#RolandMartinUnfiltered - TX Jack Yates Principal Firing, Keenan Anderson Death, Le'Den Boykins Case, MO Lawmaker Dress Code

Episode Date: January 13, 2023

1.12.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: TX Jack Yates Principal Firing, Keenan Anderson Death, Le'Den Boykins Case, MO Lawmaker Dress Code  LIVE from Houston, Texas, where the Houston Independent School District is considering terminating Jack Yates High School principal Tiffany Guillory. We will speak to parents and school staff and update you about the school board's public vote and decision. The Los Angeles Police Department just released the Body camera footage of the in-custody death of Keenan Anderson. To discuss the details of the case, we will speak with civil rights attorney Carl Douglas. A Georgia family released the horrific dashcam video of a 2021 Police chase, which led to the death of 12-year-old Le'Den Boykins. We will show you what happened and talk to the family's attorney Lee Merrit about what is being done to get Justice for Le'den. Missouri State House Republicans are trying to pass a sexist dress code policy. We will speak with Missouri State Rep. Jamie Johnson about how the new proposed rules impact female lawmakers.   Support RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ [e-mail] Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Black Star Network and black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home, you dig? Today is Thursday, January 12, 2023. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. I am live here in Houston at Houston Independent School District Headquarters, where the school board will be deciding tonight to terminate the principal, Tiffany Guillory, at my alma mater, Jack Yates High School.

They have yet to explain to the public why they're taking this action, what's the reason behind it. I'll actually be speaking up for her in the school board at this meeting in just a few moments. Also on today's show, one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter, her cousin, shot and killed by LAPD, actually tased seven times. Carl Douglas is the family attorney, and we will talk to him about the death of English teacher Kenan Anderson. Also on today's show, a very strange story out of Texas where a woman from Texas was arrested. First of all, in Philadelphia, she's arrested for a crime in Texas. I think she's never set foot in.

Are we doing having the same issue here when it comes to artificial intelligence? It's crazy. You won't believe how she became a suspect. Also, a Georgia family wants police held responsible for the death of 12 year old Ladeen Boykins, who was killed in a 2021 high speed. Chase will show you the horrific dash cam video and talk to the family's attorney, Lee Merritt. In Missouri, Republicans there. What the hell is wrong with them? They want to get rid of arms. Literally, they don't want women bearing their arms on the floor of the Missouri legislature. Really?

We'll actually talk to a lawmaker there as well. Plus, we'll talk to a tax expert to break down the new tax brackets and explain if there's more money in your pocket. Folks, it is time for us to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. 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-royal It's rolling, Martin Rolling with rolling now Hey, folks, Roland Martin here. I'm broadcasting live from Houston in front of the Houston Independent School District where the school board meeting just started. They are trying to terminate the principal at my alma mater, Jack Yates High School, one of the most historic black high schools here in Houston. They finally had stable leadership. She's been there for five years, but they won't explain why they want to terminate her, even though she has done one hell of a job leading the school and trying to bring it back. Of course, I work with her closely with the scholarship, the $25,000 scholarship that I announced for the school.

And again, she's been a strong leader for Yates. And now the school board wants to take this action and they get to explain to the public exactly why they are making this move. And so I'm going to be speaking in a few moments in the public portion of the school board, sharing my thoughts on her leadership and why she should not be fired and demand more accountability and transparency from this school board. Keep in mind, it was just three years ago. The Texas Education Agency literally was going to take over the school district because of how dysfunctional this school board was.

That's how awful things were here in Houston. Also, they had a black superintendent, Grenita Latham, who was the interim superintendent, twice refused to remove the interim tag. They went out and hired someone else from across the country. She eventually leaves, even though she turned this school district around. And so lots of drama here in Houston. But it is what many call here an ongoing attack on historic black high schools in Houston. And so we'll actually show you my comments when I speak to the school board once they get out of closed session.

Let's start. Let's talk about Los Angeles, folks, where the LAPD have finally released body cam video of the in-custody death of Kenan Anderson. He is the cousin of Patrice Cullors, the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement. Body cam footage shows Anderson flagging down police officers for help after running in the street following a car accident. Anderson then tells officers that they were going to put something in his car when he ran, and officers subdued him and tased him for roughly 30 seconds before tasing him again. Anderson was taken to a hospital after being tased, and about four hours later, he went into cardiac arrest and died. Joining us right now is the family attorney for Kenyon Anderson, Carl Douglas, a noted civil

rights attorney there in Los Angeles. Carl, glad to have you back on Roland Martin Unfiltered. So walk us through. Anderson, there was a car accident. He's in the street and he flags down cops for help? Roland, first of all, thanks for having me back on your show again. He was apparently involved in a car accident. He wasn't in his right mind. And initially, he was in the middle of the street when a motorcycle officer encountered him. The officer goes over to where the crash took place and learns from the other participants

that Anderson was, in fact, involved in the crash and may and learns from the other participants that Anderson was, in fact, involved in the crash and may, in fact, have been responsible. That then sets off a series of interactions where Anderson, clearly not in his right mind, clearly paranoid, is talking to the officer for seven minutes. When the officer calls for backup, because he's on a motorcycle, to conduct a DUI investigation, other cops come. Anderson freaks out and begins to run

in the street of a busy thoroughfare. And in their efforts to handcuff this man, officers put their body weight on him and tased him seven separate times. They tased him on the back part of his heart, where his heart was. So is there really any wonder that after seven tases that contained 50,000 watts of electrical energy coursing through his body. Four hours later, a dead man lay in his wake, and a five-year-old boy is now forever left without his father. So, again, this is a perfect example of what we often talk about, how police, when they encounter people who have or having a mental episode, how they use tasers mentality when many times we need them to act as a guardian mentality.

Clearly, 75 percent of all interactions with officers and the public are not violent. But when you have this warrior mentality, regrettably, these kinds of things occur. Clearly, the officers were treating him not with the kit gloves of someone who was then in the midst of a psychological episode, but they treated him like a criminal. When they tased him, they thought that he was reacting and resisting arrest, when in fact, he was scrambling around because he was being stung by the taser, because the taser was being used unreasonably, and it caused pain. So if you tase somebody seven times in a row, that energy is going to impact the heart, and the consequences to Kenan Allen were sadly predictable. I'm looking at the video right now and I'm counting literally seven or eight officers.

So you got seven or eight cops and you need to tase somebody seven times to subdue them? And there were at least three or four different officers who just came to the scene. They were unaware of what, if anything, had gone on between the interaction with the cop with the helmet, the motorcycle cop. And they come and in their effort to handcuff this unarmed man, they press his body against the cement, pushing the very air out of his body. As he struggles to regain his breath, they tase him, which activates his heart. He did have apparently cocaine in his body, which is a stimulant. And the combination of those two items, regrettably, caused his heart to flutter.

And they were unable to revive him after four hours later. There you go, seven times, and they're tasing him in the back part of his heart, for goodness sakes. That training is difficult to accept. It is wrong wrong and it led unavoidably to his death. It is certainly sad that is the case. And again, this is what we continue to see, African-Americans dying at the hands of cops, either being shot or in some cases, you know, other cases where they put bags over their heads, they get suffocated. And I just keep saying you have to figure out something in this country where police are not responding to mental crises because folks end up dying and you don't come back from death. And there's no amount of money that brings you back. The irony is the death of Kenan Anderson was the third death reported by the LAPD this year and were only 12 days into the year. Each of those deaths were a function of someone in a mental crisis.

And the officers dealt with them as criminals rather than dealing with someone in a mental crisis, which is, again, the essence of all the problems we continue to encounter in this country nationwide. Indeed. Carl Douglas, we appreciate you joining us. Keep us abreast of what happens in this case. Thanks a lot. Thank you for having me on. Next time. All right, folks. Thank you very much. Folks, when we come back, I'll talk to my panel about this here. I may have to step away to go speak in the Independence School District board meeting, but the conversation will still continue.

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And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. On a next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, listen to this. Good fortune happens when opportunity meets planning. In other words, success is no accident. Thomas Edison said that, and it's such a great message as we enter into this new year. Planning for success and balance in 2023, planning for it, and then how to live it.

I'm always working towards those goals. I'm always moving in that direction. And if something gets me off track for the goal, I hurry up and determine, oh wait, you're off track. Get back over here on your track on what you're supposed to be doing, and I continue to work to those goals. That's next on A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Black Star Network. Hi, everybody. This is Jonathan Nelson. Hi, this is Cheryl Lee Ralph, and you are watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Concerns and future goals of our community are being heard.

So thank you all. Look at the Houston Independent School District board meeting. And so momentarily I'll actually be in this meeting speaking because they are looking to take action against the principal at Jack Gates High School, my alma mater, Tiffany Guillory. And so they'll let me know soon when to call me in to speak. And so when that happens, we'll have Recy or someone take over the show. Let me bring in my panel right now.

That is, of course, a regular Thursday panel. Erica Savage, founder of the Reframe Brain. Recy Colbert, founder of Black Women Views. Dr. Greg Carr, Department of Afro-American Studies, Howard University. Glad to have all three of y'all here. I'll start this way, and then we'll start with what Carl just said. And we continue to say this over and over and over again, Erica. And that is there has to be reform on these police departments when it comes to how they are treating individuals who have mental crisis.

