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August 8, 2025 122 mins

8.7.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Abbott: State & FBI Track TX Dems; Record-High Tariffs Hit; Hegseth’s $10M for Confederate Monuments

Texas Governor Greg Abbott says the state and possibly even the FBI is tracking down Democratic lawmakers who fled to stop the GOP's redistricting plan. We'll talk to two of those lawmakers, State Reps Christian Manuel and Lauren Ashley Simmons, about what's really going down in Texas and what's at stake.

Also... those new tariffs... They just kicked in today, and they're the highest we've seen in modern U.S. history. We're talking record-high import taxes. What that means for your paycheck, your bills, and your business-- Economist Gbenga Ajilore and supply chain expert Jennifer Barbossa will break it all the way down.

And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is spending $10 million to bring back Confederate monuments. Yeah, you heard that right. We'll unpack the politics, the price tag, and the message behind the move.

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Episode Transcript

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Black Star Network is here.

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to make sure that our stories are told.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
I thank you for being the voice of Black America.

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You can't be black owned media and be scared.

Speaker 7 (02:00):
It's time to be smart, bring your eyeballs home, your dig.

Speaker 8 (02:19):
It's Thursday, August seventh, twenty twenty five. I am doctor
Omikongo de Benga filling in for Roland Martin today. Here's
what's coming up on Roland Martin on filtered streaming live
on the Blackstar Network. Texas Governor Greg Abbott says the
state and possibly even the FBI is tracking down Democratic
lawmakers who fled to stop the GOP's redistrict unplaned. We

(02:41):
will talk to two of those lawmakers, state Representatives Christian
Manuel and Lauren Ashley Simmons, about what's really going down
to Texas and what to stake.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Also, those new twerts they just.

Speaker 8 (02:53):
Kicked in today and they're the highest we've seen in
modern US history.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
We're talking record high import taxes.

Speaker 8 (03:00):
What that means for your paycheck, your bills and your
business economists and Benga I Glori and supply chain expert
Jennifer Barbosa will break it all the way down. And
Defense Secretary Pete Hexf is spending ten million dollars to
bring back Confederate monuments.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, you heard that right.

Speaker 8 (03:17):
We'll unpack the politics of price tag and the message of.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Behind the move.

Speaker 8 (03:21):
It's time to bring the funk on Rolden Martin unfiltered
shooting live on the Blackstar Network.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Let's go.

Speaker 4 (03:28):
He's gotting whatever the best, He's sewing it whatever it is.

Speaker 9 (03:32):
He's got the school the FACTI fine.

Speaker 10 (03:35):
Are gonna believes he's right on top and is rolling
best believe he's going putting it down from this.

Speaker 9 (03:42):
Loston news to politics with entertainment.

Speaker 4 (03:46):
Just book keeps.

Speaker 9 (03:47):
He's stolen.

Speaker 10 (03:51):
Up, it's strolling. He's p's built up.

Speaker 5 (04:05):
Question.

Speaker 9 (04:06):
No, he's boven.

Speaker 8 (04:22):
Republican Governor Greg Abbott says, Texas authorities and maybe even
the FBI are working to track down Democratic lawmakers who
fled the state to block a Republican redistricting plan that
is rigged to lock in GOP power and alliance of
Donald Trump's playbook. Senator John Cornyn claims the FBI is
already helping, but.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Legal experts aren't so sure.

Speaker 8 (04:43):
They say the FBI usually stays out of state political fights.
Democrats are calling this a dangerous abuse of power and
a threat to democracy. Joining us tonight, Texas State Representatives
Christian Manuel and Lauren Ashley Simmons, thank you so much
for joining us tonight. My first question, My first question

(05:03):
off off the top, Representative at Ashley Simmons, how are
you doing right now.

Speaker 11 (05:10):
Hanging in there, hanging in there?

Speaker 12 (05:12):
You know, it's it's an interesting situation to be in,
you know, but this was so important for our communities,
for us to make this really hard decisions. So I'm
just you know, it's a lot of different emotions right now,
but you know, we're we're resolute, we are we know
why we're here and we know what we're fighting for.

Speaker 8 (05:29):
And Representative actually Simmons, when people talk about this idea
of you all are are fleeing. What does that conjure
up in your mind, because for so many of us,
it conjures up this idea of these people are cowards,
they're they're they're scared to take a stand. What do
you how do you want to reframe the vocabulary around this.

Speaker 12 (05:47):
So you know, I like to be very clear, I'm
from Houston, born and raised. I grew up in Third Ward.
I've never run from a fight in my life. If anything,
we're bringing the fight to the streets and going directly
to you know, democratic governors and our colleagues who are
elected of state, excuse me, elected officials and other states

(06:08):
and Democrats to kind of e spread the word. And
I keep saying that Texas is the canary in the
coal mine. This is not Vegas. What happens in Texas
does not stay in Texas. And what Donald Trump is
asking our governors to do in in a way forcing
our governor to do will have nationwide impacts. It's not
just the loss of five congressional seats in a racist

(06:28):
power graph, it's what does that mean for the majority
in Congress when our people are already suffering so much?

Speaker 8 (06:36):
And Representative Manuel, can you follow up on that? So
many people talk about, oh, this is just a Texas issue,
but as representative, actually Simmons is saying, this is a
national issue. Can you talk about the implications of what
you're doing nationally and also let us know how you're
doing personally.

Speaker 13 (06:53):
This has implications because it's going to change what kind
of representation is there in the White House. And if
there is investigation excuse me, investigations in the White House,
or if there's investigations anywhere. How I'm doing is I'm
resolved in what I'm doing. I'm here for the fight.
I am hoping that we continue to be able to

(07:14):
fight and stay out with the rest of our democratic colleagues.
But this is just a sham that is taking away
voting rights from particularly black and brown people throughout this
state that is going to end up reverberating across the
entire country and people when they're saying that we're fleeing.

Speaker 6 (07:31):
Rep.

Speaker 13 (07:31):
Simmons said it the best we are bringing this to
the people because we only had one hearing over these
maps over with thirty three million Texans, so Texans don't
even buy a large know about this unless we did
bring these to the streets and say we're not going
to sit in this gilded palace and just sit here
and say we.

Speaker 6 (07:48):
Know it all. We brought it to them, We're bringing
it to the streets.

Speaker 13 (07:51):
This is something that they can't do, and this is
something that we're going to continue to do as long
as we possibly can.

Speaker 12 (07:57):
And I want to be clear to breaking core is
a tool It's mentioned in our Texas Constitution. It is
what the minority party has in their toolbox, and it
is it can be seen as extreme or a nuclear option,
but it was a way for us to stop the process,
stop business as usual, and give ourselves an opportunity to
talk about what's really going on. Like my colleague said

(08:20):
one hearing with maps for a few hundred Texans versus
a state of thirty million, I mean, that is completely unfair.
And I want us to also remember Texas meets on
them by any legislatively. That means we just got out
of a session for one hundred and forty days. The
governor called us back for a special session thirty days,

(08:42):
limited in scope is only what he allows us to do.
And so this was supposed to be done in the
cover of night. It was supposed to go through really quickly,
you know, circumventing bypassed normal democratic procedures, and the Democrats
in the House were supposed to just lay down and
take it, and I don't think that's what we were.
I don't think they expected us to stand up the
way that we did.

Speaker 8 (09:03):
And could you also educate us a little bit more representative, Manuel,
because I feel like for us who don't live in Texas,
we were under the impression that you all were supposed
to be coming in a session to talk about flood relief,
to help the people of Kirk County, to help all
of the victims. And then all of a sudden, Donald
Trump makes a phone call and we're having a conversation
about redistricting, and you have to leave the state in
order to protest.

Speaker 13 (09:27):
What's being played right here at political games. The governor,
the Lieutenant governor, and the Speaker have a right to
get into a room and completely fund these programs without
us even having to have a special session. They could
have done this weeks ago. But what they're doing is
they're lying to people, and they're telling people that we're
not here doing our jobs. I lost five constituents from

(09:47):
my area in this flood, So this is vastly important
to me. We had the highest record of recorded rainfall
and human history in Jefferson County during Harvey, so flood
is is on the top of my list and what
I ran on when I ran for office. This is
a game, and this is it effective a political stunt

(10:09):
for people who are running for re election and they're
using black and brown bodies as an excuse to say
that we're lazy when they have not done the job
that they were supposed to be doing for all these years,
and now somehow we're the ones that are to blame
for this. This is smoking mirrors. I hope people see
through this, and this is one of the reasons we
are out here talking to people to let them know
you're being lied to. And the implications of this are

(10:31):
going to be disastrous because Florida has just filed to
have a select Congressional Rehearing committee as well, so they're
about to do this next and then it's going to
be Ohio, It's going to be in every different state,
and we're going to end up losing representation over jerrymandering.

Speaker 8 (10:48):
Absolutely, And I want to come back to you Representative
Simmons on this particular take by Governor Abbott talking about
these maps.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
Take a listen.

Speaker 14 (11:00):
So most people know that at the beginning of a decade,
all states go through the registioning process based upon what
the new census shows. Since that rediscering process took place,
two things have changed. One is the law, the other
is the facts. The legal change is actually catalyzed by
the Democrats. Democrats followed a lawsuit in twenty twenty two

(11:20):
that was decided last year where courts decided that Texas
is no longer required to have what are called coalition districts.
And as a result, we're able to take the people
who were in those coalition districts and make sure they're
going to be in districts that really represent the voting
preference of those people who live here in Texas.

Speaker 6 (11:42):
And then the fact that's changed.

Speaker 14 (11:44):
We saw on the aftermath of the Trump election that
an overwhelming number of Hispanics and Blacks as well as others,
chose to.

Speaker 6 (11:52):
Vote for Trump.

Speaker 14 (11:53):
Four of the five districts that we're going to create
are predominantly Hispanic districts. They're going to happen voting for
Republican as opposed to Democrats. Democrats think they have an
ownership right to the voters who are Spanic or black.
They're now learning the hard way those voters are supporting.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
Republicans represented A Simmons.

Speaker 12 (12:16):
Your response, so I'll go ahead and say this and
try to keep it Christian and Radegeye as possible. Our
governor has a very interesting relationship with the truth. And
by what I mean is he's just flat out not
being honest right here. And you can even look at
the stats and the facts from the last election alone.
First of all, Texas is not a red state in

(12:38):
the way that we talk about red states. If anything,
it's a non voting state, right we have millions of
voters and people who are registerable.

Speaker 11 (12:45):
Who just don't come out.

Speaker 12 (12:46):
But on the other part of that, you can look
and see the last election between Donald Trump and Kamala
Harris and what those numbers were.

Speaker 11 (12:53):
And so what he's trying this picture that he's trying
to paint.

Speaker 12 (12:56):
Is that they are entitled to do this because there's
so many more Republican voters of color that have just
popped up out of nowhere when the facts just don't
show that.

Speaker 11 (13:06):
The other part of it.

Speaker 12 (13:07):
Is too and I think he really casually leaves this outs. No,
he's not doing this based on any other reason than
Donald Trump calling him and saying, hey, I need five
Republican seats because one, I know, this big bad bill
is gonna be really bad for people my constituents in general,
who may not come out and re elect Republicans in
twenty six and I got to make sure I have

(13:29):
the majority in Congress to not just bypass and pass more.

Speaker 11 (13:33):
Terrible legislation, but to also shirk accountability.

Speaker 12 (13:36):
And so you know, I hear what Governor Abbott is saying,
but again he's gonna say whatever he thinks is necessary
to mislead people, that misdirect when the facts just don't
show that. And what he's talking about with those lasts
of the maps, yeah they are under litigation. But what
he's calling coalition districts, that's not a terminology that I
would use. What I will say is that black and

(13:57):
brown voters are being disenfranchised and brown voters are losing representation.
The congressional district that I live in right now, they
drew our congressman out of his own district, Congressional District nine.
We see that in Dallas, in North Texas that they're
losing a black representative, and so you know, I and
I will you know, hand over to my colleagues to

(14:18):
kind of, you know, give his thoughts on that. But
it's very frustrating to hear this, and also to the
other part of it is to we have really pressing
issues that we should be focused on mid decade. Redistricting
is just not a priority for anybody but Donald Trump.

Speaker 11 (14:33):
It's not even the governor's.

Speaker 12 (14:34):
Priority, because if it was, it would have been thought
of way before we gabled out on June.

Speaker 13 (14:40):
Second Representative Emmanuel, my colleague, said, it's so great. And
what I want to add to this is it's so
very interesting that they get a few black people here
and there, because we're not a monolith, and all of
a sudden, it's a resounding alarm that we need to
redistrict estate, which is crazy and lunacy in its own self.

Speaker 6 (15:04):
But this is also the funny thing.

Speaker 13 (15:05):
They keep saying how much they've given us, they're making
four Hispanic Opportunities seats, But what they're not also telling
you is in these maps they've taken out the economic
engines from historically black districts from eighteen from thirty three
and economic engines are businesses that were in these communities
that congressional members were able to go to and check
on them and make sure they were doing the right thing.

