#RolandMartinUnfiltered - VP Harris Live in Wis., Colo. Clerk Sentenced, Fla.'s Yes on 4, Project 2025 & Employment

Episode Date: October 4, 2024

10.3.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: VP Harris Live in Wis., Colo. Clerk Sentenced, Fla.'s Yes on 4, Project 2025 & Employment Vice President Kamala Harris will be speaking shortly in Ripon, Wisconsin.  We'll have that for you live.  That orange criminal will not leave the legal Haitian migrants alone. He vowed to deport them all.   A judge sentenced a former Colorado county clerk to 9 years for the 2020 voting data scheme. Florida's Yes on 4, the Amendment that will allow first- and second-trimester abortions or even later to protect the health of patients, is on November's ballot.  We'll talk to one advocate about their push to get the 60-percent needed to approve the constitutional Amendment.  We'll talk to a  Chief Equity Officer about how Project 2025 could affect your job.  October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  We'll talk to one Maryland State's attorney about how they are handling the spikes in family violence in Prince George's County. 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.

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Here's what's coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Looks like the jury has reached verdict for the three former Memphis police officers charged with violating Tyree Nichols federal civil rights in the 2023 fatal beating that Bean, Demetrius Haley, and Justin Smith. The parties and attorneys were reconvening and the reveal, we're waiting on that live. We'll have that news for you as soon as we get it. Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris

will be speaking shortly in Ripon, Wisconsin, the birthplace of the GOP. She'll be with an interesting partner today. That will be, of course, Liz Cheney. We'll have that for you live shortly. That orange criminal will not leave the legal Haitian migrants alone. He's vowed to deport them all.

You ask your friend Rudy Giuliani about that friend. Ask what the Haitians in Brooklyn did to him after he had his police force beat up Patrick Doresman. A judge sentenced a former Colorado County clerk to nine years for the 2020 voting data stream. Florida's Yes on 4, the amendment that will allow first and second

trimester abortions or even later to protect the health of patients, is on November's ballot. We'll talk to one advocate about their push to get the 60% needed to approve the constitutional amendment. We'll also talk to a chief equity officer about how Project 2025 will affect your job. As you may be aware,

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. We'll talk to Maryland's state attorney about how they are handling the spikes in family violence in Prince George's County. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the piss, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine.

And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's Roland. Best belief he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rollin', yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, yo Yeah, yeah

It's rollin', Martin, yeah Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah He's funky, with rolling now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best. You know he's rolling, Martel. Now. Martel.

According to the latest Marquette University poll, Vice President Kamala Harris maintains a tight four-point edge over Donald Trump in Wisconsin. We're waiting as we speak for the vice president to speak soon in Ripon, Connecticut. We're going to go to our panel as we're waiting for the Tyree Nichols verdict that's coming in as we speak. But before we go any further, we'll have a little commentary here on what we expect the current vice president to say in Wisconsin. We're joined with our Thursday night panel, Kwame Jackson, who is a political strategist

coming to us out of the City of Angels, Los Angeles, and Attorney Jade E. Mathis, Jade E. Mathis Esquire, a regular guest who is counsel in District Legal Group here in Washington, D.C. Jade, let's start with you. What are you expecting? Is this an unusual development, or what's going on here with this unusual partnership about to be debuted in Wisconsin? I think it is an unusual one, but it is one to finally, I guess, remind people and the people who aren't aware of it that the Republican Party is even tired, right? They're even tired of Trump's charades and shenanigans.

And I think by Representative, former Representative Cheney and her father backing—I'm sorry, Mr. President—backing Vice President Kamala Harris, I think they're taking a stance, right? And I hope this is a stance that their party follows, that the Republican Party will follow. Yeah. Yeah, I do, too, although it sends a little chill down my spine to think of Dick Cheney as somebody who's on the side of the angels, particularly given all the death and destruction they've caused in the world. I don't know, Kwame, if you're if you're in the ear of the Democratic Party and the vice president, I mean, strategically,

how do you how are you looking at this move? I think at this point we have to take all allies as they come. Obviously, I am not a Dick Cheney fan. He has the moniker of Darth Vader for a reason. And, you know, he led the dark arts in the Bush White House. But to have him come aboard, to have his daughter, Liz Cheney, come aboard, to have others of the Republican ilk come aboard us, particularly those who have served in the Trump White House, who can speak directly to working with him and to say that he's unfit, to say that he's not really ready to meet the

challenge of a second term or a second election, and to make sure America knows why, I think it's important to have those voices in the room. I think it goes back to the quote from the DNC. I was there in Chicago. And the congressman who stared from the Trump White House that, you know, you're not a Democrat because you vote for Trump. You're a patriot. And so I think that's the Republican view that they can always think of and they can kind of hold close to and still come part of, be part of this larger tent party. That's interesting that you frame it that way, clearly, and that they're framing it that way, this discussion and this debate over patriotism. And for the Democrats to do this at this juncture is very interesting to kind of try to seize that. Jay, you know, this hasn't been well-contested ground for quite some time. People who are traditionally

Rust Belt Democrats have been migrating to the Republican Party for quite some time, voting against their class interests. We see what's going on with the longshore people and the strike on the East Coast and in the Gulf states. You know, this question of patriotism that Kwame raises and this struggle to define what it means to put country over party, is there some possible ground that the vice president can gain with the patriotism message? And how does today's event maybe help, as Kwame has kind of laid out there, advance this narrative that the Democrats seem to be relaxing into after, who knows, maybe two generations? Absolutely some ground. And one thing that I particularly admire is that I think this is

showing that Kamala Harris is a person who is able to forgive people and even work with someone who may not be an ally. Right. So that she's open minded. She's progressive as that. That is one of her running, you know, her running slogans is that she's progressive. And one of the grounds that she runs on. And I think this is exemplary and personified, like showing her character, her party's character, and showing that, hey, we don't have to agree on everything. However, we can still be civil and work together. And I think that's a great representation of how she would be as a president as well. Well, I tell you, you know, Can I jump in? Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Please find me by all means. Yes, sir.

What was interesting, I was on the floor at the DNC in Chicago, and I remember three particular words in the word cloud. Right. In terms of how to rebrand and think about the new Democratic Party. And one that you heard over and over again was patriotism, the use and the reclamation of that word so that Democrats could find the high ground with patriotism as part of their word cloud, as part of their brand. The other one was USA chants. You know, black folk get a little iffy about these USA chants, you know, USA, USA. It gets a little Trumpy in that regard, but they really were trying to reclaim that USA chant, that ground in terms of echoing patriotism. So that's two. And then the third one was freedom. And the freedom piece is not just the freedom to be away from something, but the freedom to do something, right? So you get freedom from, you know, government leaning into your reproductive

rights. You get freedom from government dictating, you know, the book bands that you should read or what you should be teaching your kids. But you also get the freedom to just be you. Like they said, love who you want to love, be who you want to be, and then just freedom to exist in the society, right? With gun violence in our schools, freedom for kids to go to school without the fear of gun violence. So I think those three words, freedom, USA, USA, USA, and patriotism have been reclaimed by the Democrats. And you see that as part of their word cloud brand. You know, that's an interesting point. Let's widen the circle a little bit, if that's all right.

Certainly, we see that the killers of the Israeli military have expanded their strikes. They just hit south Lebanon, just south of Lebanon a little while ago. It's after midnight over there. Of course, they again striking in Gaza. This is not a surprise, although it is October. But we're within a week of the October 7th attack, of course, by Hamas in Israel. But this response, well, we saw the president of the United States yesterday with the group of seven saying that they want renewed sanctions on Iran, for Iran hitting Israel. But nobody's talking about stopping arms from Israel.

We saw what happened to the vice president about a month ago in Michigan when folks were protesting. We saw it again in Arizona where she kind of had crafted a response that kind of kept this thing in a valence of sorts. She can't break, obviously, break with the president or U.S. formal policy. How do you see this increasing war, this regional war, really, because Israel has by this time invaded yet another country on its list? How is this regional war playing out? I mean, might there be some protesters there today? We know Wisconsin is a diverse state, the college town of Madison. Then you've got, of course, as you

say, Milwaukee with all those black folk who might be chanting USA, but it may be a little uneasy about this. And then, of course, right to the east, you have Michigan with that heavy Muslim population. How would you advise the vice president to try to craft this message as Israel seems determined to put its thumb

on the scale to help Donald Trump? Is that for me? Yeah. Yeah, please. Yeah. And then I'll ask you. So to start that, I mean, I love that we're having this discussion because obviously it's probably the biggest piece of the pie right now leaning into the election as really this whole international pot continues to boil over. I think the vice president is in a very precarious position. She has to thread a very surgical needle between keeping support from Arab Americans, Palestinian Americans, the folks in Dearborn in Michigan, a key swing state, that large Arab population,

and then also, obviously, support of our longtime ally Israel, as well as domestic Jewish populations and voters. And so she has to thread that needle. And it's very difficult because obviously we're not going to let Israel just hang in the wind and defend themselves. But at the same time, I was speaking with a friend of mine and I said, you know, this is an analogy of someone at school, right? You're a kid at school and you go and you decide I'm going to fight the bully. I'm Israel. I'm going to fight the bully. So I go and I punch the bully in the mouth, which is Iran. And as soon as I punch the bully in the mouth, I go run to my big brother, which is the USA,

and say, hey, now we're ready for the fight. So it's like you're dragging people into something that is going to be a much bigger quagmire, could be a regional destabilization. 30 percent of the oil that flows through the entire world flows through the Strait of Hormuz, which is the strait right next to Iran. They could shut that down and create an economic calamity. So there are so many ways that these things can have ramifications that could spill over that would actually tilt the election. So Vice President Harris is in a very precarious position. She has to thread that needle. She has to sow support for, you know, a peace plan, for a two-state solution, but at the same time push for the fact that, you know, Israel needs to pull back from the ledge. It needs to calm down. It doesn't need to have a mega-retaliation

versus Iran, because that's going to put us in a situation where we will get dragged in regardless. Yeah. I don't think that Donald Trump of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, has any intention on pulling back. He's trying to stay out of jail. And when you start talking about ethno-nationalism, all bets are off. You know, Jade, any thoughts on this? You actually summed it up perfectly, exactly what I was thinking. The only thing that I would add to that is from a Michigan native and a Detroit native right outside of Dearborn, who has the largest population, as you said, of Middle Easterns in the United States of America. That is really going to be because they are some of the