San Francisco actually created a situation where they sent counselors to various scenes. You got it. We're seeing this happen way too often here in the United States. Yes, absolutely, Roland. And one of the things that we definitely need to bear in mind is that since the pandemic of 2020, that there's been a rise, at least a 30% rise in people that are experiencing stress, insomnia, and anxiety. And those are real things. So that's whether or not a person has a diagnosis of having perhaps a mental illness issue or just has a diagnosis standalone. So when we think about that, we think about people that are still struggling since the pandemic, people that are working different jobs. And so then we bring in

this gentleman, which not understanding fully what happened before, but even just a cursory look at the video, you can tell that there's something that's not right there. So for a person to run out in the middle of busy traffic would let you know kind of that person's mental state of mind. So, you know, additionally, with the 988 crisis line for people that are experiencing perhaps suicidal ideations, it would make sense to have law enforcement folded in such a way that when they do come into contact with someone who seems to be a little bit beside themselves, whether or not that's to an addiction or it's just because they were in a traumatic event, that there be a course of action laid out to get that person help.

And then if there are charges that later need to be filed, that can be done. But as long as Black Americans are looked at as beasts or as I think Dr. Carr said, no human found. As long as we're not looked at in approach with humanity, we're going to unfortunately see the slave patrol carry out what they've been doing for many centuries now. And that has a great impact on our community and many generations to come. Greg, what jumps out is you often will hear they will say, well, we didn't. We use the taser and not the gun. Yeah, but you tase somebody seven different times. And so when you have that many officers, you're talking about trying to subdue someone. And I keep trying to tell folk again,

death is death. It is final. You do not come back from that unless you are Jesus and Lazarus. And so, you know, at some point, you've got to have, and I don't know what the hell the answer is, but people keep talking about, oh, spend more money on training. Well, show me how that's actually made it better. No, absolutely. I mean, here we are rolling on the weekend approaching before the Martin Luther King Jr. birthday holiday. And Dr. King said, as you've said many times near the end of his life, the three evils in America, racism, hyper materialism, excessive materialism and militarism. And this is militarism. Erica just said it. I mean, you know, they're hunting.

There are no humans involved. The Los Angeles Police Department, which is where the slogan to protect and serve originated, has neither protected nor served, because that's not their objective. Their objective is control. And they exerted it here. I mean, in one of the articles adjacent to this story, LAPD policy states that there's no preset number of times a taser can be used in a tactical situation. It's all military language. The LAPD, and I respect this, like most police departments, are organized to attack a common

enemy. And who is the enemy? The people. And who are the most enemy of the people, in the people? Black and brown people, particularly black people. This is a hunter involved. And so this can't be reformed. It has to be renegotiated. And so, you know, when a cop feels like you can just pull up and do whatever the hell you want and start barking orders, and then you pull out your taser and do it as many times as you want, you know, until

they are stopped from doing that, they're going to keep doing it. What will stop them from doing that? Those are the uncomfortable answers that I think we all know but don't want to articulate. Recy, unfortunately in this country, the answer is, well, let's just

pay a settlement and let's keep it moving. That's just how these city councils, mayors, and other police chiefs deal with tragedies like this. Just say, cut a check, and then keep it moving. Yeah, and it's just not good enough. And I think the cops consistently demonstrate why the fear of the police is rational. We saw the young man in this case, he was very much afraid of the police. Mind you, a crime had not been committed. This was an accident in which he was the one calling for assistance. So how a taser gets to be deployed multiple times in what ends up being a leap away is just absolutely outrageous. And it goes to what both Dr. Carr and Erica said, the lack of humanity that police officers have in these situations.

And unfortunately, cops do not have that empathy chip or that even humanity chip that says, wait a second, I'm dealing with a person who is afraid of our interaction. And they don't think back to all of the news that we've seen in terms of why people have this fear and say, let me try a different tactic. Let me try to deescalate. Let me try to soothe and to console. They hop into this militaristic, this hunting mentality. And so until cops have a come to Jesus moment and realize that people have a justifiable fear from them, then we're going to continue to see this. But I, but I, but the real problem is that cops have a humanity issue. They're here for power. They're here to enforce their dominance. And even in the most, what should be relatively benign situations,

somebody ends up dead. And usually that somebody is black. Indeed, I want to shift to why I'm here. And earlier, before we go on the air, there were a number of folks who are graduates of other black historic black high schools here in Houston. Wheatley, Cashman, Sterling. We were talking about really how black, black, traditional black high schools all across the state have been targeted. Here you have a situation where the board is about to fire the principal at Jack Gates High School, Tiffany Guillory, been the last five years. I dare say that I believe she's the longest serving principal who's been here in almost 25 years.

And Greg, I want to start with you because what this speaks to, and again, I'll be speaking soon in there, we'll be carrying it live. Black high schools are critically important to our communities. We're talking about where they're located, middle schools feed into them, elementary schools feed into those middle schools. And what we have seen is we have seen all across the country with closures and various changes where districts are making these decisions. It's supposed to be about the academics of students. Unfortunately, what is happening is you have unstable leadership. I can tell you right now, this is like the fifth superintendent since 2009. I met with the previous four with regards to my high school, and it was

like one problem after another after another. And you're sitting here going, how in the hell can a school or students have any success when you continually have upheaval in the principal's office? And this impacts black students, which impacts black achievement, which impacts black students going to college, which impacts black folks being able to get jobs, which impacts black folks being able to create generational wealth. And so what happens to black children in elementary school, middle school and high school has a direct impact on the future of black America. Absolutely, Ro. And by the way, when I found out that you were in Houston and you were covering this story, I mentioned it in class just before we went on the air about 3.30, 4 o'clock on campus. And I have several students across my classes

this semester at Howard from the Third Ward. And we talked a little bit about this, the importance of educators who care, the importance of leadership in buildings. And of course, when you mention the famous Phillis Wheatley High School and the famous Jack Yates High School, of course, Dean Felicia Rashad, who's on Howard's campus now, dean of fine arts, we talked about a month ago about the fact that she, like you, and so many others back there brought you up, graduates of Yates.

You can't really replace the type of attention to detail, attention to nurturing that our black educational spaces have provided during segregation, even sustaining that during the assault on black institutions that is called desegregation in this country, when really the victims of desegregation were often those black schools where black teachers lost their jobs, over 100,000 after Brown versus Board of Education. But you know, in this specific case, and kind of looking at some of the conversations, I don't know Millard House, the most recent superintendent, but I do know that mid-management in school districts,

people like, and I've heard the name of Rick Cruz brought up several times as deputy superintendent. Those people, the lifers, you know, when they fall in, it's been my experience in the two basic categories. You've got folks who are not educators. And I'm not talking about they won awards or they got this and they moved up through the chain. I'm talking about people who have been away from the classroom so long and don't really, aren't really in touch with these young people for so long that they're basically bureaucrats.

And then you've got another category of lifelong educators. I was fortunate enough to work for many years in the schools of Philadelphia with many of these educators, largely black women, in fact, who, in a situation like this, their first question would be, how effective is this sister? What is she facing? And how can we support her? Not how do we move her? I think this is an attack. I mean, Roland, of course, you know better than any of us. But from the outside looking in, brother, this looks like that same old story. You're going after somebody. It's not going to improve. It's going to deteriorate. And the thing here, first of all, control room, tell me again how much time we go to break. I didn't hear you. All right. So I'm going to do this about 30 seconds.

We're going to break and then continue the conversation. The thing that I keep talking about academically, Recy, and that is when you hear administrators talk about, well, we're going to move someone out because of test scores. The first thing I say is, OK, did you measure these students when they came out of the middle school to see where they were? And then how did you track their progress? Ninth, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade, because if you're getting a student in the 9th grade who, frankly, is reading and writing on a 3rd or 4th grade level, you're trying to create miracles when you should be addressing what the hell happened 1 through 8. And then you have to then assess, okay, to the school district, what additional resources

are you putting into a school to be able to elevate the academic performance as opposed to hoping a principal becomes somehow a saint and then they can simply do a whole lot with very little? About 30 seconds before we go to the break and then we'll pick this up when we come back. Yeah, you know, honestly, I take any kind of after the fact criteria as nothing more than a pretext to justify the decision that was made. Because the reality is, if that's the criteria that you're going to use, then set that up front. And you also don't fire somebody in the middle of the school year if you are evaluating

them based on criteria such as school scores and things like that. But we see this time and time again, particularly with Black people, where they want to fire you because you're effective or because you're ruffling some feathers that have nothing to do with your effectiveness, but the ineffectiveness of others. And what they do is they create some BS personnel or a performance issue to try to justify it after the fact, and I'm not buying it. And neither are the parents. All right. Hold tight one second. I got to go to hold tight one second. I got to go to break. We'll pick this up when we come back.

Roland Martin, Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Back in a moment. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not regret that. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're

seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs,

they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Amber Stephens-West from The Carmichael Show.

Hi, my name is Latoya Luckett, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Shortly, I'm going to be going inside, speaking here at the Houston Independent School District board meeting where they're trying to, they're going to be voting to fire

the principal of my alma mater, Tiffany Guillory. She's been there for the last five years. They won't tell the public exactly why. They keep saying it's a personnel matter. But alumni, parents, students are very upset by this move they're going to be making. And so it makes no sense whatsoever. I'm going to go back to our panel here. And Eric, I want to go to you because the thing that is crazy to me, and I've covered education for a number of years, and I've had superintendents on my show, I've had school board presidents, school board members as well. And what always trips me out is when we're talking about student achievement and monitoring,

and they always look at what happens with test scores, I always go back to, okay, again, how are you tracking? You know, what is the mastery? How are you doing all of those different things? And then you have folks with the district who want to begin to move people around. And I'm all about, I sort of think about this thing when you look at from a sports standpoint. If you've got an athlete who you're trying to coach up, what you do is you throw more resources at it. And what we are seeing is we are seeing principals and we're seeing teachers. And, look, three of my siblings have been teachers who are talking about what they're not getting.