(15:27):
And they have taken those from both of those historically
black districts and given them to completely different districts. How
is that being helpful? How is that what Texans ask for?
This again is smoking mirrors. This is them playing political
games with people's lives, and they're all of a sudden
saying that they want to follow the law. Well, we

(15:47):
have laws. They say we should be putting air conditions
in prisons. We still haven't done that one. We still
have people who are dying of heat exhaustion. But somehow,
all of a sudden, the people's will needs to be
done and we need to follow the law. But we're
not even doing that with other things that we're supposed
to be doing. So please forgive me for saying this
is it's a sad day when people will use black

(16:11):
and brown bodies to get their own political agenda and
not care what kind of harm and what kind of
devastation that they will leave us in all for the
tool of saying, all of a sudden, now we want
to win you know, they're scared that they know they're
going to lose in this midterm and they're cheating to
try to get ahead.

Speaker 8 (16:27):
And just this very short time, you've been enlightening us
both with this information. I have a panel that I
want to get in on some questions. But we're going
to take a short break and get right back and
introduce a panel because they will have to get some
questions and with you as well. We'll be right back
to Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network.

Speaker 15 (16:51):
This week. On the other side of Change.

Speaker 4 (16:53):
Di ask for wars.

Speaker 16 (16:54):
The Internet has been sworn has a right to blackness
and black culture.

Speaker 11 (16:59):
Who is represented underrepresented? It's too much.

Speaker 4 (17:02):
It's making us dizzy.

Speaker 17 (17:02):
We don't have to be prideful without this air of superiority,
right all stories matter within this black sphere that we
exist in.

Speaker 18 (17:10):
Only on the other side of change on the Black
Star Network.

Speaker 4 (17:17):
What's up, everybody, it's your girl Latasha from the A and.

Speaker 15 (17:20):
You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Speaker 8 (18:25):
We are backup representatives Christian Manuel and Lauren Ashley Simmons.
I wanted to introduce our panel so they could also
get some questions and as well on this important topic,
we have doctor Nola Haynes, Georgetown University School of Foreign
Service out of Washington, d C. We have doctor Grey Carr,
Department of African American Studies at Howard University out of Washington,
d C. As well, and v C Colbert, hosts of

(18:46):
the v C Colbert Show in Washington, d C.

Speaker 4 (18:49):
Nola, your question, thank you so much for this very
To say interesting isn't a strong enough word.

Speaker 19 (19:00):
My question is, Republicans have a way of messaging, and
everything isn't always about messaging. But in this situation when
we're talking about winning parts in mind, when we're talking
about having Americans on Texas Democrat side, they've said two
simple things that you all fled, which is untrue, and

(19:26):
that somehow you are doing.

Speaker 4 (19:29):
A disservice to Hispanic Americans in Texas.

Speaker 19 (19:34):
That messaging is resonating, it's louder than the truth. So
my question is, what are there two, i mean, the
three top top things would you say in terms of
why this is important? Because Democrats sometimes we can get
lost in our ideas and how we talk about them

(19:58):
and how we talk to the American people. So what
are your top three things you would say to the
American people as to why this is important, and thank
you for what you're doing.

Speaker 6 (20:10):
Thank you. I'll go ahead if that's okay. Rep.

Speaker 13 (20:13):
Simmons, I'll say for me. One is we have to
show the commonality between everyone else. I come from a
coalition district. I'm in East Texas that used to be
a real strong coalition district and it has absolutely destroyed
working class East Texans. The other way that I've also
talked to people about this when I can, is to

(20:34):
show that we're not gaining Hispanic seats, We're not gaining
Black seats. What we're doing is we're packing them into
districts and we're also separating them and causing them going
to have to have friction with one another. And another
way that I have also tried to frame this to
people is you are literally giving away your voice and

(20:55):
that with the way this process is going, it will
take four black foltes to equal one white vote in
every election from this point going forward. That is less
than what we were considered when we were slaves. And
also I have reminded people, I think we often go
to the civil rights movement and I'm not saying that
there aren't parallels, but this is actually more in line

(21:16):
with reconstruction and how after slavery, when we started these processes,
these were the kind of tools that were used to
tear people apart and make them make them be separated.
I think it's also hard, because you're right sometimes we
do get in our own way. We need to be
able to look to people who aren't politicians, who can

(21:39):
help us explain to people in a way that we
know their community is going to understand. Because my community
me understand me because they're used to me. But other
people's community would hear it better from someone else. And
we have to start having coalitions with people other than
just elected officials, in.

Speaker 8 (21:53):
My opinion, Representative Simmons, did you have anything you want
to share on that before I toss it?

Speaker 11 (22:01):
TERESI, yeah, thank you for bringing up that point.

Speaker 12 (22:03):
Reason that's not something that I had heard, mainly because
our Mexican American Caucus, i think has been legislative caucus
has been pretty clear about how this actually weakens their
voices representation wise in a lot of ways, and it
does dilute their power because what my colleagues said earlier,
they're being packed in some ways in some districts, and

(22:23):
then they're also having their districts cracked. And what we
talk about when we talk about communities of interests, it's
not always just along racial lines. Even though what's happening
right now is a racist redistrict thing. It's ensuring that
people who share the same city council members, share the
same school board member, share the same state representative and
possibly even state senator communities race are kept together in

(22:46):
such a way that people are able to advocate for themselves.
When we talk about government, government is simply about resource allocation.

Speaker 11 (22:53):
We pay taxes so that services are rendered.

Speaker 12 (22:55):
And what you want in a representative is somebody who
can come from your area say listen, this is what
matters to my people when I talk about what's going
on right now in my house district. I have two
historically black congressional districts. Congressional District eighteen, that's my late
sorral Barbara Jordan's seat. That district has been without a

(23:16):
representative almost a year, almost three hundred. It's been about
two hundred plus days since they have not had a
representative since Congressman Turner passed.

Speaker 11 (23:24):
Away in that seat.

Speaker 12 (23:26):
What that means for that community and that district is
that we're heading into hurricane season, a season of natural disasters,
and Houston Harris County, Black folks in Houston Harris County
do not have a representative on the federal level to say, hey, look,
this is what's about to happen to my people, this
is what happens every single year during this season. We
need to have boots on the ground, we need to

(23:46):
make sure that resources are in place.

Speaker 11 (23:48):
And so I get it, I hear you know. I'm
a union.

Speaker 12 (23:52):
Organizer because to be clear, all of us have full
time jobs.

Speaker 11 (23:55):
We're a part time legislature. We make seventy two hundred
dollars a year.

Speaker 12 (23:58):
So I think for us it's a little bit different
because we're not just locked up in the capital day
in and day out. We spend one hundred and forty
days every two years in the legislative session, and then
we are back at home in our districts working full
time jobs. We have criminal defense lawyers. I'm a union organizer.
Christian is a community advocate like we are on the ground,

(24:19):
and so, you know, things are a little bit different
for us in Texas. And I know that there is
a message a messaging problem, and we have to do
a good job of that. But I think for us
on the ground here, we see this and we feel
this every day, and we're watching our communities go without
and we're watching our communities be left behind. The other
part of it is too, This is just something that
is just abnormal. This mid decade redistricting at the behest

(24:43):
of a sitting president goes against everything that Texans are about.
We talk about don't mess with Texas. Everything is bigger
in Texas. Texas used to be its own country. And
right now we're watching our governor basically pledge his feelty
and act on behalf of the federal government. And that's
just not something we do. And so again, you know,
I hear it around the messaging aspect, but it's one

(25:05):
of those moments where we stand to lose so much
when we're already in the fight of our lives.

Speaker 13 (25:10):
And I just want to add this one last part.
When this happened last time in two thousand and three,
when my congressional district was broken up, the person who
did it, Tom Delayed. He went to jail because what
he did was illegal. He spent time in jail. This
I get It is hard to sometimes convey because most
people don't pay attention to politics, but this had someone

(25:31):
have to sit in jail and they lost their freedom
over this.

Speaker 20 (25:36):
Reci thank you both for your leadership.

Speaker 21 (25:40):
It's really just extraordinary the sacrifice that it takes to
try to ensure that there's some sort of fairness in
the maps that are being completely just butchered. I think, though,
what I'm what I'm hearing from the Republicans is two things.
I think that they're banking on Latino voters permanently shifting
to the right, and then they're banking on voter apathy.

Speaker 20 (26:02):
What is your.

Speaker 21 (26:04):
Response to the fact that capacity and numbers and numerically
there is so much untapped voter engagement in our communities
that can't completely overcome Jerry Mandarin. But if people did
activate and vote every single time, and you know, there's
a big obviously Senate election coming up, a big group

(26:25):
of natorial election coming up, how impactful that can be?

Speaker 12 (26:30):
Yeah, I mean absolutely, it's just a matter of going
to people where they are and meeting them where they are.
I won my election up, so I'm brand new to this.
This is my first term in office. I want an election,
I beat an incumbent that had been in office since
twenty seventeen, and we didn't do anything new.

Speaker 11 (26:45):
We didn't reinvent the will.

Speaker 12 (26:46):
We knocked on people's doors, We talked about the issues
that matter to them, and I explained my platform and
what it meant for me to be their state representative.
There's a lot of different pieces here. There's a lot
of things that we can work on. One foundationally, and
this is something talk about it with public education all
the time, is that people just just really don't understand
the function of government on any level. And so we

(27:08):
spend a lot of time saying, hey, look, we can't
fix your potholes. We're not your city council member, but
we can make sure we can pasicially filew some legislation
about it, and so helping people understand that whether or
not you're political, that if you drink water, breathe air,
send your kids to a public school, or don't send
your kids to a public school, drive down your road
and you don't like potholes, government is deeply intertwined in

(27:30):
your everyday life. And so we have to do a
better job of making sure that we're not running racism
based on popularity and personality, and that what it means
to have somebody who's elected in a position that can
advocate for your needs and that can advocate for your rights.
And I do think you know with this that Trump
really overplayed his hand, and I'm interested. I think it's

(27:52):
what's kind of blowing me and my colleague's mind is
our Republican colleagues having said a word about this, like
this is indefensible.

Speaker 11 (27:59):
They have not been there to defend it.

Speaker 12 (28:00):
So I'm like, oh, they said that, because when from
the hearings to the floor, they have not said a
word because they will literally tell you, we don't really
want this either.

Speaker 11 (28:10):
But what we are not going to do is buck Trump.

Speaker 12 (28:13):
And we saw this when we passed school voucher legislation.
Many of those rural communities did not want their Republican
representatives to vote for vouchers. Trump got on the phone
that more than our governor, put them on speakerphone, and
every single one of them except for two, voted for
that legislation. So we're just having different conversations here at
home because I'm telling y'all, they can't defend it. I

(28:34):
have not heard a good defense of this map yet.
I mean, you can even watch our hearings and see
how quiet they've been.

Speaker 13 (28:41):
I will also say I think one of the biggest
problems is that sometimes we forget is is that we
have coalitions. They only have one type of person and
they are voting on one issue. Whichever issue it is
they can get them riled up on. And I'm not
trying to give an excuse for that, but that is
where we need people to start doing more. When black

(29:03):
people wanted to vote, we didn't give it to a few.
We understood it was for all of us to have
to come together and do something. And the voter apathy,
I think is really we have this appetite of we
fix the problem is done, or we try to fix
the problem, and it's over where they go to a
point of where they plan and they get things together
and they work on these processes, and then we continue.

Speaker 6 (29:25):
To do the work.

Speaker 13 (29:25):
We continue to try to get these mechanisms going, and
then when everything seems comfortable, one issue that we mess
up on, it seems like we're not doing anything when
all they're doing is fear mongering on abortion or transgender
rights or something that is not even a part of
one percent of the population, and then people just sit out,

(29:46):
and then it's we need to find a way to
garner support from black women, black men, Hispanic men, Hispanic women,
white men, white women, biracial people, Asian people. We have
so many different areas that we have to hit just
to get one person out to vote sometimes, and I'm
not saying it's an excuse. I'm saying, as I always

(30:08):
tell people, if you spend an hour of your day
doing nothing and netflix show is about forty two to
forty five minutes, can you give us fifteen minutes and
just say I'm gonna be civically engaged because we need
that help too. And sometimes I think people think once
we get elected, we can do everything, but we can't.
And we have to realize we are a big tent
party that has to have the entire tent helping the

(30:31):
one person that they have used to be their voice.
But it can't just end with that representative. It has
to also trickle down to everyone else that supported that person,
because there is no way that one elected official can
do it all, especially when we have a voter base
that is just so vast, so wide, that has so
many different issues and all they have to do is

(30:52):
walk in and say God, guns, liberty, and abortion, and
then they get their votes. So it's a very different
calculus for us, and we need help as well as people.

