#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Virginia Court Kills Redistricting Vote. NAACP Fights Tennessee Black District Attack

Episode Date: June 3, 2026

5.8.2926 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Virginia Court Kills Redistricting Vote. NAACP Fights Tennessee Black District Attack The Virginia Supreme Court has overturned the Democrats' redistricting referendum in a 4-3 decision, stating that the Democrats did not follow the proper procedures. The NAACP has filed an emergency petition to block Tennessee's attempt to eliminate the state's only majority-Black congressional district, arguing that it violates the state constitution. Kristin Clarke will be joining us to discuss the lawsuit. In Alabama, chaos erupted in the State House as Republicans approved plans for new primary elections if courts allow GOP-drawn House districts to be used in the upcoming November midterm elections. Economist Morgan Harper will be here to analyze April's job report and the black unemployment statistics. Time is running out for a Black Tennessee death row inmate who may be executed for a crime he didn't commit. We'll speak with one of the individuals working to save his life. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork 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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We'll show you some of that a little bit later. Folks, the GOP's War on Black America continues where today in Alabama, they wiped out two black congressional seats will talk to one of those folks, Congresswoman Terrence Sewell, right here on the show. The NAACP has filed a lawsuit in the case of Tennessee wiping out the Black District in Memphis.

Christian Clark, their lead council, will join us on the show as well. So lots for us to unpack on the show. We're going to continue this focus. We've been laying out this war on Black America and how it impacts us in every single way. And so again, what our responsibility here is, to give you the facts on what's happening.

Also, we'll talk to the ACLU lawyer about a black man who's going to be executed, and there are lots of questions with regards to that. We're talking economics, but our economist, Morgan Harper, new job numbers came out. We'll talk about that as well. So lots to cover. It's time to bring the funk on Rolla Martin unfiltered

on the Black Star Network. Let's go. Today with Tennessee, today it is Alabama, wiping out black congressional districts. The rise of the Confederacy continues as Republicans, completely tried to destroy black political power in the South. Just one week at the Supreme Court gave them the go-ahead to wipe out districts that they claim was based upon race. As we said, we saw what happened yesterday in Alabama today.

There was a vote there that not only takes out that new opportunity district where you have Congressman Sharmari figures, they also are wiping out that longtime seat right there in the black belt of Congresswoman Terry Sele, follows what happened in Tennessee, and we're seeing other southern states do the exact same thing. Mississippi wants to remove the seat of longtime Congressman Benny Thompson, the only Democrat, only African-American who represents that state as well. And so what they are saying is that black people, guess what? You're not going to have representation in Congress. And so it is an absolute bloodbath.

This is very reminiscent of what took place in the period after reconstruction. And so let's, and then, of course, we're going to talk about what happened in Virginia as well with the Supreme Court there. All right. Let's get right to it. Bringing our guest, joining us right now is Congresswoman Terry Sewell. She joins us right now, Christian Clark. Christian is, of course, former head of the Civil Rights Division, the Department of Justice Under President Biden, now General Counsel for the NAACP. Let them have both of them here. I'm going to pull the third guest.

But first of all, let me go to you, Christian. And y'all filed a lawsuit in Tennessee on what grounds? So we all witnessed this horrific moment yesterday where lawmakers dismantled, targeted, destroyed the only majority black district in the state of Tennessee that gives black voters a fair opportunity to elect candidates of choice. We filed suit yesterday in state court. And what we're challenging is the proclamation that was issued by the governor. The state constitution and state law is very clear. You want to call a special session of Congress. You need to be clear about the purpose.

He claims that it was for the purposes of redrawing the maps. But they did a lot more than just that. They also repealed a law that's been on the books for five decades that actually prohibits mid-decade redistricting. They also slipped in a provision that wipes away the residency requirement for running for office for a whole year. And in addition, they said that election officials don't have to notify voters about their new precincts under this racially gerrymandered map. So there's a whole lot that happened yesterday. And a lot of those additional things that the legislature did were not included in the proclamation.

Our goal here is to get this session wiped off the books. It was called illegally. They exceeded the scope of the proclamation. And the existing map is what should be used for the 2026 election cycle. It's the first phase of a long fight, Roland. We heard we've had Jone Nelson on the show. We've had Damon, Hewitt, with the laws, we have the civil rights under law, which you've previously had on the show as well. And what the Supreme Court has done with this recent decision, they're doing all they can

to handcuff civil rights laws as much as much as possible. You know, Justice Roberts claimed it was a new day in America. Discrimination is a thing of the past. Well, in eight days, lawmakers, across the South have proved Roberts wrong. We have seen the floodgates of racism open and unleashed. And their very first target, the very top of their agenda is wiping out black electoral opportunity and black leadership. It is a moment, I think, where everyone should be extremely angry at generations of hard fought,

hard-fought efforts to open up the doors of democracy. Like we're seeing it all wiped away. I hope that folks will respond by showing up at the polls and voting this election cycle. In addition to the war on black voters and the war on black elected officials, we know that there's a lot of suffering right now, lack of access to health care, an affordability crisis,

lack of access to quality housing. So we really need people to show up and vote like they have never voted before because we are at the crossroads in American democracy. Absolutely, absolutely. It's a battle. Kristen Clark, we're still appreciate it. Keep up the fight. Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me.

Let's go to Alabama. Congresswoman and Terry Sewell joins us right now. And the Alabama legislature did the exact same thing that Tennessee did wiping out. seats there held by Democrats, both African-American. Congresswoman Assul, massive protests were taking place all across Alabama. And as Christian said, this was a direct attack on black political leadership. These, the rise of Confederacy, these Republicans, these Republicans in these red states, they did not waste any time in targeting black people. And in fact, in some places, they're not targeting black, white Democrats, they are specifically targeting black elected

officials. Conchlamassoor, can you hear me? I can. I see that you have the protests that were going on in the state house in Alabama today. Can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you. And what I was saying is these Republicans, listen, they are specifically targeting black people. This is absolutely a GOP war on black America. Absolutely. You know, today the vote was, there were two bills. So So let me just start by saying that the slight difference between Alabama and Tennessee is the fact that we actually have an injunctive order that prohibits them from changing their maps until 2030. As you will recall, we won the Milligan case in 2023, which gave us an extra seat.

Shemari Figures currently has that seat. And in the 2023 Supreme Court decision, Milligan, they actually upheld Section 2. And then of course they've now come back with the CalA decision. And since that decision, the state of Alabama is called a special election. And in that special election, they're paving the way to get rid of black representation by making sure that if the injunction is lifted, they've asked the Supreme Court to vacate that injunction. that they would be able to hold a special election, a new primary, and make it so that, you know, Africa. Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart.

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are 60% more likely to find a successful hire. Higher Skills First. Learn why at tear the paper sealing.org brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. American Americans can't have representation. So it's really, you know, they are, we call it the prelude to the erase of black representation because they do have an injunction and they have not been able to get that lifted. We don't trust the Supreme Court. We're working hard. We filed our briefs and all of that. And LDF is still representing the Milligan plaintiffs,

and we're fighting like hell to keep the seats that we have. But if we lose that, then what they decided today would lift that injunction, and they would revert back to the 2023 map. And the 2020, 223 map takes me to a little bit more than 50%, and takes Chamaris to 30%. So they're making it harder for us to win. And that's what the Calais decision just did.

It is, in my opinion, the Supreme Court decision will have the largest reduction of black representation in American history. You and I know that it was a Voting Rights Act of 1965. Hard fought. People were bludgeon on a bridge in my hometown for that piece of legislation. But that was a similar piece of legislation that literally changed. the face of electoral politics. For the first time we started seeing having black mayors, black city council members, state representatives, and members of Congress finally came back

since Reconstruction. You know, in the state of Alabama, the last African American to have a seat in Congress was in 1877, and it took 115 years until Earl Hilliard came in with Jim Clyburn and Benny Tom. Thompson and the light in 1992. That's 115 years. And guess what, Roland, we're not going back. We are absolutely not going back. So what you've seen is that we've had rally after rally,

a steady drumbeat, if you will. I was there with my rally on Tuesday. I let that rally. We bust in folks from Birmingham. And today you saw more protests every day this week that they've been in special session. We have had activists out there. there and inside testifying in the public hearings.

And of course, today was the vote. And they're not just trying to get rid of congressional seats. You know, the CalA decision has far reaching results and impact. It affects every level of government, the redrawing of maps in the county, the redrawing of maps in the state legislature. And the state of Alabama had two bills up, one to undo the congressional majority minority seats and the second one was to undo the majority minority state Senate seats, two of those. So they're trying in one fell swoop to get rid of four black elected officials from Alabama.

Well, absolutely. And one of the things that I have been making it perfectly clear that the response has to be the largest mass black voter registration since 1965 or since the election of Obama in 2008. That what has to happen? And so people can be mad and angry and post- on social media and having rallies, but we must show up in massive numbers in Alabama, in Tennessee, in Louisiana, and all these places to show our power. Absolutely. You know, I've been saying that we have to mobilize, organize, every one of us has a role to play. Our journalists to make sure that we know the facts and the truth.

Our legislators, we have to legislate. I have to go back in and revise the John Robert Voting Rights Advancement Act so that when we do take back the house, we can reintroduce the bill and get rid of partisan gerrymandering. So legislators have to legislate and citizens have to get out and vote like they've never voted before. We have to energize ourselves. We cannot feel powerless in this moment. In fact, I believe we were made for a moment such as this, that our four mothers and four fathers fought and they had a playbook and we need to take a page from that playbook and we need to, you know, go to the ballot box

like we've never gone before. We need a massive voter registration drive. And if the 500,000 folks in Alabama who are registered to vote come out and vote, we could win this thing. We could win it. To that particular point, what I have been saying that what we can't

just be happy with is, you know, 50, 55, 57% turnout. No. Baseline has to be 70. baseline turnout among black people must be 70% and it must hit 80, 8590. If we vote our numbers, we can beat these fascists. We can.

Not just in the House, but we have the Senate in play as well. And we need this check and balance of this Trump administration. You know that and I know that. What saddens me that this is on our collective watch that we're going backwards, that we're seeing the rolling back of hard fogs, progress that we've made in civil rights, in immigration, in voting rights. I mean, you name it, civil liberties.

We've seen this administration take a hash a job to constitutional rights that were hard fought and won by our foremothers and forefathers that we have to protect and advance. And so we in Alabama are not going to give up. I was saying in the rally that whenever I feel low, I am reminded of what John Lewis said on that bridge the last time he visited months before his death. And while he was riddled with cancer, his voice was very strong, Roland. And he said unequivocally, never give up, never give in. Keep the faith and we have to keep our eyes on the prize.

And the prize is black representation. If we don't have a seat at the table, we're going to be on the menu. Well, absolutely. So this battle continues. Congresswoman Terri Soule, we should appreciate it. keep us abreast. And like I said, one thing I've also said in every single, in every single one of these states and every single city, there should be citizenship training every single week. Somebody should be holding sessions every week. And again, we have to look at the numbers, study the data, look at where our voters are. And we got to reach every single one of them, get them registered first and then drive them to the polls come November. Absolutely. We're going to get into some good trouble. All right, Congresswoman, we're still appreciate it.

Thanks a bunch. Thank you, Roland. Folks, let's now talk about Virginia, where Democrats were given a huge setback today when the Virginia Supreme Court Rule 4 to 3, that the redistricting referendum that was narrowly approved by voters in April special election violated procedural rules. In the 4 to 6-page opinion, the court found the process by which the referendum reached the ballot did not comply with constitutional requirements. Now, there are three Virginia Supreme Court justices who voted to uphold the votes.

