1.13.2025 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Black FedEX Driver's Justice, Black Ala. Community's Environmental Fight, AG Kristen Clarke Honored
A Mississippi detective's intentional discovery violations have a former black FedEx driver still searching for justice as a judge dismissed all charges against a white father and son accused of shooting at the driver three years ago. D'Monterrio Gibson is there to talk about what it feels like to see the men who tried to kill him not face any consequences.
Black residents in southeastern Alabama say a highway project caused flooding and damaged their homes, but the government isn't doing anything to fix the problem. I'll have Dr. Robert Bullard, the father of environmental justice and a community activist, in the studio to explain what's happening in the Shiloh community.
A Chicago judge's joke got her reassigned. The joke involved a picture of a Black child and a foot outfitted with "My First Ankle Monitor." You won't believe her excuse.
The death toll in California is at 24 more than a dozen others remain unaccounted for as multiple wildfires, fueled by severe drought conditions and strong winds, burn across the Los Angeles area.
The DOJ Civil Rights Division commemorates the legacy of MLK and honors Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke.
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Hello.
I'm Isaac Hayes, the third founder and CEO fan Base, and right now we're accepting investors in our seventeen million dollars round to revolutionize the future of social media. Today, for just three hundred and ninety nine dollars, you can own sixty shares of stock and fan Base at six to sixty five a share. Go to start Engine, dot Com, slash Fanbase and invest today. While the big platforms have grown too massive and disconnected from their users, fan Base is building a platform where creators and users truly come first. We've already raised four point eight million dollars from every day investors who believe in this vision, and now you can join them. This is your chance to invest in a social media tech company with over one million users that is disrupting media by allowing anyone to reach all of their following and monetize their content from day one.
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Roller, Hello, y'all.
A moment we have.
Now we have to keep this going.
The video looks phenomenals.
Between Black Star Networks and black owned media and something like seeing in.
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It's time to be smart. Bring your eyeballs home, you.
Dig hey films. Today is Monday, January thirteenth, twenty twenty five. Coming up roland Mark On took the streaming live on the Black Star Network. I am even the Department of Justice where they just have their MOK program. Also honoring Christen Clark, who led the Civil Rights division of the DJ. We'll hear from her about the great things that they had come to the last four years as they leave office next week.
Shocking details out.
Of Mississippi where at a detective intention of discovery violations has led to a judge growing out the case of two white men at a black beed X driver in Mississippi, who will talk to that brother about who was a shot at three years ago? A stunning, stunning lack of justice coming out of Mississippi. Also on today's show, black residents.
In at southeastern Alabama say, hey, high leave projects cause flooding and damage their homes, but our government isn't doing anything to fix the problem. I'll talk to folks they're in Alabama, who were in DC today meeting with GOOT Secretary Pete Bluta to see if they are going to fix the problem. A Chicago judges joke has got her sign doak and bald, a picture of a black child and in foot outfitted with.
My first ankle monitor. You won't believe her. Excuse the dev toll in California is that twenty four. More than a dozen others remain missing as a result of the massive wildfire in Los Angeles. We will give you the latest on what's happening in Louisiana regarding this drought. More than twenty thousand ta Chris Bernie, folks, we'll talk about all of that more. It is time to bring the park. I'm rolind marked on Filcher on the Black Network.
Let's go.
He's got whatever the best, He's on it, whatever it is, he's got school the fact the fine now WAYA believes he's right on time and is rolling. Best believe he's going put it down from his Loston News to politics with entertainment, just bookcakes. He's Len's rowing, it's rolling Monte, Yeah.
Rolling with Roon. He's broke, he's breast, she's real.
Good question, No, he's rolling Montage.
Marte Hey Folks a stunning story out of Mississippi where a judge has dismissed the case with prejudiced against the white father.
And son who allegedly shot at a black Beedex driver Folks. In twenty twenty two, Brandon Case and his father, Gregory Charles Case, were both charged with attempted first degree murder, conspiracy, and shooting into the vehicle driven by de Moontio Gibson, a FedEx driver who was simply trying to do his job. Gipson, who was wearing his FedEx uniform and driving in an unmarked van at the time of the shooting, was not injured. Now here's what happened. In August of twenty twenty three, Judge David strawng declared a mistrial after the lead detective in the case with hell evidence that Detective Vincent Frando, was fired after the charges were dismissed. Last week, the defense attorneys argued that the case and charges should be dismissed, stating that the father and son had been deprived of a speedy trial and denied due process. That FedEx driver that de Ontario Gibson joined us now from Richland, Mississippi. Glad to have you here on the show. Unfortunately, I hate the fact that you're not getting the justice necessary. So just talk about how I'll stun you are that this investigator did this resulting in this case being thrown out and now you can't seek justice in the criminal courtroom.
