TX Approves State Power to Overturn Elections, Gillum Acquitted, DreamDefenders Arrested

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Thursday, May fourth, twenty twenty three. My name is
Reese Colbert. I will be filling in today while Roland
is on location at the thirty fifth National Equal Justice
Awards dinner in New York City. Roland will be joining
us throughout the show. Here's what's coming up on Roland
Martin Unfiltered, streaming live on the Blackstar Network. We begin
with a significant development out of Texas, where the GOP

(00:24):
controlled Senate has proposed a controversial new law allowing the
state to overturn elections. This is spark concerns about the
future of democracy in the state, and we'll have all
the details in this fast moving story. Former Tallahassee Mayor
Andrew Gillum has been acquitted of lying to the FBI. However,
the jury has deadlock on all other charges against him

(00:46):
and co defended Sharon Letterman Hicks. We will break down
what this could mean for the former mayor. Tensions are
rising in Florida, where fourteen protesters were arrested outside Governor
Ron DeSantis's office. Testers we're demonstrating against new conservative laws
in the state, highlighting the growing divide between activists and
the governor's administration. We will speak with the Dream Defenders

(01:10):
about their fight to make Florida safe and fare for all.
Pro Publica's bombshell report alleging deeper financial ties between Supreme
Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Republican donor Holland Crow then
previously known. This raises serious questions about the Court's impartiality,
and we'll have all the latest details. In New York,

(01:30):
calls are growing for justice and accountability after the death
of a black man who was placed in a choke
hold by a fellow white subway passenger. The urgency for
action is mounting, and will update you on the latest developments.
Black Star Network has a brand new show joining the lineup.
We'll tell you all about it and much more. It's

(01:51):
time to bring the funk on Roland Martin and Filter
extremely live on the black Star Network. Let's go peace.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Whatever the past, He's on it, whatever it is. He's
got spoop, the fact, the fine and wait to place.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
He's right on top and is rolling.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Best believe he's going putting it down.

Speaker 4 (02:12):
From his Boston News to politics with entertainment.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Just spookcase.

Speaker 5 (02:17):
He's rolling.

Speaker 4 (02:20):
It's rowing, It's rolling, Monte Yeah, rolling with roon.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
He's Poky's breast.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
She's real, good question, No, he's rolling.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Monte Martel, A Florida jury acquits former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew

(03:08):
Gillam of lying to the FBI about accepting gifts from
undercovered agents. The jury deadlocked on the more severe charges
of conspiracy and wirefraud against Gilham and his co defendant,
Sharon Letterman Hicks, related to the misuse of campaign funds.
The twelve person jury could not reach a verdict on
one count of conspiracy and seventeen counts of wirefraud against

(03:30):
both defendants. US District Judge Alan Windsor declared a mistrial
on the counts that ended with no verdict reached. Assistant
US Attorney Gary Milligan the Second said the government would
retry Gillum and Letterman Hicks on the conspiracy and wire
fraud charges. I want to bring in our panel for

(03:50):
this evening. We are joined by the wonderful Lauren Victoria
Burke of Black Press, USA, the esteemed doctor Nola Haynes
Phi Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, and doctor Cleo Mango,
Social Advisor, social architect and Chief Advisor of the Black
Men's Exchange. Welcome everyone to tonight's show. I want to

(04:15):
start off with you, doctor. I'm sorry, did I say
your name right? Minago?

Speaker 5 (04:21):
I'm telling you were right.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yes, Okay, okay, I'm sorry. It's our first time together,
so bear wimmy, please correct me. I want to start
off with you and your reaction to the mixed messages. Mix,
mixed verdict, but overall probably a win more than anything
for Andrew gill On. What's your reaction.

Speaker 6 (04:41):
Oh, my reaction is reliefed. As far as I consin,
it was a witch hunt. It was pettied anyway, and
it's been more revenge politics, getting back at demand for
having such a strong presence when he ran for the
governor of Florida, and they've been after him ever since
because he had the nerves a whole swin and petition
we turn on its head, the white supremacist control of

(05:03):
that state, which has been the case for many, many years.
And I think they want to teach him a lesson
that he wanted to embarrass him, humiliate him, and destroy
him to the f degree. And I'm relieved that him
and my friend Sharon Hickman has been found basically exonerating
for the situation. I expect the whole thing to go
away at some point because it was petty in the
first place.

Speaker 5 (05:23):
So I feel good about it and I am relieve.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
So even though the attorney has said they will retry,
your prediction is that they will cut their losses and
move on.

Speaker 6 (05:35):
Well, they're desperate. I don't know what they're going to do.
I am just relieved that it turned out the way
it did at this point. But they're desperate. They like
to make a point, they like to make statements, they
like to make people fearful of stepping up, as Gillham did.
And I don't know what they're going to do. I
would imagine, given how cut thought, are they going to
attempt to make this happen again. But I don't think

(05:57):
they're going to be successful right now.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Doctor Haynes, I know you are sensitive about weigh and
more political ways. But one thing I found was interesting
was that Gillam was raising money for his legal defense fund.
You know, it's interesting that he had so much trouble
kind of raising money, where we've seen other kind of
white collar crimes and people of that nature who are

(06:22):
up for similar charges to not have any problems do
you think in terms of kind of the challenges that
he had with raising funds bared at all in the
kind of justice he was able to get here today.

Speaker 7 (06:36):
You know, when it comes to mister Gillam, you know,
first of all, for the man to still be able
to stand up and continue to fight, I mean, you
have to give him credit for that.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
He has definitely been through the ringer.

Speaker 7 (06:47):
And as a Southerner myself, you know, it just breaks
my heart to see what's happening in places like Florida
in Texas. And I agree with the comment with the
doctor said just before me that a lot of this
feels like revenge politics.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
So in terms of the.

Speaker 7 (07:02):
Particulars of his case and the kind of political landscape,
you're right. You know, I won't comment too much on that,
but what I will say is what I have been
noticing is what we need to move away from when
we're thinking about things like this is framingness in terms
of like cultural war, you know, sorts of things I've
been I've been talking a.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
Lot about this.

Speaker 7 (07:23):
This, these types of revenge, this revenge politics like this
goes beyond any sort of culture war, right, This is
this is something else. This is something different, and we
are waiting in very dangerous territory, and I just want
to say, you know, like props to him. He keeps
standing up and fighting for himself, and we all know
he has truly been through it, and I just wish

(07:44):
him well. I wish him well on the other side
of it. That's really my thoughts and feelings about.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
It, right, I mean, I think you make a good point.
We do tend to sometimes talk about these things in
terms of the culture wars, but this was a man
who was the father of two, a husband, and this
has come completely shaking up his life to the point
to where he's no longer on CNN than some of
his opportunities have closed as a result of this prosecution. Lauren,

(08:10):
what's your take on the results that we saw today?
Also keeping in mind that Trump is up for similar
charges obviously at the state level, but wirefraud is one
of those, you know, kind of charges that usually are
pretty easy to get a conviction on.

Speaker 8 (08:26):
Yeah, you know, I echo what Cleo Minago said, you
know this idea that it just feels I think our
spidery sense is tingling when you see that. Andrew Gilliam,
of course almost beat Ron de Sands to be Governor
of Florida. And then shortly after that, of course we
get this straw with all of these counts and you
get the big announcement and you know, he was led

(08:47):
into court and waste chains and ankle bracelets and all
trauma and nonsense and everything else, and it turns out
to be a big nothing. You have a seventeen count
seventeen counts of everybody reading everything. It kind of reminds
me of the Brian Benjamin situation in the euro up
at the governor and you know, big announcement, big press conference,

(09:08):
and then a big nothing.

Speaker 9 (09:09):
I mean literally everything was kicked out of court.

Speaker 8 (09:12):
And so I have a hard time believing that any
of this would be happening had he not come very
close to winning state wide in Florida, which has been
something that has been incredibly difficult for the Democrats to do,
and he of course almost did that for governor, so
in what would have been, of course a historic moment
in terms of him being the first.

Speaker 9 (09:30):
Black governor of Florida.

Speaker 8 (09:31):
So it's just, you know, a situation where it doesn't
feel like something of coincidence.

Speaker 9 (09:37):
You know, it was a book that came out some
years ago.

Speaker 8 (09:39):
From a professor at University of Maryland named Derek Musgrove
on this very topic, which was black elected officials being
you know, investigated on ethics matters. You know what an
amazing coincidence. It just feels what it feels. And it's
for Donald Trump, you know. Yeah, it is amazing to
me the difference in reaction to what is going on

(10:01):
with him with growing to the Egene Carol case.

Speaker 9 (10:04):
She is on trial for rape and then.

Speaker 8 (10:07):
CNN decides to platform him, whether on a platform next week.

Speaker 9 (10:11):
Yeah, I find quite interesting, you.

Speaker 8 (10:13):
Know, it's just that doesn't matter to anybody that this
guy is being accused now, of course he has not
been convicted yet, but still to listen to the evidence
in the courtroom is.

Speaker 9 (10:22):
Quite quite interesting.

Speaker 8 (10:23):
And you know, however, the outcome good for Egen Carroll
for playing it out and going all the way.

Speaker 5 (10:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
Absolutely, I mean, I definitely think that we've seen, as
you pointed out, the drastic difference in the theater behind it,
obviously going out of their way to humiliate Mayor Gillam
with the chains. It's really appalling, and they seem to
always find the time and the unlimited resources to investigate
black lawmakers, even costing, as you pointed out, former Lieutenant

(10:52):
Governor Brian Benjamin his job and it was a big
nothing burger. So we'll continue you to keep an eye
on this story and hope the best for the Gellum family.
You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network.
We'll be right back.

Speaker 10 (11:10):
Up next on the Frequency with Me De Barnes our
special guest Alicia Garza, one of the founders of the
Black Lives Matter movement.

Speaker 11 (11:17):
We're going to discuss her new books, The.

Speaker 12 (11:19):
Purpose of Power, how we come together when.

Speaker 11 (11:21):
We fall apart.

Speaker 13 (11:22):
We live in a world where we have to navigate.
You know, when we say something, people look at us funny.
But when a man says the same thing less skillfully
than we did, right, right, and everybody walks towards what
they said, even though it was your idea.

Speaker 12 (11:37):
Right here on the Frequency on the Blackstar.

Speaker 14 (11:39):
Network, Kevin Kevinhart telling me that he's like, man, what
you doing?

Speaker 15 (11:51):
Man?

Speaker 14 (11:51):
You got to stay on stage?

Speaker 6 (11:53):
And I was like about it.

Speaker 16 (11:55):
You know, y'all, I'm thinking that I'm good, And he
was absolutely right.

Speaker 5 (11:59):
What show jail at that.

Speaker 17 (12:01):
This was one on one during that time and.

Speaker 18 (12:04):
I will show you show you don't one on one
going great.

Speaker 19 (12:07):
You're making money, and you're.

Speaker 14 (12:08):
Like, I'm like, I don't need to leave. I don't
leave from you know, Wednesday, Thursday to Sunday. You know,
I just didn't want to do that.

Speaker 5 (12:15):
You know.

Speaker 17 (12:15):
It was just like I'm gonna stay here or I
didn't want to finish work Friday, fly out, go do
a gig Saturday Sunday.

Speaker 5 (12:21):
I was just like, I don't have to do that.

Speaker 17 (12:23):
And I lost a little bit of that.

Speaker 5 (12:25):
Hungry that I had.

Speaker 8 (12:26):
In New York.

Speaker 17 (12:27):
I would hit all the clubs, running around, you know,
sometimes it's being Chappelle or be in this one or
that one. We go to the comedy cellar one in
the morning, and I mean that was our.

Speaker 16 (12:38):
Life and we loved it. You know, you do two
shows in Manhattan, go to Brooklyn, leave Brooklyn, go to Queens,
go to Jersey.

Speaker 17 (12:45):
And I kind of just I got complacent. But I
was like, I got this money, I'm good.

Speaker 6 (12:50):
I don't need to go.

Speaker 17 (12:50):
I don't know to go chase that because that money
wasn't at the same level when I was making. But
what I was missing was that training.

Speaker 14 (12:58):
Yes, was that was that.

Speaker 19 (13:00):
And it wasn't the money.

Speaker 14 (13:01):
It was the money, you know, it was that.

Speaker 5 (13:03):
That's what I needed. Black TV does matter. Dang it.

Speaker 20 (13:21):
Hey, what's up, yadish your boy Jacob Latimore and you're
now watching Roland Martin right now.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
The Texas Legislature advances a bill allowing the Secretary of
State to redo elections in Harris County. Harris County is
where several Democratic candidates posted strong midterm results and have
been plagued by GOP claims of election mismanagement. The Republican
controlled Senate passed the bill Tuesday. It's now going before

(13:53):
the House. If enacted, it would allow the Secretary of
State to toss out election results in the state's largest
county and call a new vote if there is a
quote unquote good cause to believe that at least two
percent upholling places ran out of usable ballots during voting hours.
Joining me now is Texas State Representative Jarvis Johnson. Representative Johnson,

(14:15):
thank you so much for being here.

