#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Voting Rights Siege. SCOTUS Guts Voting Act. VA Court Blocks Certification. DeSantis Map Approved

Episode Date: April 30, 2026

4.29.2026 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Voting Rights Siege. SCOTUS Guts Voting Act. VA Court Blocks Certification. DeSantis Map Approved We're facing a significant assault on our voting rights. The Supreme Court has weakened the core requirement of the Voting Rights Act that protected majority-minority districts. This decision will make it much more difficult to challenge discriminatory redistricting maps. I'll discuss this ruling with Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott, Co-Chair of the Congressional Voting Rights Caucus; Quentin James, President of The Collective PAC; and Damon Hewitt, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. In Florida, the state House has passed Governor Ron DeSantis' proposed congressional map, which could enable Republicans to flip up to four seats. We'll show you how Representative Angie Dixon's disapproval of the vote. The Virginia Supreme Court has chosen not to overturn a lower court ruling that blocked the implementation of last week's redistricting election results. In South Carolina, the Lieutenant Governor has criticized students at HBCU South Carolina State University for protesting her speaking at this year's graduation. We'll talk to a former board member and alum about the resistance to her presence. And, in North Carolina, the interim president of Saint Augustine's University has resigned as the school files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and ceases its fight for accreditation. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Today's Wednesday, April 29th, 2006, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. I have been telling y'all for years, Black America, the efforts to defund Black America with the Supreme Court, the right-wing Supreme Court, has severely weakened. one of the most important laws in America history, the Voting Rights Act of 1965. We'll talk about this Louisiana versatility decision. Its impact on how Republicans are already looking at wiping out black representation all across the south. But it goes much deeper than congressional seats. And I'll explain. I'll be joined by Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott, co-chair of the Congressional Voting Rights Caucus.

Quentin James, president of the collective PAC, Damon Hewitt, president and executive director and laws committed for civil rights under law. Folks, in Florida, the statehouse there has passed. Governor Ronald Sandin's proposed congressional map, which could enable Republicans to flip up to four seats. Representative Angie Dixon, who's running for U.S. Senate, she was not happy, and she took to the floor with a bullhorn. The Virginia Supreme Court has chosen not to overturn a lower court ruling

that blocked the implementation of last week's redistricting election results. They still are deciding that as well. In South Carolina, Lieutenant Governor there is criticized. criticizing students at South Carolina State for protesting her speaking at this year's graduation. She even puts out a video slamming the anti-woke group. We'll talk to a former board member, an alum, about the resistance to her being there. North Carolina, the interim president of St. Augustine's University, has resigned as the school filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and ceases its fight for accreditation.

We'll talk to some alumni there as well. Folks, it's time to bring the phone on Roller Mark Unfiltered on the Blackside Network. Let's go. We've been predicting this day what's going to happen. We have talked about the consistent and voting rights and wing Supreme Court today in a six to three decision determined the Louisiana versus Callie case that actually is going to have a major impact on congressional seats, state rep seats, state senate seats, county commissioner seats, city council seats where race was used in the creation.

Now, this is an extremely strange ruling by this majority. They held that Section 2 of the Act, which prohibits states for using maps that dilute minority groups voting power, requires plaintiffs to be able to, quote, disentangle race from lawmakers' race-neutral considerations so that a strong inference may be drawn that race was a factor. What the hell they're talking about? The 60th decision will make it far harder for plaintiffs to challenge future maps for racial discrimination undermining a key understanding of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Now, folks, to further break all of this down, and again, trying to get people to understand what we're dealing with,

they were deciding a case regarding the second black district in Louisiana. Here's the problem. The same Supreme Court allowed the creation of that very district. So the Republicans in Louisiana then tried to sue by saying, oh, race should not. be used as a factor in that. All right. Let's figure out what the hell they were talking about because it is frankly being quite clueless.

David Hewitt is the president, executive director of the Laws Committee for Civil Rights Underlaw. He joins me right now. So, Frat, let's, this, what, this ruling written by Samuel Lillito is all over the place. Elena Kagan, who was one of the three. She says that for all intent and purposes, what they've done is, is turn the Voting Rights Act into a name-only law. Well, exactly.

It's like you have rights on paper, but no remedy, in fact. The court has made it incredibly difficult. It's actually you serve Congress's authority. You know, back in 1982, Lina Gwini and others helped to get the amendments in 1982 to make clear that there was an effect standard that wasn't just intentional discrimination

based on the bad Supreme Court decision out of Mobile, Alabama. Now, Justice Alito, and the majority, of the court has essentially overwritten that by basically changing Section 2 saying, we don't like that. We're going back to the glory days or the way it was. And that means that we have to prove intentional racial discrimination to get any kind of remedy. So this thing is bad all the way around.

But let's just be clear for broader context, Roland, Black people have never had, we've never had fair representation in this country. As long as there have been elections in this country that's been racial discrimination and voting. That's why we needed a Voter Rights Act. That's why we needed a 15th Amendment to ensure that our rights to vote war on the bridge based on race-color prior condition of servitude

as in slavery. And so what this makes, this makes it much less likely that we ever get fair representation. Now, we're not giving up, and we'll talk about that, I'm sure, later. We're not giving up, but this is a tough one. This is a bitter pill to swallow,

and it is devilishly ingenious and its scope because it touches Section 2 and also touches racial jurisdiction. One last point, Roland. Judge deposed against today's decision is yesterday's summary order that most people missed because it wasn't a full written opinion. You know about the Texas mid-decade redistricting. We and others litigated that at the Lawyers Committee and other organizations as well. We won the trial before a three-judge panel.

A Trump appointed judge wrote the majority opinion. He said, this may look like political gerrymandering only, but this is racial gerrymandering. Here's why. He goes on for 60-some-hour pages explaining why. Several weeks ago, this Supreme Court issued a statement, meaning it paused that preliminary injunction. Yesterday, in a very short summary order, the court said, for the reasons we said before, y'all lose.

So here's the juxtaposition. Like, that one he wrote. Exactly, exactly. Here's the juxtaposition, intentionally targeting black and Latino districts in Texas and black and Latino voters for elimination. is not racial gerrymandering to this court. Yet, as you said a few minutes ago,

having a remedy to a violation of black people's rights under Section 2 is racial discrimination, is racial gerrymandering. That is intellectually dishonest. That is hypocritical, at best. That's what we are. And also what it essentially allows for them to do is to say, oh, we can just disperse

black and Latino voters all over the place And so even though they make up almost 40% of Mrs. Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. IR. Radio. Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including IHart Pride Canada, your favorite hits and must have party bangers,

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show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Mississippi, Mississippi has the likelihood of them creating a 4-0, all-Republican district, and say, well, we don't care how y'all may vote.

And the crazy thing is, which we all know, that partisan gerrymandering in the South has been racial. Yes. This idea. that, oh no, these white conservative lawmakers, they're not drawing lines and factoring in race. They are.

That was a heart of Louisiana case. They literally show that even when Democrats are drawing it, it's about race. It always is. It's like racial gerrymandering is the evil twin of partisan gerrymandering or vice versa. They basically are what and what. But we've actually had to sue Democrats before the Llorious Committee

because we're non-partisan organization and anybody can get it when it comes to our rights. We sued Democrats for racial gerrymandering in Illinois when they crack the black community. Right. So, you know, this is the name of the game. It is always about race. It's always about power. Congressman Bobby Scott, this, Justice Lina Kagan said, and I've been saying this as well, that this decision could be the largest wipeout

of black political power since the end of Reconstruction. That's how devastating this decision is. Well, she's probably right. We don't know the exact impact of it, but all you can say good about it is it could have been worse. They could have struck, you're taking the entire voting rights act down. They didn't.

But what lawyer Hewitt was just saying is by requiring an intent, you've made it virtually impossible to prove a case. People are sophisticated. They know what words to use and what words not to use. And as he has indicated, since African-Americans are voting overwhelmingly Democratic and Republicans voting overwhelmingly Republican, you can have a map that discriminates against African Americans. But if you call it partisan that your target was Democrats,

the same map, according to these people, becomes legal. Now, that didn't make any sense. If the map is illegal, that's why the effects test was so much better because if you can show it has the effect of discriminating against African-Africa, Americans, that ought to be enough. Now you've got to show that not only deserve the effect of discriminating, it had the intent, not the intent of discriminating against Democrats, but the discrimination against African Americans. And what they do is they just get the script and read it during the legislative hearings and just declare themselves to be discriminating

against Democrats. And the discriminatory map against African-Americans, and the discriminatory map against African Americans all of a sudden, according to the Supreme Court today, because partisan gerrymandering is okay, that illegal map now becomes legal. It's going to be virtually impossible to create a case against sophisticated wordsmiths who avoid using the wrong words during the legislative hearings. You're just stuck. It is a devastating case. And the devastating impact of these guys, we're in the middle of mid-decade redistricting, as has been pointed out. They've done Texas, they've redone Missouri, they've gone after another seat in North Carolina. Republicans have redrawn, created seven, it eliminated seven districts.

It's interesting to note that of the seven, four of the five in Texas are represented by blacks or Hispanics. Missouri was Emmanuel Cleaver's district. Remember the Black Caucus? Just like Don Davis in North Carolina. Remember the Black Caucus. There is a pattern to what they're doing. So their intent is clear. But to hide it under partisan rather than racial as it is,

it's just making more difficult to prove the case. And so they really sabotaged the Voting Rights Act by doing what they did today. So, Samuel Alito, he writes a 36-page opinion, and he says that the Constitution almost never permits the federal government or state to discriminate on the basis of race. I don't know what world he's living in, but that's literally what the Republican lawmakers are doing in these southern states. And to your point, very few are as dumb as we expect.

They're not as dumb as the idiots, any Republicans were in North Carolina, where they actually put it in emails asking, hey, when are black people vote early? And that's what they said. That was a laser-like targeting of black voters. They targeted black voters with surgical precision. Right. And so they were so dumb, they actually put it down on paper. And what they're now saying is that, oh, no, no, if they just simply say, no, we did not look at race at all. It was race

neutral and no so if we're gonna grab 10% of blacks here and throw them over here and we're gonna grab another percent and throw them over here what they're saying is oh no so hey I know your state might have 30 35% blacks but

hey those black people they don't actually need representation they they should be able to elect a white Republican. What they do though is they look at the Democratic vote which if you do an overlay, it's the same as the black vote. And when you discriminate against the Democrats,

you are necessarily in voting patterns all over the South discriminating against blacks. And they want to get away with it by calling it partisan rather than racial. And I can tell you, they tell them themselves because these people are not against partisan redistricting. There's legislation pending in the House now to prohibit partisan redistricting so you have fair maps, not a Republican co-sponsor. We passed legislation a couple of years ago. It included a prohibition against partisan gerrymandering, and all of them voted against that. If we're going to have fair maps, you cannot allow partisan gerrymandering, and with the Supreme Court essentially allowed that they gave the green light to all kinds of.

of mischief, including racial discrimination, because you can have a racially discriminatory map, but if you declare, oh, I wouldn't discriminate on race, I was discriminating on party, all of a sudden the map becomes legal. That doesn't make any sense. They're discriminated. This is, Damon, this is from Skoda's blog.

