#RolandMartinUnfiltered - US adds 850k jobs; Hannah-Jones to Howard; Ex-Tenn. cop pleads guilty to murder; #Essence throwback

Episode Date: July 7, 2021

7.6.21 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: US adds 850k jobs in June, but how does that impact Black unemployment? Recording artists and musicians fight for their right to collect royalties from AM and FM radio stations. Dionne Warwick will join us to discuss; 76-year-old grandmother, Gwen Levi released from prison; Nikole Hannah-Jones to Howard after '1619' dust-up; Ex-Tenn. cop pleads guilty to murder; #Essence throwback with Snoop Dogg, Chance the Rapper and BlackstreetSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, July 6, 2021. And coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, we'll talk with the Labor Secretary about the labor conditions in this country

and also the prospects for a burgeoning economy. We'll discuss that with him also. Journalist Nicole Hannah-Jones turned down tenure at the University of North Carolina and accepts the position with Ta-Nehisi Coates at Howard University. Also on today's show, a white racist in New Jersey accosts a black man, videotaped, then gives his address and says,

y'all want a piece of me? Come to my house. Well, protesters did. He is now under arrest by police there. Folks, we got a jam packed show. It is time to bring the funk on Rolling Mark Unfiltered. Let's go. He's got it.

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

It's Uncle Roro, y'all. Yeah, yeah. It's Uncle Roro, yo. Yeah, yeah. It's Rollin' Marten, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Rollin' with Rollin' now. Yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best, you know he's Rollin' Marten now. Marten. Martin!

Folks, welcome to today's show. Republicans said that, oh, President Joe Biden is elected, the economy is going to go to trash. Well, that actually hasn't happened. It has been a roaring economy. You know, the one that was started by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. In May, 583,000 jobs were added. In June, 800, excuse me, 850,000 jobs were added. That's about a 300,000 increase again over those May numbers. President Biden made it clear he is with the progress. I wish they'd probably wish those 600,000 jobs paid $600,000 a year, but 600,000 jobs per month. We've now created over 3 million jobs since it took office, more jobs than have ever been created in the first five months of any presidency in modern history, thanks to the incredible work of the entire team. This is historic progress,

pulling our economy out of the worst crisis in 100 years, driven in part by our dramatic progress in vaccinating our nation and beating back the pandemic, as well as other elements of the American rescue plan. Today, the U.S. is the only major advanced economy where the OECD projections of future output are higher today than they were in January 2020 before the pandemic hit. And America was ranked first in Bloomberg's COVID resilience ranking. None of this happened by accident. Again, it's a direct result of the American Rescue Plan. And at the time, people questioned whether or not

we should do that even though we didn't have bipartisan support. Well, it worked. Joining us right now on Roller Martin Unfiltered is the Secretary of Labor, Martin J. Walsh. Secretary Walsh, glad to have you on the show. I cannot hear him. Please, Secretary Walsh, are you there? Yeah, hold on.

Oh, there you go. Okay, can you hear me now? How's that? Okay, all right, Oh, there you go. Okay, can you hear me now? How's that? Okay, all right, now I can hear you. First and foremost, when we talk about these job numbers, they speak to one thing, but obviously what we still pay attention to are the job numbers for African Americans. And so what is that looking like? Yeah, you know, as the president said, the jobs report is good.

But unfortunately, I'll give you a breakdown of what the numbers are reality as of last Friday. The unemployment rate for the white community is 5.2 percent. The unemployment rate for the black community is 9.2 percent. Asian community is 5.8 percent. And the Hispanic was 7.4. So clearly we have a lot of work to do as we think about unemployment numbers in this country. And we need to make sure and the president's focus on this, that the the economic recovery is equitable. And we have to we have to address it if we don't

address it now. I mean, not now. Now is the right time to address that. So one of the things that we often talk about is that a white high school graduate makes more than a black college graduate, which that shouldn't be the case. You have folks who do not want to confront the reality of race in our economy. That still is a fundamental issue. It definitely is. But I'll tell you, I mean, President Biden, when he was on the campaign trail, he talked about that. When he got sworn in as president, he talked about that. When he talks about his job plans,

whether it's the infrastructure plan or the CARES economy, he is asking us as a department, as a government, to address this issue, whether it's through job training, workforce development, making sure that people have opportunities to do jobs, making sure that on state-funded contracts, we're making investments and making sure that contractors go out, contracts that are done to the private sector, if you will, on public dollars, that we also make investments there. I mean, we have to be really intentional about the work we do. It can't be the same old response as always in the past.

Oh, we're going to work on it. This has to be a real intentional response. And quite honestly, we're going to need everyone to be working collectively together on this. Obviously, during the summertime, it is a huge issue when we talk about doubts for young folks as well. You also have folks on the right who are making a big issue out of the unemployment benefits, saying that people out here don't want to work. But the reality is this, Secretary Walsh, I think what COVID did, COVID exposed a heck of a whole lot. And one of the things that exposed what the number of people and who were spending the amount of money they were spending to travel and daycare. And they simply said after COVID,

you know what? If you want me to go back to those jobs, you're going to have to pay more. And we have examples where companies have actually paid more. They have not had a drop off in their revenue. In fact, they've been able to make money because they had to pay their workers more. And so a lot of people are saying, look, you have to deal with this wage, this wage shortage, if you will. And it can't be companies sitting on trillions of dollars in cash and the workers not being able to benefit. You said a lot there. And let me just I'm not going to street anything you just said. I think the three hundred dollar benefit that was extended on the plan of benefits,

in my opinion, doesn't keep people out of work. What that's doing, it was done over time. COVID, we're still in COVID. Many people lost their job. Their job is not, they have no job to go back to. So they're trying to find a new job in a new industry with new employer. And that $300 kept food on the table, roof over people's heads, and gave them some peace of mind during a period in our country which we haven't seen in 100 years during a pandemic.

So that first and foremost, that $300 is really important. As we think about going back, yes, there has been some employers offering more money to their employees. And there's nothing wrong with paying your employees more money. As a matter of fact, that creates opportunities for people to be able to earn a living and put food on the table. The president also has filed a bill that would raise the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour. I mean, think about raising, you can barely raise an individual on $7.25 an hour. You really can't. I mean, $15 an hour is tough, but what it does, it sets the tone to raise the wages. And, you know, the administration has been very clear on increasing wages in this time because, again, it's creating pathways for people to get into

middle class. One of the issues that we have been focused on here, we have a segment called Where's Our Money? And one of the things that I have joined with others is really going after a lot of these companies when it came to advertising for black-owned media. And the reality is, I think when we look at contracts, the same thing happens on the federal government. A study was done three years ago, commissioned by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton,

that showed black-owned media got 1% of federal advertising contracts. We also saw during the Trump administration the bundling, if you will, of contracts versus the unbundling of contracts, which allow for Black-owned companies, smaller companies to be able to go after those jobs. The reality is this, Secretary Walsh, that if the federal government does not confront this issue of lack of contracts, We're never going to see black businesses grow. Prior to COVID, there were 2.6 million black-owned businesses. Of those 2.6 million, 2.5 million only had one employee.

I don't necessarily call those black businesses. Those are sole proprietorship. And so what about that issue as well? Because lack of access to contracts, the inability to be able to get those contributes to the inability for us to be able to hire, expand, build capacity, and grow wealth for the black community. You're 100% right. I mean, listen, I was mayor of Boston for the last seven years,

and we made some adjustments. But honestly, to be honest with you, we made some focused adjustments in the last year, and our numbers aren't great. And you really have to put work into it. You can't just simply say, set a goal and say, okay, this is our goal. We're going to have X amount of percentage of black-owned businesses. There has to be a whole program set up, and we're able to do that in Boston. And I'm not going to see the benefit of that, but the next mayor will. The next mayor will see the benefit of that.

And I'm taking that experience with me to the federal government, to not make the same mistakes we did. We had all good intentions. We had the right hope. We wanted to make a big difference. But what it was is it just the process wasn't set up to be successful. And that's why we think about the money from the federal government, making sure that the right procedure in place and the right supports for the companies are in place so that Black-owned businesses can access these federal dollars. You're absolutely right. That's one way of starting out and getting successful. Another way, I have to give a shout out. I was at

Black and Bold Coffee the other day in Iowa. It's a black-owned business coffee shop that they do all of their purchasing. Most of their purchasing, they support other black-owned businesses. So that's another way also of being helpful in the private sector, supporting and subbing some of your work out and buying your supplies from companies that are black-owned companies in the community as well. Well, I'll tell you, I mean, that's what we do here. I mean, we just moved into new offices. We literally are building the studio now. And I was very intentional of hiring African-Americans who build TV sets, who build backgrounds,

African-Americans who are lighting directors, African-Americans who are engineers, because a lot of times they don't get these opportunities. We probably are going to spend more than $300,000 and actually even more in terms of doing our new office. If you're a black owned company and you're able to get that 30,,000, $40,000, $50,000, $60,000 contract, that's a huge thing when others are bypassing you for whatever reason. And so it is about being intentional. And so I'm curious to know, in your position as Secretary of Labor,

what are those conversations like when you're talking with these CEOs to do that? Because there's a lot of people, Secretary Walsh, who talk a good game. They put up black, black, you know, the black tiles on Instagram after George Floyd's death. They've made all these different announcements, all these great things they're going to do. And they talk about they want to, you know, give out aid and scholarships. But black, the black community doesn't need aid. We need aid and investment. And so what are those conversations like that you're having with those, frankly, white CEOs? Well, quite honestly, I'm still early in my tenure here, so I haven't had a lot of those conversations.

But I can speak from my experience in the city of Boston. We were seeing a real change as far as hiring, creating pathways, not just in City Hall, but in businesses. And we were seeing a lot of good work being done. I want to take some of that work with me to Washington. I have, and again, I'm just beginning these conversations. I've been in the role about three months now. But, you know, these unemployment numbers, when they come out month after month, again, you know, the reason why I highlight them when I'm on national news is because we can tell a good story. 3.1 million people have gone back to work, but it hasn't, again,

hasn't been completely across the board. And there's still lots of work to be done there. Well, it is certainly a whole lot to do. You know, we are always very particular in looking at the black unemployment numbers, the unemployment numbers for African-Americans as well. And I dare say this, Secretary Walsh, when people everybody's talking about crime, you hear people discussing these various issues. And I keep saying over and over and over again, unless you deal unless you add the economy and jobs and opportunities and education to any discussion about crime, then you're not having a real conversation.

I agree with you 100%. I agree with you 1,000%. That's exactly the answer to a lot of the crime in America. It's about creating an opportunity for a young person to get a job, a senior, firsthand, up close and personal. In my city, you create opportunities for employment that include paying jobs to people, whether in the building trades or whether in industry. Those kids do not go back to the street corner. They take all their focus, all their attention, and making sure their attention is on making money. And that's what people want to do. And same for education. We have to, the president has made it, made it, made it

a recommendation for an investment in universal pre-kindergarten and also child care. We have to get our kids into school earlier. We have to follow them through. We got to get the outcomes better for our kids because any kid that has an education has an opportunity in front of them, then they're going to choose the opportunity and they're not going to, they're not going to have to fall back into, into some of the criminal justice system things. And we spent a lot of, we spent money in reentry. I think we need to also continue to put money on the front end so we don't have the reentry programs because kids don't need the reentry programs. You said, this is my last question. I was going to make that one my last one, but you said something in your answer that is important. You mentioned the trade unions.