Muslims in Dearborn are a little more extreme than other Muslims are, but they are very, they're very culturally, you know, prideful. And, and I love that they, um, they, they have always been great contributors to the industry of Michigan, as far as the economy, the businesses, the gas stations, a lot of them are self-owned stores there. So I think that is really going to make a big difference. And she's going to have to tread very, very lightly in that aspect. It would be that being that Michigan is a swing state. Jay, this is the art of diplomacy. This is diplomacy at work. How do you do something in such a fluid way? How do you dance? And this is where it's more of an art than it is a science. And so this will really show Vice President

Harris's international chops, her ability to embrace diplomacy and start to do that dance very gently because, you know, this is not going to require a heavy fist action on our part. Indeed. And we'll pick this up after the break. Jade, I want to ask you about those people in the Nation of Islam, because we know that's temple number one in Detroit and a lot of black Muslims in Detroit. So I'm going to ask about that, that kind of because I don't think that's ever been discussed anywhere. We need to talk about that. But we will be back shortly. This is Roland Martin Unfiltered on Black Star Network, and we'll be back in a moment after break.

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. I am Tommy Davidson. I play Oscar on Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. approve this message. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered. I'm sitting in the chair for our big brother Roland Martin, Greg Carr, and we're going to continue our discussion. We're waiting while we wait for the vice president to take the stage in Wisconsin.

At the same time, I think we're also waiting on the verdict in the Tyree Nichols case. We might be joined in a moment by the man himself, Roland Martin. We'll have some breaking news. And as soon as we get that verdict, we will communicate it with you. Jay, before we left, oh wait, okay, here we go. We got our brother hooked up. Right from Montgomery, Alabama, Roland Martin. All right, so we're still working out the tech there. You know Roland traveled, shout out to the Alabama State Hornets, Hornet Nation. If you did not see Roland's speech from earlier today on out to the Alabama State Hornets, Hornet Nation. If you did not see Roland's speech from earlier today on the campus of Alabama State University, my mama's home state of Alabama, please go back and check out Black Star Network to watch that speech. We'll have him in a moment.

He's still there. So again, we'll be waiting. We're waiting on the verdict here in the Tyree Nichols case and the vice president will be taking the stage with Liz Cheney in a moment. Jade, while we have a second, I want to ask you, as we said before the break, you know, I don't know that I've heard anybody talk about the significant Muslim population in Detroit and in Michigan that is black Muslims, going back to the Ahmadiyya movement of the early 20th century. Of course, we know that's Mecca, temple number one in the nation of Islam. How should we be thinking about Islam differently if we're talking about Michigan? And could this have some impact in that black Muslim population? Oh, can't hear you. Unfortunately, we're still one of the most segregated cities in the country, right? So

you have the Dearborn Muslims, which are generally Chaldean, Persian, Pakistanian of that sort. And then you have the black Muslims, obviously, which the birthplace of the Nation of Islam was Detroit. So one thing is that they do they have for the last past, I would say, 40 years, they they've remained pretty separate. However, I would say most recently with the younger Nation of Islam Muslims coming forward, I think they have been collaborating a lot more on what they can do in Detroit and what they are doing, what they're going to work on in the city of Detroit. So I do think that that is an ear, an opportunity for an ear there for them to collaborate on that, because I have heard them, you know, discussing and at political events, and they

backed each other for those events. So I do think that there's an opportunity there. I just really hope that they seize that opportunity and they take that opportunity. Because as I said, a lot of the Muslim temples in Detroit are more in the inner city areas, whereas in Dearborn, it's more in the Middle Eastern areas. So there's disparity there as well, especially when it comes to police and law enforcement and those type of things, with the black Muslims probably feeling comfortable crossing over into Dearborn. You know, it's interesting, Kwame, as Jade was walking us through that geography,

it's interesting to think about it. Of course, Rashida Tlaib, who the white press and commercial press will identify with the non-black Muslims. She's in John Conyers' seat, which means there's a lot of black people in her district. I remember being in Detroit about four or five years ago, just before John Conyers made transition for a reparations conference, and both John Conyers and Rashida Tlaib were at the conference speaking with Tlaib. And people look at her and think, OK, she's with the Palestinians.

But no, there's a lot of black people pulling the liver for Tlaib. She's in John Conyers' district. Today, even as we're here right now, Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose book The Message just dropped on the 1st of October, he's actually speaking at Howard University at Crampton Auditorium. A lot of young black folk in particular are really grappling with this question of Palestine. The third chapter in his small book, after he spends time in Goree in Senegal, and then in South Carolina where his book was attempted to ban his book, as we were talking earlier about book banning in the schools.

He then goes to Palestine and he's in Gaza and he's saying, you know, I'm here. Well, West Bank, not Gaza. And he's saying, this is like Jim Crow. This is like apartheid that my parents and their generation. So, Kwame, at this moment, with a month to go before this election and early voting has already started, do we need to be paying attention, particularly, as Jade said, some of these younger folk, around this question of U.S. foreign policy? And could the vice president be damaged by solidarity politics that might be emerging from some unexpected places?

You know, Jade made a great point. She actually schooled me. I did not know that the birthplace of the black Muslim movement was Detroit. So that's great information for me. So I want to thank you for that. And then number two, the fact that, you know, the Muslim population is diverse.

I mean, you have Sunni versus Shia, which is one of the fundamental divides between the Saudi Arabian Sunni population, 85% of all Muslims worldwide, and 15 percent, which are Shia, which is the Iran-backed faction within the Muslim delegation. And so what happens is there are so many kind of pockets and fissure points within the Muslim community that we have to be really wary of how we try to put them all in box. I also was not aware that Rashida Tlaib sat in John Conyers' seat. You know, shout out to John Conyers, my Kappa man,

and all his great service and what he did in the government. And I had to do that for Rowling. But I did not know that, that she sat in his seat. So she also has to thread the needle carefully between the black Muslim population and the black supporters of her seat, as well as the Palestinian supporters from her own ethnicity. So it's like it's a very delicate balance as we look all around. But we do know that the fundamental issue that possibly will swing Michigan, besides the economy, besides inflation, is going to be what happens in the Middle East and how we respond, especially in the next, I'd call it two weeks, depending on what happens with the force of the Israeli strike, whether it's more nuanced, whether it's more scaled than whether it's, you know, just a blunt object, it's really going to determine how Michigan goes within that overall election

point. So we're, we're in a very, very precarious time. And like you said, we have to tread lightly and be wise. No question. I mean, there's times like this where fortunately we had the Black Star Network so we can have you all on to really get and de-layer this conversation. Because clearly, talk about sledgehammer, CNN, MSNBC, the major networks, they're not going to cover it with this kind of layered subtlety. And when things do to make a turn, they have no way of explaining it. So I'm glad y'all are here. I'm hearing that we're going to toss to our brother Roland Martin. Is that right? Do we have him up now? If so, you all let me know. Okay, very good. So let's continue then. We're going to go. Should we take a break now or

should we move forward? I think, okay. all right, we're going to keep going then. We're going to move to another population in the non-white world that is receiving a lot of attention here in the United States, a little place called Springfield, Ohio, and folks talking about dogs and cats. Trump is promising to revoke the legal immigration status of Haitians in Springfield, Ohio. We certainly heard the candidate for vice president among the Republicans say, I don't care whether they're legal or not, I'm going to call them all illegal,

which means who they are is illegal. I wonder if that includes your wife. Donald Trump said he's going to deport all of these folk back to Haiti if he returns to the White House. Listen to what the former president said during an interview with News Nation reporter Ali Bradley. Now these individuals in Ohio, these migrants from Haiti, during an interview with News Nation reporter Ali Bradley. Now, these individuals in Ohio, these migrants from Haiti,

these people living there from Haiti, do you consider them here legal or illegal? And would you revoke TPS status? Which area are you talking about? I'd say Springfield. In Springfield, what's happening there is horrible. You have a beautiful community, 52,000 people, and about 30,000 people were put into that community rapidly. And the community is so nice and they want to be so politically correct.

