#RolandMartinUnfiltered - White Ala. Mayor Apologizes For Black Woman's Arrest, Haiti's Chaos, Trump's Mental Health

Episode Date: March 13, 2024

3.12.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: White Ala. Mayor Apologizes For Black Woman's Arrest, Haiti's Chaos, Trump's Mental Health A South Alabama mayor apologizes to a black woman who was forcefully arres...ted in her home after complaining about her white neighbor's loud music. She says she was arrested because she challenged the white officer's motives. Civil rights attorney Harry Daniels will be here with his client to tell us about this encounter caught on video. Fireworks on Capitol Hill during today's  House Judiciary hearing where Republicans hoped to spotlight President Biden's diminishing mental health. We'll show you how the Democrats turned the tables and put Trump's deficiencies front and center. A North Carolina case proves why your vote matters. The GOP-run legislature tried to strip the governor of his appointments to election boards, but a three-judge panel found their attempt unconstitutional.  And Haiti is in chaos as the Prime Minister agrees to step down. Miami Herald's Caribbean Correspondent, Jacqueline Charles, will be here to discuss the latest developments.  Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an iHeart Podcast. Today is Tuesday, March 12, 2024, coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. A South Alabama mayor apologizes for a black woman who was forcefully arrested in her home after complaining about her white neighbors loud music. She says she was arrested because she challenged the white officers motives.
Starting point is 00:00:39 Civil rights attorney Harry Daniels will be with us to discuss this case. Fireworks on the Capitol Hill during today's House Judiciary Committee, where Republicans hope to spotlight President Biden's diminishing mental health. Democrats said we're going to one up you and show you Trump's folks is crazy. North Carolina case proves why your vote matters. The GOP-run legislature tried to strip the governor of his appointments to election boards, but a three-judge federal panel, two Republicans and one Democrat, found the Republicans were wrong. And, folks, it is craziness in Haiti. The prime minister has resigned. Gangs are in control of Port-au-Prince. We'll be joined by the Miami Herald's award-winning Caribbean correspondent Jacqueline Charles to break down on what is actually going on there. Lots to talk about. It's time to bring the funk on Roland Martin
Starting point is 00:01:45 Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. I just believe he's knowing Putting it down from sports to news to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rolling Yeah It's Uncle Gro-Gro-Yell Yeah It's Roland Martin Yeah
Starting point is 00:02:20 Rolling with Roland now Yeah He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best, you know he's Roland Martel. Martel. All right, folks. So today on Capitol Hill, the special prosecutor looking into the documents case of President Joe Biden, the classified documents case, testified Robert Herr resigned yesterday from the Department of Justice. He was aided by lawyers close to Donald Trump. That tells you right there exactly from his perspective.
Starting point is 00:03:05 And Republicans were prepared to show the mental deficiencies of President Biden. Oh, but Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler, he had something waiting for them. He rolled this video out. The Department of Justice gave Trump every opportunity to avoid criminal charges. Again in the special counsel's words, quote, after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite. He not only refused to return the documents for many months, but he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about it. Close quote. Why did the president charge former President Trump,
Starting point is 00:03:52 but not President Biden? Not because of some vast conspiracy, not because the so-called deep state was out to get him, but because former President Trump was fundamentally incapable of taking advantage of even one of the many, many chances he was given to avoid those charges. Which brings me to the second distinction this report helps us draw between President Biden and Donald Trump. Simply put, President Biden had the mental acuity to navigate this situation. Donald Trump did not. Much has been made of the special counsel's gratuitous comments about the President Biden's age.
Starting point is 00:04:35 But let's set the context. After returning every classified document, after opening his home to federal investigators, while simultaneously managing the first hours of the crisis in Israel, President Biden volunteered to sit through a five-hour interview with the special counsel. I believe, as is his habit, that President Biden probably committed a verbal slip or two during the interview. And I'm not sure any of that matters, because when the interview was over, Mr. Herr completely exonerated President Biden. And then there is Donald Trump.
Starting point is 00:05:12 What kind of man bungles not one, but dozens of opportunities to avoid criminal liability? What must that say about his mental state? Here, too, the record speaks for itself. One of the great memories of all time. James Webb. I don't remember the names. Don't remember the name. Viktor Orban.
Starting point is 00:05:35 Did anyone ever hear of him? He's the leader of Turkey. By the way, they never report the crowd on January 6th. You know, Nikki Haley. Nikki Haley is in charge of security. Three years later, ladies and ladies, how about that? Did you actually have a one-on-one with Comey? Not much. Not even that I remember. I like mosquitoes. We have languages coming into our country. We have nobody that even speaks those languages. They're truly foreign languages. Nobody speaks them.
Starting point is 00:05:59 Saudi Arabia and Russia will repeat you. I have a really good memory. Your next wife was a woman by the name of Marla Maples. Right. Do you recall what years you were married to Ms. Maples? It's called like up here and it's called memory and it's called other things. So you don't remember saying you have one of the best memories? I don't remember that. And Putin, you know, has so little respect for Obama that he's starting to throw around the nuclear war terror. You've heard that, nuclear. We have to win in November, or we're not going to have Pennsylvania.
Starting point is 00:06:34 They'll change the name. I talked to Putin a lot. Did you ask him that? I don't remember that. I saw that this morning. I don't remember asking him that question. I have a good memory and all that stuff, like a great memory. For 20 years, they were fighting ISIS.
Starting point is 00:06:50 I defeated ISIS in four weeks. And we did with Obama. We won an election that everyone said couldn't be won. I'm not cognitively. And you know what? When I am, you're going to enjoy it. You're going to be the first people. I know my people.
Starting point is 00:07:04 You'll say, all right, Trump, you did a good job. Get the hell out of here. That's it. That is a man who is incapable of avoiding criminal liability, a man who is wholly unfit for office, and a man who, at the very least, ought to think twice before accusing others of cognitive decline. So it wasn't just that. You also had, of course, Republicans trying to play the whole gotcha game. And then they also showed how Herr himself, you know, has his own issues. In fact, remember when his report came out, all of these stories, I mean, tons of stories in the Washington
Starting point is 00:07:57 Post, tons of stories that were in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the mental acuity of President Biden, how all he couldn't remember. Well, when they released the Department of Justice, released the transcripts and it gave a whole different understanding. Well, Eric Swalwell, he actually had a few questions for her about this very issue of Biden's memory. Watch this exchange. In your report, though, is that correct? The word photographic? That does not appear in my report. I now want to show you and play a video of what is absolutely not photographic. In the failing New York Times by Anonymous.
Starting point is 00:08:48 I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley
Starting point is 00:09:12 comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st,
Starting point is 00:09:44 and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. It's really an ominous, gutless coward. We are a nation that just recently heard that Saudi Arabia and Russia
Starting point is 00:10:02 will repeat you. I hope they now go and take a look at the oranges, the oranges of the investigation. And I watch our police and our firemen down on 7-Eleven, down at the World Trade Center. And we did with Obama. We won an election that everyone said couldn't be won. This is the very definition of totalitarianism. And let me begin by wishing you a beautiful look. Do you remember this? Do you remember? God bless the United States. The windmills are driving them crazy. They're driving, they're driving the whales, I think a little batty. And I went to Puerto Rico, and I met with the president of the...
Starting point is 00:10:46 ...appeared in your report, though. Is that correct? The word photographic? That does not appear in our report. So I thought that was quite interesting how Swalwell jammed him up on that. But, again, on this whole thing of photographic memory, I'm going to pull this video here before I go to my panel. Y'all are going to love this one because, again, it goes to show you how these folks operate, goes to show you how they think and how, again, this whole thing was about how they could try to attack the
Starting point is 00:11:27 credibility of President Biden. And what it also showed, though, is that Robert Herr himself has his own issues with this particular report. Now, here is Swalwell hitting him on something that showed up in the transcript, but not in his report. Watch this. President Biden, you have appear to have a photographic understanding and recall of the House. Did you say that to President Biden? Those words do appear on page 47 of the transcript. Photographic is what you said. Is that right?
Starting point is 00:12:16 That word does appear on page 47 of the transcript. Never appeared in your report, though. Is that correct? The word photographic? That does not appear in my report. President Biden. So here we go. So it was in a transcript, but it wasn't in his report. Let's bring in my panel, Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali,
Starting point is 00:12:31 former senior advisor for environmental justice at the EPA, coming to us out of D.C., Dr. Larry J. Walker, assistant professor at the University of Central Florida, joining us, and John Quill Neal, trial lawyer with the John Quill Neal firm out of Atlanta. John Quill, I want to start with you first. I mean, look, first of all, these congressional hearings, they're always about theater. But what's interesting here is here you have this special prosecutor who drops this report and he basically says in this report that, oh, Biden is so frail,
Starting point is 00:13:02 that's why I could not prosecute him, how awful his memory is. But then you get the transcript, and then you see he says photographic. In the report, he says that he could not remember when his son died. In the transcript, he remembered the month and the day. It's perfectly clear that Robert Herr issued a BS political document meant to injure President Joe, President Biden, as opposed to it being a real document to assess whether or not he broke the law when it comes to classified documents. Well, you know, Roland, as a prosecutor, right, and also a lawyer, he is very well aware of the
Starting point is 00:13:47 consequential nature of what words he is using in specific documents, right? Because specific words have specific legal consequences. And so it's interesting, instead of just stating, you know, what you said, the obvious, he, and it came up during the hearing that he chose to use inflammatory language and also to describe his mental health in a generalized manner. Right. When it's my understanding there were only specific things that he may not have been able to recall exact dates and specific exact things. But he talked about him in a general nature, right? But there's also, you know, with a lot of crimes, you have the intent factor, right? You have the mens rea factor. And so, you know, that's also something to keep in mind. He could have worded it in a different way and kept it very objective. But you're right.
Starting point is 00:14:45 He used inflammatory language in a way that was meant to embarrass the president that he knew would be public and that he knew would come out during the course of this election. And Mustafa, he knew what was going to happen. He knew the press was going to run with it. And so, again, when you issue a report, but then now you have the transcript, it's a whole different deal. And I want to play this for you because I thought this was, this was really hilarious where you had this one Republican who was mad that they actually
Starting point is 00:15:18 released the transcript. Watch this here. Give me one second. I'm going to set this up. This here is Dan, Representative Dan Bishop out of North Carolina. Watch this here. Give me one second. I'm going to set this up. This here is Representative Dan Bishop out of North Carolina. Watch this. Because I've just found something, but we've only had a little bit of time to look. I don't think it serves this process well for the Justice Department to dump these transcripts into the public right now. Oh, so it doesn't serve the public, Mustafa, for the DOJ to dump the actual transcripts of her five hour interview with Biden. Really? Well, they want you to believe a certain narrative.