And this was interesting, and guys pulled up when you see it. They said, in this case, Alito said, Indiana's goal in adopting the 2024 map was racial. The state enacted it in the wake of the lower court's finding that the 2022 map likely violated Section 2 and sought to avoid having the court imposed a different map that would have created a second majority black district, but which would also have, quote, have in peril one of the influential incumbents and the legislature sought to protect. The state did not have the kind of compelling interest that would have justified considering

race and drawing the 2024 map, Alito wrote, because, quote, the state did not need to create a new majority minority district to comply with the act. That is because at every step of the Gingles framework, the black voters challenging the 22 map failed to prove their two case. Okay, but, correct me if I'm wrong. The Supreme Court allowed the creation of this. They didn't overrule the lower court's ruling. They affirmed it. My homestead of Louisiana violated the Voting Rights Act. In fact, before the Shelby County decision in 2013, every Louisiana redistricting plan,

House at least redistricting plan that was submitted for preclearance was found to be violative, or at least opposed by DOJ or a federal court. Every decennial sentence, every decade. So Louisiana has not changed the stripes. And you're right. That's the starting point is that Louisiana discriminated against black voters, period.

What Alito is saying, I guess, the rest of the convoluted passage from Justice Alito goes on to essentially say that, well, they didn't prove intentional racial discrimination. And unless you're going to prove intentional discrimination, then you cannot have this kind of remedy. But there's another piece of what he said that's really the gut punch to us, to Congressman Scott, to all of us, which is there's no requirement that just because a state could create a second or an additional majority of black. district that it must. But that's been the hallmark. It's essentially taxation without fair representation. It's having so many black people in your state in states like Louisiana, Texas, which still has more black people, I think, your home state, the almost anywhere else. Yeah, more eligible black voters in Texas than any state. Exactly, right? So it's saying that states like that, even, see, what this is ruling is, this is the evil genius answer to demographic shift.

Yes. You know that additional three million people slash voters in Texas over a decade period, which is why Texas was crying that it should have gotten another seat. Right. In Congress, right? So their answers were if we're not going to get an additional seat, we're just going to take more for certain people, right? So the demographic shift, though, was mostly Latino and black voters.

Hold on. Congress got to go. But Congressman, I want to get you the last comment. You still there? Congressman, this is what Damon just said. and I have been saying this year, what all of this is, 2008 was the first time in American history

that a larger percentage of black voters voted for the present election than white voters. And I said then, black people, the war is about to begin. Everything since then has been a massive attack on black voting rights and black political power. And John Roberts, the Chief Justice, has been the biggest driver

because he is always, along with Clarence Thomas, wanted to completely get rid of the Voting Rights Act. Well, starting with the Shelby v. Holder case that provided, it ended the pre-clearance. The pre-clearance was important because if you couldn't pass a discriminatory plan and have it going to effect, it would never go into effect

unless it got pre-clear, it's not being discriminatory. Now you can pass a discriminatory. discriminatory plan, and until the victims of the plan come up with lawyers and court cases and get it overturned, you get to enjoy the benefits of your shenanigans. That really started it. And here we are in the third go-round of the decade, and we're still arguing about what the lines are. This should have been gotten straight in 2022. the first voting, the first go-round in the decade, and you could not install a plan unless it had been

pre-clared by the Justice Department. And so that started it. And since then, they've been chipping away at it. And the idea that you can have a plan that clearly shows a discriminatory effect, but you can't win your case unless you can get them on the record saying something that proves intent. You already have to prove effect, but have to prove intent. It just makes the whole thing much more difficult.

And so we've been going backwards. We're going to fight. We're going to try to pass. If we vote this time and get a majority, hopefully we'll be able to pass a legislation to end partisan gerrymandering. Most of the lawyers I've talked to said that that

could be upheld and that gets rid of all this shenanigans. And then we just have to make sure we vote every time the votes opened. And we had an opportunity in Virginia. We passed a referendum. They will create four additional seats. If we had those four additional seats now, they never could have passed that big ugly bill that took away your health care and snap benefits to give tax cuts to the wealthy.

We could have passed the War Powers Act to end this war. We could oversee ICE. There are all kinds of things that we could combat the abolishing Department of Education. There's a lot we could do if we had those four votes now. So we're trying to make progress with what we've got. But we haven't ended and we're going to continue to fight. But this is certainly a serious blow, which will make that fight much more difficult. Congressman Bob, it's got a Virginia.

We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. I want to bring in, I want to bring in Quentin James with, I want to bring in Quentin James with the collective pack. Quentin, you're all about raising money for black candidates, people who run for Congress, people who run for state office. And when you talk about the South, when you now start talking about Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas. we can go on and on on. We know what's about to happen. These Republican lawmakers are about to go in and say, oh, let's wipe out.

So this is, and I'm telling you, Kagan is right. This is going to be the largest wipeout of black political power on the congressional level since Reconstruction. But this thing is going to go all the way down from Congress to state to county commissioner, courts to water district, you name it, because the Voting Rights Act is what provided political power to black people. And Latinos, y'all better wake to hell up because this is going to include you two. Exactly, exactly. I mean, this is what George Wallace and Bull Connor couldn't do, right? They've taken a knife and put it directly into Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. And as you mentioned, This is about real power, about real seats.

We're talking about up to 19 U.S. House seats from this court case alone. There are other cases pending that we're also going to be paying attention to. So another 27, possibly with gerrymandering. We're looking at 13 and 16 of the CBC members possibly becoming vulnerable due to this ruling. That's 30% of the Black caucus. You mentioned Hispanics, talking about 11%. percent of the Congressional Hispanic caucus. This is a big blow to our efforts to build black political power, as you mentioned, Roland.

I think we saw ushered in through Obama the largest increase in black representation that we've seen in a few hundred years over the past, you know, 14, 16 years. And so this is huge. You mentioned down ballot, right? About 191 state legislative seats are now possibly vulnerable. across these 10 states that you mentioned, Roland. So this is big, but I think this is an attempt, right? We still have the power to try and prevent this at the ballot box.

And I want people to make sure they understand that, is that we have the power to make sure that it doesn't happen, right? You know, 18 million registered black voters in the country right now. If we all show up, not half of us, not 65% of us, if we all show up, we can stop this. But then I want to be critical role in to my party, to Democrats. If we do get power, you have to know what to do with it. I think what we're seeing now from Donald Trump and the Republicans is them using power for their purposes.

If we get power back, we have to make sure we defend the right to vote, and we defend black people and our ability to be a part of this democracy. Quentin, I'm going to Cliff Albright, Black Vot was mad at one second. panelists. I know you're there as well. Damon, I want to go to you. Go to my iPad. Already, I told you it didn't take long. Alabama, this is from AL.com. Alabama Republicans push for a new congressional map after a seismic Supreme Court ruling is time to act. So what they want to do is they want to wipe out. These Republicans, they want a 10-0 map

in Alabama. They want to wipe out the congressional seat of Terry Sewell in the black belt of Alabama. Alabama just got its second black member of Congress in Shemari figures. that was because of legal battle, which the Supreme Court weighed in. They want to wipe that out. But this is all about. They do not forget. They don't want black representation because that means democratic representation.

And so their whole deal is we're about to wipe all of this out. And so they want white people, white Republicans in Alabama for the entire state, a state with a sizable black population. This is like made Congress make the legislature of Gritty Green, quote, unquote. I mean, look, the question is only how quickly will it happen, right? Florida's already moved forward with legislation today. You're talking about Alabama. Mark Elias, his folks have already filed a lawsuit against what they did in Florida.

That's right. So, you know, Alabama's primary is coming up very soon. I mean, there's a primary almost every Tuesday between now and... Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. IAR Radio. Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including IHart Pride Canada. your favorite hits and must have party bangers

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I don't know. You mean it the like the president? You think Canada has a president. You think China has a president. The law crusade. God, I love that thing. I use it all the time. I wrap it in a blanket and sing to it at night. It's like the old Polish saying, not my monkeys, not my It was a good one. It's an actual Polish saying. It is an actual Polish saying. Better version of Play Stupid Games, win stupid prizes.

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Georgia is in May. So part of the problem, which the Supreme Court supposedly locked stuff in, that you could try to change these maps, but listen, you're not altering who's going to be running in these primaries. And so the question is, do the maps stay in place or do they pass the maps and they go into

effect in 28 and not 26? Most of them will likely be 28. It's a question of speed. I think for this midterm, just to be clear, with all your audience, what happens in this midterm is going to be a question of the audacity and the capacity of the evildoers. Can they actually call the legislatures back in the session and move quickly? Florida already did. Alabama may be doing the same. And as the court allow them?

Will the secretaries of state do it? Well, here's the thing. There's no allowance, really, because there's no Section 5 for preclearance. We could file a new Section to claim, but we have to prove intent or a constitutional gerrymandering claim, which also requires intent.

Can we get a preliminary injection or injunction from the court to stop these things? And the ground... I want you to people to understand the ground game that we have and that we need for civil rights, for voting rights. lawyers committee, legal defense fund, Mark Elias on the partisan side,

ACLU, Brennan, and we all litigate so many of these cases. There are not enough civil rights lawyers in our organizations, maybe in this country, to stop the onslaught at every level. But here's the other thing. And again, Cliff Holtight, one second. I don't remember the case, but that case that came out of Arkansas

where they're suing saying that groups like yours cannot file lawsuits, only the Department of Justice. The court above them affirmed that decision. This may go to Supreme Court, so they're trying to suggest that Lawrence Committee cannot file any

voting rights lawsuit that only the Department of Justice can. That's what they call a private right of action. And you were talking off-air about the case we litigated in one in Mississippi. The state was ordered to draw three new legislative districts, black folks won. That broke the Republican supermajority.

Belatedly, the state of Mississippi petition the Supreme Court to say, well, they didn't have a private right of action anyway. So you have Calais, which is rights on paper, no remedy in fact. If Turtle Mountain, that's the Eighth Circuit, the Arkansas case, well, that's a different Arkansas case, but there's another Eighth Circuit case. If that case, Turtle Mountain plus our Mississippi case goes south, you have no, you have rights on paper, no remedy of fact, and no access to the courts. So they're trying to block access to justice every way they know how.

this is bad. This is worse than bad. This is the worst that I've ever seen in my career. It really is, Roland. But here's your deal. Cliff, I'm bringing you in here. They told us they were doing this. They told us.

They were clear. And I know Congressman Bobb Scott said this all started with, Shelby Beholder. No. This started on the night of November in 2008. My book, White Fear, I told people the election of a black president, North Carolina, he wins by 14,100 votes.

The white Republicans in North Carolina, they saw black folks turning out in a way that they've never had. They said, oh, hell no, we stop in this shit, and they changed the law. And what happened was a lot of our people who shut up in 2008, did not show up in 2010. And when 16 legislatures flipped, they said, game on, laws begin to be changed. Then Shelby Beholder came down. Then when the decision came down, they immediately began to attack.

And what we've seen, Clifford, you know the data. We've seen a decrease in black turnout in every election since 2008. And we now have seen, and we show it last week I'm going to pull up and see, we now have seen the largest gap between white and black turnout. And so when we sit out, when we check out, when we listen to these fools who say, no tangibles, no votes, not realizing you're guaranteed to get nothing if you lose black representation.

