#RolandMartinUnfiltered - TX Gov COVID positive; Schools see virus surge; Black home ownership upended; Biden increases SNAP

Episode Date: August 18, 2021

8.17.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Anti-masker Gov. Greg Abbott tests positive for COVID; Coronavirus infections surge in schools as kids return to class; Pandemic upends Black home ownership; Biden permanently increases SNAP $$$; Chaotic U.S. Afghan exit continues; Nextdoor #HBCUConnect featuring students from Tougaloo CollegeSupport #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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of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. Today is Tuesday, August 17th, 2021. Coming up on Roland Martin on Filter. Mmm, karma is a mother. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, you know, the one who has been fighting school districts and restaurants from imposing mask mandates.

Well, he tested positive for COVID. He's also the same one who was at a major Republican fundraiser last night. Oh, wheeling around his wheelchair. No mask. Mmm. COVID has also had an impact on black home ownership. We'll tell you exactly how. President Joe Biden will permanently increase supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits

to stop hunger in America. The United States military evacuation flights from Afghanistan, they resume today. There's also disparity between media opportunities given to white news outlets and those that give black news platforms. We'll talk to the owner of Black Tree TV about that. The L.A. police officer has been suspended after punching a suspect who was handcuffed to a hospital gurney. And we'll talk with some students from Tougaloo College about how the Nextdoor app helps them

on campus. And we'll also have one of our book interviews as well, Roland Martin's Book Club. It's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin Unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the mess, 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 on go-go-royale It's Uncle Roro, yo

Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Marten Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best You know he's Rollin' Marten Now Well, folks, this is video last night in Texas of Governor Greg Abbott at a Republican fundraiser.

As you see, he's there in the wheelchair. He's hugging people. I mean, nobody. Go ahead and just keep running it. No, just keep running it. Nobody is wearing a mask. Everybody is just up close. No social distancing. None of that. They taking pictures.

Well, guess what? Today, his office announced that Abbott tested positive for COVID-19. Now, he had already been vaccinated. They say he is on Regeneron. But and then this is a tweet that went out. Governor Greg Abbott, Governor Abbott tested positive for COVID-19 today. His office announces Abbott is fully vaccinated and currently experiencing no symptoms, according to his communications director, Mark Minor. Now, this is the same Greg Abbott, y'all, who's been fighting the school districts for imposing mask mandates because of his executive order. He also told restaurants that if they create any kind of requirement to show COVID vaccination cards,

he will have the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission pull their liquor license. Now, all of this is happening when Texas health officials have requested five mulch-rebrief trailers from the federal government, anticipating an influx of dead bodies due to COVID. Health officials say the trailers are needed after analyzing the rise in cases due to the contagious Delta variant. My home state has been a hotbed for the coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic. Currently, the state has the second highest number of cases in the country, only trailing California. All this comes just one day after thousands of students and staff in Dallas Fort Worth area returned to in person learning.

Now let's go to Atlanta, where coronavirus numbers have forced districts to suspend in person learning two weeks after starting the 2021-2022 school year schools open in the Atlanta metro area on August 2nd. Now, a few weeks later, the number of reported COVID-19

cases among students and faculty has soared exponentially to nearly 4,000. Let's go to Florida. Well, the Hillsborough Schools District called an emergency meeting after more than 5,000 students and faculty were forced to quarantine after being potentially exposed to the deadly virus. Now, this comes after Governor Ron DeSantis threatened to pull funding from schools that proceeded with mask mandates. And despite the stern warning from the governor, school officials say they are considering putting the safety measures in place. Hmm. Ain't that interesting? Now, folks, let's just keep going on with this. When you start breaking down the numbers, when you start looking at the numbers and what they show

when it comes to COVID, what you're seeing is that the Delta variant in this work about today shows its impact among those who are vaccinated because it's a different strain. We'll take the time to have black scientists on announced that 98% of all of the people in their hospitals are unvaccinated. Let me repeat that. 98% of the people hospitalized right now in the largest hospitals in Houston are unvaccinated. Now, when I was driving in today, I was corresponding with a friend who said that he would have to get back to me on some business because his best friend died. He's black. He told me that his best friend died of COVID.

This brother went to the hospital on Friday, was dead on Sunday. He would not listen to his best friend. His best friend, the guy who I do business with, said, I implored him to take the shot. I told him, don't get caught being sick. His friend fought him at every turn about getting the shot. Well here's the problem, his best friend now is the one who's in charge of his funeral arrangements. I keep saying on this show, there is no flip side to death. I keep saying that. I keep telling people that. And folks keep trying me, oh, no, no.

And again, let's just be real clear. Every single person has the absolute right to make their own choice. One of the things that you keep hearing from DeSantis and from Abbott is that let parents choose. Florida Senator Rick Scott, let the parents choose. I'm sorry. Are the parents medical practitioners? Are they health care experts?

No, this is actually where government. Where government plays a role in this. We're going to be joined a little right now because, again, folks, we're trying to get you to understand what is going on in this country, but people simply don't really want to pay attention. Danae Joseph, she's an immigrant rights activist, joining us right now out of California. Mustafa Santay Aguilali, a Ph.D.,

former senior advisor for environmental justice at the EPA. All right, folks, glad to have you here on the show. Denae, wow. Isn't it interesting that Greg Abbott at this big Republican fundraiser last night, hugging people, shaking hands, he tests positive for COVID today. That means if they actually follow protocols, every single person at that fundraiser needs to be in quarantine and all have contact tracing because they all came into contact with a positive, a COVID positive governor. The irony, Roland, and first and foremost, thank you so much for having me back. The last time that I was here, we were just talking about the fact that he was trying to enact a very discriminatory and xenophobic policy that targeted migrants because

he believed or wanted the people of Texas to believe that migrants were somehow, some way more susceptible to COVID-19. So it's quite ironic now that he's the one who actually has contracted COVID-19, right? It isn't the boogeyman that we look at as being immigrants carrying the virus, but it's actually the governor who does not believe in socially distancing or the governor that doesn't believe in masking, right? It has everything to do with him and his own irresponsibility. I mean, for you to be so political that you don't want to take into consideration your own health or that of the people whose health you should be looking out for. It speaks volumes, right? This isn't a political issue. This has everything to

do with the health and well-being of the people of Texas and the people across the United States of America. And it's so sad that it's really gotten to this point that people have continued to follow the former twice-impeached president and his idea that this isn't real, right, that this was something that was created in order to fearmonger among people in the United States. It's so sad that that's being perpetuated long after his term has ended and after he's been voted out of office. This isn't political. This has everything to do with the health and well-being of the people in this country. And I really hope that after he

now has contracted COVID-19, that he'll now see the importance of wanting to get more Texans vaccinated and wanting to get his state on the right track. But if history, right, is any indication, as we saw with the previous twice-im But if history, right, is any indication, as we saw with the previous twice-impeached president, he contracted COVID-19, but yet still continued to perpetuate a lot of the misconceptions about this virus. So I'm not really optimistic about him changing his viewpoints,

but one could only hope. You know, when I saw this, Mustafa, the first thing I thought about I'm a little bit worried about the future of America. I'm hoping that we will have a better future. I'm only hoping. You know, when I saw this, Mustafa, the first thing I thought about was Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick.

When last year he said that if we have to sacrifice our elderly to save the economic future of America for our children, then that's what we have to do. I wonder if Dan Patrick is saying, Governor Greg Abbott, if you die, it's to save the economy of America. Ain't it interesting what happens when it creeps up into your backyard? My granddaddy said if you keep poking at a snake,

eventually he going to bite you. So that's that country wisdom that many of our elders actually have. You know, it's so nonsensical in what these folks can continue to do time and time again. They will literally sacrifice not just folks of color, they will sacrifice their own. And we see that continue to play out, you know, not just in Texas, but across our country. We've got about 40 million people who are dealing with lung disease. So they have these conditions

that make them even more vulnerable. You know that we got about 7 billion kids that fall into that number. So they're literally sacrificing our children. They're sacrificing our elders. And they just don't care because they place politics over people's lives. Well, and the thing here that really is amazing to me is that is how Abbott and DeSantis are fighting tooth and nail how the governor of South Carolina today fighting mask mandates. Today, though, the South Carolina State Supreme Court Republican rule of the University of South Carolina can indeed have a campus-wide mask mandate. What you're also seeing is you're now seeing school districts, parents push back against this nonsense.