I said this years ago when President Barack Obama was in office and Gene Sperling came to my Sunday show, Washington Watch on TV One, and he was talking about the infrastructure bill. And what I said to him was, I said, you've got to make sure that those trade unions open up those jobs for African Americans as well. There have been studies done in Chicago that estimated over a period of ten years, several billion dollars did not go into the black community because African-Americans were not being

hired. This infrastructure bill the president has put forward, I think it is important, Secretary Walsh, that the president, that you, that other economic leaders make it clear to these unions, these trade unions, do not freeze black workers. And I'm out of jobs. I'm not talking about going to create some apprenticeship jobs. I'm talking about the African-Americans who are qualified to be carpenters, drywallers, all of those high paying jobs, because if they want black votes to get it passed,

they better also employ black people. If you look at the, if you, when you get a chance, Google the program, building pathways in the city of Austin, that's a pre-apprentice program that started in 2011. That was offered the American recovery plan by president Obama, the investment in public housing. We create a program over 500 people of color,

people, I mean, when it meant women and men are in the building trades now, because we create a pre-apprentice program. Some of them now are lots of them, lots of people, I should say, are journeymen now. They're making the full rate because they got in through that program. That's the type of investment. That's the type of programming you need that actually can make a difference.

It's legacy programs. That program is still existent. The American Recovery Plan is all gone. It's beyond the money spent. But the building trades in Boston kept that program going and they continue to make investments in that program. You do programs like that around this country, in the next five to 10 years,

that's the game changer for everybody. I agree, so we certainly are gonna keep watching this and keep pushing this issue because if you don't deal with the money, you cannot change the conditions that black folks have had to face in America. Secretary Martin J. Walsh, Secretary of Labor, we certainly appreciate it, thanks a lot.

Thanks for having me. Thank you. Let's go to my panel. Ben Dixon, host of the Benjamin Dixon Show podcast. Theresa Lundy, principal founder of TML Communications. Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, former senior advisor for environmental justice, EPA. Mustafa, I wanna start with you.

On that point there, this is where the full force and power of the federal government is important. When I said Secretary Walsh, they've got to challenge those trade unions and others to make sure that they are not locking black people out. And I know he mentioned that pre-apprenticeship program, okay, but again, those are low-level positions. I'm talking about the experienced African-Americans right now who could be should be qualifying for those high paying jobs.

This is where political power must be a must and tell them, open your doors. Yeah, I agree completely. You know, the Department of Labor has an opportunity to really make sure that it's infusing intentionality into these sets of opportunities that we know can garner wealth for folks. So for me, it's on two sides. It's on making sure that workers have the opportunity to get these higher paying job opportunities inside of the trades. But it is also about ownership of business. So they have an opportunity there to actually make sure they're infusing dollars in a real way. And then, of course, the other part was those public-private

partnerships and having those conversations. And so I appreciate the success that the Biden administration has had so far. I take a bit of a pause when Secretary Walsh said that he had not yet had certain conversations with folks. So I know we all encourage him to quickly begin to have those conversations with the individuals who actually have the ability to leverage these sets of jobs that we are often barred from to a degree, or at least our numbers are not representative for our numbers across the country. You know, this thing about just being intentional, Teresa, is crucial.

And the reason I specifically asked the Secretary those questions is because these leaders, these CEOs, these labor leaders need to understand and need to be challenged directly by government officials saying, if you are going to benefit from our policy changes and you are going to ride black votes to do so, then you better make sure that black people are getting a part of this. Absolutely. So the immediacy was there, I think, even in the questioning and his response for labor leaders and elected officials and really stakeholders to really have a founding understanding of what their position is as we start to have that conversation about rebuilding the economy.

So I think there has been a lot of job opportunities that has been happening, but I think more does need to happen in terms of what the hourly wage looks like, upcoming opportunities, construction projects. But again, these are a whole host of items that can happen in each department. But I think with the right analysis and also tracking for purposes would also help us figure out what the next steps can be. Benjamin, look, I'm going to keep pursuing it because let's be honest, these are not the questions you're going to hear asked on MSNBC, CNN, Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS, because they really don't understand what's going on here. I cited the City College of Chicago several years ago, did an expansive study that said black Chicago lost upwards of $10 billion by being

frozen out of the trade unions. No, absolutely. And I think it's the framing of the conversation that gives it so much power. This is why we're able to unearth some of the nuances that are important for the black community. I also would have loved the labor secretary to speak on the strategy that they're going to use to actually overcome some of the challenges that they're having on the political side, because there are a lot of remedies for black people that are located inside of these unions

and the ability to organize. And we look and see what Amazon has done and Bessemer, Alabama, and the pushback against the ability to organize. This is an issue for black people as well. So I definitely appreciate the framing of the entire conversation in that regard. Well, again, as I said, we're going to keep pressing this issue as best as we can. All right, folks, let's go to our next story.

Remember the 76-year-old black grandmother who was sent back to prison for not answering her phone from a probation officer because she was in a computer class, well, she's actually heading home. With the help of the criminal justice advocacy group Families Against Mandatory Minimums, Gwen Levy got a compassionate release today. The group filed a petition on Levy's behalf, and a judge ruled in her favor. This is the statement from the judge. U.S. District Judge Deborah Chassanow stated, Upon full consideration of the factors, the court concludes that it would do little, if anything,

to serve the goals of sentencing to require her to return to full custody. During her incarceration, she took many courses, worked, and completed drug education. Levy is among 24,000 nonviolent federal prisoners who were allowed to serve their sentence at home to slow the spread of COVID-19. She spent 16 years behind bars for conspiracy to sell at least one kilogram of heroin. Now without the ruling, Levy would have spent eight more years in prison.

Now of course, remember last week we talked with Kevin Ring, who is the president of FAM. He joins us right now. And Kevin, thank God we did not have one of these crazy Trump judges who listened to the likes of Tom Cotton or Jeff Sessions and they just believe in just tossing more people in prison. This was stupid from the get-go. But the real issue here is that the Bureau of Prisons did not have to actually do this. And this is where I still believe the challenge should be

to Attorney General Merrick Garland and President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to get some people in these damn systems, the bureaucrats who understand being compassionate. 100%. They have got to change the culture of the Bureau of Prisons. You, everyone gravitated to this story because it was hard to believe that we were sending a 76-year-old grandmother cancer survivor back to prison because she went to this computer class. I mean, think about that halfway house, that Bureau of Prisons official who said, yeah, this violated our rules technically. And so our options are send this woman back to prison for four or five years or give her a warning, bring her back to the halfway house, do something different.

I mean, the idea that they thought that the appropriate action was to bring her back to federal prison is disgusting. And it happens all the time. And the culture needs to change. And the culture won't change until you bring new people in there, as you said. And to that particular point, we talk about the culture, because this is the issue that we're seeing in this country in terms of how people think and how they respond. And she's 76. How much time does she actually spend? How long has she been in jail? She was in prison for 15 years, home for a year, and has just been back in jail for now a couple weeks.

So even in those couple of weeks, it just didn't make any sense at all. Is Pham still... So even though she is going to be released, first of all, has she already been released or is it still being processed? She should be out between 7 and 10 p.m. tonight. Her son's waiting for her.

And so even though she is going to get out, are y'all still pursuing, again, meetings with DOJ to say you need to be examining this? Well, look, we've been meeting with the Biden team since they were in the transition. And then we met with them when they got appointed. And remember, she's one of 4,000 people who were sent to home confinement

under Bill Barr's tenure as attorney general to get them away from COVID. So she became the poster child for this group of people, these 4,000 people. Now, hers took this awful turn where she was sent back. And luckily today, the judge granted compassionate release. Her story's done. There's 4,000 others, low-level people who are home, have been home for a year, followed all the rules, and they're at risk of going back unless the Biden administration does something

to keep them home. And that just makes just no sense whatsoever there. Have you talked to her? Last time you talked to her, and how is she feeling? Well, I'm waiting to get a text. Her attorney talked to her. Everyone heard the news except for her attorney finally got to do a video call in the jail. Apparently she cried and then did a happy dance.

She's going to be able to go home. They have a family reunion coming up that she wouldn't have been able to go to because her officer wouldn't have let her do that. But now that she's on probation, she's gonna be able to do that. So she deserves a chance to rest. I mean, think about it, over the 4th of July,

it was hard to imagine that she was sitting in a D.C. jail. And so I'm just glad she's going to be home with her family. Well, I agree 100 percent. Certainly give us, give her our thoughts. And we certainly, again, these are the kind of issues that we want to keep folks centered on because there are too many others who are going through this who don't need to be sitting in prison at taxpayer expense. They can actually be rehabilitating themselves at home. Well, thank you for bringing attention to it.

It really did make a difference in this case. I mean, it shouldn't have taken all this attention to do something that was such common sense, but I'm afraid that's the way the system works and they were exposed for this sort of corrupt behavior and I'm glad it worked, but thank you. And we're gonna continue. Kevin, we appreciate it, thanks a lot, great work.

Thank you. And we're going to continue. Kevin, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Great work. Thank you. This, Teresa, this is why, first of all, media matter. This is why you have to shine light on this sort of stuff, why you have to have people who are telling these stories. Otherwise, I mean, she would be sitting in prison. You're absolutely right. And, you know, I think from start to finish, you know, I was following this case and a few of my colleagues and we said, this is just ridiculous.

It could have been our grandmother. It could have been our auntie, our sister. But as I look at this woman, I'm like, she is, you know, essentially, if she's not family, she is a part of my African-American heritage. And I said and I have so many friends who friends who unfortunately are still stuck in the system. So those who are waiting for that unfortunate call to go back to jail. And I think many of us are, you know, who know those who have been home for that one year are still waiting for that call. So, I mean, you know, if we're not bringing the issues to the forefront, I think, again, we're going to have more of these conversations and dialogues. But again, media matters. And that's why it was, you know, this 76-year-old woman was able, is able to come out. But again, there's still more pressing issues on

the table. Ben, this is, again, as I said to Kevin, I really hope Attorney General Merrick Garland, I really hope Vanita Gupta, I really hope that Christian Clark, I really hope there are conversations in the Department of Justice with the Bureau of Prisons about stupid-ass procedures like this. Right, and while this is not connected to critical race theory directly, it is important for us to understand that this system is uniquely designed to grind black people up into a dust, into a pulp. And it is so reflexively used to doing that, that it didn't even realize that this is an instance that it would backfire

on them. And so I think it is good that this decision was made today, and I would absolutely love to see the footage of her reuniting with her son. It's still emblematic of the fact that this is at the root of this white supremacist system at the core of this democracy. Well, Mustafa? Common sense and legal sense very rarely come together. You know, we can look at a situation and say, well, why would you do that? You know, it's the way that the system has been built. And of course, we all know that the system is broken. When we look at probation

and the various types of violations that can send you back to jail for sometimes decades, you know, we know that we've got so much hard work that has to be done. And as Ben said, you know, this is a part of the policies that have been put in place, and there has been some intentionality in that system to make sure that there is a population that continues to revolve in this. And we've got to just call out the fact also that, you know, this is big business.

Prisons are a billion-dollar industry. So that's not, you know, we're not going to say that in all cases folks are thinking about the monetary value of keeping someone in. Of course, we know that there's a larger value in making sure that people aren't, because taxpayer dollars are being utilized. But there are a number of prisons across our country that utilize the individuals to, you know, to supplement and to create products that are then sold to consumers.

So you gotta understand the totality of what's going on as we begin to dismantle and hopefully rebuild in a more humane way these systems. And of course the Department of Justice is one of the first starts in making sure that they are pushing the Bureau of Prisons to do the right thing. So free at last for Ms. Levy, free at last.

Thank God she's free at last. All right, folks, let's go to Tennessee, where a former police officer's guilty plea of killing a black man sends a grieving mother into a rage. In July 2018, Andrew Delk shot Daniel Hambrick in the back three times as he ran away. At his hearing, Delk pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter. He got the opportunity to express his condolences to the family.