They are Cleo E. Powell, Thomas P. Mann, Junius P. Fulton. Those are the three. The four Republicans, Teresa Schaithen, Arthur Kelsey, Stephen McCullough, Wesley G. Russell, Jr. In Virginia, Supreme Court Judices are appointed by the legislature. One of them is up in January. The Attorney General of Virginia, Jay Jones released this statement. Today, the Supreme Court of Virginia has chosen to put a politics over the rule of law by issuing a ruling that overturns the April 21st special election on redistricting. This decision silences the voices of the millions of Virginians who cast their ballots in every corner of the Commonwealth, and it fuels the growing fears across our nation about the state of our democracy. As Attorney General, it is my job to enforce the laws

on the books and defend the will of the people. Before the court, my office clearly laid out both in filings and all arguments that this constitutional amendment process and voter ratification occurred in a timely, constitutionally compliant and legally sound manner. The Republican-led majority of the Supreme Court of Virginia contorted the plain language of the Constitution and code of Virginia to give it a meaning that was never intended, which allowed them to reach the wrong legal conclusion that fit their political agenda. The consequences of their error are grave. The strength and stability of our democracy depends on.

adherence to the rule of law, the execution of free and fair elections where every eligible voter can cast their ballots to choose their leaders and public trust in the institutions that provide accountability and protect our democratic processes. This court's ruling follows a dangerous trend of tilting power away from the people. My team is carefully reviewing this unprecedented order and we are evaluating every legal pathway forward to defend the will of the people and protect the integrity of Virginia's elections. Don Scott, the Speaker of the House of Virginia said we We respect the decision on the Supreme Court of Virginia. I'm proud that Virginians came out in historic numbers, made through voices heard, and sent a message not just here at home, but across the country to Donald Trump and his administration.

Three million people voted in a free and fair election. He gave this decision to the voters exactly where it belongs, and they spoke loud and clear. They voted yes because they wanted to fight back against the Trump power grab. That truth doesn't change because of a court ruling. This was always about more than one election. It was about whether the voices of... the people matter. And no decision can erase what Virginia's made clear at the ballot box. We respect the court, but we will keep fighting for a democracy where voters, not politicians,

have a final say because in Virginia, power still belongs to the people. Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries released this statement regarding the Virginia decision. Over 3 million Virginia citizens cast their votes in a free and fair election. The state Supreme Court has chosen to invalidate their voice. It's enfranchised them and violate their due process rights. The decision to overturn an entire election is an unprecedented and undemocratic action that cannot stand. Niagara Republicans have adopted voter suppression as a strategy, as also evidenced by far-right extremists on the Supreme Court, gutting the Voting Rights Act to open the door to a Jim Crow-like attack on black representation across the American South.

We're exploring all options to overturn this shocking decision, no matter what it takes House Democrats will win in November so we can help rescue this nation from the extremism, being unleashed by Donald Trump and Republicans. Our fight is not over. We are just getting started. All right, folks. Let's talk about this here. Join by Dr. Vanilla of Lakelock, an attorney and constitutional law scholar. Glad to have you here.

So let's walk through this here. There were several statements that I saw different folks posting on social media regarding this decision. And one of those said that this was interesting. This person tweeted, the four to three majority. opinion is a 20-page rambling discourse on semantics drawing on Ralph Waldo Emerson and Samuel Johnson. The dissent by the Chief Justice concisely stradst it by quoting the law in Virginia Constitution. Four people overturned three million votes and is 1,000% political. Have you read the ruling?

And what is your assessment of what the four laid out, the majority four laid out in this decision? Yeah. Thank you, Roland, for having me on your show. So I have read the ruling, and essentially what happened is Virginia has, Virginia's Constitution has this really unique approach to constitutional amendments where the assembly has to vote on it twice, and an election has to happen in between those two votes. And so before the November election, because Virginia also has elections every year, as you point out, and so before the November 2025 election, the Assembly passed the language of this

amendment. It was four days before the election. It was in October. And then once the Democrats won by huge numbers in November, they passed the second one to pass it on to the voters. And so what the four justices are saying is that because votes had already been cast in that first approval, it's unconstitutional. The tricky part about this is they could have made that decision before millions of Virginians casted their vote because they had an opportunity and they chose to let the vote go forward. So most people feel that this is an overreach by the judiciary because the people had spoken. Well, on that particular point, I mean, they even said that, well, you know, we could have, you know, decided this or weighed in before the election.

It's like, yeah, no shit. Yeah. I think that they expected the election to go the other way and then they didn't have to be the bad guys. Like that seems to be the only logical reason for waiting this long. And then it's unclear if the Constitution requires all the language says that there has to be two votes. There were two votes and there was an intervening election. On its plain language, that should have, that process should have been approved. But as we are seeing across the country, it seems that when Republicans gerrymander, through the state, not through the

people of their state, it's fine. And then when the Democrats follow the rule, it's not fine. And one of the things is, so when someone hit me earlier, and what people don't understand is that, so the reason there was a referendum is because the referendum would give the legislature the opportunity to redraw the lines. And so I've heard some people say, well, Governor Spanberger, she'd say, what the hell just go ahead and do it? Well, they can't, because the purpose of that referendum was for them, for the legislature, to be able to redraw the lines, because as it set up now, that's not their responsibility. Great.

Well, so Virginia passed a bipartisan commission after the 2020 consensus. And so in Virginia, a bipartisan commission sets up our districting lines, and that's the map that we currently have. And so the legislature literally has no power to intervene. And the thing about the amendment that it's important as well is that the Democrats weren't even saying, give us this power in perpetuity. They were saying, give us this power. And in 2030, it will go back to the bipartisan commission.

We are just doing this to counter the kind of undemocratic processes that are happening in other states. Well, and going by the 2020, this is a perfect example where Democrats were trying to do the right and fair thing. Republicans, because you look at Colorado, you look at California, you look at a lot of places where they have these commissions. Red states were like, no, we ain't doing it. In fact, Ohio completely screwed over, you know, their commission. Same thing in Michigan. In fact, in Utah, they are so trifling that they're so pissed off that the Utah Supreme Court created that Democratic district that they expanded.

They literally expanded the Supreme Court and they are targeting the two of the justices who voted in that in the fall. That's how Republicans respond when they don't get their way. Yeah, and the thing is that the Supreme Court, the United States Supreme Court, has put a stamp of approval on all of this. They've suggested that partisan gerrymandering is beyond the scope of their abilities to control. And in some ways, in the most recent decision, have hinted that Congress can't do anything about it. By limiting the 15th Amendment to intentional discrimination only, that suggests that Congress couldn't even pass a law. They would have no authority to pass a national ban on even partisan gerrymandering, which is a really scary interpretation of the 15th Amendment.

Indeed, indeed. All right. I appreciate you joining us. Well, actually, last question. What do you see as next? Is there a next? Can Democrats appeal this? What can they do in Virginia? I don't see it making any difference for the 2026 midterms. In Virginia, candidates have to purify by May 26. That's in two weeks. So there's not a lot of time for things to happen. They could appeal it to the Supreme Court. And on its face, you would think that this would, because it's strictly partisan gerrymandering,

that the Supreme Court would have no choice but to say it was fine. However, any appeal would be on the procedure piece. And I think it highly unlikely that the current Supreme Court would overturn a Virginia Supreme Court decision interpreting Virginia's Constitution. That would be really unlikely. And so I don't know that Democrats have a way forward other than to come out and vote in the midterms and come out at high percentages. All right, then. Vanilla Blainea Blaineau-Late Locke, we surely appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Folks, going to a break. We'll be right back. Talk with our panel right here on Rolla Martin on Fulcher on the Black Star Day. On a next, a balanced life with me, Dr. Jackie, a relationship that we have to have. We're often afraid of it and don't like to talk about it. That's right. We're talking about our relationship with money. And here's the thing. Our relationship with money oftentimes determines whether we have it or not. Balancing your relationship with your pocketbook. That's next on a balanced life with me. Dr. Jackie here at Black Star Network. Welcome to the other side of change, only on the Black Star Network and hosted by myself, Ria Baker, and my good sis, Jemira Burley. We are just two millennial women tackling everything at the intersection of politics, gender, and pop culture. And we don't just settle for commentary.

This is about solution-driven dialogue to get us to the world as it could be and not just as it is. Watch us on the Black Star Network, so tune in to the other side of change. How you doing it? I'm Mark Curry, and you're watching the Black Star Network? That's why I got these glasses on, because that black star is bright. Candace Kelly, legal analyst and host of Takeaway with Candace Kelly out of South Orange, New Jersey, Michael Inhotep, host of the African History Network show out of Detroit. Glad they have both of you.

Candace, I'll start with you. This has been, look, a battle of the lawyers last week has been more legal drama than we've seen. And look, the takeaway, I think, is very simple. And that is a right-wing conservative Supreme Court, a right-wing Virginia Supreme Court, and we're likely going to get a Florida Supreme Court right-wing that doesn't give a damn about the Constitution. And they're going to just allow Ron Sanders to do what he wants to do as well.

And that's what we're dealing with. We're dealing with right-wing judges who will find ways to allow their side to win. Yeah, and at every turn, they all got the same memo. And that memo comes from the United States Supreme Court of America, which on a federal level gave the rights to the states, which is why we're seeing all of this this chaos. It's not a matter of constitutional interpretation. It's really just chaos, period, which is why everybody is confused and doesn't understand why we are where we are, especially when people have voted. I think, too, if you read the dissent, you'll see how the justices

talk about this ever-ending, this never-ending kind of a loophole of this. Well, when does an election actually begin? Does it begin when ballots are casted? And then if so, can no work be done? Or does the election begin on election day? Now, at this point, you have a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment because the substantive rights that we have in order to vote, which are recognized under that, have been dishonored. The votes are in. Everybody did their due diligence. The numbers came out the way that Democrats and blacks and, you know, wanted it to happen. But it meant absolutely nothing.

And what we're going to see more from the states is a dismantling of the Voting Rights in the Voting Rights Act in this fashion. We already saw what happened to Section 2. It's gutted now. I mean, now you have to prove the intentional racism when you can just look out on your street in your neighborhood right now and see the result of racism and the intent of people to keep black people, for example, out of neighborhoods. there is, it is so disconcerting to see the breakdown of everything right in front of our eyes. Even, you know, when you think about, you know, the fact that we always say, go to the polls, vote, that changes the outcome. This would have changed the outcome, but for the fact that you had Republicans working together, and again, in order to create chaos and take away the rights in such a subtle way and not so subtle way that they understand the power that the state.

have. And when we talk about so many rights, rolling, whether it's abortion rights, whether it's voting rights, whether it's housing rights, we see that if there's nothing federal in place, these states are going to go crazy the way that... Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. I-R. Radio, Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including I-Hart Pride Canada, your favorite hits and must-have party bangers, plus personalized and curated playlists, like back-in-the-day pride. Celebrate love. Take pride with you.

Anytime, anywhere. Just ask your smart speaker to play IHart Pride Canada. Stream us on your phone. Or listen now at iHeartRadio.ca. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new?

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Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. The United States will not stand by and allow any power, however great, take over another country. From IHeart Podcast, Saigon. Please allow me to introduce Joseph Sherman.

think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? I should stop talking so much. I like hearing you talk. One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam. I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire. Do you rate me? They're pouring petrol all over him.

He's holding matches. I'm on a landmine. For free time. Let's get out. Freedom from Vietnam. Run! Saigon, starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict. Sting, here's Matt.