You have to remove the people. You cannot destroy. We cannot destroy our country. You had a beautiful, safe community. Everyone's in love with everybody. Everything was nice. It was like a picture community. And all of a sudden, in a short period of time, they have 32,000 more people in there. It doesn't work. It can't work. It has nothing to do with Haiti or anything else. It doesn't work. You have to remove the people and you have to bring them back to their own country. They are, in my opinion, it's not legal. It's not legal for anybody to do. It's not even on a human basis. It's not acceptable to the people that are there and certainly to the people that are in Springfield. OK, we'll come back to Donald Trump in a moment.

Meanwhile, live from Montgomery, Alabama, Roland Martin. All right, Greg, I think you actually have tossed to me. Just want to make sure we're straight. Want to make sure you guys are getting my audio. So, Kara, okay, good. All right, cool. All right, so, Greg, let me walk you through this here. First of all, crazy busy news day.

Shortly, Vice President Kamala Harris will be speaking in Wisconsin with former Congresswoman Liz Cheney. We're going to be carrying that live. But let's talk about the Tyree Nichols case. The three cops who were on trial for the vicious beating death of Tyree Nichols. A mixed verdict coming out of Memphis. For Tadarius Bean, count one, deprivation of rights under color of law, excessive force and failure to intervene. He was found not guilty. The lesser involving bodily injury also found not guilty. Count two, deprivation of rights under color of the law, deliberate indifference in the lesser involving bodily injury found not guilty. But he was found, also found not guilty on count three, conspiracy to witness tamper. But toera is being found guilty on count four, obstruction of justice,

witness tampering. Demetrius Haley, count one, not guilty. Deprivation of rights under the law, excessive force and failure to intervene. Lesser involving bodily injury, guilty. Count two, not guilty. Lesser involving bodily injury, found guilty. Count three, guilty. Count four, guilty. Justin Smith, count one, which was the deprivation of rights under the color of law, he was found not guilty. Count two, not guilty. Count three, not guilty. Count four, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, he was found guilty. Now remember, three other officers actually pled guilty. These three chose to go to trial. And so a mixed verdict from the Department of Justice where they were found not guilty on several charges. But again,

all three officers who did go to trial in this case have been found guilty on at least one charge. They've been taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals and the judges that they're sentencing for January 22nd. Of course, this case has gotten lots of attention all across the country because when that video was released, it just spurred all sorts of anger. And I'll tell you, I remember we were live, and when that video dropped, that was actually the most live viewers we've ever had watch this show. When that video dropped at 7 p.m. and then the next 30 minutes, you know, our numbers went up almost up to 30,000 people watching live at one time. And so lots of

attention surrounding this case. And so the question is, will the feds choose to retry on the other charges? Not sure. We'll hear from the Civil Rights Division, the Department of Justice on that. But as I said earlier, three former Memphis police officers who did plead guilty, then you have, and some of them testified in this trial, then you have these three officers who chose to go to trial, and every single one of these officers have been found guilty on at least one particular charge. And so we, of course, will be waiting to hear from the family of Tyree Nichols. The attorney is Ben Crump. And so I'm sure they'll be speaking once they leave the courtroom.

And so we will try to have that for you. And again, of course, the vice president will be speaking live. So we're carrying that as well. So quite the busy news day. So, Greg, I'm going to toss it back to you. As I leave Montgomery, spoke to Alabama State, to the students here for their homecoming and about voting and then heading out to catch a flight back to D.C. And so back to you, the Black Star Network.

OK. Thank you, brother. Again, Roland Martin breaking the news of at least a mixed verdict coming out of Memphis. To Darius Bean, Demetrius Haley, and Justin Smith, three police officers among the group charged with the killing of Tyree Nichols. So we're going to wait. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm getting the message in there. OK, very good. Very good. So let's let's let's get some. I know this is real time in terms of reaction, but, Jade, any thoughts on what we're hearing now out of Memphis? As a former prosecutor and a current civil rights attorney, this honestly almost brought me to tears.

While Roland was talking, I had to fight back the tears. And this is a prime example of that, the jury. You know, the jury makes the final determination. It doesn't mean that it's right all the time and it's an educated one and that there's a fair and neutral jury. So when that happens, it's just so disheartening. Even after watching the tape, and I'm sure they've been shown the tape and heard all the facts, they still decided this. And what's really disturbing to me is that they were found guilty of the lesser offenses, you know, witness tampering, obstruction of justice.

I can't imagine that it would be, I don't know if they're going to serve any jail time for those. If they do, it's probably going to be very, very minimal jail time for those convictions. Also, I'm hoping that the DOJ continues the civil rights investigation into this, because I think that's the only way the family is going to have any type of true justice, is if they consider their investigation into this and they are able to sway the decision based on that and hold those officers accountable. Thank you, Jade, and thank you for that particular insight, given your experience.

We're going to go back now to Memphis, because the family of Tyree Wright is speaking. So let's go live to Memphis and hear what the family has to say. Our family, I think the federal government, they really worked very hard for Tyree. And I'd like to thank God for watching over us and for our families. And, you know, like they said, they're all in prison. They're not getting out any time soon, and it's not over. I'd just like to say, you know, let this be a message to all officers, you know, that, you know, you will reap what you sow.

That's right. You know, I mean, you just can't go around hurting people and think that you're not going to be accountable for it. So let this be a message because Tyrene's death did not go in vain. That's right. That's right. Now you hear from his sister, Kiwana. Be honest, huh?

I just want to say, I don't know if I'm happy, but it's a bittersweet day. I'll never get my little brother back. But to see those officers held accountable for what they did and put our family first, I just want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank'll never get my little brother back. But to see those officers held accountable for what they did, put our family through big gifts, there's some hope for the future. Maybe this won't ever happen to another family in the future. But I'm just so thankful. I was smiling when I saw them get taken away. Yeah. That's just one of the things that they did to my brother was wrong,

and to see them thrown into custody and be held accountable was anything and everything that my family could ask for. Justice for Tyree Nichols. Justice for Tyree Nichols. We'd like to thank all the activists, all the state representatives, everybody, all the faith-based community, everybody who stood for justice to say that Tyree deserved humanity, Tyree deserved his constitutional rights, and Tyree deserved

to get home to his mother and father. Ms. Robine, would you like to say the last word? I just want to say to all of you guys, thank you so much for covering the story the correct way. And I appreciate the love and everything that you guys have given our family. And to the community of Memphis, thank you for all the prayers and all the love. Just thank you so much. We appreciate it all. Anything else for me? Anything else, family?

No. Justice for Tyree Nichols. Justice for Tyree Nichols. Justice for Tyree Nich No. Justice for Tyree Nichols! Justice for Tyree Nichols! Justice for Tyree Nichols! Justice for Tyree Nichols! Justice for Tyree Nichols! Jade, I think we echo your hope that the federal

government will be involved. We heard that Ben Crump, who Al Sharpton, I think today is Reverend Sharpton's birthday, actually, who Al Sharpton has called Black America's Attorney General. That's the outside approach, one approach, but the person from the inside who probably deserves that name as much as anybody in the country, Kristen Clark, who is actually the Attorney General of Civil Rights. Let's hope Kristen Clark gets involved in this, in fact, because we know that those

officers were acquitted of the most serious charge, as you say, violating Mr. Nichols' civil rights by causing his death. So, you know, federal witness tampering, yeah, it's something. But as you just walked us through, it ain't what we wanted. And so I'm sure you faced many of those juries over the years, and you know how unpredictable they can be. Kwame, any thoughts on what we are seeing right now and this verdict in the wake of it? Any thoughts about what we're seeing in real time tonight? I'm going to echo Jade, and I'm going to say that this breaks my heart. This is a repetitive course, and I want to share some names from that repetitive course.

Rodney King. Rodney King, when I was a high school senior, I spoke out as part of the Charlotte Observer and my Charlotte High School about Rodney King and what it meant to me as a young 16, 17-year-old man. Eric Garner. Eric Garner, I was a New Yorker when that happened. I met Eric Garner's mother. It started the I Can't Breathe movement. And then finally, George Floyd. George Floyd, we all know what that meant to the world, the beginning of a much broader global Black Lives Matter movement. But I think about that term, I think about Black Lives Matter, and I'm asking myself,

how many sacrificial lands will it take for our lives to matter, for our lives to be equal? And here we are with Tyree Nichols once again, you know, someone else who's been brought to the altar, been sacrificed, unfortunately, this time at the hands of African-American officers, which also breaks my heart. And it makes me say that even though they were African-American officers, they still saw him in that same light. We always talked about, you know, this is a racial lens for people to see people and say, OK, you know, they're going to be equal in my humanity because I'm black or because I'm white or because of community policing and having faces in your community that look like you and understand your experience. But this is doubly heartbreaking because these officers were black. They were people who supposed to understand our experience.

