Ozy Media founder arrested; TSU Comptroller's Report, Death in Custody Report,FL Student Walk Out

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
All Right, everyone, it is Thursday, February twenty third, twenty
twenty three. I am Erica Savage, the host of the
Reframed Brain podcast, filling in for Roland Martin. Here's what's
coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming live on the
Black Star Network. Black media mogul founder Ozzie Media Carlos

(00:21):
Watson was arrested and charged with fraud. We'll break down
the federal court documents with Roland and how this could
impact other black media companies in the future. A new
Tennessee Controller special report claims that Tennessee State University has
fallen short regarding fiscal management, finances and communication. Will show

(00:46):
you what's in the news and y TSU students are
the most impacted by the lack of access to capital.
A new report called A Matter of Life and Death,
The Importance of Death in Custody Reporting Act was released
and shows that the US Government Accountability Office likely undercounted

(01:07):
the deaths in custody in twenty twenty one by nearly
one thousand people. We'll speak with the interim Senior Program
Director at the Leadership Conference, Education Fund and political analysts
for Project on Government Oversight to tell us what we
can do to hold law enforcement accountable. What is the

(01:28):
economic impact of black entrepreneurs. To answer that question, we
will speak with the CEO of Media two millions, political
commentator and Business Elevation Strategist Award when an author doctor
Avi shons the weaver to give us everything we know.
The new workplace may feel hostile with an outright attack
on diversity, equity and inclusion in America. We'll speak with

(01:51):
the professional doctor Wendy Wilson to show us how we
can have the executive presence and confidence when we show
up in the workplace. Y'all already know what time it is.
It is time to bring the funk on Rolling Martin
unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. Let's get it, everybody.
He's whatever the mess, He's on it, whatever it is.

(02:12):
He's got the spook, the fact, the fine and when
it briefs, he's right on time and it's rolling. Best
believe he's going putting it down from Boston news to
politics with entertainment just for gigs. He's stolen go rolling, y'all.

(02:34):
It's scolling Martella rolling with Rolling. He's spooky espress, She's
real the fsion No, he's rolling Martell. Martell Today, a

(03:05):
black media mogul, was arrested by the FBI in New
York on federal fraud charges. Carlos Watson of Ozzy Media Company,
the chief executive officer of digital media company Ozzy and
Online Magazine, was accused in federal indictment of engaging in

(03:25):
the scheme to defraud Ozzie's investors, inquirers, and lenders through
material misrepresentations and omissions. Watson allegedly has misled potential investors
since twenty eighteen about how profitable the company was, business projections,
and the identities of its investors. If convicted, Watson faces

(03:50):
a mandatory minimum sentence of two years imprisonment and a
maximum sentence of thirty seven years. Here to discuss this case,
we have none other than Roland Martin Award winning journalists host,
an owner of Roland Martin Unfiltered, joining us now rolland breaking. Yeah.

(04:13):
So here's the deal. I'm here in Huntsville, Alabama. I
can speak to the akas at the regional conference here.
This story broke this morning, probably about nine thirty, when
the story without the Wall Street Journal actually broke the story,
and I can tell you right now it is an
unbelievable I'm looking reading the forty two page indictment and
it is shocking. It is stunning. It details how they

(04:36):
actually falsified documents, ford signatures, impersonated executives, how they lied
about their revenue, lied about anticipated revenue, lied about their expenses.
They were losing lots of money, and the fraud goes
on year after year. Literally, I am only twenty one
pages into this indictment, and it shows how they were

(04:59):
out there trying to get investments, promising them a various
stock that had not even been approved by the board
of directors. In one case they closed they they fraudulently
got financing from a Middle Eastern investor, and in the
April of twenty twenty, the board did not improve the
issuing of those new shares until May two thousand. In

(05:20):
twenty one, and you might remember with the New York
Times being Smith broke this story interviewed me for the story.
Carlos came out and said that it was his cooo oh, well,
he was on the lots of stress, a nervous breakdown.
But the fans actually have text messages, so whatever it
was the CEO was on the phone call and he

(05:41):
was impersonating a YouTube executive where they were trying to
get money from Goldman Sachs, a place that Carlos Watson
used to work at. And so so Carlos came out
and said, well, this guy had a nervous breakdown. I'm
not sure what happened, but the fans are saying while
the hall was taking place, Carlos was texting the band

(06:04):
what to say on the call. Now here's the other deal.
It's what it's crazy. So the SEC is also following
a fifty million dollars civil suit against Watson and Ozzie.
Now yet this federal issue. Yet, just two weeks ago,
Carlos Watson was at ipg's media upfronts. By people were
there said he was walking around like a proud peacock

(06:26):
taking photos he presented on the stage just two weeks ago.
And so that there's a quote here is if you
want to understand how loud crazy this is. After this
story it ran, this is a quote from Kathy Boyle,
who is an executive with Madna. This is a this
is a major ad agency. IPG is under them. She

(06:49):
literally said that they had lots of things to pitch.
First of all, I gotta read it. Let me just
find it. First of all, let me read this first.
This is what the years attorneys African American. His name
is Brian Peace. This is what he said in the
press release. As allege, Carlos Watson is a con man
whose business strategy was based on outright deceit and fraud.

(07:14):
He ran Ozzy as a criminal organization rather than as
a reputable media company. Michael Driscoll, the Assistant Director in
charge of the FBI New York's Field office, said, Watson
quote repeatedly attempted to entice both investors and lenders through
a series of deliberate deceptions and fabrications. Now that was

(07:38):
what it released today. Now his was crazy. Kathy Doyle
is the executive vice president of Local Investment at Magna.
This is what she said two weeks ago about Ozzie
presenting at ipg's upfront. Quote, they have a lot to pitch,
They have some bumps in the road. It's about giving
people chances. Carlos has been really dedicated to getting it right. Wow, wow, man,

(08:02):
he's now here's the deal. Okay. I met with IPG
and MAGDA in November. Haven't heard back from them. So
here we have a black own company, profitable, real revenue,
no fraudulent numbers. Get their profiting. This guy up. I'm
told other ad agencies were saying, let's do business with
this guy. Other companies were still doing deals. The man

(08:25):
was under federal investigation and they're still doing business. Here's
what this is all about. Okay, Harvard educated, Standford educated,
Carlos Watson was the safe black guy. He was the
guy that white folks were comfortable with. And so Lord
nor Roland Martin, he's dangerous, but they we really like Carlos.

(08:45):
He was running a fraud. Anybody, We're gonna upload this
to the Blackstar network dot com website, also rolland Martin
on folks dot com. If y'all read this forty two
page indictment, it is shocking. It is stunning. They were
fraud from top to bottom. And here's how we knew
they were frauds. They were getting when he lost his
YouTube show, they were getting like a million of views,

(09:09):
but fifteen to twenty comments. So I called I called Keenan.
That's Keenan. Do you know what's going on here? There's
no way you can do a million views and get
fifteen twenty comments, right, oh, you get thousands of comments? Right,
So they so they were scraping. So the thing here
is to everybody who's watching and paying attention, understand how

(09:32):
white ad agencies and these white companies want to pick
and choose what black folks to support. But what they're
breaking down here, this was a fraud over a period
of years, from almost from the inception of when they
started up until he was arrested today in Brooklyn while
Roland breaking news. Thank you for ensuring that our audience

(09:54):
was a prize of this. The Roland, Martin and Philip
filtered audience highly intelligent, as ro said, The document will
be uploaded to blackstarnetwork dot com so you can feel
welcome to go and read at your leisure. Thank you
so much, Roland for being on all right, we'll bring
it down for them when I'm back on the air
to Marvel Los Angeles. Absolutely be well in Huntsville, appreciate it,

(10:17):
all right, son, We're gonna go to break pay some
bills and we'll be right back with our panel and
to discuss some more. Stay close. Hatred on the streets
A horrific scene white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence.

(10:38):
White people are losing their minds as a memory pro
Trump Martin storm to the US Capital. We're about to
see the lives where I call white minority resistance. We
have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot
tolerate black folks voting. I think what we're seeing is
the inevitable result of violent denial. This is part of

(11:01):
American history. Every time that people of color had made progress,
whether real or symbolic, there has been the Carold Anderson
at every university calls white rage as a backlash is
the right of the proud boys and the boogaloo boys America.
There's going to be more of this. This country just
getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because

(11:25):
of the fear of white people, the fear that they're
taking our job, they're taking our resourcers, they're taking our women.
If in white Field, pull up a chair, take your seat.

(11:50):
The Black Tape with me, Doctor Great Car here on
the Black Star Network. Every week we'll take a deeper
dive into the world we're living. Joined the conversation only
on the Black Star Network. He said, love everybody, I'm
purple one to love. Hey, I'm Donnie Simpton. What's up.

(12:11):
I'm lands Gross and you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. All right,
welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the
black Star Network app. And we're gonna go ahead and
bring in our panel for comments. Starting in this office

(12:33):
is going to be doctor Grant Car Department of Afro
American Studies at Howard University. We then have passing Shannon Right,
CEO of Urban Engagement, doctor Larry Walker, and then we
also have all right and thank you so much. We
kind of had a bit of a guest shift there,

(12:53):
so I want to go ahead and bring in the
panel and talk very briefly about what Roland shared with
us breaking news of Aussie media. I can remember some
of the programming being on PBS. We're gonna kick it
off and start with you, doctor Carr. What is your
your reaction to what we just heard, specifically around these indictments,

(13:14):
the arrest, the charges, and that essentially the FBI has
been looking at mister Watson for several years now. Yeah, well,
how quickly the mighty have fallen is good? To see Erica,
you good in that chair at control center there. So
but yet we all saw Carlos Watson kind of emerged

(13:35):
like a comet streaking across the sky. I remember one
Sunday morning, getting my New York Times off the stoop
here and opening it, and there was a full color
magazine insert with Carlos Watson interviewing everyone I think maybe Oprah,
I mean, so many different people, and they were calling
him the next big thing, television plans and media plans.