The world should hear about this. There's a fire coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Real talent is defined by what people can do, not where they learn to do it. So by stopping at the education section of a resume, you might throw away the perfect hire. Skills first hiring helps you see talent others miss, like more than 70 million stars, skilled through alternative roots. Let their story unfold. gain a competitive advantage because hiring managers who start with skills are 60% more likely

to find a successful hire. Higher skills first. Learn why at tear the paper ceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. They have and that is the result of what we are seeing today. The best we can do is to keep on fighting and still get to the polls, but knowing that you go through that process. Just, um, can this, Candace. Yes. Uh, Candace, one second this just saying the Attorney General of Virginia Jay Jones and Virginia Speaker of the House Don Scott they have filed an emergency order to stay the order until they can file an emergency in the emergency order with the US Supreme Court so they are going to pursue another legal avenue in Virginia well you

know I have listen we have to keep a lot of hope and prayers alive in this one But when you look at the courts and the makeup and we see the decision that came out of Virginia, when you see the decision that came out of Louisiana, they're going to have to be some serious arguments and perhaps different arguments in order to convince the judges one way or the other because they've heard a lot and we know that a lot of them have already made their decisions. This is exactly the way that Trump stacked the courts. Absolutely, absolutely. Michael, we're going to keep saying this, and that is, listen, this is, this is,

This is white fear. This is Republicans scared to death of the nation becoming a majority of people of color. They are trying, they know that this economy sucks. They know there are numerous issues. This is an unpopular war in Iran, and they're trying to stack as many seats as they can because they fear losing control of the House. And I've got to remind people, it is in the House where the presidential election is certified, and they desperately want to be able to control the House for the 2008 presidential election. Yeah, because they want to steal the election if for some reason the Republican candidate loses. They want to try to steal it in the House, and that's understanding how the U.S. Constitution works. But, yeah, Roland, you know, we were warning people about this, and this goes back once again. So coming from that Supreme Court decision, Louisiana versus Calais, this goes back to the 2016 election.

This is why we were telling people that 2016 election is not about personalities. This is about the Supreme Court and the federal bench. So this is a consequence of what happened 10 years ago. But when we look at these cases here, and I was reading the piece from the New York Times dealing with the argument coming from the four justices there in Virginia. But I noticed something really different, Roland, between this fight right now and. what happened in 2021 when we were trying to get the John Lewis Voting Rights Act passed. Because corporations spoke out in April of 2021

and they signed on to a letter, it's about 150 of them, along with celebrities and sports figures, signed onto a letter advocating for the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, right? I haven't heard any corporations speaking out against what's taking place right now, okay? And then if you go back to 2015, Roland, and I've talked about this.

here on this show before, when the Indiana State Legislature passed their transgender bathroom bill and Governor Mike Pence was the governor of Indiana, okay? You had corporations tripping over themselves coming out, denouncing what happened. You had a gaming conference that pulled out of the state of Indiana. You had corporations threatening the shutdown projects, things like this. I haven't heard any of them say that with this taking place right here. So my thing is, wait a second. If you stand up for LGBTQ, you better stand up for BLACK. Otherwise, we need to organize and withdraw economic support from these corporations to help finance these republics. Well, I agree. But, you know, listen, one of the things is happening

as we speak, a number of different individuals, and I'm on some of these chat discussions are talking about, you know, launching a massive voter mobilization effort. That has to happen. We have to recognize like this is where we are. This is what needs to go on. This is a moment that we have to be executing in every way possible. And Candace, at the end of the day, that's the battle that we are facing. We cannot take this lying down. It requires, it's going to require a massive effort, and we have to destroy these people at the ballot box.

We must overwhelm this system. Yeah, overwhelm the system. And think about what you did during the last election. and do more. That's kind of really the call to action that people should be following. Do more than you did before. If you did a lot, do more than a lot. If you did nothing, then you have to do something. Canvass and go door to door, make people understand the difference really does make a difference when you look at interest rates and you're trying to buy a house. When you go to the gas station and you're trying to figure out why you're in California and gas is $6 or $7 or even higher from what I understand. But, you know, I Listen to what Michael said, we know the corporations, they will not save us. We already got that information. You can hardly say DEI in the same sentence without somebody looking at you twice, like, you know, you're crazy. This is, this really isn't a time to think about, well, you know, what are the corporations going to do?

What are people at my job going to do? The question is, like what you were saying, Roland, what are you going to do and what is incumbent upon you to do? and really understanding what's going on and being well informed about what's going on in the news and really doing a deep dive, that's incumbent upon all of us to really understand what's going on. If you look at fair housing, if you look at all of the people who were taken out of their positions as soon as Trump got into office because they were African American, you look at all the 300,000-plus women that we've been talking about for months who lost their job, all of this little by little. Now we've got the Voting Rights Act, little by little, the Constitution is being torn apart.

You know, they're really, it's a skeleton right now in terms of those particular rights that we have been fighting for historically in order to get where we are. Now you have people who voted and a few judges changed the whole voting process. It seems almost impossible, but we know in this day and age, in 2026, nothing is impossible. You really can't be surprised by any. Hey, Rowland. Absolutely. And listen, tippers have been flaring. There has been a lot of anger, and I dare say, black legislators must do more of that.

This is what happened today, guys, we're on these clips back to back, but things got real tense in Louisiana in a redistricting committee. Review your body of work. The court said, look at the totality of the circumstances. Let's look at the totality of your work. Your work has eliminated the elected seat of an African American in the city of New Orleans. Your work has eliminated the political power of numerous elected officials in the city of New Orleans. And so as the course review it, I asked them to review your work.

I'm not trying to make suggestions about your heart, but I really talked about your work. You're not going to take a recess. I don't want a recess. I'm the chairman of the Senate. You are no different than the senator than I am. And you are no different than this. Put my microphone back on. He's been a civil.

My microphone. He's suggesting he's not racist. I said we take a look at his work. You're out of line. You're out of line. Don't me? Michael, I'm sorry. Damn order.

This is a time where it doesn't need, what black folk, we ain't got time to play nice with these races. Right, right. They wanted to calm. They were on order while you being politically lynch. No. And he came, the guy came over and turned off his microphone.

That's the ass whooping waiting to happen right there. I mean, I mean, when you deal with men, you don't invade their personal space. Everybody knows that. He just came over and treated him like he's a boy or something like that, just going to turn off his microphone.

What the hell? No. So people are right to protest, and just quickly, you know, in the previous segment, I wasn't saying rely on corporations to save us. I'm talking about utilizing the tools in our tool bill and understand we have to leverage our economics to enforce our political agenda. That's another tool that we have to use. And Roland, you've had Attorney Fred Gray. You've interviewed them before. Attorney Fred Gray was the attorney that argued the U.S. Supreme Court case would go Millian v. Lightfoot in 1960.

which stemmed out of redistricting the Tuskegee Alabama district. The white supremacists were redistricting that district. The same thing here. And African-Americans filed a lawsuit, but also had a four-year economic boycott that went back to 1957. Their boycott lasted four years longer than the Montgomery bus boycott. So I'm saying utilize all of the tools in our toolbox. Again, I need heat.

I need heat being applied. We're going to show you another clip. Let me see into the control room. Let me send you guys right now. This was more protesting out in the hallways in Louisiana. While you guys are pulling that clip, I want to read this statement that came down from the folks in Virginia. This is Senate Majority Leader, Senator Scott Seirovail. he released this statement along with House Speaker Don Scott.

This is in Virginia. It says, today's decision by the Supreme Court of Virginia is with respect, wrong on the law and unprecedented in its consequences. For the first time in the 250-year history of our Commonwealth, our Supreme Court has set aside the results of a statewide election in which more than 3 million of Virginians cast ballots and a majority voted to ratify a constitutional amendment. I respectfully but emphatically support the dissent of Chief Justice Powell, joined by Justice Mann and Justice Fulton. The dissent has it right on the law, on the text of our Constitution, and on the settled practice of the General Assembly. It is important for Virginians to understand that the procedures followed by the General Assembly in this matter were not improvised. Every step of the process, the calling of a special session, the procedural

resolutions governing it, the timing and form of the two legislative votes, and the submission of the proposed amendment to the voters, was fully vetted and supported by the nonpartisan attorneys and the Division of Legislative Services. The Institutional Legal Counsel relied upon by both parties for generations. Their guidance reflected existing Virginia precedent, the longstanding understanding of Article 12, Section 1, and the General Assembly's settled practice over more than half a century under the 1971 Constitution. The General Assembly did not invent a new process.

We follow up the one Virginia has used. The Constitution of Virginia in Article 2, Section 4, expressly empowers the General Assembly to regulate the time, place, manner, conduct, and administration of elections. The General Assembly has done exactly that in Code 242-101, which defines a general election as one held on the Tuesday after,

after the first Monday in November. That definition was adopted in 1970, contemporaneously with the 1971 Constitution and is entitled to great weight under this court's own precedent in Dean versus Palio-Chile. As a dissent observes every federal circuit to consider the question as held that early voting is not part of the election under the combined action test

in Foster versus Love. The majority's contrary holding stands alone. The consequences of the majority's reasoning are sweeping. Under today's decision and election in Virginia now spans 45 days or more. That has implications for candidate qualifications under Article 4, Section 4, for the conduct of our trial courts under Article 3, Section 9, and most seriously for our compliance with the federal elections clause and the federal statutes mandating a single national election day. The dissent identifies each of these problems. The majority does not resolve them. Most troubling of all is the precedent the court has

now set. The court explicitly invoked Scott v. James to defer judicial review until after the people had voted. And then having allowed the election to proceed, use the post-election posture to nullify the result. Over three million Virginians participated in this referendum. Their votes have been set aside not because of fraud, not because of intimidation, not because of any defect in the casting or counting of ballots, but because four justices have adopted a definition of election that conflicts with state statute, federal precedent, and to consider legal advice of the nonpartisan staff who guided the general assembly through this process. I'm proud of the actions. My caucus in the House of Delegates took to step.

up and reassert historic Virginia's role and protecting American democracy and we will continue to fight. I have spent my career in the General Assembly defending the deliberative processes of this body and the constitutional prerogatives of the legislative branch. Today's decision affects both. I expect the Commonwealth will pursue every available avenue of further review, and I will support those efforts. Candace? You know what I hear? I hear a good argument for the Supreme Court. Why?

Because, you know, the Supreme Court we know does not go into court and listen to kind of trivial facts at the bottom. What they really decide are specific, maybe procedural issues or technical issues or violation of somebody's rights in the lower courts. They don't get into the weeds of all the details. What you just felt out was an excellent argument for procedural issues that were already on record

that after the fact, all right, after the votes came in, they decided to reverse and do something different. And I think out of everything that I've heard tonight, that makes the most sense in terms of what the Supreme Court will have to reckon with and figure out that that doesn't make sense because what you just read spelled out the fact

that they followed everything procedurally and then it was changed, you know, after the fact. So the Supreme Court will have to reckon with that. And he used a lot of logic in that statement to make the case. And that is something that, you know, does give me a little more hope because those procedural processes are very, very important. And that's specifically what the Supreme Court, if it gets there, we'll be deciding. Absolutely. It is going to continue. It's going to continue to be a significant battle. And folks, what we have to do, the lawyers are doing their work.

Politicians are doing their work. People have to do their work. Guys, please pull up black and sartnetwork.com, the Bishop Barber deal. We have, we're nearing our goal of 1,000 people to, we want to train. But I want to now move that to 2,000. we're at 858. I would love for 1,200 people to decide right now that they want to be trained in organizing and mobilizing. We keep people keep saying we should do something, and they're right.

We should do something. Most keep saying, well, what can I do? Well, this is what you can do. We're providing you the outlet. We're providing you the opportunity to do so. If you want to participate, let me know where y'all have the web, the page up. If you want to participate in this process, if you want to be trained come June 12th and 13th, Bishop William Barber's team when it comes to mobilizing and organizing, then I want you to go to blackstar network.com. I want you to click that.