They were people who were doing community policing. And I think that this just this just makes me boil because it just shows once again that we get a kernel of justice. We get the scraps that are left at the table. We get the scraps that are left at the table. We get the minimal charge. When will our lives matter at the same level that anyone else's lives matter when you can see point blank evidence on a tape that is irrefutable? And that just breaks my heart to see this happen with all these different names and this chorus of black lives that frankly just don't matter. Absolutely. Another name added. Oh, yeah, please jump, please, Jay, by all means.

Yeah, I do want to add that I think the notion some people are looking at here is that something is better than nothing. But to me, that's not a notion, right? I need it to be the right thing. I need it to be the extreme. And the reason I'm probably a little bit more emotional is because I represent the family of Justin Robinson, the young man in D.C. who was a violence interrupter who was murdered and shot 10 times while sleeping in a vehicle at a McDonald's here. And we can't even, you know, the family and as their council representation, we have not heard anything from anyone in the city. We have not heard any apologies. The mayor's office, my condolences. He actually worked for the Office of Attorney General. So when you see instances like

that, I also represent the family of Delano Martin, the 17-year-old who was shot in the back six times by Park Police two years ago. We have not heard anything from them either. The DOJ, they're opening up an investigation. We have not heard anyone get back to us with that. So

I think something better than nothing, I don't want to hear that notion. I think long as officers know, hey, they may be able to hold me accountable of something, but not to the extreme. I'll get out of jail or I won't go to jail or I can just go somewhere else. Right after this time is up, I can just up and go somewhere else and work for another municipality. No one would know. That's why something better than nothing, that notion, it does not work. No question. And we're going to come back to this again. This DEI approach to black politics, we don't care if it's a black mayor, if you can't do anything about it.

We're going to come back, Jade and Kwame. The vice president is now taking the stage in Wisconsin. We're going to go immediately to Kamala Harris, vice president of the United States. Can we hear it for Liz Cheney? Thank you, Liz! Thank you, Liz! Thank you, Liz! Thank you, Liz! Thank you, Liz! It is so good to be back in Wisconsin! I thank you everyone for being here. Please have a seat. I thank you all for being here, but I just, I have to emphasize that every time I come here, and Liz, I was

actually a kid here too when my parents were at the University of Wisconsin, so we have that in common as well. In fact, Tony Evers always says when I land, welcome home. But I say all that to say every time that I've come here recently, one of the conversations that we have, all of us together, is how much we love our country and that that really is the binding factor in us all being together and taking the time to be together to really just renew and remind everyone of what is at stake, but born out of love that we have this fight. And I want to thank you, Liz Cheney, for reminding us that that, regardless of party affiliation, is a factor that binds us all. And so I thank you for your great leaders who are with us today.

Governor Tony Evers, where is he? Thank you. Mayor Grant, thank you for the warm welcome. I want to thank Senator Tammy Baldwin, who is traveling around the state, but who I know you will re-elect in November. Thank you, Sheriff Michek, for your support and your life of service to the people of Iowa County. And so I do want to say a bit more about Liz Cheney.

You all know her leadership and she has obviously and so importantly been a leader for the people of Wyoming, but she has also been an extraordinary national leader and has served with great honor. And she not only, as she has talked today, recognizes that character is among the most important attributes of leadership, but she also personifies that attribute. And she possesses some of the qualities of character that I most respect in any individual and any leader.

Courage, especially at a moment like this, where there are so many powerful forces that have been intent on trying to demean and belittle and make people afraid. And there are many who know it is wrong. And then there are those who have the courage to speak out loudly about it and the conviction to speak truth. And, you know, it is so admirable when anyone does it, and especially when it is difficult to do in an environment such as this. But Liz Cheney really is a leader who puts country above party and above self, a true patriot, and it is my profound honor,

my profound honor to have your support. And I also want to thank your father, Vice President Dick Cheney, for his support and what he has done to serve our country. Every endorsement matters, and this endorsement matters a great deal, Liz, and it carries a special significance because, as you said, we may not see eye to eye on every issue, and we are going to get back to a healthy two-party system, I am sure of that, where we will have vigorous debates. And as you said, you may not have supported a Democrat for president before, but as you have also said, we both love our country and we revere our democratic ideals. And we both also believe in the nobility of public service.

And we know that our oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America is a sacred oath. An oath that must be honored American people in this election. Who will obey that oath? oath, who will abide by the oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. I have had the privilege Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution six times in my career, including as vice president, as a United States senator, and as the top law enforcement officer of the largest state in our country.

Responsible for upholding and enforcing the laws of the state and the laws of the United States was the work I did. And I have never wavered in upholding that oath and I have always executed it faithfully and without reservation. And therein lies the profound difference between Donald Trump and me. He who violated the oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America. And make no mistake, he who, if given the chance, would violate it again. Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. And as you have heard and know, he refused to accept the will of the people and the results of an election that was free and fair. As you have heard, he sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol where they assaulted law enforcement officers. He threatened the life of his own vice

president and refused to engage in the peaceful transfer of power. And let us be clear about how he intends to use power if elected again. He has called for jailing journalists, political opponents, anyone he sees and deems as being an enemy. He has pledged to destroy the independence of the Department of Justice. And he called for deploying our active duty military against our own citizens. Well, I believe... You and my running mate both. Well, listen, I believe that anyone who recklessly tramples on our democratic values as Donald Trump has, anyone who has actively

and violently obstructed the will of the people and the peaceful transfer of power as Donald Trump has, anyone who has called for, I quote, termination of the Constitution of the United States, as Donald Trump has, must never again stand behind the seal of the President of the United States. Never again. Never again. And the tragic truth, the tragic truth that we are facing in this election for President of the United States is that there is actually an honest question about whether one of the candidates will uphold the oath to the Constitution of the United States. That is the tragic truth of this election, that this is actually an honest question that we are having as Americans.

And I know the vast majority of us agree that upholding the Constitution must be a basic requirement. We expect of anyone seeking the highest office in the land. I know the vast majority of us, regardless of your political party, agree we must hold sacred America's fundamental principles from the rule of law to free and fair elections to the peaceful transfer of power. And if you share, if you share that view, no matter your political party, there is a place for you with us and in this campaign because those principles I know unite us across party lines. And in this election, I take seriously my pledge to be a president for all Americans. My entire career, my entire career I've only had one client, the people.

And when I say that, and when I say that I mean all the people, not just those who share my party affiliation. Through all my decades in law enforcement, I never asked a victim or a witness, are you a Republican or a Democrat? The only question I ever asked was, are you okay? And that is the kind of president we deserve, and I pledge to you that is the kind of the United States must not look at our country through the narrow lens of ideology or petty partisanship or self-interest. The President of the United States must not look at our country as an instrument for their

own ambitions. Our nation is not some spoil to be won. The United States of America is the greatest idea humanity ever devised. The nation that inspired the world to believe in the possibilities of a representative government. And so in the face of those who would endanger our magnificent experiment, people of every party must stand together. And let me be clear. Democracy and freedom are not only at stake here at home. They are also at stake around the world.

As President of the United States, I will strengthen, not abdicate, America's global leadership. Last week, I met with Ukraine's President Zelensky. And the message I delivered was the same message I've shared with him every time I've seen him. I stand with Ukraine, and I always will. And I told him, as I have before, I want Ukraine to prevail. By contrast, in our debate, Donald Trump couldn't even bring himself to say he wanted Ukraine to win the war. Couldn't even bring himself to say that. A war that Putin, a brutal dictator, launched against a free and independent people. Trump wants to force Ukraine to

give up its sovereign territory, a bedrock principle upon which we stand and fight for. And you know who else wants them to give up their sovereign? Absolutely. Territory? Putin. Putin. And that's not a plan for peace. It's a plan for surrender. Well, I believe that in the global struggle between tyranny and democracy, the President of the United States must always be on the side of freedom. So we are gathered here today in Ripon, not far, as the Congresswoman mentioned, from a small building where the Republican Party was born in 1854. Liz Cheney stands in the finest tradition of its leaders.

And if people across Wisconsin and our nation are willing to do what Liz is doing, to stand up for the rule of law, for our democratic ideals, and the Constitution of the United States, then together I know we can chart a new way forward, not as members of any one party, but as Americans. Americans who are united, united in our devotion to the country we love. I thank you all. May God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Well, there we have it.

The Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, with Liz Cheney, former Congresswoman from Wyoming, ironically standing over the vice president's left shoulder, to the left of President Harris, although we were looking at her and she was to our right, hitting some major themes there. Defense of the Constitution, defense of active duty military, standing with the, and then saying that no one who would violate the Constitution

should ever stand again behind the seal of the President of the United States, saying that she'll be a president for all Americans, talking about our magnificent experience and defending democracy and freedom, not just in the United States but abroad, with interesting choice there, standing with Ukraine, but not one mention of the regional war that the killers of the Israeli Defense Force have expanded even as we speak. Praising Liz Cheney for standing in the

finest of the GOP tradition. That sounds like something that Byron Donalds or Wesley Hunt or some of those black-faced MAGA boys might say. That's something I'm very familiar. You heard Mike Steele used to say back in the day before he saw the light and backed away from the ledge that those two brothers have jumped

over with both feet. Talked about peaceful transfer of power, free and fair elections, check your voter registration early. Voting has already started. So much to unpack there and so many convergences there. Kwame, brother, I mean, as a person who has been involved in politics for so long and has seen a lot of this stuff up close, I mean, there's Cheney standing over Kamala Harris's left shoulder, and she gives a speech that, as you said, is claiming that P word.

