#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Voter Registration Day; Penalties for protesting? Biden police reform plan; Jordan forms NASCAR team

Episode Date: September 23, 2020

9.22.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: National Voter Registration Day; Penalties for protesting in Florida; Judge Fanon Rucker, discusses his run for Prosecutor in Hamilton Count; Biden's police reform plan; Crown Act passed in the House and is headed to the Senate; Federal tax breaks being used to displace poor people in Norfolk; .Jordan forms NASCAR team; Meet the owners of an international consulting firmSupport #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered Partners: 2020 Census In America, everyone counts. And the 2020 Census is how that great promise is kept. Respond today online, by phone or by mail and help inform hundreds of billions in funding for education, health programs, and more. Shape your future. Start here at www.2020census.gov. #RolandMartinUnfiltered Partner: Ceek Whether you’re a music enthusiast or an ultra-base lover. CEEK’s newly released headphones hear sound above, below and from multiple directions unlike traditional headphones where users only hear sound from left and right speakers. Be the first to own the world's first 4D, 360 Audio Headphones and mobile VR Headset. Check it out on www.ceek.com and use the promo code RMVIP2020 #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chastain. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You say you'd never give in to a meltdown and never fill your feed with kid photos. You say you'd never put a pacifier in your mouth to clean it and never let them run wild through the grocery store.

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Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, it's National Voter Registration Day. We'll talk about what's happening in the campaign and give you a number of reasons to get out there and vote, as well as the deadlines for registration. In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis wants to see stiff penalties for protesters who commit illegal acts, but he also is offering immunity for people who hit protesters with their cars. We'll talk with Florida State Representative

Chevron Jones about that. We'll also talk with Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles about Joe Biden's plans for police reform. Judge Fannin Rucker, a candidate for prosecutor in Hamilton County, Ohio, will join us. DA's races, they absolutely matter. And the Crown Act passed in the House yesterday and it heads to the Senate.

Great news for sisters who want to wear their natural hair. In Norfolk, federal tax breaks are being used to displace poor people. We'll talk with the author of an explosive new report from Bloomberg. And Michael Jordan has become a NASCAR team owner. And guess who's driving? Bubba Wallace. Plus, in our Black Business segment, we'll introduce you to the owners of an international consulting firm. Folks, it's time to bring the funk. I'm mark and unfiltered. Let's go. With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling Yeah, yeah

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Now She's real the best, you know he's rolling, Martel. Martel. Florida Governor Rhonda Sanders announced a bill that would mandate criminal charges and increase jail time for protesters. The bill is called the Combating Violence, Disorder and Looting and Law Enforcement Protection Act. Protesters could be charged with first, second or third degree felony for actions such as blocking roadways, disrupting restaurants or toppling monuments. The act states that drivers would not be liable, quote, for injury or death caused if fleeing for safety from a mob. Representative Chevron Jones, along with other statewide elected officials and community leaders,

held a virtual news conference to oppose this Governor DeSantis proposal. Representative Jones joins us right now. Representative Jones, what the hell happened to the First Amendment? Well, I don't know what's happened to the First Amendment. And you know what, Roland, to be clear,

the governor knows that what he is doing is a total overreach, a blatant overreach in what he's doing. And the Republican Party knows what they're doing. They are stacking the courts here in Florida, and they're stacking the courts nationally. So this can go straight to the courts. It's irresponsible. And truth be told, Roland, I'm sure many have been following what's been going on here in Florida. This is a total deflect of the failed leadership of Governor DeSantis and what he has done here with coronavirus. And he comes with this press conference yesterday to speak out on what he plans to do in the next legislative session. This party is totally out of whack. Give people

understanding the control the Republicans wield in Florida. Right now, we have a Republican-ran House and Senate. We have about three seats that's up for grabs that are winnable here within the Senate in Florida that we're set to win two of them, which will put us in a good position. But as far as fighting this fight that we have right now, our best bet is, one, through advocacy, is what we're doing right now. Two, is to win in these seats, electing Javier Fernandez, electing Patricia Sigmund to stop this for when it comes forth. And three, making sure that people are not just voting just for in the presidential election. People in Florida have to vote on these down ballot candidates for state rep and for state senator in these other seats that's happening right now. That's the only part that we can do right now. And again, we saw this with Amendment 4. Even though that passed,

the Republican legislature goes in, passes a new law, and then that becomes the standard. And again, what's their lead? How many seats do they hold compared to Democrats in the House and the Senate? Right now, we have 17 seats. The Democrats have 17 seats in the Senate, and the rest are Republicans, and there's only 40 seats within the Senate. So the 40 seats in the Senate, Republicans control 23, Democrats have 17. 23 of them. That's correct. In the House. That's correct. And in the Senate. Republicans control 23. Democrats have 17. 23 of them. That's correct. In the House. That's right. And in the House.

In the House. Now, I don't know. There are a lot of pieces up and grab. I'm walking out of the House and I'm about to go over into the Senate. When I was there, we had 47, 48 in the House. They don't have a super majority anymore, but they do have a majority. We do have enough votes in the House to be able to take some procedure votes. Now, here's the thing. If we lose four or five seats in the House, which will put them back in the super majority, there's no power to do anything. And I've been in that type of legislation before in my sophomore year. And so, and first of all, in this bill, no liability for drivers who hit people protesting?

So, immunity for an individual who hit a protester. I mean, let's take this to Charlottesville. This basically is a slap in the face to the family of people like Heather Heyer, who was hit in Charlottesville. And let's take a step further, that just this past spring, a Trump supporter hit a protester right in downtown Miami. And so now they want to provide immunity for these individuals who perform these reckless acts. And let's be clear

that the governor has had the chance to speak out on many situations here within the state of Florida nationally when it comes to police and their reaction to our community. And there's been nothing. We've invited him to our community. I even filed a bill to give the governor for us to begin to look at the gun violence within our community. Not once did the governor even answer the call for this opportunity to come and take a look at what he can do to help our community. Nothing. But yet and still, you can have a press conference in Port County and say that, you know what, we're not going to address what's happening with black men and women on the street.

What I'm going to address is to make sure I protect individuals' property. And by my view, there has not been one, not one instance in the state of Florida that would warrant the governor's press conference yesterday. It's a Donald Trump tactic he pulled. The last question for you. Also, you have a bill that folks are proposing to basically have the top two finishers in Florida as well. What's the status of that? Because that could also, and the way it's written, it's getting lots of support, but what that could very well do, that could even further solidify

Republicans controlling the Florida legislature. Explain to people what's happening with that. Currently right now, we have six amendments that is on the ballot come November. And one of those six amendments is Amendment 3, which would now allow for open primaries, which would, for people who have open primaries like in Louisiana and California, it would allow the opportunity for everybody to vote in these elections, which means that it would give the Republicans the upper hand who have the most money to be able to fund the candidates of their choice. And what we can have is, prime example, when Adam Putnam, Republican, ran for governor and Ron DeSantis ran for governor, if those were the top two picks in November, those would have been our choices for who we're voting for.

It would have been two Republicans. So this is what they're trying to set up right now on Amendment 3. We are traveling the state. We are doing Zoom town halls. We're doing everything we can to tell individuals to vote no on Amendment 3. And let's be clear. If Amendment 3 passes, it puts African Americans in a very tough position that our black access seats will no longer exist. And seats like over in Senate District 37 will no longer be a black access seat.

My seat, Senate District 35, will no longer be a black access seat. It'll be the person who has the most money who can, who will be able to win. And that's the predicament that we're in. And this is the time for reapportionment right now. All right then. And again, that's why we need our people to fill out that census to ensure that we are counted because that has a direct impact on black representation, not only in Congress, but also in state capitals across the country. That's right. And it's so important. September 30th is the deadline. And I'm hoping that legislators and municipal commissioners and everyone are doing their part to make sure

that they're getting people within their districts to fill that census out because it's so important. And in Florida, if we do not come with those numbers, I was talking to Congresswoman Wilson yesterday, we have the potential of losing a congressional seat, and that seat can very well be hers. All right, Representative Shervin Jones. We certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks.

In Capitol Hill, Republicans have the votes to confirm, if they choose to do so, a new Supreme Court justice even before the election. Today, Mitt Romney released a statement explaining why he is going to stand with Mitch McConnell and vote for a nominee if it comes to the floor. Now, last night, you also had Cory Gardner, the senator from Colorado, who's in a very tough race against John Hickenlooper, say he will do the exact same thing, and Jody Ernst as well. Now, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, she has said

that there should be no pick or should be no vote on Supreme Court justice before the election, which is, of course, what Republicans said in 2016. Democrats have been talking about the hypocrisy, but the reality is it doesn't matter. They are not going to bend from that because they see they now say hey We can get controlling of the Supreme Court with a six to three vote. Let's go to our panel Malik Abdul Republican strategist That's also Kelly Bethea communication strategist Theresa Lundy principal founder TML communications. I'm gonna start with you Do you consider your fellow Republicans to be hypocritical when you listen to what Mitch McConnell said in 2016, Lindsey Graham said in 2016, Chuck Grassley, what he had to say as well. All these Republicans who said, oh, no, there should not be a Supreme Court pick in a presidential year. Scalia died. It was 10. It was it was down to 10 months before the election took place. Here we are less than 50 days.

And so are Republicans not being extremely hypocritical what they're saying in 2020 compared to 2016? I think both sides are being hypocritical. If you look at the positions held by Democrats in 2016, and you look at the positions that Republicans had in 2016, they're polar opposites than the positions that they have now. So the idea that there are hypocrites in politics, that really doesn't surprise me, but I'm willing to call out Republicans for being hypocrites, and I encourage Democrats to call out Democrats for being hypocrites because the position that they had in 2016 about a president's authority to not just appoint or nominate justice, but for that person to come up for a hearing and get a vote and ultimately be confirmed,

it's different than the position that they have now. So hypocrites in politics, absolutely, on the Republican and Democratic side. But you have Republicans who now want to change the rules by saying, oh, no, no, no. What we really meant was in 2016, since we control the Senate and the opposite party is in the White House, then that's different. But when you have Republicans who control the White House in the Senate, that's the difference. Then, of course, you got Lindsey Graham, who's an absolute liar, who said after the Kavanaugh hearings, oh, no, that if Trump, if a nominee, a nominee, a nominee position opens up right before the election. No, it should not be voted upon until the next president.