(13:56):
Every copy of the Sunday New York Times had this magazine.
It was a it was a thick magazine announcing, announcing Ozzie.
And sure thereafter the thing began to implode. So I
think Roland, of course, has always nailed it on this.
I mean, the guy was the safe Negro, and now
that it has been determined that he's not that safe Negro,
looks like they're getting ready to run from him. And

(14:19):
his COO Raw played guilty already de fraud. So God
only knows they got him chapter in verse now because
the man has already flipped. So I guess we'll see
what happens. Absolutely, doctor Carr, and you know, to his point,
doctor Walker. We have definitely seen this really mediocric like
this real rise in Carlos's presence across mainstream media. As

(14:41):
I mentioned PDS, What are you seeing the impact of
this as it relates to black media and black media's presence,
trust and integrity. Well, I think this is a cautionary
tale doctor Carhart lighted in terms his rise and clearly
his downfall. It also is clearly he was running a

(15:05):
pyramid scheme. I think that's the best way to describe
what's happened here with this indictment and the obviously the
federal government's involvement. But I think that you know, obviously
Roland has talked about his work and black media and
running his own company, and I'm hoping that those investors
that invested in this company because he once again he
see he was more safe or appealing the certain demographics,

(15:28):
realize that Roland has a product to here that is
not only making money, but it's given the opportunity to
discuss really important issues that impact a number of Americans. So,
but one of the problems we do with when black
folks do something is that we're held to a different standard.
So you see within end obviously him being indicted. But
also I'm hoping that this doesn't have a negative impact

(15:49):
on other in black media. They're trying to do the
right thing in terms of, like I said, bring positive
and important topics to the black community. And obviously on
this talk a lot about that the small numbers in
terms of money that is dedicated to black media. So
while this is a cautionary tale, I hope it doesn't

(16:10):
signify that, you know, those who find mainstream brothers assists,
they would prefer to give those individuals money. I hope
it signifies that they're really realizing that you have to
put your money where the numbers actually add up. Oh gosh,
that's such an important point to really underscore that you
put your money not only where the dollars at, but

(16:30):
where their eyes are at. You know, when we're thinking
about Roland Martin Unfiltered, this is the daily digital platform
and even going back and having a cursory look at
the people, there is engaging commentary that's happening in the comments.
To our next panelist, what are your thoughts around what
we've been presented. You know, doctor Walker and doctor Carr
have talked about this being a cautionary tale, but also

(16:53):
saying that it is important to look to see where
viewers are and then invest. Likewise, what say you yes,
good afternoon. I'm doctor Hill, South Fisia Hill. I think
that first of all, it's a sad reality when we
get into these positions and we leave our blackness on
the doorstep. We forget that we are held at a

(17:13):
different standard to deceive people and think that we can't
get called. We need to understand that in history, whenever
we do something, we always get caught. So we need
to stop and just do us right. And if we
really embrace who we are, it will have a great
impact because then it makes it bet for other people
who are trying to come up. When they look at

(17:35):
this one person who did this mess and got caught,
thinking that they would not again deceiving the general public,
these other public relations folks and these media folks will
begin or hopefully they will begin to say, Okay, let's
look at black media. Who's established, who's making positive contributions,

(17:56):
and who's doing something positive And again, right here the
Martin has been doing it absolutely. Oh, I don't know
why they are afraid. I guess again, you know, they're
just afraid of the truth. Well, listen, Truth's definitely something
that is earned and built, and Roland Martin and Filter
has definitely does that. He has the numbers to prove it.
And when you see the panelist the quality of experts

(18:17):
that he has on that also says a lot as well.
Thank you for sharing you all thoughts on this show.
We're going to toss it to a break, pay some
more bills, and we will be right back. Make sure
you lock into the Black Star Network, Roland Martin and Filter.
Most people think that these television shows that tell stories

(18:42):
about who we are as black men, and then they
paint these monolithic portraits of us. They think that they're
being painted by white people. And I gotta tell you,
there are a whole bunch of black folks right that
are the creators, right, the head writers, right, the directors
of all of these shows, and that are still painting

(19:03):
us as monologus. The people don't really want to have
this conversation, bay Don. Next on the Black Table with
me Greg Carr an hour of Living History was doctor

(19:25):
Richard marieba Kelsey, thinker, builder, author, and one of the
most important and impactful elders in the African American community.
He reflects on his full and rich life and shares
his incomparable wisdom about our past president and future. I'm
saying that my uncle was Virginia's, my brother was Leginia,
my nabel was Leginia. I think we ought to drill

(19:48):
that in ourselves and move ahead rather than believing that
I got it. That's next on the Black Table here
on the Black Star Network. Hi, I'm gavinus. Hey, what's
up the aiship boy? Jacob Latimore? And you're not watching
Roland Martin right now. Tennessee's Controller report claims that HBCU

(20:20):
Tennessee State University has repeatedly fallen short regarding management, finances,
and communication. The eighty six page reports details some financial
reporting irregularities. Controller Jason Mumpower's office focused on the campus
housing crisis that started in twenty seventeen. It was only

(20:42):
exacerbated in twenty twenty two when TSU quadrupled the scholarship
budget from six point four million dollars to twenty eight
point three million, with nowhere near the dorm space they
needed for that influx of students. We're going to have
a representative from TSU coming in to respond to us,

(21:02):
but we want to go ahead and start and start
talking to our panel right now. Now, I want to
start again with doctor Carr. You are an alumnus of
Tennessee State. And one of the things that I found
really interesting and reading this report was it did seem
like the impetus for um well that was formed around

(21:23):
this special report from the Comptroller's office was the housing crisis.
But as the report continued, some of the other messaging
that said that was giving rise to why this report
was this special report was published, is there were communication
issues specifically parents and students with regard to scholarship, with

(21:49):
regard to housing status. Those were some interesting things, and
then there was just a lack of transparency before we
get into some of the policy in some of the
recommendations that came from the Controller's office that came from
also T Sack. Can you talk a little bit about

(22:11):
what on the face of this report made you, what
on the face of this report was alarming to you?
And then do you believe that this was a politically
motivated audit power as a Trump of Jason Klansman. Remember

(22:32):
last spring, this is the same Tennessee Trump devilish devilment
controller that tried to take over Mason, Tennessee. Remember the
story we talked about around this time last year. Jason
Trump Power is the latest in a long line of
Clan of Jason white nationalists in Tennessee who have been
trying to destroy Tennessee State for many years. This is

(22:53):
a report that is absolutely a political hit. I was
a student body president my senior Tennessee State. We took
buses of students to Tennessee to protest against the appointment
of Tom Garland to leave the Tennessee Board of Regions.
At the time, Tennessee State was under the Border Regions
at the time. Tennessee State got its own Board of
Directors fairly recently, so if they went back under the board,

(23:16):
that would be resuming business as usual. The Board of
Regents has been a clan adjacent group that is attempted
to dismantle Tennessee State ever since integration was put in
place and the Guy versus Alexander case filed beginning in
the late nineteen sixties and the stipulation of settlement that
was in place in the nineteen eighties when I went there.
We stand against them fully. They are white nationalists who

(23:36):
must break their backs. They are angry at Tennessee State
for the same reason that all of the white nationalist
in the entire country, whose all of whose backs must
be broken, are angry at Historican the black colleges and
universities as our children pour into them and unprecedented numbers.
Tennessee State's being held hostage by a white national supermajority
in the Tennessee State legislature, a white nationalist governor, and

(23:57):
a group that is determined to try to break the
will of Tennessee State's President Glenna Basket and govern There's
nothing in that report that talks about embezzlement or some
form of mismatching. Lack of communications means you up at
the nick Rose are trying to let all these students in,
and when they're determined not to give you the money
to build new dorms, they had to threaten going to
court to get a half of what Tennessee State has
been old in terms of hundreds of millions of dollars,

(24:18):
and that money has now been designated to help construct
new dorms. But the legistates until trying to tell them
do with the money. Don't get me started on these
clan adjacent bastards who are attacking Tennessee State the same
way the Mississippi legislatures attacked Jackson State, the same way
the Florida legislature has tried to attack Florida and M
the same way that North Carolina A and T has
been punished because they let too many out of state

(24:39):
students in. This is straight white nationalism, and damn it
if we don't fight these crackers tooth and nail. If
we don't fight them tooth and nail, we deserve what
we get. Jason Trump, Jason Mumpower is a clan Adjason racist.
Let's dance, bastard. Listen, you heard it here straight out
of doctor car an alumnus of Tennessee State University. And

(25:00):
on that note, we're going to bring in Danny Glover.
He is the public engagement manager at Apex Clean Energy.
He's joining us now to discuss this report. He's also
a Tennessee State alarm who served as his seventieth SGA president.
Thank you so much, mister Glover for calling for joining
us today. You've heard doctor Gray Carr, who is a

(25:22):
proud alumnus, discussed his disdain specifically for the special reports
out of the Controller's office. I'll give you a moment
before I get into some questions around what is your
response to this report that has been published and has
gone through the Board of Regions and has been essentially validated. Yeah. Well, firstly,

(25:43):
thank you to the show everybody for having us on
today to broadcast this message to the American public. But
my response to the Controller's report, I thought it was
extremely disrespectful. I thought it was condescending, and I thought
it was a wagging your finger moment in terms of
you black people don't know how to handle your finances,
and this is evident, and he had the crack of

(26:03):
handling black entities within the state like this. Brother car
spoke on Mason Tennessee, which is a project that I
organized on. Once Jason's Mumpower started getting his teeth in
on what was happening there. It seems as though anytime
a black entity or a town or city in the
States is slated to have you know, historic economic prosperity

(26:23):
via you know, large sums of money coming into it
that wouldn't historically have been there, Jason Mumpower seems to
be stemping in to make sure he tries to thwart
that progress as much as power as much as possible.
So we've been visioning with this situation. We've been proactive
ever since we've heard the initial findance. And we're gonna
fight this as we fought it in the in the
late seventies. Um, it's in our big blue blood blood

(26:47):
to push back against the Tennessee legislator. And we're gonna
do it this time as we did in the late
seventies early eighties. All right, thank you for that, mister Glover.
And you know, and to your point, when I was
reading through the report, some of the things that I
found interesting that you are refuted. We're around some of
the very things that you mentioned, which is around financial mismanagement,
and so I found it very interesting that specifically was

(27:10):
lied out that you all responded to say and quote
one hundred plus year o HBCU that has been historically
underfunded that you all have not and I want to
quote this TSU was never defaulted on any depth obligations,
never been laid on a debt payment, never had any
had to have any state appropriations intercepted to have to

(27:32):
pay for debt. And you all have had a healthy
balance sheet and a strong reserve and endowment for one
hundred million dollars. So this conversation that was having and
mister Glover said facts for the audience, if you didn't
hear that, So, how does then this whole concept of
you all not being fisfully responsible and mismanagement funds, How

(27:54):
does that then tread with receipts that you all have
to exactly what I read, It doesn't tread well with it,
um And he was using just a typical trope when
it comes to again black organizations of black schools. Is
is typically or the stereotype that most of our organizations have,
this we can't handle our finances. There always has to

(28:15):
be some white overseer making sure that you know, we're
spending the money in the correct manner. You know, black
politicians and and and mayor's experiences, black governors, the few
we've had have experiences. And this is the exact same
troper saying with this, um and you're absolutely right about that.
There was no financial mismanagement, no misappropriations. No, doctor Glover

(28:36):
was not still in money to buy brand new rose words.
It was nothing of that sort. But the way that
report made it seem like it was just so much
a financial mouthfee sings happening that you know, it raised
and it was to the point where he had to
raise its red flag. But I don't think our financial
record matched the level of detail that even which he
reported on and and and it's putting us on the

(28:58):
table for right before we head to a break, just
want to say that there were twelve policy recommendations. Two
of them specifically that said that the Tennessee Board of
Regions be activated and that tissue and act as tissue
management that also essentially all operations be submitted to the
Tennessee Board of Regions. Is there, How can the viewing audience,

(29:22):
with the information that we've been providing, how can they
be active in ensuring that these set of policy recommendations.
Would I encourage anybody to read the report to look
at all twelve of them? How can they be proactive
in ensuring that this hostile takeover doesn't happen. Yeah, those
folks can be proactive via work with the Equiliance, which

(29:45):
is Tennessee's got premier organization that's been a watchdog down
in Nashville at the state Legislature. We have a contact
your rep tool or they have a kind I'm a
former of employees, so I got to separate the lines
a little bit. But they have a contact your Rep
tool that that's available to anybody across the nation to
send direct emails. If they wanted to make phone calls,

(30:05):
they can make those. And once I hop off here today,
I'll make sure I tweet it um So if you
can follow me at d Glover, you know, I'll tweet
that link. But I want to say, when we started
raising this flag, you know, weeks ago, you know, we
saw you know, folks step in to try to you know,
throught our progress and to say that you know, this
is much ado about nothing. There is no takeover. You know,

(30:26):
there's this and that, and now we're seeing exactly what's happened.
So I wan't folks to be very careful who they
received messages from, because this whole movement could have been
quailed had our alumni association and base listen to the
sage leadership of some of our quotes. Love that Danny D.
Glover on Twitter follow him the Equity Alliance. Thank you
so much, mister Glopper for joining us. We appreciate you

(30:48):
and we'll definitely stay connected with this story. This is
Roland Martin Unfiltered. We'll be right back after this break.
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next A Balanced Life with Me, Doctor Jackie. A relationship
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and don't like to talk about it. That's right. We're
talking about our relationship with money. And here's the thing.

