rights Act. It's also closer to what even Manchin has said that he would support. And so let's think about this logically. Let's show some backbone. Let's take the inspiration of the Texan Democrats who have shown those in Washington, D.C., how to fight and actually move together in a very proactive way to make sure that our voting rights are protected because they are under attack like none of us have ever seen in our lifetime. There should be and has to be a continuous, constant, and direct assault on the folks standing in the way, Julian.

It has to be relentless. This should be Freedom Summer 2.0. There should be direct... I need to... I'm trying to understand why the NAACP... I'm like, Derek Johnson, where are y'all? NAACP should have direct... They Derek Johnson, where are y'all? NAACP should have direct action. They got 2,000 chapters in the country.

They should have direct action campaigns in every single state in America where they have state chapters. Roland, you're absolutely right. Freedom Summer 2.0. What needs to be happening is that people need to be putting their foot down.

I've got a shout out to Melanie Campbell, Dr. Cole, the NCW team, the black women who have come together, black women and their allies who've come together. And frankly, the NAACP needs to be spanked. We try not to criticize each other in the name of unity, but we really need to see people out there. Joe Manchin needs to be followed from his office to his home and back to his office. Same thing with Christian cinema. The fact is that if indeed Republicans are able to get away with what they're trying to get away with in Texas. Forget infrastructure, you know. Forget education. Frankly, forget COVID assistance. Forget everything because what they're going to be saying is that now in 2022,

we can gerrymander like we want to. We can take people out of offices they've been appointed to. In Georgia, one of our colleagues was removed from the Elections Commission just summarily after the Georgia law was passed. So we can't have this. People need to be outraged. Right on to Reverend Barber, who had a rally on the Hill today. And I know Melanie and the team are going to be meeting on Thursday. They are asking people to tweet today, to do social media today, and to continue to lift this issue up. These people are the height of hypocrisy, these Republicans, when they talk about the Constitution, but they don't know the Constitution. And thank you for showing us that silly little governor, Abbott, silly, devoid of rationale.

He's talking about Delaware. Talk about yourself, dude. You are wrong. You're way wrong. And you're more than wrong. But, you know, years ago, I was with Armstrong Williams on somebody's television show, and he said he didn't care about fair. He cared about winning. And that's what we're seeing here. I don't care whether it's fair or not. I just want to win. Well, we have to be the ones that say, oh, hell no. Look, Doreen, this is an absolute must. Pure and simple. It's a must.

And again, if you got folks in the Senate, we know where the block is. There has to be constant, constant pressure. That's what King and others understood. That's what SNCC understood. That's what the core understood. They all understood that. Listening to Abbott speak, I felt like I was watching Selma all over again because what you're hearing, some of the same pieces that they were using in 1955 to say, well, they couldn't guarantee voting rights.

It's fascinating to me that we're in 2021 and some of these same conversations are being had now. But what I think is important to pay attention to is the fact that there's more on the line than just voting rights in Texas. The fact that these legislators have left the state or are going to D.C., like Dr. Aiden said, it's going to put pressure on the Biden and Harris administration to really live up to what they ran on. If you ran on the idea that everybody's vote counts and that it's so important for everyone to come out and vote because you're going to see results of the fact that you're voting. You have to be able to stand on that when those rights are threatened. And right now we're seeing one of the most dangerous threats we've seen to voting rights for African Americans and Americans in the last maybe 20 years. This has to be an active, we have to have an active fight to push back against this sort of rollback

of voting rights. Our people fought for that. We have to be active active fight to push back against this sort of rollback of voting rights. Our people fought for that. We have to be active about that. And the Biden administration has to be active about the fact that they really believe in these things they say. And they're going to back up the people who voted for them and give them the rights that they deserve. Pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure. That is the only thing that is going to make this happen. So those are the kind of things that we absolutely need to see. And so, you know, Avis, you talked about and we mentioned what's going to be happening on Thursday. We're going to have a live stream again, a live stream here on tomorrow night, 8 p.m. Eastern.

The National Coalition of Black Civic Participation. They're going to be holding that. So what we're going to be doing tomorrow is actually streaming that particular event, sharing it as they begin to mobilize people. This is the event that's going to be taking place on Thursday. They got action all week, folks. It's called

Black Women Leaders and Allies Voting Rights Call to Action, July 12th, Call to Action Social Media Takeover Day. That was today. Tomorrow, the Freedom to Vote Virtual Town Hall. We will stream that at 8 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, National Call-In Day to Congress. We want to blow up the phone lines. We want every single office, we want offices shut down when it comes to the phone lines on Wednesday. And then on Thursday, go back to the graphic, please. A day of action on the Hill.

A day of action on the Hill. As you see, it says enough is enough. It's time for Congress to pass voting rights legislation now. For more information, visit blackwomentakeaction.org. Blackwomentakeaction.org BlackWomenTakeAction.org And you'll see down here All of the organizations That are participating in This action

And I'm looking on here Why did I not see the NAACP That makes no sense to me We got a call to find out But you see the fraternities and sororities You see all the various groups And so this is the schedule of events that's going to be happening this week. Again, tomorrow at 8 p.m. Eastern, we're going to be live streaming the event,

that Freedom to Vote virtual town hall right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Speaking of that, folks, President Joe Biden tomorrow is going to be speaking in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center at 2.50 p.m. Eastern. He'll be speaking there, giving a speech on the issue of voting rights. Now, you have Republicans there in Pennsylvania who are also trying to play games when it comes to the right to vote. I dare say, Avis, that President Biden or even Vice President Harris, they need to be going to Texas. They should be going to Arizona. They should be traveling around the country. I mean, this is to me, this is where they must ratchet this thing to another level.

You got boots on the ground. You got Black Voters Matter. You got Poor People's Campaign. You got all these different groups. This is where the president and the vice president needs to be far more aggressive rallying the nation when it comes to these onerous voter suppression laws being passed by Republicans. I mean, they can definitely do that type of work. I think what I'm seeing here, though, is that what you have here with President Biden,

he's looking to use his bully pulpit. Great to see people doing things on the ground. But I also think Vice President Harris really needs to be on the phone with senators to get this thing. I mean, I think that's really honestly the best use of her time. She used to be in the Senate. She is charged with helping to bring this past the finish line. And I think she needs to work on the inside strategy in terms of putting the pressure on to make sure that there is some movement with regards to what needs to happen in the Democratic Party to make this get over the finish line. And so what needs to happen is some sort of agreement around the whole filibuster. And if it's not a complete sort of eradication of the filibuster, they can certainly change the rules around it to make it not applicable to certain situations. So, for example, we know that Representative Clyburn has suggested that perhaps they

should have a specific rule where the filibuster would, you know, not apply when it comes to issues of constitutional rights. And this clearly is one, right? And so, you know, I would love to see her working the phones, going to the hills, speaking to people, doing that sort of inside game politics that's necessary to get this across the finish line. I think that there are activists that need to be in the streets. And as we are doing the outside strategies, which I believe black women are doing so well with regards to the work that Melanie is organizing and all of those amazing black women's organizations, they're putting in the work. OK, but I think in terms of this outside pressure that's happening, we also need to have that inside strategy and power wielding. And that's what I'm hoping that Vice President Harris spends her time doing.

Yeah, but here's the deal, Julianne. They can make a phone call from anywhere. See, here's part of the reason why I'm saying they've also got to be there as well, because here's what that does. It elevates the issue. It elevates it beyond just a Beto O'Rourke in Texas or local organizers. But what it also does is, and this is the point I keep making,

this is not a black thing as well, young white voters are being impacted. Republicans see what's going on. And also, by having Biden or even Harris go to Texas and go to Arizona, you're also laying the groundwork for 2022, the midterm elections. You're also laying the groundwork for 2024. Those things are also important.

The reality is this here. President Barack Obama only went to Texas to pick up checks. They were not using the power of the president of the Oval Office to also mobilize and organize their own party in the state. Democrats have been found wanting as far as I'm concerned. I mean, I really agree with Avis. It's just, it's a hard time to be a Democrat to watch. Vice President Harris actually got like three emails from her talking about give us $10. Why would I give Democrats $10 when I can give it to Melanie, Black Civic Participation, or to somebody else who's doing something with it.

Democrats have dropped the ball. There should be all kind of pressure, both inside and outside. And as you say, you can make a phone call from anywhere, but there has to be more than just the phone calling, the presence. People have to really start taking it the way we treat them in summer,

taking it to the streets in powerful ways. And I think that, again, as I said, Joe Manchin just needs to be followed. But what I want to see more than anything else, and if there was any integrity among any Republican, Mitt Romney, step up and say something, dude. All of the Republicans are not as crooked as they seem to be in concert. So all it would take, frankly, is for three or four of them to make their case in a way that sways more of them. I don't know that that's going to happen, but it is literally my prayer, because I really do think that if these people believe in this country,

that they would want everybody who's eligible to vote to do so. And if you want everyone who's eligible to vote to do so, then make it possible. How can that silly governor say 24-hour voting is wrong? I mean, how can they try to imprison a black man who mistakenly voted when they have not mistakenly, but deliberately, deliberately taken people's right to vote. To run? You know, there comes a time when there's only so much talking to a bully that you can

do and you're going to have to fight. And I think that the Democratic Party, the establishment Democrats are going to really have to understand that they are in a fight and they're in a fight with an opponent who doesn't care about rule of law. They will change the law to their, however they want. They have to understand that these people are not concerned with fighting fair. They're about winning. And I think there's a lack of backbone in the establishment Democrats about what it's going to take to win. So many, so many people in the Democratic Party are so concerned with building consensus. They don't really think about the fact that the people they're trying to build consensus

to are trying to destroy this democracy. And you have to come to this idea. You have to fight that, period. You can't really try to negotiate with these people. You're going to have to stand on what you believe, and you're going to have to be straight up about this is what we stand for. This is what we're willing to defend. That's where it is at this point. We saw that eight years of of Obama trying to be everybody's friend, and these people do not want to be your friend. They want to take, in their mind, take this country back. And the way to do that is by disenfranchising voters, especially black voters.