That's right. I mean, we got to show up. And there's been a lot of inflection points. I mean, we can certainly talk, you know, Shelby, we could talk 2008. We could talk 2000 in the year of Florida. Or we could talk 16, 19. You know, there's a bunch of inflection points

that have brought us to this, to this moment, but you're absolutely right. You know, this, you know, we've got to turn out, and even in this upcoming election, we've got to turn out because there are battles to be won in these midterm elections, even with them redistricting, even as they move forward with, you know, trying to do all these new maps, we've still got chances to flex and use our voting power, this midterm cycle. I think the point that, the question that Clinton raised is critical. If we get power back, right, or the people that we vote for get power back, forget power back, what are they going to do with it? If there's no discussion about Supreme

Court reform, then they're wasting their time. If there's no discussion about new voting rights legislation, then they're wasting time. If there's no discussion, and this is kind of controversial, but at the same time that we're talking about restoring or strengthening the Voting Rights Act, we also need to be taking a hard look at some of the new tools. I've said this before, not so much new tools, with tools that we haven't fully explored, tools that Lani-Wenner talked about proportional representation and things like that that can more structurally get us to representation we need to have without necessarily being as vulnerable to some of these legal arguments around the 14th Amendment, 15th Amendment using or considering race. And so all of that

needs to be on the table, this election cycle. All of these issues are representation. And more importantly, any progress that we try to get through representation, all of that is on the ballot. But before we get there, the thing that I'm really encouraging folks to do, Roland, is to recognize that the battle right now is not on the steps of the Supreme Court. It's in these states. It's in those states that you were just talking about, like Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, we know about Florida, Tennessee. We know that crazy Mashburn is talking about, you know, getting rid of whatever black districts are left there. And so in all these states, the battle right now is in these state capitals at these state legislatures. There are groups that are fighting the good fight,

like our friends, the Power Coalition in Louisiana, right? One of the plaintiffs in the Calais case, you know, there are groups in all these states that are fighting these battles. They need amplification, they need support, they need financial support, they need volunteers. And so if you're looking, if you're upset right now and you're looking for something to do,

yes, we're gonna be talking about the voter mobilization that is absolutely critical, but we also need to be talking about helping these, sister Angie Nixon was on the first, Florida Capitol just today with a bullhorn calling out this nonsense that they're doing in that legislature with that the maps that they just passed today. There are organizers and organizations and legislators in these states that need our support right now. I'm bringing my panel here. So to do a reset, folks, we've got Quentin James Collective Pack, co-final collective PAC,

Damien Hewitt, who leaves the Laws Committee for Civil Rights under law. We've got Cliff Albright co-founder of Black Voters Matter. We previously had a congressman Bobby Scott. He had to go. We got Michael Brown, former chair of DNC Finance Committee out of D.C. Joy Cheney, founder of Joy Strategies out of D.C. Michael M. Hoteb hosts African History Network Show our Detroit. Michael, this was put up by good authority last week.

Go to my iPad. Racial gaps and turnout are increasing. You look at this here. You see right here, the graphic here. White turnout, how it is above 70%. Black turnout dipped. in 2024 below 60%. You see AAPI in the mid-50s, Latino turnout at around 50%.

You look at that line, you see right there, 2008, 2012, black turnout was at its highest ever, and you see it exceeded the white turnout. But ever since then, you see that white number, that black line going up and that blue line going down. Michael, what I have been saying, I have been yelling to black people, is that you can not expect to change politics

if your power is sitting at home. I have been saying that black political turnout has to be at a minimum of 70% turnout to counter white turnout. And what's the problem is, whether it's Louisiana, or so many other places, if we're turning out at 52, 55, 57, ain't good enough.

Our turnout has to be minimum 70. It has to be 75, 78, 80, 82, 85, 90. And if we vote in those numbers, we actually win racists. We win statewide races. You got two folks who are running on the Democratic side for the Supreme Court in Georgia. That's winnable. They just won two seats in the Public Service Commission.

You got the primary coming up, and you got folks who are running for a state attorney general and other races. But we are not going to be able to counter any of this when too many of our people are checking out of the process, picking the couch, but then complaining about what we don't have, what if your ass don't show up,

you're guaranteed not to get a damn thing. You have been talking about it for a long time. You've been screaming and yelling about it for a long time. And politics is not a spectator sport. You have to be involved, and it's all the time, it's not just around election. It doesn't mean you have to focus your whole life around politics, but just as one of your other guests was speaking earlier,

It's also after the election. What do you do to hold folks accountable and keep that pressure up? For example, we've had two, we had the Clinton administration, after Clinton won in 92, had the House and the Senate, did nothing about codifying any of these particular laws. Obviously, same in 2008, when Obama won had the House and the Senate. So we've had these opportunities to do what now Republicans are doing, which is we're not going to play. play around. We get power. We're going to use it. It's time for my party, our party, to stop doing the kind of kumbaya. Let's all get along. Let's be nice. Let's try to figure everything out and work together. We're not at that stage anymore. We haven't been for quite some time.

Because these folks are playing, forget just blood. They're playing to wipe anybody of color out. Yeah. And frankly, and some, and women, too. I mean, I, I, I wish that whether it's Latino voters, black voters, women voters, had a stronger alliance because they're coming after anybody that's not a white male. And so this is serious. And frankly, when Justice Alito writes an opinion like that, all he does is walks down the hall and asks Clarence, you okay with this? But Alito knows the answer.

He knows Judge Thomas is going to say, yeah, I'm fine with that. And so that's also part of the problem. is the Supreme Court. That's where elections do have consequences, making sure we have the judges in there to make the right decisions. We tried, Joy, to Michael's point there, it was a whole bunch of Democrats who said,

oh, no, Roe v. Wade, I mean, that's settled law. There's no such thing that's settled law when a Supreme Court can overrule a previous decision. And so to that point there, if you don't use your power and lock it in, then you leave it up to a new court, decide whatever they want to decide. And that to me right here is where we're faced right now.

And again, on this show, on TV One show, we have been trying to tell people this over and over and over again. And people are now beginning to realize, oh, this is truly FAAFO territory we're in now, because they don't understand when you start wiping out political power, you're wiping out access to billions of dollars. You're wiping out who controls legislation, who sits on committees. And that's what I'm saying. Folk don't understand how significant these decisions are because the cascading impact is real. That's right. I mean, for folks who don't understand their history, they're literally about to live it.

What the Supreme Court did today was to further entrenched a return to Jim Crow. And they're happy to do it. And they do it in the insidious way of saying it's race neutral when they know it's not. They know it's not just look at what they've decided in the past. They're deciding to do it now because they see an opening. And there are white people who are saying this is what we want and it's okay. This is not about politics and just, oh, it's just the majority deciding. No, this is about racism.

And as Michael said, and as you've said, Roland, in the case of gender, it's about sexism. It's about anything that is not white and male. And so I think for those of us who may not have really understood, I know everyone on here did, we are in the middle of a war. And it's not, it's a cold war in some respects. And so for some people that doesn't feel present, and so they're not acting as if they're in a war. But we are absolutely there. We saw it spike in some places on immigration where it felt physical. But for a vast majority of us, it's a war around.

access to benefits, access to resources, access to the ballot, fair representation, all of those things, and we are not acting like it. We have Democrat, excuse me, who are far too passive and comfortable with where we are and understanding that we have to vote. I had an unfortunate conversation with a themingly intelligent young woman a couple weeks ago who said she wasn't going to vote for Democrats and wanted us to fail as to prove a point. And I'm like, I said it, I, you know, I was upset. You know, you are too privileged to sit here and make that kind of statement. Right.

What you are doing is sitting in Washington, D.C., trading away the rights of other people, but soon, too, will be your rights. Right. This is not the time to worry about you don't like Democrats who don't like that. You have got to vote. And as Damon said, many of these things that is a race, you know, it's a time, a race against time, they may not be able to do it all in this election, which means it is very important that we are voting in November. This may be it.

It may be the last opportunity to make a significant difference. Michael, there are a lot of people who should be ashamed of themselves today. And those are the people who told us that Supreme Court was not. not on the ballot. Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. IR. Radio. Canada's number one streaming app

for radio and podcasts, including IHart Pride Canada, your favorite hits and must have party bangers, plus personalized and curated playlists. Like back in the day pride. Come together, celebrate love. Take pride with you anytime, anywhere.

Just ask your smart speaker to play IHart Pride Canada. Stream us on your phone. Or listen now at iHartRadio.ca. Number one hits, millions of records sold, awards, sold out tours. You think that Jonas Brothers are satisfied? Nope, it's podcast time. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions.

Hey Jonas is available now, and their first guest is a big one. Paul Rudd. You know, Steve Carell is a great singer. Can you tell you not to audition at the office or something? I told him. Whoa. We were filming Anchorman. Clearly, I was the idiot.

Thank God he didn't listen to him, right? Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever. you get your podcasts. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. The United States will not stand by and allow any power, however great, take over another country. From My Heart Podcasts, Saigon. Please allow me to introduce Joseph Sherman. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam?

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

Or freedom! Let's get out! Freedom, Mom, it! Run! There's SIGON! Come, out! Freedom, Momit! Everything!

Listen to Saigon, on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about, and they are experts at everything. Here, the Nick Dick and Poll show, we're not afraid to make mistakes. What Kugler did that I think was so unique. He's the writer-director.

Who do you think he is? I don't know. You mean it's the, like, the president? You think Canada has a president. You think China has a president. Those law cruzette. God, I love that thing. I use it all the time.

I wrap it in a blanket and sing to it at night. It's like the old Polish saying, not my monkeys, not my circus. Yep. It was a good one. I like that saying. It is an actual Polish saying. It is an actual Polish saying. Better version of Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes.

Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift who said that for the first time. I actually thought it was. I got that wrong. Listen to the Nick Dick and Poll show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 2016. That was some black people like Breonna Gray

who said, oh, no, this isn't an issue. Well, guess what? We told them they were wrong. We said they were silly for saying it. And what we now see, Donald Trump got three appointments to the Supreme Court. And the reality is if Alito and or Thomas

chooses to retire in the fall, they're going to approve two young Supreme Court justices to lock in that 6-3 majority for a very long time. We keep trying to tell people, the president may only be there for four years, maximum eight years, but Supreme Court justices will be there for life. Absolutely, Roland. You know, you have black elitist like Dr. Eddie Glaude, who was on MSNBC, and he was also on your show, News One now in 2016, telling black people, telling people in general vote for everything except president, leave president.

then blank. Okay? And this, once again, this is a consequence of the 2016 presidential elections. I said it on the show before, not just three Supreme Court justices, but also about 234 federal judges that Donald Trump got put in place as well, which are lifetime appointments also. And I've talked about the Mississippi State Convention of 1890 here before, and I said, these Republicans, these conservatives, and Project 2025 are trying to take black people, back to the Mississippi State Convention of 1890 where they rewrote the state constitution and posed poll taxes, literacy tests, but also a felony disenfranchisement law so that if you were convicted of a felony, you lost your right to vote for life. That law from 1890 is still in place

in Mississippi today, okay? And they said, we came here to exclude the Negro. This is explicitly what they said. This is what's taking place right here today. And you mentioned She'll be County versus Holder. 2013, U.S. Supreme Court case. Well, right after that Supreme Court decision, you had states, many of them former Confederate states, started passing voter ID law. Yep.

Okay. And in the 2016 presidential election, as a consequence of 2013, there was 1,600 fewer polling places. Right. Many of them that were shut down were in black and Latino districts. Right.

So this is 2020, fine. This is what we try to warn people. So all of that, all of that, when you pull it together, Quentin, shows a direct attack on black voters. And so what are you hearing from the people who y'all have supported, maybe you want to support? Because look, look, this is going to impact literally who is representing us on the federal level, on the state level, and the local level. Well, listen, I think a lot of people are ready to fight. You know, we saw Angie Nixon running for U.S. Senate in Florida. but currently in the Florida legislature, you know, getting a bullhorn going and protesting.

That's what we need. We need fighters. But also we need people to be bold, right? I think what we're also seeing is when some of these districts do get kind of shaken like we saw in Texas, you know, we need Colin Allred to go up against another white Democrat. We need black folks to run everywhere, not just in urban centers, not just in, you know, black rule counties. We need you to run everywhere. So we got black candidates running in Oregon, running in Washington State, you know, running all over the country because we know that we can represent as good, if not better than anybody else, everywhere else as well.