I'm pleading guilty today because I recognize my use of deadly force was not reasonably necessary under all the circumstances. I recognize that what happened on July 26, 2018 was tragic. Ms. Hamburg lost her son that day, and I am responsible for her loss. These are facts that I will have to live with for the rest of my life and no mother should ever have to experience the loss of a child and not a day has gone by that I have not thought about my actions. I also recognize that my actions impact the community and the police department. I hope this case can contribute positively to the much-needed discussion about how police officers are trained

and how we as a community want police officers to interact with citizens. I am deeply sorry for the harm my actions cause, and I hope that Mr. Hambrick's family will obtain some comfort from my acceptance of responsibility and my guilty pleas today. Wow, folks. Following that statement, y'all, Vicki Hambrick, Daniel Hambrick's mother, strongly reacted to what he said. Thank you.

Can't believe it. I can't believe this judge. I can't believe it. I can't believe this, Judge. I can't believe it. I've been going through this for three years. I can't believe it. Yes, take your time. Judge, I lost my mother. I lost my grandmother.

I lost my father My father had a stroke And I had a death I can't believe this Because of you Because of you I lost my father My son's father

Because of you Because of you He killed himself I hate you I hate you I hate you I don't accept your apology Because you could have did it But after you did it

I don't accept it What if the table was turned? Judge What if the table was turned? Just look at the table What if it's your child? It's not my child What if it's your child? It's in my child. What if it's your child?

It'll be in a different story. What if it's your motherfucking child? You white motherfucker. Come here, you motherfucker. You bastard. You bastard. I hate you. Roger, I hate you too.

You black motherfucker. I hate you. I hate you. Roger, I hate you too. You blind motherfucker. I hate you. I hate back! You hear me? You better be scared! You better be scared, motherfucker! Cause tell them it's a motherfucker! They better take you out of here now cause I'm gonna put them over there and smack the shit out of you! Oh yes I am! So they better take you all out of here! They better take you out of here! Cause I've been through a lot from you! So they better take you out of here. They better take you out of here. Because I've been through a lot from you. A lot.

His friend killed himself because of you. I hate you. So come out on the set of your motherfucking apology. Okay? You cook on class, motherfucker. You come. No, let me go. Let me go! Okay, well... You talk about your family?

Y'all talk about that party? Y'all call us monkeys? Y'all say we eat... Y'all say we eat watermelon? You rancid, motherfucking dog! No! Okay. Don't... don't harm anyone.

Don't come up here. Just hold it. Bullshit! Bullshit! We didn't get that, man! That's all I got. Teresa, whenever we see these stories. Oftentimes, we have folks who want black folks to express forgiveness. Now,

Hambrick also says that she was not informed of the pact that Delk made with prosecutors to plead guilty in exchange for a three-year sentence. His plea means that he will not have to go on trial for first-degree murder this month. So they do a plea deal.

He gets three years. Doesn't go to trial. Could have gotten a lot more. And this is where I'm with a lot of black people. Like, damn this whole let's extend forgiveness. That woman lost her son.

And you heard the judge sitting here trying to get her to calm down. No. The judge should have sat his ass there and let that woman talk as long as she needed to talk. But no, they all cut and ran because they did not

want to have to listen to the anguish in that black mother's voice. Yeah. Sorry, it's the first time I'm seeing that video. I think most of the issues that, you know, that really honestly just took place in that room. Honestly, you know, the judge, like you said, he should have sat there on the bench and listened.

I think I didn't even know that the family didn't. I don't even understand how you make a plea deal without the family's acknowledgement. But that's the first issue. And then the second piece is, again, three years for a life. And so it's very difficult, you know, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and this is still happening. Every single day, people are dying, families are dying. And then when it is time for us to receive justice, i.e. black people, we're not getting it. But the calls for action are high. I'm just trying to, I can't really get around, you know, what the purpose of a three-year sentence, and I think that is even something to really dissect, because it looks like

this, you know, whoever this young officer is, he really, you know, showed the definition of white and privileged inside a police reform commission system. And so, you know, when we see this type of mayhem and this type of tragedy happen, it's almost, again, you wonder why people don't believe in the system. You wonder why, you know, people, when issues are happening inside of communities, they're not calling the police first, they're calling their family members first. Because these issues are continuously happening. And then when it's time to receive justice, even with a black judge sitting there, it doesn't seem like it's happening. So it's just so, again, unfortunate. You know, we're sitting here

and, again, looking at that, Ben, and how in the hell does a DA not tell the family about this sort of deal? But these are the kind of deals that are cut for cops. Yeah. Roland, I'm not interested in going through the phase of getting justice for black

people that includes an entire season of how low of a count of years can you get in exchange for a black life. Like prosecutors and district attorneys need to understand we're not playing this game. If you would not give someone on the street three years for a human life, don't give it to a cop. Because our lives are worth just as much as anyone else's. This is an insult to the family. This is a slap in their face, and that black mother had every right to be as angry as she was because her child is gone, and this guy is going

to what's equivalent to a summer vacation. He's going to college. He's going away to college. And when he comes out, he's got the rest of his life ahead of him. But this young black man does not. So this black mother had every right to say everything that she said. And she could have said more. And the judge got in the way. He did not expect the judge was looking for the sensibilities that we've seen from so many black families.

And however they choose to process it, it's their it's their prerogative. But they're so used to us being forgiving and forgiving these these these cops and ushering that over to them. No, no. This mother said everything that we've been feeling as a black community, and I'm so sorry that it had to come at the expense of her child. Mustafa? I mean, she lost her everything. You know, a mother who brings a child into the world and has to watch that child leave because of a decision that a police officer made is a heavy, a heavy bearing, you know, something to carry. And this case, you know, this life should have never been taken if you really understand this case. You know, you had a police officer that was following a car.

Now, he worked on a task force that was supposed to be looking for stolen cars by youth. He was following a car, ran up plates on the car. The car didn't have anything attached to it. And then he ended up following a little while longer, lost it, and then went into an area and saw another car that he knew was not that car, but decided to get out, and then chased this young man in this moment where lots of folks are afraid of the police, and then shot him multiple times. So of course the mother is going to be upset. So we have a lot of folks who bore responsibility in this moment. The police officer does. The district attorney does to make such an egregious

commitment to this police officer to give him such a small amount of time. Folks really understand what this is. This is 1,095 days is all that that police officer will serve for murdering this young man. 1,095 days, that's how much this young man's life was worth. And that's why we say that the system is broken. But maybe we shouldn't even say that the system is broken because the system was never created for fairness for us. So we have all these different

dynamics that we have to go through in trying to figure out how do we get a system that actually works for black and brown people? And I'll be quite honest, I'm not wise enough to know what the answer to that question is in this moment. It is certainly troubling. And this is why when people talk about Black Lives Matter, this is why when people talk about what has to happen when it comes to getting justice in this country, those things are important. And so, that's how it goes.

Alright, so, well, it's just, it is so unfortunate that that mother's pain is real. Folks, some breaking news here. The U.S. Olympic team has decided that sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson will not be at the Olympics at all. At all. This is what the New York Times posted about 20 minutes ago. Breaking news.

Sha'Carri Richardson will miss the Tokyo Olympics entirely after officials decided not to include her on a U.S. relay team. She previously lost her spot in the women's 100 meters after failing a drug test for marijuana. Of course, she talked about, she admitted to smoking marijuana after she got the news that her mother had passed away from a reporter. She said she knew that it was wrong.

She knew that she could test positive. She knew what this could actually do to keep her out of the 100 meters. Because of when the 100 meters starts, the 30-day suspension did not, would not, first of all, would have kept her out of running the 100 meters. But she still could have been in the Olympics by running the 4x100 relay team. I wouldn't be surprised here, Ben, that the U.S. Olympic Committee decided that they wanted to

reward athletes who did not test positive. There are other black athletes who won. There are three other black women who were actually, two other black women, who won the 100 meters in the Olympic trials. The person who was replacing Sha'Carri Richardson is a black woman. Then you also have the women who won the 200 as well. I wouldn't be surprised if they said reward those folks who actually made the team who didn't test positive.

Yeah, you know, in the backdrop of all this, I just can't help but to realize that in this transition, there's going to be a lot of white folks making a lot of money off of marijuana. And while these are, quote, unquote, the rules, it's funny how easily people genuflect towards the rules when it doesn't really impact them. But in this case, this sister has the skill set to do everything that needed to be done. And while in this country, we're going through the process of legalization and decriminalization, we're still having to bow down to the rules of this Olympic committee. It is there. It is the Olympics. But the other thing is there's so many other places where they're giving black women, not only here on the American team, but also internationally. It is not a friendly system

for black women. And we've seen the rules be changed even for Simone Biles. So I have a lot of feelings about this particular story, Roland, and I think that they're making a mistake on this one. But I'm curious, how is it unfair for black women when there are a lot of other black women who qualify? I mean, we're only talking about, first of all, you know, of the people who didn't qualify, it's two black women who didn't qualify, okay, or actually who were booted from the team. Sha'Carri Richardson in the sister last name was Gaines. She said she missed her appointment where she had an abortion two days earlier. She was at home recovering.

But I read the New York Times story. Here's the problem. She missed three other appointments in 2020. Had that sister not missed those three appointments, it would not have resulted in the suspension with the one that she missed when she said she had the abortion. So I get your point, but there are a lot of other black women who did qualify. Here are two who got booted.

So how is this actually against black women? Well, I didn't say the sister that you're referring to. I don't know the exact details of her story, but I'm talking about Sha'Carri. And I'm talking about this transition, like very specifically, this transition, there are going to be a lot of people making money off of marijuana. Right now, they're making money off of marijuana. And this sister is being disqualified because of marijuana use. I really would like to see any of them run 100 meter while high, even if she wasn't high at that time. It's just absurd at the core of it. We still are looking at the other issues where women, the swimming and the swim team unable to wear the

mask or the caps. And actually, according to, I got a story from the BBC, that decision which was made by the Swimming Federation, apparently that is being reconsidered. I'm going to pull the story up so that after all of the attention,

that black company out of the U.K., that particular ban on those caps is being reconsidered. Yeah. No, I mean, as it should. And I think that's just exact. This system, again, whether it be the Olympics or whether it be American democracy, it's not built for us. And I don't care if this is like not necessarily. She broke the rules and she admitted as much.

Okay? That doesn't change the fact that in the backdrop of all of this, there's still a lot of people in this country that are going to be poised to make billions of dollars off of marijuana, and she's paying the price almost as one of the last people to pay the price of marijuana as a black person.

The thing here, Teresa, is... And this is where I think this makes a difference. When she talked on the Today Show, she said, I knew what I was doing. I knew I was breaking the rules. And I knew I could lose my spot if I tested positive.

It's sort of like, this wasn't a mistake. And I'll say it, it's not a popular opinion from a lot of what they always say, the blue check folks on Twitter. But I don't think Sha'Carla Richardson should have been running in the relays. I believe that if you're going to compete on the US Olympic team, I believe that the people who played by the rules, who made the team, the other women who run the 100, the other women who run the 200, the other women who run the 400,

they should have an opportunity to run on the relay team. I agree with you. You know, I saw the Twitter chat about it. And honestly, when I saw the interview on the Today Show, honestly, if I was her PR spokesperson, I would have probably just said, do not go on national television and tell them that, yes, I'm confirming I am breaking the rules. I knew what I was doing. So you were very intentional in what you were doing because that's what you felt you needed, but you knew the consequences if you got caught. So I do think other Black women who did, you know, test negative and also was able to, you know, qualify for the relays should absolutely get a chance to go in her spot. I think it's kind of self-explanatory, but I do

agree with Ben. You know, if the laws did change and, you know, marijuana was actually legalized, uh, and I guess the laws will be amended in the Olympics, then I think this would be a different story. But as of now, she intentionally knew that she was breaking the law, and she knew what level she was on, and thus the consequences ensued. Uh Mustafa, I think being this right,

people are making up marijuana. But here's the deal. Marijuana is still not legal in all states. I've had to have that conversation with family members, friends, and others saying hey, you might be in Texas. It ain't legal. So guess what? Unless you're be in Texas, it ain't legal. So guess what? Unless you're in Washington State, Oregon, Colorado, or the states where it is legal, understand, you can get your behind arrested and thrown in jail.