The minute that the establishment Democrats realize that and understand that they're in a war and begin to fight like they're in a war, then you start seeing some things moving back inside. Well, and that right there is the point, and that is you have to, if you're in a war, you have to act like you're in a war. That means you must fight, you must fight, you must fight. Those are the things that must go on,

and so we need to see more of that take place. And so we're going to be covering this, folks, throughout the week and throughout this summer. Folks, our next guest is one of 24,000 nonviolent federal prisoners allowed to serve their sentence at home to slow the spread of COVID-19. After a year being out, Gwen Levi didn't answer phone calls from a probation officer one day and she was sent back to prison. She was actually at a computer class and had her phone off because she was in class.

Now, with the help of the Criminal Justice Advocacy Group of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a judge granted her a compassionate release last week. Joining us now on the phone is Gwen Levi. Gwen, how are you doing? Hi. Grateful. Well, certainly glad to have you on the show. When we first heard about this here, we had to push this story as well because it just made no sense whatsoever.

You know, you spent a lot of time in prison on drug charges. You were released and here you were, you know, trying to go to the computer class to better yourself. That's exactly what happened. I sent in the paperwork. It's a five-week class. I attended two classes. It was on the third week, and on the third week, they called me and said that they had been trying to reach me and they weren't able to, and I was determined to be on escape.

That was also weird, seeing that story by saying, well, she could have been out robbing a bank, so therefore we treated her like a bank robber. When you told them, folks, I was sitting in the computer class, there are people who can testify to it,

they just ignored that? Yes, they ignored the emails where I had contacted the case manager about the program, where I had sent in the paperwork for the class. They ignored everything except the fact that they couldn't reach me for four hours. But during that four hours, once I got the message, once I got out of class, I called immediately. The people who conducted the class called them, told them what was going on. And for two or three hours, I couldn't get a response back from them. It had to be really unsettling for you and scary to think that you could be sent back to prison for going to a computer class.

Not just unsettling and scary. It was hurtful. I have a family that I've reconnected to. My mother is 94 years old. She's in good health. Her mind is good. And enjoying her was one of the joys and the privileges of being home on home confinement. And to have that snatched away and...

What... To have that snatched away was a lot. The, um... What do you hope the Bureau of Prisons now will do? Do you hope that they're going to review their policies and procedures? Because this happening to you really just made no sense whatsoever. And thank God for that federal judge. Listen, thank God for my federal judge.

Thank God for my lawyers. And most of all, the communities, the community advocacy organizations that supported me, that rallied around me, they went to the Justice Department, the organizations, I'm sorry, my mind is slipping me so fast, the National Council on, National Council on... National Council for Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, the Maryland Justice Project, FAM, Maryland Cure. I mean, there were organizations that rallied behind me. They were sending out petitions. I was incarcerated.

They put me back in D.C. jail. And these people were out there because they saw what happened. They put me back in D.C. jail. And these people were out there because they saw what happened. And it's not just me. There are 24,000 other people. There are 4,000 people. There are so many people, I guess, that have gotten technicalities. And that's what we want to find out.

Who are all these other people who have gotten technicalities and didn't have the support that I have and just sitting in jail, got sent back? You know, we got screened to come out. People told us that we had rehabilitated ourselves. We had institutionally good records. We weren't a risk to society. So we were being let out. Now you're going to tell me that we have to go back? You know, there's a memo that says that the Bureau of Prisons is obligated to take us back once the pandemic is over. That's what we're fighting for, to ask President Biden to rescind that memo. It serves no purpose. I don't know if anybody would know how it feels to have something hanging over your head. You're doing everything you can to look for the future, and people are constantly something over your head saying, we can take you back to your past. We can take you back to your past. No,

please, no. This is not about me any longer. This is about those other people who are on home confinement who have that hanging over their head. It shouldn't be. The, since you were released from D.C., D.C. jails, have folks reached out to you about putting those computer skills to use for you to be employed? Not really. I've gotten some inquiries about doing some consulting work, and, you know, FAM has offered me to be a spokesperson for them, and of course, I would love to be because... Now, Gwen, are you based in Baltimore

or are you here in D.C.? No, I'm based in Baltimore. Got it. Got it. I'm based in Baltimore. But you know, I've always been between Baltimore and PG County, so I know how to ride the mock train very well. So if there's opportunities in D.C., I will be

able to avail myself of them. Got it. But, yes, it is so, so saddening to see that it's just so easy to snatch people back. You know, it's inhumane. It really is. And we got to— The public don't know. You know, fortunately, I had the support of those organizations. I had the support of my attorneys. And because of them, I was able to get the publicity. Because of them, letters were sent to my judge. Because of them,

letters were sent to my judge. And she reconsidered myself and gave me compassionate release and said, I don't have to be on the home confinement any longer. I don't have to be on the GPS monitor any longer. She had compassion. Wow. So you don't even have, so Gwen, before this, before this, you were on electronic monitoring and home confinement.

Yes. She got rid of all of that? All of that. Wow. She and home confinement. Yes. She got rid of all of that? All of that. Wow. No more. Yes. Time served. Now that is awesome. Time served as of July 6th.

Well, that is awesome. Well, Gwen, we appreciate you joining us. We'll be sure to, so let us know. Okay, so what kind of job are you looking to do? Can I say something? Yeah, go ahead. To everybody who has listened to this, if you have a senator or a congressman, call them, let them know that they can ask President Biden to rescind this memo that says that we have

to get said back. Okay, I'm out. What about the 4,000 that are still there under the CARES Act? Can you imagine the stress that's on those people? Can you imagine the stress that's on? Even with me, I continue to feel the burden of it. Please, call your senator or congressman. Ask them, please. Talk to President Biden. Get him to rescind this memo. Gwen, what type of job are you looking for

in what area? Criminal justice reform. Community service. Yeah, advocacy. Working with my community. Working with people who community service yeah advocacy working with my community working with people who look at our seniors being warehoused in these places

when they come home what do they have where I went to the halfway house come on now we need more than that for them absolutely I intend to work more than that for them. Absolutely. I intend to work towards getting it for them. All right. Gwen Levi, I appreciate it.

76 years old. You said your mom is in great health. She's 94. Certainly give our best to you and your family. I thank you, and I thank you for this opportunity to be able to let the public know exactly what's going on. I appreciate it. All right. Thank you so very much. What you just heard right there, Toron,

is, again, for the people out there, and it kills me these people who act as if elections really don't matter, understanding how a simple memo can determine somebody's fate. That was a memo that was written under the Trump administration where she's saying, President Joe Biden, get rid of it. Mm-hmm.

I think what we have to be aware of is what happens. People get really excited about presidential elections because, you know, the media and there's so much noise around presidential elections and sometimes senatorial races. But people don't understand that voting in local elections for judges, voting for city council people, voting for people who supervise elections, these are the things that affect your daily lives. I think that's something that people have to be aware of. I think that's something that people in the Democratic Party and in politics in general need to be aware of. They can't just show up every two years. You have to be an active citizen and you have to be an active person who works in politics,

who is letting people know what's available and what's at stake every time they go to the ballot box. I think that's where people are falling down sometimes. And on that particular point there, Avis, when we talk about, again, policy, these are the things that people have to realize. Guess what? The Bureau of Prisons, Attorney General Merrick Garland, he is over the Department of Justice. And so he needs to lead. He was a federal judge.

He understands that particular power. And so this is the kind of thing that we're always talking about when we're trying to get people to understand. You can't just sit at home and go, hey, I voted. Everything is good. No, it has to be a constant level of activism and pressure being applied. Absolutely. I mean, the voting process is the starting gun of the race. It is not the finish line. For you to be an active citizen, that is really about proactively ensuring that there are laws and policies and actions that are taken by those in positions of power that will benefit you and your community. You have to get involved and stay involved, which includes elections, which includes voting, but is not exclusive to that. And I completely agree with you, putting pressure on America Garland

to sort of right these wrongs in any way that he can is important. But here's what we also know. This is important. We need to push for that. But we know that there is a lot of cleaning up, for example, that he's doing at the Justice Department, given the mess that was left. And so because things like this can be off his radar screen, that's exactly why we have to be loud, we have to be noisy, we have to be active in making sure that these types of things aren't overlooked. Pressure, pressure, pressure. You hear the phrase, Julianne, pressure busts pipes. Well, it has to happen. And so this is one of those issues she talked about

that, you know, people may think, you know what, fine, hey, you know, you're out. But no, no, the reality is, I mean, thank God this judge got rid of all of those conditions. You know, Roland, I first of all want to express my admiration for Gwen Levi. She's a woman in her 70s. There are lots of people her age who don't want to touch a computer, who, you know, basically don't want to learn anything new. She put herself out want to learn anything new. She put herself out there to learn something. She was in jail for 16 years, and she extended herself to

say, I am willing to get back in a swing of things. That they would arrest her, reincarcerate her is abominable. And praise the Lord for her positive spirit, her grateful spirit in basically dealing with this. And for the judge who, as you say, no more ankle bracelet, no more conditions. 16 years was a very long time for her to be incarcerated. And now she wants to do work around criminal justice reform. And I hope that one of these organizations that is not joining Melanie and the others on the Hill, Halelia AACP, will find a job for her in their organizations so that she can bring her talents to bear. But secondly, you know, look, the power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will. Those who want freedom without agitation want the ocean without its mighty roar.

