Our Voices, Our Vote: VA Town Hall, Shutdown Day 21, Hakeem Jeffries Under Threat

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:18):
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Speaker 4 (01:48):
Work to sam black media to make sure that our
stories are told. I thank you for being the voice
of Black America.

Speaker 5 (01:54):
Roling Hell, You'll.

Speaker 4 (01:55):
Own we have now. We have to keep this going.

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This diference between Black Starring Network and Black owned media
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Speaker 8 (02:06):
You can't be black owned media and be scape.

Speaker 6 (02:09):
It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home, you dig.

Speaker 4 (02:51):
Folk.

Speaker 8 (02:52):
Today's Thursday, October sixteen, twenty twenty five, coming up from
Roland Martin Unfiltered, We're sweating live on the Black Starting
Network on the campus of Virginia State Version here in Petersburg, Virginia,
for the special edition of our show focusing on uh
the upcoming election, critical electures happening in this state that
will determine who is in control of government.

Speaker 4 (03:12):
Lots we're gonna break down.

Speaker 8 (03:14):
We'll also hear from the cheer of the Congression of
Black Caucus Consolman Evet Clark. In addition to that, this
is the third of the verse of the Million Men March.
So it's a lot we're gonna talk about, including yesterday's
Supreme Court or arguments that dealt with the issue that
could jeopardize nearly have the Congression of Black Caucus and
destroy black political power all across the South. Lots of

(03:34):
this breakdown. It's time to bring the funk. I'm rolling
back unfiltered on the Black Study Network. Let's go unfiltered.

Speaker 9 (03:43):
It.

Speaker 10 (03:44):
Whatever it is.

Speaker 11 (03:49):
On top is rolling best believe he's going is Loston
mister politics with entertainment, just books. He's it's he's prest

(04:17):
she's piled up question.

Speaker 5 (04:19):
No, he's.

Speaker 8 (04:34):
Folks rely on the campus of Virginia State University here
in Peterburgsburg, Virginia for our our voice, is our vote
town hall with Virginia Democrats, uh and the Virginia Legislative
Black Cauki is glad to be here. Lots that we're
gonna talk about because the Cruise election that's taking place
two years ago, and we travel all across Virginia, uh

(04:56):
talking to voters because at that time, uh uh, you
had Democrats.

Speaker 4 (05:01):
Who are trying to regain control of the House.

Speaker 8 (05:04):
If they did so, don Scott would become the first
black Speaker of the House here in Virginia.

Speaker 4 (05:08):
That actually happened.

Speaker 8 (05:10):
So now two years later, they're trying to hold onto
that power, and there's some crucial.

Speaker 4 (05:13):
Issues that gonna add play.

Speaker 8 (05:15):
One of those issues deals with the deals with restoring
the voting rights put passing in the legislature to put
it as a constitutional amendment to change the constitution. That's
a huge, huge issue we're going to get into tonight.
So there's a lot we're gonna what we want to
get to. We'll be talking to candidates who are running
for the House of Delegates. We'll also be talking with
the university president. Uh and of course, and I mentioned
earlier Don Scott, my alpha brother, university president, Alpha brother. Sorry, Wes,

(05:40):
I'm sorry, Wes. Everybody ain't able Wes Bellaby. So we're
gonna get get to all of that. Well, first let's
go to our panel right here. I want to introduce
them right now. Wes Bellamy his political science chaired here
at Virginia State University. Janelle Sinclair the chair of the
Petersburg Democratic Committee, and Arnold Westbrook is a Petersburg City
councilvan All y'all give it up. You know, one of

(06:07):
the things that we keep emphasizing is that we have
to be maximizing our voting power.

Speaker 4 (06:14):
And what we have seen is when we do that.

Speaker 8 (06:17):
Two thousand and eight, for the first time in history,
West African Americans percentage wise outvoted White Americans. But since
then that was cause of the election of President Barack Obama.
Since then, we've seen those numbers go down. We're seeing
the results of that. What happens when we don't vote
our numbers. You've had some elections in this state that
if we turned out at seventy seventy five percent of

(06:40):
our capacity, we sweep elections.

Speaker 4 (06:42):
And so let's talk about that.

Speaker 8 (06:44):
What needs to happen for us to really lock it low,
to get people to understand that we cannot leave our
power at home, untapped and unused.

Speaker 12 (06:58):
It's a Black America's speci ensuring that our stories are
told and our issues are being discussed. We're super excited
to be here at Virginia State University, where today we
had our student voter Registration Day as a part of
Childer of Voting Week, in which today alone we.

Speaker 13 (07:13):
Were able to register four hundred and twelve young people.

Speaker 12 (07:17):
Super excited about that very, very exciting election coming up
this year, and we've been emphasizing not only in classes
within the campus, but President Abdullah, who you know, he's
an alphab but he's all right with me. I like
you shout out to the noops. But in our seriousness,
we've been very steadfast on campus in the surrounding community

(07:38):
about the importance of folks coming out to vote. And
while we note that there's a great deal of conversation
taking place on the national level, we have pivotal elections
that are taking place here in Virginia. Won the gubernatorial election,
which everybody knows about, or we're hoping that everybody knows about,
But it's really these state houses seats, the state House
seats and the Senate seats that make the difference. We

(07:59):
have a couple of of this for a year. Shout
out to Kimberly, Pop Adams and others who will be
here like we're gonna be hearing from them, and we're encouraging,
encouraging our young folks. Specifically, it's one thing to complain
about what's happening at sixteen hundred Parslvania Avenue. It's another
thing for us to go out and do something, and
we cannot allow our voices to be taken for granted.
We can't allow for our votes to be acted as

(08:19):
if they don't matter. And if we don't put the
energy and time into going out and making sure that
we vote, we can't complain about what nobody else does.
It starts with us. Nobody else is gonna come and
do this for us. Nobody's gonna save us. There's nobody
coming down out of the sky to come and make
sure that we get everything we need. We have to
take care of ourselves, and that starts with voting.

Speaker 8 (08:39):
Janelle, I guarantee you somebody here is four hundred and
twelve and they say, okay, it's four hundred and twelve. Well,
let's go back to Shery Beasley. What she ran for
Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Had she won,
Democrats would have had a six to one control of
the state's Supreme Court.

Speaker 4 (08:59):
When they controlled the court, they ruled against racial.

Speaker 8 (09:02):
Jerry mandering, political jeri mandering, They stopped a lot of
the actions of the Republican legislature. She runs, she loses
by four hundred and one votes. You had more than
one hundred thousand black folks along North Carolina who did
not vote. What happens It goes from Democrat potentially six
to one down to four to three. Well, then they

(09:22):
lose again. Now it's Republican five to two. What happens?
Political Jered Manning being allowed. They about the Jerro Manner,
more seats, racial Jere Manning, voter id all those things,
and so folks have to understand every vote does count.
And remember even in this state when it was the
race that was tied and it was a choice out
of picking name out of a hat determined who controlled

(09:44):
the House because they were tied. So but folks say,
well one vote doesn't matter.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
We know that's a lie. Yes, we do know it's
a lie.

Speaker 14 (09:52):
Ask Kimerly, Pope Adams, fifty three votes made a difference
in her in her race. It's fifty three people in
this room that could have made a difference two years ago.
Now we have people that are sitting in seats at
this moment making pivotal decisions that impact me, but more

(10:14):
so our young people, and that will impact your children.
If we do not get out and vote, we will
not be able to stop them. From anything trickling down
from the federal level to the state level. We have
to have a gap stop at some point to say
that no means no, and we're not going to abide

(10:34):
by the horrendous policies that they are doing up at
the national level. So we have to have someone at
our governor level, a lieutenant governor level, especially our Attorney
general level, but more so our General Assembly, so that
they can implement policies that.

Speaker 4 (10:53):
Will protect us absolutely.

Speaker 8 (10:57):
Before I go to Arnold, just folks know, we always
when we go to busy places. We invited Petersburg Mayor
Sam Parham to come on today's show, but he declined
an invitation to come, and so just the folks know.
So folks, like many time back to the mayor we did,
he ain't here, So listen, I'm just stating a fact, Councilman.

(11:18):
One of the things that I'm always saying though, that
it's one thing to tell folk you need to vote.
It's one thing to say, hey, I need to get
you to register, but we have to also really begin
connecting the dots, because let's just be honest, a lot
of folks have no clue what the hell y'all do.

Speaker 4 (11:34):
They don't. People don't. A lot of people don't.

Speaker 8 (11:37):
Don't know how the difference between a city councilman, a
county county exec, a state rep, a state senate, what
the school board does.

Speaker 4 (11:45):
You get members of Congress who say.

Speaker 8 (11:47):
They get phone calls that's about stuff that that's really
the city or the really a county job. And so
we also have to have after the election, before the
next election, what I call voter education civics, one on
one people really understand how government works and how government
impacts every facet of a person's life.

Speaker 13 (12:10):
I definitely would agree with that.

Speaker 15 (12:11):
On behalf of may a parent who's a little bit
under the brother, I am stepping in on his behalf
he doesn't.

Speaker 13 (12:18):
Well, that's that's a big thing. Like communication.

Speaker 15 (12:20):
Communication in our communities is very important, and I think
it does start with the youth and this new generation
of voters and not getting voting fatigue. I think that's
what you kind of was alluding to, because in Virginia
we vote every year, but that's everywhere though, no, not
every state votes every year.

Speaker 8 (12:35):
Probably what I'm saying is the matter where you go,
there's going to be an election, whether it's a statewide, federal.

Speaker 4 (12:43):
City, county, or school board.

Speaker 8 (12:45):
So the reality is you're always going to have and
also depends upon what municipalty you live in.

Speaker 4 (12:51):
And so I get people to say voter fatigue.

Speaker 8 (12:54):
But they they sure not fatigue when electricity goes up.
Correct fatigue when they're looking for improvements for economic development,
correct where they're talking about funding HBCUs And so again,
other folks ain't tired.

Speaker 13 (13:10):
And that's I agree.

Speaker 15 (13:10):
We have to make sure that our students understand that
this is a marathon and it's not a sprint, as
well as our older people to pour it back into
the elders, to pour it back into the youth and
the middle class, so that everybody's playing their part. And
that's what I meant about communication, because it is a
difference between being on city council as well as.

Speaker 16 (13:25):
Being on school board.

Speaker 15 (13:26):
I can't handle all the issues, but I kind of
be informed of them, so I can talk to the
constituents let them know that I am concerned. And I
think it's about servant leadership, so that as I teach
the students, whether it's my crown hymn guys called to
the Kings or my Crown hurt girls, that I empower
the young people to understand what.

Speaker 4 (13:43):
The crown heurls. You get the crown guy shout out,
Well see the crown hurt girls.

Speaker 13 (13:47):
A heare y'all gonna put y'all crowns up?

Speaker 4 (13:50):
All right?

Speaker 8 (13:51):
Oh so dude, say something y'all don't say.

Speaker 13 (13:55):
We're working on that, and then we're working on it.
I don't want to.

Speaker 16 (14:00):
You are all a boy calls because I got no
call and respond, well, we.

Speaker 13 (14:04):
Got one for everybody. We got one of everybody else.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
Can we get a hell state?

Speaker 13 (14:10):
Okay, that's good enough for you, brother, No, because.

Speaker 8 (14:15):
It's a lot of it's a lot of call.

Speaker 13 (14:20):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 15 (14:21):
I ain't missed that dupe in that alpha shout out.
But again we hear about all of us working together
on the front lines too, on the what tho megas
are on the front lines. You know, we all play
our parts and we all know how to get these
things out. So whether it is economic development, the homeless rate,

(14:42):
the poverty, or issues that really affect people differently, it's
all about still just getting out of making sure that
we can have good, sensible conflict resolution discussions because our
teach speech of the bank here a Virginia State University,
and we're also taking into the schools of Petersburg so
that we can understand and this time we can be
disagreeable without being violent and just straight nasty to people.

(15:03):
But how can we get to the table and talk
because a lot of times when we get to these tables,
we can find that they're similar talking points between us
both so that we can move this need to forward
for a better country that we live here.

Speaker 8 (15:13):
The worst thing for me, though, is when we're talking
about again elections. And for me, the reason it's I
get it in a different way because my parents were
co finals of a city club. So the age of eight,
nine and ten, I'm sitting there because we all free
labor sitting here. So the granular issues that impacted a

(15:34):
neighborhood going to city council meeting, knowing who to call,
how to get vacant lots cut and how to get
abandoned houses torn down. So I saw it at that level,
and that's the thing I think we need to get
out get many people to understand. And this is why
I think voter education is so critically important because that's
the role of government. What has happened is folks are

(15:56):
running around saying, well, government has my life, and I'm like,
that's the dumbest crap I've heard of my life, because
it impacts literally every facet of your life from the
womb to the tomb, and so this idea that it
does it it's crazy.

Speaker 17 (16:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (16:11):
I mean, we had this discussion in class just yesterday,
and I want to give a special shout out to
our SGA who are all up here in the front row,
Marquisa President and several others. They've been working diligently to
ensure that again students are registered to vote and we're
talking about the issues. But one of the things we
discussed in in one of my classes yesterday was specifically
when we.

Speaker 13 (16:31):
Talk about the school board.

Speaker 12 (16:33):
For example, some people talk about, well, when I was
in high school, I didn't learn black history. I'm not
learning how I'm learning now, And we had a real
civic lesson about Okay, well, if the governor appoints the
members of the Board of Education and then the board
which I served on I served on the State Board
of Education, and then the state Board of Education members
direct the superintendents who also work in conjunction with the

(16:56):
school boards and they say, well, this is the curriculum
in which we want to see point it out out
or put out for our communities. And if those curriculums
are disadvantageous to black folk and we're not able to
learn what we need to learn. The issues isn't necessarily
with the teachers. It's again us understanding who we need
to put in the seats on the school board, but
then also the appointment person. So that's why this gubernatorial

(17:18):
election is of the utmost importance.

Speaker 13 (17:21):
Roland made a very pivotal point.

Speaker 12 (17:23):
We've seen across Virginia there have been some cities in
which water has been a very serious issue. Well in
many regards that's a city of municipal issue, with some
funding also coming or not coming from the state, but
also not coming.

Speaker 13 (17:37):
In from the federal level.

Speaker 12 (17:38):
We've seen the President currently say that there will be
resources withheld from institutions that include HBCUs across the country
for his bogus policies or lack their roof for that matter,
if there's never a reason that they're withholding billions from
billions blue.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
States in blue cities.

Speaker 12 (17:56):
Yeah, and being very intentional with saying, if they're democratic cities,
we're not going to give them the money. If they're
democratic initiatives, we're not going to give them the money.

Speaker 13 (18:06):
And that's absolutely nonsensical.