Speaker 21 (14:17):
Today, Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
Can you just talk a little bit about how this
bill is laser targeting Harris County and only Harris County
as opposed to being something about election integrity across the
entire state.

Speaker 22 (14:34):
We've watched the entire session, even last session, when Republicans
pass bills that are targeted and aimed at democratic cities
and democratic counties. We watched it last session with the
whole defund the police, where they created a bill that
was specifically for counties over two million people. That's only
a couple of counties, that's Harris County, in Houston and

(14:57):
in Dallas.

Speaker 21 (14:58):
Then you to this year were looking at.

Speaker 22 (15:00):
A bill that is simply bracketed for two point seven
million people. That's only Harris County. Now why are they
doing that? Because Harris County is a blue county. We
have elected all democratic judges, We have a county judge
that is a Democrat. We have the overwhelming majority of
the county courts. I'm the county commissioners are Democrats. And

(15:23):
so they're going to target and bracket all of these
bills to simply overturn elections that they don't agree with.
And that's the most undemocratic thing that can happen in
this country, not alone this state, but this country, and
everybody should be fearful because you have people like Governor
Avitt and the Republican Party that have chosen to undo

(15:45):
the law and simply make unconstitutional laws that simply give
them authority to overturn elections that they simply don't agree with,
and they're going to make up rules, They're going to
make up worries. Oh, there was no ballots in the
There was no ballots or people. They ran out of ballots.

(16:05):
And when you look at the amount of in Harris County,
you can vote at any voting pole that is available.
So it's not just you ran out of ballots at
this post. You don't have no choice of voting. You
could go to any pole in the county. So this
notion is one that I think is it's unconstitutional and
it's a very egregious law that I think is going

(16:29):
to be very harmful not only the Harris County, but
you'll start to see consequently in any county where Democrats
are the majority.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
Right now, how do you as Democrats deal with the
messaging behind this because on its face, admittedly it doesn't
sound terribly unreasonable, at least that there is a requirement
to have paper ballots at every polling place, but obviously
the fact that the Secretary of State can then overturn

(16:59):
the election is extreme. So how do you really underscore
how extreme it is to overturn and order new elections?

Speaker 22 (17:09):
Number One, you got to call it out what it is.
You will see that there will be election judges that
I think will do some very unlawful things. I think
that you have Democrat Republican election judges in some of
these cities that will purposely sabotage for the very reason
of this particular bill, to say that, oh, we ran
out of ballots, or we ran out of paper, or

(17:31):
the line was too long. You know, nobody had a
problem when lines in the black community were wrapped around
the block for couldn't vote for six hours because that
was the only poll that you can go to, that
was not a problem. And when the polls closed at
seven o'clock and you still had, you know, people waiting
until three o'clock in the morning to vote, that's not

(17:52):
a problem. But when the elections start to be changed,
that's the problem. And so the messaging is very simple.
They are going to say that this is wrong and
we want to protect all voters, and they're not trying
to protect all voters.

Speaker 21 (18:05):
They're simply trying to make sure that.

Speaker 22 (18:08):
Only their votes matter and only their votes are cast
and counted.

Speaker 21 (18:13):
That's why they have put forth so many bills that.

Speaker 22 (18:17):
Incriminates, prosecutes, and the fear of jail time for people
who simply make a mistake. There's a bill that was
put forth that it creates a felony if someone votes wrong,
a felony for a mistake.

Speaker 21 (18:33):
And so that in itself is what I think we're having.

Speaker 22 (18:36):
And so you're going to find a lot of people that, look,
I want to vote, but I don't want to get
in trouble. And so that the ambiguity, that type of
and that threat is what I think put fear in
people's hearts. And I think that's the mission of the
Republican Party. And so the messaging is we have to
fight back against that, and we have to clearly make

(18:57):
sure that people understand that we're not going to just
sit by and allow these type of bills to be
put forward because they are very, very targeted, and this
is a targeted campaign that they have to overturn elections.
This is not a democratic process, this is not an
American process. This has done so by what is now
becoming the King of Texas and what we have with

(19:19):
government and making these decisions to say if it doesn't
if it doesn't work for me, then I'm going to
change it. And I don't need anybody to stop me.
And right now we're almost there. And unfortunately his own
party is allowing him to do these things without any
consequence because they simply think that nobody outside of Harris

(19:40):
County should vote for this because the bill says two
point seven, So why should somebody in rural Texas vote
on this bill because it's only bracketed for Harris County.
But when we're here in Texas and we're in this country,
we vote and we make laws that apply to everybody.
Everyone should it should This is a law that goes

(20:01):
across the board. So to the governor and to all
those Republicans that want to bracket this, Let's make sure
it's for everybody. Let's make sure that this rule accounts
for the small towns that ran out of a paper ballance.
Let's let's account for you know, any of these areas.

Speaker 21 (20:18):
Because it happens over and over and over again.

Speaker 22 (20:21):
The number of ballots that were not cast or they
didn't have paper was for forty people out of one
point one million. What they mean this big deal? Oh
my god, we couldn't vote. Could you have gone down
the street? Could you have gone to the next polling place,
which is only you know, a couple of blocks away. Absolutely,
I've doubt myself, Liza, been long, I've gone around the corner.

Speaker 21 (20:44):
You catal ballot.

Speaker 22 (20:45):
So I push all the time all bills and all
laws should be equal and across the board. But I
will say this, when we make laws in this in
this in this state, I always say laws applied everybody,
but they only applicable to some. And we know who
this bill is targeting. They've they've lost the judges we have.

(21:08):
They've elected sixteen black women judges in Harris County, right,
and that has blown people's minds and and they're going,
we can't let that happen again.

Speaker 21 (21:18):
And so we're going to overturn it because something has
had to happen as.

Speaker 22 (21:20):
To why these these Democrats are winning and they're trying
to take away our ability to elect democrats democratically elected leaders.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
Well, I have a question too about just has there
been a different reaction from these citizens of Harris County
to this. We've seen Republicans successfully go after absentee ballots,
making it more difficult to vote that way as well
as you know all of the advances that Harris County
made in twenty twenty, there's still time, I would think,
to kind of get people really galvanized around this. Have

(21:53):
you seen a different reaction to this specific bill than
you have in other voter suppression bills that have been propos.

Speaker 22 (22:00):
Well, I think that, But that's the issue. Harris County
is absolutely one hundred percent in opposition to this bill.
We're opposed to this bill. Across the board, we're all
opposed to this bill. But that's the point. They understand
that they can't beat Harris County, so they need the

(22:22):
rest of the state to overtake Harris County. So that's
why they go get you know, Collin County, that's why
to go get Ran County. That's why to go get
all of these other you know, maybe Republican led counties
to say, hey, we need you to help us vote
against Harris County. So there we have fourteen members from

(22:45):
Harris County out of the one fifty, and yet you're
going to go and get the other one hundred and
help me with my mam one hundred and twenty six
people to make a decision for the fourteen And I
think that that that's problem. They understand Harris County is
against this leaving it up to us. We're not gonna

(23:05):
support you to come only odd at us. We're not
gonna let you say we're gonna only oddit you because
it happened when when we were talking about ballots that
where they had a bill last session that simply said, hey,
we're gonna we're only gonna we're gonna redo all Harris
County elections. And I asked all of my Republican colleagues,
do you believe that you won your election? Well, yeah,

(23:26):
I won my election. So if you won your election,
why you think that Harris County didn't elect fairly. Well,
it's all because Donald Trump lost and so that was
the whole you know. So this is where all this
balloting thing comes from. And this is certainly what the
problem continues to be when they want to try to
overtake Harris County. But we're trying to stand tall and
stand strong. But they're bringing all the resources from all

(23:48):
all over the state to make decisions simply for Harris County,
which is is un American and certainly unjustifiable and unconstitutional, right,
And I think that's a hard verbal president and we're
going to be and if we allow something like this
to happen, I think Republicans and Democrats have to start
to look and understand that you have a governor that

(24:10):
will pick and choose when and who he decides to
go after who he wants to be the next election.
So these elections are not fair and they're not going
to be You're not going to be elected by the people.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
Right. It certainly feels like an opening salvo to just
flat out disregarding election results and hoping nobody notices. We
do have a dumb time to maybe get one or
two questions from the panel in So, Lauren, I'll start
with you. Do you have a question for Representative John.

Speaker 8 (24:40):
Yeah, Recie, it goes back to what you were asking,
what is the messaging?

Speaker 9 (24:43):
How do you respond to this?

Speaker 8 (24:44):
You're effectively dealing with a Republican party that I think
it's an open question about whether or not the Republican
Party believes in democracy, and so how do you deal
with that?

Speaker 22 (24:54):
Well, they're there, they're under democratic mindset, they're trying to
they tell the enough and over and over again, they'll
start to believe it and they think that this is
an American this is certainly we're trying to make sure
things are fair and and do processes is following.

Speaker 5 (25:12):
No, it's not.

Speaker 22 (25:14):
You're literally trying to overturn an election that was fair, transparent,
and open. But the messaging for us on the Democratic
side is we have to we have to stand tall
and stand strong, but we have to send a message
that this is not going to be just Harris County.
The people in this county are not going to go away,
and certainly the mindsets will not go away. And what

(25:35):
we're going to find is that you're gonna have a
minority of people running the majority of the state. And
so we understand this is a power graph. This is
all it is. The white Republican, my white Republican counterparts
are simply saying, Hey, we're losing our base.

Speaker 21 (25:54):
What can we do. Well, let's start snatching seats.

Speaker 22 (25:57):
Let's start telling everybody that everybody else is cheating except
for us, We're the only ones not cheating. So, but
we're not gonna look and I think it goes back
to the story you just said about the candidate from
from Florida.

Speaker 21 (26:12):
We're only gonna look at at at democratic counties.

Speaker 22 (26:15):
We're only gonna look at black districts because why we're
not gonna look at our own. We're not going to
look to see where the cheating was on our on
our side. We're only gonna look at you and that,
and that's certainly what they're trying to do the messaging.
So people have to understand it's not if it's when
they're gonna come after you next and so, but we're
standing tall and strong. And I have to even tell

(26:37):
my colleagues that are Republicans in Harris County that you
have a body of people that elected you, duly elected you.
And if you're saying that there has been a problem
with the election, then you're saying that you were not
elected fairly. And so I'm gonna ask and I certainly
will put up an amendment that asked in anybody who
votes for this will have to resign their seat because

(26:58):
they're saying themselves that they were not duly elected.

Speaker 21 (27:01):
That's something.

Speaker 22 (27:04):
You know, something happened, or there was somebody legal at
something that was illegal that allowed them to win. So
if they vote for this bill, then they understand that
they are complicit, and they're saying to the rest of
us that that they cheated to get here.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
Well, Representative Johnson, thank you so much. Keep up the
good fight and keep us posted on how this story
unfolds in Texas. Thank you so much.

Speaker 21 (27:28):
Thank you, you guys, keep it a good work, keeping
everybody informed and educated.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
Thank you. We'll be right back with more. Rolandant Martin
unfiltered streaming live on the Black Star Network. Hatred on
the Streets, a horrific scene white.

Speaker 3 (27:43):
Nationalist rally that descended into deadly violent.

Speaker 23 (27:48):
Well, white people are moving their their minds as a
main way pro Trump. Martin storms to the US capital,
who we're about to.

Speaker 19 (27:58):
See the lives what I call white minor resistance.

Speaker 18 (28:00):
We have seen white folks in this country who simply
cannot tolerate black folks voting.

Speaker 6 (28:07):
I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of
violent denial.

Speaker 5 (28:12):
This is part of American history.

Speaker 24 (28:13):
Every time that people of color have made progress, whether
real or symbolic, there has been but Carol Anderson, every
university calls white rage as a backlash.

Speaker 19 (28:23):
This is the wife of the Proud Boys and the boogaaloo, boys, America.

Speaker 5 (28:27):
There's going to be more of this.

Speaker 8 (28:29):
They this country is getting increasingly racist and its behaviors
and its attitudes because of the fear of white.

Speaker 19 (28:38):
People, the feo that they're taking our jobs, they're taking
our resources, they're taking out women.

Speaker 5 (28:43):
This is white.

Speaker 20 (28:43):
Feld Black Star Networks.

Speaker 21 (29:04):
A real revolution there right now.

Speaker 5 (29:06):
Thank you for me and the voice of Black Americas,
a moment that we have. Now we have to keep
this going.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
The video looks phenomenal.

Speaker 24 (29:14):
Between Black Star Network and black owned media and something
like seeing.

Speaker 18 (29:19):
In you can't be black owned media and be scared.