People have told us what time it is around criminal justice reform. These people want to put too many of us up under the jail, want to be unfair. We can't sit here and say, oh, well, and we certainly can't say voting is not the most you can do. It's the absolute utter least you can do. And if we look at what's happening in Texas, in Arizona, go around the country and we look at what's happening in Texas, in Arizona, go around the country and we look at what's happening, what we must say is that this has to be an activism moment. We all

have to get out there. Not only because of the voting issue, but because of the filibuster, because of the attacks on the academy in terms of critical race theory and ethnic studies. We can't have that. We must fight. In fact, Tarun, you made that point about

elections matter. Well, it's a perfect example. We're seeing all of this drama by the right regarding critical race theory. It's stupid. It's ridiculous. It's nonsensical. It has nothing to do with education. But this is understanding the strategy.

This is what Ashton Pittman put out, because Rich Lowry, big-time conservative with the National Review, this is what he posted. Quote, he wrote a piece called, The point of the anti-CRT fight should be the takeover of the school. This is what he wrote. Taking control of the K-12 schools would be a very big deal, involving the partial recovery of an enormously influential institution. All it requires to make enormous progress is winning school board seats in low-budget, low-turnout elections. Now, this is something that I have talked about for years.

For years. I remember 20 years ago trying to get Black Enterprise to do a story on the relatively low cost of taking over school boards. I said, you could literally put together $50,000 and run a slate of people to win, if it's nine school board seats, to win a majority of five.

Now you control the curriculum. Now you control the hiring. Now you control the contracts. Now you control the bond elections. And this is the thing that the right are doing. This is what they are doing. They are trying to use the attacks on critical race theory to gin up the white base. You see it happening in Loudoun County in Virginia. They're going to these school board meetings where the

superintendents are saying, we don't teach critical race theory, but they're saying, don't matter, don't matter, don't matter. And so, and these are races where a few of us vote. There are people elected to school boards who got 300, 400, 500 votes. And so understand this here. There was a time in Texas where Republicans, Democrats controlled every statewide office, every single one. What did Republicans use to begin to chip away at the Democrats' stranglehold. And now in Texas, Republicans control every statewide seat. They ran for the Texas Board of Education. And so people that better understand,

don't just get all emotional and caught up in the drama, okay? In the drama, you better understand the strategy behind it. And this whole critical race theory attack is all about them saying, we can take over school districts. Yes.

Absolutely. And I think people need to understand that, as you said, it's deeper than just critical race theory itself. It's about taking to understand that, as you said, it's deeper than just critical race theory itself. It's about taking over school boards, as you said, taking over neighborhoods, making bylaws in neighborhoods, deciding who can move in and who can move out, who can stay, what financial background, what up to the point of what ethnic background your neighborhood looks like. It's extremely dangerous. And something that's happening right now, I'm based in Atlanta, and this is a perfect example of what you're talking about. Atlanta has this idea that we're the city too busy to hate, that we're this black Mecca. But people outside of Atlanta who don't really understand the culture of Atlanta

are moving back into Atlanta because they see how lucrative it is to live here and all the economic opportunities here. And what they're doing is they're trying to section off, they're trying to succeed little small pieces of Atlanta brick by brick until Atlanta becomes like this black enclave with very little economic base when all the power bases in the airport, in Buckhead, and other places that are in the suburbs section themselves off in these individual cities and you have a base here. That's what's happening. And they're doing that through small local elections, school boards, you know, libraries, you know, the city council, things like that.

That's how dangerous this is. The idea of using critical race theory is basically a boogeyman that they use to scare middle class whites to say that if you don't get out here and fight this, then they're going to teach you to hate yourself or they're going to teach their kids to hate you. That's what they're using. It's all propaganda. But it's very effective propaganda if you don't know any better. And I think it's important for people who are involved in politics to make the connection between critical race theory, small local elections that nobody wants to show up to vote in, and the price their children are going to have to pay a little bit later

if they don't make these connections. Look, Abus, folks better understand what's going on. They better understand how significant this is. They better understand that a majority of the kids in public schools in America are black

and brown. These angry white folk are not trying to truly represent those folks. They want to control the mind and the money. Absolutely. I mean, that's what it's always been about. In this country, education is more about indoctrination rather than about the clear and truthful telling, particularly of history. So it's not surprising. And it's very interesting to see.

I'm glad you found that article, because it's clear that that's what's going on. There is no substance to their arguments against critical race theory. And critical race theory is actually the theory, was the theoretical underpinning of my dissertation when I received my PhD at the University of Maryland College Park.

And I will say that at that time, so it was something that I wasn't introduced to, really, until I was at the tail end Maryland, College Park. And I will say that at that time, so it was something that I wasn't introduced to really until I was at the tail end of my graduate career as a PhD student. They don't teach critical race theory at elementary and secondary levels. So the whole thing is a ruse, okay? And so there had to be a bigger agenda and this makes sense.

The bigger agenda is to take their power grab over beyond these other spaces where they're working in terms of voting rights and just sort of layer it on into the educational realm where they can continue their indoctrination, where they can continue their propagandizing, where they can continue their brainwashing. This is really what they are looking to do. You know, America is not going to, if they are successful in all of the different areas in which they are trying to assert power and completely overwhelm the system with their power, if they are successful, the progress that we've made thus far is going to be completely wiped out.

Not to say that there's not a whole lot more to do, but America of like 20 years from now is going to be so far regressed. It will be an American apartheid state. And what's happening right now is you see people, as we've mentioned and discussed many times on this show, that are scared blank lists, okay, that this is becoming a majority people of color nation. And they're doing everything that they can to be able to rule with a white minority power structure. They have done that in terms of taking over the courts. They are trying to do that right now in terms of completely bastardizing access to the ballot. And they are trying to do that right now in terms of education, indoctrination,

propagandizing by trying to take over the educational systems across this nation by using something that they don't even know what is. And the people that are they've gotten all riled up about it don't even know what is because they've never been they've never had access to it because most of them don't even have that high level of education, period. So, you know, the, the challenge here is that this is just another example of their power grab. And as we discussed earlier in tonight's show, we have to continue,

continue with the spirit of fighting back. Julianne, last point here. Again, those who fund races, those who vote control the power. And what we have to recognize is what's going on here. And here's the deal. We can run for the same seats. We can go out and beat the ground, beat the bushes for the same votes. Folks got to be willing to do it. Absolutely, Roland. I think your point that you made years ago, and of course I made years ago about school boards,

is such an important point, because this is how you're controlling, as you say, the mind. People make decisions about what books are going to be purchased, money. Make decisions about who's going to be hired, money. But those decisions come from a minority, a small minority of people. A lot of people don't even go that far down the ballot. You know, we're all pleased that we got Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff in the Senate, pleased that we have President Biden and Vice President Harris in the White House. But that is simply not enough.

Zoning decisions are being made. Other decisions are being made. And why, as Ava said, if we're not teaching critical race theory K-12, have more than 40 legislatures had conversations about critical race theory attempting to outlaw it? What are you trying to outlaw? It makes no sense whatsoever, but what it is, it's not only a power grab. I mean, this is the inevitable outcome of a tension that began at the end of enslavement.

This country has had the opportunity a dozen times or more to do it right. Had they done it right at the end of enslavement, we wouldn't have this mess. Right? Within Reconstruction, we wouldn't have this mess. We can go 1964. We wouldn't have this mess. Right? Within Reconstruction, we wouldn't have this mess. We can go 1964. We would not have this mess.

But we have this mess because white America has been in denial. White progressives, as Dr. King said, why we can't wait, in his letter from the Birmingham jail, when he talked to white progressives, y'all just as bad as the racists sometimes. Because y'all basically are like, oh, well,

it's going to be okay. No, it's not going to be okay. We see that now. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We come back on Roland Martin Unfiltered. New lawsuit filed by the lawyers for Breonna Taylor also. Remember that white man who cussed his brother out and everybody showed up

at his house? Hit with some additional charges. Also, say bye-bye to Confederate monuments in Charlottesville. Y'all, you ought to see the video of Robert E. Lee retreating again. Plus, we'll talk about demographic changes. We keep saying by 2043, America will be a nation majority of people of color. But is that really the case? The author of a new book talks about the illusion of these demographic changes.

You don't want to miss that. Plus, what about vegan meat? Well, trainer Jim Jones said it's awful and is worse than real meat. We'll have to talk to him in our Fit Live Win segment. All of that in the second hour of Roller Mark Unfiltered. If you're watching on YouTube, hit that like button. Same thing on Facebook as well. Bump those numbers up so we can get on an algorithm. More people can actually see our video. And don't forget, if you want to support what we do here, please join our Bring the Funk fan club and do this here. I got to say this right now, folks. There are some people out there

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or roland at rolandmartinunfiltered.com. All right, folks, I certainly appreciate it. Got to go to a break. We'll be back. Roland Martin Unfiltered in a moment. I believe that people our age have lost the ability to focus the discipline on the art of organizing.

The challenges, there's so many of them and they're complex and we need to be moving to address them. But I'm able to say, watch out Tiffany. I know this road. That is so freaking dope.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Racial injustice is a scourge on this nation, and the black community has felt it for generations. We have an obligation to do something about it. Whether it's canceling student debt, increasing the minimum wage, or investing in Black-owned businesses, the Black community deserves so much better.

I'm Nina Turner, and I'm running for Congress to do something about it. George Floyd's death hopefully put another nail in the coffin of racism. You talk about awakening America, it led to a historic summer of protest. I hope our younger generation don't ever forget that nonviolence is soul force. Christ. The younger generation don't ever forget that nonviolence is soul force. Right.