It is still accepting the reality of where we are. Until you have a federal legalization of marijuana, you're going to have these things, these discrepancies here. But I think this decision, I want to get just your thoughts on this decision by the Olympic Committee to have her not run on the relay team. You know, it's a tough situation. I mean, I ran track for years and years and all through college, and I know how strict some of the rules can be

and the testing that goes on lots of times for folks. I see it a little different. I see it as we've got to make sure that we're dealing with these young athletes and many times who are under huge amounts of pressure, her losing her mother, you know, that there's the mental health aspect that's there, that we got to make sure that we're getting folks the help that they need and the guidance that they need. When you're moving on to these big stages like this, you know, there's a huge amount of pressure and you really got to have a strong team around you, especially if you're one of the elite athletes that are out there. And then, of course, for all the folks who advocate, you know, for 420, you know, who support that space, you got to continue to make sure that this is removed as one of those things that could be an impediment. And we just got so much work that has to happen

to get this space right. So they could have made her a reserve so that she could at least been there at the games and to have experienced it because she's so talented that she's going to be back there again. And of course, if our country wants to continue to win, then you need folks who are experienced. So I get that they don't want to send out the wrong message, and they don't want to sort of support what they consider to be bad behavior. But there are lots of other ways that they could have approached it to make sure that, one, she's not allowed to run, but that she could still experience, because it's a phenomenal opportunity for anyone to be a part of the Olympics.

And I wish some people also understand the reality of this. I don't know who this Cornell Cole is on YouTube, said you can't cash a gold medal at the bank. You clearly are dumb as hell. You clearly have no clue. If Sha'Carri Richardson does not fail that test and she goes to the Olympics and runs in the 100 meters and wins the gold medal, I dare say that decision to smoke that blunt, Benjamin, cost Sha'Carri Richardson anywhere from $5 million to $10 million. That sole decision in terms of we know if you go to the Olympics and you set an American record, an Olympic record, a world record,

or you actually just win the gold medal, you cash in big time. And in fact, for Olympic athletes, that's when you make your money. You make your money after the Olympics. First of all, leading up to it, the endorsement contracts. We're talking Nike, Adidas. We're talking Wheaties. We're talking, I mean, all kinds of brands. We're now living in an age that you're talking about

$5, $10,, 20, $25 million that was lost because of that decision. That's how big a financial decision that was. You know, if we're talking about the deleterious effects of substances, I would hope that they would, you know. No, no, no, no, no, no, I'm talking about, I'm talking about, no, hold on, Ben, I'm talking about that particular point

where his brother said you can't cash that gold medal. You can actually cash it. I'm just simply saying that this is the impact of a decision. The impact of a decision isn't just you fail a test. You fail a test, you can't run the 100. Now they say you can't run the 4x100. What it also means is you at 21 don't get, if you go to Tokyo and win the gold, you then don't get to come back and reap the economic benefits of being the gold medal winner. That was the point I was making.

Yeah, no, I understood your point. I was going to circle around to it, but I'll cut straight to it. I mean, Purple Urkel is going to need an endorsement right now. I mean, Sha'Carri should just go ahead and make that move because if they're going to play this game with a substance that is, we're talking about weed. Like, if you smoke a cigarette,

don't talk to me about weed. If you drink alcohol, trust me, don't talk to us about weed. Now, we're just talking about justice. Rules don't equate to justice. And we're talking about fairness. Rules do not equate to fairness. The Olympic Committee is behind the eight ball. They made the decision. She lost out. We get it.

So let's holler at somebody in the marijuana industry because let's not only let these white boys be the only people making billions of dollars off of weed, even though she may have lost this one. As somebody who can't stand weed, who ain't never smoked, hell, I'm allergic to smoke, I've long said that African-Americans should be benefiting from the economic reality of

the marijuana industry in this country, the billions of dollars that are being earned right now, Teresa. But I do think it's important, and I say this to anybody who's watching, that I just need our people to understand this here. We can talk about what's unfair, what's not right. Here's what I'm going to say, and it doesn't matter who you are. There are consequences to every action that you take. There are consequences.

And then there are consequences that you can call unfair. There are consequences that you can call that are wrong. But the reality is there are consequences that you can call unfair. There are consequences that you can call that are wrong. But the reality is there are consequences. What I stress to my 13 nieces and nephews, that I stress to my cousins, if you're going to make a grown person decision, understand you better be able to deal with the grown people consequences. Absolutely. And especially if you're a person of color,

those consequences are gonna be much higher than your counterparts. And so we just need to be very mindful in this age of digital media, social media, print media, any type of media where you can get your point across. But also if you carry a larger platform, it will be scrutinized. And what you don't want it to be

is scrutinized by the wrong persons that can affect your financial and economic welfare. And she hasn't lost her Nike endorsement, Mustafa. But, and I'm saying this, and again, and I totally understand Ben's point, but here's what I also realized. It's a bunch of our people who are applying for jobs who are still failing drug tests. And I remember talking to a black-owned soul food restaurant owner in Texas.

And he said, man, I would love to employ a lot of our people. He said, but they can't pee in a cup And again, there are people who say Drug tests on jobs are unfair What I'm saying is We have to understand what is still a reality That we are dealing with in the employment space And so while there are people, while there are lawyers

While there are advocates who are fighting to change those things, we still better be fully aware, again, of the consequences of the decisions that folks take. If you are 17 and 18 and 19 and 20 and 21 and you decide to smoke marijuana, yo, that's on you. But if there are consequences, understand, they're gonna happen. And unfortunately if there are consequences, understand they're going to happen. And unfortunately, there are still states in this country that they prosecute even for marijuana possession.

Other places where they're saying we're not going to prosecute those cases, finally we're seeing progressive DAs. But there are not progressive DAs in every city in this country. Mustafa, final comment. That's just real. You can lose your federal job because of smoking marijuana. And in fact, wait a minute. Didn't, weren't there several people in the Biden White House who got hired, who they had to let go? Didn't that happen?

Yes, it did. Yeah, it did. And so you just got to be aware. I remember we were having a meeting in Colorado after it was legalized there, and we had to make sure that we shared with everyone. Now, y'all understand that it might be legal here in Colorado, but when you get on that airplane, and if you got something in your bag,

you could run into some real problems. And you could also, if you are one of those folks who get selected to have to take a drug test because it happens periodically, then you could also get yourself in a serious situation. So just be aware of what the current law is. So it's real. And for our folks, you know folks are going to pay even more attention because they make some assumptions. So we just have to understand what the current sets of laws are. And then for those who want to advocate to change that, we've got to continue to push.

Absolutely. All right, folks, I've got to go to break. We come back. Oh, white man loses his mind in New Jersey. Oh, he's a crazy-ass white person, and guess what? He actually gave out his address and challenged folks to come to my house to whoop my ass. They did. That's next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. I believe that people our age have lost the ability to focus the discipline on the art of organizing.

The challenges, there's so many of them, and they're complex, and we need to be moving to address them. But I'm able to say, watch out, Tiffany. I know this road. That is so freakin' dope. I'm proud of the officers I worked with on January 6th. They fought extremely hard.

Our worst nightmare really come true, an attack on American democracy right here in the nation's capital. I experienced the most brutal, savage, hand-to-hand combat of my entire life. I received chemical burns to my face that still have not healed to this day. I just remember people still swinging metal poles at us, and they were pushing and shoving. They were spraying us with, you know, bear mace and pepper spray. They were all shouting at us, calling us traitors.

It's been very difficult seeing elected officials and other individuals whitewash the events of that day or downplay what happened. As an American and as an Army veteran, it's sad to see us attacked by our fellow citizens. My Distouch is responsible for the content of this advertising. I'm out. Thank you. All right, folks, the Essence Festival of Culture Live Loud virtual experience is over. It was the last two weekends, but you can relive all of that by going to Essence.com and EssenceStudios.com to watch all of the events.

So please check that out. On tomorrow's show, we're gonna have a recap of the second weekend, so we'll look forward to that. All right, y'all know what time it is. water with our permit on my property. Whoa! Hey! I'm uncomfortable. Well, folks, you should never write checks your ass cannot cash.

A New Jersey man is facing charges after launching a racist tirade at his black neighbor. This video, folks, went viral. Go ahead and roll the video. This video went viral over the weekend, and it is absolutely crazy.

It shows Edward Cagney Matthews getting in the face of a black neighbor. Listen. Back up! Back up! Don't touch me! Don't touch me! Don't touch me! Don't touch me! Fucking bastard! My parents are both dead. My parents are both dead too!

What are you gonna do? What you gonna do? All you do is harass all people. That's all you're allowed to do. I don't give a shit! I don't give a... You son of a fucker! Touch him! Touch him! That's all I're allowed to do. These motherfuckers are taking our fucking money. I don't give a shit. I don't give a shit. You son of a fucker. Touch him. Touch him. That's all I want you to do.

Touch him. Shoot him up for you. Touch him. That's all I want you to do. Touch him. I know better. Oh, don't you know better. Get the fuck out of here.

I got you three times. I don't give a shit. Don't worry. I don't give a shit. I want you to get the fuck out of here. I'm going to wait for the cops to show up and ask for an assault. Yes. Wait for them to come here.

Wait for them. We will. Yes. Keep waiting. I am. You walk on someone's walk. You don't. This isn't their property, you dumb fuck. for the cops assault yes what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what what Get the fuck out of here. Get out of here. Get out of here. That's all you know how to do. Welcome to the Parasol people. Nobody's harassing anybody.

Yes you have been. You have been. You get the fuck out of here. I have every right to be here like you do. Oh yeah. Just like he does right here. This is called common property. I don't care. Walk away. It's not Africa. I was one of the very good you know I'm a great guy I'm a great I don't even see how much you do that machine that was shit go out go back to your house I'm going to dog book to your shit I'm right here okay say that right there you don't talk to a lot of it I'm going to stay right here this monkey over here

boats have videotape of you putting your hands on me twice. Oh, yeah, exactly. So what the fuck are you going to do about it? I'm going to press charges. Go on then. We will. Go on then. You want to know what the police can do?

What will the police do? Nothing. You have no jurisdiction here. Okay, but don't. Okay, that's fine. So when they get here, I'm going to walk them the fuck off like I just did in front of Berlin's house. Okay. Who's Berlin?

Okay, I don't give a shit. I don't care. The secretary of the board. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. You will not harass him. You will not talk to him. Keep laughing. I am. I will. Oh, good. Keep laughing. That's all you know. That's it. That's it. That's all you know how to do. I didn't touch you. You touched me. I don't give a shit. That's good. I don't give a shit. You know that. That's exactly. I don't give a shit about it. You can't go fresh exactly. I don't give a shit about it.

You can't go press charges. I don't give a shit about it. Hold on. You're right. Why can't I press charges? Why can't I press charges? No jurisdiction here. Nothing. There you go. There you go. Brandon, you have no idea where you get involved in. Don't talk to me. And if you want to be involved in this, I'm going to talk to whoever I want. Exactly. If you want to get involved in this, you know what happened to the last one? I know what you did. You broke that window. Windows?

I don't care. Cookie's windows got shot out with a shotgun. I don't care. Q-22's to the fucking front face. I don't care. In Cherry Hill, the fucking daughter got smashed. Exactly. Is that what you want?