Speaker 6 (31:03):
Keep saying they want help from us. Great, thank you, brother,
and thank you Representatives Manuel and Simmons. I want to
pick up with that, brother Manuel, with what you just said.
Why is why in your minds, both of your minds,

(31:25):
is it different? These are white nationalists, they're white supremacists.
When I think of the battles in Texas in the
nineteen thirties and forties and fifties, the voting rights battles,
I don't think of when they go low, we go
high strategy. It's broad based, multiracial coalition, and we're going
to keep going. I think of a knockdown, knuckle bare

(31:45):
knuckle brawl. Why is the message of God's guns gaze
too often enjoined and kind of confronted by the message
of we need to get past that, need to think
about how this benefits all of us. How can we
strengthen the messaging so that it does not present as

(32:08):
a kind of we're extending all the branches while they've
got jack knives cutting our throats. Why is it different
in terms of the messaging in your minds? Because I
can sense not only the frustration and the anger, but
the sense that you're crystal clear about what this is.
When can we call a thing a thing? In other words,
I think.

Speaker 11 (32:24):
Legislating fears is easy.

Speaker 12 (32:26):
It's easy to scare people in thinking that there's not
enough resources available, that scary black or brown person is
going to take what you have. There's gonna be a
trans person in the bathroom if you go in there.
Somebody's gonna, you know, take your kids at night and
change their gender. When you have those scary messages being
fed to people who are already fearful, who already are

(32:46):
having a hard time, who are already being taught in
prime to not trust their neighbor, it resonates in a
very nefarious way, but it motivates people.

Speaker 11 (32:56):
And what we have to.

Speaker 12 (32:57):
Do is we have to kind of have sometimes not
want monkey, but some serious conversations about why somebody is
trying and it's hell bent on scaring you because they
know that they don't have anything else to talk about.
We passed legislation this session to help elon Musk. We
did we passed a bill to put the Ten Commandments
in the classroom, like when you talk about what actually

(33:17):
comes out of that building, the things that we see
during a session. It's not for working people. This is
not making anybody's property taxes lower. We haven't lower rent,
we haven't made college more affordable. We haven't done any
of that. And that's the thing what happens in Texas.
They don't go home and run on that. They run
on the fear because they know if you start getting
into the weeds of well, why did you vote for

(33:38):
a capital gains tax break when you have no billionaires
or no wealthy people in your districts, And they don't
really have an answer for that, And so we have
to have those conversations that sometimes are not as sexy.

Speaker 11 (33:48):
They're not as they're they're they're not as engaging.

Speaker 12 (33:51):
They don't it doesn't rile you up to say, hey, look,
you know what would make your life better if the
minimum wage was raised from seven seven dollars and fifty
six to twenty five dollars an hour. You know what
would be really amazing is that if every time it rained,
your child's school didn't flood, or it didn't leak or
that a random person can pick up a gun and
come in your baby's classroom and murder every single child
in there. Like, those are the things and issues that

(34:13):
we're fighting, fighting on and fighting for, and we have
to really be very you know, very very honest about
the average voter, the average person. And I say this
as a person who runs in a safe election. My
seat is Jerry manderd in such a way that it's
very very top heavy with Democrats.

Speaker 11 (34:31):
So my election for me pretty much.

Speaker 12 (34:33):
Is done in the primary I run, and I'll have
a Republican opponent in November, but it's just not you know,
feasible for them to win. And so the conversations that
I can have with my primary base, who are dialed in,
who are paying attention every day, are very different from
the average person that I have to talk to during
my general election, where they want to know, why is
my rent high? Why is you know, why is my

(34:56):
rent high? Why is my car note significantly higher? Why
is you know, ABC or D happening? And so I
think really just being able to have, like I said,
a very very honest conversation, and I don't want to
ever go as far as saying that people are not educated,
and people don't want to understand. People are tired, they're overworked,
they have children, they have.

Speaker 11 (35:14):
Care, they have adult parents to care for.

Speaker 12 (35:17):
There are so many different things that people have to
give their undivided attention to on a daily basis, and
I think at its core level, people just want government
to work well, and that's what it should be. You
should be able to pay your taxes and be assured
that those service is going to be rendered at the
end of the day. And right now we have just
not had that in so long that politics unfortunately become

(35:37):
something of an entertainment factor when it just really be able.
It just really should be about what are the best
policies and who is the best person to do this job.

Speaker 8 (35:46):
Representatives Christian Manuel and Lauren Ashley Simmons, thank you so
much for coming on to the Blackstar Network. Please keep
us posted and know that you have a powerful voice
here always.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
Thank you so much, Thank you for having us. Thank you.

Speaker 8 (36:00):
Right back to more Roland Martin Unfiltered right here on
the Black Star Network.

Speaker 6 (36:07):
Next on the Black Tape with me Gredco. The United
States is the most dangerous place for a woman to
give birth among all industrialized nations on the planet. Think
about that for a second. That's not all. Black women
are three times more likely to die in this country
during childbirth than white women.

Speaker 22 (36:27):
These healthcare systems are inherently racist. There are a lot
of white supremacists, ideas and mythologies around black women, black
women's bodies, even.

Speaker 20 (36:38):
Black people that we experience.

Speaker 11 (36:40):
Paying less right.

Speaker 6 (36:41):
Activist organizer and fearless freedom fighter Monifa I can wi
Lay Bandelay from Moms Rising joins us and tells us
this shocking phenomenon, like so much else, is rooted in
unadulterated races. And that's just one of her fights. Monifa
Bandelah on the Next Black Table here on the Black Start.

Speaker 15 (37:05):
This week, on the other side of Change, Diasca wars
the internet has been sworn.

Speaker 16 (37:11):
Who has a right to blackness and Black culture? Who
is overrepresented? Underrepresented?

Speaker 15 (37:16):
Is too much.

Speaker 4 (37:16):
It's making us dizzy.

Speaker 17 (37:17):
We don't have to be prideful without this air of superiority, right,
All stories matter within this black sphere that we exist in.

Speaker 18 (37:25):
Only on the other side of Change on the Black
Start Network.

Speaker 6 (37:32):
What's Good?

Speaker 23 (37:32):
Jonnie is Doug e Freshman watching my brother Roland Martin
underbuilt it as we go with a little something like
this hit it.

Speaker 6 (37:44):
It's real.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
Welcome back.

Speaker 8 (37:56):
Texas Democrats walked out to block every districting planned pushed
by Donald Trump and backed by the state's Republican leadership.
But leaving the state hasn't been cheap. Representative Wu says
he and about fifty of his colleagues have been relying
on support from the Democratic Caucus to cover hotel bills,
and now they're asking the public for help. With no

(38:17):
end in sight. This walkout could last weeks, maybe even months.
They're counting on small dollar donations and support from Beetho
or Rokes group powered by People to stay in the fight,
but Republican Attorney General Ken Paxon is now investigating Betho's group,
accusing them of bribery. Betho calls it a political stunt,
saying it's just more few for supporters to dig in

(38:39):
and keep the momentum going.

Speaker 24 (38:42):
They're trying to stop the consolidation of authoritarian power in
America as Trump and Greg Abbott and Ken Paxson and
the Republicans in Texas thick as thieves try to steal
these five seats.

Speaker 8 (38:54):
In Texas, Donald Trump said the FBI may have to
get involved of helping Texas Republicans arrest Democrats who left
the state to block a plant to redraw electoral boundaries.

Speaker 25 (39:09):
Asking for your help to force Democrats back to the
state and hold them accountable. Do you want the federal
government and the FBI to help locate and arrest these
Texas Democrats who have left the state.

Speaker 26 (39:20):
Well, I think they've abandoned the state.

Speaker 27 (39:22):
Nobody's seen anything like it, even though they've done it
twice before, and in a certain way, it almost looks
like they've abandoned the state.

Speaker 26 (39:29):
Looks very bad. Yeah, go ahead, please get involved.

Speaker 11 (39:32):
Should the FBI get involved.

Speaker 26 (39:33):
Well, they may have to. They may have to. No,
I know they want them back.

Speaker 27 (39:36):
Not only the attorney general, the governor wants them back.
If you look, I mean the governor of Texas is
demanding they come back. So a lot of people are
demanding they come back. You can't just sit it out.
You have to go back. You have to fight it out.
That's what elections are all about. Yeah, please, thank you
so much.

Speaker 8 (39:53):
For Texas Governor Greg Abbott is now targeting Democratic state
represent Gene wou threatening to half and be moved from
office for refusing to return to Texas. Wu, who joined
fellow Democrats and fleeing the state to block a Trump
back with distincting plan, says he is standing.

Speaker 4 (40:12):
Firm this should be reflected here.

Speaker 28 (40:16):
And then you have Indiana Republican Governor Mike Brown saying
this morning talking a little bit about redistricting ahead of
his meeting with Vice President JD.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
Vance, let's listen to.

Speaker 29 (40:26):
That here in Indiana, we've become more Republican over time,
and these maps probably need to be looked at.

Speaker 6 (40:36):
Anyway.

Speaker 29 (40:37):
I'm going to be listening to JD today and our
two leaders of the legislature as well, and we're going
to have that discussion.

Speaker 5 (40:46):
What do you say to that.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
I would say that this is very dangerous, that everything
we're doing right now snacks of the Cold War, and
what we're saying where we're talking abot about is launching
nukes at each other, and ultimately it will be the
American people who are hurt because if this happens, if
this happens at every time we change presidents, every time

(41:12):
parties take power, this will never end. Democrats have no
choice but to respond to this in the same way
if you launch missiles at us, we have to launch
missiles at you. And it will never end. All it
will end. It is our country in ruin. And what
people need to do now is speak up and tell
everyone to stop it. The Democratic States, the Blue States

(41:34):
have said we would only do this if they fired first.
And what everyone needs to tell tell their legislators, tell
their leaders, everyone needs to stop. If you believe in
a country that still values hard work and fair play
and following the rules, like you have to stand up
and speak up for it now. Not whoever wins this

(41:55):
one time, you get to rewrite all the rules whenever
you want. That's not American way, that's not the way
we should work. And if we don't fight against that now,
once this happens, that's the end of our democracy.

Speaker 4 (42:09):
That's the end of our republic.

Speaker 8 (42:13):
Now, Greg, I am hearing every time I see these
conversations going, I'm hearing so much historical references, weapons of
mass you know, weapons of mass destruction being employed.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
War, We're going to war.

Speaker 8 (42:27):
People bring up dictatorships and all of these different things.
When you're hearing what's going on with this battle with
the representatives, and the historical context that keep being brought up.
People are talking about mutually assured destruction and all of
these war references.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
What are your thoughts as it relates to.

Speaker 6 (42:41):
That, Probably the same as yours, Probably the same as yours,
Doc Congo, the same as yours, the same as we've
been saying all along. At the end of the day,
a representative moves now wrong, it's the end. You'll notice
that I don't have a whole lot of tears to
shed about that. This is a cold civil war. Been

(43:03):
singing all a law. It's heating up. There's absolutely nothing
surprising here. These are white nationalists. This is their death rattle.
It's the end of the white republic. Now what will
replace it remains to be seen. We know specifically in
this context that the next step will be the federal courts.
The question will become whether or not the maps as

(43:24):
they exist now will be left in place while this
works its way where its way through the courts, I
expect that a federal district court would probably issue an
injunction the racist state of Texas is in the increasingly
racist and white nationalists fifth judicial Circuit, which that certain
court might overturn or release that stay removed, that stay

(43:46):
and then it will be on the rocket docket to
the increasingly white nationalists US Supreme Court, and we've passed
its prelude. They're going to lay down and roll over
and show their collective belly to Donald Trump. So allow
him to scratch their belly. And then that would leave
Katanji on Yiga Brown Jackson to dissent after they issue

(44:07):
an opinion from the rocket docket to lift that injunction.
But that remains to be seen. But he's not wrong.
He says, the end of our democracy. It was never
a democracy, sir, This was always a white republic. And
he's absolutely right. And this is why, as principled and
as absolutely accurate as Representative Simmons answer to my question was,

(44:28):
it is also not an answer at all. White nationalists
are dying and this is their dying fight. You don't
beat their dying fight by trying to remind their voters
that they're harming themselves. Suicide is part of white nationalists illogic.
You've got to break their political backs, and that means Illinois,
that means California, that means New York, that means everywhere else.
To cure mutually assured destruction. Then we build something else

(44:52):
or not.

Speaker 8 (44:54):
That's deep, that is so forfound in what you're saying.
And we see I'm hearing all of these conversations about,
you know, we need Democrats to fight back, we need
democrats to fight back.

Speaker 2 (45:02):
And now we're.

Speaker 8 (45:03):
Seeing in some states with Fritz Gerr and in California,
New York, people are talking about fighting back. But now
when I see some of these governors and other Democratic
politicians on these news stations, it seems like the media
is putting pressure on them. Are you doing the right thing?
Is this something you should be doing? Are you any
better than the Republicans by doing that? And my response was,

(45:23):
I thought, this is what people wanted.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
How do you see it?

Speaker 21 (45:27):
Well, here's the thing. Democrats have righteousness on their side.
There is it's indisputable that what they're doing is the
right thing. The problem is that this country does not
vote based on righteousness. This country votes on self preservation
in that alone.

Speaker 20 (45:41):
And so that's why.