But to Cliff's point earlier, we need folks to give money to support these folks down ballot. So find your state representative, find your local folks running maybe for a county commission, whatever it might be. These folks were going to need your financial support over the next few months because they know people are talking about. coming against them. As I was mentioned, you know, we are at war right now. And so we need folks to dig deep. We know the economy is really tough. But we got to keep our folks in power over the next few months and into this 2026 election so that we can legislate our way out of these kind of problems around Jeremy. Damon, what's the next for civil rights groups? This is a blow. This is not a, this is not a, this is not, I'll see people like, oh, well,

it's not too bad. No, this is, this is, seismic. This is seismic. What's the next number one is we're all huddling internally in the cross to figure out immediate strategies to stem the tide right now for these midterms because

the state of play is not clear. There's not a lot of time for these folks, but those who can find a time will take it and leverage it. Then we have to have a game plan for every state and every district we can get to. Not just house, U.S. House. Like you said, it's all across the states working with

community parties, people on the ground about how we can stop even worse things from happening in the state legislatures for next year and also for 2028. But then we also have to do what Cliff said. Roland, we have to get new strategies, whether that be alternative voting methods, whether that be new statutory frameworks. We're clear, we can't fix what happened today by a federal statute. But the least Congress could do is actually give us a more robust version of the John Lewis Voter Rights Act than we've ever had, right?

So that's the least that we can do. So we're going to be in those fights overall. But look, here's the truth. Things are going to get worse before they get better. We have to be prepared for that. We have to understand that we're suffering some losses, but we have to keep our strategic mind about us. As I'm telling my team now, it is our duty to fight.

It's our duty to win. And if you believe all of that and all the rest of it in between, then we can't give up now. We have to fight, if not harder, at least smarter. Cliff, it heard dissenting opinion. And Justice Elena Kagan said she described this creation of a district, a circle. And she said, in this not so hypothetical, she said the state legislature decides to eliminate the circle district, slicing it into six pie pieces and allocating one each to six new, still solidly white congressional districts.

The state's black voters are now widely dispersed, and unlike the state's white voters, lack any ability to elect a representative of their choice. election after election black citizens votes are by every practical measure wasted that is racial vote dilution in its most classic form a minority community that is cohesive in its geography and politics alike and that faces continued adversity from racial division is split cracked is the usual term so that it loses all its electoral influence members of the racial minority can still go to the polls and cast a ballot but given the state's racially polarized voting They cannot hope in the way those states white citizens can to elect a person whom they think will represent their interest.

Quentin talked about, again, how we still have to vote. And Damon said the same thing. I've said the same thing. If there is a moment that this generation has to, pardon my French, wake the fuck up and realize we can have to have, have all of these, the conversation Joy was talking about. We can have all of these esoteric, you know, silly-ass conversations. But what we had better understand is that there is a side that wants to wipe out, and I call it defund black America, they are targeting everything political, economic, legal,

health, they're targeting the entire black infrastructure. They believe that the three reconstruction amendments, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, they believe the 64 Civil Rights Act

and the 65 Voting Rights Act and the 68 Fair Housing Act. They believe the downfall of America is a result of civil rights law, and these laws, not discrimination, and the only thing that we have to stop them is the power of the ballot box. And so what is your marching orders for people between now as a result of this decision and what must happen now? Yeah, I mean, you know, again, the first marching order is to protect these states where all this redistricting is to be taking place.

But to your point, the other marching orders for us to, as you said, to wake up to make the connections. You know, what's interesting is that you got a lot of folks that will agree with you about, oh, yeah, they don't like us out to get us these are bad policies, you know, but, you know, but I haven't felt it yet, right? That's like that's something that we've actually seen in some of the surveys and focus groups. Like, oh, I haven't felt it. And there are people that still, for whatever reason, are not connecting the dots to whatever it is that you are feeling is directly connected to this issue. Like if you're upset because gas prices are highs or housing affordability, guess what? That's a function of not having representation or of being represented by people who are anti-Black who are anti-your-life. Those things are directly connected.

Whatever thing it is that people are feeling right now, you know, feeling the effects of this war that this country is in, or like I said, the prices or the high unemployment for black women and for black men or maternal mortality, The crazy man Kennedy was testifying in front of Representative Summer Lee talking about maternal mortality, and he didn't even want to acknowledge that black women die in birth and higher rates than other women in this country. That is what happens when you don't have representation. They can literally control your health, your well-being, your lives, your economics. So all these issues that we're feeling, all of the frustrations that we're having, all the stresses that we're having in our lives, one way or another, it comes back to, do you have people who are representing you, who have control of resources, who literally have control of significant parts of your life?

That's at stake when we're talking about voting rights or redistricting. It's not theoretical. It is the thing that very much connects to every issue that you care about, everything that affects your quality of life. At the end of the day, comes back to who is making decisions over your life. Once you can connect those dots, then you know that your mandate, your job, your one your black job is to get out there to not just get out and register and vote yourself but then go get 10 other people go get 20 other people to spread the work to become an organizer because that is our belief that everybody we touch is an organizer if we all do our job of going out

doing our part and then touching 10 other people whether we're touching with our voice or with our artwork or with our kitchen or with our faith or whatever it is if we do our part then they can't stop us. But if we refuse, if we give up, if we don't believe in ourselves or don't believe that this voting process matters, then they've already won. And that's just not the story of

our history in this country. Cliff All right, Black voters, Banner. We appreciate it. Quentin James Clifton, James Clifton. We'll appreciate it. Dame Ellen, read this last one for you for your final comment. Justice Kagan wrote this here, writing for the three justices who dissented.

Under the court's new view of Section 2, state can, without legal consequence, systematically dilute minority citizens' voting power. Of course, the majority does not announce today's holding that way. Its opinion is understated, even antiseptic. The majority claims only to be updating our Section 2 law as though through a few technical tweaks. But in fact, those updates eviscerate the law so that it will not remedy even the classic example of vote dilution given above. Without a basis in Section 2's text or the Constitution, the majority formulates new proof requirements for plaintiffs alleging vote dilution. Those demands meant to

disentangle race from politics leverage two features of modern political life. Racial identity and party preference are often linked that politicians have free reign to adopt partisan terrimanders. Here she's saying it. is don't fall for the okie-dote. This isn't, no, we just reformulating. No, she's saying, no, you're trying to completely gut the law without saying you're gutting the law. The only way we can make sense of these horrible decisions,

not just today but over time, is through the dissenters, like Justice Kagan, Justice Sotomayor, and, of course, Justice Jackson. Elena Kagan ain't never lie about this, for sure. She is telling the exact truth. And it reminds me of that Harvard and UNC affirmative action case that we also litigated and argued in the Supreme Court. The court didn't say it was overruling precedent. It underruled precedent, right?

It basically said, not that much to see here. We're just bringing things into contemporary context. Something really crazy for textualists and originalists, people who say you got to look to the way things were 200 years ago. But here's the deal. Our superpower is not just our stereotypical resilience. Our superpower is our ability to innovate. Our superpower is our ability to push through and persevere,

and it's through all the means that all the panelists said, but also by voting. But people, I need everybody to make a plan. We have a lot of people out there who don't know what they're supposed to vote because they've changed polling sites and polling hours and early voting and mailing voting requirements so many times in the last few years alone. We have people who don't know if they're actually still registered because they've been purged.

The best way not to be personal roles is to be a chronic voter. But right now we need everyone to check their status. Call 866 our vote. That's the election protection hotline. It is our vote for a reason. It is for us, by us, but we serve everyone to make sure that people understand the rules of the road. They understand where they stand. And also, you can vote in time for these primaries, if it hasn't happened.

in your state already, and you could also vote in that general election. Make sure you are situated, that you are registered, and that you know how to vote your issues, how to vote on your interests. Damon, the Laws Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Folks, the Congress of Black Caucus held a news conference today discussing this decision. This is what they had to say.

So let's tell the truth. Plainly and without apology. American democracy has never been fully formed and has never been equally accessible. Every inch of progress in this country has been fought for, one through struggle, through resistance, and through the courage of people this nation tried to leave behind. We did not become a truly multiracial democracy until the Voting Rights Act of 19. 1965 enforced the 15th Amendment because black Americans demanded the right to be seen, heard, and counted. That progress was paid for in blood, in sacrifice, and in unbreakable resolve.

And now, 60 years later, we are watching that progress be ripped away. With this decision in Louisiana v. Calais, the Supreme Court, court has opened the door to a coordinated attack on black voters across this country. This is an outright power grab. It's about silencing black voices, dismantling majority black districts, and rigging the map so that politicians can choose their voters instead of the other way around. We have seen this before. We know. exactly what this leads to, and we will not go back. For years, we've sounded the alarm on the Voting Rights Act, as the Voting Rights Act was chipped away piece by piece, today the consequences

are here and they are dangerous. Let me say this clearly. The legitimacy of this court is in crisis. This is not the court of Thurgood Marshall. This is not the court of that delivered Brown v. Board of Education. This is not the court that expanded freedom and moved this nation closer to its ideals. This is a court that is turning back its back on that legacy and on the people it is supposed to serve. But we're not powerless. And we're not back. And we're not back. backing down. The Congressional Black Caucus is prepared to take any measure necessary to protect black voters in this country. We are demanding an immediate vote on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and we will not accept delay, obstruction, or excuses.

And we will go further. We will fight for Supreme Court reform. We will pursue term limits for justices, and we will do what it takes to restore integrity, accountability, and trust because no institution is above the people it serves. Today's decision by this illegitimate Supreme Court majority strikes a blow against the Voting Rights Act and is designed to undermine the ability of communities of color all across this country to elect their candidate of choice. But we're not here to step back. We're here to fight back.

Now, when this decision came out earlier today, it's an unacceptable decision, but not an unexpected decision. Because this isn't even really the Roberts Court. It's the Trump Court. Yes. And what we would expect from the Trump Court is an effort to,

continue their scheme to suppress the vote and rig the midterm elections and beyond. Because these extremists have failed America in every possible way. They failed on the economy. They failed on health care. They're failing as it relates to this reckless and costly war of choice. The extremists have completely and totally failed America. So they've concluded, aided and abetted by the Trump. court that they have to cheat to win.

Yes. But the reality of our experience, our journey, now more than 400 years, is that we view a setback, and this is one, but we view setbacks as nothing more than a set-up for a comeback. That's right. And America has the great opportunity to keep the comeback going by exercising your right to vote in November. and making it clear that it's not Donald Trump or his Supreme Court majority that should be the ones to decide who gets to represent you in Congress. It's the American people. Now, they've tried to do everything they can, particularly in the aftermath of the 20-08 election.

They've tried to do everything that they can to a... Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. IR. Radio, Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including IHart Pride Canada, your favorite hits and must have party bangers, plus personalized and curated playlists. Like Back in the Day Pride. Come together, celebrate love.

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

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

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

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

Let's get out! Freedom, bomb it. Run! Saigon, starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict. Sting, here's madness. The world should hear about this. There's a fire coming to this country, and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about and they are experts at everything. Here at the Nick Dick and Poll show, we're not afraid to make mistakes. What Coogler did that I think was so unique. He's the writer-director. Who do you think he is? I don't know. You meet the like the president? You think Canada has a president?

You think China has a president? You think China has a president. the La Croixette. God, I love that thing. I use it all the time. I wrap it in a blanket and sing to it at night. It's like the old Polish saying, not my monkeys, not my circus.

It was a good one. I like that saying. It is an actual Polish saying. It is an actual Polish saying. Better version of Play Stupid Games, win stupid prizes. Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift,

who said that for the first time. I actually thought it was. I got that wrong. Listen to the Nick Dick and Paul show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Eliminate and erase our journey, our struggle, our march in this country toward a more perfect union. And now we're at a point where affirmative action is gone, diversity is gone, equity gone,

inclusion gone, racial tolerance gone, the Voting Rights Act largely gone, but guess what, extremists, we're still here and we're not going anywhere. And we believe in this country. Not a perfect country, but we recognize that what we've been given is a march toward a more perfect union. And at this moment in time, we're urging everyone to summon the courage,

the character, and the conviction of those heroes like John Lewis and Rosa Parks and so many others upon whose shoulders we stand. Yes. They had to fight through moments of turbulence, trials and tribulations. But every single time, they fought through those moments and were able to usher in a new error of progress. And that's what this moment represents right now. It's turbulent.