Then he was like, oh, no, no, no. But my feelings were hurt with Kavanaugh. So that's the difference. It's like, come on, Lindsay, we know exactly what you said. Then he was so arrogant to say, oh, use the tape against me. And guess what? We damn sure will. Teresa. I agree. We absolutely will. You know, I'm kind of going back to Mel's point about was there hypocritical conversations on both sides? Absolutely. But as you just stated, Rowling, you are absolutely right. When it came to who ran what house and who runs the Senate, obviously there is a change of tune. But I

think people really need to understand what's at stake here and what's, obviously there is a change of tune. But I think people really need to understand what's at stake here, and what's at stake here is a lifelong appointment. And I think everybody should be doing their due diligence into every candidate that's being picked, from President Trump. And I do believe Biden, if it comes to the votes and he is our next president, then he should also be the one to pick our nominee and also allow them into their jurors office to serve on the Supreme Court. right now we're just kind of getting this distraction of a back and forth, which I really do believe that, you know, all these like, hey, you know,

I only said it this way because it was meant for that time four years ago, but really take a approach that it is time for, you know, this unity to really kind of bridge the divide of what's going on in these conversations way before the election? Look, here's the deal, Kelly. As far as I'm concerned, if Democrats get control of the United States Senate, what they should do is, what they should have done before is, first of all, D.C. should become a state. There should be a federal referendum that will allow Puerto Rico to decide if they want to become a state.

Democrats should add four Supreme Court justices. And here's the piece. I'm only using the exact same language the Republicans are using. So you have Chuck Grassley who says, oh, we've been given the constitutional authority to do so. He then said that voters clearly made their decision and gave us the power to make these decisions. I want to read from what Mitt Romney had to say, because, again, again, if I'm if I'm Democrats, this is exactly what I would say when you do it. So when Republicans are running their mouths, this is what Mitt Romney said. Go to the iPad. The Constitution gives the president the power to nominate and the Senate the authority to provide advice and consent on Supreme Court nominees.

Accordingly, I intend to follow the Constitution and precedent in considering the president's nominee. If the nominee reaches the Senate floor, I intend to vote based upon their qualifications. Here's the deal for me, Kelly. The Constitution allows for whoever's in charge of Congress. It is not set in the Constitution that there must be nine Supreme Court justices. There's precedent for increasing seats on the Supreme Court. If I'm Democrats, that's exactly what I would do if they got control of the Senate after November. I mean, you're absolutely right about there not being an official quota on how many justices need to be on the bench. In fact, you can decrease it if you want to. It doesn't necessarily have to be an increase.

So it really is up to the Democrats to decide exactly what they want to do. Regarding the notion of hypocrisy on the Democrat side or how, I guess, Malik insinuated that there's hypocrisy on both sides, in most cases there is. But the difference here is that the Republicans have been blatantly hypocritical and straight up liars when it comes to this situation. Because them saying that, oh, Obama had a pick during an election year, that's different from us being in an election. And I think that's what people are missing right now. People have already started to vote. We are in the middle of an election. And I think that's what people are missing right now. People have already started to vote. We are in the middle of an election by way of COVID not prohibiting us to have a traditional in-person, you know, go to the polls election. So there's early voting happening right now. And you want to have this conversation, this appointment procedure,

as if we can assume that Trump is going to win. That's not fair. That's not right. And it's downright hypocritical. I'm laughing here, Mellon, with Chuck Grassley, with the divided government in 2016. There was ambiguity about what the American people wanted for the direction of the Supreme Court. Voters expanded Republican majority in 2018 election after two Trump-Skoda's nominations. There's no ambiguity now with Republicans sitting in the president.

Malik, I'm sorry, wasn't Obama reelected? Yes. And so there was really no ambiguity in 2016 because the voters had already reelected Obama, which gave him the authority to appoint someone. So it's a Chuck Grassley line. Well, from my perspective, I think that that's really a straw man argument. What's a straw man argument? I think it's the distinction that McConnell is now making for me is really a distinction without a difference.

It really doesn't matter. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm quoting Chuck Grassley. What I'm saying is, is it this isn't Chuck Grassley full of it to say there was ambiguity? There was no ambiguity. The American people reelected Barack Obama, the president. They were real clear on what they wanted. Right. I mean, I think that in 2016 that Mitch McConnell actually should have brought Merrick Garland up for a vote. But I go back to my point about both sides being hypocritical. There's a lot of focus, and I understand that we're in an election year, but there was a host of others about the need to not just nominate, but actually get a justice in an election year. And to Kelly's point that she was making, at the time that Scalia died, we were already in an election. There were primary elections that were going on at that point. So I don't think that now that general versus-

But there's a difference between a primary election and a general election. A primary election. Well, both of them are elections. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. But there's a reason why there's a difference, Malia. There's a difference between a general election and a primary. Kelly, go ahead. No, I mean, this is not a situation where an election is an election is an election.

No, Barack Obama was president and he wasn't up to become the president again. He wasn't on the ballot. He was doing his job. But regardless, we still had almost seven months before the election itself. If I'm not mistaken, Scalia died in February. I don't recall a whole lot of primaries happening in February of 2016

to the point where it would have made a distinct difference in Obama actually doing his job. Obama was blocked by the Senate for the last two, three years of his presidency because of the Republicans. So this had nothing to do with an election year. They tried to make it like it was because of an election year. That's why they didn't want him to go through. They were like, oh, let's wait until there's another president because they were banking on a Republican going into office. But Obama was trying to do his job as president seven months out before the general election. So this is completely different. Teresa, I don't think that that's really a good distinction at all anyway, because we were going through an election at that point.

The Republicans were actually trying to choose their nominee. Democrats were trying to choose their nominee who would go on to take into office in 2017. But the justice died. But again, as I said, as I said at the beginning, I don't have a problem calling out Republicans as hypocrites. It seems as if there's an issue with Democrats calling out the Democratic side for being hypocrites. I can acknowledge both sides are being hypocrites here. I don't gain anything or lose anything by saying that Republicans are being hypocrites, but it seems that there's a hesitance or a resistance or at least justifications made for why it's okay for

Democrats to be hypocrites. But the Democrats are being hypocritical in this situation. Had Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham not said that stuff back in 2016, this would not be an issue. Because Obama would have done the same thing in 2016, nominating and getting his choice appointed to the bench. So it wouldn't have been hypocritical had the Republicans not opened their mouths and tried to block a president from doing his job in the first place.

Here's the deal. We're trying to follow a rule that the Republicans laid down, and now the Republicans are shifting the bar. And then that... One second, one second. And Theresa... They don't want anybody else in power

except Donald Trump. And Theresa, and that's why what Democrats have to do, Theresa, is understand. If the opposition, if they're not going to follow rules, then what you do is you don't follow rules. And what you do is you get power and you wield power. And this is a moment where Democrats had better find out if they got any guts, if they got any leadership whatsoever, because here's the piece. Republicans are about naked, ruthless power. Mitch McConnell stopped 100 positions on the

federal bench when Obama was president. That's how they rule. And I'm telling you right now, Democrats have better use every arsenal in their toolkit right now, Teresa. And if they win four seats in November, they better come with an agenda and tell the Republicans, don't even think about it. Just show them the hand and say, we now have the power. And y'all see it. When you have the power, you get to use it. Teresa, go ahead. I absolutely, excuse me. I absolutely agree. And part of the reason why I agree is because Democrats have not been showing how that power that they claim to have, and they do in a lot of areas, but I think they've been showing it on the ground level as it relates to getting seats actually switched out for new candidates and not trying to have all that intersection of issues that's going on inside of the Democratic Party. But I think this is the absolute time that it is time for them to not only just show

their power, but actually show their strength in numbers. So if, again, if we have those seats turned over in the Senate, we don't have an issue. I think the issue right now is what the distraction is what President Trump is trying to do. And thus it is causing everyone to be in a frenzy about what's going to happen the next term, because right now is really the game changer. We're dealing with COVID. We're dealing with police reforms. Now we have a bill, you know, and if Ron DeSantis' bill actually goes through, this is the law and order bill that's going to be,

I believe, nationwide throughout Republican governments in order for that to happen. So this is a watch time for Democrats to show their power. I want to go right now to Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, who joins us on the show. And Mayor, of course, you are supportive of Vice President Joe Biden. But I do I do want to get just your thoughts on where we are politically. You're in your look. You're there in a in a battleground state. You've got Cal Cunningham running against Tom Tillis. Let me remind my folks in North Carolina that Tom Tillis is the architect

of one of the most onerous voter suppression laws in the country. And also he, along with Bill Barr, stopped two black women from being appointed as federal judges in North Carolina as well. That stuff is important because what you did before matters what you're gonna do forward. Mayor, what advice would you give to Democrats in Congress?

What we're facing now, clearly they're gonna move forward and Republicans, Conservatives will have a 63 majority of the Supreme Court. What will your advice be to the party, those politicians in the Senate and the House when it comes to wielding power? You know, you really have,

all three of you have been keeping it so real, but I'm just going to have to say I'm on the power part of it as well. If we have the opportunity to actually wield power like the Republicans have, we can change this world. We can make it possible to have clean air and clean water. We can make it possible to have judicial reform. So what I think is important is coming in with an agenda and coming in with a readiness to say, we can fight and fuss at home all we want to, but once we go out in public, we're united in arms. I mean, it's just like anything else. We have got to get some things done. Otherwise, COVID can make the world stop.

Imagine what it would be like if fires continued, if we had hurricanes that continued. So to me, I just really think that the power, we need the ability to legislate and make things happen. And we need to make change happen really, really quickly because the people in my community, we can't take another Black man being killed. We can't deal with the issues that are on the street without some guidance from the federal government. We need that help, but it has to be the right kind of help. Let's talk about the police reform. That's one of the issues that Joe Biden is emphasizing today. Senator Kamala Harris, she was in Flint, Michigan. This is going to be one of the discussions in the first presidential debate taking place on September 29th.

Before I talk about that with you, this is an ad that the Biden campus put out regarding this issue. I'm Joe Biden, and I approve this message. When it comes to criminal justice reform, history has not been on our side. I feel as though the nation has become desensitized to these things, but black people have not. It's true pain, it's real loss when people die. As a father, I have to turn around and talk to my 12-year-old son about police interactions. It scares the hell out of me.