Speaker 21 (45:42):
The whole idea of trying to appeal to people's desire
to hold onto democracy and saying this isn't who we are,
it's exactly who the fuck we are. Okay, This country
has always been about holding onto power and maintaining it.
Republicans have just taken it a little bit more seriously
than Democrats to have. And so what Democrats really should

(46:03):
be focusing on is explaining to people that this is
not about saving democracy. This is about Republicans trying to
trying to be able to rule with impunity. The reason
why Republicans are doing this right now is because their
policies are shit. It's because the Big Beautiful Bill is
going to make more people homeless, is going to strip

(46:23):
tens of millions of people from their health care, and
they're going to undo every single investment. As Representative Simons said,
the government is about investment in the American people and
divert all of the money from the federal government to.

Speaker 20 (46:37):
The pockets of the wealthy.

Speaker 21 (46:39):
So when Democrats get real about what really animates and
motivates the American people, maybe they can make some headway.
They're not going to ever be able to get MAGA
to switch, but they can maybe get some of those
eighty nine million, sorry ass motherfuckers who did not vote
like this was the biggest threat in Donald Trump in
projects when it's twenty five to our self preservation, to

(47:02):
our damn planet when it comes to climate change. If
you bring that in there, then maybe we could start talking.
But this whole talk about democracy is the same exact
reason why we lost in twenty twenty four. People do
not care about preserving democracy, that care about what impacts
them and them alone.

Speaker 2 (47:20):
I hear that. I received that for real, Nolan Nola. Sorry.

Speaker 8 (47:25):
They talk so much about we have laws, and we
have the Nation of laws, but what Trump has revealed
to us is that we don't really have laws when
it comes to certain things.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
We have norms.

Speaker 8 (47:35):
For example, people talking about the FBI actually being used
to go and get these folks in tech who are
in New York or Massachusetts or California. Some people say
that's not the FBI is supposed to be doing, but
Donald Trump.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
Is saying, well, we might have to do that.

Speaker 8 (47:50):
How do you see this breaking down from a national
security perspective in terms of what the FBI might actually
be doing. Maybe it wouldn't have happened under Christopher Ray,
but with a cash for tell, I feel like anything's pot.

Speaker 2 (48:05):
I think you're muted.

Speaker 4 (48:08):
I am Oh God, thank god it's you and our Roland.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
I haven't seen those videos too we're good.

Speaker 21 (48:18):
Oh lord.

Speaker 19 (48:21):
H So you know there is you know from it
from a national security perspective.

Speaker 4 (48:31):
There, let me let me back up a little bit.

Speaker 19 (48:33):
A lot of Americans don't realize that the FBI.

Speaker 4 (48:38):
It's under the d o J.

Speaker 19 (48:41):
Now we are talking about agencies that are perceived to
act independently. But any person like uh, when you are appointed,
when you are part of.

Speaker 4 (48:55):
The cabinet, there is the idea that you work at
a pleasure.

Speaker 19 (49:01):
You serve as the pleasure to president, which is a
confusing sentiment in and of itself because in one instance,
it's as if the president is the monarch and you
work at the pleasure to please the whims of that president,
while an agency like the FBI in a Department of Justice,

(49:25):
they claim independence. So one of the things that I
have been talking about for years is we need to
clarify this very blurry line between.

Speaker 4 (49:35):
Norms and laws and what Trump and his ill is done.

Speaker 19 (49:41):
Effectively, it's find a loophole everywhere, because there are norms everywhere.
Because the way that so much of this was perceived
was that you are operating with folks who are moral,
You are operating with folks who have have decorum who

(50:02):
will operate within statesmanship. None of that applies to them,
especially with Greg the saying people need to understand.

Speaker 4 (50:13):
This is a fight for certain white folks sold in
this country that they believe.

Speaker 19 (50:22):
That by any means necessary, they need to preserve their country.
It has nothing to do with politics and Democrats. We
are largely approaching this problem as if it is still
a matter of politics. They have a war like frame

(50:43):
of mind and we haven't gotten there yet. So from
a national security perspective, yes, the Frights and Independent Agency
that is under the Department of Justice, and the Department
of Justice is supposed to act as an independent agency. However,

(51:05):
you still serve at the pleasure of president. So that's
a lot of confusing. It's a lot of confusing ideas
that the American.

Speaker 4 (51:19):
Public are just not interested in.

Speaker 19 (51:22):
They want to know, very plainly, is this against the law?

Speaker 4 (51:27):
Yes or no. We don't want to hear about the
gray areas. We don't want to hear all the rhetoric.

Speaker 19 (51:32):
And no one can speak to the American public and
tell them one way or the other, and the result
of that is apathy and you tap out.

Speaker 8 (51:45):
Well, I hear you, Greg, I want to come back
to this fundraising part. Because when the George Cloones and
all the worlds were kicking Biden out of the race
and all of that other type of stuff, they were
talking about fundraising in this Kamala came in and all
of this money was raised. But now when I see
something that's actually happening with the with the people, I

(52:07):
mean these representatives that we just had, you know, Simmons
and Man, you all like these different.

Speaker 2 (52:11):
Parts of Texas and representation.

Speaker 8 (52:14):
I don't see Hollywood and all of the people who
are saying we need to do this to save democracy.
I don't see the millions of dollars coming in. I'm
hearing things about the nations on the ground. Is it's
just another way that this idea of what the Democratic
Democratic Party is supposed to be about has actually been exposed.

Speaker 6 (52:33):
Man, That's that's a heavy question. Brother. I would say
that for the high profile donors and the political apperatives,
it's really about the political theater of the national elections.
These are not in terms of the celebrities. They are not.

(52:55):
Should I put this, then they don't really know much
about politics. Then I dealing with state and local politics
the United States isn't a nation. It's a country with
a lot of different nations in it, a lot of
different polities in it. The white nationalists have tipped, have
tapped into the visceral glue that holds together the criminal
enterprise set the state called United States of America, and
that's white nationalism that operates at the state, local, and

(53:17):
federal level. To respond to it at a national level
is easy, it's convenient, you raise money. You imagine yourself
in Avatar fighting a larger battle. But America doesn't have
a soul because it's not an entity, it's not a nation.
The thing that holds America gets its white nationalism, and
they're not willing to get in the trenches and fight
that white nationalism tooth and nail at a local level.

(53:39):
I think whether the two things converge potentially at the
federal level and maybe the state level and local level
would be with those who are anchored in the places
where the white nationalists are trying to create the most chaos.
So in this instance, and you know, I'm not saying
anything new, but I will use this name, it wouldn't
be a George Clooney from California trying to battle this,

(54:00):
it will be a Beyonce nose Carter in Texas and
that's not going to happen because at the end of
the day, you got to ask yourself, what is your
vision for the society you want to live in, and
where are you investing your time and energy to make
that vision real. It's a lot easier for the Beyonces
and the jay Z's to donate money or to cape

(54:21):
for Kamala Harris at the national level when it comes
down to a fight like this, If Cowboy Carter got
in off the sideline, I said, whyle y'all chopping my
city up like this and coming through the Third War
and trying to destroy these seats, I'm dumping everything I
have and carpet bombing you politically on that. Oh I'd
like to see that and maybe to come to that
one day, but I have no real faith that it
will because I understand the United States of America and

(54:43):
it's coming apart at the scenes because it was inevitable.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
Wow, So, Recie, what Greg is saying is true.

Speaker 8 (54:50):
The Megans, the Beyonces, you know, may not get off
the sideline. Act what happens here. I mean, these individuals
are leaving their homes. This week was the they at
school for some of these representatives children in Texas. I
remember seeing a story about Representative Ramos who has a
daughter with a medical condition. If they're trying to do
this off of small donations and this is supposed to

(55:12):
possibly be lasting weeks, are you optimistic about what's going
to happen here?

Speaker 2 (55:17):
Are they delaying the inevitable?

Speaker 8 (55:19):
Because one thing I noticed about Trump, as crazy as
everybody says he is and all of the deranged things
that he does, one thing is he is very patient.
He is very He talks like he's always in a rush,
but he's very patient about waiting things out. And it
feels like this is something he feels very comfortable that
he can wait out.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
But can the Democrats? Can they afford to do.

Speaker 8 (55:37):
The same If it continues to go like this, do
the big names need to step up?

Speaker 2 (55:41):
Or are we just on our own here? Well?

Speaker 21 (55:44):
I would say that Donald Trump's patient. I would say
that Republicans are relentless and they will keep at it
and keep at it and keep at it. Whereas Democrats will,
you know, pack their bags and go home.

Speaker 6 (55:55):
We go home?

Speaker 21 (55:56):
Well, you know, I don't know, Well we try better
luck next time, looking for our years. And so that's
the big difference. And then you know, to to doctor
Carr's point, you know, we have celebrities and Democratic donors
who they show up for moments, whereas on the Republicans
they invest in movements, and movements aren't always about the

(56:17):
splashy moments that you have. They aren't always about uh
like for instance, when we're we reorganized around viral headlines
and or like like around national elections, they will pick
a Charlie Kirk who.

Speaker 20 (56:30):
Was a high school.

Speaker 21 (56:33):
Kid and dump millions of dollars into him and build
an empire around that. And Democrats and people of conscience,
as I like to say, just don't.

Speaker 20 (56:43):
Have the patients.

Speaker 21 (56:45):
They don't have the willingness to invest in movements in
the same way. Then you have the purity politics of
it all. Then you have a oh, we can't take
pack money. You gotta have small doubt of donors and
can can I get fined outs? Can I get five dollars?
And people ain't got five dollars right now? It's tanken.
Three hundred thousand black women have lost their jobs, and
so we're not well primed for this moment. You know,

(57:07):
Republicans have Project twenty twenty five. They've been playing the
long game. They did the long game on Robie Way,
They're doing a long game on the voter rights ackro
the long game on Civil Rights Act. And we are
constantly fucking winging it with hardly any resources, trying to
play ketchup, trying to make a dollar out of fifteen cents.
And so I don't want to say anything to undercut

(57:29):
or diminish the power and impactfulness of what these Texas
Democrats are doing. But what I will say is that
Democrats cannot put all their eggs in these sorts of
tactics and this kind of basket. Democrats need to get
real about the billions of dollars it's going to take

(57:50):
and the decades it's going to take starting yesterday, to
undo all this, And they need to start getting real
about the fact that a lot of.

Speaker 20 (57:59):
People in this country don't give.

Speaker 4 (58:00):
Them about the laws versus the norms.

Speaker 21 (58:02):
Donald Trump was reelected with thirty four felony convictions and
eighty something indictments. The law is beside the point when
people support what you're doing. And I know it's not everybody,
but Unfortunately, the plurality and the votes that you need
are for the white nationalists, are for whiteness, for carnage

(58:22):
and destruction, and other people won't get off their ass
and get in the ball game. So I'm just saying,
what are we doing, Democrats.

Speaker 20 (58:31):
It can't just be this. It can't just be.

Speaker 21 (58:34):
Having individuals sacrifice their livelihoods hide out.

Speaker 20 (58:38):
In hotels, which I applaud them for.

Speaker 21 (58:40):
There has to be a bigger, more comprehensive and well
invested plan to counteract what Republicans are up to.

Speaker 8 (58:49):
Yeah, it's so interesting that you say that we talk
about Vado vark Is funding, his pack is funding. I
don't hear much from the stopping Oligocky tour with Bernie
Sanders and not hearing much from them DNC has relates
to this fundraising as well. And so I think you
bring up some really good points that we have to
continue to call out the leaders or the so called
leaders at the top in order for us to make
this change. And of course we're going to continue having

(59:10):
this conversation right here on Roland Martin and Unfiltered, but
we'll be back with some more breaking news and some
more stories of the day right here on Rolingmartin Unfiltered
on the Black Star Network.

Speaker 30 (59:24):
On the next a Balance Life with Me, Doctor Jackie.
We're talking about leveling up, or to put it another way,
living your very best life. How to take a bold
step forward that'll rock your world.

Speaker 31 (59:35):
Leveling up is different for everybody, you know. I think
we fall into this trap which often gets a stuck
because we're looking at someone else's level of journeys what
lovel lpe means to them. For some, it might be
a business venture, for some it might be a relationship situation.

Speaker 11 (59:51):
But it's different for everybody.

Speaker 30 (59:53):
It's all a part of a balance life. That's next
on Black Star.

Speaker 15 (59:57):
Network Week On the other Side of Change.

Speaker 16 (01:00:01):
Diasca wars the internet has been sworn. Who has a
right to blackness and black culture? Who is overrepresented? Underrepresented
is too much.

Speaker 4 (01:00:10):
It's making us dizzy.

Speaker 17 (01:00:11):
We don't have to be prideful without this air of superiority,
right All stories matter within this black sphere that we
exist in.

Speaker 18 (01:00:19):
Only on the other side of Change on the Black
Start Network.

Speaker 6 (01:00:26):
Hey, yo, what's up.

Speaker 26 (01:00:26):
It's mister Dalvin right here.

Speaker 6 (01:00:28):
What's up?

Speaker 26 (01:00:28):
Missus k C Senior.

Speaker 27 (01:00:30):
Representments a ODEC iddis Jodasy right here and rolling on unfiltered.

Speaker 8 (01:00:51):
As I mentioned, we're talking about funding organizations and funding representatives,
and we're going to stay with this concept of funding,
but switching it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
To a little bit of a different topic here.