It's chaotic. It's extreme. But all of us are going to summon that courage, that character, that conviction, and show up and stand up and speak up for what we know is right. to get this situation turned around. We will not let their scheme to rig the midterm election and beyond be successful. Folks, Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, she said, y'all want to fight?

This is how Demons must fight. Them to just hide that intent instead of actually address and prevent and protect Americans' voting rights who are at risk, and especially communities, I think, in the south of the United States, but it really affects every American across. Should New York respond in kind by doing its own redistricting once the amendment passes? I have long felt that we all have to play by the same set of rules.

And the Republican caucus has made it very clear that they want and are setting rules of partisan gerrymandering. The Democratic caucus has tried to pass nonpartisan gerrymandering for 10 years. Republicans have rejected it. And so we have to all abide by the same rules. And so if Republicans are going to redraw North Carolina, if they're going to redraw Texas, if they're going to redraw and gerrymander every one of their states, then unfortunately we have to provide balance to that until we get to the day when we can all finally agree to put this behind us and pass nonpartisan gerrymandering federally. This graphic has been floating all around social media. It says current map Democrats hold 24-7. seats in these states. Possible redistricting scenario, Republicans gain 12 more seats. You look at this map, you see right here on the left. You see the blue.

You see three in North Carolina, one in South Carolina. You see two in Georgia, two in Alabama, one in Mississippi. You see two in Louisiana. You see the ones in Florida. This likely could be the map, none in Louisiana, none in Mississippi, none in Tennessee. which means majority black Memphis, no, they may get rid of that. None in Alabama. One in Georgia.

None removing Clyburn, none in South Carolina. Basically only having one in North Carolina and having one, maybe two in Florida. What has been talked about, Joy, is that if Republicans want to go that hard, Democrats should do a 52 to zero map in California. Democrats should do a 17 to zero map in New York, I'm sorry, in Illinois. And New York, Governor Kathy Hokels already said she's meeting and saying how should they respond. Listen, damn, damn, all this cute and being nice, if Republicans wipe out 10 to 15 black seats in the south, you damn, Skippy. I want to see a 52 to zero map in California.

absolutely I have not always wanted to see this I'm like aOC many of us wanted to have non-partisan gerrymandering we can't have that so we got we got to match energy with energy we have to do that this is a war and there are things that you're doing war and rules that you have that you might not have in polite times so yeah if they do one thing we have to do the other because that will also give them pause we have seen in other states where you have republic legislators who say, you know what, I don't want to be a part of that. And there may be some Democrats. So we got to match energy for energy. If we're seeing it over there, we've got to respond in kind. Because what's at risk is the 13th, 14th, 15th amendment, but women out there,

ladies, pay attention. Pete Hedgeseth put up a pastor and is normalizing a man who wants to repeal the 19th Amendment. Guys, they are in, they have a plan. that involves everyone who is not a white man. But what we really know is they are tricking these poor white men because what they really have is a plan that only benefits an oligarchy of rich white men. That's where we're going here. So any and everything by any means necessary, we have to be of that mindset now,

whereas we might not have been that way before. So if you are a white friend of Joy Cheney's who's on here, I need to see you posting about this. I need to see you talking about this. If you're a women's rights advocate as I am, that's where you do a lot of your work, I need to see you moving on this. I need to see you writing about this. I need to see you talking into your families about this. Yep. Blowing up the table about this.

Yep. Because that's where we are right now. And everyone has to vote. So that young lady that I had to give a curse and a curse, to the founding farmers a few weeks ago, I'm sorry, but it was deserved. Michael, she was talking about it is stupid.

Michael, Marsha Black. And we've got to say it. Marsha Blackburn, who's running for Governor Tennessee posted this, I urge our state legislature to reconvene to redistrict another Republican seat in Memphis. It's essential to cement Donald Trump's agenda in the Golden Age of America.

I vowed to keep Tennessee a red state and as governor, I'll do everything I can to make this map reality. So what she's saying, Michael, is she wants to see a Republican represent a majority of black city in Memphis. Now, remember, there were two Democratic seats in Tennessee. Now there's only one because they split Nashville into four different congressional districts. Memphis is pretty much still intact, represented by Congressman Steve Cohen. He's, of course, being challenged by state representative Justin Pearson.

And then this is how people responded. They said, okay, Marcia, if you want to see all. red Tennessee, this is what Illinois should look like. They said Illinois should look like in all blue state. They said, okay, Marcia, you want to see an all red, you want to see an all red Tennessee. They said, we can play that game. Let's have an all blue California. Then they said, again, having an all blue Indiana. You start talking about how do you look at Colorado. Let's take that, you know, that state leader, the Senate leader in Maryland did not, want to a redistrict in that state was being pushed by Governor West Moore. Well, guess what?

If Republicans start wiping out these seats, then that damn Senate president and those black senators in Maryland to get some damn guts and wipe out the Republican seat in Maryland. This is real simple. This is warfare. Political warfare, Supreme Court is unleashed, and this is how you fight fire with fire. Time of bringing a knife to a gunfight. And, oh, I don't know which Mike. I'm sorry. I'm going to go to you next. Emotep, go.

All right. All right. Yeah, I agree, Roland. At control room, y'all got to get Michael Brown's echo straight, so please fix that. Emotep, go. Okay, yeah, I agree, Roland. We have to fight with those tactics and redraw those maps. That's part of it.

But the other part is if there is equal voter apathy like there was in 20,000. 24, well then if Republicans have a higher turnout, then we're going to lose once again. So in addition to redrawing those maps, we have to focus on the policies that really impact the African American community. We have to invest in organizations like Black Voters Matter. We have to have the ground gain to really do the door knocking and engage people on the ground to get them to actually vote. Okay, so we have to have all of that together. And really, and lastly, when I talked about 1890 Mississippi,

that's one of the reasons why the 1965 Voting Rights Act was needed and signed into law to counter what happened in, and counter all those obstacles to the 15th Amendment of 1870. So this is what these conservatives, what these Republicans, have been planning for decades, okay? And I have to give it to them. They're persistent. They're like the energize a bunnies of white supremacy.

They just keep going and going and going. They don't give up. Michael. Michael, go ahead. Well, I think we're still having some technical problems, but I'll try it, rolling. The issue on folks being ready and being mobilized relative to these courts, it's time to do what we need to do, well and whether those numbers and I know some Democrats well we don't want to do

that we don't want to go that far we have to it's this it's time it's this this this is this is 1963 64 65 it's time you know Rosa Parks she thinks she wanted to sit in the back of the bus anymore she said it's time and I think we're at that point now where it's time traditionally states and make them all. And then if they want to do the same thing, maybe this has to just be that way for a while until we get back to saying, hey, let's figure it out the right way and have non-partisan dairyman.

All right. There's some blue states. We're having some issues with Michaels. Let's get that straight. So let's do this here, folks. I was going to go to a break, but I'm not going to do that. South Carolina state students have been protesting the decision. to invite the lieutenant governor of Florida, excuse me, of South Carolina to be the commencement

speech speaker. A protest have been taking place. They got a petition. More than 3,000 people have signed the petition. If you want to understand how wild, deranged, and crazy this magna lieutenant governor is, Pamela Evette, she literally posted this video a few hours ago on social media in response to the protest. Well, I was at the White House today I heard about what's happening on the campus of

SC State University. Let's be clear, facts Trump feelings in the real world. President Trump and conservatives have done more for HBCUs than any administration in history. I must be doing something right because woke mobs are coming after me for being a champion of eliminating radical DEI scams on college campuses. So bring it on. Just like President Trump, I'll never back down or bend a knee. to the woke radicals.

I'm ending DE high on campuses once and for all. Stay tuned. I'm going to have a lot more to say about this later. In the meantime, I look forward to celebrating commencement with the students and faculty at SC State. First of all, she lied about Trump and HBCUs. But guess what? She's not going to be speaking.

This just in President South Carolina State President Alexander Conyers tells students that he has withdrawn her invite to be the commencement speaker, listen. Yesterday, what I saw today, college students exercising their free rights, one that I swore to protect, one that I served 28 years in the Army willing to give my life for. So how someone can confuse what happened and perhaps because that person wasn't here and that

person got second or third hand information. But I certainly sat in a two-hour cabinet meeting yesterday without even knowing students were downstairs. So again, what you have done for the past two days, I must admit, you've done exactly what I did some 35 years ago here as a student on this same ground. Now, with that being said, we can't pull back what's out on social media, we can't pull back what people think. But I certainly don't want people to think that the students here at South Carolina State University,

future educators, doctors, lawyers, attorneys, scientists, business owners, or thugs, or think that they are mob. And I welcome anyone on this campus in the state, in this nation, to come onto this campus and have a constructive dialogue, exchange ideas and viewpoints with our students with you. Because I know I've watched many of you for four years now, and I know that you can hold your own against the best of them. And with that being said, I know the temperature in the country now, and because of what's out there now, I don't want anyone showing up on this campus

thinking that something is different and not knowing what those thoughts may lead to. And I certainly would never intentionally place our students, our faculty, our staff, our visitors in harm's way. And with that being said, because of that, because of the unknown, because of we don't know how everyone thinks, I've made the decision to rescind the invitation to the lieutenant governor to speak at your commencement. At any time to engage and have a dialogue with us, with you, with different viewpoints, because that is important. But graduation is not the time for that. So we will not have that graduation at that graduation. Again, so again, you've heard my statement.

Where are my student leaders? Everybody. Our SGA president, Vice President, the entire board, E board, E. Board, EORIA court. I want you to know that they've advocated for you, they've expressed your concerns to me, and I've listened to those concerns, and I've made a decision,

and we will continue to go forth and do great things. So again, my student leaders, if you would, if you would like to have it one-on-one with me, we will continue to do that like we always do. But at this point, I will not take questions. So thank you all very much. Go through the dogs. All right, so I'm not sure why,

literally we just played the video straight from Twitter, so not sure why it was sped up. South Carolina State University Representative, uh, alum, and a former board members, Hamilton Grant joins us right now. So your response to that decision by the president, it seems that video by the lieutenant governor calling students a woke mob backfired on her.