What do you make of the speech that we just heard from the Vice President of the United States in that battleground state? Well, Dr. Carr, I'm choking up on the bat, and I'm watching that baseball come down. I'm going to try to take my swing at it and hit it out the park. It is a lot right now. There's a curveball coming in at about 90 miles an hour. Yes, sir. I think that the way you framed it speaks a lot to the optics, right? Let's talk about the stagecraft and the optics of this announcement. It actually reminded me of

something. I was taking notes all during this. The fact that that is the birthplace of the Republican Party in 1854 in Ripon, Wisconsin, that is a sort of a homecoming. It is a homecoming of sorts for the Republican Party. So they're trying to basically say we want to have that homecoming, but we also want a refresh. We want a reset and we want to reclaim our brand. So they're doing that in the center of where they started. And it actually reminded me of the stagecraft and the brilliant optics behind President Obama launching his campaign at the birthplace of linking way back, you know, many, many years ago. And so seeing that same stagecraft and the importance and the nuance and the kind of brilliance of the cinematography around it really shows you

that the Republican Party is trying to reset and Vice President Harris is trying to claim as many people in that bucket as they reset as she can to possibly come over to her side for this election. So I think the choice of ripping Wisconsin, I was wondering where that was, why that was important. We all know Wisconsin is a swing state. But the fact that it's a homegoing, a reset, a refresh for the Republican Party, I think is very powerful in terms of the message they sent forward. Yeah, brother, I tell you, it's definitely a reset for part of the Republican Party. But it seems like the cancer that is MAGA has metastasized and claimed a great deal of that party.

Jade, before the vice president took the stage, you had led us through a litany. And I'm glad that you mentioned those D.C. cases, even as a black mayor sits here in Washington, D.C., doing nothing when it comes to our people, at least as it relates to state violence against black bodies. And as Kwame mentioned, Gwen Carr, I remember when she came to Howard and talked about her son. At that time, I think there was really a beginning, sadly, of this Mothers of the Movement work. Sabrina Fulton, of course, who we remember from Trayvon Martin's mother, and Tracy Martin Sr., Leslie McSpadden, Mike Brown's mother, and Mike Brown, Sr., Rovon Wells, we just heard from, which, of course, led you into the conversation that we had

with Rodney Wells by her side, Brother Nichols' father. As you were talking, Jade, though, through this question of having to defend black folk who seem defenseless against state violence, the police. Listening to the vice president there in this volatile time when that part of the Republican Party that has not backed away from the open racism and the support for state violence, in fact doubling and quadrupling down on it as we saw Donald Trump talking crazy about black people in Springfield, Ohio. How do you make sense of what we've seen? And in this kind of, I guess it's kind of a safe move for the vice president, I mean, to claim patriotism as such. But how are black people, you know, people undecided, how are the black people being

misled by misinformation, particularly younger voters? Some of these cats are saying, I don't care what she says. Can you save us from the police? You ain't talking about that. I mean, how are we going to talk to them? What would you say to young people looking at that, or anyone looking at that and saying, I hear what you're saying, but I'm not saluting the flag,

and I don't give a damn about no, and you can't stop the policeman, and I got a mayor who won't do anything for me now, so why in the hell would I vote for you? I hate to ask you that question, Jay, but I mean, how would you work through what we just saw today? And where does that fit in terms of this very close election and those who might still be like, I might sit this one out because I don't see how this helps me in my life. Absolutely. I think a lot of the viewers who look similar to us, you know, I think a lot of them are like, what about me? Or where do I fit in at there?

Or like you said, what relevance is that to me? And I did know that the audience, you know, they look like Cheney. They really did. They look like they were in Wisconsin. So I did not see much representation on that stage. And I would have liked, I think it was a lost and a missed opportunity for her to say some of the things that she was going to work on for particular communities. It doesn't just have to be African-Americans, right? It could be those in the underrepresented communities or ones who are targeted particularly by violence and law enforcement violence. I just think it was like, what does this have to do with me? What am I going to get from this? And I do like that she talked about character because the first thing that came to my head in that was that, you know, we're not judged by

the skin of our, you know, the color of our skin, but by the content of our character. So that is what came to mind for me. However, when I look back at the audience, when they flashed that, I thought to myself again, what does this have to do or what does this have to do with real life situations and circumstances? What can we take away from that? Our community members who are the highest threat. What do we take away from that, from what you're saying now? How's that benefit us in any way? So I absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. No, no. a state that is much whiter than the average state. Right. So their population obviously skews towards older folks, skews to more, you know, the white population.

We look at the race that Mandela Barnes, you know, initiated to become a U.S. senator there and how close he came. But the audience that he's speaking to and the audience that Vice President Harris is speaking to is that rural white audience, especially outside of Milwaukee. And we look at, you know, some of the dairy farms and the other rural areas in the state. So that audience is representative of the voters that she needs to cleave away on the margin to actually win that state. So I'm not saying that we take Milwaukee for granted. I'm not saying we take black voters for granted. I think Dr. Carr made a valid argument about how we speak to brothers who are facing that type of systemic policing and racism. But at the same time, I think he really she really has to focus on the fact that, you know, the voters that I need are those folks in that audience. And they are those,

you know, clones of Cheney that might just be a little bit to her left that hopefully will take a chance and join the vice president's community of voters to hopefully get her over the line. It's like kind of like step one. We need to secure Wisconsin and that base. And then step two, I think we can focus on some of those broader issues within the urban community. But we can't do any of that if she doesn't win. No, no, absolutely. You know, Rowland is constantly reminding us of that vote total in the Mandela Barnes race. And had there been just a few more black folk in Milwaukee to come out, he'd be sitting in the United States Senate.

And, of course, that was before they tightened up all these voter suppression tricks that they're trying to put in place before the 5th of November. I mean, this is, anybody saying they know that what's going to happen in the outcome of this race is lying. Because I tell you right now, y'all have been saying this over and over again tonight, threading this needle, threading this needle, threading this needle, and there's no doubt. Well, we've only

been here for about an hour, and we have covered the full range, including the breaking news from Memphis on the Tyree Nichols verdict. We're going to take a break here, and in a moment, we'll come back, and we're going to discuss some more of the stories that we teased at the beginning of the hour. You're here on the Black Star Network with Roland Martin and Filter.

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 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. Approve this message. 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 himself 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 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.

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 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. 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. This is Essence Atkins. Mr. Love, King of R&B, Raheem Duvall. Me, Sherri Shebritt, and you know what you're watching. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.

Make sure you support the Black Star Network. You've heard Roland say it every broadcast, and that is extremely important. And tonight is just another example of why. According to a USA Today Suffolk University WSVN-TV poll, more than half of Floridians support overturning a state abortion ban. Abortion is on November's ballot and requires 60 percent of voters to approve a constitutional amendment. Amendment 4 would allow first and second trimester abortions or even later to protect the health

of patients. Natasha Sutherland, senior advisor for Yes on 4, joins us now from the state capital, Tallahassee. Welcome, Natasha, to Roland Martin Unfiltered. Thank you so much. Absolutely. With great pleasure. And please walk us through what the situation is here with this ballot initiative, what a yes vote means, what a no vote means and what you're hoping and even maybe expecting to happen at the ballot box in over a month. Absolutely. So I think you really expressed it perfectly when you said that a majority of Floridians do support reproductive rights. I mean, just like, you know like the rest of America does, right? I think it's because a lot of us understand that it's health care at its core. And we also believe

that it's not really the role of government, it's not the role of politicians to make any health care decisions really for us. And that includes when it comes to abortion care. And so when we go back to, you know, the fall of Roe about two years ago, when the Supreme Court basically put abortion regulation back to the states, you know, we started this initiative to be able to stop the now very extreme ban that we are under as of May 1st. So in Florida, according to Florida law, abortions are banned after six weeks, which is before most women even know they're pregnant. It also doesn't have any real exceptions for things like rape, incest or the health of the woman. And so what we're facing right now is a very dangerous ban that if we're not able to pass Amendment 4 with 60 percent of the vote, like you mentioned, we're probably going to be stuck with this ban for decades, right? We're talking about young women who are voting maybe now for the very first time at the age of 18 that may not see abortion rights until they're in menopause.