Speaker 24 (29:22):
It's time to be smart.

Speaker 5 (29:24):
Bring your eyeballs home, you dig.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
Hi.

Speaker 22 (29:31):
This is Essence Atkins, Damn Dion from Blackest everybody that
you man, Fred Hammond and you're watching Roland Martin my
man unfiltered.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
All right. I want to get the panel back in
on this story that we just talked about with Representative
Jarvis Johnson. Doctor Monaga, I'm going to go to you first,
since I didn't get you to get to ask a question,
what's your reaction to the blatant power grab from the
Republicans in Texas?

Speaker 6 (30:05):
What I wanted to ask the representative is he says
they're standing tall and strong, And I'm wondering if that's
the people that are his colleagues, or the Harris County
is standing tall and strong, and if they're being passive
in the in the presence of this wire, becoming canatonic
and complacent, or what they're actually doing. I believe that individually,

(30:27):
he and many of his colleagues probably are standing up
hard against us. But I'm wondering how the community is responding,
because I think that there's a lot of fear and
a lot of anxiety among black folks in the midst
of this backlash of white supremacy trying to keep itself
in place. And I'm just concerned that we are talking

(30:48):
to the community and getting them involved, right because some
of the some of these these political people are in
ivory towers and they get upset, but they don't actually
go into the community or the commediany sometimes as even
though they are are until they're upset.

Speaker 5 (31:01):
And I'm warning about that.

Speaker 6 (31:02):
And I'm also wondering if the people understand that this
white supremacist.

Speaker 5 (31:10):
War is kind of predictable. Yeah, I one I want
to ask.

Speaker 6 (31:15):
The representative, are you surprised. And if you're surprised, are
you doing something to prepare for the next assault because
it's coming.

Speaker 5 (31:23):
Yes?

Speaker 6 (31:24):
Absolutely, And I'm just wondering what people are going to
do because I get tired of just the rhetoric around.

Speaker 5 (31:30):
We don't like it. What is the.

Speaker 6 (31:31):
Strategy to resist and prevent something that's going to come,
that's going to happen. I mean it was appropriate to
reference Gillham while he was speaking because what we've seen
him go through the humiliation as part of the attack.
But often appears to me that it's people look at
it as a sneak attack or they're surprised over and
over again, which means they don't prepare well when it's

(31:54):
going to come again.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
Right, concerns me, doctor Haynes. I know that you are
so knowledgeable about foreign policy and democracies across the world.
Do you see similarities between what's happening in Texas and
some of the things that we claim we're trying to
help restore democracy or fight against assault on democracy around

(32:17):
the country around the world.

Speaker 7 (32:20):
Absolutely, And thank you for asking me a question that way,
because that's how I want to address it. What we're
seeing is nationalism point blank period and right now when
we're thinking about democracy. And I'm not an alarmous type
of person, you know, I like to think through things.
I like to you know, employ logic where I can.

(32:41):
But I cannot stress this enough. Right now where we
are in terms of if we had a democracy doomsday clock,
I would say, you know, the way that it's set
right now for a potential nuclear strike, which is ninety
minutes to midnight, we're pretty.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
It's pretty clear that we're pretty close to that.

Speaker 7 (32:58):
Like, democracy literally is on the line, and usually what
happens is when you can things to look out for
when democracies are teetering on the edge are things like
when laws are manipulated to suit one particular group, right
when laws of being manipulated and other people are being
punished through the law. So the manipulation of law and policy,

(33:22):
something that means the world to me, is one of
them is one of the largest growing threats in this country.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
And it's annexed to nationalism.

Speaker 7 (33:34):
The types of bias late led policies that we're seeing
is rooted in a white supremacist ideal that how dare
the uppitty negro you know, tries to advance in any
sort of way, and if you do, you will be
punished and humiliated like Gilum, I mean, you know, and
we're seeing evidence of this time and time again. And
another reason why I'm word is because we have something

(33:55):
called sorry decisives in our country. We have legal precedent,
and what's happening all over the South, and being from
one of the blacker places in Louisiana, this is definitely
something that I'm worried about because what if, you know,
they try to use this tactic because it worked in Texas, right,
things that's happening in Florida, So this has larger implications.

(34:16):
And when we start to see bias show up and
policies and laws, we are absolutely in trouble. And again
it does go beyond messaging. I was going to ask
the representative about what's the counter punch here, you know,
what is the strategy? What you know beyond you know, saying,
you know, we're going to stand up and maybe alter
the messaging. What they are doing is co opting civil

(34:39):
rights messages. What they are doing or co opting civil
rights packages. And I want to know where are you
going to do to counter that? Because like the doctor
just says more attacks are coming and we're going to
be a form of more policies and laws than.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
What absolutely I mean, all of us is connected, right.
We all them expel members that are duly elected. In Tennessee,
we see them going after student IDs, and for instance
Wisconsin and around the country. We see in Texas now
they are trying to essentially give themselves to overturn the

(35:16):
elections in one county. It all goes back to what
we saw in twenty twenty, where the Trump administration are
the Trump legal campaign team attacked voters in Philadelphia, attacked
voters in Milwaukee, and so all of these things are
happening in plain view, and who the hell is going
to do anything about it? Lauren. I want to get

(35:39):
you back in on this again, because the reality is
this is another escalation in what we're seeing from the
Republicans and we can't outorganize. We can't get Cliff Albray
and Stacy Abrams and Latasha Brown down there, and we're

(36:00):
miracles when the judges can flat out overturned elections. I
think you're mute at Laurie.

Speaker 9 (36:10):
Sorry everybody there, Yeah, sorry about that.

Speaker 8 (36:15):
You know they're moving extra judicially without any regard to
the way democracy works. And they're increasing this as they
figure out that they're outnumbered, you know. I mean, the
fact of the matter is is that you know, their
tiki God, Donald Trump lost to Hillary Clinton by three
million votes and then lost to Joe Biden by eight
million votes, and.

Speaker 9 (36:33):
They know that, aware of that.

Speaker 8 (36:35):
So what's scary here is that I don't see a
real strategy. In fact, you can't.

Speaker 9 (36:41):
Really win a war on different rules. You can't, you know,
be playing by the rules and the other side is
not playing by the rules. It started, I thought, sort.

Speaker 8 (36:48):
Of with the nude Gang Rich era in Congress, and
then when President Obama was elected, you saw a clear
attempt by the Tea Party to sort of, you know,
just base resist everything that President Obama was doing. Obviously,
and I think there was a realization within the Republican
Party that you know, we're getting out number, the demographics
are changing, and we are not even going to pretend,

(37:11):
you know, as doctor Carl likes to say, they dropped
all pretense. They are not even trying to pretend that
they are trying to play by the rules of democracy.

Speaker 9 (37:19):
They are going for the juggler and the question is
what deciding to do about it?

Speaker 8 (37:23):
When you start seeing people like Marjorie Taylor Green and
Jim Jordan show up, and then Jim Jordan trying to
negate a duly elected prosecutor in New York to negate
his actions and haul him in before Congress, and all
these antics they're serious.

Speaker 9 (37:36):
You know.

Speaker 8 (37:37):
You saw obviously President Trump try to negate the election
against that he lost by eight million votes to Joe Biden.

Speaker 9 (37:44):
He tried to negate that, and there was an attack
on the US Capitol.

Speaker 8 (37:47):
This is always all happening, by the way, while we
have a media that is increasingly weak, increasingly sort of
you know, not up to the task and not up
to the challenge.

Speaker 9 (37:57):
And so it is an extremely dangerous moment.

Speaker 5 (38:00):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (38:00):
And we all realize what it lives or sees, what lives.
Everybody knows what it lives. Question is what are we
going to do about it? And we haven't gotten to
the point where that question has been answered.

Speaker 9 (38:07):
What are we going to do about it?

Speaker 5 (38:09):
Well, we haven't responded again.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
Oh okay, quickly before we have to go to a break, yes, please.

Speaker 6 (38:16):
This is going back to Gilham and kind of doing
a contrast between Donald Trump and Gillia. Even though Donald
Trump was indicted, etcetera. The black male image and the
black human image in this society has stigma and it's sustained. Yes,
an attack and sabotage lasts longer in black face than

(38:36):
it does in white face.

Speaker 5 (38:38):
I mean, we knew what a horrendous.

Speaker 6 (38:40):
Human being Donald Trump was before he became president, and
he became president anyway, My concern is that these attacks
on black people demoralized black people into peralyzation. That and
that's why it's important to have conversations, like all three
of us has.

Speaker 5 (38:55):
Said this, what you're going to do right now? What
are you going to do about this?

Speaker 6 (38:59):
What do you do to keep black people from sinking
into paralysis and complacency?

Speaker 5 (39:04):
Why the war, which has been blatant, is coming.

Speaker 6 (39:06):
They have a problem with when the representative use of
terms like this is not American.

Speaker 5 (39:10):
I don't know what that means.

Speaker 6 (39:12):
That kind of behavior has been American all of my life,
and some people consider.

Speaker 5 (39:17):
Me an old man. I don't necessarily agree, but that's
what some people say about me. And it's like this is.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
American, yeah, Oh, this is American as apple pie, Yeah,
and as a pie.

Speaker 6 (39:27):
And as police brutality and the murder of black people
in the hands of cops. This is an American So
what are we going to do other than being emotionally
upset about something. Emotions don't stop a war strategies and
tactics and engaging the community and the population and waking
them up from complacency and letting them see what's going on,
not the approach that the Congress and the Democratic Party

(39:48):
keeps taking, which is an eggshell.

Speaker 5 (39:50):
Let's not offend anybody.

Speaker 6 (39:51):
Let's act like there's not a real a problem that
bad going on. The Republicans are being direct, straight up
and present with their agenda. In a Democratic Party in
Congress is still sneaking around or lessly not trying to
fit anyone and being raped over the coals, even and
when they have local elections, because when they win the
local elections has a courage.

Speaker 5 (40:11):
In the state of.

Speaker 6 (40:11):
Texas, white people step up their game and then we
get the more lies and this could be reversed.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
Yeah, I mean, it's obvious that this whole follow duty
follow process doesn't work when one team is cheating and
then the other team, meaning a lot of voters disaffected voters,
dissolution voters, apathetic voters aren't even in the ballgame at all.
Pretty soon, us begging and pleading for you to vote

(40:38):
isn't even going to be an option because you're not
even going to be able to vote. So as long
as you have the right, you should be exercising that
right and exercise sise in that capacity because they're not
trying to take it away for nothing. But we got
to head to a break. Will be right back with more.
Roland Martin then filtered streaming live on the Black Star Network.

Speaker 19 (40:58):
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Speaker 5 (42:22):
My name is Charlie Wilson.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
I'm Sally Richardson Whitfield, and I'm.

Speaker 18 (42:26):
Down here with you.

Speaker 21 (42:26):
Everybody.

Speaker 22 (42:27):
This man Fred Hammond, and you're watching Roland Martin, my
man unfiltered.

Speaker 1 (42:36):
In Florida, fourteen Dream Defenders and Allied Organization members were
taken away in handcuffs for refusing to leave the Governor's office.
The Dream Defenders set in was part of a national
protest called Freedom to learn. The protesters wanted to shed
light on many issues facing Floridians and called for a
meeting with dessantists to share the legislative sessions impact on communities.

(43:01):
Joining me now are two of the organizers of the protest,
Ashley Green and Malik Ready. Welcome to Roland Martin Unfiltered.

Speaker 25 (43:09):
I thank you all so much for having us.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
And Malik, it looks like you are graduation ready, congratulations,
what are you before we get into the story, what
are you graduating with? What's your degree in?

Speaker 23 (43:23):
My associate of Arts and Political Science.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
That's awesome, all right, so talk a little bit. I'll
let you start off about exactly what this protest was
and what you were trying to bring attention to.

Speaker 26 (43:38):
For Malik, yeah, I think we were and we had
some goals, and those goals were to bring attention to
the fascist governor that we have in the state of
Florida with the bad deals like abortion bills, education bills,
and the immigration bill that was just passed.

Speaker 23 (43:55):
And we did that part of our Campano's campaign.

Speaker 26 (43:59):
And so we have to continue to show that Florida
is the place that he's going to use to try
to puppet some things through and we got to make
sure that we stop him now so that he does
not get in the White House. And this is just
the beginning. There's more to come from us and the
Dream Defenders.

Speaker 1 (44:15):
Ashley, I know that the word are, the phrase dream
Defenders has a very specific meaning. Can you talk about
what that means for the audience.