And so then they say, well, these kids aren't college ready. Well, guess what? A kid doesn't become college ready in their junior and senior year. A kid actually becomes college ready in the first, second, third and fourth grade. And unfortunately, we're not approaching education in this country from a one from a K through 12 standpoint. It's sort of like, oh, once you get to high school, you could go ahead and fix them. Not when somebody has been behind eight damn years. Absolutely. And there has been a legacy of failing. And I really want to applaud you,

Roland. And this should be a message to the community at large, especially those that watch this programming, that you made sure that you were present for the hearing. And so if your school board is comprised of elected members, that's why we talk about so often of the show the value and the investment that's required so that you can have an expectation of what happens on the other side of a vote. Those phone lines should be constant with people that are calling and demanding that those school board members tell them why, in fact, this principal who is slated to be fired at the top of a new school year when, if I'm not mistaken, spring is around the time students start testing for large blocks

of time. So it goes back to what Reese and Greg have both said. This is honestly, and I'm in agreement, it looks, smells, and seems like an attack. Well, again, they won't say exactly what the issue is. They won't say why they're firing her. But it makes no sense to me that you would fire someone literally at the beginning of the second semester. And there should be more answers. Speaking of answers, let's go to Georgia, where a Georgia family, they have released the dash cam video of the 2021 police chase that killed 12-year-old Ladeen Boykins. Charlie Moore was pulled over for evading police when a chase ensued with Boykins and another minor passenger.

A Georgia State Patrol officer performed a pit maneuver to end the pursuit, killing Ladeen. Moore was charged with first-degree homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault on a peace officer, and endangering a child while driving under the influence. Ladeen's parents, Anthony and Tony Boykins, know that Moore has some blame, but officers also knew the children were in the car and continue to pursue more against Georgia Chase policy. Boykins' parents and the Georgia NAACP President Gerald Griggs are demanding that Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr appoint a special prosecutor and ask for the Department of Justice to open up a general inquiry into law enforcement practices in Georgia. The trooper involved in the crash was placed on administrative leave during the investigation,

returned to work early last year. To break this down is Lee Merritt, who is the attorney for the Boykins family. So, Lee, the family is saying that it is against the policy of police there, Georgia State Police policy, to pursue doing car chase if there are minors in a vehicle? Well, the general orders for the state of Georgia state that if you're going to pursue a pit maneuver, not just the pursuit, not just the chase, but if you're going to try to end the chase using a violent tactic that will likely result in seriously bodily harm, injury, or death, you want to do that with only the suspect in the car and no passengers, certainly no minors, or any other bystanders that would be potentially impacted.

So this trooper makes this move, and if that's the policy, how is he still back on the force? It seems pretty clear cut, but they've decided to charge instead Charlie Moore, the driver of the vehicle, who was a friend, a friend's father. So there were two young men in the car. One of it was Charlie Munns. One of the children was Charlie Moore's son. and the other was Leighton Boykins, a 12-year-old friend of Charlie's family. And you're right. It should be relatively straightforward. This is the policy. This is a violation. But instead, they've charged Charlie Moore with a felony murder. Of course, they're relying on the trooper's testimony to convict him in the trial. And there's been no inquiry about the policy violations. That would be the responsibility of the Paulding County prosecutor to say, hey, here's the policy.

When you violate the policy, you committed a crime and introduced that to a grand jury. The Paulding prosecutor has simply refused to do that. He has not investigated these officers. He has not brought this case before a grand jury. And because of that, we're asking for the attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor to get the GBI involved to start a fresh investigation, specifically looking at the choice to use deadly force to bring this crash to a stop or bring this accident to a stop. And that's the problem right there, again, when you have these DAs who do not want to launch full investigations. I mean, this is, we keep seeing this where they don't want to take these sort of actions when they're involving

police officers. You're exactly right. This is Ahmaud Arbery's case all over again. You have a derelict prosecutor like Jackie Johnson who failed to bring charges against Gregory McMichael or Travis McMichael or William Roddy Bryan after they murdered Ahmaud Arbery on tape. Those men went free for two months because a derelict prosecutor failed to gather the evidence and get it before a grand jury or say, I have a conflict here. And I would understand if the Paul Dean County prosecutor said, look, I can't bring criminal charges against these officers that I work with, that I rely on for conviction integrity, that I rely on to get reelected. I need a special prosecutor. That, at least, I would accept. I'm acknowledging that

there's a conflict here in bringing a special prosecutor in. But when we allow prosecutors who necessarily, in order to survive, have working relationships with local law enforcement officers, if we rely on them to hold law enforcement officers accountable when they violate policy and kill little boys, we're going to continue to get what we've always gotten, a system that is directly implicated in our failure to receive justice. Has there been any response from the attorney general? Mr. Carr has been working with my office on Ahmaud Arbery's case, on the prosecution of Jackie Johnson, on a few other cases in Georgia. He has delayed responding to this family. He has not directly agreed to meet with this family.

He has not rejected the case outright. He's hoping that it will go away. He just won an election in Georgia by a percentage point, by one percentage point. And so he didn't want to offend the black community. He didn't want to offend law enforcement officers during that election period. Now that the election is behind us, we are calling on him to do his job. And if he fails to continue or continues to fail to do his job, we're calling on the Department of Justice, specifically Kristen Clark in the Civil Rights Division, to prosecute this officer.

The officer's name is David Peterson. He claims that he didn't know children were in the car. That's what he told his superior officers. That's what he put in the reports. And that's what was reported to Leedon Boykin's parents. The video evidence that we now have public shows that that was an outright lie. And this is now a cover-up that I think implicates the prosecutor himself for failure to properly investigate this case. Look, that's what jumps out. There's no doubt that you've got a reformist system where you have far too many prosecutors who refuse to actually properly look into police officers. Lee Merritt, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you for having me.

This is what is continually angering, Recy. We always talk about proper investigations and justice, and we know for a fact that you just have DAs who are scared to death because they are in partnership. It is hard for the public to trust a lot of these DAs. And even when they do have a so-called investigation, they act more like the defense attorney for the police officers than an actual and impartial judge, if you will. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, man the hell up and do what you have to do and hold these cops accountable. There is a clear-cut law against this kind of behavior, a regulation against this kind of behavior, and a child is dead. And what they continue to do,

the police and the prosecutors continue to do, is they continue to gaslight the Black victims by overcharging the person, you know, like in this case, charging the driver for murder, when it was in fact the cop that caused this completely unnecessary wreck that killed this young boy. And so it's appalling and it's cowardice that these cops are not held accountable. And if they if the prosecutors don't have the balls or the guts to do it, then get involved. Kick the can to a special prosecutor. Ask for an outside review. Or as Lee Mary suggested, let's get the FBI DOJ involved. They can investigate a whole bunch of other stuff, Hamilton tickets, 401ks, all kind of stuff.

So you can go on ahead and bring your ass down there and investigate this situation where there's video footage and plenty of evidence to show that this cop knew exactly what was going on when he attempted this illegal maneuver. Just way too many problems like this in Georgia, Erica, your home state. Oh, yeah, absolutely. And unfortunately, I don't expect for it to slow down anytime soon, but that's why I think it's really important. We have attorneys like Lee Merritt that really do highlight specificities around regulations. And I would be willing to bet that that lying ass cop looked in that car and, of course, the adultification of black children was upon us. So, of course, he didn't look at the children as children. He saw Black targets, what they use for target practices, Black faces. And he continued on with what,

as Lee Merritt described, was a violent maneuver. So I think that the pressure, keep the pressure on. He did say that person's name who is working, cashing checks, I'm assuming, celebrating holidays, David Peterson, Georgia. Do not forget about David Peterson killing this young baby. All right, folks, got to go to a break. We come back. A strange case out of Philadelphia. Why did a black woman spend a week in jail for a crime that took place in Texas and she never even stepped foot in the state? Sounds familiar. Wait till we unveil the details. Also, I'm going to step into the school board meeting and speak in a moment here on behalf of Yates principal Tiffany Guillory. And so we'll keep an eye on what's happening with the school board here with their decision

whether they're going to fire her or not. You're watching Roller Mark Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network back in a moment. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. The number of people working from home has quadrupled to almost 30%. You're going to learn how you can now create your money space. It can impact your mood, your mindset, and your ability to get wealthy. Interior designer Nikki Kluge joins us to share exactly what you need to do to create a winning workspace. Make a space that is going to instantly put you in the mindset so that you can be more productive, so that you're organized, so that you're inspired, or you're really focusing in on the task at hand. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, listen to this.

Good fortune happens when opportunity meets planning. In other words, success is no accident. Thomas Edison said that, and it's such a great message as we enter into this new year. Planning for success and balance in 2023, planning for it, and then how to live it. I'm always working towards those goals. I'm always moving in that direction. If something gets me off track for the goal, I hurry up and determine, oh wait, you're off track. Get back over here on your track on what you're supposed to be doing.

And I continue to work to those goals. That's next on A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Black Star Network. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carp. Our legal round table is back in session as we look at yet another potential landmark case being considered by the United States Supreme Court. This one is called 303 Creative versus Elenis and may be the most important and far-reaching First Amendment,

that is, freedom of speech, case of our time. It could, depending on how the court rules, open the door for a return of Jim Crow segregation laws. It's true. If you say we can discriminate against one, you're saying we can discriminate against all. That's on the next Black Table. Don't miss it right here on the Black Star Network. I'm Chrisette Michelle.

Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. This is an outrageous story out of Philadelphia. A Black woman spent almost a week in jail for a crime she did not commit states away. Julie Hudson was wrongfully arrested for a Texas crime due to a case of mistaken identity. It began with a May 2022 shoplifting incident at a sports store in Webster, Texas, about 22 miles from Houston. Webster police identified the suspect as Julie Hudson. Investigators said the surveillance photo of the suspect looks similar to social media images of the 31-year-old PhD student

from Philadelphia, who was also named Julie Hudson. Julie found out about the warrant because she kept being denied jobs, so she went to a Philadelphia police station on January 5th to find out why. That's when she was taken into custody. Julie was released last night after about two weeks in jail. Philadelphia's district attorney, Larry Krasner, released this statement about Julie's arrest. The Philadelphia district attorney's office became aware of Julie Hudson's predicament last evening. Thanks in part to media reports out of Houston and in Philly, I am not aware of any efforts by Texas authorities to contact my office directly about the misidentification of Ms. Hudson, which led to her arrest by Philadelphia police on January 6th based on

a fugitive warrant. Once the district attorney's offices independently became aware that Webster police had confirmed to local media that they had wrongly sought Ms. Hudson for arrest, we mobilized quickly to make sure Ms. Hudson was released from custody as soon as possible. Julie Hudson is a Philadelphia resident who has no criminal record and is pursuing a PhD. What happened to her should not have happened, and her family deserves a great deal of credit for successfully advocating for her freedom and in Philadelphia. I'm also thankful for the quick action of our charging unit led by Supervising ADA Amanda Hedrick, City Managing Director Tumar Alexander, the First Judicial District, Northwest Detectives, and Department of Prisons for

effectuating Ms. Hudson's release within a matter of hours. I'm proud to lead a prosecutor's office that works closely with law enforcement and the judiciary to ensure a rigorous process of approving arrest and search warrants. Mayor Jim Kenney issued this statement. We commend the rapid response and coordination between the police department, courts, district attorney's office, and Department of Prisons to ensure that Julie Hudson was released as quickly and as safely as possible. We are dismayed by the ordeal that she and her family went through due to an erroneous warrant from another jurisdiction and thankful that she is now home. We've been in touch with the family.

Julie and her sister were scheduled to come on the show tonight, but changed their minds as Julie needed time to process what happened to her. We hope to have them on in coming days. All right, let's go to the panel on this. You know, Dr. Carr and Erica, what is striking about the language in both of those statements was there was still a level of criminality associated with Ms. Hudson's detainment. It was almost like language as, you know, as safely as possible and rigorously. They treated her as a criminal

and as though they did her some sort of favor for releasing her after weeks in jail. Erica, let's start with you. What is your reaction to what happened to Ms. Hudson? Terror. The first thing that I thought about was she talked about being denied jobs and going to the, doing the responsible thing, which was going then to the police department and finding out that there was a warrant for her arrest. And my thought

goes to, so how was she transported? And I can't imagine someone who has had these charges levied against her, which are false charges. It wasn't her being transported from her home in Philly to Harris County in Texas and then having to go through that system. And then I start thinking about Kalief Rauter. You know, we've been hearing and reading a lot about the cash bail system. I don't want to, I think it wasn't, I think it may be Illinois, I think, where, or it's a state within the United States where it was abolished. And please forgive me for not recalling the name of that state at the moment. But thinking about, you know, her being in jail for all of that time for a crime, which she did not commit, something as simple and silly as shoplifting. And I'm thinking about what the price of that item was and the criminalization of people who

often shoplift when you think about loss prevention and what the price tag of those things are. Is it actually worth having someone jailed for that? Or can that person be fine so that she went through something this horrible for a shoplifting charge for a person that she wasn't from one state to another state and that her family effectively had the communication skills to be able to advocate for her to see her released, you know, to read, to hear that statement and to read that statement from the mayor's office and from the Harris County's office, it really, to me, they're not being remorseful about what happened and what could have happened to Ms. Hudson during her time in their facilities and being transported. I hope that she takes all of the time that she needs to heal from this very traumatic event and that it does not severely interrupt her Ph.D.

studies as well, because that is the job in and of itself. Yeah, you're so right. I mean, there was a lack of remorse. And I don't know if that's like Lili's talk, because they might be anticipating a much deserved lawsuit. But I still think it's just not fucking good enough. When you detain a person for a charge that they are not guilty of that happened states away, and you kind of get around to it once it's become a social media story, that's just not fucking good enough, point blank in the period. It doesn't matter about how happy you are that now when you patent people on the back for getting her out of jail, but she didn't belong in the first place. It's really, really disgusting. And to me, it's dehumanizing and not to be a

victim blamer here, but black people, please don't present yourself to the police under any circumstances. Please go get an attorney. Okay. Get you, uh, get you some sort of background check, uh, you know, subscription or something and let them handle it, let the professionals handle it, because I know that we think, you know, we're not guilty of anything, nothing could happen. But this is a prime example of how, you know, the cops will find something, you know, and I can guarantee you that as many Tom, Dick and Harry's as I know that's white, they have Tom Smith, Jack Smith, John Smith. If they walk their white ass up into a to a to a Philadelphia precinct and they share a name with with the shoplifter in Texas, they would not be in jail for a week. But Dr. Carr, what's what's your reaction to this story?

No, I think you and Erica have laid this out. I mean, I really appreciate the fact, Erica, that you raised the fact that this is shoplifting. Now, you know, they're trying to remove Principal Guillory at Jack Yates High School. Under her leadership, I understand, Jack Yates achieved IB status, international baccalaureate status. So you've got those honors courses there as the students there. I'm sure one of the books they probably had to read in their literature course was Les Miserables. So Jean Valjean. We all remember high school when we had to read Les Miserables, and they put him down for stealing a loaf of bread because he was hungry.

Shoplifting. And then this sister gets picked up halfway across the continent because her name happens to match. And then the Webster police release a statement saying that they're not even sure if the real suspect's name is Julie Hudson and then asking the public for help. It's shoplifting. That's number one. Right. And, you know, Larry Krasner, this is an example, again, of why elections matter. Krasner is one of those DAs who does have a bit of a backbone, and he is not widely

loved by the police. I think we should stop calling them law enforcement. They are lawless. We should call them something else. I mean, the hunters, maybe the lawless, you know, and no amount of propaganda, no amount of law and order, no matter how serious they have, no matter Chicago PD or no matter propaganda trying to humanize these people can displace the fact that all of us who are not police are enemies of the police because they are out and they are organized to do

something to us. Finally, I think it's very important, and y'all both have stressed this, that we frame our relationship not only to policing in this country, but to the systemic problems that policing is just a symptom of. We are not considered human beings. And you're absolutely right, Recy. Do not cooperate. In fact, there's a famous poster from Boston during enslavement, and it says, colored citizens of Boston, do not cooperate with the police. You know what?

You might end up in the police. Next thing you know, you're in Louisiana. The police are not our friends. And all you police who are good police and you're trying to do your job, guess what? Try harder. Friends. Exactly. And, you know, what's interesting, too, is, you know, we have the former Brazilian president kicking it in Florida, you know, running charges. You know, we have extradition policies even between different states and cities in this country. And so for the Philadelphia police officers to take it upon themselves to arrest

a citizen of Pennsylvania, a citizen of that city, when there hasn't been any kind of extradition process, there hasn't been any kind of warrant issued for them. And I don't know, maybe the fugitive warrant is a special kind of warrant where you can get picked up anywhere. But to me, it just seems overzealous considering the fact that it's such a petty charge and the fact that it's not even something that has been vetted through their police department. Not that the police department would do the right thing either, but you get what I'm saying. So it's just crazy the way that, you know, you have, like I said, a Brazilian ex-president kicking it, not being extradited. But here this black woman who is a Ph.D. student can't even, you know, enter a police department in her city freely and get home freely.

So this this is really crazy. But the last thing I just want to say on this, you both might have heard this term from Kim Creighton. She says that technology is not neutral. And when we're, we're seeing the rate, the rise of this AI, you know, some people use it for fun when you have the apps that create avatars and all kinds of stuff, uh, you know, but the reality is the more of this AI that we're seeing, there is a danger to Black people being misidentified. So again, and I'm not trying to get you arrested on no, obstruction of justice is not legal advice. This is common sense advice. Don't cooperate if you don't have to.

Don't volunteer information. Don't volunteer your presence. Don't volunteer information that wasn't asked of you if you don't want to end up in jail. Not to be a victim, but I'm just saying be very, very careful about the conversations that you subject yourself to voluntarily with the cops. But on that note, I think we have to head to a break. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Be right back. Stay black, I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network

and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home, you dig? Most people think that these television shows that tell stories about who we are as black men, and then they paint these monolithic portraits of us. They think that they're being painted by white people. And I got to tell you, there are a whole bunch of black folk

that are the creators, the head writers, the directors of all of these shows and that are still painting us as monoliths. The people don't really wanna have this conversation. No, they don't. Hey, I'm Antonique Smith. What up? Lana Wells. And you are watching