That's what's at stake here in Florida. Oh, my goodness. Thank you, Natasha. That's what's at stake here in Florida. Oh my goodness. Thank you, Natasha. That's quite striking that you would make that crystal clear at this juncture. I want to bring the panel in immediately. Jade Mathis, Council District Legal Group here in Washington. Jade, any questions for Natasha Sullivan? Yes, Natasha. So one question that I do have, because I have my own thoughts and feelings on it, but you're the expert in this area. So I like to defer to you. What does this mean for Black maternal health? Because I feel like our health is even more at danger and at risk in this case and scenario. Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. And as a Black woman, I definitely want to say that this is a personal campaign for me. It is something that we have to think about from the lens of reproductive

justice, right? Something that our ancestors didn't even have when they were enslaved, where Black people could not decide whether or not to have children, with whom to have children, whether they're able to have the freedom to raise their children in healthy and safe communities. And like you mentioned, Black women across the country are three times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications compared to their white counterparts. And it's actually worse in Florida. Here in Florida, we are four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications. And so having an abortion ban is dangerous to women, in particular to Black women. And we've seen that recently, unfortunately, with the two women in Georgia,

right? Amber Thurman and Candy Miller, who both tragically, mothers, passed away, so leaving their children behind, because of Georgia's very similar extreme abortion ban. Right. Doctors were hesitant, afraid to provide life saving abortion care because that's what it can be. And two women died. And now that that that recent ban, the Georgia Supreme Court actually just struck it down this week. And I know that I saw that Amber's family is suing the state for that. So, you know, the stakes could be higher for Black people, for Black women families. And so we're really doing everything we can to fight back down here. Thank you for that, because I think people forget that, you know, I feel like it's a war on

marginalized inner city and rural communities, right? Because as we know, you're forcing women of our community to carry this full term. However, there's a high percentage of a chance sometimes they may have a genetic deficiency that's more prevalent in our community, right? Like sickle cell anemia or cerebral palsy. Well, one out of every 12 births will have one. So I think that's something to keep in mind, too. And that kind of changes the context, in my opinion, of what that attack is going to be on. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we just released a video of a couple that were willing to bravely share their story, Deborah and Lee Dorbert. And they talked about how they were forced, Deborah was forced to carry a baby that she knew was going to die. And she gave birth to that baby

and he died in her arms 94 minutes after he was born because of this ban, right? Incredibly devastating consequences of these bans, which is exactly why we have to do something about it. We can't wait. Thank you, Jade. Kwame Jackson, political strategist at Los Angeles. Questions for Sister Natasha. Natasha, first of all, I want to thank you for the important work that you do. We are at a fulcrum right now in terms of where this country is going to go in this important reproductive rights battle. So thank you for your work. My question is really around how we start to reframe the narrative. Right. We start to reframe the narrative around reproductive rights and start to change the personalized stories that people see. People get engaged around names that they recognize, stories that they recognize,

people who are close to their family, the same way that America evolved over gay rights and equality in marriage. It's the same thing for reproductive rights. As we start to use personalized stories, as we start to use personalized names, what is the power in reframing that narrative so that we can start to sway people? I know one of the things that I didn't know, just from a statistical standpoint, is that the majority of women who have had abortions are already mothers. A lot of people think it's just a teenage pregnancy issue. It's just, you know, a smaller community issue. But it's a lot of times, you know, mothers who also are already having kids, but then have made the choice for their

own reproductive health that they're not going to have a kid going forward. So those types of statistics, those types of personalized stories, how do we start to use those to reframe the narrative and win the hearts and minds? You know, I think we're seeing a lot of that already. You know, recently at the DNC, you know, we had Anya Cook, who is from Florida, black woman, Broward County. And she was so brave in sharing her story. And I think it's really talking about those stories. But I definitely want to want to talk about it. You know, she had a a very much wanted intended pregnancy, right? And unfortunately was dealing with a miscarriage and doctors weren't sure how bad off she had to be, how close to death she needed to be before they were allowed to intervene to save her life and provide an abortion. And so they

turned her away. She subsequently continued that miscarriage in a public bathroom, losing half of the blood in her entire body, nearly dying before anybody was able to intervene. And so I think that it is sharing these stories. But I think that the other part of the narrative that I think is really important is that the government does have a role in our lives, right? The government, sure, they should be fixing our roads. They should be keeping our communities safe. They should be helping us respond to natural disasters like the hurricane that we just had rip through this country. But when it comes to our healthcare decisions, when it comes to something as private, as complicated as pregnancy, politicians are not qualified to decide for us.

We should be allowed as patients, as women, to talk with our doctors, who they're the only ones that take an oath in our best interests, to talk with our families, to really think about our own faith, because everybody's faith is different, and really make these decisions for ourselves, because the government has no place in that. Because if we start to allow that, then what else are we talking about here, right? What else is next? We're looking at things like the risk of no longer having access to things like IVF or birth control, right, to prevent pregnancies that are not intended. But it'll be really interesting to see that if these kinds of things continue, we're going to have now, what, men in the doctor's office where the doctor says, I see that you're close to death, but hold on, let me consult an attorney to find out whether or not I'm allowed to help you make a decision about life-saving care. It's absurd,

right? But that's what we're doing to women right now in a lot of these states, like the South, where there are a lot of Black women that are impacted by this. And so I think, really, people just need to talk about it. They have to understand what's at stake. Yeah, it reminds me of Vice President Harris when she was on the Senate committee to approve Justice Brett Kavanaugh. And she asked him that question, that searing question, can you tell me about a law that regulates the reproductive rights or sexuality of men? And he dodged and he weaved and he moved around, but he could not name a law that showed that we're going to

try to put the same regulations over men's sexuality and men's reproductive rights as we do over women. So I think threading that needle and making sure that we're always hitting those points is extremely important. I know there was a great ad campaign that came out with, you know, the older white man sitting in the middle of people's bedrooms, sexual conversations, sitting in the middle of your doctor's office and kind of like the odd man out, people really understanding that's what you're doing. You're placing this older white gentleman in the middle of your sexual relationship, your reproductive choices, oddly there in a way that we all know that is not their role. It is not the role of the government and it's not the place of the government. So I think placing that

from a branding standpoint, from an optic standpoint and telling those personal narratives is how we start to change hearts and minds. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, Brother Kwame. Natasha, before before we wrap, I want to read a quote from a pretty prominent Florida resident. At least we think she lives in Florida. Not quite sure. Maybe New York. But this is the direct quote. It says, quote, it is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference for having children based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from government. Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body? A woman's fundamental right of individual liberty to her own life grants her the authority to determine what she does with her own body. A woman's fundamental right of individual liberty to her own life grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.

That is a direct quote from a memoir that will be out next Tuesday by, let me see, Melania Trump. Okay, so what do you expect in this coming election? We see Rick Scott, of course, running for reelection, who came out against Amendment 4 and then said she'd be left to the states trying to back up. We saw Mrs. Trump's husband, I forget his name, saying at first he was for abortion and then say he's going to vote against Amendment 4, what are you expecting to see and what are you hoping to see in terms of turnout that may come to vote for Amendment 4 and maybe while they're in the ballot box, maybe put Rick Scott out of that U.S. Senate seat? Are you expecting this to attract people to the polls who may even intervene in some of these state races? And how does this Melania Trump bombshell kind of maybe play into this? Or maybe it doesn't at all. Your thoughts? Yeah. So I do want to make sure that your viewers and listeners

understand that in order for us to even have qualified to be on this ballot in Florida, we had to get nearly one million citizens to sign a petition for us to even be at this point. Right. And that is regular Florida voters across party lines, mind you, right? That's Republicans signing this, that's Democrats signing this, and it's independents signing this. So I think it's really interesting where politicians or folks that are connected to politicians have, you know, whatever commentary they have about it. But we know where the people are with this issue. We understand what's at stake here. And we also know that we're going to have to pass this with 60 percent of threshold. And so we have had a very significant ground game here in Florida ever since qualifying May 1st. We have actually done

over 1.4 million voter contact attempts, a million of those with voters, like with, I'm sorry, with volunteers. And so we are knocking on doors regardless of party affiliation, regardless of language, regardless of what color folks are. And when they find out that, number one, there is an extreme abortion ban currently in law in the state of Florida, they immediately understand they have to vote yes on four. And so hopefully while they're there, they're making other very important decisions. And not to mention, you know, there are also folks that might be turning out for the marijuana amendment, right? So we have two important amendments to our constitution that were brought on by citizens,

Amendment 3 and 4, out of the six. The other ones, the politicians put on the ballot. And so I think it'll be really interesting to see the folks that are able to actually make their own decisions about these policies. I mean, this is the best example we have in Florida of direct democracy, really. Yeah, absolutely. Democracy in action. Dr. Carr.

Yes, please. Can I jump in on a closing note there? Please, with pleasure. Can I jump in on a closing note there? I just want to hit our former first lady, Melania Trump, by Felicia, because Melania is, you know, in our community, as we say, right? This is the same first lady as a Slovenian immigrant who went on to demonize and lead the birther movement along with her husband against President Obama and saying he is, you know, obviously not a citizen. And here you are as an immigrant speaking on behalf of a birther movement to keep other immigrants out to say that you are not part of our society. So Melania Trump has zero validity here. She has zero backbone in terms of her stance. I'm happy she came out with her book, but I wanted to say bye, Felicia.

Melania's for the streets on this one. Brother, we would not be able to draw breath if we didn't let you of all people weigh in on that. Do you understand? This is very important. When you shared that quote, I just said, I got to speak out on this one because that woman is...