Yeah, we've shown the video of those yahoos in Tennessee, but I'm talking about we're seeing a significant number because contrary to what these idiots are saying, these parents do not want to be burying their children early because of stupid politics like these folks are exhibiting. Unfortunately, this is a direct result of the rise of Trumpism under his administration and what we've seen perpetuated even after he's been voted out, right? We've seen the Republican Party time and time again come to his defense after the insurrection. And what we've seen is members of the party, whether that be in Congress or state legislatures across the nation, continue to affiliate with the previous twice-impeached president because they believe that his ability to influence members of the American people is still that strong. And so unfortunately, until they can recognize that he

did lose, right, and there was no bought election, that the election results didn't go his way. And that's because Biden did win and that votes were counted and recounted until people can get that through their thick skulls, right? Unfortunately, we won't see the flip side of this because they are buying into the exact same stereotypes and misconceptions that were perpetuated under the previous administration. And even though many of these individuals who were naysayers have privately gotten vaccinated, we know that Trump and Melania and that his family has been vaccinated in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they've done so silently and that they haven't utilized their platforms

to say to the members of the American people who've supported them in the past that actually we were wrong, that it's important that you be vaccinated. It's important that you wear masks and that you are socially distanced because if you were to do those things and listen to the mandates that are sent down by the CDC and other health officials and authorities in this country, that you are more than likely going to be able to survive this pandemic. Until they do that and until they start telling the truth about this virus and the very real impact that it has to make, not only on this country in the present day, but for the future, there is future ramifications of this virus.

And until those individuals who are naysayers and very vocal opponents of people like Dr. Anthony Fauci and many other scientists and health officials who tried to tell us over and over what we need to do to get to the flip side of this. Until they do that, we unfortunately won't see any better results. We will continue to face the rise in cases that we're seeing across the nation. We will continue to see states and localities buy things to prepare themselves for the massive loss of life. And it's unfortunate that it has to get to that point, but it's been politicized that much more. And until we can get to the flip side and have these individuals strip themselves away from the Trump, the previous Trump administration and from his rhetoric, we actually won't do better as a nation. And that's unfortunate. Andrew Spar is president of Florida Education Association. He

joins us right now. Andrew, glad to have you back on Roller Mountain Unfiltered. So I know y'all hate to say I told you so, but we are seeing exactly what happens when you have an idiot governor who just refuses to listen to health officials? Is he still fighting tooth and nail to keep school districts from imposing mask mandates? What's the latest happening in Florida? So literally right now, Roland, first of Education in the state of Florida, which are appointees, unelected appointees of the governor, are meeting to take disciplinary action against Alachua County Schools, which has a mask mandate for all students, and Broward County Schools in Fort Lauderdale, which has a mask mandate for all students. And I want to point out that both Alachua and Broward,

that mask mandate was put in place by elected school boards, right? Locally elected school boards, elected by parents and community leaders. And this unelected appointed state board of education is questioning them and grueling them as we speak to take disciplinary action against them, which may include withholding funding. So I want to point out that withholding funding means they're taking money from the kids because the adults there want to make sure that every child is safe. It is absolutely ludicrous when you think about it.

And the crazy thing is that the numbers are not in his favor. They are increasing and increasing and increasing, and he is becoming more obstinate as the numbers increase. Yeah, look, Hillsborough County, which is Tampa, they reported last week that they had 5,700 students quarantined or who had COVID last week. 5,700 students. On top of that was another over 300 employees, teachers and staff who were quarantined as well. Those are really high numbers. And Hillsborough County has now called an emergency school board meeting for tomorrow to come up with better strategies to help stop the spread of COVID in our schools. We have seen increased quarantining and outbreaks since school started a little over a week ago now. So here's a question that really jumps out. Are you seeing Republican parents say publicly, yo, I'm sorry, we're not going along with this?

I mean, or are we seeing still a small minority of people driving these actions by DeSantis in Florida? Yeah, I think it's a small number of people. And what we've seen in our school boards across the state is that a lot of people who come and say don't put mask mandates in place aren't even parents. They don't have parents in the public school system. They may not even live in that community. They are coming in and they are actually saying to school boards, don't put these mask mandates in place. Look, here's the bottom line. Every educator, I'm a teacher by trade,

every educator has this sacred trust that's placed in us that parents believe that we are going to do. And we take it seriously, right? We are going to do everything possible to keep their child safe when they're in our care and make sure that they're getting the education they deserve, regardless of race, background, or zip code. Every child that comes through our public schools is going to be protected by the people who work there. And the governor is trying to force a break in that sacred trust because obviously you can't have that sacred trust with the governor. And he's trying to silence those who are trying to protect kids.

I'll also point out, Roland, there's been two lawsuits filed here in Florida, one in the federal courts on behalf of students with disabilities. the Individual Education Accountability Act, that they are not being protected under Governor DeSantis' mandate for no masks. And then you had another group of parents in state court who filed saying, what about our rights as parents? You're talking about parental right, but you're taking away our right as parents to keep our kids safe by allowing mask mandates based on the conditions in the school district? Well, again, I think the battle lines are being drawn. And to me, this is one of those moments where folks have to be questioned and chastised on their ideology because it has nothing to do with ideology. COVID is killing folks, whether you're Democrat, Republican, whether you're independent, whether you're agnostic, doesn't matter. It does not care, has no barriers. And so I really do hope that the parents in Florida continue to resist and be extremely vocal

and put pressure, protest, go hard at DeSantis. Same thing in Texas with Abbott, because their actions literally are killing people. Yeah, absolutely. And I will say in Florida, we've had over 17 school employees who have lost their life to COVID since July 1. We have four students under the age of 16 who have lost their life to COVID since July 1. And that's way too many. One life lost to COVID when we can actually take measures to prevent the spread and the seriousness of COVID is one too many. And we have to remember, one, those over the age of 12, go get vaccinated. That is the best way to beat COVID. And two, do everything we can to protect those under the age of 12 who are unable to get vaccinated,

which are all our students at the elementary level and many of our students at the middle school level. We have to take reasonable measures. And maybe they're a little inconvenient. We can argue about that. But they are reasonable measures and they're not out of line and they will literally save lives based on what we've seen in this last year or so with COVID and what we hear from the medical professionals. All right, then. Andrew Sparber, I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Roland. Have a good one. Folks, so I told you about that interview that Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick did when he was on with Tucker Carlson on Fox News several months ago. We're going to show you some of that because, again, I want you to understand how nutso these folks are.

They're nuts. And I need everybody who's watching to understand that these are the people who literally are engaged in our public policy. These are the people who are in office right now who are making decisions

about what happens with our children, what happens with our children, what happens with our lives, and what they continue to do, what they continue to do is to gaslight. And the crazy thing is they are appealing to a small minority of loud, outrageous people who formed the base of their party. They are appealing to, yes, lunatic Donald Trump. They are appealing to all of those individuals who think like them.

And so, again, for the people who say, oh, you're making a big deal out of this. Nope, nope. I'm only looking at the actual facts. Over the weekend when I was in Houston, I spent some time at dinner with three black doctors. These black doctors were talking about the impact of COVID. They were talking about what they deal with on a daily basis. One of these doctors described something to me, Mustafa, that I found to be startling. There was a person who died of COVID. They tried to save his life, pumped him. Body was bloated.

So the family comes in, and they're literally looking at the dead body. And they go, he didn't die of COVID. And the doctor says, yes, he did. Yeah,'t die of COVID and the doctor says yes he did yeah he died of COVID and then the person goes well no you can't are you going to put that on the death certificate the doctor said yeah we're going to put it on the death certificate then the person says I mean oh my goodness we're going to put it on the death certificate.