No. And you want to know where I was when all this happened? I don't care. At work, monkey. I don't care where you are. At work. Just like I told the Mount Laurel police, get these fucking monkey niggers out of here and you can't do shit.

That's me talking shit. 3602, Gramercy Way, that's where I live. Come fucking see me. Hey, guys, how you doing? Hey, White, why are you back over here? Somebody called me. Someone called you? It's private property. You have no jurisdiction here whatsoever you back over here somebody called me someone called you it's private property you have no jurisdiction here whatsoever i do know somebody calls me hold on you know what hold on no no i'm gonna let you do your thing go talk to these fucking

niggers go ahead fuck you go talk to the niggers let them know what i'm all about and what that fucking rights they have that's right you want to go back to your house i'll come back to you i'll stay right here it's common property okay want to go back to your house, I'll come back to you. No, I'll stay right here. It's common property. Okay. Have a nice night. I'm going to let you guys get an education right now. All right. Thanks, man. I appreciate it. I'll do my job.

No problem. You guys want to step in and talk? I don't want you to leave me alone. I want you to go away. I don't know him. I want him to leave me alone. Denise, I'm not going away until your husband stops fucking finding me and threatening me while I'm at fucking work. Peggy, cut it out, man.

Oh, wait. You can't talk to them. Arrest me. I'm not going to talk to me. Cut it out, man. Oh, wait. Talk to them. Arrest me. I'm not arresting you right now. Relax. You fucking niggers. Just cut it out, dude. I'll talk to you in a minute.

Have you seen Brandon? Thirty-six of you grabbers, you mean? Come see me, you fucking fucking... Come to see you, Tag me. Go home. I'll talk to you in a minute. That should not be allowed to go on. I agree with you.

That should not be allowed to go on. I agree with you. Do you want to go to the court real quick? See what's going on here? Sir, this is... Did you know there was a monkey that... So, y'all did hear the racist give his address out and then said, come at me. 24 hours later, they did. Thank you. Here's another video, y'all. Another angle of when the car was, when the cops were on the scene. And y'all see that, Lord? They're sitting here. This was another angle of when they were walking him out.

And you saw that they formed a gauntlet. They formed a gauntlet. And, man, he got showered with all kinds of stuff. They smacked him on the head with the Black Lives Matter flag as well. They let it. See, again, this is what happens when you talk a whole bunch of trash. If y'all go back to y'all. Thank you.

If you talk a whole bunch of trash, this is the car pulling off. I'm just saying it's never it's never a good idea. Ben, it's never a good idea being to give your address to ask you to come whoop your ass. I mean, he asked and he received. I think he was supremely confident in his position on this thing. Like I really took notice of how familiar that police officer was with him and how how calm he was. But this this white man was really trying to create. He created a very hostile situation and he finally was arrested. It's a shame that it took so many people standing up and responding to his call to show up at his address. But they did. And it just shines light on how the fact that this system will protect protect this white man. They gave him protection. Look at how look at how the police escorted him out to ensure that he got out safely when he was the culprit.

I just think that this just shows you how far this country goes in terms of how they view their supremacy. These folks are not supreme. This was a mess. Well, and again, he was arrested by the cops. They've added additional charges. This is another video that's on Twitter, Teresa, that I'm playing right now. And you see, and again, he was so bold, talked a lot of trash, ain't going to give an address. And they said, all right, since you're going to boldly give your address,

we're going to boldly show the hell up to your apartment complex. Absolutely. You know, this is what I talk about when it looks like unification in larger numbers. Oh, wow. He just threw something in the window. Unification on all levels. But again, kind of going to Ben's point, I also took notice about the officer. Again, I think if the role of the colors were reversed and maybe the neighborhoods were a little bit different, I think that that officer also should be brought into question

because, again, all of the nonsense that Edwards was spewing at someone else, either it looks like a social media beef now going into an in-person confrontation, he should have been arrested on the spot. So the lack thereof of actual, you know, the police officer doing his job, I think, again, where we're talking about criminal justice reform and what this police reform looks like, well, it looks like when the African-American guy decided to call the police, there was no help for him. So if that black man then took out his second, you know, decided to take out his Second Amendment right and shoot this officer, who knows what charges would have happened after that.

So again, thank God for video, and thank God these people came out. And Mustafa, to that particular point, man, look, you can't tell me if a black man had rolled up to the crib and was yelling, screaming, and cussing and in the face of some white folks, the cop would have been like, Tyrone, go ahead home. I'll talk to you later, Tyrone.

Yeah, that's probably not going to happen. We very rarely see that happen unless you grew up together and maybe played ball together. You know, it's interesting. Let's go deeper. So the homeowners association or the rental company, whatever this situation is, knows this individual's behavior because he said he's done this type of stuff before. So, you know, there seems to have been no accountability. So hopefully there is now. And then you also got to ask yourself, who's this individual worked for? Does he represent you? Does he still have a job? Will he still have a job, depending on

how much time he may or may not get for the types of actions that he just did? And then, of course, what was raised also is that the familiarity, that whatever that law enforcement agent or officer had with him also leads us to believe that, you know, these types of behaviors are well known to him and that he did not do anything. It should have never taken, you know, all of these young people coming out to actually have to rectify this situation. Let's just call it, we saw black folks and white folks and Latinx folks all there standing in solidarity, letting this individual know that this type of behavior is not going to be tolerated.

But they shouldn't have to do that. Law enforcement should have been on the case right away, making sure that they were rectifying this situation just like they would have if it had been a black or brown man. Look, I keep telling y'all, if all these white folks want to keep acting a damn fool, showing their ass for the camera, I will be happy to keep doing crazy-ass white people.

I'm just letting y'all know. But I'm telling you, if y'all keep acting a fool, y'all going to get real famous. And if you're going to keep running up on videos, giving out your address, folks are going to show up. This generation not playing that game, y'all. They ain't playing that game. And how y'all getting hit?

Y'all getting hit because you're going to be losing your job. You're going to lose your job. And guess what? Everybody know this race, this ain't his first time. The first time he got caught. That's the difference here. This. The first time he got caught. That's the difference here. This is the first time he got caught. So that's the deal.

And so I appreciate all of y'all bigots showing who y'all are because we thank y'all so very much. Folks, three years after a New York judge told a black defendant his brain was probably retarded in growth, an appeals court reduced his sentence. The panel of judges shaved off 10 years from Angelo Johnson's 15-year sentence after deciding Judge Frank Labuta's comments from the bench were utterly racist. In 2018, Judge Labuta told Johnson he felt sorry for him in open court.

And if it wasn't his fault, his brain, quote, is not developed. Convicted of burglary, Johnson still has five years left to serve. His parole hearing is next month. A judge. A judge, Ben. A judge. A judge. This situation here.

The thing, Roland, that really troubles me about this is that this brother is spending more time in jail for burglary than that cop is going to spend for the murder of a young black man we talked about earlier. That blows me away. It just shows you the true disparate nature and how they devalue our lives in this country. Yeah, absolutely. That is the problem that we see.

And but again, judges, Teresa, this person said it on the bench. He shouldn't be hearing another case. Yeah, absolutely right. I think there needs to be a review board for this judge. I believe he's retired. So, I mean, grateful. But again, how many other judges that he's been around that he knows that's in his district that he's that they've been sharing similar stories with, you know, behind closed doors and also giving sentences on behalf of black men, you know, to the extent of the law. So, you know, again, elections matter. I think we've hit the nail on the head on that many of times on. So, you know, again, elections matter. I think we've hit the

nail on the head on that many of times on this show and talked about, again, we can't just focus on, you know, local races or statewide and presidential races, but on federal races. But I think, again, when we say judges matter, really taking a look at, you know, some of these judges' decisions and if they're, again, their recommendation, you know, some of these judges' decisions. And if they're, again, their recommendation, you know, they all have to get recommended by the Bar Association in some capacity. But I also think we need to take a closer look at the record because, again, these are the ones who, you know, go in, they get elected, and they're probably there longer term than the four years.

So it just depends on what city or state. But Philadelphia is here in 10 years, so we've got to vote. Mr. Alfa, he is a retired judge. He should never hear another case again. He must be retired permanently. Without a doubt. I mean, plus you've got to go back. You've got to go back.

I believe it was 22 years that he sat on the bench. So you got to go back and review those cases with a real fine-tooth comb to see if there were biases that were inside of that. So that's one side of it. Two, I believe that even though he's retired from the bench, that he's still in private practice now. So that means that whether it's the American Bar Association or whoever needs to also take a strong look to see if this person deserves to continue to have their license if he is still practicing, which I believe that he is. And then the third part is that we also got to understand, and this is why history and us understanding, you know, how the eugenics movement was tied to science, was tied to policy, and was also tied to the law. And you see that from those early time periods moving forward, how you still see folks having some of those similar views about our intelligence and our value and how we should not even be allowed to be a part of this society.

So all of that stuff is wrapped up and it comes out and how some of these judges and others actually conduct themselves and the sentencing that they give. Alright then. Folks, gotta go to a break. We come back. Dionne Warwick will join us to talk about why artists

should get paid when their music is being played on the radio. Plus, we'll talk about the fallout at the University of North Carolina where Nicole Hannah-Jones has spurned their effort for a tenured position and announced that she and Ta-Nehisi Coates are going to set up shop at Howard University. That's next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. White supremacy ain't just about hurting black folk. Right.

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

Yeah. Our conflict is not about destruction. Conflict's going to happen. What's up, y'all? I'm Will Packer. Hello, I'm Bishop T.D.J. What up? Lana Wells.

And you are watching Rolling Martin Unfiltered. I said I'm gonna kill you, I'm gonna break it down, yeah I said I'm gonna kill you, I'm gonna break it down, yeah If I didn't get it, I'm not sorry Tell me you ain't getting it, I'm not sorry I just paid for it. Дякую. We are the champions. We are the champions. We are the champions. Hands up! I will feel your name. I will feel your pain. I will feel your blessings. I will feel your pain. And I need somebody who knows what it is out there, somebody who can see this show, tell me, sing this part. Sing that, please.

When they come for you, I will feel your pain. I will feel your blessings. I will feel their presence. I will feel it. That is, if that was Chance to rap for her, of course. Don't forget, if you want to watch the 2021 Essence Festival of Culture Live Loud Virtual Experience, go to EssenceStudios.com or Essence.com. Folks, radio royalties is a huge, huge issue. And a lot of artists and musicians, they're fighting for those rights. Now, y'all, it's a really complicated system.

So when you're listening to the radio, when you're listening to music on the radio, the artists, they're not getting paid. They're not getting paid. The American Music Fairness Act will require AM and FM radio stations to pay royalties to musicians and vocalists. As of right now, only songwriters are paid royalties by radio stations. Now, there are a lot of people out there, especially radio station owners,

they contend that they are providing free marketing, if you will, to the artists. But truth be told, their whole business model is built on free music. Joining us right now is five-time Grammy award-winning singer Dionne Warwick. The latest model is built on free music. Joining us right now is five-time Grammy award-winning singer, Dionne Warwick. She says that the recently unveiled legislation

should have happened when Frank Sinatra brought the issue to Congress 60 years ago. And politicians have procrastinated for far too long. She joins us right now. Always good to see you, Dionne. How you doing? I am doing great. Glad you took a break from smacking folks on Twitter. I'm not smacking anybody. I'm just asking questions.

This is one of those issues that the average person has no idea about. They think, oh, man, your song goes to number one on the Billboard charts or it's the number one when it comes to radio plays and how many spins it's getting. But if you're the singer, you're not getting paid. That's true. That's absolutely true. Not getting one dime.