Rolling Martin Unfiltered. The Internal Revenue Service does not ask for tax filers' race or ethnicity on tax forms, but that does not mean the tax system affects people of different races in the same way. The IRS has new tax brackets for the 2023 tax year to adjust for inflation. Typically, people with higher incomes pay a larger share of their income in taxes than those with lower incomes. This can help close racial income gaps. But some tax policies also exacerbate income and wealth inequalities stemming from longstanding discrimination in housing, education, and employment. Douglas Lawson, the owner of Infinity Taxes and Beyond,

joins us to discuss these new tax brackets and how they could affect the Black community. Mr. Lawson, welcome to the show. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to just talk about how we can just bring some equity to our community, starting with the tax code and the benefits that come with being educated on this process. Okay. Now, listen, I'm a finance person. I've been doing my taxes for a very, very long time. So I was just a smidge surprised to hear that the new tax brackets were racist. So please enlighten me on what that means that the new tax brackets are racist or are driving racial inequality. So on the surface, the tax code may not appear to be racist. To those that aren't familiar with

the nuisance of cultural disproportions within our community and within our white counterparts, essentially the tax returns that are based is income-based. But what Professor Dorothy Brown from Emory University spoke about is the whiteness of wealth, how the tax system impoverishes Black Americans and how we can actually fix that. One of the things that it does is it starts with the tax system that we wouldn't even know that is racially disproportionately impacting because the IRS doesn't even collect or publish statistics about race. So talking about some of the things you even addressed in regards to tax breaks for income, income base, home ownership, small businesses, nonprofit contributions, white Americans actually that have a single wage household and a spouse

that stays at home are going to receive more tax benefits and breaks from a black American family that has two equal wage earners contributing roughly the same amount. It gives that actual single wage earner household a tax cut compared to the other household when they're called, when they're literally doing the exact same thing. The subsidies within white America, and while we have disadvantaged Black Americans, we engage in the same activities. Home ownership, when you have 74 percent of white Americans that have home ownership in 2022 compared to 45 percent for black Americans, that gaps about a 29 point spread versus back in the 60s and 70s. It was a lower margin where it was a 27 percent spread, but it was still a lower amount. So we see that those benefits that are going to the actual tax breaks that come within the community are based upon some of the inequalities that happen within our system. Okay. You're definitely selling me because I can attest to the two income household tax,

okay, when you're married. Because I don't know too many black people. I mean, I know a couple of them, but not too many of us have a stay-at-home parent. Most of us work. Both of us work. And it's no shade if you do have a single home parent, single working household. But, you know, how do we address the inequities without penalizing the Black folks that do get the benefits already, like the homeownership benefits? Do you have any ideas about that? Well, one of the things, what I did is I educated our residents in regards to home ownership, in regards to the benefits that come from actual home ownership. I opened my office in my community and joined my city council as a leader within the community so that we could start with the home ownership process and give them the same benefits that are being received across the board. They've increased and actually lessened the incentive that's coming

within your Schedule A itemized deduction that comes from actually having a write-off or having the expense of homeownership. But it's still a benefit that can come to our taxpayers when you have that opportunity of having that home that you own as your homesteaded property. Because you can write off the mortgage interest, you can write off the taxes, you can write off your association, you can write off the expenses and repairs to your property. So in addition to the home ownership, you also have the opportunity of your home business. Having and operating a home business, which so many people have done and created, especially through this pandemic and COVID, is operating within having that home wage that's coming in, that household wage,

and being able to deduct that from your expenses where you have the home office, you have your mortgage interest, and you have deductions that's going to bring your adjusted gross income down to a lower tax bracket. Let me ask you a question. You know, there are so many softwares out there. People can do their taxes on TurboTax. I'm just a free foul. What audience or what particular demographic would you suggest spend the extra money perhaps to get an actual tax professional to fill out their or help them with their tax returns?

So we're seeing certain demographics that have their accountants that file their taxes on a monthly, quarterly, annually basis. They have the ability and the access to accountants. Individuals may be coerced, marketed, drawn over to TurboTax or H&R Block, but those individuals have less training than the typical tax preparer when they're just basically doing data entry, not giving you insider code as to what's going to benefit you and your family, what's going to be the maximum adjusted gross income you can receive. If you're purchasing or investing into a property, why you don't want to reduce or deduct some of your income to allow for you to qualify for benefits that gives you long-term incentives and equity within our community and residual income based upon whether it's a homestead or an investment property. So we look at working with an H&R Block, per se, or a Jackson Hewitt.

You've seen Get Your Billions Back America. But if we notice, those large firms have tried to push out some of the smaller tax preparers and some of the smaller tax companies just because of their relationships with electeds, politicians, and within government who's trying to write the code to offset and to outcry some of the individuals that's benefiting the individuals of our income base, of minority communities who may not have the access to certain things. So they're just going to do data entry to put the basic information in and get you your basic return, minimizing what's actually coming back from the government. But you're taxed when you actually earn your income and you're taxed when you spend those dollars again.

So we're being double taxed in a portion where it's not actually benefiting anyone but the government to go to these major firms versus coming to a CPA or certified tax preparer, i.e. Infinity Taxes and beyond. I like that you plugged your business. Before I go to the panel, I just want to ask one final question. because you did mention Black entrepreneurship, and we know that many Black businesses, black people are entrepreneurial, Black women are some of the most entrepreneurial by, you know, statistically, proportionally. Can you just list off a couple of professions, a couple of home businesses that people might have that you would suggest look beyond just an online do-it-yourself service for additional tax help or even accounting help? There's so many things that people are doing just on a regular day-to-day basis, whether they're doing hair for friends, whether they're a barber, a salon, a tax preparer. For far too long, the reason that I got into the tax business 10 years ago is I'm a real estate broker,

mortgage broker by trade, 20 years of experience. In the last 10 years, I was asked by multiple friends, family, I was doing my own taxes, similar to yourself. And they would ask me, can you help me with my taxes? Can you file it for me? And it was simple at the time and not realizing that there's a certain process, a way of writing off income, of actually giving you the maximum return, and making sure that you put your income into a position to use your credits and your equity to be able to buy with your tax return and the amount you filed on your adjusted gross income. So those years of actually getting that experience and filing and processing taxes,

it gave me an opportunity to learn how to actually file returns, how to file taxes, and how to move forward with actually processing them for individuals. So the types of businesses of tax preparer, of barbers, of salons, nails, hairs, marketing, advertising, investing, if you have a virtual office, if you have a online website where you're selling certain drop shipping clothes or drop shipping items, you give the opportunity to have an at-home business. So the simplest thing that I ask my clients to do is get an EIN, register it within your local, your state registry, which is Sunbiz here in Florida. And it gives you an opportunity to actually write off using the EIN and deduct some of those expenses that you're spending on a regular basis. Home and house

cleaning, child care. These are some of the common things that you can actually do that we do on a regular basis. Now, if you're just babysitting your brother, your sister's kids, that's not really home child care. But if you have a home office where you have less than six children, you can actually do a daycare service and write it off and not have to be state licensed with less than six children. And that's another write-off that you can actually have that goes onto your taxes to bring down your adjusted gross income. Okay. That's really good advice. Let's go to the panel real quick, starting off with you, Erica. Do you have a question for Mr. Lawson? Absolutely. Great information, Mr. Lawson.

I want to ask you a little bit about retirement increases. People are able to contribute more to their 401k and their IRA. Could you talk about those both increases? Can you talk about any racial implications behind retirement, people contributing to their retirement, any racial implications behind that, specifically since sometimes Black families have to take care of not just who's in their immediate household, the extra kind of goes outside of the household as well. Yes. While Black Americans, Black families make up about 13 percent of the population, they spend about 10 percent of the total dollars that's being spent, about $1.3 trillion annually coming from black families.

But in regards to savings and retirement and putting in and maxing out their Roth and their IRAs and their 401ks and investing, we're actually at the lower portion of the savings in investing. So one of those reasons is because of the families being able to not have generational equity being passed down, not having the support of great grandmothers that have given them their trust funds or their land or their resources to be able to have the opportunity to take care of your seniors and your elders. So you're taking care of them out of money that you're currently earning. So in addition to being taxed twice in the dollars you're spending and the dollars you've earned, you're also providing a support for your great grandmothers, your grandmothers, your aunts and uncles, and provide that equity to them. So it's minimizing how much we're investing. So when you have the ability to actually invest more

dollars, it's not benefiting individuals that's not actually doing the savings. So the advice that I could give is try to make sure that the first 10 percent you're putting aside to save where you have your tides, you're tiding your churches, but you're also making sure you're taking care of your household and your family and you're saving that money and maxing out on those those tax barriers like the Roth IRA that actually reduces your adjusted gross income, that actually has the tax benefits so that when you're of retirement age, you're not paying this large tax on the money that you're being taxed right now. So do our very best to actually save the maximum that you can and take it off of the top versus waiting until you've paid out all your bills, you've paid out all your expenses. And you're in a position where you just can't do it. But understanding that we're in a position where we have to provide for families. We have to try to find the resources. So that's where the other small business opportunities come in and actually taking advantage of being a small business owner, being an entrepreneur. Because I would say nine out of ten people, once they get off of that nine to five, they're still doing something else. It's the side hustle that was created during this pandemic that everybody's been doing for years, but became so seamless and so regular within our community because it was everybody locked in the house trying to figure out how to make additional money.

Dr. Carr, you get the last question on this one. Thank you, Recy, and thank you, Brother Lawson. I'm thinking about the working poor, the folks who may not operate a small business, even if it's just them, who are basically trying to make it from day to day. On one end of the spectrum, we know the president of the United States, Trump, didn't even have his taxes audited when he was president, even though by law they are supposed to do it. And the IRS pushed back and said, well, we don't have the staff to do it. We saw the GOP pass a bill that's not going anywhere to try to defund this close to 90,000 IRS employees over the next 10 years that the Democrats got through and were signed into law.