Then the person says, I mean, oh my goodness, look at his body being all bloated. This was the quote. He would die if he saw how he looked. He was dead. So yeah, he would die if he saw how he looked. Because that's how he looked due to COVID.

I mean, this is, I mean, like Mustafa, the dude is dead. The doctors are saying he died of COVID. No, he didn't. But you know, deniers want to take it to the grave. It's amazing how people will hold on to these false narratives,

even when they know what the truth is. And we're just willing to sacrifice folks. It's just amazing what we see currently going on in our country. And we know where to put some of it or whom to put on some folks' foot. And that would be Donald Trump, because he had an opportunity to make sure that the right framing was there to get people focused, to make sure that people got vaccines or got vaccinated when the vaccine was available, to make sure that you're wearing masks, make sure that you're washing your hands, all these things that we know that work. And that planted these seeds that people just have allowed to grow, and many of them now are seeds of disinformation. So it doesn't surprise me when you see someone saying,

I don't want COVID to be on the deathbed, or, you know, they look this way or that way. You know, by not getting vaccinated, by not doing the right things, they're literally playing with their lives and making a choice that COVID could take them away from them. So, the clip I'll tell you about Dan Patrick on Tucker Carlson. This is March 2020. So that was 16 months ago. Pull up the video right now.

I want to show you the chyron. Drop our lower third. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, country will collapse if we shut down for more than three months. It was 14 months ago. America has not collapsed. But they fought,

they fought the lockdown, which is why we're in the condition that we're in, because had we did what we were supposed to do during the lockdown, we wouldn't be in the situation that we're in. This is the sheer stupidity from 16 months ago. Living in fear of is what's happening to this country. And, you know, Tucker, no one reached out to me and said, as a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?

And if that's the exchange, I'm all in. And that doesn't make me noble or brave or anything like that. I just think there are lots of grandparents out there in this country like me. I have all in. And that doesn't make me noble or brave or anything like that. I just think there are lots of grandparents out there in this country like me. I have six grandchildren that what we all care about and what we love more than anything are those children. And I want to, you know, live smart and and see through this. But I don't want the whole country to be sacrificed. And that's what I see.

I've talked to hundreds of people, Tucker, just in the last week, and making calls all the time. And everyone says pretty much the same thing, that we can't lose our whole country. We're having an economic collapse. I'm also a small businessman. I understand it. And I talk with business people all the time, Tucker. And I'm so, I'm just, my heart is lifted tonight by what I heard the president say, because we can do more than, you know, one thing at a time. We can do two things. So, you know, my message is that let's get back to work. Let's

get back to living. Let's be smart about it. And those of us who are 70 plus, we'll take care of ourselves, but don't sacrifice the country. Don't do that. Don't ruin this great American dream. You're basically saying that this disease could take your life, but that's not the scariest thing to you. There's something that would be worse than dying. Yeah. And look, I'm gonna... Danae, this is what I'm talking about. As a senior, no one called me to ask my opinion. No, dumbass. I'm sorry. You're not gonna get a personal phone call to say,

Hey, Dan, do you think we should do lockdowns and mask mandates because we actually really depend upon what you have to say? And then they say, oh, but these grandparents, they love their children. And I'm sure they probably like to see their grandchildren as opposed to their grandchildren seeing them in a casket or an urn. And for everybody to understand, the lieutenant governor of Texas is more powerful than the governor of Texas because he oversees the state senate. That is the type of idiot who is in power.

And if Abbott gets sicker and dies of COVID, he becomes governor. It's baffling. It is really baffling at this point. I mean, it is that kind of rhetoric that we are in the position that collapse simply because people, for the most part, would be sheltering in place, would be working from home, right? All of these

things would happen. I mean, we literally have case studies for this, right? We could look to Australia and New Zealand. Australia literally has been under lockdown for longer than the United States of America. New Zealand just announced brand new COVID-19 lockdown protocols after one case of COVID-19. What is our excuse? It's the idea that he's propagating that saying that if we were to provide people with the resources and services that they need to shelter in place that we would collapse. First and foremost, the United States is one of the wealthiest nations on earth, thanks in large part, the vast majority of its wealth coming from the backs of enslaved black people, right, who have yet to reap the benefits of the labor in which our ancestors

put into this country. But they paid by blood, sweat, and tears. But that's another story, right? So when we look at this nation by providing a stimulus package, last year we saw so many Republicans say that if we were to provide a stimulus package of a multi-trillion dollars that the United States would not be able to sustain it. Guess what? That happened not once, but twice, but three times, and yet the United States of America did not collapse, right? There are social services that are being provided simply due to the pandemic, and the nation is not on the verge of collapse. In fact, there's many industries that are doing much more better today than it was previous to the pandemic.

So the nation would not collapse if we were to be on lockdown. And the reality is, if we were to go under lockdown back then in the early months of COVID-19, then we would not be dealing with it a year and a half later, right? We would have already been on the flip months of COVID-19, then we would not be dealing with it a year and a half later, right? We would have already been on the flip side of this pandemic. But due to those attitudes, we will continue to have to face the verge of collapse if we have to continuously do this versus doing it one solid, one good time, getting it over with and being on the flip side. But it's because of that rhetoric that we will continue to be in this space. And I just hope that we could move beyond that point for the sake of the nation and for the sake of the globe.

You know, Mustafa, last point on this before we go to our next story. This is the same Greg Abbott who was pushing Texas state troopers to arrest migrants, saying that they were the cause of COVID spreading in the state. No, it's white male Republicans at fundraisers with no masks. Exactly. We know Greg Abbott and the weaknesses that exist in his leadership and in his policy. You know, this is about politics. It's about stupidity, but it's also about politics. If they can create more chaos, then they think that they can win in 2022 and then take that on 2024.

When I was a fed, I had to take the vote to protect folks, both foreign and domestic. I don't know what oath these folks have taken because they continue to put people's lives in danger that are in their state and of course across the country so i'm pretty much done with them as i said last week you need to sue us you need to sue them for child endangerment you need to sue them for public endangerment i guarantee you they will get their act together absolutely all right folks got to go to a break uh when we come back uh more on

roller mart unfiltered don't forget we want you to support what we do here at this show. Your dollars make it possible for us to do what we do. You can join us via Cash App. Our goal is we ask 20,000 of our fans to donate at least 50 bucks a year, $4.19 a month, $0.13 a day. And trust me, those resources are critically important for us to do what we do. That's martin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered. PayPal is paypal.me forward slash rmartinunfiltered. Venmo.com forward slash rmunfiltered. And so we'll leave that up. As we go to break, we'll be back 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. Football bands and one of the best fan experiences in the country. The Cricket BX Swag Challenge kickoff returns to Atlanta on August 28th, along with special guests. College game day.

Then Alcorn State takes on North Carolina Central with conference bragging rights on the line. Center Park Stadium is the place to be on August 28th. Come tailgate all day before enjoying a primetime matchup on the gridiron. You don't want to miss this. Check out meactswagchallenge.com for more information. And, folks, Swag-Me Meack Challenge, we, Roland Martin, on the future will be broadcasting live from Atlanta that Friday

and that Saturday. On that particular Friday, we'll be broadcasting from the Atlanta Braves Stadium. We will have both university presidents, Swack Meack officials. It's going to be jam-packed. On Saturday, we'll be broadcasting live from the Coca-Cola Fan Zone from 2 to 6.30. Then, we're going to be live-streaming

the halftime show as well as the music performance after the game. And so, you definitely want to check out Roller Mark Unfiltered on the ground at the SWAT NEAC Challenge, August 27th, August 28th. See you there. 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. I'm Chrisette Michelle. of black people. I'm Chrisette Michelle. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks. Let's talk about the impact, again, COVID,

on black home ownership. Now, this is, you know, something that's, like, significant. And you may home ownership. Now, this is something that's significant. You may say, hold up, I don't understand how there's some sort of impact, but the reality is, it is. According to analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau, the data by the Center for American Progress, black home ownership barely went up from 44% in 2019 to 44.1% in 2020. However, the home ownership rate for white Americans increased to 74.5% from 73.7%.