You don't have time for a system that is stacked against you. We need to have individuals that are in office that are going to push the entire country forward. That's what Joe and Kamala have, is that plan for the future. They're willing to push Congress and say, we can get there. Cash bail reform, we absolutely need reform there.

There's a lot of people in the justice system that are not criminals. How many people were in jail just because they couldn't afford that $400 court fee? Think about how hard it is to get a job with the criminal record. Banning the check the box is just trying to get a job that's going to give you a better standing in society

when you come out. Joe and Kamala uniquely understand. Those are the things I do trust them with. They are the candidates who lead us to that future. This obviously is going to be an issue you have Donald Trump trying to tout the First Step Act. What exactly do you think Biden and Harris must say to Black voters,

but also to these white suburban voters on this very issue? Well, for me, it's all about the idea of stopping violence. You don't get to this place easily, but, you know, we have guns and suburban cars unlocked that end up being used in violent places in our communities. So we are in Charlotte, we're beginning to do something called violence interruption, where we're saying the police are needed to investigate crimes. But what we need are people that are going to stop disputes before they become violent. So having people understanding that there are ways to settle these disputes without it being a gun or without doing something illegal, having people willing to actually police their own

communities. That's where we need to really focus. And we're doing that in Charlotte. When we have a person coming in with a gunshot wound to our hospital, we have them met by someone that's been shot already and saying, you don't have to go out and retaliate. That will just get your life in another place and you may not walk into here and walk out again. That's what we've got to start talking about. And obviously, y'all have had to deal with this issue there in Charlotte. Of course, you've had to recommend the firing of officers there, of course, which are Charlotte-Mecklenburg Department. Of course, with the announcement that four police officers and a supervisor

could be terminated for their roles in the death of Harold Jermaine Easter. Of course, and then the officers were fired there as well. And that's the thing where leadership comes in, and that is you've got to have leadership who steps up. We just saw it with the mayor in Rochester, where she felt that the police department, they were withholding documents in the case there of a black man who was mentally ill, who had been killed. They fired the whole top command. Well, they all resigned. Then she said, no, the chief, no, you're not going to leave in a few months. You're actually leaving now.

So the same thing happened in Louisville. Again, this is what I think what people are saying is they want to see action from leaders when it comes to cops who do wrong. And, you know, we are a right to work state, so we're not like a place where there's a really strong union. But no matter what, in the police department, there's a strong bond. And even if you're black, sometimes it's very hard to overcome this idea where you're either with us or you're against us. And that is not the right dynamic to have. And so those officers that result, they will not be criminally charged, but they can't work in our community anymore. They really just, and human decency failed.

That's what they really failed at, human decency failed. That's what they really failed at. Human decency. When someone says that I need medical assistance, they may not be like us that says, well, would you call 911 and tell them my heart's feeling this? But he said, I need this. I need something. And they they just decided, no, you don't. That's not their decision to make. Decency. That's what our communities want. That's what they want to see out of policing. And that's why those officers will no longer be serving. When you look at, in terms of moving forward, you did not see a bill that was passed in the Senate. The House bill was passed as well. Again, if Democrats control the United States Senate, they'll be able to actually pass that particular bill. To me, again, this is one of those issues where they have to move. They have to if they want to have if they want people to have confidence in leadership, they cannot get hung up.

They are going to have to move the bill. I think you're right. We can no longer have this idea that just because you put on a uniform that day, you're immune to whatever's required in your community to serve. And I think that what we've got to do is actually address nationally some of these standards around, you know, for example, if you are a police officer who has been cited and terminated in Charlotte, should you be able to go and apply to work in Baltimore or D.C.? I mean, we've got to have some way that we track the records of people, but we also have to make sure that when police officers come in, one of the things in Charlotte is most of our police officers live outside of our city.

You know, they're more suburban. And that you can't police a community that you don't know. And I just think that the idea that we say that, you know, it's okay because we want you to have a break away from this. No, we want you to be a part of what we are, not take a break from who we are. All right, then. Charlotte Mayor, by and large, we want you to be a part of what we are, not take a break from who we are. All right, then. Charlotte Mayor, by and large, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you very much. Always good to talk with you. Thank you for having me. All right. Thanks a lot. All right, folks, let's talk about voting. How many days left? 41. That's right. 41 days until it is election day. But the reality is elections have already started. Go to my iPad, please. Vote. Go to vote.org. You'll see 41 days, six hours, 19 minutes, 18 seconds.

But voting has already started. Early voting has began in Pennsylvania. Folks in North Carolina have been voting. But before we can talk about voting, we have to get people registered first. Here are the upcoming registration deadlines. This is critically important. If you live in Alaska and Rhode Island, your deadline to register to vote is October 4th. If you are in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas,

your dates are October 5th. If you're in Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, you have until October 6th. If you're in Missouri, October 7th. Idaho, New York State, North Carolina, and Oklahoma, you have until October 9th. If you live and Oklahoma, you have until October 9th. If you live in Delaware, you have until October 10th. If you're in Washington, D.C., Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Virginia, West Virginia, you have until October 13th. If you're in Wisconsin, you have until October 14th. If you are in Nebraska, October 16th. If you are in Alabama, California, Maine, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Wyoming, you have until October 19th.

Also, Utah's October 23rd. Then you have Iowa, Massachusetts, October 24th. Also, Utah's October 23rd. Then you have Iowa, Massachusetts, October 24th. You have Colorado, Montana and Washington state on October 26th. And then, of course, Connecticut on October 27th. Now, keep in mind, there are some places where they have same day voter registration. So keep that in mind as well, same-day voter registration. So when you actually go to the polls, you have in-person where you can actually, of course, register. And so our goal is to get you to understand exactly what's happening with voter registration, because we can emphasize vote, vote, vote, but if you're not registered, you can't vote. And so, please, we want to to deal with that as well. And so there are a lot of moving parts here when it comes to the election. And here's the deal that there are some places,

again, they have same day voter registration. And so this is from Ballotpedia. All right. So let's go right here. I'm going to increase this right here because this is the kind of vital information that you need. California has same day voter registration and early voting same day voter registration. Connecticut has same day registration, meaning you can actually register and vote on election day in Connecticut. Same thing in DC, same day voter registration, early voting, same day registration. Hawaii, they have both. Idaho, you can register on election day.

Illinois, you can register on election day and early voting. Iowa, it's both as well. Maine is both. Maryland has both. Michigan has both. Massachusetts, you cannot register on Election Day, but you can register on the same day on early voting registration. Minnesota, yes. Yes to both.

You have Montana. Yes to both. Nevada. Yes to both. New Hampshire, you can register on the day of the election. New Mexico, you can register on the day doing early voting, but not on election day. North Island where you can actually register on Election Day, but not on early voting day. And then Utah and Vermont, both of them allow for registration on voting day as well as on early voting day. We're looking at polling data now, Teresa, where when you begin to break it down, we're seeing where Joe Biden, how he is performing almost at 30 percent among white voters in Georgia. If those numbers hold steady, remember, Stacey Abrams lost by 50,000 votes. She only got 25 percent of the white vote. If Joe Biden is able to get 30 percent of the white vote and then you see a turnout equal to equal to what Stacey Abrams got, Joe Biden could actually win the state of Georgia. You see in North Carolina right now where Republicans are down in the race, Tom Tillis, Cal Cunningham is up five, six points. I mean, the reality is when you look at this election,

Democrats, all they need to take over the United States Senate is to win three seats. And if Biden Harris wins, she's a tiebreaker or the number they're using is really four seats. Democrats do have an opportunity to take control of the United States Senate. You know what? Those numbers are actually really strong and it's actually encouraging. It seems like the opportunity is all the hype and the voter suppression about voter laws and education that Stacey Abrams was giving us, that energy early on. And she's continuously hitting the payment day after day. That has been so helpful for the campaign, especially talking to some of the workers that are on the inside. So I do believe actually those numbers will mostly turn out into the benefit of the outcome as it relates to Joe Biden actually winning. So I'm going to put my prediction out there. I do believe they will take over Georgia, but I also believe the four seats that they need, I'm really saying three,

but with Biden and Harris winning. But I see those as definitely as a power strong type of situation that they can win and we can see results. When we look at what is happening in these various races. Melick, Republicans obviously are desperate to hold on. You have now in Iowa, you have Jody Ernst who's down. Susan Collins is down almost double digits. Same with McSally in Arizona. And so this Supreme Court battle,

depending on how contentious it is, it could very well determine whether independents fall towards Republicans or Democrats. Well, it's not if it becomes contentious. It's already contentious, and it's going to continue that way until the election, and really even after, irrespective of who wins it all. I don't expect, I think probably of those races that you mentioned, there's a possibility, a strong possibility that maybe McSally will lose that race. But at this point, Trump is leading in Georgia. I'm not sure what the numbers are for Joni Ernst

as far as where is she as opposed to her opponent. But yeah, Republicans are going to have to defend seats in ways that we've always had to defend seats. And the same applies for Democrats. Susan Collins, as I've been reading, is in the toughest re-election of her entire career. So that's something else that we're going to have to look at. It seems as if, at least as far as a few of those, I mean, definitely with Joni Ernst and a lot of those, they do seem to be now moving toward, well, I think after Mitt Romney today, it seems as if they definitely have enough votes. But absolutely it's going to be a contentious issue,

and I expect that Republicans and Democrats to use this as a wedge to get their people out to vote. Kelly, Democrats should be doing a hell of a lot more for Mike Espy in Minnesota. Latest poll shows he is down one point to Cindy Hyde-Smith. If they're able to send $3 to $5 million his way, that could go a long way in terms of driving get-out-the-vote efforts on the ground there. And Reverend Barber always says this here, LaTosha Brown, Cliff, with Black Voters Matter, look, you can't win in the South if you don't compete. And the only way you can compete is if you provide resources. That's real simple.

No, it's quite simple. And just to be clear, the Supreme Court a couple of years ago already said that corporations are people. So money talks. A lot of money talks a lot. So the Democrats really need to get on the ball if they're really serious about taking control over the House and Senate and pour into those campaigns that need the money the most. Like the one in Mississippi, like the campaigns in most, like the one in Mississippi, like the campaigns in Georgia, like the campaigns in South Carolina and North Carolina. Anywhere there's a Democrat where the numbers are close, that's where our efforts need to be.