Y'all know who Roland Martin is. He got the ascot on. He do the news. It's fancy news. Keep it rolling. Right here. Rolling. Roland Martin.

Right now. You are watching Roland Martin, unfiltered. I mean, could it be any other way? Really. It's Roland Martin. All right, folks. Tomorrow in Los Angeles, a sexual predator goes on trial. The federal trial for Ed Buck begins in a L.A. courtroom. He's accused of luring and giving fatal doses of narcotics

to two black men who died in his West Hollywood apartment in 2017, 2019. We were one, of course, one of the first national outlets to give voice to activist Jasmine Koenig about this case. The 66-year-old Democratic donor is charged with nine felony counts plus state charges of running a drug den. If convicted, he'll get a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole. Folks, it's a huge story.

And again, this was Ed Buck targeting black gay men in L.A. A lot of folks ignored the case of Jamel Moore, the first brother who was found dead. And then, of course, it was the second brother who was found dead. They led to Ed Buck being charged. So Jasmine Koenig, hopefully we'll have her on the show this week as the case gets underway. Folks, in Haiti, U.S. officials are on the ground to assist in the investigation into the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise. National Security Council and the Department of Homeland Security, Justice and State have met with the acting Prime Minister,

Claude Joseph, at the government of Port-au-Prince's request. Last week, Haitian police arrested two Haitian Americans who were allegedly involved in the assassination. Over the weekend, National Police Chief Leon Charles identified another American suspect. Authorities say Howard the mercenary is to remove Moise in a plot to become president. That particular person is a doctor there in Haiti.

And so, man, just unbelievable craziness coming out of Haiti. Folks, the family of Breonna Taylor filed a lawsuit claiming the Louisville Metro Police Department may have given misinformation about the existence of body camera footage. The lawsuit says police are withholding public records that could show whether additional body cam footage could provide more details about the night police killed Taylor. Louisville Metro Police have said body camera footage of the shooting does not exist since the officers involved were either not wearing or had them turned off. Taylor's family is requesting a judge order the Louisville Metro Police Department

to release body camera information under Kentucky's Open Records Act. Okay, that makes no sense whatsoever. But it's no shock that you would see folks typically withhold information. Okay, folks, this weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, ooh, some white

supremacists went riding off after getting snatched off their damn pedestals. Alright, folks, as Cruz took down Confederate monuments of four generals, Robert E. Lee and Thomas Stonewall Jackson over the weekend, the city council voted unanimously to remove a statue of the explorers Lewis and Clark and their guide, Sacagawea.

My bad if I messed that up. The council initially expressed a desire to have that statue removed after talks with Native American delegates in 2019. Dozens gathered and cheered as the crew removed the bronze statues of Lee and Jackson from their platforms in downtown Charlottesville. City officials have not yet announced what they plan to do with the Confederate monuments. Get rid of them. There was a video that circulated that was utterly hilarious that a neighbor shot.

Let me know if y'all have that video of, they said, here's Robert E. Lee retreating again. To run, it was a great shot. And look, for all the people out there who keep saying, oh my goodness, this is just so sad, damn that.

Get rid of every single monument to these white supremacists. They all gotta go. You know what? We are the only country that builds monuments to losers. These people lost the war. They lost the peace, even though they kind of got a little bit of it back

after Reconstruction, after Lincoln was assassinated. But if you want to talk about history, I think there's a place for all history in America. There's a place to talk about the Confederacy. There's a place to talk all history in America. There's a place to talk about the Confederacy. There's a place to talk about the Civil War. There's a place to talk about the aftermath of that. But it belongs in history books and it belongs in museums.

It doesn't need to be celebrated. Why would you build a monument to white supremacy? Why would you build a monument to the legacy of slavery and the aftermath of that, which was the Ku Klux Klan? It makes no sense. The people who are crying about this, what exactly are you crying about? And what's funny about that is, do they realize that what they're doing is their own version of critical race theory?

Because they're trying to create this idea that this lost cause that was noble out of going with the wind without really talking about the brutality and horrific things that slaves had to deal with in the middle of all this. Funny, isn't it? And then I saw this video right here, Julian. I couldn't help but think of that ideal song,

Get the Hell On, Get Gone. Y'all roll the video, please. Bye. You know, Roland, you can't help but laugh. You can't help but say full circle. Our previous guest, and I don't want to mispronounce your name, my brother,

so I'll just say previous. Toron. Okay, I apologize. Toron, your point about why build the statues to losers is because they don't believe they lost or they're trying to convince themselves that they didn't lose. But we have to look at the timing of when these statues went up.

They did not go up at the end of the Civil War. They went up when Black people were making progress. When you look at the statues that came the beginning of the 20th century, as Congressman George White, the last black congressman until the 1940s, said, we have this many acres. We have this many teachers. We have this many historically black colleges. We made progress. We made progress and they could not stand it. And so those statues, those Confederate flags, they were a reaffirmation of their misguided notion of white supremacy.

They didn't put the Confederate stars and bars on those southern flags at the end of enslavement. They put them on there in the 1950s when they were integrating schools. So, you know, they might want to talk about venerating their ancestors. No, they're venerating their hatred, their ignorance, and they're misguided. I'll say misguided again. I don't use the term white supremacy. It's misguided notion of white supremacy. They think they all that. They're not. And right then I said they not. They are not. Because this is an Ebonics moment. I mean, they're not all that. They're not. And right then, I said, they're not. They are not. Because this is an Ebonics moment. I mean, they're not all that. And these

statues rolling down the street, I just wish I was there. I stood up and clapped and put a fist in the air. Because, you know, it's how sweet it is. That's all I have to say. How sweet it is. Avis, all that for me was taking the trash out. It was.

And by the way, that's Sacagawea. I remember learning about her in school. I will say that, you know, it's been a long time coming. And I completely agree that we're the only nation on Earth that not only memorializes losers, memorializes traitors, right? And so it is wonderful to see in various capacities different types of individuals who have very infamous histories, to see them finally be taken away as some little idealized moment,

and instead have the true history behind them and all of the atrocities and pain and hurt and suffering and death that came as a result of their actions become exposed. So goodbye, good riddance. And don't forget, folks, that there's one party that supports keeping these statues up. That's Republican Party. They still have Confederate Day in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi.

And so the Republican Party, they love talking about the Democrats were against slavery, Democrats were against Reconstruction, Democrats started the KKK. Who today is the one carrying the banner of the Confederates? The Republican Party. Remember, it was Donald Trump who actually was against removing those Confederate symbols at U.S. military bases,

and he wanted to keep those bases named after Confederate generals, just in case y'all at home were a little confused by all of that. Yeah, I thought so. All right, folks. Update on this story out of New Jersey. Remember the white boy who was all in the face of the brother and was trashing him and was acting a fool and then gave his address on camera and said,

Come to my house. Huh. Well, guess what? He got some additional charges he was hit with. Edward Cagney Matthews is facing several charges, including two counts of criminal mischief, one count of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and one count of stalking.

Yeah, initially charged with harassment and biased intimidation, Matthews was caught on video taunting his black neighbor, calling him the N-word and asking others to come and see him. Well, guess what, y'all? When the folk went to his house, they came to see his ass. And when the cops got there, they found a slingshot and multiple ball bearings during the search of his home. They believe Matthews used it to damage his neighbor's vehicles.

Matthews remains in Burlington County Jail. See? When you jump your ass out there and talk all that trash, Avis, it's gonna come back on ya. I ain't got no... Look, he was... I mean, he was like... Come! Hear my address!

Come to see me. Oh, the neighborhood showed up for his ass. And then when he got, y'all got to roll a video right here. This is him being escorted out, popped in the head with a Black Lives Matter flag. They threw all kind of stuff at him. He had to run that gauntlet. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

They let him know. Uh, he needs to be the poster child for it. Don't let your mouth write a check that your ass can't cash, because that's exactly what happened to him. He was all big and bad when it was just him and the one brother that he was trying to jump up on. Talk about some come-see-me.

Well, I guess people came and saw him and he had to get his little tail escorted out of there. So, you know, justice. I'll be happy about that. That kind of brings light into my day to see him walk in that gauntlet like that. So, Ron, I keep warning people. I keep trying to tell these crazy-ass white people,

that's why we got this segment, Crazy-Ass White People, y'all gonna run up on the wrong bra. I keep warning people. I keep trying to tell these crazy ass white people, that's why we got this segment, Crazy Ass White People, y'all gonna run up on the wrong bruh, that cop in South Carolina, who was talking trash to that witness, and he got knocked the hell out, knocked unconscious. Don't say Uncle Roro didn't warn him.

Oh, no. You know, it kind of reminds me of that skit on Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly. It's like, I thought you was gangster. You know what I mean? If you're going to run your mouth, and if you're going to tell people, if you're going to pull up on somebody who's a neighbor of yours who's not bothering you, and you're going to come at them

with racist slurs, and not only come at him, somebody who's not bothering you, and you're going to come at them with racist slurs, and not only come at him, somebody who's not bothering you, and you're going to put your address out, and then it gets to social media? He must not know how social media works. There's people who sit on social media all day looking for fights. You know what I mean? So the fight came to him, and he wasn't ready for that. So at the end of the day, you know,

if you're not willing to back up the stuff you talk, that's just street logic. If you're not willing to rock with the things you say, keep your mouth shut. I mean, if you white, why come you didn't run out of this house and fight? You said you gave everybody the address, why you wasn't ready for the smoke?