I want you to click the link. And I want you to sign up. I want you to sign up. it's not going to cost you anything. Go to blackstar network.com. Click that link. And it will take you to the to the form. And we initially started this where we said we wanted a thousand alphas.

And I still got people sending me emails who are brothers. But we say, you know what, let's expand this to other brothers and sisters. And this is the opportunity. Y'all, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, the only way we are going to affect this is that we've got to have a massive, and I mean a massive voter mobilization effort all across the South. We see what they've done in Alabama. It's now time for us to sit here and go hard and mobilize the hell out of Alabama to impact that governor's race, to impact these congressional races and a U.S. Senate race. That's what we have to do. Same for Mississippi.

and Florida and Tennessee and North Carolina and Louisiana and Mississippi and Texas and Arkansas and South Carolina. That's where we have to be. What this is, this is a direct challenge to this generation. This is a direct challenge for this generation to rise up and assume the mantle of leadership. When we talk about what happened in Selma, the folks who crossed that bridge, we refer to them as the foot soldiers. We've got to have 2026 foot soldiers. We've got to have people today who say, I'm going to do all I can. can to fight and shut down white supremacy.

This is the rise of the South. This is the rise of the Confederacy. And our job is to shut it down. And so we need you trained. We need you donating. And again, there are things that are going on. Okay, so somebody said the advertised link is disabled. I don't think so.

So on the group chat says that. So I'm going to sit here and go to it myself. You go to blackstar network.com, click the link with Bishop William Barber. So give me a second. I'm going to do that. So if you scroll down, do, do, do, do where it says black men civic engagement. Give me a second. Yes, folks are saying the chat.

Yes, our house is on fire. That is real. Guys, scroll up. Did you y'all click the link? Keep scrolling. Keep scrolling. Yeah, well, folks, the link is active. The link is active.

So you need to click that link. The link is active. And so you want to sign up to get trade. Do so right now. And you can go to repairs of the breach or you can go to blackstunnetwork.com, y'all. This is it. This is not a drill. This is war.

What they've done is a declaration of war. And we must respond accordingly. So please sign up today. blackstar network.com repairs of the breach virtual training June 12th and 13th please make it happen we come back we're going to talk new job numbers

lots more for us to break down you're watching Roland Martin on a filter on the Black Star Network be sure to support the work that we do join our bring the funk fan club our goals get 20,000 of our fans contributing on average 50 bucks each a year at 4 hours of 19 cents a month 13 cents a day if you want to support

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This isn't just news. It's our stories, our voice, our community. Join me for the breakdown Monday through Friday at midday, only on the Black Star Network. This week at the Black Table, we discuss a place, an idea, a dream, and a reality that everybody on the planet should know about, a place called Mound Bayou. What about black people? in their own country, not from the outside end, but from the inside out. That's next on the black table, right here on the Black Star Network.

Hey, I'm Malcolm Lee, and you're watching the Black Star Network. Before I go to Morgan Harper, to discuss the job numbers. And Matt Manning Joneses right now, so I want to bring in Matt, Michael, as well as Candace. this person says still not buying the war talk I get it though if you don't think this is a war on black people then you ain't paying attention but this is the thing to me

that jumps out man I'm going to start with you that some of these people don't understand so I'm looking for the particular comment because it It shows you how ridiculous. So somebody, Leon Doe, something. I'm a black American.

I won't be out protesting for Democrats' agenda. I'm sorry. Did you not hear it? This is not a war on Democrats, Matt. I'm being very clear. This is a GOP war on Black America. We have been laying out over and over and over again. the attack on African Americans for education, for economics,

when it comes to contracts, when it comes to everything. So I think a lot of, you got some black folks out there who are utterly confused, who don't seem to understand, like I saw several of these black dudes on, you know, Instagram, you know, running their mouths. It's here, Toutin, MAGA. I'm like, do understand, your ass won't be immune. to what they are doing. And so people need to understand

this is an attack on black America. This ain't no attack on Democrats. This is an absolute attack on black people by today's Republican Party. And a lot of it is, you know, it's a war that's being couched as an ideological disagreement. It is a full-on onslaught that you're trying to make...

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but I happened to see the lieutenant governor of Tennessee's comment on Facebook when they posted the new Tennessee map that they, you know, are saying needs to be implemented. And if you look at the language that he used there, it's a lot of the language that we're seeing this, this language of like, this is a fight for civilization. This is a fight for the continuation of our right to live the life we want to live, meaning, you know, non-black people, white people, living this Mayberry life, as I say, about our local sheriff. And I think a lot of them are trying to couch that in civility and a preservation of civilization. But to your point, I think the fact that the onslaught is on so many levels,

including local library boards and school boards. And we've talked about this ad nauseum on the show, I think shows you that there were people lying in wait, number one. And number two, they're attacking every single aspect of life possible in trying to root out, you know, black leadership, black involvement, black participation. I mean, when you have the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act, but acting like it's not voting the Gudding Rights Act, that's a slight of hand that we are, you know, smart enough to see as a slight of hand.

So it is a war, but I think sometimes we're allowing the language of disagreement or something more sanitized than what it really is, which is attempting to really fundamentally change black involvement and participation in this country. You know, and the thing here that we have to recognize, Michael, when we talk about, again, this war, when people vote, you can win. Just last week, what Matt just said, a bunch of these hardcore right-wing, crazy deranged people who ran for school boards, they got wiped out in Tarrant County, in the in the Douth for area, that are conservative areas. We've seen this even in other states as well, where those Moms for Liberty people are getting wiped out as well.

When I'm saying organized and mobilize, we see the results when you organize and mobilize. You can actually win, but you can't hope people turn out. No, you have to organize and mobilize to drive turnout. Yeah, that's true, Roland. First off, it's important for people to understand that racism and white supremacy attacks all black people, regardless of the religion you practice, the language you speak, or which political ideology you have or anything like that. Okay? So a lot of times people get confused, and we're talking about the war on black America, not the war on black Democrats. Sometimes people get confused on what exactly it is we're talking about.

Number one, number two, whoever made that comment obviously did not read Project 2025 because they told you that they were coming for your black ass. And too many of our people are sitting here asleep and they confuse being woke with sleepwalking. And I've come to the conclusion that there's just going to be some black casualties. Some black people are just going to get caught up in this because they're too stupid to wake the fuck up. That's what just gonna happen. We have to focus on saving the people who want to be saved.

Some of our people don't wanna be saved. Some of our people make money off a line to black people and keeping them ignorant. Okay, and some people we're just gonna have to cut ties with and help those who wanna be helped. I've come to the conclusion, all of our people don't wanna be help. Okay, so, but this is the consequences.

Project 2025 said, that this was a backlash to the racial reckoning that took place in this country after the death of George Floyd. And we see the resurrection of Confederate monuments. We see those military bases that were named after Confederate heroes. They kept the same name, but just said, we're just going to name it after somebody else with the same name. They keep playing all these games,

and they told you what they were going to do. And you're sitting up here still asleep? I don't know what to tell you. I'm sorry. Candice, this is, again, a lot of people say, ah, they're not going to do this. They're not going to go that far. Well, they told you they are.

And now we see what happens. Again, I mean, I've been, I mean, 2009, I remember standing at CNN waiting to go in the air with John Avlon, who's down Congress, and I said, John, we're living in the beginning stages of white minority resistance. He looked to me like, what are you talking about? I said, John, white people cannot handle 2003. They cannot handle being a minority in the population in this country.

I said, you're about to see white people move like they are in a minority. I said, it is going to be a fierce resistance. That is the bait. I gave speech after speech after speech. I can pull speeches in 2010. 11 and 12. I said people prepare yourself for a war for the next 50 to 100 years. They're coming after everything. People kind of like, ah, okay, roll it. I just think you're being hyperbolic. I'm like, okay. And then 2012, September 22, I dropped my book, White Fear. Here we are.

It's three and a half years later. And I'm like, I tried to tell you. Listen, if people do not understand that there is a full-out war, you got to just think about from day one. DEI, gone. Fair housing and rights related to that. Gone. Look it up. The federal workforce affecting mostly brown and black people. Gone.

Voting rights, Section 2, gutted. Obama and Michelle eight videos being played high officials, high ranking black officials, fired, fired, Lisa Cook, look it up, there's a whole list. If you don't think that Trump

is not doing specific things to black people, then you just don't know how to do a Google search. That's all. You just don't know how to do a little research because that's what's happening. I mean, this isn't something that just black folks are talking. about either. Everybody's talking about it. It is clear what is on the agenda. This is a war. It's just a war in a different way. We can't think about it in terms of a war. No, their missiles aren't firing, but there's certainly civil rights missiles that are firing that will

eviscerate what you have and how you live, how you eat, how you pay for your kids to go to school or not go to school. So it definitely is a war. It just looks a little bit different than the way that we are seeing the war play out on TB with missiles, but it is the same effect. It's the same effect. Indeed it is. All right, folks. Let's talk about the economy.

The jobs report came out today, and we saw an increase in jobs that was higher than what was anticipated. You still, of course, are dealing with the economy that is being significantly harmed by the war in Iran. Gas prices are high, but 150,000 jobs, were added based on the report 185,000 last month. Now, what does that mean? Where do we stand when it comes to the black unemployment rate?

The rate for black men, the rate for black women. We've seen 800,000 plus African Americans lose their job in the last year. Unemployment rate remains unchanged at 4.3%. So Morgan Harper, Director of Policy and Advocacy of the American Economic Liberties Project, joins us right now. So Morgan, it's unchanged at 4.3%, but what does it mean for black people? Yeah, and really picking up off of what y'all were talking about, I mean, the war is also hitting the economics. And so the fact that we're seeing this kind of disparity between the general unemployment rate, which has stayed steady, but then the black unemployment rate that's continuing to increase at 7.3%. I will note, it's interesting because the other group that's hitting that kind of high, that high level of unemployment rate or young people, people, people's

20 to 24 also even in higher unemployment rate, 7.6%. So these numbers, as we've become very custom to, are telling a more complex story, though the administration continues to tell, oh, things are stable, we're creating jobs. The average rate of job growth per month continues to decline and has been lower than this time last year. There's a couple other things that I would note. And actually picking up off the point of the federal workforce, you know, what is driving this increase in black unemployment, absolutely the elimination of federal jobs. And like we've talked about, it's not just what the jobs are, it's the type of job. Those are stable jobs. So that's been hitting people. The lack of transportation-related jobs, that is typically a big employer of black men,

also going down. But that we are seeing, again, that it's only the healthcare jobs that seem to be really creating a lot of momentum here. And the overall promise that we've been sold at manufacturing jobs, well, that continues to decline as well. There's a couple other warning signs I would point to, and I think we've maybe mentioned them before, but we're continuing to see the same trend this month, so I'm going to say them again, is not just the overall stat of unemployment, but also who is leaving the workforce, or how long is it taking people, if they are looking for a job, how long is that taking overall? And both of those numbers, we're seeing uptick. So it's taking people longer to find a job when they're looking. And then there's an increase in people who are just

saying, you know what, I give up. I'm not even going to bother looking for a job right now. Interestingly, on that last one, that's something that, though it sounds like a negative thing, based on how unemployment's calculated, it could actually help to stabilize and lower the unemployment. So that's just a little function of how that's calculated. And then another thing I would point to is the wage growth. So that's been not growing that quickly at all. And in fact, expectations that when we learn the inflation rate next week, inflation is going to be rising faster than wage growth, meaning we're not making enough money to keep up with how expensive everything is. That's probably going to come as a shock to no one, right, who's

dealing with all these increasing gas prices, increasing food, all of the goods that we need to just survive are going up and up and up. The labor market is not paying people enough to keep up with that rising expense. And so I think all of this is really consistent with, you know, this term people have probably heard about the case-shaped economy that, you know, if you have already, you're going to continue to do well and see your growth go up and your financial situation. And then if you don't, you're going to continue to go down and down people at the lower end of things. That's kind of the story that's in these numbers. And it's both for consumers,

I would say, but then also something you know, we're seeing with businesses. Because the hiring is happening with much larger firms, larger companies, and then businesses that seem not very small at all, that might not be employing that many people. But the small and medium-sized businesses that really drive a lot of the economic activity, especially when we're looking at the local, regional level, they are not doing the hiring.

