October 16, 2025 • 10 mins
BTGM Briefs: Roland Martin is host and managing editor of Roland Martin Unfiltered and founder of the Black Star Network.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So this is a quote I found from you where
you said the most important thing we have in black
on media is authenticity and trust. We are perceived that
we're perceived differently. They see us as family. So I
want you to talk about what you mean by particularly
that last line, they see us as family. What does
that mean? How did you learn that? And what implications
does that happen?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
But that's our history. I mean, if you're again, if
you're a student of your business, you know. The first
newspaper was Mars Freedom's Journal March sixteenth, eighteen twenty seven,
and the third paragraph of their frontage editorial it said,
in the third pair, we wish to plead our own
cause to long have other spoken for us. That's the
mantra of the black press. When you start talking about
(00:40):
Martin Delaney, when you start talking about Frederick Douglass, when
you start talking about out of b Wells Barnett, when
we talk about the Little Rock nine, people don't understand.
First of all, Daisy Bates later on the Black Newspaper,
but when they were sitting here involved in the planning
of that black meat, the black media, black on media
was actually in the room like they were in the
(01:01):
strategy sessions, Uh, doctor King. Before Time Magazine and New
York Times and NBC were covering.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Him, he had a column in Ebony.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
He was always in Jet And so there's always been
this different relationship that African Americans have had with black
O media because we're there when everybody else ain't there.
I mean, even now, I can't even tell you how
many times we travel around this country and when we're
going places and we're visiting places, and man, ain't nobody there,
(01:31):
local media, local mainstream. Ain't there a lot of black people,
not black media out there. We're the only ones. Bishop
Barbara had a huge event in DC a couple of
years ago, and man, they had these risers and was
all this press space for the people came that was it.
(01:52):
There were small media islets, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, Scene
in Fox News.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
None of them were there.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
And and so those things happened on a regular basis.
And so you know, when you when when you were
there for your people. Tom Joyna always talked about this
here and I've always said the same thing. I totally
agree with him that when you're there for your people,
they're going to be there for you.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
When you're showing up. So you know.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
One of the things I remember, we was in Elizabeth City,
North Carolina. Brother had been shot and killed by the cops. Uh,
and all it was jam pack. I mean, all this
media is out there, They're all out there and being
Ben Crump was holding the news conference. Uh and uh
everybody is sitting here covering it.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Man. It was crazy. And so what happened? Uh when.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
When uh we it was time for the uh news conference?
It was too funny, man, it was time for the
news conference. Ben Crump was doing questions, and when it
came time to questions, he went first question Roland. Yeah, Roland,
(03:04):
we've had and so I got and then it was
kind of like you're done.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Then he went to everybody else.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Those things that happened to other places a lot.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
But there are some black folks who don't do that.
There's some black folks who they believed in white validation.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
And I remind these people, we gonna be here when
they never show up, So don't all of a sudden
try to treat them special because they rolled up in here,
because we know who was here. Ben has had clients
that when because he's had clients where they said no, no, no, Ben,
(03:40):
our first interview is going to be.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
On Rolling Mark Unfiltered.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Now, these are clients who did not want to be
a part of this exclusive for turning the sorority of
having family members killed. But on multiple occasions they said, no, Ben,
we're gonna do Rolland first because he covers this stuff
every day, and so.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
That's what that means.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
And so that's been our history the black press, black
on media has served that role. The problem is what
we have seen. We have seen this dramatic degradation and
decrease in our impact. Again, a lot of black people
(04:23):
at the end of the civil rights movement early seventies,
when white media starts hiring black people, we all of
a sudden, it's like, oh, now they're covering us, so
now we're going to go to them. So in many cases,
the consumer abandoned black on media. Now, when that was happening,
black on media was not adjusting to what was going on,
(04:43):
and so then they aided their own demise. And I've
long said we're living in a period right now where
we will rule the day if we don't have black
on media, because there's so many stories, I mean, I
can't even tell you there's stuff that I do every
single day. Small stuff, stuff don't even get touched. We've
done stuff that three, four or five weeks later, it'll
(05:07):
show up on MSNBC or CNN. But here's what pisces
me off. What pisces me off. Recie Kober talked about
this all the time. You'll get black folks who then
will grab that clip because.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
It was on MSNBC or see a lot of primity.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Black people will grab that clip and post it on
their Instagram page and post it on their Twitter page.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
And I'm going, but.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You then we five weeks ago, four weeks a, three
weeks ago. So again those things happened. But I believe
what my responsibility as a black on media owner, My
responsibility is to give black people high quality content that
(05:53):
is relevant, that looks good. I was at the National
Underground Railroad Freedom Center Parkertery and Gamble had this thing.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
It was a panel and I was hitting on the panel and.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
His brother it was kicking. Pree was over here and
his brother was here. His brother here owned a barbershop
salon in Cincinnati. And this eactly is this truth through
what that he goes, he goes.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Y'all we have got here.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
This is that National Underground Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Y'all. Oh man, we we gotta support Roland Martin this way.