Speaker 12 (18:08):
So again, y'all, if there was ever a time for
us to be fired up, if there was ever a
time for us to feel as if our ancestors are
depending on us, if there was ever a time for
us to stop seeing the nonsense that we're not like
our ancestors, because they fought a.

Speaker 13 (18:22):
Lot harder than many of us will ever think about doing.

Speaker 12 (18:25):
It's now we have to ensure that your cousin, your mom,
your niece, your nephew, your auntie, everybody in your family
needs to be registered to vote and then going to vote,
because that's the first leg of the marathon. And then
after we get that baton, we run in the city
council meetings, were running the school board meetings. We show
up to committee meetings, at the state appropriation meetings. We

(18:47):
show up at the state House. We show up in
the governor's house to ensure that they're doing what they
say they're gonna do. We show up in our congressman's offices.
We need to be engaged. We don't have time to
play around and bes around. This institute wouldn't be here
unless we have people who are fighting for us. This
institution wouldn't get the nice dorms that we're working on.
We wouldn't have this new building that we have with

(19:09):
our people like Eldon Burton and President of Abdulah working.

Speaker 13 (19:12):
To secure funds for us.

Speaker 12 (19:13):
So, y'all, the least that we can do is go
and fight and show up.

Speaker 8 (19:18):
Janelle, Jenelle, what Wess just laid out. What I always
say is we have to make this personal to each
and every single person. That's literally how we have to
communicate it. And it's not party granted, I know you're
on the Democratic Committee. What I tell people this ain't
a party thing. It's an issue thing. And then the

(19:38):
question then becomes who supports your issues of the multiple issues,
and so it's a stark contrast between frankly Democrats and Republicans.

Speaker 14 (19:49):
So I'll give you an example, when some series is
running for governor, they have her on record that she
broke the tie opposing contraceptives, not abortion. Contraceptives, condoms, Plan B,

(20:09):
birth control pills are UD's. Those are all things that
you use to prevent pregnancy. They are already put on
the board. They don't want you to have an abortion,
So why would you oppose anything to get to keep
you from getting to the point of abortion. So these
are the things that goes against everything that I believe

(20:30):
in as a woman. How can you tell me I
can't have those kind of things to protect me?

Speaker 13 (20:36):
So why would we want.

Speaker 14 (20:38):
To vote for a party that is so opposed to
things on our behalf? What about there's other policies that
they have, like they don't want to do EPA.

Speaker 13 (20:49):
We need EPA, especially in the brown and black community.

Speaker 8 (20:52):
Well, first of all, look, one of the things that
Trump did, he canceled. You had massive flooding, sewage backing
up in the homes, in the homes in the yards
of black families in Lowends County.

Speaker 4 (21:03):
They canceled that it was a settlement under Biden Harris.
They cancel.

Speaker 8 (21:06):
They're calling it an illegal DEI settlement. You got black
folks who are dying in cancer alley in Louisiana.

Speaker 4 (21:12):
The federal government.

Speaker 8 (21:13):
Trump pulled the federal government out of the lawsuit against
those companies folks that they're dying.

Speaker 4 (21:18):
I just had a sister m from Mississippi just the
other day.

Speaker 8 (21:21):
They're battling a chemical battling a chemical company as well.
What's happening there the turbines of Elon Musk in Memphis,
that's affecting the air they're in Memphis, and Trump's that
They're like, you could do whatever you want, and so
they don't actually care. So they don't care about the
breathing of the breathing of black folks, the quality of
the air, all those different things. And they even call

(21:43):
environmental racism DEI. So what you're seeing is a complete
just betrayal of folks and for them. Even though the
state of Alabama voted for him, he don't give a
damn about those black.

Speaker 4 (21:55):
Folks in Lowds County.

Speaker 8 (21:56):
And again that's our folks, and that's how we help
me thinking about public polace.

Speaker 18 (22:01):
Well just for real quick, like so folks understand EPA,
environment Environmental Protection Agents, so like y'all understand, like that
is the air quality where we live, everything to do
with the environment, water, everything, Lowndes County, Alabama, just like
a really quick history lesson like that is arguably the
birthplace of the Black Panther Party, Like HUEP.

Speaker 13 (22:21):
Newton, Bobby Seal.

Speaker 12 (22:22):
They looked to Stokely Carmichael, who organized in Lowndes County
and Alabama to ensure that black folk were registered to
vote nineteen sixty six nineteen sixty seven, did phenomenal work there.

Speaker 8 (22:32):
That what people who don't know the original Black Panther
Party was a political prede in Alabama.

Speaker 4 (22:37):
Correct, and then and.

Speaker 12 (22:39):
Then went out to Oakland, right, they got their basically
what they wanted to do from there. So, like y'all,
all of this is tied to us. But this is
why it's important again for us to understand our history.
Like these things are also just repeating themselves. We've had
individuals who serve in the highest seats in certain states,
say segregation now, segregation forever. And now you see individuals

(23:02):
literally taking away provisions to ensure that our folk have
access to healthy living. Not that they want to hand out,
not that they want anything that's going to allow them
to be better than someone else, just healthy equal living.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
Y'all.

Speaker 12 (23:14):
We have to pay attention, but also we have to
be engaged. We cannot afford to just sit and stand idle.
We can't afford to just tweet about it. We can't
afford to make a TikTok about it. We can't afford
to just talk about this on Instagram. This requires action,
Like all of this everything in which we're talking about
requires all hands on deck. And you vote at the ballot,

(23:38):
but you use your feet in your hands to put
in the work.

Speaker 4 (23:41):
Hey, Arnie, let me jump in real quickly, real quickly.

Speaker 19 (23:44):
With that.

Speaker 15 (23:44):
It's not only about knowing the past, but also about
knowing the future. So if you talk about the EPA
and the water, one of the biggest things on a
lot of people's agenda is data centers and how data
centers will be affecting the water usage as well as
the quality of living.

Speaker 8 (23:57):
And we see on so we say, for folk who
don't know, we talk abou these data centers. Everybody's talking
about AI. But those data centers require a massive amount
of water, electricity, and energy.

Speaker 15 (24:10):
But see to think about it as I see if
we're trying to get them here in Petersburg, because it would.

Speaker 13 (24:14):
Greatly help our tax base and lowering versus.

Speaker 15 (24:17):
Louding County, who's one of the richest counties in Virginia
that's oversaturated with them.

Speaker 13 (24:22):
They never needed them.

Speaker 15 (24:23):
Push back the rich people didn't want them near them,
but they'll put it in our neighborhoods and they have
to be in certain locations.

Speaker 13 (24:29):
But the AI generation is not going to stop.

Speaker 4 (24:32):
It's it's not going to stop.

Speaker 8 (24:33):
But on that particular point, though, you got to have
environmental standards because there are towns in Louisiana and Texas
where they right now they are freaking out.

Speaker 4 (24:47):
Because of the massive water usage.

Speaker 8 (24:49):
Sure, so the data centers are drawing so much water
in one place in Texas is causing rationing all across
these towns. So it's one thing to say it's going
to impact the property base, but then what then happens?
Don't have enough water?

Speaker 4 (25:05):
So what's the balance?

Speaker 13 (25:06):
Well, to me, the balance is is it right for
the people? And this is what the people come out.

Speaker 15 (25:10):
I don't want to make a vote for thirty four
thousand people without understanding what does the will of the
people want. And this is why I'm going out door
to door and I talk to people and that this
is just one major issue of the future. But it's
also Petersburg, Virginia has ranked number ten, I mean, excuse me,
for ten years straight the unhealthiest place in the state
of Virginia and to me that that's a problem of
why is it that we can't get these things moving ahead.

(25:32):
It's because I think more people are depending on that
person to come out to skuy to save us, instead
of we come into those city council meetings. We go
and talking to the legislator so that we can change
the homeless rate, the poverty rate, help out with social services,
all these things, as well as education because our education
system is suffering.

Speaker 13 (25:48):
But again it's only suffering because we have to be
more involved.

Speaker 4 (25:51):
Janielle Pinn'm com in.

Speaker 14 (25:52):
Yes, I will say with the Data Center's coming to Petersburg,
is more important to have the EPA to be solid,
not withdrawn, because if that does come, what's going.

Speaker 4 (26:03):
To protect the peace?

Speaker 8 (26:05):
You can forget the federal EPA right So no, no, no,
What that means is you're gonna have to have a
strong state environmental.

Speaker 14 (26:12):
Prerect So that is why it's important that we vote
the right people in. As our governor Abigail Sparenberger, our
lieutenant governor got Hashmi, I don't want to mess up
her first name, and Attorney General Jay Jones, and yes
I did say Jay Jones, and our General Assemble Delegate Kimberly,

(26:36):
Pope Adams.

Speaker 15 (26:37):
But not to take away from that, also who you
put on council because then we elect the local e
p A.

Speaker 13 (26:42):
And if you put those people on board.

Speaker 4 (26:44):
So when so, when is the next city council election?

Speaker 13 (26:46):
Tuesday?

Speaker 4 (26:46):
This is coming to next year?

Speaker 13 (26:48):
Oh next year? Excuse me, next year?

Speaker 4 (26:51):
Excuse you got it.

Speaker 8 (26:52):
You see, that's what I'm saying. You got to get
see selection. This year's year. All right, give the panel, folks,
thank you.

Speaker 4 (27:00):
I'm gonna go to a break.

Speaker 7 (27:01):
We come back.

Speaker 8 (27:02):
We're gonna chat with the tongs Runnie bit Clark, who
was chairing the Congression of Blackhawk.

Speaker 4 (27:05):
As you watching Rolling Morton unfiltered right here the.

Speaker 8 (27:07):
Black Start Network live from the campbel of Virginia State
University in Petersburg, Virginia.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
Back in a moment.

Speaker 20 (27:25):
M hm m hm h.

Speaker 4 (27:30):
M hm m h m h.

Speaker 20 (27:34):
M hm m hm m h.

Speaker 13 (27:39):
M hm m hm.

Speaker 15 (27:52):
Hm.

Speaker 9 (27:56):
The Afro Tech it's a lot of beauty, a lot
of brilliance, a lot into like a lot of innovation.

Speaker 4 (28:03):
Companies that are most diverse are more profitable.

Speaker 21 (28:06):
We're getting culture, we're getting community, We're getting the best
of the best.

Speaker 22 (28:10):
Not only are we here to greet each other, but
we're here to network and to elevate each other.

Speaker 23 (28:17):
Everybody from all the major tech companies here, and that
means that now everybody's in the same domain.

Speaker 13 (28:28):
This is the premiere event every year.

Speaker 4 (28:30):
This is really where we could take off. You can
go fast by yourself, where we go farther together.

Speaker 16 (28:36):
This is where you're supposed to be.

Speaker 5 (28:42):
This week.

Speaker 24 (28:43):
On the other side of change, book bands, anti intellectualism,
and Trump's continued war on wisdom.

Speaker 25 (28:49):
This is a coordinated backlash to progress. At the end
of the day, conservatives realize that they couldn't win a
debate on facts. They started using our language against us.
Right when we were all woke and the woke movement
and all that kind of stuff, Now everything is anti woke.
Right when we were talking about including diversity, equity, inclusion,
and higher education, now it's anti d All this our

(29:10):
efforts to suppress the truth, because truth empowers people.

Speaker 10 (29:14):
You're watching the Other Side of Change only on the
Blackstar Network.

Speaker 14 (29:19):
Hello, Hello, Hello, I'm Jerry Johnson from Harlem on Prime
and you're watching the Black Star Network.

Speaker 8 (29:42):
All right, thoughts, we're alive here, but juniors thank University
of Petersburg, Florida. Glad to be here focusing on, of course,
the election in just a couple of weeks. But while
this is happening, of course, the federal government shutdown continues,
and we're still seeing the impact of healthcare. That's the
dominant issue that we're seeing has caused you Democrats say
they're not going to cooperate with Republicans until this is address.

(30:03):
Joining us right now as a chair of the Congression
of Black Congress Congress Congression Black Cocus comes from my.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
Evac walk because iman, how you diamans for evac walk?

Speaker 1 (30:11):
Because I how you diamands?

Speaker 5 (30:12):
Eve great to be with you and your audience.

Speaker 4 (30:18):
If you hear it, I can't hear all right, come on,
can you.

Speaker 5 (30:22):
Hear hear me?

Speaker 20 (30:24):
Now?

Speaker 4 (30:33):
All right? She's going in and out folks, all right,
she's going in it all right, So consma keep talking.

Speaker 5 (30:40):
Can you hear me now?

Speaker 17 (30:43):
All right?

Speaker 4 (30:44):
I can hear you now, I can hear you now.

Speaker 13 (30:46):
Uh so.

Speaker 8 (30:47):
So, so first off, again, we are entering. We're now
heading towards a third week.

Speaker 4 (30:53):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (30:53):
House Speaker Mike Johnson still will not call Democrats intercession.

Speaker 21 (30:57):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (30:57):
And what do you hear from your constituent.

Speaker 8 (31:00):
Are they standing behind you and know the CBC members
holding out with this governor shut down over this show healthcare.

Speaker 19 (31:08):
Absolutely my constituency here in Brooklyn, New York very clear
on the imperative here.

Speaker 5 (31:16):
They recognize that this is non negotiable.

Speaker 19 (31:21):
And when we say non negotiable, we mean that we
must address this healthcare crisis without our work and support
and getting this as part of the negotiation. There is
no trust in the Republican Congress, in the Republican White

(31:41):
House that they will come to the rescue.

Speaker 5 (31:45):
This is a five alarm fire.

Speaker 19 (31:49):
We recognize that so much is going on in terms
of attacks from the Trump administration and the enabling of
that by Republicans and Congress. However, we know that at
the heart of everything is good health. Without our health,

(32:10):
nothing else really can can happen.

Speaker 5 (32:14):
And the idea of.

Speaker 19 (32:16):
Having twenty million people who have currently have health insurance
for that to be out of their reach within the
next two months is too much to bear.

Speaker 10 (32:31):
And so.

Speaker 19 (32:33):
Constitution here in New York City and Brooderly bit of
this fight and they support it wholeheartedly.

Speaker 8 (32:43):
Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary, sent out this tweet today
that thought was interesting.

Speaker 4 (32:48):
He said.

Speaker 8 (32:48):
Open enrollment for the ACA planes became yesterday. In Idaho,
one couple got noticed that their monthly premium next year
would jump from fifty one dollars to two thousand, two
hundre than thirty two dollars as subs thees expired. Twenty
five thousand Idaho ends are expected to be priced out
of coverage. This is what's at stake in Trump shut down.