Experts say a combination of barriers black people face during the pandemic, like high rate of unemployment, overwhelming student loan debt, discriminatory practices that occurred during the home buying process. Joining us right now is Sabrina Lowry of Sabrina Lowry Enterprises and Legacy Realty and Management. Sabrina, glad to have you here. And so we often talk about on this show how COVID exposed a lot in America. COVID exposed

the inequities in our schools, the richer school districts having computers and iPads. Their students having access to high-speed internet. Low-income students, not the case. Same thing on the job front. I mean, just every sort of area. And so here we're dealing with the home ownership, black home ownership rate, which failed to its lowest since 1968

when the Fair Housing Act was passed under Donald Trump. Now, he loved talking about what it did for black people, but let's talk about that home ownership rate that went down to actually 40 percent. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Roland. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today, and I have so many feelings about this subject. I have been in the real estate industry as a licensed realtor for the past 18 years. Over my career, I have seen the market rise and fall. And 2020 was almost like pre-foreclosure back in 2008, 9 and 10, when the market crashed and home ownership for Black people was an issue at that time as well. I teach a fair housing class and it's a three-hour continuing education that in 2020, to your point, the National Association of Realtors made some revisions to our continuing

education training so that not only for the public are we having to educate consumers about home ownership, but there are disparities. As you just mentioned, I wrote these statistics down, black versus white. That's almost 30% differential in black versus white home ownership. I have a problem with that. I come from a family of black homeowners out of the state of New Jersey and then made my trek to the South and became a homeowner here in Georgia. So what I find to be true is the question of fair and bias, equality in housing, and fair housing is a real issue, not only because of affordability, but because discrimination does still exist on the real estate community.

Overall, this is all across America. It's not just in the South. So with that, all right, so what do you see actually happening with the Biden administration to deal with this? HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge has said this is certainly a priority of the Biden administration. It is a priority, but let's talk reality, okay? That's been a hard reality for us because, again, limited supply. It is absolutely a supply versus demand. When we talk about home ownership affordability, there is a big gap. I'll give you an example here in the Georgia market.

Our average home prices are $300,000 and above. Affordability for the average Black family whose total household income is typically below $50,000, that means affordability qualifying for mortgages, they're automatically disqualified, Roland. And I have a problem with that because if it were a $200,000 real estate market in another part of the country where these disparities do not exist, home ownership rates would be higher. But we're here in the black hub of the South, Atlanta, and we are still finding it very difficult to push home ownership forward. And I'm a brokerage owner. So when I look at statistics, not only in my brokerage of how many Black buyers we're servicing versus any other race, that number is a far cry. It's a problem. And the

administration needs to create more programs for that, especially when they try to take away programs like down payment assistance. These are necessities for Black homeownership to rise in this country. Questions from panelists. Denae, your question. So I wanted to ask about more specifics. What would you suggest to the Biden administration that they do in order to make home buyership more accessible to members of the Black community? Absolutely starts with education. And there is a fear. So if you put the fear in Black people that they don't want to go through a process because you already make it so difficult for them to qualify, how are they going to enact

some change, not just in the down payment assistance programs, but through education overall? I want to see educational programs the same way that organizations like NACA, for example, they'll go around the country doing home counseling. I've done home ownership programs and sessions for years for buyers across the country because they are not educated. If you are not working with a realtor, let's just say you're the average consumer shopping online until you see a community of housing that you want to live in, that you want to invest in. So now we're talking about creating affordable housing communities throughout this country. Those are the points that the administration needs to stand on.

The interest rates are not the problem. The interest rates are the lowest ever, right? And so that's one factor we don't have to consider. But everything else, what about the down payment? If the average buyer on an FHA loan, that is a federally backed loan, has to get a loan for FHA 3.5% down. My average sales price is $300,000. Come on, somebody, do the math. Does the average Black family have reserves, have down payment savings, so that they can go and qualify for an FHA or even a conventional loan program, which is even more stringent. So here we have to talk about what are the guidelines? Why is the criteria so strict? Why do we have a bias? Because we've got to check a box on the mortgage application that says what our race is. And so when we're talking to the

banks, we're talking to the lenders and these mortgage brokers, that is a factor of consideration. I don't care what anybody says because I'm servicing these buyers. I'm representing them in the streets, going to war, going to bat for them so that the sellers understand their money is just as good as any other race. Mustafa? What should folks be doing in relationship to their elected officials? What types of policies should they be pushing for? I love that question. Again, as a Realtor member, I donate to what is called our PAC.

That is our Realtors Political Action Party. And what do we do? We go to Washington. Where do we go? Here in the state of Georgia, we show up at the Capitol for what we call our Realtor Day, honey. And it's a sea of blue because that is our color. That's what our realtor brand stands on. And we go and we seek out those elected officials. I show up with pad and paper and I give a list of concerns. I'll give you just one talking point. Let's just say black folks want to become Airbnb owners and investors. Hey, now, that's a whole nother situation that the politics is politicking on.

So I have a problem with that. So yes, I will stand before all of my elected officials. I will show up to the meet and greets. I will rub elbows with those that look like me and otherwise. And I will speak truth to power because home ownership in Black America is a problem. I will continue to teach fair housing across the world until the administration enacts laws that truly remove discrimination as it relates to housing. All right then, Sabrina Lowry, we surely appreciate it.

If people want more information, where can they get it from you? Absolutely, sabrinalowry.com. You can follow me across social media, Sabrina Lowry at IG and Twitter. And ladies and gentlemen, I am the brokerage owner of Legacy Realty and Management here in Atlanta. So you can follow us online there as

well. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Again, folks, so certainly we understand that one of the issues that we talk about HUD, this is what Secretary Marsha Fudge had to say on the 100th day of the Biden administration regarding HUD. Thank you. It is my responsibility and it is my desire, Ms. Watson Coleman, to change things so that everybody believes that they have a fair shot in this country. And I intend to do it. I promise you. All right, folks, let's talk about Afghanistan. U.S. military evacuation flights resumed from Afghanistan today. The Taliban tried to calm fears during its first news conference since taking power.

They declared amnesty for government officials and vowed to uphold women's rights under Islamic law. White House officials released the following statement. That is the Hamad Karzai International Airport is open and flights can land and depart, including on the civilian side. As of this morning, there are 3500 troops on the ground at H. ground at HKAL today. U.S. military flights are taking off from HKAL with American citizens and U.S. embassy personnel on board. And so that's what's happening in Afghanistan. You also have an effort where the Biden administration is pledging to actually bring Afghan refugees to the United States, not sitting with the Fox News crowd because they say, ooh, that's what happens when you bring in these people. Then, of course,

you get this fool, Charlie Kirk, that bigot over with the Turning Point USA. This fool actually said that this is what happens when you bring in more Ilhan Omars. Okay, she's not from Afghanistan. She's actually from, you see, that's the problem. They think everybody look alike. That's part of their problem. Just so y'all understand what's going on. Let's give you an update on what's happening in Haiti. The death toll folks has been increased to nearly 2000, 2000 in Haiti. So what is happening there, they continue to deal with the rubble there, also severe, severe storms that are hitting the island, the tropical storm there. And so that is hampering all of the various efforts. Now the tropical depression has weakened, but it is still a

problem that is taking place there. And so you're seeing a lot of the video being posted just so you understand the impact. This is some video that was posted on Twitter of what it was like in one household when the earthquake hit, watch this. It was a massive, a massive 7.2 earthquake on the Richter scale. And again, as we're seeing, folks were greatly impacted. Seawater as it was, you know, rushing down streets there as well. This is some of the video that was posted from a couple of days ago as folks were fleeing the water as it rapidly moved

throughout one of the communities there. And so they continue to put together efforts to help people in Haiti who are being impacted by this devastating earthquake. And so you have the earthquake on top of this tropical depression sitting on top of Haiti. And then, of course, they're still dealing with the aftermath of the assassination of the Haitian president just a few weeks ago. And so we certainly continue praying for the Haitians there. But also, again, I'm going to be providing information to you on how you can help, how you can give. Again, this is some of the video there of people gathering their belongings. You look at how the earthquake just destroyed a lot of these homes, already not built on firm foundation, but you see what happens there. And so I'm sure as the rain moves out, then you're going to actually have more folks trying to get in to offer their level of assistance to Haitians in this time.