(32:14):
Our relationship with money oftentimes determines whether we have it
or not. The truth is, you cannot change what you
will not acknowledge balancing your relationship with your pocketbook. That's
next on A Balanced Life with Me, Doctor Jackie. Here
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(32:57):
from black Ish, and you watch Roland Martin Unfiltered. Won
At least once a week, we hear about people dying
in police custody. These aren't any statistics on how many

(33:20):
people die in custody yearly. A new report called A
Matter of Life and Death, The importance of the Death
and Custody Reporting Act was released. It analyzes past efforts
to implement the Death and Custody Reporting Act and how
essential requirements have changed with each authorization. Joining me now

(33:42):
to talk about those studies is mister Genvovsky. We appreciate
you coming in. David Jenovski from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from the
Leadership Conference, a policy analyst on the Project on Government
Oversight from Berkeley, California. Thank you so much for Thank
you so much for coming on and connecting with us today.

(34:03):
I found this report to be very interesting and quite sobering.
On Roland Martin Unfiltered, we daily discuss different people, unfortunately
who die at the hands of law enforcement, and so
I want it for you to share with the audience
how long has the DCRA been in existence and the

(34:25):
data collection space. I'll take the first havtives. That's all right,
and then David, just so thank you so much for
having us on the show. It's such a pleasure to
be here. I frequently check in Roland Martin Unfiltered to
see what Roland saying about the topics of the data.
I'm really grateful to be here with you today. So

(34:47):
I just want to mention, So the Death and Custody
Reporting Act or DECRAH is kind of the acronym for
it that you mentioned, was passed into law in twenty fourteen,
and so it's been on the books, a law in
place for eight years, and today it is still not
fully implemented. And so that's that's why we wrote the report.

(35:10):
That's why Leadership Conference, which is the organ I work for,
and the Project on Government Oversight partnered together to really
highlight how problematic this issue is. We don't even have
the data to talk about everyone who's dying in custody
right now. Yeah. I found that to be very sad
and just mind blowing that dad has been collected over

(35:31):
a period of nine to ten years and for us
to kind of do further into that. I also found
interesting when looking at the reporting that you are all published,
that there was a compliance piece that you all placed
in there that I was not aware about, and that
compliance piece would essentially reduce funding by ten percent for

(35:54):
those agencies that did not comply with the DCRA if enacted,
and that was the Edward Buying Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program.
I don't know whether you or David wants to share
with the audience what that is and how much money
we're talking about. We talk about a ten percent reduction,
We're not talking about two hundred dollars in a mere

(36:15):
twenty dollars that they would be losing. So, either one
of you, Bree or David, would you like to share
a little bit more around specifically what that award program
is and how much money they bring in annually. Sure. So,
the burn JAG program is one of the largest federal
grant programs that goes from the federal government to state

(36:38):
and local law enforcement. We're talking I don't have the
exact number in front of me, but in the neighborhood
of one hundred million dollars a year. So when that
gets split out between the fifty states and additional territories,
you know, this is a non negligible amount of money
that you know, we think if it's withheld from states,
if they lose that ten percent, that could really spur

(36:59):
them to comply more fully with this lat Yeah, I
would think I was reading your Wall's report and we're
reading when I was further research into it, I think
like last year they got seven point six billion dollars,
which is not as you were talking about. One hundred
billion is not a small amount to non but definitely
seven point billion is not either. I want to bring
in my panel for questions, and so we'll start with

(37:21):
doctor Hill. Doctor Hill, what are your questions that you
have for David and Breed? My first question is why
do you think these agencies are not reporting these numbers correctly? Yeah,
I mean I think we would probably come to similar
conclusions about that. I think that the criminal legal system

(37:45):
benefits mightily from being non transparent about what's going on.
There's also I think there's something specific to the criminal
legal system sector that has resulted in just an allowance
of not providing information that like every other sector has
to provide. I was having a conversation, you know, Dick

(38:06):
Risbon on our minds because we've been working on this report,
and I started, you know, I've just been talking to
everyone about it, and I was talking to a friend
of mine who's an accountant. He said, what do you mean,
what do you mean jails and prisons don't report who
died in their custody. It's a number, it's a fact
of a matter. It's a one or zero, right, someone's alive.
Or they're not and that's account what do you mean

(38:26):
they don't have that? And so I think you know
your question I assume is getting at you know, how
are people benefiting from this information not being available to
the public, not being available to decision makers. We know
that effective policy advocacy requires data. A lot of times
of people bring their lived experience and they don't have
data to back it up, decision makers will dismiss them

(38:49):
out of hand at every level of government, local, state,
or federal. And so I do think not providing this
information gives the Justice Department and the ask to the
criminal legal system a lot of cover that is bad
for the American public. Yeah, and before we go to
doctor Walker, N just want to say that you also
noting a reporting breeding David, that the requirements for the

(39:13):
Department of Justice to collect this data and for also
them to provide strategies to reduce harm. And we're talking
about the numbers that you all share nineteen thousand, four
hundred and fifty law enforcement agencies, six hundred over six
hundred medical examiners and coroner's office. And then when we're
talking about at a local level, twenty eight hundred local

(39:35):
adult jails and jurisdictions over the United States and territory,
so there is another component for them to cooperate in
order for this framework to work. That's exactly right. I think,
you know, we talk about the count, and the count
is a critical first step, but the law is very

(39:58):
clear that purpose behind this data collection effort is to
study how to reduce debts in custody. And I think
you know, lots of these debts are preventable and should
be prevented, but they're not going to be prevented until
we take this first step of counting them. Absolutely, Doctor Walker.

(40:19):
Your question for Brian David. Yeah, so thank you for
this an important study, and you know I'm argument this
is less about policy and more how people value individual's humanity,
particularly black and brown community. So I just want to
I want to say that first. Secondly, I wanted to
just find out in terms of various constituencies, particularly the

(40:42):
CBC Congressional Black Haucus and congressionally Standard Caucus, in terms
of if you reached out to them, we've gotten a
response from anyone related to those two entities in terms
of what you found in this study, So I would
say I'm gonna jump in. Sorry, David, I can't see
you right now, so it's hard for hard for me
to figure out who's going to go, but we are so.

(41:05):
The report was just made like live and was launched yesterday.
We're hoping to do some briefings with decision makers on
the hill. This report was really geared. It is for
public education, but we're really trying to get it in
the hands of decision makers and also advocates, because the
more people know about the failure of the federal government

(41:28):
to collect this information, I think the more the effective
the advocacy can be. So certainly meeting with the CBC
is on our list, and I think it could be
really powerful and really helpful to do that. Absolutely, Breeding, David,
thank you so much for your time and for sharing
this information. It definitely will be published on Black Star
Network and we're going to go to a break. We'll

(41:48):
be right back with the more on roldand Modern Filter
on the Black Star Network. Next on Get Wealthy with Me,
Deborah Owen's America's Wealth Coach. Listen to this. Women of
color are starting ninety percent of the businesses in this country.

(42:09):
That's the good news. The bad news. As a rule,
we're not making nearly as much as everyone else. But
joining us on the next Get Wealthy episode is Betty High.
She's a business strategist and she's showing women how to
elevate other women. I don't like to say this openly,
but we're getting better at it. Women struggle with collaborating

(42:32):
with each other, and for that reason, one of the
things that I demonstrate in the sessions that I have
is that you can go further together if you collaborate.
That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Black Star Network.
Most people think that these television shows that tell stories

(42:57):
about who we are as black men, and then they
paint these monolithic portraits of us, They think that they're
being painted by white people. And I got to tell
you there are a whole bunch of black folk right
that that are the creators, right, the head writers, right,
the directors of all of these shows, and that are

(43:18):
still painting us as monoliths. So people don't really want
to have this conversation, Michelle. I'm Chailey Rose, and you're

(43:41):
watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered,
streaming on the Black Star Network app Hundreds of Florida's
dudents across the state walked out today in protests against

(44:03):
Governor Ronda Santists and its policies concerning higher education. Students
walk out of their classrooms at the University of South Florida,
the University of Florida, and Florida State University. Some high
school students also joined in the state wide walkout. The
scientists recently announced plans to ban colleges and universities from

(44:24):
having diversity, equity and inclusion programs, as well as critical
race theory. Joining me now, it's two of those students
from Florida State University, Belitt Gary, the lead organizer of
Tallahassee Dream Defenders, and from Florida A and M University,
Devon Bill Trad, the co founder of Youth Never Let

(44:48):
Up Coalition. Thank you both for joining us here on
Roland Martin and Filter. So if you can talk to
us a little bit about what went into and how
are you all able to spread the word that this
was an exercise that you are not only we're going
to participate in, but that you opened it up to
all universities across Florida. Yes, thank you so much for

(45:13):
having us today. We had some some of our sponsors
and co sponsors that were partnered with for Stand for
Freedom also helped us plan these walkouts today. So we
don't want to say that it was just us and
we through with them were able to partner and make
sure that the walkouts throughout the state or something that

(45:34):
was happening. The tool. The thing that we said today
was you can't ban us and we're not going to
allow American history, which is a part of African American history.
B Salad, absolutely. And so I mean, you are in
a hotbed state. Plenty of people come to party to
kick it in Florida, thinking about Miami, thinking about the keys,

(45:58):
those areas. But there's a real, real battle that's happening
and it's hitting right at home with you all. And
we've been covering what's been happening in Florida, specifically around
the academia circle here in length on Roland Martin and Filter.
So to hear about transgender bands, to hear about the

(46:19):
extraction of ap African American studies. What kind of conversations
are you all having as students who are actually bearing
the brunt of these decisions that are being made by
the executive of your state. Well, the students across the state,
not just at Florida State or FAMU or FIU or