To be honest with you, I honestly think he did do some things wrong, but I think it was really just deliberately sabotage from the very beginning. A lot of people don't know that this guy wasn't even originally over the case. The person who was originally over the case was actually kin to those guys.
They had the same last name.
His name was Detective Chief Chris Case, and they had other relatives side the police department. And like from the from the very night that I called it was, it was set up for failure.
It was doom to fail.
So you so you believe that law enforcement there in Mississippi was not interested in justice for you, that they were focused on protecting, uh, these two white men in Mississippi.
Mister Rowland, when it took we we had to protest. For first of all, it took them eight days to arrest them. They didn't even arrest them. They turned themselves in the police said that the police chief, Ken Collins, Kenneth Collins, said that he was scared to arrest the shooters. So they took eight days. They turned them salves in. They was released in the same day. After that, they were trying to charge them with like some small charges and we had to protest for nine months. We had to protest for nine months straight in order for them to up those up those.
Charges and invite them.
And even then they still was hisit about like, you know, pursuing the pursuing the charges days of that nature.
And I can't I forget the second part of your question.
So I mean, obviously what I'm saying this, so you have a criminal you have a criminal case here. Uh so the question what's next, Uh you have you can go a civil route. You can also petition, even though of course, uh you know, the the Trump folks are take it over in a week. You could also the Department of Justice could also have a hate crimes investigation, uh, because uh this could be classified as the target and view as a hate crime. Is there any movement on both of those, the civil part as well as a federal hate crimes investigation.
I currently do have a civil lawsuit against those guys in court, so I'm trying to seek seek, uh see through there. I have to find a new attorney because I recently lost my attorney due to issues that have nothing to do with my case whatsoever, and uh, the Department of Justice is around I'm seeking to go. I have to find the official complaint through the website, which I'm doing this week.
And I have tried to get the DA to petition on.
The dismissal and things of that ass because if we have a Mississippi statue, it's Mississippi Statue ninety nine DA's forty nine Dash one Preservation of Evidence, and it also lists the victims Bill of Rights and it says that if it's proven that the case was intentionally or the even was intentionally withheld or manipulated, with that the DA has grounds to appeal the dismissal. Now I emailed him today. I'm giving him forty eight hours to respond to me to see why won't he follow this statue. But it is proven that it was intentional due to what the judge said in his dismissal. He said that they intentionally would helds evidence and then included the state, which is the DA's office.
So the judge did say man potentially misheale evidence with heal evidence.
Yes, yes, sir, he said that in his dismissal decreer. So you know.
Do you believe that this district attorney cares about justice for.
You and it's going to pursue this completely To be completely unders with you, absolutely not.
The first time that I met him was due to the fact that I had to set up meet on him.
He didn't. He never reached out.
To me because at first, you know, it was a it was a different DA on on the case before the mistrial. But when we got the new DA in he came in, he never reached out to me. I had to reach out to him. When we did meet, I asked him why have they never reached out to me? And they told me some lies about how they tried to and this, that, and the third.
But they never really did.
And honestly, and every time I asked them, like, you know, like what's going on with my case, they were more concerned with what people are posting on social media about them than than me.
Actually.
For example, when I asked them the other day the other day, why would they not appeal the case? His assistant quote like, this is this is these are her words, not mine. This is what she said. And I quote, he, uh, he sees what your mom posts on social media about him, but this has nothing to do with it.
Unquote. Those were her words.
They care more about, like and I can't even control my mom, dude, she's her own person. But they care more about people post on social media about them to actually get victim for the uh, justice for the victim and stuff like that.
When I met them, they were they weren't.
It was like I felt like I was meeting an enemy, like they was treating me like the adversary. And I had to be the one that say, Okay, you know what, I would get them to stop posting about y'all. You know, if you guys just like give me y'all word that y'all gonna handle this for me that y'all gonna do the big job y'all can do, which I feel like they did not do that, and I upheld my.
Side of the work. Uh, my side of the bargain. It was just unfair from the beginning.
So I mean, so here's the problem. I see him stuck between a rock and a hard place. You are dependent upon You are dependent upon a system that hasn't desired from day one to be on your side. So now all of a sudden you're having to petition that same system. So do you believe that Unfortunately y'all are going to have to protest again just to get justice in this case.
I believe we would have to protest and things of that nature again. I really just we said they would do their jobs and stuff like that. You know what people say about you shitting to fit with, you know, like how you do your job and things of that nature. Like I feel like they should have to take this series, like just the saying they would if I was somebody different or a different skin tone or something like that. I just feel like it was never taking serious of things of that nature. So I don't think they're gonna handle it. I feel like it's going to have to be some more you know, going down there and protests, and they're showing them that we're not scared and we're not breaking down.