And like we've talked about before, that's a set of businesses that have been really hit by the tariffs and a lot of these other pressures on the economy that maybe if you're a really, really large company, you can kind of absorb because you're able to price gouge and pad your profits. But if you're a small, medium-sized business, you don't really have anywhere to go to deal with all of this.

Well, it is, listen, it is, of course, now the MAGA folks are just claiming how, oh, my God, everything is great and wonderful. But prices are still jacked before the bill is a real issue. And Trump's polling numbers show that. And I saw this massive early this week. I don't know if you saw this, Morgan, where it contrasted how these Republican senators

responded to high gas prices under Obama and how they don't even want to talk about, talk about, give any interviews about gas prices under the twice impeached criminal committed fellow than chief Donald Trump. Donald Trump. Yeah, the consistency is not the name of the game for the Republican Party these days. That is no surprise. But yeah, I mean, these prices are crazy. Like here in Columbus, it's almost $5 a gallon for regular gas. This is not something I've ever seen in my lifetime. And And they can try to pretend all they want that this isn't happening or it's not directly because of the war in Iran that is not over,

despite what they say. But I think we'll probably see a different story being told in the midterms, hopefully, because yeah, I mean, none of this was necessary and it is all attack on black people, black working class. But to the point of the K-shaped economy thing, you know, we have to continue to make sure that we're all on the same page here about who is responsible for this, We're all being impacted by it, maybe to different degrees, but there is a layer of our country right now, and especially our community, that is being in an accelerated fashion being left behind and in economic devastating conditions.

So I just want to also build off the point you all we're making about the need to organize, mobilize. It's an emergency, I would say it's an emergency situation. Indeed, it is. Questions for Morgan? Candice, you go first. So Morgan, I'm wondering what can you tell us about maybe the six next to six to 12 months based upon what you're seeing now? Anything that you can predict? Well, you know, it's a great question and it's kind of hard to say.

And you know, picking back up on that point about small and medium sized businesses, I mean, why are they not hiring? Because they have no idea what's going on. I mean, in addition to things being more expensive, but it's really difficult to plan. And so, you know, I don't, anyone who's saying they know exactly where we're going, I think is not being truthful. And in fact, it's been kind of interesting to see even a lot of these, you know, Wall Street analysts that tend to be pretty confident in their predictions about what's happening, not being willing to go too far out on what, you know, could be going on months to month. And actually all about the caveats of like, well, this is just a month. Well, something else could happen. So, yeah, I think it's really difficult to say, you know, we've chatted about this before on the show.

It's just a time to kind of bide your time if you can, try to be a little bit more conservative economically right now because it's really, really unclear. And like taking and, you know, and Roland, I don't know if you all have talked about this before, but taking, oh, sorry. I was just going to say one more thing. No, no, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. Taking something like the gas prices, for example. I mean, you know, they're trying to make it seem like, oh, we, we reach some deal and then everyone's gas prices are going to go down.

But it's probably a lot of us know. It's like, no, these things, they lag by a couple of months. And so even by some stroke of God, if they were to figure out some resolution to this thing, it's not going to immediately result in lower prices. It's not going to immediately make the airlines feel like their jet fuel expenses are going to be lower, so they'll be able to bring prices down.

It's going to have some lasting effects and take some time to get out of this. Morgan, I was wondering, What impact do you see AI artificial intelligence impacting these job numbers or maybe impacting the numbers that we're seeing so far for this year for the first quarter? You know, we hear that it's eliminating jobs, but like what impact are you seeing in the data coming from AI? This is another really good question and it's been interesting because there's been some

data and studies coming out right now that's kind of saying, you know, maybe right now we're not actually seeing a lot of jobs that are being lost because of AI, but probably what's more likely is a lot of companies that are using the AI excuse to lay a lot of people off because it provides a convenient cover right now when maybe they had overhired before or maybe they had some other thing go wrong with how they're running their business and they need to tighten up their expenses and want to get rid of some people. So it's not to say that AI isn't going to have impacts on the labor market. It absolutely is.

I think in some industries, yes, we're already seeing some of those impacts. But when we look at a lot of these big layoffs numbers, I think we do need to make sure that we're applying some degree of skepticism to just not taking companies at their word and really questioning what exactly is the reason why they're laying people off. But of course, regardless, the result is somebody is losing their job. And so I do think, you know, especially looking ahead, like take for example, like the legal profession, you know, I think that's one where, you know, people are expecting AI will have an impact and just like who's able to get hired.

And especially young people already facing some of the headwinds in the economy with the higher unemployment rate, I think that's going to be important for them to think about, okay, which industries are more susceptible to some of these shocks from AI being used and especially impacting more entry-level positions. Matt? Well, let me first say, talking about AI. Michael stole my question, and I've been in a trial all week, so I'm a little bit fried. But I did want to ask, Morgan, with respect to the non-farm roles in terms of jobs and job creation,

you know, in the report I saw, it says one month does not a train to make. And my question was exactly about AI, but I'd like to get your forecast as to what you think we're going to be looking at in the next six to 12 months, not only with the companies, you know, saying AI, using it as a subterfuge, but what we're seeing is AI is kind of improving at light speed, you know what I mean? So what do you think people need to be doing now if they're looking for a job? Like, what does this trend tell you in terms of advice on going forward and what to expect, not on the consumer side, but particularly on the job side and job rescission side? Yeah, it's a good question too. And I mean, I wouldn't claim to be any kind of like workforce development expert by any means. I think it's good for people to learn

how to use the tools of AI and all of that, but it's not to be done at the expense of also learning a profession, a trade, you know, and some fundamentals of skills for whatever area you think you want to enter. So, you know, that would be my response there. But I do think, you know, and maybe shifting it a little bit back to the consumer side, both answer your question and the prior question, Michael on the AI is, you know, the other way this is going to intersect with costs is the data center build out. So take, for example, like, you know, when we look at here in Ohio or in central Ohio, our electricity providers, AP Ohio, they just had their earnings call this week. Their CEO is making $36 million. He's saying on that earnings call that they're about to more

than double their power load over the next several years because of data centers. That's exactly exactly what he's saying. Why do we need so many data centers? In part because of the use of AI. And so how is that going to impact all of us? Well, beyond some of the job impacts that we've talked about, these utility companies are also going to use this as a cover for why they need to be making a lot more money

from all of us who pay electricity bills. And those bills are set and approved by state governments around the country. And so as we think about the costs and what might be also rising over the next next couple of years, independent of what was going on with this Iran war, this data center build out, these are making decisions that are going to be in place for the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years in some cases. And there might not be a lot of ways to roll that back once these folks are committing

to the types of improvements or increases to the grid and all the load for electricity that they are saying out loud every day on these earning calls and different appearances that they're having with the utility companies. So there's a lot of impacts that are coming from AI. I agree with you all. The job impacts are one, but just like dollars and cents for us, there's an industry being dominated by the largest companies on the planet, and they are locking us into a lot of economic decisions that we might not even be aware of, and our leaders might not even be aware of. All right then. Morgan Harper, we surely appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Good to see you. Thanks. All right then. Okay, folks, time for Black Star Network headlines.

with Brittany Noble. And Ohio jury has convicted a former white sheriff's deputy of reckless homicide for the shooting of a black man who was bringing sandwiches to his grandmother's house. This decision came after jurors were unable for a second time to reach a verdict on whether Jason Mead was guilty of murder in connection with the December 4th, 2020 shooting of Casey Goodson Jr. Meade claimed that his shooting of Goodson five times in the back and once in the side was justified. He alleged that he saw the 20th, year old holding a gun and turning toward him toward the doorway. However, no other witnesses

testified to seeing Goodson with his legally licensed firearm and no cameras even recorded that incident. Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Young revoked Meets Bond and ordered him to be held in the Franklin County Jail. His sentencing is scheduled for June 16th. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating 29 public school districts to ensure compliance with the state law that requires schools to post copies of the Ten Commandments and classrooms. In April, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Senate Bill 10, the law mandating this display, the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other religious organizations in early December of 2025 argued that SB 10 violated the First Amendment. But the court found that the law is

consistent with the First Amendment, meaning it neither improperly establishes nor endorses religion nor prevent individuals from practicing their faith. Additionally, Senate Bill 11 was passed requiring independent school district board, trustees to vote on whether to designate a time for prayer and the reading of the Bible or other religious texts. Paxton stated that he is asking all schools to provide proof of that vote. Maryland's oldest HVCU is now facing a significant challenge as it must eliminate jobs to address its second multimillion dollar deficit in two.

years. Bowie State University is at risk of cutting 79 jobs. University President Amita Bro emphasized that the institution is approaching each decision with care and respect. This decision follows a $13.6 million budget shortfall from last year, which was managed by delaying hiring and eliminating vacant positions. But this year's deficit is attributed to reduce state federal funding, declining enrollment, and rising operational costs. VSU and POSU and employees about more than 1,100 workers so that the latest cuts will result in a workforce reduction of about 6%. This announcement comes as HBCUs all across the country, continue to face financial pressures while striving to maintain resources and support for black students.

30 years after first exploring an underground railroad route, Maryland historian Anthony Cohen has embarked on a 750 mile journey from Maryland to Kee. Canada, retracing the path once traveled by slaves escaping. In 1993, Cohen researched courthouse records and advertisements for runaway slaves and narratives from formerly enslaved individuals to document the history of the Underground Railroad. A year later, he published five steps to understanding freedom seekers before walking that same route himself. As the nation commemorates 250 years of independence, he felt compelled. To walk this route again, he and six others began their journey near the Sandy Springs Slave Museum in Montgomery County, Maryland, and then planned to travel about 10 to 12 miles each day.

Now, the journey is expected to conclude in Canada later this June. Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. IR Radio Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including IHart Pride Canada, your favorite hits and must have party bangers, plus personalized and curated playlists. like back in the day pride. Come together, celebrate love. Take pride with you. Anytime, anywhere. Just ask your smart speaker

to play IHeart Pride Canada. Stream us on your phone. Or listen now at iHeartRadio.ca. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news?

We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wild. range of podcasts throughout there.

But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the

early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say hey Jonas, and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. The United States will not stand by and allow any power, however great, take over another country. From IHeart Podcast, Saigon. Please allow me to introduce Joseph Sherman. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam?

I should stop talking so much. I like hearing you talk. One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam. I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire. Do you rate me? They're pouring petrol all over him. He's holding matches.

I'm on a landmine. Four pre-dine! Let's get out. Freedom from Vietnam! Run! Saigon. starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict. Sting here's madness.

The world should hear about this. There's a fire coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Real talent is defined by what people can do, not where they learn to do it. So by stopping at the education section of a resume,

you might throw away the perfect hire. Skills First hiring helps you see talent others miss, like more than 70 million, Stars, skilled through alternative routes. Let their story unfold and gain a competitive advantage because hiring managers who start with skills are 60% more likely to find a successful hire. Higher skills first. Learn why at tear the paper ceiling.org.

Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. At the same Riverside Landing where many freedom seekers first set foot on free soil. A federal court has overturned the Trump administration's attempt to impose a 10% global tariff on small businesses. Thursday's ruling adds to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Trump's economic agenda, especially after months of fluctuating tariff announcements that have left in Porter struggling to keep up with the policy changes. A three-judge panel from the Court of International Trade ruled two to one against the global tariffs implemented by the president. If the Trump administration chooses to appeal the decision, the case will then proceed to the U.S. Court of Appeals

for the Federal Circuit and potentially to the Supreme Court, the global 10 percent. percent tear took effect in February and is scheduled to expedite late in July. And as of now, there has been no information on just how this decision will impact consumers. All right, Brittany, I appreciate it, folks. Be sure to watch the breakdown of Brittany Noble every single day, noon eastern right here on the Black Star Network. Again, the breakdown of Brittany Noble every single day at noon Eastern on the Black Star Network. All right, y'all, I don't understand. And we can't work out. We can't go jogging.

We can't go fishing. We can't go walking without being bothered. Here's a black man in Tampa. Mining his black business sitting in his car waiting for the bank to open when this happened. They called them concerned. They're just sitting here and not really doing anything.

I'm sorry. I got to get this. The bank called, the bank called and said that they're concerned that I'm sitting here waiting for them to open up. Yes, sir. That's crazy. Tampa is out of control, man. But there's another guy sitting... Are you doing business here?

Hell yes, I'm doing. This is my bank. Okay. Are you going to go inside? Yes, Sony's the open. They open up at 9 o'clock. I can't believe that card, you for real. That's crazy, man.

That's crazy. So you're just waiting for the bank to open? I got too much stuff to do at the bank. Too much stuff to do. Place a business. That's crazy, though. They called you over here. They said you had alcohol and whatever.

I don't know if they saw your breadboard as your alcohol. I don't know. You got to understand it's a bank and people hanging out in the bank park when it makes me all nervous. Makes them nervous. A person's out here waiting for the bank to open an hour clock. Well, you got to understand people, raw people coming in and out of the banks. That's an issue, right? You understand.

They don't even, they don't, they don't, they don't, they, they, they, they, they, the employees don't even, they can't even afford what I have. So how would I look like I'm trying to rob somebody? What do you got that so expensive? I'm just curious, what do you do for a living and what do you got so expensive? I'm an Airbnb in there. An Airbnb in there? Yes, that's right.

Right, but they don't even drive the cars. How many Airbnb you got? They don't, they don't, they don't, a lot of them. They don't even drive the car, they don't even live. So why, well, I look like I'm doing something wrong? Because you had only one sitting in the park lot. There's a guy right there sitting in front. Right there.

He's been waived with me. Oh, I didn't see. I can't see him from here, but it's that blue Tesla. It's all they said. Right. Come on. Like, and I got, this is my bank. This is the only bank I come to to do, like, and I'm coming to withdraw a lot of money.

All right. That's crazy, though. I couldn't believe it. They were just concerned. When I seen them walk by the first time, I was like, when the employees, because these are all their cars, and they were just coming by. And they were like, and they were like, kind of looking like what is a black guy doing sitting here in front of a bank you think I'm casing the bank out

has nothing to a race I'm absolutely I'm from town I'm from my liner originally so so what does that mean when I came to Tampa and I seen like just how it's different what's different there's just a lot of prejudice yeah all right bud yeah no problem and I appreciate yeah let them know that I'm coming in to make a deposit a withdrawal a bigger drawl that's crazy That's fucking crazy. I will be making a big-ass withdrawal as in I'm shutting my account down. Yeah, and I might be filing a section 1981 lawsuit for your infringement on my right to contract. I mean, I don't know.

I mean, this kind of thing happens so much that it defies all logic and there's no justifiable reason for it. And, you know, I mean, I will say, obviously, at banks, you got to have security. and you got to keep an eye on people who might be acting squirrely. But if you have somebody sitting in the parking lot awaiting the bank opening, I mean, that usually is pretty inconsistent with somebody who has a nefarious intent, right? Sitting out in the open, it's obvious that they're sitting there. They're not concealing themselves. It's a pretty easy inference that they intend to go do business at the bank.

So, you know, I don't know. I don't know what he's ultimately going to do, but none of this is new. We expect this kind of thing, and I'm sorry this brother went through this. hopefully if he decides to get legal counsel, you know, Chase does the right thing and pays him for his embarrassment and infringement on his rights. It ain't new, but don't mean this, right? And Candace

his other deal. He's like, yo, that dude's sitting right there. And the cops like, oh, I can see him. I'm sorry, they like bank parking lights are that damn large. Okay? So let's just be real clear. Then it's like, oh, yeah, they said you out here with alcohol. And he's like, it's,

It's, it's, it's, you know, you drink. And my whole deal with all the, listen, I get it. He's just trying to be a report. My whole deal is, I'm not telling you what I do. I'll have to tell you what I do. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, let me build upon what Matt said, you know,

negligent reporting, infliction of emotional distress, and build upon what you said in that, yeah, there's somebody over there in that car, and now you're treating me differently than that. person, well, then you do have more of an establishment and grounds for a certain type of lawsuit. He was trying to establish a rapport, give a little information, not trying to be an invasive, not a bad tool when you are working with the police officers to each his own. I am glad that it worked out well, but I don't think that his job is done yet.

Maybe he might take out all of his money, close down his account, and then go pay an attorney like mad in order to make sure that they can get their lawsuit file. Okay, what was crazy to me, Michael, he's like, they like, bang on what you're going to do. Wait for y'all asses to open. I mean, I've said outside of stores, waiting for them to open. Like, like, that's like,

like, what are you going to do? Easy. Wait for they ask us to open. Yeah, anybody that's worked at a bank before knows that you have customers that were, wait outside for you to open. A lot of banks open 9 a.m., something like that, right? And I've waited outside the banks because I had to do business inside, waiting for them to open. Okay? Now, early in that conversation, the gentleman in the car said that there was another

guy in the parking lot that was waiting as well. He said that early in the conversation. He brought it up again later in the conversation. The officer at the light, it was the first time he heard that. No, it's not. He was told that early in the conversation. conversation but he ignored the other man in the car so this sounds you know I would I would withdraw my money out of that bank code closed that account because you once again I hate to bring this up this is former Confederate State Florida okay Florida has a deep racial a deep racist history and for them to single him out and say he's out the way then oh he's he's we assume he's

drinking alcohol so somehow you know there is something untoward or something like that. Yeah, this sounds like racial profile it to me, but, you know, what do I know? I'm just a black man 55 years old. We'll be 55 in June. So I've seen a lot of stuff, but this sounds like something racial to me. That's what I say. You go on the bank and say, hey, who called the cops?

And saying I was possibly robbing the bank. There you go. I want to, who call the cops? Okay, was it you? Got it. Give me all my shit. Right. Give me all.

So I want you to know you are responsible for me withdrawing all my money from your bank because your asses are racist. It's how you have that. All right. Well, I've got to go to the break. We come back. We're going to talk about a black man on death row in Tennessee, which we tell you about this story. You're watching Rollerbunk unfiltered of a Black Star Network. If in this country right now, you have people get up in the morning.

And the only thing they can think about is how many people they can hurt, and they've got the power, that's the time for mourning. For better or worse, what makes America special, it's that legal system that's supposed to protect minorities from the tyranny of the majority. We are at a point of a moral emergency. We must raise a voice of outrage. We must raise a voice of compassion.

And we must raise a voice of unity. We are not in a crisis of party versus party. We are in a crisis of civilization, a human rights crisis, and a crisis of democracy itself. And guess what? You've been chosen to make sure that those that would destroy, those that would hate, don't have the final say, and they don't ultimately win.

With medicine and science under attack, I want to keep you and your family. informed and healthy. I'm Dr. Ebony Hilton and I knew at the age of eight that I wanted to be a doctor. So I studied hard and became the first African American female anesthesiologist hired at the Medical University of South Carolina since his opening in 1824. And I always say I was made into a doctorate but I was born to be a mom. And as a new mom, wife, sister, daughter, and friend, I understand how frightening a medical crisis can be. I care for individuals on some of the worst days of their lives and it's my mission to provide you with a safe space

to gain clarity on issues affecting your mind, body, and soul. I recognize that there are health disparities, particularly as it contains your race. And I want to help bridge the gap between you and your health care providers. Join me every Thursday for Second Opinion on the Black Star Network, where each week I'll invite experts

from various medical fields to share the latest health groups. We'll discuss topics such as a vaccine debate, mental and sexual health, medical bias, infertility, menopause, andropause, nutrition and aging. Together with my medical colleagues, we aim to provide you with a second opinion. Don't miss it Thursdays only on the Black Star Network. Hey, I'm TD Jakes and you are watching the Black Star Network. Pro is scheduled to be executed in 14 days for a murder that many believe he did not commit.

Tony Carruthers was convicted in 1994 for the murders of three people in Memphis. But there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime. James Montgomery, another defendant in the case, accepted a plea deal and has been out of prison for over a decade. Before his release, Montgomery informed fellow investigators that Carruthers was not involved in the crimes. The American Civil Liberties Union has made several attempts to halt the execution, requesting clemency from Governor Bill Lee in filing motions to test DNA evidence and fingerprints related to the case. Now the ACLU, along with multiple criminal justice reform groups, clergy and brothers' family,

is urging the public to pressure Republican Governor Bill Lee to stop the execution. Maria Deliberateau, senior counsel for the ACLU's Capital Punishment Project, joins us right now. Maria, this is, okay, I'm totally confused here. So somebody who was involved is now out, and he says, God wasn't involved in this. And it's sort of like, yeah, whatever, we don't care? I mean, essentially, yeah. So Mr. Crothers, as you noted, has been on death row in Tennessee for 30 years for a crime he maintains he did not commit. There is untested DNA and fingerprint evidence that we are trying very hard to get the state to agree to test before his scheduled

execution. And yes, his testimony, the co-defendant had said to federal investigation, back in 2010 and 2011, that Mr. Carruthers was not involved. And he accepted a plea in Alfred Plee, which is essentially a plea that says he didn't, you know, the state could prove that he committed the crime. And he's free and he's been free for a decade. And that plea actually came as a result of some DNA testing that he did, which excluded Mr. Carruthers and actually excluded him as well. And there remains an unknown male profile on a blanket that was found with the victims. And we have no idea whose it is. And they're willing to execute Mr. Carruthers without finding that up. What was crazy to me is why not just test it

and see? I mean, what I've always said is, look, death is death. It's final. You don't come back. This ain't Lazarus. You don't come back from death. And so you want to ensure that if you're going to execute somebody, you want to be 100% sure if they actually committed the crime. Absolutely. I mean, there's no excuse for not testing this available. evidence. I mean, there really just is no legitimate reason. And, you know, that's a question I get asked all the time. You know, why won't they test it? And obviously, that's a perfect question for the attorney generals in this case. But it's very clear. We've asked for this testing now well over a month ago. The testing could have been completed. We could have the answer by now.

And instead, they're spending all of their time and effort, objecting and saying that we're not entitled to it. We could already know the answer. So what more can you do? What can people do. Where else can you appeal to? So a number of things are still pending. As you noted, we have a lawsuit pending in the federal district court asking to test the untested fingerprint and DNA evidence against the potential alternate suspect and also to run the sample in the national and federal databases, trying to match those unmatched prints and DNA. His federal lawyers have also called upon the governor to grant clemency.

in this case, we've called upon the governor to at least grant a stay of execution to conduct this testing. There's a press conference in Memphis yesterday. A number of faith leaders, civil rights groups, criminal justice reform groups, as you noted, called for the governor to again, halt this execution and let this testing proceed. So we're asking the public to also sign their name. We have a petition at the ACLU. There's a number of other petitions out there, the Tennesseans for alternatives to the death penalty as well, to contact Governor Lee and to tell him that this execution is unjust. And I think one of the most important facts about Tony's case is it was built on the testimony of a paid informant who said he was pressured to lie and paid. He recanted his

testimony before trial, and then prosecutors threatened him with perjury, and he magically made up the same confession that he gave in the first place. And the state lied about his paid informant status for 30 years. And they just in 2024 finally admitted that he was a paid informant at the time of Mr. Carruthers' trial. And we know that wrongful convictions, that paid informants and snitch testimony and convicted felon testimony is often the number one leading cause for wrongful convictions. And of course, Mr. Carruthers was forced to represent himself at trial. He stood trial in a death penalty case where you're entitled to two lawyers. He didn't have a single lawyer fighting for him because the judge got frustrated with his repeated attempts to let counsel go and to fire counsel.