(33:09):
And one of the things that I said, I said
this to DNC Chair Ken Martin yesterday. I said to
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democratic Leader how King Jeffries, It's one
thing having politicians talk about what's going on, but you've
got to put a face on it. And if I'm Democrats,
I'm chasing this couple down. I want them in front
of a camera. I want them in front of a
mic because that resonates a lot more in a much

(33:33):
bigger way than I think an elected official doing it.

Speaker 4 (33:35):
So how are you?

Speaker 8 (33:37):
How are you also emphasizing that having affected people being
out front talking about the impact of an increasing health
care any health care subfertience and jacking up other health
care costs, other health care costs other.

Speaker 19 (33:53):
You aware that you know the House of Representatives has
not been called back into session by Speaker Johnson, but
Democrats have been going back to Washington each week of
this shutdown, and in each week we've had a public
press conference on the steps of the House of Representatives

(34:14):
with individuals from across this country who are telling their
stories about how the ACA meets the needs of their
families and what this increase in fees in deductibles in
there for purchasing in the marketplace will mean in terms

(34:36):
of their ability to even access that care. For so
many of those who came to either testify it some
of the steering and policy hearing that we've been having
as well as at our press conferences, this would mean
that they would eventually have to drop their coverage because

(34:58):
they won't be able.

Speaker 5 (34:59):
To afford it.

Speaker 19 (35:00):
With the skyrocketing costs of living all the way around,
add to that the quadrupling in many cases of their
deductibles for their for their access to healthcare.

Speaker 5 (35:15):
Folks just can't afford it.

Speaker 19 (35:16):
And they are with us, standing with us, telling their
stories so that we can put a face to what
this actually means. And I think most Americans understand what
it means they're getting letters in the mail too. These
letters are going out across this nation as we speak,
and folks understand, uh, what's what's before us? And again,

(35:40):
the encouragement that we are receiving is enormous in terms
of people understanding why it's critical that we prevail with
our colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

Speaker 5 (35:54):
So to fix this crisis.

Speaker 8 (35:58):
Let me swish another issue you, and that dealing with
the oral arguments yesterday for the Supreme Court. Based upon
the questions they raised, we're potentially going to see this
court rule against Section two and we could see anywhere
from twelve to thirty congressional seats wiped out of African
Americans and Latinos. We're talking about destroying black political power,

(36:19):
especially in the South. And just just your thoughts after yesterday's.

Speaker 5 (36:24):
Oral arguments, it's just disgraceful.

Speaker 19 (36:28):
I had a number of CBC members actually seated in
the court for the entire proceeding and their takeaway is
that the Supreme Court is actually looking for a way
to put an end to Section two of the Voting
Rights Act, essentially rendering the Voting Rights Act a relic

(36:51):
of our history. That would be devastating, devastating across this nation.
It would be just a travel in terms of the
history of this country, the vives that were put on
the line to secure voting rights for people of African descent,

(37:12):
and as you rightly stated, the disappearing of a number
of members who were elected by the voting through the
Voting Rights Act to represent constituencies across this nation. Many
people don't realize it, but the City of New York

(37:34):
was governed by the Voting Rights Act, so that people
the diversity of who we are, particularly African Americans who
have been prohibited from voting for so long, would have
the opportunity in the wake of obtaining the franchise to
elect individuals who come from their lived experiences, who they

(37:57):
find affinity with in terms of power, let's see and
vision for inclusion and diversity in our in our nation
and equity and so UH, this would be a severe
blow not only to the voting rights movement, but to
civil rights in the United States of America. And so

(38:20):
we hope that those questions UH will not stand in
the way of doing what is right by.

Speaker 5 (38:28):
The American people. We know that living in a colorblind society.

Speaker 19 (38:33):
We know that right racism, bigotry, and hatred is on
the rise in America as we speak. And we also
know that in the wake of the lack of support
from the Supreme Court for Section five of the Voting
Rights Act, the moment that that provision was allowed to

(38:54):
lapse all across this nation, primarily in the South, with
out the preclearance, we saw the abuse of.

Speaker 5 (39:04):
Voting rights districts and voters in those districts.

Speaker 19 (39:08):
By the powers that be that had never really appreciated
the Voting Rights Act take action against communities of color.

Speaker 5 (39:19):
And so you know, we have got to raise our voices.

Speaker 19 (39:24):
We have got to make sure we're educated and informed
about what is going down. This one decision Louisiana versus
Calais will upend the Voting Rights Act as we know it.

Speaker 8 (39:39):
We know it, all right, con twenty bit Clark, appreciate
you joining us, Thanks a lot.

Speaker 5 (39:44):
Appreciate you. Thank you for having me Roland, having me Roland.

Speaker 4 (39:48):
All right, folks, we come back.

Speaker 8 (39:50):
We'll talk about some critical House racis happening here in
Virginia that will determine who controls the House of Delegates
in this state in the next for the next couple
of years. Of course you're watching Rolling Unfiltered with the
Black stud Network. Don't forget support the work that we do.
Join our Briena Funk Fan Club, our goals. They have
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(40:12):
month thirteen cents a day. Of course, what that does
is it funds all the efforts that we do. We're
gonna be traveling all around the country going to different
states in twenty twenty six, covering these critical elections.

Speaker 4 (40:22):
Whether it's you North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, of Florida, you
name it, We'll be on the road. So your support
is critical.

Speaker 8 (40:28):
If you want to contribute via cashat use a stripe
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(40:49):
six back in a moment.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
If in this country right now, you have people get
up in the morning and the only thing they can
think about is how many people they can hurt, and
they've got the power.

Speaker 6 (41:25):
That's the time for morning, for better or worse.

Speaker 26 (41:28):
What makes America special, it's that legal system that's supposed
to protect minorities from the tyranny of the majority.

Speaker 27 (41:36):
We are at a point of a moral emergency. We
must raise a voice of outrage. We must raise a
voice of compassion.

Speaker 20 (41:47):
And we must raise a voice of unity. We are
not in a crisis of party versus party.

Speaker 3 (41:55):
We are in a crisis of civilization, a human rights crisis,
and a crisis of democracy itself. And guess what, You've
been chosen to make sure that those that would destroy,
those that would hate, don't have the final say, and
they don't ultimately win.

Speaker 28 (42:14):
He said, the quiet part out loud. Black votes are
a threat, so they erased them. After the Supreme Court
gutted the Voting Rights Act in twenty thirteen, Republican legislatures
moved fast new voter id laws, polling place shutdowns, purges
of black voters from the rolls, Trump's Justice Department didn't
stop it. They joined in. In twenty eighteen, his DOJ

(42:38):
backed Ohio's voter purge system, a scheme that disproportionately erased
black voters. Their goal erase black votes and political power.

Speaker 13 (42:48):
Yeah, that happened.

Speaker 28 (42:49):
These are the kinds of stories that we cover every
day on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Subscribe on YouTube and download
the black Star Network app. Support fact based independent journalism
that centers African Americans and the issues that matter to
our community.

Speaker 4 (43:14):
Hello, we're the Credit Fixes.

Speaker 7 (43:16):
I'm doctor Naa Hadges, and I'm doctor Terrence Fergusson, and
you're tuning into Roland Martin.

Speaker 4 (43:20):
I'm kilted, all right, folks. Two years ago we traveled

(43:46):
around this state. My next guest was running for the
House of Dela Guess lost by fifty three votes.

Speaker 5 (43:53):
That what it was.

Speaker 8 (43:54):
And so now she is running again. Put your hands
together for kimblely Pope Adams.

Speaker 4 (44:04):
All right, so what are you going to do for
this time? The last time.

Speaker 16 (44:09):
Get fifty four more votes?

Speaker 4 (44:11):
How are you going to do that?

Speaker 8 (44:12):
I mean, so, I mean after last time, you know,
what assessment did you do looking at your campaign?

Speaker 4 (44:18):
And what assessment did you do to look at why
you lost. What did you do?

Speaker 9 (44:23):
Yes, well, first, I want to thank you for having me,
thank you for being here two years ago.

Speaker 4 (44:28):
And I will say this, I don't say that I lost.

Speaker 9 (44:31):
I say that I fell short because I learned so much.
And in the days after the election in twenty three,
it was actually my son. I have a seventeen year
old son. He was fifteen at the time. He said,
you know what, mommy, He said, championships are won in
the off season. He said, if you want to do
this again, you got to start now now. Admittedly I
didn't want to hear that at the time, but he

(44:53):
was right.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
He was right. So what I decided to do.

Speaker 9 (44:56):
I took a little time off for the holidays, but
once we got first of the year, I kept staying involved.
I kept meeting the voters. I volunteered on congressional campaigns.
I moderated town halls, I showed it up to community events.
I kept making sure that my community knew the importance
of voting. I've been doing that for two solid years

(45:18):
when I wasn't on the ballot, and I know that
it's going to pay off this time.

Speaker 8 (45:21):
Did you all show study the data in terms of
looking at those precincts, how many people are registered, how
many elder voters there are, how many actually turned out
in contracted on those areas in the show, What are
the three or four areas that you are targeting for.

Speaker 4 (45:37):
A big turnout.

Speaker 9 (45:38):
Yeah, So my district is four localities. One is the
city of Petersburg, very urban, very dense, very blue. The
other three localities are all rural, red leaning. When you
look at the voter turnout among the four different localities,
the lowest voter turnout was in the City of Petersburg.

Speaker 4 (45:59):
My race. How low we say, how good? Like, what
was the percentage? Thirty two percent? Thirty two percent? That
was the turnout.

Speaker 8 (46:06):
Yeah, and so I'm always talking about I keep using
seventy as a number. So if fifty percent turned out,
if forty percent turned out, you win.

Speaker 9 (46:17):
Yeah, we actually did the math afterwards if thirty eight
percent had turned out.

Speaker 8 (46:22):
But it's the point I'm making. I don't want forty
I don't want forty five. What I keep saying is
if we turn at turnout at seventy percent of our capacity, we.

Speaker 9 (46:32):
Sweep elections absolutely. Because here's one thing we all know
when black people show up.

Speaker 29 (46:38):
We win.

Speaker 4 (46:39):
When we vote, we win.

Speaker 5 (46:41):
We just got to show up.

Speaker 4 (46:42):
It's that simple.

Speaker 5 (46:43):
We've got to show up.

Speaker 4 (46:44):
So so, so, what have you been doing insane in
the last two years?

Speaker 8 (46:50):
This specifically this bird to say, Look, the only way
this happens if you actually vote yes.

Speaker 9 (46:57):
So what I've been doing is making sure people understand
the contract between myself and my opponent. Listen, my opponent
is looking out for herself, not looking out for us,
not looking out for our community. So every chance I get,
as I'm knocking doors and meeting voters, I'm telling them firsthand,
what did she vote on?

Speaker 4 (47:15):
How did she vote?

Speaker 9 (47:15):
I'm giving specific, concrete examples to the voters. I'm not
just talking about things in the abstract. I'm giving them
real life examples of times when she could have fought
for us and.

Speaker 4 (47:26):
Chose not to.

Speaker 9 (47:27):
Like what, oh, there was So the city of Petersburg
has a casino coming. We have a casino coming, and
my opponent supported legislation that would have forced the City
of Petersburg to share the revenue among five localities, five
localities that never fought for a casino, never showed any interests.

Speaker 8 (47:50):
So five other cities, yes, so the casino would be
in Petersburg. Yes, and so she wanted the money to
be shared with them. Yes, why you'd have to ask
her okay, go ahead.

Speaker 9 (48:03):
So when we found that out, we mobilized. I mean,
we wrote letters, We've reached out to the General Assembly.
We made sure that the people who were supporting that
bill knew how we felt about it.

Speaker 5 (48:15):
And it died. It died, it never, it did not pass.

Speaker 9 (48:18):
So because of our voices when we when we stood together,
we made sure they understood what was important to us.
And those are the examples that I make sure to
remind people when we are if we aren't looking, if
we aren't looking.

Speaker 4 (48:31):
They'll try it again. And the only way to ensure
that she.

Speaker 9 (48:34):
And others like her can't try it again is by
voting them out. Because our vote can do two things.
It can hire and it can fire.

Speaker 8 (48:41):
So running against the one is one thing, running for
as another. What are your priorities if elected?

Speaker 5 (48:47):
Yes?

Speaker 9 (48:47):
So, as I said, I'm a mother, my son's a
senior in high school, public high school, public school. Education
is very important to me. I believe we can invest
more than we currently do. I know the college isn't
for everyone. So I'm very much a supporter of the trades,
vocational technology.

Speaker 13 (49:03):
You know, vote well.

Speaker 9 (49:05):
When I was in school, we called it votech making
sure we have plumbers, welders, electricians, good paying jobs that
don't require a college degree.

Speaker 4 (49:14):
Also jobs that can be outsourced across the across the ocean.

Speaker 9 (49:18):
Absolutely, absolutely, when you teach someone a skill, when you
teach someone to trade, how to work with their hands,
that's that's theirs forever.

Speaker 4 (49:25):
So I want to make sure that we equip.

Speaker 9 (49:27):
Our public school students with the ability to take care
of themselves, not to need mounting student debt to have.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
To have a livelihood.

Speaker 4 (49:36):
What else, Oh, well, you.

Speaker 9 (49:39):
Know, in Virginia there are three constitutional amendments that are
that are coming back around. We voted the general assemblies
voted on them once and they've passed. However, in Virginia
you have to vote on them a second time before
it even.

Speaker 4 (49:51):
Makes it to the voter. And those three are marriage.

Speaker 9 (49:55):
Equality, reproductive freedom, and automatic restoration of rights. Right now,
Virginia is the only state in the United States where
you do not get your rights restored upon paying your
debt to society. You have to ask the governor specifically

(50:15):
and hope that the governor grants you back your rights.

Speaker 8 (50:17):
But also, folks who don't know that is a law
that dates back to the early nineteen hundreds and was
a racist law.

Speaker 4 (50:26):
It had absolute racist intent.

Speaker 8 (50:29):
The lawmaker that advanced had literally said, we're doing this
to keep the niggas from voting.

Speaker 9 (50:33):
This is a Jim Crow era legislation that we have
an opportunity to write as long as we come out
and vote.

Speaker 8 (50:41):
And so if it passes, if it passes for the
second time, then think it's put on a put on
the ballot in November.

Speaker 9 (50:47):
Yes, yes, So for those for those Republicans who voted
against it the first time, they weren't even voting against
the amendment. They were voting against our right as voters
to even decide on the matter. So we've got to
make sure that we not only keep our Democrat majority.

Speaker 5 (51:02):
But expand it so that we can vote.

Speaker 9 (51:04):
We can pass these amendments for the second time, so
that everyone in this room has the opportunity for themselves
vote on it next November.