Starting point is 00:15:54 So I would ask everybody who watches this show to actually go out and look up psychological operations, PSYOPs, because that will help you to understand this game that is currently being played where folks are intentionally moving certain information in front of you to believe a narrative, which is often a false narrative. It is something PSYOPs has been done for years in the military sort of situation. And you see these dynamics playing out. You see folks on the GOP side that are utilizing them. You see these folks who are trying to get you to believe things that may not necessarily be true. So if you don't understand this game that's being played and the tools that folks are utilizing to get you to act, actually, it's interesting. Folks even tried to do this
Starting point is 00:16:44 with January 6th, where they tell you the things that you actually saw with your eyes did not happen. And it has been playing out time and time again in many of the various items that they try and move forward and try and manipulate folks. So for me, it is a part of that sort of paradigm that they are using to try and fool people and to get you to not believe the truth. Stephen, go to my iPad. Larry, Matthew Gertz tweeted this. The Washington Post ran 33 stories about Biden's mental fitness in the four days following the her report. He then says the Wall Street Journal ran 17 days about Biden's mental fitness. After reviewing the transcript, the Wall Street Journal concludes it shows Biden, quote, veering into frequent digressions, but not stumped on basic factual questions. When he said about the Washington Post,
Starting point is 00:17:39 after reviewing the transcript, they concluded that Biden, quote, doesn't come across as being as absent minded as her has made him out to be. Close quote. Larry, her did exactly what he and the Republicans intended. That is put the mint put as Mustafa said, put the mental image in the minds of people. This man is old, fra frail can't remember anything he's walking around like a zombie that was their goal from day one here you have a total of 50 stories in the post in the journal and now once they see the actual transcript it's like yeah that's not quite what we reported and so the damage has already been done. Yep.
Starting point is 00:18:26 And the important thing to keep in mind, Roland, that this report is a political hit job. That's all it is during an election year. And what we found, you know, with her, obviously, you know, for Republicans, this certainly didn't turn out the way they expected it to. And I think last week when you saw President Biden with State of the Union, he offered essentially a counter-narrative to these ongoing dozens of articles written by major newspapers from East to West Coast talking about his mental acuity. And so once again, after all the damage is done, you barely hear a peep from Wall Street Journal posts and all these other major newspapers that have written, like you said, numerous articles, not only as it relates to the report, but just generally looking for the slightest pause from President Biden and suggest that something is wrong with him.
Starting point is 00:19:15 He doesn't have the capability to be president of the United States. And that's why I'm glad that Democrats offer the counter-narrative in terms of those clips of former President Trump, who we've seen over the last several weeks several times confuse individuals, misspeak, or slur his words. So once again, the Hurt Report was a political hit job. They thought it would continue, it would reinforce the narrative that's already out there. The other thing is, Roland, that's really important for these major newspapers, is they keep falling for the banana in the tailpipe. These stories are constantly leaked, but they don't have any way to verify this information. So if you can't verify something this serious,
Starting point is 00:19:50 suggesting the president of the United States does not have the ability to understand what's going on, or remember dates and other specific information, you should not report it, or at least you should report it with context. And they're not doing this. And once again, we're doing the same thing we've done. We did four years ago, eight years ago in terms of these newspapers, in terms of reporting stories that are not true. And then they don't retract it. And it's just like it never happened. Here is Congressman Ted Lieu. Watch this line of questioning. Check this out. I'm going to ask you a series of questions. Yes or no questions.
Starting point is 00:20:23 They're not trick questions. They're simply designed to highlight what you already found in your report, which is that there are, quote, material distinctions, end quote, between President Biden's case and Mr. Trump's case. So here's my first question. In your investigation, did you find that President Biden directed his lawyer to lie to the FBI? We identified no such evidence. Did you find that President Biden directed his lawyer to destroy classified documents?
Starting point is 00:20:52 No. Did you find that President Biden directed his personal assistant to move boxes of documents to hide them from the FBI? No. Did you find that President Biden directed his personal assistant to delete security camera footage after the FBI asked for that footage? No. Did you find that President Biden showed a classified map related to an ongoing military operation to a campaign aide who did not have clearance? No.
Starting point is 00:21:15 Did you find that President Biden engaged in a conspiracy to obstruct justice? No. Did you find that President Biden engaged in a scheme to conceal? No. Each of the activities I just laid out describe what Donald Trump did in his willful mishandling of classified information and his criminal efforts to deceive the FBI. In contrast, President Biden handed over documents without delay and complied fully with investigators. Mr. Herr, in your report, you write that, quote, according to indictment, Trump now only refused to return the documents for many months, but he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about
Starting point is 00:21:49 it, end quote. You also say that if proven, these would be, quote, serious aggravating facts, end quote. Do you still stand by your analysis? I do. Okay. I have a few more questions as well. In your investigation, did you find that President Biden set up a shell company and covertly paid $130,000 in hush money to an adult porn star? No. Did you find that President Biden directed his lawyer to pay $150,000 in hush money to a former Playboy model? No. In your investigation, did you find that President Biden called the Georgia Secretary of State
Starting point is 00:22:23 to demand that he, quote, find 11,780 votes? No. Did you find that President Biden devised a scheme to organize a slate of fake electors to undermine a free and fair election? No. Did you find that leading up to January 6, 2021, President Biden urged his supporters to travel to D.C. and to storm the Capitol? No. Thank you. Each of these activities I laid out describe what Donald Trump did, his efforts to bully election officials, overturn the results of the election, and deceive the American people. That is why Donald Trump has been indicted in not just one,
Starting point is 00:22:58 not just two, not just three, but four criminal cases. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.
Starting point is 00:23:26 Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated
Starting point is 00:23:56 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. And that's how you do it. All right, folks, going to a break. When we come back. Mayhem in Haiti. The prime minister has resigned. What is going on in that country? We'll talk to one of the top reporters covering what's happening there next on Rolling Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.
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Starting point is 00:26:39 Folks, absolutely mayhem going on in Haiti as we speak. The Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, has announced he is going to resign. Of course, you have gangs that are controlling Port-au-Prince. The country was thrown into turmoil with the assassination of the country's president. His wife was implicated in that. Others were involved as well. Folks have pled guilty, been sent to prison. It is one huge problem after another.
Starting point is 00:27:13 Let's turn to the Miami, Miami Herald, court winning Caribbean correspondent, Jacqueline Charles, to explain really what's going on there. Jacqueline, you've been covering this country for a very long time. You know the ins and outs. What the hell is going on? A mess. It is a very difficult period right now in Haiti.
Starting point is 00:27:32 As you mentioned, the prime minister yesterday announced that he will step down. This was, you know, the Miami Herald. We broke the story about a week ago when he was locked out of the country, coming back from Kenya after signing a deal to get some Kenyan police into Haiti to lead a multinational security support mission that has the support of the U.S. But at that point, the country was blowing up. There were no international flights. All of the airports were shut down. Ariel Henry was on a plane going to the Dominican Republic where he had hoped to take a helicopter to go into Port-au-Prince and the Dominican said you can't land. And as he turned around and was headed to
Starting point is 00:28:10 the US territory, Puerto Rico, the Biden administration sent him a memo for ask PM Henry and in there basically we need you to work on your resignation. And they had a step by step. Well, part of the request was for him to go to Jamaica and resign. He did not go to Jamaica. But the Jamaicans basically came to the Haitians in the sense that yesterday in Jamaica, Secretary of State Blinken, he flew there. Trudeau was on video.
Starting point is 00:28:37 Seven Caribbean prime ministers were also present. And the Haitians were still locked out of their country because of the closure of the airport due to no flights. They were on video conference. And after seven hours, they decided on a transitional plan, a seven-member presidential council that will choose a prime minister to replace Ariel Henry, and then ready the country for a multinational security support mission, if and when it comes. And we can talk about that in a minute. And then elections.
Starting point is 00:29:09 This is a country that hasn't had elections in seven years. Former President Jovenel Moise, when he was assassinated on the 7th of July 2021, he had not held not one election during his four years in office. It's been almost three years since he was killed. And that plunged Haiti into a huge, deep crisis. You name it, political, humanitarian. And the gangs have basically stepped into that power vacuum. This is the tweet from Secretary Blinken that he posted.
Starting point is 00:29:44 Haitians cannot wait any longer for a path to security, stability, and democracy. The United States and the Carrico Morgue support a clear political transition plan led by trusted representatives of Haitian society. So you talk about this presidential panel, if you will, to pick a leader. But that's one thing. The problem that you still have is how do you gain control security-wise of the country? How do you gain control of a situation where, frankly,
Starting point is 00:30:17 you don't know if you can trust the Haitian armed services or the police. You've got the gangs as well. You've been on before talking about who is behind these gangs, you know, who's funding them. So who the hell can anybody trust? Well, that is a debate and discussion today, because even though you had a number of Haitian political
Starting point is 00:30:39 and civic society actors involved in this call and they signed off, today what I'm hearing is that there's disagreement. First of all, people are saying seven members plus two observers. You can't govern with that. Then there are concerns about who are the representatives that will be on this panel, even though there are criteria. You cannot have been convicted of a crime or indicted. You can't be sanctioned by the UN. You can't be a candidate for the upcoming elections. And you have to support a security mission. But what we're finding is the same issues that the prime minister had found, like there is disagreement. This is a society that's deeply polarized.
Starting point is 00:31:17 There are some individuals who say you cannot ignore what's happening in the streets. You cannot ignore the politics. But at the same time, do you want to bring the gangs to the negotiating table? The resignation and the pressure for the prime minister to step down came as gang members said he better step down or we're going to wage a civil war. It came as gang members targeted key government institutions, the airport. They orchestrated two prison breaks of the two largest prisons. There are 5,000 people right now on the streets of Port-au-Prince. Some of them are murderers or kidnappers. Some of them are people who were indicted in the assassination of the president and people who were innocent or who's never gone before a judge, and they've been in jail for
Starting point is 00:31:53 like 10 years. This is a country where the institutions are broken or nonexistent. The government is weak. And there is not one elected official—12 million people. You mentioned the police. Well, you don't even elected official, 12 million people. You mentioned the police. Well, you don't even have 9,000 police officers. I mean, their police stations were overtaken by the gang at the beginning of these violent attacks. At least six police officers have been killed. Others have fled because they just can't. I mean, it is a very difficult situation.
Starting point is 00:32:24 Imagine you're living here. You're seeing these images. I mean, it is a very difficult situation. Imagine you're living here, you're seeing these images. I mean, people are frightened, people are scared. You know, the heavy gunfire that doesn't stop. They don't know what to do and they can't get out. The roads are blocked by gangs and the airport is not functioning. So listening to you walk through that, there's nobody to trust.