I guess the question I'd like to ask you is if you have any thoughts on tax enforcement. I mean, you said, of course, that there's colorblind data collection. They don't collect data on race at the IRS. And something I was reading the other day says like 230 million calls annually to the IRS, and they got like 15,000 people to answer them. They're woefully understaffed. What are the implications for poor people? I understand working class people and middle class folk, but what are the implications for those who may be earning less than $44,000 a year or less than

$11,000 a year? Are there any implications in terms of racism and the tax code to tax enforcement? And how is some of this being balanced on the back of these folk? Are the IRS going after them because it's easier than going after these folks who got plenty of money to hire lawyers to avoid paying their taxes? Dr. Carr, you touched right on it. You hit it right on the head. Essentially, what they've done is created a code that's going to benefit the wealthy and it's going to penalize the working class, middle class and poor class, because the EIC credit that comes in is based upon your income level and the number of dependents that you have in your household. If you are below that median, where it cuts off at about $11,000 annually, you're not going to receive any credit. So if

you're just barely scraping to get by, whether you're receiving some type of assistance, financial support, government assistance, your family's helping or supporting you to get through, you're not going to receive that earned income credit that you would receive if you're making a higher dollar amount. That is actually one of the main reasons that we had to work with our local, state, and federal lobbyists and government agencies to help to offset and to rewrite this code. And I see what our government's been trying to do with defunding the IRS by removing those jobs and just making it one tax across the board. That's not going to benefit anyone besides the wealthy because, of course, they're going to put in tax laws and implications that's going to offset some of the dollars that have been donated to these nonprofits,

some of the major corporations and entities. When you have your working class and your poor American, that's not going to be able to sustain and pay an equal tax to what a high-earning wage earner is going to actually make. So one of the things I sat down and I focused on was local politics, understanding what our property tax looks like and increasing the homeownership. I became elected official back in 2019 and opened up my office back in 2009 in the city I grew up in. That's one of the ways that we can really focus on changing that code because property taxes, home ownership, and federal taxation is something that we have to address and that we're underutilized and under-resourced in because the elimination of these jobs is going to, in turn, create less opportunities for people

that are trying to still sustain and live in this community. I think our biggest thing we have to focus on is being a part of the decision-making, being at the table and not allowing for the decisions to continue to be made for us. And that's where we faltered at, because we've never been really a part of the decision of the code that was actually written for white America. Thank you, Mr. Lawson. That's something we stress here all the time, the importance of local politics and getting involved, because as you said, it's not just the federal tax code.

There's local and state taxes that we're impacted by. Real quick, can you give us your website before we sign off? Thank you so much. It's www.infinitytaxesandbeyond.com. We can be reached there any time you sign in, and we'll have an agent that gets back to you within a timely fashion. I just thank you for the time and giving us the opportunity to talk about tax code and the benefits of filing with a tax preparer. Thank you, Mr. Lawson. You're watching the Roland Martin Unfiltered Show on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting.

You get it, and you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in Black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff.

So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people. $50 this month. Waits $100,000. We're behind $100,000. So we want to hit that. Your money makes this possible. Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196.

The Cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RM Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, listen to this. Good fortune happens when opportunity meets planning. In other words, success is no accident. Thomas Edison said that, and it's such a great message as we enter into this new year. Planning for success and balance in 2023, planning for it, and then how to live it. I'm always working towards those goals. I'm always moving in that direction. If something gets me off track for the goal, I hurry up and determine, oh wait, you're off track. Get back over here on your track of what you're supposed to be doing. And I continue to work to those goals.

That's next on A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Black Star Network. I'm Chrisette Michelle. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Missouri House of Representatives Democrats are outraged by a ridiculous dress code policy for female lawmakers by the Missouri GOP, banning women from wearing shirts that show bare arms. Missouri State Representative Rachel Prouty let the House know how sexist the rule is. Where there are things that should not require debate and comment, I contend that these are one of these things. There are times to have your name said, to be recognized, to be called upon.

This is not one of those things. There are some very serious things that are in this rule package that I think we should be debating, but instead we are fighting again for women's right to choose something, and this time is whether she, how she covers herself and the interpretation of someone who has no background in fashion, because again, it is, and this isn't a shot, it's inappropriate to wear sequins before 5 o'clock telling me that I can't wear a crispy good St. John sweater if it has too many buttons. I spent $1,200 on a suit and I can't wear it in the people's house because someone who doesn't have the range tells me that it's inappropriate. That's not why any of us were elected, Mr. Speaker. None of us.

I urge us to vote no on this because it's ridiculous. And also, congratulations, I'll keep that to myself, to any of us who may be with child. You surely don't have enough or have the money off the salary that we make to go buy a bunch of new clothes or tailored clothes. And I hope that you're able to continue to wear your cardigan and vote on behalf of the people who sent you here. Last year, the statehouse debated whether female lawmakers were dressing up

to the previous dress code, which allows women to wear dresses, skirts, or slacks with the blazer or sweater, along with appropriate dress shoes or boots. The current rules make female legislatures wear a second layer over a dress or a top. If agreed upon, it would finalize what women legislators can wear when they are on the floor of the Capitol in Jefferson City. Missouri State Representative Jamie Johnson is here to tell us about the crazy dress code proposal. Representative Johnson, thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. I am excited to be here, but I'm also really embarrassed for the state of Missouri that this is the reason why I'm here. So thank you for having me. Oh, I'm so sorry, Representative Johnson. I have to interrupt you. Please hold tight.

We have to go to Roland. Please hold on for two seconds. So sorry. My name is Roland Martin. I'm Jack Yates, class of 1987. I flew all the way from Washington, D.C. with regards to this decision regarding Tiffany Guillory at Jack Yates High School. I've dealt the last four superintendents dealing with what's happening at Yates. And finally, we've had stable leadership at Jack Yates. I go back to 2009 dealing with these various superintendents. The reason I gave a $25,000 scholarship, because finally we had a leader who was putting the necessary things in place to improve Jack Yates.

I've been inducted into three Hall of Fames, an Association of Black Journalists in December 21, and in October, the Society of Professional Journalists. And I was going to have an event here in Houston celebrating that. And I said, I called her and I said, I want to have it at Yates because I wanted those students to understand you can go from Jack Y Gates to be one of the top journalists in the country. And at that event, I plan to announce a $50,000 donation to our school of communications. But if this board chooses to fire T. I will pull every dollar I have given. And this district also called me to celebrate when you're H.I.S.D. 100. And if you make this move i will reject that because as you cannot sit here and continue to have upheaval at this school when you have parents and students who understand why you need

consistent stable leadership i have always wanted to reinvest in jack yates my parents are graduates of jack Yates. My aunt, a longtime education leader in this district, Pam Lamont, is a graduate of Jack Yates. And at some point, this board has to understand, Yates will never be what it used to be and what it should be unless you have stable leadership. Tiffany Gillard, she is the reason why I chose to make that investment. And I should not look to move my dollars elsewhere and take it to another school, not only in this city, but across the country. And trust me, I've interviewed numerous presidents.

I've known members of Congress. Talked to 15 today. There are many folks who would love to have my money, but I prefer to leave it in HISD. If you make this move and fire her, you're making a great mistake. This community stands behind her. Graduates stand behind her. Students stand behind her. And if it's a question of test scores, if it's a question of academic progress, we should be analyzing what resources they need, what new programs they need, what is best for the students. That's what should happen.

And I'll be more than happy to meet with you, Mr. House, because I've met with the previous superintendents, and I've dealt with superintendents all across this country as an education advocate. But let me be real clear. Guillory should be the principal at Yates, and this action should not be taken in the middle of a school year. It is grossly disruptive to the education process. And I hope this board makes the right decision. Because trust me, I'm doing my show live right now.

I'm broadcasting this show live right now. And I am more than willing, because I own it, to bring this show to Houston and focus on what's happening in this city if she is replaced. That should not happen. So I hope you do the right thing for Yates and for the students and for the families. Thank you. Superintendent House, please proceed with your update. Colleagues, please hold your questions. Well, you just heard Roland bring fire to the superintendent meeting in the matter of the firing of the Jack Gates High School principal. But let's go on ahead. We were in the middle of an interview with Representative Johnson. Are you still there? Yes. Yes, I am. Okay, great. thank you so much for um for holding tight all right so please uh

enlighten us about what in the world is going on i saw your uh your appear throwing a whole tree of shade about not having the range and sequence and a number of things but please give us your perspective on these completely sexist and archaic rules? Yes, on this, the eve of Masora's Founders Day. So we, basically what happened is House Republicans wanted to institute just arbitrary, random, mandatory, narrow definitions of what business attire looks like that we can wear on the House floor.

It doesn't make sense. We have so many issues in the state of Missouri, and it was a colossal waste of time. It was a colossal waste of resources, and it shouldn't have happened. Can you just—where is this coming from? Is this one of those culture roar type things? Are people just bored? Like, it just seems so random, like you said, with all the things that are actually pressing to bring this into focus. Or did they just not expect this to be much of a fight?

I think they did not expect this to be much of a fight? I think they did not expect this to be much of a fight. But this, you got to understand, this is coming from a state that was eager to be the first to institute a trigger ban when Roe v. Wade fell. So this is really about control over women's bodies. This is about not allowing access to the people's house, to individuals who might consider running for office. This puts another barrier in front of them. Clothes cost money at the end of the day. And so if we can change the idea of what is professionalism and who are professionals, then maybe people who represent the state of Missouri with some fervor

and with some passion would not consider coming, running for office. Yeah, you're absolutely right. It sounds like a demoralizing step to try to deter people from, you know, even trying to seek office. If you wouldn't mind holding tight, we do have to take a break, but I do want to ask a couple more questions on the other side of that break. Okay. All right. Great. Thank you. All right. So you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The Culture with me, Faraji Muhammad, only on the Blackstar Network. I'm Deborah Owens, America's wealth coach,

and my new show, Get Wealthy, focuses on the things that your financial advisor and bank isn't telling you, but you absolutely need to know. So watch Get Wealthy on the black star network on a next a balanced life with me dr jackie listen to this good fortune happens when opportunity meets planning in other words success is no accident thomas edison said that and it's such a great message as we enter into this new year. Planning for success and balance in 2023, planning for it, and then how to live it. I'm always working towards those goals. I'm always moving in that direction. And if something gets me off track for the goal, I hurry up and determine, oh wait, you're off track. Get back over here on your track on what you're supposed to be doing, and I continue to work to those goals.