Mustafa, that point we made, we had the Haitian ambassador on yesterday talking about who are the entities to actually support and give. That's going to be a critical issue there that we are ensuring that is going to the right people who are going to get the resources to the folks on the ground and not bureaucrats. Exactly. There are a number of frontline organizations, you know, these rescue organizations that can help make sure that the resources, that food, that the other supplies that folks need actually makes it to them. I worked a bunch of natural disasters, manmade disasters, and I know how chaotic it could

be. But the saving grace is when people come together and show and embrace their humanity and are willing to give. So I hope everyone will take it very seriously and make sure, one, that you're giving to the right organizations, but that you are giving. Joining us right now is Pastor Lee May, Transforming Faith Church, former CEO of DeKalb County, Georgia Lee. What are you hearing? How are black churches mobilizing to assist brothers and sisters in Haiti? Many churches do during this time. It's really a more of a reactive kind of thing. Offerings are being raised to send.

And the problem, like you said earlier, is making sure that it's going to the right entities, that the priorities are really clear and set in terms of where the finances are going and who are receiving them and how they're being dispersed. But typically, churches here in DeKalb County, that's where I'm based out of. We come together and put pallets of trailers together to send the needs. But the question is always, what is the most pressing need right now? And those needs evolve as time goes on. Right now, they may need power. I mean, well, they definitely need power, but they need water and food and things like that. But over time, it will evolve. And so one thing that I will

say to all of your viewers is this, is lean in and support right now, but also a week, two, three weeks, a month from now, also be looking for those intentional opportunities to give then as well, because this is a long haul recovery for them. And, you know, Haiti can't seem to catch a break. If it's not one thing, it's another for that small island. And churches just have to step forward, you know, in a very intentional way. And, Jenea, I certainly hope that Black folks in the United States collectively are able to put together resources and work through these existing organizations to show the kind of support that we can give. That's why I have incredible groups on the ground matter.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Denae? Absolutely. So I think one of the things that I would love to speak to about the Haitian issue is that the displacement is going to be real. As a matter of fact, displacement has already been a real issue for members of the Haitian community. If you know anything about what took place in Haiti in 2010, there were actually a host of migrants, thousands, tens of thousands on the ground in Mexico that were seeking asylum as a result of the natural disaster that hit their homeland.

And we saw those people have to remain in place in Mexico because the United States refused to grant them asylum. And it's unfortunate, like the previous person said, that Haiti simply can't even catch a break. So it's not just going to be about the monetary aspect of who can give and how much they can give. It's also going to be about people seeking refuge in the United States of America and countries across the globe as well, too, to make sure that they can have access to safety and security moving forward, because they haven't even recovered from the previous disasters that they've encountered. And not just that, the destabilization at the hands of the assassination of their president, Moïse, right?

So there is so much work that is going to have to take place in Haiti beyond the monetary aspect. And I think to your point as well, too, it's going to be so crucial for us to know exactly which organizations that we're given to. And the reason that is, is because based on the previous natural disaster that took place in Haiti, most people would go to the American Red Cross and donate tens of millions of dollars. And we know, based on the report that came out afterward, that of those tens of millions of dollars that were raised for the purposes of getting Haiti back to a place of pre-disaster, that only a handful, imagine, imagine raising 50 to 100 million dollars for a small island like Haiti. And of those millions of dollars that were raised,

only having built a handful of homes for the Haitian people. And mind you, these aren't mansions that are being built. These are hut-like conditions that are being erected, and they're not meant to be sustained, right? So there's so much that we have to do to make sure the Haitian community is safe, secure, and protected, not just now, but in the long term as well. Absolutely. All right, folks, I've got to go to a break. Before we go to a break, a word from our partner with Seek.com. All right, folks, so we should be playing a video. There we go. All right, we have an issue with the video there, but let's go ahead.

And Seek.com, of course, is founded by a sister, Mary Spio. We support black-owned businesses here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. And what they have done is provided an opportunity for you to get their VR headset as well as their 360 degree headphones via a promo code with Roland Martin Unfiltered. So this is the VR headset here. To watch their content, you just simply pop your phone right into the headset right here. And then you can watch their video, 360 degree video, the virtual reality video right here in the headset It's a first of all, it's really really really cool. They also have their headphones They got to the black and gold version

Of course, I love these a gold version of the seek headphones And so you can get this via the promo code should be singing the bottle of the screen Please let me know what's gonna show up. The promo code is RMVIP21, RMVIP21. Go to seek.com to get one of both of those. And again, proceeds of what you purchase on the items, a proceed comes back to us here at Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, we'll be back in a moment. All right, folks, So we have issues with our video playback machine. And so what we'll do is we'll get that sorted out and then we will go to go to our commercial break. Let's go to our next guest, please. And that is we're talking about, you know, on the show, we always talk about the importance of black media and what matters and what's going on.

And black media professionals are constantly facing daily struggles while trying to establish our various brands, whether it's the glass ceiling of the industry, wage inequality, and lack of advertising. Black professionals are constantly fighting to receive equal and fair treatment in the media industry. Jamal Finkley, founding CEO of Black Tree TV, shared his thoughts recently with the folks at Forbes talking about the impact and what it means. And Jamal, we've met you on the show beforehand.

We've seen so many people talking out in the aftermath of George Floyd and how Black Lives Matter. But are you actually seeing that take place in real time? I'll give you a perfect example. When I was reached out to by a company that was doing some stuff for influencers regarding Aretha Franklin's movie Respect. And I said, well, the movie company might want to show some respect to black media. I said, because we're the media advertising dollars. I said, I know for a fact that Aretha Franklin, who I knew very well, believed in black owned media. I said, and so she would be offended

if dollars were not being spent with black-owned media companies promoting her movie. And again, what often happens is they want us to do the content. They want us to push this stuff out for free, but they don't want to spend the money with us, but they surely will spend it with black-targeted media. Yeah, exactly.

I mean, it's such a multifaceted problem, Roland. First, thanks for having me on the show. But what's happened over the years is that when I first kind of broke into the Hollywood industry and started doing these interviews, I was talking directly to the studios, talking to all the publicists

and marketing divisions in the studios. And even then, they would etch out some marketing dollars at that time for me, whether it was for the dark night or some movie like that. And between that time, the studios have pivoted to the point where they have targeted marketing agencies that kind of, they recruit us to do the interviews and they get the money from the studios and the black media is left kind of penniless and not making any money.

I think there was some inertia, some momentum coming after George Floyd, but with the pandemic putting that pause on a lot of events and carpets and interviews, I think that the studios have kind of just run the clock out on their responsibility towards being more accountable towards black media, towards black people. And now it's just back to, you know, same thing. I got no problem with calling the network out. I got an email, multiple emails from the people at OWN talking about these new shows. And finally, I said, I'm sorry.

Y'all ain't never spent no money with us. I said, I've done numerous interviews with OWN. Even when Oprah had OWNed it, it was 50-50. When she owned 50%, Discovery owned 50%. They now own 95%. I said, y'all call me about a whole lot of stuff y'all called me uh wanting to get talent on the show I said but y'all ain't never spent a dime I said so no um I'm not I'm not putting your people on the show and the brother was like oh you know what I work in PR I

said fine you might want to call the people over there in the marketing department. I said, if y'all ain't going to spend no money, I said, because clearly y'all think my audience is valuable because you want me to put the stars of your shows on. But then you don't think we're valuable because you don't want to spend money. Yeah. We've heard Byron Allen bring this up. We've heard a lot of people bring it up. But it's really sad. I mean, when you go to awards season, like each of these movie budgets, you'll hear about a movie that has a $100 million budget.