It's funny to me. Hey, Julián, like my man Sethi Lataina said, black people say, I wish a... I wish they would! Well... And guess what? Now he's sitting in jail, I bet he in solitary confinement Because a whole bunch of brothers probably saying What your ass got to say now

We came to see you We came, we saw, we conquered dude And we'll come back again This is, I mean I've just been laughing This whole thing is hilarious But it's the kind of hilarious it needs to teach Racist, ignorant, white folks a lesson. Keep your mouth shut.

Let me repeat myself. Keep your mouth shut. You may have fought the N-word, but you don't have to say it. And if you say it and you put your address out there, move. Only thing you can do now is move. I'm with Avery. I mean, it cracked me up. I mean, I will play this over and over again just as a spin wheel

whenever I'm in a bad mood. Just play this and say, uh-huh, uh-huh. Hey, what? They need to be glad that the Black Panthers were nowhere nearby. Would they be glad to stop back in the day, in the 70s, when not only the brothers but the sisters would have been out there trying his behind up. What the A.

What did mom and daddy say growing up? Don't write no checks, your ass can't cash. No. He bankrupt. He bankrupt. All right, y'all. Got to go to a break. Don't forget to support us every way possible.

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PayPal.me forward slash RMartin unfiltered, and then Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com and Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com forward slash RM unfiltered. PayPal.me forward slash RMartin unfiltered. And then Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com and Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. When we come back, Roland's Book Club, we're going to talk about the great demographic illusion. America's supposed to be the majority of people of color by 2043. Does that mean people of color are going to be

in charge? Or does it mean that one group, white Hispanics, might be more white than brown? We'll break it down with the author next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. White supremacists ain't just about

hurting black folk. Right. We gotta deal with it. It's injustice. It's wrong. I do feel like in this generation, we've got to do more around being intentional and resolving conflict. You and I have always agreed. Yeah. But we agree on the big piece.

Yeah. Our conflict is not about destruction. Conflict's gonna happen. Hello, I'm Nina Turner. My grandmother used to say, all you need in life are three bones. The wishbone to keep you dreaming, the jawbone to help you speak truth to power,

and the backbone to keep you standing through it all. I'm running for Congress because you deserve a leader who will stand up fearlessly on your behalf. Together, we will deliver Medicare for all. Good jobs that pay a living wage and bold justice reform. I'm Nina Turner, and I approve this message.

Before Till's murder, we saw struggle for civil rights as something grown-ups did. I feel that the generations before us have offered a lot of instruction. Organizing is really one of the only things that gives me the sanity and makes me feel purposeful. When Emmett Till was murdered, that's what attracted our attention.

Everybody, this is your man Fred Hammond. Hi, my name is Bresha Webb, I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go.

I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go.

I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. By 2043, it is projected that America will be a nation majority of people of color, that minorities, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans will make up 53% of the United States. White Americans will make up 53% of the United States. White Americans will make up 47%.

Now, we talk about that. We talk about that within the context of white fear, what's driving a lot of these white Americans, who's going to have power. My next guest says, hmm, not so fast. Richard Alba has a book called

The Great Demographic Illusion, Majority, Minority, and the Expanding American Mainstream. Richard, glad to have you here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Well, I'm glad to be here. Thank you very much for having me. Well, I appreciate it. The thesis is that people need to understand that the assimilation, the mixing of folks, the increase in interracial marriages, all of this is going to throw off this that the majority minority idea is really a kind of a binary conception imposed on the American population. You're either white or you're a person of color. Well, increasingly, there are large numbers of young people who are in between because they are the products of a white parent, a family with a white parent and a family with a non-white parent. And we know that these young people have very fluid identities, meaning sometimes they think of themselves as

mixed, sometimes they think of themselves as minority, sometimes they think of themselves as white. And so, therefore, these predictions are very hard to see as credible. One of the things that I have also said that we have to understand is, and I remember this came about, I guess it was like 2012, white Hispanics. I remember being on a call in CNN that was one of the executives of this big debate, and one executive said, there's no such thing as white Hispanics and I start laughing and then that was someone on the call who said you're wrong I'm white Hispanic and this white executive was absolutely shocked and the reason I was laughing I'm born and raised in Texas I grew up with white Hispanics. So part of this thing as well is there are people who identify as Hispanic or Latino, but they come to America, they identify as white as opposed to brown. Well, that's absolutely true.

And, I mean, we see this very clearly in the census data that more than half of Latinos on the race question identify themselves as white. Now, there are a number of different reasons why that might happen, but certainly the mixing of Hispanics with Anglo-whites is an important part of that. So today, one out of every five children with a Hispanic parent has a non-Hispanic white parent. And that mixing has, in the Hispanic case, has been going on for decades. And what that means as well is that, and this is the thing that we've always talked about, and this is why you've also had the tension that exists, especially for a lot of African Americans. African Americans fighting for equity, fighting for rights, fighting to use our numbers when it comes to power, who's the police chief,

who's the fire chief, who's the school superintendent, you know, spoils to the victors. And then you have Latinos slash Hispanics who come in like, oh, now we're the dominant number. And black people are like, hey, what the hell is going on? And then you have this battle going on where you have people who are Latino who get to, frankly, have best of both worlds. Oh, you get to identify as white but still say minority. And this tension is real. This tension

is, and also we talk about this here, because you heard me say Latino slash Hispanic. Part of the problem there is, depending upon who you talk to, you've got your white Cubans, but you've got your Afro Cubans. Both Cuban, but again, they think differently. Afro Cubans tend but you've got your Afro Cubans, both Cuban. But again, they think differently.

Afro Cubans tend to align themselves more with Dominicans. So when you go to New York, you have Dominican Afro Cubans aligning with African-Americans. You don't see these white Cubans aligning with African-Americans in Miami-Dade. Well, I think one of the most false ideas connected with the majority-minority thesis is that people of color are going to be a solidary political group who will really radically change the politics of the United States. These are very different groups, and they're all immensely diverse inside. I mean, Hispanics especially. So many different countries involved. A really great spectrum of racial appearance and pretty high rates of marriage and mixing with whites.

And on that particular point there, and again, being from Texas, I've really understood this. I've said to national media for the longest, you have to look at the nation differently. You have to look at the last election in 2020, significant number of Venezuelans and Cubans who voted for Republicans and Donald Trump. But then when you go to New York, it's a whole different Hispanic slash Latino vote. Then when you go to Texas, which would be different than what you see from Arizona. And Arizona, different from what you see from California. And then when you throw in the power of the Roman Catholic Church in that mix as well, it's a whole different dynamic.

And then, of course, when you look at these numbers with Hispanic slash Latinos, how their view is even when it comes to immigration, folks will say, well, man, you can't be a Hispanic Latino, and you're riding with Republicans with immigration, and then you look at the numbers. And so all of this is, again, it completely throws off what has been the tradition in America, where everything has been very linear, and that is black-white. Correct. Binary. That's the problem.

Thinking in terms of a binary. We shouldn't only pick on Latinos because it's also true that Asians have very high rates of... Oh, I was going there next. Go ahead. Okay. No, no, no. I think this is an important phenomenon and it's only growing in the young people coming from these mixed families.

Every year, when I look at birth certificate data, the number of them is greater than it was in the prior year. So this is really an increasing pattern in American life, and it's going to have big implications for how we think about race and ethnicity by the time we're in the middle of the 20th century. Well, one of the things that Black folks, though, are saying to Asian Americans and to Latinos and Hispanics is, I mean, Black people are sitting here saying, y'all gonna get y'all wake up moment. Just let us know when it happens. And we saw that in the last year, the dramatic increase in attacks against Asians, okay, which led, of course, to the bill being passed by Congress. Same thing we've seen when it comes to Latinos, the whole battle over immigration and the language being used. Black folks are sitting here saying, we tried to tell you.

Look, we can't assimilate, okay? Now, very few of us can. There are black people who can pass for white. Look, my Aunt Rita, who's now deceased, she passed for white. In fact, her daughter did not even tell my grandmother until a month after she died that she had passed away because she didn't want us coming to the funeral. Trust me, I still might show up at her daughter's house one day with my cameras saying, hey, cousin, how you doing? But the point there is we can't assimilate.

And so what's happening here for African-Americans, Richard, we're sitting here watching these things play out going, y'all need to understand, you can try to be as white as you want to, but you are going to realize that you still are not white. Okay. So let me, let me suggest a different way of thinking about this. I fully take your point, but it may be that you don't really have to become fully white in order to be able to kind of participate in the mainstream society, to assimilate in that sense. And I think what we see with many of these mixed young people

is that they do identify with their minority origins, but that doesn't hurt them as much as it perhaps hurts for, you know, African-Americans who look very dark-skinned. Oh, it still hurts them. Because, see, even they get their black moment. See, Richard, here's the whole deal. Again, I look at hardcore, and when I look at demographic numbers,

I'm still looking at power. I'm looking at money. I'm looking at right now. We're in this battle right now for media dollars for black-owned media companies. Black-owned media companies getting 1% of contracts. Latinos getting 2% and 3%. And so we're actually seeing that.