That's next on A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, here at Black Star Network. Hi, everybody. This is Jonathan Nelson. Hi, this is Cheryl Lee Ralph, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. We're talking this ridiculous proposal by the Missouri GOP to legislate against bare arms or bearing arms for women in the Capitol. We're joined by State Representative Jamie Johnson, who is filling us in on the craziness and the madness. Ms. Johnson, I'm curious, do you have any kind of bipartisan pushback on this from the Republican women? Or is this something that only the Democratic women seem to be speaking out against? So it's actually interesting. This rule change was proposed by a Republican woman.

So we're just as someone else that that was that was happening. But this debate really overshadowed a lot of the important debates that we were hoping to have with some of the rule changes that Democrats proposed. So, for instance, we proposed amendments that would make the Capitol building more accessible to Missourians with disabilities, that would ensure Missourians could testify before out-of-state stakeholders in committee hearings, and that would make that just general rule changes that would make the House work better for the people of Missouri. And there was no debate on that. There were no questions. There was no conversation. It was just a flat-out no.

Like, we got—the vote—the voice vote was on party lines and just absolutely shot down on all of the things that we wanted to do to make the people's house more accessible and hold us more accountable to the people of Missouri. And that's just unfortunate that this conversation overshadowed that greater conversation of what we wanted to do to make the House more accessible. Right. I mean, you know, one thing Republicans are good for is deflecting and sucking up the oxygen in terms of these kind of things that are really easy and justifiably to get outraged over. And they kind of get a free pass on the things that they're obstructing, like what you just laid out. I want to bring in the panel to see if they have anything to weigh in on this. I'm going to start off with Erica. Yes, and thank you so much for joining us.

Really encouraged to see you and your colleagues really laying out, laying to bear, pun intended, what this means. Let me ask you around what constituents, I know it's early in the year, but what has been constituents' feedback when it comes to getting the people's business done? Because what you talked about, the immediate folks that have differing abilities able to access the Capitol, that's a human right so that they would be able to speak with you all, go on tours or things of that nature.

So can you talk a little bit about the other side of it, the less chaotic side, the folks that voted you all in, their expectations and any feedback that you're receiving from Missouri? Yes, I and my colleagues have received a lot of feedback from our constituents on what a waste of time this is, what a waste of resources this is. You know, Missouri is at the bottom of the list on so many national quality of life metrics. And we're hearing from our constituents saying we want better. In this last election, we have the largest class of

freshmen representatives in a very long time in the Missouri House of Representatives. And so it's a referendum saying we want something different. We don't want politics as usual. This is, you know, we've had, we have one other thing that I need to mention. We've had a GOP super majority in Missouri for over 20 years. And this kind of debate is what they want to highlight as what's important to them, you know, and our constituents are over it. We, like I said, we had the largest freshman class in a very long time in the Missouri House. And I really think it's because people want change. And we heard from them this week after that debate saying enough is enough.

This is ridiculous. Let's move forward with the people's business. Ms. Johnson, you did mention about how Missouri, the legislature tried to, you know, be first to enact a trigger ban after the ending of Roe v. Wade. Are there any other kind of anti-women policies that, you know, the Missourians should be concerned about that are coming down the pipe from this GOP legislature? Well, I know federally they're looking at a nationwide ban and that we are they're looking at contraceptives. And there's a lot of that happening in Missouri as well. There are there's language that to define what fetal personhood looks like. So, you know, to move that line between a woman as a human being carrying a fetus versus the fetus having its own rights and responsibilities as a person before the fetus is fully able to live on their own outside of a woman's body. So there's a lot of very scary things happening in Missouri right now.

And I think that's why a lot of these new legislators were elected in this last election, because people want something different. This type of rule puts up a barrier to who the idea of who could run for office. For instance, you know, when I first was asked to run for office, I was like, why, why me? I'm a single mom with three kids, two in college, you know, I'm, I'm like a soccer mom. This is, I'm not gonna run for office. And then, you know, I decided that, you know, after some further thought, I decided that it was something that I could do and did the work, pounded the pavement, knocked the doors, and won the election. So I really believe that these types of rules, these definitions of professionalism, these definitions of what looks like we're professional, put up barriers to get people to understand that they have a right

and a responsibility to help in this democratic system. And one of those ways is running for office. And professional clothing does not really constitute decorum. Before I was elected, I've watched some of the House debates, and I really wondered why people were screaming. Some people almost came to blows. It was, and all of them were in suits. All of them were in ties, and all of them were in nice dresses and blazers and cardigans. So I don't really understand how they want to equate professional dress with decorum. So it's an interesting, it's a very interesting story.

And like I said at the top of the segment, I'm really excited to be here. Love Roland Martin, have watched for a long time, but I'm also really embarrassed that this is why I'm here. So y'all don't have to ask me back, you know, with more. Oh, I'm so sure that Roland would love to have you back. You know, he's very big on highlighting state legislators, especially somebody with your background, who is a prime example of why it's important to get involved and never count yourself too small to make a difference in your state or your local elections. I want to give Dr. Carr a chance to weigh in. Thank you, Recy, and thank you, Representative Johnson. Happy early 110th, looking good for 110th. And I will confess that until I came to work at Howard University, I did not know what St. John's was.

So I want to say that your colleague, that shade was chef's kiss excellent, because I'm sure many, many of those hillbillies don't know what St. John's is either. But at any rate, that's really what I want to go with it. I'm assuming maybe I shouldn't assume that Representative Ann was referring to earlier. And I noticed she noted that there's an issue of formality and professional atmosphere. I'm wondering if there's some racial undertones, even to these white women. I mean, because I'm thinking, when you say words like professional

and formal, but you sisters, look, y'all wouldn't know St. John's if it slapped you in the face, but you got a lot of nerve. Is this about black women? I mean, because I can't imagine these hillbillies, whatever they got on, is necessarily anything near the style that y'all have. I don't know if it's singly about black women, but it is. There are racial undertones there.

There's also some undertones of classism. I know a lot of, and Kelly's, Representative Kelly's colleagues on the other side of the aisle are of the conservative, the more conservative caucus. And so, you know, people are coming in and we know what the general stereotype of MAGA folks are. Right. And so the situation, you know, we want to shore up these rules so that we are all understanding that we have to be professional. I mean, I've seen some of the Republican women in beautiful blanket ponchos and complimented them on them. And they were super cute, you know. And those are things that they can't wear now because their colleague has come for them. It's really up to them. Freedom has racial undertones. And with the history Missouri has not. Listen, I'm a freshman.

This is my second week on the job in the legislature. But I'm sincerely not surprised, not surprised at all. Well, Representative Johnson, Missouri is very fortunate to have you and the new wave of lawmakers. And so thank you so much for joining us and letting us know about what's going on in your state. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Of course. And let me just say

if you cannot concentrate with arms being exposed, then maybe you need to get a new profession because that ain't got nothing to do with women being unprofessional. It's got something to do with maybe you being a little bit of a pervert. Because I ain't that turned on by nobody's arms. That's where I can't concentrate, all right?

But let's go on ahead and head to a break. We will be right back with more Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back. We're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it. And you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us.

We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in black-owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff. So please, support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people, $50 this month, raise $100,000. We're behind $100,000, so we want to hit that. Y'all money makes this possible. Checks and money orders go to P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash app is Dollar Sign RM Unfiltered. PayPal is R. Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at

RolandSMartin.com. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. The number of people working from home has quadrupled to almost 30%. You're going to learn how you can now create your money space. It can impact your mood, your mindset, and your ability to get wealthy. Interior designer Nikki Kluge joins us to share exactly what you need to do to create a winning workspace. Make a space that is going to instantly put you in the mindset so that you can be more productive, so that you're organized, so that you're inspired, or you're really focusing in on the task at hand. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Hi, I'm Amber Stephens-West from The Carmichael Show. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. Hi, I'm Amber Stephens-West from The Carmichael Show. Hi, my name is LaToya Luckett,

and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Sierra Chapman has been missing since Christmas Day. The 30-year-old Dayton, Ohio woman is 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighs 123 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Sierra was last seen wearing a short-sleeved Tommy Hilfiger shirt, blue jeans, and black boots. She also has a tattoo on her neck that says Jaden. Anyone with information about Sierra Chapman should contact Dayton Police Department at 937-333-1070. Two Illinois EMS workers are charged with first-degree murder for placing a patient face down on a gurney leading to his death. Lifestar EMS workers Peter Cadigan and Peggy Finley were called on December 18 to assist

Earl Moore, who was suffering from hallucinations due to alcohol withdrawal. Springfield, Illinois police have released body camera footage from the night that Moore died. Moore could not walk, so officers assisted him to the stretcher. Cardigan and Finley then placed Moore face down in the prone position, securing him to the stretcher before transport. The coroner's report says Moore's cause of death was compressional and positional asphyxia due to prone face down restraint on a paramedic transportation stretcher due to straps across the back. I'm going to go to the panel really quickly on this. You know, we are accustomed to hearing about the disregard for life, Black life in particular, when it comes to the police officers. But God damn it, the EMS workers are doing this kind of negligence to, or alleged

negligence to people they're called to assist. That was supposed to be one of the solutions to police brutality, is getting actual medical professionals involved. Dr. Carr, your reaction to this story? Well, yeah, I mean, I think you're right. You're right, Recy. But again, I mean, we live in a society, I don't know anything about Lifestar Ambulance Service, and they have gone silent. But if we're talking about outsourcing, if we're talking about private contracts, I mean,

there is a culture of impudence when you call for help. And so, you know, they're taking their cues from the patarollers. And in this case, the police released video footage, it seems to me, probably in part to say, hey, look, this time it wasn't us. But this is part of a larger culture. What did you do to stop it? I mean, it's Lifestar private company is contracting with the municipality. And if then and by the look of those mugshots, I don't know that I would call either one of them people to come help me or anybody else I cared about. I know that's right. You know, Erica, Dr. Carr brings up such a good point. You know, when we talk about the privatization of health care, one of the things that Republicans like to have you believe is that privatizing health care is the solution to getting the best medical care. But we see that that's not necessarily the solution. And in this case, it was actually a deadly result. What is your reaction? Sure. You know, a 35-year-old man right about a week before Christmas did.