Speaker 8 (01:01:00):
The Trump administration is unfreezing nearly six billion dollars in
federal education funding after a month long freeze left states
and schools and limbo just before the new school year.
Funds for vital programs including English language learning, teacher development,
and adult education will start releasing after July twenty eighth.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
States are reminded.

Speaker 8 (01:01:23):
They must follow all federal laws, O and B, regulations,
and executive orders in using these funds. Education Secretary Lenna
McMahon says the full amount could be distributed by a
year's end, but many districts warn they need support sooner
with classes starting in days. The release follows intense bipartisan
and legal pressure in the response to the freeze, which

(01:01:46):
have threatened teacher jobs and student programs nationwide. Now, Nola,
when I saw this story, it really made me.

Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
It's sad, but it made.

Speaker 8 (01:01:58):
Me say, this is what we try to tell you
know here, we always talk about hashtags.

Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
We try to tell you.

Speaker 8 (01:02:03):
Because everything that these teachers, these families, these educators are
asking for, this is what they would call woke, right,
and oh, we need after school programs, Oh we need
help for our kids who need occupational therapy in our school.

Speaker 2 (01:02:17):
We need the funding for this.

Speaker 8 (01:02:18):
When we would talk about these things, they would call
it woke, But now it's things that they're kind of
messing around and finding out themselves.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
How do you see it?

Speaker 4 (01:02:27):
How do I see it? It's very simple. I think
the tactic work.

Speaker 19 (01:02:32):
You scare people, you take resources away from them, and
you give them demands, and then they meet them.

Speaker 4 (01:02:38):
It's pretty simple.

Speaker 19 (01:02:39):
I mean, you discipline children, you discipline animals by taking
food away from.

Speaker 4 (01:02:46):
Them, and then you reward them by giving them food.

Speaker 19 (01:02:49):
And so the way that this administration is operating domestically
and globally is to beat people with a stake into compliance,
and sadly it's working. And so the hoops that people
are going to have to jump through to get this
money freed, that's also going to include the razor of

(01:03:10):
black history.

Speaker 4 (01:03:11):
I'm pretty sure the erasure Native American histories and histories
that do not align with the narrative of you know, Puritanism,
and you know, the whole.

Speaker 19 (01:03:27):
Kind of mythological stories that are told in this country
about what Americans when they came here. So that is
how I see it. I'm happy that children will get resources,
but this administration is getting what they want, which is

(01:03:50):
compliance and capitulation. And you have to jump through all
the hoops and we are low hugging through. So that
means black history is no more.

Speaker 2 (01:04:04):
Well we see how do you see this?

Speaker 8 (01:04:07):
Because some people say this is part of an awakening
of people in Red states. They're starting to realize that
the Trump policies that they thought were only going toffect
people in black and brown communities are actually affecting them,
and now they're going to be speaking up and demanding more.
Some people are saying that this is something that they're doing,
you know, just to distract from the Epstein files. They're saying,
we're going to release this stuff right now.

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
Do you see.

Speaker 8 (01:04:28):
Something happening within these rural areas, within these red states
where people are actually starting to get caught or get
aware of Trump was selling a bag of goods to
them or are they really just more focused on what
they need in their space in that moment and the
rest of the country be dammed.

Speaker 5 (01:04:46):
The latter.

Speaker 21 (01:04:48):
I mean, of course, all this stuff was going to
hit them. That's what Projects one in twenty five was
about from the jump. It was not about being solely
focused on being disruptive and and harming people of color.
It was about deconstructing this entire state. It was about
a country. It was about reorganizing the social structure of

(01:05:09):
this country. And whiteness can only protect you so much
if you're a polar and so, yeah, they're starting to
realize that these policies are harmful across many sectors.

Speaker 20 (01:05:18):
When you're talking about farmers, when you're talking.

Speaker 21 (01:05:20):
About you know, people who have small businesses that are
being hurt by terrorists, when you're talking about people who
they diabetes, medication going back up and all kinds of things.

Speaker 20 (01:05:30):
But is that going to give them a come to
Jesus moment? Absolutely not, absolutely.

Speaker 21 (01:05:35):
Not, not when it comes to Mega. But with that said,
not everybody is Mega. And so there are plenty of
people in Red states. I brought this up with the
representatives earlier that don't vote. I mean, red states have
some of the lowest voter turnout, and in many of
these states, for instance, states that have high black populations
their voter turnout. Activating that capacity can make the difference.

(01:05:58):
That can mean the difference between having two Republics senators
and having two Democratic senators, between having a Republican governor
and having a Democratic governor. And so, you know, to
the extent that people start to realize that this is
going to hurt them and they set out maybe they'll
get in. But part of what Republicans understand is that

(01:06:18):
the more that the government doesn't work for people, the
more it reinforces the notion of those who are disaffected
in disillusion that government doesn't work. That was their default
position going into the administration, and that's going to continue
to be their solution. So unfortunately, it is hard to
convince those people that what they always thought government wasn't
working can be fixed by putting Democrats in office.

Speaker 20 (01:06:40):
But god damn it, we got to try.

Speaker 2 (01:06:43):
No doubt, no doubt.

Speaker 8 (01:06:44):
So Greg is this is going to be another thing
of Trump policy lack a mole because we see this
situation with the Department of Education and they're saying, Okay,
now we're going to give your funding back. But I'm
also thinking about situations that we've covered here with the
EPA and environmental issues that are going on. I'm thinking
about other places where you know, cancer research and funding
is being destroyed for other types of diseases and the like.

(01:07:06):
I'm thinking about what Junior is doing as it relates
to vaccines. Are they going to wait for people to
fight and protest for each of those things and then say, oh,
we'll give this funding back. Oh well, we'll give you
this little handout right here? Is is that their game plan?

Speaker 6 (01:07:21):
I think you're echoing Ho Congo what Nolah said in
the Petrie Dish, the nut case collection that is now
running the federal government. The Petrie Dish of White Nationals
and kooks and RFK is right at home because they
get to exercise all of their fantasies at this point
and to extend REESI just to you know, big up

(01:07:44):
recipe for you saying this. This is probably twenty five.
This is the nasties little piece of work called Russell Vote.
Russell Vote is a religious extremist like many of the
other ones, Kevin Robertson others. But it's important in to
stand that. Yeah, well let me just sort it out.
You've got a shakedown artists in terms of Donald Trump,
who certainly is trying to continue to change the subject

(01:08:07):
from his deep relationship with his friend Jeffrey Epstein and
their friend who they've now moved Maxwell to the prison
and probably trading right now favorites trying to figure out
what they're going to do with her. So there's that,
But he understands that whether it be these fake tariffs
with people all over the world that aren't really ever
going to be enacted, whether it be trying to bludgeon

(01:08:28):
places like Columbia and Harvard over the head, and if
anybody thinks you're at a school that has escaped this,
you're on the list. We're all on the list. This
is Donald Trump with his typical shakedown work. Then you've
got the religious extremists and nationalists. What'll set aside the
net cases in terms of like RFK, But Russell Vote
is planning all of this. Vote's idea is that the
president is a king, and that if you're going to

(01:08:51):
stop this, you're going to have to fight them in court.
And even if you fight them in court, as you
saw with another nasty piece of work in Millbo, they
will just ignore you. They are going to try to
run rough shot over any notion of the rule of law.
And as you said brilliantly, brother, this isn't about laws,
it's about norms. But of course the way that norms

(01:09:13):
express themselves in a civil society is through laws. And
once you've torn up the rule of law, you don't
get it back. Vote is now moving and understand, you know,
the hatred toward migrant education, which was three hundred and
seenty five million dollars of this funding, the hatred toward
English language learning which is eight hundred million dollars of
that funding, academic enrichment for those who aren't their children

(01:09:33):
a billion of point three and professional development staff and teachers.
And they have contempt for teachers because teachers engage in
what's that word, oh yeah, learning, they're against learning. So
that's two point two billion dollars. But Russell vote, Russell vote,
this little nasty piece of work is now obsessed with
this concept of recision. So what he's doing is preparing

(01:09:55):
these raft bills to come through the federal legislature to
claw back money that Congresses are already appropriated. That's his
next move, and you're absolutely right. Nih For example, he
was asked about the Nationalistitute of Health late last month,
and he said, they've wasted money. What about cancer research? Well,
I'm not worried about that. He also is saying that,
you know, there should be less about partisanship in the

(01:10:16):
United State's Congress, not there as a whole lot. But
then you have the mute, the mute Dakotin, who is
the majority leader, John Thune, who is sitting up there
trying to keep his stiff up and lift as he
suborns all of this foolishness. But he's got a problem
because there's a government shut down looming in October if
he doesn't get these appropriations bills passed, and he needs

(01:10:36):
sixty votes to do it. Well, they want to get
past that. They want to lower that threshold. But in
Russell Vote's case, what he's saying is is this concept
of the imperial presidency, this strengthened executive, the president is
a king can look at what Congress appropriated and said,
I don't agree, and I think you're wasting money, and
I think that I can shrink that number, and you

(01:10:57):
just need to see me in court. All of this.
In other words, words, it's not about education. It's not
about NIH. It's not about health. It's not about health,
human services, or hood. This is about the concept that
the president is a king, can do whatever hell he wants.
And Russell Vote is gonna test that until the wheels
come off, because this nasty little piece of work religious
extremist has a nasty little vision of a nasty little

(01:11:20):
country in his mind, and he's going to ride until
the wheels fall off, until we stop him, whichever one
comes first.

Speaker 8 (01:11:27):
It's so powerful that in several of these answers, the
idea of Project twenty twenty five was evoked because all
one source is reporting that forty six percent of Project
twenty twenty five has already been implemented. And we're not
even a year into this presidency yet. So see all
are saying, if we don't wake up now before we
know what, it's gonna be too late.

Speaker 2 (01:11:48):
We're gonna go to a quick break.

Speaker 8 (01:11:49):
We'll be right back of Moroland Martin and filtered right
here on the Black Star Network.

Speaker 28 (01:11:56):
On the next Get Wealthy with Me, Deborah Owens, America's
well quote Black Americans have one tenth the wealth of
their white counterparts. But how do we get here? It's
a huge gap. Well, that's why we need to know
the history and what we need to do to turn
our income into wealth. Financial author and journalist Rodney Brooks

(01:12:19):
joins us to tell us exactly what we need to
do to achieve financial success.

Speaker 6 (01:12:24):
You can't talk about why we are as black people
where we are unless you talk about how we got.

Speaker 4 (01:12:30):
Here, bridging the gap and getting wealthy.

Speaker 20 (01:12:33):
Only on Black Star.

Speaker 15 (01:12:35):
Network this week on the Other Side of Change.

Speaker 16 (01:12:40):
Diasca wars the internet has been sworn. Who has a
right to blackness and black culture? Who is overrepresented? Underrepresented?

Speaker 11 (01:12:49):
It is too much.

Speaker 4 (01:12:49):
It's making us dizzy.

Speaker 17 (01:12:50):
We don't have to be prideful without this air of superiority, right,
All stories.

Speaker 4 (01:12:55):
Matter within this black sphere that we exist in.

Speaker 18 (01:12:58):
Only on the Other Side of Change on the Black
Side Network, Hello.

Speaker 19 (01:13:10):
I'm a Risin Mitchell, a new sangre at past five DC.

Speaker 20 (01:13:13):
Hey, what's up with Sammi Roman?

Speaker 16 (01:13:14):
And you are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Speaker 8 (01:13:29):
President Trump just dropped the hammer on global trade overnight,
rolling out the toughest round of tarifs we've seen since.

Speaker 2 (01:13:37):
The Great Depression. The Great Depression, y'all.

Speaker 8 (01:13:39):
More of the sixty countries are getting hit, including major
players like Switzerland, Brazil, and India. Some of these import
taxes are as high as forty one percent, and on average,
tarifs are now over seventeen percent.

Speaker 2 (01:13:52):
But Trump's not stopping there.

Speaker 8 (01:13:54):
He's already threatening to hike up prices on life saving meds,
critical tech, and even country that do business with Russia.

Speaker 2 (01:14:02):
So get ready.

Speaker 8 (01:14:03):
Everything from cars and clothes to phones and furniture could
cost a whole lot more. Experts say the average American
family might end up paying thousands more this year. Business
leaders are warning this could hit our pockets hard, especially
in black communities already stretched thin. Joining us right now,
we have Jennifer Barbosa International Supply Partners CEO. Jennifer, thank

(01:14:28):
you so much for joining us.

Speaker 5 (01:14:31):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:14:32):
What is your overall.

Speaker 8 (01:14:34):
Assessment of what's going on right now? Because when I
hear some of these economists speaking on watching some of
these other networks talk about it, I hear people saying, well,
we've been able to survive, so to absorb the tarrifts.
The country's not doing as bad as people expected. But
my immediate thought was, well, in the beginning he was
talking twenty five fifty percent tarifs. It ain't coming that high,

(01:14:55):
so we didn't get hit that bad, but we're still
getting hit pretty badly.

Speaker 2 (01:15:00):
Am I missing something?

Speaker 5 (01:15:02):
No, you're not missing anything at all.