We're experiencing it. Same thing is happening at so many other levels. And so the thing, the battle that is going on really is, okay, sure, folks are marrying one another. Sure, you're seeing an increase in interracial marriages. But the question is, from a policy standpoint, how are people identifying? And the reality is there are people who identify with whiteness in terms of how they look at, again, political decisions and how they impact people, that's where I think this thing is really murky. And the challenge is, all right, you may say,

hey, I'm biracial, but you still are going to be in a situation where are you advancing, again, based upon your resume, based upon the content of your character, as opposed to a racial dynamic that we understand is still at play? Okay, so one thing that needs to be pointed out, and I don't want to gloss over the points you're making. Go ahead. But if you look at the top of the U.S. workforce, it's becoming much more diverse. There's a huge change taking place because guess what? LOOK AT THE TOP OF THE U.S. WORKFORCE, IT'S BECOMING MUCH MORE DIVERSE. THERE'S A HUGE CHANGE

TAKING PLACE BECAUSE, GUESS WHAT, THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH QUALIFIED WHITES TO FILL THE POSITIONS THAT ARE OPENING UP AT THE TOP OF THE WORKFORCE. SO INCREASINGLY, WE HAVE PEOPLE OF COLOR, PEOPLE FROM MIXED BACKGROUNDS RISING TO THOSE POSITIONS. NOW, ARE they being treated entirely fairly? I don't know. I don't know. But but I think the power structures are starting to change. Now, you've been talking a lot. I've been watching your show and enjoying it very much. And you've been talking a lot about, you know, the Republicans basically retreating to a white, a white base. And that is a real phenomenon, absolutely. But I think we shouldn't take it for granted that the fact that there are more people of color means that, therefore, that power dynamic is going to shift in the Democrats' favor. Well, yes and no, which is one of the reasons why the Republicans had favor. Well, yes and no, which is one of the reasons why the Republicans

had a clear focus controlling the courts, which is why, again, the kind of people they put on, Mitch McConnell was very clear. They wanted to appoint people who were 35 to 45. They appointed no black appellate judge.

I mean, Donald Trump, I think the number was five or six black judges total. I mean, so they basically I think the number was five or six black judges total. I mean, so they basically were appointing white folks. They were appointing young white people who they wanted to be on the courts for the next 30, 40, and 50 years. I'll bring my panel in here for questions for you as well. Sure. The thing I do want to ask you, though, is that when you were doing this here, it's one thing to look at the numbers just from

a demographic standpoint. It's another thing to then look at how folks are falling when it comes to, you know, on these issues. And what we also are seeing, especially when you begin to look at abortion, when you look at abortion, when you look at immigration, when you look at, again, these hot button issues, what did you discover in terms of how this browning of America, how that is playing out on those culture wars or those core issues for the GOP and Democrats. OK, so one thing that I think is a useful kind of data about how people perceive things is Ian Haney-Lopez, who's a Berkeley law professor and very famous in the critical race literature for a great book called White by Law, did some interviews with Hispanics before the

2020 election to see how they were perceiving the issues and the candidates. To his great surprise the majority of the Hispanics that he interviewed did not identify as people of color. They identified either as similar to the European immigrant groups or they thought of themselves as he called called them, bootstrappers, people who, by their own efforts, were making it into the mainstream of American society. So think about that.

That suggests, really, a very different political outlook for a lot of Latinos in the United States. But you know what, though? Here's the deal, though. I'll be honest with you. I understand why. Because the reality is this here. If I came to America and saw how black folks were being treated, I'm like, man,

I am not trying to be anywhere near them. And see, even that language, even the, because we see it even within the black culture. You saw a significant number of black immigrants who were supportive of Donald Trump. The Republican Party loves to go, pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. And folks are like, yeah, that appeals to me. And we're sitting here going, hell, they didn't pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. They got what they got because of government handouts,

the Homestead Act and the GI Bill as well. But again, the rhetoric is what is appealing to them, and so Republicans are able to speak that language. But in reality, I'm sitting there going, that's a hangout. Elon Musk is only a billionaire because he got tax incentives, not because he's this brilliant person. But again, I'm not challenging what you're saying at all. I mean, I understand your point. It's valid, but it's still we need to understand how people see their place in the society and what kind of politics comes out of that perception. And that's where the majority minority thesis really falls down.

Questions for our panel. Julianne Malveaux, I start with you. Question for Richard Alba. Richard Alba, first of all, congratulations on your book. I look forward to reading it. I think it will inform some of my work here at Cal State L.A. and the College of Ethnic Studies. I want to talk to you about anti-blackness. Because what we know is that you've got this ethnic continuum of African-American, Latino, Latinx, Chicanox, Asian-American. They're not

all the same. And as you mentioned, there is a fair amount of intermarriage and mixed folks. And that's on the rise. But the anti-Blackness seems to be at the core of the American identity. We see it almost everywhere. And no matter how you dilute the majority-minority theory, the core anti-Blackness stays there. What does your work and what do we say about this anti-Blackness? And is there a cure for it? Or must we continue the struggle, as my colleagues and I have talked about, through this entire program because of anti-Blackness? Okay. Well, so I think that out of my thinking and work comes the idea that the immigrant experience, even when we're talking about people of color, is very different from the African-American experience.

And the African-Americans have faced racist barriers that have no equivalent for people of color who are the products of immigration. And in the book, I argue that the country needs to confront the reparations question and to recognize that African Americans are going to need special help to overcome the barriers that have been placed in their way. I'm sorry that it's not a more hopeful message, but that is what I think is true. Toron, your question for Richard Alba. Mr. Alba, my question is, using some of the things you mentioned in your book and some of the phenomenon about immigrants and people of color and their attitudes towards African-Americans. Do you think that there's a resistance to having a conversation about the special circumstances that African-Americans are dealing with? Because there are people who are coming into this country trying to assimilate with what they see as whiteness and they don't really want to have that conversation? You know, first of all, the book did not deal with anti-blackness. So I can't really say that I understand or know kind of what level of anti-blackness there might be among other minorities in the United States. of telling the American narrative, not the majority minority story, which is divisive. And as we know, on the right has given rise, you know, to things like replacement theory,

which is being used to gin up white anxiety and white support for the Republican Party. But that a more a more a narrative that allows everyone to buy in to some extent will create room for African-Americans, too, to move up in the way that Latinos and Asians seem to be doing. All right. Avis, your question for Richard Alba. Yeah, I'm really intrigued with the direction of your book, as you've laid out here, because I, for a while, have, you know, questioned the Democratic approach towards the Latino vote based largely, quite frankly, on some of the things that you're pointing out here. You know, I don't understand why people are so shocked to see such a

large proportion of the Latino vote supporting Republicans even in a Trump era if they were to sort of take into consideration what you're saying here. I would argue if you specifically look at Cubans, for example, and others who, as you mentioned, have a more light appearance, I would argue that there is a predisposition to identify as white and to, you know, therefore be more likely to have these political leanings. Given that, what do you think about sort of the strategy of a Democratic Party, which to me it seems as if they continue to invest in a Latino community to the extent in which it sounds like to me they almost are expecting to win, a proportion of the Latino

vote that is more commiserate to the proportion that they receive in the African-American vote, which I believe they get more bang for their vote, bang for their dollar with regards to their Black investments with regards to voter turnout than they do with regards to their Latino investments when we speak to voter turnout because they lose such a large proportion, up to a third or more, to the Republican Party. Any thoughts about that? Well, I think, first of all, you're absolutely right about the, you know, this black support for the Democratic Party.

And Georgia, of course, is the proof of the pudding that the Democrats have the control of the Senate is really thanks to the black African-American voters in Georgia. I think that the Democratic Party needs to, frankly, appeal also more to whites because whites even if everything about the majority minority thesis is true. Whites are still going to be the majority of voters in the middle of the 20th century. And so we need more attention to class issues, I think, on the Democratic side in order to have greater appeal throughout the white population. Currently, the Democrats are favored by highly educated whites, which are an important group, but it's hardly a majority.

Well, but Richard, the reality is this here, and that is no Democrat has won a majority of the white vote since LBJ in 1964, and that's because the Democratic Party chose to embrace civil rights. And so the reality is, you know, if Democrats get 42%, 43%, 45% of the white vote, hey, they're doing an amazing job.

And so that's really on white voters. So Howard Dean actually had nailed it in 2004 when he said, hey, Republicans hit God, gays, guns. So it's not really about the policy. Like, you had some broke white folks in Kentucky who were saying, man, after Trump won, I hope I don't lose my Affordable Care Act. And I'm sitting there going, but you idiots just voted for Trump

and a Tea Party Republican who both campaigned on getting rid of the Affordable Care Act. So part of the problem is that a lot of white voters in this country, especially those with no college degree, they actually have been voting against their own interests, which is part of the problem is that a lot of white voters in this country, especially those with no college degree, they actually have been voting against their own interests, which is part of the problem. Last question for you. I'll ask you this here. Can I just say one thing? Yeah, go ahead.

And I think that, you know, so the Democrats high turnout election, which supposedly favors Democrats, they barely held on to Congress, even though, you know, the presidential, their presidential candidate got 7 million more votes than the other guy. But that's no shock. I think we're a divided country. We need to look at every corner of the voting populace to figure out how to get more votes. Well, actually, but the problem is actually not even getting more votes.

The reason Democrats barely held on is because Republicans have controlled Southern states and legislatures. There are 99 legislative bodies right now in America. Republicans control 61. They control 31 governor's mansions. And so the problem has been gerrymandering. And guess what?

John Roberts and the Supreme Court screwed that over when they said, hey, we can't rule in political gerrymandering. We kick it back to the states. Well, here's the problem. They've gerrymandered the state Supreme Court. And so the Republicans have guaranteed themselves control even right now. Right now, because of the census, Republicans control the House and the Senate

in Texas and Florida. In Texas and Florida alone, they could gerrymander themselves into the victory in the House of Representatives. And so if you look at the numbers, Democrats actually win more votes. They showed, but gerrymandering was so bad in Wisconsin that if Democrats won 55% of all votes. They showed, but gerrymandering was so bad in Wisconsin that if Democrats

won 55% of all votes in the state, they would still be in the minority in the legislature because they have gerrymandered the districts so difficult. That's why the For the People Act is so important because it deals with

gerrymandering and setting up independent commissions to actually draw fair districts. Good point. Good point. The last question I have for you, and I ask every author of this, is very simple. What was a wow moment for you when you were doing this book? What was that moment where you went, wow? OK, the wow moment was when I realized just how high the number of people, young people from mixed backgrounds is becoming and that it's going to continue to increase in the future. This is really the future of the United States in some ways is this is mixing. Right. Which is the one thing a whole bunch of white folks in America

feared, feared this whole point, and it is changing. But the thing here that I'm looking at is folks are mixing, but I'm still interested in terms of how are they looking at the issues, how are they sort of

breaking these things apart? So 2022 and 2024 is going to be real interesting. And I keep making the point, Richard, that this was not about Trump. It wasn't about the next eight years. This is going to be a battle for the next 50 to 100 years because race is still a major issue in the United States of America. There's no way of disputing that. That is clearly true.