And so when we talk about this, and this has been going on for a very long time, and there have been a lot of people, including black radio station owners, who have been fighting artists on this saying, hey, don't make us pay,

make the record labels pay yeah it's amazing how they they feel that they don't owe us anything and without us that probably wouldn't be existing themselves you know i don't know of a uh an entity that would want to advertise on a radio station just to hear somebody talk. I think they are gravitating to radio stations that play our music. That gets the attention of people. So if that be the case, pay-per-play should be the simplest thing in the world to understand. And the thing here, and again, people who don't understand the nuances of the game.

I mean, the reality is if you're a singer and you're not the songwriter, at the end of the day, your best shot at making money is touring. And, you know, I love people they talked about. Oh, my God. Like I remember when I was with Savoy Magazine and Arista when they signed that $100 million deal with Whitney Houston. People were like, oh my god, Arista

signed with her $100 million deal. I was like, y'all, that's an advance. That's all it is. That's an advance. I said, she got to make that $100 million back. Oh, definitely so. She's got to sell that many recordings in got to make that $100 million back. Oh, definitely so. She's got to sell that many recordings in order to honor that $100 million.

You know, these numbers mean absolutely nothing. Not to the artists, anyway. They mean an awful lot to the record companies and to those who are making these deals for the artists. That's why, you know why I have to say I marvel and applaud our youngsters,

those in the recording industry today, who have taken control of their own writing, recording. They get their own dollars because they sell their own recordings. You know, I'm so proud of them for taking that home and saying, no, no, you're not going to cheat me out of what I am due. This is my property. Well, in fact, in fact, what many of them are doing is is what Sam Cooke did before before he was killed. But it's also what Prince was really trying to get

so many artists to understand by saying, stop signing record label deals, sign distribution deals. You don't, because at the end of the day, when you talk about marketing, they're charging you for everything. And so, and now what we're talking about here, now you have these radio stations who multi-billion dollar corporations.

You've got iHeart. You've got Urban One Radio One. You've got Cumulus. You've got smaller, you know, companies out here. And essentially what they're doing is they are, their entire business is built on getting free product. Exactly. You're absolutely right. You know more about this than I do.

Oh, no, no, no. Trust me. I'm very familiar with it because when I had my show on TV One out of the time during the morning show, Kathy Hughes was a very strong opponent of this bill. Oh, yeah. And she ran some tough spots against some black caucus members like Mel Watt and Sheila Jackson Lee

because they were supportive of this bill. Yeah. You know, it's amazing how, in fact, we almost lost the friendship. Kathy and I have been friends for I don't know how many years. And because of this issue, I just didn't understand how she didn't understand why we were asking to be paid. I mean, she's playing my records day in and day out. Why should I not reap the benefits of that as well?

You know, I mean, she's filling her pocket. Fill mine too. You say y'all almost lost one. Did y'all patch it up? Because you still are out here advocating for this bill. Oh yeah. It's been 40 years

that I've been involved. And that's ridiculous to think that a bill of this nature, which is so obvious. I mean, it's not something that you have to be a rocket scientist to understand. You know, in fact, the last Senate hearing I did in New York, I even asked them, can we go back retrospectively? Let's go back to 1962 when I first recorded.

Can I get money from that period to this? You know? It just doesn't make sense that we've been just made obsolete as far as radio stations are concerned. You know, if we didn't give them our recording to play, I don't think their advertising would be as lucrative as it is. Well, where does the bill stand now? I mean, is it close?

Do you think it's going to pass? I certainly, certainly hope so. I mean, they have procrastinated long enough. You know, they really have. It's time for them to get up off their humps and sign this bill into law and make it happen. I mean, it just doesn't make sense for it not to happen. Where's the White House? Because you actually came to D.C. to lobby on behalf of this bill.

Is the White House behind this bill? Is Congressional Black Caucus behind this bill? Well, I certainly hope so. I haven't had an opportunity to meet with either the White House and or the Congressional Black Caucus. But if it takes that, then you know, Dion always has no problem doing it. So... Have you seen young artists step into this and support this here? Because it sort of reminds me of young athletes

who don't necessarily realize that the people who came before them made today possible. And so when you've had these battles over supporting of funds for veteran football players, the young guys are like, well, that's coming out of our pocket, but the reality is without those

veterans, you don't have the NFL you have today. And so are younger artists standing with you and others to say, this needs to become law? I've not seen any of the younger artists. I don't know if they are even aware of what's going on. The 90% of them basically have their ownership. So I don't know if they're really concerned or not. The concern basically

is more for the legacies of those who have passed on. Their families could certainly benefit from this. And, you know, it's just a matter of doing the right thing. You know, I just don't understand how much more they can take out of everybody's pockets, basically. I mean, those pennies mean an awful lot to us. Right. And yet, you know, nobody seems to care. Well, and you just made a good point there that people don't understand. They don't understand the estates, the trust, the family members. And the reality is

look, I love music. Anybody, they see me on Instagram. You know, and first of all, I hate streaming music. So I actually buy the song. So I buy the album. And so I remember Prince retweeted,

Prince tweeted me back when I said, no, I don't stream, because even with that, I mean, you have some songs that have been streamed 600 million times, and somebody got paid $30,000. That's right. Exactly. So, you know, this is something that has to come out of politics. It just has to be removed from politics and brought into the mainstream. People have to realize what is actually happening.

So like you said earlier, you know, the normal person walking down the street thinks that Dionne Warwick, every time Walk on By got played, got ate. That's not true. That just didn't happen. And I wish it had. Of course. Every recording artist existing,

I don't care who you are, we've just been taken advantage of. And it's time for it to stop. Well, there have certainly been efforts to deal with that. We've had the lawsuits. We've seen just how unbelievably crazy these recording contracts were, how artists got screwed out of royalties,

how they got screwed out of publishing. I mean, we can just go down the line. And so, you know, this bill here deals with that as well. And so we're certainly going to make a few calls as well to find out where this stands in Congress and where some CBC folks stand as well. Because it would be very interesting to see a lot of folks who love to have folks like you perform at their CBC galas or their benefits. And it's great. Oh, we love it.

Come on. We love hearing Dion sing. But as you say, Dion want to get paid. Exactly. You know, I think Jan Jackson says succinctly, what have you done for me lately? You know, I mean, it's truly that. It really is.

You know, they call on us to do everything in the world, and we show up to do it because we believe in what their causes are. However, they've got to stop reciprocating. They really do. They have to stand behind us and beside us. Absolutely. Well, Dion, you're welcome on this show anytime. All you've got to do is just give us a holler.

If you want to come on, just make it possible. See, that's also what happens when you own your shit. You don't have to ask somebody else's opinion. Can we make this happen? So you're welcome on Roller Martin Unfiltered anytime. Thank you, my darling. I appreciate you and I appreciate your show. I appreciate it. It's always good to see you. We'll chat soon. Thank you, darling. Take care.

You take care. I love you, too. All right. Love you. I love you. Let's bring in my panel here, Ben, Teresa, and Mustafa. I mean, this is the business of the business. I talk about this all the time. You better understand the business of the business, Ben.

And when people who haven't read these books and when they don't understand how a lot of these artists that we love and adore, and all of a sudden they get older. That's why you got some artists out there who are 70 and 75 and 80 and 85 still touring because they got no choice. Ben? We're pretty extensively the amount that these contracts actually take from these artists.

It's a dog-eat-dog world in that industry. And I do want to say as an aside, I have been able to witness Sister Dionne Warwick's taking names on Twitter, and it is a fabulous thing to behold and to just be on a panel after her is fascinating and it's a blessing. But the artists have been taken advantage of in this industry for a very, very long time. I'm disappointed to hear what she said in terms of the younger artists not actively participating in it. Maybe they have enough control over their royalties and their distribution.

They have an ideal situation. But my guess is that there are a lot of artists who are still vulnerable to the record industry as well as the radio industry, and they really need to rally behind this effort. It's not surprising, Teresa, because I use the example of the NFL. If you're a current guy, you don't understand what in the hell those veterans went through. That ain't your thing. And you're like, you know, why do I need to put my stuff on the line for you when the economics of the game has changed? The reality now is artists have been able to build their own following. They aren't beholden to the record label.

They've got their social media. They can go directly to them. They can sell merchandise directly to them. It's a whole different world. And so what Dionne Warwick is saying right there is that, hey, there are thousands of singers who this could impact their estates and their children and their children's children because classic music is timeless. I talk about, you know, I talk about music all the time. And I mean, to this day, we still are jamming songs in the key of life, which Stevie Wonder put out then 40 years ago. We're still talking about Marvin Gaye and what's going on. We're still jamming Count Basie

and Duke Ellington, and we're still jamming the Temptations and the Motown Sound and Aretha. We still are rocking the songs that are 50, 60 years old, and the reality is, 50 years from now, at a family reunion, they're going to be jamming Earth, Wind, and Fire.

They're going to be jamming Frankie Beverly and Maids and so many artists. But the reality is, when that music is being played on radio stations, if this law does not get passed, the songwriters, they get paid, not the artists who made those songs what they are. And that's why everyone needs to advocate together,

knowing that, again, these type of music wasn't meant for one generation. It was meant for generations to come. I can't not think about the July 4th and how many cookouts and block parties I went to and you heard classic music, you heard radio stations playing it on the dial. And so to hear that there is a lack of dispersion of funds going to not, you know, the artists, it's really just, you know, unparamount because there has been so much, I think, update in the media sense, as in we have Siri Satellite, we have HD2 as another network, we have HD3. But there is still, I think, that realness of component of just going to your local radio dial and knowing that classical music, classic R&B, classic love songs, i.e. the baby-making music that they used to say say is still relevant to today.

And so they should be compensated as such. And look, Mustafa, if you're Kathy Hughes or Radio 1 and Alfred Liggins, if you're iHeartRadio, if you're Cumulus, if you're any of these other smaller radio companies, I mean, you don't want your bottom line impacted. And so, you know, what they've said is we shouldn't be paying. We're providing a free marketing service to them. The record labels should be paying it as well. And so, but whereas where Dion is going, hey, your business, you're building a business off of basically free product.

You know, if we're going to be family, then let's be family. You know, we often call out when those who are not a part of the African-American community are doing the wrong thing and want them to be held accountable. We got to do the same thing. And hopefully we don't have to, you know, we can come together with solutions. When I was working for John Conyers, which I will always be thankful for, I remember he introduced H.R. 848, which was actually looking at a piece of this and trying to make sure that the artists were going to be fairly compensated on the copyright side of this issue. So this is a longstanding set of challenges that

we could actually rectify. We just got to be willing to actually do the right thing. We should be taking care of those folks who actually, you know, no pun intended, were the soundtrack of people's lives for a long, long time. And then it also builds a stronger foundation for these new artists. So hopefully there are some folks out there who are willing to make some investments around the education of why this is so needed and how it actually helps this next set of generation to be in a stronger position as they're negotiating and building, hopefully, their empires.

Alright folks, let's talk about this story that came down today. Nicole Hannah-Jones is rejecting the University of North Carolina's controversial 10-year offer in exchange for another opportunity. Of course, she is a journalist for the New York Times, created the 1619 Project, which won the Pulitzer Prize.

She's actually gonna become a member of Howard University's, Howard University, where they're gonna create a program there, Center for Journalism and Democracy, along with her as well as Ta-Nehisi Coates. Now, she went on CBS this morning to make the decision what she also is going to serve as the school's first night chair in race and journalism. When she, and folks have been all across social media been talking about it, especially black journalists, how big of a decision this is.

Last week, of course, the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees voted nine to four to grant her tenure after initially the decision was made not to bring that to the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees voted nine to four to grant her tenure after initially the decision was made not to bring that to the board to actually approve. Now, she issued a statement with regards to this decision. She published this, and I'm going to pull it up in a second. Folks, if y'all have the statement, go ahead and pull it up please so I can read from it. Internet is moving a little slow.