Yeah, like you just, you can't take this for granted anymore. We are not in a position to stay on this high road. We need to get down and dirty and get this done. Get it done. And it's not hard. We just need to stop having these rose-colored glasses and acting like people are going to vote their conscience, and then all of a sudden Democrats are going to win the House and Senate off of a dream. No, no, you need to fight. We need to fight. Fighting means money. So we need to pour money into those elections and into those campaigns so that those campaigns that we want to win will. All right, folks, going to go to break. We come back. We'll talk to

a candidate out of Ohio who is running for district attorney. Cincinnati, Cincinnati sends more folks to death row. That could change with the election of my next guest. Also, we'll talk about black business today right here in Roland Martin Unfiltered. We'll be back in a moment. You want to check out Roland Martin Unfiltered? YouTube.com forward slash Roland S. Martin. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real.

It's Roland Martin Unfiltered. See that name right there? Roland Martin Unfiltered. Like, share, subscribe to our YouTube channel. That's YouTube.com forward slash Rollin S Martin. And don't forget to turn on your notifications so when we go live, you'll know it. If they would've showed me intake,

I would've never sold drugs. Intake is the closest thing to slavery that you will ever be a part of. Ain't no more being locked down and being further locked down. If voting don't mean anything, what's gonna happen if you don't? Ain't no more being locked down and being further locked down. If voting don't mean anything, what's going to happen if you don't?

Give me the next step. What's replacing it? Where is your voice being heard at? Look what they did, them folks there. I think that most people just not informed enough on what to vote about and who to vote for. You can't keep doing the same act and going back into the world.

When people talk to me about how black they are in their heart, I'm like, but you don't do nothing to honor the ancestors because I'm tired of trying to dance to give you information. Why I just can't give you information? As our community comes together to support the fight against racial injustice, I want to take a second to talk about one thing we can do to ensure our voices are heard, not tomorrow, but now.

Have your voices heard in terms of what kind of future we want by taking the 2020 Census today at 2020census.gov? Now, folks, let me help you out. The census is a count of everyone living in the country. It happens once every 10 years. It is mandated by the U.S. Constitution. The thing that's important is that the census informs funding, billions of dollars, how they are spent in our communities every single year. I grew up in Clinton Park in Houston, Texas,

and we wanted new parks and roads and a senior citizen center. Well, the census helps inform all of that and where funding goes. It also determines how many seats your state will get in the U.S. House of Representatives. Young black men and young children of color are historically undercounted, which means a potential loss of funding or services that helps our community. Folks, we have the power to change that.

We have the power to help determine where hundreds of billions in federal funding go each year for the next 10 years. Funding that can impact our community, our neighborhoods, and our families and friends. Folks, responses are 100% confidential and can't be shared with your landlord, law enforcement, or any government agency. So please take the 2020 census today. Shape your future. Start at 2020census.gov. All right, folks. Former county judge Fannin Rucker got the nod from Hamilton County Democratic Party voters to take on

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Dieters this November. The prosecutor's office is one of the last Republican strongholds in a county that used to be mostly red. Now, Dieter has strong support in the big campaign fund on his site, but my next guest, Judge Fannin Rucker, wants to end his reign. Judge, glad to have you on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Good evening. It's an absolute honor to be here with you, Mr. Martin. One of the issues that is significant in this race deals with the issue of life imprisonment, but also death penalty cases. I mean, this DA is known for that, sending more folks than anyone else in Ohio. What is your plan to beat him? Well, first of all, let me say that this is a historic race.

People can go to FennanRucker.com for more information about my background and some of my initiatives. What you just mentioned is one of the stark differences between me and my opponent. This is someone who literally is a part-time prosecutor in a county of 800,000 with the third largest county in the state. This is someone who has put more people on death row than any other prosecutor in our 88 counties in the state. Historically, there has never been a black male who has been a prosecutor in the entire state's history of Ohio. I've been a judge, a civil rights lawyer. I've been a trial attorney.

I've been a law director and a judge, again, for 13 years here in our county. These are not issues that we're dealing with in this campaign that I read about. They're issues that I've actually been involved in on all sides, statewide and locally, setting policies. How will we beat him? We'll beat him because we have the momentum. We have a much different county now than we did in 2004, which was the first time we ran against each other.

And during that time, our county was completely red. In 2020, we have an all-Democrat, all-women county commission. We have a Democratic clerk. We have a Democratic county coroner. We have an all-Democrat, all-women county commission. We have a Democratic clerk. We have a Democratic county coroner. We have Democratic judges in our county. We have a diverse county that now is actually engaging in the process. I have cross-party support. I have national support. Some incredible people have endorsed this campaign.

And we are confident that we have the resources, we have the momentum, and we have the right message to change our criminal justice system and actually have it that it impacts everyone equally and doesn't exclude based on socioeconomic class or race. We've seen the election of progressive DAs in other places, in Florida, in Baltimore, in Chicago, in Philadelphia as well. You have a White House that targets progressive DAs, saying they are bad for this country. How do you respond to that, the attacks that have taken place on progressive DAs? Well, the first thing I'll say is no political party, no ideological principle has a monopoly

on our constitutional freedoms or the protection of individual liberties. Now, some folks call those folks progressive prosecutors. I'm one who has shown by my leadership and literally by my entire career that our individual rights and freedoms must be protected, but that we must do when we recognize problems in our system, we must be intentional about how we bridge and address those inequities and those disparities. We have them. They exist. And if we stand by passively, like our current part-time prosecutor, hoping that they're going to get better, they don't. And so when I hear the word progressive prosecutor, I think of the reality that everyone recognizes without fail disparities in our system, gaps in treatment. I recognize,

or all of us recognize that there are changes that need to be made. 95% of Americans agree that there need to be some changes to our system. And I think of the fact that those progressive prosecutors are intentional about how we actually make those changes happen. And I think of the fact that those progressive prosecutors are intentional about how we actually make those changes happen. And I'm one of those folks who's intentional in my leadership in helping to make those disparities much smaller than they are. Questions from my panel. First, I'll start with Malik. Yeah, so I really don't have that many questions as far as just your race. But where is that? I just need one, Malik.

Not the men. Just need one. So, well, let me ask you again. Where in Ohio are you again? Cincinnati. Oh, Cincinnati. What is the, just from your experience being there, as far as police reform, because that's one of the things, that's a big thing that we're talking about. As far as police reform, where has Cincinnati been as far as this, you know, being progressive around police reform? What are some of those issues that are going on in the campaign that you've seen that

you're going to tackle? Sure. What's interesting, and what's great about this, back in 2001, when I was a civil rights lawyer, we had riots here or disturbances after an unarmed African-American man was killed by the police. He was the 13th in 11 years. And so we, after those disturbances, formed something called the Cincinnati Can. I actually sat on this commission, and it specifically created initiatives and programs to help build trust and relationships between the law enforcement community and our larger communities. There was also a lawsuit, a class action lawsuit that was filed and settled the following year that dealt with changes to our police department. Through those changes, back in 2002, we opened and have still running a citizens independent review board to review the misconduct or the allegations of wrongful force by police. We reduce the use of certain lethal or almost lethal

implements by police. We actually set up something called community-oriented policing, where police were encouraged to get out of their cars and actually engage with members of the community where they actually were policing. So we've been at the forefront, and we have body cameras for our police department. So over the past 10, 15, 20 years, we have actually been pretty engaged in these reforms that now nationally they're looking at, and many of them, as the standard for policing. Now, I won't suggest to you for a minute that there is a perfection or that there are no issues with how our citizens are policed or the relationships that need to be enhanced.

But I will tell you that many of the things that they're talking about on a national scale, we have implemented. Now, of course, as someone who's been involved in these issues, I have certain ideas about how we can better enhance our relationship between law enforcement and the community. And I have a lot of law enforcement and community support in these initiatives. Teresa. Yeah, well, congratulations on getting in the race and potentially making history.

So actually, you hit the nail on the head when you had stated that you had the relationship with the law enforcement and community. Can you pass me my? So my question to you is, I would like to know what. Just give me three points, three point plan of how you will, one, bridge the gap between the community and the police as a prosecutor? And then two, what are some of the, um, um, opportunities that you see? Because I know you kind of labeled, uh, the current prosecutor as a part-time prosecutor, but what do you see as being at a full-time position

in order to, um, you know, kind of, uh, bridge the gap but also, um, heighten the police reform conversation nationwide? Well, first let me say, when I say he's part-time, that's not like a hit. He literally submits a document at the beginning of his four-year term that declares that he is part-time in a county of 800,000. He splits his time working for a law firm making money individually while these issues and 200 employees in the county prosecutor's office. He handles civil and criminal.

So, no, no, he is literally part-time by documents and by attention and action. And so that's not a hit. I'm not trying to be rude to him. It's a fact. But as far as three issues to help build relationships, well, number one, and it has to do with system issues. We have an exploding violent crime issue here in Hamilton County, as we see in other places across the country. One of the ways that we build relationships is we find programs and initiatives to help bring our violent crime down while increasing the level of connection and collaboration between law enforcement and the community.