Folks, the book is called The Great Demographic Illusion, Majority, Minority, and the Expanding American Mainstream by Richard Alba. Richard, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Roland. Thanks very much for having me. Bye. Going to go to a break here. When we come back, we'll talk with Jim Jones

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Angela Wilkinson, Chiquita Wallace, Darnita Lee, Deloitte McKeever, Derek Holcomb, Jacqueline Conley, David Brown, Colette, Joan Warren, Portia Bright, James O'Kelly, Vakiti Gottlieb. I appreciate it as well. Edward Little, Wesley Carter, Arturio Morgan, Tina Paul, Gregory Kelly, Krista K. Watson. Let's see here. I'm going to go to the top here because y'all were literally, let's see,

McClanahan. There we go. That's it, Gregory Kelly. So I appreciate all of y'all literally giving just right now. Again, Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal.me, forward slash Martin Unfiltered, Venmo.com, forward slash RM Unfiltered, Zell is rolling at rollingusmartin.com. And then just in, literally, Chris Nelson, Ken Jones, and Wright as well,

Felicia Tucker, thank you so very much. I feel like Jerry Lewis at the telethon. That's what I feel like. But I appreciate that. Samoto Dabney, thanks a lot as well. Man, y'all are showing the love for the show. This is why we do what we do. I cannot wait. First of all, when y'all see this

studio, when we are done, it's going to blow y'all away. And I need y'all to understand, black set designer, black-owned company. New lighting, black-owned company. Our entire control room being built out, black engineering company.

Remember that black drapes company we had on the show? Well, they're going to actually, they're making our green screen. And so your dollars, we are actually doing black empowerment, black economic social justice with our resources. All of this is being done with black-owned companies, and so that's why you've got to support Roller Martin Unfiltered with the correct cash app dollar sign.

Report those scam artists now. Let me go to a break. We'll come back. Jim Jones, back in a moment. When you study the music, you get black history by default, and so no other craft could carry When you study the music, you get black history by default. And so no other craft could carry as many words as rap music. I try to intertwine that and make that create whatever I'm supposed to send out to the universe.

A rapper, you know, for the longest period of time has gone through phases. I love the word. I hate what it's become, you know, to this generation, the way they visualize it. Its narrative kind of, like, has gotten away and spun away from, I guess, the ascension of black people. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpson. What's up? I'm Lance Gross,

and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks. What the hell is vegan meat? Have y'all seen that going around? I can't even. In recent years, the rise in demand for vegan meat has increased. But is vegan meat another food, diet, fad, or is it good for you? Here to break it down is fitness expert Jim Jones. Jim, how you doing?

No fake meat. No fake meat, no fake meat. I'm here, Rowan, today to talk about these Beyond Burgers. It's an epidemic going around. People are thinking that Beyond Meat and fake meat is healthy. That's not the right way to a plant-based lifestyle. All right, so what the hell is fake meat, vegan meat? What is that? For sure, that's a good question. Let me tell you something, Rowan. Rowan, these Beyond Burgers, they have about 22 ingredients inside of them. So people don't understand what you're eating is a science project.

And one of the biggest things that I see people talk about is they think that their blood is beet juice. It's not. It's something called soy leg, leg moglobin. See, you can't even, I can't even pronounce it. How fake, how fake and how bad the ingredient is. So another thing is, Roland, what holds this food, these Beyond Burgers together,

are the same things used in cakes, bread, and ice cream, and that's the methylcellulose. So, like, people are thinking these are healthy, but like I said, you're eating a science project. It's not the way if you want to go meat-free. The Beyond Meat is not the answer. Okay, so I'm trying to understand where did even, like, where did this whole thing start? And obviously people are trying to find the best solution, but what's up? Yeah, so what it is, people, you know, people just do this whole new plant-based lifestyle thing. People, they're just giving up meat, eating less meat.

And listen, I'm all for it. I've actually reduced my meat consumption a lot myself. But if we're going to do it, we've got to do it the right way. Let's go with vegetables, bean burgers. Let's go with things that come from the earth. At the end of the day, man-made food is man-made food. It's bad whether it's meat, bread, pasta. Anything man-made is what you don't want.

You've got to stay. We have to stay away from man-made food. All right. Questions from our panel. Toe Run, questions for Jim Jones about this vegan meat. First of all, anybody on this panel vegan? I am not. Smart man.

Go ahead. I guess the only question I have for it is, what are the health benefits of vegan meat as opposed to regular meat or some of the soy burgers that are out there? So this is what I would say. I tell people, if you're going to eat those vegan, those fake burgers, you might as well just eat the meat. The meat has one ingredient in it, meat.

The fake burgers have about 20, like I said, 22 ingredients. So there's really no health benefits. Now, what you can use it for, if you are vegan, it can be like a vegan cheat meal, if you just really want to stay away from the meat. But what I'm seeing now is people are switching over to a plant-based diet, and they're eating these burgers once or twice a week. They even have sausages now. So you can grill them.

You can do anything. But like I said, these things are nothing but science projects. All right. Avis. So, you know, I think, you know, I kind of agree with that. I think that people are,

they see that as the next, is the easy thing. But in terms of, in terms of really making better lifestyle choices, period, with regards to your diet, I've heard oftentimes that when you go to the grocery store, just stay in the produce section. Don't be buying canned and all this. Can you give people some basic tips around when you go into the grocery store,

what are some easy things we can remember that lets us know, hey, this is good for me versus this is bad for me? For sure. So I'm so glad you asked that question. I actually am the spokesman for a grocery store here in the Washington, D.C. area. So this is my this is a special lane for me. So what you want to do, like I say, you want to stay on the outside. Anything in the middle is kind of that's where the manmade food is going to be. So you're right. You're going to come in, stay in the outside, skip the bakery, you know, skip the skip the deli, skip all that, stay in the outside, skip the bakery, you know, skip the deli, skip all that, stay in the outside, save your produce, your vegetables, and, you know, get your meats, get your fresh meats. Like I said, that's the key thing about the grocery store. Once you go in the middle of those aisles,

it's hard to come back because all the temptations are in there. Once you're in the middle, it's a land of no return. Once you're seeing the cookies, the chips, I mean, it's hard to come back from that. So just stay out the middle, stay on the edges, and then you'll have a safe grocery experience. All right. Julianne. You know, I have a lot of friends who are vegetarian. I'm a flexitarian.

I don't eat meat except for bacon, because bacon is not meat. Bacon is just cultural. But in any case, tofu. A lot of people do the tofu thing. They grill it, they fry it, they bread it.

Tell me about the benefits of tofu as opposed to this fake meat stuff, which I love your line, you eat the science project. I'm going to use that on somebody. Use it. But tofu, tell me about the health benefits of tofu. Is that advisable, or is there something better?

There is something better. So what I like to do is I try to stay from the tofu and the Beyond Meat, too. So what I try to do is if you're what I would see a good substitute is cauliflower. You can grill that up. That cooks up just as well. Asparagus, mushrooms is something that I really, really like because some of the things I tell people is you're in love with the flavor and the taste of meat. If you're trying to go less meat, you can season the cauliflower up and the mushrooms up to taste like meat. You can make buffalo cauliflower.

You can make mushroom steaks, and it tastes exactly the same. So try to stay with the plant-based things and just season it like meat. That's the number one tip I give people. Season it like it's meat, and it'll be very, very manageable. Did your ass just say cauliflower tastes like meat? I mean, hey, really. I make a meat...

No, I make a mean buffalo cauliflower. Listen, I make a mean buffalo cauliflower. I toss it up with the sauce. I mean, it's mean. It's a buffalo... You might think it was a buffalo wing. That's true. Jim, Jim, it's mean. It's a buffalo. You might think it was a buffalo wing. That's true, Rowan.

Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim, you need to stop. Now, Jim, I know ain't no way in hell you have actually convinced yourself... that some cauliflower tossed in some barbecue sauce tastes like a rib or a link. Yo ass ignorant. Hey Roman, you'd be amazed what an air fryer can do. I could change your life with an air fryer, Roman. Jim, Jim, under no circumstances.

Look, you know, hey, I've been sitting here, meal plan, working out, losing weight, doing a thing, but ain't no way in hell I'm going to let you come on this show and suggest that cauliflower tastes like meat.

I'm telling you, Roe, listen, I can make you a believer. I'll tell you what, next time You try to tell me that if there's an Earl Campbell hot link and some Jim Jones tossed cauliflower, I ain't gonna tell the difference. Because the cauliflower's gonna be better. You're gonna be like, you know,

hey, Jim, this cauliflower's better than this hot link. Jim, I'm gonna look at that cauliflower and know there ain't no hot link. You gotta try it out, Roy. You can't judge. You can't judge a cauliflower by its cover. You got to try that thing out. Tarun, do you actually think right now Jim Jones is having a stroke on air?