Absolutely, Roland. Thank you for having me. I think this shows the power of unity. This was a student-led protest. So I must give a shout out to a few people, Zaria Tucker, who's the SGA president, Olivia Ratliff, Ms. S-E-S-S-U, the entire,

court of South Carolina State and student leaders, they rallied to the call to make sure that their voices were heard. They were not standing for someone who is ultra-mag who has not shown any support to South Carolina State University, who is one of the candidates who is leading the effort, as you all just showed, to drawing out Congressman Jim Clyburn, who is an alum of South Carolina State University out of Congress. And so the students said, we are not standing for that. And what are awesome message that it shows that the students and the young people of South Carolina State University, their voice

matters. So all the shout out to them. See, the thing here when you have someone who is a lieutenant governor of the state, and this is a state school, and what she did was attack these students, calling

them, again, using all of the MAGA buzzwords, woke mob, anti-D-E-I, and also, lying. Donald Trump's new budget calls for massive cuts to HBCU funding. It's a lie that Donald Trump has done more for HPCU than any other president. It's a lie. It's just a flat out lie. And so, and then for her to basically say, oh, yeah, I'm coming. I'm going to have a lot more to say when I come. You don't want that BS at your graduation. And look, I get, listen, I was a 2014

commencement speaker at South Carolina State. They gave me an honorary degree, had a great time with them. And so this is your graduation. You want to be able, you know, I take pride in giving commencement speeches that students come up to me 10, 20 years later saying, man, I still remember what you had to say. Thank you so much. You don't want somebody who's a partisan hack who insults the first students, you know, practicing their First Amendment rights as your commencement speaker. That's right. Roland, let's not forget what this is. This is a weapon of mass distraction. Here you have the current lieutenant governor, the state of South Carolina, who is running for governor, but also running third and fourth in the polls. Here's for context for our viewers

out there watching, South Carolina will pick the first governor or a new governor for the first time in 10 years. Then lieutenant governor Henry McMaster, when Governor Nikki Haley went to serve in the Trump administration, the lieutenant governor McMaster finished her term, and then won two consecutive terms. So he's in his 10th year of being governor in the state of South Carolina. So anything that walks, talks, or sounds the most like Donald Trump in conservative South Carolina is probably going to get the nominee to go into November's election. And so right now you have a lieutenant governor who people thought would be a frontrunner running third and fourth in the polls doing everything that she can in a hell-marry attempt to sound like Donald Trump.

And again, it backfired. And so I think that when we look at what the students were able to accomplish, and when we look at these MAGA buzzwords, here's what I want to tell to our people. We've got to stop inviting MAGA to the cookout. They've showed us who they are. They showed us what they are about. And so opening our sacred space and platform to them, on HBCU campuses, homecoming, and graduation is sacred. why allows somebody who brings that level of discord and then doubles down on that hatred

to the students that they're supposed to be uplifting for commencement that has no place at South Carolina State University and I hope all HBCUs take the same stance and not inviting Magda to the cookout because they don't want to be part of it. Let me be very clear and I think a lot of people also need to understand something because there were some people who were angry

when Senator Britt of Alabama was invited to be the keynote, be the commencement speaker at Tuskegee. You had a Republican in Georgia who was invited, who gave the commencement speech on Saturday at Morehouse School of Medicine. He actually, though, was the graduate of the Moorehouse School of Medicine and was the student body president at the Morehouse School of Medicine. And let's be clear, okay, I need people to understand. If you are public HBCU in Florida, in Mississippi, in Alabama, in Louisiana, in Texas, in South Carolina, in, let's see here, in Tennessee, you have Republican governors, Republican legislatures.

The people that control the purse strings, they are Republicans. and these schools have to wreck, look, they're trying to get research dollars, they're trying to get government funding, and we get that. But there's a difference between, in the case of Senator Britt, listen, she secured millions of dollars for Tuskegee in research, and guess what? That's what she's supposed to do, because she's one of two United States senators, and they are a school in that state, even though they're not a public institution.

But there's a difference between Republicans in leadership who are supportive of HBCUs and then somebody who is bringing that type of rhetoric to the table. So what they're basically saying is I'm looking to gin up a fight. As opposed to, as the president said, when he said that she was invited because of her record as a business, go to my iPad. she was invited because of her record as a business leader and entrepreneur as a founder and former CEO of a company that grew from a start of Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. IR. Radio. Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including IHart Pride Canada, your favorite hits and must have party bangers, plus personalized and curated playlists like back in the day pride. Come together, celebrate love. Take pride with you anytime, anywhere. smart speaker to play iHeart pride Canada. Stream us on your phone.

We'll and listen now at iHeartRadio.ca. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it.

We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember I think it was on a call about what we should call it And we were thinking I'm originally calling it

One of the early names of our band Before Jonas Brothers This is how you guys remember it going down Yes I have a very different memory of this We were talking about a thing A bit for the podcast For people could call in and say hey Jonas And then I wrote down on my little notepad

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

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

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

Coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about and they are experts at everything. Here, the Nick Dick and Poll show, we're not afraid to make mistakes. What Coogler did that I think was so unique. Who's he? He's the writer-director. Who do you think he is?

I don't know. You mean the, like, the president? You think Canada has a president? You think China has a president? Los Wauque Rousette. God, I love that thing. I use it all the time. I wrap it in a blanket and sing to it at night.

It's like the old Polish saying, not my monkeys, not my circus. Yep. It was a good one. I like that saying. It is an actual Polish saying. Yeah. It is an actual point. Better version of Play Stupid Games win stupid prizes.

Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift, who said that for the first time. I actually, I thought it was. I got that wrong. Listen to the Nick Dick and Paul show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. To a billion-dollar enterprise, he said that's why she was invited. But she decided to say to turn this thing really, really, really political. Absolutely.

And let's be very clear. She did not invite herself. So while I'm glad it is that the president and the administration made the right decision to rescind the offer, In my opinion, the offer should have never been given in the first place. Lieutenant Governor Evitt has always showed who she is. I'm the co-chair of the HBCU caucus here in South Carolina, along with Senator Dionne Tanner, who's another South Carolina State alum. And when we launched this initiative, we had support of our Republican President of the Senate, the Republican Speaker of the House, the Republican Governor of this state. Not one time did we ever receive any support or statement from the lieutenant governor.

Not one time has this lieutenant governor served in the General Assembly and been responsible for allocating funds to South Carolina State University or increasing the heat funds that would allow private HBCUs in the state to get some more funding as well. So this whole notion of being able to invite this person or invite individuals because somehow it's good for HBCU business. because they can slide us in on the budget on the front end when they show no track record of supporting HBCUs in the front and the first part. I think we've got to have a better conversation about what this is. This is not a business decision. We are not pimping out our HBCUs for the potential of elected officials coming so they can get good photo ops and do nothing when it comes to the budget. The Biden administration sent Governor McMaster a letter a couple years ago along with other HBCUs across the country that

land-grant institutions, South Carolina State would show that it was owned half a billion dollars of underfunding. And so we have not made enough progress, in my opinion, to increase that funding. So we still have work to do. But potentially inviting a gubernatorial candidate that you think may be a frontrunner or that you think may become governor leaves so much up to happenstance. And if that person doesn't win, then we're stuck at square one. So I think we've got to be very, very specific on who we allow in our spaces, what kind of conversations that we're having across the aisle, and how do we

make HBCUs important to all races, in all parties. And so I think that's the main message and takeaway that we need to be looking at from this from a policy standpoint here in South Carolina. And I'll take Grant. We're really appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right. Go to my panel here.

I mean, the question really is. And I remember Michael when Betsy was her name, DeVos, when she got invited to be the speaker at McDon Cuckman and there were protests. But there have been other

when Texas Senator John Corning was invited to speak at T-SU students protested. I think that was also pulled as well. And the bottom line is, what these students are saying is I don't want to hear somebody who frankly wants to take me out. I totally agree, Roland.

And, you know, I've said before, when you have commitments like this for colleges, universities, especially HBCUs, the graduation is for the students graduating. It's not for the faculty. It's not for staff, anything like that. So I think that the students should be involved in choosing in their commencement speaker because it's something that's going, they're going to reflect back on for probably the majority of their lives. And to pick somebody like this, I was sitting here

listening to this MAGA idiot, Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evitt, who set up being lied about HBCU funding. And HBCUs received $17 billion from the Biden-Harris administration over the four years of Biden Harris. So not only are you lying, but you can't count either. And to call these, this is the HBCU for people that may not be familiar. This is the HBCU that also originally gets funding from the land grant colleges from the Moral Act going back to 1862 and 1890. Okay. And for her to sit up here and spew this venom and echo these. right-wing MAGA talking points. I mean, it's just an insult on top of

the insult. So I'm proud of these students for standing up and protesting like they did and also protest at the ballot box and vote these MAGA idiots out of office. Joy.

You know, I'm big on accountability. I'm really glad that this student honed in on the fact the lieutenant governor did not invite herself. This was a huge error. If the administration doesn't know how to handle these things. They need to ask someone. This is not the first time.

You've had a black institution within a state where there is Republican leadership. Invite them for a tour. Let them give a speech somewhere and some side, you know, place, but to invite them to homecoming. It's such an insult. It shows that you're not connected with the students on your campus. You're not listening to them. You don't understand what they're looking for, what their families are looking for. what their families are looking for.

It tells me you're out of touch. And then to have someone who you've invited, then insult you by being disrespectful to the community base, which says she doesn't respect any of you and was planning to come there and disrespect you and figuring that you would have nothing to say about it or do about it. This was a gross mistake on the administration's part,

and that has to have some accountability for it. There need to be some understanding of what was the decision tree. And let me just say this to everyone. I'm an AKA I won't bring what happened. Friends, if you are in a position of leadership, everyone does not deserve the right to your platform. You don't have to give everyone the right to your platform. It's always about what's your brand, what matters to your constituents.

And in this case, it's students if you're on a college campus, no matter what college campus. And it's one thing if the student body is a mixed mind about it, then that's a different story. But even there you want to bring someone who brings people together, not tears them apart. Especially at commencement, this was a gross error in judgment, and the board and they need to understand the decision tree

that allowed them to pick someone who was on the record is disrespectful to the college campus, both the students that go there, but also just in tone and tenor, this is really important, and it's a reminder to all of us who even operate in bipartisan spaces, as I do. Yep.

Not everyone has a right. There are many Republicans out there. You don't have to pick the most incendiary ones. All right, got to go to a break. We come back. Drama in North Carolina, St. Augustine's file for bankruptcy. We'll discuss that next right here

on Rollin Barton. Filted on the Black Star Network. With medicine and science under attack, I want to keep you and your family informed and healthy. I'm Dr. Ebony Hilton, and I knew at the age of eight that I wanted to be a doctor. So I studied hard and became the first African-American female anesthesiologist hired at the Medical University of South Carolina since this opening in 1824. And I always say I was made into a doctor, but I was born to be a mom.

And as a new mom, wife, sister, daughter, and friend, I understand how frightening a medical crisis can be. I care for individuals on some of the worst days of their lives, and it's my mission to provide you with a safe space to gain clarity on issues affecting your mind, body, and soul. I recognize that there are health disparities, particularly as it pertains to race, and I want to help bridge the gap between you and your health care providers. Join me every Thursday for Second Opinion on the Black Star Network, where each week I'll invite experts from various medical fields to share the latest health groups. We'll discuss topics such as a vaccine debate, mental and central health, medical bias, infertility, menopause, andopause, nutrition and aging. Together with my medical colleagues, we aim to provide you with a second opinion. Don't miss it Thursdays only on the Black Star Network.

My name is Bill Duke and you're watching. Roland Park Unfiltered. Folks, we've been covering for a long time the drama with North Carolina at St. Augustine's University. They now filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection to restructure its debt. The university, one of the oldest HBCUs in the country, has been fighting to remain open amid multiple lawsuits and being millions of dollars in debt. According to court documents, the university estimates its assets between $100 and $500 million, with debts ranging from $50 to $100 million. The largest creditor is the IRS with more than $14 million owed, along with millions more to state and federal agencies. This, of course, we've seen lots of drama here.

You're talking about they've had multiple presidents, change in board leadership. We've been trying to get their new board chair to come on the show to talk about the vision, but they've been declining. I'm literally emailing them right now saying, hey, when can we get them on? So I would hope that Sophie Gibson and Angela Williams, who was the associate vice president of global marketing communications, would actually come and talk. Now, why is this important? Bottom line is this here. You can't be an HBCU and asking black folks to step up and help you out of a situation, but then you don't want to come talk to black folks. Folks need to know what's going on.

They need to be aware of what's happening with this institution. there are students, their alumni who actually care about St. Augustine's, and they want to be able to help. But when you have had an administration, as we said, we've invited multiple presidents, multiple board members, the last two board chairs to come on the show to discuss it, they have not. You might remember, we went down to North Carolina. We had a live broadcast talking to alumni about what was going on there, getting an understanding of all the various issues, talking about them because we care about our institutions.