Starting point is 00:32:44 And so you can have this panel, you can do this, but what the hell happens? And clearly the United States does not have the credibility in Haiti to come in and be a mediating voice, correct? I don't agree with that. I think that what's happening here is Haitians have an opportunity to decide on their future and to think about the 12 million people who do not have a voice. In the last three years, we've seen huge changes. People went from, I don't want an international force, you know, and thinking about all the previous times that there was a quote unquote occupation. Well, now people recognize that the police can't
Starting point is 00:33:25 do it by themselves, and they need help. And let me just say to you that this is a police force that was stood up by the United States. It is financed mostly by the United States, and it is our U.S. arms embargo that determines how many guns, what kind of guns they can have, how much ammunition. But yet the guns and the ammunition that the gangs are having access to, most of it is coming from the U.S. So people who ask, why does the U.S. that the gangs are having access to, most of it is coming, you know, from, from the U S. So people who ask, why does the U S have a role in here? Well, it's, you know, it's our policies that, you know, that are driving this. I think that the difficulty of this and, and, and Caricom and U S and Canada,
Starting point is 00:33:58 they have to be commended. They try to get everybody in a room. They asked him for one plan and the Haitians said seven to nine plans. And so what you got today was a cobbling of trying to get some sort of a broad section of Haitian society. But how do you get a broad section when people are living in misery, people are going hungry, people are not thinking about voting, they're just thinking about getting to the next day? You don't know when your neighborhood is going to be raided by these armed groups. I mean, today there are over 360,000 people who have been forced out of their homes
Starting point is 00:34:28 by these armed gangs. As a result of the shutdown, people are running out of potable water. Electricity is scarce. You go into the stores, the shelves are bare because over 50% of what Haiti receives, you know, comes from outside of the country. So this is a very difficult situation.
Starting point is 00:34:47 And again, there's not one elected official, you know, in there. So there's a lot riding on this panel. And hopefully they think about, you know, the very people in the streets that they say that they want to govern and think about how do you start to ameliorate the situation for them. Well, that's why I talked about, again, the credibility. We know the history of the United States. First of all, more than 100 years ago, frankly, intervening in Haiti's affairs in 1915, taking money out of the country. We know what happened when it came to Aristide. We had, back and forth, Papa Doc, Baby Doc. I mean, so you have the history.
Starting point is 00:35:27 You use the Clinton's name, some folks in Haiti, that's a great name. Other people say, oh my God, no, they stole millions from Haiti. And so does the United States, again, I'm saying this, I mean, it's everything. So the question is here, does the United States have credibility in the country? Is there an individual? Is there a group? You know, unfortunately, you know, Randall Robinson is no longer with us. You've had African Americans who have, who were very vocal about what was happening there, who had relationships there. How do you come to some form of agreement so it's not total chaos? Well, you know, I think that's what the international community, especially CARICOM, tried to do yesterday.
Starting point is 00:36:18 I mean, first of all, interesting enough, you mentioned we've had African-Americans who've been vocal. We have not heard much from the CBC, the Congressional Black Caucus. We're not hearing from Republicans. I mean, Kenya is the only country that raised your hands because the U.S. is not going to send troops. And some people are saying that only U.S. troops are going to stand this tide of violence because the gangs that's all they're afraid of. But the U.S. says that's off the board. So you have four choices today. Send U.S. troops, which the Biden administration says we're not going to do. Send in U.N. peacekeepers, which requires you to go and not get a veto from China and Russia. And we know what that's like. Or, you know, try to get this multinational security support mission from Kenya. But the Republicans in Congress are saying
Starting point is 00:37:00 to the Biden administration, well, we're not sure about this untested plan that you're trying to do. And we got all these questions and going back and forth. I mean, the administration initially promised $200 million. They've requested $50 million and they can't even get $50 million to get this thing off the ground.
Starting point is 00:37:15 And you're forced... Well, first of all, you said the administration, you mean the United States? Yes, the United States. The Biden administration has asked Congress to release $50 million so that they can start to do the planning for this Kenyan force, led force. And it's 1,000 police officers from Kenya that will serve as the backbone of a multinational security support mission.
Starting point is 00:37:36 So from the minute Kenya raised their hands, it's faced legal challenges in Kenya. Henri was actually in Nairobi signing this agreement when the gang saw it and they basically blew up because they say they don't want an international force coming into the country and they also want amnesty. So, you know, we're putting this on the U.S., but at the end of the day, what the U.S. and the international community has done, they've been talking about a Haitian-led solution. They said, OK, you said that we're in your business, we're doing this, we're doing that. So this is your opportunity to step up and to lead. And for three years, they've been
Starting point is 00:38:08 telling the Haitians to figure out, figure it out. And then this week was, you know, pay dirt. And instead of coming together and saying, here's one plan, you sent in seven and eight. So when you see that there's a nine member or seven member panel, however you want to do it, you know, we're saying, well, how does, how does, is this seven presidents? I mean, who's going to be in charge? How long are you going to be in charge? Look, I mean, they've got to figure it out because it's not about the people running the country. It's about the people living in the country. And today it's misery. Before I go to the panel with questions, when I mentioned the Clintons in Haiti, you sort of started laughing because I get these people all on.
Starting point is 00:38:46 I covered the IHRC after the 2010 earthquake. I arrived in Haiti within hours of this. And, you know, people accuse Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton of a lot of things. And it's ridiculous. I mean, first of all, the money that was promised to Haiti, the billions of dollars, it never arrived. It didn't go to the Haitian government. It was kept by the aid agencies that had it. It did not go to Bill Clinton or the commission that he was chairing.
Starting point is 00:39:13 You know, what they did was like, OK, tell me you promise, you know, $100 million. Well, how are you going to spend it? Where it's supposed to go? And then we had an election and then that accountability, you know, went away. It's very unfortunate because people were not paying very close attention to this. And it's very easy for people to just sort of hear the soundbites and say, oh, I heard this money, that money. But I've done, you know, my investigations on this repeatedly. And the reality is, is that there were billions of dollars that were promised to Haiti that were not delivered. And, you know, 15 years or 14 years after this earthquake,
Starting point is 00:39:46 things did not go up, things went down. We've seen nothing but a downward spiral, you know, in this country. And as part of that, billions not coming because countries stated, well, if you're not stable, we don't know who it's going to. Go ahead. Not at all. The money wasn't delivered who it's going to. Go ahead. Not at all. The money wasn't delivered because it was promised. And there's all of this red tape on who can get it and how it needs to go.
Starting point is 00:40:11 And so that was issued. And one of the, I remember I did a story with this. And one of the frustrations of President Clinton, for instance, was that grassroots organizations in Haiti that were on the ground that needed this money. They had no access to the money because they still had to go to USAID or, you know, the European Union or any one of these aid agencies. And so some of that money, remember the famous stories about the Red Cross and how money went to, they wanted to put money in a hotel and only, you know, what, 10 houses, 20 houses that were built. You know, people went in and saying, oh my God, there's a disaster and it's poor people. So let's do this. But here's the reality. Poor people often don't own houses or the property. So if I am an agency and I have all of this money, am I going to put it into somebody whose house can get pulled up from under them literally the next day? But the people in the
Starting point is 00:41:00 middle class who lost their homes, they could have, you know, benefited from it. But that's just not a great, you know, look. So there was a lot of mistakes that were done in terms of the response. You know, Haiti itself received money from Venezuela. There's been investigations about billions of dollars that they had in their control that we can't see where that money went. So there is no pointing the finger here. I mean, I think everybody shares the blame. And it's very unfortunate because if you talk to the average Haitian, you know, yes, the U.S. is the elephant in the room. And they know that if the U.S. will pay some attention, they feel like things, the needle will move. So you went from where people will complain.
Starting point is 00:41:44 I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution.
Starting point is 00:42:03 But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.
Starting point is 00:42:32 Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We have too much U.S. involvement to today. People are saying to me, are they just going to let us die standing? I did reach out to, as you were talking to, to some correctional congressional black caucus leaders.
Starting point is 00:43:12 And what I got back was, quote, we're calling for Republicans to fund $40 million in relief funds and working with Kenya to bring resources to stabilize the situation to avoid a mass migration. And the CBC members who are taking a lead on this are Congresswoman Yvette Clark, Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett and Congressman Gregory Meeks. So hopefully we'll reach out to them. Have you communicated with any three of them? I've talked to Meeks's office. I mean, it's interesting. Again, we put migration in there. It's not about migration. I mean, I think that the administration with this humanitarian parole program has sort of addressed the migration issue and people are looking at the migration. But Haiti is two hours from Florida. And so we should be pushing to do something, not because we're afraid of a mass migration to the United States, but just because it's a humanly thing to do. Hold tight one second, Jacqueline. I'm going to go to a break. We come
Starting point is 00:44:04 back. My panel will have questions for you. Folks, we are getting, trying to get a better understanding of what's happening in Haiti. It is a country that is in chaos. It was the first black independent country. And ever since its founding, having to pay back reparations to the two former enslavers and this has been one thing after another and my goodness would it be great to have peace in Haiti and prosperity
Starting point is 00:44:34 but you gotta have leadership so I'm gonna go to a break we'll be right back on Rolling Rock Unfiltered on the Black Star Network support us in what we do be sure to join our Bring the Fuck fan club senior Senior Check and Money order to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196.
Starting point is 00:44:51 Cash App, DollarSide, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, or Martin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.
Starting point is 00:45:01 We'll be right back. Hatred on the streets. A horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not. White people are losing their damn lives. It's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of American history.
Starting point is 00:45:38 Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at every University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the wrath of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white people.
Starting point is 00:46:24 Hey, it's John Murray, the executive producer of the new Sherry Shepard Talk Show. You're watching Rolling Mark. Until tomorrow. Thank you. The difference between Haiti and a failed state. It's telling, right? We can't really identify them because the gangs are in charge. The government has been thrown out.
Starting point is 00:46:52 And as a Florida man, I'm deeply concerned about this wave of people that we're about to have, that we are having, coming from Haiti. And it will accelerate because I've gone to Opelika and I've spent time with the folks that are engaged in Operation Vigilant Century, and they say the number one push factor that drives these Haitians into Broward County, Palm Beach County, where they don't disperse throughout the country, they stay in southeast Florida, that that driving factor is the deterioration of conditions in Haiti. So what are we doing to prepare for that wave and to ensure that these people are not paroled into the United States, as the administration has done with people on the southern border, but instead are repatriated back at the dock at Port-au-Prince? Go ahead.