Speaker 8 (51:10):
Don't know if your opponent has spoken on this, but
when the Biden Harris administration, they followed it's a letter
to a variety of states that showed that a number
of HBCUs were cheated out of up a thirteen billion
dollars in land grant money, and Virginia State is owed

(51:31):
two hundred and seventy seven point five million dollars. Now,
this has nothing to do with any new funding and
new request for funding. This is literally what this school
was cheated out of for that certain period of time.
If elected, are you going to sponsor legislation for that
to be for that touring seventy seven point five million

(51:53):
to be funded to Virginia State separate from any other
funding request.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (51:57):
Absolutely.

Speaker 9 (51:58):
And let me tell you, in Virginia we only have
two land grant universities, Virginia State University and Virginia Tech.
And I will tell you I'm an alum of Virginia Tech.

Speaker 4 (52:08):
And they got their money yep.

Speaker 8 (52:09):
And in fact, that money that was supposed to come
to Virginia State actually went to Virginia Tech.

Speaker 9 (52:15):
Yet I've seen firsthand, I've seen firsthand the stark difference
between the funding at Virginia Tech and here, and I
work here, full disclosure, I work here, and I know
that there is no better HBCU in the United States.
Of America than Virginia State University. So I will do
everything in my power to make sure we're made whole.

Speaker 4 (52:36):
Last question for you.

Speaker 8 (52:38):
Somebody out there they're like, okay, I get all of that.
I hear all of that, but they still are not focused.
They still are not interested in the voting. What do
you say to that person, that person who says, I
don't really think this stuff makes any difference to me.

Speaker 4 (52:54):
It has no impact on my life. Everything we do
is a choice.

Speaker 9 (53:00):
When we wake up every morning, we have to decide
do I want to think about just myself or do
I want to think about my community.

Speaker 13 (53:07):
Your vote is an opportunity to do both.

Speaker 9 (53:09):
You are doing something for yourself and you are also
doing something for everyone else around you. I can't stress
enough how your vote is not just one. When we
collectively decide what we're going to do, then anything is possible.
And I need people to understand that this is not
just about today. This is about next week, next year,

(53:31):
next decade. Because if we don't elect the right people,
the policies they put in place today are going to
impact us for a generation. So we have to think
about what do you want today? What do you want tomorrow.
What do you want ten years from now?

Speaker 8 (53:46):
All right, folks, is the eighty second House district. Let's
put your hands together for Kimley Pope Adams. I appreciate it.
Gotta go to a quick break. I'll be right back
right here. Roland Mark on a filter in the black study.
Now we're live in Virginia State University.

Speaker 4 (54:01):
Back of the moment, the Afro Tech.

Speaker 9 (54:32):
It's a lot of beauty, a lot of brilliance, a
lot of intellect, a lot of innovation.

Speaker 4 (54:37):
Companies that are most diverse are more profitable.

Speaker 21 (54:40):
We're getting culture, we're getting community, We're getting the best
of the best. Not only are we here to greet
each other, but.

Speaker 4 (54:46):
We're here to network and to elevate each other.

Speaker 23 (54:51):
Everybody from all the major tech companies here and that
means that now everybody's in the same domain.

Speaker 13 (55:02):
This is de premiere event every year.

Speaker 4 (55:05):
This is really where we can take off. You can
go fast by yourself, where we go farther together.

Speaker 16 (55:10):
This is where you're supposed to.

Speaker 3 (55:11):
Be if in this country right now, you have people
get up in the morning and the only thing they
can think about is how many people they can hurt.

Speaker 4 (55:25):
And they've got the power.

Speaker 6 (55:27):

Speaker 26 (55:29):

Speaker 15 (55:38):
We are at a.

Speaker 27 (55:39):
Point of a moral emergency. We must raise a voice
of outrage. We must raise a voice of compassion, and
we must raise.

Speaker 4 (55:50):
A voice of unity. We are not in a crisis
of party versus party.

Speaker 3 (55:56):
We are in a crisis of civilization, a humans rights crisis,
at a crisis of democracy itself. And guess what, You've

Speaker 4 (56:16):
Far qour executive producer, A proud family. You're watching Roland
Martin unfiltered.

Speaker 8 (56:53):
All right, folks, welcome back to We're going to Stay University.
I am glad to be back here. Nine years ago
I gave a min's been addressed here at the Virginia
at Virginia State and we had a great, great time there.
So let's welcome our next guest, the president of this university,
my al for brother.

Speaker 4 (57:13):
Put y'all hands together. Y'all know him well, Doctor.

Speaker 17 (57:16):
Nicola o'p doing it.

Speaker 8 (57:20):
This is a so we're talking about our voices, our vote,
and this is the thing that people understand.

Speaker 4 (57:27):
This is the state school. This taxpayer money.

Speaker 17 (57:29):
That's right.

Speaker 8 (57:30):
So black folks have been spending money, have been paying taxes,
sales tax, property tax, vehicle tax, all of this, and
we expect our institutions to be as well funded as
University of Virginia, Virginia.

Speaker 4 (57:46):
Tech and others.

Speaker 30 (57:47):
That's right, that's right. And I think the key is
you talked about it earlier. You talked about what a
difference four hundred students makes. We're about almost six thousand
students now about fifty eight hundred students. If you count
faculty and staff, then almost close to seven thousand. If
the people at Virginia State University vote in local elections,
whether it's Petersburg or Chesterfield County, they can swing every

(58:08):
election right in our local area. And regardless of who
they vote for, the issue becomes them. And if the
issue becomes them, then the issue becomes Virginia State University.
So we're not red or blue. We're orange and blue
Virginia State. And we're voting on the issue of the issue.

Speaker 4 (58:24):
And the thing is in many of these places. Let's
just be honest. They're scared of hbc is.

Speaker 8 (58:30):
You take North Carolina, the Republicans there literally split North
Carolina A and.

Speaker 4 (58:36):
T into two congressional districts, which is insane.

Speaker 8 (58:40):
I mean, I don't know how you split a college
campus because they did not want just what you described.

Speaker 4 (58:46):
They did not want a mass turnout.

Speaker 8 (58:48):
Of HBCU students determining who the member of Congress is
and for Priview Waller County, and they have been fighting
prayer View students for the longest. Because Preview students voted
their numbers, they could control the entire County Commissioner's Court.

Speaker 30 (59:06):
Look, our institution was built on that kind of political activism.
You just had Kimberly Pope Adams here. She works at
Virginia State University, but her seat was formerly held by
the founder of Virginia State University, Alfred W. Harris, the
first black congressman in the Commonwealth of Virginia held Jennifer
McClelland see John Mercer Langston. He was the president of

(59:28):
Virginia State University. And so voting activism has always been
important at VSU. And that's why I'm so proud of
whether it's Arnold, Westbrook or west Bellamy, even though even
though they're not members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated.

Speaker 4 (59:42):
Couldn't get in.

Speaker 17 (59:43):
Everybody couldn't get in.

Speaker 13 (59:45):
But what I mean, it's shrut.

Speaker 17 (59:48):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 30 (59:48):
I'm sorry, but for us to not just have a dream,
but to have a plan, a strategic plan, to make
sure that we register our students and not for a
presidential election. Many times as universities, we get excited and
we get motivated around presidential elections. But to do it
for local elections I think is very important.

Speaker 8 (01:00:07):
And speaking of that, it was unfortunate that the twice
in Peach criminal convicted fellow then chief would not do
his second debate that was supposed to be I was on.

Speaker 30 (01:00:18):
Your show talking about the debate that was supposed to
happen here at Virginia State, in this facility, the first
presidential debate hosted by historically black college.

Speaker 17 (01:00:27):
It didn't happen.

Speaker 30 (01:00:29):
But again, all of that and all of this is
to continue to motivate young people to vote.

Speaker 8 (01:00:33):
And so I started off this conversation the same way
because I need people to understand when you talk about,
all right, these are the things that we want for
Virginia State, we want for Norfolk, but also how you
can impact even private hbc US in this state. It's
state funded, right, state funding squeaky wheels against the most grease.

(01:00:55):
And so when folk have to understand that when the
election is over, I keep saying that's the in the
one process at the beginning of another. The reality is
you just can't be you and your administration and a
few alumni can't be the only ones showing up in Richmond.
You've got to have people in this city, alumni others,

(01:01:15):
not just on one day, but consistently pounding the door saying,
y'all had better make sure that when you take care
of University of Virginia and Virginia Tech, you better be
taking care of Virginia State as well as Norfolk.

Speaker 4 (01:01:29):
And our folk got to realize that you need that
level of support.

Speaker 30 (01:01:33):
That's right, and you being here as an adjunct professor
here at Virginia State University tonight and having your guests
who have sat in front here and talked to the
students so they could see who the candidates are, and
so after they win or lose or win that we
can continue to hold them accountable to make sure that
financial aid is on the is on a dock, that

(01:01:55):
more capital funds are on the docks, so these students
have the buildings that they need to be educate. All
of those things are critically important. So again that work
is being done down and we.

Speaker 13 (01:02:04):
Thank you for it.

Speaker 8 (01:02:04):
So look, we talked and we talk about and again
I think a lot of people don't just really don't realize. Look,
it was very easy for me to be able to
log on to your wireless guest account, but they are
eighty percent of HBCUs in America are Wi Fi deserts.

Speaker 4 (01:02:23):
Yeah, I mean we talked about food deserts.

Speaker 8 (01:02:25):
So we're talking about a lot of a lot of these,
a lot of universe, especially private HBCUs. You've got buildings
that some campus I think when I was talking to
the former president of Fisk, they were building their first
new campus since the Eisenhower administration.

Speaker 4 (01:02:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, those nineteen.

Speaker 30 (01:02:42):
Sixty I think one of the critical things is that
we continue to support each other. There's really no difference
between a public and a private HBCU. You know, we
compete with Norfolk State and Virginia Union and sometimes Hampton
on Saturdays for football or maybe for basketball, but every
other day of the week with the same institution, and
we have to lobby together, we have to move together

(01:03:03):
because we served the same mission to educate our kids.

Speaker 8 (01:03:07):
But it goes beyond just black students of HBCUs, of
non black student population.

Speaker 4 (01:03:13):
And we saw with the lawsuit in Maryland how.

Speaker 8 (01:03:17):
The HBCUs were getting creative with majors that were attracting
non black students.

Speaker 4 (01:03:22):
And then what did the state do.

Speaker 8 (01:03:24):
They allowed these pwis to have duplicate programming, and so
they said, well, look, if I got a choice between
going to Morgan State and going to University of Maryland,
I'm gonna go to University of Maryland. And they had
that lawsuit, and sure you had, you had the settlement,
but it should have been a two billion dollar settlement
as opposed to the actual settlement that was signed. I

(01:03:45):
don't think a lot of folks really understand how from
the day HBCUs were founded, they were underfunded from day one.

Speaker 17 (01:03:56):
That's correct, that's correct.

Speaker 30 (01:03:57):
We are the fourth oldest public institution in the Commonwealth
of Virginia, UVA, Virginia Tech, and VMI. But if you
look at our campus and our campus facilities, we got
buildings one hundred years older than some of the other
institutions in the Commonwealth. And so when you talk about infrastructure,

(01:04:17):
when you talk about investment, I think it's clear that
our HBCUs have been underfunded and we have to marshal
our political capital to make sure that we can correct
those problems.

Speaker 8 (01:04:26):
And again we talk about voting in matters and also
how do you come through The reality is if Democrats
control the House, you will still have Don Scott speak
of the House African American, the person controlling the money.

Speaker 4 (01:04:38):
Democrats control the Senate, that's Louise Lucas.

Speaker 8 (01:04:41):
If Spanberger beats Lieutenant governor, you're talking about democratic governor.
And guess what it's called return on investment. Fully expect
with that level of leadership, getting a two hundred seventy
seven point five million dollars should not be a problem.
And our responsibilities is to put pressure on those three
to say where to check.

Speaker 30 (01:05:04):
Well, Look, it's it's important for me to say, mister
Martin that whether they're Democrats or Republicans that win, that
we have to make sure that HBCUs are on the
table all the time we have had. Now having said that,
We've had incredible support. Uh Don Scott, the Speaker of
the House, and the House of Delegates have been wonderful.
Louise Lucas, the President of pro Tem of the Senate,

(01:05:24):
and the Senate have been wonderful supporting Virginia State University.

Speaker 17 (01:05:27):
The governor has supported Virginia State University.

Speaker 30 (01:05:30):
And so we believe in all of those who support
Virginia State University and the education of our young people.

Speaker 4 (01:05:35):
But I want more. No, I mean because and I don't.
I it ain't like being reedy is well deserved.

Speaker 30 (01:05:46):
A good friend of mine said, we want our unfair share.
We want more and more importantly, not that we want more.
They deserve more, right, right, our students deserve more.

Speaker 8 (01:05:57):
We are seeing massive chade on the federal level, Department
of Education cuts left and right. We're seeing attacks on
universities literally being extorted to sign pledges. We just saw
another university, another Ivy League school till the Trump illustration.

Speaker 4 (01:06:13):
No, we're not signing, not signing that deal.

Speaker 8 (01:06:17):
How have you had to navigate the crazy terrain that
we now see happening coming out of Washington, d C.

Speaker 30 (01:06:24):
Sir as a university president, and I would say this
across the board. For all of my colleagues, we've always
had had to advocate, whether it's at the State House
or in DC. Sometimes we work with friends people who
love our HBCUs, and sometimes we work with people that
don't love our HBCUs. But our jobs are to make
sure that we can gather all as much of the
resources that we can so that our kids can go

(01:06:45):
to school.

Speaker 8 (01:06:46):
That's critical when you see slashing pail grants, things along
those lines. Same thing is one of those things that
people don't understand. That sure, when you hear of Republicans
in Congress say, oh, how we need to cut these
things out. People not understanding the cost of education has

(01:07:08):
exploded in the last thirty years. You can't when I
hear when I hear these idiots on Fox to Dows
talk about when they were in college, I'm like, full,
the credit hour when you were in college isn't even remotely.

Speaker 4 (01:07:20):
The same extra is today.

Speaker 5 (01:07:22):
That's right.

Speaker 8 (01:07:22):
So you can act like, oh, just go get a
job at a fast food restaurant that's gonna pay, that's
gonna pay your credit.

Speaker 4 (01:07:28):
That ain't happening.

Speaker 17 (01:07:29):
The world has changed.

Speaker 30 (01:07:31):
I like to say there's five partners who help us
educate young people. There's a young people in their families themselves. Uh,
there's the university in terms of trying to keep tuition low. Uh,
there's the state government. There's the federal government, and that's
private philanthropy. The federal government assists in higher education with
the pail grant and.

Speaker 17 (01:07:47):
Access to loans. And if if the Paeil grant doesn't grow.