Well, one of the folks who was there was Stephen Williams, the former National Alumni Trustee elect of the board. Now, mind you, he was elected to the board, but they wouldn't let him take his position. He joins us right now. Stephen, glad to have you here. I mean, that still was crazy. You were elected to the board,

and the board refused to allow you to actually serve. Yeah, absolutely right. And before we go into a rolling, thank you for everything that you've done and to help us with getting this message out to the atrocity, because what we call it is the theft of a 159-year-old university. So, yes, I was elected to the board by the alumni, the national alumni, and the board blocked me from being seated. And I had to rerun for my seat, and hopefully I'll retain that. I won't find out until May 8. the elections were already, you know, done and ended. So hopefully I've retained my seat and we'll see what happens. But this news is, it's heartbreaking.

This is something that no alumni wanted to ever see. And it's we, it's almost like not having, not knowing what's going on in your own household and you're walking in into everything has changed. And this is basically what happened with our university because this board of trustees has never had a conversation with alumni. And it's just been, you know, pulling, trying to pull teeth to even get a dialogue or email or response. I mean, even today, we were planning on, you know,

dates to go there and clean up and, you know, clean up the caverns like we normally do. you know, my group that I helped co-found, FAPAs Unite, we were, you know, in the lead of that. And they sent out an email reply saying, we can't come on campus. And again, we're just coming on to clean up. So, and it's funny that they say we can't come on campus,

but 75% of the board that city now has never touched down on the campus. So that's really a really funny statement that they sent out tonight. Well, and I mean, here's the thing. Look, I'm not a graduate of the university. I'm not from there. I'm somebody who's on the outside looking at this. And I'll be honest, this gives me the impression that there are a group of people who are trying to sabotage this university

and, frankly, sell off it in parts. That's what it feels like. Like, why would you continue to accrue debts? Why would you continue to begin to, oh, how are you not negotiating with people? How are you still entering bad deals? I mean, it is just insane to me to watch what has been going on the last several years with this institution. Let me tell you this.

So the worst thing about it, I mean, all of that, what you're saying is right. You're right on point. But they've taken three drawdowns. And as you know, they took three drawdowns from a company, basically, Gothic Ventures that, you know, yielded them, you know, a loan for $30 million. And they took three drawdowns of that, which was that 24% interest with a one and a half percent prepayment penalty on top of that. So none of those funds were used to do anything, any structural thing to the university. they didn't pay employees, all of those people that are listed.

If you even look at the bankruptcy filing, and those individuals that are old, those are a lot of students. They were supposed to give refund checks back to the students. So a lot of those students named that are on there, they never received it, but it's funny because the administration, the previous administration said all the students were remitted refunds.

So that basically now contradicts what that administration said. So now you're sitting back and you're looking at all this stuff. And we have buildings that have been broken into. This board couldn't even raise enough money to get two-by-fours and wood buildings to cover up the glass that had been broken up, just to cut off the entry rates for vagrant so they couldn't get in. I mean, we have archives that have been broken into and salvaging. I'm going on record to say the Delaney's sisters' furs have been stolen from the campus.

So when you see those and you know that that's gone, they never even tried to secure that area. That is still open. Fathers United, we just raise enough money now to actually get some cameras put in those areas to secure the church, because the church was broken into as well. And we have cameras up there, which we're going to put in security so they can see. And then we have cameras that we're going to put on the backside of the school right where they were entering, where really security can't see from their advantage point where they're on campus. So it's those things that we're doing.

This administration, this board of trustees, couldn't even do that, and they haven't done anything. But still and yet, they sit in their seats and they sit and sit there and watch all these things happens and they don't kid. They don't talk to alumni. They don't do any of these things. And the question we asked them,

what did you do with those funds that you took from Garthic Ventures? because you didn't put them back to where they belong. Now the university is left with that debt. So why are you here and why are you sitting in that seat? When actuality, that's for somebody who really loves the institution, who really shows that, look, this is what it means to love this HBCU. We're going to fight for it to get our accreditation back. And, you know, it may take us 10 years to even accomplish that.

but the more they sit in those seats, the long is going to take us to, one, get our canvas back, two, start working with our community partners to bring a certificate program so we can do certain things. Because right now, we're just looking at, it's very embarrassing

because we're better than that. Our university's better than that. They graduated a lot of individuals that were successful in our lives. I mean, there are people right now. Dr. Robinson, Prezell, Robinson is still alive and the seat.

And I hope to see all this happening, I know that's disheartening for him. And because it's disheartening as an alum from me. So really and truly, I don't know what to really say about this board, but you're head on because if somebody really loved a university, they would do the right thing and remove themselves. Because right now what they're doing is just showing that as, individuals of color, we don't know how to operate a business.

Well, we're going to continue to cover this. Keep trying to get them on them, to explain what's going on. And again, if you need help, reach out. But trying to be quiet makes no sense whatsoever. And again, so board chairs Sophie Gibson. We were trying to get her on the show since she took the position in August. And they keep saying she's unavailable, unavailable, unavailable. Well, we're here five days a week, Sophie.

So if you want to come on on the show, come on, y'all, come on. Got, got you. If you want to come on the show, let us know. All right, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. All right, thank you, Roland. All right, folks. Quick, you know what,

let's just go back to our Blacksler Network headlines with Brittany Noble. A black man is planning to sue the New York Police Department after two officers violently beat them during a raid on April 14th. The incident took place at a liquor store in Brooklyn where Timothy Brown was arrested by two detectives, Volcan Madden, and New York.

Michael Allegro. The detectives mistakenly identified him as a drug suspect. Brown says that his life has been permanently altered due to the violent beating that he endured. His attorney claims that Brown suffered permanent injuries to his leg and now requires the use of a cane. Brown is now seeking $100 million in damages, alleging excessive force, civil rights violations and misconduct. Now, prior to the incident involving Brown, Detective Madden, had received. 12 complaints dating back to 2016, while the other detective had eight complaints dating back to 2013. New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani has launched the city's first Office of Deed Thief Prevention to combat property fraud and protect homeowners from illegal displacement. This office will detect fraudulent activities, provide legal assistance, and coordinate with law enforcement.

For the current fiscal year, the office will operate on a 500,000. budget, which is set to increase to $1 million next year. The office was established on April 24th, just days after the viral arrest of the city council member Chi Ose, who was protesting the eviction of a longtime president of Bedstein in a case identified as deed theft. Now, Mamdani says that the office will collaborate with residents all to prevent similar predatory practices from affecting others. Additionally, members of the city council's progressive caucus, are urging Governor Kathy Hokel to implement a temporary eviction moratorium in cases where deed theft is suspected. Well, students and alumni are currently fighting to prevent the sale of Martin University,

which is Indiana's only predominantly Black College. The group is asking a court to block the sale of the campus, arguing that the shutdown has disrupted their education, employment, and future opportunities. Some students claim that they completed their coursework but never received their degrees, while others report difficulties in transferring or continuing their education. One plaintiffs stated that he was forced to withdraw from a Ph.D. program at Walden University because his financial aid account at Martin remained active. And the lawsuit also alleges that the university failed to provide a clear teachout plan,

leaving students without a viable path forward. Hundreds of people gathered on Chicago's far south side to say farewell to Skyway Lanes, that the city's last black-owned bowling alley, which officially closed the stores on April 26th. Despite a viral fundraiser that kept the alley going for another year, rising costs, declining league participation and necessary repairs, ultimately forced this second-generation family business to close. For decades, Skyway Lanes was not just a bowling alley.

It was a hub for celebrations, community events, and connections among residents. And on its final day, long-time customers, took home, signed bowling pens and cherished memories marking the end of an era. The owners say that the building will soon be sold. For the second consecutive year, Howard University in Washington, D.C. has been recognized as Forbes' top historically black university in the country. The university ranked number one on its 2026 America's top colleges list. Forbes evaluates colleges based on several factors,

including return on investment, student debt, graduation performance, alumni salaries and postgraduate success. However, its consistent rankings at the top highlights university's strong academic reputation, its alumni influence, and its status as one of the most prominent HBC youths in the nation. Folks, don't forget to check out the breakdown of Brittany Noble every single day right here in the Black Star Network, noon Eastern. Again, the breakdown with Brittany Noble every single day at noon Eastern. All right, folks, we told you early about the drama in Florida.

Well, the State House approved a new map for U.S. House. districts that Governor Rodos Santos proposed, which seems to give Republicans a pick of four seats currently held by Democrats. Republicans currently hold 24 or 28 seats by Democrats holds seven. DeSantis shared the mat with Fox News before any lawmaker got a chance to view it. Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. IR Radio.

Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including IHart Pride Canada, your favorite hits and must-have party bangers, plus personalized and curated. Playlists like back in the day pride. Come together, celebrate love. Take pride with you anytime, anywhere. Just ask your smart speaker to play IHart Pride Canada. Stream us on your phone. Or listen now at iHeartRadio.ca.

Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, for people could call in and say, hey Jonas,

and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. The United States will not stand by and allow any power, however great,

take over another country. From My Heart Podcasts, Saigon. Please allow me to introduce Joseph Sherman. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? I should stop talking so much. I like hearing you talk. One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam.

I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire. Do you rate me? They're pouring petrol all over him. He's holding matches. I'm on a landmine. For free time. Let's get out. Freedom for Vietnam.

Run! Saigon, starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict. Sting, here's madness. The world should hear about this. There's a fire coming to this country, and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about, and they are experts at everything. Here, the Nick Dick and Poll Show, we're not afraid to make mistakes.

What Kugler did that I think was so unique. He's the writer-director. Who do you think he is? I don't know. You mean, like, the president? You think Canada has a president. You think China has a president? Los Wauque Rousette.

God, I love that thing. I use it all the time. I wrap it in a blanket and sing to it at night. It's like the old Polish saying, not my monkeys, not my circus. Yep. It was a good one. I like that saying. It's an actual Polish saying.

It is an actual point. Better version of Play Stupid Games, win stupid prizes. Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift, who said that for the first time. I actually,

I thought it was. I got that wrong. Listen to the Nick, Dick, and Paul show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And again, it was passed in the House and the Senate, Democratic State Representative Angie Dixon.