Starting point is 00:47:39 Congressman, we're doing a number of things to ensure that we're keeping track of the situation and we're prepared. At the moment, we have not yet seen large numbers, what we would characterize as a maritime mass migration. But we are alert to that. Do you anticipate a mass migration, though? We are alert to that possibility. I think you're right that the driving conditions in Haiti could very well press more people. So we've recently approved some additional assistance that we can provide to the Coast Guard.
Starting point is 00:48:08 I think that that has now fully been approved. We'll be providing notifications, if we haven't already, to provide additional shipboard assistance. Because I've talked to the Coast Guard. So, again, that was a Department of Defense hearing where Republicans are suggesting that America should be bracing for a mass migration from Haiti. Jacqueline Charles, Caribbean correspondent for the Miami Herald, she says that's not what's going on. But again, you see the hysteria, Jacqueline. You see the hysteria there from the back gates of the world in trying to challenge the Department of Defense. Well, yes. I mean, first of all, to get a mass migration, you have to be able to get out to
Starting point is 00:48:48 Capitol, right? I mean, the gangs control over 80 percent of Port-au-Prince. You know, two years ago, I flew to one of the regions where migrants were leaving from, and I literally had to charter an airplane. And we landed literally on a road in the middle of the market because there was an airport. And then there was an incident in the country, and my charter flight got canceled. And the only thing I knew was that I was not going back to Port-au-Prince by road because the likelihood of me getting kidnapped was very, very high because there were several kidnap alleys along the way. I mean, this is the reality of what you're dealing with.
Starting point is 00:49:30 And when you get kidnapped, it's an awful situation. We've got collective rape that's going on by gangs. If you make it out alive. And then, of course, they're asking, you know, enormous amounts of money that a lot of people just don't have. Questions from our panel. Larry, you're there in Florida. You first. Yeah, I am. questions from our panel larry you're there in florida you first yeah i am so i guess my question you you alluded to this earlier i want to focus on the humanitarian situation here because you talk about you know people don't have access to food you know clean
Starting point is 00:49:56 water and some of the other challenges and i'm wondering how soon you know obviously this is already situations already blown up and how soon it you know, obviously this is already—situation is already blown up. How soon it could actually mushroom as it relates to starvation, disease, et cetera, based on where we are now? And I'm making that point because, obviously, the importance of this, you know, the United States in this collective organization, a group of individual countries being involved in supporting Haiti. How close are we to an actual full-blown humanitarian crisis where people are starving and diseased, et cetera? Well, the World Food Program says that we are very acute. I mean, when you look at the numbers of what's happening in Haiti,
Starting point is 00:50:35 it's the kind of numbers that you see in places of war. I mean, just in January, there were over 1,100 Haitians who were killed, kidnapped, or injured. I mean, that's a huge number. It's the deadliest month in two years. There are about 12 million people. The World Food Program says about 6 million are suffering from hunger. And in that group, a large number are acute hunger.
Starting point is 00:50:55 Many of them are children. Huge levels of, you know, of kids who just are not getting enough to eat. People are skipping meals, trying to cope. And while the violence is important, you know, we're also seeing it in the rice valley of the Arctic of need. So that means those rice farmers are not getting out. And then with this current situation,
Starting point is 00:51:16 because everything is shut down, there's no air bridge by the World Food Program or even, you know, regular businesses. So, you know, how do you get things to the other parts of the country? I mean, remember, after the assassination, five weeks later, we had a major earthquake in the Southern Corridor. And last year, as of November, the gangs basically took over a key road and they were hijacking, you know, trucks, food trucks, supply trucks. So we are very we're very close. I mean, the police and the army managed to take control of the port.
Starting point is 00:51:50 They got some fuel out because we really were down to like four days of fuel left. And you need fuel in order to get potable water. You need fuel for a lot of things. I mean, hospitals are running out of oxygen, those that haven't been overtaken by gangs and that are still operating. And they're few and far between because people can't get to work. John Quill. So I read here that one of the one of the key leaders of these of these gangs are former police officers. And so we've heard through this evening about the unrest between the government,
Starting point is 00:52:26 the police department. We see that the Biden administration has pledged over 100 million as it relates to relief and then pledging an additional 100 million for the defense fund. But my question is, is that even what kind of help can really help Haiti? It seems perplexing. I mean, are we talking about help that they would need help for the next 15 years? I mean, what specifically, in addition to just a financial pledge, what specifically can we do so that the U.S. can do so that Haiti can be sustainable? And we're not back in this same predicament some years down the road. Well, this is a result of policies, right, because you need stability.
Starting point is 00:53:14 And, you know, we had another transition crisis. Abrola mentioned President Aristide in 2004. OK, and then we brought in the other gang situation, not as bad as this one. And so, you know, he was sent into exile. Now you had two years of a transition government. You had democratic elections and you had Rene Praval who came in. And, you know, Haitians didn't give Praval a lot of credit, but you had stability. But you also had a U.N. peacekeeping force there that was providing the security.
Starting point is 00:53:40 And then you had a major earthquake. And the policy of the U.S., U.N. and others was that you had to have an election in the middle of an earthquake where over 300,000 people had died. Well, they turned out to be very controversial elections. And then we just, it was just one thing after the other. So in order for you to have economic progress, in order for you to deal with the humanitarian situation,
Starting point is 00:54:04 you have to have stability. In order for you to have people to vote. People, hungry people are not going to be interested in voting. So I think that that is where the conversations have to, you know, how do we provide some stability here so that Haitians can take their futures in their hands? This is a, there was a video here, it's in French, but so Haitian gang leader Barbecue, Jacqueline, said this, quote, today we are taking the occasion to tell the international community to give Haiti a chance because what is happening in Haiti now, we Haitians have to decide who is going to lead the country and what model of government we want. We are going to figure out how to get Haiti out of the misery it is in now. Today, it's clear that the people who live in the shanty towns are the ones who know
Starting point is 00:54:47 what they are going through. It is the Haitian people who are going to take their destiny into their hands. Haitian people will pick the person to govern them. So here's a question. And, look, we've seen this in other countries. One country's gang leader is another country's revolutionary. And so, if you have someone like this who they're calling
Starting point is 00:55:10 a gang leader, if he commands a huge force, is this somebody who potentially might be a Haitian leader? There are 300 gangs in Haiti, and so you should access to the other 299 gang leaders.
Starting point is 00:55:26 Well, maybe that commission needs to include a bunch of them, because clearly, if they're the ones who are blocking the roads and controlling the airports and the ports, you may want to have them at the table. Mustafa, your question. They're warring with each other, too. They've been warring
Starting point is 00:55:42 with each other. They're showing a united front, but normally they're warring with each other. You know, they're showing a united front, but normally they're warring with each other. Gotcha. Mustafa. Yeah, thank you for everything that you've shared with us today. I've been to Haiti a few times. I've actually worked on some water quality issues there. And I also understand that there is a crumbling sort of medical infrastructure, if you will.
Starting point is 00:56:00 I'm curious if you have any ideas, because we know there are going to be so many folks who are going to get sick from the things they're being exposed to. And then, of course, just because of the wars that are going on there that, you know, folks are going to get injured. Is there a way that outside folks can help on the medical infrastructure side of the question? I have a bigger infrastructure question, but I know we're short on time. So I was told that, you know, well, K-Patient, and I was in K-Patient in January of last year, you know, when the flights start, you know, they're still fairly quiet and stable.
Starting point is 00:56:32 But yeah, if you're in Port-au-Prince today, you have cancer, God forbid, you can't even find a cancer doctor. You can't find a treatment because one, you can't get to some of these places. And then we've lost so many of these medical professionals because the situation has just become untenable, unlivable. But, you know, there are still organizations that are working. They are in the outskirts. They're outside of the Capitol, even some in the Capitol,
Starting point is 00:56:53 that, you know, you could find a Ralph Bunche, a Dr. King, or somebody who had the ability to be able to command respect of all different forces and be able to pull folks together. It is unfortunate we have to keep seeing this here. And last question for you, Jacqueline. So much of the attention, obviously, is on Port-au-Prince, but are other parts of the tension, obviously, is on Port-au-Prince, but are other parts of the country fine? We're starting to see the spread of gangs outside in rural communities,
Starting point is 00:57:33 and this is very worrying because this is where people from the capital fled to to have safety. And then in the last couple of months, what we've seen is efforts to disrupt life in there. So while a lot of the focus is on Port-au-Prince, there is a huge concern that we will start to lose the entire country as more and more of these armed groups spread. The 300 armed groups that the U.N. said exist in Haiti, they're not just in the capital, but they're around the country. It is an absolutely beautiful country. When a previous Haitian leader was president, I was invited there. This was right before the earthquake actually hit and have never had an opportunity to go there. My maternal, paternal great ancestors migrated from there. Like I say, gorgeous country.
Starting point is 00:58:22 And I wish more people could be able to see it and enjoy it. But you've got to have stability. You've got to have peace. And you've got to have control of the country for any of that to happen. So Jacqueline Charles, we appreciate you breaking all of this down for us. Did we miss anything? No,
Starting point is 00:58:40 no. You got it. All right. Well, once we, and I'm texting the CBC members, hopefully we'll get one of them on to talk about what they are doing to try to help the situation. So we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thanks.
Starting point is 00:58:54 All right, folks. Going to a break. We'll be right back. Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network. Support us in what we do, folks. Look, that conversation right there look that was a 35 plus minute conversation talking about what's happening there in Haiti you ain't gonna get that conversation on these other networks this is why we are critically important
Starting point is 00:59:15 you're not going to get it any of the black owned media outlets we're going to keep covering this there are other voices we're going to be reaching out to getting their perspective because so much of the attention when it comes to mainstream white media is on what's happening between Israel and Hamas and Ukraine but the reality is there are things that are happening in the Congo things happening in Nigeria things happening in Kenya things that are happening in Haiti and deserve the attention as well and there are people who watch us from those places. Look, we have the Jamaican ambassador to the United States on talking about lifting that travel advisory there as well.
Starting point is 00:59:52 So we're trying to book the folks from the Bahamas as well. They had a travel advisory. And so we understand the importance of the African diaspora. One of the reasons why this is called the Black Star Network because the Black Star was named of the cruise line of Marcus Garvey. The point of that was to connect the African diaspora. And so for us, this is an opportunity for us to be able to do the exact same thing with the news that we cover. So your support is critical. And so please join our Bring the Funk fan club. The goal for us is to get 20,000 of our fans and followers to contribute on average 50 bucks each a year. That comes out to $4.19 a month, 13 cents a day.