We hear these stories too often. And, you know, Reesey, thinking about your home state of California with the number of brush fires that happened, as you well know, some of the wealthier people are able to afford to have those private services of firefighters who people call first responders. They kind of loop them all into that category to come out to secure services outside of having to call 911. So, you know, here we see not understanding how lifestyle, who they are, how they, what their role was, but that these two people that were working for them, you know, looking at Peter, you know, that's a big man. That was one of the first things that I saw. And so when we see him strapping those straps even harder, just think about like, I think he, it was like three different straps or maybe two straps that he placed over the man's body.

To see him do that and the weight that he moved in doing that, I'm wondering at what time did this 35-year-old man expire? It was just really horrifying to watch that and know that police camera footage was covering that as well. So in terms of the outcome of this, you know, I definitely hope his family sues the hell out of everybody that should be sued and that it looks like Peggy and Peter are going to be in jail for a while because they don't look like they have anything close to that million-dollar bond. And I really hope that they do serve the maximum time in prison for this homicide that they both committed. Absolutely. You know, unlike when it comes to cops doing this kind of stuff, there are very swift and appropriate charges in this case. And so they're going to find out that that blue line don't necessarily extend to them,

even though that's who they're clearly taking their cues from. Let's move on to the next story, though. The attorneys for the former Grand Rapids, Michigan, police officer who shot Congolese immigrant Patrick LaJoya point blank in the back of his head during a routine traffic stop wants a judge to throw out a second-degree murder charge against him. In a motion, Christopher Scher's defense team gave the following three reasons he should not stand trial for Patrick's death. Michigan law permits Officer Scher to use deadly force to prevent Patrick LaJoya from fleeing and to effectuate his arrest under legal authority

given to Officer Scherr by the state in response to force used by La Jolla and in self-defense. That's his quote. That's a statement. The motion also asks a Kent County Circuit judge to overturn the October ruling that Scherr stands trial for the April 4th, 2022 killing of La Jolla. You know, Dr. Carr, defense attorneys can ask for anything, but you for damn sure are not going to get it necessarily. To bring charges already, there is a higher degree of vetting and standard that prosecutors use. And so this definitely seems desperate. And last I checked, the back of the head don't sound like self-defense to me.

What's your reaction, Dr. Carr? No, I agree. I mean, and like you said, the judge listened to two days of testimony. And it just reinforces the fact. And, of course, as you say, Recy, and correct, of course, accurately so. You know, you want a zealous defense. So attorneys are going to throw everything against the wall and see what sticks. Unfortunately, when you're dealing with killers, with pat-a-rollers, with hunters, with these

people, the police, you're talking about people who go into a situation with a license to kill and with a whole lot of leeway and the protection of the state. What we don't know is how this appeal will be ruled on. It could be very well that this will be taken into consideration. And that is the tragic thing, because that was an execution. We all know it. But the executor is protected by this system, and, you know, law be damned. So the lawyer's doing what the lawyer's supposed to do, defend his client.

And in this case, his client's a killer cop, and the killer cop gets the advantage of basically having a license to kill. So now we have to wait and see what's going to happen. Wait and see. That seems to always be the case with what seems like a never-ending number of cases around police violence, particularly against Black people. Erica, I want to get your thoughts on this next story. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appoints a special counsel to investigate the classified documents found at President Joe Biden's home and former private office. Garland appointed Robert Heuer to investigate, along with the Republican-led House of Representatives. The appointment comes after Biden's aides located documents

with classified markings at two separate locations inside Biden's home in a locked garage. For the third straight cycle, the Department of Justice and FBI will investigate in a presidential election cycle. Erica, we already see the false equivalencies coming from the Republicans, the howls from the Republicans that there is a hypocrisy in the treatment of President Biden and the reaction to it, as opposed to former President Donald Trump. What are your thoughts on the uncovering of these classified documents? And how do you view the differences in these cases? Well, you know, we're talking about the son of a Klansman. So we're talking about a well-known,

undisputed criminal who stole the People's House at 1600 Black Lives Matter Plaza. So we're talking about somebody who, you know, Dr. Carr talked about his taxes earlier. And one thing that we found out, one thing that came to surface is that he's in debt to China. So we're talking about a whole national national security problem when we're talking about Donald John Trump. In comparison, when we're dealing with what happened with President Biden, and it seems like protocol was followed, one of the things that I think that people need to be concerned with is that because media has really been, and mainstream media has really been waiting and really kind of like foaming at the mouth to get back at some of that very juicy 45 kind of news reporting that they were used to doing. So I think that along with the chaotic terrorist GOP,

also look for mainstream media to really be making this a lot more salacious than what it is. And for Republicans to be jumping up and down every day screaming. So I think that this is something that, you know, pay attention to. But then at the same time, understanding that this person that was appointed for the special person that's going to look into it, he was appointed by Donald Trump, was in the office when Donald Trump was talking about MS-13 and how they were going to take them down. So I would say, you know, hear it, but definitely don't ingest it. There's no comparison. And hopefully this will move through

the media cycle more quickly. And we'll find out what those documents are, if there are any issues and move forward, because we definitely do have a lot of work to get through for this remaining year. Yeah, but you know, one thing I have to admit, politically, though, I think this is a little bit of an issue. We know that the attention span of the political media and even the political public is very short and very much prone to false equivalency. And so I do have to admit this was sloppy on the part of President Biden in terms of the way that he's stored, or maybe he was unaware of the classified material. So I do think that this opens him up in a way that really is not helpful. And we know that Republicans are far more effective at weaponizing this sort of, you know, careless mistake. But there is a huge difference between carelessness and being a national security threat and holding on for dear life to classified information like what Donald Trump was doing.

And I have to say, son of a Klansman is always my favorite. So thank you for that. Well, listen, the show is coming to a close, but I do have to get to this one last story, which is about a California red lining settlement. The largest bank headquartered in Los Angeles will pay $31 million for allegedly engaging in lending discrimination. This is the largest red lining settlement in the Department of Justice history. The DOJ claims City National Bank engaged in redlining in Los Angeles County from 2017 through at least 2020. City National Bank engaged in a pattern and practice of discrimination through redlining. Specifically, City National Bank avoided providing home loans and mortgage lending services to majority black and

Latino neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles. The illegal conduct that we alleged to be a complaint took place between 2017 and 2020. City Natural has agreed to resolve the government's lawsuit by entering into an agreement known as a consent form. This requires City Natural national bank make numerous investments and take significant actions that will have a positive impact on black and Latino city national as attorney assistant attorney general Clark mentioned has agreed to spend more than 31 million million to address these inequities.

This is historic in terms of this marking the largest redlining settlement that the Justice Department has secured with respect to a bank or lender. Redlining is the practice of preventing Black families in particular from amassing and maintaining wealth in the same way that white families could, resulting in the growth of the racial wealth gap and housing insecurity. I, Pete's Assistant Attorney General Kirsten Clark, she is always on the J-O-B. They have been on fire in terms of not just this kind of settlement, which is historic, but in terms of the way they've held cops and vigilantes accountable for, you know, crimes, civil rights crimes,

hate crimes and things of that nature. And so shout out to her. I know there's complaints about Mara Garland, but I'm not letting nobody say a crossword about Kristen Clark, or Kirsten Clark, rather. All right, y'all, listen, Roland, you know, handed the reins to me in the middle of the show, but

it has been fun filling in. You did that, boo. As always. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You know y'all are my favorite crew. The only people I'd want to do this with. But I have to thank you, Dr. Carr, as usual. I wish I would have been able to get you in on the Kristen Clark segment because I know you got something uh i have to thank you dr car as usual i wish i would have been able to

get you in on the kristen clark segment because i know you got something to say and thank you oh i got it okay okay and thank you as always to the beautiful erica savage wilson and thank you roland martin and filter family for tuning in shout out to roland for holding it down at jackie's high school for his principal. And that's it, y'all. That's it. That's all. I got 24 seconds. So I'm just gonna say holla. Holla. Black Star Network is here.

Oh, no punching! I'm real revolutionary right now. I'm proud. Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roland. Hey, Black, I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going.

The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and Black-owned media and something like CNN. You can't be Black-owned media and be scape. It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home. You dig? Pull up a chair, take your seat The Black Tape

with me, Dr. Greg Carr here on the Black Star Network Every week, we'll take a deeper dive into the world we're living in Join the conversation only on the Black Star Network Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood-Martin and I have a question for you.

Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Black Star Network for a balanced life with Dr. Jackie. We're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not. From politics to music and entertainment, it's a huge part of our lives. And we're going to talk about it every day right here on The new show, Get Wealthy, focuses on the things that your financial advisor and bank isn't telling you, but you absolutely need to know. So watch Get Wealthy on the Black Star Network. this is an iHeart podcast