(46:41):
what have you. Students across the state are organizing and
discussing how we can make an impact towards making a difference,
not just for ourselves, mainly for the youth that come
after us, because we'll be here, we'll get our degrees,
hopefully within the four years, but then we're gonna go
on to the next stage in life, which may be
you know, grad school or law school or what have you,

(47:02):
across the nation, across the world. But at the end
of the day, they're still gonna be politics and racism
persisting in Florida. So we're trying to make sure that
we passed the baton so our future youth that will
be in our shoes will have the opposite, the opportunity
to have the opportunity that we have now, but also
make sure that they don't have to keep fighting the

(47:24):
same fight because hopefully we've already um you know, wanted
by then. And the echo Devin, you know, this governor
is going to try to be in the next president
of the United States of America. He is a fascist, governor.
He doesn't want his children and other white kids to

(47:45):
learn about African American history. I said this today, and
I said this, everybody is somebody. I think you know
that comes from Reverend Jesse Jackson, and we have to
really stand in there, no matter what color skin you are.
I think we have to remember what doctor King's dream
was and that we wouldn't judge folks by the color

(48:06):
of their skin, but their integrity that they hold with inside.
And when we live in a world and in a
state that should be in a country that should be
a free opportunity for all, then why aren't we doing
those things right? And so yeah, it's crazy, but you
know we're here to echo what Devin said. I want

(48:26):
to see my grandkids and great grands be able to
live in Florida or wherever I decide to live and
not have to worry about what oppression really is. There's
so many issues. I don't think we have enough time
to talk about them today. But keep us, keep us
in your your prayers and support in Florida, because we're
not going to stop until the work to get depleted.

(48:48):
Absolutely divine Molik and just want to say I'm going
to bring a panel land that when people say that
our youth aren't doing anything, you need to tune into
rolling Martin unfilter. They are doing an abundance of things.
Doctor great Car, you are a professor. This is the
demographic that you work with, your questions that you have
for Divina Malikue, and thank you Erica, and thank you brothers,

(49:09):
Divinamlige and Fam you. I'm glad to see FAM at
the table. Your former president of late Fred Humphreys was
my president at Tennessee State for two years. Then he
went home to FAM his alma maters. So we all
we know all about punching white supremacists in the mouth
and a racing alliday damn benches intellectually that is so
my question is how can we join the fight? Brother

(49:30):
I did, Brothers I did go on to the Stand
for Freedom QRC code, I signed the pledge. Is that
still something that you want people to do as we
defeat the Santis and his white nastalists and his racists
and fascists down there in Florida? Is that something we
can do directly to help and in what other ways
can we help you? But yeah, something that was important

(49:52):
for us as we continue in this journey. I think
a lot of us aren't educated about what's going on.
I'm not just in Florida but around the States, and
so I want to charge you and make a hard
ask to do some teachings in your community. I'm pretty
sure you're doing this in your classrooms, but we need
more folks to do teachings. Today we talked about the
ten point program from the Black Panther Party because I

(50:14):
don't know if you know here, but he's been in
our books. So the opportunity to read a book and
learn that history has been wiped away. And so now
is the time that we actually talk about educating each
other politically, mentally, and spiritually all those things that we
have to do them among ourselves. Wow. Thank you. That's
such a great question and a really good set of
actions for everybody that's listening. Doctor Hill, your question for

(50:38):
divinam Leek. Yes, first of all, thank you. I also teach,
and I'm in Texas, so you know in Texas they
try to follow with everybody else. So we're fighting the
band books and and the issue with critical race theory,
and the governor just issued a letters stand that we
can't use diversity in hiring practices. Thank you for being

(50:58):
a generation. Don't start num, won't be none. My question
to you is have you reached out to students across
other states to join in this battle, because surely there
are some other states that are going to be facing
the same things. Texas as one of those, and please
let me know what I can do to assist you

(51:19):
in that. And so actually, during Defenders were actually in
a campaign of going national, and so one of the
campaigns that we're also working on with some other college campuses,
an organization like NAACP Youth in College Division CRL, and
of some of the that's just a name dropped a
couple of them. But we're also working on a student
loan application process because we also believe that students should

(51:42):
be able to go to campus, go to college for free.
One of the first governors and presidents that we saw
actually start taking some away of these rights that are
given to us students was Ronald Reagan. And so I
think we got to go back to also the foundational
issues that we're facing here, and that is just the beginning,
I mean, and right, and then that's led us to
twelve thousand and twenty three. But Yeah, we're starting to

(52:04):
work on some campuses. We're actually been cavasing for the
last two weeks on HUM, which is Howard UM, and
we're reaching out to our partners throughout the State of America,
the United States of America. Excuse me, because yeah, we
know it's not just us in Florida. I'm so proud
to hear that. You know, you're one of those professors
I've stepping out because it's abbotting and the center is

(52:25):
trying to be the next president. So thank you for that.
And yea, so we actually have some tool kids that
I would love to share with you all after they're
calling be able to do those teachings and reach out
with us and let's make it. Let's make a change
really for our communities. Absolutely. In our third professor own panel,
we have about about a minute and a half, Doctor Walker,

(52:45):
your questions for divining the leak. Yeah, so, gentlemen, congratulations
on your advocacy. I can add that I'm right here
with you. I'm here in the state so UM understanding,
very familiar with the student walkout today and support with
two hundred and ten percent. The thing I want to
talk about is can you share with the audience and
ways in which people can fund some of the initiatives

(53:08):
you talked about and some of the future initiatives. What's
the best way for people to support your initiatives financially.
I'll actually that Malik answer that one. I want to
make sure that he has that amplified for not just
Dream Defindis, but other coalitions and groups in the state.
So I let himself. Yeah, you can go to Dream
Defenders dot org and we have a donate page. We

(53:31):
need all the support and help we can get. We've
actually just finished our ten year anniversary last year, which
we started in twenty twelve aufter the killing of Trayvon Martin.
Understand your ground law now and come in two thousand
and twenty three. We're dealing with a termless carry bill
that he's trying to pass, so we need all the
help we can and I believe Devin can give you

(53:51):
some information about his organization, Stand for Freedom. You can
go to our website as well and help donate there.
But yeah, we definitely need all the help we can
get with our real grass roots don't work and I'll
pass it the devil. Yes, I know you're short in time,
so I'll make you quick on what I have to say.
I am the co founder of Youth Never Coalition. You
see in matel in our shirts or seeing my shirt. Um,

(54:12):
we work with family in Metel, the White House. We're international,
we do work in Africa as well. So we're only
less than a year old. And I encourage everyone too.
If they can't work with Dream Defenders, if they can't
work with Youth Never, let Coalition, make your own. Um
that's what we did. Um, that's what Dream Defenders did.
So if you don't have the individuals or the groups
or enter these in your area to help make change,

(54:35):
make the change yourself. And that's specifically for the youth,
because you know, sometimes we don't have the answers, but
we can create the answers ourselves. So I would say,
if we don't have the ability to join y and
LU or Dream Defenders or you know other organizations, make
your own and you're gonna make the change yourself, because
we need everybody who can get because we definitely want
to be part of the good trouble, like John Lewis stated,

(54:56):
and you all are, and we want to say thank
you so much, thank you for your time, Thank you
for your energy. Again. When people say our youth aren't
doing anything, they're doing plenty. They are organized and they
are ready to go. Thank you so much for joining us,
Devin and Malik. Where you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on
the Black Star Network, will be right back. Oh, black

(55:19):
Star Network is real old revolutionary right now, cloud work,
you say, black media. He makes sure that our stories
are cold. I thank you for being the boys of
Black America rolling all moments that we have. Now we
have to keep this going. The video looks phenomenal, this
difference between Black Star Network and Black owned media and

(55:43):
something like CNN. You can't be black owned media and
be scape. It's time to be smart, bring your eyeballs,
hold your dig We're all impacted by the culture, whether

(56:23):
we know it or not, from politics to music and entertainment.
It's a huge part of our lives and we're going
to talk about it every day right here on the
culture with me for Raji Muhammad, only on the Black
Star Network. I'm Jebba Owens, America's wealth Coach, and my

(56:47):
new show Get Wealthy focuses on the things that your
financial advisor and bank isn't telling you. But you absolutely
need to know, so watch Get Wealth on the Black
Star Network. Hi, my name is LaToya Lucky, Joe Shaman,

(57:10):
Dean Cole from Black Issue. You watching Roland Martin, unfilter woke,
breaking news. Vice President Kamala Harris is not invisible and
she is booked and busy. Today, Senior Advisor Republic Engaisha

(57:37):
Keisha Lance Bottoms hosted student journalists representing forty seven historically
black colleges and universities nationwide to the White House for
a press briefing. The students act Vice President Harris and
Bottoms about their issues in their respective communities. As we
enter midway into the presidential election season, the VP expert

(57:59):
in its cyclopedia of Vice President Harris and the host
of the rec Colbert Show that is on serious XM
urban View channel one twenty six every Saturday at three
o'clock pm Eastern Standard Time, joins us to share previous
and upcoming VIEP events for voters to bookmark as the
media continues to claim a lack of visibility of Harris.

(58:23):
Thank you so much for joining us VP panelists, rec
Heuth Colbert, Thank you Erica. You're doing a fabulous job.
Oh thank you sis, I certainly appreciate you. So I
know that you already had something planned, but I really
appreciate it you coming on today because I really wanted
to address this continued reporting about absence of VP Harris

(58:44):
and seeing you know, a cursory look at the White House,
especially her readouts. Will share with people that she's having
and attending and very engaged in events every month throughout
the year. I want to just talk about and then
we're going to talk about some other things that she
will be in Columbia, South Carolina this Monday, the twenty

(59:07):
seventh of February, and she's going to be talking about
affordable broadband network and so South Carolina is now number one,
will go first in the primary presidential election, So Iowa,
Namada marrying your feelings might be her, but that's just
what it is. Can you talk to us a little
bit about that visit that she has upcoming from Monday. Well, yeah,

(59:31):
I think what South Carolina South Carolina visit is going
to highlight is that she's actually getting shit done in
her portfolio. Broadband access was one of the things that
was tasked to her by President Biden, and that was
a major part of the infrastructure package that was passed
on a bipartisan basis. So not only has the administration
already cut the cost of a broadband I don't know

(59:54):
if you remember, a million families were eligible for Laura
broadband access last year several hundred thousand and signed up.
But they're actually expanding broadband access throughout the state of
Southern Calornia, South Carolina, throughout rural communities and throughout the country.
And so this is one of those areas where Vice
President commonly Harris doesn't get a lot of credit for.
But if you remember back and when she was a

(01:00:16):
senator during her campaign, this was one of the areas
that she champions. So it's a good thing to see
that she's able to go back to these communities and say,
these are the accomplishments that we have from the Biden
Harris administration tangible, so to speak. And it's a person
that is from a rural community. I know that access
to broadband don't matter where a person lives is highly important.