They also have a four-year consideration budget. will now Golden Globes as defunct or Oscars or AFCA, whatever award they're going for, they have a four-year consideration budget, which they use to promote their stars, their directors, that movie. And that's never spent on Black media. And that's millions of dollars that goes to your varieties, that goes to your Hollywood reporters, that goes to all these other, you know, majority white corporate outlets and black media, besides BET sometimes, which is black face media.

Yeah, BET is black targeted. BET is not black owned. Black targeted, yeah. When you give money to BET, you give money to ViacomCBS. That's Sherri Redstone. She owns that. That ain't us. Exactly, exactly.

So, yeah, the money has always been, I mean, the biggest issue and access has been another issue. And I think in that article, that interview I did before, that was some of the things we talked about is access and has anything changed? And like I told the reporter, Raquel Harrison, on the thing, it used to be a different way between Black talent and Black media, and now that's changed. But the stance that the studio has done with access to dollars, to marketing dollars, and access to talent has pretty much been consistent. And to the point of where it's like openly racist, one of the things I brought up in the interview

is that a lot of times on a movie, it could be a big movie, they'll give me the one Black star of the movie, but then they'll give all of my competitors the whole movie, you know, everybody in the cast, but they'll give me, you know, one major Black star that's in the movie and say we didn't have time for everybody else and that's just like it's it's racist to the

point of what where one time on a black movie uh girls trip uh the studio told me point blank that we only have two slots for black media to travel. And I responded in the same email. This came directly from the studio. I said, I want y'all to write that email. I said, we only have two spots for gay people or two spots for women. And then see if it goes well with that crowd. You can't say that to anybody but black media

because of the lack of respect that you guys have for us. Well, I think also that what has to happen is you got to have black-owned media people uh stop being scared uh i was on a clubhouse chat just a few months ago and i was talking about this very issue and this one brother was like well you know uh you know really you know roland i mean i know you know you say stuff but we really can't say anything because you know uh we're not gonna get anything in the future i I'm sorry, you got no money last week. You got no money this week. So you're afraid to say something because you might not get some money next week?

Yeah. Yeah, I get consistently blackballed for seasons by studios. So, like, I've done blackballs by all the major studios, Paramount, Disney, Universal. They've all put me on hiatus because I was too outspoken about some issue that I had a problem with. But as one of the few black-owned medias, I feel a responsibility to my colleagues, to the next generation of black media owners, to the next moguls, to fight for our position and to fight for our stance. So I would like to see a change. I think that, like I said, we have some momentum right before the pandemic. You had me on the show right after I made that major blow up on the Grammys carpet.

And since then, the pandemic has really just kind of give them a reset button. And it's really it's really sad like one thing i would really like to see when you talk to talk about these pr departments is i would i would like to see them hire black people within their studio i mean and some people have done it well netflix has a very diverse yeah uh pr and marketing department but when you go around to the other major studios they hire out third-party agencies because they don't have anybody Black within their staff that they feel like are culturally in touch with who the outlets to talk to and what the messaging should be. And I think that needs to change. It gives them, it relieves them the responsibility of being able to

hire people that look like us. And I think that's just a shame. Absolutely. A question for each one of my panelists. Mustafa, I'll start with you. Yeah, Brother Jamal, the question is, what do we do as consumers to better help you and others in the black-owned media space? Well, I mean, I think one of the things that us in the media need to do is be more proactive about figuring out ways to reach that audience and get that support. Roland Martin has been very good about having Patreon and other methods for people to support them directly, while other outlets that don't look like us don't have to do that because they're getting the dollars from the studios. But I think we have to be more proactive about trying to reach into the community and get direct support, which we shouldn't have

to do because these movies already have marketing budgets that set aside for this. But that's one thing. And then when we do call out some people, we need to just not support those movies or those projects. And I know there's like you know hundreds sometimes thousands of people's on a project that have nothing to do with these policies but sometimes you got to just hit them in the pocket and say look if uh if if if disney isn't gonna invite black media out to this event or warner brothers or whomever and they're not gonna support black media with the dollars then we're not gonna to support them with the box office or with the tweets or with anything else. We just got to be like that strong and policy as a community to just not support people that don't support us.

Late. It's a tough question. And I'm thinking as kind of just a regular person on the daily that wants to do something to help with that. You know what I mean? I mean, I see the reality. I see the reality. And it's not just of course, it's not just this industry, but it's just in so many industries where the African-American community seems to get just the crumbs under the table, right? So is there something specific, like just the average person, the person who's listening to this and like, yo, I want to do something that can really make a difference, that can really help that? Can we email somebody? Can we call out somebody individually on our social media feeds? Or, you know, kind of what is some strategic you think we could be doing to really support you, bro? somebody can we can we call out somebody individually on our social media feeds or

you know kind of what is something strategic you think we could be doing to to really support you brother yeah i think that's something we could do together we could we can't start calling them out we can't start you know naming these infractions by the studios and tell the community to write letters to the studio tell them that we don't support that. I just wish we as a people were more supportive of owning our own images. It's really a shame how little Black ownership there is in media. When you go through all these companies, whether it's Revolt or BET, as Roland mentioned earlier, you get down to the ownership level of it. And it's not really black owned. It's just black targeted. And I think once we take ownership in our own images, we'll have

more trust in our news. We'll have more trust in the images we put out. We'll have a bigger voice politically when it's time for elections and everything else because we own the media and we can't get turned off. And I think that's something that I look at all of the, you know, wealthy people in our community, maybe the celebrities, the LeBrons and so forth. I wish that we were just more enthused about owning black media. I mean, whether it's Black Tree Media or Roland Martin or whatever, I think we need to have more Black ownership, more Black media companies that own

the media, that we're all the way through and through is Black ownership. And I think once we have that, our message will be preserved in 300 years because we own that message. And right now, in 300 years, whatever BET wants to say about Barack Obama,

whatever Viacom's going to say about Barack Obama in 200 years, we don't own that. They could change that message or whatever and make him into whoever they want him to be because we don't own that. And I think that's a huge problem that my legacy is I really want to change that, the ownership in black media. That's a good look, brother.

That's a good look. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Go ahead, finish, go ahead, finish. No, I was going to say, when I was younger, man, I owned a movie look, brother. That's a good look. When I was... I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Go ahead, finish, go ahead, finish. No, I was going to say, when I was younger, man, I owned a movie theater, literally. I was 29 years old, and at the time, this is in 2005, man, I was one of three black-owned movie theaters

in the country. And it shocked me when I found that out. You know, that... And then I realized, throughout the whole entertainment industry, it was just the same, man. And so when you're talking about controlling our images, even having, I used to, Will Packer, back in the day before he got all big, he used to run his movies through our movie theater because the big movie theaters wouldn't run this stuff back then, you know what I mean?

And I realized we can't even help each other kind of go to that next level until we began to have ownership in some of those areas. So I respect what you're doing, brother, man. Keep it up, don't get tired. I know it gets tired out there when you kind of small in numbers and keep getting the foot put on your neck,

but keep pushing, brother. Keep pushing, man. Thank you. Danai. In wake of the murder of George Floyd, we saw corporations pledge tens of millions of dollars toward Black-specific causes and projects in the near future. So how can we go about ensuring follow-through, right, with the millions that were pledged? And how can we ensure the proper management of those funds as well? You spoke about that in a previous segment

when you were talking about Haiti. And I visited Haiti in 2011 and did a report on how that money that was pledged to Haiti ended up going to Chile to save the miners that was trapped in Chile and other countries. I mean, a lot of times you get corporations pledge money, but they pledge money to different causes. And it's not black managed. It's not black owned that they're pledging the money to.

And that money ends up being spent on BET. And it's like it's a write-off for for that company like hey well we spend it on BET and it's not really going into black ownership and a lot of that a lot of that ends up happening so I think we just need to be more direct to the cause just just like we want to do with Haiti we want to serve those people and not serve the Red Cross and their their executives that's making what they're making. We want to get that money directly to the people.