Speaker 32 (01:15:04):
We are going to get hit and it's going to
be a wave of that across the country and multiples.

Speaker 5 (01:15:12):
Of communities, and those that are going to.

Speaker 32 (01:15:15):
Be hit and feel it the most are marginalized groups communities,
small businesses. You know, we're the ones that are that
do the most consumption. We buy, We're the highest group
of population, and so we're going to feel it the
most because we don't have the discretionary income to be

(01:15:38):
able to absorb the impact. And you know, we're not
a production company production country, We're a consumption country.

Speaker 8 (01:15:50):
So, Jennifer, I'm so glad that you've been bringing up
the specifically the small businesses, because quite honestly, I hear people,
you know, there'll the older stock market is doing great,
and they'll bring on people to talk about how great
the stock market is doing, or how great big companies
are doing the Toyotas of the world, but they're not
spending enough time talking about what's happening on the ground
with small businesses. Can you share what you're seeing and

(01:16:13):
what you're experiencing.

Speaker 32 (01:16:16):
Well, first of all, we're not on the stock margery,
so we're not going to be able to have the
power and volume of investors to be able to leverage
resources and funding to be able to respond to what's
going on with teriffs.

Speaker 5 (01:16:34):
So that's the first thing.

Speaker 32 (01:16:35):
The second thing is small businesses do not have the
funds the cash flows to be able to sustain on
a long term basis. And when the materials that you
need to support your customers to sell to your customers
are costing more, but you know that your customers are

(01:16:57):
not making more money. Especially if you sell to consumers,
then you know that your margins are going to get
really tight, and then you're going to have products sitting
at the port. Every day that you have to wait
for your products to come in is more money that
you are losing, because how are you going to continue

(01:17:19):
to transfer those increased costs to your customers. At some point,
they're going to stop buying, and we're going to start
seeing that more and more, and I intend to expect
that coming through the holidays and as time progresses.

Speaker 8 (01:17:34):
Well, Trump has been very vocal about this terrorist let's
hear a little bit about what he has to say,
and then we'll bring the panel and on the other side.

Speaker 27 (01:17:43):
Doing these things now in the United States instead of
other countries, far away countries. This is a significant step
towards the ultimate goal of ensuring that iPhone sold in
the United States of America also are made in America.
With the mass infusion of capitalis announcing Apple will also
build a two hundred and fifty thousand square foot server

(01:18:04):
manufacturing facility in Houston and avest billions of dollars to
construct data centers across the country from North.

Speaker 33 (01:18:12):
Carolina to Iowa to Oregon. That's big stuff.

Speaker 27 (01:18:17):
Apple will also open state of the art manufacturer economy.

Speaker 33 (01:18:21):
It's going to be a manufacturing.

Speaker 27 (01:18:23):
Academy in Detroit, and that's a great place to do well.
You know, big things are happening in Michigan and Detroit.
They're coming in because of what we've done with the
I go with the great, big, beautiful bill.

Speaker 33 (01:18:36):
I added one word great. But we have.

Speaker 27 (01:18:40):
The probably the biggest, most comprehensive piece of legislation ever passed.

Speaker 33 (01:18:46):
It's going to mean.

Speaker 27 (01:18:48):
Unbelievable numbers of jobs and no jobs on think of this,
whether it's tips or overtime or social security, no tax.
No tax on tips, no tax on social Security, no
tax on overtime. And it's just a small bit of it.
For Apple and others businesses. We're talking about the deductions

(01:19:09):
and all of the things. And actually for people they
go out and buy a car, first time it's ever
been done. We talk about deductions for companies, but they're
going to be able to deduct interest when they borrow
money to buy a car. If it's made in America,
has to be made in America.

Speaker 33 (01:19:25):
So it is amazing.

Speaker 27 (01:19:27):
And one of the reasons I think I can say
that Apple's coming here is the legislation we just passed.
With this kind of investment, Apple will also open other
facilities rare earth magnets from Texas and build Oh I
love that you're doing this.

Speaker 33 (01:19:44):
I love that. I love that, and.

Speaker 27 (01:19:47):
Build a brand new rare earth recycling line in Mountain Pass, California.

Speaker 33 (01:19:52):
I know that area. That's where they have a lot
of truly rare earth. That's fantastic. I love that.

Speaker 27 (01:19:58):
And Apple will help develop manufacturer semiconductors and semiconductor equipment
in Texas, Utah, Arizona, and New York. For years, Americans
have watched as many of our leading tech giants built
their factories overseas and.

Speaker 33 (01:20:12):
Exported American jobs abroad.

Speaker 27 (01:20:15):
But under the Trump administration, we're doing everything possible to
make this the best place on earth to build a
factory or grow businesses. I'm allowing them to build electric
producing plants with their factory, because it was they'd have to.

Speaker 33 (01:20:29):
Hook into the grid. And I think it's one of
the biggest things.

Speaker 27 (01:20:31):
We've done where you can build tim your own electricity.
You become your own electric manufacturer, and that goes along
with the plants, so you become a utility. So congratulations,
now you're in the utility. I hope they don't value
your company based on utility, but that's okay. You're going

(01:20:52):
to make You're going to be making your own electricity.
And as you probably know, for much of this and
much of many of the things that we're doing, especially
the AI, they would need actually double the electricity that
the country now produces for everything. So it's massive electric
and they're going to be able to make their own
and they're getting very fast approvals.

Speaker 33 (01:21:12):
Lee Zelden is doing a.

Speaker 27 (01:21:13):
Fantastic job, including with a one hundred percent expensing on
the one.

Speaker 33 (01:21:20):
Big beautiful bill.

Speaker 27 (01:21:21):
In return, we're asking our businesses to invest in America,
and they're coming in at levels that we've never seen before.
So I don't know when it shows up, but there
are a lot of factories and a lot of plants
that are either under construction or soon will be starting construction.
So I can't tell you exactly when, but I want
to be around in about a year from now and

(01:21:43):
two years from now, because we're going to see an
explosion I think like this country has never seen before, never.
Today's announcement is one of the largest commitments in what
has become among the greatest investment booms in our nation's history.
And we've got the hottest country anywhere in the world.
And I told you the story that then, Tim, I'll

(01:22:04):
tell you, but I went to the Middle East and
I was with Qatar, I was with Youe and the
King of Saudi Arabia, old great leaders. And then I
went to NATO and saw many great leaders. So we
just finished that about four weeks ago. Everyone virtually everyone
said in effect that we were a dead country. One

(01:22:26):
year ago, America, this was dead country. We were dying
we were dead, and now you've got the hottest country
anywhere in the world. This would have never happened except
for certain people. Thank you very much. I appreciate Navidia
is investing five hundred billion to go along with Apple

(01:22:46):
six hundred billion, six hundred billion. Micron Great Company is
investing two hundred billion. IBM is investing more than one
hundred and fifty billion, SoftBank is investing substantially more than
a one hundred billion. TSMC is investing two hundred billion,
Johnson and Johnson fifty five billion. MRK Stilantis and General

(01:23:09):
Motors are putting many, many billions in they haven't determined
the final number. And many other countries are investing ten
zips that I'm not gonna give you the whole list
because the list is too long to read, but it's
hundreds of billions and even trillions.

Speaker 33 (01:23:24):
I mean, it's trillions of dollars. It's being invested right now.

Speaker 27 (01:23:27):
Last week it was announced that our economy grew at
three percent in the second quarter, and consumer confidence is surging,
blue collar wages arising rapidly, costs the way down. You know,
I listen to these horrendous frauds on CNN and various
other fake news networks, and they say costs her up. No, No,

(01:23:49):
costs are down. Gasoline is down. It's going to soon,
I believe, be less than two dollars a gallon. It's
around two forty right now. Many places than a California
where they tax you out of business, and a couple
of others. But gasoline is way down. The price of
groceries are down.

Speaker 33 (01:24:10):
How about eggs. When I first came here, my first week,
the press hit me.

Speaker 27 (01:24:15):
Very hard on eggs. Eggs had quadrupled or something. I said,
I didn't know about it. Give me a chance. I've
just been here for four days. Well, eggsit down. Everything's down,
prices down. The only thing that's up is stock prices
that's really up, and that's through the roof. The stock
market has been hitting all time records, all time highs.

(01:24:36):
Last week it was announced that our economy grew at
levels that we haven't seen in a long time. But
the real levels of growth are going to be judged
in a year from now when you start seeing some
of these incredible plants, because we have car plants opening.
They're coming in from Canada, from Mexico and from all
over the world, and they're coming in because they like

(01:24:56):
the way the election worked out, but they also like
the fact that they don't want to pay tariffs. And
the tariffs I think will be taking well, we're taken
in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs. I won't
be so specific other than just said because we don't
even know what the final number is.

Speaker 33 (01:25:11):
We just made a deal, as you know, with the
EU where they're.

Speaker 27 (01:25:15):
Paying hundreds of billions of dollars, Japan paying hundreds of
billions of dollars, and numerous other countries paying hundreds of
billions of dollars. And we're not even completed there. And
as you know, they found twenty five billion three weeks ago.
They said, we have a surplus of twenty five billion
dollars and they said, where did this come from. I said,

(01:25:36):
check the tariffs, and they checked. They said, you're right,
that's where it came from. And we've really just started.
This is just in its infancy. So we have a
great country. We have a country that is going to
be very rich. It's a country that we're very proud of,
but it's going to be very rich. And it's companies
like Apple they're coming home. They're all coming home.

Speaker 8 (01:26:02):
So we see there lots of what Trump has been
playing as relates to his his greatest hits. Basically he's
been talking like this from the beginning, and so there
was a lot there that needs to be unpacked. But
I want to turn it over to the panel. Greg
your question for Jennifer Barbosa.

Speaker 6 (01:26:20):
He Jennifer, My question is has to do with what
you think the short and then longer term future of
the international economy is as countries like Brazil, countries like
India where Modius said would never capitulate, countries like China,
which you're probably going to attract some of the smaller

(01:26:42):
Pacific rim, and the Asian countries like Cambodia who may
start doing business with them more. How do you perceive
what Trump is doing? And I don't really listen to
Donald Trump had to meet a whole lot of it
because he's addled, he's incoherent, it's babbel and he seems
hell been on start continuing to create stagflation, even as

(01:27:03):
he may be be trying to line the pocket of
some of his friends in the Middle East, particularly around oil.
As we see what he's trying to do in India
with Russia and Russian oil and maybe trying to get
them to wean themselves and they're not. What's your sense
of what this economic suicide by the President of the
United States. It's not at all clear whether it's legal
or not, whether it will stand. It's working its way

(01:27:24):
through the courts. But let's say that it does that
it does sustain itself. What's your sense of the aftermath
of this type of legal suicide for the US economy?
And do you see emerging out of the rubble of
the United States economy a shift that allows the rest
of the world to create not only an alternative, alternative
economic system, but one that will permanently displace the United

(01:27:47):
States of America as the central economic power in the world.

Speaker 32 (01:27:52):
So I have the honor of sitting as a co
chair for the Global Opportunities Committee under the Atlanta Black Chamber,
And what we do is we focus on leveraging connections
between international businesses, particularly in the African diaspora. So we
deal with businesses from over forty countries around the world

(01:28:16):
who are looking to do businesses business and transactions between
African American businesses here in the US and African based
for African descentd businesses abroad, and what I feel is
going to happen is that we're going to start to
ostracize ourselves from the rest of the world. And oftentimes

(01:28:38):
most Americans have not left the country, and we go
according to what we are told, what we are shown
on TV, and have no idea in regards to what
is going on in other parts of the world and
how advanced and how they are able to operate without
the US. And so I think we are going to

(01:29:02):
start to see things moving away and everyone else getting
to play in the play sandbox and we're left out.
And if we're not able to leverage the relationships that
we have apart from what the government is doing, especially

(01:29:24):
as black businesses, as black communities around the world, we
are going to be left behind along with it, because
we are going to be just casualties in what someone
is doing to take control and it's not in our benefit.

Speaker 8 (01:29:46):
We see your thoughts on what what Trump has been
saying or general questions for what what Jennifer is talking
about as it relates to her business and the Chamber
and the international work they're.

Speaker 21 (01:29:55):
Doing well normally out of respect for our guests. I
would ask the question, but it was like fifty to
one hundred bullshit claims that Trump made, so I.

Speaker 20 (01:30:04):
Have to use my time what he said.