Speaker 30 (01:07:51):
With inflation, and it hasn't, then those who said they
used to be able to work their way through college
and get a peil grant, you can't do that now.
And if the federal government removes certain access from our
students to get loans, then they also won't be able
to go to school to get the capital that they
need to go to school. And so it's important that
everyone looks at these very important issues, especially our students,

(01:08:13):
and votes towards those issues.

Speaker 8 (01:08:16):
Granted, this is a four year institution, but one of
the things that we are seeing and you heard Kimuny
Pope Adams talk about it, and I actually was discussing
it's about on my TV one show I got fifteen
years ago. When we talk about trades, the reality is
and this is hard for some people to do. Everybody

(01:08:37):
is not meant to go to four year institutions.

Speaker 17 (01:08:38):
Oh for sure.

Speaker 8 (01:08:39):
Sixty five percent of the jobs in this country actually
are trained by community colleges. Yes, but seeing you a
community college graduate ain't as sexy.

Speaker 4 (01:08:49):
But it's not a matter of fact. I remember I
was interviewing.

Speaker 8 (01:08:52):
Actually, I was a part of a conversation with then
Vice President Joe Biden, and he made that particular point.

Speaker 4 (01:08:57):
He's like, yeah, you.

Speaker 8 (01:08:58):
Don't hear parents like, oh, why maybe facing from community
college because it's an ego, it's an a steam thing.
But the reality is supposed to come in with massive
bounts of debt, not be able to get jobs. And
so we flipped the other way when completely got rid
of locations. And again, I don't care how much money
you making. Listen, I ain't dealing with no stopped up toilet.

Speaker 4 (01:09:21):
Look.

Speaker 8 (01:09:21):
Look, and when the power don't work, I ain't trying
to go to get electrocuted.

Speaker 17 (01:09:26):
I have no problem with the trades.

Speaker 30 (01:09:30):
I firmly agree that every young person and young at
hard person that's what I call old people.

Speaker 17 (01:09:36):
Everybody doesn't need to go to college.

Speaker 30 (01:09:37):
Some people should go to get an associate's degree, there's
someone who don't need to go to college at all.

Speaker 17 (01:09:42):
I don't have a problem with the argument.

Speaker 30 (01:09:44):
The only thing I have a problem with is some
of those who make the argument they're making it just
for my kid, see, and I don't like that.

Speaker 8 (01:09:51):
Well, and that actually was one of the reasons actually
when they went away, because in the seventies, coming out
of segregation, you had trades and all the schools black
students were being pushed that's right, the trades, that's pushed
away from four years. That's right, parents rebel and if
people want to understand history, that literally was a thirty

(01:10:11):
year fight at Hampton. Look when General Armstrong found it,
hampted it. He wanted black He wanted the children of
the children that came out of slavery to be trained
in agriculture.

Speaker 4 (01:10:22):
The black parents are like, oh, hell.

Speaker 8 (01:10:24):
No, we want sciences, law whatever. So that was a
thirty year battle at Hampton. So we saw that after
Jim Crow with trades and so they got wiped out
of schools.

Speaker 4 (01:10:34):
But then the problem is they got totally taken out.
That's right, that's so there was no ballance.

Speaker 30 (01:10:38):
You know, the trades need to exist, and many of
our kids need to be in the trades. But I
am not gonna take that message from someone who doesn't respect,
to understand or appreciate my kids. Who are gonna give
them that message when they're gonna send their own kids
to college. Don't tell me that college isn't for them,
but it's for yours, right, Tell me that.

Speaker 4 (01:10:56):
Right, absolutely absolutely. Last question for you and and and
that is we are operating in this athletic n I
L world. Sure you've got you've got a bill Uh that.

Speaker 8 (01:11:14):
N C douaa others are pushing and then they are
they want HBCUs.

Speaker 4 (01:11:18):
To get behind the bill to score act.

Speaker 31 (01:11:21):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:11:21):
And in looking at that, I have some fundamental issues
with it.

Speaker 8 (01:11:28):
Then I just saw Uh. I just saw something just
earlier today. Uh, folks coming out opposing it.

Speaker 13 (01:11:34):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (01:11:34):
And so uh have you weighed in hasty state weighed
in on this uh in terms of uh, this ni
L bill trying to get Congress to limit how students
get paid well.

Speaker 30 (01:11:46):
First, before I address that, and since this is the
last question, I better say my wife's name, doctor Abdua.
The first lady is probably Wise Virginia State University.

Speaker 4 (01:11:54):
You know she doesn't play any sports and well, she
and she's not doing that.

Speaker 30 (01:11:58):
No, she's not here, she's at her here, but she's
watching though, h you better give us she's watching.

Speaker 17 (01:12:01):
So I did that. I have weight in. Look, I
don't know all the details of the score Act, but
I do know this.

Speaker 30 (01:12:09):
I believe that young particularly football and basketball players, particularly
those who sports to the predominantly African American, that they
deserve to get as much money as they can from
what they're doing. Now, if they do that, we're Division
two and we're a smaller school. Can we compete with
some of the Power five conferences?

Speaker 9 (01:12:28):
That know?

Speaker 1 (01:12:29):
But that's okay.

Speaker 30 (01:12:30):
Heck, I can't compete with them for coaches and sell
for faculty. I have to compete based on who our
institution is. But I don't want anything to slow down
our young black men and women from receiving the monies
from their actions. I don't want any of that. So
I don't know how that rhymes with the score Act. Oh,
but I've made my point.

Speaker 4 (01:12:48):
Cle I agree with one hundred percent what I do want.
I do want changes.

Speaker 8 (01:12:52):
I don't want these agents getting twenty percent of ripping
these folks off.

Speaker 4 (01:12:56):
I do believe there has to be some parameters there.

Speaker 8 (01:13:00):
But one of the points that I've made the folk
is that I would I would literally argue that ni
L is creating more annual wealth for black families than
any other area. If you just look at all of
a sudden, you've got highest kids coming out. And it

(01:13:21):
used to be the NFL. We was so used to,
Oh that kid want to get drafted so he can
by mama house. Mama get in the house as a freshman.
So it's changing the game economically. I just want to
make sure our brothers are getting financial literacy. Uh they're saving,
investing and not burning that money on cars, cars, cars

(01:13:43):
and jewelry. And understand how that's life changing money in
case you never even make it to the NFL. But yeah,
all the folks who want to stop it, I'm like,
y'all ain't trying to cut no coaching.

Speaker 17 (01:13:52):
Salary exactly exactly, So I agree with you.

Speaker 30 (01:13:55):
Financial literacy is important, but let's do nothing to even
even if they mess it.

Speaker 17 (01:14:00):
Up, they still deserve to have. I don't want to
mess it up. Oh yeah, even if they do, I
want to get all.

Speaker 8 (01:14:05):
The money they can absolutely do. I appreciate it, brother,
thanks a lot, No man, Thanks for coming, brother folks,
we come back. More candidates running for Virginia House. You're
watching rolling mock nonfilter right here in the Black Study
Network live at Virginia State University.

Speaker 4 (01:14:19):
Back in the moment.

Speaker 24 (01:14:46):
The anti intellectualism and Trump's continued war on wisdom.

Speaker 25 (01:14:49):
of the day, conservatives realized that they couldn't win a
debate on facts. They started using our language against us. Right,
remember when we were all woke and the woke movement
and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:15:03):
Now everything is anti woke.

Speaker 25 (01:15:05):
and higher education, Now it's antidi all this our efforts
to suppress the truth, because truth empowers people.

Speaker 10 (01:15:14):
You're watching the other side of change only on the
Blackstart Network.

Speaker 32 (01:15:19):
This week on a Balance Life for Doctor Jackie. We're
continuing our series of putting in the work a chef's Journey.
Are you an aspiring chef someone who already has a
business trying to figure out what your next steps will be,
who to talk to and how to get there?

Speaker 5 (01:15:33):
Well.

Speaker 32 (01:15:33):
On this week's show, our great guests and wonderful Chef
will talk to you about what means to discover your purpose,
your why of being in the kitchen and then knowing
how to put a business together.

Speaker 19 (01:15:44):
The menu controls everything, it determines The menu determines everything,
But the business plan is where you.

Speaker 4 (01:15:52):
Have to go back to when you get into the business.
At the end of the day. You know, social media
and TV, all of that.

Speaker 8 (01:15:57):
Stuff is cool, but you still have to run a business,
so you still have to be in relationship with people.

Speaker 6 (01:16:02):
That's all.

Speaker 32 (01:16:03):
Next on a Balance Life with Doctor Jackie Here on
Black Star Network.

Speaker 33 (01:16:10):
Hatred on the Streets. A horrific scene a white nationalists
rally that descended into deadly violence.

Speaker 4 (01:16:19):
White people are moving their their minds.

Speaker 34 (01:16:23):
As an angry pro Trump mob storms the US capital,
the sho We're about.

Speaker 4 (01:16:27):
To see the rise where I call white minority resistance.

Speaker 35 (01:16:30):
You have seen white folks in this country who simply
cannot tolerate black folks voting.

Speaker 34 (01:16:36):
I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of
violent denial.

Speaker 16 (01:16:41):
This is part of American history.

Speaker 34 (01:16:43):
Every time that people of color have made a progress,
whether real or symbolic, there has been but Carold Anderson
at every university calls white rage as a backlash.

Speaker 8 (01:16:53):
This is the rise of the proud boys and the
Boogaaloo boys America.

Speaker 4 (01:16:56):
There's going to be more of this.

Speaker 36 (01:17:00):
This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and
its attitudes because of the fear of.

Speaker 4 (01:17:07):
White people the food, that they're taking.

Speaker 8 (01:17:09):
Our jobs, they're taking our resources, they're taking our women.

Speaker 4 (01:17:13):
This is white feel.

Speaker 13 (01:17:29):
In this country right now.

Speaker 3 (01:17:31):
You have people get up in the morning and the
only thing they can think about is how many people
they can hurt.

Speaker 13 (01:17:37):
And they've got the power.

Speaker 6 (01:17:39):

Speaker 26 (01:17:41):
to protect.

Speaker 6 (01:17:46):
Minorities from the tyranny of the majority.

Speaker 27 (01:17:50):
We are at a point of a moral emergency. We
must raise a voice of outrage. We must raise a
voice of compassion.

Speaker 20 (01:18:01):

Speaker 3 (01:18:08):
We are in a crisis of civilization, a humans rights crisis,
and a crisis of democracy itself.

Speaker 4 (01:18:15):
And guess what, You've been chosen.

Speaker 3 (01:18:19):
To make sure that those that would destroy, those that
would hate, don't have the final say, and they don't
ultimately win.

Speaker 4 (01:18:28):
He said.

Speaker 28 (01:18:29):
The quiet part out loud. Black votes are a threat,
so they erased them. After the Supreme Court gutted the
Voting Rights Act in twenty thirteen, Republican legislatures moved fast
new voter ID laws, polling place shutdowns, purges of black
voters from the rolls. Trump's Justice Department didn't stop it.

(01:18:49):
They joined in. In twenty eighteen. Is DOJ backed Ohio's
voter perge system, a scheme that disproportionately erased Black voters.
Their goal erased black vote boats and political power.

Speaker 4 (01:19:02):
Yeah, that happened.

Speaker 28 (01:19:03):
These are the kinds of stories that we cover every
day on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Subscribe on YouTube and download
the Blackstar Network app. Support fact based independent journalism that
centers African Americans and the issues that matter to our community.

Speaker 30 (01:19:28):
I am Lavelle Crawford anywhere boats out to day because
I wanted to breathe, and.

Speaker 16 (01:19:33):
You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Speaker 8 (01:20:18):
All right, folks, welcome back to Virginia saying we got
three more got now at the house and right now.

Speaker 4 (01:20:26):
Deborah Gardner, she is running for District seventy six. Put
together for Deborah.

Speaker 8 (01:20:37):
Also joining us right here is Lindsey Dougherty Lindsey running
in District seventy five. Also, Mike Jones represents Virginia seventy
seventh district running as well, So all three are running.

Speaker 4 (01:20:55):
So first and foremost, I'll throw this out first.

Speaker 8 (01:20:58):
As you're traveling around your districts, what's the dominant issue
you are hearing from folks that they care about that's
most important.

Speaker 4 (01:21:08):
In their minds.

Speaker 19 (01:21:10):
Thank you, Roland, and thank you so much for having me.
I am currently in the House of Delegates, so I
still am knocking doors, just like I'm pretty in a
pretty safe district. And what I'm hearing from my constituents
is they're really worried. They're really afraid about what's happening
in Washington, mostly regarding the economy and healthcare, and so

(01:21:32):
we are trying to address some of those issues.

Speaker 4 (01:21:35):
In the House of Delegates.

Speaker 19 (01:21:36):
I'm actually on Health and Human Services as one of
my committees. I'm also on finance as a freshman. I'm
really proud of that, and so I'm.

Speaker 17 (01:21:44):
Able to hopefully leave some of their fears.

Speaker 19 (01:21:48):
But in our honesty, we're not like the federal government.

Speaker 13 (01:21:52):
We cannot make money.

Speaker 37 (01:21:56):
Yes, so one of the biggest things that I'm hearing
about just general affordability. A lot of it is around
accessibility and affordability of healthcare. It's something that me and
my family have faced over the years and comes up
on doors whether they're Democrats, Republicans, or independents. And so
I think that you know, all the things that you
mentioned before about it not matter and not mattering what

(01:22:18):
side of the isle folks typically vote on. These are
issues that impact our day to day life, regardless of
what party we previously supported, and so we have to
make that decision this year in Virginia on who we
feel like is best going to lead us provide a
firewall of protection against what's happening at the federal level,
but also building up our communities here in Virginia for

(01:22:39):
the next two years.

Speaker 38 (01:22:41):
First of all, getting to Michael Jelles, thanks for having
us out. People are tired of the nonsense in DC.
On November first, there's roughly fifty seven thousand chess Field
residents and thirty six thousand Richmond residents who will not
receive their snap benefits because of the shutdown. That's not
getting enough air to time. We're not talking about that enough.

(01:23:02):
But our families and vulnerable communities are going to be
impacted in a major way. The cost of living is
not going down, it's rising. And many of the people
that we represent, all three of us, and who Lindsy
Hopes a resident to represent, they're not receiving the assistance
from the government, federal and state that they're going to need.

(01:23:23):
And so we were talking about affordability.

Speaker 8 (01:23:25):
When I look at Mam Donnie running in New York,
I mean he is running a campaign that is speaking
directly to people's concerns. You see in the ad that
he's doing the social media as well, and healthcare is
absolutely dominant. But we also are seeing is the issue
of housing, affordable housing. We've seen prices of homes explode

(01:23:48):
all across the country over the last several years. And
so what specifically do you hope to do, LEADERSHI start
with you, if elected, to confront the issue of housing
costs in your district.