He messed up.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
He goes, not now, y'all, it's not gonna look as
good as CNN. I said, wait a fucking minute.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Oh wow. He goes, no, no, no, no, bro. I said, no, no, no,
no no.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I said, I need you to understand what you just said.
What you just said is that we from a look
we are second class. Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
I said, And let me be real clear.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I don't have the billion dollars in profit that CNN has.
I said, but my robotic cameras are four K I said,
I got high quality lights. I said, don't you ever
say that I don't look as good as CNN.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
That was wild. That is a that is a brother.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
When I had when I had my TV one show,
this is this is a brother said to me, this
is I had A brother said this his sister said it.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Brother said, man, where you gonna get you your own show?
And I was like, I am on five days a week.
He goes, he said, no, no, no, no, no, I
know about your TV one show. He said, I mean
a real show.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah, come on, come on.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
He said, come on CNN or one of these networks.
I said, not again. I was like, I can cuss
him out, or I can educate him.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Here's what I said. I said, brother, let me ask
you a question. I said, are you aware that.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
When Brian Williams comes to NBS, comes to DC, he
sits in the same.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Chair I do. And he looked at me.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I said, there's the plexiglass table to the left, and
there's a bristle brush on the bottom shelf, and there's
another brush on the top shelf that white people use
to calm their hair. I said, the bristle brush is mine.
He's still now he looking at me. I said, you
need to be aware. I said, the set, the walls,
(08:29):
the camera. I said, Oh, you didn't realize. We contract
the studio from NBC News Channel. I said, when Brian
Williams comes here, they send the signal down the fiber
optic lines to New York.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
We send ours to Denver.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I said, same studio, same cameras, same lights, same background,
same fiber optics. I said, but you said, my show
is not real. What you were telling me is because
it airs on a black network. You don't think it's
(09:06):
a real show. Brother, that he was, he was apologetic.
I said this, and this is the power of white supremacy.
The power of white supremacy is that it will dictate
to black people that what is ours. We instinctively, we
(09:29):
automatically off the jump. We think it's second rate, its
second class, it's not good enough, and a white man's
ice is colder. And that that is that is the power,
that is the legacy of white supremacy and why it
still has a hold on black people and we mustn't
(09:52):
I and John o'brown always says, black people we need
He said we need, we need to reboot.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
I say no. He says, no, I need a software upgrade.
I said no.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Black people need to be completely reprogrammed. Because we start off,
we haven't even opened our mouths yet, and we automatically say, oh,
he's black, she's black, and they own it second class,
second rate, not good enough quality. That the same actively
(10:22):
black has dealt with this show me a black company.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
They've had to confront him.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
But that's the conditioning of the mind of black people,
and that is a result of white supremacy.
So this is a quote I found from you where
you said the most important thing we have in black
on media is authenticity and trust. We are perceived that
we're perceived differently. They see us as family. So I
want you to talk about what you mean by particularly
that last line, they see us as family. What does
that mean? How did you learn that? And what implications
does that happen?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
But that's our history. I mean, if you're again, if
you're a student of your business, you know. The first
newspaper was Mars Freedom's Journal March sixteenth, eighteen twenty seven,
and the third paragraph of their frontage editorial it said,
in the third pair, we wish to plead our own
cause to long have other spoken for us. That's the
mantra of the black press. When you start talking about
(00:40):
Martin Delaney, when you start talking about Frederick Douglass, when
you start talking about out of b Wells Barnett, when
we talk about the Little Rock nine, people don't understand.
First of all, Daisy Bates later on the Black Newspaper,
but when they were sitting here involved in the planning
of that black meat, the black media, black on media
was actually in the room like they were in the
(01:01):
strategy sessions, Uh, doctor King. Before Time Magazine and New
York Times and NBC were covering.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Him, he had a column in Ebony.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
He was always in Jet And so there's always been
this different relationship that African Americans have had with black
O media because we're there when everybody else ain't there.
I mean, even now, I can't even tell you how
many times we travel around this country and when we're
going places and we're visiting places, and man, ain't nobody there,
(01:31):
local media, local mainstream. Ain't there a lot of black people,
not black media out there. We're the only ones. Bishop
Barbara had a huge event in DC a couple of
years ago, and man, they had these risers and was
all this press space for the people came that was it.
(01:52):
There were small media islets, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, Scene
in Fox News.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
None of them were there.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
And and so those things happened on a regular basis.
And so you know, when you when when you were
there for your people. Tom Joyna always talked about this
here and I've always said the same thing. I totally
agree with him that when you're there for your people,
they're going to be there for you.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
When you're showing up. So you know.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
One of the things I remember, we was in Elizabeth City,
North Carolina. Brother had been shot and killed by the cops. Uh,
and all it was jam pack. I mean, all this
media is out there, They're all out there and being
Ben Crump was holding the news conference. Uh and uh
everybody is sitting here covering it.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Man. It was crazy. And so what happened? Uh when.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
When uh we it was time for the uh news conference?
It was too funny, man, it was time for the
news conference. Ben Crump was doing questions, and when it
came time to questions, he went first question Roland. Yeah, Roland,
(03:04):
we've had and so I got and then it was
kind of like you're done.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Then he went to everybody else.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Those things that happened to other places a lot.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
But there are some black folks who don't do that.