One way we do that is we establish a violent crime reduction initiative. That includes eliminating cash bail for nonviolent offense while changing the focus of why people are sitting in jail to how much money they have, from how much money they have, to actually the risk of harm that they present to the community, as New Jersey did in a bipartisan way by their bail reform. That's the first thing we do. That helps to actually build trust because we're not identifying people's sitting in jail based on their socioeconomic status, but it's based on the risk of harm, which everyone who lives in communities where they don't feel safe would rather live in communities where they're safe. So that's one part of it. Another part of how we build those relationships is by actual

reentry court. We have a reentry program, but reentry court can actually help reduce recidivism and support those individuals who are returning from the community by having law enforcement in the room, those resources that they need by education, health, community resources, housing, all those things. At the same time, say, look, we're going to hold you responsible for your actions, but we're also invested in your success when you return. Again, these are things that the police are looking for, safe neighborhoods and lower crime. The community is looking for safe neighborhoods and lower crime. The community is looking for safer neighborhoods and lower crime. So those joint efforts that we have with them working together to do that

is more things that build trust between them, but also enhance the actions of the system for the benefit of everyone. And the third thing, and it may not be something that will help build trust, but I think it's absolutely important, but that is a conviction integrity unit. We had a big settlement last week where eight years of homicide cases involving DA have now,

excuse me, DNA evidence have now been opened because of the failure, the refusal of the police department to turn over evidence and the prosecutor's office not turning it over. Now, that's just one that came to light. Conviction integrity units shed light on the potential for people who are sitting in prison who are innocent of the charges for which they've been convicted. That's how you build trust. And it also enhances the ability of the police to do their job and have the outcome that they're looking for, because the citizens are more inclined to work with them when they

know that their job and their intention is to help them to have safer neighborhoods. Those are just three ways that I'm going to work on those issues. Kelly. Well, I wanted to congratulate you in advance for being the first Black prosecutor, state prosecutor in the state of Ohio. I believe I got the title right. My question to you is given your expertise in literally every area except prosecutors at least that's what i'm reading how do you plan when i let me back back when i first saw you know your your story and read it it surprised me because i didn't know the history of prosecuting um in ohio that you would be the first. So it surprised me that you would come from the judge's bench down to a prosecutor.

So that being said, that level of objectivity doesn't just go away as a lawyer. Once you get there, you're there as far as objectivity goes. At least that's how it is. So how do you plan on bridging that gap both mentally and with the community such that you will be fair and your constituents, your community will trust you? How do you plan on taking your expertise both from the bench and defense work if you've had it, literally every step of your career into this one position, and how do you think that will benefit your constituents?

First, again, let me encourage people to go to fennanrucker.com, and they can see the full picture of my experience and history. I started my career as a prosecutor. Let me say I'm a second-generation prosecutor and a second-generation judge. My dad actually was on the Supreme Court of Indiana for 18 years, just retired a couple of years ago. And so I started my career as a prosecutor. So I have had that experience actually prosecuting cases, standing up with victims, advocating for accountability, and engaging in relationships with lawyers, judges, and the community. After I left the prosecutor's office, I was a civil rights lawyer, where I practiced police brutality cases, employment discrimination. I represented folks in federal court and state

court in class action lawsuits and individual cases. I also was the law director for a city, so I represented public officials, including police officers, mayors, city council members. So truly the broad scope of experiences, and then ultimately for 12 years on the bench, my focus the entire time was on justice. Justice, that concept, that idea, that's the reason I went to law school. And I don't believe that the responsibility of justice is exclusive to judges. In fact, prosecutors have a greater responsibility to be that first line of this idea of providing justice to the people. Why? Because they're the ones that decide what charges, how they're presented. They're the ones, if someone is found guilty, what recommendation they make to the court. They make recommendations on bond.

And so the consistency of how they provide those recommendations, the consistency of how they present cases to the grand jury, the consistency of how they treat juveniles across racial lines and socioeconomic lines, my history is just. That's the reputation that if you ask anybody in this county, lawyers, defense lawyers, prosecutors, judges, they'll tell you the same thing. For non-recker, it's fair, focused, and intentional about our system. And so that's what I carry to the prosecutor's office. It's the trust that I have earned and also the intentions that I've displayed throughout

my entire career. And then, so can I answer the question? You asked how do you go from being a judge to a prosecutor. I'm asked that question quite often. I used to have 50 cases a day, five days a week, presided over several hundred thousand cases as a judge. And I could guarantee every single day that people would get justice in my courtroom.

I did and I could guarantee that. But that was one courtroom out of about 40 in our county. As the prosecutor, I set the policy for all of those prosecutors working in the office and how they mete out justice in the execution of their duties and in how they represent the community and how they actually advocate for outcomes. I can guarantee better results for a more broad base of people

than I could every day as a judge. And that's how I go from being a judge to a prosecutor and have a greater impact on our system. Phelan Rucker, I certainly appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Good luck. And always good to see another alpha man handling their business.

Always. Peace to you. I appreciate it, Fred. All right, folks. The United States House of Representatives, they've officially passed the Crown Act. The act legally prohibits discrimination against black people who choose to wear their hair in its natural state or a protective style. According to the Crown Act's official website,

black women are 1.5 times more likely to be sent home from the workplace because of their hair, and 80% of black women report feeling like they have to change their natural hair to fit into their office environment. The Crown Act will now move to the Senate. If the act passes the Senate, hair discrimination could end nationwide. Teresa, not sure that's going to happen because Mitch McConnell, he's so focused on getting judges approved. He's not taking up any of the damn business in the United States Senate. Yeah, and that's unfortunate.

I mean, even when the Crown Act first was established and put into a bill, the first question I had to ask myself, and I'm like, why is this even a conversation, right? But it is a conversation. And I had to go back even in my personal career, you know, kind of working in a corporate office before I decided to be a small business owner. And I'm like, I do remember some of the discrimination or, you know, one of my colleagues who was white, who decided they wanted to touch my hair and say, oh, what is this curl? Right. And so all the hidden laughs that I would probably be getting, but also not realizing that I couldn't go to certain meetings or the realization that I would be

in certain meetings because of the way my hair looked. So, you know, hopefully we can get this bill passed to the Senate and then it gets passed. But I think it'll actually be a win for them to actually pass this bill, especially with the Crown Act. And I do believe we still need to amp up some of these bills, this bill in particular, but also other bills that are coming through the Senate and not get distracted, because this is something that could slip through the cracks, and this is something that is needed right now in the workplace, especially during a pandemic. Kelly, again, I don't have any faith in Mitch McConnell at all taking this up. I don't either. And it's unfortunate. It's even more unfortunate that we need a bill saying, hey, don't discriminate me because of my hair. And I remember when this

was first talked about on your show show at least when I first talked about it on your show I said you know I didn't get my degrees because of the hairstyle I didn't you know become a lawyer and get respect as a career person in my field because I decided not to wear a ponytail or have it up have it down and have you. My hair did not get me my intelligence. It should not be a factor as to whether you take me seriously. And it certainly shouldn't be a factor as to whether you consider my intelligence for whatever you need my intelligence for. So it is really frustrating to me that we need a bill at all. I am glad that it is passed in the House, but I am already disappointed in the Republicans because they are going to let this die, uh, on the floor

by just either not having a vote at all, or worse, uh, not voting for it, because they don't understand because of their density on the issue. Mel, does Graveyard Mitch give a damn? Well, I haven't seen anything from Mitch McConnell to suggest that they're going to refuse to take up

any business outside of the upcoming hearing, or I guess a hearing would be on the Supreme Court. They've been in session for the past few days and the only thing they focused on have been confirming federal judges. Nothing else. You got like 400 bills that been confirming federal judges. Nothing else. I mean, you got like 400 bills

that the House has passed. Nothing. Well, that is a function of the Senate, I do believe. Which one? To do nothing? No, that is a function of the Senate to vote on judges. But is that the only thing they can do? I mean, they can also, you know, pass other bills that pass the

House. Well, sure, Roland, but you asked me whether or not I think that this is something that, yeah, it will, I'm not even going to get it, go down that rabbit hole. Yes. It's not a rabbit hole. Do you think between now, do you think between now and the end of this Congress that Mitch McConnell will at least have a decency to actually bring this bill to the floor for it to be voted upon? Well, as you said, there are a number of bills that the House passed that Mitch McConnell hasn't brought to the floor yet. I don't see a reason why Mitch McConnell or any Republican would be against this particular bill. I don't see any reason or any justification why any Republican would be against this particular bill. I don't see any reason or any justification why any Republican would be against this bill at all. So I understand that we're doing a lot of projecting,

just assuming that this is something not the Republican... No, no, actually, we're not projecting. We're looking at their own history. I mean, the fact of the matter is, the only thing that he seems to care about is actually getting federal judges confirmed. I'm just simply saying, I mean, it'll be nice to actually see them take this bill up. I doubt it based upon his history.

Well, if we're going to talk about history, Roland, then we also have to go back to, I think before it was that in August when the GOP actually had a police reform bill that had many of the things that Democrats- Was it voted on? No, because no Democrat supported it. No, actually, that's not true. It was voted on. Well, let me explain this to you.

No, no, no. You said it wasn't voted on. Was that voted on? Was it voted on? Let me explain to you. Was it voted on? Let me explain to you what exactly happened. No, actually, you're not, because we're discussing the Crown Act. See, here's the deal. No, no, no, here's the deal. You're not going to hop back

to the crime bill. We're discussing the Crown Act. No, we're discussing the Crown Act. That's like, that's... Okay. No, no, no. You want to hop back to August. We're discussing the Crown Act, which is today. It has nothing to do

with the Crown Act. So I can't talk about what the GOP has been doing, particularly with the police reform bill. No, absolutely, because we're discussing the Crown Act. They decided that they weren't going to move it for a procedural vote. They want the procedural vote. But they actually voted, and we're discussing the Crown Act. Yeah, well, as I said, this is definitely something that the GOP should bring up. Good, all right.

So the GOP should bring it up. Actually get my point across. Without just the talking points, you let Teresa say what she wanted to say, you let Kelly say what she wanted to say. No, actually, but Malik, Malik, Malik, Malik, Malik. Teresa and Kelly, Malik, Teresa and Kelly didn't try to talk about another story.

We're discussing the Crown Act. You talked about judges. No, actually, no, actually we were talking about the Crown Act. And what I said is the only thing, the only thing it seems that Mitch McConnell will bring up to vote right now is judges. That's what they're doing right now. So that's the deal. What the GOP was willing to do was to bring up the actual

police reform bill. And they brought it up and it failed on a procedural vote. So it did get voted on. The Democrat actually supported it. To bring it up for a vote, they had to actually get, I think, 60 senators in order to support that. They didn't get it. And as he bring it up for a vote, they had to actually get, I think, 60 senators in order to support that.

And they didn't get it. They only had three. And they didn't get it. So no Democrats supported it. So you can't just say, well, Republicans are just sitting there doing anything. This is how the Senate... Actually, I can say that when about 400 bills have been passed in the House and they're languishing over in the Senate.

I got to go to a break right now. I got to go to a break right now. I got to go to a break right now, because we're going to come back, and we're going to talk about this throughout a Bloomberg, how Norfolk, Virginia, how they're using tax breaks to destroy black neighborhoods. We'll also talk about Michael Jordan becoming a NASCAR team owner with the black driver Bubba Wallace.

