Trump Federalizes D.C. PD, Eyes Black Cities; #47 Backs Jones; DHS ‘Speedway Slammer’; TX Map Fight

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
It's Monday, August eleventh, twenty twenty five. I am doctor
Omekongo de Benga filling in for Roland Martin today. Here's
what's coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on
the Black Star Network. Donald Trump has done something no
president has ever done before, putting DC's police force under
federal control and sending an eight hundred National Guard troops.

(00:37):
The mayor calls Trump's actions unsettling and unprecedented. We'll talk
of Marcus Bachelor from People for the American Way about
what this means for democracy and civil rights in the
nation's capital.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Meanwhile, for a.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Second straight week, more than fifty Texas House Democrats remain
out of state, blocking Republicans from reaching the quorum needed
to push through a controversial mid decade redistricting plan. We'll
bring in the latest on this high stakes political standoff
and what it means for voting rights in Texas. And
in a sweeping move affecting hundreds of thousands of workers,

(01:11):
the Department of Veterans Affairs has terminated union contracts for
over four hundred thousand employees. Will break down which unions
are impacted and what this means for VA staff nationwide.
It's time to bring the funk right here on Rolomart
and unfiltered streaming live on the Blackstar Network.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Let's go, he Scott, whatever the best, he's sold it.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
Whatever it is, he's.

Speaker 4 (01:35):
Got spoo the fact to find a way to believes
he's right on top.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
It is rolling best believe he's going putting it down.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
From Boston news to politics, were entertainment, just book keeps.

Speaker 5 (01:49):
He's stowing.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
It's strolling on Jack, He's pokys.

Speaker 5 (02:07):
She's built up question though he's proven.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Twice, impeached, and criminally convicted felon. In chief Donald Trump
is seizing control of washington deceased police force and deploying
eight hundred National Guard troops, declaring it Liberation Day and
volunt to take our capital back. Trump used an emergency
power in the DC Home Will Act to temporarily put
local police under federal command, saying the city's facing a

(02:46):
public safety crisis that's despite crimeating a thirty year low last.

Speaker 6 (02:52):
Year, and we're here for a very serious purpose, very
serious purpose. Something's out of control, but we're gonna put
it in control very quickly, like we did on.

Speaker 7 (03:01):
The southern border.

Speaker 6 (03:03):
I'm announcing a historic action to rescue our nation's capital
from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor and worse. This is
Liberation Day in DC, and we're going to take our
capital back. We're taking it back under the authorities vested
in me as the President of the United States. I'm

(03:25):
officially invoking Section seventy forty of the District of Columbia
Home Rule Act. You know what that is, and placing
the DC Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control. And
you'll be meeting the people that will be directly involved
with that. Very good people, but they're tough and they

(03:48):
know what's happening. They've done it before. In addition, I'm
deploying the National Guard to help re establish law order
of public safety in Washington, d C. And they're going
to be allowed to do their job properly.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
And you people are victims of it too.

Speaker 6 (04:04):
You know your reporters, and I understand a lot of
you tend to be on the liberal side, but you
don't want to get You don't want to get mugged
and raped and shot and killed. And you all know
people and friends of yours that happened, and so you
can be any anything you want, But you want to
have safety in the streets. You want to be able
to leave your apartment or your house where you live

(04:27):
and feel safe and go into a store to buy
a newspaper, buy something, and you don't have that now.
The murder rate in Washington today is higher than that
of Bogata, Columbia, Mexico City, some of the places that
you hear about as being the worst places on.

Speaker 8 (04:46):
Earth much higher.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
This is much higher.

Speaker 6 (04:49):
The number of carthfs has doubled over the past five years,
and the number of carl Jackins has more than tripled.
Murders in twenty twenty three reached the highest rate probably ever.
They say twenty five years, but they don't know what
that means because it just goes back twenty five years.
Can't be worse. Our capital city has been overtaken by

(05:10):
violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth,
drugged out maniacs, and homeless people. And we're not going
to let it happen anymore.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
We're not going to take it.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
Meanwhile, the DC Police union, representing over three thousand officers,
has voice support for the administration's actions, despite recent declines
in crime. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser called Trump's move unsettling
and unprecedented, stating, given some of the past rhetoric, we
are not totally surprised.

Speaker 9 (05:45):
We know, however, as most have heard from the President's
press conference, that he has prerogatives in DC unlike anywhere
else in the country, ing his authority given by our
Home Rule Charter to require the mayor to require me

(06:07):
to supply services of the Metropolitan Police Department, and he
also has control and the ability to deploy the National Guard.
But let me be clear, as our Home Rule Charter
is also clear, and the President's executive Order restates Chief

(06:29):
Pamela Smith is the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department
and it's thirty one hundred members work under her direction.
The Home Rule Charter requires the mayor to provide the
services of MPD during special conditions of an emergency, and

(06:51):
we will follow the law, though there's a question about
the subjectivity of that declaration. In fact, the Chief has
already provided a high level liaison in point of contact
with the federal government and made those initial contacts. The

(07:13):
executive Order is also clear that the President has dedicated
his authority to make requests of us to Attorney General
Pam BONDI. I have reached out to Attorney General Bondy
and hope to schedule a meeting school soon.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
Joining us now to discuss this escalation is Marcus Bachelor
from People for the American Way.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
Marcus, thank you so much for joining us tonight. Thanks
for having me absolutely.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
What is your initial take to what has transpired today
in Washington, DC?

Speaker 10 (07:49):
Well, I'm outraged by it, I think, and all of
Americas should be outraged by it.

Speaker 7 (07:54):
What we saw is the president rant and rave and.

Speaker 11 (07:59):
You the.

Speaker 10 (08:02):
Tests the authority of his power to take control over
a city where over ninety percent of the people didn't
vote for him or his values three times in a row.
I think it is DC now, but everyone should be
concerned that it will be their communities tomorrow. This president
has demonstrated, both in a hyper local sense here in DC,

(08:24):
but also nationally that he's willing to test the limits
of his authority to demonstrate and to just make a point.
But when he takes authority over a local police department,
that put that puts people's real lives in line.

Speaker 7 (08:39):
And what we've seen is.

Speaker 10 (08:40):
That the President has always made people in the District
of Columbia less safe, whether you think about him seeking
troops on peaceful protesters in twenty twenty, whether you think
about him sicking a mob on the United States Capital
in our neighborhoods in twenty twenty one, when you think
about him partning all those people convicted under local and
federal law for those crimes when he re entered the

(09:02):
White House earlier this year, Donald Trump has only made
people in DC less safe, and all residents in DC
are very concerned about this order today.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
Now, Marcus, you talked about all residents. When when I
look at disorder, when I look at what he's talking about,
and when I hear the language, it doesn't seem like
this is something that he's interested in for all DC residents.
He talks about tourists who are coming in. He's talking
about people who work in the White House and the
federal government, where the rest of us. I lived in
Southeast for fifteen years, where the rest of us, many

(09:33):
of them of us who are black. It seems like
we're the ones that they're trying to protect us from.
But it doesn't seem like there's real support or care
for the rest of the citizens of DC.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
How do you see that?

Speaker 7 (09:46):
Yeah, that's absolutely right.

Speaker 10 (09:47):
I think you caught the red flag in this whole
press conference that he is so embarrassed about. These crime
rates that he's pulling out of thin air are from
years and years ago in terms of DC's crime spike.
He's weaving all of these hyperbolic narratives about how he
has to get it under control as a symbol for

(10:09):
the nation. But again, he is projecting because unfortunately he
has to see the manifestation of all his lack of investment,
of all his lack of work on things like public safety,
on things like housing, on things like crime, the things
that bother him on his drive to his golf course,
but don't bother.

Speaker 7 (10:28):
Him enough to do anything about.

Speaker 10 (10:30):
So what he wants to do is lock up the
people that he says are a problem for his eysighte
what he wants to do is displace the unhoused people
who are disturbing his view on his way to his
golf course, instead of instead of solving those problems. But
that has real material impact for the people here in
the district of Columbia.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
Well, Marcus, when you talk about the homeless part and
kind of weaving into what you were just talking about.
He says that the homeless people are the unhoused people
need to leave DC. Last time I checked. If you're
in house, you don't have a place to go. When
you talk about the work that you're doing with people
for the American Way, you're having conversations about what needs
to be happening for the unhoused people, as well as

(11:13):
the services that need to be applied to young people
within the city so that they are not involved in
crime in the first place, which doesn't seem to be
something that Trump has cared about.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
Am I correct, absolutely not.

Speaker 10 (11:25):
But if we think that Trump actually cares about public
safety in any sense, but especially public safety in the
District of Columbia, I think we're just feeding into that lie.
Donald Trump could care less about public safety in the
District of Columbia.

Speaker 7 (11:40):
This is exclusively about power.

Speaker 10 (11:42):
This is demonstrating to his base, to the rest of
the country that he's willing to again test the limits
of his power. And it's also a test for us.
It's a test on local autonomy, right. This is the
mayor's right, an unprecedented attack on local home works in
the District of Columbia, and it's a test of his

(12:04):
limits and how he can replicate this across the country.
The district of Columbia wasn't the only city he mentioned
in today's press conference. When the press asked him if
he's willing to do more, he said, yeah, it's Chicago
and Oakland and Baltimore. I think we should all point
out that all of those cities are also led by
black mayors as well. So this is a power grab
on black power across the country, and this should be

(12:27):
a warning sign. And this was an opening salvo and
what I think is going to be a national campaign.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
Before I bring in the panel, one other thing I
want to talk about, just I'm really paying attention As
I mentioned to the language I hear him say, people
being mugged, rape shot and killed, people living in bloodshed,
bed lemon squalor. He talked about armed gangs running through
the city. It almost made it sound like it was like,
you know, Mogadishu, you know, back in the eighties, or
something to that effect. And when I was listening to

(12:55):
another commentator earlier today, they were talking about how the
language he was using is reminiscent of when he was
talking about the Central Park five, and it seems like
he's just bringing that rhetoric back up to try to
foment more anger from people to justify what he's doing today.

Speaker 7 (13:13):
Yeah, I mean it's old racist rhetoric.

Speaker 11 (13:15):
You know.

Speaker 10 (13:16):
Trump might be a new character in this long line
of history, but he's using very old rhetoric.

Speaker 7 (13:21):
He knows how to dehumanize black people.

Speaker 10 (13:24):
He knows how to dehumanize poor people and house people
so that he can or immigrants so that he can
do what he wants. And he knows how to typecast
certain types of people and certain types of leaders, which
is why you also see him only call black leaders
in Congress and in big cities low iq. He knows
what that means, right, how that signals to people about

(13:51):
black people. And I think that we should be very
concerned about that. And in a plurality black city where
he doesn't just have a little bit of fame and.

Speaker 7 (14:03):
You know, the ability to buy a newspaper.

Speaker 10 (14:05):
Right in the sense of the Central Park five, he
is now the president of the United States, with over
twelve federal agencies at his disposal of the DC National
Guard and the military. Beyond that, what can he do, right?
He had he destroyed five lives with a little bit
of fame in a newspaper, what can he do to
hundreds of thousands of black lives as president of the

(14:26):
United States?

Speaker 2 (14:28):
What to bring up my panel?

Speaker 1 (14:29):
I have Kelly Bethia JD Communication Strategists out of Washington,
d C. As well as a Joy Cheney, founder of
JI Strategies, also out of Washington, d C.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
So we're all living in here right about now, Kelly.
Your question for Marcus.

Speaker 7 (14:44):
Ooh a question.

Speaker 5 (14:45):
I had a comment, but I guess.

Speaker 12 (14:50):
Considering that we are in a black space right now,
being the four of us and most of us are
who are watching this programming, considering that we did all
that we could do, right. We voted, we campaign, we've marched,
we've protested, we've boycotted, we've we've screened, we've silenced, we've

(15:12):
we have.