Speaker 25 (44:25):
Yes, we came into existence after the murder of Trevon Martin, obviously,
and I think we're a part of a renewed arc
fighting for justice across this country that was really being
informed by a lot of civil rights elders and a
lot of Black power and elders, and so really embodied

(44:47):
sort of that spirit in the name dream Defenders. But
over the years, I think it became really a lot
more critical just to think about what is the dream
worth defending for our youth and our communities, and making
sure that there is a dream for ourselves, for our
peers and for the people who are now you know,
ten years later, a generation under us who are still
fighting for freedom and still fighting for justice in their

(45:11):
neighborhoods and in their communities. And so for us, Dream
Defenders is really a rallying client, like not only are
we fighting for a dream, but that we deserve to
have a dream to fight for in the first place.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
Absolutely, and we see Ron DeSantis getting legislative when after
when after when your organization, the kinds of protests that
you all are responsible for organizing are going to be
critically important in highlighting the fascists that he is when
he inevitably launches his national campaign, do you have any

(45:44):
reaction to the ways that the legislature right now is
moving to make it easier for Ron DeSantis to run
for president and maintain his position as governor of Florida.

Speaker 25 (45:56):
I mean, it's a classic story in Florida. They change
the rules in order to fit them and benefit them.
Ron de Santis is no different than a Rick Scott
than a Jeb Bush who has been consistently focused on
gaining more and more power and rigging the game in
their favor. I think someone previously said, you can't win
a war when the rules are played when they are

(46:17):
a different set of rules, and Florida is really ground
zero for that. There should be no reason why Ronda
Santis is both trying to govern the state of Florida
and run for governor based on a more than twenty
year policy across the state, and yet he changed the
rules so he could do it.

Speaker 3 (46:34):
And when you look at the two black district seats.

Speaker 25 (46:38):
That we lost last year, is through jerrymandering that was
specifically to make sure that black people were denied a
voice in Congress, even though the state of Florida gained
two more congressional seats through the census process.

Speaker 23 (46:50):
And so this is just a continued.

Speaker 25 (46:53):
Arc of rigging the game against black citizens in Florida,
but really rigging the game for their pursuit of petty
political power. And it's unacceptable and we're going to keep
fighting back against it.

Speaker 1 (47:04):
Yeah, Malik Ashley talked about how Florida is kind of
like ground zero for so many things that are happening.
It's hard to keep up with it all because Xantis
is on a roll. What's something other than like, for instance,
the tension grabbing Disney Creek Disney, you know, ready Creek
battle that's going on. What's something that really is flying

(47:24):
under the radar in Florida that people should be paying
attention to that you all are trying to shed light on.

Speaker 26 (47:31):
Yeah, our priority bill, this legislation was HB nine to nine,
which we call the Mega University Bill, which had parts
of diversity, inclusion and equality that have been taken away
from our universities, especially our d nines were on the
chopping and block they are getting in their studies in

(47:53):
these schools that offer it, and they're also reducing the
budget that was given to these programs in our DEI.

Speaker 23 (47:59):
And that is important, especially with.

Speaker 26 (48:01):
We have so many HBCUs here in the state of Florida,
and actually Florida has one of the highest of debtors
in the nation, and so as we continue to see
these things being rolled back, we got to pay attention.
You're definitely correct, and then for me that that is
an HB nine to nine bill, especially I'm about to
go to FAM and the fall that's coming up, and

(48:22):
I would still want you know, I would love to
go there. I would be a third generation rather, so
you know, that is a bill that is striking home
for me.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
Okay, sounds good. I definitely have seen that they were
successful in getting that passed. And I'm not sure if
he signed it or if it's going to his desk,
but that is something that people warned about that kind
of just flew under the radar. A little bit. I'm
going to go to the panel and give them an
opportunity to ask you all questions. I'm going to start
off with you, doctor Haynes Oh.

Speaker 7 (48:53):
Thank you both for the work that you're doing. I
have so many questions as a political scientist. Congratulations, Malik.
I am incredibly proud of you. I hope you stick
with it. There are rewards down the way, and you know,
I went to UCLA for undergrad and there are many
intersections here in terms of I remember when DOCA was passed.

(49:15):
I remember I worked for DEIA programs for many many years.
Just cross cuts across a lot of things that I
personally care about. So my question will be very similar
to something I was thinking about with the representative from
Texas earlier.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
I love the.

Speaker 7 (49:31):
Fact that sit ins are happening and that there are
there are actual things that are being done on the ground.
But in terms of fighting back, say through the legal
system or in other ways, what are some of the
strategies if you can talk about them, that you all
are doing along with these kind of very strong and

(49:56):
symbolic gestures like this in.

Speaker 21 (50:04):
Yeah, I can start.

Speaker 25 (50:05):
Florida is a state that I said earlier has been
working to rig itself against us for over a generation,
and there's a supermajority not just in the legislature and
in the executive branch, but they have rigged the courts
in ways that has made a lot of these policies
difficult to fight back against.

Speaker 21 (50:24):
And so we've been consistently.

Speaker 25 (50:26):
Following suit with partners like SPLC against bills like HP one,
which really limited protest rights. We'll be doing the same
around some of these immigration policies, around some of the
education policies. But the way that Florida has been set
up over this last generation has made it difficult to
know what avenues and routes we have beyond taking cyludus

(50:50):
obedience and direct action in order to fight for you know,
justice in our communities.

Speaker 1 (50:56):
Even when we get things done at.

Speaker 25 (50:57):
The community level, the state regularly pre empts local policies
and makes those policies inadmissible or impossible to implement. So
when we get wage stuff ordinances pass, when we get
minimum wage policies passed, when we get protective policies passed,
the state will come in and actually limit the ability
of a municipality to do that.

Speaker 12 (51:19):
And we'll, you know.

Speaker 25 (51:20):
Can file suit after suit after suit. But we're in
a project of trying to build long term political power
here because it is the only solution that we have
in a state like Florida that keeps exporting it's bad
policies across the country.

Speaker 5 (51:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
I think that's a really key point that these policies
are glowing national. I mean, all of the Republican Party
nationally is trading one bad idea for the other, and
they keep escalating with these oppressive and fascist policies. So
people can't just ignore what's happening in one state or
another because it's probably coming to a town or a

(51:55):
state near you. I'm going to go to doctor Ronago.

Speaker 6 (52:00):
Yeah, you said these ideas are bad. Now I personally
agree that they're bad, but it's relative and subjective depending
on your agenda. To some people, what's going on, it's good.
So I want to say that because I believe in
looking at contrasting respectives, even if I disagree with them,
that they're indeed based on what people think is good
for them and white supremacist control freaks in this country

(52:20):
who want to sustain power, I believe everything they're doing
is in the good. It's right it's just it's justified
in terms of what they think should happen in this world.
But I have two questions. One is, earlier, it was
referenced that Florida was ground zero for so many basically
problematic things. I was wondering if Biden's cabinet or Biden

(52:43):
has addressed Florida and all that is dealing with to
kind of use his position to throw rich in the
injustice norms that are occurring there.

Speaker 5 (52:53):
That's one question.

Speaker 6 (52:54):
The second question is, and it's similar to what I
asked the representative earlier, is the community involved as a
collective against resisting this white supremacist scorched earth approach to
power in Florida? Is it still or is it small
groups of people or has the community become alarmed and

(53:15):
for example, when they attack gillib Who's this is a
Florida phenomena.

Speaker 5 (53:20):
Is the community looking at.

Speaker 6 (53:22):
All of this from a collective perspective or is it
mostly the active, the traditional activist.

Speaker 5 (53:26):
Types who are in the streets. I hope you remember
my first question about Biden.

Speaker 1 (53:34):
Is that, Well, have you answer that? Malik?

Speaker 23 (53:39):
I feel like we do a good job and not
just having the activist industry.

Speaker 26 (53:42):
That's that's why we're here, right We're trying to build
that door of power and people power, and that is
getting the folks that are necessarily educated about the things
that's going on. And I know I haven't got to
your first question. I'm going to actually give that question
to a g But I do think that we are
doing a great of trying to get those that are
not necessarily knowing what is going on. It's actually funny

(54:06):
you you said, you know that should be the governor
of the state right now, Andrew Gillum, And he just
got a non guilty verdict today, So right now we
have to take that information to the streets. And so
I think we do a good job of that in
Dreom Defenders. That is an ultimate goal, and I'll toss
it over.

Speaker 5 (54:20):
To ag.

Speaker 25 (54:24):
Yeah, obviously we are first and foremost invested in building
power amongst people in the community, not amongst other activists
of people in echo chamber. I will say that the
right again has had a generational agenda.

Speaker 1 (54:39):
Of building political power of their own.

Speaker 25 (54:41):
And so when we talk about these voucher programs and
dismantling a public education, we're talking about these immigration policies.
People have been told to turn against one another and
turn against a collective interest, and so we have to
do that education work in community. I think in terms
of Biden, whether or not he has been proactive enough

(55:02):
as a president in Florida, I think is definitely up
for debate. We have seen different parts of the administration
be supportive and fighting back and offering support around combating
some of these policies. But we definitely think that the
federal government has a larger responsibility to intervene and what's
really constitutional policies that are being forwarded. And I think

(55:23):
the way that this legislature has been so aggressive and
just rubber stamping any outrageous policy that the Desientis sort
of administration is forwarding has definitely given a lot of space,
I think to see DJ intervention. And so we're hoping
that we actually can act see you know, more aggressive

(55:44):
action taken by the Biden administration as these policies start
to take effect.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
Right and of course ad that Vice President Kamala Harris
was in Florida within the month or so ago. Take
them to DeSantis on the specific issue of reproductive rights. Lauren,
you get the last question for this segment.

Speaker 27 (56:08):
I'm wondering from the two of you, did you have
you seen any improvement with the Florida Party since of
course they lost big as I'm sure you know last November.

Speaker 9 (56:19):
Do you see any improvement in the local wing of
the party or is it just starting to rebuild? How's
that going.

Speaker 21 (56:28):
I'm gonna be honest with you.

Speaker 25 (56:30):
The state of Florida is six different states, and some
elik might have a different answer that I do. I
think in Central Florida, where I'm at, the party is
in a real rebuilding process. I'm sort of in the
A four corridor part of the state. I think when
we're talking about South Florida and just sort of the collapse,
especially amongst Latino voters on behalf of the party, there's

(56:54):
a long project ahead. And I think when you're looking
at North Florida and maliks to that more, but probably
are a little bit more developed in terms of building
and rebuilding a strategy to win. Obviously, we just had
redistricting happen last year, and so the math has been
reset and the pathway to power looks a lot different.

(57:17):
But it's going to be a long road and one
that we're committed to really being focused on over the
next decade.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
Thanks Yeah, Ashley, I think it's so important that you
talked about that commitment and the fact that it's a
long world because so often we kind of score wins
in terms of our agendas, in terms of every two
years when and the reality is that Republicans play long game,
they cheat when they have to, they bend the rules

(57:45):
and get as democratic voters. So often we're looking for
a win yesterday. So activists and organizers like you are
so critical and keeping us focused on the fact that
we have to stay engaged in between elections, respective of
what the legislative map looks like and what kind of
whens the other side is racking up. So thank you
so much for your dedication. Florida is very lucky to

(58:08):
have you.

Speaker 25 (58:10):
Thank you all so much for having us and beyond
the party, we know we still have to be in
a project of building political power by any means necessary.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
Absolutely, it's not just about democratic of our Republican it's
about black political power in particular. Before you go, how
can folks follow the work that you're doing with the
Dream Defenders.

Speaker 25 (58:31):
Dream Deefenders dot Org is our website at Dream Defenders
is where you can find us on Twitter, stame on Instagram,
We're across multiple social media platforms. We're on TikTok and
so take Dream Defenders into your search engine and it's
going to pull up ways to get involved. But that
primary website is dream Defenders dot org. And we are

(58:55):
ready not just to take on the fight in the
state of Florida, but actually expanding nationally and so coming
to a sitting near you very soon.

Speaker 1 (59:02):
All right, thank you so much, Ashley. We'll be right
back with Mark Roland Martin unfiltered, streaming live on the
Blackstar Network.

Speaker 28 (59:12):
On the next Get Wealthy with me Deborah Owens, America's
wealth coach. Nurses are the backphone of the healthcare industry,
and yet only seven.

Speaker 21 (59:22):
Percent of them are black.

Speaker 28 (59:24):
What's the reason for that low number, Well, a lack
of opportunities and growth in their profession. Joining us on
the next Get Wealthy is Needy Barnanilla. She's gonna be
sharing exactly what nurses need to do and what approach
they need to take to take ownership of their success.

Speaker 7 (59:44):
So the Blackness Collaborative really spawned from a place and
a desire to.

Speaker 3 (59:48):
Create opportunities to uplift.

Speaker 7 (59:50):
Each other, those of us in a profession to also
look and reach back and create and create pipelines and
opportunities for other nurses like us.

Speaker 28 (59:58):
That's right here on Gift Wealthy oh Ly on Black
Star Head.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
On a Next A Balance Life with me, doctor Jackie.
What does it mean to actually have balance in your life?
Why is it important? And how do you get there?
A masterclass on the art of balance. It could change
your life.