And his last counsel said, you know, judge, you can't let this man go to trial for his life without a lawyer. And the judge did it anyway. No person in the state of Tennessee in over 100 years and no other place that we could find has ever been executed when he didn't have a lawyer at trial. Wow. Unbelievable. Questions from the panel.

Matt, you first. Yeah. Yeah, so that was going to be my question, is just how the appellate courts have dealt with the Sixth Amendment issue, because, I mean, this is as clear a Gideon situation as exists, right? I mean, you're on trial for your life. And even if you've lost prior appointed counsel, I mean, you can't let somebody represent themselves in this situation. As an aside, when I was a prosecutor, I had this exact situation come up, and I actually objected because I didn't want to try a case against the person who could potentially, potentially be getting a life sentence who couldn't represent themselves. I'm a lawyer. I do this for a living. This person's never tried a case. It's just inherently unfair. But I'm interested in how the appellate courts didn't say he deserved a new trial on that basis alone. I mean, that seems to me to be a direct affront to the Sixth Amendment. And I'd love the kind of procedural history on that. Sure. Yeah, it's a great question. And it's pretty, I mean, essentially the Tennessee Supreme Court

on appeal essentially said he made an affirmative waiver by his choice of, of, uh, you know, by his repeated attempts to fire counsel. But what's interesting is the Tennessee Supreme Court found that his co-defendant was so prejudiced by Mr. Carruthers' self-representation and what an abject disaster it was, because he's untrained in the law, that he got a new trial. So the reason that Mr. Montgomery is free is because Tony, in part because of the plea and all of those things, but he got a new trial in the first place because of Tony's poor self-representation. But then the federal court, of course, because it's a death penalty case, the federal court gets to look at it as well.

And the Sixth Circuit did, they were concerned about it. But when the federal court, of course, reviews a state death penalty case. They're bound by the constraints of EDPA and the sort of federal habeas review. So they can't reach down and fix every error. I mean, they should be able to, and they should have done so here. But they did say, like, we are troubled by this. Nothing we say here is intent to bless the state court's decision. So that is, again, something we continue to raise to sort of remind the court.

It's one thing to say that, okay, maybe you upheld his death sentence, but now we're in a place where you were going to take this man's life and he didn't have a lawyer. So it's sort of twofold. And the Tennessee state courts ignored it. The federal court was concerned, but unwilling to step in. Roland, let me ask a follow up, please, if I may, real quick. So as it relates to the 1983 case, as it relates to the 1983 case, is that part of the allegations in the 1983 case that you know him being divested of a Sixth Amendment

right and in addition to the post-conviction testing and the the testing scheme kind of the Manel scheme I'm interested in if that's come up in the 1983 case because there it seems like the court could in terms of relief grant an injunction and you know stay the execution on the basis of pride is like love you feel it in your heart IR radio Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts including IHart Pride Canada, your favorite hits and must have party bangers, plus personalized and curated playlists, like back in the day pride. Come together, celebrate, low.

Take pride with you anytime, anywhere. Just ask your smart speaker to play IHartPride Canada. Stream us on your phone or listen now at IHartRadio.ca. Number one hits, millions of records sold, sold out tours. You think that Jonas Brothers are satisfied? Nope, it's podcast time. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Hey Jonas is available now, and their first guest is a big one.

Paul Rudd. You know, Steve Carell is a great singer. Can you tell you not to audition at the office or something? I told him. Whoa. We were filming Anchorman. Clearly, I was the idiot. Thank God he didn't listen to him, right?

Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. The United States will not stand by and allow any power, however great, take over another country. From My Heart Podcasts, Saigon. Please allow me to introduce Joseph Sherman. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? I should stop talking so much. I like hearing you talk.

One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam. I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire. Do you rate me? They're pouring petrol all over him. He's holding matches. I'm on a landmine Or freeze on

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Not where they learn to do it So by stopping a the education section of a resume that you might throw away the perfect hire. Skills first hiring helps you see talent others miss, like more than 70 million stars, skilled through alternative routes. Let their story unfold and gain a competitive advantage because hiring managers who start with skills are 60% more likely to find a successful hire. Hire skills first.

Learn why at tear the paper ceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Like the deliberation on the 1983 case, but maybe I'm not fully understanding how that's looking. So, yes, the 1983 case is suing the state of Tennessee for failing to do the DNA and fingerprint testing, and we've asked for a preliminary injunction and the stay of execution. The right to counsel issue is, it's time barred now to be filed as a Section 1983 is sort of a separate violation of due process.

It was preserved, of course, on appeal, and it's certainly a fact that we're asking the court to consider when you sort of look at the totality of the evidence here and what we know, but it's not a distinct claim, but there is a claim for a preliminary injunction and a stay of execution so that this forensic testing can be completed. Gotcha. Thank you. Candice. So if a key paid informant recanted what he said, what are the other pieces of evidence that are the connective tissues in this case that's keeping him on death row?

So there's some circumstantial evidence from other convicted felons and informants who said that Tony made some statements indicating that, you know, he was going to have a plan when he got out of jail and he was going to make the streets pay him and nothing direct, no direct evidence there. But it's important that the informant gave the confession at trial. So the recantation was before trial to the media. And then Mr. Carruthers, again, acting as his own lawyer, untrained in the law, called him. wanting him to express that recantation before the jury. Well, before that, the prosecutor said in open court in front of Tony, Mr. Shaw, if you say what you said to the media, we will charge you with aggravated perjury. We will secure an indictment for aggravated perjury.

And the judge gave him a lawyer, Mr. Shaw, to talk to his lawyer about what he should do. And no surprise to anyone or any lawyer on this panel, the lawyer said, you know, you better stick with your original story. So he testified before the jury that Mr. Carruthers confessed. It was the most damaging evidence in the trial. So he testified that Mr. Carruthers confessed, which couldn't have even happened because Mr. Shaw wasn't even around Mr. Carruthers at the time that this supposedly, this supposed confession happened.

But he repeated the statement for the jury that he had originally given, which secured the indictment. So that was the evidence against Mr. Carruthers, was some of this other circumstantial evidence, but the confession by Shaw was absolutely. the critical fact. And as you said, it wouldn't have happened if he had an attorney in order to help him through that legal process. Well, and what's even more shocking and shameful, and I actually also used to be a prosecutor.

It's how I started my career. So this particular piece really just gets to me because Tony, even as untrained in the law, he was, asked Alfredo Shaw at trial if he was a confidential informant. And the prosecutor sitting at counsel table knows that it's true, objects, gets the objection, objects to relevance, which is clearly relevant, but the judge sustained the objection. And again, Tony, untrained in the law, doesn't get to ask the question. So you've got a prosecutor sitting at counsel table knowing that he is hiding evidence from the jury. And that, to me, is just unfathomable. Michael. The question that I had, and this is a mind-boggling case,

the question that I had, if I heard you correctly, you all have reached out to Governor Bill Lee's office trying to get a stay of execution or what have you. And I was wondering, have you heard a response from the governor? And if so, I was just wondering, how did they respond, finding out that there was the conviction, conviction was based entirely on speculative testimony from convicted felon and the paid informant and no physical evidence time, Tony, to the murder? I was just wondering, What was the response like? So they haven't responded at all. And there's, of course, several avenues of litigation happening.

The ACLU, we are litigating in court on the forensic and DNA testing. He has federal defenders who are arguing the clemency petition. They had a meeting earlier this week with the governor's office. There's been no response. And my understanding is that in these cases, typically the governor doesn't issue a response until probably the day or so before the scheduled execution. but there's been no response by the governor's office at this point. All right, thank you.

All right then. Well, 14 days, Maria, we certainly appreciate it. Keep up the fight. Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me. All right. Thank you so very much. All right, folks.

Let me thank our panel for being here. I appreciate it. Matt, Candice, and Michael, thank you so very much. Thanks a bunch. Folks, I'm in Houston. And for the sixth year, I was at my alma mater, Jack Gates Senior High School, to hand out my annual $1,000 scholarship. This year, we honored four students. Here's some of what happened earlier today.

This year, I decided, so we first few years, we did a couple of scholarships, and one year we did three. So when I was going over the folks who apply for the scholarship, I decided to do four. There were two students. So what I look at is, I look at each assessment. A student in the first couple of years I actually interviewed all of the finalists. And so I posed a question. This year the question dealt with the issue of misinformation and disinformation. So I wanted to see who actually did research, who spoke in general terms, but who actually did some stuff and offered real concrete examples.

And so that really was the siding factor for me in choosing the winners this year. So first up, let's see here. So we have a general studies winner. We have communications winner. So first up, the first college award goes to Ariana Curry. Ariana, where ya? Come on.

Come on. Come on up. All right, Ariana. So how are we doing? Is this the same one for the photo that we're doing this? Is that what this thing is? What you doing? Is she?

There you go. Okay, all right. So we'll slide over here. Okay, where's the camera? We're going to get a photo. Slide this way. Baby, anybody's going to take your purse. You can put that purse down.

Put that, put that, put that, Put that purse on the counter. Yeah, put that for anyone by taking your purse. Okay, come on, here we go. Stand right here. Okay, hold that, hold it. All right. No, you ain't done.

So stand over here. So Ariana, first of all, where are you going to school? That's a Citi University. All right, and what are you going to be studying? Veterinary Science and Animal Poetry. So that you choose Tuskegee so you don't have to change any of the school colors. You can just wear the same stuff?

Basically. Gotcha. So again, you're studying what? Veterinary science and animal poultry. Gotcha. So what? Do you like eggs? Yes. So what job do you eventually want to do? Emergency veterinarian or zoologist.

A what? A zoologist. You're going to work in the zoo? Well, I'll be everywhere. In the wildlife. So you want to live in the jungle? Basically, yeah. Okay, all right.

Good luck, Ariana. Appreciate it. You love your sound, you love you, you love to do. You love your certificate. Oh, okay. Right. Hold on your purse and your certificate. All right.

Tuskees is great. I actually spoke there, so I'll visit it. So I have 103 HBCUs. I've actually been in 59 of them. So that's one I've been to. All right. Next up, General Studies Scholarship winner. Is it Lucia or Lucia or Lucia,

Lucia Rivera, Lucia Rivera Rodriguez? Somebody was paying attention. She wore the appropriate shirt today. Yes. I am with 1991 graduate Texas A&M. All right, first off, so what are you going to be majoring in? Gotcha. Now, you're going to, but you're not going to Texas A&M in College Station.

You're going to Kingsville. Yes. Okay. I used to be Texas A&I. I didn't know that. Yes, and that was a slide over here. So you need to do your research. So one of the greatest running backs in Texas in Jackie Hays history went to Texas A&I.

His name was Johnny Bailey. I did not know that. See, see. You learn some new stuff every day. Gotcha. Now, again, majoring in what? Pre-Vedinary Medicine. Okay, so what's pre-beddary medicine versus post? All right, so you and the Ariana are going to be hanging out? Since you trying to do veterinary, and she want to mess with some eggs.