Speaker 37 (01:24:00):
Yes, so I'm actually running against an opponent that voted
against tax breaks for first time home buyers. It seems
like a no brainer to me and that's something that
I personally would support when elected. She also voted to
raise rents without notice to people, and since she is
a landlord, that benefits her directly, and I think that

(01:24:22):
that doesn't serve our community. It doesn't represent what we
need at a House Delegates level, at a state Senate level,
and is something that I will directly impact when we
flipped the seat.

Speaker 38 (01:24:35):
One of the things that we did, the City of
Richmond actually has a taxing center program for affordable housing projects,
and that's going to be a model that we're going
to use at the state level that any builder that
wants to come into a locality and do an affordable
housing project, instead of a tax abatement program that basically
gentrified the city of Richmond, those dollars are now shifted

(01:24:56):
to putting affordable housing stock out there.

Speaker 4 (01:24:59):
So that's key.

Speaker 1 (01:24:59):
That's one thing that we can do as well.

Speaker 38 (01:25:01):
We have to ensure that the planning process, the planning
and review process that a lot of our localities drag
their feet on is just it's raising the cost of
those projects. When localities reduced the number of units in
the name of infrastructure, right, you take a project that
has a thousand units removed two hundred, you just increase

(01:25:23):
the cost of that project by twenty percent and the developer's.

Speaker 4 (01:25:26):
Not going to take that on.

Speaker 38 (01:25:27):
So we need to reduce the duplicative processes within a locality.
We need to encourage them to get this process through
within nine to ten months, not eighteen to eighteen months
to two years.

Speaker 19 (01:25:40):
And for me this year, during the general suddenly affording
how affordable housing was one of my issues. I actually
put in three pieces of legislation, two of which actually
went to the Housing Commission for study so we could
bring them back.

Speaker 4 (01:25:55):
They did not die.

Speaker 19 (01:25:57):
And one in particular, which is really kind of critical,
is that we have localities and we have the state
who has surplus property, and that property could be used
for affordable housing. But most of the time we did
the research and found out that the localities did not
know how much surplus property they had. The state did

(01:26:19):
not know how much surplus property they had. So my
legislation would have required them to do inventory and to
make these properties available at a fair market value to
organizations who specifically targeted developing affordable housing. And so it
got sent to study, it did not die, but we've

(01:26:41):
got to stop talking about the problem and start doing something.

Speaker 4 (01:26:45):
The other piece was to.

Speaker 13 (01:26:46):
Actually form a task force that would have bring.

Speaker 19 (01:26:51):
All these pieces together, including the one that Delga Jones
talked about about how long it takes to get housing
through the process, so that one is actually they're working
or pulling together and it would have to report within
a year and not just be something that you do
and put on the show.

Speaker 8 (01:27:08):
I asked this question earlier. I talked about it with
the President as well. So I'm going to ask each
one of you to say yes or no if you
were return to the delegate. If you are elected and
you return as well, will you specifically support the state
giving the two hundred seventy seven point five million dollars
as owe to this school that was taken the money

(01:27:30):
that came from the federal government land grant money.

Speaker 4 (01:27:32):
Do you support that?

Speaker 1 (01:27:33):
Oh?

Speaker 10 (01:27:34):
Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 37 (01:27:36):
I work in a higher education university too, and we
need to get these dollars.

Speaker 10 (01:27:42):
Into the communities that need them.

Speaker 5 (01:27:44):
And I would too.

Speaker 19 (01:27:45):
And my understanding is that they removed their designation as
a land grant and they should restore that as well
as give the money back.

Speaker 4 (01:27:54):
All right, then, Mike, I'll start with you.

Speaker 8 (01:27:56):
This one of the issues that specifically pour into our community,
black owned businesses being able to tap into state contracts.
What does that look like for black owned businesses in
this state. The reality is, if you look at most
of our businesses, the ones that have been able to
build and grow the region, Atlanta is what it is

(01:28:18):
is because of the airport, because of contracts there, because contracts.

Speaker 4 (01:28:22):
With the city.

Speaker 8 (01:28:23):
We've not seen that replicated in some other different places.
So talk about what you will do to advance that
issue if you get to go back.

Speaker 38 (01:28:31):
Right, We know we can't do set asides and namely
say all right, you have to spend xyz.

Speaker 4 (01:28:36):
But some of the things that we can do is
begin to look at and focus on.

Speaker 38 (01:28:40):
Let Michael a little bit higher, hold and hold our
developers accountable. You know that the procurement processes, whether it's
a locality, whether it's a state level, to ensure that
they are being equitable in the dollars that they do
in Atlanta. All right, if someone couldn't scale up to
do the entire airport, okay, do the runway, how do
we begin to do something?

Speaker 8 (01:28:59):
Actually it was actually or actually what main of Jackson
actually did was he broke so I covered city government,
county government. And the reality is, in order for you
to bid on a prime contract you had to have
been a prime before. Well, if you never can become
a prime, you can ever buil on a prime contract.
So what he did was he actually broke the contracts up,

(01:29:20):
so versus there being one hundred million dollar contract, he
broke it into four twenty five million dollar contracts or
ten ten milli dollar contracts, which gave us Boy an
opportunity to become a prime contractor. And once you become
a prime one time, you now can bet on other
prime contracts.

Speaker 4 (01:29:36):
That's the way of doing it.

Speaker 8 (01:29:38):
That's not or when I covered city city Hall in
Fort Worth, one of the things they did was give
preferential treatment to zip codes or to businesses in the
city that are actually headquartered in the city. The last
thing that Jackson did also was required banks where the
city put their money in those banks to provide lines

(01:30:00):
of credit the businesses getting city contracts. He said, we're
going to be paying them, but they can't survive on
six months. And that's not a race based policy. That
could be for any business that has a state contract
or a city contract. There are ways to actually help
build capacity to get around those restrictions.

Speaker 38 (01:30:19):
And some of the things that we did after my
first session, we held banking while Black symposing and we
looked at how African American businesses were not able to
scale up or get the type of lending that white
organizations could do.

Speaker 4 (01:30:32):
And so we put it why being to get a
PPP low in the first place exactly.

Speaker 38 (01:30:35):
And so what we did this past session and put
in a budget amendment that gave a grant about those
closer quarter of a million dollars to the Metropolitan Business
League so they could help small businesses, black businesses, minority
owned businesses begin the process of scaling up. And so
that's something that I want to see just just more robusts,
more dollars put there, because if we.

Speaker 1 (01:30:57):
Help local organizations like NBL, FLORYD.

Speaker 38 (01:31:00):
Miller can get those dollars to the companies and the
men and women that are actually out here doing that
work and help them be successful.

Speaker 5 (01:31:08):
Do you what mean?

Speaker 19 (01:31:09):
Yes? What I want to say is I'm actually a
small business owner. I'm registered in Chesterfield County and not
only those kind of what the business is.

Speaker 4 (01:31:19):
What's the business?

Speaker 19 (01:31:20):
I'm a consulting business. I do executive and executive coaching.
But it's been on a hole since I've been running, so.

Speaker 4 (01:31:29):
That'll always be selling.

Speaker 19 (01:31:32):
Go ahead ahead, Yes, But along those same lines, we
also have to make sure that they're not intentionally cutting
them out. A group came to me to bring up
possible legislation this session about how they have been.

Speaker 4 (01:31:48):
Kept out of this.

Speaker 19 (01:31:49):
By having to check certain boxes that if you've ever
had a felon then you can't bid on this, or
if you ever anybody in your company who has these
certain things and you check those boxes, you can't even
bid for some of those contracts. So we have to
stop some of the roadblocks that are put in before
small businesses, especially black owned businesses, to make sure that

(01:32:12):
they if they can bid on these things, that they're
going to be qualified as a small business owner. We
also have to help processes where I have a macro business,
but I have to jump through the same hoops that
some of these larger businesses have, and that deters people
from wanting to go into small business. And as we know,

(01:32:33):
small businesses are the backbone of our community. They're the
ones who provide the services to us every single day.

Speaker 37 (01:32:42):
Yes, so I think that especially with the tariffs that
are happening at the federal level, we need to really
sow into the small businesses across our communities, and you
know that's women owned businesses, that's black owned businesses, that's
minority owned businesses, because those are going to be the
businesses that keep our community safe, keep us fed, keep

(01:33:02):
us healthy. And so I think that if we're able
to connect them to swim at the state level, help
them navigate these procurement processes at the state level that
are convoluted and have typically been built to kind of
exclude people, then.

Speaker 10 (01:33:21):
We will be successful in doing that.

Speaker 37 (01:33:23):
And so it's working with the small businesses in our
communities to help them through that process, to connect them
to resources and help them thrive and then help our
community thrive too.

Speaker 8 (01:33:32):
But with the key, I'm going to be very specific,
not small business black owned businesses, because what we have seen,
we've seen many of them get frozen out, left out,
and the problem is they remain small. They have one
to employees. So the reality is we have to we
have to build scale. So that has that has to
be an intentional effort by the state to say we're

(01:33:55):
going to do that to provide access to folks that
have often been left eye out. If you're able to
grow black owned businesses. You can change in many of
these communities, but it has to be the ability to
be able to access city contracts, county contracts, state contracts.
Because we're seeing how they're being cut out on a federal.

Speaker 19 (01:34:15):
Level own capital, they have to be able to access
that capital.

Speaker 4 (01:34:19):
Well, capital, bro also contracts. I mean, so, so part
of the deal. Well, what happens we talked about whatever
this issue comes up. We spend lots of time talking
about access to capital.

Speaker 8 (01:34:28):
But the reality is if I have access to contracts,
then I'll get capital.

Speaker 38 (01:34:32):
And I think, I think the one thing that we
have that Deborah and I both have when when folks
come in, you know, and their lobbying us for votes,
my one powers to vote that if it's coming before
me on labor and commerce, which I serve on, if
it's coming for city, counties and towns. All right, Hey,
why aren't there anyone Why isn't there anyone in this
room that looks like me?

Speaker 28 (01:34:50):
Right?

Speaker 38 (01:34:51):
As our legislature in Virginia as it blackens and browns, right,
why don't we see black and brown lobbyists?

Speaker 3 (01:34:57):
Why?

Speaker 38 (01:34:58):
You know, you can ask, and I've done that.

Speaker 4 (01:35:00):
I don't care whether those are jobs.

Speaker 8 (01:35:02):
Those are those employees. Those folks have families. It's a
whole downflow, and you could ask them, hey.

Speaker 38 (01:35:07):
You want my vote. Are you hiring any any minority businesses?
Those are questions that I ask in my office.

Speaker 4 (01:35:13):
Are you then?

Speaker 13 (01:35:14):
If you're not, what do we need to do?

Speaker 4 (01:35:15):
Even with the unions? If all the union reps you.

Speaker 8 (01:35:18):
Know why I've been saying to unions for a long time,
don't come big in a black laity votes. And then
and then you're not hiring black folks, especially the trades.

Speaker 19 (01:35:27):
And even putting them in their apprentice programs. You look
at those programs, you don't see many brown people.

Speaker 8 (01:35:32):
Yeah, but I only I ain't talking about prinice. I'm
the people for who are not printics, who actually already
have the skills set. I've been on that for like
twenty years. The trades folks get mad at me all
they want to, but I don't give down. I don't
give it down because those those are high paying jobs
that we offer the frozen out of. And that's and
that's a problem when again they want black votes so
to get passed, but where are those jobs?

Speaker 38 (01:35:53):
And so when I go through their shops, I'm like,
hold on, why why don't see any African Americans in there?

Speaker 4 (01:35:58):
Why don't see anyone that looks like us in there?
And I think that's that's.

Speaker 38 (01:36:02):
Up to us as legislators to really sound that alarm,
sound that trumpet and put that expectation out there that
we want representation. We want to see individuals that look
like us and that are being supported by us.

Speaker 13 (01:36:14):
And so that's key for me.

Speaker 8 (01:36:15):
Your individual district is give me a sense of the
black makeup of your district.

Speaker 19 (01:36:20):
My district is Chesterfield County. I only have one jurisdiction.
It's predominantly white. I am the first black person, Black
Democrat to ever represent just Chesterfield statewide.

Speaker 37 (01:36:34):
My district covers on the eastern part of Chesterfield, all
of Hopewell City, and then the northern part of Prince George.
And the black vote makes up about thirty five.

Speaker 39 (01:36:43):
Percent of my district.

Speaker 38 (01:36:46):
I represent parts of Richmond and parts of Chesterfield County
forty seven percent of African American and I'm the first
African American to represent this area in the states in
the state.

Speaker 8 (01:36:57):
So last question for each one of you actually earlier,
give me your next priority. If you are able to
serve in the House Delegates.

Speaker 19 (01:37:08):
I already told you about affordable housing. My next one
is early childhood education, and that includes like childcare, affordable, accessible,
quality childcare, as.

Speaker 5 (01:37:19):
Well as zero to five because I.

Speaker 19 (01:37:24):
Used to be the chief deputy for the Department of Corrections,
and what I realize is if we don't catch them
on the front end, we're gonna pay form in corrections
on the back end.

Speaker 4 (01:37:33):
Absolutely, it's gonna be more costly, more costly.

Speaker 37 (01:37:37):
Yeah, So I think that one of the main things
that I'm really gonna want to tackle when I am
elected is modernizing the state funding formula for schools. This
looks at you know, zero to five funding. This looks
at major maintenance that our schools need, especially in our rural.

Speaker 20 (01:37:53):
Areas, and it hasn't been updated in decades.

Speaker 37 (01:37:56):
And so it's not gonna be something that can happen
in the first year, but it's something that we can
finally start to write as we move through the next
few years and will benefit entire communities and families.

Speaker 38 (01:38:08):
For me, it's economic mobility. It's not just making fifteen
dollars or eighteen dollars or nineteen dollars an hour.

Speaker 4 (01:38:13):
How can they move up from there.

Speaker 38 (01:38:15):
And so I work on and I'm reporting to the
Workforce Committee within Labor and Commerce, and that's key for me.
How can we just not get a good job, but
how can we continue to grow on those jobs and
ensure next piece is ensuring that Yeah, again they tell
black kids that hey, college isn't for everybody, but they're
not telling that to kids at collegiate and places like that.

(01:38:36):
I want to ensure that Virginia students can get into
Virginia colleges and not spend the farm to do it.
My son is in his first year college of law.
I fam you and thirty three thousand out of state
tuition he got in state tuition because he trained for
the pros and all that stuff down in Miami. Thirteen
thousand dollars a year for law school for law school.

(01:38:59):
How can we do that here in Virginia. How can
we ensure that every Virginia that wants to go to
school in Virginia. It is a bad economic decision to
leave this state. And so that's something I want to
look at. How do we control the costs, How do
we ensure that our young students can do that and
ensure that our young boys and young girls are going
to schools. All of my kids have HBCU degrees, including

(01:39:22):
their dad. And that's important to you, and that means
something to me. And so how do we get more
of our kids here where they're going to be cared for,
where they're more than just a number, but they care
and get the compassion that they need.

Speaker 5 (01:39:33):
All right, folks, I'm an HBCU rat as well.

Speaker 13 (01:39:37):
North Carolina Central University.

Speaker 4 (01:39:39):
He's supposed to throw it in early and say you late.

Speaker 8 (01:39:43):
Put our hands together for deb Regarder, Lindsay Dowdy, Mike Jones.

Speaker 5 (01:39:48):
We'll come back.

Speaker 1 (01:39:49):
We're going to hear from some of the studies what's.

Speaker 8 (01:39:51):
On their mind, what issue they want to see addressed by,
like the pictures at Richmond. That's next right here, rolling
my unfiltered on the Black Sudden Network Live in Virginia University.

Speaker 6 (01:40:28):
Next on the Black Table with me Craig Calker.

Speaker 7 (01:40:31):
Now, the America we live in today is not what
the founders intended or what they outlined in the Declaration of.

Speaker 17 (01:40:37):
Independence and even the Constitution.

Speaker 7 (01:40:39):
Professor and author Cermit Roosevelt will join us to talk
about his book The Nation That Never Was? How History
was misinterpreted the intended realities of America's beginnings and missed
a much better story in the process.

Speaker 15 (01:40:53):
So, if you have to pick some group to marginalize,
I think it should be the people who are against equality.

Speaker 40 (01:40:57):
That's next on the black table. Right here on the
Black Star Network said the quiet part out loud. Black
votes are a threat, so they erased them. After the
Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in twenty thirteen,
Republican legislatures moved fast new voter id laws, polling place shutdowns,

(01:41:21):
purges of black voters from the rolls.

Speaker 28 (01:41:24):
Trump's Justice Department didn't stop it. They joined in. In
twenty eighteen, his DOJ backed Ohio's voter purge system, a
scheme that disproportionately erased Black voters. Their goal erase black
votes and political power. Yeah, that happened. These are the
kinds of stories that we cover every day on Roland
Martin Unfiltered. Subscribe on YouTube and download the Black Star

(01:41:47):
Network app. Support fact based independent journalism that centers African
Americans and the issues that matter to our community.

Speaker 24 (01:42:05):
This week, on the other side of Change, book bands,
anti intellectualism, and Trump's continued war on wisdom.

Speaker 25 (01:42:11):
of the day, conservatives realize that they couldn't win a
debate on facts. They started using our language against us. Right,
Remember when we were all woke and the woke movement
and all that kind of stuff. Now everything is anti woke.
and higher education, Now it's anti d all this our

(01:42:33):
efforts to suppress the truth, because truth empowers people.

Speaker 10 (01:42:36):
You're watching the other side of change only on the
Blackstart network.

Speaker 3 (01:42:41):
If in this country right now, you have people get
up in the morning and the only thing they can
think about is how many people they can hurt, and
they got the power.

Speaker 6 (01:42:51):

Speaker 26 (01:42:54):

Speaker 4 (01:43:02):
We are at a point of a moral emergency.

Speaker 27 (01:43:07):
We must raise a voice of outrage, we must raise
a voice of compassion.

Speaker 20 (01:43:13):

Speaker 3 (01:43:21):
We are in a crisis of civilization, a human rights crisis,
and a crisis of democracy itself, and guess what, You've

Speaker 33 (01:43:41):
Hatred on the streets a horrific scene white nationalists rally
that descended into deadly violence.

Speaker 4 (01:43:50):
White people are losing their their minds.

Speaker 2 (01:43:53):
As an angry pro Trump Mark storms to the US capital.

Speaker 4 (01:43:58):
We're about to see the lives of what I call
white minority resistance.

Speaker 35 (01:44:01):
We have seen white folks in this country who simply
cannot tolerate black folks voting.

Speaker 8 (01:44:07):
I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of
violent denial.

Speaker 16 (01:44:12):
This is part of American history.

Speaker 34 (01:44:14):
Every time that people of color have made progress, whether
real or symbolic, there has been what Carol Anderson at
every university calls white rage as a backlash.

Speaker 8 (01:44:24):
This is the life of the proud Boys and the
Boogaaloo boys America.

Speaker 4 (01:44:27):
There's going to be more of this.

Speaker 36 (01:44:29):
The prod This country is getting increasingly racist in its
behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people.

Speaker 35 (01:44:39):
The fee that they're taking our job, they're taking our resources,
they're taking our women.

Speaker 4 (01:44:43):
This is white being.

Speaker 41 (01:45:00):
On the next Get Wealthy with me Deborah Owens, America's
wealth Coach. We talk about the principles of mindset, strategy,
and execution. This week we're adding a fourth faith. You're
going to hear from a mother and daughter duel who
are healthy. Thousands of Black women build wealth all.

Speaker 4 (01:45:23):
Through their faith.

Speaker 9 (01:45:24):
You are more than you can ever imagine, not just
obtaining things to show that, but seeing.

Speaker 5 (01:45:32):
Yourself making your faith work for you.

Speaker 41 (01:45:34):
That's right here on Get Wealthy only on Blackstar Network.

Speaker 13 (01:45:46):
Eh, what's up, everybody? It's God be the funniest dude
on the planet, and you're.

Speaker 14 (01:45:51):
Watching Roland Martin unfiltered.

Speaker 4 (01:46:05):
All right, folks, welcome back to Virginia State University.

Speaker 8 (01:46:08):
We've been, of course broadcasting here focusing on our vote,
our voices, and so now let's hear from some students.
Blackstud Network coursponding Brittain Noble will take it away.

Speaker 31 (01:46:20):
Well, hello everyone, and with me right now, I have
members of the student Government Association. They call themselves the
Hearts of.

Speaker 10 (01:46:26):
The School right here.

Speaker 31 (01:46:28):
You guys had some big events today registering voters. Jaydon,
I want you to tell me a little bit more
about what happened today.

Speaker 39 (01:46:36):
First and foremost, it's glad to be here today.

Speaker 13 (01:46:38):
Today.

Speaker 16 (01:46:39):
Basically we had students.

Speaker 39 (01:46:40):
Come out in a fun way just to learn how
to register to vote, especially if they don't live in
this area at all. So they all came out just
to learn how to register, how to put in their
balance and whatnot. How to put in their balance and whatnot.
There was food, fun, the music. Everybody had a good time,

(01:47:02):
but it was also trying to learn the students, help
them learn how to vote, how to put in that valot,
how important it is.

Speaker 16 (01:47:09):
So that's what'll be this And you.

Speaker 31 (01:47:10):
Had hundreds of students that signed up to vote today.
Correct and tell me what are some of the things
that are on the minds of students here at the university.
What are people talking about?

Speaker 4 (01:47:21):
Snaya?

Speaker 42 (01:47:22):
Well, I know from the students' minds, they want better housing,
they want parking decals that are not very expensive, and
they want to be able to feel like their voices
are being heard while on campus and not saying Okay,
we're gonna do it and nothing happens.

Speaker 31 (01:47:38):
Isaiah, I know that you work with students here firsthand.
Tell me why is it important for students to get involved?

Speaker 43 (01:47:47):
Okay, so when it comes to to why the reason
why students should be getting involved is because we are
the base.

Speaker 16 (01:47:52):
At the end of the day, we have people that
came before us. We have people that fought.

Speaker 43 (01:47:55):
We see the progress that they had, but if we
don't keep it going, there won't be any more progress.

Speaker 16 (01:48:02):
Progress doesn't mean that we're able to keep it.

Speaker 43 (01:48:04):
As we see within this new administration that we have,
there have been a lot of things that have been
stripped away from us. In order to keep that from
continue to happening and more things going away, we have
to be the people that vote and keep those things intact.

Speaker 9 (01:48:17):
You know, right now we have.

Speaker 31 (01:48:18):
People watching all over the country. What is it that
you want to tell them, especially young people, inspiring them
to get involved, go.

Speaker 39 (01:48:26):
Out and vote, and especially with those elected officials, hold
them accountable because they always have their promises and stuff,
but sometimes they don't go along with the promises. So
continue to hold them accountable so your peers to vote.
Always watch the news. I know it seems a little
bit boring, but watch the news, see what's going on
around in your area, and you can make a difference.

Speaker 5 (01:48:45):
Eventually, he might, Hey.

Speaker 1 (01:48:46):
My show is not boring, you said, watch the news.

Speaker 4 (01:48:51):
Or other people.

Speaker 8 (01:48:52):
Okay, yea much you better specify who you're talking about,
tom Body could be a little boring you down here
with them questions?

Speaker 31 (01:48:59):
An here, tell me what's next when Roland Martin leaves here?

Speaker 5 (01:49:03):
What are you guys gonna do?

Speaker 10 (01:49:04):
How do you keep the momentum going after this?

Speaker 43 (01:49:07):
You've got to continue to mobilize. I feel like somebody
like Roland Martin comeing too our university. It shows just
how important we are because some people can feel like
we get lost in the sauce, especially considering that we're
I don't want to say we're a lower.

Speaker 16 (01:49:18):
HBCU, because obviously we're the best HPCU in the land.

Speaker 43 (01:49:21):
But when it comes to the Howards, the ncats, things
like that, people always feel like those students are the
people that hold the power.

Speaker 16 (01:49:27):
But when Roland Martin decides I'm gonna come to Virginia State.

Speaker 43 (01:49:29):
University in Petersburg, Virginia, that's when we realize that we
hold power.

Speaker 16 (01:49:33):
And so I hope that we take that momentum and
get you to fight for our people.

Speaker 4 (01:49:36):
That's because I own it.

Speaker 1 (01:49:37):
I can do what I want, all right, so appreciate it.
We got the next rip requests of students. Y'all come on,
get up.

Speaker 4 (01:49:46):
Hey, I'm gonna cluck. Car on, y'all, come on, come on,
get on up.

Speaker 1 (01:49:52):
Bull arm sweater, get on up and tell us your name.
Tell me out to her heart.

Speaker 44 (01:49:56):
In Cambridge, I'm the senator for the Honors College. This
the election is just really crucial and important in Virginia.
It's a stepping some to what is going on in
the federal government. It's really the blockade all the issues
that we talk about, from calls to schooling to the
cause to just live. It is very important that we
vote in this election and that we really understand the
issues and policies that are taking place, not only in Richmond,

(01:50:19):
but in Washington as well.

Speaker 4 (01:50:21):
Your name, I'm Chance Beverley.

Speaker 29 (01:50:23):
I'm a sophomore political science here Virginia State and also
serve as mister Taps for the Association of Political Science.
And I think my biggest issue, especially with the administration
right now, is I feel like we're losing truth in
this nation. We're constantly being pumped with misinformation and disinformation,

(01:50:43):
and I think we're losing our sort of objective reality,
and I think we need to get back to.

Speaker 1 (01:50:49):
Just you know, defining truth in this nation.

Speaker 43 (01:50:53):
Tell me your name Antoine Sullivan, A double major political science, mascunications.

Speaker 13 (01:50:58):
I am a sophomore as well.

Speaker 43 (01:51:00):
I think what's on my heart is to what Zen said,
ensuring that we are getting the funding that we need,
not just for now, but also after, because a lot
of times we talk about funding for schools while we're here,
but you know, when we leave here, we need jobs.

Speaker 16 (01:51:14):
We need good jobs, we want good paying jobs.

Speaker 43 (01:51:16):
We want to set up our lives for our families
as well, and so I think ensuring that we don't
just focus on the money now, but also after as well.

Speaker 31 (01:51:25):
You have anything to say to encourage the people at
home right.

Speaker 44 (01:51:27):
Now, your voice, your voice is your vote, and take
that with pride, because every single day, as we see
this week, they're trying to strip it.

Speaker 4 (01:51:37):
Away, and we must truly focus on it.

Speaker 44 (01:51:40):
Whether the news is boring or not, or is as
entertaining as mister Martin, we must focus on it, my man,
my man.

Speaker 13 (01:51:47):
So let's continue to practice to write the vote.

Speaker 1 (01:51:51):
Three y'all, students.

Speaker 4 (01:51:53):
Yeah, I need the females get up.

Speaker 1 (01:51:55):
Come on, that's right, y'all. Tell me, y'all, we ain't
doing that.

Speaker 4 (01:52:00):
Step on out, y'all, step on out, Come on, ladies.

Speaker 45 (01:52:09):
Tell me your name, Comiya Northfleet, junior political science major
with a minor history.

Speaker 5 (01:52:14):
And then what were you What.

Speaker 31 (01:52:16):
Did you take away from the panels today?

Speaker 45 (01:52:19):
Honestly, from all the different panels, I mean, I already
knew it, but it really just showed how important it
is to vote, especially as a student and as a
Democrat myself, because you see how pivotal it is to
see what happens when you don't vote.

Speaker 31 (01:52:38):
Aren't you guys all a part of another organization as well?
Tell me a little bit about that organization.

Speaker 5 (01:52:43):
Yes, we are.

Speaker 22 (01:52:44):
We are part of TAPS, which is the Political Science
Association here Virginia State University. We are able to contact
students exactly where they are and meet them where they
are to understand the points of voting, not just for now,
but for future generations.

Speaker 31 (01:52:59):
Are you having a hard time getting people involved here
on campus.

Speaker 21 (01:53:04):
Honestly, it's a little hard, especially with my generation, because
they believe that elections are rigged. So it's just convincing
the students here that your vote matters. It's not just
your vote, it's your voice, how you express yourself. To
other people just talking up about politics. You don't have
to be Republican a Democrat. It's just about morals.

Speaker 10 (01:53:23):
Honestly, at the.

Speaker 31 (01:53:24):
End of the day, there were hundreds of people that
signed up to vote today, students, But for those people
that did sign up, so many other people did not. Yeah,
what do you think is going through their minds?

Speaker 6 (01:53:36):
Honestly?

Speaker 45 (01:53:37):
Like Chance saying, it's a lot of misinformation out here
about not only voting, but voter registration. I heard the
craziest thing from a student. He said that if he
registered the vote that he would be put on the
draft list. And I was just like, well, that's not
really how that works. But with the current climate, everybody's
willing to believe whatever that discourages them from making a change.

(01:54:00):
So that's like our biggest challenge right now. We'll try
to get people out there to vote, especially as college
students ourselves.

Speaker 31 (01:54:07):
So I know you're on campus and you spend a
lot of time here, but what else are people talking
about at home and in your communities.

Speaker 22 (01:54:17):
They're definitely talking about the lack of funding here on
Virginia State University's campus and how we need more funding
to better support them.