Speaker 29 (01:00:18):
Find the harmony of your life? And so what beat
can you maintain at a good pace? What cadence can
keep you running that marathon? Because we know we're going
to have, you know, high levels, we're going to have
low levels. But where can you find that that harmonious paste.

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
That's all next on a Balance Life on a Black
Star Network.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
Hello, everyone is Pierre here.

Speaker 4 (01:00:48):
Hi, I'm Tom, I'm Coco, and I'm.

Speaker 9 (01:00:52):
What's up, y'all?

Speaker 7 (01:00:53):
It's Ryan's Destiny and you're watching Roland Martin I filtered.

Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
We're going to stand. Florida Republicans approved two bills to
ban diversity programs in colleges and expand the quote unquote
don't say gay law. The bills expected to be signed
into law by DeSantis, have sparked criticisms from Democrats and
highlighted the divisive cultural issues dominating the state's legislative session.

(01:01:25):
To boaster his conservative agenda and presidential aspirations, Governor DeSantis
has driven a hardline against diversity programs in higher education,
with the proposed bills banning colleges from using state or
federal funding for diversity, equity and inclusion. According to DeSantis,
such initiatives, sometimes called DEI, are racially divisive and have

(01:01:50):
no place in Florida education system. The bills were passed
by the Republican supermajorities in the House and Senate, what
DeSantis expected to sign them into law soon. These bills
have fueled Florida's already divisive political climate. As the legislative
session ends, the state's lawmakers remain divided over the direction
of Florida's future and the impact of these bills on

(01:02:14):
its citizens. Feels like a broken lequer here, doctor Minago.
But how does it not feel like outright war against
the citizens of Florida. With all of the hell that
Florin DeSantis and his Republican acolytes are ranning down on
anybody who is not white, male and straight.

Speaker 5 (01:02:35):
It'sten closely, so I won't confuse you because I can
talk and ways. It can be very, very layered.

Speaker 6 (01:02:41):
Earlier, I mentioned did Biden come to Ground zero to
get the troops excited about their power and what's in
their hands in the capacity to resist.

Speaker 5 (01:02:52):
I'm aware that Harris, Vice President Harris went there to
talk about the issue that she raised.

Speaker 6 (01:02:58):
But for example, even despite the indictments, Trump is the
leading Republican candidate because he uses his image because it's
iconic and it can influence well. Biden is the posted
child the leader of the Democratic Party. He is the
person who is the leader in the one who everybody

(01:03:20):
sees as the most powerful Democrat in the country.

Speaker 5 (01:03:23):
So it would be strategically powerful.

Speaker 6 (01:03:25):
If he agreed with me that what's happening in Florida
is not a good thing for democracy. But he could
go there and make a statement to fire up people,
to get more people to support the defenders, and could
have them come out into the streets to be more
resistant and loud about this anarchy that's occurring. So I
say that to the Democrats and to Biden.

Speaker 5 (01:03:47):
If he's listening, he.

Speaker 6 (01:03:48):
Probably is that if he really believes that what's happening.

Speaker 5 (01:03:51):
At Ground Zero in Florida is unconstitutional and.

Speaker 6 (01:03:54):
Racist and wrong, that he says so that's a strategy
that will people up. He got into the office during
a democratic process, which means that there's million people, means
of people, including in Florida, who voted for him.

Speaker 5 (01:04:07):
It's time for him to speak to them.

Speaker 6 (01:04:10):
It's time for him to speak to people in Texas,
and time for him to be the president of the
Democratic Party as well as the country and raise people's
ire against this war that's going to continue on us.

Speaker 5 (01:04:23):
Those people have.

Speaker 6 (01:04:24):
A leader, including Trump and others, who are fighting for
them from an iconic perspective, not a passive only congressional
or legislative perspective. But they're coming out personally to say
I don't agree with this everything that's happening in Florida,
including being against the equivalent of CRT critical race theory.
On a local level, the people the Democratic Party can

(01:04:46):
say something about this in ways that are not passive
or quiet or silent and take a stand.

Speaker 5 (01:04:52):
That's part of a good strategy to throw a wrench
in this stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:04:56):
Yeah, I absolutely agree. I mean I think that it's
important that the bully pulpit it is used. I know
that President Biden was in Florida in February. That was
several months ago, so maybe that's not a frequent enough travel.
But I want to go to you, Lauren on this
because you made the point about the media and the
role that they play in giving a microphone normalizing DeSantis

(01:05:21):
or even a Donald Trump and tending to not find
as much excitement in covering people like President Biden, our
Vice President Kamala Harris really taking it to the Democrats.
What's your take on how this whole messaging around Democrats
being strong enough against DeSantis in Florida.

Speaker 8 (01:05:42):
Yeah, the media, you know, to your point there, obviously,
when you're making money through clicks and view counts and
you find that the thing, the person that made you money,
which was Donald Trump, is gone, and I think this
is the dangerous paradigm that we find ourselves. He's gone,
but he may return. And as you can see just
from CNN, the media is not interested in anything other

(01:06:06):
than just like most big you know, corporate entities, making money,
so that I don't know that they're that interested in
saving our democracy per se, even though every time you
look around, you're seeing some saving our democracy form.

Speaker 9 (01:06:18):
But the fact that they're.

Speaker 8 (01:06:19):
So you know, not into Kamala Harris and not even
really into Joe Biden.

Speaker 5 (01:06:24):
I mean, the critical a lot of.

Speaker 8 (01:06:25):
Times is Joe Biden despite all the stats on how
well he's doing on the employment numbers and everything else.
You know, the fact is the media wants Donald Trump
to come back. That's why we're seeing him next week
on That's why there's a town hall with Donald Trump
on CNN.

Speaker 1 (01:06:40):
I mean, give me a break.

Speaker 9 (01:06:40):
It's so obvious what this is.

Speaker 8 (01:06:43):
And DeSantis does not bring that same level of excitement.
You know, he had that foray that he went on
and there was kind of a shrugg of the shoulders
from the donor class. And I think to some extent
the media class, they're looking for somebody. They the media
is looking for somebody that's going to bring the gate,
that's gonna bring the money, it's gonna bring the clicks,
it's gonna.

Speaker 1 (01:07:02):
Bring Okay, I think we lost learn for a second
is racist.

Speaker 9 (01:07:11):
So that's the paradigm we find ourselves in.

Speaker 8 (01:07:16):
And really, until you throw people out of office, you've
got nothing.

Speaker 9 (01:07:19):
And on the local level, in Florida. That's what has
to happen. There are people who have to be thrown
out of office.

Speaker 8 (01:07:23):
That has to be a forward strategy from those actors
on the ground to dismantle who is in charge in
Florida on the local level, and then of course it
goes up from them there. But when you run people
like Charlie crist and he loses by almost twenty points,
I mean, you can't make those types of mistakes.

Speaker 9 (01:07:41):
Over and over again. You just can't.

Speaker 8 (01:07:43):
But Florida to me is you know an example of
what happens when one of the parties really just loses
its grip and loses its control, and then the other
party that's just sort of playing for keeps dominates. And
that's what you're seeing in this moment.

Speaker 9 (01:07:56):
But of course that can change, that can change it
in two or three years. Has got to be some
strategy behind it.

Speaker 8 (01:08:01):
Some really serious, deliberate strategy behind it, and we're I'm
seeing that right now.

Speaker 5 (01:08:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:07):
I mean, doctor Hans, I'm going to get you in
on this. I wrote you two books about him mid terms,
and DeSantis was dishonorably featured in both of them. They
were about how radical Republicans are, and Lauren just mentioned
Charlie christ who was already governor. He served in the House.
He had a pretty robust and I think far more

(01:08:30):
compelling platform. But it doesn't seem like policy and accomplishments
are really winning over Democratic voters in the same way
that these attacks on non white, non heterosexual voters are
winning over Republicans. What's your take on how DeSantis was

(01:08:54):
overwhelmingly successful and being reelected with these kinds of focuses
that he made the interpiece of his agenda, because.

Speaker 7 (01:09:03):
The the central character here is ideology. We're not talking
about policy, because if we were talking about policy, then
a lot of people wouldn't vote against their own interests.
And historically that's just been the case in this country.
When we think about the way that's some.

Speaker 3 (01:09:23):
Hello her, you go ahead.

Speaker 7 (01:09:27):
When you think about the way that some demographics of
women vote, they absolutely vote against their own interest time
after time after time. So we're voting for ideology, you know,
in this instance, and this ideology is wrapped in a mantra,
it's wrapped in an idea, it's wrapped in this this
concept that they're coming for you. They want to take

(01:09:47):
everything away from you. They want to disempower men, They
want to you know, turn all the little boys and
the little girls into lgbt q i A. So all
of the fear tactics around this mythical identity that they
are clinging onto that they have created is driving this.

(01:10:08):
It has absolutely nothing to do with policy. And you know,
I'll even go so far as to say that it
does have its own logic. If you are constantly concerned
with your own demise, if you are constantly concerned that
your own power is waning, you're going to do everything
within the power you still believe yourself to have to

(01:10:29):
make sure that that does not happen. And that, in
and of itself is why this is white supremacy. And
I want to be very clear about you know, when
I say that, I am not saying all white folks.
There's some cool allies out there. Absolutely what I am
saying is when you prescribe to the idea that white
is superior, it must at all costs be in control

(01:10:51):
of all things. That is absolutely white supremacy. And there
are people out there that look like us that also
traffic in those ideas, that also are you know, pushing
this their agenda too, So this thing is layered. And again,
you know, as a Southerner, I have a very kind
of unique understanding of people who think this way. And

(01:11:16):
it's it's concerning because when I think about what had
to happen in the South, you know, all the different
elements lining up in a very particular way for civil
rights to even happen, a thing that people do not contemplate,
you know, like there's a question out there in the
political science sphere, what would have happened if JFK would
have gotten assassinated? Would the civil rights package have passed?

(01:11:40):
If LBJ was not in office? Right It's it's it's
a hard question to contemplate because that was such an
ugly moment in our history. But so many things had
to align perfectly for that to happen. And so when
we're looking at the moving backwards, the descend, you know,
the sending nature of all of this, what things need

(01:12:04):
to align perfectly for this country to get back on
track if we were ever on.

Speaker 3 (01:12:10):
Track in the first place.

Speaker 7 (01:12:11):
Yeah, but the direction that we're heading in right now,
it's nothing good.

Speaker 3 (01:12:15):
And I am worried. I am absolutely worried.

Speaker 1 (01:12:18):
I think for good reason. To Lauren's earlier point, our
best bet might be the fact that the media isn't
particularly enthused with the Dysantis. He has zero charm, no charisma.
He's very awkward, and so I don't think that he's
going to capture the hearts in the same way that

(01:12:39):
unfortunately Donald Trump has. So that might actually be the
best thing the rest of us, people who are saying
have working for us, because he, in my view, is
a lot more dangerous than Trump, because he's actually competent
and he's a lot more craven. So we're going to
keep an eye on what's happening with Florida and DeSantis.
Will have more Roland Martin and filtered stream live on

(01:13:00):
the Blackstar Network after the break.

Speaker 8 (01:13:05):
Up.

Speaker 10 (01:13:05):
Next on the Frequency with Me de Barnes, our special
guest Alicia Garza, one of the founders of the Black
Lives Matter movement.

Speaker 11 (01:13:13):
We're going to discuss her new books.

Speaker 12 (01:13:14):
The Purpose of Power, How we come together when we
fall apart.

Speaker 13 (01:13:18):
than we did, right.

Speaker 3 (01:13:28):
Right, everybody blocks towards what they said.

Speaker 1 (01:13:31):
Even though it was your idea.

Speaker 12 (01:13:32):
Right here on the frequency on the Blackstar Network.

Speaker 28 (01:13:40):
On the next Get Wealthy with me Deborah Owens, America's
wealth coach. Nurses are the backbone of the healthcare industry,
and yet only seven.

Speaker 21 (01:13:50):
Percent of them are black.

Speaker 28 (01:13:52):
What's the reason for that low number, Well, a lack
of opportunities and growth in their profession.

Speaker 5 (01:14:00):
Us.

Speaker 28 (01:14:00):
On the next Get Wealthy is Needy Barnanilli. She's gonna
be sharing exactly what nurses need to do and what
approach they need to take to take ownership of their success.

Speaker 7 (01:14:12):
So the blacknurs Collaborative really spawned from a place and
a desire to create opportunities to uplift each other, those
of us in a profession to also look and reach
back and pit and create pipelines and opportunities for other
nurses like us.

Speaker 28 (01:14:26):
That's right here on Get Wealthy only on Black Star.

Speaker 5 (01:14:30):
Him everybody Him, Hi.

Speaker 8 (01:14:37):
My name is Brisia Webb, and you're watching Roland Martin
Unfiltered and well, I like a nice filter usually.

Speaker 2 (01:14:45):
But we can be unfiltered.

Speaker 1 (01:14:51):
A new report by Pro Publica allegis Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas has deeper financial ties with Republican donor Harlan
Crow than previously known. According to the report, Crowe paid
for the private school tuition of Thomas's grandnephew, Mark Martin,
who Thomas claimed was his son. The report claims that

(01:15:12):
in two thousand and nine, Crow paid sixty two hundred
dollars monthly tuition for Martin's attendance at Hidden Lake Academy,
citing a bank statement and an interview with a former
administrator at the school. Crow's office has denied any wrongdoing,
stating that the donations were made solely from personal funds
and were meant to support at risk youth through schooling.

(01:15:35):
The report has been seized upon by Democrats pushing for
greater oversight and a formal code of conduct for the
Supreme Court. However, any legislative efforts to implement such a
code will likely face opposition from Republicans, who defended Thomas
during a recent judiciary hearing. The justices have also resisted
proposals for independent oversight and mandatory compliance with ethics rules,

(01:16:00):
instead pledging voluntary adherence to a general code of conduct.
All right, y'all, Clarence Thomas is the gift that keeps
on not giving, Doctor Vernago. I'm gonna start with you
because this is such a juxtaposition between how all of
these resources were devoted to prosecute the now acquitted slash

(01:16:23):
mischild Mayor Gillham, and yet it's a big shoulder shrug.
Obviously Clarence Thomas. Justice Thomas doesn't have to adhere to
any conducts Code of Conducts, but it's such a huge
difference in the way that these two black men are
being treated, and it's looking kind of like Republican and

(01:16:43):
Democrat to me. What's your take?

Speaker 6 (01:16:47):
My take is that this redundant, systematic perspective and activity
is boring.

Speaker 5 (01:16:53):
That's my perspective. They're doing what they do.

Speaker 6 (01:16:57):
Yeah, someone someone earlier said that people are supporting I
think the sisters said that people are going.

Speaker 5 (01:17:03):
Against their own interests.

Speaker 6 (01:17:05):
Well, this billionaire was supporting his own interests by underscoring
the power and the resources of Clarence Thomas.

Speaker 5 (01:17:15):
They're just doing They're just doing what they do. I mean,
what's next is how I look at it.

Speaker 6 (01:17:19):
But I want to say, and but I want to say,
I hope it doesn't sound off topic, is that I
don't agree that people are voting against their own interest.
I think people will have multiple interest. I think the
women that voted for Donald Trump, even though he was
grabbing body parts which remain unnamed, remain nameless, were supporting
white power because that's their interest. I don't fully agree

(01:17:42):
with Burke when you mentioned that CNN is just take
chasing dollars.

Speaker 5 (01:17:47):
I think that's true.

Speaker 6 (01:17:49):
But CNN is chasing dollars that are also keeping white
power in place and making decisions including bringing on Barkley
and these other people that they now have as they're
token black people to perpetuate a certain a certain white
supremacist or a certain apologetic for white.

Speaker 5 (01:18:06):
Supremacists narrative and all. It all goes back to different
ways of keeping white folks in power.

Speaker 6 (01:18:12):
And that's what this being there was doing when they
supported Clarence Thomas. This this issue is going to go away,
and we're gonna be talking about something else because nothing's
gonna happen.

Speaker 5 (01:18:22):
To Clarence Thomas. Oh well, we know that I'm unlike Gillam.
He is steeped in whiteness, and his lifestyle is steep
in whiteness, and he affirms through his behavior and his
legislative decisions or his white his supreme courteous decisions, white
supportive legislation. So he's he's his back is covered. Gilliam's

(01:18:43):
was not right, Lauren.

Speaker 1 (01:18:46):
Doctor Minago called out his disagreement with your statement. Do
you want to respond to that?

Speaker 22 (01:18:52):
Uh?

Speaker 8 (01:18:53):
No, I mean it's all about money all the time,
all about money all the time. You know, Uh, you
saw it the first time Trump showed up. I mean,
there's really nothing to see here. It's it's it's obvious
that what the media does has to do with dollars.
That's why I was really surprised that actually to see
Fox let Tucker Carlson walk out the door because he

(01:19:14):
was bringing money, and so that was a surprising moment.

Speaker 9 (01:19:17):
It couldn't have been because of what they've cited. But
the point is that is not just about money. That's
an example that is not just about money.

Speaker 6 (01:19:25):
I mean, I agree with what you're saying, Lauren, that
money is in there, but the narrative and the deduction
of white people needing to be in power it's there too.
I mean they don't have I mean, you know what
rollers have been on the show and.

Speaker 5 (01:19:38):
White the guy with a.

Speaker 6 (01:19:41):
Rowland come on now, they want whiteness to be the
blanket of consciousness for the United States of America too
at the Caucasian News Network at CNN.

Speaker 1 (01:19:48):
But I mean to be fair, and I'll let Lauren
jump back in because you you guys are talking back
and forth. If that is the case. Tucker Carlson was
literally the poster boy for white nationalism and white and
premier z at Fox News. So I do tend to
agree with Lauren's position because ultimately, you know, what Charco
Carlson ultimately ended up being is a liability because of

(01:20:13):
the massive settlement that they had to pay out and
they were facing even more They still are facing more
cases against them.

Speaker 5 (01:20:22):
So I mean, we can go for it and there'll
be a comment. They have a conveyor bill.

Speaker 1 (01:20:30):
That's the thing. Yeah, there's definitely a longer pipeline of
white supremacists, white nationalists willing to get on TV and
espouse that as opposed to Martin unfilter that you get
to have our Roland Martin that you get to have
on CNN. Okay, Lauren, back to you, and then I'm
going to get doctor.

Speaker 5 (01:20:46):
Hanson on this.

Speaker 8 (01:20:46):
I mean, but to go back to what you were
saying rec about the whole Clarence Thomas situation.

Speaker 9 (01:20:52):
Uh, you know, what you're seeing is a political party
with no shame.

Speaker 8 (01:20:56):
They'll do anything to win, right, And the Democrats have
not reached that point where they'll do everything and anything
to win.

Speaker 9 (01:21:02):
It's still holding on to some of the old fashioned politics,
the old fashioned rules.

Speaker 5 (01:21:06):
Right.

Speaker 8 (01:21:06):
So you know, you have not only a political party
in the Republican Party will do anything to win with
absolutely no shame and no apologies. But they they are actually,
you know, they're to a point really where they just
don't they have no rules, They have no internal rules
or episodic rules.

Speaker 9 (01:21:23):
They just do what they want. And they have a
media echo chamber that they organize. Really to me, right
after Barack Obama showed up, it was the Breitbart folks,
it was you know, Tucker Carlson owning Daily Caller.

Speaker 8 (01:21:35):
They have that eco system, and that that right wing
ecosystem pushes the narrative really hard and they all push together.

Speaker 9 (01:21:42):
The Democrats don't do that. And frankly, the Democrats have
a bigger umbrella of people that they have to please.

Speaker 1 (01:21:50):
Right.

Speaker 9 (01:21:50):
That's a tricky that's a tricky thing to take care
of right, you've got the.

Speaker 8 (01:21:55):
Big you've got to please all these constituencies. The Republicans
don't have that problem and all pushing in the same direction.
That is why Clarence Thomas can find himself in this
laughable situation where, you know, to Roy Wood's point on
Saturday Night, we have.

Speaker 9 (01:22:11):
A person that owns a Supreme Court justice.

Speaker 1 (01:22:13):
So you know what I mean, this is just what
this is.

Speaker 9 (01:22:15):
This billionaire owns Clarence Thomas, and nobody's gonna do anything
about it.

Speaker 8 (01:22:19):
The Democrats aren't going to push hard enough. They're not
going to play by a set of rules that's really
going to make something quote happen. And so when you
do that up against people who are going to make
something happen, no matter what, you're going to lose.

Speaker 5 (01:22:31):
It's as simple as that.

Speaker 8 (01:22:32):
It comes down to who wants it more a lot
of times in life, and that's what we're seeing politics.

Speaker 1 (01:22:37):
Well, to be fair, somebody owns Gorsons too, because he's
gotten a windfall. Brag Havana. All of them got something
going on. It's just Clarence Thomas is the easiest target
and for good reason. Okay, doctor Hans, I'm going to
rely on you to be the nonsenical one, O my
gus and tell us if you think that we shouldn't

(01:22:59):
be sure, okay this off. What's your take on this
Clarence Thomas situation?

Speaker 7 (01:23:06):
It is, well, you know, I'll go back to my
earlier statement about the doomsday clock. I'm not saying that
to be histrionic, but really democracy is like teetering on
the brink right now. And you know, one of the
things that's interesting when you belong to a populist party
and pretty much right now, this version of republicanism is

(01:23:27):
what we are looking at.

Speaker 3 (01:23:28):
The one thing that you do not need is a coalition.

Speaker 7 (01:23:31):
The only thing that you need are your followers, are
your fans, right, your acolytes.

Speaker 3 (01:23:37):
That's the only thing that you need.

Speaker 7 (01:23:39):
And the way that a lot of these the way
that the judicial system was maneuvered over the past few years,
we are in a situation where that populist group of
people are the people who can decide the fate of
a Clarence Thomas. Now, you know, as an appointee myself

(01:24:00):
got to say, it's very disappointing to constantly read which
has been great journalism by Pro Publica, by the way
shout out to real journalists though, right, that all of
these things are happening and it's just being rushed away
by Oh, you know, it was just we're friends, we're buddies.

Speaker 20 (01:24:18):
You know.

Speaker 7 (01:24:18):
It's it's being it's so cavalier when I think about
other people, you know, who aren't lifelong appointees like justices are.
But when I think about other types of appointments, you know,
you you're going to get in some trouble here for
a fraction of the things. You know, even the hint
of impropriety. Propriety is you know, damaging. So I think

(01:24:42):
for the system for people to believe in it, for people,
for for people to buy into it, for you to
think that, you know, I'm going to act in a
certain way because if I don't, there's a level of punishment.
But if you if there's no accountability for anything, and
what is that buy in?

Speaker 3 (01:25:01):
What is that buy in? For democracy? What is that
buy in for you know? I want to do my
duty and and and work for my country and all
these different things.

Speaker 7 (01:25:12):
So this this, this is a crisis. And in my
personal opinion, because when you sign up for you know,
to for any sort of duty, for for for your
for your country. You're you're signing up because you believe
and you know some of the values that America says
that it stands for. So right now, this is a
true test. This is a true test about who we

(01:25:34):
want to be. And democracy is absolutely wrapped up in this,
because if Clarence Thomas gets away with with this, I
don't know where we stand. And I'll just say one
last thing. You know, over the years when I've taught
an American political science class, uh policy, uh policy, law

(01:25:55):
and politics, I cannot tell you how many students over
the years, even before all of this stuff with Clarence
Thomas and taking away women's rights, would always ask, well,
how is the court impartial when we already know their
ideological leanings? And that is not the way law is
supposed to function. Right, So, that in and of itself

(01:26:17):
has always been hanging over the Court's head in terms
of credibility. But where we are right now, the credibility
of the court is literally.

Speaker 3 (01:26:26):
In the ground. So what are we going to do
about that?

Speaker 7 (01:26:29):
If we are out there talking about democracy, selling democracy,
trying to convince other countries that.

Speaker 3 (01:26:34):
This is the way to go.

Speaker 7 (01:26:36):
This situation, right, here is a test and we need
to pass it, and right now I'm not too sure.

Speaker 1 (01:26:43):
Yeah, I think we're going to fail this. Epically, I
think we lost the Supreme Court when Hillary Clinton did
not win the electoral College, because the bottom line is
who gone Jack and bou. The Senate is completely out
of the question to get the sixty votes. This is
not on the table in terms of spanding the Supreme Court.
So it looks like we're stuck with a really messed

(01:27:04):
up situation. We'll be right back with more Roland Martin
and filtered streaming live on the Blackstar Network.

Speaker 17 (01:27:14):
That was a pivotal, pivotal time and I literally Kevin
Kevin Hart telling me that.

Speaker 14 (01:27:21):
He's like, man, what you doing?

Speaker 15 (01:27:23):
Man?

Speaker 5 (01:27:23):
You got to stay on stage.

Speaker 17 (01:27:24):
And I was like, yeah, man, I'm like, you know,
I'm thinking there, I'm good.

Speaker 14 (01:27:29):
And he was absolutely right.

Speaker 18 (01:27:31):
But what show was jal at that?

Speaker 5 (01:27:32):
This was one on one got during that time, and
I was show you so.

Speaker 19 (01:27:36):
You're doing one on one doing great, You're making money.

Speaker 23 (01:27:40):
You're like, I'm like, I don't need to leave.

Speaker 14 (01:27:42):
I only need from you know, Wednesday, Thursday to Sunday.
You know, I just didn't want to do that.

Speaker 17 (01:27:46):
You know, it's just like I'm gonna stay here, or
I didn't want to finish work Friday, fly out, go
do a gig Saturday Sunday.

Speaker 5 (01:27:53):
I was like, I don't have to do that, and
I lost a little bit of that hungry that I had.

Speaker 16 (01:27:58):
In New York.

Speaker 5 (01:27:59):
I would hit all the running around.

Speaker 17 (01:28:01):
You know, sometimes me and Chappelle or me and this
one or that one. We go to the comedy cellar
one in the morning, and I mean that was our
life and we loved it.

Speaker 16 (01:28:11):
You know, you get two shows in Manhattan, go to Brooklyn,
leave Brooklyn, go to Queen's, go to Jersey, and I
kind of.

Speaker 14 (01:28:17):
Just I got complacent.

Speaker 5 (01:28:19):
But I was like, I got this money, I'm good.
I need to go.

Speaker 17 (01:28:22):
I don't need to go chase that because that money
wasn't at the same level that I was making. But
what I was missing was that training.

Speaker 19 (01:28:30):
Yes, was that was that And it wasn't the money.

Speaker 17 (01:28:33):
It was the money, you know, it was that.

Speaker 5 (01:28:35):
That's what I needed.

Speaker 10 (01:28:49):
Up Connect on the frequency with me De Barnes our
special guest Alicia Garza, one of the founders of the
Black Lives Matter movement.

Speaker 11 (01:28:56):
We're going to discuss her new book.

Speaker 12 (01:28:58):
fall apart.

Speaker 13 (01:29:01):
than we did, right.

Speaker 3 (01:29:12):
Right, everybody walks towards what they said, even.

Speaker 12 (01:29:15):
Though it was your idea right here from the frequency
from the Blackstar Network.

Speaker 5 (01:29:21):
So you want me to do something crazy, but I
don't know what to do it. I'd rather to just
sit here.

Speaker 8 (01:29:29):
Hi, this is Sheryl Lee Ralph, and you are watching
Roland Martin unfiltered.

Speaker 1 (01:29:34):
I mean, could it be any other way?

Speaker 21 (01:29:35):
Really?

Speaker 1 (01:29:36):
It's Roland Martin. Kenner Lismore disappeared from his Fort Pierce,

(01:29:58):
Florida home on April second, twenty twenty three. The fifteen
year old is six feet tall, weighs one hundred and
fifty five pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone
with information about Kennert Lismore should call the Fort Pierce,
Florida Police Department at seven seven to two four six
one three eight two zero. Here are a couple of

(01:30:21):
stories that we're following today. The Memphis, Tennessee District attorney
revealed Tyree Nichols cause of death to his family. According
to the Medical Examiner's medical autopsy report, Tyree died of
brain injuries from blunt force trauma. First first responders told
nicholls mother that her son was drunk and high. The

(01:30:43):
reports contradict that the Medical Examiner's findings show that Tyree's
blood alcohol level was zero point zero four to nine,
less than the legal limit to drive. Nichols died three
days after officers beat him during a Gen Ray seventh
traffic stop. Footage of the altercation shows police striking Nichols repeatedly.

(01:31:07):
Seven Memphis Police Department officers have been fired for the
roles and the arrests. Five of them have been charged
with second degree murder in connection with Nichols's death. A
former Alabama sheriff's deputy pleaded guilty in federal court to
sexually assaulting a woman while he was on duty more
than three years ago. Joshua Davidson, a former deputy with

(01:31:30):
the Dallas County Sheriff's Office, confessed to placing the victim
in custody and then driving her down a dark road
to a desolate area, where the woman performed oral sex
on him against her will. Prosecutors say the woman reported
the assault immediately and said she was scared that Davidson
would shoot her if she did. She didn't if she

(01:31:50):
did what he said, Davidson faces life in prison. His
sentencing is scheduled to be sentenced August twenty fifth. The
man who had Metro Atlanta on lockdown Wednesday is behind
bars facing multiple charges. Twenty four year old Dion Patterson
is charged with murder and four accounts of aggravated assault

(01:32:13):
police day. Patterson opened fire Wednesday at Northside Hospital Medical Midtown,
where his mother had taken him for an appointment. He
had fled the scene, causing an eight long search eight
hour long search over several Metro counties before being captured.
Patterson's mother told the Associated Press the former coastguardsman had

(01:32:35):
some mental instability going on from medication he got from
the Veterans' Affairs Health System and began taking Friday. She
said her son wanted altavan to deal with anxiety depression,
but the VA refused to give it to him, saying
he would be the drug would be too addicting. His

(01:32:56):
mother has apologized for her son's actions. Saint Pierre, as
CDC worker was killed. Lisa Glenn, Georgette Whitlow, Jazzmine Daniel
and Alicia Hollinger were critically injured. Well, that is a
lot of heaviness to cover. I will leave it to

(01:33:18):
you all to decide which story in particular you want
to start off commenting with. I do find it heartbreaking
and also interesting that we're this week we have two
stories where we have former veterans, our veterans, i should
say that are talking about mental health issues. And we've

(01:33:41):
see we've seen it manifest differently. We saw it with
Jordan Neely on the subway with he was you know, killed,
it was ruled a homicide by a former marine. And
now we see this with Dion Patterson in Atlanta. Absolutely
important on both sides. But I do wonder if there
is something to examine there in terms about his mother's

(01:34:05):
claim of mental health. Doctor Managa's starting with you, what's
your take on that.

Speaker 6 (01:34:12):
Well, clearly the young man was dealing with mental health
challenges and that's a problem in this country. As a
matter of fact, if you look at this statistically, it's
a growing problem suicide, homicide.

Speaker 5 (01:34:25):
All the sides, and depression art booming in this country.

Speaker 6 (01:34:30):
Some of that was exacerbated by the COVID nineteen pandemic,
but not only is mental health, which has been a
problem all of my career, which is based around addressing
mental health. I remember being on a channel in thirty
years ago with the psychologist who was the consultant to
the Cosmy show whose name escapes me, who sung I
believe his name is Alsams who sant. We talked about

(01:34:51):
mental illness, particularly among black people on a panel thirty
years ago, because he had a book out about the
disapportionate problem of mental illness and suicide among black people.
But the other underlying issue that's going on here is
the problem of the lack of gun control or or
the lack of legislation or systems in place to prevent
the as I predicted on this very show some years ago,

(01:35:15):
problem of growing murders by guns in this country. It's
going to get worse, so we need to all be
careful and watch our surroundings. But getting back, and this
is my analysis, getting back to the issue of white
supremacy control. One of the reasons why we may never
see a effective gun control policy in this country is
because white folks who are concerned about backlash and who

(01:35:37):
are concerned about black power and losing their numbers in
terms of control, want to be able to defend themselves
in case something goes down. And no matter how many
people who are murdered, including children, and on massive levels,
they're resistant to not having control of their guns.

Speaker 5 (01:35:52):
It's my perspective that that phenomena is at.

Speaker 6 (01:35:55):
The core of why despite all this insanity that's occurring
at the hands of guns, there's been no legislation or
serious resistance to stop to that occurring.

Speaker 5 (01:36:07):
In stopping that phenomena. Yeah, this issue is relevant to
mental health and.

Speaker 6 (01:36:11):
An ongoing example of the problem of a lack of
gun control and relevant policy in this country.

Speaker 1 (01:36:16):
Right and Georgia, Brian Kim has made it easier to
access guns. We don't know, at least I haven't seen
reporting on whether his guns were legally purchased or anything
of that nature. But this is why we have red
flag laws, or that's why we have people advocating for
red flag laws for background checks. And it's questionable if

(01:36:37):
you have a history of, you know, mental health struggles,
whether you should have a gun or not. That was
a big issue in the Senate race down there with
hirsch Walker admitting to having mental issues and having experiences
with guns. Nola, I'm going to open up the floor.
I don't want to frame a question to you anything
in particular you want to comment about from these three stories,

(01:37:02):
like you.

Speaker 3 (01:37:02):
Said, you know, they're all heavy, right, and.

Speaker 7 (01:37:06):
Reading yet another story about police violence and a young
black man losing his life that just does something to you.

Speaker 3 (01:37:15):
It makes you feel.

Speaker 7 (01:37:19):
It just makes you feel exhausted in another way. And
I think, you know, because we are having these conversations
around mental health, and I do believe this is mental
health month if.

Speaker 1 (01:37:29):
Yeah, actually it is.

Speaker 3 (01:37:32):
I completely agree with.

Speaker 7 (01:37:36):
These issues are exacerbated by COVID and quarantine in a
way that we are not talking about.

Speaker 3 (01:37:42):
There is something going on.

Speaker 7 (01:37:44):
You know, we've always we've in this country, we've suffered
from gun violence for quite some time, for quite some
time since quarantine. The level of violence, the level of
mental illness that is peaking, it seems extraordinary. And I
think this is a wider conversation about why folks are

(01:38:04):
resulting to such extreme ends, right and on a daily,
nearly hourly like what what what appeals to a person
about massive violence.

Speaker 3 (01:38:17):
And the way that I think about this is.

Speaker 7 (01:38:22):
I think about this along with terrorism and why terrorists
decide to do the things that they do, and typically
it's for some sort of attention. So if that is
the case, if we can apply that here, if we
can apply that logic here, what attention are these people seeking?
You know when when they commit these these massive, these

(01:38:47):
massive violent attacks. Now in our country, if you look
a particular way, you're going to be given the benefit
of the doubt, and that analysis is going to try
to get to, you know, why this person decided to
do what they did. But when you're black, we don't
often have the benefit of the doubt for people to say, Okay,
what were the triggers here?

Speaker 3 (01:39:05):
What were the causes here?

Speaker 7 (01:39:07):
But I think we are definitely in a in a
crisis and we need to figure out why are people
resorting to this tactic, what attention are they needing, and
how can we begin to address this Because my suspicion
is the summer is going to be even more violent
that my suspension, and you know, because we are stranglehold

(01:39:29):
by the n NRA and people who support the NRA,
and people have access to guns. I am very worried
about very basic things. You know, there are tons of
concerts that are happening, tons of people gathering in public locations,
and inflation, all these different things that pile on to
this mental health. So I'm very curious about what is

(01:39:52):
the attention that they are seeking and the triggers, you know,
are are they even being are they visiting places this
is you know in the internet that are kind of
radicalizing people? Like what is drawing people to do this?
Almost as if it's romantic in a kind of dark sense,
you know what I mean? Like, Yeah, what are the
triggers here?

Speaker 3 (01:40:13):
So that's my that's my thinking around all of this.
What's driving people to do this?

Speaker 1 (01:40:19):
I don't know, but I wish they would leave the
rest of us out of it, because I think it's
insane to go to work or to go to a
doctor's appointment and somebody decides to have an episode and
now for women are dead. And we don't know if
that was targeted because they were women and that's why
he shot them, or if they it was just an opportunity.

(01:40:41):
He just got whoever he saw first. But either way,
it's exceedingly appalling and nothing is going to happen in Georgia,
we know, because there's no appetite for any more gun control.
They're just like there hasn't been in Tennessee despite the shootings.
But there was one thing in particular about the Tyrene

(01:41:03):
Nickels story that bothered me was the way that the
cops lied to the family and said that he was
drunk and high. We saw the same thing happen with
Ahmad Aubrey, where his family was told that he was
breaking into the house. And so we consistently see that

(01:41:26):
it's not enough for these people to summarily execute black
people for traffic stops, but they have to humiliate them
and to impugne their character, even though eventually it's going
to come out on tape, whether it's body camera footage
or maybe some Samaritans footage. And so that's just so

(01:41:48):
disturbing that they had to further debase him after leaving
him on the scene unattended taking pictures allegedly one of
the cops was reportedly doing. It's just egregiously tragic.

Speaker 5 (01:42:04):
So it's also a cliche. Yeah, it's also a cliche.
I mean, that's the way they do it. That's the
way they did it.

Speaker 6 (01:42:10):
In the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, two thousand to the twenties.
This is a redundant cliche. This is part of the playbook,
is what you do? Would you kill a little as
a Lauren?

Speaker 8 (01:42:24):
More than it's a little bit more of a redundant cliche.
The Atlantic case, obviously was mental illness. The gentleman on
the subway in New.

Speaker 1 (01:42:31):
York, Laura, can you hold that thought? We've got to
take a break. We'll come right back straight to here,
be right back all right.

Speaker 24 (01:42:42):
Next on the Black Table with me Greg called we
look at one of the most influential and permanent Black
Americans of the twentieth century. His work literally changed the work.
Among other things, he played a major role in creating
the United Nations. He was the first African American and
first person of color to win the Nobel Peace Prize,

(01:43:04):
and yet today he is hardly a household make.