All right, good luck with it. I appreciate it. All right, here you go. Your scholarship, there you go. Appreciate it. Oh, and also, each one of the scholarships are $1,000. So each one of the scholarships are $1,000. All right, now let's get to the,

scholarship winners in the area of communications. Obviously that's important to me. And so first up, welcome up y'all. Gerald Johnson. You decided to get all dressed up. Okay, come on, come on. There we go. Gerald, so where are you going to school? College. You really leaving, you're going far from home, huh? Not really. What's going to majoring in? I'm going to be majoring in digital communication. And so what is that you actually want to do? I kind of want to content create, like, you know, kind of like marketing. Just freelance see where I can get.

Freelance? You want a full-time job, Cheryl. Of course. Right, so don't say freelance. Marketing, like, see where I can take myself, you know? Marketing, but just communications. Right. You can just sort of communication side, the journalism side, the media side.

Now, what are you graded at? Video, photos. Oh, really? Mm-hmm. Is your work online? I'm sorry, what? Is your work online? How can we see your work?

Did you go out? J.W. Photo Lab? Okay. All right. Well, we'll be sure to check it out. Congratulations. I appreciate it. All right.

Cool, cool. There you go. All right. Last up, y'all, the next communication scholarship winner, Nala or G. Kurski. Orjai Kurski. There you got that, Jay. Come on in here.

There you go. All right. Were you smiling that photo? Were you smiling? No, she was smiling? Check the photo. We don't do jail photos. We're going to do jail photos. Was she smiling? Give her a hand smiling, dog.

Girl, you're getting a thousand. How are you getting a thousand dollars you ain't smiling? Smile, I will cut you. Show some teeth, girl. Teeth. Lord have mercy. Taking that jail photo. What's wrong with you?

Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Okay. Where are you going to go? Langston University. I'm about to call them right now. Yeah. Why?

The president's an alpha. I did that commission before. All right. What's your major name? Communications. What's going to be your emphasis? Huh? What will be your emphasis?

What do you mean by? What are you focusing on? Oh, photography? Oh, but you're going to take non-smiling photos? I like to be behind the camera. I don't like being in front of the camera. Yeah. See, how you smile more right now than the actual photo

when you got the money? Because I don't like to be on camera. What you mean like to be on camera? So what if you win a big award one day? You got to be on camera. I'm just going to be on camera. I'm more behind the scenes person. Like, I'll be behind the camera.

Really? I be behind the camera. You shoot some good stuff? Yeah. What can we see your stuff? CEO. C.O. C.O.

CEO. CEO. CEO. CEO. CEO. CEO. Yeah. Gotcha.

So you're the CEO of your own company? Yeah. Okay. So what's the most fun thing you ever shot? I saw somebody's wedding before. That was fun. I got to go to their wedding for free. Well, obviously, if you were shooting, they went for free. They put me out. You know, that was fun. They flew you out? Where was it? It was in New York.

They flew you in New York? Oh, you must really be good. Because it was like through like family, friends. So they're like, I'm going to book with you to see if you're really good. good and they liked you so they flew me out okay all right so if I come through Langston you know you better have your stuff together I am because I got okay all right then okay we're going ahead and smile congratulations I appreciate there you go I appreciate it all right then it is it is great to provide the opportunities but I always say this to every single scholarship recipient, your responsibility is to also give back. The expectation for you when you leave

here is not just to leave here, but also pour back into students who are still here next generation because as you go out and create opportunities in this industry, no matter what the industry is, remember, you have a whole generation that wants to see Yates graduates. For me, my parents were Yates graduates, my aunt as well, and so it was always great being able to see folks who came back to the university. Anytime I get to see David Allen and Felicia Rashad, we always talk about Jay-Y and I travel this country and I can always run to a Yates graduate somewhere in this country and I don't think there's any other high school in America that has the love and support of alumni as

we do here at Jack Yates and so again as you go out and do great I fully expect you to come back and then create your own scholarship and then help the next generation. Get ready to show the photo. So let me shout out Jack Gates, principal Stephanie Square. She's doing an amazing job. That was her at the end there. In addition to my scholarship, she presented her scholarships and also the class of 1970 presented their scholarships

in another scholarship. It was given out for a gentleman, let's name is Hilliard, taught at Prairie Annam University. They gave it a $12,000 on a scholarship as well. And so it was great being back on campus. Now, y'all know I'm always, I'm a sitting here and I'm a mess with the students. So they had a group of students who were shooting, who were shooting videos. So of course, you know, I had to go ahead and put them through a little boot camp right on the scene.

And then there was one sister name, Emery. So y'all, I'm sitting there talking with them about what are we shooting, what are you doing? They wanted to interview me and stuff like that. And so I'm helping them set up. And so I then said, hey, can y'all go ask them up front when we're going to start? She goes, oh, I don't see Roland Martin. Y'all, I was standing right next to her. Lord, the other students look at her like, girl, what is wrong with you?

So, yeah, so, Emory, I told y'all I was going to call you out for that. Now, y'all, I'm the only one standing there with a roller button unfiltered shirt, and she's going to sit here and say, I don't see Roland Martin. I said, girl, your research skills were awful. It was just too funny messes with her. So it was great being at Jack Yates. Now, tomorrow I got to go to Satanville. That's Austin, Texas, University of Texas.

You know, that is the arch enemy of Texas A&M. So my niece, Elizabeth, she's the, my brother's daughter, my brother, his wife, Rinda. So she's graduated in UT Law School. Show the plaque, show the photo there. So she, they recognized her. Well, he finally recognized her. They announced it earlier this year. So the chancellors, they're called,

that's the student with the highest grade point at the University of Texas law school. And she is the first black chancellor in UT law school history. And this was then with the announcement. Thank you to my family, my baby brother, Chris, and my sweet angel chief. Thank you for supporting me without question and being my source. of inspiration every day. Thank you. Thank you, Mom, for always encouraging me

to bring my best self to everything I do. My dad, for always being my cheerleader and never allow me to lose sight of myself. My brother. Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. IR Radio, Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts,

including IHart Pride Canada, your favorite hits and must have party bangers, plus personalized and curated playlists. Like back in the day pride. Come together, celebrate love. Take pride with you. Anytime, anywhere. Just ask your smart speaker to play IHart Pride Canada.

Stream us on your phone. Or listen now at iHeartRadio.ca. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called,

Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide. range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special.

So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band

before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, for people to call in and say, Hey Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. The United States will not stand by and allow any power, however great, take over another country. From IHeart Podcasts, Saigon. Please allow me to introduce Joseph Sherman. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? I should stop talking so much.

I like hearing you talk. One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam. I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire. Deterate me. They're pouring petrol all over him. He's holding matches. I'm on a landmine.

For free time. Let's get out. Freedom from Vietnam. Run! Saigon. starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict. Sting here's madness. The world should hear about this.

There's a fire coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Real talent is defined by what people can do, not where they learn to do it. So by stopping at the education section of a resume, you might throw away the perfect hire. Skills First Hiring helps you see talent others miss, like more than 70 million, Stars, skilled through alternative roots. Let their story unfold and gain a competitive advantage because hiring managers who start with skills are 60% more likely to find a successful hire.

Higher skills first. Learn why at tear the paper ceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Graduations tomorrow in Austin. So I'll be the one wearing Aggie Maroon to the graduation. Yes, y'all know I'm petty like that. All right, shout out to Logan Johns. one of our interns graduating from Howard University.

He sent me a text. Logan said, he's going to play golf. Lerner, you know you can't play golf. Stop it. Boy, stop it. So I want to shout out, Logan. One of the things that we do, folks, we give opportunities, especially for HBCU students to understand and work in the business. What they do in a classroom is one thing.

But the real work to understand how this business works is in the business. I know his mother, Michelle. She's done some legal work for us at the Black Star Network. I know his dad, Joe Johns, worked at CNN. And so, Logan, congratulations. And look, you got a lot of great stuff that you can do in the future. So I've got a bright future. And remember, Logan, do the proper research.

Y'all, we be kicking Logan's behind. So y'all got to understand when it comes to working for the BlackSty Network Rollaboard Unfiltered, we don't sit here and play nice. No, we sit here and we teach and we teach and we're going to make them do the things right. And so Carol is always right. Logan, same way myself as well as everybody in the control room as well. And so again, congratulations. Logan on graduating.

I think he's going to be going to graduate school in the D.C. area. So that means we have to put up with him for a little bit longer. My goodness, I thought, man, we had gotten rid of him. All right, just kidding. So again, Logan, congratulations. And so his mom wanted me to do a video. Michelle, y'all can run this video and it's party tomorrow. So I can't be there.

I'm here in Texas. And lastly, by the least, y'all, Sunday, Mother's Day. So do me a favor. Shout out your moms as well as if your mothers have passed away. Certainly our condoluses and also for the women out there who are surrogate mothers, the one who stand in the gap, raising other folks kids as well. So we're going to shout out them as well. So again, happy Mother's Day.

All right, y'all, that is it for us. Please support the work that we do by joining our Brea Nafunk fan club is critically important. We're going to be doing live traveling over the next several months when it comes to these elections. And so your support is going to be critical. Our goals get 20,000 our fans contributing on average 50 bucks each as $4.10. It's $0.19 a month, 13 cents a day. Lots and lots and lots going on. And, you know, we've had, let's see,

here. The last check in terms of our donors was 47,000. I'm looking for the number, just a little over 47,000. Keenan sent me the number that I thought I had it at my fingertips, but I don't. I'll try to find it. But 47,000 donors, we want to get the 50,000 donors. So please do me a favor. And you want to do cash app, use the striped cure a coat. You see it right here. This is what credit cards as well, checks and money order, make it payable to roll a mark, filtered peel box 57196 Washington DC 2-003-0196 download the blasted network app Apple phone Android phone

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and we've created a marketplace at shopblacksartnetwork.com to support these black-owned businesses. And so it gives up the given opportunity, the marketing. When you buy these products, you're also supporting this show as well. So your support is really critical. And so go to shopblackstartnetwork.com, shopblacksartnetwork.com. Download the app fan base.

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Again, if you want to be trained to organize and mobilize people when it comes to voting, June 12th, June 13th, virtual training Bishop William Barber, Repairs of the Breach. Go to blackstar network.com. Click the link. You can sign up. We are almost at 1,000,

people. I want to cross a thousand. But by that weekend, I want to have at least 2,000 people who have signed up in order to be trained in organizing, mobilizing. Again, go to blackstart network.com, click the link with Bishop William Barber or go to Repairs of the

Breach, their website. You can do that as well. All right, y'all, that's it. I appreciate it. Coming in you live from Houston, we'll see you guys on Monday. Y'all know how I was signing his thing off. And we're also going to roll the names of all the people who've donated to us over the last seven and a half years.

Over one hits, millions of records sold. Awards, sold out tours. You think that Jonas Brothers are satisfied? Nope, it's podcast time. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Hey Jonas is available now, and their first guest is a big one. Paul Rudd. You know, Steve Carell is a great singer.

Can you tell you not to audition at the office or something? I told him. Whoa. We were filming Anchorman. Clearly, I was the idiot. Thank God he didn't listen to him, right? Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us.

From IHeart Podcasts, Saigon. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam. They're pouring patrol all over here. Freedom for Vietnam! There's a fire coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Real talent is defined by what people can do, not where they learn to do it. So by stopping at the education section of a resume, you might throw away the perfect tire. Skills first hiring helps you see talent others miss, like more than 70 million stars, skilled through alternative routes. Let their story unfold and gain a competitive advantage, because hiring managers who start with skills are 60% more likely to find a successful. higher. Higher skills first. Learn why at tear the paper sealing.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.