Speaker 5 (15:12):
Done all we can do?

Speaker 2 (15:17):
What what what else?

Speaker 13 (15:19):
Right?

Speaker 5 (15:20):
What more can we do? Because frankly, I'm.

Speaker 14 (15:24):
Still in this resting period, right because when you have
exhausted all that you can do, what else is there
for us who who are in the same boat.

Speaker 10 (15:38):
Yeah, well, we've we've got to build the biggest boat
possible and get as many people in it so that
we can take turns rowing. I think the President's strategy
in this second term, and they've been, you know, really
plain about it, is to flood the zone, to flood
you with as much controversy, with as many problems as possible,

(16:02):
so that we do feel overwhelmed by it. But I
think what today's announcement shows is that we have to
remain vigilant, that we have to remain active in these
fights because who runs our local police department. We never thought,
right in a million years that we would have to

(16:23):
fight the president of the United States for control over
public safety.

Speaker 7 (16:26):
And again that's DC's fight today.

Speaker 10 (16:29):
But he is on a rampage, and so we've got
to make sure as many people as possible can fight,
that we take our breaks when we need to. But
Donald Trump is clearly counting on our silence, is counting
on us getting tired enough to be complicit, and we
see some of our leaders in d C doing that,
saying all right, well, we're just gonna figure it out.

Speaker 13 (16:51):
Now.

Speaker 10 (16:51):
This is an a front two democracy. This is a
threat to public safety, and we've got to treat it
like that. And as many people as possible have to
get in that fight.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
Joy your question.

Speaker 15 (17:03):
Okay, well, you know what, I'm not even going to
pretend with the question here because I know we're going
to engage you in the conversation.

Speaker 3 (17:08):
Here's the deal.

Speaker 15 (17:10):
If you are a funder out there, this is the
time we need you to get off your ass.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
Whatever has been happening. You're planning meetings your long time, thinking.

Speaker 15 (17:24):
It's time to get boots on the ground, money on
the ground and in the hands of the people who
can use it. Nonprofit organizations who are struggling right now.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
We need that.

Speaker 15 (17:35):
We need you to fund people for the American Way
and others as well. I'm just going to start there
because I think that's a conversation that needs to be
had if we want to really fight back. We also
have to make sure lawyers are tooled in this moment.
If you are a lawyer, you're at a law firm,
you ought to be beating down the door of the

(17:56):
District of Columbia trying to say what can we do
to be a part of the effort to defend this
city against what will be encroachments on home rule. To
be clear, please, this is the question. Can you just
remind everyone what the Home Rule Law say about how
long Donald Trump has for this emergency designation, because it's

(18:18):
not indefinite, and I think what the mayor was saying today.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
Was we're going to hold him to it.

Speaker 11 (18:24):
That's right.

Speaker 10 (18:24):
So yes, Section four seventy of the Home Rule Act,
which gave fifty years ago the residents of the District
of Columbia local Home Rule, says that the President, on
a temporary basis, can federalize the Metropolitan and Police Department
if the President declares an emergency. Now, the President has
cobbled together some excuse for what he deems is an emergency,

(18:47):
and to your point, has exercised that very temporary authority.
He had forty eight hours to notify congressional leadership that
he was doing it, which I think he said he
was done today, and then he only has a thirty
day window for that emergency to be inactive before he
needs further permission from Congress. So this is temporary. Obviously,

(19:09):
there's a lot of damage you can do in thirty days.
But to your point, there's a second stage of this fight,
and we need to make sure there. We're urgent members
of Congress to come back to Washington ready to hold
a check on the president so that he doesn't extend
this power indefinitely and doesn't inflict further damage on the
residents of the district.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
Now, Kelly, I know what.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
I came to you and asked what your question was
some Marcus, but you also stated that you had a comment,
so I wanted to make sure you got that comment
in before we went to our break. Please let us
know what's I'm in mind.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
Comment.

Speaker 5 (19:41):
The comment is that this is all bullshit. That's comment.

Speaker 12 (19:45):
You know what I'm saying, and I hate it saying
it so succinctly, but it really is because I go
back to just the previous administration being Biden, when, if
I recall correctly, his granddaughter got robbed in DC, and
he had if he was going to, you know, exercise
full nepotism, had every right to declare an emergency for

(20:06):
his grand baby and bring in the National Guard and
track down the monster that hurt his baby.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
Did not do it right, right, did not do it.
So when you when you talk, no, go ahead, Kelly,
finish your point.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Then we'll go to break. We're going to come back
with the discussion as well afterwards. So go ahead and
finish up your point.

Speaker 5 (20:24):
Yeah, it's just like I'm tired.

Speaker 12 (20:26):
It's the conflation of bullshit that this administration has to
do in order for it to do what it wants
to do.

Speaker 5 (20:35):
It is extremely frustrating and frankly, all of this could
have been avoided if you had voted for the Black Lady.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
No, I hear you. This is a discussion that we're
just getting started.

Speaker 16 (20:44):
You all.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
We're going to go to a quick break and come
right back with more of this conversation. You're watching Roland
Martin unfiltered right here on the Black Star Network.

Speaker 17 (20:54):
Next on the Black Tape with me Great. The United
States is the most dangerous place for a woman to
give birth among all industrialized nations on the planet.

Speaker 11 (21:05):
Think about that for a second. That's not all.

Speaker 17 (21:08):
Black women are three times more likely to die in
this country during childbirth than white women.

Speaker 18 (21:14):
These healthcare systems are inherently racist.

Speaker 19 (21:18):
There are a lot of white supremacists, ideas and mythologies
around black women, black women's bodies, even black people that
we experience.

Speaker 17 (21:27):
Payless right activist organizers and fearless freedom fighter Monifa Aknwila
Bande lay from Moms Rising joins US and tells us
this shocking phenomenon, like so much else, is rooted in
unadulterated races, and that's just one of her fights. Monifa
Bande lay on The Next Black Table Here on the

(21:49):
Black Star.

Speaker 18 (21:50):
Network This week.

Speaker 20 (21:53):
On the Other Side of Change, Diasca wars the internet
has been sworn to who has a race, It's a.

Speaker 5 (22:00):
Blackness and Black culture.

Speaker 21 (22:01):
Who is overrepresented underrepresented is too much.

Speaker 5 (22:04):
It's making us dizzy.

Speaker 22 (22:05):
We don't have to be prideful without this air of superiority,
right All stories matter within this black sphere that we
exist in.

Speaker 21 (22:13):
Only on the Other Side of Change on the Black
Start Network.

Speaker 5 (22:19):
Hello, I'm Paula J.

Speaker 3 (22:21):
Parker Trudy Proud of the Proud Family.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
I am Tommy Davidson. I play Oscar on Proud Family,
Louder and Press.

Speaker 16 (22:28):
I am Jean Marie Payton, voice of Sugar Mama on
Disney's Louder and Proud of Disney Plus.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
And I'm with Ronald Martin on Unfiltered.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
Trump has sent in federal officers to Washington, DC, even
though crime has been dropping for the past two years.
The Metropolitan Police Department shows violent crime in Washington d
C is down twenty six percent so far in twenty
twenty five compared to this time last year. Homicides are
down compared to this time last year. Robberies, burglaries, even

(23:02):
sex abuse cases are way.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
Down and some by half.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
Last year, violent crime dropped an even bigger thirty five percent.
So the numbers are clear violence is going down, but
Trump's out here saying crime isn't really falling, even talking
about some quote unquote phony numbers investigation. Marcus, I'm coming
back to this phony numbers investigation because I'm thinking about
bureau label statistics, bureau labor statistics. And it seems like

(23:30):
his mindset of don't bring me no bad news. If
it's something that he doesn't like, he's going to make
up numbers to justify what he wants to do.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
And it seems like working to.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
Occupy DC after he tried it in Los Angeles is
the latest example of this.

Speaker 10 (23:46):
Absolutely, and the President has a long history of coming
after DC again since his first term. He is repeated
rhetoric that the federal government should take over DC. He
said it on the campaign trail last year, and we
should again take his word for what he says he
wants to do. He will find whatever work around he

(24:08):
can again just to prove his point. And now he's
found this opportunity, obviously to also distract the rest of
the country from the liumint Epstein scandal that he's going through,
but it also is a good opportunity for him to
quote unquote flex' his muscle and yeah, if he can
do it standing on top of some fake numbers about

(24:28):
how Washington, DC is the worst city on the planet.
He's willing to lie and off scate to do that.
But to your point, the numbers don't lie. We are
not a perfect city. But local leadership has worked very hard,
and local leaders on the ground have worked very hard
to wrap our arms around folks struggling in our community,
to get them at housing, to get folks off the streets,

(24:50):
to put young people into productive programming. And I think
he's only disrupting the work that we've been doing over
the last several years.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
Want to come back to you.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
I know you had a comment to make, but I
also want you to speak on the optics of the
fact that of them turning over so much of this
authority to pan Bondie and taking away the responsibilities and
authority of the Black women leadership here in Washington, d C.
I want to get your thoughts on that, in addition
to what you were about to speak on Earth.

Speaker 3 (25:20):
Well, a couple of things.

Speaker 15 (25:21):
Let's be clear, the mayor has been clear, they have
not taken away her authority. They've layered her for to
be sure, but the Metropolitan Police Department is still in
charge of the police here. The reason these things are
so important is that we have to continue to keep
follow the law. There are certain things DC has complied,
you know, required to comply with. There are other things

(25:44):
that they are not required to comply with. I think
we don't want to give.

Speaker 3 (25:48):
Trump more credit, more power than he's already taken.

Speaker 15 (25:53):
So it's really important to hold that because if he
violates it, she will have some to sue.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
So we want to make sure we're keeping the line straight.

Speaker 15 (26:03):
And of course the attorney, the attorney for the districts
of Columbia is already looking at this. So just think
that when you see her muted response, it's because she's saying,
I'm going to follow the law, and you better follow
the law too. Her chief is still in control of
their department. What the federal government is doing is different

(26:26):
and they'll have to partner together. I think that's just important,
a small tweak. The other thing is that you know,
we have to continue to rely on the numbers. The
fact of the matter is crime is down in DC,
but that does not mean it's perfect.

Speaker 3 (26:43):
It is not perfect anywhere.

Speaker 15 (26:45):
What this is is Donald Trump trying to make a
play so that he can take over not just DC,
but other cities as well. Obviously it's easier here in
DC because it's not a state, which I thought the
mayor was very right in saying, if you are a
Democrat in Kan Chris who believes that DC, you know
who's grieving what's happening to DC right now. You have

(27:06):
no one to blame but yourself because when you had
an opportunity to prioritize DC statehood, you did not do it.
One thing we can say for Donald Trump, he uses
every opportunity at his disposal.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
He has always wanted to take over DC. He's using
a moment where he needs a distraction to do it.
That's what this is, you know about.

Speaker 15 (27:29):
He don't always use the moments when we have them.
That's the real problem here. But I will wrap up
just to say that with respect to this, We're gonna
have to be mindful of him as soon as that
thirty day mark is. We have to make sure he's
going to Congress. If he doesn't do it, the longer
he does it, the more it invalidates the notion that
there is an emergency.

Speaker 3 (27:51):
We have to continue to ask what is he looking for?

Speaker 15 (27:54):
The mayor said that today, what is the president looking
for in order to declare that this is no longer
an emergency?

Speaker 3 (28:00):
We know, as bs we have to play it a
little longer, and while we are waiting.

Speaker 15 (28:06):
If there are additional federal resources that we can use
to make DC safe for the people who live here,
for the people who live here, use it, use the moment.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, I mean yes, Marcus, go ahead.

Speaker 11 (28:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (28:23):
I was going to say, I for sure think that
there is some practical application on the ground for kooler heads,
for some of the leaders in our city who have
to manage this relationship. I don't think that should be
an instruction for any Democrats around the country. Right We
don't need to watch them play this out. We need
them to stand up for us right now. You're absolutely right.