That's all I'm going to say. No, that's important. The king said the arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice. It would have bent the other way if you didn't weigh in on this Trump family in any way, particularly this issue. You just seen that up close and personal. So thank you for saying that.

Our justice is long, but it bends towards Slovenia, right? Slovenia, no question. Boy, we all going to get put out of here. Listen, we are certainly in a deep debt to you, Sister Natasha Sutherland, all of us, and particularly on this issue, as Senior Advisor for Yes on 4, y'all get out, make sure you vote in the state of Florida. This is critical. Like you said, you wouldn't have got all those signatures and gotten on the ballot if the majority of people there,

the overwhelming majority, didn't support this. So now it's time to show up at the ballot box and seal the deal. Thank you for joining us from Tallahassee, Natasha Sutherland, tonight. Thank you so much. Yes on four, folks. Absolutely. Yes on four. No question. And three, right. Hey, look, man, it's so funny you say that. Before we go to break, I remember when the president, when Barack Obama won the election in 08, and we were at Howard in the Student Center. And of course, all the young people are excited, many of them the first time they got to vote. And when the ballot initiative for marijuana passed in Colorado,

you couldn't hear the television, the big screen. All you saw was a marijuana leaf. And I think that that cheer was actually louder than the one for when the president went over the top. But it ain't great. So, yeah, a lot of people come to the ballot box for a lot of reasons. But remember, yes on four. Yes, indeed. So we'll be back in a moment here at the Black Star Network.

Roland Martin and filter back in the moment. 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. There's nothing socialist about Kamala Harris. Trump says Harris is a radical. I don't buy it. Conservatives have a super majority on the

Supreme Court. With a likely Republican Senate, those checks and balances will keep our country sane. If Trump wins, he could end up with total control. I'm a conservative. I don't agree with Harris on everything, but she was a tough prosecutor and she put bad guys in prison. I voted for Donald Trump three times. I'm voting for Kamala Harris in November. I'm voting for Kamala Harris this fall. 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. 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. Hello, I'm Marissa Mitchell, a news anchor at Fox 5 DC. Hey, what's up? It's Tammy Roman, and you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered here on the Black Star Network. In our ongoing coverage of Project 2025, we are going to now drill down a little bit on the question of employment. Project 2025, as we know, the 922-page detail, right-wing proposal of drastic changes for the next Republican president to implement will impact everyone in every aspect of our lives, including our employment. Some of the areas include, but are not limited to, restricting access to overtime pay, eliminating worker

protections, eroding workplace safety, making it harder to win union recognition, denying labor rights to employees at smallch, Chief Equity Officer, Thella Thatch Consulting, joining us from Los Angeles to explain. Dr. Thatch, Thay-lay, I'm sorry. I should know, I know better than that. I can read and I see the diacritic mark over the A. Thay-lay, exactly, is that right? Thay-lay. Thay-lay, like pay-lay.

Not really. Close. Like Pele. Okay. All right. But you know what? Since my mama raised me right and I see that D-R in front of your name, we're going to refer to you as Dr. Thatch

for the Chief Equity Officer. Thatch Consulting joins us from Los Angeles to explain. 922 pages. A lot of people haven't taken the time to download it or read it in detail, but you have drilled down on a section that should be of particular concern to us, I guess all of them. But on this question of employment, help us what I'm seeing in terms of Project 2025.

So you're absolutely right. The document's over 900 pages, and I literally have page notes of things that are just so extremely troubling for me as an HR person of 25 years. I just, you know, for the sake of time, we could probably talk about this all year long, but basically it reads like one of my favorite shows that I've watched, The Handmaid's Tale. And first five points that really stood out to me that I must express to you is this constant mention of woke and wokeism and this negative connotation towards being woke. And so the document spends a lot of time making sure you understand that it's coming from a religious point of view. And as a human resources person, and I'm sure you're aware, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is really what this document is trying to dismantle.

So the document is trying to roll back, it clearly states that it would like to, it is recommending dismantling disparate impact, it's recommending removing all language around equity, diversity, inclusion, and anything that's race-related. So I just wanted to pause there. No, absolutely. Absolutely.

Yeah. And, you know, what's most troubling is this religious oversight that the stand that they're taking from a religious point of view. So some things in there that just blew my mind. Now, I grew up in a Baptist church. I believe in the Sabbath. But under Project 2025, the Sabbath will be mandatory in workplaces. Wow. Exactly.

So I literally have the page numbers. It's like page five. So that's something that I'm just really our government and control our people in this society? Well, through the workplace. And so we have over 157 million Americans who are part of the workforce. And this is really the plan. It's not a new plan to be able to control how people show up and the rights that they have in the workplace. So overtime protection, workplace rollbacks.

And again, I just want to make sure I emphasize this very strategic gaslighting around being woke. So in the document, there's 35 mentioned to the word woke, wokeism, and wokery. And the way I read that as a professional, as a doctor, is that they want us to stay asleep. And so that's really the intent. And that's how it reads. It's a very biased biased document that is focused on religion, Judeo-Christianity, and staying unwoke in the workplace. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's interesting because remember, I'm sure we all remember, I think 2020, the Lady of Guadalupe case out there in California, I think, where they had the religious exemption allowed them to, I think it was they had the religious exemption allowed them to, I think it was deprive the teacher of contraception, if memory serves me correctly.

But I mean, it seems like this Roberts Court, which some people, David Brock, among others, are calling the Thomas Court, really, but are running a great deal of this through the First Amendment. So the whole idea that I can use my religion to hide behind and discriminate against you, but that is a bombshell for folks who have not read Project 2025 that they want to now reach and prevent people from having employment based on these religious views. Could you walk us through some more of the work here? I mean, we saw some of the question of harming women and birthing people. How is that going to play out in terms of women? So on page five hundred and eighty five in this real life document, because some

people like to believe that it's not a real life document, it talks about it's actually labeled pro-life measures. And so, as you know, in the workplace, if you have a health issue, if you're a woman, you're having a baby or any type of health issue, it may be abortion related. Maybe you've had a miscarriage and because of, you know, health issues, you may need what, you know, they're trying to define broadly as an abortion, you have health benefits that covers those rights. You also may have time off. You also may have support from family medical leave, the Family Medical Leave Act, where you can take 12 weeks to care for either a baby or, you know, your spouse or partner

who may have experienced some type of birth. Well, under this act, if it's in any way related to abortion, all of those rights are removed. You would not have time off. You would not have access to health providers. They would not allow the employer to provide health benefits to anyone who has an abortion-related event. So, quote, unquote unquote from the Project 2025, it says, no employer is required to provide any accommodations or benefits for abortion, no time off, basically no care. This is my paraphrase. If you have anything related to abortion, so even if you're a male and your wife had an incident or, you know, your partner had an incident regarding

something that was abortion related, it would not be covered and your job would be in jeopardy. I tell you what, you know what, it almost, people might think, well, that's far-fetched to compare this vision to Margaret Atwood and Handmaid's Tale, but that sounds just like Gilead. I think your comparison is right on the nose. Let's bring our panel in to raise some questions and be in conversation with Dr. Thaleh Thatch. Kwame Jackson, questions for Dr. Thaleh Thatch. Dr. Thatch, I want to thank you in particular for dissecting this document and revealing even more about what I want to call a roadmap to a purge. That's what this is. This document is a roadmap to a complete purge within the federal government

structure to get out all expertise, to get out all longtime service professionals in the federal government and put in Donald Trump loyalists, people who are religious zealots, people who want to roll back rights for women and purge that whole structure so that those people can come in and implement this playbook. So be clear that this is a roadmap for a purge. And this roadmap for a purge, we've seen this playbook before. If we go back to Reconstruction and the end of the Civil War, and we said, OK, America's at a reset point, we're at a tipping point in terms of where we're going to go. And we know that the Redeemers came along, the Redeemers, the former Confederates, who went back into government and started writing out laws to

come back and say, we're going to institute Jim Crow. We're going to institute sundown towns. We're going to institute a whole roadmap for a purge. And so we've seen this playbook before. America is now at another precipice where we have to really back away from that and know that we can fight it. I know in a lot of my work, I do a lot of diversity, equity, inclusion work with the University of North Carolina and battling a lot of what's happening in that state. I do a lot of work with corporate partners on the same side and have for a long time. My question to you, Dr. Thatch, is how do we start to battle some of the nuanced corporate DEI anti-work that's in Project 2025, as well as at the academic level with cases like the University of North Carolina, cases like Harvard that are rolling back

affirmative action. What would you recommend as two or three strategies that we start to use to battle and push back against this roadmap for a purge, particularly within that DEI space? Yeah, great question. So in my recent book, The Diversity Dilemma, I talk about a roadmap that involves the seven A's. And I won't get into all of the seven A's, but some of the A's involve awareness. And so honestly, as you know, as a DEI professional, this is the biggest part of the work, is making sure that in our workplaces, that we are aware that these tools, that these resources, that this exists, right? Project 2025, when I'm working in my everyday HR job, people have no idea what I'm talking about. They don't believe that Project 2025 exists. So that's why I started putting page