Starting point is 01:00:31 You get this two-hour-a-day show. The Roger Muhammad Show is two hours a day. You get five one-hour weekly shows. In addition, all of the live events that we cover, congressional testimony protests speeches uh it's a whole lot that we provide uh for free uh to the folks who watch uh but we truly depend upon your support for what we do everybody who contributes uh today i'm going to give a shout out live on the air so uh if you consider checking money order the p.o box 57196 washington dc 2003 7-0196, Washington, D.C., 2003-7196. They get a shout-out later, but all the people can give electronically.
Starting point is 01:01:08 So if you give via Cash App, which is R in dollar sign, R-M unfiltered, PayPal, R-Martin unfiltered, Venmo is R-M unfiltered, Zale, Roland at RolandSMartin.com, Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. I would appreciate it. Also, be sure to download the Black Star Network app. You can download it with close to 100,000 downloads. Let's make it happen. Download us on Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV,
Starting point is 01:01:35 Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Back in a moment. The next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. Less than 5% of the top executive positions in corporate America are held by women of color. We know it's not because of talent. A recent study says that it's microaggressions, unconscious bias, and limited opportunities being offered to women of color. On our next show, we're going to get incredible advice from Francine Parham, who's recently written a book sharing exactly what you need to do to make it up into the management ranks
Starting point is 01:02:22 and get the earnings that you deserve. I made a point to sit down and I made a point to talk to people. And I made a point to be very purposeful and thought provoking when I spoke to them. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. I'm Faraiq Muhammad, live from L.A. And this is The Culture. The Culture is a two-way conversation. You and me, we talk about the stories,
Starting point is 01:02:54 politics, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard. Hey, we're all in this together. So let's talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into. It's the culture weekdays at three only on the next Frequency, Professor Janelle Hobson joins us to talk
Starting point is 01:03:49 about hip hop and its intersection with feminism and racial equality, plus her enlightening work with Ms. Magazine and how the great Harriet Tubman connects with women in hip hop. So it was not hard for me to go from Harriet Tubman to hip hop, honestly, because it is a legacy of black women's resistance and black women supporting our communities. That's what Harriet Tubman did. That's on the frequency on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm Dr. Jackie Hood Martin. And I have a question for you. Ever feel as if your life is teetering and the weight and pressure of the world is consistently on your shoulders? Well, let me tell you, living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday on Blackstar Network for Balanced Life
Starting point is 01:04:34 with Dr. Jackie. We'll laugh together, cry together, pull ourselves together, and cheer each other on. So join me for new shows each Tuesday on Blackstar Network, A Balanced Life with Dr. Jackie. A black South Alabama woman says she was wrongfully and forcefully arrested after declining to show her identification to an officer while standing on her porch. This took place on February 23rd. Twyla Stallworth called the Archelusa Police Department about her white neighbor's loud music. Well, no officer showed up until her neighbor called the police on her for triggering her car alarm. Well, when Officer Grant Burton arrived,
Starting point is 01:06:04 he threatened to cite and arrest Stallworth for the car alarm. According to Stallworth, Burton did nothing to address her multiple complaints. As Burton was going back to his police car, Stallworth decided to, she pointed out the disparity, calling it racially motivated. Well, her 18-year-old son began to record this video when Burton returned to the porch. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,
Starting point is 01:06:53 have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company
Starting point is 01:07:20 dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.
Starting point is 01:07:59 I'm going to jump. Yes. Can I provide my ID? Yes, ma'am. I'm not giving you my ID. Turn up a change behind your back. This is ridiculous. Hey, turn up a change behind your back. This is ridiculous. Hey, turn around for change behind your back. You're under arrest.
Starting point is 01:08:09 I need to put my shoes on. I didn't ask for it. Wait a minute, don't you put your hands on me like that. Hold on, hold on, hold on. You don't push my son! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on, hold on, hold on. You don't push my son! You do not push my son!
Starting point is 01:08:20 Don't push your ass on my son! Ma, calm down, please, everybody. Please calm down, please. Ma, everybody calm down, please. You might just call the phone and call your daddy. Stop! Put your hands on my mouth! No, no, no, no, no, no, it's okay. Mom, it's okay, it's okay. Mom, it's okay. Mom, it's okay, it's okay, mom, it's okay. It's okay, mom, it's okay. Call your daddy. It's okay, mom, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay. It's okay, it's okay. Are you recording?
Starting point is 01:08:51 I'm recording, I'm recording. Are you recording? I'm recording, I'm recording. I'm recording, I'm recording. I'm recording, I'm recording. I'm recording, I'm recording. Why do you want to fuck up a female, dude? Because you're not compliant.
Starting point is 01:08:59 You need Jesus. Mom, it's okay, mom, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay. You need coming here. This ain't nothing but the devil. It's okay. It's okay. This ain't nothing but the devil. It's okay. It's okay. This ain't nothing but the devil. Can I put my shoes on, please?
Starting point is 01:09:09 Where they at? Right here. Hey, dude, I wasn't attacking you, by the way. You know that, right? You put your hand on my son. You put your hand on my son. It's okay, Ma. I understand.
Starting point is 01:09:21 I understand that. You put your hand on my son. You're good, bud. I said I didn't do nothing. I mean, that's a natural reaction. You know what I mean?. You're good, bud. That's a natural reaction, you know what I mean? Hey, dude. Hey, dude. Hey, dude, before you take her away,
Starting point is 01:09:34 why are you taking her away? Right now, she's under arrest. So is this actually in Alabama? Is this actually in Alabama state law? That is not the law. That's against the law. Is this actually in Alabama state law? No, it's not. That's against the law. Is this actually an Alabama state law? No, it's not. When I'm out with you, as long as I have a legal reason to be out with you,
Starting point is 01:09:50 if I ask you to identify yourself, you are then... So can you inform me how this process goes? Because if you're arresting her right now over failure... They can't have you in the law all day long. A failure of ID, then... I got y'all. Got you gotcha i'm gonna put you on we're gonna go to this gotcha gotcha so i'm i'm genuinely curious i'm genuinely curious about how this is going right now and then when i start causing a bunch of um noise please it hurts is there one in particular so look i'm gonna have to take one off to get to the other, okay? Uh-huh.
Starting point is 01:10:29 So, how is this process going to go? Because you guys just can't keep her in there cooped up for failure of ID. That makes zero sense. Failure of ID. Like, logically, that makes no sense. It's not no law. I'm at home. Hey, Dad, they're arresting my mom.
Starting point is 01:10:47 Because of lack of ID, failure of ID, they're arresting her. And he... And he's arresting her. He ruffled her up and whatnot. You know what I mean? Stuff like that.
Starting point is 01:10:57 Get out of my hand. So, like, they're literally cuffing her and putting her in the back of the car right now. What? Do you have anything on you from putting her in the back?
Starting point is 01:11:06 No, nothing with the on me. No? Thank you. Yeah, Dad. Hey, I have another question. When do you guys bring her back? I'm not bringing her back, but she's going to jail. For how long? She'll see a judge, and the judge will determine that.
Starting point is 01:11:22 Over an ID? Yeah. So where can I visibly read this where they say that? Because I want to actually see this law in play. You need to change the statute? Yeah. Pull it up. Change the statute, yeah.
Starting point is 01:11:36 I want to screenshot this. Well, I actually have it way, because, you know, there's an old lady that lives right next to him, and he's blasting his music as loud as possible. It's not... Sir, 15-5-30. 15-5-30. Yes, sir.
Starting point is 01:12:04 Law enforcement official came to request your name. 15-530? Yes, sir. Law enforcement official can request your name, explanation of his actions. I don't see where it says anything about an ID. It says your name, address, and explanation of his actions. She failed to identify by ID. I mean, it doesn't specifically, you know, say an ID. I know, but I'm not going to argue with you either. All right. That makes, logically, that makes zero sense, dude.
Starting point is 01:12:26 Dad, they're literally taking her away. But he, no, but he said he asked for an ID. In the law, it does not state how you have to provide an ID. They're going away with my mama right now. Andalusia Mayor Earl Johnson has apologized to Stallworth, and he says that there's no evidence that the incident was racially motivated. On behalf of the city of Andalusia and the Andalusia Police Department, I would like to apologize to Ms. Twyla Stallworth for her arrest here in February. All charges against Ms. Stallworth are being dropped. The arresting
Starting point is 01:13:26 officer in this case has a clean record with our department, but he made a mistake in this case on February 23rd. He has been disciplined for failing in his duty to know the law. When I learned about this incident last week, I offered to meet with Ms. Stallworth, but she declined. Ms. Stallworth has not filed a complaint against the police department, but her attorney alleges in his release that her arrest was racially motivated. We have reviewed body cam footage of the incident and see absolutely no evidence of racism. We have always worked hard in Andalusia to maintain great relationships among our diverse populations. In the video released by her attorney, Ms. Stallworth also claims that the police department has failed to respond
Starting point is 01:14:25 to complaints she made against her neighbor. We also have reviewed internal evidence that shows that the police department has responded to those complaints. I have met with Andalusia police chief and other leaders in the department. We have agreed that the entire department will receive additional training in constitutional law, the laws of Alabama, and the ordinances of the city of Andalusia, so that we will not have an incident like this to reoccur. Joining us is Twyla and her attorney, Harry Daniels, from Atlanta. Okay, so Harry, I'm trying to understand here. Did the mayor say that the officer was disciplined because he did not know the Alabama law,
Starting point is 01:15:11 which means was he wrong in arresting her for refusing to show an I.D.? Thanks, Roland, for having us on. Absolutely, the mayor gave the statement that the officer was disciplined and trained for not knowing the Alabama law. And the law is very clear that if a person is suspected of a crime in which she was not suspected of a crime, and if that suspicion is in a public place, then the officer only and only can ask for your name, your address, and why you're there. There's nowhere in Alabama law that requires a person who's suspected of a crime, even if they're in a public place, to give their identification, their actual ID, to law enforcement. That would be against the Fifth Amendment, the right to remain solid. Twyla was at home. She was not suspected of a crime. She, in fact, had made complaints of noise
Starting point is 01:16:10 of the neighbors. She was in a home, and he required for her to give her ID, which she was under no obligation to do so. I remember there was an African-American man who was watering the yard of a neighbor and got arrested. And they came and demanded I.D. He's like, I ain't got to show you I.D. And he actually was a former police officer. He said, I know the law. I don't have to show you anything. I'm just watering the yard.
Starting point is 01:16:41 And that sort of same thing happened here. And what's crazy here is that the officer charged her with resisting arrest, obstruction of governmental operations, and attempting to elude police. This is a perfect example of how these cops overcharge and try to come up with anything when they arrest somebody. Yeah, Roland, this is, you're talking about Michael Jennings, Pastor Jennings. I'm actually Pastor Jennings' attorney as well. He was charged with the same thing, a failure to give his
Starting point is 01:17:15 identification where he was not suspected of committing a crime, nor was he on public property. He's absolutely right. He was not obligated. Those charges were also dismissed, and we have filed a federal lawsuit in that particular matter. It's working its way through the courts.
Starting point is 01:17:32 And not just Pastor Jennings and Twyla, but also down in Mobile. I know y'all covered Juwan Dallas. The reason why they accosted Juwan Dallas and eventually tried to detain him. It's because he refused to give his identification, his ID, to them. And that had deadly consequences for Juwan Dallas, where he was tased multiple times by the officers and subsequently died. So, yeah, it is an epidemic in the state of Alabama where folk are asked to produce identification in violation of Alabama law. This matter just went up to the 11th Circuit, where the 11th Circuit made it abundantly clear and it pointed to Alabama law that at no time is a person required to give their actual ID,
Starting point is 01:18:26 especially a person who's not suspected of committing a crime or is not in a public place at all. At no time, you're required to give your ID. Twyla, so you called the cops. They didn't respond, right? Right. The neighbor called the cops. Then they respond.
Starting point is 01:18:45 So when the mayor says, well, it's not racially motivated, has the mayor said why the hell the cops didn't come when you called? Well, the cops that I called earlier that day, and the cop came out and talked to him, and he cut the music down. But the neighbor beside me on my right side, he cut his music up. He went out there in his truck, opened up the door, and cut his music up and blasted it. Looked down at the neighbor down the street, and they started laughing.
Starting point is 01:19:22 So I, in turn, turned my car alarm on to drown out their music. So I in turn turned my car alarm on to drown out their music. So you, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. So one neighbor, music was loud. You said the cops arrived and that neighbor turned his music down. The cops leave and another neighbor turns their music up. The other neighbor, are they white?
Starting point is 01:19:44 Yes. Okay, so you had loud music coming from two neighbors. Yes. So when you called the cops, I'm sorry, so when the second neighbor cranked their music up, that's when you turned your car alarm on. Correct, yes.
Starting point is 01:20:00 And then the neighbors call the cops and then they show up. So when this cop Burton comes, did he go next door and turn the music down? No. He didn't even hear my car alarm when he pulled up. My car alarm was off. And then this whole thing, this whole confrontation transpired. Well, first, Harry, first of all, thank goodness her son was recording.
Starting point is 01:20:28 Have y'all seen the officer's body cam video? No, we have not. You know, rolling in the state of Alabama, police officers' body cam videos are not considered public documents. We would have to, in fact, file a lawsuit to get those videos. You know, and the mayor made the position that they find no evidence of racism. Well, racism a lot of times is subjective, but the evidence is clear where you have a black woman calling multiple times and she had called over 25 times. And at no time where the neighbor, where she had called over 25 times about noise complaints, was ever threatened or told
Starting point is 01:21:08 that they was going to get arrested. They called her home one time. She refused to give identification. And, Roland, the incident was over. When I say the incident, when the officer approached Ms. Stallworth, and she can tell you more about it, and told her if she don't turn her car alarm off, then she'll be cited and taken to jail.
Starting point is 01:21:30 And when she pointed out that she felt like it consideration of the fact that she had called multiple times in no time where her neighbors ever threatened or taken to jail. So absolutely, I think there's clear evidence that this is racially motivated. I think the mayor got home. You know, obviously, you know, her position is that he was disciplined. But when you look at this video, her son, Jumaane, was pushed out the way. His mother was backed up in her own home, slammed to the couch, drug out, placed in a police car, humiliated in front of those same neighbors
Starting point is 01:22:20 who called the police, thrown in jail, stayed in jail overnight, strip searched, and had to post a $3,000 plus bond to get out. All because she refused to give identification when she had a right, not just constitutional right, but a right on the Alabama law not to give her identification. You know, we've seen this before in the state of Alabama recently. We saw it in 1959 in Montgomery when a black woman refused to give her seat up in the starting of the Montgomery bus boycott. So this is something that's an epidemic that's in this state.
Starting point is 01:22:56 And we didn't stay for the Twyla's son recorded, because if he had not recorded, it would be a completely different narrative as such, and she'd probably still be facing criminal charges. So, I mean, it is, I mean, again, so unfortunate. And so just unbelievable. Twyla, last question for you. Have you had any issues with your neighbors since then? No.
Starting point is 01:23:22 At first he was playing it. Last week he was playing it last week he was playing it and then um he stopped when the um i guess they told him that they came out there and told me at the cleanest yard up so after that he stopped playing it all right then well we appreciate uh both of you being with us right here on roller martin unfiltered thanks a lot lot. Thanks, Roller. Have a good night. You know, John Quayle, this is the thing that, this is the conundrum. And as you heard Harry say, even if you know the law, another young man who was arrested, he was within his rights. You know, we hear people talk about know your rights.
Starting point is 01:24:04 He was within his rights. He still got t hear people talk about know your rights. He was within his rights. He still got tased. He died as a result. And so you have a lot of people who are like, and you heard the young man on the video, Twyla's son, say, mama, just cooperate. Because you can hear the fear in his voice that something might happen.
Starting point is 01:24:20 This thing might escalate. And something might happen to her. You're absolutely right. These, number one, this is why civil rights attorneys are so important because they're keeping the government accountable. The lack of training for officers, the abuse of power for overcharging individuals in our community is running rampant, and they have to keep getting sued as a result. Not only did he illegally enter her home, right? So he wasn't even legally authorized to be in her home based upon the facts that we just watched. Then he assaulted her by pushing her down. And so, and then you're overcharging her and creating, and now she has an arrest record, right? So listen, this is the thing. You may dismiss the charges, right, ultimately. However, she has an arrest record. And even if
Starting point is 01:25:20 the laws in Alabama permit her to get an expungement, if she ever comes into contact with law enforcement again, she'll forever have this arrest record with these outlandish charges. They're not even commensurate with what happened. And it really, really has a lasting effect on our community and, frankly, on your life, right? When you've got an arrest record of being overcharged and you have an abuse of power and these situations keep happening, you've got to keep holding them accountable and you've got to keep hiring counsel and we've got to keep suing them. Mustafa. I mean, this is just another example of the trauma that many Black women and Black men
Starting point is 01:26:01 often face dealing with these types of situations. And people often don't pay enough attention to that because you can never take that away. They drop the charges. You can't take that trauma away. You know, if there was a way to make sure that her record was clear, you still can't take the trauma away. And then you also have to think about the young son who had to watch his mother being assaulted and couldn't do anything. Now, what is that reminiscent of? When we were enslaved in this country and people would assault our women and we had to stand by and watch. And of course, luckily he recorded it. But this is all about
Starting point is 01:26:38 this DNA trauma that continues to grow inside of our communities that plays out in so many different types of ways. So, yes, there is the legal side of the equation, which we have to address. And thankfully, we have great attorneys, civil rights attorneys, who are stepping in to make sure that we get, you know, some help in that particular space. But there is also the psychological side of folks who are watching it, folks who are experiencing it, and then have to figure out, you know, how am I going to heal from this? Because somebody hopefully has to pay for whatever type of therapy she might need or other types of things to begin the healing process. So I hope that as we watch these unfortunate situations that we look in a holistic way
Starting point is 01:27:22 about the things that need to happen inside of our community. Larry? This is another example of racial trauma and generational. You know, I'm going to stop with this highlight. I mean, you know, we've seen a son have to sit and record and watch his mother be treated that way in our own home. And this is a long-term impact on how he views, you know, authority figures, law enforcement in particular. And this is why, when we currently see in some jurisdictions throughout the United States, Roland, why the increase in this police dragnet is problematic for Black folks in the community, because we already know that we're
Starting point is 01:28:03 disproportionately, when we come in contact with law enforcement, like two to three times more likely to be killed. And fortunately, he was there, once again, to record it. But if he had been there to record it, you just heard the attorney talk about this, you know, Alabama law, which sounds almost impossible to get the recording of the interaction. So it would basically be the police officers, you know, whatever statement he gave compared to the citizens that were there then obviously being assaulted. So it is an unequal system that too many black folks have been victimized. Oftentimes, sometimes in a situation where we're not doing anything, we're minding our business and simply being black. But this is an
Starting point is 01:28:44 example of, like I said, how, how racism works in our system is systematic. When you are, you are trying to do the right thing. You become the victim and your own home. And now, so as recourse, I hope she sues and gets all the money she deserves.
Starting point is 01:28:58 All right, folks going to break. We come back. Uh, her secretary, Marsha Fudge, the only African-American female cabinet secretary for President Joe Biden, has announced that she is stepping down. We'll discuss that next right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.
Starting point is 01:29:19 For the last 15 or maybe 16, 18 years, I'll say, since when I moved to L.A., I hadn't had a break. I hadn't had a vacation. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.
Starting point is 01:29:53 From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th.
Starting point is 01:30:47 Ad free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. This year, after I got finished doing Queen's Chicken, we wrapped it up. Because I knew I had two TV shows coming on at the same time. So I'm taking a break. So I've been on break for the first time, and I can afford it. Praise God. You know what I'm saying? So I can afford it. I can sit back and ain't got nothing to worry about, man. But this was the first time in almost two decades
Starting point is 01:31:02 that I've actually had time to sit down and smell the roses. Hatred on the streets, a horrific scene, a white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence. You will not replace us. White people are losing their damn lives. There's an angry pro-Trump mob storm to the U.S. Capitol. We're about to see the rise of what I call white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial.
Starting point is 01:31:51 This is part of American history. Every time that people of color have made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at Emory University calls white rage as a backlash. This is the rise of the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Boys. America, there's going to be more of this. Here's all the Proud Boys, guys. This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes
Starting point is 01:32:15 because of the fear of white people. The fear that they're taking our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women. This is white fear. Stop! Bye-bye, Tampa. They're taking our resources. They're taking our women. This is white people. Farquhar, executive producer of Proud Family. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.
Starting point is 01:33:00 I've told you on many occasions how Republicans in North Carolina are some of the most evil people, how they exert their power and their influence. Well, when they took control of the General Assembly, and remember when the white woman Democrat crossed to Republicans, giving them a super majority, they began to strip Democrat Governor Roy Cooper of a lot of his powers, including appointing people to the local election boards. Well, a three-judge panel, a federal panel, ruled that the state's legislature unlawfully diminished the governor's power in choosing election board members. The judges were unanimous, two Republicans and one Democrat, siding with Democrat Governor Roy Cooper's lawsuit after the GOP-controlled General Assembly overrode Cooper's veto of the
Starting point is 01:33:45 measure in October. The changes, which were set to take effect in January, would have shifted board appointment powers away from the governor to the legislature. Based on recent court rulings and the state constitution, the judges ruled that the new appointment process interferes with a governor's ability to ensure elections and voting laws are faithfully executed. This decision means that these boards will remain under the previous laws set up unless it is overturned on appeal. Republicans had been winning recent high stakes rulings at the state Supreme Court since it flipped from a four to three Democrat majority to a five to two GOP majority in early 2003. And speaking of why voting matters, remember when we told you when the Wisconsin Democrat,
Starting point is 01:34:36 Janet Protasiewicz, when she won by 11 points on the state Supreme Court shifting majority power to Democrats? Well, what did they do? They ruled on the state Supreme Court shifting majority power to Democrats. Well, what did they do? They ruled on the state districts. Now they have a case before them when it comes to congressional districts. And so the governor has already signed a law changing the boundaries of the state legislature districts that have been partisan, some of the most partisan gerrymandering in the country.
Starting point is 01:35:03 Now they're targeting the congressional districts. Well, the same Wisconsin State Supreme Court has now accepted a case dealing with ballot drop boxes before the Republican-controlled Wisconsin State Supreme Court voted to ban ballot drop boxes. Well, this Democrat-controlled court could very well overrule that decision, which means in November that voters in Wisconsin will be able to utilize ballot drop boxes. All of this is critically important, Mustafa, because again, as I'm always trying to explain to people, if you sit your ass on the couch and you don't vote, you don't understand how your power's not going to use. When Democrats controlled the North Carolina Supreme Court, they were able to overrule voter ID.
Starting point is 01:35:53 They were able to overrule all of the ways that Republicans in North Carolina were trying to cut early voting, cancel early voting locations, cancel voting locations, all of the voter suppression tactics they use. Well, Republicans are now in control. They're now allowing them to move forward with that, including partisan gerrymandering and potentially racial gerrymandering. But what you see in Wisconsin, when it flipped, how this would change the balance of power in the state. And so when we tell people why they must focus on top of the ticket and races down ballot, Wisconsin is the perfect example. Yeah, you know, most folks are just asking for fairness.
Starting point is 01:36:37 That's what folks really want. They want to know that they can be able to cast their ballot, that the process is going to be fair. But we know that the GOP, based upon their actions, not on theory, not on assumptions, but actually based upon their actions, are not interested in fairness. What they are interested in is having all the power, because they understand the dynamics that are changing in our country and the browning of America and those different types of things. And that's why since each individual has power that is tied to their vote, you have to use it. And people will think, well, sometimes, well, if I just don't vote, then that doesn't play out in any type of a dynamic around my power. Yes, it does,
Starting point is 01:37:18 because you're giving your power away to someone else who may not have the best interest of what's happening inside of your state, your county, or your local government. So we just got to stay engaged. And we also got to continue the education of helping people understand how power plays out and the power that they have. You know, we spend so much time, Larry, on this show trying to connect the dots. And I know somebody is sitting at home going, I mean, what's the big-ass deal of pointing? Well, guess what? By taking
Starting point is 01:37:50 the power from the Democrat governor, Roy Cooper, and putting in control of Republicans, they now control who is over those election boards. Those election boards, they determine disputes. Those local election boards determine, hey, how do we set the hours to vote
Starting point is 01:38:05 as well? And so that's why you could have later voting hours in Republican counties, early voting hours in counties where they're not dominating. And so we have to understand all of this speaks to how it impacts us. And we know when Republicans are in charge, they are going to do things that are not democratic, that actually suppresses black voters and makes it harder for us to turn out. Yeah, you hit on a key point there about voter suppression and the many ways in which you see it. But once again, you're right, Roland, they're trying to try to shift power from the executive branch to the legislative branch in the state of North Carolina. And as you point out, Republicans in North Carolina have been at this for quite a while.
Starting point is 01:38:51 And so when we see, for instance, in the last several decades in the black community, when you see in terms of who's in charge of elections, you see the disproportionate rate, which you notice at ACLU and other organizations, in which black and brown folks are more likely to stay in line compared to white communities. And so, once again, they plan a short and long game in terms of being able to put those individuals they want in positions of power and maybe possibly, Roland, get this crazy, the current GOP Republican nominee for governor, get crazy people like him into office. So it is really important, like I said, that the judges agree that this wasn't legal and make sure that the governor continued to maintain the power he should have had, but also, once again, pushes back on these Republican efforts to, once again, to make it as difficult as possible for those minoritized communities, for young people, for those who have certain disabilities rolling, to make it more difficult for them to vote.
Starting point is 01:39:51 And, John Quayle, look, I mean, in North Carolina, they were pissed off that black people turned out in mass numbers in 2008, leading then-Senator Obama to win North Carolina by 14,100 votes. Guess what? Republicans were pissed off when Pastor Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff won those runoffs in January of 2021. What did they do? They immediately began to change the voting laws in Georgia. One of the laws they changed was that they changed the period for you to register for the runoff. And so, in the 2020 runoff, the runoff took place.
Starting point is 01:40:34 Then there was a deadline a couple of weeks later to register for the runoff. Well, they changed that sucker to register for the runoff. It took place even before the general. This is what happens when you control the levers of power. And so our folks need to understand why all of these races are so important because they are impacting our ability to maximize power.
Starting point is 01:41:00 You're absolutely right. And frankly, you know, our community, we're in a fight for our lives at this point when we're talking about voting here. Right. There's the whole there's a reason why we have the three branches of government, the legislative branch, the executive branch and the judicial branch. Right. And so we have got to be out there voting and paying very close attention to who's running to be these judges, who is running to be the legislatures, and who's also running to be governors of your state. Because essentially, what's going on in North Carolina, like you said, as it relates to power, is their ability to usurp the executive branch's ability to make decisions and bring that back to the legislature. The legislature is designed to enact laws.
Starting point is 01:41:49 That's it. All right. And so if we are not paying attention to who we are electing in each of these positions of power, and it's a good thing that there is a governor that was elected by the citizenry that fought back on that to be able to even challenge that in the first place. And that's how important. And in fact, you've got Vice President Kamala Harris flying across the country meeting about our voting rights and how they're under attack. And so we're in a fight for our lives, and it's time to pay attention because these individual seats and races
Starting point is 01:42:29 have a large determining factor on your everyday life. Absolutely. And so we spend lots of time just trying to educate folks. All right, y'all, hold on one second. We come back. We'll talk about the retiring Secretary of HUD, Marsha Fudge. Back in a moment.
Starting point is 01:42:50 Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. Democracy in the United States is under siege. On this list of bad actors, it's easy to point out the Donald Trumps, the Marjorie Taylor Greens, or even the United States Supreme Court as the primary villains. But as David Pepper, author, scholar, and former politician himself says, there's another factor that trumps them all and resides much closer to many of our homes. His book is Laboratories of Autocracy, a wake-up call from behind the lines. So these state houses get hijacked by the far right. Then they gerrymander.
Starting point is 01:43:29 They suppress the opposition. And that allows them to legislate in a way that doesn't reflect the people of that state. David Pepper joins us on the next Black Table, here on the Black Star Network. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.
Starting point is 01:44:45 Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.
Starting point is 01:45:11 Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and six on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Thank you. Thank you. We'll be right back. Folks, her secretary, Marsha Fudge, the only black female cabinet secretary in President Biden's cabinet, has announced that she is retiring. The 71 year old told the USA Today it's time to go home.
Starting point is 01:47:42 Fudge left Congress to join the Biden administration as housing secretary, becoming the second black woman to head the agency. She's represented Ohio's 11th congressional district in the house, previously was congressional black caucus chair. Before that, she served in the Ohio state legislature and then was a mayor in Ohio. So she's been in public service for 24 years. Fudd said that her last day will be March 22nd.
Starting point is 01:48:11 President Biden released this statement where he said a fair housing market, an access to quality and affordable housing are official to the fulfillment of the American dream. And no one understands that better than Secretary Marsha L. Fudge. When I took office, we inherited a broken housing system with fair housing and civil rights protections badly dismantled under the prior administration. On day one, Marsha got to work rebuilding the Department of Housing and Urban Development
Starting point is 01:48:46 and over the past three years she has been a strong voice for expanding efforts to build generational wealth through home ownership and lowering costs and promoting fairness for American renters.
Starting point is 01:49:02 Under Marsha's transformational leadership, we have worked hard to lower housing costs and increase supply. We proposed the largest investment in affordable housing in US history. We've taken steps to aggressively combat racial discrimination in housing
Starting point is 01:49:22 by ensuring home appraisals are more fair and by strengthening programs to redress the negative impacts of redlining. Thanks to Secretary Fudge, we've helped first-time homebuyers and we are working to cut the cost of renting and And there are more housing units under construction right now than at any time in the last 50 years. From her time as a mayor to her years as a fierce advocate in the U.S. House of Representatives,
Starting point is 01:49:57 Marsha's vision, passion, and focus on increasing economic opportunity have been assets to our country. I'm grateful for all of her contributions toward a housing system that works for all Americans and I wish her well in her next chapter. Deputy Secretary Adrianne Topman will serve as acting secretary after Fudge leaves.
Starting point is 01:50:21 The thing that he lays out there is really important, Mustafa, because, look, Ben Carson was his secretary under that other fool, and Ben Carson didn't know what the hell he was doing. He had no damn clue
Starting point is 01:50:39 what he was doing whatsoever. He had no business in that job, and he was absolutely awful. And Fudge came in. And let me tell you something. We met with her and her team. And you had a number of black women who were in top leadership positions at HUD. It's fair to say black folks were running that department beyond her. And that focus on redlining, they partnered with the Department of Justice, going after folks who are redlining and keeping African-Americans out of homes, going after financial institutions as well.
Starting point is 01:51:21 And so absolutely one of the best housing secretaries we've ever had. Yeah. You know, Secretary Fudge is amazing. Let me tell you why she's amazing. I mean, I met her in 2008 when she first came to the Hill. But when she took over at HUD, many folks don't understand that these agencies and departments had been decimated, right? Many of the top folks, folks who really knew their stuff had left because they didn't want to work for Trump. And then they just did all these different types of things that weakened the agencies and departments. I had a conversation with some folks about Secretary Carson. I felt bad for him for a second, but then I said, you actually took the job
Starting point is 01:52:00 so you knew what you were getting yourself into. And folks who are experts in the housing side of the equation said that the only folks he was good for were the investor class on the housing side of the equation. Then you look at Secretary Fudge, who actually has understood the dynamics that have contributed to the wealth gap inside of our community and actually went to work to actually do things to change that. So not only the redlining that was out there, but also making sure that the people are able to access the loans, low-interest loans, to be able to get into the housing game, if you will, to begin to build that wealth, to also make sure on sort of the Title VI side of the equation, the civil rights aspect, to make sure that folks have been playing games there
Starting point is 01:52:43 and not allowing people to actually move into the housing space that both with the Department of Justice and them that they were addressing that. You know, she made sure that she made more flexibility in the CDBG grants that are out there. So those are those development grants that are so critically important to be able to build this new housing. And then we've also talked on this show a number of times about that there's not enough housing that's out there. So when people see, you know, these incredible rents that people are paying and how things continue to go up and up, it is because of that housing shortage that's there. And she's been playing a critical role in getting the new housing out there and making sure that there's affordable housing, which is, you know, an important part of the equation. So I give her, you know, nothing but gold stars for the work that she's done, both when she was in Congress,
Starting point is 01:53:30 when she was a mayor, and now leading HUD, which was not an easy thing to do, especially in those early days, because there had been, you know, all this work that was done by the Trump administration to weaken it. You know, I dare say, John Quayle, what's important here, it is important to have, but it's not only the time of these departments, it's somebody who has been a governor or a member of Congress. But because Fudge was a mayor and a state representative
Starting point is 01:54:03 and a member of Congress, she's bringing a far different perspective to the table. Because actually, when it comes to housing in this country, that really is the province of mayors in these cities. And so I think that experience was vital in that particular position. Yes, I agree, Roland. I mean, essentially her time as mayor allowed her to be able to beity as well as an alum of, we both attended the Ohio State University. So she is a tremendous leader. It's a tremendous loss to see her go, but she has been a force that we all have looked up to for so long. Larry? Yeah, she's had a tremendous career. You talked about in the state of Ohio,
Starting point is 01:55:04 certainly representing her district as a member of the CBC. My colleague just talked about she's former president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. And it's a tremendous loss for the administration. And I think the really rolling interesting thing about the president's statement talking about redlining, which my colleagues have highlighted, and the long term impact redlining has had on the black community in terms of gaining equity. And we know the majority of wealth in this country for Americans derives from owning a home. So it's unfortunate that she's leaving. I wish her all the best.
Starting point is 01:55:37 Like I said, her many years of dedicated service as a public servant. And she's been a tremendous asset at HUD and her wealth and experience. And I wish her all the best. A couple of years ago, we had her on the show discussing the infrastructure bill and also talking about her role at HUD. This was our, let me pull it up right here, my apologies. This here was our conversation, and y'all know I'm going to play for y'all this other interesting moment that we had as well
Starting point is 01:56:11 when she had a news conference and a little something something happened that will go down as one of the greatest news conferences ever. Check this out. So I don't want to take up all of your time.
Starting point is 01:56:26 When we talk about being in this position here, I think back to the eight years of President Barack Obama. And a lot of people forget you were here at the CBC. You were very clear and tough on the president when it came to his housing plans. I dare say, and this is me speaking, one of the failures of the administration was in the area of housing. Black people lost 53 percent of all wealth due to the housing foreclosure crisis. We're dealing with really right now a housing shortage in America. I've owned my home in Dallas for since 1999. I get text messages and
Starting point is 01:57:03 calls every day from somebody trying to buy my house to flip it. And so there are people out there who want to be able to buy a home, but you have these hedge funds that went out and bought blocks of 25 and 30 and 50,000 homes from the banks who we supposedly helped out with TARP. And so how do we, what is your plan to put us on that path for true affordable housing for people to be able to own their homes and they're not having to spend all this money renting something they simply don't own? Well, the first thing is just to say this is that FHA is a part of HUD. And so we are looking at what we have done and we've made some mistakes. No question about it, Roland.
Starting point is 01:57:45 We have also been a part of those people who have not looked at equity, have not looked at how we create an environment in which people who are moderate income or even some that are low income can afford to buy homes. You're going to see a change, and you're going to see it soon. We're going to assist homebuyers. We're going to level the playing field you're going to see it soon. We're going to assist home buyers. We're going to level the playing field because, Roland, you know as well as I do that for people that look like us, most of us start to create any sense of wealth by buying a home. We're also going to look at how we assist in educating people about the process because so
Starting point is 01:58:22 often, Roland, people who are just trying to get into it don't have any idea where to start. So we're going to assist them with saving, with down payment assistance. We are going to do the things necessary to give folks a chance, just to give them a shot at creating generational wealth. You have my word on it. I'm going to ask you to do one thing also, and I have been, and we talked about this when you were in Congress. The federal government spends a billion dollars a year on media advertising. Black-owned media gets $10 million.
Starting point is 01:58:54 We want to assist with that, educating people as well, which is critically important that black ad agencies and black-owned media receive those dollars to be able to inform our constituents about these very things. And so I've said it to Susan Rice in the White House. I've said it to Cedric Richmond. I've said it to Senator Chuck Schumer. I'm still waiting to interview Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but that's another story. But I'm going to say it to her as well. But this is important because if we're trying to reach black folks, we need to talk to black-owned media.
Starting point is 01:59:22 And that's why I'm thankful that you came on and didn't give us the runaround and say, yeah, absolutely, we want to come on to share this kind of information with our audience. Roland, this is my very first interview since the announcement, and I wanted to do it with you because I think it's important to send a message to people that I understand how our communities are helped. That is why I'm on your show right now. And you have my word that I'm going to do all I can to ensure that people who are sending the message know the people that we want to get the message to.
Starting point is 02:00:00 And just so y'all know, last time she was on, she hit me. She's like, she said, all the calls I got from folk in Ohio who saw me on your show. I got to ask you this here because, Lord, you set the Internet ablaze with this. Good afternoon. Oh, thank you. I was wondering if I was in this room by myself. I got to ask you, you had to be even surprised. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,
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Starting point is 02:01:04 dedicated itself to one visionary mission. Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. With how everybody said, oh, Lord, that's a black auntie right there. You know, Roland,
Starting point is 02:01:49 I didn't even think anything about it at the time. You know, that's our culture. You speak, people speak back. Right. I never thought about it until everybody started talking about it. And Roland, I have been laughing about it ever since. I said, Lord, I'll never live that one down.
Starting point is 02:02:06 Well, you know from now on, wherever you go, anywhere in the country, when you got to give a speech anywhere, it's going to be, good afternoon. It's going to be just go ahead. It's going to be a part of your introduction wherever you go. So just go ahead and get prepared for that. That's why I love you, Roland. Goodbye.
Starting point is 02:02:24 Secretary Fudge, I appreciate appreciate it we keep it real keep it black that i i dare say that that was a that was a uh that was a black moment uh right there uh john quayle that was for sure i mean i remember seeing that on television and it just reminded me of the call and answer, you know, when you're in church and they're saying, good afternoon. And they're repeating themselves after that. So it just took me back to, you know, being in church, growing up in church with that call to answer series. So I enjoyed that yeah i mean i mean i i still crack up uh because she was like i know my i know my ass ain't in this room by myself larry i like i know i said good afternoon man y'all better say something
Starting point is 02:03:16 black culture is undefeated and i remember when that happened and even it's funny because i did that to my wife the other day, a couple days ago. It's funny about, like I said, the importance of how Black culture works. And like she said, it was a genuine moment, as my colleague just highlighted. That's the reflection of Black
Starting point is 02:03:38 culture. You always speak. And when someone speaks, you speak back. And if you don't, there's a problem. So it's an iconic moment. And once again, we will certainly miss her as secretary. Mustafa. Secretary Marsha Fudge is black excellence. And I know there's lots of young girls who are watching who now know that they could one day be the secretary of HUD or something even higher. So I hope that we will continue to give her her flowers. I did. So I got to play will continue to give her her flowers.
Starting point is 02:04:06 All right, Dad. So I got to play that again. Hold on one second. I just, because when we, because that was from our interview, but this was Jen Psaki introducing her. Check this out. Back from the edge. She's happy to take a couple of questions
Starting point is 02:04:19 after she gives some remarks. Thank you again for joining us. Thank you. Thank you very much, Jen. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Oh, thank you.
Starting point is 02:04:34 I was wondering if I was in this room by myself. Jen, thanks for inviting me to speak about the importance. Oh, I love the look. Like, y'all about to get cussed out. That's sort of how your mama or your grandmama do when they walk into the room and everybody's there. They're speaking like, I know y'all asses going to speak back. So we're absolutely going to miss Secretary Fudge.
Starting point is 02:05:02 So look forward to chatting with her before she gets out of that office. Folks, that's it for us. Let me thank Larry, John McQuill, Mustafa for joining us today on the panel. I certainly appreciate it. Thank you so very much. Let me thank all of y'all for watching and listening as well. Be sure to support us in what we do, folks. Your support is critical to what we do.
Starting point is 02:05:24 And I say this all the time, but our fan base has played a huge role in us being able to do the work that we do. Your support is critical. Y'all have been quite generous, and we appreciate that. We appreciate the people. We got some people. We got some people, at least three or four people, they have been tithing to our show every month since we launched September 4, 2018. They've literally sent money every single month since we launched. So I appreciate that.
Starting point is 02:05:59 Let me shout out a couple of people. Let me shout out here. Okay, this name is missing. So where is it? Also, let me shout out Anthony Brown. Thanks a bunch. I appreciate it. Let me thank Dennis Palmore.
Starting point is 02:06:18 Thanks a lot. Wanda Bowers. O'Neal. Let me thank Omar Young. Kenneth McRae. Sabrina Lamb, Carrie Morant, Damon Blissett, Paul Lee. Let me think.
Starting point is 02:06:32 I'm looking, looking here. Those are folks who actually gave during the show, so I appreciate them doing so. If you want to join our Bring the Funk fan club, you can see your check and money order. P.O. Box 57196, Washington, D.C. 20037-0196. Cash app, Donaldson, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, R. Martin Unfiltered. Vimo is RM Unfiltered.
Starting point is 02:06:55 Zale, Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Roland at RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Download the Black Star Network app. Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV. Don't forget, you can also support us by watching our 24-hour, seven-day-a-week streaming channel available on Amazon News by going to Amazon Fire. You can tell Alexa, play news from the Black Star Network. Go to Plex TV. Go to Amazon FreeVee,
Starting point is 02:07:26 and also go to Amazon Prime Video. And don't forget to get a copy of my book, "'White Fear, How the Browning of America's "'Making White Folks Lose Their Minds' available at Ben Bella Books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Bookshop, Chapters, Books A Million, Target. You can get the audio version with me reading on Audible. Folks, that's
Starting point is 02:07:46 it. I'll see y'all tomorrow right here rolling by non-filtered on the Black Star Network. Holla! Black Star Network is here. Oh, no punches! A real revolutionary right now. Thank you for being the voice of Black
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