And so, here it is. Just give me one second, folks. Give me one second. This is a PDF statement. And she said, quote, I have loved the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since I was a child watching Tar Heels basketball on television. Two decades ago, in 2001, I learned that not only had I I've loved the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since I was a child watching Tar Heels basketball on television.

Two decades ago, in 2001, I learned that not only had I been accepted into the master's program at the journalism school at UNC, but I had received a full tuition part fellowship. I cried from joy. I cannot believe how lucky I was to get the chance to learn journalism at a place I had so long revered. For the next two years, I practically lived in Carroll Hall, spending more time there than anywhere else, even my apartment. I passed hours and hours in that building, studying, working at the Park Library, soaking in the skills of journalism, as well as its ethics and mandates from the many generous instructors sitting in the offices of professors such as Chuck Stone and Harry Amana,

who enthralled me with their stories and guided my steps. I met one of my best friends in the master's program and she became my daughter's godmother. And so it went on and on and on. She talked about getting awards, what she created, the kind of things that she did. Then she also said this here. She talked about what went through and when she was granted tenure

and the problems that took place and all of the impact. And one of the things that she said in this statement, even noting the people who have lobbied for her, and again, it's a very long statement, and she said these last few weeks have been very dark to be treated so shabbily by my alma mater, by a university that has given me so much and which I only sought to give back to has been deeply painful. Then she laid out some other stuff in here. But then she said, I cannot imagine working at and advancing a school named for a man

who lobbied against me, who used his wealth to influence the hires and ideology of the journalism school, who ignored my 20 years of journalism experience, all of my credentials, all of my work, because he believed that a project that centered black Americans equaled the denigration of white Americans. Nor can I work at an institution whose leadership permitted this conduct and has done nothing to disavow it. How could I believe I'd be able to exert academic freedom

with the school's largest donors so willing to disparage me publicly and attempt to pull the strings behind the scenes. Why would I want to teach at a university whose top leadership chose to remain silent, to refuse transparency, to fail to publicly advocate that I be treated like every other night chair before me? Or for a university overseen by a board that would so callously put politics

over what is best for the university that we all love. These times demand courage, and those who have held the most power in this situation have exhibited the least of it. And the statement goes on and on and on here. The thing here, Ben, again, if you read the statement, it's a very, very long statement that she actually released here. And people have been talking about this. And so Howard University stepped in. I would love, we're going to try to get President Wayne Frederick on. I would love to hear how this all came about, how it was, how they created this, this particular center. But the thing that we also are looking at is she and Tawna, they made the decision, she made the decision to spurn the University of North Carolina to go to Howard University.

I've heard people today say Howard should have been the first choice as opposed to UNC. I've heard others say that there were a lot of people who protested about her getting tenure. Some people turned down jobs. Some resigned. And some people have said that she should have gone to UNC and fought to change the system because others stood up for her to actually get tenure. Your assessment of this whole debacle that has unfolded. Sister Nicole Hannah-Jones, she's absolutely doing what is in the best interest for her.

And I applaud it. I think we are better for it. I am excited to see that team go over to Howard University. And it really is a bold statement to let a lot of these institutions know that we're doing you a favor by lending you our blackness. You know, Sister Jones was doing you a favor by lending that black magic, that black woman magic that she does in journalism, the professionalism, and the countless hours that she put in to develop and hone her craft. And if you're gonna dismiss her, the totality of her work,

because of your insecurity around racism, then it's your loss. And I think that's what she stated today. And I think as a nation, as a black people, in general, us collectively, I think we should make that statement on a regular basis because there are plenty of institutions that not only cherish our work,

but will promote it without any inhibition or fear of white supremacy. Teresa, this was the tweet that Howard University sent out today with this announcement. Howard University announces Nicole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates will join the Howard University faculty to help educate the next generation of black journalists. This was, of course, her speaking this morning.

She gave a television exclusive of this to CBS and Gayle King. Listen. We just heard the vote was 9-4, offering you the tenure. What have you decided? Well, I've decided to decline the offer of tenure. I will not be teaching on the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It's a very difficult decision, not a decision I wanted to make. And instead, I'm going to be the inaugural night chair in race and journalism at Howard University.

So many things to unpack there. First, let's start with you declining the offer. The vote was 9-4, clearly in your favor. There are some people that could say, you said you wouldn't take the job without being offered tenure. They offered you the tenure, and you're still saying, thanks, but no.

Absolutely. Because... Well, because look what it took to get tenure. So this was a position that, since the 1980s, came with tenure. The night chairs are designed for professional journalists who, when working in the field, to come into academia. And every other chair before me, who also happened to be white, received that position with tenure. I was denied that. It had never been denied. No one had ever been denied tenure before.

Exactly. And I went through the tenure process and I received the unanimous approval of the faculty to be granted tenure. And so to be denied it and to only have that vote occur on the last possible day, at the last possible moment, after threat of legal action, after weeks of protests, after it became a national scandal, it's just not something that I want anymore. So that was what she had to say to CBS This Morning. Teresa. Yeah, I think Nicole, like many, did what was in the best interest of her. I mean, we don't know the back end of the amount of stress, the amount of calls, the amount of anxiety. And honestly, even if you read her pieces,

I just want to teach and educate. And so, you know, I'm kind of with her. But again, if I'm thinking about the advocacy side, I'm pushing Nicole to stay there at UNC and create additional change for a system that obviously needs an uplift. But I am also excited that she's over there at Howard University. And I do believe, you know, Howard is going to get exactly what they're looking for. So they wanted someone that, you know, is high energy, high standards in journalism, ethical, professional. That's what they're gonna get with Nicole and Tahisi. So congrats to them. Mustafa?

What did Dr. King say? In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. For the University of North Carolina to remain silent for so long says a lot, and it also prepares you for if you do decide to stay, that you may not have all the support once the cameras and the media attention goes away. So, I mean, everybody knows I've went into some tough situations and organizations that folks said, you know, might

not be the most receptive. But I totally get where she is. And I'll just say also, I appreciate it. The way that she, you know, played this out today, you know, like a top round draft pick, you know, making sure that that folks understood that she understood her value and that she was going to leverage it to make sure that she got the best possible set of circumstances as she moves forward and helping to prepare the next generation. So congratulations to her. Something also, what you're seeing happen here, and we're seeing this actually in sports, where we saw, of course, Deion Sanders make a decision to become the head football coach at Jackson State. Of course, Eddie George was announced as the new head coach at Tennessee State. This happened over the weekend. Former NBA star Reggie Theus announced as the new head basketball coach and men's athletic director at Bethune-Cookman. And so are you okay, Ben?

Yeah, no, that's my school, man. I wasn't on screen. So I take it this is news to you. You weren't aware of this? I wasn't aware, but hell, Wildcats, Bethune-Cookman University, that's my school. So what we're seeing is, one of the things that we're seeing is we're seeing HBCUs go after big names like this. One of the reasons being is because in the wake of George Floyd's death, there's been a significant influx

of cash going to HBCUs. Mackenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, has been given millions of dollars, has greatly increased the funds, the endowments of a number of HBCUs. And so we're actually seeing this. And I dare say, and for folk, you know, don't, you know, some people might take it the wrong way, but this is also what happens when you stop chasing white validation. When you recognize that, if you're talking about, oh, you know, go to a place where you value, I'll be honest with you.

I've always understood that I was valued in black media more than I was in white media. And so hopefully people will not let me be real clear. Hopefully people will not look at black institutions as my fallback, but as their first choice, not their last choice. Absolutely, Roland. I love everything about this new season where we no

longer care about white validation. No, no, no, no, no. Hold up. Some, let's not get carried away. A whole bunch of us still do. Yeah. Well, let's speak it into existence that all of us could be delivered from the need for white validation, because I experienced the same thing. And that's why I got so excited. I'm pretty sure I wasn't on camera. But when I heard that headline, Bethune-Cookman did so well by me as opposed to. Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, you know,

you were not on camera. Hearing was a little slow switching, but y'all, let me just give y'all a reenactment. This was Ben. Yeah, uh-huh. That was the reenactment of when Ben heard that news. So, Henry, next time, switch faster so we can show Ben acting a fool on camera. Listen, listen, y'all should see me we can show Ben acting a fool on camera. Listen, listen, y'all should see me behind these screens, especially with some of these stories Roland be covering.

But listen, I'm a product of Mary McLeod Bethune's dollar and 50 cent. I'm a product of her last will and testament. And so to see this trend happening across the country, Howard University, they they won out big. I mean, can you imagine being able to learn underneath the tool of the toolage of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Hannah Nakoda, Nicole Hannah Jones, Jackson State with primetime? I mean, it is going to be a wonderful renaissance in believing in only validation we need is from other black folks. And I love it. Well, again, and I'm going to say this again, there is, look, I get, you know, I get folks who sit here and they, you know, they want to work for various institutions and they want, and I get it. And I know there's somebody who's probably saying, oh, Roland, that's easy to say you at CNN, but they got to remember, I left, I left,

I was with black media before I was with CNN, and I never left black media. And I really want people to understand that we also have to be thinking about, Teresa, how we actually build something, the opportunities that we actually get. And so I would hope more people would have an appreciation of Black-owned, Black-led, Black-run institutions. Absolutely. I mean, you know, I remember years ago as I was making a decision going to an HBCU school, starting out or going to a traditional college. You know, I started out at a HBCU school and then, you know, I transferred to a traditional. But the important part was the decision was going to an HBCU school because I was looking for culture. I was looking for, you know, more background on black excellence.

I wanted to know more. where you don't really have to have so many racial inequity conversations that you would at a traditional school. That's just trying to figure out our blackness at HBCU school. Students say, you know, there's been studies that say they feel comfortable. They feel like they're at home. They, you know, they feel more in position to do greater things. And so I want people to know that HBCU schools have excellent leadership. Excellent leadership is always pulled into corporations. So different individuals that you may not hear on your alumni chapter is also working in high

end positions, you know, in the corporate or political space or even entrepreneurial space. So I think, you know, supporting every HBCU school and making it your first choice is the right choice. Well, I tell you this here, and so, Mustafa, I make it clear, go where you can go. People always ask me, man, you didn't go to HBCU. I'm always seeing you wear your Texas A&M gear. I'm like, you're damn right. My brother went there.

I went there. My sister went there. Hell, my parents didn't have the money for all three of us to go to school, so we went where the money was. And so if HBCU had offered me a scholarship, TSU was right across the street. They didn't recruit me, and I was the best student in my high school in terms of school communications.

But what I tell people, it don't matter if you didn't go to an HBCU, you can still support black institutions, which is one of the reasons why I'll be a scholar in residence at Fisk University this fall. Well, congratulations on that. I mean, you raise one of the most important points. It is that for the first time in a very, very long time, we're actually seeing an influx in dollars towards some of our HBCUs. I can give a list of others who haven't yet benefited from these sets of dollars that are out there, and to some of our Black organizations. So we have to continue to push folks to make sure that the right investments are happening. And then we have to also make sure that we are supporting the organizations that

we see value in. So you actually are making a decision when you do not support Black organizations. You are saying that you don't see that much value in them. So we have the opportunity to actually change that. And I'll say that's another reason to make sure that you are supporting the Bring the Funk Fan Club to make sure that this particular show continues to have the dollars that it needs so that even when we're at home, we can have the nice backgrounds like you got in the studio right now, Roland. You got that right.

So that's what we're trying to do. And we stay on top of the news as best that we can. Folks, some breaking news out of New York City. They have called, the Associated Press has called the race for Eric Adams. Eric Adams, the Brooklyn Bureau President, former police officer,

he is the winner of the Democratic mayoral primary in New York City. Remember, they had ranked choice ballot in there for the first time. He actually tacked to the center, and he beat out a number of folks who had the progressive label. That, of course, not great news for a lot of people being who wanted to see a strong, avowed progressive. There were people who were like

Maya Wiley in the race. There were others. But the reality is Eric Adams put together the kind of winning coalition needed, becoming just the second African-American mayor in the history of New York City. The first, of course, was David Dinkins, who passed away last year. Yeah. Congratulations on that victory. I do think regardless of the tack towards the center, which was a good move considering how crowded the field was, it was smart tactically.