Speaker 21 (01:30:08):
I'm my blood is boiling right now from listening today
so long. So let me just be clear on a
couple of things. Number One, this time last year, the
American economy was adding over one hundred thousand dollars, I'm sorry,
over one hundred thousand jobs per month. The Job Support
came out and said that Trump's economy is adding fifteen

(01:30:29):
thousand jobs a month, and that was the revision of
two hundred and fifty thousand jobs downward. Supposedly seventy thousand
jobs were created in July. Let's see what the revision
comes out with the new statutition, if they don't fire
them first for reporting the real numbers. Trump said that
EU was paying all this money, Japan is paying all
this money. These countries are not paying the tariffs. Americans

(01:30:51):
are paying the tariffs. The hundreds of billions of dollars
that Donald Trump is bragging about raising a tariff money
is being paid by Americans. This is the largest increase
on Americans since Donald Trump's last tax increase. On Americans
through the through the tariffs that he put on China
in his first administration, and so Americans are paying the

(01:31:12):
tariffs now. We haven't paid as much in tariffs because
Donald Trump's already a rational policy has been irrational and erratic.
So many of these tariffs have been paused and then
they've restarted, except for the ones on China and the
ones on Canada or whoever else. And so today was
the last day from which the ones that didn't kick
in on August first have finally kicked in. And so

(01:31:34):
the deals, so called deals that Donald Trump is negotiating,
will result in every single country having a tariff percentage
of more than zero percent, which means that every time
we import a product from around the world, and we
have a global supply chain and a global economy, we
are paying taxes on that. And for products that do
not have the profit margins for the tariffs to to

(01:31:58):
to be sustainable without increasing cost and where costs are
going to be so high that consumers were no longer
by it, we just won't have those products anymore. I
talked to some maga people, and not even mad people.
There are some people who aren't maga, who say that, oh,
tariffs are good because we need to produce American goods.
That is not the intent of Donald Trump's policies. By

(01:32:19):
his own admission, Donald Trump is putting fifty percent tariffs
on Brazil because he doesn't like that bols and Arrow
is being prosecuted. What the hell does that got to
do with the price of tea in time are more
accurately the price of coffee in Brazil. So this is
not His policies have not been tailored towards spurring production
in the United States. As a matter of fact, eleven

(01:32:39):
thousand manufacturing jobs were lost last month, even as seventy
thousand jobs were supposedly added. And so this is not
about strengthening the American economy. It is destroying it. It
is not about strengthening American business businesses. It is causing
businesses to scale back. They're letting go of people, they're
not making capital investments, and they are going to raise prices.

(01:33:01):
They're going to change formulations. That's from Procter and Gamble
has said they're going to have shrink flation where the
products are going to be lowered for the same price.
So this is detrimental in every single facet humanly possible. Okay,
this is not an improvement. And like I said, as
long as Donald Trump is yielding these terriffs for whatever

(01:33:21):
stupid ass when that he has, when he's not wandering
around the roof of the White House, the American economy
and American people are going to suffer. And as you've
shouted out, Jennifer, we are most people that are working,
people that are wage earners, spend more of our money
on the kind of goods that we're not going to
be able to afford anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:33:40):
So.

Speaker 21 (01:33:40):
The fact that the econom that the twenty twenty four
election was largely based on the economy.

Speaker 20 (01:33:47):
You played yourself.

Speaker 21 (01:33:48):
Everybody who found a day was going, oh well, when
Trump was in office, you know, this stuff wasn't have
high I had to pay as much forget. I haven't
pay much for cereal. You play yourself. Welcome to Trump's economy.
It is just getting started and it is going to
get ugly. You're uglier from here.

Speaker 2 (01:34:03):
That's why they called a receipt with the receipts.

Speaker 8 (01:34:05):
I really appreciate that, Jennifer, as well as Nola as well.
I'm going to pull you in as well, but I
want to get your ear comments from Secretary Howard Lugnitt,
who said that the government's about to raak in some serious,
serious cash, expecting fifty billion dollars a month from taris,
which is up from thirty billion just last month.

Speaker 34 (01:34:26):
Billion and as of last night midnight, the tariffs went up.
I think we're going to be heading towards fifty billion
a month in tariff revenue that no one's talked about
except for the President. So man about fifty billion a month,
and that's where we are now.

Speaker 6 (01:34:41):
And then you're going to get.

Speaker 34 (01:34:42):
The semiconductors, you're gonna get pharmaceuticals, You're gonna get all
sorts of additional tariff money coming in. And as the
President says, this could continue to head towards and ultimately
reach a trillion dollars. I mean, these are these are
amazing numbers for the United States of America, and no
one's retaliating. Everybody understand, you've got to sell to the
American consumer. The American consumer is the most powerful factor

(01:35:07):
in the earth for the economy, and Donald Trump is
harnessing it for the benefit of the American people.

Speaker 10 (01:35:12):
What can you tell us about this forty percent transshipment levy.

Speaker 34 (01:35:18):
So the idea is, you know, it's one thing to
set a tariff. So we set a tariff on Vietnam
of twenty percent, but that's for Vietnamese goods. If some
other country, let's say China wants to send things to
Vietnam and have Vietnam then sell them to America, that.

Speaker 6 (01:35:34):
Comes with forty percent.

Speaker 34 (01:35:36):
So if China wants to send stuff to America, let's
just do it through China.

Speaker 6 (01:35:39):
Let's stop this.

Speaker 34 (01:35:40):
Nonsense of sending it through other countries. So that's the idea,
which is, if it's your country, you pay your tariff,
and if it actually has significant content, like thirty percent
from any other country, then it should be taxed at
that other country's tariff, and that's a higher tariff.

Speaker 8 (01:36:00):
Know that it thrown out a lot of numbers, thinking
it's going to go for people's heads. What's your take
from everything that you're hearing.

Speaker 19 (01:36:08):
So many, so many sis, Jennifer, I am going to
do a little bit what we seeded.

Speaker 4 (01:36:16):
We were texting back and forth because the clip was insufferable.

Speaker 19 (01:36:20):
It was filled with lies, it was filled with disinformation,
and Lutnik is an acolyte. He's going to say with
his king and his savior tells him to say like
he said, no one else is saying these things with
Donald Trump.

Speaker 4 (01:36:35):
It's a reason.

Speaker 19 (01:36:37):
So where I want to start is this fallacy about
all the jobs that Apple is going to magically bring
back to the United States. There's this thing called automation.
There's this thing that is happening right now in Kentucky
and in Texas with these data censors which actually don't

(01:36:59):
act to require a lot of human bodies to work
inside of them, but they are also very destructive to.

Speaker 4 (01:37:06):
The communities that they are in.

Speaker 19 (01:37:09):
So we need to break down, big by big, this
massive lag that all these factories are going to open
and give all these people in Michigan these factory.

Speaker 4 (01:37:23):
Jobs once again.

Speaker 19 (01:37:25):
And then even with that, what is the assumption here
that Americans want to return back to the factory, that
they want to return back to factory jobs. Nothing about
higher education because that is being sustained chemically dismantled. So
not only is it's a huge fallacy about the amomy

(01:37:47):
jobs that are going to come back to the United
States of America to build iPhones.

Speaker 4 (01:37:51):
That's not going to happen because of automation. Let's also
talk about.

Speaker 19 (01:37:55):
The auto industry, another industry that you brought up. We're
still in aluminum. The prices are sky rocketing for kias
and bolts wagons, for cars that are affordable for people
to buy. I'm going to quote from Car and Drivers.
This is what Car and Drivers said. The Trump administration

(01:38:19):
imports terrors are expected to make shopping for a new
vehicle more difficult in the second half of twenty twenty
five and beyond. The terrorts have caught put into automaker's profits,
and experts predict higher costs will be passed onto the shoppers.
Sticker prices may may rhymes four to eight percent by

(01:38:41):
year's end. What advantage does that give the American consumer?
What advantage does that give to a young person first
she go to college, who wants their first affordable car.
Whatever fairy land this man is living in that has

(01:39:02):
everything to do with his own mythology, are thinking he
is some sort of gangster that he walks around the world,
that he has a big pick and he wants to
be a bully, and people are just going to capitulate
to his whim.

Speaker 4 (01:39:20):
That is not how you do policy.

Speaker 19 (01:39:22):
You are not only hurting everyday Americans, you are hurting
American companies. And that lie that he told about companies
not pushing back. It's a reason why these tariffs have
stopped installed, stopped installed, stopped installed.

Speaker 4 (01:39:39):
It's a reason why they call him taco.

Speaker 19 (01:39:46):
I need to bring it down, and needs to calm down
a bit, because you know, the thing that pisses me
off more than anything.

Speaker 4 (01:39:51):
He has the pullpit. He has corporate media.

Speaker 11 (01:39:56):
So they are.

Speaker 19 (01:39:56):
Selling people these lies in their land, and people are
believing it. They don't care about the truth. So that's
the piece of this we need to figure out.

Speaker 2 (01:40:11):
I'm done, Jennifer.

Speaker 8 (01:40:14):
I want to give you the last word as as
somebody who represents a business on the ground, living this
in real life, and somebody who's seeing this not only
from a domestic from international perspective, what are your final
thoughts as these tarists get rolled out, as you look
at your own business, as you hear these statements from
Trump and Leutnick, what are your final thoughts here?

Speaker 32 (01:40:35):
Well, So our company, we serve governments and corporations as
well as healthcare facilities, and those are the entities that support.

Speaker 5 (01:40:48):
The communities and consumers.

Speaker 32 (01:40:52):
If we can't maintain our price, we cannot provide affordable
competitive pricing for those that we supply too, and in
that case, they're not going to be able to do
the same for their consumers. What's going to happen is
everything that we're seeing now. We hear all of these
things about these big tech companies coming in, but their

(01:41:15):
tech their job is to find more ways to eliminate
the use of human necessities within those industries and make
more technologies to minimize human use. So, like what was said,

(01:41:35):
we're not going to have jobs. And remember, we can't
eat data chips, we can't drink you know, data of power,
and you know what I mean. So there are things
that we need that is not going to be sustainable.

Speaker 5 (01:41:52):
We don't have enough bland, we don't have enough people
with the skill sets.

Speaker 32 (01:41:56):
And we don't have the raw material that's necessary.

Speaker 5 (01:42:01):
So we're going to.

Speaker 35 (01:42:02):
Still need to import products even if we make all
of the factories for everything, and we were not capable
of doing that we were a country of consumption.

Speaker 32 (01:42:14):
We don't have the skill sets to be able to
produce and.

Speaker 5 (01:42:19):
Maintain this in a long term basis. And also this
isn't going to happen overnight. Factories do not get built
in a week. So what we're.

Speaker 32 (01:42:31):
Hearing is that we're going to have to suffer if
this is actually what's going to happen, which I'm not sure,
we're going.

Speaker 5 (01:42:37):
To have to suffer for how long?

Speaker 32 (01:42:38):
How many years is it going to take to build
all these factories to be able to produce what we're
going to need to sustain this country? And then who's
going to do all that work for minimum wage or
less than to be able to maintain the cost that
we need to be able to purchase these I just

(01:43:01):
don't see it happening anytime soon. And the reason why
a lot of corporations left the United States was because
of the cost of living was unsustainable and they moved
their factories abroad in order to be able to maintain competitiveness.
I don't see how that's not going to happen again.

Speaker 8 (01:43:24):
Jennifer Barbosa, CEO of International Supply Partners, thank you so
much for joining the show, and please keep us posted
on how things are going in your business as well.
Thank you, thank you, and we'll be right back to
Morol and Martin unfiltered right here on the Blackstar Network.

Speaker 6 (01:43:44):
Next on the Black Tape with me Great, the United
States is the most dangerous place for a woman to
give birth among all industrialized nations on the planet. Think
about that for a second. That's not all. Black women
are three times more likely to die in this country
during childbirth than white women.

Speaker 22 (01:44:04):
These healthcare systems are inherently racist.

Speaker 11 (01:44:08):
There are a lot of white.

Speaker 22 (01:44:10):
Supremacist ideas and mythologies around Black women, black women's bodies,
even black.

Speaker 11 (01:44:15):
People that we experience. Paying less right.

Speaker 6 (01:44:17):
Activist organizers and fearless freedom fighter Monifa I Canwila Bande
Lay from Moms Rising, joins us and tells us this
shocking phenomenon, like so much else, is rooted in an
adulterated racist and that's just one of her fights. Monita
Bande Lay on the next Black Table here on the

(01:44:38):
Black Star Network.

Speaker 8 (01:44:42):
Hi everybody, I'm Kim Colesey, I'm subject Jo saman Dion
Cole from Blackness, and you're watching.

Speaker 4 (01:44:47):
Roland Money unfelthy.

Speaker 8 (01:44:57):
That was a powerful conversation and I hope that you
all are paying attention to this terriffs because it's hitting
us in so many ways. Want to talk about universities
right now, coming back to this school thing. Donald Trump
is preparing to sign an executive order requiring colleges and
universities receiving federal funds to provide detailed admissions data, including

(01:45:18):
student race, GPA, and test scores. Federal authorities want to
verify that race is not being used in admissions decisions
following the Supreme Court ban on affirmative action. This move
builds on deals with Brown and Columbia Universities, which agreed
to share data and face audits to restore federal funding.

Speaker 2 (01:45:40):
Greg.

Speaker 8 (01:45:41):
I mean, it never stops, It never stops. And so
many of us believe that the way they made Columbia
capitulate what they're doing of Howard, we see what's happening
with Brown University as well, that they are never going
to stop until they can control every aspect of these universities.
They're using fighting anti Semitism as an excuse, They're using
fighting DEI as an excuse. And this is just the

(01:46:02):
latest example of what Trump has been doing with this
executive order coming up.

Speaker 2 (01:46:06):
How do you see it?

Speaker 6 (01:46:09):
Yeah, no, and I agree. The definition of anti semitism
that they're attempting to force upon Columbia, the International Holocaust,
remember its alliances. Definition which commingles conflates Jewishness with the
state of Israel, which of course is historically untenable and

(01:46:33):
absurd on its face, is just part. It's just the
point of entry for the real concern. Because we know
that the biggest anti jewice, some of the biggest anti
Jewish forces in the contemporary world, are the white Christian nationalists.
They see Israel as a means to an end. They
see Jews as a means to an end in terms

(01:46:53):
of hatred. I think those who are being honest would
very quickly point to the white nationalists and particularly the
white Christian nastiy so called Christian nationalists, I call them
what they are, religious fanatics, to understand that anti Jewishness
is really as virulent there as anywhere in the world.
But the shakedowns of Columbia, the shakedowns of brown the

(01:47:14):
shakedowns of Harvard are there's a convergence of forces. They
are the intellectually inbred group people like Christopher Rufo. They
are the deeply miserable, nasty pieces of work with plenty
of money in the bank, like Ed Bloom, the economic
power behind students for fair admission versus Harvard, who's celebrating

(01:47:38):
this announcement. And then there are the just neked white
nationalists who couldn't tell you much other than they just
hate everybody not white, like Donald Trump. This is the latest,
the latest battlefield in this attempt to destroy I'm sorry.
There's one other force, and that is those who simply

(01:47:58):
don't like what's that word? And oh yeah, learning, they're
against learning. So so you have all these things converged.
I don't see this as necessarily a bad thing. And
I tell you why. This is going to require higher
education to be creative. If you're going to offer scholarships,
then do it to people who are local. Do it
and worded in a way that you kind of cast

(01:48:20):
your net so you can curate a student body that
reflects the demographics of your region that continues to have
non white students to convact and increase that number. If
you are in K twelve education, if you are particularly
in high school, educators, time to rethink grading. Let's pump
out those four point others. And also if you are

(01:48:41):
if you are in the testing and the assessment, world's
time to rethink the nature of testing. Since we understand
that class plays a large role in terms of test scores.
Time to finally listen to us when we talk about
cultural bias and testing and when it comes to historically
black colleges. Perhaps now you can lean hard into your
mission and instead of trying to become black faced white schools,

(01:49:01):
you can put admissions criterias in place. With You're crafted
in such a way is that you can curate a
student body that has admission criteria that inject a lot
more culture into how you decide on who's going to
come in. Quite frankly, none of them are interested in
going to black schools. And it's time for us now
to embrace our blackness as an admission criteria, not in

(01:49:23):
terms of race, but in terms of culture. I welcome
these intellectual inbreds because when they break this, they're not
going to be able to put it together. And by
the way, for the descends of slaves Crew, it's about
time for you understand that our best partners in this
ongoing struggle that's about to now escalate is going to
be those black schools in the Caribbean, the black schools

(01:49:45):
in Africa. Time to think about student exchange programs, time
to think about strengthening the ties, because these clowns are
getting ready to kill what's the left of their educational system,
and there's no need for us to die with them.

Speaker 8 (01:49:58):
I hope they're listening. I hope they're listening. Nola, what's
your take. You're also in these classrooms and some of
the schools that we've talked about as well. These are
schools that that that you've been at as well as
as as a student as well. How do you see
what's going on? Well, sa mm hmm, no doubt, no doubt.

Speaker 19 (01:50:23):
I can start with my litany of problems with this
tactic of browbeating, but it's ignoring so many systemic issues
that caused the situation.

Speaker 4 (01:50:44):
That we're in.

Speaker 19 (01:50:46):
Not only am I a product of certain programs that
are now called diversity ECNIT inclusion that at one point
they were called social justice programs whatever you want to
call coming out of the education system in California, that
I was not only a part of what I worked

(01:51:08):
in for many years. So I have a very unique
perspective about the reality of the situation, not just the
emotionality and the lies that are that are being told.
So something that Greg said I agree with, but for
different reasons. One of the reasons why many of these
programs exist in higher education is because second is because

(01:51:33):
high schools are horrible. Your elementary school, your middle school
is horrible.

Speaker 4 (01:51:41):
So what a lot of these programs do.

Speaker 19 (01:51:44):
They identify the talent even in these situations that are
systemically broken, and they give them the tools to compete.
It isn't just opening the door, because as you check
black on an application, that is now that that does

(01:52:05):
not how this works, and that is the part of
it that angers me the most. I ran a program
at UCLA called Summer Transfer Program. It was a community
college program that mostly focused on black community college students.
The requirements to get into this program to be dedicated

(01:52:30):
to this program for a week from morning tonight. You
are constantly in classrooms doing homework, you're in lectures.

Speaker 4 (01:52:41):
It is so vigorously challenging because the way that.

Speaker 19 (01:52:46):
These programs work, they are choosing the crime deloquent. This
lie that any and everybody can just get in through
DEI programs is exactly that a lie. So the opportunity
that I see here.

Speaker 4 (01:53:08):
Is for these.

Speaker 19 (01:53:09):
States to really make investments in the education system because
I know the talent that exists, because I've been there,
I've worked with them, and I've helped them get to
full your institutions, and I know how hard that work is.
They need help at the high school level so they

(01:53:32):
won't have to jump through the expert hoops of these
programs for them to get to the colleges that they
want people to.

Speaker 4 (01:53:41):
And so you know, my.

Speaker 19 (01:53:43):
Contract is about this as an educator, as someone who
works coordinated these programs. The thing that breaks my heart
for most is that this is used as a oil
to just simply get rid of black and round body
on these campuses. And they are using a very serious

(01:54:06):
problem of anti Semitism as the reason. And that is
the unfortunate part of how they weaponize identity while.

Speaker 4 (01:54:17):
They also cry about their own identity politics and how
white people, especially white.

Speaker 19 (01:54:24):
Men, when white men are doing the evil thing day
after day after.

Speaker 2 (01:54:30):
That, rec are you optimistic?

Speaker 8 (01:54:35):
I mean some schools, it seems like on many levels,
some are absolutely caved into Colombia examples. Some are looking
at Harvard as one that's standing strong with them. When
you look a little bit deeper, you see they'll change
the name of a DEI program, will get rid of
certain classes. On some levels, they'll cancel black student graduations
and the like. Do you feel like universities are going

(01:54:55):
to end up taking a stand? Are they going to capitulate?
How do you see this going.

Speaker 21 (01:55:00):
Universities will do what they have to do to survive,
and they certainly aren't going to fall on their sword
for the sake of black people being there. I mean,
black people are already underrepresented, it underrepresented at these universities.
Columbia University has a five point threety percent black population,
which is about eighteen hundred students.

Speaker 20 (01:55:17):
And so this is not my point.

Speaker 21 (01:55:20):
Isn't so much about the presence of black people and
trying to affirm that or defend it and talk about
strategies to ensure that black people still get into these universities.
What white people have to recognize and Donald Trump's war
on these universities is that it is also a war
on their advancement as well. When this administration is withholding

(01:55:41):
and cutting hundreds of millions of dollars from these institutions,
there is a tangible impact to that that is going
to result in a fewer opportunities for them while they're
at these universities, going to result in a diminished education
while they are there and closing pathways for them. I mean,
a big part of middle class and upper middle class

(01:56:01):
in this country is built through things like research, is
built through education, is built through engineering, all of the
things that this administration is waging war on. And so
what white people have to determine is how convicted are
they in the idea of having zero black people as
opposed to having an institution that is working for them,

(01:56:23):
Because it's already working for them. It's definitely working for
them better than it's working for anybody else. But they
have to be the ones that recognize that all of
this is happening at their expense, even more so than
at our expense. You can eighteen hundred black people, Okay,
we'll find a way.

Speaker 20 (01:56:39):
To make that up.

Speaker 5 (01:56:39):
Okay, we got HBCUs the baby.

Speaker 20 (01:56:41):
They'll go to a public college.

Speaker 21 (01:56:43):
Or something like that as opposed to these elite universities.
But they're the ones, the white students, the Asian students,
they're the ones who are banking on these universities, making
them the Krem de la crem, making them the upper echelon.
But this administration projects twenty twenty five Even people who
are alumni these institutions are trying to re engineer society.

(01:57:05):
That's going to shut a lot of these people out.
And so all I'm going to say is good luck
to them. I hope that this bargain is worth it.
I hope that people will realize that their discomfort are
their supposed superiority over black people is fucking them even
more than it's screwing us.

Speaker 8 (01:57:22):
This's real talk. That's real talk. Golf in all of
you those responses. I mean, people need to be paying
attention to all of this, and so I really appreciate
you all sharing that, and of course we'll be keeping
an eye on that.

Speaker 2 (01:57:32):
Right here on the Black Star Network.

Speaker 8 (01:57:33):
We're actually going to take one more break and we'll
be right back more role than Martin Unfiltered live right
here on the Black Star Network.

Speaker 15 (01:57:42):
I think on the other side of change, Diasca wars,
the internet has been sworn.

Speaker 16 (01:57:48):
Who has a right to blackness and black culture? Who
is overrepresented? Underrepresented is too much.

Speaker 11 (01:57:53):
It's making us dizzy.

Speaker 17 (01:57:54):
We don't have to be prideful without this air of superiority.
Right all stories matter within this black sphere that we
exist in.

Speaker 18 (01:58:02):
Only on the other side of change, on the Black
Start Network.

Speaker 2 (01:58:08):
We see off, y'all.

Speaker 36 (01:58:09):
This is Wendell Haskins aka Win Hogan at the original
teeth GoF Classic And you know I watch Rowland Martin unfiltered.

Speaker 8 (01:58:23):
Lastly tonight where y'all at? Where y'all watching the show from?
Maybe I need to check y'all out on Instagram, I
don't know. Let's talk about that Instagram location sharing. Y'all
may not notice, but I'm trying to help y'all out here.
Instagram's new location feature could put your safety at risk. Y'all,
we gotta be mindful of what's going on. The platform
just rolled out a series of updates, but one in

(01:58:46):
particular has users sounding the alarm. It's called the Instagram Map.
The Instagram Map, y'all, and it lets you share your
real time location with followers.

Speaker 2 (01:58:57):
All right, so meta. Instagram's company says it's.

Speaker 8 (01:59:01):
A quote lightweight way to connect with each other unquote,
and stresses that the.

Speaker 2 (01:59:07):
Feature is off unless you turn it on.

Speaker 8 (01:59:11):
But still, critics are warning that it could open the
door to serious privacy and safety issues. With location sharing enabled,
every time you open the app, your real time location
gets updated for selected followers to see. Now let's talk
about how to turn it off. All right, so check it.
Go to the Instagram map inside your DM inbox, tap

(01:59:35):
the icon to open map view, hit the settings gear,
then tap open Settings from your phone settings app. Choose
never under location access. Now, y'all know we live after
the show, you can rewind and get those instructions again.
But this is something y'all got to really pay attention

(01:59:57):
to because this is no joke, and probably a lot
of these other apps are doing that real quick. I
want to get takes from the panel, Nola, your thoughts
on this.

Speaker 4 (02:00:05):
I mean, look, I'm a national security girl.

Speaker 2 (02:00:08):
That's why I went to you was locked down.

Speaker 19 (02:00:11):
If I want to text my friends, I'm a text mecent,
Like where where you at? I don't need to know
what she had on this around. I mean, it's the
reason why I'm not on we TikTok and a lot
of these kind of apps that have these vulnerabilities. It
is dangerous, you know, Folks on the West Coast, they
are warning that it is a wave for you to
be targeted by immigration officials and the way in which

(02:00:35):
these uh, these tech billionaires are moving in Canada with
this administration. I don't have any proof of that, but
I wouldn't doubt it. So in this new America that
we're in, please take safety precautions. Just just no one
needs to know where you are. You know, when you're
ordering home, Trooper Eat turned it on for that moment.

(02:00:55):
You don't need to have your location on all the time.
And I want to take it a set further.

Speaker 4 (02:01:01):
Please stop posting where you are. Tell people where you
are when you leave.

Speaker 19 (02:01:06):
Now, the three of us are in a precurious situation
because sometimes we may have a speaking event or something
like that and we want people to actually come and support,
so we have to announce where we are. But for
the larger part of my life, I keep all that
information private because we're.

Speaker 4 (02:01:28):
Moving, and we're moving in a very different role.

Speaker 19 (02:01:31):
And people really need to up their situational awareness game.
So please turn off your location information. We are not
living in safe times.

Speaker 8 (02:01:44):
Unfortunately, we're going to have to wrap it up tonight.
I want to thank our panel. Thank you so much, Nolah,
thank you reci and thank you Greg for joining us
on Rolling Martin Unfilter right here on the Blackstar Network.
Please you also please support the black Star Network on
all of our platforms. Please make sure you're contributing to
the role of Martin on Blackstar Network as well. We
can't do this without your support. Roland will be back.

(02:02:05):
I'm doctor Omkongo di Benga, so happy to be here
tonight and I will see you all next time.

Speaker 2 (02:02:10):
Holla.
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Host

Roland Martin

Roland Martin

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