All of that is next on Roland Martin Unfiltered. But it wasn't until I became independent and they started messing with my money that I really cared. What's really going on? There's too much that is endangering us, from the food that we eat to the air that we breathe. They are killing us. The climate of our nation now,

with Trump just running his mouth and saying senseless things and crazy things, and it was like, and I often now think, who is our voice? You have to have something that has taken place that you care about, able to stand for. I'm going to play devil's advocate. If you put someone up there that don't look like I do, and don't sound the way that I sound, and can break it down to me, I'm not listening. And my mother said, girl, don't be no damn fool. But it wasn't until Obama got into office

till I really started being more educated about the process and how my voice is really heard through my voice. Now, everybody want things to be easy. We've had a hardship for a long time. If we allow things to be fun, maybe we can get more people on board with it. And you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Yo, what up, y'all? This is J. Ellis, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hi, I'm Chaley Rose, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. I'm Lex Scott Davis, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Hey, what's up, y'all?

This your boy, Jacob Lattimore, and you're now watching Roland Martin right now. Eee! Hold on, hold on. All right, folks. This is folks at Seek.com, black-owned company founded by Mary Spio. They are a virtual reality company. Of course, you can check out their content at Seek.com. You can do so, of course, with these virtual reality headsets. So what it does is it allows for you to actually drop your cell phone right into this headset right here, close it up. Then you can

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in order to get you a discount on these devices. And if you do so, you will be, of course, you will be helping Roland Martin Unfiltered as well. And so we certainly appreciate SEEK being a partner here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right, folks, the city of Norfolk, Virginia, they are using federal tax breaks to destroy historically black neighborhoods. That is a story that was reported in Bloomberg. Officials in Norfolk, they made plans to demolish St. Paul's public housing and replace it with new development in the mid 1990s.

But the funds were not available. The Opportunity Zones program changed that and provided the funds. Now Norfolk is one of three cities in the country to receive a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The grant will accelerate the replacement of public housing. Norfolk hopes to leverage its $30 million haul into $150 million, including Opportunity Zone eligible money. There are promises that departing residents would be taken care of, but history has shown that's not always the case. Joining me now to discuss how urban

renewal displaces poor people, largely black, is Caleb Newby, an investigative reporter for Bloomberg News. Now, Caleb, Donald Trump and Ben Carson and Republicans, oh, they tout opportunity zones, opportunity zones and 75 billion going to these areas. And I've sent emails to the White House saying, well, I want to know, are black people actually getting that? What is that money going to? And what I keep hearing from people, that is really gentrification. That it's investments that are going into these areas, not actually benefiting those residents at all, but benefiting developers. It's an interesting point. The thing about the

Opportunity Zone program is there's 9,000 different census tracts across the country that are designated Opportunity Zones. Some of them are poor. Some of them are already gentrifying. Some could be gentrifying in the future and trying to figure out exactly how much of which there is, is incredibly difficult because there's actually no official public reporting via treasury or really anywhere else to help us suss out exactly where funds are going and as you raise to to what extent local communities benefit. So one second. So they released this report shortly before the Republican convention, supposedly stating how great these Opportunity Zones are going. Y'all looked at Norfolk,

Virginia, and what does it reveal? Norfolk, Virginia reveals that as intended by the Opportunity Zone program, state and local governments can basically deploy those funds however they want. And in Norfolk, they have these predominantly black public housing communities near downtown that since the 1990s or so, they've been trying to find a way to redevelop them, essentially. But because it was public land and everything else, it was hard to find financing that worked. And this Opportunity Zone money, along with that grant that you discussed, is allowing them to do something that they've wanted to do for a very long time. And obviously, as you can imagine, it's an incredibly contentious issue in that town. And so, and you can imagine, it's an incredibly contentious issue

in that town. And so, and again, this is the thing, look, as somebody, I covered housing early in my career at the county, on the county government for the Austin American Statesman, also was part of our portfolio when I covered City Hall for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. And all of these years, all we always hear, oh, redevelopment. And all these folks, they tout that and redevelopment coming in, mixed use housing. They're going to come in with stores and Walmarts and Whole Foods and Targets and all these different stores. And we're going to have these restaurants. And you start going on. And I remember when I was in Chicago, I'm sitting and I'm going, who the hell can afford to live in all of these townhomes that are three and four and five and six and seven, eight hundred thousand dollars? And you see that and really and now in cities like Washington, D.C. and so many others as who they're targeting and the people who seem to be making off like bandits are the

developers and what they do is they sell or pimp out politicians who go yeah but you can get re-elected on just how energetic this part of town is used to be run down now is thriving but the people who live there don't have affordable housing. So that's, I mean, that really is the rub, right? There was a period in American history through the late 40s, 50s, 60s, when these sort of public housing developments really became a thing. And then starting in the 80s, pushing through to the 90s, the privatization became the order of the day. And in between, of course, you had white flight from the urban cores of cities out of the suburbs, creating fiscal crises for cities,

and then disinvestment in these public housing developments. So the question naturally, of course, is would they have gone into disrepair had that not happened? And yeah, so now you, exactly as you say, that private housing often is not affordable for the people who were in the public housing before. And to a certain extent, depending on the city you're talking about, that's intentional, right? Because they see what they describe as decentralization of poverty as essentially a good. And it's sometimes believed

that they actually don't want everybody who lived there before to come back, even in the selling of a redevelopment plan. And when you talk about Norfolk, here's a city 47% white, 43% black. And I keep going just back to the most basic question. When y'all looked at it, who are the people being most impacted by this development? They're destroying black neighborhoods, correct? The Tidewater Gardens and the other two neighborhoods that make up St. Paul's are overwhelmingly black, approaching 100 percent, depending on the block, and overwhelmingly poor as well. So that is, yeah, that is absolutely the demographic,

and that's not the same numbers as Norfolk as a whole. What should be the lesson that we get out of, again, the whole great pitch, opportunity zones, opportunity zones? And again, they sound great and wonderful, but I always say you got to follow the money at the end of the day, because when you listen to the pitch, what it sounds like is, oh, we're going to be investing these dollars into these neighborhoods where you have existing businesses to help people there who may want to start their own business to also improve the housing in those areas. That's not actually what we see happen. Correct. what we see happen, correct? I mean, I certainly wouldn't want to offer any lessons, but it is certainly true that trying to redevelop public housing developments in an equitable way is a challenge, I'd say, for just about any city. And the question really is, is this private-public partnership framework that has been, you know, the preference of cities all over the country basically since the mid-1990s really the way to go?

All right, then. Well, look, a great story. Folks should check it out. Bloomberg News. Caleb Newby, thank you very much for your work. Hopefully that we'll get more information on these opportunity zones, exactly what that investment is, where is it going, who is it benefiting, because you're right. Again, look, I've asked, the White House won't even respond to those questions because frankly, White House won't even respond to those questions because frankly, they don't want to respond to those questions. And these are tax breaks. These are folks who are actually, you know, on the taxpayer dime benefiting from that. But in the end, if the people are not truly benefiting and only a handful of rich developers, that's a problem.

Thanks for having me, Roland. I appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Pam, let's talk about the issue of diversity. Wells Fargo, they've had a huge problem. They played a huge role, as we know, in black people losing home ownership. They have cycled through multiple CEOs because they had to settle a $175 million settlement when it comes to the issue of home ownership loans. And, oh, my Lord, check this out. Wells Fargo and co-chief executive officer Charles Scharf pissed off a lot of black people when he said on the call that the bank had trouble reaching its diversity goals

because there was not enough qualified minority talent. Quote, well, this is the NBC story. He also made the assertion in a company-wide memo June 18th that announced diversity initiatives as nationwide protests broke out following the death of George Floyd on African-American man in police custody. He said, quote, while it might sound like an excuse, the unfortunate reality is that there is a very limited pool of black talent to recruit from. Scharf was on a 90 minute call.

His comments about black talent rubbed some attendees the wrong way, according to the two employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Hmm. Now, Alex David, president of the Black African American Connection team member network, said, quote, the meeting was incredibly constructive. I walked away being incredibly surprised at how genuine and sincere he is. Teresa. This is the problem you know what when I read this story earlier I was like this is the problem small businesses have to deal with like myself like I'm sure you do roll in and a few others who are entrepreneurs as it relates to working with larger corporate entities and thus it's funny when it's

like we're not qualified or we don't have that many years. Then what's the standard? What are the metrics you're defining that? Is it because, you know, I think, you know, if I reversed the conversation, I think they would probably be better listed if I was an employee versus a contractor. Right. versus a contractor, right? Because when I'm an employee, maybe they could teach me the metrics I need in order to fill their qualifications of some sort instead of being a contractor. But at the end of the day, we're not contractors.

We're small businesses. And for somebody who deals with corporate entities in general, I'm now dealing with a university, literally talking to them about diversity, inclusion, and how to kind of expand their message and open their portal to do businesses with minority firms. And being very clear, it needs to be Black firms and also Latino firms. Because I think, you know, when we start going into this whole database, right, like I know in PA, DC., actually nationwide, there's a minority certification database that every African-American or every person of color will register and we're certified.

There is thousands of names on these databases that corporate organizations can go to and go through that list. But here's the thing. They're not focused on that list. They're not focused on going through that list to see who's qualified to do the job that they're specifically asking for. What they're focused on is how do we just give them the 10 or 20 percent because they'll never get the 80 percent. They'll never be prime, but they'll be subcontractor. The way we change the dynamics of this conversation is by, yes, exercising our voice on these issues, but also identifying where the holes lack and making sure that we call them out when we see it. I've been in a position where I have said no to many contracts because it wasn't too many of me at the table.

And then when I would want to bring other diversified of a team, like I'm always getting scrutinized why I have a full African-American team. I said, well, why not? Right. Well, here's the whole deal. OK, well, Teresa, why do you have a full African-American team? Why your team white? Exactly. So and so that I mean, it's like it's like they see a whole black team like, well, my goodness. So why your team all white? First thing they want to see is the resume and the credentials. That's OK. This one with the law school that this, you know, this one as degree in accounting. This one has been doing the work for 20 years. You know, I said. So hopefully we meet your criteria because it's not just about being the African-American at the top. It's about the whole team being reflective of the work that's being delivered. And so, again, as much as I read this article, I was just like,

this cycle is still continuing. But I also, you know, I put some hindrance even on the organization because you guys are hiring these type of individuals. And I'm like, why do we wait until a certain circumstance comes when they're able to release this on a Zoom call and feel comfortable? Why isn't this part of the interview point of view when this person is the CEO and the development officer? That's the question I have. just called bullshit on this, Malik, is because 1989, 91, I was a national student representative on the board of directors for the National Association of Black Journalists.