So we need to find these Black media outlets and give them money directly. One company I mentioned in that interview, they asked me for, since it's Black Business Month, which company do I support? And Hidden Empire Film Group, led by Dion Taylor and Roxanne Avon and funded by Robert Smith, a black billionaire, sent out money before there was PPP loans even talked about to a lot of black media outlets. And it might have just been, you know, a thousand or two thousand dollars that they were sending out, but it was not even asked for.

I think that's like the kind of things we got to do. We got to support us directly. You know, when we're not getting that money from these corporations, a lot of times I'm, you know, spending, you know, money out my pocket to bring you guys the news, to bring you guys entertainers, to uplift the Michael B. Jordans and the Yara Sahidis before you guys knew about them. And if we could get that money to, you know, not just Blacktree, but to Roland Martin and to Hip Hollywood and to Your Web and all these companies that are Black-owned and doing the fight, I think we just have to have that direct pipeline and not worry about what the corporations are saying they're doing. Because I've never seen a dollar of that George Floyd

money come towards my company. And we've been around for 20 years so it's there's that well and again i i think it is people have understand that you can't you can't be silent you can't be afraid uh and so actually i'm about to post something right now uh with regards to i was talking about with own uh because again well you know we did this we dealt with it and you know it was a black publicist who worked there reached out to me, saying they want to own it. And I said, guys, I'm just not going to have y'all people on my show if y'all can't spend a dollar. I said, it's just not going to happen. It's just not going to happen.

So they got to step up. Jamal Finkley, always a pleasure, man. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Roland. All right, folks, got to go to break. We come back. We're going to talk about SNAP benefits being on the increase and also how HBCUs are using the Nextdoor app

to build community. All that's next. Roland Martin, Unfiltered. 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. Football bands and one of the best fan experiences in the country. The Cricket BX Swag Challenge kickoff returns to Atlanta on August 28th, along with special guests. College game day. Then Alcorn State takes on North Carolina Central with conference bragging rights on the line. Center Park Stadium is the place to be on August 28th.

Come tailgate all day before enjoying a primetime matchup on the gridiron. You don't want to miss this. Check out meakswagchallenge.com for more information. It ain't just about hurting black folk. Right. We've got to 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 going to happen. I'm Bill Duke. This is DeHala Riddle and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Stay woke. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SN snap benefits will permanently go up in October, making this largest increase in the program's history. 25% boost will help the 42 million snap recipients fight hunger.

Store prices for food rose 2.6% in the past year during the pandemic. Snap recipients got additional assistance as well during this. Now Sharice Crawford. She's elected at large. Councilwoman of Washington DC. Glad to have you on the show. So this is this happening specifically in D.C. or is happening across the country? Hey, Roland, can you hear me OK? You're just fine.

Excellent. This is a federal program. Thank you so much for having me. We really want to salute our president, Joe Biden, for having me. We really want to salute our President Joe Biden for this initiative. It's long overdue. Advocates, organizers have been on the ground floor longer for the media's attention brought. But this is a federal program that's looking to trickle down into the local government organizations. And so for me personally, as a food apartheid survivor in a red line community in food deserts, recipient of food stamps, you know, rolling back in the day we had the actual food stamp booklets, I'm a product of what good governing can do to elevate us out of poverty. I don't think any of the families who are food insecure are looking for handouts. It's about handups. I think our mayor,

Mayor Bowser, is putting out some incredible programs like the hunger solutions with the food bank. We're looking at significant programs like our cohort at Sibley Memorial Hospital examining what malnutrition looks like when it comes to solving violent crimes and public safety. This is a multi-level solution here that I think if we can get our government agencies speaking together on top of our local community-based organizations that are door-to-door providing food access, even in the pandemic, we were out there making sure our residents had fresh produce i think we can see a massive change in how we are feeding our malnourished neighbors and coming out of despair and i think that's the bigger opportunity here is that it's not about staying um stuck on any resources but it's building up a community. We have now 13.7 million undernourished U.S. citizens. And to think about the massive wealth in this country,

this is a step in the right direction. But a step further was going to be making sure that we're in our government communicating. Our agencies are talking to each other that are getting the dollar funded, that we're incentivizing black farmers and canceling out the debt for the black farmers. We understand they're in court right now and can't get the bailout. And so that's another reason for a hike that we see in grocers. Where I live in particular, there's only one grocery store where there are 10 grocery stores west of the river. And so incentivizing Black farmers allows us opportunity to bring in more grocers, to be more, we have food cohorts that are growing around

the city. But again, this is a multi-leveled effort that's going to change the trajectory of the next generation of young people who are beneficiaries. And I'm recruiting them to Shaw University, Roland. Yeah, we can tell. We can tell. And first of all, when we talk about this increase, when you compare literally the amount of money we're talking about for SNAP benefits compared to what we spend on defense in this country, nearly $750 billion. Look at the $2.26 trillion we sent to Afghanistan. I doubt very seriously that if you compare how much money we've spent on SNAP benefits in the past 20 years compared to what we spent in Afghanistan, it ain't even close. It's not close. I mean, and we support organizations that are actually grass-rooted.

You know, we have the Kim Fords and Martha's Tables, food bank, capital area food banks that are really doing their work to get to the doorstep of our actual residents, United Planet Organization, whose mission is just to eradicate poverty. We were in the pandemic supporting our neighbors right here in Washington. So again, you're right. You know, when we look at foreign aid versus the aid that we give to our neighbors who are right here at war, there's no comparison. And I think that we're going to see the fruits of our labor as we continue to build the grassroots entities and connect them with the intergovernmental resources and move as a unit. I think that's where my office has seen the disconnect in the actual resources being put out compared to how we get that to the person and the individuals that need them the most. And so we get to create a cohesive, interchangeable government with a robust system

of communication and access. And I think that we are heading in the right direction with that. All right then, well look, great work there. We certainly appreciate it. And it is important when it comes to helping the folks who are in some serious need there. Sharice Crawford, thanks a bunch.

Thank you. As a matter of fact, tell your Shaw people, I spoke there. They were supposed to send me some swag so I could actually wear it on the show. And so I keep folks that hit me up. They're like, man, weren't you at Shaw's? Like, yo, I did your convocation. I told y'all I was going to rock this stuff on the show. So you have a new president.

Toshney was the president then. So be sure to let them know. Be sure to let them know. So I'll go ahead and rock some Shaw stuff on the show for our HBCU segments. Absolutely. I'll tell them, make sure we know. Tell them we're rising. HBCUs are on the rise.

All right. I'll be waiting for you. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot. No problem. Speaking of HBCUs, folks, when we come back, we're going to talk with four HBCU students from Tougaloo about how they're using the Nextdoor app to build community there.

Don't forget, folks, we want you all to support what we do here at Roller Martin Unfiltered. And that is you can join our Bring the Funk fan club where every dollar you give goes to support this show. Cash app is dollar sign RM unfiltered. PayPal.me forward slash RMartin unfiltered. Venmo.com is forward slash RM unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com.

Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. We'll be back in a moment. 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. I hope. Football bans and one of the best fan experiences in the country. The Cricket BX Swag Challenge kickoff returns to Atlanta on August 28th along with special guests. College game day. Then Alcorn State takes on North Carolina Central with conference bragging rights on the line.