There's some black folks who they believed in white validation.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
And I remind these people, we gonna be here when
they never show up, So don't all of a sudden
try to treat them special because they rolled up in here,
because we know who was here. Ben has had clients
that when because he's had clients where they said no, no, no, Ben,
(03:40):
our first interview is going to be.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
On Rolling Mark Unfiltered.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Now, these are clients who did not want to be
a part of this exclusive for turning the sorority of
having family members killed. But on multiple occasions they said, no, Ben,
we're gonna do Rolland first because he covers this stuff
every day, and so.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
That's what that means.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
And so that's been our history the black press, black
on media has served that role. The problem is what
we have seen. We have seen this dramatic degradation and
decrease in our impact. Again, a lot of black people
(04:23):
at the end of the civil rights movement early seventies,
when white media starts hiring black people, we all of
a sudden, it's like, oh, now they're covering us, so
now we're going to go to them. So in many cases,
the consumer abandoned black on media. Now, when that was happening,
black on media was not adjusting to what was going on,
(04:43):
and so then they aided their own demise. And I've
long said we're living in a period right now where
we will rule the day if we don't have black
on media, because there's so many stories, I mean, I
can't even tell you there's stuff that I do every
single day. Small stuff, stuff don't even get touched. We've
done stuff that three, four or five weeks later, it'll
(05:07):
show up on MSNBC or CNN. But here's what pisces
me off. What pisces me off. Recie Kober talked about
this all the time. You'll get black folks who then
will grab that clip because.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
It was on MSNBC or see a lot of primity.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Black people will grab that clip and post it on
their Instagram page and post it on their Twitter page.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
And I'm going, but.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You then we five weeks ago, four weeks a, three
weeks ago. So again those things happened. But I believe
what my responsibility as a black on media owner, My
responsibility is to give black people high quality content that
(05:53):
is relevant, that looks good. I was at the National
Underground Railroad Freedom Center Parkertery and Gamble had this thing.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
It was a panel and I was hitting on the panel and.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
His brother it was kicking. Pree was over here and
his brother was here. His brother here owned a barbershop
salon in Cincinnati. And this eactly is this truth through
what that he goes, he goes.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Y'all we have got here.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
This is that National Underground Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Y'all. Oh man, we we gotta support Roland Martin this way.
He messed up.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
He goes, not now, y'all, it's not gonna look as
good as CNN. I said, wait a fucking minute.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Oh wow. He goes, no, no, no, no, bro. I said, no, no, no,
no no.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I said, I need you to understand what you just said.
What you just said is that we from a look
we are second class. Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
I said, And let me be real clear.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I don't have the billion dollars in profit that CNN has.
I said, but my robotic cameras are four K I said,
I got high quality lights. I said, don't you ever
say that I don't look as good as CNN.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
That was wild. That is a that is a brother.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
When I had when I had my TV one show,
this is this is a brother said to me, this
is I had A brother said this his sister said it.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Brother said, man, where you gonna get you your own show?
And I was like, I am on five days a week.
He goes, he said, no, no, no, no, no, I
know about your TV one show. He said, I mean
a real show.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah, come on, come on.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
He said, come on CNN or one of these networks.
I said, not again. I was like, I can cuss
him out, or I can educate him.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Here's what I said. I said, brother, let me ask
you a question. I said, are you aware that.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
When Brian Williams comes to NBS, comes to DC, he
sits in the same.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Chair I do. And he looked at me.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I said, there's the plexiglass table to the left, and
there's a bristle brush on the bottom shelf, and there's
another brush on the top shelf that white people use
to calm their hair. I said, the bristle brush is mine.
He's still now he looking at me. I said, you
need to be aware. I said, the set, the walls,
(08:29):
the camera. I said, Oh, you didn't realize. We contract
the studio from NBC News Channel. I said, when Brian
Williams comes here, they send the signal down the fiber
optic lines to New York.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
We send ours to Denver.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I said, same studio, same cameras, same lights, same background,
same fiber optics. I said, but you said, my show
is not real. What you were telling me is because
it airs on a black network. You don't think it's
(09:06):
a real show. Brother, that he was, he was apologetic.
I said this, and this is the power of white supremacy.
The power of white supremacy is that it will dictate
to black people that what is ours. We instinctively, we
(09:29):
automatically off the jump. We think it's second rate, its
second class, it's not good enough, and a white man's
ice is colder. And that that is that is the power,
that is the legacy of white supremacy and why it
still has a hold on black people and we mustn't
(09:52):
I and John o'brown always says, black people we need
He said we need, we need to reboot.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
I say no. He says, no, I need a software upgrade.
I said no.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Black people need to be completely reprogrammed. Because we start off,
we haven't even opened our mouths yet, and we automatically say, oh,
he's black, she's black, and they own it second class,
second rate, not good enough quality. That the same actively
(10:22):
black has dealt with this show me a black company.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
They've had to confront him.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
But that's the conditioning of the mind of black people,
and that is a result of white supremacy.
Host
Will Lucas
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