1990, we had a board meeting in Los Angeles. It was March of 1990. And we had the top headhunters in the television business. So this is 1990. This is 30 years ago. And it was very interesting listening to them. And you know what they said? It's just so difficult for us to find

qualified black producers. Now, mind you, at the table was Callie Crossley, who had been nominated for an Oscar for Eyes on the Prize, top medical producer for seats for ABC's 2020. And she was like, okay, how many y'all need? See, white executives use this excuse. Oh, it's just so hard to find them because they never ask the next question. Why is it hard to find them? Oh, could it be that white guys like me don't hire them? And so if we don't hire them and JPMorgan Chase doesn't hire them and Citi doesn't hire

them and I can go on and on and on, Northern Trust, and I can go to every single bank. Well, then, when it's time to recruit, we can't find them because nobody else is hiring them. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. That's part of the problem in this country. Well, surprise, surprise. I mean, we talked about this.

No, no, no, we're not surprised. But him, surprise, surprise. I mean, we've talked about this. No, we're not surprised. But him, like, oh my God, we just can't find him. Well, this is not a surprise. This is something that we've talked about on your show before. This is something we've talked about

in the community many times before. Teresa was actually talking about something that I was going to mention about that database for minority entrepreneurs. Yes, businesses can look at that. We deal with that here in D.C. There's a first source hiring requirement where if you're going to have, if there is a project in the city, you have to have X number of contractors and vendors on those projects. There are ways that companies get around that.

And so they hire lots of people coming in from Virginia where they can work for cheaper rates because the cost of living and not just the minimum wage here in DC is now $15. So corporations get around that. This is not something, this is not new. We talked about that on your show when I've said many times before,

it's great to have people go to Black Lives Matter Plaza and hold up the fist and hold the sign and take selfies, but these same people go back into these boardrooms and they push Teresa's resume to the side. They trash Kelly's resume to the side. They trash my resume. This is something that happens all the time, and so we need to get in the game of challenging these institutions. The gentleman that you just had on,

who did the article on what's happening in Norfolk. Well, that's a lot of stuff that was happening at the local level. You're talking about gentrification. It's not just about opportunity zones. It's about the policies that these local jurisdictions put into play to benefit people who don't look like us. So it's incumbent upon us in these areas to push our

local politicians to ensure that we have seats at the table. This is a story that we've heard time and time and time again, and nothing about that changes. We know that this happens. We know that it happens. Yet every so often we hear these stories about, well, black people are not being hired. Well, who are the people sitting at the table? What efforts are we doing in pushing these businesses that we work with, the people who are supposed to be our friends, if you will? What are we doing to push them to say this is what you have to do? You've talked about that with CNN. You've talked about that with many of these companies and organizations out there.

So this is yet another example of something that we've talked about many, many times before. Kelly, I remember when I was at CNN, um, they had announced, um, that, um, they were hiring Aaron Burnett for a show at 7 p.m. John King, whose show at 7 p.m. had failed. They decided to bump him to 6 p.m john king whose show at 7 p.m had failed they decided to bump him to 6 p.m and i was kind of like so he failed at seven so you're not gonna think he's gonna fail at six okay so black anchors were were pretty upset uh don lemon t.j holmes frederica Whitfield, Suzanne Malveaux. And so they wanted to meet with management.

So they had to meet. So they were talking to a black exec in New York and she was like, they ain't gonna meet with y'all unless Roland Soledad involves. She's like, y'all don't say nothing. I mean, that's what she told. So they reached out to me and I said, fine. So I hit the head of diversity, Janita Dew,

who's now, she got demoted under Jeff Zucker and now she got after ENA BJ after we kicked their ass she got rehired as head of diversity she's now executive vice president directly reports to him so I hit it up and I said all right we want to meet so then they said well no no we'll meet but we'll meet with you separately from the other anchors. Well, they're full time and you're not. I was like, yeah, but I got a CNN cell phone. I got an office in New York.

Business. Yeah, OK, I see the game. So I said, I'm going to meet with y'all. So she's like, no, no, no. You should meet. You should meet. You should meet. I said, OK, fine.

I'll go ahead and meet with them. I said, but if we meet, because I requested the meeting with Jim Walton, who was the worldwide CEO. I said, I need all of the top execs there. I need Scott Safon, who runs Headline News. I need Ken Jouts, who's executive vice president. I need Mark Whitaker, who's managing editor over program development. I said, I need all of them in the meeting. And then so they agreed to it. It was quite hilarious because Mark Whitaker, who was number two African-American, didn't want to be there.

He matter of fact, he Mark Whitaker was an absolute waste when it came to CNN and helping black journalists. When he got fired by Jeff Zucker and nobody black said a word that tells you right there. You were absolutely meaningless when nobody black say, we're gonna miss you um so it was interesting because we were in that meeting this is what i said i said guys can we just go ahead and just address the issue you're not going to find black talent at other networks because they're just like you. They're not there. If you have never put black talent in a position to be able to host a show, you're never going to develop them to host a show.

It's never going to happen. I mean, I laid it out to him. And I said, so what I need y'all to understand is you have to develop the talent yourself. You're going to have to hire folks, develop them, get with your coaches. And Jim Walton said, you know, that's what Mark Whitaker's doing. I looked at him, and he was the was whole time this is him the whole meeting he was like pissed he even had

to be there so let's just go ahead and be clear there are some black people who work in these companies who also are not actually trying to bring in other black talent let's just be real clear but the other thing is that if these companies have frozen black people out for decades and other companies have frozen them out for decades, the only way you change that is if you have an absolute aggressive program of development and actually potentially hiring outside of the industry to bring in talent. That's what this CEO needs to understand, Kelly. And every single CEO in his position needs to understand that.

You're absolutely right. But there is an air of elitism as well when it comes to recruiting black and brown people. So if like, and I'm not trying to get off topic, but it applies when you start looking for entry-level positions in these fields, they only go to the Ivy League school. They only go to the schools of their alma maters and the like. It's rare that they go to an HBCU to find talent.

And it is a lot of talent in that area, in those HBCUs. So they need to start doing that as well. But going back to your anecdote, you're absolutely right. If you do not develop the talent, the talent will not be developed enough for your needs at that network. And it really is just that simple. And I need people to stop acting like white people are inherently developed for these roles. No, somebody coached them too. Somebody developed them too. They had an entire team either before they got there or while they're there right now to develop them into the role that they're already doing. So like you said, it is a self fulfilling prophecy. If you don't have the tools,

if you don't put in the infrastructure to make sure that Black people are represented in your respective companies and networks, then it's just not going to happen. And you can't blame that on somebody else when it's something that they did. So you're perpetuating this void of Black bodies in these positions that, frankly, deserve to be there, have earned the right to be there,

but because you actively do not build the infrastructure to have that person there, they're not there. And it's your fault. So don't act like, oh, we're just not here. I'm here. I'm right here. Teresa's right here. Malik's right here. So it's like, if you want talent, look on your show. Every panelist is worthy of being somebody's contributor on any of these major networks.

Look here. You know, look at Black News Channel. But they're not, again, part of the problem, what you have here is, let's just go ahead and be real clear. You have a selective white standard. And I'm going to use that phrase for a reason. Earlier, Teresa said something that I need everybody who is listening to really pay attention to.

She said metrics. And what they do is they come up with a set of metrics that purposely freezes us out. I see this in every industry. I see this in the advertising industry. They will create... When I covered city hall and county government, let me tell you what they used to do. When it came to the city classified contract, which was worth a ton of money,

they would write the specs where in Fort Worth, only the Fort Worth Star-Telegram could qualify. In Dallas, it would write the specs where only the Fort Worth Star-Telegram could qualify. In Dallas, it would write the specs where only the Dallas Morning News could qualify. We had Congressman Stephen Horsford on this show who said when they met with Young and Rubicam when it came to the census contract, they said, we're not going to buy any ads in papers

50,000 circulation or less. Y'all that's 90% of all black newspapers, 95% of all black newspapers in America. So what you see here, Teresa, and what this CEO should be looking at is not, oh, it's so hard to find them. No, no, no, no. What are the metrics that you are using that are purposely weeding people out and keeping them from being hired? Right. And as much as a disgrace it is that this is still going on,

even with, you know, I'll go back to what I said earlier about us having to register, us as in people of color, having to register in a nationwide database to say we are minority. And then this database that charges small businesses a monthly or yearly charge, depending on the plan that you're on,

to stay in this network, but you never get a call from these corporate organizations unless you have a friend or you've done business with them before. And so metrics are so crucial. What I've done, especially in my city, I've been very, what's the word I want to use? I've been, okay, I guess I'll say a little aggressive on how I want to make sure that we're an agency of record. We're public relations. We are a minority. We are 100% women.

No one knows my business but me, right? But I've been making sure that it gets to every person's desk, every email, there are reminders. I'm not, if I'm sending something, I am waiting for a confirmation. Why does that matter? Because you won't be able to say, we don't know what organization or what small business that can help us with this initiative in this area. We do not know, right?

I think the question that I and I know a few of my colleagues receive that are in business are like, look, they would rather see us in radio or in podcasting or seeing what we do on the digital space to invest, but not on television where it's mainstream. And I find that very curious because I know for a fact Fox News has a pipeline of where they put those who are aspiring newscasters through a program, right? And this isn't a public program. This is a select few of individuals that are in this program. And from what I was told from a good friend of mine who went through this program, who made it very successful, but said they were their only person of color in the second cohort. And the only reason they got in is because, you know, they pretty much did the work and connected with the right people. But why do we always have to fight to get into these positions? That is the issue that I am having, especially when we have a majority.