Center Park Stadium is the place to be on August 28th. Come tailgate all day before enjoying a primetime matchup on the gridiron. You don't want to miss this. Check out meakswagchallenge.com for more information. And we'll be there on the ground, on Roland Martin Unfiltered, broadcasting live on August 27th and August 28th. We'll do our show August 27th from the Atlanta Braves Stadium,

talking with presidents from both universities, SWAC and MEAC officials. Then on August 28th, we broadcasting from the stadium in the Coca-Cola fan zone from 2 to 6 30 p.m. And then, of course, at

halftime, we'll be live streaming the band performance. And then after the show, the fifth quarterime, we'll be live streaming the band performance. And then after the show, the fifth quarter, it's going to be another musical performance. We're going to have that on RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Certainly glad to partner with the folks with Coca-Cola and the Swag Me Act for that. We'll see you then. Hey, I'm Amber Stevens-West. Yo, what up, y'all? This is Jay Ellis, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. You've been seeing all the photos being posted of students returning to school. My sister and her husband, they were dropping off my niece, Faith, at Howard University

last couple of days, happening all across the country. And so what you're seeing, of course, students get ready to go back to school, still dealing with COVID, still dealing with the pandemic. Some people still virtual, some in person learning. So how do you then connect with folks from your hometown and we in a new place but also when you

need something well a lot of HBCU students are utilizing the app next door to build community if you will. Today we're going to talk with the students from Tougaloo College, seniors Timothy Bridgman and Aurelia Kane, and also junior Mia Sanders. Glad to have all three of you. And so I'm very curious in terms of how,

give me examples of how y'all have been able to connect via Nextdoor with your fellow Tougaloo students and in what way? So we have currently been able to use Nextdoor to connect with other students by promoting our events and informing students in our community about different opportunities that occur on campus. For instance, we have HIV and AIDS screening which which occur on our campus, and we use Nextdoor to inform students of those opportunities so that they can continue to be informed about their health. So when you talk about that, with the events, have you seen examples of where certain students are in need? Because one of the things that I see people pose all the time, they're looking for a farmer's market

or they may need something fixed, they need something. And they're looking for, you know, a company that does some type of work. That to me, I think has been one of the pretty cool things because you have people give their own recommendations on how to make it happen. Yes, so for instance, like you said, looking for things that they need.

So as far as let's, COVID testing and vaccinations, we also use the app for that as well. So if you ever need a COVID test or you want to get a vaccination before you come back to school, we have numerous spots on the Nextdoor app where you can see where you can receive it for free or places that take your specific insurance and things of that nature. You know, I think that when I think back to when I was at Texas A&M, in a large university, never knowing who's all there,

and we would try to communicate, hey, who's going home for the weekend and can I get a ride? And so to me, that's how I think the value of technology with apps like Nextdoor is because, again, you're able to really, in a much different way, connect with folks who you may not even realize who's from the same place that you're in, who you may not even realize live in your same apartment complex or home when you're at school? Absolutely. I think that knowing about Nextdoor and utilizing it to connect with people from your community and learning that information and bringing it to your college and university can definitely help you continue to be engaged with the events

that are happening on campus and continue to be engaged just in general with the student body and your education, knowing others from your hometown and from your own community and using that knowledge to connect with them and really use them as neighbors through the Nextdoor app and understanding that there's a sense of community there that you can rely on, for instance, as you mentioned, when students are returning back home. So someone posted on a YouTube channel, how have you had conversations with the folk when looking to get the right hairstylist? they said i'm sure that's uh always a popular one uh and i'm looking for the right barber uh in town so yes there's also something to use the

out for so it has multiple different like hair stylists as far as you know those girls we need our braids we need our sewing so you can find different people who do different things on the app and as far as the barbers of course you have different pinpoints where they show you okay you when we are sewing. So you can find different people who do different things on the app. And as far as the barbers, of course you have different pinpoints where they show you, okay, you can go this barber for this, or you can go to the mall and find barbers as well as nail shops,

anything that you need for your necessities. All right then. Well, look, I certainly appreciate what y'all done at Tougaloo. I have not, Tougaloo is one of the colleges I have not visited. I think I've spoken at more than 60 plus HBCUs. I have not had a chance yet to be on your campus. And so hopefully that will happen real soon.

We would love for you to come down and visit us and especially visit our chapel. We have numerous civic, religious and educational leaders who have spoken from our pulpit. People like Dr. Martin Luther King, Fannie Lou Hamer, Megan Evers, Robert Kennedy, all have visited our chapel. So hopefully we'll have you to come in and speak to us as well. All right, y'all let me know.

We'll bring Roller Martin Unfiltered and broadcast live from the campus. Just let me know. All right, sure do. All right, folks. I appreciate that. And then we also appreciate the partnership with the folks at Nextdoor. And here is a video that fully explains what the app is all about and how they have been able to really build community in a unique way.

We're going to end our show with that one. Before we do that, don't forget, we want you to support what we do again here at Roller Martin Unfiltered. Again, we're building something amazing. Folks, in a couple of weeks, we're going to debut our new studio space. We've been building it, been growing it, making this thing happen.

We got another great announcement coming up as well. And so we really have been doing some amazing things. Let me thank our panelists. Danae, thank you so very much. And Lee, thanks a bunch. Mustafa, thanks a bunch for your thoughts and analysis. It's always great to have y'all on the show.

Denae has some people here that are like, oh my goodness, she back, she back. I did have somebody ask, they want to know about what's on your head, and somebody asked where can they get it. So I'm like, okay, I'll go ahead and just relay the message. So, what is it? H

a little fashion segment. headband that kind of loo sorts. But pearl headband Los Angeles. But you coul amazon or any black owned headbands. All right. So I'm a full service host. I read the comments on Facebook and YouTube.

And so they were inquiring about your headband. And then somebody also said, oh, it is a headband. And then someone, they were asking Mustafa, where you get your hats from? From New York. All right. So, again, I'm passionate on all the messages for everybody asking these questions. Lee, ain't nobody ask what you got on.

So, you know, all they see is a gray jacket and black shirt. But that's the most important thing. He's throwing an alpha sign up these 3 out was a lead mustafa and was so today you surrounded by black and old goal. That's all right that's all right. I'm not going to that's how we do it. I see you tomorrow right here on Roland Martin unfiltered.

One of the most stressful days of my life was when this one got out. I chased after her as best I could, kind of fell over and broke my wheelchair. I was able to get back home and make a post. Within about five or so minutes, I had three or four different people coming to the rescue. One woman stopped traffic, just drove her right back to the house for me.

It was a very emotional day. Over a period of 10 years, my neighborhood went from being almost 98% black to being 98% white. So all of a sudden, oh God, I'm the suspicious looking black man. I posted on Nextdoor that I no longer felt comfortable walking in this neighborhood. The response I got was hundreds and hundreds of neighbors offering to walk with me. This experience moved me and changed the way I saw humanity. At Nextdoor, we come to work every day to help cultivate a kinder world. We want to make sure that everyone

has a neighborhood to rely on. When we started this company, we felt that technology had an important role to play in bringing communities and neighbors together. We knew that having the support of your neighbors was critical. When I found out I was becoming a father, I panicked.

What am I going to feed this kid? I posted, hey, any other gardeners who might have extra soil, seeds, equipment, and they came up from everywhere. As human beings, we want a sense of safety and anything that gives us that sense of connection. You drive through a neighborhood and you see houses and bricks, but really what you have is people, business owners and entrepreneurs.

We know that the locals are what keep our restaurant going. When somebody says that they enjoy our restaurant, it brings us business. It's been really cool being able to cheer on your neighbors as they open up the next coffee shop. When Hurricane Harvey first hit Houston, I realized that Nextdoor was much more than just a day-to-day utility. It was a lifeline to the community. The neighbors have been using that Nextdoor app to coordinate evacuations. When the pandemic started, people did have the urge to help, but often they didn't know

who to help or how. Our Nextdoor group took off explosively. Just after a year, we had over a thousand members. Nextdoor evokes a sense of pride in your neighborhood, and we know that people globally are craving for that. We posted our music video on the Nextdoor app. We know that people globally are craving for that. We posted our music video on the Nextdoor app. A lot of people in the area liked it. People are beautiful.

Let's go to the beautiful. Keep them rhythm for the vibes we got. Stay on the drums. I think the video meant a lot to our neighbors because it portrays the Cascade area in a positive lighting. At the end of the day, this is a business model about people and neighborhoods and communities. Wouldn't it be beautiful to connect Wall Street

to Main Street and to do well and do good at the same time? It's going to be the legacy of 2020 that Nextdoor put neighbors together for a cause and then forever. Thank you very much. It often starts online, but we know that it continues into the real world, and that is the superpower of Nextdoor. 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 always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive.

But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling, the limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersilling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott.

And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This has kind of star-studded a little bit, man. This is an iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast.