#RolandMartinUnfiltered - VP Debate Debrief, Biden Harris Hurricane Damage Tour, Project 2025's Black Impact

Episode Date: October 3, 2024

10.2.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: VP Debate Debrief, Biden Harris Hurricane Damage Tour, Project 2025's Black Impact LIVE from Montgomery on the campus of Alabama State University.  I'll talk to the university's president about what's happening at the HBCU founded during Reconstruction. Here's what else is coming Up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. We'll talk to the Harris-Walz campaign's co-chair, Keisha Lance Bottoms, about last night's debate and how the campaign will push toward election day.  The Black Voter Project's second wave of survey results is in. Founder Christopher Towler will discuss whether black attitudes toward the presidential candidates have changed in the past few months.  President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spent the day touring Hurricane-ravaged areas in South Carolina and Georgia.  We'll also talk to a Philadelphia reporter who identified the top 10 proposals that could impact Black Americans with Project 2025. The DOJ indicted nearly 70 white supremacists in California. And the cops connected to Breonna Taylor's death are hit with new charges.  Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox  http://www.blackstarnetwork.com The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Hey, folks, today is Wednesday, October 2nd, 2024. Coming up on Roland Martin on the focus, streaming live on the Black Star Network Network and the campus of Alabama State University. Homecoming week. I'll be speaking tomorrow. Be broadcasting here during today's show. We'll be chatting with the president of the university, talking about HBCUs, talking about, again, how this university is doing post-COVID. So we'll have that conversation. Also, we'll talk about last night's vice presidential debate between Senator J.D. Vance as well as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who won, who lost, as well as a new ad.

The Kamala Harris campaign has dropped regarding that particular debate. Also on the show, the Black Voter Project, their second wave of survey results are in. You know, we've been focusing on black polls that specifically focus on African-Americans. Chris Patola is going to be here breaking down their new survey. Plus, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris travel to South Carolina as well as Georgia to tour those places ravaged by Hurricane Helene, still causing significant damage. More than 150 people are dead and they still are searching for folks who are still missing. Also, we'll talk to a reporter with the Philadelphia Tribune about their front page story on Project 2025 and its impact on African-Americans. Plus, the DOJ, I keep telling you all, elections have consequences.

They have arrested some 70 white supremacists in California. So we'll tell you about that massive line of arrests that took place today. Folks, it's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin, Unfiltered, on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got whatever the piss he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it blips, he's right on time.

And it's rolling. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all It's Rolling Martin Rolling with rolling now He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best

You know he's rolling. Martin! Martin! Folks, it was a big night last night. The first and only vice presidential debate between Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as well as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Both of them squared off for 90 minutes on the CBS debate. A lot of folks are talking about, of course, the exchange dealing with January 6th. That's been the focus all day. The campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, they actually dropped an ad immediately after last night's debate. Watch this. It's really rich for Democratic leaders to say that Donald Trump is a unique threat to democracy when he peacefully gave over power. He is still saying he didn't lose

the election. I would just say that. Did he lose the 2020 election? Tim, I'm focused on the future. That is a damning non-answer. America, I think you've got a really clear choice of who's going to honor that democracy and who's going to honor Donald Trump. Folks, joining us right now is senior advisor for the campaign, former mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms. Always glad to see you. How are you doing? Hey, Merlin. Great to see you, too. A lot of folks obviously talked about that exchange, which resulted in that particular ad there. And even some of the networks where they had their undecided voters, they said that answer, that lack of non-answer from Senator Vance,

played a role in them deciding they're going to actually vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. Yeah, you know, that was a very impactful moment and very telling. We are in 2024, and still, J.D. Vance and Donald Trump refuse to acknowledge that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. And I think the biggest takeaway for all of us should be just how far will they go? We saw what happened January 6th in 2021. Trump has doubled down on all of the hateful things that he seems to be very proud of. Even just a few minutes ago, I saw that he's even mocked President Jimmy Carter on his 100th birthday. This is a very vile man who has put a very vile man on the ticket with him.

And if our democracy is not protected, then we should all be concerned. Well, it's interesting. Vance took some questions today and a reporter asked him about uh that particular answer and he said hey uh only he said the media is obsessed with looking back to the 2020 election i'm looking forward and i'm going uh nope the dude who picked you to be his running mate is still obsessed with the fact that he lost in 2020. Yeah. And even in Georgia, we have this Georgia elections vote, elections board that's gone rogue. This elections board's attempting to make sure that in Georgia there's a hand count. Remember, we had millions upon millions of people to vote in Georgia. They're asking for a hand count, which of course will delay the election results.

They are looking back at 2020, reopening and opening investigations into the elections of 2020. And even Governor Brian Kemp, Republican Governor Brian Kemp, our Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, our Republican Attorney General, Chris Carr, have all said that this is ludicrous and we need to move on. So I greatly appreciate when people put party aside and they look at what a democracy is supposed to be and how it should function. And I think that's what bravery is all about. And it's so unfortunate that J.D. Vance is not brave enough to even stand up and say, let's get past 2020. He lost the election. Let's look forward to 2024. If you can't acknowledge that Donald Trump lost in 2020, it just makes you wonder what will they not acknowledge when we hit this election season that's

actually upon us as we speak. New polling data came out showing anywhere from a three to five point lead in multiple states, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and also very tight in Georgia. We're going to talk a little bit later with Chris Toler with the Black Voter Project. And one of the things that he says that the vice president can still build on her black numbers. There still is some softness among young black voters, specifically black men 18 to 35. What is the campaign strategy over the next 33, 34 days to really lock and load on driving those numbers up, especially in critical battleground states? Hey, listen, Roland, I've got young people in my house. I have a 22 year old who voted for the first time in the 2020 election cycle. I know that Donald Trump

has been in his social media feed for the past four years. He's now even sending mailers to our home, one, sometimes twice a day. So he's not taking young voters for granted, especially young African-American men. I've checked in with a lot of friends to see if this is happening across the metro Atlanta area. They have told me absolutely that the young men in their households are being targeted with mailers. And I think we all need to take note of that because we can't sit on the sidelines and take anybody or anything for granted. We know how Vice President Harris has delivered, along with President Biden, for the African-American community. You're at Alabama State, $16 billion given to HBCUs. That's generational changing

for HBCUs. Black unemployment at an all-time low. We know that with the child tax credits, the black poverty rate for children was cut in half, student loan debt forgiveness, insulin caps at $35 a month, and the list goes on. But if we are just talking to ourselves about it, it's all for naught. So I am not taking for granted that my 22-year-old son is going to vote the way that I'm voting or that he'll even vote at all because young people have a lot that has really, you know, made them disillusioned with politics. But I think the disinformation and the misinformation that's been fed to them over the past four years is really having an impact. So I'm talking to my son and so many other young people. And I know that the campaign is doing the same about what's at stake and why it matters.

And also reminding him and others that sitting out an election is just like voting for Donald Trump. He wants nothing more than for young black men, for young black women to sit at home and not be engaged in this election. Well, I can tell you, I have nine nieces, four nephews, and if any one of them told me that they may not vote, they may not be breathing. Because I guarantee you what won't be happening, I guarantee you what won't be happening, there will be no cash apps, Zelle, PayPal, Venmo. Matter of fact, they won't be eating at Sunday dinner.

It's going to be real rough in the Martin family if any one of them say they're not going to vote. Yeah, and listen, it will be the same way in my household. But the bigger point is that there are a lot of young people who just aren't happy with politics right now. And we can't take them for granted. We can't just assume and threaten them into voting. It should be something that they want to do because it's about their future, too. And that's why I said I'm not taking for granted how any young person in my life is going to vote or even if they will show up to vote. And it's important that we hone in on our messaging, which we have done. I'm very pleased that the campaign has taken this very broad approach to how we are communicating.

We aren't just doing it by press release. You know, we're reaching young people where they are through TikTok and Instagram and other social media platforms. I think that's important. But nothing beats someone in your ear, in your house, in your community talking directly to you about the importance of voting. All right, Keisha Lance-Bowens, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. All right, folks, going to go to break. We come back. We're going to chat with the president of

Alabama State University talking about what's happening here on this campus in this, well, I still hate to say post-COVID world, but that's really what we'll call it. Again, we'll be right back on Roller Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network, live from Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama. He told us who he was. Should abortion be punished?

There has to be some form of punishment. Then he showed us. For 54 years, they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it, and I'm proud to have done it. Now Donald Trump wants to go further with plans to restrict birth control, ban abortion nationwide, even monitor women's pregnancies.

We know who Donald Trump is. He'll take control. We'll pay the price. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. I get it. The cost of rent, groceries, and utilities is too high. So here's what we're going to do about it. We will lower housing costs by building more homes

and crack down on landlords who are charging too much. We will lower your food and grocery bills by going after price gougers who are keeping the cost of everyday goods too high. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message because you work hard for your paycheck. You should get to keep more of it. As president, I'll make that my top priority. In 2016, Donald Trump said he would choose

only the best people to work in his White House. Now those people have a warning for America. Trump is not fit to be president again. Here's his vice president. Anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States. It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year. His defense secretary. Do you think Trump can be trusted with the nation's secrets ever again?

No. I mean, it's just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our nation's security at risk. His national security advisor. Donald Trump will cause a lot of damage. The only thing he cares about is Donald Trump. And the nation's highest-ranking military officer. We don't take an oath to a king or a queen or a tyrant or a dictator. And we don't take an oath to a king or queen or a tyrant or a dictator. We don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator. Take it from the people who knew him best. Donald Trump is a danger to our troops and our democracy. We can't let him lead our country again. I'm Kamala Harris and I approve this message. Bob and I both voted for Donald Trump. I voted for him twice. I won't vote for him again.

January 6th was a wake-up call for me. Donald Trump divides people. We've already seen what he has to bring. He didn't do anything to help us. Kamala Harris, she cares about the American people. I think she's got the wherewithal to make a difference. I've never voted for a Democrat. Yes, we're both lifelong Republicans.

The choice is very simple. I'm voting for Kamala. I'm voting for Kamala. I am voting for Kamala Harris. IVF is a miracle for us, because it allowed us to have our family. After having my daughter, I wanted more children. But my embryo transfer was canceled eight days before the procedure.

Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade stopped us from growing the family that we wanted. I don't want politicians telling me how or when I can have a baby. We need a president that will protect our rights, and that's Kamala Harris. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. Kamala Harris has never backed down from a challenge.

She put cartel members and drug traffickers behind bars. And she will secure our border. Here's her plan. Hire thousands more border agents. Enforce the law and step up technology. And stop fentanyl smuggling and human trafficking. We need a leader with a real plan to fix the border. And that's Kamala Harris.

I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. The overturning of Roe almost killed me. I had a blood clot in my uterus that caused my labor to have to be induced because of the overturn of Roe v. Wade. I wasn't able to get life-saving treatment sooner. I almost died. And that's because of the decision that Donald Trump made. I was able to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I'm proud to have done it. The doctors and nurses were afraid that if they treated me in the incorrect way, that they would be prosecuted for that. And that's appalling. Donald Trump says that women should be punished.

Do you believe in punishment for abortion? There has to be some form of punishment. For the woman? Yeah. I believe that women should have reproductive freedom to make the choices about their own bodies. Four more years of Donald Trump means that women's rights will continue to be taken away one by one by one by one. This has to stop because women are dying. I'm Kamala Harris and I approve this message.

Here's a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems. Oh, she had a big crowd. Oh, the crowd. This weird obsession with crowd sizes. It just goes on and on and on. Hmm. America's ready for a new chapter. We are ready for a President Kamala Harris.

I'm Kamala Harris and I approve this message. Hi, my name is Brady Riggs. I'm from Houston, Texas. My name is Sharon Williams. I'm from Dallas, Texas. Right now I'm rolling with Roland Martin. Unfiltered. Uncomplicated.

I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready toiggs. I'm from Houston, Texas. My name is Sharon Williams. I'm from Dallas, Texas. Right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin.

Unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamn believable. You hear me? Thank you. Thank you. Yes, Tati. Okay, so we're going to stop recording. 1200 and all, automatic. Thank you. All right, folks, we are here on the campus of Alabama.m. talking about this election, voting, and how critically important that is. And so glad to be here. We've got a lot of things that have happened, a lot of things that have happened, of course. There are activities happening all over the city. Folks have been coming in, traveling. They've been doing all they need to do. And

so you expect a lot of people. So let me say this here before I talk to the president. If y'all coming in for homecoming, leave a check. Not to the hotels, not to bars, not to restaurants. Leave a check for the university. So y'all know how I feel about that. Join us right now. And I'm sure my next guest agrees with me, Dr. Quinn Ross, president of Alabama State. How you doing? I'm doing well. I'm doing well. First of all, y'all, first of all, let's be real clear. Alabama State got the proper colors, okay, black and gold. So I know that hurts your feelings because he actually just added another comment on my black and old gold. I'm like, really? I said, you know, there's only one

frat in the rest of the youth groups. So which little youth group are you in? Listen, but the black and gold pays my bill. Yeah, there you go. I advise you. Oh, that's cute. That's cute. It's a nice little group. But you know it's more alpha HBCU presence than anybody. Let me see. You don't want to start counting because you know it's going to be rough on you. You know it's going to be rough on you. Y'all know.

I'm letting y'all know because they get a little extra now to let y'all know. Well, we're happy to have you on campus. Well, I'm happy to be here. We were at the Port City Council and we talked about you not having been on the campus. Yep. Because so many people have hit me. People like, yo, I don't see you wearing Alabama State stuff.

I say, listen, I only wear HBCU gear on my show that I've actually been to. And now you're here. I'm here. I'm here. So it ain't just no longer Alabama A&M because they invited me about five years ago. So I'm here. Glad to be here. Let's talk about, we were just talking about, Keisha Lance Biles was was just mentioning the 17 billion HBCUs have gotten in Biden-Harris.

And I pull the numbers up and state funding for the university is around 54 million. But this university got 232 million in COVID funding. And I've talked to many HBCU presidents. They've talked about how critical that money was in 2020 and 2021 for the survival and has really helped a number of HBCUs, especially, you know, forgiving the loans. Listen, this is the most consequential investment that's been made in the HBCUs in the history of this country. And definitely the investment that has been made has put Alabama State University on an upward trajectory. When you talk about the loan forgiveness and of course the HBCU capital finance program, you know we participated in that program just to refinance our debt,

but having been a part of that program during COVID, once they forgave that those debt, that put us in a position where the only thing that we owed on this campus was our stadium. And so it paid off everything else. How much was that? That was about $150 million. And, of course, our stadium was newly built, and we were able to go to the market and refinance that. But, you know, I was telling one of my colleagues the other day that what happened to COVID and the investment that we've gotten from the Biden-Harris administration, if we were not able to reset, then there's a problem. If we were not able to take what we were given and leverage it in order to put our institutions on a different trajectory, then there's a problem.

And so we've benefited greatly here at Alabama State University. When you talk about, again, that refinancing of the debt, you know, those are nuances a lot of people don't really understand when they look at the money. I mean, you were talking about between the American Rescue Plan and the several others, there's about six and a half billion dollars. But then we start talking about Pell Grants, talking about things along those lines. We're talking a significant amount of money. There were even some HBCUs that actually gave students money. Yes, and we were one of them. We were able to give our students money through the COVID relief fund.

But also, we did not have to lay one employee off here at Alabama State University. And of course, we had done some things previously to kind of tighten our belt straps where we would have been in a position whether we got the COVID money or not. But that just allowed us not only to keep all of our faculty and our staff and everyone employed during that time, but it also helped us to look at how we can build up our endowment and build up things that would give us stability in the future. And so we've benefited greatly from that. And I'm thankful to the Biden-Harris administration. When you talk about that particular piece there, we have seen obviously was post-George Floyd. There were a number of donations that are made to many HBCUs.

But we've seen that continue. And we've also, we also have seen HBCUs focusing on online learning because COVID forced folk to have to go to online. What did y'all do here and how have you been able to take advantage of that? Because there are students who say, hey, I would love to go to university, but for any number of reasons I can't afford to,

but online still allows them to be a part of the university. Exactly. And of course, as you stated, it pushed us there quickly. And we have benefited from that, expanding our enrollment, as well as we have our student leadership here, our SGA, as well as our Brooklyn CSU and Royal Court. Some of them may even be taking online courses now while they're here, right, in order to expand and give some breadth to their course load. But it was a necessary, and working with organizations like the Theragood Marshall College Fund, which of course represents public institutions, UNCF, as well that represents private, and together this transformation project

that many of our institutions are participating in, helping us kind of reboot and stabilize in all aspects of the university, from enrollment management to your advancement office. And so these are the type of things that we were able to benefit from, from not only the COVID relief, but for individuals understanding the importance of HBCUs. And so we have benefited greatly here at Alabama State University. We also have talked to other presidents, and when the Supreme Court made their decision with regards to affirmative action, people talked about, oh, this could be a boon to HBCUs. But actually, you have seen tremendous growth in the last several years, even before that particular decision. With that growth comes growing pains. Tennessee State, Florida A&M, Texas Southern University, dealing with housing, things along

those lines. Have you experienced any of that? And how are you managing that increase in enrollment? How are you managing, okay, you need your facilities to keep up with folks who are trying to come? No, listen, and here at Alabama State University, we believe in strategic measured growth. And of course, through our vice president of student affairs and enrollment management, you know, we have to hit those markers, understanding how many people we can house on campus. So what's your enrollment right now? Our enrollment right now is about 4,053 students. 4,053, but what's...

We can only house about 2,100. Ah. Of course, we have, you we have a waiting list of individuals because most individuals that come into college now want to live on campus. But we've been blessed. Again, I'm going back to repositioning ourselves financially. Our board of trustees just here a month ago in Florida at the Orange Blossom Classic approved for us to go back to the HBCU Capital Finance Program. We will be building two new student residence facilities here on Alabama Street. And that'll add what's the capacity?

That'll be 518 new beds. So it takes you up to 2,500. Exactly. And we don't go back with the traditional dormitories. We're going more to the apartment living. And it's going to change the appearance of of the community. So we're excited about that. Again, positioning ourselves fiscally with things that we've been blessed with through through not only the Biden and Harris administration, but through the COVID relief. And so we're positioning ourselves well to be able to deal with. So your enrollment is a little over 4000.

But what is your capacity? The capacity, well, you know, when you talk about the capacity, the capacity is based on what we can house on campus. Right. So the capacity is going to be like 2,100, 2,200 in terms of living on campus. Right. But of course, now, when we talked about online, you know, that's a whole different world. Right. But to have individuals that live on this campus every day, it's going to be about 20, 2100 right now. But we're going to take that up to about 2600. So are you now? So now in terms of going beyond the campus, are you seeing and I know some folks who are having these conversations. Are you seeing off campus development as a result of this?

And so there are investors out there who recognize what is happening. They recognize that universities can't necessarily just keep building dormitories because the last thing you want to do is then have overcapacity and then not have those rooms filled up and you're still paying on those bonds or paying off that particular debt. And so are you seeing in this community investment around the university? Well, we're seeing that investment, but then we've been taking an active role in that investment too because we want to control what's around the institution. So we've been buying property up around the institution for our future growth.

In terms of the scenario you gave in terms of building extra houses and now filling it, the beauty of Alabama State University is that we own all our houses. So when we build new houses, right, if we just had to fill that, we would still be able to make a note, right? But I think the idea is to not overbuild, to make sure that you can meet the capacity that you have. And so that strategic measured growth, that's the direction that we're moving in and we're super excited about it. So hopefully fall of 2026, we will open those

new student residents. Let's talk about relationships in terms of corporate relationships that specifically relate to your students. What is happening there in terms of aligning with businesses, aligning with industries that are looking to recruit? What are you doing in that area? Because that's also one of the things that I talked to different corporate leaders. Many didn't even understand the talent pool, didn't even understand where most of your black doctors and lawyers were coming from.

And so are you seeing a pickup in that area? Oh, extremely. doctors and lawyers were coming from. And so are you seeing a pickup in that area? Extremely. Listen, we are extremely excited about the opportunities that we have in terms of forming partnerships. And my team, the entire campus knows that I'm big on partnership. Having served 15 years in the Alabama state legislature and the state senate, partnerships is where it is in order for us to continue to grow, not only for Alabama State, but for the surrounding community. And so one point in case, you know, we were one of the first HBCUs, if not the first, to go to a brokerage house on Wall Street to take our endowment there. So we've moved our endowment to Newburgh and Berman out of New York, which is a self-employed organization, over $464 billion

worth of assets across the world. They have our endowment. And I'll tell you, we- What's that endowment? That endowment now is probably in upwards of about $150 million, right? But we started out when we gave them our money in December. Since December, we have accumulated, particularly dealing in the private equities, over $20 million. And that proposition is not a proposition that all of our institutions get because of the way that we're investing.

But they have not only because when I talked to them, I was concerned. Yeah, I want you to give, you know, you can give us a check. Yes, you know, you can manage our money. but what kind of benefit do you give to my students, right? So point in case we had our first intern, Ms. Kaylee Dunn, to intern at Newburgh Berman in New York on Wall Street, she did so well. They'll be coming back and we'll probably have another five students that will be able to get that opportunity, you know, dealing in areas that they never thought they would ever get the opportunity. And so that's what we're about, the partnerships.

It's about the check. It's about the money. But really, what kind of opportunities can we give to our students for student success? And so that's just one example of many. Deloitte is another one that we're dealing with in terms of our student interns being able to price Waterhouse. All of those companies are investing in coming to see our students and what they have to offer. And to your point, they just didn't understand what kind of pipeline they had. But here at Alabama State University, where history is made, we show them over and over again the quality and excellence that we have right here on 915 South Jackson Street.

Now, one of the things that is still being talked about, this whole NCAA settlement, when it comes to the lawsuit-paying players, that's going to have an impact on SWAC schools and others. And other conferences are like, hey, wait a minute, hold up. Y'all can't be screwing us over. What are those conversations being like where you're trying to get them to understand that, hey, Power Five Schools are making all this money. How are you going to have the other conferences having to foot a lot of these bills? Well, listen, we're fortunate to have Dr. Charles McClellan, who is the commissioner for the SWAC. And I can tell you that SWAC is

alive and well. I'm fortunate to serve as the chair of the SWAC commission. I also am fortunate enough to be on the NCAA board of directors. Matter of fact, I got off the call today talking about the house settlement. And of course, there's going to be some impact to our HBCUs, but I think we have to be creative. For a point in case, our vice president of intercollegiate sports and athletic director, Dr. Jason Cable, when he came on board and we were dealing with the NIL, basically he came up with the cost of attendance scholarship as well as the academic scholarship, right? And so the whole thing with cost of attendance, if all of you are showing up, everybody gets something, right? So you don't have that kind of divisiveness going on.

And then if you're doing well in your academics, you get a little more. So there's someone who comes on and gets a big NIL deal, right? He's going to get that, but everybody else is getting something as well. So we've just been strategic in that space, but we have been most vocal on Capitol Hill about what it would do to us if we had to pay for play, if we had to treat our athletes as employees. And a matter of fact, Mr. Charlie Baker on a call, who's the president of the NCAA, basically talked about how HBCUs have led the way

in terms of getting people to understand how any type of settlement other than the House would cause so much distress to underserved institutions. So we're on the forefront, and it's just good to have a seat at the table in order to be able to voice your concerns. And I can tell you that when the SWAC speaks, people listen. When the MEAC, MEAC is participating. So all of our organizations basically are making an impact on how all of this will shape out with the NCAA. Last question.

How are you also trying to temper the desire of alumni to want to compete with Power Five schools. What I mean by that is it's an arms race in many of these schools. I mean, the amount of money they're spending. And I've talked to other presidents who said, look, we understand the glory days of the past when this is the only place black athletes could go. But they've said, my focus is to make sure we're graduating students, that they're going out into the field, these non-athletic fields, because once you start trying to play in an athletic arena,

you can be spending a whole lot of money, and then what is going to be the return on that investment? Yes. Well, listen, we have 18 sports here on campus, and football and basketball, of course, you know, are the major drivers. But when you talk about an institution that focuses in on academics and excellence, when you have almost 300 athletes who have a 3.0 GPA or greater and who are graduating every year, that shows and demonstrates that we're, listen, we want you here to play sports. But our most important mission is to get you across that stage so you can go out into the world. And so having a football coach that graduated from Alabama State University, Coach Eddie Robinson with a 3.8 GPA chemistry, he was all academic, all. He understands.

Our vice president of intercollegiate Sports, he's an academician. And so we know that students can go anywhere else, but when we walk you through Alabama State University to show you all that you can receive here, plus you're going to get your degree, we want those students who want to be with us, right? And so that's how we build our athletic teams. All right. Well, sounds great. Well, Doc, good to see you. It sounded to me like you were trained by an alpha. Man, you want to get an alpha on the credit. Of course. Listen, I have to represent my SGA, my student government leaders and our crews.

This is my support system. This is why I do this job. All of my VPs, we're a family here. We're a place where history is made. And listen, we're happy that you're here. We hope to stick around for all the time. Glad to be here. And actually, I was going to bring this up tomorrow in my speech because I said, so I'm reading a book and I saw the Rosa Parks statue and I text Mayor Stephen Reed and I asked him this here. It is stunning to me that there is no statute to Joanne Robinson in this city.

And it was the Women's Political Council and her running those copies off on this campus. And I said, he said, he said, you know, I want to dedicate a street. I said, no, I said, I said to me, there should be something that there should be a monument to that sister on this campus and i emailed the last five ak president the same thing i was like yo she was one of y'all listen we we we uh we made you know we made news when we took down bill graves name off of uh our bell tower and we put joanne Robinson's name there. See, because where my office sits in Council Hall, in the basement, that's where they churned out the leaflets to tell

individuals to stay off the bus. And so she was a professor on this campus, so it's not lost on us the contributions that she made, because when you talk about the whole Civil Rights movement, and the sisters, you talk about Rosa Parks You know, because when you talk about the whole Civil War. And those sisters. And the sisters.

You know, you talk about Rosa Parks, but listen, when you have Ralph Abernathy, who's a student, a graduate of Alabama State University, Fred Reese from Selma, who's a graduate of Alabama State University, Fred Shuttlesworth, when you fly into Birmingham, it's a place where history is made. That's not by accident. Nine freed slaves founded Alabama State University with $500 and it has become a global university, but it's a place where history is made and our history shows over and over again. And listen, when you talk about voting rights,

we have been on the front line of voting rights. I ran for the Alabama State Senate four times and four times this campus elected me to the Alabama State Senate. That's the power of student voices. That's the power of the vote. So anyway, listen, I can start preaching about Alabama State University, but we're excited that you're here. I'm glad to be here. Thank you so much for your show, and thank you for your phone. I appreciate it.

Thank you so very much. All right, thanks so much. Folks, got to go to a break. When we come back, we'll chat with our panel. Lots more to talk about when it comes to politics, when it comes to news, especially the big DOJ arrest today. And also the sister, the federal judge out of D.C., unsealed Jack Smith's 150 page motion against Trump. Interesting information in there as well. We'll talk about all of that right here. I'm Roland Martin, unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network.

Coming to you live from Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama. Back in a moment. He told us who he was. Should abortion be punished? There has to be some form of punishment. Then he showed us. For 54 years, they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated. And I did it. And Iinated, and I did it.

And I'm proud to have done it. Now Donald Trump wants to go further with plans to restrict birth control, ban abortion nationwide, even monitor women's pregnancies. We know who Donald Trump is. He'll take control. We'll pay the price. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. I get it. The cost of rent, groceries, and utilities is too high. So here's what we're gonna do about it.

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As president, I'll make that my top priority. In 2016, Donald Trump said he would choose only the best people to work in his White House. Now those people have a warning for America. Trump is not fit to be president again. Here's his vice president. Anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.

It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year. His defense secretary. Do you think Trump can be trusted with the nation's secrets ever again? No. I mean, it's just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our nation's security at risk. His national security advisor. Donald Trump will cause a lot of damage. The only thing he cares about is Donald Trump. And the nation's highest ranking military officer. We don't take an oath to a king or queen or a tyrant or a dictator. We don't take an oath

to a wannabe dictator. Take it from the people who knew him best. Donald Trump is a danger to our troops and our democracy. We can't let him lead our country again. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. Bob and I both voted for Donald Trump. I voted for him twice. I won't vote for him again. January 6th was a wake-up call for me. Donald Trump divides people.

We've already seen what he has to bring. He didn't do anything to help us. Kamala Harris, she cares about the American people. I think she's got the wherewithal to make a difference. I've never voted for a Democrat. Yes, we're both lifelong Republicans. The choice is very simple. I'm voting for Kamala. I am voting for Kamala Harris. IVF is a miracle for us because it allowed us to have our family. After having my daughter, I wanted more children. But my embryo transfer was canceled eight days before the procedure. Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade stopped us from growing the family that we wanted. I don't want politicians telling me how or when I can have a baby.

We need a president that will protect our rights, and that's Kamala Harris. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. Kamala Harris has never backed down from a challenge. She put cartel members and drug traffickers behind bars, and she will secure our border. Here's her plan. Hire thousands more border agents, enforce the law and step up technology, and stop fentanyl smuggling and human trafficking.

We need a leader with a real plan to fix the border, and that's Kamala Harris. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. Here's a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems. Oh, she had a big crowd. Oh, the crowd. This weird obsession with crowd sizes. It just goes on and on and on. America's ready for a new chapter we are ready for a president kamala harris i'm kamala harris and i approve this message winners never back down from a challenge champions know it's any time any place but losers they whine and waffle and take their ball home trump now refusing

to debate a second time. He did terribly in the last debate. He's so easily triggered by Kamala Harris. Well, Donald, I do hope you'll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage. If you've got something to say, say it to my face. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture, I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story

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What's good, y'all? This is Doug E. Freshen and watching my brother Roland Martin unfiltered as we go a little something like this. Hit it. It's real. Thank you. All right, folks, welcome back to Roller Barton Unfiltered here on the campus of Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama. Let's bring in our panel right now. Rebecca Carruthers, Vice President of Fair Election Center out of Washington, D.C.

Gavin Reynolds, contributor with The Root and former speechwriter to Vice President Kamala Harris out of New Haven, Connecticut. Teresa Lundy, principal founder of TML Communications out of Philadelphia. Glad to have all three of you. Rebecca, I want to start with you. You heard me talk to Dr. Ross there. And the point I was making in terms of Biden-Harris administration, HBCUs at $17 billion, the impact, and this is because I've heard black folks talk about, well, that's just for HBCUs. They got to understand that's for the surrounding area as well. When you talk about that level of investment, when you start talking about increasing students, increasing faculty and staff, that also means housing. That means folks are eating. That

means people are going to restaurants. And so the impact of that $17 billion investment goes beyond just students, faculty, and staff. You know, to be clear, Roland, something that people have to understand, they have to understand what the funding mechanism is for HBCUs in this country. First of all, the HBCU designation was in the 1964 Civil Rights Act for the schools that were created to educate Black students in this country. When segregation did not allow Black students to attend certain predominantly white institutions, you had HBCUs that were set up and that were created. Specifically, Alabama State, for the audience, heard that it was actually Black folks, formerly enslaved folks, who founded Alabama State. That wasn't the case for every HBCU. But within that funding mechanism, predominantly white institutions have a different funding formula than HBCUs. So this is not money that HBCUs are getting in addition or extra, and it's despite what PWIs

are getting. If HBCUs in this country were funded the same way from both federal and state governments at the rate of predominantly white institutions, we would definitely see more advances in infrastructure and more things that HBCUs could do to serve their campuses, their students, and then the greater community. But to your point, Roland, many of our HBCUs are located in areas where it is the main economic engine in that particular area. So we know from an economics perspective, if more money and more investment is put into HBCUs, HBCUs, the towns, the cities in which the HBCUs are located will also receive economic benefits as well. So, Teresa, you heard me talk to Dr. Ross about going beyond the area. And again, when I think about my alma mater, Texas A&M University, I remember the student housing, and I remember there being this sort of this off-campus,

dormitory-style apartment that actually used to be a hotel. I go back 10, 20 years later, massive development all around College Station. Private investors building elaborate housing, things along those lines. And this is the thing that I'm trying to get people to understand, black folks who say, well, Biden-Harris ain't did enough for black people. When you start talking about a university like Alabama State able to get rid of that debt. And what did he say? Now begin to acquire land. They now can start negotiating deals with potential black developers about building businesses, building additional housing that they actually have an equity stake in. And so I think a lot of people are just too narrow in their thinking when they say, oh, yeah, sure, you know, they invest in HBCUs, but what else have they done?

This is called institution building. And when you're able to invest in institutions like HBCUs, like black-owned businesses, black banks, all of a sudden you're dealing with the pillars of a community. You're absolutely right. If more institutions and federal and state funding goes to other HBCU schools across the country, people will be in better position. PWIs have been getting this funding investments and clear investments over time. That's what makes them the upper epsilon type of institutions. And that's what makes it one of those schools that you only admire to go to if you are privileged to know about them. But HBCU schools, having those investments allow the individuals that's actually taking those courses, those classes, investing in

those groups and programs to do more, not only in those classes, investing in those groups and programs to do more, not only in their communities, but in their neighborhoods. And so it's oftentimes that we see the investments only look like kind of like scraps. Little portions of it are going to HBCUs, but if they think broader and really add an equal amount of portion between HBCUs and PWIs, they'll start to see the investment not only in the workplace, but also in their families and also changing the GDP overall. So, Gavin, in a moment I'm going to talk with Christopher Tola with the Black Voter Project. And listen, when you start talking about battleground states,

when you start talking about North Carolina, talking about Georgia. Even when you talk about Philadelphia, where you have Lincoln, where you have Cheney State in Pennsylvania, you also have Lincoln University. We're talking about individuals who are going to those places, individuals who are graduating. But again, the broader community, I just think that when I listen to critics talk about what they say hasn't been done, I think they simply are grossly ill-informed in terms of what actually is happening and the impact when you have individuals in the White House who understand these communities. Listen, Donald Trump went to an HBCU by accident when they had an event at Benedict College, which was supposed to be a bipartisan deal.

It really was. They don't want to turn to a Trump rally. I don't think J.D. Vance even knows where Wilberforce or Central State is. And so when you start talking about, you know, who you're going to vote for, you vote for the folks who are going to place the resources where they need to go. And so this is a voting decision that you should be factoring in where money is being sent. Roland, I don't think J.D. Vance knows what HBCU stands for, to be quite honest. But you're so right. Who is in the White House has a direct impact on the success and the ability of our community to thrive. And if we look at the amount of money being invested in HBCUs, it's because of the Biden-Harris administration,

specifically a letter that was sent by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack, that we were able to get the data, Roland, that you've been so on the front line of sharing on this show that land grant state HBCUs have been underfunded by $13 billion over the past 30 years. That's an underinvestment relative to what our institutions were owed, $13 billion over the past 30 years. And we wouldn't have the data to back that up unless the Biden-Harris administration actually took that seriously. So I think you're right. To all those young people, especially we talked a minute ago, and we're going to talk a little bit later in the

program about how some young black voters might be feeling a little checked out right now or feeling a little bit wary of what the Democratic Party and its leaders, whether Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, or whoever, is actually doing for them, I think we have to break it down to them this way. And someone broke it down to me this way not too long ago, is that when we talk about voting, I think sometimes we think that voting will be the panacea, the one magic silver bullet that will solve all of our problems. We view voting as offense. But I think we have to recognize that voting is defense. It's about protecting what we have as a community. We know that relative to other communities, it's not what we deserve. But voting is about defense

and protecting what we have. And then once we vote our elected leaders into office, the offense is holding them accountable. It's saying, whether Donald Trump or whoever's in the White House, look at what you've done in terms of underfunding our institutions, and now what are you going to do about it? And if you don't do what you need to do about it, then we're not going to vote you back into the White House. And so I think you're absolutely right. To all of those young people out there listening, whether you go to an HBCU or not, recognize that this has been cycles of underinvestment, cycles that the Biden-Harris administration has pumped the brakes

on and says, this is an issue, and we're going to do something about it. And only one of the two leaders that are running for president right now, I believe, is actually serious about doing it. Hint, hint, maybe it's the one who actually went to an HBCU. I'm going to bring in Chris Toler. He's the Black Voter Project Director, also co-founder of Black Insights Research, joining us from Sacramento. Chris, glad to have you here. Before we get into y'all's survey, I just want you to speak on what we're talking about here, because I keep talking about what has to happen, and not just from a campaign point of view, but whether it's in their ads and also how do you use voices out there. You have to connect the dots.

A lot of people don't live in the minutia of politics. They just don't. So I think it's critically important to connect those dots, to get people to understand, yeah, when you vote for this person, it impacts this, it impacts this, it impacts this. And then if the other person wins, we can show you what doesn't happen. And I think, listen, we've got less than 40 days before election day. And I've been saying, it was originally Biden-Harris, now Harris-Walls, should have been doing this, what I call education enlightenment beginning in January. Now you're really at that particular point where you got to be hyper-focused on this because doing what we're talking about can drive turnout.

Yeah, just to chime in here, I appreciate you having me back. The research that I've been doing for the last probably seven or eight years now suggests just what was said by one of your panelists, that voting, especially for young people, young black people, has to be perceived as just as much defensive as offensive. Because for the black community, as we know, the sort of policy responses, the policy feedback is not always as apparent and clear. And those dots, as you said, are not always easy to connect. And so the best messages that I have seen in my research that I would like to see from the campaign in these last 40 some days are really defensive messages showing that if Trump gets another shot at the White House, if Republicans take control of Congress, along with the Supreme Court, it could be really, really bad in very

specific ways for the Black community. I think messages around voting, vote suppression, messages around policing, the possibility of expanded police immunity. And then my research has also suggested that messages around abortion and connecting the fight for abortion rights to fights for larger rights abroad and other rights that the black community has fought for for generations now can be really, really effective, especially with sort of younger, unlikely black voters trying to get them out into the fold. And so, as you said, time is really of the essence here. And so there has to be just as much of a message here that you're voting to protect things just as much as trying to change things for the future.

So let's talk about your new survey. What does it show? So within this survey, we were lucky enough to collect a second wave of the data we collected back in April. This time around, we ended up with over 1,600 responses, almost 1,200 of which were recontact interviews, which means we talked to the exact same people that we talked to months prior. Just to talk about some of the notes, some of the specific findings, we saw a dramatic jump in both favorability and Black vote share. Switching from Biden to Harris, favorability jumped 19 points. We saw great shifts in both support from black men and black women. But then noticeably, favorability and vote share also jumped tremendously amongst those who were lower

educated, so didn't have a high school education, those who identified as independent, and as I mentioned before, those who had strong views on abortion, namely opposition to Dobbs. We also saw even the slim support for Trump that we saw back in April, around 13, 14 percent drop to even around 12, 11 percent for likely voters. So, you know, this notion that Trump is getting any sense of black support, which I already thought was kind of BS going back to April, is completely gone now with Harris at the top of the ticket. Another interesting finding is that we saw a shift generally in how Black people view the Democratic Party. When asked in April how

welcoming the Democratic Party is to Black people, 28 percent saw the party as very welcoming. That jumped up to 36 percent now, and even higher, 38 percent of black people in swing states feel like the Democratic Party is extremely welcoming to black people. So just having Harris at the top of the ticket also changed views of the party itself. And then black views of Biden also improved across the board. the job he's doing as president, all of those things, you know, black people are viewing him far more favorable now that he's remained as president, but not necessarily the ticket, the top of the ticket. Lastly, because of the uniqueness of the data and the fact that we were able to collect responses from the same people, we were able to take a look at what's driving these changes and really the why behind

this increase in support, increase in favorability, and even increase in turnout. And what really stood out is that what people think of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, how much they see those things as a threat, contributed a great deal to them supporting Harris over Biden. They think Harris has a better shot at beating Trump, is a better sort of defense to Trump. And then abortion really stood out as well. Respondents who feel like abortion is a great threat to the Black community, who are really worried about abortion bans across the country, also were far more likely to support Harris than they were Biden back in April. And so, again, Harris can really capitalize on this and speak to these issues, but she has to do it in a

way, and her campaign has to do it in a way that's very specific and targeted to the Black community. Right? You can't, just like you can't talk about democracy broadly, you can't really talk about abortion or like the Republican Party broadly either. You have to make it very clear and connected to the threat to the black community, talk about how abortions related to maternal mortality rates in the black community and specifically going to have disproportionate effects for black women if we continue to see these really strict abortion bans across the country. And so I'll leave it there, but I'd love to have questions.

I haven't seen, I mean leave it there. I haven't I haven't I haven't seen. I mean, obviously, from a television standpoint, you don't have a lot you know, different ads that are very specific on black radio coming from the campaign? No, I actually haven't heard much coming from the campaign at all directed towards black folk. I've seen a few ads from smaller packs that have put out recently in certain states. Like there was an ad in Georgia, I think, the other day specific to Black people. But again, nothing really from the campaign. This is why I'm really trying to push sort of the results of this survey and this research to the forefront here in this last month and a half of campaigning. Because if you don't do this,

if you're not targeting Black people specifically, you're really missing out on an opportunity here to capitalize on turning out the most loyal constituency to the Democratic Party. Right. Black people could make the difference in states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, especially North Carolina. Now that that's in play. But but they're only really going to come out. You can only appeal to black voters with messages that resonate with their experience. And so, again, when the general abortion ad comes on, it's going to do some work, but it's not going to do as much work as an ad specifically directed towards Black people that represents Black people, that has images of Black women or Black families in the ad, right?

These are all things that really need to be taken into consideration that I'm not seeing as much as I would really like to. Questions from our panel. Teresa, I'll start with you. Hey, Chris, thank you so much for that research and data. Despite not having a commercial that is specifically targeted to Black and Hispanics. What else in your research have shown that there has been an increase in engagement amongst Blacks? I think another major factor here is sort of identity. And one of the main differences between Black people who supported Biden and those who support Harris is the strength in Black identity, where those who have a really high sense of their self-identity, their racial identity, had a dramatic increase in their support for Harris over Biden, over the, you know, when that switch was made during the two waves of the

survey. And so again, I think there's an opportunity here for Harris to use her identity, but it seems like that's something that, similar to the Obama playbook, she's not necessarily wanting to lean heavily into, especially, you know, with all the controversy around her identity early on as she entered the campaign as the nominee. And so there is opportunities there. We know that there are—research suggests there's elements of empowerment that could come into play where you have Black voters and the Black community looking towards Black representatives for special or different kind of representation than they might normally get, creating bonds of trust, increasing engagement in people's wanting to participate and learn about politics.

But it has to be, it has to really be on the part of the campaign to make that connection happen, to show that she will be, you know, a representative that the Black community can really lean into. Thank you. Gavin. Chris, thank you. It's great to hear your insights. I have two questions. They're related. One, so I saw a recent NAACP poll. I can't remember who they did the poll in conjunction with, but it was kind of suspect. It showed that 26 percent of black men under 50 are supporting Trump. I think the numbers are a bit outdated. They acknowledge that the

survey was conducted like prior to the DNC. So I'm guessing maybe sometime in late July. But I'm still curious what you make of that finding and how you sort of square it with the data that you all have collected. And then the second part to my question, relatedly, is how do we thread the needle between beating back some of the false narratives about black men flocking to Trump, while at the same time making clear that we know, to use the VP's words, that black men aren't in anybody's pockets. Yeah, I think that the results from the survey you just mentioned do somewhat comport with the findings from the Black Voter Project data. Overall, Black men do support Trump at higher rates than Black women. Back in April, that number was around 20%. It dropped to about 17% with Harris on the ticket. So a slight decline in Trump support among black men, but it is significantly higher than black women. There's, you know, a lot of

different sort of anecdotal reasons as to why that might be having to do with sort of patriarchy and understanding of Trump is maybe a business leader. These things that, again, have been floated out there as GOP talking points for years now, some of which might be paying off. Also, though, I think that it's important to understand that when looking at these numbers, especially among younger black men, they are a bit inflated in the survey world because unless you're looking particularly at sort of this likely voter sample, you're going to get a lot of people in there suggesting that they support Trump who aren't actual voters, who haven't voted in a while. My data suggests that a lot, a good portion of the black Trump support is coming from people who didn't vote in 2020 or in 2016. So they didn't vote for him before. But they still sort of when asked these questions on the survey tend to pick Trump over the other candidate. And so I think that comes into play here as well. to figure out why black men are supporting Trump more than black women, as a good portion of them are not actual likely voters and really engaged in politics that much. I will say this, though,

when you look at the historical numbers of black men supporting just GOP or Republican candidates in general, this isn't out of the ordinary, right? Black men have always had higher support for the Republican Party and Republican candidates than black women. It's not really specific to Trump, even though we might be seeing like a 1% or 2% uptick than the historical average. But we always see around sort of that 15%, 16%, 17% number among black men, much higher than black women, regardless of who the Republican nominee is. Rebecca. Hey, Chris. It's good to see you tonight.

So I've heard anecdotes from different Black men in regards to trusted messengers. And some of the pushback that I've heard is, why is the Democratic Party thinking that rappers or male entertainers or celebrities are the best, I guess, surrogates to talk to Black men, to talk about voting and voting issues. So my question is, in your research, have you researched the top trusted messengers for political news for Black men? Like, who do they want to hear from? I think, you know, a lot of Black men in particular want to hear from people from the community, but not necessarily these celebrities, unless the celebrities have a still real firm attachment to the community and an ability to

relate to the people either through their life or through their music that, you know, isn't normal, right? Most celebrities are seen as being highly removed from the Black community altogether. Other research, though, has shown that it's important that we look towards sort of leaders within the community. So here we're talking about possibly pastors, religious clergy, teachers, educators, even different types of athletes, if you will, who have still connections to the community and have sort of a social justice mind frame or platform to direct the attention of these voting blocs when politicians aren't necessarily seen as the most helpful or trusted people themselves. And so there are ways to look beyond sort of the political world to engage the

Black community. But again, there's a fine line to walk here between looking towards someone to spread this message who's going to be a reliable messenger who people relate to and see a shared struggle with versus a celebrity who's seen as wildly removed from the community altogether and doesn't have much attachment to the people that they're talking to. Chris, one of the things that, look, I'm just of the position, first of all, I agree with you. A lot of this stuff is significantly being overblown when it comes to black men. I think about when Stacey Abrams was running in Georgia, then we saw the exit polling data and it was like, okay, it was not far off. But the point that I continue to make is that this deals with black men, also black women. Again, the further you get away from the

civil rights movement, you're dealing with African Americans who no longer self-identify with a party, which means you have to actually work harder, spend more time talking with them, more time communicating with them, and you have to spend more money trying to reach them because the old methods simply don't work. You don't have the old NAACP infrastructure. You don't. It's not there. You don't actually have the same church infrastructure. It's not there as well. You also have to contend with, in 2024, people who are getting their information, not, it used to be Black Radio, Tom Joyner, things along those lines. Now it's Instagram, TikTok. So I just still think from a campaign standpoint, from these white Democratic strategists,

they don't understand that the black voter in 2024, young or older, is totally different than 2014, than 2004, than 1994. And so you have to recognize how to communicate with them in a totally different way to maximize their numbers. Yeah, I 100% agree. I think the data backs that up too. When you look at the groups that shifted the most from moving from Biden to Harris at the ticket, independence was one of those groups, right? And I think that the Democratic Party can really lean into sort of this Harris candidacy as a way to signal we're still here for the Black community. We want to represent the Black community, and Black representation is going to be a priority for the Democratic Party moving forward, right? We see

that in the data as independents shifted greatly towards Harris, as they did not for Biden, when it came to both favorability and vote share. And we saw that when it comes to how welcoming Black people see the Democratic Party. They see the Democratic Party as significantly more welcoming with Harris at the top of the ticket. And so, as you mentioned, the party's going to have to do more and do new and extra things to appeal to the Black community than it did before, as these new voters are more independent, younger voters are more skeptical of politics in general, and more weary of politicians. And again, that goes back to what I say, how you have to educate the voters, which means that you have to have a longer runway. You cannot wait till September and October to begin to have these conversations.

You have to be engaging in these conversations much earlier. And I say six months earlier. I'm going to say it right now. If you're Democrats and you're talking about the midterm elections in 2026, do you know when you begin? The day after the inauguration, where you begin to talk about and have the communication with people. Because again, what you're seeing is, and you're seeing it in the data, the number of people who say, I don't know what they accomplished. I don't know what they did, that goes to the inability to communicate and message that constantly and repetitively, and going to Black sources to also do that. Yeah, and in this social media age, as you mentioned, those types of conversations happen less and less. And so when we do focus group work and

we actually talk to Black people in the community, voters and non-voters, it's exactly as you said. They're far more likely to recognize what Trump will do to harm them than they will to recognize what the Democratic Party, Biden or Harris, has done or will do to help them. Because those are much longer conversations. They're much harder to have. But they take a lot of work and effort. But those are the conversations that will build trust, that will bring up efficacy and confidence in the party and in our political institutions in the long run. And so if we do want to see consistently high Black turnout, consistently high Black voter knowledge and interest in elections, we have to build those bridges. And it takes years and years of work, right? We saw some of that started during the Obama era, but Trump's presidency

essentially wiped a lot of that progress out when it came to sort of Black interest in politics and Black people feeling like they had an opportunity to be a part of the political system and have their voices heard. Last question I have for you. A new round of polls dropped out showing Harris with one to three point lead. One place was five point in Arizona, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania. I've been looking at your tweets of the past week and you've been laying out that if they want to build upon those numbers, especially in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, you're talking Milwaukee, but also North Carolina, it really means leaning in on, as you said earlier, the people who are likely going

to vote for you. You can keep trying. Look, I get because the Republicans against Trump or the Republicans for Kamala. They just dropped the new ad. I totally get appealing to them. I totally get the Nikki Haley people who are endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris. But when you're inside of 40 days, your focus has to be on low hanging fruit. Who is likely going to be on my side? And in those those key places, the margin, the margin of 5, 7, 8, 10, 15,000 voters, that's black. That's exactly right. And, you know, when you have 80, 90 percent of black voters in some of these states, right, you look at some of these recent polls of Georgia and North

Carolina, black support for Harris is at 85 percent, 92% in a recent poll in North Carolina. That's the group you want to target. You turn out 100 voters, 92 of them are voting for you, right? You just got to get people out off their couch to the polls rather than spending money taking chances as a 50-50 shot if you get someone to the polls or you change someone's mind, right? And so the investment here, the smart money goes on mobilizing black voters from here on out. All right, Chris Toler, we so appreciate it. Hey, if somebody wants to go in-depth on your research, where do they go? Blackvoterproject.com or blackinsightsresearch.com.

Both the websites include analysis and results from the data as well as top lines from this most recent wave. Um, black insights, research.com also has additional research reports, um, and newsletters available. All right, then, uh, Chris Tuller, we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you. All right, folks, go on to a break. certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Thank you. All right, folks, going to a break. We come back more on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network live from Alabama State University. Folks, be sure to support the work that we do here.

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Send your check and money order to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. And we'll be right back. He told us who he was. Should abortion be punished? There has to be some form of punishment. Then he showed us for 54 years they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated. And I did it. And I'm proud to have done it. Now, Donald Trump wants to go further with plans to restrict birth control, ban abortion nationwide, even monitor women's pregnancies. We know who Donald Trump is.

He'll take control. We'll pay the price. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. I get it. The cost of rent, groceries, and utilities is too high. So here's what we're going to do about it. We will lower housing costs by building more homes and crack down on landlords who are charging too much.

We will lower your food and grocery bills by going after price gougers who are keeping the cost of everyday goods too high. I'm Kamala Harris and I approve this message because you work hard for your paycheck. You should get to keep more of it. As president, I'll make that my top priority. In 2016, Donald Trump said he would choose only the best people to work in his White House. Now those people have a warning for America.

Trump is not fit to be president again. Here's his vice president. Anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States. It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year. His defense secretary. Do you think Trump can be trusted with the nation's secrets ever again? No. I mean, it's just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk,

places our nation's security at risk. His national security advisor. Donald Trump will cause a lot of damage. The only thing he cares about is Donald Trump. And the nation's highest ranking military officer. We don't take an oath to a king or queen or a tyrant or a dictator. We don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator. Take it from the people who knew him best. Donald Trump is a danger to our troops and our democracy. We can't let him lead our country again. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message.

Bob and I both voted for Donald Trump. I voted for him twice. I won't vote for him again. January 6th was a wake-up call for me. Donald Trump divides people. We've already seen what he has to bring. He didn't do anything to help us. Kamala Harris, she cares about the American people. I think she's about the American people. I think she's got the wherewithal to make a difference. I've never voted for a Democrat. Yes, we're both lifelong Republicans.

The choice is very simple. I'm voting for Kamala. I am voting for Kamala Harris. IVF is a miracle for us because it allowed us to have our family. After having my daughter, I wanted more children. But my embryo transfer was canceled eight days before the procedure. Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade stopped us from growing the family that we wanted.

I don't want politicians telling me how or when I can have a baby. We need a president that will protect our rights, and that's Kamala Harris. I'm Kamala Harris and I approve this message. Kamala Harris has never backed down from a challenge. She put cartel members and drug traffickers behind bars and she will secure our border. Here's her plan. Hire thousands more border agents, enforce the law and step up technology, and stop fentanyl smuggling and human trafficking. We need a leader with a real

plan to fix the border and that's Kamala Harris. I'm Kamala Harris and I approve this message. The overturning of Roe almost killed me. I had a blood clot in my uterus that caused my labor to have to be induced because of the overturn of Roe v. Wade. I wasn't able to get life-saving treatment sooner. I almost died. And that's because of the decision that Donald Trump made. I was able to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I'm proud to have done it. The doctors and nurses were afraid that if they treated me in the incorrect way that

they would be prosecuted for that. And that's appalling. Donald Trump says that women should be punished. Do you believe in punishment for abortion? There has to be some form of punishment. For the woman? Yeah. I believe that women should have reproductive freedom to make the choices about their own bodies. Four more years of Donald Trump means that women's rights

will continue to be taken away one by one by one by one. This has to stop because women are dying. I'm Kamala Harris and I approve this message. Hey, yo, what's up? It's Mr. Dalvin right here. What's up? This is KC. Sitting here representing the J-O-D-E-C-I, that's Jodeci. Right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Folks, we've talked a lot on this show about Project 2025 and its implications for African-Americans. at the Philadelphia Tribune, one of the oldest black newspapers in the country, dropped this front page article, and it caught my eye, and I want to be sure for us to actually, no, no, no, guys, give me the, I need the full front page. I need you to show the full front page. You cut it off, because I want, I need you to show the headline and everything.

I posted on social media. If y'all can find that, I would appreciate that because it gives you a better understanding of how they sort of position position this article. And we're going to show you that. And joining us right now is the author, Christina Christophic. She is the investigation investigations reporter reporter editor for the Philadelphia Tribune. Glad to have you here. Christina, again, it was really important in terms of how y'all framed this story, and it really jumped out. And so talk about the conversation y'all had, why you wanted to shine this very specific spotlight on the impact on African-Americans at Project 2025? We saw a lot of, well, first of all, thanks for having us, Roland. And we saw a lot of people talking online about Project 2025. We saw a lot of things that we were

like, does it really say that? And, you know, we saw also some things that were clearly misinformation. And we wanted to take a look and see what is this? What does it really say? And what exactly will it do for this country or not for this country? And we knew as we were going through it that this was going to be a big front page piece. And so obviously it's 900 plus pages. And so what was your narrowing process? So it started with me reading all 922 pages. I will confess that I sort of skimmed near the end. I bet that was fun. Oh yeah. It was, um, you know, some real light reading. When I initially volunteered to read it, I said, Oh, I can do it in like a week.

And then as I got into it, I found things that like there were acronyms I had never heard before. There was jargon I had never heard before. There were things that I didn't remember happening the way that the authors said they happened. For example, they blamed the Flint water crisis on Obama. They praise Arizona as an example of a good education system, while Arizona is consistently in the bottom 10 nationally. And so I had to like Google and say, wait, is that real? Am I remembering this correctly? But I got through it, decoded it. And then I spoke with a bunch of Black leaders in and around Philadelphia about what stood

out to them in Project 2025. And I gathered all their thoughts and all my thoughts and sat down with my editors, and we agreed to our list of top 10 things that we thought would have the most disparate impact on Black Americans. And obviously, we've talked about this here. One of the big ones really is the anti-racism focus of Project 2025. Yeah, they refer to it as, they say they are not trying to eliminate civil rights. They are not trying to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion. They say they are trying to protect

the civil rights of all Americans. Sort of all lives matter goes to Washington, if you will. And so, and what that deals with, though, is it has real implications in terms of ending programs and shifting resources to fight this anti-white racism? They want to eliminate every staff position in the federal government related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. They want to eliminate every committee, every department, anything within the federal government related to diversity, equity, inclusion, race, gender, reproductive rights, they want it gone. They want to completely rewrite all federal laws, regulations, contracts, everything to remove all references to race, gender, reproductive health, reproductive rights, sexual orientation, et cetera, et cetera. The list goes on.

They want to completely remove it from, remove all references from everything. And then they want to use the Department of Justice. Which means it is very difficult from a data standpoint to understand racial inequities when it comes to health, when it comes to economics in so many different areas. And so it's sort of like, oh, no, let's just get rid of all of that. And you have no way to track it. You have no way to study it. And so all of a sudden their whole deal is, oh, no, everybody's the same. Don't discuss those things. Right. They want to have they want to rewrite Title VII and have the EEOC prohibit public and private workplaces from collecting any data on the race and racial classifications of the employees. They want to they and they want to use the Department of Justice to enforce all of this. They also want to eliminate the Census Bureau's National Advisory Committee on

Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations. This is a committee that works to try to find cost-effective ways to get people of color to participate in the census. And that's, they try to, because traditionally, Black and brown people have been undercounted and they want to try to get people to be counted so that they can be represented properly and funded properly no they want that committee gone and again so everybody understands when we talk about the census we talk about funding we're talking billions of dollars that would not be going to african-amerAmericans and other minority communities. This is the full front page, not what we showed earlier.

I want people to see the actual full front page so they can understand how y'all wanted the focus to really be on Project 2025. Questions from our audience? I guess I'll go ahead and start with Teresa Lundy. She's there in Philadelphia. Teresa, go ahead. Well, thank you so much for actually putting us on the front page. I was not only in awe of it, but was very interested and happy that this was the front page. There has been constant conversations happening in Philadelphia about Project 2025.

So one of my questions for you is, you know, what really incited you all to do this? Was it just the national approach or were you hearing it from voices and clergy and community locally? It was that. It was the national angle. It was hearing it from people we knew on social media, people we knew, you know, out drinking or at the coffee shop. Also, I wanted to argue with some of my friends about it. So it was a mix of factors. It was, it felt like it was such an important part of the global conversation that we had to participate. Great. Kevin. Christina, thank you so much.

You spent countless hours reading that was at 900 or so pages of Project 2025, researching, trying to find answers to the questions that you had. But I think what's so dangerous about Project 2025 and part of the strategy behind it is that because it's so long, its authors know that most people will not do any of that. They're not going to read it, much less, you know, try to research it or do any additional work to understand it. I think that's why it's so important, the work that you've done, and again, a testament to black journalism, black media, Roland, again, for you highlighting this issue so often on this show.

I guess one question that I have for you, Christina, when I talk about Project 2025 to those around me, even people who might be voting for Kamala Harris, sometimes there's this skepticism that Donald Trump will actually try to or be able to execute or implement the policies that are in Project 2025. Are there strategies, I guess, as a journalist that you've sought to employ, you know, to convince your readers to, I guess, really not underestimate, I guess, the implications of some of the things that you write about, in this case, Project 2025? So one of, thanks for that question. One of the first things that

we address in the article is, you know, the Heritage Foundation produces this document. They call it Mandate for Leadership, and they produce it every presidential election cycle. And Republicans look to this thing every time they take office. And the Heritage Foundation claims that Ronald Reagan enacted 60 percent of their recommendations before the end of his presidency. And they also claim that Donald Trump enacted two-thirds of their recommendations before the end of his first year in office. And so I think when you say that, and when you share that with people, like, that makes it more real. You know, otherwise, it's kind of easy to dismiss it as like, this is some fantasies from the Heritage Foundation or Donald Trump didn't really write this.

It's not his, but he might not have written it, but he definitely used a previous edition as his sort of like playbook for his presidency. Thank you. Well, look, first of all, we have the history. He followed the Federalist Society, everything they wanted to do. There's no doubt in my mind he's going to do whatever Project 2025 lays out because that's his people. And in fact, at his rally today, who do you have introducing him there? The author of Project 2025, Rebecca. So my question for you is, so what's next? Are you all going to take, I guess, the research that you've done? Are you going to animate it? Are you going to put it into different forms? How do you really inject this into popular culture and digestible pieces for people to really understand what's going on? Because my thought, you know, I'm thinking about like the rollout, like with the 1619 project, even regardless of what happens on November 5th, there still needs

to be some type of public awareness because the idea of some of the things that are in Project 2025, there needs to be public education around it. So people understand the need to reject it and what the underlying pinning underneath the type of agenda that would push Project 2025. Do you all have plans to do something along those lines? We're currently working on some plans. This is part of it, appearing here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Next week, I'm going to appear in a panel discussion with Omar Sabir from the Philadelphia City Commissioners and two college professors to talk about Project 2025 and how it could affect Black Americans. We're also working

on some social campaigns around Project 2025 and our reporting. I can't go into too much detail about that because it's still cooking, but we're hoping to raise awareness everywhere we can. All right, then. Christina, we certainly appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Have a great night. All right, folks, going to break.

We come back. We're going to talk about Georgia. A couple of decisions made by a judge there. Also, a big announcement from the Department of Justice. More white supremacists arrested. Those details next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network, broadcasting live from Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama, where it is homecoming week. He told us who he was.

Should abortion be punished? There has to be some form of punishment. Then he showed us. For 54 years, they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it. And I'm proud to have done it. Now Donald Trump wants to go further with plans to restrict birth control, ban abortion nationwide, even monitor women's pregnancies. We know who Donald Trump is.

He'll take control. We'll pay the price. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. I get it. The cost of rent, groceries, and utilities is too high. So here's what we're gonna do about it. We will lower housing costs by building more homes and crack down on landlords who are charging too much.

We will lower your food and grocery bills by going after price gougers who are keeping the cost of everyday goods too high. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. Because you work hard for your paycheck. You should get to keep more of it. As president, I'll make that my top priority. In 2016, Donald Trump said he would choose only the best people

to work in his White House. Now those people have a warning for America. Trump is not fit to be president again. Here's his vice president. Anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States. It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year.

His defense secretary. Do you think Trump can be trusted with the nation's secrets ever again? No. I mean, it's just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our nation's security at risk. His national security advisor. Donald Trump will cause a lot of damage. The only thing he cares about is Donald Trump. And the nation's highest ranking military officer. We don't take an oath to a king or queen or a tyrant or a dictator. And we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator. Take it from the people who knew him best. Donald Trump is a danger to our troops and our democracy. We can't let him lead our country again. I'm Kamala Harris and I approve

this message. Bob and I both voted for Donald Trump. I voted for him twice. I'm Kamala Harris and I approve this message. I think she's got the wherewithal to make a difference. I've never voted for a Democrat. Yes, we're both lifelong Republicans. The choice is very simple. I'm voting for Kamala. I am voting for Kamala Harris. IVF is a miracle for us because it allowed us to have our family. After having my daughter, I wanted more children. But my embryo transfer was canceled eight days before the procedure. Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade stopped us from growing the family that we

wanted. I don't want politicians telling me how or when I can have a baby. We need a president that will protect our rights, and that's Kamala Harris. I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message. Kamala Harris has and I approve this message. technology and stop fentanyl smuggling and human trafficking. We need a leader with a real plan to fix the border. And that's Kamala Harris. I'm Kamala Harris and I approve this message. What's up, y'all? This is Wendell Haskins, a.k.a. Wynn Hogan at the original Chief Golf Classic.

And you know I watch Roland Martin unfiltered. built it. Kalani Abram walked away from her Memphis, Tennessee home on September 19th. The 15-year-old is 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighs 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Kalani was last seen wearing a green long-sleeved shirt, wide-legged khaki joggers, and McDonald's Crocs with yellow bottoms. She has long black and red braids. Anyone with information about Kalani Abrams should call the Memphis Police Department at 901-636-4479, 901-636-4479. Folks, in California, a federal grand jury has indicted 68 people in a detail alleged crimes by a white supremacist street gang. Prosecutors say they maintain an alliance with the Mexican mafia prison gang.

According to the 76 count indictment, the Pecker Woods in the San Francisco Valley area are accused of a years long pattern of racketeering, extensive drug trafficking, illegal firearms possession, as well as COVID-19 loan fraud. The indictment, unsealed Wednesday, details the seizures of dozens of pounds of fentanyl, heroin, meth, and several illegal firearms. The gang allegedly worked with other organized crime groups based out of California prisons. I keep talking about this, Rebecca. It matters. When you talk about the Department of Justice, all these people who keep talking about,

oh, the Asians got a hate crime bill. Oh, the Asians got a hate crime bill. What about our hate crime bill? There are hate crime bills that deal with African Americans because they all do. This is a perfect example of the DOJ using the laws to go after white supremacists. You know, I went back and I reviewed

the COVID-19 anti-hate crime bill. And one thing I noticed that, yes, in the preamble, it pointed to specific instances of attacks on those who are of Asian American descent in this country. So, yes, absolutely, there was a call out to something specifically that was happening. But if most people actually read the preamble of most legislation, there is an example or a story or real people and places that led to the creation of that particular bill being introduced and then ultimately being passed into law.

But that said, I really do— Such as the bill that was—such as the bill—Rebecca, one second. Such as the bill that was passed that dealt with the burning of churches and religious institutions, and when you read the summary, it details the burning of black churches. Yes, absolutely. Or even when you look at the Shepard and the Byrd act, it talks about Matthew Shepard, who was the white gay young man in Wyoming who was brutally attacked and killed because of his identity of being a gay man. Or we know Mr. Byrd down, I believe, in Jasper, Texas,

who was brutally attacked and, I believe, dragged by white supremacists. Yeah, dragged and murdered. Yeah, absolutely. And so behind every piece of law, every piece of legislation that's passed, there is a story, there's real human data points behind it, and that's very common. That's a part of the practice of how legislation is passed in this country. So just like we talked about last night, what's unfortunate with a low literacy in civic education,

many people don't understand how the sausage is made, how legislation is passed. So they'll see, oh, well, there are specific people who are Asian-American who are mentioned in this particular anti-hate bill. So, therefore, it must mean that this is only for Asian Americans. And that is not the case, because when you actually read the provisions of the law, it's not just for crimes committed against Asian Americans, but it's acknowledging, hey, during this point of time, this specific thing was happening to Asian Americans. But bringing it back to Clark's Department of Justice, one thing that we are seeing is many things that Black Americans have talked about and many issues that have hold that, you know, we care about are some of the issues that are being addressed within the Department

of Justice. Unfortunately, we're not seeing as many bills being passed in the House and the Senate, but we are able to see what's happening through executive action, but also through the executive branch, which is what Department of Justice is under. It's specifically under the administration of the White House. Well, Gavin, again, when you talk about this kind of work first of all you got a group called the peckerwoods yeah they're gonna come after you uh and this is an example of again white supremacists being held accountable by this department of justice yes it certainly is and it's always hard hard talking after Rebecca because she covers everything so perfectly. I guess one thing that I'll add is, you know, if you look at what this gang, this white supremacist gang is being charged with in large part, it has to do with the racketeering.

It has to do with the fraud. It has to do with the drug trafficking. And what I think is so shameful is the moral and intellectual dishonesty that Republican leaders, Donald Trump, J.D. Vance and others, traffic themselves in painting those who engage in this kind of behavior as being only of a certain race and only of a certain color. And if they had their way, the American people would be walking around thinking that, you know, it's Hispanic migrant folks who are the ones who are, as Donald Trump has said, poisoning the blood of our country. But as this indictment here and as so many others will lay bare, just the lie that that truly is, it's this gang here, the pecker, whatever they're called, these 68 men in this case who are such threats, not only through the drug trafficking that they're engaged in and all the other criminal activity, but the threats that we as black and brown people would experience if we, God forbid, happened to cross paths with them. So I just, you know, in addition to everything that we're saying about how important it is

that, you know, we have a president and vice president of the White House who charged their DOJ, you know, with actually investigating hate crimes, with actually prosecuting hate crimes, which is something that Donald Trump did not do and will not do. Well, I guess he will, but hate crimes against white people, most likely. I also think it's important that we recognize that this indictment here is yet another piece of evidence that, you know, rebuts the racist and stereotypical imagery that Donald Trump, J.D. Vance and their MAGA movement would have us, you know, to believe in. Teresa. No, I totally agree with our two panelists. You know, it's always unfortunate when we have to see those who are probably working with us having those same ideals and those beliefs that we are not equal and they are superior to us. is a step in the right direction. But I do think these 68 defendants are also hoping Donald Trump

gets into office, which I'm sure the American people will say November 5th, that is not going to be allowed. So there's that. All right, then let's go to our next story. We talk about, again, what the DOJ is doing. They have filed charges against two of the officers who were involved in the death of Breonna Taylor. These are new charges. Of course, she was shot and killed in 2020. Kyle Meany and Joshua Haynes, excuse me, Joshua James, were two of the four Louisville police officers who were federally indicted with connection to the 2020 drug raid that resulted in her death. Federal documents filed Tuesday say both men deprived Taylor of her rights.

Prosecutors say James wrote a search warrant affidavit that contained false and misleading statements not supported by probable cause. The indictment claims Meany approved the warrant, knowing it included false information. Meany and James are charged with the deprivation of rights under color of law. James is also facing additional charges of conspiracy and falsification of records. And Meany is charged with making false statements to federal investigators. This new indictment comes after a federal judge dismissed other serious charges for James and Meany in August. The judge ruled there was no direct link between the warrantless entry and Taylor's death.

The judge actually blamed Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, for her death. But this is the Department of Justice choosing to now seek new indictments against them on other charges. And so that is a huge development in the case where folks still want justice for Breonna Taylor. Folks, today, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were in Georgia and South Carolina, meeting with officials on the ground, of course, after those two states were ravaged by Hurricane Helene. We've seen massive damage in North Carolina, South Carolina, in Georgia, in Florida as well. More than 160 people have died when Biden landed in Greer, South Carolina. He was met by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham,

also North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. Harris was in Augusta, Georgia, surveying the impacts of Helene and receiving an on-the-ground briefing about recovery efforts in the state. She provided this update from the ground. So I'm here in Augusta to first and foremost thank the federal, state, and local leaders. Mayor, I want to thank you for your leadership in particular on the ground. I am here to personally take a look at the devastation, which is extraordinary,

and it is particularly devastating in terms of the loss of life that this community has experienced, the loss of normalcy, and the loss of critical resources. And so I'm here today to thank all of those who are working to get folks the support and the relief that they so desperately need and so rightly deserve. And that includes the fact that still in this community up to 60% of the residents here do not have power. Many have been without running water for at least a couple of days now. Many have water but no hot water. I was just talking with one of the members of the community and her daughter who lost her husband. And there is real pain and trauma that has resulted because of this hurricane and what has happened in terms of the aftermath of it.

I do want to acknowledge and thank the first responders who have been extraordinary. Having met with them, they are the kind of folks that are the heroes in moments of crisis who do extraordinary work that is about lifting up other people. As it relates in particular to the leaders who are here and doing that work, including the first responders. Most of them, as it relates to the local folks, are folks who have personally and their families have personally experienced loss and devastation. And yet they leave their home, leave their family to go to centers like where I was earlier to do the work of helping perfect strangers. Before leaving D.C., Biden ordered 1,000 active duty troops to be immediately deployed to assist with response and recovery efforts. According to Homeland Security, Alejandro

Mayorkas, search and rescue teams have conducted nearly 1,500 structural evaluations and hundreds of rescue evaluations. More than 4,800 personnel from across the federal workforce have been deployed to help in recovery efforts, along with 8.8 million meals, more than 7.4 million liters of water and 150 emergency power generators. More than $10 million has been provided directly to those affected by Hurricane Helene. So I think that pretty much shuts up, Rebecca. A lot of these lying right-wingers who keep saying that, oh, we keep sending money to Ukraine, but we have no money to help Americans. It's a lie. President Biden has called a lie.

He's called Donald Trump a lie. And it goes to show you that while they're lying, the Republican governor of South Carolina, the Republican senator from South Carolina, they don't mind standing there welcoming the president because, again, they might complain in D.C. when natural disasters strike. They sure don't mind the federal government showing up. Absolutely. And the people on the ground who are dealing with the devastation and the direct aftermath, who are without power, who are without adequate running water, who are, you know, if there's gas pipelines, you know, for natural gas delivered

to homes that have potentially ruptured. Here's the thing. Those people will remember, especially when they hear, oh, it's an infrastructure week. And so we need to make sure that people understand that when it's time to pass policy and do the things to make sure that America has a critical infrastructure to be able to deal with, OK, so there's a storm, it's a major storm, but still be able to have the basic necessities of life to be safe in this country. You know, we have to make sure that people understand the connection between infrastructure, the connection between having serious legislators who are going to Washington, D.C., who are going to Congress to actually do the work of the federal government, who actually want government to work with, and make sure that

we're connecting the dots here, that people understand that the idea of not wanting government to fully function is a failed idea, especially because we have climate change and climate change is real and this country is woefully underprepared to deal with the impact of climate change. And here's the thing, Gavin. Again, you always love these folks who complain and complain and complain. Then you have these Republicans in Congress who vote against FEMA, vote against emergency relief, all until it impacts them and their state. That's right. Yep. No, that's that's absolutely right.

And let me just say this. The clip we just saw of Vice President Harris, that's what leadership looks like. And we've seen that time and time again with President Biden, with Vice President Harris. Another example that comes to mind for me was the bridge collapse in Baltimore and how the president and vice president mobilized the resources of the federal government to work in collaboration and close collaboration with state and local leaders on the ground to respond. And Rebecca, so correct in pointing out the connections between infrastructure and natural disasters. And I want to foot stomp what she said about climate change. It's understanding people recognize that as climate change intensifies, these extreme weather events are going to happen at an increasing frequency.

Not too long ago, Donald Trump was in Pennsylvania talking about California, saying how blackouts and brownouts are happening like every day because of Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom, who he called Gavin News Scum. And on that point, too, I would just have him and all of his supporters recognize that blackouts and extreme weather events, these things are happening, again, at an increased frequency because of climate change. And Donald Trump is the one who's called climate change a hoax. actually taken action, Roland, to your point, in passing bills that Republicans take the Inflation Reduction Act that every single Republican in the House voted against. We might remember President Biden saying, I'll see you at the groundbreaking for that and so many other pieces of legislation like the bipartisan infrastructure law.

Those are the bills that are helping to future-proof and weather-proof our country so that we don't just have to keep responding to these events, but we can actually get ahead of them, prevent them from happening, and also build, create jobs and grow our economy along the way. So I really do hope and I aspire that one day we can have a government in which things like fighting the climate crisis and upgrading our infrastructure are truly, truly bipartisan, that leaders on both sides of the aisle can come together, agree on this legislation. But until then, I hope everyone recognizes that of the two choices for president, it's clear that Vice President Harris is going to be a leader who will continue to demonstrate leadership and work to get ahead of these events.

Well, well, to also remind folks, when Trump was there, he withheld funding for North Carolina for two weeks. And when you had natural disasters, he played politics. He wanted folks to kiss his behind. In fact, Governor Roy Cooper said that North Carolina only got 1% of the amount of money they were requesting when it came to disaster relief. I think about Houston when the hurricane hit there, and then you get the same thing. Governor Greg Abbott, Republican, did not send any resources to Harris County because he wanted to penalize Harris County because it was a blue county. That's how Republicans operate in natural disasters. They play politics and they play games, whereas Biden-Harris understands they are president, vice president for all Americans, regardless of your party.

And that's what people have to remember when they're going to the polls, is when the time of disaster and destruction has taken place in our neighborhoods, our communities, and affected our families, who came to the rescue. And, you know, it's always interesting when I'm also having these conversations with friends and colleagues about the difference between the president, Donald Trump, and the administration of Biden-Harris and what was done. And it's interesting how people forget about these natural disasters that actually, you know, not only it took so long to rebuild, but like you said, the funding was not there. It wasn't there when they needed it. It was too many loops. It was too many calls. It was just too much non-government work working on behalf of the people. And so these type of things,

you know, unfortunately it is again, and it's happening during the election cycle. But we are still seeing Kamala Harris stand up and be our vice president and still do her job and take a break from being our, you know, presidential candidate for the United States. And so that's what people need to remember. In times of destruction and turmoil, what is our president going to do for us? That is not asking for political name recognition or bribery of any kind.

All right, then Teresa, Gevin and Rebecca, I appreciate y'all being on today's show. Thank you so very much folks. Tomorrow I'll be speaking here on the campus of Alabama state university, talking about voting with students here. So look forward to having that conversation. We'll be live streaming that conversation as well tomorrow.

Don't forget. Then, of course, I'll be flying back. My man, Dr. Greg Carb, is sitting in for me as I head back to the nation's capital. Don't forget to support the work that we do here at the Black Star Network. Your support is critical. Senior Check and Money Order, PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196, PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered, Venmo is RM Unfiltered, Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Be sure to download the Black Star Network app,

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So that's going to be a great game this weekend. And so be sure to, so we'll be, of course, enjoying speaking tomorrow and, of course, talking about issues that matter. My man John Hope Bryant is going to be joining Mayor Randall Woodfin tomorrow in Birmingham at 10 a.m., 10 to 1. And then he's actually going to be in Montgomery tomorrow evening with Mayor Stephen Reed for his book, Financial Literacy.

So y'all be sure to check that out as well. Folks, that's it. I will see y'all tomorrow right here on the Black Star Network. And again, appreciate it. I'm supposed to be at Alabama State University for broadcasting the show here, talking with the president, Dr. Ross, as well. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Holla!

Black Star Network News. Ross, as well. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Holla! Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punches! A real revolutionary right now. I thank you for being the voice of black America. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal. See, there's a difference between Black Star Network and black-owned media and something like CNN.

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