(28:45):
We Democrats missed an opportunity to protect the residents of
the District of Columbia from this onslaught by not granting
them statehood. But we have to know that every day,
every hour that President Trump is have this increased authority
over the lives and freedom of black people in the

(29:05):
District of Columbia is a day and hour of danger
that we must keep preventing. So we have to pour
into our communities. But national Democrats need to stand up
right now, right and become the alternative present, the alternative
present democracy for the District of Columbia. It's going to
be an uphill battle, and we've got iterations to this fight,

(29:26):
but god damn it, somebody needs to stand up right
now and say that this is not about public safety.
It is a power play and we need to resist
that power play that Trump is having on an all
black city because it will be somebody else's black city next.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
And finally to you, Kelly, you know, when we saw
some of these ice raids and people said, oh, you know,
Latinos didn't care. Many of them voted for Trump and
now they're finding out and so on and so forth,
many of us here at the Black Star Network were saying,
be careful because once they start coming for one group,
they're coming for everybody. Noticing, Kelly is that some of
the people who are also going to be on these

(30:03):
streets patrolling in the digit to the National Guard are
also going to be ICE agents.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
And so if you black, it seems like they could be.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
If they take you off those streets, or if they
take somebody who's unhoused off those streets, you're not necessarily
going to the DC jail. You might end up being
deported to rwand or some of these other places.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
Can you talk a little bit.

Speaker 1 (30:22):
About the moment that we're all about to find out
how much this is problematic for all of us and
not just one particular community.

Speaker 12 (30:30):
Sure, I mean I want to push back on that
sentiment a little bit in that just because we said
this particular group is going to find out, it's not
to say that we didn't know that we were also
going to find out.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
But I think some of us, some of us didn't
think that we were going to find out. But I
agree that many of us didn't feel that way, but
some of them are like, Oh, we didn't know this
was going to be us too, but go ahead.

Speaker 5 (30:53):
Oh see, it was an US issue from jump for me,
there was no separation.

Speaker 12 (31:00):
I was upset with Tino communities who voted for Trump
because they thought they were othered from us. Right, we
are all minorities to racist white people. They don't see
They truly don't see color. They just see black and white,
which ironically are neutrals. They're not technically colored.

Speaker 11 (31:18):
Right, But I digress.

Speaker 12 (31:20):
But when it comes to this situation and how we're
about to find out in this situation, frankly, it is.

Speaker 23 (31:27):
Just disheartening now, especially in d C, voted against this, right.

Speaker 12 (31:38):
Like, if you look at the numbers of how the
votes broke down in d C and the surrounding DMB area,
we did not choose this.

Speaker 5 (31:48):
So this is truly oppressive for those of us who
live here. I live in DC Proper and I am
from DC Proper. I did not vote for this.

Speaker 3 (31:59):
I did not choose this. My family did not vote
for this.

Speaker 5 (32:03):
My family did not cheat this and still going to
find out.

Speaker 3 (32:11):
And that is what's.

Speaker 12 (32:13):
Heartbreaking about this, The fact that we are merely just
pawned a pretty four time convicted felon. It is ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
Now, thank you for that, Thank you for that.

Speaker 1 (32:30):
We're gonna get some of the audio fixed as we
get prepared to go to this break, But I wanted
to thank you Marcus Bachelor for joining us and please
keep us posting on what your organization is doing so
that we can continue to amplify it. Thank you so
much for joining us, Thanks for having me, and we'll
be right back with Morol lamartin unfiltered right here on
the Blackstar Network.

Speaker 13 (32:52):
On the next, Get Wealthy with Me, Deborah Owens, America's
wealth coach. Black Americans have one tenth of wealth of
their white counterparts. But how do we get here? It's
a huge gap. Well, that's why we need to know
the history and what we need to do to turn
our income into wealth. Financial author and journalist Rodney Brooks

(33:15):
joins us to tell us exactly what we need to
do to achieve financial success.

Speaker 24 (33:20):
You can't talk about why we are as black people
where we are unless you talk.

Speaker 25 (33:25):
About how we got here, bridging the gap and getting wealthy.
Only on Black Star Network.

Speaker 26 (33:36):
On the next, A Balanced Life with Me, Doctor Jackie,
we're talking about leveling up, or to put it another way,
living your very best life. How to take a bold
step forward that'll rock your world.

Speaker 21 (33:47):
Leveling up is different for everybody, you know.

Speaker 27 (33:50):
I think we fall into this trap which often gets
us stuck because we're looking at someone else's level of journeys, what.

Speaker 28 (33:56):
Level of means to them.

Speaker 27 (33:58):
For some, it might be a bit business venture, for some,
it might be a relationship situation.

Speaker 21 (34:03):
But it's different for everybody.

Speaker 3 (34:06):
It's all a part of a balance life.

Speaker 26 (34:08):
That's next on Blackstar Network.

Speaker 17 (34:12):
Next on the Black Tape with Me Redco. The United
States is the most dangerous place for a woman to
give birth among all industrialized nations on the planet.

Speaker 11 (34:23):

Speaker 17 (34:26):
this country during childbirth than white women.

Speaker 18 (34:32):

Speaker 19 (34:37):
There are a lot of white supremacists, ideas and mythologies
around Black women, black women's bodies, even black people that
we experience.

Speaker 3 (34:45):
Paying less right.

Speaker 17 (34:46):
Activist organizer and fearless freedom fighter Monifa I can Wa
Bandelay from Moms Rising joins us and tells us this
shocking phenomenon, like so much else, is rooted adulterated races,
and that's just one of her frights. Malifa Bandeley on
the Next Black table here on the Black Start Network.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
Hey, what's up, y'all? Devon Franklin, it is always a
pleasure to be in the house.

Speaker 7 (35:15):
You are watching Rose Martin Unfiltered, stay right now.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
For a second straight week, over fifty Texas House Democrats
remain out of state, blocking the GOP's corps needed to
advance a controversial mid decade redistricting plan pushed by Governor
Greg Abbott and urged by Trump to help Republicans hold
onto power in.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
Next year's elections.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
Attorney General Ken Paxon is escalating legal threats and even
probing who's funding the Democrats stay away, but the Democrats
are unfazed by their threats. Meanwhile, former Alpaso Congressman Vato
O'Rourke vows to keep raising money. Standing firm of Democrats
in this high stakes standoff.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
They're all bending the knee.

Speaker 29 (36:03):
And so this guy thinks Donald Trump that he's absolutely unstoppable.
He really believes that he's the king that these knee
benders tell him that he is.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
And so he comes to our state to.

Speaker 29 (36:15):
Grab even more power in the form of these five
congressional dishes, including Mark VC's right here. He thinks he
thinks that we are going to take it right here,
But he doesn't understand in Texas, our knees do not bend.

Speaker 8 (36:33):
That doesn't work here.

Speaker 30 (36:35):
We're gonna fight these motherfuckers for as long as it
takes with everything we've got. We're never giving in, We're
never giving up, and we're never bending the knee.

Speaker 31 (36:45):
Are you with me?

Speaker 29 (36:52):
This guy and these Republicans are running scared.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
They're in full panic mode.

Speaker 29 (36:58):
That is why Greg is trying to remove these House
Democrats from office. That's why he's threatening to charge them
with second degree felonies. That's why he's threatening to hunt
them down with state troopers now, with Cash Bettel, who
is busy covering up for Donald Trump's involvement with Jeffrey Epstein,
now sending the FBI to you to try to find

(37:20):
these folks in Illinois or wherever they may be right now.
But listen, I don't think he understands what he's up
against here in Texas.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
Not only is it the folks.

Speaker 29 (37:32):
Who are here right now, not only is it those
fifty four brave Democrats who broke quorum to deny them
the numbers to redraw these maps, but it is everyday
Texans in every single part of the state, and perhaps
the last place that they'd expect to see us coming.

Speaker 32 (37:51):
Is Terrant County, Texas, right here in Fort Worth.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
Well, Donald Trump, here we are.

Speaker 30 (37:57):
You have met your match, and we're gonna fight.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
Him each and every day with everything that we've got.

Speaker 29 (38:08):
Let's get off of the back foot onto the front foot,
off of defense, onto offense. Let's take this to every
fucking county in the state of Texas, every state in
the Union.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
Everywhere we have to go meet him on every front.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
Fight until this isn't the first time Texas Democrats have
had to take a stand by breaking quorum. In twenty
twenty one, more than fifty courageously stood their ground by
leaving the state for DC to block a sweeping Republican
election bill that threatened the voting rights.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
They used, a protest tool.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
Enshrined in a Texas constitution and minority's right to be
heard when the majority shuts out public input. Chief Justice
black Law confirmed qualum breaking is lawful and necessary to
protect democracy. Yet Governor Abbott calls it quote unquote, holding hostage,
pushing to and one of the last remaining legal checks
on his unchecked power.

Speaker 10 (39:05):
Black Clock wrote Article three, Section ten enables corn breaking
by a minority faction of the legislature.

Speaker 33 (39:11):
Right right, yeah, carefully chosen word?

Speaker 11 (39:14):
No?

Speaker 2 (39:14):
What no, carefully chosen word enables Yeah. Okay, what's the difference?

Speaker 11 (39:18):
Now?

Speaker 2 (39:18):
What do you hope they come out?

Speaker 33 (39:20):
The way the constition is constructed, it doesn't enable them.
He didn't use the word empowers them. Okay, there's a
huge difference between the two. The way that the constition
is word it is because it allows him to escape.
He didn't say very importantly, he did not say, nor
did the court say that the writ that I have

(39:43):
to the Supreme Court, which is quo, wereinto. They did
not say that is disallowed to be able to be brought.
So the issue that I'm bringing is an issue of
first impression for this court that the Court did not
decide at all, top, served or bottom in twenty twenty one.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
It seems like your goal is to end the practice
of quorm breaking.

Speaker 32 (40:03):
Once and for all.

Speaker 33 (40:04):
We have to understand this consequence. If quorm breaking is
allowed to succeed, then a one third of House Democrats
would be able to dictate what the rule of law
is for one hundred percent of all Texas. They could
break kworm anytime the budget came up. They could bankrupt
the state by refusing to pass a budget. Unless they're

(40:26):
every leftist whim is capitulated to as governor.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
I will not let that happen.

Speaker 33 (40:31):
I believe the Supreme Court will agree that one third
of Democrats in the Texas House don't have the power
to completely run the table of the state of Texas.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
What is the role of the minority in the legislature then, I.

Speaker 33 (40:44):
Mean, it's up to them to decide. But it's not
quitting and leaving. Let's be clear about something. Quitting and
leaving is the most Untexan thing there is. Texas began
at the Battle of the Alamo, where they didn't cut
and run. They thought to their death to fight for
what Texas was all about. These democrats, they're the antithesis

(41:04):
of what a Texan is.

Speaker 32 (41:06):
Oh, the going got tough, Let's not fight, let's flee.
These are quitters.

Speaker 33 (41:11):
They are cowards, and their cowardice will cause them to
get kicked out of office.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
You see this as your Alamo moments over redistricting.

Speaker 33 (41:20):
This is continuation of ensuring that we're going to fight
for Texas and We're not going to be held hostage
by a few leftist progressive Democrats who are trying to
turn Texas into the Blue States like what the Democrats
have fled.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
Talk about revisionist history. Wow, we all know.

Speaker 1 (41:40):
And in quorum breaking won't strengthen democracy in Texas. It
will silence the scent and remove the last guardrail against
authoritarian rule. And that's just simple. I want to return
back to the panel on this. Also want to bring
in Eugene Craig, CEO of X Factor Media Incorporated out
of Baltimore. Eugene, we're in week two of this. How
do you see this playing out? And also your thoughts

(42:01):
on Governor Abbots comments right there as well.