(01:00:40):
So South Carolina, Georgia being those states that are in
the top five for the presidential primary and for Vice
President Harris, who, as you well know, when it was
announce she was going to be on the ticket forty
eight million dollars a raise. Some people feel big mad
about that, but she has a draw, she has a president,
and she is active and speaking of X. She was

(01:01:00):
just in the DMV, which you know she lives here
in DC, but she was just Maryland with the newly
elected governor westmore a board and historically black college Booie
State University, and she was talking about home affordability. I
think you talked to us, walked to us, walk us
through her being there and the importance of her being

(01:01:24):
on an HBCU campus, talking about things people go to
higher education institutions to be able to afford nice homes
after they graduate. So could you talk to us about
that visit in the outcomes that she had, Yeah, this
is another area where we're seeing the Biden Harrison administration
pick up the mantle of Vice President Kamala Harrison's presidential platform.

(01:01:45):
One of the areas that she was focused on in
her Black agenda, which she did have one was homeownership,
affordability and closing the word gap through homeownership. And so
what she was at Bowie State yesterday for was to
announce at the Biden Harrison Manage Station is actually lowering
the cost of mortgage insurance premiums for fah loans, and

(01:02:05):
that is something that disapportionately impacts black barrowers, lower income
bars because we and I include myself in because I
do have a fah loan, but it was a two
or three K loan, do disapportionately get fah loans. And
so this is going to say families hundreds of dollars
in some case even almost a thousand dollars a year.
And that's especially helpful considering the fact that one of

(01:02:26):
the Trump tax scam things that came into effect was
phasing out the ability to write off your private mortgage insurance.
So those lower premiums that no longer have a tax
break on them are going to really make a difference
for new homeowner bars. I wish it was for all
of us and not just the new borrowers, but that
is still a really good rollout from the administration. I

(01:02:48):
also like to point out I covered last year at
the White House where Vice President Kamala Harris made an
announcement about a homeownership appraisal biased task force that she
let up along with Secretary Marshall Fudge Hut Secretary that
was about tackling the racism and homeownership appraisals that Rob's

(01:03:08):
black families evolved. So this is another tool in the
tool can of trying to close the wealth gap through
homeownership for black families. Absolutely, and that her presence on
a college campus, an institution from higher learners that there
may be some that, as you said, won't be able
to benefit, but those that are newly going to be
graduating having decisions to make about homeownership, this will be
something excellent for them. So while everyone may not be

(01:03:31):
able to capture, those that will be able to be
captured in that that's important and it's important that she's
doing it aboard an HBCU campus. And so these things
that you're talking about and sharing with this Recie, these
sound like kitchen table issues. These sounds like sound like
things when affordability that language. Those are things that everyday Americans,

(01:03:53):
everyday people are looking out for every day. Absolutely. I mean,
this is just these are just a few of the
things that have been in her portfolio. Another thing is
the medical debt. That's something that she was tackling last year.
I was at the White House covering that as well.
I wrote an article about it and the fact that
black people just supportion only have medical debt. And one
of the initiatives that Vice President Kamala Harris has talked

(01:04:15):
about for many years is actually credit reporting and how
your credit score is calculated. And so there have been
a lot of changes to the credit reporting that make
it more favorable for consumers and that helped black people
that were rolled out as part of that medical debt
initiative and other initiatives working with their credit agencies to

(01:04:37):
make credit scoring more fair for people like us. Absolutely,
and so these are things, as you said, that do
impact our community. So all I'm here in our checklist
checklist so as people start thinking about what they want.
When people start asking what have you done for me lately,
it sounds like VP Harris has definitely been checking those
boxes in her office. I'm gonna go to the panel

(01:04:59):
for well to ask questions, and I want to start
out with our fellow VIP Thursday member dotor Gregcar. Dotor Car,
you have any questions for rees around UM. VP Harris's
UM visibility and her activity UM here throughout the United States. No,
I mean this, this is wonderful and thank you Reesy

(01:05:20):
for updating us and or you know something you're in
Roland talked about last week and a week before as well.
I think, you know, just this idea of making sure
that we know what the vice president is doing and
what this administration is doing and how it impacts us
in the real world. I'm very excited to see this
meeting today with these HBCU journalists, with she and former
Mayor Keisha Land's bottoms. I'm wondering, you know, with all

(01:05:43):
the information that's out there and all of the distractions
and everything is streaming everywhere all the time, you know,
how do how do how do we punch through the noise?
I mean, I know this is part of it for sure, um,
but those those journalists, those young journalists will reporting their
student newspapers and you know that's important. But you know,
there's so many strections out of here. How do we

(01:06:04):
continue to just ramp this up so people do know
what Vice President Harris is doing and what this administration
is doing. Thank you, doctor Carr. It's always good to
be with you, and I absolutely agree with you. It
was incredibly important to have these students here and I
will note that according from her the White House Black
African American and Media Director, all of the HBCUs were invited.

(01:06:26):
Forty seven HBCUs actually send students, but all of them
were invited. And that's something that has been the way
that Vice President Kamala Harris has champion and other HBCU
alums like Mary Keish Lance Bottoms have early championed HBCU students.
I've actually been at the White House reporting with alongside
Howard students who are very excited to be there, reporting

(01:06:46):
on homeownership biases or HBCU grant So this isn't just
some one off type of thing. They're very much welcome,
very frequently to the White House. But I think what
it goes to is one of my particular things I've
always encouraged Vice President Kamala Harris to do is to
do more Black media more often. Credibility is something that

(01:07:07):
is a cumulative effect. We have to hear from you,
we have to see from see you more than once.
And I think sometimes I would say her in particular,
I think she realizes a little bit too much on
traditional media, the mainstream media, and we saw, for instance,
with her trip to Munich, she was almost entirely erased
from some of the coverage around that major speech that

(01:07:28):
she gave at the Munich Security Conference. So the traditional
mainstream media is not going to amplify her. They're not
going to educate on her record. And that's where I think.
For instance, she had a conversation with Steve Harvey a
couple of weeks ago. She's inviting these student leaders, these
student journalist leaders to the White House. That's all great,
but I think she needs to be a lot more

(01:07:49):
visible when it comes to platforms like this one and
other black platforms like my show, Francis. She can come
on it and keep coming back to the well so
people like you know, I would say Secretary Buddha Judge,
he gets that he's out at a lot of these
places very frequently. He doesn't do one off appearances. He
goes back over and over again. And I think that's
something that she has to do herself. Absolutely, that is

(01:08:12):
a very good question. And I love the way recy
is definitely very fair and not only her support but
of a critique. And as Reese said, Roland Martin, unfilter
is definitely an open door. And so it's the recy
Colbert Show, Doctor Walker. Your question for Reesy You know
recy First of all, you do a fantastic job advocating

(01:08:33):
on the path of the VP and half from day one,
so let's give you a shout out for that. Also,
congratulations on your new show. Thank so. My question really
relates to you know, you talk a lot about MVP.
Harris has been visible since that, you know, being sworn in.
But can you talk a little bit about two things.
First of all, I think there's a misconception of the

(01:08:53):
understanding of the role of the VP. That's the first
point I want to make in Second of all, can
you talk about this would be clear about a black
woman in terms of out some of the outside expectations
that go into her being the first black woman who's
being VP. Absolutely, I mean I think you guys recall
during the presidential election, when it was time to select

(01:09:14):
a VP, Chris Dodd and Company came out and said
that Vice President Kamala Harris was too ambitious, and so
there was this narrative that was already being spun that
she was too ambitious and she was going to try
to step all over President Biden. And so not only
did she have the outside expectations of being a black woman,
the first woman of any race in that role. But

(01:09:36):
you know, black women are judge particularly harshly. But she
also had the expectation of really playing as a back
supporting role for President Biden's to not alien a people
that are strong, staunch supporters of President Biden. I think
he's done a great job of making her a partner.
I think if you read White House press releases, they're
always careful to credit Vice President Kamala Harris to reference

(01:09:59):
how these particular initiatives relay back to some of the
work that she's done as senator or as Attorney General.
So I think that the White House, at least public facing,
does a good job of making her a partner. But
the reality is she is a partner, and she's a
supporting partner to President Biden. He is the star of
the show. He's the one who has the nuclear colds,

(01:10:21):
who signs the executive orders, etc. And so I think
she's done an exceptional job of making it known that
she is, you know, deferring to him. Sometimes it's to
her detriment. I think she could probably lean in a
little bit more in her own power and the fact
that she is a historic vice president. But the reality
is she's damned if she does, damned if she doesn't.

(01:10:41):
Now I'm damned if I do. Damn if I don't,
I'm going to lean in. I'm not going to shrink back.
So I think that that's an area where hopefully we'll
see during this presidential campaign should and I expect that
they will run again, that she will get a chance
to puff up her chest a little bit more and
a little bit more safely. But oh, can I say
one more thing too. Want to be clear, this is

(01:11:02):
not a matter of invisibility. It's a matter of erasure,
and it's a matter of marginalization because as Larry and
Doctor Walker just playing out, she is visible when we
see her by side by side with President Biden, we
see her travel around the country. She's met with hundreds
of groups, and she does plenty of events. However, the
media and a lot of times even when you come

(01:11:23):
to social media, she's intentionally a race and marginalized. So
that's something that is a challenge for her and that's
something she's going to have to overcome. Absolutely. Thank you
so much, and just very quickly, we have about forty
five seconds, Doctor Hill, your question or comment for Recy, Yes,
thank you so very much. What do you think is
the greatest legacy that she is building? Now? The legacy

(01:11:47):
that she's building is actual substantive policy wins. When you
look at what's happening around the pel grants or should
say HBCU funding, HPCU security, climate justice, environmental justice, with
pipes broadband. She has her hands in a lot of pots,
and I think if you are a student of Vice
President Kama here it's like I am, you will see

(01:12:07):
that she is very much influencing very substantial policies that
this administration is putting forward and pushing it into more
progressive lane. Wow. Recy Colbert the host of the Recy
Colbert Show, a serious XM urban View Channel one twenty
six every Saturday at three pm Easter Standard Time. Thank
you so much for your time today, Sis, Thank you,

(01:12:28):
Sais Absolutely you're watching Roland Martin unfilter on black Star Network.
We'll be right back after this break next on Get
Wealthy with Me, Deborah Owen's America's Wealth Coach. Listen to this.
Women of color are starting ninety percent of the businesses

(01:12:49):
in this country. That's the good news. The bad news.
As a rule, we're not making merely as much as
everyone else. But joining us on the next Get Wealthy
episode is Betty High. She's a business strategist and she's
showing women how to elevate other women. I don't like
to say this openly, but we're getting better at it.

(01:13:12):
Women struggle with collaborating with each other, and for that reason,
one of the things that I demonstrate in the sessions
that I have is that you can go further together
if you collaborate. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only
on Black Star Network. Next on The Black Table with

(01:13:35):
me Greg Carr, an hour of living history with doctor
Richard Mariba Kelsey, thinker, builder, author, and one of the
his incomparable wisdom about our past president and future, saying

(01:13:56):
that my uncle was Virginius, my brother was Leginia, my
neighbor was I think we are to drilled that in
ourselves and move ahead rather than believing that I got it.
That's next on the Black Table. Here on the Black
Star Network. Dam Dian Cole from Blackest Everybody that she

(01:14:16):
man Fred Hammond and you're watching it. Roland Martin my
man Unfiltered. Miranda Connor left her Denver, Colorado home February third,

(01:14:43):
twenty twenty three, at one am to meet someone her
family has not seen or heard from her since. The
thirty year old is five feet six inches tall, weighs
one hundred and sixteen pounds, with brown hair and brown eye.
Miranda has the name Rodney tattooed on the left side
of her face, by her eye and on her wrist.

(01:15:06):
She also has an elephant tattoo on her left hand,
Pooky on her leg, and musical notes tattooed behind her ear.
Anyone with information about Miranda Conna is urged to please
call the Denver, Colorado Police Department at area code seven
two zero nine three two zero zero zero, all right, everybody.

(01:15:32):
A Chick fil A video from Charlotte, North Carolina went
viral after store employees wrote an appearent racial slur on
an order slip. April Jackson shared a photo of her
daughter's Naisha's Chick fil A order with the racial slur
b in word on the order slip after placing her

(01:15:54):
order through the drive through. A Chick fil A representative
say they believed that the incident was a misspelling of
Nisha's name. Chick fil A released this statement following the incident.
The operator owner of Chick fil A a Mountain Island,
has thoroughly investigated and tried to connect with the customer

(01:16:14):
to understand her experience better and apologize for the situation.
Though we understand this to be a misspelling of the
customer's name that does not negate or impact her experience
that she had. The operator has started additional training at
his restaurant to ensure this doesn't happen again. We sincerely

(01:16:36):
apologize for the harm caused by this incident. I'm just
going to toss to our panel very quickly because we
have seen this on repeat, doctor doctor greg card. Nisha
and what was written are two totally different things. What

(01:16:57):
are you saying, because Chick fil A has been probably
alematic for quite some time, what are your thoughts around
this misspelling of Nisha's name. Yeah, that's unfortunate. I feel
bad for nation. I mean, I certainly can't relate because
I would eat that slip of paper or any slip

(01:17:19):
of paper really before I ever ate one piece of
anything from Chick fil A. Giving its history, I would
starve in fact before I ate Chick fil A. I
shouldn't go that far. I suppose I would have to
have had choice between starving and eating Chick fil A
praps at eitherything. But but that haven't been said, you know,
and I'm having to take a little deep breath. Then
I don't know, Erica, why utet up all these all

(01:17:39):
these stories today? But uh, but at the end of
the day, we have to draw a line, y'all. Yeah,
this thing gotten down serious. We got these hillbillies acting
crazy in Florida, in Virginia, the governor of Virginia, in Texas,
they are punching us. And what we're gonna do, right,
you know, this is when we stop it, you know what?
Support Roland Martin Unfield. Of course they were gonna look,
they're going they're gonna take Carlos out, But then they're

(01:18:01):
gonna give that money to roll in the Martin. That
is up to us until and if that never happens.
So guess what, if you don't go to Chick fil A,
they won't mess around and put the N word on
your slip. I think I'll stop with that. I hear
you I mean, you know to that point, doctor Hill,
I mean, we've seen this constantly, As doctor carrs said,
like when are we going to start? We have seen
this with not only Chick fil A, We've seen this

(01:18:24):
at McDonald's where there was a black woman here about
a month ago that was physically accosted by the employees there.
So the employees are definitely feeling emboldened to do these
to execute these behaviors. So it doesn't really matter who
it is. It seems that harming black bodies hardly comes

(01:18:46):
with no consequence. But we understand the numbers. We know
that we are trillionaires because of the money that we
put in this economy continually annually. What are your thoughts
behind what Naisha's experience has been into doctor Carr's point,
the decision that we have to make collectively about where

(01:19:07):
we actually put our dollars. Right, I think the first
thing is to I wonder if the community is really responding,
are they shutting some stuff down? Because you know, when
you shut stuff down, when you attack people financially, when
you go for their pocket, they begin to listen and

(01:19:28):
make those changes. And I agree that, you know, maybe
we should not be going to Chick fil A because
I know there's more chicken places somewhere to go to
put your money. Because we understand that when we block
off somebody's finances, when we block off their earnings, then
we see the results and there are simply no excuses.

(01:19:51):
I'm trying to see where the bee came from. I
wonder what that is about exactly. You would have issues
because you know, I don't know how the young lady
addressed it. I'm kind of old school. I would have
to bid out and go inside and have a conversation demands.

(01:20:12):
People doesn't know where I am in case I don't
show up. You know, I'm just saying, we are always
being nice. We're always people when they they they slap up,
and so we have to stop being so nice and
just being very forward and making some demands and otherwise

(01:20:34):
the consequences would be like, uh, we we We're just
gonna have to shut you down absolutely. And and you
said your old school and your approach, meaning that you
will make your presence known, doctor Hall, I ain't mad
about that, um and that at the three of you
are our professors. So doctor Walker, you know, you know
my son is at Morehouse and I know across HBCU

(01:20:54):
campus campuses that Chick fil A's are almost a um.
It's something that you will see why it spread across
the campuses. You know, whether this was franchise wondered, you know,
whether this was connected specifically to like one of the
Chick fil a actual companies, No matter, it carries the brand.
So can you talk a little bit around what you know?

(01:21:17):
And doctor Hill said this, you know and sharing that
it's really a docile approach that we've had so to
speak around. Well, this kind of happens, and the wheel
just continues to turn. However, what do you think that
would be best, um to make these companies feel uh,
the real repercussions of them continually emboldening their employees essentially

(01:21:43):
to disrespect black and brown people. So Erica, you know,
I'm a remind reminded of a song by Public Enemy
called shut them Down? So what what what language does
corporate America understand profitably? So if you if you shut
down head that franchise, then they'll get the message not

(01:22:03):
only that franchise e but also the corporate officer understand
is that we mean business. I think the other thing
is that I was told Erica. We're in a post
racial society. I was told a couple of years ago,
but I gotta tell you, it feels like someone's boot
is on my neck every time I walk outside my house.
So I think we need to be when when it
comes to protest. And also the financial impact that we

(01:22:25):
have to make sure these entities feel can't be short term.
So once again, if we're going to protest, we have
to tell folks on our community don't buy from there,
and then we need to make sure we're there every
day to make sure they're not making a profit, and
then they'll get the message absolutely, absolutely, And so we're
going to head to another story and get a little
bit of feedback. Tennessee's largest county is following in the

(01:22:47):
footsteps of other state and local governments considering reparations for
descendants of enslaved people. Commissioners approve a resolution to study
reparations for descendants of enslaved people. All eight black members
of the thirteen member board supported the message. This study
comes after outrage after the beating of the beating depth

(01:23:09):
of Tyree Nichols. Five Memphis police officers have been charged
with his death. The resolution will allocate five million to
research and find actionable items addressing five key areas increase
access to affordable housing and home ownership, healthcare, criminal justice reform,
enhance career opportunities, and financial literacy and generational wealth. Commissioners

(01:23:34):
who voted against the resolution say the county does not
have the funding to pay for the study, for a
develop or develop a framework to implement it. So I'm
just gonna pause here very briefly and then have doctor
Carr get his thoughts on it before we go to break.
So we've been talking about Tennessee a lot Tennessee with

(01:23:55):
regard to this board of regents that's threatening essentially to
overtake Tennessee State University, and now this reparation study that
you do have some commissioners that are pushing back on.
What are your thoughts around that, doctor car Well, I
mean we're saying it all the time, Erica. You said,
there's a thirteen member board of county commissioners, and all

(01:24:16):
eight black members voted. Let me see, let me do
the math here, aid, Yeah, voting matters eight. We look
at a damn what y'all think? The reparation strategy is
very important. There are a lot to a lot of
debate myself. I'm remember the board of the Associate of
the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America and Cobra.
You know, we don't have a full agreement on reparations.

(01:24:38):
But I will say this, when you embrace reparations as
a strategy, you stopped backing up the punk Controller of Tennessee,
Jason Mumpower. He's a punk. He doesn't understand trying to
have dialogue. He says, there's a fair communications. I got
something for your baby, reparations. We pay taxes, all my
money back. Punk. And guess what that means. Everybody needs

(01:24:58):
to ratis to vote. That means everybody needs to organize.
And when you talk about reparations, you are taking away,
as you say, doctor, you're taking away all of the
man be pam be kind of Oh well, let's all
figure out now. Now you owe me and whether you
ever pay or not, I'm in the street now, Doctor
Hill has got it. You gotta be in these people's face.
And I think, regardless of what happens, this is something

(01:25:21):
that is catching fire all over this country. And at
least the study of what is old and once you
start doing that Finally, those young brothers in Florida are
showing them this as well. As you begin to study
and begin to understand the depth and the magnitude of
the implications of what has been done to us and
what we can do about it, that empowers you then
to act politically across the range. Whether you ever get

(01:25:42):
reparations or not, that is the important thing to understand
about this reparation struggle. A man in Hallelujah. That is
why abstaining and with holding your boat is not an option.
We have to engage. Thank you so much, doctor Carr.
We're gonna go pay some bills, will be back. Roland
Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network at We're all

(01:26:07):
impacted by the culture, whether we know it or not,
from politics to music and entertainment. It's a huge part
of our lives and we're going to talk about it
every day right here on the Culture with me for
Raji Muhammad only on the Black Star Network. Hatred on

(01:26:27):
the Streets a horrific scene white nationalist rally that descended
into deadly violent white people are losing theirs as a name.
We approach Trump Mark storms to the US capital. Who
we're about to see the lives of what I call
white minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this

(01:26:48):
country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting. I think
what we're seeing is the inevitable result of violent denials.
This is part of American history. Every time that people
of color and me progress, whether real or symbolic, there
has been the Carol Anderson at every university calls white
rage as the backlashes is the right of the proud

(01:27:10):
boys and the boogaloo boys America. There's going to be
more of this proud would God. This country is getting
increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of
the fear of white people, the fear that you're taking
our job, they're taking out resources, they're taking our women.
If in white Field, Hello everyone, I'm going free and

(01:27:47):
you're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered, And while he's doing unfiltered,
I'm practicing the wobble. Thanks for saying connected to Roland
Martin Unfiltered streaming on the Black Star Network. Let me
ask you a question, RMU, folks, is your state a

(01:28:09):
top performer and black entrepreneurship. What is the economic impact
of black entrepreneurs and how do we level up to
the righteous abundance at our grandmothers and grandfathers. So but
never read friend of the show, the CEO of Media
two millions. She's a political commentator, award winning author, but

(01:28:31):
most importantly, she is a business elevation strategist. Doctor Avis
shows the Weaver is here to help us answer those
questions and share how you can get yours. Welcome, doctor Avis. Well,
thanks for having me. But to see you, oh gosh,
it's always excellent to see you, doctor Avis. And really
appreciate your time. I know, as I shared with Reese,

(01:28:53):
your time is very precious. You're very busy, So thank
you for giving us a few minutes to talk about
something that you are very much so passionate about. I
was reading something very interested in that was so interesting,
and it was a published piece by Score and Score
for those who may not know, as a nonprofit organization
with the network of business mentors, and they also mentor

(01:29:17):
other up andcoming business folks. And so what they talked
about is that black entrepreneurship essentially is thriving and that
there has been a twenty three percent uptick in revenue
for black entrepreneurs and that that number is pretty much
double what folks are making as employees, and so as
a person again, as I said that it's multi hyphenated

(01:29:39):
extraordinarily successful. You are a millionaire coach and doing incredible work.
Talk to us about what those numbers mean and why
it is important for people, even if they are working
what we say as a traditional nine to five, to
explore entrepreneurship, because it's most likely they're probably doing it already.

(01:30:01):
Absolutely well, here is my sort of spend on those numbers.
It's really showing us that we are really understanding that
when we take our genius out into the marketplace, we
can make bank. And as you allude it to, for me,
it's really about for those who are in the nine
to five. I always believe that it makes sense to

(01:30:22):
have additional sources of revenue that you can depend on
coming into your home because quite frankly, we know that
we're not paid fairly in the workplace. The wage gap
is the wage gap, and it's the race and gendered
wage gap. Black men face wage gaps and black women
face wage gap. None of us are paid fairly in
the workplace. And also you know we're in a situation

(01:30:43):
right now where do you really want to leave your
future up to somebody else's spreadsheet in terms of whether
or not they can keep you or even want to
keep you at their place of employment. I think not.
I believe that this is the time when you need
to figure out, how can I'll monetize my genius. How
can I take something that I'm really good at or
that I really enjoy and turn that into a monetizeable

(01:31:06):
future for me and my family, even if you're doing
it alongside of your job. The bottom line, that provides
many way in which you can create your own economy,
whether or not you want to do that completely on
your own, or whether or not you want to do
that as the quote unquote perennial side hustle. It's a
smart thing to do anyway you slice it, absolutely and
as you are, you know, leading hundreds thousands of people

(01:31:29):
into discovering those spaces in which they can monetize the
things that they're already most likely doing, Doctor Avis, then
also can you share with the audience around so people
may be seeing things that are online and really not
knowing what's for them, but that you know, we've just

(01:31:49):
talked about stories where we're making we're taking our money
places and not being fully respected. So can you share
with people that you know they're probably already spending that
money elsewhere, but actually taking that money in, actually concentrating
that money into the space where they can actually see
profits and revenue for them and their families. Absolutely, I

(01:32:13):
mean to me, it all comes back to the importance
of supporting each other, supporting black businesses, having our dollars
regenerate in our own communities. If people think that black
people are poor, I have to tell you, I have
to disabuse you of that notion. Right, we have a
well over one trillion dollar buying power that circulates in
this economy year after year after year. What we need

(01:32:34):
to get better at, though, is making sure that it
circulates within our own communities by supporting our businesses. And
when we do that, guess what. Black businesses are more
likely than other businesses to employ black people. And so
we're really helping each other all at the same time.
So to the degree that we can be very intentional
about our spend on the one hand, when we are consuming,

(01:32:54):
the degree to which we can target those dollars with
black businesses, it really makes sense and then when we
can also sort of layer on that this idea of
thinking what can I do to bring in some more
dollars in my home that does not depend on the
traditional nine to five route. It really creates an opportunity
for you to be able to grow at a level
where literally there are zero limits, absolutely, doctor Avis. And

(01:33:19):
before I have two things, before I bring in my
panel and have them questions, have them X questions of you.
The first one being that then allows us more time
to spend at home, not kind of be in the
grind and hustle culture, but actually be in spaces that
we enjoy. So we'll have more time, you know, if
we have chooldren or people that we're in care for,

(01:33:43):
to have more time for that take care of our
own health, our own wellness. Can you talk about the
freedom that being in business for yourself actually does allow. Yeah,
I think that ultimately that's a big draw for a
lot of people in this life. Now, not to say
that it doesn't involve work. Yes, yes, yes, it does
involve hard work. But depending upon what job you do

(01:34:06):
and pretty much in terms of your business, what you
choose to do. The bottom one is you largely have
a lot of control over your schedule, like when do
you want to do it, where do you want to
do it? Do you want independence in terms of location freedom,
Do you want geographic freedom? Do you want time freedom?
Do you want to be able to not have to
be in a certain place at a certain time every
day but still be able to make revenue. I think

(01:34:28):
that's one of the reasons why people really enjoy entrepreneurship.
And as your business grows, quite frankly, you're going to
get to a point where it's going to be beyond
the solopreneurs stage. You'll be able to bring on a team.
You'll have other people that are part of making your
vision real and so that also will increase the level
of freedom and flexibility that you have while your business

(01:34:49):
continues to grow. And so before the panel comes in,
that second question that I have for you is that
you will actually be bringing this information to people your
next level Abundance tour, which you are a shining receipt
in that. Can you talk about that tour quickly here?
And then the cities that some of the people have

(01:35:10):
asked you into to provide this information. Absolutely, So I'm
so excited to be kicking off my Next Level Abundance Tour.
Next month, we'll be starting it and Atlanta and then
Charlotte will also be going to Houston and LA. Looks
like we'll probably add in Sacramento, New York, Philadelphia, and

(01:35:30):
of course round it out right back in Washington, DC.
I'm so excited about this tour and the whole goal
here is to really bring informations, particularly to black women entrepreneurs,
around how they can take their businesses and level it
up to the next level. To be perfectly transparent, my
goal is to make sure that we create more Black
women millionaires. I think that as we get to a

(01:35:51):
point where Black women have greater economic power, we understand
how to make sure that not only that we thrive personally,
but make sure that our entire communities thrive. And that's
really the goal of what we're doing here. That's real
leveling up. And so how can people get more information
on the tour, the city and things of that nature,
Doctor Avis, Absolutely, so they can go to Next Level

(01:36:13):
Abundance Tour dot com. That's Next Level Abundance Tour dot com,
get on the waitlist there. We'll be making some special
announcement about that tour tomorrow in fact, so you'll be
getting the sneak peak on what's about to happen. Love
it fresh stuff. Indeed, Doctor Hill, your question for doctor Avis. Yes,
first of all, congratulations and thank you sister for being

(01:36:33):
the strong system that you are. You are inspiring me
because I'm trying to give my little business on. I
figure as much as I'll talk on, I'm a gona
get paid to do it. So yes, ma'am, can you
share some advice in terms of making sure that we
get other people to know to support other black business

(01:36:54):
One thing that I try to do is that I
urge people. I have a list of all the black
owned businesses that I know of in my town, and
I share with others what are some things that we
can do to make sure that we let each other
know besides each one teach one until on one. That's
an excellent question. And before I answer your question, I

(01:37:16):
do have to give you a tip here. If you
want to go ahead and monetize your speaking, please do
because I want you to understand that people are getting
paid ten fifteen, twenty fifty thousand plus an upper speech,
so that is a very lucrative space to go into Okay,
So beyond that, I also want to say you're exactly
right to the degree that which we can go to

(01:37:37):
resources and there is a Black Wall Street web page
that sort of lists those, and there are other resources
like that where you can specifically go to there are
apps that you can download that helps you find black
owned businesses. So that's one thing that the consumer can do.
But I also want to encourage business owners themselves to
be very aggressive. And one of the challenges that I

(01:37:58):
do see sometimes with business own particularly those that are new,
they don't really they're not very vocal about the fact
that they even have a business. And one of the
things that I always say is if nobody knows you're
in business, you're not in business. So the last thing
you need to do as an entrepreneur is trying to
be you know, quiet about it. Be proud about what

(01:38:18):
you do. If you are someone who is confident in
the quality of what you have to offer the world,
you should shout it from the rooftops. There should be
that should not be a secret that you're in business.
So I just really want to encourage the entrepreneurs themselves
to be very aggressive about marketing their businesses online. In
every way that they can excellently question. Thank you so much,

(01:38:39):
Doctor Hill. If you go to doctor Avis's page or
follow her on Twitter at Sister Scholar, you definitely do
know doctor Avis is in business. Baby, Doctor Grant car
your question for doctor Avis. Indeed, indeed, thank you, Erican.
It's good to see you say. It's good to see you,
doctor Davis. Been too long, you know. I levet class
this afternoon, my hip hop class, listening to young people.

(01:39:00):
They were talking about the importance of brand. They were
welcome everybody from little Nasax to cardib and how it's
not just about what you produce, but literally the whole
person in persona. And I admit to being way behind
the curve on that. Could you any any thoughts on
how this question of brand figures into entrepreneurship. So it

(01:39:23):
isn't just what you make or what you produce, but
literally who you are. I can you help us with that?
Certainly helped me with that. Please. Well, let me first say,
doctor cart you have a brand. Yes, your brand speaks brilliance.
Your brand speaks proud, being proud of who you are.
Your brands but speaks warrior energy. And you know to

(01:39:43):
me that is part of your brand. And so to me,
what brands are, it's what people think of you before
you even say a word, and that is something that
is curated and put together by your actions and by
how you show up in the world. So when you
think of different celebrities like what you've mentioned, I think

(01:40:05):
what most people need to understand, particularly entrepreneurs, is they
need to understand that everything that they think about these celebrities,
it's not by accident, it's by design. It's a very
calculated strategy to get you to think whatever they want
you to think about them. And so as an entrepreneur,
you need to think about that strategically with your business

(01:40:25):
in terms of the brand that speaks to your business,
but also your personal brand, because in this day and age,
the two are very much intertwined. And if you are
someone who understands how to build a powerful brand that
goes a long way towards marketing, as I alluded to previously,
without literally costing you a dime, because it will attract
the attention that otherwise you would have to pay thousands

(01:40:48):
upon thousands of dollars for excellent question, Doctor Card, doctor
Avis Jones, the Weaver friend of the show Business Elevation Strategist,
Next Level Abundance Tour dot Com to get on the
wait list. Thank you so much, dr Avis for joining
us this evening. Thanks so much for having me, Gracy

(01:41:08):
and us well, thank you. And you're watching Roland Martin
Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. We'll be right back. We
talk about blackness and what happens in black culture. We're
about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to
our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people powered

(01:41:31):
movement and a lot of stuff that we're not getting.
You get it, and he spread the word. We wish
to plead our own cause to long have others spoken
for us. We cannot tell our own story that we
can't pay for it. This is about covering us invest
in black owned media. Your dollars matter. We don't have
to keep asking them to cover ours. So please support

(01:41:54):
us in what we do. Folks. We want to hit
two thousand people fifty dollars. This month races one hundred
thousand dollars. We're behind one hundred thousand, so we want
to hit that. Y'all. Money makes as possible chase Some
money boarders go to feel box files in the one
nine and six Washington d C two Zeres nu or
three seven dash zero, one nine and six to catch apples,
Dollar Sign r M unfiltered, pay Palace, Are Martin Unfiltered,

(01:42:15):
venmo Is r M unfiltered, Zelle is rolling at Rolling
s Martin dot com x from the Black Table with
me Greg Carr. An hour of Living History was doctor
Richard Mariba, Kelsey, thinker, builder, author, and one of the

(01:42:35):
his incomparable wisdom about our past, present and future. I'm
Unginia saying that my uncle was Leginia, my brother was Leginia,
my neigbor was again. I think we ought to drill
that in ourselves and move ahead rather than believing that
I got it. That's next on the Black Table here

(01:42:57):
on the Black Star Network. Hey, I'm Dean Cole from Blackests.
Everybody that your man Fred Hammond and you're watching Roland Martin,
my man unfiltered. Welcome back to Roland Martin Unfiltered streaming

(01:43:21):
on the Black Star Network. With the focus shifting from
d EI efforts. One area that's gained spotlight, Incorporate and
entrepreneurial spaces is executive presence and confidence. Today we're joined
by doctor Wendy Wilson, who will explain to us how
we show up in the workplace where the digital, remote

(01:43:41):
or in person impacts the environment and the money. Doctor
Wendy Wilson, thank you so much, and welcome to Roland
Martin Unfiltered. It is my pleasure. Thank you for having
me absolutely so in your you know your background, you
do have the EI training, You've been incorporate as someone
who is a career strategist and has a specific presence

(01:44:06):
around executive presence. Talk to us a little bit about
even though you know we're seeing people. We just had
doctor Abison talking about the importance of entrepreneurship. Please talk
to us a little bit about how executive presence, no
matter which of those spaces that you're in, definitely impacts
us and it impacts the money. Absolutely well. Thank you

(01:44:28):
again for having me. I share with my clients and
they range from those that are still matriculating through high school,
ready and preparing themselves to enter into the workspaces, all
the way to the c suite that there are some
behaviors and some actionable steps that you need to maintain
and what I call normalize executive presence, and they include

(01:44:53):
your emotional intelligence, how you engage, how you present, how
you the level of compac action that you demonstrate with
those that you are leading and those colleagues that you
will also have. There's also those two other important elements
which include effective communication and your esthetic. Now, we want

(01:45:14):
to walk in and to thrive and be successful in
these spaces being our true selves, not denying who we
are based upon our race and gender. But it is
important that we also exemplify and represent the very best
and that comes with a very professional and what we
work to achieve, a very polished presence. And so I

(01:45:36):
tell young people all the time it is not your
role to enter into those spaces and modify a uniform.
There is expectations of behaviors that you need to model,
and if you see that they're not being modeled, then
being vocal enough and having that effective voice to convey
that so that you are represented and that you are

(01:45:57):
contributing in the manner in which you have prepared you
solved to do absolutely, doctor Wilson, and I'm very glad
that you touched upon EQ because even as we look
at a platform like Twitter when it changed hands from
Jack Dorsey to Elon Musk, there is a lack of
EQ emotional intelligence around being able to understand the audience

(01:46:22):
that he in essence is serving. So could you talk
a little bit about how EQ shows up no matter
what your brand is? You know, Doctor Avis and we
were in conversation and one of the things that doctor
Carr brought forward is with regard to brand, some of
his students he teaches at Howard University. Some of the
students brought up specifically Cardi and some other artists and

(01:46:44):
doctor Avis folk that those imageries, the things that we
see are very much so curated that there are a
team of people that work specifically so that what we
see is not something that is just kind of amiss,
but it is something that is intentional. Can you talk
about EQ and intentionality in the way that any one

(01:47:05):
of us present as it relates to either a corporate
or entrepreneurial space. Sure well. Certainly with that EQ piece,
we want to have the level of understanding that a
certain environments call for certain actions and behaviors. You mentioned
Cardi b and I do a training presentation, and she's

(01:47:25):
one of the focus individuals that I focus on, and
what I say about her is that it i'll present
her and she's entertainment mode in terms of her attire.
But there is also some evidence out there when she
is there to conduct business, when she wants the audience
or the listener to hear this particular message or a

(01:47:47):
certain message, then she is donning a different uniform, if
you will, And so that is important to keep in
mind to be aware of your audience, the setting that
you're going in, and be able to make the necessary
modifications still remaining true to who you are and your
authentic self. It is absolutely achievable. Regarding the social media

(01:48:11):
platforms you mentioned Twitter a few moments ago, an emotional
presence playing out on that understanding that that is a worldwide,
an international stage, and civility is always an order. Respect
is always in order, Proper decorum is always in order,

(01:48:32):
and we have seen time and time again when folks
epically fail, they are held accountable for that and it
is oftentimes very difficult to recover. So the goal, again,
as I shared Earliers, to normalize those behaviors that will
allow you to successfully navigate, achieve the level of success

(01:48:54):
that you desire and you seek, and be representative of
who you are and the organization that you're representing. Thank
you so much, doctor Wilson. We just have a few minutes.
I'll remaining in the show, so I want to have
my panel come in and ask you a few questions.
We're going to go to doctor Walker first, Doctor Walker,

(01:49:16):
your question for doctor Wilson. Yeah, Doctor Wilson, I want
you to talk about a release the workplace. The importance
of having a healthy culture for leaders. Absolutely, absolutely, and
it starts with leaders. I share all the time with
individuals that again, it's the basics, it's the things that
are are that our parents taught us. That mother with

(01:49:38):
the acts of civility, being kind, being respectful. And if
you find an organization where there is a low morale, uh,
people are just having difficulty of delivering or providing the
service that they are being tasked with or being paid
to perform, you need to take an assessment of the

(01:49:58):
culture and the climate. And it's more than just doing
a study. It is then taking those actionable steps and
holding people accountable, whether they be in the c suite
or whether they just walk in the door at the
entry level space. A great question. Our leader's behavior is
definitely important in any organization, Doctor Hill, your question for

(01:50:19):
doctor Wilson, Yes, thank you. So my question is passionately
black may be seen as aggressively white. And so it
sounds like we have to coat it something that we've
all been told how to do. How do we negotiate

(01:50:40):
our coat switching methods in an environment to be our
authentic selves when we have the backlash against us regardless
of how well we coat which how well we are
show our true self, our passion to our kind selves,
and we still get this pushback. What what can we do?

(01:51:02):
I think you when the when the pushback arrives, you
need to face it head on and again as I
started off, and I'm staying true to that is to
remain your authentic self. And then you know, ask for evidence.
And there needs to be some ongoing conversations in terms

(01:51:23):
of what diversity looks like, what it's comprised of, and
honoring and recognizing those differences and not making assumptions about
an individual based upon their race, based upon their gender,
and based upon what you may have been taught. And
so again it goes back to leadership taking responsibility and

(01:51:45):
those employees holding leadership accountable for that UM ask them
why am I being judged or why is that assumption
being made? And you may have to branch out in
those UM conversations and involves some other people in, but don't.
So many people struggle, they have very unfortunate experiences in

(01:52:09):
the workplace, managing them by those those experiences by themselves.
So I always you're with people, speak up, speak out,
you are not alone, and hold those people accountable who
are making those false decisions about you. I love that
focus on authenticity and doctor Greg Carr, your question for

(01:52:31):
doctor Wendy Wilson. Thank you Eric, and thank you doctor Wilson. Again.
Thinking about young people. It was a nice day out
here in DC, and I looked out and I said, boy,
if my mother and father had seen some of the
clothes that I'm seeing some on this campus walking around today,
my question is and I mentioned it to the students.
It was an article in Today's Financial Times. It talked

(01:52:52):
about the fact that over three quarters of American teenagers
spend some time on YouTube every day. Bilby TikTok, snap Chat, Instagram,
any words to our young people who are aspiring to
go into corporate America or to work in the business world.
As it relates to how they police themselves on social media,
they may show up dressed a certain way and working

(01:53:12):
a certain way in the space, but then when they
get off work, I'm not sure that they necessarily maintain
some sense of awareness of how they present themselves, even
in their leisure time or in their night word timing.
Any words of advice to our young people in the regard,
doctor Carr, that's an excellent question. And I work with
young people too at a university here in Southwest Georgia

(01:53:33):
and see some of them, and that's all a part
of them trying to express themselves. Unfortunately, and I don't
mind sharing my age. I'm fifty six, and so when
you and I were growing up, we didn't have access
to all of these social media platforms. And so what
the point that I bring up is that you are
them providing evidence for again people to use something against

(01:53:57):
you and you don't want to do that is documented.
I told my young adult children all the time. They
would say, Mom, why I deleted it? And I said,
but you don't know who took a screenshot of it.
We know that companies and organizations, corporations have people that
are actually in seats that are policing and vetting candidates

(01:54:22):
based upon their social media profiles who you were linked
up to and deciding if you were then a good fit. Yeah,
and so you know, unfortunate, but it is the reality.
So I tell students all the time to behave or
act in a manner with consideration for your future and

(01:54:43):
the business that you wish to have or the position
that you wish to have within a company as well.
I love that having the future in mind, doctor Wilson.
We have about ten seconds. Let people know how they
can follow you absolutely, so definitely reach out to my
website W two COM's with an s c O m MS.
Thank you have the rething up and then you can

(01:55:04):
reach out. I'm on Instagram, also on Twitter and then
LinkedIn doctor Wendy Wilson, executive coach and career planning Strategists.
That's right, and keep up with all of her upcoming happening.
Thank you so much, doctor Wendy will stand for sharing us.
It has been my pleasure. Thank you for having me
absolutely and so thank you to the Roland Martin Unfiltered audience.

(01:55:25):
Always also want to give big thank you to our panel,
doctor Greg Carr, Doctor Walker and doctor Hill. Thank you
so much for your time and for your brilliancy and genius.
And to you the RMU audience, thank you so so
very much. Make sure that you are absolutely contributing to
this show. You know how you can make sure that

(01:55:47):
you are donating and supporting it. All of that information
that's for you on this three and be looking out
for the NAACP Image Awards coming up very soon. Thank
you again, And as Roland would say, hollow Martel I

(01:56:27):
started network is a real old revolutionary right now. Cloud
Sam black media. He makes sure that our stories are told.
I thank you for being the boys to Black America
rolla moment that we have. Now we have to keep
this going to the video looks phenomenal difference between Black

(01:56:49):
Star Network and Black owned media and something like CNN.
You can't be black owned media and be scaped. It's
time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs, hold your dig
pull up a chair, take your seat the black tape

(01:57:09):
with me, Doctor great Car Here on the Black Star Network.
Every week we'll take a deeper dive into the world
we're living in Join the conversation only on the Black
Star Network. I am doctor Jackie good Martin, and I
have a question for you. Ever feel as if your
life is teetering in the weight and pressure of the

(01:57:30):
world is consistently on your shoulder, So let me tell you,
living a balanced life isn't easy. Join me each Tuesday
on black Star Network for a Balanced Life. But doctor Jackie,
we're all impacted by the culture, whether we know it
or not, from politics to music and entertainment. It's a
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(01:57:51):
about it every day right here on the culture with me.
For Roji Muhammad, only on the Black Star Network. I'm
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(01:58:12):
bank isn't telling you but you absolutely need to know.
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