Speaker 5 (01:43:07):
We're talking, of course, about Ralph J. Bunch.

Speaker 24 (01:43:11):
A new book refers to him as the absolutely indispensable.

Speaker 15 (01:43:15):
Made his lifelong interest and passion in racial justice, specifically
in the form of colonialism, and he saw his work
as an activist an advocate for the black community. Here
in the United States as just the other side of
the coin of his work trying to roll back European

(01:43:37):
Empire and Africa.

Speaker 24 (01:43:38):
Author cal Rastilla will join us to share his incredible story.

Speaker 5 (01:43:44):
That's on the next Black Table here on the Black
Star Network.

Speaker 10 (01:43:49):
Up next under Frequency with me de Barnes our special
guest Alicia Garza, one of the founders of the Black
Lives Matter movement. We're going to discuss her new book,
fall apart?

Speaker 13 (01:44:01):
Do you live in a world where we have to navigate?
than we did, right right, everybody walks towards what they said,
even though it was your idea.

Speaker 12 (01:44:16):
Right here from the Frequency on the Black Star Network.

Speaker 5 (01:44:24):
Black TV does matter, dang it.

Speaker 23 (01:44:28):
Hey, what's up, y'adish?

Speaker 20 (01:44:29):
Your boy Jacob Latimore and you're not watching Roland Martin
right now?

Speaker 28 (01:44:38):
Lauren.

Speaker 1 (01:44:38):
I had to cutch you a y before the break,
but I want to bring you back in to finish
your cot.

Speaker 9 (01:44:44):
Thanks bech, thank you.

Speaker 8 (01:44:45):
H Yeah, I was just going to say that, you know, obviously,
the situation Atlanta was obviously mental illness. Akhmed Aubrey and
Jordan Neely and all of these other things that we've
been talking about. Tyrene Nichols, Tye Nickl was beaten to
death right lease, as the paramedics looked on and did
absolutely nothing. This really crazy situation with Jordan Neely on

(01:45:09):
the subway. The level of the lack of compassion around
that is just really stunning and really embarrassing. But you know,
when we take this all as a full picture, over
the last like maybe ten years or so, maybe less
than ten years, we've been watching now you know, black
male after black mail, after black male getting murdered on
video now for a while, Yeah, Walter Scott getting shot

(01:45:32):
in the back five times, and Eric Garner getting choked
to death, you know, and the Orlando Castile, all of this.

Speaker 9 (01:45:39):
If it was any other group of people in American society,
I think there'd be a little bit more of a reaction.

Speaker 8 (01:45:46):
Now, I'm not saying that, you know, black women haven't
been killed and other people haven't been killed, but that
particular group, black men, we are seeing this on video.

Speaker 9 (01:45:54):
We're seeing people get murdered on video.

Speaker 8 (01:45:57):
And you know, when Filando castile put the face book
live on of really himself being killed. This type of
thing should not be seen as normal, the idea that
a guy that's homeless is getting choked out on the
New York City subway and the freaking governor and the
mayor have no reaction to that other than to be like, oh, well,
you know, mental illness whatever, New York Times, mental illness.

(01:46:21):
Because nobody wants to deal with the fact that this
shouldn't happen in a civilized society.

Speaker 9 (01:46:27):
What is everybody doing. I mean, I'm from New York.
You know, I've been on Soviet a trillion times. And
this idea that everybody's just sort of standing around while
a guy gets choked to death because you know, well
he's homeless, so no big deal. So I don't know
where our compassion is or where our humanity is.

Speaker 8 (01:46:44):
But something is wrong here. We are spiraling in a
way that I think is just not normal.

Speaker 9 (01:46:50):
And I know that part of it is the advent
of video and social media and the fact that we
see these things.

Speaker 8 (01:46:55):
Before the cell phone, we didn't see a lot of
these police shootings. We heard about them. Lewis, of course,
referred to police brutality at the March on Washington. Yeah,
you know, Malcolm X talked about police brutality all the time,
you know, so we knew that it was going on,
but to see it, to see people getting murdered on
video is a thing, and we shouldn't be okay with
any of this.

Speaker 1 (01:47:15):
We shouldn't be I whoheartedly agree with you.

Speaker 5 (01:47:20):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (01:47:20):
I'm just let me get this point and then I'll
go write to you. I do agree with you, because
when it comes to Jordan Neeley in particular, the choke
hold part was something that we as black people have
been saying we want to get outlawed as part of
the Justice in Policing George Floyd Justice and Policing Act,
and there's been rightful dissatisfaction with the fact that that

(01:47:42):
hasn't passed. And then we see a video of another
black man, this time not by a cop, being executed
essentially through the same kind of choke hold that we
don't want to have police be allowed to do under
any circumstances. And there's a lot more justification around this

(01:48:02):
because he was screaming, because people may have been scared,
because I've heard that crime is up and it's been
scary lately on the subway. But a human being who
is clearly distressed about being thirsty, about being hungry, and
nobody seems to react in a way of trying to
offer any kind of aid in that way, offer a

(01:48:24):
bottle of water to see if that dsclays. It just
goes right to violence against this person. And we definitely
are lacking an empathy chip in our society.

Speaker 8 (01:48:36):
You see, your point about crime is absolutely correct. I
get it, you know, and obviously somebody who's the daughter
of a cop in New York, I get. I totally
understand what you're saying. But when I you know, we
saw the George Floyd thing. We're talking about, watching a
guy begging for his life. Yeah for some yes twenty
you know, counterfeit nonsense that somebody freaking called about, and

(01:48:57):
you know it's another black male other to me, these
things are forms of lynching. Yeah great, And this history
repeats itself, and now we're seeing it on video. There's
nothing slowing it down. Nobody's saying, Okay, wow, we're seeing
it on video now, so I guess we should start
stop doing it. No, we're just seeing it on video,
and now everybody's just watching people get murdered and choked out.

Speaker 9 (01:49:19):
And we're acting like this is normal, and it's sure
as hell isn't right. It's a it's a wild thing
to think about, you.

Speaker 1 (01:49:26):
Know, doctor Brinago, you wanted to jump in there.

Speaker 5 (01:49:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:49:29):
I want to make clear when I what I was
referring to when I said this is a cliche. What
I was referring to was cops lying about what happened.

Speaker 5 (01:49:38):
That's a cliche.

Speaker 6 (01:49:40):
So I want to be real clear because I would
never want to normalize or dismiss the horror of black
men being murdered, which is a normalist culture frankly, as
a cliche, because there's too much humanity to put that
in the category of cliche. I was talking about the
fact that cops would lie about put putting down. I

(01:50:00):
used to work in law enforcement. I used to wear
shares deputy shares how Fit in East Los Aandle's in California,
and I saw young black men be this disfigured murder
named on a weekly basis, sometimes all day, every day
in a week. I was one of these people that
back in the day who were billed against police brutality

(01:50:20):
and was dismissed because no one really cared.

Speaker 5 (01:50:23):
I was also alive and well when the first main.

Speaker 6 (01:50:26):
Videotape attack came on television, which was Rodney King. Yeah,
and they thought and people acted, including in La acted
like that was Oh my god. That's a cliche in
terms of a normal thing that happens to black men
all the time and a lot of That's why I
made the contrast earlier between Gillham and Trump in terms

(01:50:47):
of what they looked like, though both of them have
been indicted. Yeah, the black man is more dismissible, more dehumanizing,
but not just among people who are not black, but
among black people too now because we're the fishing and
stuff is wrong with us naturally, but we're trained to
be anti black as well. Somebody used the term earlier

(01:51:07):
that Clarence Thomas was owned. Claireence Thomas has no problem
being owned by white people because he has such a
distaste for black people.

Speaker 5 (01:51:14):
We have worked to do among black people to teach
us to unlearn what I call.

Speaker 6 (01:51:19):
The anti black trauma trans that were in as a
as a people that makes us go into a default
short circuit when it comes to successfully effectively defending black life.

Speaker 5 (01:51:29):
In this country.

Speaker 1 (01:51:31):
Oh, I agree.

Speaker 6 (01:51:33):
We've been talking about public brutality forever. When I was
a baby and I was looking at the police, at
the Black panthers, that was what motivated them to come
into being, was people being murdered by the cops. And
there was a guy named Gates, Darryl Gates, who used
to be the chief of police for LAPD, who was
murving Black people left and right, and publicly said that
it's because.

Speaker 5 (01:51:53):
We're not normal, which is why we were kid then
we went on about our business.

Speaker 6 (01:51:57):
I'll close by reiterating that to be more focused on
waking up black people from what I call the trauma
trans because it's that trauma trans that's getting worse that's
making us go crazy instead of goal effective.

Speaker 5 (01:52:11):
Someone also said that they believe it's at tension getting.

Speaker 6 (01:52:15):
I think it's implosion based on the dismissiveness of people's
capacity to have a critical analysis.

Speaker 5 (01:52:23):
People are being dumbed down by the Internet. People are
being dumbed down.

Speaker 6 (01:52:26):
By people becoming celebrities based on how many hits they
get or whatever. But common sense and intelligence is not
really supported and some people are just going crazy and
going off because they're imploding based on a lack of
space to express what's going what's really going on with
them in a society where the Republican Party in particular,
it's constantly repressing people's common sense, and a Democratic party

(01:52:49):
is complacent enough to look like they're co signing by
the lack of action against it. And I'm gonna say
one more time that the President United States, who's Biden,
can step up and and explicitly resist some of these
things and get some momentum going against him, because he
is indeed the president of the United States of this country.
And I haven't seen enough of that. Sitting Miss Harry

(01:53:10):
is the same thing is sitting the president.

Speaker 1 (01:53:13):
Doctor Haynes, I heard you trying to jump in there.
What's your comment.

Speaker 3 (01:53:18):
Yeah, I was playing a little bit of double dutch there.

Speaker 7 (01:53:23):
You know, I just want to say, we can go
back historically, and we can find photos of literal black
bodies being hung by trees and people standing around as
if you know, that's the Friday night date. So black
death is entertainment has been something that's been entertaining for
people in this country for quite some time. And you
know now that we are in a social science way,

(01:53:47):
treated and What I mean by that is is that
we are kind of pre conditioned in a way. We've
been pre conditioned to accept a set of a set
of things, right, So we have been we have been
preconditioned to the violence that is enacted on black bodies.
And I'm not using black bodies in an academic sense.

(01:54:08):
I mean that in a very real and physical sense
that is supported by decades of data. Black bodies, particularly
the male, has fascinated and also emasculated other men, right,
And so it's something very particular about black men who
just try to live their very best lives without you know,

(01:54:30):
people trying to harm them are threats because other people
have made them threats because of their own inferiority complexes,
whatever they may be. And black men can also have
those saying inferiority complexes against other black men. So that's
one historical point that that I want to make. Throughout history,
you can go back and see photos of black people

(01:54:54):
hanging from trees and white folks gathering around as if
it's a picnic, right, So this is extension of that.
And because we see it over and over and over again,
that's the treatment part. We are desensitized and that's dangerous
because you're like, oh, another one, Oh, another one, Yeah,
another one, and that's that's problematic. And so the last

(01:55:16):
thing that I'll say really quickly here is until there
was a substantial drug problem with meth in suburban white areas,
people started to care about the drug epidemic that was
happening in this country. When it was cracked, people did
not care, right, But when it was meth and when
it was other drugs, people started to care. So we're

(01:55:38):
in this weird situation where even little white kids that
are being murdered, guns are still out there. So what's
going to happen if little white kids are being murdered
but the guns is still perfectly fine for any and
everybody to be able to get a gun. What does
that say about black folks and other folks of color
in this country? When even little white kids that are

(01:55:59):
being murdered isn't enough for gun violence to cease in
this country?

Speaker 3 (01:56:03):
Where does that leave us?

Speaker 5 (01:56:04):
Right?

Speaker 7 (01:56:05):
So I think collectively we need to strategize around these
very pivotal questions because we need to save our own lives.
Because that's very clear because us continuing to die and
it being used as entertainment.

Speaker 3 (01:56:19):
That ain't it right?

Speaker 1 (01:56:20):
Well, I think that's a great way call to action
to end the show. We got to save our own lives,
and part of that means not dismissing the jordan Neeleys
of the world and not justifying preemptive violence against black
people because somebody feels like they are did you say
three minutes you might feel like they are a threat?

(01:56:47):
I'm sorry, I feel like I missed a Q there,
but okay, that does it for us. Tonight on Roland
Martin Unfiltered, I want to thank my panel Lauren Victoria Burke, a,
doctor Nola Heymes, and doctor Clear Monago. Thanks to Roland
for letting me hold it down in the studio while
he's in New York at the Legal Defense Funds thirty

(01:57:08):
fifth National Equal Justice Awards dinner. I'm sure having a
very fabulous time. Don't forget to download the Blackstore Network
on all platforms including iPhone, Apple Plus, fireTV.

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