Speaker 34 (42:04):
I mean, look, we're in a situation where these Texas
Democrats are doing what they need to do.

Speaker 11 (42:10):
They're they're a hole in the line.

Speaker 34 (42:12):
And look, fighting looks differently in the twenty twenty five
and it did in eighteen hundreds, right, And what he
has to understand is that, you know, there wouldn't be
a need for this if he wasn't trying to cheat
and gain the system for Donald Trump. And you know,
so that's the thing, you know, Texas Democrats they use
a corn break a couple of years ago. This time around,
they're much more prepared and a lot of different ways.

(42:33):
And you know, National Democrats are helping the talent and
Governor Prisker for giving them the resources they need to
be able to fight this battle of the way they
want to fight it. And at this point, Governor Abbott,
you know, he needs to make a decision. Does he
wanted to rig the game against Texas or does he
want to actually have an effective working government.

Speaker 1 (42:52):
I absolutely enjoy I want to take this also out
to the national level. One of the things I'm saying,
as Ken Paxson is investigating Beta OVERROX organization, I am
not you know, I'm not reading everything. I'm not seeing
every new story, but paying attention to elect the rest
of us are. I'm not seeing a lot of these
big celebrity the you know, the Coloney types of the world,

(43:13):
the you know, get rid of Biden bringing Kamala and
then you know, it seems like after the election they
completely disappeared. Where's the financial support that's supposed to be
happening for these Texas Democrats. Bet or Rthal organization seems
the only one that's being targeted. I know that Bernie
Sanders is having his you know, uh uh stop the
Oligarchy tour, but the money that's raised goes through his website.

(43:35):
I don't know if any donations are happening. It seems
to me that these Democrats who have fled Texas, with
the exception of some governors who have embraced them, are
kind of being abandoned nationally financially.

Speaker 15 (43:51):
I mean, I don't know if they're being abandoned financially.
I have not looked into, you know, how they're being funded.
I know one thing is certain. They're not having their
salaries paid. So wherever they are, they're doing so at
great cost to themselves. With respect to you know, these
super democrats, super delegate, these or super influential wealthy donors,

(44:16):
I think there's a whole conversation we can have about
their complete abandonment, not just of the Democratic Party find
if you want to abandon them, but to abandon the
people who are doing the work on the ground to
hold off this administration. I mean, you at least ought
to be supporting them so that we have a country

(44:37):
to fight for, and then be supportive of the Democratic
Party and these Democrats.

Speaker 5 (44:43):
The Americas have been.

Speaker 15 (44:45):
Crying out for people who are fighting, and these Texas
Democrats are doing that. So yeah, I mean, we need
to see if you had your big mouth open last summer,
we need your big mouth to open this summer, and
we need your big wallet opened. And it's not so
much about paying their way. It's about drawing attention to

(45:08):
what they're doing and reality, and also funding the organizations
that will be there to defend them and to keep
them going. That is really how you know we need
to be doing this. We need to be flooding the
people who are supporting them. And let's be clear on
what the plan is for these Texas Democrats. Their plan

(45:29):
they know that ultimately they're going to lose this battle
and then the fight will go to democratic states who
will try to do the same. But what these Republicans,
what these Democrats are doing is buying some time to
raise awareness so that there can be a groundswell of
people around them. And I do think they've been getting

(45:49):
that kind of support. We need to see people on
the ground marching in Texas. If you are a Caucasian
purpose and in Texas and you don't like it, don't.

Speaker 3 (45:58):
Do it behind your computer.

Speaker 15 (46:00):
We need you on the ground, on the streets, loudly, screaming, yelling, protesting,
showing up at these people's homes peacefully and safely, but
doing so letting them know that you are watching what
they are doing.

Speaker 3 (46:15):
That's what the Democrats are giving you time for time
to mobilize.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
And Eugene, as they're mobilizing, we're seeing that, you know,
corn is reaching out to the FBI to get assistants,
and these Democrats are saying, you don't need the FBI
to track us down.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
You know where we are. And it kind of plays
into our last story about Washington, d C. And Trump.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
How do you see this playing out as it relates
to the FBI, the federal government getting in, getting involved
at a deeper level, because ultimately all of this is
to police Trump, who is the one who went to Abbod.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
And said I need five more seats. And do you
feel like the democratic.

Speaker 1 (46:48):
Response outside of Maryland has been sufficient, outside of Texas
has been sufficient?

Speaker 11 (46:55):
I think 'all two things.

Speaker 7 (46:57):
The first is that.

Speaker 34 (46:59):
Republicans, you know, be such a small government. People are
always giddy at weaponizing law enforcement in these type of situations.
Right the warrants that have been issued by the Texas
House aren't criminal warrants. They're civil warrs that can only
be enforced within the state lines of Texas. So it
doesn't make any sense to try to get that FBI
in law because those warrants are not valid anywhere but

(47:20):
in scientist state lines in Texas. Secondly, you know, they
know exactly where they are, so we don't need to
even waste those resources. But one more time, hey, good
luck getting them outside of the state of Illinois. Our
Governor Pritsker has already made a clearriers and use every
resource possible to protect those Democrats, including.

Speaker 11 (47:39):
From you know, the abuses of law enforcement from their
home state.

Speaker 1 (47:44):
And Kelly, I'm a little bit concerned because I feel
like I see people like Governor Newsom and other leaders
talking about, well, if the Republicans are going to do
this in Texas, then we're going to pull a trigger
on this re districting in our state. But while that's happening,
other red states are actually looking at ways that they
can do this as well, in a way that may

(48:06):
gain them, let them double digit seats, And so some
of us are saying.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
Don't wait.

Speaker 1 (48:11):
Kathy Holchel, don't wait, Governor Newsome, don't wait, Governor Prisker.
And you know also you know, calling out on people
like Governor Moore to get in on the action as well.
Don't wait for them to see what they're going to do.
Do it now, because they are going to figure out
some other types of shenanigans to make sure they can
control the House in twenty twenty six.

Speaker 5 (48:30):
I can absolutely see that happening.

Speaker 12 (48:32):
My issue with the Democratic Party as a whole is
that we are now very reactive and then we play
into the victimhood. That is what is happening to us, right,
And it's really frustrating, and I keep saying that word,
but it really is frustrating when you see what is happening.

Speaker 5 (48:51):
You have the time to plan, the time to act,
and yet you don't.

Speaker 12 (48:57):
Or at the very least it appears that you don't,
because again, not in the room where it happens all
the time, right, So I can't.

Speaker 5 (49:02):
Say that nobody's working.

Speaker 12 (49:04):
But when you see this law, this this almost silence
and media and outreach regarding what is happening and what
to do next. The conclusion drawn from that it is
it is implied that you're not doing anything right.

Speaker 3 (49:23):
So to your point, it is it is.

Speaker 12 (49:27):
Imperative that some type of proactivity needs to happen in
order for frankly, the base to be riled up and
trusting in the party enough for something to happen. Because
right now, the at least from my point of view,
the demopart the Democratic Party trust is eroding by the

(49:50):
day because we have all this evidence and receipts rather
of time and time again, things that we could have done,
things that we could have said, things that we could
haven't acted, but didn't because we didn't want to seem
like a bully, because we didn't want to seem like
the oppressor, or we didn't like, you know, just walking

(50:11):
on eggshells within the own party in order to get
something done, because you want everybody to feel happy and euphoric.

Speaker 5 (50:18):
And that's not what politics is.

Speaker 12 (50:21):
And the Republicans know that right to this day, we
don't have an answer for Project twenty twenty five.

Speaker 5 (50:27):
And it's twenty twenty five and that happened. When did
Project twenty twenty five get ridden?

Speaker 12 (50:32):
Almost five to ten years ago? And we still don't
have an answer for that. So we are already behind
the ball on strategy and it feels like there's nothing
we can do about it, but we can if.

Speaker 5 (50:46):
People just do something as something I'll stop there.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
No absolutely, and that's what we're calling on.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
We're calling for everybody who has the power to do something,
whether it's financially, whether it's politically, to absolutely do something
because this is the fight to end the progression of
authoritarian rule in this country. And we're going to continue
to stay on that on the Blackstar Network to make
sure that we're keeping you all informed. Other people may
lose attention to this story, but we know how crucial
this is. So we're glad that you're rolling with us
every single day as we make sure we bring the

(51:15):
latest news on this particular issue to you. We'll be
right back and Roland Martin unfiltered right here on the
Blackstar Network.

Speaker 28 (51:26):
This week.

Speaker 20 (51:27):
On the other side of change, Diaska wars the Internet
has been sworn.

Speaker 21 (51:32):
Who has a right to blackness and black culture?

Speaker 5 (51:35):
Who is overrepresented? Underrepresented is too much.

Speaker 21 (51:37):

Speaker 22 (51:38):
We don't have to be prideful without this air of superiority.
Right all stories matter within this black sphere that we
exist in.

Speaker 21 (51:46):
Only on the other side of change on the black
Star Network.

Speaker 26 (51:52):
On the next A Balanced Life with me, Doctor Jackie,
we're talking about leveling up, or to put it another way,
living your very best life. How to take a bow
step forward that'll rock your world.

Speaker 27 (52:03):
Leveling up is different for everybody, you know. I think
we fall into this trap which after which often gets
a stuck because we're looking at someone else's level of journeys,
what level means to them. For some, it might be
a business venture, for some it might be a relationship situation.

Speaker 21 (52:19):
But it's different for everybody.

Speaker 26 (52:22):
It's all a part of a balanced life. That's next
on Blackstar Network.

Speaker 3 (52:29):
Me Sherry Sevra and you know what you're watching, Roland Martin.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
Unfelting candidate Zahan Mamdani is hitting the streets this week
with his five Boroughs Against Trump tour, calling out what
he says are the ways Donald Trump's agenda is hurting
the city. He kicked things off Monday in Manhattan with

(52:54):
support from prominent Democrats, including former Manhattan Borough President Roof Messenger.
Cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, and housing programs as proof
that every New Yorker is feeling the impact, Mamdani says
he's honored to have messengers endorsement.

Speaker 16 (53:11):
My name is with Messenger, among other things. In the
ancient past, was shortly after the dinosaurs rumb the earth.
I was privileged to be Manhattan.

Speaker 11 (53:21):
Borough President and serve the public of this borough for
eight years.

Speaker 28 (53:24):
You know, Manhattan, home.

Speaker 16 (53:26):
And playground of the rich and the very rich, but
also home to almost two million people who live in
Washington Heights, Parlan Lowist, Sida Hill's Kitchen, and many other
wonderful neighborhoods. People just like the people in Windsor Terrace
and Stapleton and Belle Harbor and Fordham, all New Yorkers,

(53:47):
all proud New Yorkers, doing everything they can to make
it here and hoping that their city government will support them.
I work today with many of our newest New Yorkers, men,
women and children who have come here in the last
twenty four months to escape oppression and pursue opportunity. And

(54:07):
I do this work for many reasons, one of which
is that my maternal grandfather was born here to a
newly arrived immigrant family one hundred and forty years ago,
and he became a public school principal and taught English
to Yiddish speaking parents of the children in his school.
He and his pupils and their families built this city

(54:31):
over the last century. If we work collaboratively and comprehensibly
with our community organizations and our houses of worship, we
will help all of our New Yorkers, new and not
so new, to get the education, health care, housing, and
services they need, not just to survive, but to thrive

(54:53):
and to continue to build New York City for all
its neighborhoods and all its people. Make grantson is starting
public school next month, and I get to walk into
school every day.

Speaker 3 (55:08):
In New York.

Speaker 16 (55:09):
We do not need a mayor who conspires with the
federal government to lock people out, to deport recent arrivals,
to instill fear and everyone, as the assemblyman said, or
to deny services. We do not need a mayor who
is secretly negotiating for support from a president whose budget

(55:30):
will take health care and education funding away from the
New Yorkers who need it most.

Speaker 28 (55:34):
Instead, we need a mayor who.

Speaker 16 (55:37):
Sees the city in its glorious complexity, who spends less
time catering to the rich and more time making services
available and affordable to those who are our future. We
need a mayor who will promote affordability here and fight
authoritarianism which is threatening us from much too close by.

Speaker 33 (55:57):
It's for those reasons that.

Speaker 16 (55:58):
I am proud to support or I'm Mamdani, who will
be just such a mayor and will ensure the future
of New York. Zorrong will ensure the future of New
York against those who espouse anti immigrant sentiments and those
who collaborate with the President then I'm deporting new arrivals
and cutting funding for city services. Zorong will be a

(56:18):
mayor who invests in the services that everyone needs to
continue to build this fantastic immigrant city for its future,
for my children, your children, my grandchildren, your grandchildren, my
great grandchildren. You don't have those yet, But who will
be there for all of New Yorkers, And that's why

(56:39):
I'm proud to endorse.

Speaker 7 (56:40):
Them for mayor.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
The Democratic nominee is casting himself as the racist, strongest
anti Trump voice, blasting arrivals Andy Clomo, Eric Adams, and
Curtis Sliwa as too cozy with.

Speaker 2 (56:55):
The former president.

Speaker 1 (56:56):
He slammed Clomo's recent phone call with Trump as disqualifying
New York's mayor's elections race is in November, and Joy,
one of the things that I have to be mindful
of is that he has somebody who is a powerhouse
not only within New York there but within the Jewish
community as well, winning a mayor a primary nineteen ninety seven.

(57:19):
And you know, people have attacked him so much for
being anti Israel, and she's urging people to look past
these past views. What do you see as the coalition
that Mam Donnie is building, especially with a strong endorsement
like that, And do you think that this could ultimately
propel him going forward?

Speaker 3 (57:38):
I think then mister Mamdani is going towards a win.

Speaker 12 (57:43):
I really do.

Speaker 15 (57:44):
I have not seen excitement about this person in a
long time, a candidate in a long time.

Speaker 3 (57:51):
The fact of the matter is he has.

Speaker 15 (57:52):
A joint coalition of people across demographic across burroughs that
he's taken the time after the primary he sought to
you know, politics is about addition, adding people who were
not with him before or didn't know him before, adding
them to his coalition. For the most part, this threat

(58:13):
that Jewish people wouldn't support him has been a failed one.

Speaker 3 (58:18):
He has gathered Jewish support.

Speaker 15 (58:20):
He had some, and now he's getting more as people
actually hear him and they realize, you know what, he's
not anti Semitic, right, and also at a time where
Israel is becoming less and less popular.

Speaker 3 (58:35):
This is also someone who seems focused on what the needs.

Speaker 15 (58:39):
Of New Yorkers are people in New York City, in
the boroughs, not talking about a bunch of national you
know issues.

Speaker 3 (58:48):
Donald Trump is a very present issue in New York right.

Speaker 15 (58:51):
To be clear, right for him, that's a Trump is
local there. He's not talking about general things. He's talking
about what impacts the citizens of New York City. And
that kind of language is so important and it's what's
so ought to be repeated everywhere. Not his message because
that's for New York, but focusing on what the people

(59:13):
that elect you care about, and then focusing on those
topics to bring the most people together. He has used
this strategy effectively, and even where there are differences, he
talks about the things that people have in common.

Speaker 3 (59:28):
He does not focus on what's to visit. He focuses
on what unites us.

Speaker 15 (59:33):
This is a pattern we should repeat, and I think
it's why we're going to see a successful outcome.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
For him in the ball Now, Kelly, I hear what
Joy's saying, But when we talk about building this coalition,
I feel like somebody's missing, Like a whole group of
people is kind of missing. I haven't seen the Democratic
Party come out and endorse Mom Donnie and are a
salty because of Democratic Socialists didn't endures Mala Harris. Are

(01:00:01):
they concerned about backlash from various groups that, you know,
the aphax of the world and the like. But I
see people like Representative Jeffries and and and Schumer talk
about we've met, we've talked, We've had good conversations, and
the like.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
But I'm not hearing any ringing endorsements. What's what's that about?
And is do you think that actually is going to change?

Speaker 12 (01:00:22):
I mean, my first gut reaction to that is follow
the money, specifically who has funded what for which campaign,
and you know, follow follow that trail. I think that
would make the most sense to answer your.

Speaker 5 (01:00:38):
Question, because behind closed.

Speaker 12 (01:00:41):
Doors, it would not surprise me if everybody is behind
Mom Donnie.

Speaker 5 (01:00:46):
The issue is who's going to say it with their
chest out loud.

Speaker 35 (01:00:48):
After those uh, those contributions have already been cleared those
checks have been cleared, right, So that has been a
consistent issue within the Democratic Party.

Speaker 12 (01:01:02):
Having you know, ties to packs and private donors and
the light that are almost the antithesis of what the
party stands for.

Speaker 5 (01:01:11):
But because you need the money in order to uh.

Speaker 12 (01:01:13):
Maintain your seat, you know, so long as we don't
you know, look too close, it'll be okay.

Speaker 5 (01:01:20):
Well, mom, Donnie to my knowledge, doesn't have any of
those issues as far as financial uh.

Speaker 12 (01:01:28):
You know, financial conflicts or you know, conflicts of an
interests financially.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
So what does that mean.

Speaker 12 (01:01:35):
It means that he's kind of the mirror to these
people who felt like they had to do something. You know,
it's a reckoning, if you will.

Speaker 3 (01:01:43):
And it does not surprise me that we're not hearing
from from.

Speaker 12 (01:01:48):
People in New York who you know, we know are
from New York and we know our Democrat, right, So
all I got to say is follow the money and
you might get your answer.

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
So while we're talking about money, Eugene, I've seen some
of the Democrats who have been hesitant to endorse him,
like Alyssa Slotkin Senators slot as an example. They would
say things like, well, he's a Democratic socialist, and you know,
I am a proud capitalist and my family came up
and you know, they have no money, and then they
built this.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
A lot of people share that.

Speaker 1 (01:02:19):
Other New York Richie Torres, you know, I said similar things.
But when you look at the Democratic policies Joe Biden
Harris Democratic Party, now, so many of their policies are
very much in line with fortunate mom Donnie is talking
about a lot of these things that became popularized under
when Jesse Jackson was running for office back in the day.
Why does it seem that Democrats are afraid to embrace

(01:02:42):
some of his policies when they are many of these
policies are mirror images of what the Democrats have pushed
forward for people across the country. That Republicans have actually
called socialists and communists, not even knowing what those fully
mean in their words when they use it.

Speaker 34 (01:02:59):
So I'm gonna I'm gonna qualify us with saying that
I am a Republican that sometimes steps in the Democrat business.

Speaker 11 (01:03:09):
I'm the only going to get like a toe woman this.
I'm only going to like a toe of this, all right.

Speaker 34 (01:03:17):
So what I see here outside looking at it somewhat
and I'm looking in there's a situation that sometimes we
deal with the Republican Party, right, where you have a
group of individuals that you know may be active within
the party, and then you know, when you actually need them,
you know, they're, oh, hey, Pamala should be doing this

(01:03:40):
on power sign and we're going to sit out because
she's not talking about the way we want to talk
about and right, and then guess what happens next year?
You're guys now the nominee for a particular office and
now you're sitting back tard around looking like.

Speaker 11 (01:03:56):
But where's the party to support us?

Speaker 34 (01:03:58):
When the party, you know, last cycle, was like, hey,
we need our revote and everybody on board, and you
guys are the partner's finger. So I'm not necessarily shocked,
especially folk like Mendomni who were very vocal more in
the last election about some of these things and some
of them and some of the vote you know, sitting

(01:04:19):
out and whatnot not getting the institutional support from institutional
democrats that are now finding the administration tooth and nail
every single day. Now, one more time I were public
and that's something given my toe into this business. But
you know that's that's the policy aside. But I think
that's also something that's pandemic when it comes to these

(01:04:41):
Democrats socialists. Right, we look at a Bernie Sanders who
will talk about everything, but that's what the big R word.

Speaker 11 (01:04:48):
Race. We will talk about working class, won't talk about
black and brown working class. This is just what happens.

Speaker 34 (01:04:55):
And then you know when we're wonder why, hey, you
can't win a Democrat primary outside of the lee white states,
But hey, I wanted to expect that because I'm a
Republican that's sometimes in the Democratic business and I'm always
sticking a toe and I'm a guest there.

Speaker 15 (01:05:12):
Can I can I jump in just to say this
in defense of Democrats, Mom, Donnie is relatively new on
the scene, right, so many of them did not have
a relationship with him prior.

Speaker 3 (01:05:25):
Doesn't mean he can't do the job, doesn't mean he's
not He absolutely is.

Speaker 15 (01:05:30):
So I mean the Democratic Party, some of the folks
that you have named, people who are leaders in the
party or whatnot, they don't typically get out in front.

Speaker 3 (01:05:37):
They follow where the people are.

Speaker 15 (01:05:39):
And why we have seen more Democrats rally around him,
including you know, more conservative Democrats, moderates, et cetera. I
believe in m Klobasharre endorsed him or or is supportive
of him. The reason we're seeing that because the people
are there. So stop waiting and looking for a Democratic
leader to be the first to endorse right, be looking

(01:06:03):
at the numbers of Democrats who are increasing their support
of him.

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
Have Jerry Nadler doing so.

Speaker 15 (01:06:09):
These are people who have been leaders in the party
right who are building support for him there and they
will continue to do so. But that is what always
happens when you have someone who's new on the scene
because in the past, someone who considers themselves a Democratic socialist,

(01:06:30):
they have actually not been able to get things done right.
So my colleague is right, So we love him, but
he has to deliver. He has to deliver.

Speaker 3 (01:06:41):
And in the beginning, he didn't have black votes.

Speaker 15 (01:06:45):
He didn't have votes and lots of parts of New
York City and you need those votes to win. He
didn't have some moderate votes. You need those votes to win.
All the Democratic Socialists voting doesn't make a win.

Speaker 3 (01:06:58):
Okay, I guess us. We have to wait and see.

Speaker 1 (01:07:02):
I get you, so, Gene, I know you talk about
you know different toes in but I'm gonna just push
you in. I mean, like, you know, many of us
who don't roll Republican are one of our analysis and
critiques of the Republican Party. Is that, or maybe it's
not a critique, maybe it's just is what it is

(01:07:22):
is that, you know, Republicans fall in line and Democrats
wait to fall in love.

Speaker 2 (01:07:27):
Given your view of the.

Speaker 1 (01:07:29):
Democratic Party, you know, whether you're you know, thinking mom,
Donna will win or not or anything like that, do
you feel like this should be a Democrats need a
fall in line type of moment given that everything that
you know, we're dealing with in the country, the anti
Trump agenda, He's on this anti Trump tour right now,
is this do you feel like there should be a
fall in line moment for the Democrats similar to what

(01:07:50):
Republicans do all the time.

Speaker 11 (01:07:52):
Well, I don't necessarily think it's a fall online moment.

Speaker 34 (01:07:54):
My existence is you know, literally the antis toe it right, Yeah,
myself and others you know, proudly you know, still Vice
President Harrison Cycle. I mean, I chair a Black Republicans
and Harrison was very active in Republicans parents.

Speaker 11 (01:08:08):
What I think the miss.

Speaker 34 (01:08:11):
Understanding is that Republicans fall online what did I say,
fall online?

Speaker 11 (01:08:15):
Republicans are beat into line. You know, Matt's Matt, Matt.

Speaker 34 (01:08:20):
Kibbie, who was the former CEO of Freedom Works during
his heyday, you used to have a saying right to
say that, hey, uh to the super axist, say hey,
a lot of times we have to beat the Republicans
before we can think about fighting the Democrats. And what
you're seeing right now is literally a decade pluck of
more institutional traditional Republicans getting beat into submission. You know,

(01:08:46):
the Freedom Caucus, you know, WAD the foundation for Donald Trump,
who's now potentially using this freedoms the schools on the Hill,
and you're seeing his agenda implement it as a fusion
intendent of both of those. That's not necessarily Republicans getting
in line, you know, that's that's them being beaten into submission.

(01:09:06):
And when you saw the people that decided that we're
going to stand up to Donald Trump. Mark Sanford, who
you know, for a very long time is a political
powerhouse within his own right right even you know, going
to scandal, will come back, get elected to the House
of Representatives and standing up for action principle. You know, hey,
they just said, look, Mary you, but Republicans going to

(01:09:27):
getting inligned, but they are typically being one.

Speaker 11 (01:09:30):
Way or the other.

Speaker 34 (01:09:31):
Democrats, you know, don't have much of an iron grip
on on on their members as Republicans typically do. But
that's also okay because hey, you know, members aren't elected
to go serve party interests. They're elected to serve their members,
I mean their constituency.

Speaker 11 (01:09:47):
No.

Speaker 1 (01:09:48):
Absolutely, you all bring up so many great points, and
this is such a fascinating story that's continually unfolding in
New York and we're going to be keeping an eye
on it to see what happens. We'll be right back
on more Role and Martin Unfiltered right here on the
Black Star Network.

Speaker 7 (01:10:04):
Next on the Black Table with me Bredca.

Speaker 17 (01:10:07):
The United States is the most dangerous place for a
woman to give birth among all industrialized nations on the planet.

Speaker 11 (01:10:15):

Speaker 17 (01:10:18):
this country during childbirths than white women.

Speaker 18 (01:10:24):

Speaker 19 (01:10:28):
There are a lot of white supremacists ideas and mythologies
around black women, black women's bodies, even black people that
we experience payless right.

Speaker 17 (01:10:38):
Activist, organizer and fearless freedom fighter Monifa I Canwila Bande
lay from Moms Rising, joins us and tells us this
shocking phenomenon, like so much else, is rooted in unadulterated races,
and that's just one of her fights.

Speaker 11 (01:10:56):
Monifa Bande lay on the next Black Table Here.

Speaker 32 (01:10:59):
On the Black Star. Bruce Smith, creator and executive.

Speaker 5 (01:11:04):
Producer of The Proud Family, Louder and Prouder than Washington,
Roland Martinton.

Speaker 1 (01:11:16):
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing backlash after sharing a
CNN interview with Christian nationalist Douglas Wilson, a man who's
argued women shouldn't be allowed to vote and has even
downplayed the harbors of slavery. Hegseth, who attends a church
tied to Wilson, reposted the interview on x with the

(01:11:38):
phrase all of Christ for all of life. Wilson's vision
is a country where only Christians can hold office, same
sex relationships are criminalized, and public expressions of other faiths
are banned. Take a listen to what Wilson has to
say about women.

Speaker 32 (01:11:56):
Women are the kind of people that people come out
of so you just think.

Speaker 28 (01:12:00):
They're meant to have babies.

Speaker 32 (01:12:02):
That's it.

Speaker 7 (01:12:02):
They're just a vestment.

Speaker 36 (01:12:03):
No, it doesn't take any talent to simply reproduce biologically.
The wife and mother who is the chief executive of
the home is entrusted with three or four or five
eternal souls.

Speaker 28 (01:12:16):
I'm here as a working journalist and I'm a mom
of three.

Speaker 32 (01:12:19):
Good for you.

Speaker 28 (01:12:20):
Is that an issue?

Speaker 32 (01:12:21):
No, No, it's not automatically an issue.

Speaker 37 (01:12:24):
Josh and Amy Prince, along with her four kids, moved
here from Washington State.

Speaker 28 (01:12:28):
Do you see Amy as your equal?

Speaker 32 (01:12:31):
Yes and no, in the sense that we're both saved
by grace. We're absolutely on equal footing. But we have
very different purposes God given.

Speaker 28 (01:12:40):
But do you see yourself as the head of the household,
as the man? He is the head of our household?

Speaker 2 (01:12:48):
Yes, and I do submit to him.

Speaker 28 (01:12:49):
So, like moving here, I was just going to play
your decision.

Speaker 2 (01:12:53):
Yes, that's a great, great example.

Speaker 37 (01:12:55):
Wilson says, in his vision of a Christian society, women
as individuals shouldn't be able to vote. His fellow pastors
Jared Longshore and Toby Sumpter agree.

Speaker 29 (01:13:04):
In my ideal society, we would vote as households and
I would ordinarily be the one that would cast the vote,
but I would cast the vote having discussed it with
my household.

Speaker 28 (01:13:14):
But what if there's a your wife doesn't want to
vote for the same right person as.

Speaker 32 (01:13:18):
You, right, well, then that's a great opportunity for a
good discussion.

Speaker 37 (01:13:21):
There are some who have gone so far as to
say that they want the Nineteenth Amendment repealed.

Speaker 36 (01:13:25):
I would support that, and I support it on the
basis that the atomization that comes with our current system
is not good for humans.

Speaker 37 (01:13:34):
And Wilson, a veteran himself, is unapologetic about his view
that women shouldn't be in certain leadership or combat roles.
Looking at the leadership page for christ Church, it's all men.
Do you accept women and leadership roles in the church
and government.

Speaker 32 (01:13:50):
In the church?

Speaker 11 (01:13:51):
No?

Speaker 32 (01:13:51):
Wow, because the Bible says it's not to.

Speaker 37 (01:13:54):
Wilson is part of a broader Christian nationalist movement making
in roads with the Trump administration, with a new created
Faith Office led by evangelical pastor Paula White Kine, and
people seen right outside the White House entrance praying and
speaking in tongues.

Speaker 3 (01:14:09):
We are standing on the soil of the White House
and we are declaring your.

Speaker 2 (01:14:12):
Work, oh prayer.

Speaker 37 (01:14:15):
And now there's a monthly prayer service at the Pentagon
initiated by Hegseth, Wilson's highest level connection to the administration.

Speaker 32 (01:14:22):
It's not organizationally tied to us, but it's the kind
of thing we love to see.

Speaker 37 (01:14:28):
For his part, hag Seth has publicly praised Wilson.

Speaker 36 (01:14:31):
Now we're standing on the shoulders of a generation later,
the doug Wilsons and the others.

Speaker 1 (01:14:38):
You know, one of the things I wish people could
see is their reactions to those of us who are
on the panels when we're showing these stories. And Kelly,
I wish I had you on full blast for everybody
to see. No, just take it, take it, Come on,
give us what was going through your mind.

Speaker 5 (01:15:02):
HM.

Speaker 12 (01:15:04):
As someone who has grown up in the church, specifically
a megachurch that was conservative and predominantly white for many years.

Speaker 5 (01:15:15):
This just doesn't make sense.

Speaker 38 (01:15:17):
Biblically, there were women leaders in the Bible for crying
out loud that we revere, you know what I'm saying,
Like debrauh both marys esther list goes on, and it's just.

Speaker 5 (01:15:38):
I am speechless right now. And I usually am not,
but that it just takes the cake for how.

Speaker 12 (01:15:46):
Insecure these men are, because that's really what it boils
down to.

Speaker 5 (01:15:52):
You don't want women to have power because you and
yourself don't.

Speaker 31 (01:15:55):
Think you are worthy of the power that you have,
And in order to deserve the power that you have,
you must quell any threat that.

Speaker 3 (01:16:04):
You see fit, even if.

Speaker 5 (01:16:06):
That's your wife or your mom or your daughter.

Speaker 31 (01:16:12):
It is very weird to me that that that is,
that is a school of thought that men can just
do what they want.

Speaker 38 (01:16:23):
I'm sorry, with hemorrhage once a month, hemorrhage and still
get stuff done. You catch a cold and you're out
for five weeks, and you think you are the stronger sex.
You think you can get stuff done.

Speaker 33 (01:16:40):
Right, like.

Speaker 12 (01:16:42):
President's wives have on record, like in historical records, been
the reason why this country has moved in the way
that it does, and you think that it was just
because of men. And this isn't a man bashing post,
That's not what I'm saying, but it takes should have
ten go on a lot of this stuff, and you thinking.

Speaker 31 (01:17:03):
That only men can rule the world is the reason
why the world is the way it is.

Speaker 5 (01:17:08):
Right now, and it sucks, So like, I don't that
was bizarre to me, that's just bizarre.

Speaker 1 (01:17:17):
Well, Joy, you know, of course we can talk about
this being being bizarre, but it's also hypocrisy on full blast.
So we have this is a man hexth who came
into the Defense Department who originally said women shouldn't be
in the military, and we've heard other views that he's
espoused about women. I feel like even if this video,
these interviews came out before his confirmation hearings, he still

(01:17:38):
would have been approved because ultimately this is the view
of Trump and so many of the evangelicals. Even though
Trump is the least the vote devout Christian person, obviously
he serves as their avatar. But is this not hypocracy
on full blast for a man who changed up to
say that women should be in the military just so
he can get approved.

Speaker 15 (01:17:58):
Look, to be clear, this is not It's bizarre to me.
I don't understand this, but it's not bizarre, and that
no one believes this. They're a good number of people
who believe this, and that's okay for them to believe it.

Speaker 3 (01:18:10):
That's their business, their religion. I'm not involved in that.

Speaker 15 (01:18:15):
What's the problem is when we put these people in
positions of authority and power, and their thing isn't to
just do it in their home as to then migrate
it to our federal policy, our state policy, our local policy.
Pete Hag Saffa can believe whatever wackado thing he wants

(01:18:36):
to believe, but when he tries to put it on
the military case, maybe here or in some other agency,
that is where the issue lies. That is what we
need to be talking about. And it is so important
that we make sure folks know who's out there, and

(01:18:56):
then we can say, look, we're not crazy. And if
you are a who is observing this, you know these
people are out here because they're in your family.

Speaker 3 (01:19:05):
And some of us black ladies, we know we got
a few of them too in.

Speaker 15 (01:19:09):
Our family, have a lot of the majority of men,
and so we don't want to over estimate that, but
we do have to say, this is what we're fighting against.
This type of belief is encroaching itself into our policy,
and that's what we have to ward off. Donald Trump
isn't supportive of this, but he'll use it if it

(01:19:31):
gives him a greater handle on power.

Speaker 3 (01:19:34):
He's not gonna get.

Speaker 15 (01:19:37):
Everyone else, but he's looking to get white men and
perhaps some other men.

Speaker 3 (01:19:41):
Who believe in this foolishness.

Speaker 2 (01:19:43):
They want to build.

Speaker 15 (01:19:45):
Their lives and their success off the backs of women,
and they see our advancement, as you know, they're undermining.
We know that's out here, and this is why we
need white women to be more engaged. Most white women
are not that woman that was standing next to her husband,
and God bless her. She has every right to feel
that way, but they should not bush positions where they

(01:20:07):
make decisions for the rest of us.

Speaker 1 (01:20:10):
And so, Eugene, I want to tie this into the
last segment when we talked about Mamdani because so many
people have called him at anti semi because of his
phrase globalized the Intifada, which he is not used again
has walked a little bit back, but so many people
have used that and him saying that he'll arrest if
he was mayor, he would arrest NA and Yahoo because
of the international warrant for his arrest. He would enforce

(01:20:33):
that law. And they're using that to call him an
anti semi and a religious extremists. And we've seen people
from all sides of the political aisle come out with
various islamophobic comments about Mam Donni. But here we are
seeing religious extremism with going off of Joy's point within
the government. This is the head of the Department of

(01:20:54):
Defense who tweets out all of Christ for all of life.
Someone said in the confirmation hearings that he wants to
use the Defense Defense Department as the flaming sword of Christ.
This is a man who said that when he you know,
was out in the club one night, talked about killing
all Muslims. Can you talk about the hypocrisy and how
people will go after mom Donnie for a comment he
doesn't even use anymore and has no strong history of

(01:21:17):
that we know of anti semitism with a man who
is promoting religious extremism.

Speaker 2 (01:21:22):
He shared this interview on his actual feed. Can you
speak to that hypocrisy if you see it as hypocrisy
as well?

Speaker 11 (01:21:30):
Yeah, it's definitely hypocrisy.

Speaker 34 (01:21:33):
And the thing is this, right you fundamental, right, right wing,
fundamental Christian Christianity is more of a threat than probably
any other religion in America. And because the issue is that,
you know, Christianity is always in a cogestification or brethren,
those aims and those bulls, the thing is the other
the bigger the issue is that the way that these

(01:21:56):
people view the role of women is absolutely disgusting. To
say that, hey, you want to eradicate the nineteenth of
Theomen to take away a women's right to vote is
absolutely disgusting. One of the under belly flights is rising
up daily is that the fight between Publican men and

(01:22:17):
Republican women actually being led by MTD on how Republican
men handle Republican women and the lack of leadership roles
and opportunities for Republican women. And I think that look,
all this ties in together. You know you're going to
see going forward, especially with this Trump administration and their

(01:22:37):
folk Christianity right and how they does not interact with
different faces whatnot, You're going to see more of this extremism.
But the thing is this, you have the secretary I
had to promise that he wouldn't drink on the job
because he asked hus take a problem of other.

Speaker 11 (01:22:54):
Fings. I wouldn't expect anything different and hypocraesy, thank you.

Speaker 15 (01:23:00):
And we also just say shame on Republican women to
my colleagues point for not speaking out against it.

Speaker 3 (01:23:06):
So Blackburn doesn't believe this, she's about to run for governor.

Speaker 2 (01:23:09):
Okay, no, I hear you, Nonnie.

Speaker 3 (01:23:12):
Doesn't believe this. She's the equal of Secretary Hecsath.

Speaker 15 (01:23:17):
So the chief of staff of the president is a woman,
the head of the Faith office is a woman.

Speaker 3 (01:23:24):
But they have remained silent here right and I.

Speaker 1 (01:23:28):
Think that some people, I feel like many people you know,
call us call this out and call out Republican women,
as they rightfully should. And one of the things people
also talk about is that there shouldn't be platform because
it's promoting these But we need to know what's going on.

Speaker 2 (01:23:42):
We need to be aware of the people who.

Speaker 1 (01:23:44):
Are influencing the people who are running our government, because
it really is telling. And so even though people may
talk about their's division, this man's church is on the rise,
and people like Hecseth promoting him is only going to
make them grow bigger. And so we need to make
sure that we're calling attention to it. And we're always
going to call attention the story life this and the
hypocrisy of this government and their pocracy, of any of
these officials out there claiming to represent the people. We

(01:24:06):
are always going to do that every day right here
on the Black Star Network. We'll be right back on more.
Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Speaker 13 (01:24:15):
On the next Get Wealthy with Me Deborah Owens, America's
wealth coach. Black Americans have one tenth the wealth of
their white counterparts. But how did we get here? It's
a huge gap. Well, that's why we need to know
the history and what we need to do to turn our.

Speaker 5 (01:24:34):
Income into wealth.

Speaker 13 (01:24:35):
Financial author and journalist Rodney Brooks joins us to tell
us exactly what we need to do to achieve financial success.

Speaker 24 (01:24:43):
You can't talk about why we are as black people
where we are unless you talk.

Speaker 25 (01:24:48):
About how we got here, bridging the gap and getting wealthy.
Only on Black Star Network.

Speaker 11 (01:25:01):
Fark our executive producer, A Proud Family. You're watching Roland
Martin Unfiltered.

Speaker 1 (01:25:21):
The Department of Veterans' Affairs has abruptly terminated union contracts
for most of its four hundred and fifty thousand strong workforce,
stripping hundreds of thousands of employees. Nurses, technicians, food service
workers and more are losing collective bargaining protections they've had
for years. The move comes after a March executive order

(01:25:42):
from President Trump citing national security and a court ruling
clearing the.

Speaker 2 (01:25:47):
Way effective immediately.

Speaker 1 (01:25:49):
Staff unions like the American Federation of Government Employees and
National Nurses United have lost their bargaining power. Joining us
now is the American Federation of Government Employees AFGE National
President Everett, Kelly Everett, thank you so much for joining
us tonight.

Speaker 8 (01:26:07):
Thank you for having me tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:26:08):
Thank you so when we share stories like this and
we're talking, I'm sharing four hundred thousand, I'm naming various professions.
So many people who don't aren't aware of what's going on.

Speaker 2 (01:26:19):
This is just numbers to them.

Speaker 1 (01:26:21):
Can you talk about the real effects of what's happening
with people on the ground from what you're seeing.

Speaker 32 (01:26:27):
Okay, thank you so much.

Speaker 39 (01:26:28):
You know, for fg we represent eight hundred and twenty
thousand federal and DC government workers and we all face
an unprecedented attack, not by our choosing, but by the
rericulous attacks of this administration that is determined to sile
on federal workers. And we can our unions and just
amount the verius structure that uphold public service and accountability,

(01:26:49):
such as workers in the VA. Okay, now, when you
start taking away the rights of workers in the VA,
it's going to adversely affect they that their service every day.

Speaker 8 (01:27:01):
You know, the protection of unions has been good for
the VA.

Speaker 39 (01:27:08):
I would say that because you think about a workplace
where an employee has to deal with an employer that
screens and yell and haul at them all day and
then expect them to be able to perform in an
effective manner.

Speaker 8 (01:27:25):
It doesn't happen.

Speaker 39 (01:27:26):
And with a union, you know, you give that opportunity
for an employee to be protected, you know, from those
type of attacks. You know, just think in terms of
a veteran that need help, right but a person that
has been scolded, a person that has been discriminated at.

Speaker 8 (01:27:47):
Against rather, you know, they have to continue with that.

Speaker 39 (01:27:50):
And therefore, when the veteran come in for service, you know,
they might not get the very best care of very
best service because of the trauma that's going on inside
of that employee's here. But the union has protected employee
from that, uh, days and days in and day on,
and we will continue to do that. A lot of

(01:28:11):
people think that the union is gone, But before we
had a contract, we had a union, and we will
have this union. It will stand here, it will fight
for its members, you know, until there is no fight left,
and so.

Speaker 2 (01:28:25):
What is the fight looking like right now?

Speaker 1 (01:28:27):
In this executive order something that came in March and
now they have this abrupt termination. What has what has
the fight been looking like? Because we want to know
what's going on out there and how we can support
what you're doing. What kind of shape is the fight
in right now?

Speaker 39 (01:28:41):
Well, you know, of course, you know we have been
winning in the different courts, and you know then, of course,
you know, the administration won't push everything to the Supreme Court.
And as you know that there was a state issued
to the administration that said they can go ahead with
their plans. But it's still left us opportunity to litigate

(01:29:01):
these issues. Now, we believe that we're on the side
of right. We believe that what has occurred is illegal,
and we still have an opportunity to present that case
you know, before and in the legal system, and I
believe that ultimately we will prevail.

Speaker 1 (01:29:18):
Mister Kelly, how are you seeing the support from the
American people, Because, to be quite honest, this is not
a story that I am seeing on the mainstream news
every single day. But my assumption is that so many
people have union within their history that maybe these stories
are getting to them. But is this a story that
is not reaching the attention of the national audience as

(01:29:39):
it should, or is it reaching the national audience in
ways that we're just not seeing what we've been.

Speaker 8 (01:29:43):
Seeing it really reached the national audience. Is it enough?
You know, I would submit to you that it's never enough.
I would submit to you that we need more and
more of people like you that will bring forth these issues.

Speaker 39 (01:29:57):
But we have been on major media outlets, you know,
explaining the story because people don't understand really who federal
employees is.

Speaker 8 (01:30:07):
They are characterized as being bureaucrats. Has been lazy. But
let me just tell you who these federal employees are.
They are the people that take care of our veterans.

Speaker 39 (01:30:18):
When our veterans go and fight in the wars and
they come back in these services, it's these employees that
service them. They are the people that make sure that
the air that we breathe is good air, the food
that we eat is good food, make sure that the
air that we sky in fly in or are saved
to fly. These are the people that make sure that
our students get a quality education. That are being called bureaucrats,

(01:30:42):
that are called lazy and are being you know, humiliated,
you know by this administration.

Speaker 1 (01:30:49):
I want to go to the panel for for their
questions of Eugene. Your question for mister Ewick Kelly.

Speaker 34 (01:30:56):
Hey, sorry, mister Kelly, I'm your time via employee uh
to Summers. It's seventeen Uh, you know work in fee
bases and risk management back a long time ago. I
guess my question is what what can what can everyday

(01:31:16):
Americans do.

Speaker 11 (01:31:19):
To help this fight?

Speaker 34 (01:31:20):
Because you know, at the end of the day, that
the employees aren't being treated right in the service to
the actual veterans, it's going to not be you know,
where it needs to be. So what can you know
because this administration and every administration that re elected love
to wrap themselves up in the in the flag of
the veterans, right and not like bag but you know,

(01:31:41):
love to themselves and veteran care for veterans. So what
can everyday Americans that I'm watching right now do you
know help protect the work the people that are essentially
taking care of those that take care of us.

Speaker 11 (01:31:54):
Right?

Speaker 39 (01:31:55):
Okay, well, thank you for that question. That set of
thing that h fellow Americans can do. Number one, Uh,
you know we have rallies across the country and to
bring light to what's happening. I asked fellow Americans to
join in when they hear about these rallies, you know,
join in, you know, participate, you know, to show the

(01:32:17):
administration that the American people are paying attention.

Speaker 6 (01:32:21):
Uh.

Speaker 39 (01:32:21):
Matter of fact, we're going to be doing one in
Los Angeles this Friday coming. You know, it's called the
NFL Cio Bus Tour. You know, people can join in
with that. Secondly, you know, people can call the members
of Congress and the members in the Senate and tell
them that they do not appreciate the fact that services

(01:32:43):
that America deserve and need is being dismantled by this administration,
and you expect them to stand up and do something
about it. Now, we also have a bill in the
House and the Speaker refuses to bring it forth for
a vote because we think we got enough to pass

(01:33:06):
these votes that will restore their buggaining rights and the
rights of federal workers. So there is a dispart discharged
petition right now, and I'm asking every fell American you
know to make the phone call to their congressional personnel,
regardless of what you're in in this United States of America,
you know, call and pressure them to ask, as a

(01:33:30):
matter of fact, to sign on to the discharge petition
so that they won't have a choice but to bring
it forth for a vote.

Speaker 8 (01:33:36):
They're trying to hide the ball, but we need to
bring it out and it's.

Speaker 39 (01:33:40):
Going to take the American people to do that, and
especially from the Republican Congress.

Speaker 8 (01:33:46):
Now, just be quite honest. The Democrats have signed this petition.

Speaker 39 (01:33:50):
They're ready to bring it to the floor for a
vote because they think that democracy is everybody's right, you know,
and I believe that democracy is everybody's right. I believe
that everyone we're gonna have a right to voice that
concerned in the workplace.

Speaker 11 (01:34:03):
You know.

Speaker 39 (01:34:03):
As a veteran myself, I cannot imagine what's going to
happen when they privatize all of these veteran services. Okay,
I don't want to think that I can't pick up
the phone and call the crisis line and get somebody
to take care of my issues.

Speaker 8 (01:34:19):
If they privatize these services.

Speaker 39 (01:34:21):
Guess what, You're going to be put in on the
whole list for three weeks, a month, two months before
anybody contacts you. So that's a problem that we're gonna
have to deal with if these services are ultimately privatized
as this administration want to do.

Speaker 2 (01:34:38):
Kelly here question.

Speaker 11 (01:34:41):
Sure.

Speaker 12 (01:34:42):
So, with Virginia being just one state over and they
are certainly the most impacted by this decision making, can
you talk about specifically the hypocrisy of the decision making,
being that this is concerning veterans affairs, The whole point
of Veterans Affairs is to help veterans, and the fact

(01:35:05):
that they are dismantling unions that have worked towards this
common goal of helping helping veterans, how that is being dismantled,
and any other intricacies of the hypocrisy that you see, Well, you.

Speaker 8 (01:35:23):
Know, and thank you for that question.

Speaker 11 (01:35:25):
That's why you know.

Speaker 39 (01:35:26):
I'm working to make sure we get another Attorney general
in the state of Virginia because they present attorney general
have not even spoke a word in defense of these
workers that are being.

Speaker 8 (01:35:42):
Demoralized.

Speaker 39 (01:35:43):
Okay, we have to make sure that every community understands
what's happening across America. Now, excuse me, but it's not
just in the Veterans administration. You know, although last week
we receive a noticed from the administration that they were
going to take away the rights of these employees to

(01:36:06):
uh be a part of the union.

Speaker 8 (01:36:07):
But that didn't just happen in.

Speaker 11 (01:36:08):
The v A.

Speaker 8 (01:36:09):
That happened also uh in e p A. You know,
and and that these are the people that make sure
that you know, we breathe freely, we can, we can
we can have clean water and those type of things.
So it's a it's a it's a it's a.

Speaker 39 (01:36:24):
An attack on all federal agencies and the services that
they provide are gonna soon cease to be or it's
gonna be privatized to a private company where the people
that have actually contributed to these campaigns are being paid
back through the services that should be provided uh by

(01:36:46):
individuals that have no interest in uh the scenarios.

Speaker 11 (01:36:51):
Uh.

Speaker 39 (01:36:51):
So we we we we have to continue to fight
back and we will AFGE will continue to fight back.

Speaker 8 (01:36:58):
This is the other piece that we have to under
Before there was.

Speaker 39 (01:37:02):
A union contract that was a union, and we're going
to continue to be that union and we'll fight until
we get every contract back one by one.

Speaker 15 (01:37:14):
Joy your question, can you say to me and to
the American people anyone watching exactly what the ending of
this contract will do to their benefits.

Speaker 39 (01:37:30):
As do I Okay, thank you. That's a good question.
That is a very good question because people don't think
that when you start talking privatization, they don't think about
what that really means. But when you start privatizing an agency,
say if you take the VA for example, these employees

(01:37:51):
right now are on the contract. They have great benefits,
right they have health insurance, they have our rights on
the job, they have a right to speak, you know,
on the job, you know, against issues that are unsafe
and those types of things. When you become a private
contract and guess what, the first thing that happens is
your pay is reduced, okay, because they're about making a

(01:38:14):
profit rather than providing a service.

Speaker 8 (01:38:16):
Okay, not only your pay reduced, but.

Speaker 39 (01:38:20):
Also have benefits and all of the benefits that you know,
the union, because you're a union worker, have worked hard
to achieve you know, all of those things out the door.
So it's votally important that union representation and unionism stay
alive in America. Is the springboard that has caused us

(01:38:42):
to be a part of the working class, you know,
but this administration won't those that have a lot, which
is the rich, millionaires and millionaires and those that have nothing.

Speaker 1 (01:38:55):
Mister Everic Kelly, President of AFTE, thank you so much
for joining us, and please keep us posted so we
can continue to amplify what's going on with AFGE and
Union's overall.

Speaker 8 (01:39:05):
Thank you, Thank you, sir, thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:39:08):
No doubt We'll be right back to Moroland Martin Unfiltered
right here on the Blackstar Network.

Speaker 20 (01:39:16):
This week on the Other side of Change, Diasca wars
the Internet has been sworn.

Speaker 21 (01:39:22):
Who has a right to blackness and black culture?

Speaker 5 (01:39:25):
Who is overrepresented? Underrepresented?

Speaker 7 (01:39:27):
Is too much.

Speaker 5 (01:39:27):

Speaker 22 (01:39:28):
We don't have to be prideful without this air of superiority.
Right all stories matter within this black sphere that we
exist in.

Speaker 21 (01:39:36):
Only on the other side of Change on the Black
Star Network.

Speaker 2 (01:39:43):
Hey, what's up, y'all. I'm Devond's Frank.

Speaker 15 (01:39:45):
I'm doctor Robin Bee, pharmacist and fitness coach, and you're
watching Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Speaker 1 (01:39:56):
Reverend Joseph Darby Jr. A faithfully lead and notable civil
rights activists in South Carolina, has died. Darby's family confirmed
he passed away on August eighth, just one day after
his seventy fourth birthday. The Darbys did not disclose the
cause of death, but his loved ones did note that
he has suffered from a long term illness. Darby was

(01:40:19):
a leader in civil rights in the state, being the
first vice president of the Charleston Branch of the NAACP
and former first Vice president of the South Carolina and DOUBACP.

Speaker 2 (01:40:29):
His forty eight year tenure as a faith.

Speaker 1 (01:40:31):
Leader included his role as a presiding Elder of the
Beaufort District of the Ame Church. Before his death, he
also served as pastor of Nichols Chapel, Ame Inn Charleston
Congresson Clyburn shared some words on Twitter regarding Darby's passing.
I'm deeply saddened to learn of the passing of my

(01:40:52):
good friend, Reverend Joseph Darby Junior. Cliburn continued by saying,
Reverend Darby was an extraordinary and gifted man, a commit
unity leader, servant, and a faithful man of God. His
career has been marked by selfless service to others that
comes not only from his dedication to ministry, but his
innate passion and compassion. And it seems, Kelly that every

(01:41:16):
single day we're losing more of our legends, some young
or some older.

Speaker 2 (01:41:20):
But it just seems like that when we.

Speaker 1 (01:41:22):
Lose the elders, the library is closed, especially in times
right now when we need them the most.

Speaker 12 (01:41:29):
I was just thinking about how, you know, we are
now the age where we're seeing the changing of the guard, right,
and with this activist and so many others, thankfully we
do have some type of not codifying, but just some
type of record of their existence and some type of.

Speaker 5 (01:41:54):
Path forward that we can read into and research and
see what they did. So we're not we're not losing recipes,
you know what I mean when it comes to these activists,
And I think of another way to say it, but
we're not. We're not losing the keys to the kingdom,
so to speak.

Speaker 13 (01:42:14):
Right.

Speaker 5 (01:42:15):
My my concern moving forward is.

Speaker 12 (01:42:18):
You know, we are getting older, and we have things
that we need to codify, so to see, and we
need to work on that for ourselves while we are
still of sound mind and sound body, so that we
don't leave the next generation hanging. Because it's not that
the struggle will be over, it'll just be a different struggle.
And considering that history repeats itself, there will always be

(01:42:41):
some type of nugget in everybody's story to make somebody
else's story a little bit easier to walk.

Speaker 2 (01:42:49):
And how do you see that, Eugenia.

Speaker 1 (01:42:50):
And we talk about legacy, especially with the legacy of
a man like Reverend Darby Jr. It seems like as
we lose more, as more people become ancestor there's sometimes
when this library is closed, and you know, Kelly.

Speaker 2 (01:43:03):
Talked about that recipe.

Speaker 1 (01:43:04):
If we don't really pay attention to read the stories
and understand the stories of legacies like his, it seems
like we can't get that guidance even when they're gone.

Speaker 34 (01:43:13):
Look, the thing is this, right, Legacies are built and
then they're built upon, and then they're built upon. You know,
a whole has a line, he says, a vision of
the should over giant can see much further than the giant,
So I guess. So the thing is, so, the thing
is this right, It's our job to stand on the
shoulders of these giants, and you know, take things at

(01:43:36):
that next level. You know, these recipes aren't being lost,
they're actually being passed now and then reworked and remixed
and then reapplied to feel and uh, you know, that's
that's the best thing that we can do for Reverend
Derby and uh, you know those that came before and
that will go after him, is to make sure that
we're doing what we can to build upon the legacy

(01:43:58):
that you know they left.

Speaker 2 (01:44:01):
And joy.

Speaker 1 (01:44:02):
When I think about his legacy, I also look at
the way that he fought in the religious space and
also in the in the social justice space in terms
of the organization being part of the NAACP, being part
of aame, and it seems like nowadays that kind of connection.

Speaker 2 (01:44:18):
I don't know if it's being revived, but.

Speaker 1 (01:44:20):
At least for a long time, it seems like people
who represented Reford Derby Junior are represented. It seems like
we kind of moved away from that space, how do
you see it?

Speaker 15 (01:44:28):
So I'm so glad that, you know, we're bringing this
back because we just talked about a white male Christian
nationalist version of religion, and in many respects we've sort
of ceded religion to these uber conservatives and these folks
that we were talking about before. But Pete Hag says,
or to the right of normal conservatism, they're off, you know,

(01:44:52):
they're off the cliffs somewhere.

Speaker 3 (01:44:54):
But The truth is, I think that we shouldn't make
fun of the.

Speaker 15 (01:44:57):
Role of religion in people's lives and how in important
it is. And I say that as a person who's
not known for being particularly religious, but I understand how
important it is in people's lives.

Speaker 3 (01:45:08):
I don't think it's wrong for folks to come together
on the basis of faith.

Speaker 15 (01:45:14):
I just don't think it ought to make its way
into policy or then you tell other people they can't
have their own faith and their own beliefs. And everyone
has said, here to your views. But I think it's
really important for us to say, if you are a
religious leader, we need your voice in this moment. We
need you to draw the connection with our history, with

(01:45:35):
our modern times, with what the Biblical text, what faith
says about the moment we're in. People need that about
what it also says about what we have to do
moving forward.

Speaker 21 (01:45:48):
The real.

Speaker 15 (01:45:50):
Lesson, too, of the pastor is that he did something.
He had impact in people's lives. Too many of us,
you know, are not having tangible impact. And if anything
the Democratic Party I think got away from is that
it stopped having tangible impact in people's lives. It became
about complaining and not about doing and showing what you

(01:46:14):
did yeah, and saying you know what we want results today.

Speaker 3 (01:46:20):
It's not enough to.

Speaker 15 (01:46:20):
Tell people it's going to take a long time. No,
they got to see and feel what you are doing today,
and they have to believe that you, you know, are
people of your word. And so I think that that
is something that these leaders who've gone before can teach us.
People of their word, being honest about their faith, where

(01:46:40):
they're coming from, what drives their work, and then actually.

Speaker 3 (01:46:45):
Being tactle touching people, being on.

Speaker 15 (01:46:48):
The street with them, having impact with them when they
don't know, saying they don't.

Speaker 21 (01:46:53):
Know, etc.

Speaker 15 (01:46:54):
We've gotten away from that, and it's to our peril.
It's not enough to be on social media. It's not
enough to just be having a good time. It's not
even enough to be resting. At this point, people need
to feel you. They need to know you're standing with them,
they need to know, they need they need to understand
what you're doing for them and why supporting you is

(01:47:15):
gonna benefit them.

Speaker 1 (01:47:16):
No, absolutely, and revend Darby Junior represented that, and now
he's an ancestor and we just pray that he rests
in peace and power forever. That's gonna do it for
us on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Thank you so much, Joy,
thank you so much, Kelly, and thank you Eugene for
joining us. Please remember to support us on the Blackstar Network.
Please support us on all our social media platforms. Contribute

(01:47:36):
to the Blackstar Networks as we can continue to grow
this platform.

Speaker 2 (01:47:40):
Thanks Roland Martin for letting a brother sit in the chair.

Speaker 1 (01:47:42):
I'm doctor Omi Kongo de Benga and you have to
remember y'all it is now time for truth talks.

Speaker 2 (01:47:48):
I will see you next time. Holla.

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