She was not at all pleased of what happened in the House, and she let it be known. Representative Persons-Mollica has way closed the question now recurs on final passage of HB1D the clerk will lock the machine and the members will proceed to vote have all members voted have all members voted the clerk the clerk will lock the machine and announce the vote 83 yay's 28 days 28 days mr. speaker show the bill passes read the next bill

none on the desk mr. speaker now that was the vote that took place in the house It passed 2117 in the Florida Senate. And someone actually posted a video earlier and I saw it on social media and they said that, they said, you know it was shameful in Florida when it passed in the House, excuse me, in the Senate, and nobody applauded. They said, normally when they pass bills,

they absolutely applaud like you heard there in the House. But clearly, they say they were, they knew what was going down right there in the Senate. And the issue that you still see, issue that you still see here is that the actions, and they've already been sued. The actions here, Michael, they could very well still be in a violation of the Florida Constitution, and that's what we're seeing right here. Yeah, Roland, I was reading the piece from the New York Times about this,

and that's a possibility they're in violation of the Florida State Constitution. Lawsuits are going to be filed. But, you know, the fight continues. So we have to understand these people don't care anything about the rules, though. So that's the only thing. So we have to be vigilant. We have to really engage with the ground game. And in Florida, so we've had this conversation.

before about building the infrastructure in Florida, investing in Florida. This is what has to take place, but also African Americans, especially in Florida, have to understand the threat that is there, okay? And, you know, you have Ron DeSantis who is doing the bidding of Donald Trump, who endorsed this and pushed for this. And, you know, these people, this is all our fight for power. these people don't care anything about rules okay so we have to continue with this but also understand you know and the history keeps coming back into this right because when you study floridas

when they rewrote their state constitution in 1868 they imposed a felony disenfranchisement law where if you were convicted of a felony you lost your right to vote for life they specifically did that to target African Americans who were 48% of the state population. Okay, where that Florida disenfranchisement law stayed in place until 2018 when people like Desmond Mead, who you interviewed here on the show, Rowland, got it put on the ballot to get it overturned. This is how wicked these people are. So, bravo to that sister, but these people are, this is a blood sport,

and these people are playing for keeps. And again, what you have is you have their joy, a state where Democrats have been flailing in the last several election cycles. And we had Nikki Fried on the other day, who chairs the Florida Democratic Party, the state party. They've been doing very well this year. Baumlana is the only way. I keep saying, listen, the only way to beat them, you've got to beat them at the ballot box. You got to overwhelm the ballot boxes. You have to overwhelm—let. Let me just say, I'm from Central Florida. You have to overwhelm the ballot box. If you are an organization on the ground, if you are a church on the ground, you have to be encouraging your people to vote, you have to be educating them on this topic. You have to be getting people in. If you are a candidate, I don't care of any race, if you are not going out there and you are not talking about it in every place you find voters who are in this case, Democratic

voters, you have got to get them motivated to vote. If you are a nice white person, my neighbors, etc. We need you out there putting your actions where your mouth and you say your supposed values are. This is not enough time to be a good neighbor. A good neighbor in this case means going out there and voting and getting these people out of office. They are anti-democratic. We can go back to playing Democrat and Republican later. Right now, it's do you believe in democracy where everyone has a seat in the table or you don't. There is or there are no two sides on this war.

Do you believe in democracy or you don't believe in democracy? That's it. That's it. That's where we are right now. And these people are racist. We have to use the right word. I never use that word. I literally don't.

But now we are faced with it and it's very apparent. They are sexist. They are homophobic. They are bigots. We cannot continue to allow them to run roughshod and take over the entire electorate, not with a free or free market of ideas, but by tricks, by trying to. to eliminate the competition, all of that.

Unfair practices, changing the rules. Even in violation of the Constitution, they understand that they can get a lot done in the interim while we try to undo it. They understand what they are trying to do. So you have to be smarter than they are. You have to be more prepared than they are. And if you are someone who's funding at the national level

and you're funding these states, please look at small organizations who are on the ground in Florida and elsewhere. They need your resources to do what I just said. We're in a war. It's not one we're going to be violent. Yep. It's one where our violence is in our activities and in our willingness to disenfranchise. Yeah, and Baumannas, again, we're going to keep saying this.

If you organize and mobilize, they can be beaten, but that has to happen. And unfortunately, many folks are going to have to learn the really hard lesson in now being the receiving end of lots and lots of pain as relates to this. Folks, final story on Friday, the prayers for the nation and world gathering will take place. Nate Miles was the founder and host of prayers for the nation joins us right now. Nate, tell us about this what's going to be happening on Friday. Good afternoon, Roland, and good evening to people around the country. We're going into a program called Prayers for the Nation. Live. And what this is is an opportunity for people, interfaith program, for people of all races and faith to come together and say prayers, uplifting stories, talking to one another, have a dialogue about kind of what's going on right now and really uplift some hope in the country right now because we're kind of at one of those.

points in the country where and in the world for that matter where people feel as though things are a little bit depressing and and when it starts to get depressing and divisive anxiety runs high we believe that we can always turn to God of whatever faith you are you can turn to God and you can say a prayer you can come across and you can see a prayer you can tell your neighbor you can tell your friends you can tell family members uplifting stories about something that has happened and be able to really make a difference in their lives and turn around what they were doing and what they were saying.

How we're going to be doing? How long does this broadcast on Friday? It's going to be three hours long. It's going to be 5 o'clock till 8 o'clock p.m. Pacific time and 8 o'clock to 11 o'clock on Eastern time. It's going to be great. You're going to hear from some great leaders across the country. Derek Johnson from the NAACP, JotaK. Edie from the Win with Women,

Sister Dr. Gina Stewart, some of the people on there. And we may even get a word from yours truly, Roland Martin, to bring a word. It's one of those great opportunities for us really to hear from some of our leaders to join us in prayer, to join us to talk together about some of these things that's going on. all kind of civic leaders, religious leaders, who will be getting together and talking about this. And so it's a great opportunity. And it's not one of the things about this, Roland. It's not a one and done.

We're going to be doing this because we know that this is not the last time. There's going to be something going on, whether it's a war overseas, whether it's something here in this country, that prayer is going to be needed for. And so that's really what this is all about. How do we come together? How do we pray for some young people? We want people to know that we're not gathering for a show. We're gathering for impact.

We're gathering so that people can come, listen, getting excited. Once again, you were just talking about what's it going to take to get people motivated and get their faith back and get them to doing something. Because as I've been talking to leaders around the country today, faith, as we always here at church. Faith without action is dead. So we want people to be faithful. We want them to get out there and get in the streets and

start taking boots to the ground and making some things happen. You only make that happen when you're willing to get out there and work to make some things happen. That's what we plan to do for three hours on Friday. Please, if you want to participate, get on nation.live.

Prayers, plural for the nation. Live. We want you there. please tune in. All right. Nate, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. We appreciate you too, Roland.

Thank you so much. And thank you for all you do each and every day. You give Black America and this country a chance to be heard and you encourage us each and every day. Keep it up, brother. We appreciate you.

We appreciate it. Thanks a bunch. Let me thank Joy. Let me thank Michael, Michael Imhotep, as well as Michael Brown, for being on today's show. All right, folks.

That is it for us. Tomorrow, we are going to be broadcasting lives Shreveport, Louisiana, where Dr. Kevin Washington is leading a two-day event that deals with the mental health of black men. We're going to be at Mount Canaan Baptist Church in Shreveport, live 5 to 7. And so please come on out.

Of course, it was there in Shreveport. Oh, that brother killed eight kids and shot two women Sunday before last. And, of course, that city is still, still really from that. So we're going to be there on Thursday. Friday, we're traveling to Mound Bayou, Mississippi. That, of course, is the oldest black town in the United States. And that's where Donald Trump is sending white Afrikaners who came here to farm. And so what the hell's going on there?

We're going to be talking to city leaders talking about a number of things there. So we're going to be on the road, Shreveport tomorrow, Mound Bayou, Mississippi on Friday. please spread the word and look forward to that. Folks, that is it for us. Don't forget support the work that we do, the ability of us to be able to travel to these places. We're not being paid to go to Shreveport, to go to Mount Bayou. We're about leaving the studio, getting out there talking to people.

But your support is critical. A lot of y'all, I went to the mailbox today. Man, packed with a bunch of envelopes I got to open, y'all. So packed with money orders and checks. So please give me some time. actually do all deposits but and i appreciate that uh y'all sit a bunch of packages too so i got lot of stuff i got to open and i appreciate all of it but do me a favor folks uh please your support is critical and and i'm not joking when i say that we really got to have 20 000 people

contributing on average 50 bucks each a year uh which we're raised a million dollars uh that is so important because we don't charge for this content we don't charge for um the other five shows um we could we could we could go to Patreon, we could go to some other way, we could create a subscription account. We don't want to do that because we want our content to be widely available. For folks to be able to access it anywhere. That's why we stream on YouTube. We stream on Facebook. We post our content on social because we want as many people as possible to be able to access.

So your support is critical. And so Keenan sent me a text. We have, 37,000? What is it, Keenan? He sent me the number last night. Hold on because I sit on the air. give me one second since we launched this show we have had let's see here he put it in group me or did he say it to me directly uh i think you put in our in our chat so let me roll up i want to

give you all the actual number um so since we uh launched this show September 4th uh 2018 we have had 47,9001 dollars 47,9001 dollars 47,9001 donors we're getting closer to course the 50,000 and listen it'll be great if we got 3,000 tonight the 3,000 listen it's more than 3,000 who are watching right now and if you have not donated 3,000 people tonight gave us on average 50 bucks that I raised 150,000 dollars and so it allows for us to pay staff to pay travel to pay all the expenses that we have and they're real it's $195,000 a month I know I cut the checks and so if you you want to contribute to us via cash app, use a Stripe Cure Code, you see it right here.

That's also the credit cards. If you want to see and checks and money ordered, make it payable to Roland Martin unfiltered. PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 2,003-7-0196. PayPal's Rmartin unfiltered, Venmo's RM unfiltered, Zail at Roland Smartin.com, rolling at Roland Martin Unfiltered.com. Download the Blastart Network app, Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. If you want to get our Roland Martin unfiltered swag, please go to shop blackstar network.com.

And we've got our hats and t-shirts and hoodies, our shirt, don't blame me, but for the black woman. Also, Magna chose between woke or broke. They chose broke, black-owned media matters. All of our stuff right there on the website, so go to get it. And also, all the products that you see right here, these are all black-owned products. These, all these companies are available on our shop blackstar network.com marketplace. We created this as a way for black owned companies to be able to interface with our fanbase. And so when you support these companies, when you buy these products, you also are supporting this show as well.

So we'd appreciate it. Go to our marketplace and support these black owned companies at shop blackstarnetwork.com. Don't forget, folks, download the fanbase app. So follow me at Roland S. Martin. So we appreciate that. Check out Brittany Noble every day. With a breakdown of Brittany Noble, every day, noon Eastern, right here, the Black Star Network every Thursday.

Check out Second Opinion with Dr. Ebony Hilton. We stream it every Thursday. It's going to be 11 a.m. tomorrow. And then, of course, we'll restream it tomorrow night. Let me thank everybody who joined us last night for our great discussion with about black men, black women, domestic violence, with Egonla Van Zat. If you missed it, go to our YouTube channel.

You can check it out a fantastic conversation, one that you really, really don't want to miss. And so it was a fantastic conversation. So we're working on more conversations. And again, tomorrow, I am broadcasting live from Shreveport, Louisiana. That's right. We're going to be there in Shreveport. I'm going to be at Mount Canaan Baptist Church. If you're there, tell folks we're going to be there.

We'll look forward to that. So I can't wait because we're talking, join him with Dr. Kevin Washington, who's really focused on Black men's mental health. It's mental health form. And so we look forward to being there. Folks, that's it. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Right here. Rolling Bart Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Hala! On hits, millions of records sold.

Awards, sold-out tours. You think that Jonas Brothers are satisfied? Nope. It's podcast time. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Hey, Jonas is available now, and their first guest is a big one. Paul Rudd. You know, Steve Carell is a great singer. Can you tell you not to audition for the office or something?

him. Whoa. We were filming Anchorman. Clearly, I was the idiot. Thank God he didn't listen to me, right? Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. From I Heart Podcasts, Saigon.

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

Well, it's beautiful out there, sunny and 75, almost a little chilly in the shade. Now, let's get a read on the inside of your car. It is hot. You've only been parked a short time and it's already 99 degrees in there. Let's not leave children in the back seat while running errand. It only takes a few minutes for their body temperatures to rise, and that could be fatal. Cars get hot, fast, and can be deadly. Never leave a child in a car.

A message from Nitsa and the Ad Council. On paper, the three hosts of the Nick Dick and Poll show are geniuses. We can explain how AI works, data centers, but there are certain things that we don't necessarily understand. Better version of Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes. Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift, who said that for the first time? I actually, I thought it was. I got that wrong.

But hey, no one's perfect. We're pretty close, though. Listen to the Nick, Dick, and Paul show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.