He telling the truth. Yeah, I ain't talking to him. I'm open to it. You know what, dog? I'm open to, you know what, I believe after the year we just had and all the people, all the health issues in the community that got highlighted because of COVID and everything, I think we should be open to try something different, you know what I mean?

No, no, no, no. I ain't say don't try something different. I'm saying don't your ass lie saying it tastes the same as meat. You know what? I'm going to say it like this. I've never tried it. I want to try it first and then I can make that decision.

Okay, so you're saying you ain't never had cauliflower like the way Jim. Avis, what the hell are you over there giving about? What you talking about? I'm saying he's exactly right. Okay, Roland. About what? We need to expand your horizons, brother.

Avis, have you had cauliflower? Yes. Did your ass say, damn, that tastes like a rib? It tastes like... I have had cauliflower. Hold up, why you stuttering? No, why you stuttering? I...

Y'all just saw her go... You lying right there. Seriously. If you can make it taste like chicken wings, you would not even know the difference. It can even look a little like chicken wings. I mean, honestly, you just have to have somebody that knows what they're doing.

You would be surprised with what can be done with cauliflower. Talk to him. Talk to him. I love you, but you wrong. You wrong, wrong, wrong. Cauliflower in and of itself is nasty, number one. You gotta get the right shot! You in California, they have some great vegan restaurants

out there. Absolutely. Sustained. Try to want to make it rice. It ain't rice. It's cauliflower, OK? I mean, it ain't rice. Sustained.

You know, I can tell Amy, I stand with you on almost anything, but not no buffalo cauliflower. No to the, no to the, no, no, no. All I'm saying, just say it tastes like cauliflower. When your ass on it, man, it tastes just like me. I found this soul food

vegan restaurant in California when I was there about a year or so before the whole shutdown and everything. Changed my freaking life and total expectations around what you could do with a cauliflower. Yeah. Thank you, thank you.

It will blow your mind. Yeah. I would text me the name of the restaurant, but I ain't going. Precisely. All right. Listen, Roland, tomorrow what I got to do, I'm going to get on my Instagram and I'm going to make this cauliflower.

They can follow me at G-Y-M-J-O-N-E-Z and see this world famous cauliflower. And Roland, best believe I'm tagging you, brother. I'm tagging you. You're going to see this cauliflower. I'm going to change your life with an air fryer and some buffalo sauce. Yeah, okay. All right. Why don't you tag Toe Run too and Avis and Julianne I'm going to change your life with an air fryer and some buffalo sauce. Yeah, okay.

All right. Why don't you tag Toe Run 2 and Avis and Julian so we can all say you must be out your mind talking about it tastes like meat. All right. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that tomorrow. Tomorrow. Yeah, all right. Yeah, okay. All right.

All right, folks. I appreciate it. I told you all, folks, we've been calling out these scammers. These are the scammers. I want every single one of y'all to report these Cash App scammers. They have literally been stealing money from our followers. One brother just, again, he just hit me and said he had given $100 over this year, and he's reported them. So we call on Cash App to return all the money that people have given over this year.

And so dollar sign RMUNF, fraudulent, fake account. Dollar sign RMUNFI, fake account. Dollar sign RMUNFIL, fake account. Dollar sign RMUNFIL, T-E-R-E, fake account. Let me thank Lisa Bennett. She emailed me yesterday, let me know about, fake account. Dollar sign RMUNFIL, T-E-R-E, fake account. Let me thank Lisa Bennett. She emailed me yesterday, let me know about these fake accounts. I certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much.

If y'all want to support what we do, of course, y'all can go to our unfiltered cash app, dollar sign RMUNFILTERED. I told y'all, that's it right there. Of course, cash app, dollar sign RMUNFILTERED, PayPal.me, forward slash RMartinUnfiltered, Venmo.com is forward slash RMUnfiltered. Zelle is rolling at rollinglessmartin.com. Let me give a shout-out to Chris Valmore, Jonathan Pearson, Jeffrey Dale Hinaway.

Let's see here. Also, Yativa Prather, Linda Williams, Brandon Wilson, Riz, Deborah Carson. Let's see here. Herbert Chambers, Cordell, Shalinda Lewis, Shannon Smith, Craig Wilson, Marcus Goodner, Cordell McMillan, Antonio Welch. Let's see here. I think somebody else gave. I'm looking for it. Because, man, y'all were hooking us up today. I certainly appreciate it. I think somebody else gave. I'm looking for it. Because, man, y'all were hooking us up today.

I certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Normally I give shout-outs to 50 bucks or more, but I just decided to do a little special today so we can beat these scammers. Again, I want y'all to report every single one of these thugs for what they are doing. And so we

certainly appreciate it. That's it. So that's all the people who have given today. So thank you so very much, y'all. Again, all the money y'all give goes to support what we do to make it possible for us to do what we do. Also, hit that Like button on YouTube so we can get boosted on the gram there. Tyreek Wesley, you just slid in there.

I appreciate it. All right. How many of y'all have seen Toron, Avis, and Julian? Have y'all seen the craze on TikTok Go Lay Down? I haven't.

Are y'all serious? Oh, my God. Okay. All right. So this thing has blown up. All right. so this thing has blown up. All right, check this out. Lay down. Yeah, yeah.

Go lay down. Go. Lay down. Now I'm about to, lay down. I'm about to go lay down. I'm about to go lay down. Look at your neighbor and say, go lay down. Go lay down. Yeah.

Go lay down. Oh. Go lay down. Go lay down. All right. You got to understand. This thing is going crazy. That sister's name, Najee, she's out of Gary, Indiana. She's a singer.

Yo, black people have turned this thing. They have taken this thing to a whole new level. I'm talking about, it's crazy. Check out, I mean, all kind of folks. I saw this on Sanaa Lathan's Instagram page, and I said, what in the world? Hell, I've been listening to it for the whole weekend. Listen to this brother right here.

Go lay down. Go lay down. Go lay down. Go lay down. I'm about to go lay down. Yeah, yeah. Go lay down. Yeah, yeah. Go lay down. Oh.

Go. Oh. Oh. Lay down. Now I'm about to go lay down. Hey. I'm about to go lay down. Go lay down.

Look at your neighbor and say go lay down. go lay down. Look at your neighbor and say, go lay down. Hey, glory, hallelujah. Go lay down. Yeah. Yeah. Go lay down. Go lay down. Go lay down. Go lay down.

Go lay down. I saw Tauron shaking his head. So even actor Keith David, other people, well, she is going to be on the show tomorrow. More than 3 million likes. So what happened is folks started doing, they started singing to it. It

is totally blown up on TikTok. They're on Instagram. And so we're going to talk to her. I hit her on Instagram. She hit me back. We're going to have her on the show tomorrow. But y'all, black people can turn anything into a Negro spiritual. And you know

Just I'm gonna show this last one before we go that we gonna show a few more tomorrow y'all gonna love this well I know Julianne The smoking preacher she gonna love this when y'all watch this here Hallelujah Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Blessed be the name of our Lord and Savior. Go lay down, go lay down. It's getting late in the evening. I know the sun is going. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Ecclesiastes 4.

4 and 9. And when you turn it over to him, you know you can just lay on down and just rest. Watch out there now. And the Bible reads, if you have it, read it from the King James. Lay down. and with the Bible reads if you have it read it from the King James lay down lay down

lay down oh alright y'all we gonna have her on the show tomorrow talk about how this thing is just totally blown up I'm telling y'all, y'all you put this on YouTube, y'all gonna be listening to and all they're saying is go lay down. That's all they're saying.

If y'all want to know the undeniable skill set of black people, all you gotta understand is how we will take this thing. Okay, I'm gonna do one last one. This is truly the last one. A producer, Taurani, you're gonna love this one. A brother's a producer.

He puts this beat on TikTok and says, "'Y'all do it this." He's J Random producer. Well, this brother, who's a singer out of Houston named T-Dash, he sees his beat video while he dropped this hit. So they went, they took it from gospel to R&B. Go ahead. Lay down, lay down, go lay down. Ooh, yeah. Lay down, yeah.

Go lay down. Go lay down. Lay down. Lay down. I'm about to go lay down, go lay down. Lay down. Because I'm feeling it tight. Seven seconds. Been working all day and day

Oh, man. I actually hit T-Dash and said, yo, man, what a rest of the song. Yeah, that was good. Come on, I download that. Hey, black people can turn anything into something. Well, we're going to have nausea. Teron, go ahead.

You're on mute. You're on mute. Teron, you're on mute. Okay, how about now? Go ahead. That's going to join Going Up Yonder and Trouble of the World as the homegoing service music. Oh, Doc, let me tell you something.

They killed it. It's been crazy, and so we're going to have her on tomorrow. And trust me, y'all, I've been listening to that for the last four days. Straight up. Y'all going to do it, too. When this show's over, y'all going to be on YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok looking at all these. It's about 100 different

versions now all over TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Y'all, we look forward to having Najah on the show tomorrow. Najah, I'm sorry. Najah. And her Instagram is who, W-H-O underscore S-H-E underscore N-A-J-E. So look forward to that tomorrow.

Folks, that's it. Toron, Avis, Julian, I appreciate it. Don't eat that damn vegan meat. I don't give a damn. And leave that cauliflower because it ain't meat. I don't care what Jim Jones got to say. I'll see y'all tomorrow right here on Rollerball Unfiltered. Also, Wynn Hogan, you see, I'm rocking your golf shirt. Normally he has

his original tee golf classic in July. COVID ended it, and so I went ahead and decided to rock his golf shirt. I played it every year and started to want to give my man Wendell some love. Alright y'all, I'll holler at y'all later. See you tomorrow. Holler! 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 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 know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. 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 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast.