Trump’s Guard Move Ruled Illegal, Jeffries Slams Gerrymandering, Entrepreneurship, Whiff & Nibble

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hey for today is Tuesday, September second, twenty twenty five.
Coming up of roland Mark unfild ship should have been
live with the Blackstar Network at California. Judge says Donald
Trump broke the law no shot there in sending troops
to Los Angeles. Now he is threatening to send federal
troops to Chicago. Illinois Governor Jamie Fritzker said, wa ain't

(00:34):
having it in my state. We'll talk to retired General
Russell Hono Rain about this.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Hole back and forth.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Also, House Democratic Leader Hakim Difference calls out MAGA Republicans
for their racist jerry mandering across the country. Plus a
lot of discussion about what's happening with the businesses of
Pinky Cole and Sludy Vegan, as well as Von Weaver
and Uncle Nerist.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Talk to UH an.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Expert on investing in companies, to really give us a
clear understanding of what is happening with these black owned businesses.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Also, in our shop Blackstart Network.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Marketplace segment, we'll talk to the founder of Whim and Nibble,
a company that brings you food theme gifts that smell
as good as they look. Plush the great basketball legend
Joy raveling has passed away. And wait till I tell
you about his unique tie to Reverend Doctor Martin.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Lu King Jr.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
And his I have a dream speech O the marchin
in Washington with jobs and freedom, folks is down to
bring the bunk rolling Mark unfilching on the Black Start network.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
Let's go peace.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
Scott saw it.

Speaker 5 (01:49):
Whatever it is, he's fine to believes he's right on top.

Speaker 4 (01:54):
It is rolling.

Speaker 6 (01:56):
Best believe he's going.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
To host to politics with entertainment.

Speaker 7 (02:03):
Just bocas He's.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
It's golden.

Speaker 8 (02:20):
He's pokys chrest, she's real up.

Speaker 5 (02:22):
Question, No, he's rold Monte.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Federal judge says the twice in Peach's criminally convicted felon
in chief, Donald the con Trump broke the law in
sending National Guard troops to Los Angeles. Yeah, that's right,
Judge Charles Bryer to the Trump's order of the sen
thousands of troops, including seve hundred marines. U broke the
Posse Coommitatus Act, he said, was willfully violated. That particular act,

(03:05):
which the federal law that prohibits US military forces from
enforcing domestic laws. The federal judge rejected the Department of
Justice argument the deployment was necessary to protect federal property
and personnel, emphasizing at the posse Commentitatus Act prohibits the
president from using the military as a domestic police force
without congressional approval. Now, while this is going on, Trump

(03:29):
of course continues to see the same thing. In Washington, DC.
You got Muriel Bowser said she has no problem with
these federal law enforcement officers being in and National Guard
being in DC indefinitely. Now Illinois, it's a whole different conversation.
Illinois Governor Jimmy Pritzker blasted Donald Trump today when it

(03:52):
comes to what they say is good information that he
plans on sending federal troops there, and in fact, at
an over office news conference, Trump's say at point blank
he was going to send troops to Chicago.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
He would not say when.

Speaker 7 (04:11):
Well, we're going in.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
I didn't say when.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
What the con man said today in the old office
by a Chicago.

Speaker 7 (04:25):
Well we're going in.

Speaker 9 (04:26):
I didn't say when we're going in. When you lose, Look,
I have an obligation. This isn't a political thing. I
have an obligation when we lose. When twenty people are
killed over the last two and a half weeks and
seventy five are shot with bullets. So let me tell
you a little story about a place called DC, District

(04:48):
of Columbia.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
Right here where we are.

Speaker 9 (04:50):
It's now a safe zone. We have no crime, we
have it's in such great shape. You can go and
actually walk with your children, your wife, your husband, and
you can walk right down the middle of the street.
You're not going to be shot, Peter, You're safe. Everyone
likes you anyway, They probably wouldn't do it. But it's
so dangerous, and there are people in this audience that

(05:12):
you've suffered greatly. There are people in this audience that
have been mugged and hurt badly, and they don't want
to talk about it. Maybe you were very brave in
talking about it. You made quite an impression on a
lot of people. I appreciate it. But there were other
people in this room that have been hurt very badly
just walking down the street in DC.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Washington, DC is.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
All right, all right, here's ill wan.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Go to Jamy Pritzker speaking today.

Speaker 10 (05:42):
I'd like to ask a question of my own, and
it's one the press should be asking as well. When
did we become a country where it's okay for the
US president to insist on national television that a state
should call him to beg for anything, especially something.

Speaker 8 (06:02):
We don't want.

Speaker 10 (06:05):
Have we truly lost all sense of sanity in this
nation that we treat this as normal. In the coming days,
we expect to see what has played out in Los
Angeles and Washington, d C. To happen here in Chicago. First,
Donald Trump is positioning armed federal agents and staging military

(06:27):
vehicles on federal property such as the Great Lakes Naval Base.
It is likely those agents will be with ICE, Customs
and Border Patrol, the Department of Homeland Security, and other
similarly situated federal agencies. Many of these individuals are being
relocated from Los Angeles for deployment in Chicago. We believe

(06:51):
that staging that has already begun started yesterday and continues
into today. Second, unidentifiable agents in unmarked vehicles with masks
are planning to raid Latino communities and say they're targeting
violent criminals. As we saw in Los Angeles, a very

(07:14):
very small percentage of the individuals they will target will
be violent criminals. Instead, you're likely to see videos of
them hauling away mothers and fathers traveling to work or
picking up their kids from school. Sometimes they will detain
handcuff and haul away children.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
Folks showing us right now as retireity in general, Russell Honorey,
glad to see you.

Speaker 11 (07:40):
Dot.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
Let's get right into it first and foremost, what do
you make of the use of the National Guard as
a pawn by Donald Trump.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
To put DC? Now he throw to Chicago of us.
Of course, the Jenis ruling has lost Angeles.

Speaker 11 (08:02):
What do you make of this? Well, I think a
lot of it is performative.

Speaker 5 (08:07):
I do.

Speaker 12 (08:09):
Look at d C is different than Chicago because they're
federal control with the Home Rule Act, and the President
as the authority to basically take o DC government if
that's what he and the Congress decide to do. That
being said, DC has a good police department, it's under
man and it has a good mayor. And a billion

(08:32):
dollars was cut out of his budget this year to
maintain d C law and order and infrastructure. So we've
got to deliver going on there. I think when the
President speak about crime, you also talk about deportation is
an underlying fact, and they picked out a lot of

(08:53):
people and deported them out of d C and looking
at the situation that the mayor is in.

Speaker 11 (09:00):
And there was a.

Speaker 12 (09:01):
Crime problem and is a crime problem in most of
our large metropolitan areas, But it wasn't an emergency to
a point where the city was dysfunctional because that is
the capital of the United States. The federal agencies, you
shouldn't have taken an invitation or in order from the

(09:23):
President to go in and help the mayor of d
C clean up the crime on the street, the street crime.
It shouldn't have taken a request from the mayor to say, hey,
you've got to give me more judges. The judges are
busy and we can't get the courts to work effectively
to try those people. But we're in a dilemma here

(09:43):
Roland when it comes to crime. Crime is a problem.
We know the cities and they're all not blue cities
led by democratic governors mayors. We have the same problems
here in the South and from Jackson to Shreepwood to.

Speaker 11 (10:01):
Monroe to Baton Rouge.

Speaker 12 (10:03):
But the hard thing to defend we've got to work
on is over the weekend there was seven killed and
fifty four shot, fifty seven shot in Chicago this weekend.
That opens the door up for the president to say
I'm going there after crime.

Speaker 11 (10:20):
But what he's really going to do is run a
deportation operation.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
Roland a particular point.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
Governor Pritsker in the same news conference said they have good,
good information that Trump plans so so Chicago has a
massive Mexican Independence State celebration. We've we've been I lived
there six years, We've been there, and let me tell
you something.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
I mean, it's backed up for miles.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
Downtown is packed, you know, up with some you know,
half a million, a million folks. So they said they
have information that that Trump plans on having federal authorities
rating folks who'll be picnicking on that particular day, which
is September sixteenth.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
He's called that cruel, He's.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
Called that shameful, and he said it is all about
to instill fear and intimidation in.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
The lives of Mexican Americans.

Speaker 12 (11:24):
It's a deportation operation underscored with a focus on crime. Look,
I was in Chicago at twenty thirteen. Royan Emmanuel was
the mayor. President Obama's in the White House, and I
was in.

Speaker 11 (11:39):
The community of Inglewood, you know where that is Roy Inglewood.

Speaker 12 (11:46):
So I'm hanging around in Inglewood for a couple of
days going to high schools talking leadership and preparedness and inspired,
trying to encourage young.

Speaker 11 (11:56):
People to do the right thing.

Speaker 12 (11:58):
And the people in Inglewood were terrified with about a
crime they had to deal with and there weren't enough
police to do with it. I actually recommend it to
the mayor and the governor at twenty thirteen, if you
have to get a hold of the street, motilize your
national guard. That's why you got it the governor.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
Trump is doing it now.

Speaker 11 (12:23):
Yeah. But here's the deal.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
First of all, I remember that because I actually wrote
a column that was in the DVPS.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
I quoted you in it. We're talking about this very thing.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
But this is this is the difference though that I
think that that when you talked about that then, because
what I wrote was I said, I said the mayor
has to be the one to make the request for
additional state police support or National Guard to the governor
and then as opposed to Trump unilarily deciding based upon

(12:57):
with no intel, no evidence, no nothing, I'm just gonna
do this, Willy Neely.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
That's the difference here.

Speaker 11 (13:06):
Exactly, Roland.

Speaker 12 (13:07):
And that's the point of getting too This was what
they needed to do to get a whold of crime,
the street crime, much of it being perpetrated by young.

Speaker 11 (13:21):
People of color. Let me just leave it at that,
black on black crime.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, but it's but also a big part of this
is also is dealing with the reality of the massive
amount of.

Speaker 11 (13:35):
Guns. Gun. Yeah, gun's coming out of Indiana.

Speaker 12 (13:39):
The folks there on the ground and the police have
repetitively said that out of Indiana that.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
Come from Indiana. Yeah, come from Indiana.

Speaker 11 (13:49):
Listen to me, Roland. We had we could have dealt
with this.

Speaker 12 (13:51):
We had Obama in the White House, we owned at
least one or two legislative branches. We own the Attorney General.
Didn't do jack about that. We didn't do jack about it.
And that's what missed opportunity. We got to deal with crime,
and we got to do with the root cause of crime.
Kids dropping out of school, getting into contraband economy. That

(14:15):
has to be fixed, and you could do something about that.
I was working with the Children Defense Fund and they said,
if you're not reading that fourth grade level by the
time you're ten years old, you got a fifty percent
chance to have a running with the law by the
time you're fourteen. We got to go after that, and
we've got to be resourced, and people in the community
need to demand it of the mayor and the governor.

(14:38):
Why the hell you don't want Trayvon Martin. That poor
little boy got killed, that became a national incident. We
didn't do shit about eight or nine young kids got
killed in Chicago that same week. It wasn't shit done
about it. Roland not nothing was done about it.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
But here's the issue that we faced. And again out
I'm gonna tell you about.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
A meeting at the White House, which was there the
first time he was meeting with He's meeting with TV anchors.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
I was invited to three of the meetings. I tended
two of them, and I brought up Chicago.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
And he said, then, all, uh, he says, Rom was
in the Oval office and Rom was talking but just
what you just talked about. Ram was talking about education jobs.
He's like, no, Rom, Uh, that's not going to fix
that's not going to fix the problem. Uh, that's not
going to fix the crime problem. And I'm sitting there
going if you talk to any police chief they'll tell you.

(15:35):
You have to confront that the reason the region is
down in Baltimore is because of that. The region is
down in the place is the region was down in
DC is because of that. Now here's a problem.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
Republicans don't want to fund that stuff.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
But see, so what they wanted both ways. They want
to complain about crime white folks. You know that that
tickles their ears and gets them excited, but they don't
want to deal with the root crime and to take
the level of investment you're talking about.

Speaker 11 (16:08):
Yeah, and you know, I.

Speaker 12 (16:09):
Remember at that time that was a beer company moved
to Chicago with about three hundred jobs. They gave him
billions of dollars a tax break to bring in about
three hundred jobs, as opposed to investing down their own people.
We got a dilemma going on here that's got to
be cleaned up. And our messaging is not clear and
our audio in our video is not matching ron.

Speaker 11 (16:27):
We got to clean up the crime.

Speaker 12 (16:29):
But the way President Trump is going about it, what
he's doing and what he's saying, fighting crime is deceived
as a deception, as a deportation operation. And it's not
just about crime. It's domination of the blue the major
cities that are controlled by Democrats. That's what he's going after.

(16:52):
That's the issue he's making for the next election, for
his follow on for the midterm. Make it about crime.
But this is a deep rotation operation and he's captured
the news with it. But inside these cities, why the
hell the people in Chicago are not protesting the day
with seven dead and fifty seven shot over the weekend,

(17:15):
Why the hell an raising hell about that? Yeah, I
think that's the dilemma we got to address. We made

(17:37):
some We talk a lot about the high profile cases
that end up in the news, like poor Trayvon Marsmen.
But that same week that happened, there were several five
or six kids killed in Chicago. Nothing made of it
because it's black on black crime. We've got to make
sure we control the narrative, but we act where we

(17:59):
have to inside our cities. In bat Rouge, where I live,
three weeks.

Speaker 11 (18:04):
Ago, there were.

Speaker 12 (18:07):
Five killings in one weekend right here at bat Rouge, Louisiana,
a little old town less than three hundred thousand.

Speaker 11 (18:13):
We've got to address.

Speaker 12 (18:14):
Crime in the city, and we've got to put the
heat on our politicians and do something about it because
they got money, but to give it tax breaks.

Speaker 11 (18:22):
The industry as opposed to investing in these communities.

Speaker 13 (18:25):
Roller Well Softball League, how are you, sir well general,

(18:49):
if you can hear me, We know that there are
a number of organizations that are actually on the ground
in Chicago, grassroots organizations are doing the work. How important
is that based upon all the experiences you have to
make sure those organizations are funded, are doing the work.

Speaker 12 (19:07):
Yeah, and they do good work. They're engaged with after
school programs, they engaged with the traditional organizations like ROTC
and high school and boys and girls clubs.

Speaker 11 (19:21):
All those serve as a meaningful.

Speaker 12 (19:24):
Way to keep our young people engage and help them
get their education. But the kids that fall out of
the support network, they're the ones that end up in
the contraband economy and end up in the gunfights.

Speaker 11 (19:36):
And that's got to be fixed myself.

Speaker 12 (19:39):
We've got to in the community, got to raise hell,
not just about the high profile when the police shoot somebody.

Speaker 11 (19:46):
We've got to raise hell in those communities and.

Speaker 12 (19:49):
Demand that these local public officials do something about the crime.

Speaker 11 (19:54):
People ought to be able to sit on the front
Coach and.

Speaker 12 (19:56):
Donald Trump as President Trump has pulled a scale up
there and you know he's getting some support to reduce crime.
But at the same time we know also I believe
that this is an undercovered deportation operation and nothing yet
about crime, because if it was, you'd be going to Jackson,
Mississippi and going to other Shreeport Louisiana inside the speak

(20:19):
of Johnson's area of operation in Monroe and deal with
the crime.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 13 (20:25):
I remember after Kastrina, how you came in, stepped in,
got everything kind of moving in a proper direction, made
sure that folks had dignity and respect, and how you
were handling the operation. How important is that also in
Chicago to make sure that we are one making sure
that folks who are there on the ground doing the

(20:45):
work have the power and resources that are necessary. And
also how do we make sure that there's dignity as
we are addressing, you know, the issues of violence that
that happens in some areas.

Speaker 12 (20:57):
Yeah, I think it's not necessarily the the military that
that fails to show dignity to people like in d C.
That they're pretty benign walking around and their presence alone
can can calm the street down where we see there's
some areas of concern is when ICE agents just stop

(21:18):
people based on their complexion and their their accent and
start pulling them in and stopping them based on what
they look like and what they sound like and where
they're working.

Speaker 11 (21:33):
That is that is criminal, and you.

Speaker 12 (21:35):
Know there's federal laws against that, but the ICE agents
are not paying much attention of federal laws. They're paying
attention to Steven Miller, who tell them just go out
and arrest people will sort it out later. And they've
made some very embarrassing the rest that week, and the
public has to make sure that they're doing everything they
can to protect their neighbors and their procedures that have

(21:59):
been put out there that worked in Los Angeles and
some in d C to alert people so innocent people
are being picked up and taking them the Ice detention centers.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
General.

Speaker 8 (22:13):
How are you?

Speaker 11 (22:13):
This is Larry Walker. How are you, hey, Larry? What's
going on?

Speaker 14 (22:18):
Yeah, So, I wanted to thank you for your all
your work and you've made some really important comments and
I wanted to talk a little bit about you know,
obviously we see what's happened in DC. Presidents talked today
about possibly you know Chicago and Baltimore City, but I
want to talk a little bit about the issue relating
You know, we look at research and over policing in
black and brown communities and which often leads to abuse,

(22:41):
and so I'm wondering if you could talk a little
bit more about the challenge with that. Historically, what we
see we see too many law enforcement or military in
this case, the individuals from the military in black and
around communities, which increases the likelihood you talked about it
US citizens, et cetera, being targeted and profiled, and how
do you maintain that balance.

Speaker 12 (23:02):
Yeah, I think the profiles have their primarily with the deportation.
But again, it's hard to defend what happened in Chicago
over the weekend, and we know most of these are
in underserved communities. I hadn't looked at every name in
every address, but that's what history shows that this is

(23:23):
happening in and around the same communities, in and around
the same age groups with guns. Fifty seven wounded, we
call that the military wounded in action. Some of them
people will never be able to work again. Some of
them go in and have wheelchairs. Some of them will
never meet their potential and many of them are in
this and bystanders. And then seven did seven people that

(23:47):
will never be able to contribute to the economy or
to the community.

Speaker 11 (23:52):
Because they got killed over the week in Chicago.

Speaker 12 (23:55):
We're going to have a hell of a time defending
that that mayor and say I don't want up with crime.
I do think there's a middle ground that has to
be reached between the bear and the governor and address
what the hell they're doing about crime in the city.
Because when I was in Englewood in twenty thirteen, the
people were yelling at me about why can't they do

(24:17):
something about it? And some improvements have been made, but
we've got a long way to go. When you get
seven dead over one weekend in Chicago at fifty seventh shot,
that has to be six.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
Avis, what's your question, as General?

Speaker 6 (24:35):
Honray?

Speaker 15 (24:36):
Wonderful to speak with you, sir.

Speaker 16 (24:38):
You know you are an icon of leadership, and we've
talked about the need for holistic strategies to address the
issue of crime.

Speaker 6 (24:47):
But I like your perspective on leadership. How important is
that and what type of leadership do we need in
order to make a meaningful impact on this issue.

Speaker 11 (24:56):
Well, we got to walk to talk, and we got
to resource it.

Speaker 12 (25:00):
Let's talk about the city that new all us for
a minute, and they're like five hundred police was short,
and let's talk about d C. I think they need
another two thousand police. As we talked about. That has
to be resource and that's done by city council and
by legislatures in some cases and in the case of DC.

(25:20):
If you want to deal with crime, more police help,
more after school programs, more enforcement of kids dropping out
of school when they're fourteen. It's a holistic approach, and
the ability to train them in jobs, because if they
can't get a job, they're gonna end up in the
counterbanded economy and that's when the shootings start. It has
to be a holistic program. But as a party, as

(25:44):
a Democratic party, go about this, we've got to address
how and what we're going to do, and has got
to be resource. As I said at the time I
was in Chicago in twenty thirteen, they're about.

Speaker 11 (25:56):
That time.

Speaker 12 (25:59):
The city in the state was given billions of dollars
to a company to move to Chicago.

Speaker 11 (26:07):
Beer Company, as I recall.

Speaker 12 (26:09):
And they were underinvested in Inglewood and Punchago police was short.
The schools won the funded UH and they had very
little after school programs designed to keep these kids engaged
and to keep them off the street and keep them
in healthy activities. So we got to address that inside
our own hood. We got to look in the mirror

(26:32):
and figure out this is not just Washington causing this problem.
We got to figure it out that the municipal level
and demand, as I recommend it to the DC that
while this is going on, demand those other three thousand
officers you need, demand that those court seats get filled,
Demand that you get the money to be able to

(26:53):
maintain the city. Use this as an opportunity to get
federal resources.

Speaker 11 (26:58):
But with the government the president is doing is not
what he's doing.

Speaker 12 (27:02):
Is how he's doing it disguising a deportation operation that's
going to deport a lot of minorities under the rubric
of crime. And at the same time, the city and
the governor of Illinois has to address crime. It can't
be a just about don't come here. They've got to
figure out how they all are gonna tell the people

(27:23):
in Chicago what they're going to do and how they're
using their resources to address the shootings and the wounded
people every weekend in Chicago.

Speaker 1 (27:33):
All right, General Russell, honore, but she'll appreciate you joining
us today show.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
We appreciate thanks a lot, keep it alive, thank you,
Roland all right, thank you very much. Folks, got to
go to a break. We'll be right back, rollard work.
Hopefully I will be in the studio soon.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
Traffic in DC has been utterly in vain, literally forty
five minutes to go eight miles.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
How crazy it is. Going to a break.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
I'll be right back, coming soon to the Black Star Network.

Speaker 17 (28:08):
I have name recognition, but I tour more than any rapper,
and it's a lot of overseas stuff, and it's like
I'm going all over to I've been to I've been
to eighty countries in my lifetime. And sometimes I'll do
interviews with people and they'd be like, so, what you've
been doing, Like, what you've been doing?

Speaker 18 (28:28):
You know what I'm saying, Like, I just came back
from Belgium and Brazil and South Africa.

Speaker 8 (28:34):
What you've been doing?

Speaker 19 (28:35):
Right this week, on the other side of change, three
hundred thousand black women being pushed out of the workforce.

Speaker 5 (28:55):
This is shocking yet unsurprising but.

Speaker 20 (28:57):
What happens when a bunch of black mothers use their
federal jobs. Their kids are not being fed, their kids
are not being taken care of. But that trickles down
to the entire community structure which may be built on
the backs of black mothers and black women were broad.

Speaker 21 (29:10):
Tune in on the other side of change only on
the Blackstar Network.

Speaker 22 (29:16):
Hey, let's up with.

Speaker 17 (29:17):
Sammy Roman is Jean Ray, the executive producer of the
new Sherry Supper Talk Show.

Speaker 22 (29:21):
If me Sherry Sabre and you know what you're watching?
Roland Martin unfiltered.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
All right, folks, welcome back. Let me bringing my panel here.
And I want to want to stay in this conversation
because Larry, you heard the General say, it's not what
Trump is saying is how it's saying.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
Let's be real clear here, this is politics. This is
not about crime.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
What Donald Trump is doing here is using this as
a wedge issue, knowing full well when you talk about
fighting crime that polls well with Americans, especially white Americans,
and so he is talking to a base.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
What he is not trying to.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
Do, what he knows desire to do, is to have
a holistic, comprehensive approach.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
What he wants is the TV show. He wants, the
Show of Force. That's what he wants.

Speaker 14 (30:26):
Yeah, you hit it right on the nose, roll in,
and we need to really have a We need to
have a maybe you do a special conversation about about crime,
particularly how it impacts black communities.

Speaker 11 (30:35):
Look what he's teeing.

Speaker 14 (30:36):
Up, in my opinion, is a redo of the nineteen
ninety four crime Bill, which was signed by Bill Clinton.
We do not need that in a black community. We
know years later that it disproportionately impacted the black community
through many black men in jail for a small, small
time offenses. That's what's really going on here. And the rhetoric,

(30:56):
this racist rhetoric is very dangerous and we have to
be very careful even within our own community and co
opting some of the same language that has been used
over the last several decades to talk about why we
need more more law enforcement, in this case more military. Listen,
we don't need you don't need you know in the
members of the US military or adjacent in Chicago. The

(31:18):
point we know from research we need educational social services
programs to make sure young people have access to resources
and can get jobs after they graduate. We noticed there's
decades of research on this. But once again, you're right, Roland,
this is about playing to Middle America, White Middle America,
this idea that you know, you need more police officers

(31:40):
to hold black folks accountable when a lot of the
issues are rooted in redlining, not investing in educational systems
in black and brown communities.

Speaker 11 (31:48):
We know this from the research, and you know, as a.

Speaker 14 (31:51):
Black man, I certainly don't want law enforcement members of
National Guard of my community and they're not trained the police.
So we're going to have is what we see is
more black and brown folks being targeted. Many people in
falsely arrested or arrested for these minor offenses. We cannot
afford to go back to nineteen ninety four crime toior rowing.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
But here's the thing that we have to recognize, Ava, Ava,
is that that that's really really I think critical.

Speaker 8 (32:18):
Here.

Speaker 1 (32:19):
There is the perception, there is the reality, There is
the thoughtful measured. Then there is the quick and decisive.
There is what is short term and long term.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
So what Donald Trump is doing, Donald.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
Trump is appealing to the base instincts of people who
who when you have a crisis whether it is a
contrived crisis, whether it is a real crisis, thoughtful, measured,
people will throw that out the window and their whole,

(33:07):
their whole instinct will become based and animalistic.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
And there's the whole thing is like, get them, get them,
get them. I don't care what you do, I don't
care how they're targeted. You get them.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
And that's what we're dealing with right here. That is
exactly what we are dealing with, Avis. And what Trump
is doing plays well to those folks, which is why
you see approval rating go up specifically as a relays
to how he's combating crime.

Speaker 15 (33:40):
Oh absolutely, I mean he is.

Speaker 16 (33:42):
He is leaning right into the reality of the fear
of the black body, which has been part of America
even before there was officially an America. And so I
will have to say that what we're seeing right now
is very dangerous. And Democrats had.

Speaker 15 (34:01):
Any common sense political instincts.

Speaker 16 (34:05):
That were, you know, in halfway decent, they would start
to start to message this properly.

Speaker 21 (34:13):
Now.

Speaker 16 (34:13):
So, for example, why aren't they talking about how Mayor
Scott has dropped violent crime by fifty percent in Baltimore
and specifically digging down into how he's done it, not
just talk about the different sys statistics.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
As they are.

Speaker 10 (34:34):
They are, they have it.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
Here's the problem.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
No, no, no, no, yeah, yeah, followed me. They have
here's the problem. Here's the problem, the problem, and this
is the conundrum that they're in. The conundrum is the
response is you're just throwing up stats. You're throwing up

(34:57):
well what about that person and that person that person?
So what then happens is, again, this is what I'm
talking about, the base instinct, the anecdote, emotional takes over
and it comes off as democrats or progressives. They are
trying to be philosophical, they're trying to be academic. They're

(35:22):
talking about charts and graph we're talking real people. And
that right there is where the tension exists.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
And that's what happening. What you're talking about govern to
west Ward's been doing it.

Speaker 15 (35:35):
That's not what I call messaging. Do that is not messaging.

Speaker 16 (35:39):
That's what they've been doing for the past I don't
know how many decades, and everybody knows that doesn't work.

Speaker 6 (35:43):
Okay, So that is the problem. They don't know how
to message.

Speaker 16 (35:47):
Message is not a soliloquy of statistics or reciting something
that sounds like a dissertation or some statistical machinations that
is not messaging. Messaging is really understanding how to present
phrases that are memorable, that let people understand what is
the thing that you need to focus on. Now, it

(36:07):
is a political malpractice that the fact that they are
showing statistics and only talking about statistics is the problem.

Speaker 15 (36:16):
That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 16 (36:17):
There needs to be more of a discussion with, for example,
the Mayor of Baltimore, some other spaces that we've seen
to really get to the root of what are the
real strategies that are working, and then developing messages which
is not merely just talking about the statistics that the

(36:38):
crime has dropped.

Speaker 15 (36:39):
That's the problem right there. That's not a message.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
But here's the deal, though, Mumustafa, the Mayor of Baltimore,
has been doing that. Governor Wesmore has been doing that.
Mayor Brennan Johnson has been doing that. Chrisker has been
doing that.

Speaker 23 (36:56):
But again, they can do that all day, but as
law as media is framing it in a different way,
then that's what's going to rule.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
So what AMAS is talking about.

Speaker 1 (37:10):
Those individuals have done those very things, but What resonates
in media is the visual and the show of force,
and Mustafa, we're gonna put it out there.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
It's also very difficult when you have the mayor.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
Of DC saying, oh, crime, because of this, crime is
way down.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
We welcome it, we want more of it.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
And so now all of a sudden, it's well, wait
a minute, Bowser loves it, why shouldn't you.

Speaker 13 (37:45):
Yeah, And I saw Abas's face also, so I know
she got something to say about Mayor Bowser.

Speaker 7 (37:52):
You know, I mean, we got to be very careful, right,
so we can't be co signing on these people's foolishness.
And you know, we know what are the programs that
actually work.

Speaker 13 (38:02):
If you spend any time in community, you've got to
be able to bring forward, you know, those best practices,
those successful things that are being driven by a community.
But you also got to have a platform to be
able to get that out. So the reality the situation
is is that folks are losing sort of the pr
war on this. When I was on an airplane, there's

(38:22):
a gentleman sitting next to me. He hadn't been back
to DC and probably eighteen years, but he was talking about,
you know, the military coming in and what a great
idea was. And I leaned over and I said, well,
when's the last time you've been here, Because the information
you're getting is not true.

Speaker 7 (38:38):
Let me walk you through what DC actually looks like.

Speaker 13 (38:40):
Yes, there are pockets of you know, trouble, but that
is not the reality that's out there.

Speaker 7 (38:47):
But all he was getting was what the media has
been feeding him.

Speaker 13 (38:50):
When I was in Uber driving through New Orleans, there
was a gentleman from Brazil who had never been to
d C, but he was telling me about all the
challenges that was happening there and how happy he was
that there.

Speaker 7 (39:03):
Were these actions that were going on.

Speaker 13 (39:05):
So when you're losing the pr war, even when you
have great work that's going on, even when numbers are
going down, then it makes it very difficult. And then
of course, when you had an elected officials who are
also signing off on this misinformation and disinformation, then it
just creates, you know, a very tough set of dynamics

(39:26):
to be able to actually get the traction that's needed.
So we are in a very precarious situation right now.
And that's why you got to have networks in other
places where people can bring forward the truth and people
just you got to keep feeding it to them all
the time because those folks who have their own agenda
are going to continue to tell lies and they're going

(39:47):
to reframe everything.

Speaker 7 (39:48):
So it's gonna be a tough road to, you know.

Speaker 13 (39:51):
To move forward down with the current tools that we
have and the way that things are being framed.

Speaker 14 (40:00):
When can I jump in for a second.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
I want to add something, Yeah, yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 15 (40:09):
I'm sorry. Who did you want?

Speaker 5 (40:10):
Oh?

Speaker 11 (40:10):
You want me to go?

Speaker 22 (40:12):
All right?

Speaker 14 (40:12):
Let me just really quickly a sorry, Roland. We have
a serious misinformation loop, and you hit on that. The
other thing that I think we need to we need
to be really honest about, is that people believe these
believe these racialized stereotypes and misconceptions. They believe them, and
they believe that black and brown people should be punished.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
So that's it.

Speaker 14 (40:33):
And we've talked a lot about this on your show,
so we should be clear. This misinformation is directly connected
to these racial stereotypes and the belief by some populations
in this country that these groups should be punished regardless
of the historical challenges they've encountered.

Speaker 16 (40:49):
That's exactly right, and I would just add the oldtimate goal,
as you mentioned previously, is to push through a crime
bill to recriminalize and repopulate these prisons in order to
get free labor to make up for all of the
labor that's being deported out of the country. I mean,
this whole thing is a perfect circuit circle, and it's

(41:10):
just very annoying to me to see that people aren't
pulling all of this together to see what's happening. But
at the end of the day, I still have got
to say, in terms of the mayor of DC, who
knows what's being talked about behind closed doors, we all
know that she has little control of that city given
the status as not being a state. She's probably trying

(41:31):
to maintain some control without some sort of total federal takeover.
Not that it's right, but I can imagine that she's
being arm twisted to say those things. I would also
say that I still don't believe, and I will just
say it one last time, that the Democratic Party has
not even come up with anywhere near a proper frame

(41:52):
around these issues, much less messaging around these issues that
result in any sort of level of aggress have pushed
back on the stereotypes that we are facing in the
media that we know has already stacked the cards.

Speaker 15 (42:07):
Against us before it even began.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
And here's why.

Speaker 15 (42:10):
But amos Amas, we got to put on the table.

Speaker 1 (42:12):
Here's why because Republicans have always been successful at saying
Democrats are soft on crime, and Democrats have always been
Democrats have always been afraid of this issue because of
how it will be perceived by white voters. Look and
and the thing is, and here's the problem. Well, so

(42:34):
what then happens is when you take a morning no
or call the morning this morning, Joe uh and Peo,
when they look at stats and when they talk about
how black people feel about crime, they have no nuance.
They go, oh, when you look at the polic data
African Americans, well, they don't understand for black people, it's

(42:55):
the nuance.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
Do black people want uh, low crime yes?

Speaker 1 (42:59):
Or no crime?

Speaker 7 (43:00):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (43:01):
Do black people want in police presence?

Speaker 1 (43:03):
Yes, Well they don't want to do is being beaten
by cops, being attacked by cops.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
That's never a part of that conversation.

Speaker 1 (43:12):
And so this has always been I mean, this goes Bawn,
This goes back to Nixon.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
Nixon in sixty eight, It goes back to every race.

Speaker 4 (43:22):
Crime.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
The issue of crime is always a winner with the
American public, especially white voters.

Speaker 15 (43:33):
Indeed, it has always been.

Speaker 16 (43:35):
And what's really sad is, you know, it's also something
as you mentioned, the Democratic Party fold. They completely fold
when we get to this issue, and all they do
is kind of say, oh, yeah, me too.

Speaker 15 (43:48):
And that's when you lead.

Speaker 16 (43:49):
That's what leads to things like we've seen with you know,
with what's happening in DC right now.

Speaker 6 (43:56):
And you know, I think to me, that's why we're
seeing a lot of very.

Speaker 16 (44:01):
Timid pushback in terms of the Democratic Party because they
don't want to offend white voters. They don't want to
further alienate white voters because they know that they are
perceived as being quote unquote soft on crime. And this
is why it's so necessary that they understand and start
to be more aggressive around not only reframing this issue,

(44:22):
but also talking about the fact that this is a
distraction from the larger issues of what's going on in
this country that is impacting people in every city and
state with regards to the economy and quite frankly, the
entire loss of democracy. As we continue down this road
of the federal takeover and creating police states all across
this nation. You know, we are really focusing. I'm tired

(44:46):
of the Democratic Party acquiescing the agenda to the Republican Party.
They have no sort of leadership when it comes to
really determining what is the state of conversation in politics.
Their entire strategy is to react to whatever bails above
is doing in the White House instead of trying to
figure out, how do we start to frame a narrative

(45:08):
and start to be able to be aggressive in our
dictation of what is actually happening in this moment so
that we can talk about those issues that we know
are important to the American people, rather than continuously trying
to have some million mouthed response to whatever Donald Trump
decides to do on any given day.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
But here is again the struggle.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
You have to you got to own up to an
accent and this is the issue, Mustafa. We keep talking
about narrative, Hey, how you doing? You keep talking about narrative,
But who controls narrative?

Speaker 24 (45:45):
Media?

Speaker 1 (45:46):
And when media is dominating, when Trump is dominating in
the media cycle, that's how the narratives controlled. So you
can try to try to control the narrative but who
sits the narrative media does, Yeah.

Speaker 13 (46:00):
Well, one, that's why the Black Star Network and others
are so incredibly important because you've got to balance it
out with what the truth actually is. And you know,
we've unfortunately seen, especially over the last seven months, that
they really don't have an interest in being able to
say no, that's not true and here are the facts.

(46:22):
So we're going to continue to see some of that
dynamic going on. It's just interesting because I'm all over
the country. I know where crime is happening. I know
the states where crime is happening. I know it's in
New Mexico, Louisiana, Alaska, Tennessee, and Missouri are the top
five in our country. We know who are running four
of those five states. But nobody ever wants to talk

(46:45):
about that. Nobody ever wants to talk about the crime
that's happening in Appalachia, where there's a very small population
of folks of color.

Speaker 7 (46:54):
But you know, we continue to allow people to reframe
what's actually going on.

Speaker 13 (46:59):
That's not to say that there is not challenges that
we have to address inside of some of our urban cores,
but we need to actually have an honest conversation and.

Speaker 7 (47:08):
Folks just aren't interested in doing that.

Speaker 13 (47:11):
And Avis is right because the Democratic Party has had
opportunities to actually make the investments, has had the opportunity
to actually make sure that the places and spaces that
needed the resources and needed real attention. Sometimes that that
did not necessarily happen. So we've got to change a
whole bunch of different dynamics. So, yes, this misinformation that

(47:34):
the Trump administration continues to pump out, you know, is
in alignment with what their sets of goals are.

Speaker 7 (47:39):
But we have to think, you know how past that
to be quite honest, We've got to address that.

Speaker 13 (47:45):
But we've also got to get ready for these sets
of opportunities that will happen in twenty twenty six and
twenty twenty eight, And what is the message around what
real people are asking for across the country. So and again,
release the Epstein files.

Speaker 1 (48:03):
Last point I make here, last point I make here
is very simple on this, and that is prime is
always going to be a potent issue. But we also
have to recognize for Donald Trump, what is it that
he does not want to deal with.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
He doesn't want to deal with.

Speaker 1 (48:19):
Epstein, and that is an issue that Democrats and I
mean he's driving him crazy because it still comes up.
So the question then becomes tomorrow when you have a
Congressman Tommy Massey Thomas Massey and congress En Rocanna, you're
going to have ten of ten of the Epstein victims.
The question is is that going to get significant play

(48:43):
by national media? And tomorrow and so that's the question
we're going to be looking at. And so we'll see
that all we're going to go to a break. We're
gonna come back more rollandt Unfiltio in the Black stud Network.
Don't forget support the work that we do, John not
Breen a fuck fan club. Your dollars are critically important
to our work and that, of course, so you can
of course distribute via cash at Who's a tripe to

(49:04):
cure code?

Speaker 3 (49:04):
You sit on the screen right here. He wants to
link go to Roland Martin unfilter dot com. Check it
money or to make it payable to rolland Martin unfiltered,
send to Pelbox five seven one ninety six, Washington d C.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
Two zero zero three seven zero one ninety six.

Speaker 3 (49:19):
Paypals are Martin unfiltered, Venmo RM unfiltered, Zell rolland ats
Rolands Martin dot com rolling at Rolling Martin unfilter dot
Com will be right back.

Speaker 24 (49:34):
Next on the Black Table with me Greg Carr. We
welcome the Black Star Network's very own Roland Martin, who
joins us to talk about his new book White Feet,
How the Briding of America is making white folks lose
their minds. The book explains so much about what we're
going through in this country right now and how as

(49:55):
white people head toward becoming a racial minority, it's going
to get well, let's.

Speaker 3 (50:00):
Just say even more interesting.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
We are going to see more violence, We're going to
see more vitriol, because as each day passes, it is
a nail in that coffin.

Speaker 24 (50:16):
The one and only Rowland Martin on the next Black
Table right here on the Black Star Network.

Speaker 19 (50:23):
This week, on the other side of change, three hundred
thousand black women being pushed out of the workforce.

Speaker 5 (50:28):
This is shocking yet unsurprising.

Speaker 20 (50:30):
But what happens when a bunch of black mothers use
their federal job. Their kids are not being fed, their
kids are not being taken care of. But that trickles
down to the entire community structure, which may be built
on the backs of black.

Speaker 13 (50:42):
Mothers and black women more broadly.

Speaker 21 (50:43):
the Black Star Network.

Speaker 3 (50:49):
Coming soon to the Black Star Network out.

Speaker 17 (50:52):
Of name recognition. But I tour more than any rapper,
and it's a lot of overseas stuff, and it's like,
I'm going all over the I've been to I've been
to eighty.

Speaker 8 (51:03):
Countries in my in my lifetime.

Speaker 17 (51:06):
And sometimes I'll do interviews with people and they'd be like, so,
what what you been doing?

Speaker 3 (51:11):
Like what you've been doing?

Speaker 18 (51:12):
You know what I'm saying, Like, I just came back
from Belgium and and Brazil and South Africa.

Speaker 14 (51:18):
What you've been doing?

Speaker 11 (51:19):
Right, I'm Russell L.

Speaker 12 (51:34):
Honoree Lieutenant Gerald United States AROW retired, and you're watching
Rollad Martin.

Speaker 11 (51:39):
I'm felt.

Speaker 4 (51:43):
H m hm hm hm m hm hm hm m hmm.
Instead instant.

Speaker 25 (52:10):
Instabi instic instead last instant, instant, instant instant instant instead,

(53:00):
inst in instead, inst.

Speaker 2 (53:29):
In inst.

Speaker 4 (53:41):
In instead.

Speaker 1 (54:17):
Democratic House Leader Hakim Jeffries is blasting Republicans for what
he called extreme Jerry Manderin that's right. He had a
news conference today talking about the very issue and its
impact on the country.

Speaker 3 (54:32):
Here's some of what he had to say.

Speaker 26 (54:35):
House Democrats had a very active August district work period.
We held more than a thousand different events all across
the country, interacting with everyday Americans who we are privileged
to represent. Talked about the economy, we talked about healthcare,

(54:55):
and we talked about cleaning up corruption here in Washington,
d In this great country, America has become far too expensive.

Speaker 8 (55:07):
The cost of living is way too high.

Speaker 26 (55:10):
Donald Trump and House Republicans repeatedly promised to lower the
high cost of living on day one.

Speaker 11 (55:17):
They have failed.

Speaker 26 (55:19):
Costs aren't going down, they are going up. Inflation is
going up, Electricity bills are skyrocketing. Everyday Americans are being
hit with increased healthcare premiums, copays, deductibles, and prescription drug prices.

(55:42):
Housing costs have not gone down, They continue to go up. America,
it's too expensive. The one Big Ugly Bill remains deeply unpopular.
In town hall meeting after teen hall meeting after town
hall meeting, House Republicans were unable to defend their signature

(56:09):
so called legislative accomplishment, because it turns out that ripping
healthcare away from millions of Americans, ending Medicaid as we
know it. Closing hospitals, shutting down nursing homes, forcing community
based health clinics to shutter their doors, and failing to

(56:32):
strengthen the Affordable Care Act are all deeply unpopular with Democrats, independents,
and Republicans. House Democrats have a simple message for the
American people, you deserve better. We're going to fight hard

(56:53):
to lower the high cost of living. We're going to
fight hard to fix a broken healthcare system them, and
we're going to fight hard to clean up corruption so.

Speaker 3 (57:04):
We can deliver.

Speaker 11 (57:06):
A country.

Speaker 26 (57:09):
Of the people, by the people, and for the people,
as opposed to the type of country that we're seeing
under Republican complete control of government, which is a country
of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires.

Speaker 1 (57:27):
All right, so let me go to my panel. This
is the conundrum that Democrats are in right now, Mustap,
I'll start with you, is that leadership wants to talk
about what you just heard. They want to talk about
health care crisis, things along those lines. But the base

(57:47):
is talking about how Donald Trump is a threat to democracy,
how he is a dictator, and the actions that he's taken.
And so you have democratic leaders who are saying that, oh,
those things are distractions, but they're not.

Speaker 3 (58:06):
So you have this conundrum, if you will.

Speaker 1 (58:11):
That exists, that's sitting right before us, that they have
to contend with. And so we were talking about messaging earlier. Okay, well,
then what do you say. I don't understand why you
can't do both. I'm telling you right now, what's going
to happen tomorrow with this Epstein news conference. It's going
to be huge and that is still a dominant issue.

(58:32):
So I get what Speaker Jefferson is doing. Excuse me,
how is Democratic Leader Jefferson is doing right there because
he wants to become Speaker of the House. But the
base is saying something totally different. How do you reconcile
the two?

Speaker 2 (58:48):
Oh?

Speaker 7 (58:49):
I think you talked about it.

Speaker 13 (58:49):
I mean it is talking about both and making the
connections between the bread and butter issues and the fact
that if you don't have a democracy, if you have
authoritarian lead, or if you have somebody who is associated
with some very nefarious acts around you know, pedophilia or
some of the other things that are going on that

(59:12):
you know, it takes away from your ability.

Speaker 7 (59:14):
To be able to survive in this country.

Speaker 13 (59:17):
But for whatever reason, you know, people seem to have
a difficult time in being able to link all that together.

Speaker 7 (59:23):
You know, it's like a tapestry. You have to you
have to weave that tapestry together in a way.

Speaker 13 (59:28):
And no matter where folks are, if they're in Mississippi
or if they're in you know, North Dakota or Minnesota,
that they see themselves reflected in the words that you're using,
in the sets of actions that you are promising that
you're going to move forward on. So we'll see how
it all turns out. But you know, the ex team
UH situation is definitely one that has captured the attention

(59:51):
of the country. People, you know, do not see any
value in someone who would participate in those types of behaviors.
And and if you don't also utilize that, then I
think you're missing an opportunity to let people know that
you're willing to fight on all fronts.

Speaker 14 (01:00:10):
Larry, I think a lot of the problem with the
messaging and even this the brief press company sow is
this authenticity role and you know, you know this saying
don't kill a messenger, right, We've been doing a lot
of with you know, you know, minority leader, you know,
Jeffries and others.

Speaker 15 (01:00:27):
But it's a way in.

Speaker 14 (01:00:27):
Which not only in terms of what you're communicating, is
how you communicate it and it just do. It's not
it's not giving a lot of you know, a great
job of selling it to to Democrats and you're right there,
there is a disconnect and when you know leaders who
at the top of the party or you know, obviously
with the Hues talking about very important.

Speaker 6 (01:00:48):
But you've got to be able multitask.

Speaker 11 (01:00:49):
It's not that difficult.

Speaker 14 (01:00:51):
You can you can talk as you know Mastafa just mentioned,
you can talk about multiple issues at the same time.
We just I saw the last few minutes we saw
the Oversight Committee has released or thirty six thousand files
is released to the Epstein case. So you can talk
about most and we together all these issues. A. If
you've got a good, strong communication team. B if you

(01:01:13):
have the current charisma to deliver it to an audience
that's hungry for someone who will.

Speaker 22 (01:01:18):
Fight for them.

Speaker 1 (01:01:20):
And what you have to recognize is that Donald Trump
wants to talk about anything but the Epstein case.

Speaker 15 (01:01:27):
Davis exactly. But I heard a magic word, you charisma.

Speaker 6 (01:01:33):
Where is it ain't there?

Speaker 15 (01:01:34):
I'll tell you that, okay, And it's.

Speaker 16 (01:01:37):
Important because you have to be able to maintain people's attention. First,
get people's attention, and maintain people's attention. What the Democratic
Party does not have is a coordinated messaging machine in
the same way that the Republican Party does. So, for example,
I'm going to take a little bit of a different stance.

(01:01:59):
I don't I think it helped you to talk about
four or five different things at the same time. Absolutely not,
because I can't even remember half of what he just said,
what you just showed five minutes ago.

Speaker 15 (01:02:09):
I almost went to sleep while I was watching it. Okay.

Speaker 16 (01:02:11):
What you need to do is understand the way to
get people to learn things. And Donald Trump he understands
this because he understands marketing. The human brain learned by repetition.
And what the Democrats need to understand is figure out,
what one thing do you want to talk about right
now and hammer the hell out of it now.

Speaker 11 (01:02:32):
I agree with you.

Speaker 16 (01:02:33):
If they were smart, they'd be talking about Epstein right now,
especially in this moment, and hammering the hell out of it.

Speaker 15 (01:02:38):
And they would have clear talking points.

Speaker 16 (01:02:40):
That they would give to select people who have charisma
and have those people spread out to different news organizations,
including yours, and being able to reflect those same talking
points so that people will actually remember what.

Speaker 22 (01:02:58):
The hell they just said.

Speaker 16 (01:03:00):
I don't know what any clear message is that the
Democratic Party is coming with now.

Speaker 15 (01:03:05):
Every time they're on they're talking about something else.

Speaker 16 (01:03:07):
This is why they're getting left in the dust with
regards to really being able to move the needle on
the conversation in any direction right now, because they're not coordinated,
they're not strong. It seems to me that some of
their best messengers they are intentionally trying to squash because
they want to go in the direction of a traditional

(01:03:28):
sort of leadership led messaging. But in my mind, real
leaders figure out who are my best soldiers and put
them out front. If this is not my forte, maybe
I shouldn't be the one doing this. I don't care
what my title is. And so at this point we
are in a critical moment.

Speaker 15 (01:03:45):
We don't have time for egos.

Speaker 16 (01:03:47):
We need effectiveness and what That's not what I'm seeing, unfortunately,
and that's why, unfortunately, I believe that we're in the
position that we're in right now.

Speaker 3 (01:03:56):
All right, folks, quick break, we come back.

Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
Let's talk about a lot of the conversation on social
media about Uncle Nearest, their financial issues and also of
course Sludy Vegan and Pinky col getting her company back.
How do we really understand what's going on here? Well,
I got an expert who can really break it down
for us. Where you understand business? Anybody motion? It's about business,

(01:04:21):
dollars and cents and having sense s se You're watching
rolling unfortunately on the Black stud Network.

Speaker 19 (01:04:30):
This week on the other side of change, three hundred
thousand Black women being pushed out of the workforce.

Speaker 5 (01:04:35):

Speaker 20 (01:04:37):
Well, what happens when a bunch of black mothers use
kids are not being taken care of, but that she
goes down to the entire community structure which may be
built on the backs of black mothers and black women
who are broad.

Speaker 21 (01:04:51):

Speaker 9 (01:04:56):
Hey, what's up, geektoing in a place that you got
kick Touching Mama's University creator and Za could producer of
Fat Tuesday's and a hip hop comedy.

Speaker 18 (01:05:04):
Right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin Unfiltered uncut, unplugged,
and undamned believable him.

Speaker 1 (01:05:20):
Uncle Nerish, named after the enslaved man of African assent,
the steller who may have who really contributed to the
creation of Jack Daniels, has emerged as one of the
fastest green.

Speaker 3 (01:05:30):
Whiskey brands in America.

Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
Got numerous awards, most evaluation of one point one billion
dollars in twenty twenty four.

Speaker 3 (01:05:39):
But companies got some major issues.

Speaker 1 (01:05:43):
And that is a federal judge Tennessee recently ordered Uncle
nears in a receivership following a lawsuit from one of
its largest lenders. Not just that, Picky Cole has been
very public talking about how she regained her company, Sludy
Vegan after they went out and had investors and raised
millions of dollars and all of a sudden, the company

(01:06:04):
went through all kinds of significant issues. So let's deal
with this because I've seen a lot of different comments
on the social media. Oh the white folks trying to
take the company from Fawn Weaver, and oh my goodness,
black Girl Magic Pinky, keep doing what you're doing.

Speaker 3 (01:06:21):
But we have to have understand this is a.

Speaker 1 (01:06:23):
Business conversation, and too much of the discussion I believe
has been emotional driven, not driven by facts, not driven
by reality. But it's a question of entrepreneurship. How do
you manage resources, how do you deal with lenders, how
do you deal when you have investors? Well, my next guest,
Wayne McKnight, is a partner at the Marathon Fund. He

(01:06:45):
has been very much involved in a number of deals
working with Syncome of course, the folks who invested in
beet Radio one, numerous other companies. And so when you
talk about understanding venture capital, understanding debt financing, all that
sort of stuff, Dwayne is an expert at this. And
Dwayne glad to have you on the show. And I

(01:07:06):
wanted to frame it this way, Dwayne, because I just
believe that, let's just be frank, it's a lot of
people who don't know shit about business, who don't know
nothing about business, and they react emotionally when they see
these stories and not really understand all of the stuff
that goes behind it.

Speaker 3 (01:07:26):
So let's just deal with uncle Near's all right.

Speaker 1 (01:07:29):
So they go to court their largest lender, they've been
loan somewhat almost one hundred and ten million dollars.

Speaker 3 (01:07:35):
They've never been audited in terms of an official audit.

Speaker 1 (01:07:41):
They raised they you know, they get this, get this,
get this loan, and now all of a sudden, the
lender is saying, hey, we got problems, We got issues.

Speaker 3 (01:07:52):
With how many barrels you estimated?

Speaker 1 (01:07:55):
What do you have?

Speaker 3 (01:07:56):
All different things like that. So here's the first question.

Speaker 11 (01:07:59):
When a.

Speaker 3 (01:08:01):
Decides to go public with a lawsuit.

Speaker 1 (01:08:04):
Does that typically happen after there's been lots of behind
the scenes conversations. Do lenders, you know, want to be
that quick to take somebody to court?

Speaker 8 (01:08:18):
No, I mean, in general, you would hope that there
were some conversations going on while, you know, while things
were sort of going, you know, in the wrong direction.
So there there are different kinds of lenders though, So
if you're talking about a bank, they're going to perhaps

(01:08:38):
act one way versus a private lender. A private lender
typically would have more flexibility in terms of how they
manage those kinds of situations, and a bank will because
a bank obviously has government oversight, they have to make
sure that their capital requirements are reserved for properly, and
so you might have a little less of a rope

(01:09:02):
there if things start to go the other way. But yeah,
there should always be some level of discussion going on
with your lender and its incumbent. Really on the founder
or the or the entrepreneur to initiate those conversations and
make sure that relationship is a strong relationship any event

(01:09:23):
something like this goes awry.

Speaker 1 (01:09:26):
So the case here, so Farm Credit Mid America says
that Farm Credit Mid America says that they borrowed almost
one hundred and ten million dollars and they overstated barrels
and things along those lines, and so that's what it.
So they wanted, they wanted this receivership to manage the company.

(01:09:46):
And that's been a gag order of find. We've been
on social media of this campaign, you know, clear the shells.
People have been responding, oh my god, by uncle nears
ordered things along those lines. But as somebody who has
has been in the position that you're in, you've seen
a lot of companies, You've seen entrepreneurs, people have a

(01:10:07):
great idea or very good at marketing.

Speaker 3 (01:10:11):
What is your assessment here looking at this for the
public who doesn't really understand the nuances of business.

Speaker 8 (01:10:22):
I mean, there's obviously a lot going on here, and
I'm not going to profess or none of us can
profess to really say what's going on or what has
happened to get either Uncle Nears or any other business
in this kind of situation, because it probably is something
that's happened over a considerable period of time, probably didn't

(01:10:44):
happen immediately.

Speaker 3 (01:10:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:46):
Yeah, because first of all, our courting to farm credit,
they've been defaulting a long since January of twenty twenty four,
which is more than eighteen months ago.

Speaker 27 (01:10:54):
Eighteen months yeah, so and you know, and obviously it
hurts all of our hearts because you know, you see
businesses like this that are that are essentially or iconic
and growing apparently growing fast, and you know, you can
run out of them.

Speaker 8 (01:11:10):
You can run in the problems two ways in business.
You can you know, not grow at all, not have
any sales, or your sales start to go south, or
you can grow too fast. And when you're growing fast,
especially if you leverage, which a lot of companies do,
you take on leverage in it, then your your margin

(01:11:33):
of error of shrinks considerably, and so you really need
to think about when you're going to scale because you know,
we talk about first time entrepreneurs, but we really need
to talk also about first time scalers, like you could
have been an entrepreneur before, you could have run a business,
but you may not have been in a business that

(01:11:55):
was scalable or that you attempted to scale.

Speaker 1 (01:11:58):
I want to hold you right there for the practice.
What watching and listening doesn't understand we talked about scale.
That's saying, Okay, you know what, I got a product.
It's in five stores, and then all of a sudden,
we're gonna be in one hundred stores, or we're gonna
be in four hundred stores.

Speaker 3 (01:12:15):
Oh we our product might be our product might be.

Speaker 1 (01:12:19):
In several grocery stores, and all of a sudden, we're
now going to be in a thousand walmarts or so now,
all of a sudden, now you're now producing more product.
Now you need more capital produce that. It's a whole
lot that goes into that. And yeah, people love to say, boy,

(01:12:40):
I would love to have my product in a thousand Walmarts,
in a thousand grocery stores. But once you do that,
now you're now operating at a whole different game because
we're now that's that's capital intensive, and you've got to
need millions and millions of dollars to be able to
support that type of expansion or scale.

Speaker 11 (01:13:01):
Right yep.

Speaker 8 (01:13:02):
And the faster you're growing, the more catch you're going
to need, and the more you're working, capital is going
to be stressed. So your receivables are going to go up,
your inventory is going to go up, all the things
that drain capital. When you might you see the sales
numbers going through the roof, but for some reason, your
cash is disappearing, and so it takes you really should

(01:13:26):
take your time to plan before you decide to scale.
I mean sort of the lesson here. You've got to
really plan. And a lot of founders don't come from
business backgrounds that have very successful brands. You know, some
are just very good at marketing. That might be their

(01:13:47):
main forte in terms of being able to exploit a marketplace.
And you know, these brands of Uncle Nerras and as
well as Slutti Vegan have been tremendous in terms of
their appeal to the consumer, to consumers out here, especially
African American consumers.

Speaker 28 (01:14:08):
When you have that kind of situation, the sense is
that you want to, you really want to, you know.

Speaker 8 (01:14:14):
Catch lightning in a bottle and go as fast as
you can, but you really have to step back and say, Okay,
I've never done this before. I'm in this situation now
where I really need to take my time and seek
out advisors. I mean private capital advisor. I sort of
put myself in that category. There are others who not

(01:14:36):
only provide capital, but they also work with you for
quite some time beforehand, the map out a plan and
map out how how about how you want to go
about this in a way that will minimize your your
capital out life. First of all, what kind of what
kind of debt to equity sort of combination you want

(01:14:59):
to do?

Speaker 28 (01:15:00):
You want to put in place to create that growth,
because that's really important.

Speaker 8 (01:15:05):
The more debt you put on a company, the more
vulnerable is to these kinds of situations if you have
a blip or if you grow too fast. So there
needs be that sort of planning going on between you
and your advisors or advice or before you even start
down this road.

Speaker 28 (01:15:25):
And start allowing your instincts, your marketing instincts.

Speaker 8 (01:15:30):
To kind of run away with the business. Now, I'm
not going to say there aren't you know, lenders out
here that you have to be aware of. We all
have heard the stories. But we don't know all the
things that happen in this case. But this is regardless
of that. You really need to sort of have this

(01:15:52):
plan in place and be able to think about, you know,
a six month plan coming out to shoot she borrows
money and look at your operations inside out and make
sure obviously are the right people.

Speaker 3 (01:16:08):
Got to have great people now now right there.

Speaker 1 (01:16:10):
I want to stay right there because you say great people.
This is the Lynchburg Times, and this is what they reported.
Two new documents obtained by The Times on Sunday and
filed in the Eastern District of Tennessee on Saturday, assert
that a now terminated chief financial officer, Michael Sinzaki, acted
alone and significantly overstayed in the company's whiskey barrel inventory,
an act that allegedly secured a twenty four million dollar

(01:16:33):
credit increase from Foreign Credit Mid America, the plaintiff in
the law civil lawsuit. The filings described the move as
fraudulent and emphasized that neither CEO Varn Weaver nor other
executives had knowledge of the inflated numbers. Now you talked
about again management team, people who are handling it.

Speaker 3 (01:16:51):
I was talking to.

Speaker 1 (01:16:52):
I was talking to one investor who said, the first
rule of any entrepreneur is you watch the money. The
second rule is you watch the person who also's job
is to watch the money.

Speaker 2 (01:17:06):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:17:06):
And so when you see this, when you see this
affrodated file, whether the CEO fund Weaver says she nor
any other executives were aware of the inflated numbers, does
that scream a red flag in terms of being on
top of your business.

Speaker 2 (01:17:23):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (01:17:24):
And not having one person who's dealing with a lender
when hell, they're the CFO, but they ain't the.

Speaker 11 (01:17:30):
Owner, right right?

Speaker 4 (01:17:32):
Right?

Speaker 8 (01:17:32):
Yeah? Well, I mean again, I don't want to I
don't want to comment just based on what we're reading
from the outside, because you know, it could be a
whole lot more complicated than that, or it could be
something totally different.

Speaker 28 (01:17:47):
But yeah, you want to have internal controls. I mean,
that's part of when you go on this journey.

Speaker 8 (01:17:52):
You've got to make sure your accounting is solid and
your your your information and flow, your workflows within the
company allow you as an owner to see everything in
a snapshot. And today's tools, I mean there's all kinds
of tools that are used in business to be able

(01:18:14):
to give you that sort of functionality, and you've got
to think about it ahead of time. You've got to
put those things in place ahead of time because once
you you know, get in the fire and you know
the business is coming left and right, you're not going
to have time to really put those things in place. Now,
whether you know there was something done to make sure

(01:18:37):
they got the loan that they were looking for, I
have no view into that. But if that were the case,
then uh, you know you're probably stretched for a loan
that you wouldn't have otherwise been qualified to take on.
And so that's you know, that's definitely an issue. And

(01:19:02):
if folks weren't aware, they weren't aware, should they be aware? Yeah,
there are, there are, There are very smart people who
can do things and so that you won't be able
to see it. But if you've got again the systems
in place, you you should be able to catch those
things or catch things in general. Plus, when you sign

(01:19:26):
off on a loan, if you're taking too much of
a loan, it should scream at you if you're if
your debt to equity ratios are out of sync, or
if you're debt to catch flow ratios are out of sync.
You know that CFO should be explaining to the owner,
you know what, what what's going on here, whether you'll

(01:19:47):
be able to service this? What does this just mean
from a risk standpoint. So there's a lot that goes
into it. And you know, sometimes lenders, you know, sometimes
you can't rely on them to always be able to
do the right thing, because not all lenders are good
at underwriting themselves.

Speaker 28 (01:20:08):
Many of them over each in terms of putting money
into a company.

Speaker 8 (01:20:12):
But if they were looking at an inventory list, the
question would also be what did they do to ensure
that the information that they were getting from the CFO
right actually correct?

Speaker 28 (01:20:25):
I mean, because they have due diligence requirements on their
side as well.

Speaker 1 (01:20:29):
So here's so here's this is the forest article how
Sloody Vegan found her Pinky Colt nearly lost her business.
In the article they talk about how she had the
business all of a sudden that went out raised twenty
five million dollars. Among the people investing was you know
riche Lu Dennis of Essence and his new voice is
fund you go to my iPad, please shake shacks, Danny Meyer.

(01:20:52):
They took twenty five percent stake in the company, and
then all of a sudden at the raise, then they
started opening the stores.

Speaker 3 (01:21:00):
Again your whole point about.

Speaker 1 (01:21:01):
Scale, and then all of a sudden, she says, she
looks up and realizes, oh, my goodness, there were problems and.

Speaker 3 (01:21:12):
That's what.

Speaker 1 (01:21:14):
And then then all of a sudden, she says, she
lost the business. And then all of a sudden, she says,
right here cash flow issues. I cannot raise any more
capital to grow. And she says, my corporate overhead was
ten million dollars. I was profitable at the unit level.
I did double digit millions lash and revenue. But when
you look at my balance sheet, there's a lot of
debt there. Because the market is so volatile, people really

(01:21:34):
don't want to just expand expend their money in situations
like this. I've been fighting for my company for a
whole year. I got to the point where I was
paying eighty thousand dollars a week in payroll on my
own And then again talking about that, is this a
perfect example of what you were talking about, that you
got a business, you got and raised money, and then
you try and then you try to expand They were

(01:21:56):
opening stores in New York and Baltimore and here and
here and here.

Speaker 3 (01:22:02):
Debt is debt?

Speaker 8 (01:22:05):
Yeah, I mean was that a debt or was it equity?
I couldn't really tell. It sounded like it was equity.
If they valued the business at one hundred million and
they raised twenty five for.

Speaker 28 (01:22:17):
You know, twenty percent of the business, sounds like it
was equity.

Speaker 8 (01:22:20):
So but regardless, you know, you're still going to your
working capital requirements depending upon how fast you're going to own,
you're going to open up stores. In fact, I've got
a portfolio company that's doing that right now early in
the airport space, and we planned this out a year

(01:22:43):
or more in advance in terms of taking advantage of
where coming out of COVID and what is it would
be happening in the marketplace in order to exploit it,
and so they would Now I don't know other investors
that they have, any professional investors, or any investors who
have been invested in other restaurant chains that have grown

(01:23:07):
like that. That's one thing that if if I was
in that situation as a founder or an entrepreneur, and
I had a great brand like that and I wanted
to grow it, I'd make sure that on my cap
table somewhere I had a firm or a person who
had done this before, right, because you know, very few

(01:23:28):
people have done what you know she was setting out
to do.

Speaker 1 (01:23:32):
So, So what you're saying is that if you're talking
about a franchise franchi ouse of your business and trying
to go national, and in fact, in this article she's
talking about want to go international again, your deal is
you need management experience to do that very thing. Because
you might be the visionary, you might be the owner,
you might be the one who conceived of it, but

(01:23:53):
the reality is there's a skill set that is needed
to go to the next level.

Speaker 3 (01:23:59):
And if you don't have that, you need to hire that.

Speaker 8 (01:24:03):
Right well, not only scale level, not not only that,
but your investors should have also experience and and and
in doing something of this nature because you want you
you want to rely on your investors to a large
degree to also help you find the right people to

(01:24:26):
scale this business.

Speaker 3 (01:24:27):
So hold up right there.

Speaker 1 (01:24:28):
I want you to stop right there, because I was
once told not all money is good money. So when
you go out and raise money, what you're saying is
you that that investor needs to bring something to the
table more than just money. They need to bring experience, knowledge,
relationships to help you build a business, not just say

(01:24:49):
hey here's some money, take off, go right.

Speaker 8 (01:24:54):
Yeah, it's more in some ways, it's almost more important
than the money. I mean, if you if you have
your options to get money, you want to take smart
money because it's expensive money. Let's face equity money, it's expensive.
You know, private debt is expensive as well. So if
you're going to take that money, get your money's worth,

(01:25:14):
get somebody or a firm that's going to be able
to assist you in making that business successful, in scaling
it way, and you get someone who's had domain experience
doing that right. And I'm sure and again.

Speaker 2 (01:25:35):
You know.

Speaker 8 (01:25:37):
Entrepreneurs, you know they're there. I could never do what
they do and they probably could never do what I do.
And so but that's what makes for a great partnership
or you know, a great situation where you compliment each
other and you look for people who can shure up
your weaknesses. So you can take a business forward the

(01:26:00):
right way.

Speaker 28 (01:26:01):
But you've got to be and you've got to be
willing to give up, you know, part of your business.

Speaker 8 (01:26:06):
Sometimes, like I think one of the things that that
we struggle with, I say we black people historically.

Speaker 28 (01:26:17):
Is and I've seen it many times, is that.

Speaker 8 (01:26:21):
You know, people want to grow their business and they
don't want to give up equity because they want to
be able to keep all one hundred percent themselves. So
they'll either go and borrow too much money or they
won't give up enough of the equity in order to
put enough working capital in the company to get it

(01:26:43):
where it needs to get to.

Speaker 3 (01:26:45):
Uh, he was, go ahead and finish that point.

Speaker 8 (01:26:49):
Yeah, I get I was. I think that's changing. I think,
you know, you know, I would say over the last
ten years that that's gotten better where I think our
understanding that hey, we do this once, we can do
it again. Years ago, you did it once, you know
you probably that was the only shot you're going to get.
But now people understand that you make if you make

(01:27:10):
people money, you're gonna be able to right it as
much you want, anytime and all the time that you
want it.

Speaker 1 (01:27:17):
But before before I go, before I go to the
panel with questions, I saw this quote here and it
jumped out of me and I was like, I don't know,
pinky all right. So this was from People magazine. This
is what the quote says. Uh, it, says uh As.
For what's the next, the founder plans for the restaurant
to be led quote by new rules and new intentions.
She's onboarding a new group of investors for the restaurant's

(01:27:40):
next era, which includes plans to expand beyond the US
to areas such as Dubai and Africa.

Speaker 11 (01:27:45):
Quote.

Speaker 1 (01:27:46):
People love Slutty Vegan because they love me, and I
used to not tap into that, but I now know
I have a superpower with people, she told People Magazine.
People love me, so I know that people are going
to support and back me in whatever it is that
I authentically do his reality with products, restaurants, whatever. Folks
may love you, but it doesn't mean that they're going

(01:28:08):
to back it. The reality is with the restaurant. You've
got to have food controls, quality controls, customer service time.
How fast does the food come out? Is the food
consistent from restaurant to restaurant. What makes McDonald's McDonald's is
that that hamburger's gonna taste to taste the same in Germany,
it's gonna taste in Charlotte, as it's gonna taste in Dallas,

(01:28:30):
as it's gonna taste another country and so I dare say,
I get it. As an entrepreneur, you think people love you,
but they got to love the product, the business, because
that's how you're gonna grow.

Speaker 8 (01:28:46):
Yeah, And it has to be it has to be
fundamentally tight in terms of how you're going to do it.
I mean, I don't doubt that she can probably get
into as many places as she wants. That's not the
that's not the issue. Issue is can you do it profitably?

(01:29:10):
And there's been a laundry list of businesses, don't matter
who's running them, white, black or otherwise, that grew too fast.
I mean, we just saw Red Lobster, you know, run
into a bunch of issues, very very high profile brands
over the last several years, run into issues trying to grow.

Speaker 3 (01:29:33):
Hell Boston Market.

Speaker 1 (01:29:35):
They I mean they were spreading all across the country
and they changed their menu, got away from Rotisserie Chicken,
and it literally destroyed the whole company. And they've got
like sixteen stores left. They went from Boston Chicken Chicken
to Boston Market and what made them hugely popular, that

(01:29:56):
business was obliterated because of that one decision, right, and.

Speaker 8 (01:30:03):
You can you look at Red Lobster were giving away
free lobster or something and all you can eat lobter
and that drove their margins crazy.

Speaker 28 (01:30:12):
But yeah, you you can have any little thing in
the restaurant business doesn't generally.

Speaker 8 (01:30:18):
Have great margins, right, so you have to be very
careful about how you build that business and taking your
time is usually best, especially and in clustering as well,
obviously in terms of economies of scale and certain regions
initially as you as you grow that footprint, so you know,

(01:30:43):
so I would I would hope, you know, I prayed
that the brand is able to recover and do what
do what you want to do, just like Uncle Nerra's yea,
and but I just hope that the lesson learned it
was a very expensive These are expensive lessons. Yeah, absolutely,
you know you don't want to have to learn that way.

Speaker 1 (01:31:06):
And I and what I want for our audience, I
want people to understand and get ready for your questions panel.
I want our audience to understand that it's easy to
say I want to be an entrepreneur, I want to
be an owner, but there are some realities to owning
that you have to accept. And that is Hey, at

(01:31:28):
the end of the day, you might be the person sweeping,
putting out trash, doing the doing the nitty gritty stuff.
And when it comes to going out and getting viture
capital money and investment money, uh, bank loans or whatever.
If you're going to be the face of the business,
it's going to be on you.

Speaker 3 (01:31:45):
It's going to be on you.

Speaker 1 (01:31:46):
And and you got to be listen. Michael Johnson is
dealing with this right now. We're a grand slam track.

Speaker 2 (01:31:53):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:31:53):
You know, some investors fail through, but people are like, no, bro,
we're looking at you.

Speaker 3 (01:31:58):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:31:58):
And this is this is one of those things that
people just have to recognize that the moment you decide
to go into business, I mean, just everything changes. Let
me go to my panel. I want to first start
ASU first.

Speaker 16 (01:32:11):
So I think one of the things that's important to
talk about here is just the statistical lack of access
to venture capitals for black entrepreneurs at large and black
women specifically, which we know is miniscule.

Speaker 15 (01:32:27):
I mean, the data is somewhere.

Speaker 16 (01:32:28):
Around point one percent towero point four percent of all
venture capital goes to black women entrepreneurs. So I'm wondering
to what degree is there an issue of just lack
of access to capital for a lot of our companies
who are, as you mentioned, in situations where they've never
been before.

Speaker 15 (01:32:48):
Maybe they've built a very successful brand, they're growing.

Speaker 16 (01:32:51):
Too fast, and they're not having access not just to
the money, but to the advisors that you've mentioned are
absolutely critical to help them navigate a situation that they've
never seen before.

Speaker 1 (01:33:02):
I mean, I mean, speaks of that first, Dwayne, and
then I'm going I don't think the issue here was
a lack of access.

Speaker 3 (01:33:09):
Guys, what are you doing?

Speaker 2 (01:33:11):
What are we doing? What's it?

Speaker 11 (01:33:12):
Thank you? I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:33:14):
The issue here is not, to me, lack of access
to capital. Both of these examples they had access to capital.

Speaker 6 (01:33:21):
I think once alone, I'm talking about ben capital.

Speaker 3 (01:33:23):
Oh no, no, no, I was saying one.

Speaker 1 (01:33:25):
In the case of Uncle Near's nearly one hundred and
ten million dollars in loans. In the case of Sludy
Vegan was a twenty five million dollars Series A raise. So, Dwayne,
I think what we were talking about earlier. The issue
here with these two companies, it wasn't access to capital.
It was once you got the capital, how do you
manage the business to maximize the capital you received, and

(01:33:49):
not be in a situation that both found themselves in.

Speaker 8 (01:33:55):
Yeah, I mean, but to her point, to her question,
it's historically if you look at black men or women,
it's woefully disproportionately bad, right, And so that has been
the case since I got into business when I was
nineteen years old. And all I've done all my career

(01:34:22):
is invest in black and brown businesses, quite honestly, and
have made any money that I've made, I owe to
black and brown businesses and founders. I mean, from Kathy
Hughes to Bob Johnson, to a number of folks who
early on were scrounging around for capital. And that continued

(01:34:46):
throughout the years for a number of companies, and it
recently has gotten a lot better. I mean, where we
are today is light years away from where we were.

Speaker 1 (01:35:00):
So, Dwayne, what are the so what should okay? So,
then taking on, Avis asked, what then should.

Speaker 3 (01:35:08):
Entrepreneurs be doing? How do you put where do you go?

Speaker 1 (01:35:11):
How do you put yourself in the right places with
people who have the expertise that you're going to need
once you do get the capital, Because so you talked
about the advisors in others, I mean, where do you go?

Speaker 3 (01:35:28):
What do you do, who should they be talking to?
What places should they be going?

Speaker 8 (01:35:34):
Well, they're They're not easy to find obviously unless you
are running in the circles that they are. So in
terms of professional venture capital firms that are run by
black men and women, and there are a lot of
new ones that have recently originated that are actually run

(01:35:55):
by women and are focused on investing in women founders.
There's probably at least twenty now that part of their
thesis or their main thesis is to empower women, you know,
to scale businesses. Now, not every business is meant to
venture capital, and so that's one of the things that

(01:36:17):
you first got to figure out, is your business, whether
it can scale or not. Is it a venture capital business?
Generally a venture capital eligible business not eligible, But a
venture capital business that lines up for the cost of
that capital. Is a company that's in the tech space.

(01:36:38):
Now that's not one hundred percent always the case, but
generally tech companies are able to grow and scale at
a level that can justify the cost of the venture
capital and the returns that it requires through that whole ecosystem.
And when you talk about an uncle nears or you
talk about a slutty Vegan.

Speaker 28 (01:37:00):
Typically, those businesses can scale in a couple of ways.

Speaker 8 (01:37:05):
They can scale organically when you've got a hot brand
like they did, or you can do acquisitions. But that
lends itself to private capital, private private equity, or private debt,
private credit in order to do that, because though that
money is is a bit cheaper and it is built
to scale those kinds of businesses unlike you know, unlike

(01:37:27):
a tech business which is generally start up, generally early stage,
doesn't have a lot of revenue or cash flow in
which to to borrow against in a private equity scenario.
So finding folks who do that, I mean they're you know,
they're all over LinkedIn. You know where to look. There's conferences,

(01:37:48):
there's meetings, there's local, regional type places that you can
run into people like that. When when you're of especially
when you're a high profile founder, you have your own relationships.

Speaker 28 (01:38:03):
You can get to almost anybody, especially in our community.

Speaker 11 (01:38:05):
It's small, right.

Speaker 8 (01:38:07):
Community, you know, we can you know, we're two three,
four degrees of separation, right, and so you can if
you are, if you are conscious about looking for it,
you will find it. And you know, and I'm not
saying they all got You know, every advisor has to

(01:38:27):
be of the same ethnicity as the founder.

Speaker 28 (01:38:31):
I mean there's there's advisors out here in all communities
that you know will be there.

Speaker 8 (01:38:38):
We'll be able to help you.

Speaker 28 (01:38:40):
And you just got to be able to align with
one that you trust to do business.

Speaker 8 (01:38:46):
And that's very important. Is trust, which is why, which
is why you got to spend time with your advisor
and or your investor or lender before you get into
something like this, because if that alignment is not there,
alignment of interest and that trust is not there, things
can you know things are going to be bumpy at
some point. I mean, you know it's perfect, but you

(01:39:08):
want somebody who's who's really vested and aligned properly to
make sure that you get back on track and are
successful and aren't first looking to take your company and
get hold because they don't trust you, right, they don't.
You don't have the confidence that you're going to be
able to pull yourself out of it. You don't want

(01:39:30):
that situation, So be patient, take your time. You got
a great brand, you got a great product. You'll be here.
It's not going.

Speaker 2 (01:39:38):
Anywhere yep the way, Larry, Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 14 (01:39:45):
This has been a great discussion, and I want to
talk about you know, we talk a lot about things
like the Old Boy Network, right, and one of the
things that comes with that is these relationships we've kind
of been discussing and not just access to capital, but
you know, being able to reach out to people who
can mentor you give you feed. And I'm wondering as
it relates to you know, we talk about a lot
about the lack of generational wealth in the black community
because of racism and what role it plays in black

(01:40:07):
community and black entrepreneurs, particularly like the two brands we
talk about, have taken off and the challenges of not
having access to individuals who for multiple generations no notice
like to run these you know, large businesses, to expand,
et cetera. I'm wondering what are some of the challenges
that relates to that kind of like familial or institutional
knowledge that you know, we don't see in the black community.

Speaker 28 (01:40:32):
Yeah, I mean, you're correctly, you have a lot of
first and you know, maybe second generation.

Speaker 8 (01:40:39):
Businesses that even have the prospect and then when you
narrow it further, the ones that have the prospect to
really scale and become what we call unicorn and in
our business or something that is substantial, you know, the
people who had that you can call on or you know,

(01:41:00):
be able to rely on for that. And just in
our community is small, and you know, but if if
you've got a business, you should if you've got a
business that makes sense, you've got a business that that
that you know, crosses all the t's and dot cis

(01:41:22):
in terms of its potential, you should be able to
professionalize it and be able to go to professional investors anywhere.
Now you're not going to get the same kind of
audience you would potentially if the investor was black or
or at least the ethnicity that or or the or

(01:41:42):
the gender I should say, that would understand you potentially
more than someone else, because venture capital is about eighty percent,
you know, uh, personal relationship. And so you want to
be able to relate to someone and in a way

(01:42:03):
that will first of all, get you to trust them
and secondly to align interest in the right kind of way.

Speaker 28 (01:42:10):
And we are we're we haven't. We haven't created enough.

Speaker 8 (01:42:17):
Enough of these businesses in the past, enough professional businesses
in the past, professional venture firms in the past that
have been around long enough to have gone through a
number of cycles with a number of different companies to
offer what you know, mainstream so called mainstream investors have

(01:42:38):
been able to have They've had a.

Speaker 28 (01:42:40):
Very long lead time and so it takes a while
to get that.

Speaker 8 (01:42:46):
Sort of expertise. In our community. There's people with money
and they can invest in things, but their ability to
help you beyond a certain level is going to be
somewhat limited, not not to mention the time that they've
got doing other things that they're doing, so they're not
They want you to be successful. They'll give you whatever

(01:43:08):
sort of advice that they can give you. You might
get one or two on you know, a few them
on your advisory board. But what you really need in
your business is professional capital and professional capital that is
aligned with your interests and is on the same wavelength
as you are how to grow this to where you

(01:43:29):
want to go to.

Speaker 28 (01:43:30):
If you don't have that right, it's going to be
very very It can be very very difficult.

Speaker 8 (01:43:36):
Now, obviously there are certain people who have done it
on their own, and we know real they are, but
that is very very rare.

Speaker 7 (01:43:45):
Mustapha, Yeah, well, thank you for dropping the knowledge on
us today.

Speaker 13 (01:43:51):
You know you've been very successful with many of the
folks that you have been able to affiliate yourself with.
I'm curious for folks who are watching, what do you
look for when you're about to invest in a company?
What are the things that grab your attention.

Speaker 8 (01:44:06):
I probably spend the first few weeks or more just
getting to know them and really trying to look deep
into who they are and how they've gotten to where
they've gotten to, what kind of person they are, and
you know, can they really well I'm trying to assess

(01:44:27):
can they really take on and do what it is
they say they're going to do, and have they demonstrated
that in the past. So I don't really focus a
whole lot on the business early on. You know, you'll
get the general parameters of it. And if it's an
industry generally that I like or seems to be frale

(01:44:51):
for opportunity to success, then I'll just switch real quickly
to the to the to the person or persons that
are suppor going to execute on whatever plan it is
that they that they've talked about and see whether there's
a see what's there and there's there's a meeting of
the minds, and whether they really can't achieve what they

(01:45:13):
say they're gonna achieve, and they actually have a plan
to do it, and they understand that they can't do
it by themselves.

Speaker 28 (01:45:21):
And so that's that I look for.

Speaker 8 (01:45:23):
We've got about ten things we look for as far
as character, you know, and you everybody knows, you know
what those many of those are. But one that's really
high up there on the list for me is judging.

(01:45:43):
So being able to you're gonna have to make quick
You're gonna have to make decisions that almost every day
or every week that are going to affect the long
term viability of your business. And if you have good judgment,
you're generally going to make the right decisions, or you're

(01:46:06):
going to consult with people to help you make the
right decisions. So yah, but there's about ten things we
look at.

Speaker 11 (01:46:14):
So that's what I look for.

Speaker 3 (01:46:16):
Let's last point I make to close this out.

Speaker 1 (01:46:19):
This is also a message to any founder, and the
reality is, let's be clear, you can be the founder.
You can be passionate, you can be it's your first love.
But I think you can have a death grip on
a business so much that you don't actually you actually
strangle the opportunity to grow because you don't want to

(01:46:42):
listen to expertise that can actually help you grow. And
one of the biggest issues that I've seen people I've
talked to, people who I've witnessed, people who I know personally,
is that what they don't do is they don't bring
the professional help in.

Speaker 3 (01:46:56):
And let's be real clear.

Speaker 1 (01:46:57):
There are people Dwyane who are excellent at managing a business,
but they can't start the business. There are people who
are excellent at starting businesses who can't manage.

Speaker 3 (01:47:10):
A business to a growth.

Speaker 1 (01:47:11):
The CEO once said that the people that helped me
become a five hundred million dollar year corporation are not
the same people who are going to take me to
a billion dollar year corporation.

Speaker 3 (01:47:22):
And so those are those are decisions that a person
has to make.

Speaker 1 (01:47:27):
And I think the lessons that people should be taking
away from what's happening with Uncle Nears, what's happening with
Sludy Vegan, what's happening with many other businesses, is to
understand that when you're the owner, you got to pay
attention to the most basic fundamental.

Speaker 3 (01:47:45):
You've got to follow the money. You've got to be
on that like a hawk.

Speaker 1 (01:47:48):
You've got to be watching that every single day, in
understanding adjusting your expenses to revenue, all that sort of stuff. Hey,
what's happening. You look at whats right now, tariffs, how
that's impacting businesses. So you can be in love with
the idea of the business, in love with the product,
but if you are not focusing on the most basic

(01:48:11):
fundamentals cost of goods, services, overhead expenses, taxes, insurance, all
that sort of stuff, then you might find yourself not
being in business. About sixty seconds final comment.

Speaker 8 (01:48:29):
Yeah, well I hope, you know, I certainly hope that
Sludy Began and Uncle Nera's are able to regroup and
pivot when they're on how they think about growing their
business and get the right folks in there, because we,
you know, we as people need to be entrepreneurs. I mean,

(01:48:56):
we look at where the country is going, we look
at where AI is going. Jobs are more than likely
going to start to shrink. Or if you want to
keep a job, if you want to get a job,
you have to be able to utilize you know, workflows.

Speaker 28 (01:49:18):
That are being driven by AI.

Speaker 8 (01:49:21):
And AI is going to be in every company, is
going to be everywhere, and so we've got to be
able to adopt it. Obviously, it can be scary, and
you know, it is a it's a big leap, but
within a short period of time, it's going to be
it's going to permeate itself through them out throughout any business.

(01:49:42):
And so any business we look at today, they don't
have to be creating AI themselves, but any kind of
business that they're doing, they need to be able to
utilize AI in order to be competitive. Uh. In what
it will be a very competitive marketplace, You're not going
to be able to just hire your way to success.

(01:50:05):
You're going to have to be able to use these
tools and get your people to utilize these tools and
make them more productive.

Speaker 3 (01:50:12):
Bree B.

Speaker 11 (01:50:13):
Knight.

Speaker 3 (01:50:13):
We appreciate it.

Speaker 8 (01:50:14):
Thanks a lot, absolutely, my pleasure growing folks.

Speaker 3 (01:50:18):
Appreciate it, folks.

Speaker 1 (01:50:19):
The first black mayor of a small Alabama town of
a web only won his election four years after white
residents literally locked him out of the town hall and
refused to let him serve and coming mayor. Patrick Braxton
was elected as the mayor of Newbern last week, winning
sixty six votes to his opponent's twenty six votes. His
victory puts a punctuation mark in the dispute over control

(01:50:41):
of the town government that drew national attention. Last week's
election was the town's first sits at least the nineteen sixties,
hell under a federal settlement. Black residents sue challenging what
they call the towns hand me down governance and refusal
to let Braxton serve after he ran unopposed from mayor
in twenty twenty. New Burn's the proct twenty seven to
seven miles southwest of Birmingham, with a population that is

(01:51:03):
about eighty percent black twenty percent white. However, the town's leadership,
except for Braxton and its town council, has been a
majority white for years. New Bern's population is just about
one hundred and thirty three. We've seen this in a
lot of places, Larry, that's absolutely crazy. We've seen this
black folks city manager, mayor other white folks like you

(01:51:24):
ain't you ain't coming in. But this is crazy not
to have any elections in the nineteen sixties.

Speaker 11 (01:51:31):
I've never heard of anything like this. Roland.

Speaker 14 (01:51:33):
I remember talking about this story on here and it
still boggles my mind. And as an example of why
we need the Voting Rights Act, and why we need
civil rights groups like the Legal Defense Fund, ACLU, etc.

Speaker 11 (01:51:46):
Because they're I'm shot.

Speaker 14 (01:51:48):
I would not be surprised if there's something similar happening
in other jurisdictions that we haven't even talked about yet.
But once again, this is an example of how systemic
racism works, particularly when it comes to diluting the vote
of majority black districts. And so this is why we
need to make sure at the federal, state, and local
level that we make sure that every vote, every book

(01:52:09):
vote counts, particularly in the black community historically disenfranchised, and
support you know, in individuals like this, towns like this,
by working with civil rights organizations and other ntis to
make sure, like I said, black votes votes, it's not diluted.

Speaker 3 (01:52:24):
Absolutely all right.

Speaker 1 (01:52:25):
Folks At the University of Cincinnati, black students are stepping
up after university support for the African American Culture and
Resource Center ended under the New Advance or Higher Education
at Higher Education Act also on the Center bill one,
which bans diversity equity inclusion initiatives. Pop up traditions such
as black graduation and welcome events have been pushed off
campus and are now organized entirely by student volunteers In response,

(01:52:47):
since an AA alumni have launched a SINCI Cultural Resource
Center Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to funding mentorship, music,
and cultural programs that the AACRC previously led. Leaders say
their goal is to ensure black students still have community
and a voice despite growing political pressure to silence such programs. Well,
this is one of those things that mustapaware. This is
where you say, you know what, we're going to fund

(01:53:08):
our own stuff.

Speaker 13 (01:53:10):
Yeah, and it's great that, you know, folks are coming
together and making sure that that happens. But I'm also
one since some of the former athlete that I also
believe that the voices of the folks on that basketball
team and the football team also need to make sure
that they're letting people under know that these types of
actions by the school, you know, are not okay.

Speaker 7 (01:53:33):
So you know, you have power in these situations.

Speaker 13 (01:53:35):
So one, I appreciate folks making the investments and getting
together to make sure that folks will continue to have
that information. But I also hope that individuals who have
power on campus flexing Favis.

Speaker 15 (01:53:50):
Yea, I absolutely agree.

Speaker 6 (01:53:52):
I mean, unfortunately, this is a sign of the times.

Speaker 16 (01:53:55):
We have an administration that has waged war against education
across this country and specifically houses and universities, in essence
really forcing many to move in this direction and or
giving cover to those who are already you know, who
pre existingly already had the desire to move in that direction.

Speaker 15 (01:54:14):
So once again, the answer is to be able to
do for ourselves.

Speaker 16 (01:54:18):
And also the answer for students who are examining their
various opportunities is to think even more deeply about how
they might want to pursue their college pursuits at HBCUs.

Speaker 3 (01:54:30):
All right, folks, quick break, we come back time for
our shop Blackstart Network marketplace back at a moment.

Speaker 19 (01:54:43):
This week on the other side of change, three hundred
thousand Black women being pushed out of the workforce.

Speaker 5 (01:54:48):

Speaker 20 (01:54:50):
Well, what happens when a bunch of black mothers use
kids are not being taken care of. But that trickles
down to the entire community structure which may be built
on the backs of black mothers and black women more broadly.

Speaker 21 (01:55:04):

Speaker 7 (01:55:10):
Hello, we're the Credit Fixes. I'm doctor Nada.

Speaker 28 (01:55:12):
Hodges and I'm doctor Terrence Ferguson, and you're tuning into.

Speaker 3 (01:55:16):
Roland Martin Unfiltery.

Speaker 1 (01:55:38):
Folks tonight and I are a Blackstar Network marketplace segment.

Speaker 3 (01:55:42):
We've got a sweet treat for you.

Speaker 1 (01:55:43):
If you're searching for a unique and fun gift, look
no further then With an Nibble. They've created handcrafted food
inspired candles and soaps that look his smell just like
your favorite desserts, cherry cheesecake, the fruity cupcakes.

Speaker 3 (01:55:59):
These life like.

Speaker 1 (01:56:00):
Creations bring Jordan nostalgia, the touch of indulgence.

Speaker 3 (01:56:03):
To any space.

Speaker 1 (01:56:04):
Jow me down from a joy. Is Denitra Jackson, the
founder of With and Nibble. All right, Dnetri, glad to
have you here. Okay, I how to call this idea?
Where did it come from?

Speaker 16 (01:56:14):
Ah?

Speaker 22 (01:56:14):
How you doing, mister Martin?

Speaker 3 (01:56:16):
Good good?

Speaker 22 (01:56:17):
So With and Nibble actually came from a place of
darkness right now.

Speaker 16 (01:56:20):
I'm a foodie and at the time I used to
be two hundred and eighty pounds. So after a very
traumatic time in my life, I wanted to become a
new person physically, mentally, and spiritually. So I went on
a weight loss journey and instead of eating desserts, I
would smell desserts. And that satisfied my cravings to stay
on track and to lose the weight that I wanted

(01:56:42):
to to become a new person. So my love of
candles my love of food. We put the two together
and with a nibble was born.

Speaker 3 (01:56:49):
Okay, So I'm sitting here right now looking okay, so okay,
what is this?

Speaker 6 (01:56:56):
Ah?

Speaker 22 (01:56:56):
That is our root beer mini candle?

Speaker 3 (01:56:59):
This shit root beer mini candle. Okay, so see beer float?

Speaker 22 (01:57:03):
Excuse me, see the little ice cream?

Speaker 3 (01:57:05):
Yeah, I said, I said, all right, so this is
not dessert. This is literally a candle.

Speaker 22 (01:57:13):
That is correct.

Speaker 16 (01:57:14):
That white u wick that's sticking up, that's the word.
If you choose to light.

Speaker 3 (01:57:19):
It otherwise, then you could just have it as decoration.

Speaker 22 (01:57:23):
You sure can.

Speaker 1 (01:57:24):
So if I light this, then it would be smelled
the room be smelling like root beer.

Speaker 5 (01:57:28):
That is correct.

Speaker 3 (01:57:30):
Okay, all right, let's see here, All right, okay, what
is this one here?

Speaker 22 (01:57:36):
This is let's see what you got.

Speaker 3 (01:57:37):
This is peach cobbler mini candle.

Speaker 22 (01:57:40):
That is that is our peach cobbler mini candle.

Speaker 16 (01:57:44):
And we also have a larger version of that, which
is a three whig candle that comes in a real
cast iron skillet, so you can use burn your candle
and cooking the egg right after that.

Speaker 3 (01:57:53):
Larry, why are you looking like that? Larry, you look
like you're hungry.

Speaker 14 (01:57:58):
I mean I might be, but I gotta I want
to give her credit for creativity. I haven't seen anything
like that, so but maybe that's the point. I'm burning
some candles and make some food. But I think it's
an ingenious idea.

Speaker 1 (01:58:10):
Okay, this is a cherry cheesecake mini candle.

Speaker 20 (01:58:16):
It sure is.

Speaker 22 (01:58:17):
And I have one with me as well. That is
our cherry cheese cake mini candles.

Speaker 16 (01:58:21):
So you have your crumbles there, your cherry cheesecake, and yep,
it looks and smells just like cherry cheesecake.

Speaker 3 (01:58:29):
You trying to burn stuff so to make people hungry?

Speaker 22 (01:58:32):
Okay, all right, the opposite for me, But have fun.

Speaker 3 (01:58:37):
All right. Let's see here. Okay, this is the banana
pudding candle.

Speaker 22 (01:58:42):
It sure is. Yep, just like Grandma used to make.
That is our banana pudding candle.

Speaker 16 (01:58:47):
You can smell the bananas the vanilla wafers, yes you can.

Speaker 22 (01:58:51):
I love that one. And that comes in a mini
version as well.

Speaker 1 (01:58:55):
Okay, Now, how many different candles of food smelling candles
do you have?

Speaker 4 (01:59:01):
Uh?

Speaker 22 (01:59:01):
You know what, mister Martin, we probably have about thirty
four right now.

Speaker 3 (01:59:06):
Thirty four, yes, sir, wow, okay, thirty four.

Speaker 22 (01:59:10):
That is our peach kanyak candle that's shown on the Oh.

Speaker 1 (01:59:13):
I'm sorry, I didn't realize I had another one here.
So this is the blueberry pie Ala mode candle.

Speaker 3 (01:59:21):
Two wicks, yes, sir, So that.

Speaker 16 (01:59:25):
Is yep, just what it just what it says is
our blueberry pie with a scoop of ice cream.

Speaker 3 (01:59:29):
Okay, y y'all, this is insane, y'all. This is insane.

Speaker 22 (01:59:33):
I like that when that's a cute one.

Speaker 3 (01:59:36):
Kids saying, Okay, y'all this, holdo, where am I looking? There?

Speaker 11 (01:59:40):
It is?

Speaker 2 (01:59:41):
This?

Speaker 5 (01:59:41):
Is it?

Speaker 11 (01:59:42):
Right here? Y'all?

Speaker 22 (01:59:43):
That's my baby.

Speaker 16 (01:59:46):
And there are two wicks like right between the ice
cream stoop on either side of the ice cream.

Speaker 3 (01:59:51):
Oh yeah, yeah, I see him. I see him right
here and right here.

Speaker 22 (01:59:56):
That is correct.

Speaker 3 (01:59:57):
Okay, how how long does it take you to to
create these things?

Speaker 16 (02:00:02):
Not that long because everything is kind of pre done.
I kind of got like an assembly line type deal going.
So we're pretty much assembling.

Speaker 3 (02:00:08):
Now, okay, all right, questions from the panel. Let's see here.
I'll start with the man who keeps licking his lips, Larry,
that's funny.

Speaker 11 (02:00:22):
You're making me hungry, so listen.

Speaker 14 (02:00:25):
You know, congratulations, and I want to talk a little
bit about you know, you.

Speaker 2 (02:00:29):
Know, marketing.

Speaker 14 (02:00:30):
You know, I guess I think this is a very
unique idea. People love candles typically, we know we love
candles in the black community. How are you marketing this
to to to you know why, you know, nationally or international?

Speaker 15 (02:00:42):
Absolutely so.

Speaker 16 (02:00:43):
In regards to marketing, we are on all social media
platforms and my team, you know, we definitely were getting
into ads. We have our website, we are in a
few local stores here, and also we have a mo
location here as well. So yeah, so we're trying to
get the word out and trying to grow day by day.

Speaker 3 (02:01:07):
Avis.

Speaker 16 (02:01:09):
Okay, So I'm really impressed because I'm a big sweet
person and you've done a great job of merging sweets
and traditional soul food comfort food. So I'm wondering do
you ever sort of how do you target people like me?
I hear where you are, but I'm thinking, are you
at any sort of spaces where you might find a

(02:01:32):
large number of foodies like myself, and how can we
sort of actually.

Speaker 15 (02:01:37):
Get to smell them in person?

Speaker 22 (02:01:40):
Gotcha?

Speaker 16 (02:01:40):
So in regards to that, we are still studying our
analytics to find out exactly who our target market is
per se. But we also do a lot of in
person events where people are able to touch, smell, you know,
feel and also our name work. We know we're kind
of uh getting out now, so we're just trying to

(02:02:02):
grow day by day. Yes, ma'am Mustapha come to learn
the brand.

Speaker 7 (02:02:08):
Well, this is amazing, Yeah, this is amazing.

Speaker 13 (02:02:10):
I was gonna ask the questions anybody ever got the
munchies and accidentally eating one of those?

Speaker 1 (02:02:15):
But you know something, you know somebody accidentally took a
bite and they were like, uh, this ain't going overwhelm.

Speaker 22 (02:02:24):
The stories that we have are hilarious.

Speaker 16 (02:02:26):
I have a young lady who purchased the peach Cowper
skilly candle.

Speaker 22 (02:02:29):
She works at a factory. She burned it.

Speaker 16 (02:02:32):
Her husband came home from a long day day's work,
thought she was cooking, and it got in an argument
because it was a candle, Oh.

Speaker 8 (02:02:41):
What is your favorite?

Speaker 3 (02:02:42):
But that sounded like to me she should have been cooking.
Homeboy came home work, he was hot. He's like this,
I don't have no pots clanging?

Speaker 22 (02:02:51):
What's going on?

Speaker 2 (02:02:52):
See?

Speaker 3 (02:02:53):
He thought he thought it was a posume cobbler.

Speaker 4 (02:02:57):
Boy.

Speaker 1 (02:02:57):
I bet his mind was dancing and it was like,
I'll be damn, that's a candle exactly.

Speaker 22 (02:03:02):
That's exactly what happened. Oh I feel so bad.

Speaker 11 (02:03:04):
Amen, Oh we'll stop for you.

Speaker 3 (02:03:07):
You're the part two.

Speaker 11 (02:03:08):
Go ahead.

Speaker 4 (02:03:09):
No.

Speaker 13 (02:03:09):
I was just gonna ask, like, you have thirty four
different candles, which ones are selling the best at the moment?

Speaker 22 (02:03:16):
You know what? It all depends on the person.

Speaker 1 (02:03:20):
So, like I said, we're one selling the best or
the five on shop Blackstart network dot com.

Speaker 3 (02:03:24):
Go to my iPad. This is the five right here
we got.

Speaker 1 (02:03:27):
We got the cherry cheese cake sent it mini candle,
the peach cobbler candle, the blueberry cheesecake sent it mini candle,
the banana pudding candle, the aplecabla.

Speaker 3 (02:03:36):
So these are the five best selling right here?

Speaker 22 (02:03:39):
Yes, sir, that you heard it? Sir? Yep, mister Martin
has spoken.

Speaker 3 (02:03:46):
Cool cool all right?

Speaker 1 (02:03:48):
Then?

Speaker 3 (02:03:49):
So again, so first of all, when it so, how
long has the business been going?

Speaker 22 (02:03:55):
Okay, so we within nibble. We just turned two years
old on August.

Speaker 3 (02:03:59):
Fourth, gotcha?

Speaker 11 (02:04:01):
Okay?

Speaker 1 (02:04:02):
All right, then, well y'all just celebrated it, uh your birthday.
Well listen, folks, if y'all want these scented candles right now,
go to shop Blackstar Network dot com order them shot
Blackstart Network dot Com. You know, we got our black
owned products. You see all the other products right here
to my right on our news desk. So we got
all sorts of stuff, you know, all sorts of stuff

(02:04:22):
over here. You see all these products.

Speaker 4 (02:04:24):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (02:04:24):
And so the newest ones you see right here.

Speaker 1 (02:04:27):
Uh, they are the again, the scented food candles, Cherry
cheesecake scent it mini candle, Peach cobbler candle, Blueberry cheesecake
scentate mini candle, banana putting a candle with two wicks
in an apple cobbler dessert candle. Uh, do y'all have

(02:04:48):
a chock a rich chocolate cake candle?

Speaker 22 (02:04:52):
We do not have chocolate cake.

Speaker 3 (02:04:55):
Come on now, y'alluse listen.

Speaker 22 (02:04:56):
We don't not yet.

Speaker 2 (02:04:57):
Now.

Speaker 1 (02:04:57):
That's that's my absolutely all time favorite. I like chocolate cake,
chocolate ice cream, black cars, black women. That's how it
always goes so everything shopping. That's great, So everything, everything, everything,
chocolate all right again, congratulations folks. Again, if you go
to the website you will see with and Nibble Novelty

(02:05:20):
Gifts founders Denetra Jackson out of Detroit. Dinetra, glad to
have you on the show and glad to have your
products and our shop Blackstart Network dot com marketplace.

Speaker 22 (02:05:31):
Thank you so much for the opportunity, blessed.

Speaker 1 (02:05:34):
I appreciate it. Thanks a bunch, folks. A couple of
stories before we get out of here. More turbulence at
Saint Augusta's University in Raleigh. Days before fall, classes in
on President doctor Marcus Burgess. He's out subtly stepping down,
siding personal reasons. HBCU is already facing significant challenges, and
Roman has dropped to approximately two hundred students. Debt has

(02:05:56):
increased to more than fifty million. Its accreditation remains in
jeopardy for now. Provos Doctor Virgina's People's is stepping into
Mana's day to day operations. Last month, the Federal court
stepped into temporarily restored say Use accreditation, which means classes
are starting as scheduled today. Also Sophie Gibson has been
named the first woman to chair the university's Board of Trustees.

(02:06:18):
She takes over from alumnus Brian Boulware, who many feel
is partly responsible for the university's current state. Problem is
he ain't gone nowhere, He literally still on the board
of trustees.

Speaker 3 (02:06:29):
Makes no sense to me. I hope they get it together.

Speaker 1 (02:06:32):
Listen, we should never this generation of black people should
never ever be satisfied watching a historically black college struggle
to survive and die. But Saint Augustine's again now nearly
now looking for new leadership at the top.

Speaker 3 (02:06:50):
Also, folks, some sad news.

Speaker 1 (02:06:52):
College basketball legend George Raveley is now the age of
eighty eight after creator's battle of cancer, inducted into the
the Natsmith's Basketball Hall of Fame and the College Basketball
Hall of Fame. Raveling coach at Washington State, IOWA and
USC over the course of more than two decades, compiling
three and three and thirty wins and six NCA teraminent appearances.

Speaker 3 (02:07:12):
But here's the key.

Speaker 1 (02:07:13):
He was the first African American coach and was then
called the Pac eight. End of his career at USC,
he also served on team USA's coaching staff, helping the
secure gold in the nineteen eighty four Olympics in the
nineteen and bronze in nineteen eighty eight. He played a
huge role in Michael Jordan's groundbreaking Nike endorsement deal and

(02:07:33):
was a trusted leader and mentor to countless players and coaches.
Now here's what I think is an amazing story. Mustay
for Larry as well as Avis. He was an amazing figure.
Opportunity to meet at George Raveling. But y'all may not
be aware of this story, but this is unbelievable. So

(02:07:56):
nineteen sixty three March and Washington for.

Speaker 3 (02:07:58):
Jobs and Freedom.

Speaker 1 (02:08:00):
Friend they were, they were, They were at dinner and
his friend's dad said, Hey, are y'all going to Washington,
DC for the march.

Speaker 3 (02:08:09):
They were like, nah, Now.

Speaker 1 (02:08:10):
We're not interested. Dad says, no, I think y'all need
to go. So the dad, who's a dentist, loaned them
the car, gave them some money to attend the march
in Washington. So they get there and the day before
they're there and all of a sudden, somebody's like, hey,
you got to attend in the march. They said yeah,
They said, well, do you want to volunteer?

Speaker 3 (02:08:29):
They said, sure, we'll volunteer.

Speaker 1 (02:08:31):
Then, Larry, they said, hey, we need some help with
security at the podium. They're like, all right, now, Raveling
was six', four two hundred, pounds big, guys so they were, like.

Speaker 3 (02:08:43):
Great so check this. Out Doctor king finishes giving that iconic.

Speaker 1 (02:08:49):
Speech he's coming off the podium And George raveling says
he has no idea.

Speaker 3 (02:08:54):
Why he just, said, hey CAN i keep?

Speaker 1 (02:08:58):
That he said, sure So Doctor King davis Hands George
raveling his personal copy of The eye have A dream
speech and that's it was Called Normalcy No.

Speaker 3 (02:09:11):
More and many people have tried to buy. That and
what's crazy is for twenty.

Speaker 1 (02:09:18):
Five years he didn't tell, anybody even his, wife that
he had. It he stored it in an autobiography Of
Harry truman That truman personally, signed and it wasn't until
he was given an, interview but he just put it out.
There he since he and people had come to. Him
they tried to buy. It he, says, nope he never
would sell, it and he gave it to his alma, Mater.
Villanova that is an unbelievable. Story can you imagine? Again

(02:09:43):
you're just thereing, like, Hey, god keep, that and Doctor
king says. Sure that's How George raveling got the personal
copy of Doctor king's speech In august twenty, eight nineteen sixty.

Speaker 8 (02:09:56):
Three, amazing amazing.

Speaker 6 (02:10:00):
Thing everything lined. Up he wasn't supposed to be.

Speaker 16 (02:10:03):
There he was there a bright, place and the movement
and a moment got to him and he was able
to get that little bit of.

Speaker 15 (02:10:10):
History and keep it for so. Long that is just,
wonderful amazing.

Speaker 1 (02:10:13):
Story you, Know mustafa, again the first black coach in
The pac eight broke lots of, barriers and so many
people greatly Respected George raveley an incredible. Man, AGAIN i was,
appreciative had an opportunity And i'm trying to remember, it
AND i think it may have been literally at A
White house. RECEPTION i KNOW i Met Lenny wilkins there as.

(02:10:36):
Well uh but but but our past crossed and he
was he was indeed just a very a, personable quiet,
guy but with a really a strong demeanor that so
many people have talked about and were pressed.

Speaker 13 (02:10:54):
By, yeah you, know there's so many trailblazers in our
community that folks often don't know their full story or
all that they have done that have helped to uplift,
us put a spotlight on us in many.

Speaker 7 (02:11:08):
Instances they've, never you, know wanted to take a lot
of credit for the things that they.

Speaker 13 (02:11:12):
Did coach was just another one of those. FOLKS i
remember watching him WHEN i was coming. UP i did
not know the story that you just shared with, us
and reminds me of my grandmother's words when she says
that destiny will often, knock the question is when you
open the.

Speaker 7 (02:11:26):
Door so you, Know i'm thankful that we had. Him
i'm thankful for everything that he'd set for our.

Speaker 2 (02:11:32):
Communities.

Speaker 1 (02:11:34):
Larry this was the statement that his family shared Today
George Henry Raveling june twenty seventh and nineteen thirty Seven september,
first twenty twenty five and being the statement is with deep,
sadness an unimaginable, pain that we share the passing of
our beloved Coach George Henry, raveling who faced cancer with
courage and. Grace he transitioned peacefully at eighty, eight surrounded

(02:11:55):
by family as well as, love faith and sacred. Protection
there are no words to fully capture With george meant
to his, family, friends, colleagues former, players and, assistants and
to the.

Speaker 3 (02:12:03):
World he will be profoundly.

Speaker 1 (02:12:05):
Missed yet his, aura, energy divine, presence and timeless wisdom
live on and all those he touched and.

Speaker 3 (02:12:10):
Transformed born in a segregated hospital.

Speaker 1 (02:12:13):
And rising to the halls of The Naysmith Basketball hall Of,
Fame george never lost his love for, love for, life his,
resilience his childlike, curiosity nor his unshakable belief in treating
every person with dignity and. Respect beyond, accolades he remained
a lifelong learner and a, kind beautiful, soul always finding
ways to pour into others and inspire the next. Generation

(02:12:35):
grief is the cost of. Love deeply, felt we are
eternally grateful for everyone who Loves. George he cherished his,
family his, friends his, books and every opportunity to be
a positive difference maker in as many lives as. Possible
at this time of, morning our family kindly asked for
privacy in prayer as we navigate this difficult, transition the raveling.

Speaker 3 (02:12:55):
Family, larry.

Speaker 14 (02:12:58):
You know really you MENTIONED i remember him coaching AT
usc and obviously everyone knew his work you, know At,
nike and the vital role you mentioned that he's played
there for. Years the other thing is interesting about the
Doctor king's story IS i Never i'm From, Philadelphia villanova's
right outside of the. CITY i had no idea That
villanova had to. Speech so that's it's a fascinating. Story

(02:13:20):
but you're, Right, roland he really did mentor you, know
in college basketball IN nba, circles he mentored a lot
of particularly black, athletes and LIKE i, said he played
a major role In nike for.

Speaker 1 (02:13:31):
Years, absolutely let me see IF i CAN i remember
there was a story and he, actually, yeah this was a.
Photo give me one, Second give me one. Second so
this is From september, fourteen twenty twenty, One mlka's original

(02:13:54):
averagerming speech that donated The Villanova. University this Is september,
fourteen two. Thousand so this is a fun photo of
raveling with the actual. Speech this IS i would dare,
say this is absolutely positively. Priceless and the article goes

(02:14:14):
on to state and actually he donated On august twenty,
seventh twenty twenty, one which was the day before the,
anniversary and it Says villanova will collaborate with The smithsonian
and The National museum Of African American history And culture.

Speaker 3 (02:14:34):
Where it will go on.

Speaker 1 (02:14:35):
Display critics may wonder What raveling Chose, villanova even if
it was his alma mater school student body and seventy
four percent, white only five percent of black. University it's
such a lopside of demographic it has earned the Nickname Vanilla.
Nova and so this was with this particular article said right,
here pretty pretty cool, there and it was AGAIN i

(02:15:00):
remember reading the story like a number of years, ago
and it was just crazy and how he just how
he got. It and here was another give me one.
Second this was another photo they had of him with the,
speech give me one. Second and again he absolutely made
it clear he was never going To this is another

(02:15:22):
photo of him sitting with someone going.

Speaker 3 (02:15:24):
Over he headed.

Speaker 1 (02:15:25):
Framed but it was just crazy that he was married
all these years and his wife had no idea he
even had the. Speech But George raveling an, incredible incredible.
Individual so many, people so many folks are talking about.
Him Marcus, johnson the Former Milwaukee bucks, player you see
him his tweet recruited me when he was the first
black head coach in The pack. Eight on my trip

(02:15:47):
To Washington state in the fall of nineteen seventy, TWO
i was enamored with his. Eloquence one of the classiest
MEN i. Know Rip George. Raveling also others Were Basketball
hall Of. Fame, today The Natsmith Basketball hall Of fame
salutes the remarkable career Of George raveling and Sins candoleos's
to his family on his. Passing as a, coach, broadcaster,

(02:16:07):
administrator and global, Ambassador raveling's impact on the game of
basketball is impossible to. Quantify his legacy lives on at
The hall and in the accountless, players, coaches and fans
he has. Touched also, COMMENTING Usa basketball celebrates the life
and legacy of two Time Olympic basketball assistant Coach George.
Raveling george was a trusted friend and advisor TO usa

(02:16:27):
basketball and he will be. Missed our condoles is to
The raveling family and all Of george's loved ones AND
usc where he. Coached they also paid tribute To George.
RAVELING iowa did as. Well you See Jay biolists and
so many. OTHERS Ncaa march madness and this is What
Michael jordan had to say About George. Raveling i'm deeply

(02:16:50):
saddened to hear About george's. Passing for more than forty.
Years he blessed my life with, wisdom encouragement and. Friendship
he was a mentor in every, sense AND i always
carry deep gratitude for his. GUIDANCE i signed With nike
because Of, george and without, him there would be No Air.
Jordan he lived in extraordinary, life breaking barriers and paving

(02:17:10):
the way for so many who came after. Him my
thoughts were With Dolores mark And george's, many many. Friends
so he certainly paid tribute To George.

Speaker 3 (02:17:20):
Raveling and absolutely.

Speaker 1 (02:17:22):
Absolutely, unbelievable unbelievable brother and last ONE nba Commissioner Adam.
Silver George raveling had an influence on the game of
basketball at every. Level it was a pioneering force behind
its global. Growth during his long and impactful tenure At,
Nike george travel the, world mentoring multiple generations of players
and coaches and promoting the sport that defined his. Identity

(02:17:45):
he broke barriers as a college basketball coach and was
a towering voice in our. INDUSTRY i valued my friendship
With george and admired how he led with, poise, dignity and.
Respect he was simply one of the most revered individuals
in all of basketball on behalf of every one of THE.
NBA i send my deepest condulensis To jeordan's, family, friends
and the countless people he touched throughout his extraordinary. Life Adam,

(02:18:07):
SILVER Nba. Commissioner. Folks that is we certainly extend our
thoughts in prayers To George revelly's family as.

Speaker 3 (02:18:15):
Well that is it for.

Speaker 1 (02:18:17):
Us let me Thank, Avis let me Thank, Larry let
me Thank mustafa for being on today's.

Speaker 3 (02:18:22):
Show thank you so very, much. Folks this is our anniversary.

Speaker 1 (02:18:27):
Week that's, right we celebrate what's the baby face on it's.

Speaker 3 (02:18:31):
Anniversary so here's the.

Speaker 1 (02:18:34):
Ill, So, Thursday september fourth is the seventh anniversary Of
Roland Martin. Unfiltered it is the fourth anniversary of The
Black Star, network and So i'm going to be unveiling
something we've been working on on that.

Speaker 3 (02:18:48):
Day but also our goal is simple in honor.

Speaker 1 (02:18:51):
Of our, anniversary our goal is this year we're getting
ready for twenty and twenty. Six that's going to be
a lot of stuff going to be covering across the.
Country i'm bringing some money on. Board i'll be making
the announcement. Soon we're looking at we're well we're looking
at launching a business, show we're looking at health, show
all kinds of different stuff and your support is critical

(02:19:12):
and so our, goal and we, always of course we
say this every, year our goals to do is for
twenty thousand our fans contribute as at least fifty bucks
each a. Year that raises a million dollars and so
that's really what we want to, do and so we
want you to support. Us take a screenshot of, this
share on all of social media the other people who
are going to be sharing this as. Well and it's

(02:19:32):
important because, again the work that we, do the work
that we do is so important because, look it's not
happening other. Places what we, cover the things that matter
to us are so critically important to our, people and
so we've got to have a daily news source that's
covering the. Issues so with this, show the other shows

(02:19:55):
on The Black start, network the shows that we're working,
on our goal is to expand and create the scale
and get bigger and. Bigger and so the goals are
raise a million. BUCKS i see y'all talking about that's
That's Tony Tony, tony Not.

Speaker 3 (02:20:06):
Babyface it sounds like a Baby face. Song, whatever.

Speaker 1 (02:20:10):
So, uh we want to raise a million bucks About
december thirty first and in order to uh again.

Speaker 3 (02:20:15):
Position us for twenty twenty. Six so lots of ways to.
Give if you want to give you a cash, shap
you lies the striped cure. Code you see that cure
code right. Here this is the cure. Code you see
the striped cure.

Speaker 1 (02:20:26):
Code you've Got PayPal Our martin, unfiltered venmo R in,
Unfiltered zel rolling At rolling S martin dot, com rolling
At Rolling martin on filter dot. Com then of, course
if you want to give due checks some money, orders
make it payable To Rolling martin. Unfiltered that's Gonna that's
how we have the bank account set, up. Y'all but
that that that provides expenses covering the whole. Network Uh

(02:20:47):
and peel box five seven one ninety Six washington D
c two zero zero three SEVEN daz zero one nine,
six go back to the other.

Speaker 3 (02:20:53):
One because the addresses on.

Speaker 1 (02:20:54):
There so the addresses right, there peel box five seven
one ninety, Six washington D c two zero zero three
Seven day zero one ninety.

Speaker 3 (02:21:01):
SIX i want y'all to.

Speaker 1 (02:21:03):
Also screen grab this, here capture this right now on
your screen AND i want you to post on all
of your socials spread the word because we really are
looking to expand what we do in twenty twenty six
and your support is absolutely needed to do, so.

Speaker 3 (02:21:20):
Folks that's. It don't.

Speaker 1 (02:21:21):
Forget also download The Blessed network App Apple, Phone android,
Phone APPLE, Tv ANDROID, Tv, Roku AMAZON, fireTV Xbox, One
Samsung SMART.

Speaker 3 (02:21:29):
Tv be sure to get a copy of my.

Speaker 1 (02:21:30):
Book White, Fear how The browning Of Americas Making White
Folks lose Their minds available bookstores. Nationwide be sure to
course get our Roller Martin unfiltered The Blackstore network swag
by going to Shop Blackstar network dot. Com you see
all of our t shirts right. There we got, hats,
mugs all kinds of. Stuff see the cure code there as.
Well and of course you can also get our marketplace.
Items all these are black owned products they by go

(02:21:53):
to simply you see all right. Here so go to our,
marketplace go to Shop Blackstar network dot com to get
these products and. Forget don't forget if you want To
if you want to, download download the app Fan. Base
get that apph and download. It if you want to,
invest go to Start engine dot. Com Force slash fan,
Base start engine dot Com force last fan. Base you
want to see their, podcast just go to our YouTube.

Speaker 3 (02:22:14):
Channel we have the. Chant we have the podcast up as, well.
Folks that's. It i'll see you tomorrow right. Here Roland
martin

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Roland Martin

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