Speaker 21 (01:54:26):
It's not just that, it's also financial aid. You have
students who aren't getting their proper pel grants to even
attend college. You have students who who are getting to
Medicaid stripped away as we speak, and it's just it
discourages a lot of students, especially like me because I
really heavily on financial aid. So seeing what Donald Trump
is doing in his administration trying to strip that away,
it's a little bit discouraging, but it to me personally,

(01:54:48):
it pushes me to try harder to encourage other students
like meeds.

Speaker 8 (01:54:53):
But are you explaining to them that the folks who
are in office are the ones who are deciding what
gets cut and what gets funded.

Speaker 10 (01:55:04):
That's a good question.

Speaker 8 (01:55:06):
No, I'm asking I'm asking you when you're having these
conversations with other students. Earlier, I said, we have to
connect the dots, and so those with knowledge have to
do that, and so I think part of this thing
is you have to connect the dots for those folks
who don't understand it and say, hey, if you're concerned
about funding for Virginia State, the House of Delegates votes

(01:55:28):
on funding.

Speaker 4 (01:55:28):
For Virginia State.

Speaker 8 (01:55:30):
So you have to have the person who want the
people in Congress, they're the ones who are cutting pilgrims.

Speaker 4 (01:55:36):
So that's what I'm so.

Speaker 8 (01:55:37):
So when you are talking to these students, how are
you helping them to understand the intricacies of policy?

Speaker 4 (01:55:46):
How you doing that? What are those conversations like? Give
you an example.

Speaker 8 (01:55:54):
Okay, see, y'all gonna have to see y'all gonna have
to bring me back here so I could teach a
class on then, because I'm serious the issues that what
you're struggling with right now is are individuals who don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:56:11):
You have to be the one that connects the dots
for them.

Speaker 8 (01:56:17):
You have to literally walk a person through and say,
and this is why I tell everybody, and this is
just for you or any of you students or anyone
else out of here. You have to ask a person
what's the one thing you care about? The party? So,
what's the one thing you care about? So they say
I care about education? Okay, what college, high school, elementary?

Speaker 4 (01:56:38):
What do you care about?

Speaker 8 (01:56:40):
And then when they say that, then that's when you're
able to now say, let me connect you the dots.
So you say you care about peil grants, that's not
coming from the from the legislature, that's federal government. If
you care about financial aid that's coming for you have
to walk them through so they can understand, because the
reality is they don't know, and.

Speaker 1 (01:56:59):
So that's that's just what you have to do.

Speaker 8 (01:57:01):
So if you are the one who's informed, you have
to then inform them because you can't expect them to
actually know.

Speaker 1 (01:57:10):
Go ahead.

Speaker 21 (01:57:11):
I think a lot of the huge issue with this campus,
not this campus, but what students in general, is that
it's hard to get students involved and to care more
about politics. Because when you speak to people like our
generation and you say, oh, how do you care about
this issue, and it's like, oh, politics don't concern me.

Speaker 16 (01:57:27):
So it's just about how do you can start right there?

Speaker 8 (01:57:29):
So when they say politics doesn't concern me, what's your response, Well.

Speaker 21 (01:57:34):
It concerns our everyday life. It's the water you drink,
or the rent you pay, or the cities you walk through.
It's everyday life. So if you say politics doesn't concern you,
it really does.

Speaker 4 (01:57:45):
Right.

Speaker 8 (01:57:45):
So when the person says politics doesn't concern me, that's
when you come back. You say, okay, give me the
two things you care about. And then when they say, oh, man,
I'm about to get dropped for my parents' health care.

Speaker 1 (01:57:58):
You go, really, you do know politicians voted on.

Speaker 4 (01:58:02):
That, you see, That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 8 (01:58:05):
So when a person says that, they really don't actually
fully understand the role that politics plays in every aspect
of their life. So what you have to do is
we actually have to take politics out of the conversation,
make it an issue oriented thing to get them to
then go issue first, then politics not politics first?

Speaker 5 (01:58:27):
Cool?

Speaker 4 (01:58:28):
Yes, all right?

Speaker 1 (01:58:29):
Any other students want to show their concerns while we're
live but back there? All right, y'all step up, y'all,
come on, step up, take it away.

Speaker 31 (01:58:36):
Bird, got the first family up here.

Speaker 1 (01:58:40):
I'm doing very well.

Speaker 5 (01:58:41):
Tell me your name and.

Speaker 43 (01:58:43):
What do you want to say?

Speaker 23 (01:58:44):
My name is Bryson roff At, senior computer science major
from Chesapeake, Virginia. Just happy to be here today, and
my biggest concern is how do we get people around
our age ranges to show the importance of what we're
doing and how it matters to the world.

Speaker 16 (01:59:01):
What else?

Speaker 31 (01:59:02):
What were you thinking?

Speaker 46 (01:59:03):
I was thinking, how can we keep students engage on
campus about voting after election?

Speaker 31 (01:59:07):
Well, you guys had an event today, do you guys
plan to have another event? Tell me your name?

Speaker 13 (01:59:12):
That's me.

Speaker 46 (01:59:13):
I'm my Ernest May with a third junior mass communication major,
and we do plan on having more events like this.
Other maambors are the better Beta Game, a chapter of
our Fafitturn Incorporated. Take vote and very serious.

Speaker 31 (01:59:22):
It is all right, Yeah, when you're having conversations with
folks on campus.

Speaker 16 (01:59:27):
What are they saying? I am Dante Clark. I am
a senior computer engineering major.

Speaker 47 (01:59:33):
And when we're having conversations with people like on campus,
they're saying a lot how they're just unaware, kind of
like how he was saying about they don't really know
the true meaning of what they're voting for. So that's
where we come in with our road of registration programs
and we try and break it down to the smallest
point so they can understand the little thing.

Speaker 4 (01:59:53):
So when you do that, how do you do it?
Give you an example.

Speaker 23 (01:59:58):
It goes back to basically, people on our campus they
think the presidential elections what matters the most, and we
have to explain to them how local elections really are
the most important.

Speaker 8 (02:00:07):
Right, So, yes, steady elections coming up. You got somebody
who's concerned. How are you explaining to them that, hey,
this is why you need to vote in this race.

Speaker 4 (02:00:19):
How I do it personally?

Speaker 23 (02:00:20):
You've seen what's been happening over the last few years
and what's happening in our government. You don't want that
to continue. You need to get involved. You need to
show up and represent so we can better ourselves in
better our world.

Speaker 1 (02:00:30):
But here's how you do it. You see that old building.
Whoever is determines how much state funding we get.

Speaker 8 (02:00:44):
You want new dormitories, Students gonna say, yeah, you want
better technology on campus?

Speaker 4 (02:00:50):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (02:00:51):
Do you want better food services on campus?

Speaker 4 (02:00:53):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (02:00:53):
You take all the things that.

Speaker 8 (02:00:54):
Say they want and say you do them that that
every single thing that you say that you want is
determined state funding. State funding is determined by who's in power.
So if you want these things for Virginia State, if
you want a better four years here, then you should
be voting because that's who's going to fund the very

(02:01:17):
things that you say you need to improve. The late
Joe Madison, God rest his soul always. You say you
gotta put it where a ghost can get it. So
if you talk to people up here, they have no idea.
So you have to take that very simple thing and
say that's why you're asking, Well, it's the one thing
you care about. And then say you do know that
that person is one who votes on that. Oh damn,

(02:01:39):
I ain't know that that person. So House of Delegates,
the Senate. So if you want these things for your campus,
this is why you have to vote. And then you
have to say, do you know that the sister who
ran two years ago she lost by fifty three votes?

Speaker 1 (02:01:55):
And then you can say, so if fifty five students.

Speaker 8 (02:01:58):
It happens again, if fifty five more students like yourself
or you and fifty four others vote, she would have won.

Speaker 1 (02:02:05):
That's how you make it plain good.

Speaker 23 (02:02:10):
Basically, because I'm from for jaim Born and raise New
Jersey and California heights all the same, how do you
appeal to those people that are not from our state
but still care about her?

Speaker 8 (02:02:19):
First question is you have to ask them are you registered?
They say, yes, where are you registered? Because they're a
student here, they can register here when they can't vote
in both places, they could actually be registered here.

Speaker 1 (02:02:33):
So that's the first thing.

Speaker 8 (02:02:34):
And then when that then happens, you still take the
exact same issues and still apply to them. So for
students says, hey, I'm concerned about loss of financial aid
and pel grant, you say, you know, that's members of Congress.
So if you didn't vote in the last election, then
you can't complain about who got stuff cut because you
didn't vote. So there's a military elections next year, twenty

(02:02:56):
twenty six. So if you care about peil grants being cut,
voting for folks who want to expand peil grants, that's
members of Congress. That's how you have to make the
connection with somebody. You have to tie the issue to
the political office. Cool, all right, why you ask your questions?

Speaker 1 (02:03:17):
You got it, folks. That is it for us. Give
it up for all of our students.

Speaker 48 (02:03:28):
So Tuesday, we're going to be in Fredericksburg broadcasting as well,
and then we're in Virginia Beach on November third, the
day before the election.

Speaker 8 (02:03:40):
And for the folks who watch this show, if you're
need to watch this show, y'all know, we try to
make this thing as simple and plain as possible, sock
and folks. Folks can understand what these issues are because
here's the reality. The folk who vote are the ones
who are benefiting. And part of the problem here is
when you check out of a political price, I says,

(02:04:00):
you're letting somebody else control your future.

Speaker 1 (02:04:03):
Let somebody else control your destiny.

Speaker 4 (02:04:05):
That's what's going on right now.

Speaker 8 (02:04:07):
It's a whole lot of MAGA farmers who are crying
their eyes out because USAID got cut at thirty five
billion dollar program because of tears. And I'm like, but
that's what you voted for. And then they say, well,
I didn't vote for that. Yes you did, because it
all came together. So they're out here crying. You got
other people who are sitting here complaining about different things

(02:04:31):
that are being cut. And what I need our folks
to understand. And I'm going to say this until I
am red, blue, yellow in the face, folks, we have
to be maximizing our capacity.

Speaker 4 (02:04:44):
Let me say it again.

Speaker 8 (02:04:46):
We are leaving our power unused. If these lights were
not plugged in, guess what it would be dark in here.
You got to plug it into a power source to
get light. Our power source is our actual vote. And

(02:05:08):
so if we use it, if we maximize it, if
we organize and mobilize us.

Speaker 4 (02:05:13):
So what does that mean.

Speaker 8 (02:05:14):
That means that every single person who's in this room
should say, when I leave here, I'm gonna go back
to Kimberly losing my fifty three votes. If every person
who was in this room tonight said my mission leaving
here is I am going to talk to five people,
that means that you've had more than one hundred people here.
That means that the people in this room can literally

(02:05:38):
go talk to five hundred people. That's all I asked,
y'all do is talk to five people. So between now
and November fourth, go talk to five people. That means
that you literally could determine who ends and who loses
if just each person said I'm talk to five people.

(02:06:00):
And so that's how we have to be thinking. We
keep talking broad, we keep talking macro. I keep saying
we have to be talking micro. We have to be
talking on a lower level. We are close to having
two million subscribers on our YouTube channel, but we started
in August to twenty seventeen.

Speaker 4 (02:06:19):
We had seventy two.

Speaker 8 (02:06:20):
Thousand, with one hundred and fifty seven thousand when we
launched it in September fourth, twenty eighteen. Over seventy years,
we've gone from one hundred fifty seven thousand, to one
point eighty seven million. Why because I didn't focus on
oh I'm trying to hit three, But no, it's how
can we go one person added every single day.

Speaker 4 (02:06:39):
It's a micro game, and so we have to be
the ones.

Speaker 8 (02:06:42):
So if we're watching the news that we're learning and
we know what's going on, we got to share the information.

Speaker 1 (02:06:47):
We've got to talk to people, shared with them because
people literally do not know. And so if we as African.

Speaker 8 (02:06:53):
Americans, if we all of a sudden are hitting sixty
five seventies, seventy five, eighty percent, I can guarantee you
we are sweeping statewide elections. We're sweeping county elections, We're
sweeping House and Senate races.

Speaker 4 (02:07:11):
But the guaranteed way for us never to.

Speaker 1 (02:07:14):
Have our issues addressed is if we do not use
the power of the vote.

Speaker 8 (02:07:21):
And so the election is November fourth. In this state
where you are, they're going to be local elections as well.
You've got different elections. You've got a mayor election in
Detroit happening of that same day. You've got other You've
got of course, a the amendment Prop fifty in California.
And so depending upon where you live, you right now
should be asking yourself what elections are happening where I live,

(02:07:45):
and you should be saying, let me get caught up
on the issues and the people who are running so
I can maximize my vote. Let me thank the folks
in Virginia State. Let me thank the Virginia Democrats. Let
me think of the Virginia electaty of Black Caucus. We
think everybody who made this possible. And so are glad
to be back on campus. Kat I look forward to
coming back and again. We'll be live a Fredericksburg on Tuesday.

(02:08:06):
We'll be live in Virginia Beach on November three.

Speaker 4 (02:08:09):
That's it.

Speaker 8 (02:08:10):
Don't forget support of the work that we do, folks.
We're the only black daily news show in the country.
Nobody else is doing we doing. And not only that,
we're now sitting there on stream yard or on substack.
We literally live in person here broadcasting. And look, I'm
very frank, I tell folks all the time, we're singing,
one of these cameras, there'reking one of these microphones.

Speaker 1 (02:08:31):
All the stuff that we roll with, all that stuff.

Speaker 8 (02:08:33):
Costs money a crew as well, and so this is
what we have to be able to have where we
are covering our stuff because you know what happens NBC, CNN, ABC, NBC.

Speaker 1 (02:08:44):
Fox News.

Speaker 8 (02:08:45):
They will happily go to Virginia or go to Virginia Tech,
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(02:09:08):
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(02:09:51):
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Speaker 1 (02:10:01):
Don't blame me, I voted for the black Woman.

Speaker 8 (02:10:04):
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(02:10:26):
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Speaker 1 (02:10:29):
Got audio rooms, you got photos, you got videos, you
got live streaming, you got subscriptions, all that stuff.

Speaker 8 (02:10:35):
Download the app fan Base if you want to invest,
they've already raised thirteen point four million dollars.

Speaker 4 (02:10:39):
The goal is to raise seventeen million.

Speaker 8 (02:10:41):
The Series A fundraised to get more information and start
injured dot Com for slash fanbase folks.

Speaker 5 (02:10:46):
That's it.

Speaker 8 (02:10:47):
I'll see y'all tomorrow right here rolling them more unfiltered
on the Black Start Network.

Speaker 4 (02:10:52):
Huh, thanks coming out

Speaker 17 (02:11:04):
When you fling there, you know, like anything involvement

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Host

Roland Martin

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