I know here in Philly is a majority African-American elected officials. And and yet we're always, you know, hey, I just need you to be a part of this contract because I don't think they feel that we are strong enough to handle the entire bid. And that's where the situation, I believe, actually first starts when it goes into city government contracts. But as it relates to corporate, we have to make sure that not only are we just signing up to be a part of their portal, but we are aggressive in how we say, listen, I am a part of your portal and I would like to have an introductory meeting so you can get to know me or get to know my services.

All right, folks, gotta leave it there. Malik, Kelly, Teresa, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. All right, folks, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. All right, folks, we come back on Roller Martin Unfiltered. We'll talk with black consulting firm. How are they operating in this COVID world? That's next on Roller Martin Unfiltered. As our community comes together

to support the fight against racial injustice, I want to take a second to talk about one thing we can do to ensure our voices are heard. Not tomorrow, but now. Have your voices heard in terms of what kind of future we want by taking the 2020 Census today at 2020census.gov? Now, folks, let me help you out. The Census is a count of everyone living in the country.

It happens once every 10 years. It is mandated by the U.S. Constitution. The thing that's important is that the census informs funding, billions of dollars, how they are spent in our communities every single year. I grew up in Clinton Park in Houston, Texas, and we wanted new parks and roads and a senior citizen center.

Well, the census helps inform all of that and where funding goes. It also determines how many seats your state will get in the U.S. House of Representatives. Young black men and young children of color are historically undercounted, which means a potential loss of funding or services that helps our community.

Folks, we have the power to change that. We have the power to help determine where hundreds of billions in federal funding go each year for the next 10 years. Funding that can impact our community, our neighborhoods, and our families and friends. Folks, responses are 100% confidential and can't be shared with your landlord,

law enforcement, or any government agency. Folks, responses are 100% confidential and can't be shared with your landlord, law enforcement, or any government agency. So please, take the 2020 Census today. Shape your future. Start at 2020census.gov. Hey, everybody, this your man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my man, unfiltered. Hi, this is Essence Atkins, and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.

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Race car driver Denny Hamlin has joined Michael Jordan in launching their own NASCAR team. That's right. They announced that they're going to fully fund a team in 2021. And who have they hired to be their driver? Bubba Wallace. Hamlin, who already races for Joe Gibbs Racing Team,

he said that, guess what? Bubba Wallace deserves a shot on a full-funded team. He raced last year on the Richard Petty team, and so on the famous 43 car, he now will be going to this new team. Michael Jordan, of course, if this is the case, will be the... NASCAR, first of all, has made an effort to try to increase diversity in the sport for the last

several years. This is a huge deal here that Jordan will be partnering with Denny Hamlin to create this team for Bubba Wallace. This is the... So pretty cool, pretty cool there. So don't be surprised if you see some black folks running around wearing NASCAR jackets with the Air Jordan symbol. I'm sure that's probably going to be on the hood of Bubba Wallace's car. All right, folks, let's talk about our next story. Every Tuesday, we talk about black business, and it's always about for us emphasizing what African-Americans are doing in the space of black business. And this is important because there are 2.6 million black owned businesses in America. 2.5 million of them have just one employee. Those numbers actually, folks, are

going to get a lot worse as a result of COVID. Those businesses do an average revenue of $54,000 each. And so one of the reasons why we created this, being a black business ourselves, is to be able to give people an opportunity to talk about what they do. And so my next guest is called Mothers Reserve. They're a black owned and women owned full service international consulting firm. The firm specializes in curating investment and business opportunities globally, but specifically focused on the continent of Africa. The co-founders are Sharifa Smith and Bashara Ahmad. Hey, how y'all doing?

Great. How are you, Roland? Doing great. All right. So, okay, international consultant. When people hear the phrase consulting, that could mean any number of things. All right. So what do y'all do?

Well, we actually consider ourselves an investment relations firm because, as you just said, people get very scared of the word consulting. They think you're going to tell them something or steal some of their ideas and run with it. And that is not what we do. Basically, what we do is we take on a variety of clients in many different industries, such as entertainment, technology, health care, you name it, and even in sports. And what we do is we open up opportunities, some of those being just in partnering them with other entities. Also, we help them find financial opportunities in Africa and then also throughout the entire world. So that's just a really short synopsis of what we do. And so what we talk about focusing on the continent of Africa, where are the places where you really see the opportunities, especially for African-American

businesses? So the opportunities are really vast. I mean, we work primarily in English speaking countries, but we also partner with French-speaking as well as Portuguese-speaking partners that help our investors and our clients work in and invest in most of, if not all of the countries in Africa, which there are 55 of them. South Africa certainly is one. Ghana, as we all saw this last year with the year of the return was such a huge success. There's been an uptick of just interest in the continent as a whole. And so we have worked in Tanzania as well as Botswana. So Southern Africa as well.

And so what I hear from people, they're like, OK, that'd be great. But I have no idea. I don't know who to connect with. And so so what do you all do? Do you actually look at the opportunities that are in these African nations, look at businesses that are here and say, we're the conduit? You got it, Roland. And in fact, we actually have a coaching program where if your company and your goals are compatible with our program, we help you to identify exactly what type of investment opportunity that you'd like to either get into, or perhaps you have a product or business that you're looking for investors for. We do that as well. So we make sure that we match you appropriately.

And then yes, we individually customize the opportunity for you and your company. In fact, we go to the motherland with you if that happens to be what you're in need of, or we can facilitate transactions here in the United States. During 2019 and early 2020, I believe we went to about six African countries facilitating deals and opening up new doors for our clients. And then also just to help to continue to build that bridge for the African diaspora. And so Mothers Reserve also has been tasked with some of the organizations we work with in Africa to open up opportunities here in the States. So it's not just about us taking people over there and making money. It's about how do we work together? How do we how do we synchronize our efforts in order to help people of black origin and other origins, but help us all win? And so somebody out there who is great potential for African-American businesses

doing business internationally? So we participate with the investment forums that take place on the continent. A lot of people don't know this, but the African Development Bank, as well as several other development banks and trade banks, they put on these huge investment forums. And these forums, Roland, are huge in the terms of they do about 40 to 50 billion dollars of investment deals over three days. And so what we do is we set up our clients with potential investment deals, whether it's infrastructure, whether it's water projects. I mean, we have solar projects on the continent right now. But a lot of them are they start with these forums and you go over and you sit in these boardrooms and you create you create the investments that you would like. And so we help facilitate that. So where would you say over the next five years?

Because, look, seven of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world are in African nations. And so, look, I've talked to folks there and said, look, they're looking for folks to partner with, especially African-Americans who can provide expertise for those countries. Yes, very true. And I'm sorry, Roland, I think we missed part of your question. You were saying in the next five years. In terms of if we're looking at the next five years, next five to 10 years, what should we be looking at in terms of expectations, in terms of business opportunities? Well, for one, historically, everyone has looked at Africa as one of the continents with most of the natural resources, right? We know for centuries the continent has been exploited for its natural resources.

But now it's time to change the way we look at the continent and realize that Africa's people are truly its greatest resources. Therefore, investment into industries and into things that are going to help its people are also going to help to maximize the return that you can receive. I'm sure many of your viewers are very familiar with area agreements. I'm sorry, did I go for a moment? No, look, you said your viewers are familiar with, and you froze. Go ahead. Yes, okay, I apologize.

I believe your viewers would be familiar with the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement that was basically ratified this summer. And so what that is is historically many of the countries were doing global trading. You would think that a company would trade with its neighbor, but that wasn't happening. So now 30 countries have signed on or have been ratified. And so now they will be trading with each other. So the borders have opened, therefore increasing the opportunities for trade, for distribution models. So for even smaller investors, like Sharifa was mentioning the investment form,

well, that takes a lot of money. Many of our deals start at $50 million. But when you think about investing directly into many of the African businesses, you can have small groups of investors from the United States, from other places that could go in and to work with an industry and certainly get a huge return on an investment. And there's quite a few organizations helping to facilitate that process to make sure that risk is mitigated. All right. How can folks reach out to you all for more information?

Please, please visit us at investafricanow.com. investafricanow.com? That's right. All right. Well, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you very much, Sharifa Smith, as well as Bashir Ahmad. Thank you so very much. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Folks, that is it for us. If you want to support us at Roland Martin Unfiltered, please do so by joining our Bring the Funk fan club. You can support us via Cash App, which is dollar sign RM Unfiltered, PayPal.me forward slash RMartinUnfiltered, Venmo.com forward slash RMUnfiltered. You can also send a money order to New Vision Media, NU Vision Media, Inc.,

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I shall see you guys tomorrow right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Please go to our YouTube channel. Follow us on YouTube and then turn on your notifications so when we go live, you know exactly when we do. Don't forget, folks, it's important that you register to vote. So please do me a favor. We talk about vote.org, but you can also go to another site, I will vote.com. I will vote.org, but you can also go to another site.

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Please do so. I've had people hit me. They have been purged. So please check to make sure you have not been purged. All right. Also, lastly, Virginia State. I spoke of their graduation a few years ago. And so I rocked yesterday, North Carolina A&T. Today I'm rocking Virginia State. This is the jacket that they actually gave me. Of course, the patch over here, they are the Trojans. And of course, they have, that was in 1882, and they got something, what's on the back here? What's on the back? Let's see. Virginia State, Trojans. So that's how the back of the jacket looks. And so there you go. I'm going to wear another HBCU something

tomorrow. I won't, I don't know, I haven't decided whose stuff I'm going to wear. And so I had some of y'all who was... So let me explain this here. Some of y'all been hitting me up saying, what about my HBCU? Here's the deal. Gear that I have are HBCUs I've spoken at, okay? So that's the piece.

So I've spoken at probably 50-plus HBCUs with the Virginia State. And look, y'all Morgan State people, don't be sitting here hitting me up, talking about because, you know, Virginia State says they're the real blue and orange. Morgan State, I spoke at y'all. Y'all didn't send me any gear. So I can't wear Morgan State stuff on the show because y'all didn't give me any gear. So I appreciate doing y'all commencement, but I don't have a shirt or a hoodie or nothing.

And so I haven't decided who I'm going to rock tomorrow, but it'll be another one of our HBCUs, and we certainly support, we certainly thank you supporting them as well. And please support our HBCUs with your dollars as well to ensure they are providing education for our children. All right, folks, I'll see y'all tomorrow. Holla! Thank you. A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways.

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