We saw something similar in the general election or rather in the primaries with Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. That said, there will be constant voices of activists and pressure being put to make sure that the policies, if he's to become mayor, and it looks like that will be the case, the policies will help the people regardless of where he tacked towards the center. We know the progressive agenda is one that's going to help the people of the city of New York. So, but still, again, congratulations for the victory. Now, Baumland has hit a whole bunch of candidates who are running. And so Eric Adams put the right coalition together. He was not shy about policing. He even talked about bringing back stop and frisk. That was not good news to a lot of

progressives in the race, Mustafa. But clearly, he was a choice of New Yorkers. Brother Adams has never said that he was a progressive. He's very strategic. And, as you said, he put the right coalition together. And he knew how to count the votes. So that's a winning formula. I think that he will, in most instances, be a strong advocate for our communities. But he does come from a longstanding law enforcement background. So folks are going to have to continue to push him to give him the space to make sure that he's doing the right thing and making sure that there's some progressive values that are a part of his administration in that

area. It was not a blowout at all, Teresa. This is what the New York Times is saying. Eric Adams won the nomination by a rail fan lead. AP called the race for Mr. Adams after results from the city's board of elections showed that he held a lead of one percentage point over his nearest rival, Catherine Garcia. With most absentee votes now counted, Mr. Adams led Ms. Garcia by 8,426 votes in the city's first mayoral contest to be determined by ranked choice voting. If people don't understand every vote counts, they better understand it in this race.

Absolutely. And it looks like, one, history was made. So congratulations to Eric Adams, mayor-elect Eric Adams, and the entire coalition, supporters, organizations. But as we look at, you know, I think some of these political opportunity where ranked choice voting has been a hot topic, because this is something that I believe progressive and some liberals are now trying to push city to city and state to state to also understand or do better in elections.

So I think this will be another hot topic. I think we need to, you know, again, watch the results fully come in. He did win. But I also believe that there will be some conversation about this ranked choice voting. And thus, we will be back on the dialogue for this. So congratulations to him and the team. All right, folks, got to go to a quick break. When we come back, Roland's Book Club will talk about how to be a Jedi leader and not a boss.

My guest will explain on Roland Martin Unfiltered. When you study the music, you get black history by default. And so no other craft could carry as many words as rap music. I try to intertwine that and make that create whatever I'm supposed to send out to the universe. A rapper, you know, for the longest period of time has gone through phases. I love the word. I hate what it's become,

you know, to this generation, the way they visualize it. Its narrative kind of like has gotten away and spun away from, I guess, the ascension of Black people. All right, folks, can you actually be a true leader when it comes to your business? My next guest says you should be a Jedi leader, not a boss. Leadership in the era of corporate social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Omar Harris joins us. So, Omar, what does it actually mean to be a Jedi leader, not a boss? What's the difference?

It means to basically lean into the practices of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion is how you achieve the outcomes of more value from more stakeholders. Bosses are far more ego driven and a lot of the toxicity and injustices and inequities we see in corporations today emanates from that boss archetype. Everyone trying to climb the corporate ladder and knock everyone else off the corporate ladder. That leads to toxic behaviors and strategies that don't actually add value to customers, employees, communities, the environment, or even shareholders. So, again, unpack that, because right now we're all in the whole deal, DEI, DEI. I'll be honest with you,

I think most of it is BS and it's window dressing. It's not real, because people they hire to be over DEI, DEI, I'll be honest with you, I think most of it is BS and it's window dressing. It's not real because people they hire to be over DEI, frankly, don't have any P&L responsibility. They don't have any staff as well. And so if we're now talking about being a leader in this new world we're living in, what do you have to know? How must you be able to lead your staff in a diverse world? Well, I think the first thing is you have to lean into difference, and you lean into difference by understanding everyone's unique talents and strengths in the organization. I'm a Gallup-certified strengths coach, which means that we focus on the power

of positive psychology in business, which is basically finding what's right with people versus what's wrong with people. And that's the beginning of a new world of trust between yourself and the employee that allows you to build high-performance teams and achieve high-performance outcomes in companies. I've worked for global pharmaceutical companies around the world in the U.S., Turkey, Indonesia, and Brazil over 20 years. And I've seen that poverty of psychology, servant leadership, and leaning into justice, equity, diversity, inclusion,

as how you serve and support your people is how you get real work done in corporations and really begin to change the toxic status quo that's resulting in, we saw four million people opt out of the workforce in April, resign from the workforce in April. So there's a big problem happening in corporations today. And as you mentioned,

companies are making lip service about this issue, but they really need to lean into this space in order for them to even protect their livelihood as an organization. Look, you really don't have, the only training to be a boss really is you being in other sort of positions. There are a lot of people today who,

oh, they want to be a boss, but a lot of people don't understand what that means to be a boss. Yeah, I mean, I think bossing, first of all, and I talk about this in the book, did you know the word boss comes from the Dutch word base, which is actually a Dutch slave word for master? And so boss fundamentally has a white supremacist root.

Another reason why we should not pursue Boston in corporations. We should be pursuing leadership, which is really about positive influence, impact, and higher results. And basically the fact that businesses can be more now. Businesses have to do more than just provide profits for shareholders, businesses have to add value to employees, customers, communities, and the environment in addition to shareholders. And that's the statement of purpose

that's been redefined by corporations as of 2019. All right, questions from our panel. I'll start with you, Theresa Lundy. Yes, one, thank you. I'll start with you, Teresa Lundy. Yes. One, thank you. I look forward to picking up the book. So if there was one key advice that you would like for us to really get out of this book that you mentioned, what would it be? Then the first one is that we have to take on this ownership for ourselves.

This is not something that hetero, cisgender white men are going to help us with in corporations. And so this is an opportunity. It's a land grab. In corporations, there's not a lot of white space for us to actually operate and create opportunities for ourselves. So the DEI space, although we'll mention service, is a land grab for us. This is an opportunity for us to create space and kind of shape it as we see fit. And this is something that African-Americans and BIPOC and Latinx

and corporations should be leaning into this space and not shying away from it. Mustafa. First of all, thank you so much for the work that you're doing. Are there examples of the Jedi leadership paradigm that folks can point to that are showing how folks are utilizing that to move to the next level, their organizations? So I think that Adam Silver is a great example that I point to in the book around what it means to be a Jedi leader. So what he did last year with the with the George Floyd situation and how the NBA

created the bubble around the pandemic, he had to lean into and listen to and really understand and validate the experiences of the players. And this was a situation where he listened and leaned in and was able to create something, a space for the athletes to really do something phenomenal, which was really demonstrate the social justice protests and also advocate for greater voting access and things of that nature and get owners, actually bend the owners to their will and get owners on board with the needs of the player.

We've never seen anything like that before. That's truly the example of a Jedi leader actually leveraging, listening and supporting his employees in order for him to drive better value and outcomes for everyone involved. Ben. I've had the privilege of working in some environments that I think would match what you're describing in terms of like the Jedi versus the boss concept. But I'm curious, what kind of pushback are you getting from corporate America? Because there's so much time that has been spent, entertainment, movies, books, about this aggressive nature of being a boss. Are you getting any pushback from people who cherish that paradigm?

I certainly expect to get pushback from people who cherish that paradigm, which is why I'm going to people who are already embracing the new world. Basically, what I'm saying is that this is a business risk. PUSHBACK FROM PEOPLE WHO CHARIS THAT PARADIGM WHICH IS WHY I'M GOING TO PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY EMBRACING THE NEW WORLD. BASICALLY WHAT I'M SAYING IS THAT THIS IS A BUSINESS RISK FUNDAMENTALLY. IT'S BIGGER THAN JUST SOME CORPORATE LEADERS SEE THIS AS THE NEXT PR INITIATIVE OR CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. IT'S NONE OF THAT. THIS IS ACTUALLY FUNDAMENTALLY BUSINESS RISK. COMPANIES SINCE 2012 THAT HAVE NOT LEANED INTO THIS SPACE HAVE LOST OVER $64 BILLION A YEAR IN TERMS OF LAWSUITS AND THINGS OF THAT NATURE BEING TAKEN OUT OF THEIR COMPANIES. that have not leaned into this space have lost over $64 billion a year in terms of lawsuits and things of that nature being taken out of their companies. Market capitalizations are being reduced from CEOs being caught with bad behavior. So this is business risk. And when you tee it up as business risk for CEOs, they begin to lean into the space and say,

OK, so we want to mitigate and anticipate and remove this out of our system so that we don't have to pay the price in terms of shareholder value later on. So that's an argument that I've been making that's actually giving a lot of headway in a lot of corporations. All right, y'all. The book is called Be a Jedi Leader, Not a Boss, Leadership in the Era of Corporate Social Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion by Omar L. Harris. Omar, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you very much. Appreciate you.

All right, folks. If y'all want to support what we do here at Roller Markdown and Filter, please do so. As Mustafa said, by joining our Bring the Funk fan club, every dollar you give goes to support this show and the work that we are doing here. We've got some great things for you. I can't wait to show you our new space.

We have literally just moved in. Our first day was Thursday, and so we're still putting stuff up. And so I've teed. Okay, so I'm just going to give you all this one tease. Okay, so Henry, take it wide. So this is just, but this is literally, I just want you all to understand, this is just 10% what you're seeing.

You're not even, it's not even close to what we're actually going to show. And so, I can't wait to show y'all everything here. But we've got some man amazing stuff lined up for you. So, trust me. Y'all want to support us, again, go to Cash App, dollar sign RM Unfiltered. Venmo.com forward slash RM Unfiltered. PayPal.me forward slash R Martin Unfiltered.

Zelle is Roland at Roland S Martin dot com. Roland at Roland Martin Unfiltered dot com. Andale is roland at rolandsmartin.com, roland at rolandmartinunfiltered.com. And again, what we're asking for, 50 bucks from each one of our fans. That's $4.19 a month, 13 cents a day, 50 bucks for the year. If you want to give more, you can do so. If you want to give less, look, we understand.

We accept every dollar. Let me give a shout out. There were some people, of course, who sent some checks in. And one of them sent a really big check in. So let me see if I can.. Where did I.. Okay, I'm trying to find the name.

I know I sent today. So shout out to Yvonne Butts, Cheryl Taylor Earl, Randall Proctor, Shirley Majors, Dwayne Baker Jr., Sybil Brown. Sybil, that was a big check you sent. I appreciate it, Sybil. John Shelton, Charles Chambers Jr., Sybil Brown. Sybil, that was a big check you sent. I appreciate it, Sybil. John Shelton, Charles Chambers Jr., Sheryl Dugan,

Lisa Jenkins, Kenneth Lee. And so, we certainly appreciate y'all's support. Everybody who gives 50 bucks or more, y'all get a personal shoutout from me on the show. And so, that's how we do it. And of course, every Friday, we list all of our fan club members and we scroll all of their names and we make them available on our website as well. All right, folks, that's it for me.

I'll see you guys tomorrow right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered where we'll be talking to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Labor Secretary of the Day, Transportation Tomorrow, right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. We keep it real, keep it black, and we ain't got to ask anybody for permission to do what we do. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always

be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast.

Yes, sir. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers, but we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else but never forget

yourself self-love made me a better dad because i realized my worth never stop being a dad that's dedication find out more at fatherhood.gov brought to you by the u.s department of health and human services and the ad council this is an iheart podcast