numbers, printing it out, showing it to people. So that's step number one. And then, you know, I'm really grateful that I get to work with organizations and clients who, regardless of how the government is moving, they are committed. You know, these organizations have values around inclusion and equity. They believe in keeping the E in equity, unlike some organizations. And so, you know, the reality is the fight will always continue whether the federal government steps in. And, you know, the reality is the fight will always continue whether the federal government steps in. And, you know, honestly, I feel so bad for federal employees because the first few pages of this document is about getting rid of them, about taking away their retirement benefits, about laying them off. And just, yeah, they're just like, I don't know how many we're going to get rid of, but we're just going to get rid of all of them. And so I think our first ally could be the federal employees, making sure that they know their rights. They're

trying to get rid of unions. So how can we align with unions to make sure that we're all on the same page and in the same fight? But again, if you have union members who don't believe that document exists and they don't believe there's a problem. So I think our work is really awareness, education, making sure that companies are actually aligned to the work around inclusion and equity. And then it's taking action, you know, taking action like me today, being here, making sure people are aware you

and this amazing platform is taking action because we're gathering. Yeah, and you know, Dr. Thatch, it's funny because it's important that we're all out here kind of spreading the gospel around Project 2025 and making sure that people are hearing that good word. But at the same time, one of the other nuances that I just picked up yesterday and I did not know was that J.D. Vance, obviously the vice presidential candidate, wrote the foreword to Project 2025. So not only did he write the foreword, but they're trying to backpedal and moonwalk out of this thing so quickly. And people don't even understand that he wrote the foreword for Project 2025. That was an opportunity for Tim Walz to really call that out that I didn't even know. And so we need to constantly educating, constantly tying people back into this plan and saying, if this is what you believe, if this is what you put pen to paper to put forward, that you need to be held accountable.

So I want people to know that, that J.D. Vance wrote the forward to Project 2025. And may I add to that, there were over 140 of Trump employees, former Trump employees in some form or fashion, that wrote this document. I just, that's a fact. Okay. So I just try to squeeze in Dr. Thatch just in a quick second. Jade, Jade Mathis, anything you have to add, questions, comments for Dr. Thatch before we go to break? Question, doctor. Good evening. So one of the things from a legal stance. Right. What does that mean for the EEOC? Like, what does that mean for those type of complaints? What does that mean for private companies? What does that look like? Because if there's no more protected class, you know, a discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origins? What does that mean? And then who's accounting for any discrimination?

Or is it just there's no account for it? Like, what does that look like? Are there any alternatives? Really, no. So we would be going back to the time before we were able to have civil rights. So rolling back Title VII and rolling back words like disparate impact, which is the number one theory

that allows us, the framework that allows us to have a lawsuit with the EEOC. So in the document, they are dismantling the EEOC. So the purpose is to remove the power from the EEOC and to remove those words, and I'm not an attorney for the record, to remove those, because once you roll back words like race, disparate impact, once you remove all of the Title VII protections, that's all we have. Since 1964, that is the reason why we have rights. I'm trying to scream it off the rooftops, is that the civil rights that we have will be taken away. And we will see it, similar to The Handmaid's Tale, is that the civil rights that we have will be taken away.

And we will see it, similar to the Handmaid's Tale, which is one of the famous scenes where they're being pulled out of their workplaces. It will happen in your workplace, because that's the first place the government is able to control. It can actually control it right now with the Patriot Act, and we won't get into that. But there's measures in place to protect us in the workplace under Title VII. So that is why Title VII is the main act that is under attack with Project 25, because they know once they roll that back, there will not be any

recourse. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, Jade. And, you know, it's interesting. Kevin Roberts, as we know, who leads that heads up this project, he wrote his dissertation down at the University of Texas, Austin of on all things, the Haitian revolution to Nat Turner's rebellion. So his vision for us in this country is wrapped around a concept of how black people just need to get down and lay down and assimilate. These people are not playing with us and we need to stop playing with them. Listen, this was very, very, very informative and very necessary. As you know, Dr. Thatch, this is an ongoing segment here at Roland Martin Unfiltered. But you have filled in well and set a standard, I think, as we go forward in terms of a close read and putting it in a place where, as Joe Madison used to say, the goats can get it. We can all

understand that the Thaylay Thatch Chief Equity Officer, Thaylay Thatch Consulting. Thank you very much for joining us tonight here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Thank you for having me. With pleasure. We'll be back in a moment here at Roland Martin Unfiltered and

right back after the break. 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. 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? 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 to 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. 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 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. What's good, y'all?

This is Doug E. Freshener watching my brother Roland Martin unfiltered as we go a little something like this. Hit it. It's real. Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered here on the Black Star Network. Remember to support the Black Star Network. Again, one more night of reasons why we saw this entire suite of stories today. Let's continue. We're going to move to Colorado for a moment. The convicted election denying Colorado clerk who helped, who tried to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election results will spend about nine years in prison.

A jury convicted Tina Peters last month of allowing a man associated with My Pillows, Mike Lindell, to enter the Mesa County election system after the 2020 election. Peters was convicted on seven criminal charges in August, which included an attempt to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, and violation of duty. Prosecutors said the conspiracy peddling clerk turned off security cameras, gave the man access, and then leaked voting data to her fellow conspiracy theorists. Peters is the only United States election official to be convicted of criminal charges relating to stolen election conspiracy theories in 2020. Now, we'll turn for a moment here. Let's see to the state of Georgia where we will on the second. Give me a second here. Yes, the safe plan., where we will, one second, give me a second here. Ah, yes, the SAVE plan.

This is very important, particularly for folks who are worrying about canceling student debt. A federal judge in Georgia declined to block President Joe Biden's plan to cancel student debt under the Higher Education Act of 1965. This decision was made in response to a lawsuit from a group of GOP state attorneys general who sought to stop the relief's implementation. Judge Randall Hall ruled that Georgia was the improper venue to file the lawsuit, and he's transferring the case to the Federal Eastern District of Missouri. Missouri's attorney general was among the plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit, and the case argued that the student loan company mohella some of you all know that acronym and know it well overseen by the

missouri state government would suffer revenue loss from any form of debt relief the supreme court of course struck down biden's first attempt at broad debt relief after finding missouri had standing to sue given the harm Mohella would suffer. So let's start with this student debt question. Well, either story, if either one of you want to comment. Jade, any comment on either one of these last two stories? I'm just thinking about all this legal trickery and chicanery and who has standing and who doesn't to try to stop people from getting their student loan relief. Well, I do want to first address the Colorado

clerk because I feel like justice, we have one piece of justice that was served tonight. She's 68 years old. She actually claimed that she had health issues, alleged she had health issues and asked for probation. However, the judge in this case, in the jury in this case, I think got it right, 8.5 years, 8 and a half years. However, one thing I will say is that I love me a good judge who is slick on the tongue, was educated and slick. Let me tell you some of the things the judge said to her during sentencing. He said, you are as defiant as any defendant this court has ever seen. You're no hero. You are a charlatan. He also said during the sentencing, I'm sorry, they also said during the sentencing that he believed that she was not charged and convicted of this.

Given the opportunity, she would do it again. And I think that is the true definition of justice. The judge did their job. The jury did their job. And I am very impressed with it. I think that was the correct decision to make. And 8.5 years is a generous amount of time that you're serving particularly if you're 68 years old lord have mercy jail any thoughts brother yeah I would add to Jade's excellent commentary and I

would say this that folks need to know that they can't mess around and they can't play around with elections and that those things have consequences we have to understand that this is serial behavior. This is not a Colorado issue. This is the fake slate of electors, the fake slate of electors in Michigan, the fake slate of electors in Georgia, the fake slate of electors in Arizona. This is serial behavior that happened state by state that was orchestrated through all the chicanery and kind of backroom deals in the Republican MAGA side of the party. So we have to understand in order to stop that serial behavior, there have to be consequences. So folks, they cannot mess around and that this was a great way to attack that MAGA agenda to subvert our election process.

My goodness. Well, I tell you, it is a hell of a case to have been decided with a month to the election. Of course, early voting has already started. So Election Day isn't November the 5th. It doesn't have to be. It's not only in November the 5th. Y'all can register and get in line now and do that as we speak. You know, we didn't get a chance to get to this story today but I'm sure we'll be coming back to it in future days because we just started the month of October. We know that that is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I have a number of friends, some of my students

have made the comment in the wake of what's going on with Sean Combs in particular. This has taken on an added platform and significance. And Roland Martin Unfiltered, of course, we're here, Roland Martin Unfiltered, covering this issue, this ongoing issue, until it's not an issue. That's our vision. But in order to do that, it's going to take some work. You know, here we are.

We've reached the end of the show. And Kwame Jackson, political strategist out of Los Angeles, California, and Jade Mathis, council district legal group here in Washington, DC. Thank you both for joining us. Look forward to the conversation that we'll be having going forward. And we'll be back in this community on Thursday nights as usual.

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I'm real revolutionary right now. Back up! Support this man, Black Media. He makes sure that our stories are told. Thank you for being the voice of Black America, Roller. I love y'all. All momentum we have now, we have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal.

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