What happened to your job in this case.
The day after the mistrial? They had actually fired me.
The day after the mistrial?
You were fired, Yes, sir?
What reason was given?
They said that they offered me a job and I didn't want to take it. But what I was telling them was I was having anxiety attacks and all types of things like that, and I wasn't doing good in public. I'm actually on like medication and things for that stuff now, and they weren't taking me serious.
They tell me they had no at home jobs.
Which is like what I told them I owned and when it came about, they just said that I kept declining jobs that they were offering me and stuff like that.
So that was the reason they gave.
Did you ever hear from FedEx corporate?
I can't remember, but I did hear it from some higher ups at a point in time.
So where are you working now?
I'm currently just actually not working, like I have my family taking care man stuff like that. I'm trying to focus on healing and stuff. Like that, but I really just like, don't have a job.
Crown man. It is certainly unfortunate what you've had to endure for the last three years. I mean yeah, I mean anyone will have PTSD if they had to deal with what you actually did with as well. So Dian Ontario, keep us a breast man of what happens next and hopefully you can get some justice civilly and hopefully the Apartment of Justice US attorneys down there. We're looking to this larger hate crimes investigation with the target shooting of you.
Yes, I appreciate you. Thank you, mister Marre.
We appreciate it. Thanks a lot, folks. Gotta go to a break. We come back more on Roland Martin unfilters right here on the Blackstar Network.
Hello, I'm Isaac Hayes, the third founder and CEO fan Base, and right now we're accepting investors in our seventeen million dollar round to revolutionize the future of social media. Today, for just three hundred and ninety nine dollars, you can own sixty shares of stock and fan Base at six to sixty five a share. Go to start engine dot com, slash fan Base and invest today. While the big platforms have grown too massive and disconnected from their users. Fanbase is building a platform where creators and users truly come first. We've already raised four point eight million dollars from every day investors who believe in this vision, and now you can join them. This is your chance to invest in the social media tech company with over one million users that is disrupting media by allowing anyone to reach all of their following and monetize their content from day one. The market is changing. Big platforms are failing to serve their users, and fan base is stepping up to fill the gap. Don't wait until it's too late. Invest now. Invest for yourself and your future. Go to start engine, dot com, slash fan base and own the future of social media.
I mean soon to the Black Star Network for y'all.
When you on that stage or when you and you're seeing two and three four generations in the audience, that that's got has got to speak to you about the power of what your other come.
Oh, most definitely, I think we were doing our show for our before.
Our break and remember I was watching this kid.
I could not take my eyes off of him because he was about nine or so.
Were sitting in the front road with it over.
On the right hand side.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, I was.
I was amazed that this kid knew everything and he was. I was like tip tripping to see how many songs this cat, this kid actually.
Knew, and he knew him all and he and he knew them all.
We had to go over there and bring him on stage and take a picture with him, you know, at the end of the show and stuff, because it was just that amazing.
It's like, this is crazy. You know.
The music travels everywhere.
You know, like like Philip was same seen as young kids. Then you see here are songs on commercials, cold commercials. Then you have the younger ones that's seen out here on music animation.
Now that Roland Martin is ruling to give me the blueprint, caste, I rise, I need to go to Tyler Perry and get another blueprint because I need some green money. The only way I can do what I'm doing. I need to make some money, so you'll.
See me working with Roland.
Matter of fact, it's the Roland Martin and Arllndon Show.
What it should have been the show US Show and Roland Show. Well, whatever show is gonna be It's gonna be good.
All right, folks want to bring up my panel right now. I'm a congo to being a senior prophetorial lecturer, School of intern International Service at American Universe. Verity is also the author of Lies About Black People, How to Combat Racist Stereotypes and Why It Matters. Okay, all right, y'all, what a book? Show the book? Okay, all right, y'all supposed to show the book cover. Now, we're supposed show it on our end. Teresa Lunday, She's a podcast host of the Business Corner out of Philadelphia. Derek Jackson, State Representative Georgia District sixty eight out of Atlanta. Glad to have all three of you here, Derek, i'ma starting with you here. Was so crazy here, I mean, here you have. I mean we're talking Mississippi, and the reality is Mississippi is still Jim Crow Mississippi. That's what Mississippi is. To have a cop deliberately withhold information, knowing full well that could tank the case. To have a DA not interested in really seeking justice, I mean, this speaks volumes about Mississippi in twenty twenty four and now in twenty twenty five. Well, hell, this case is three years old.
I just want to say this thing started in twenty twenty two. But it's also another example that we have a two tiered injustice system. Depending on who you are and what money can you afford, what judges can be purchased. I'm not saying that's the case here, but in the end, you got a two tiers system. Clearly, mister Gibson deserves justice, and as you've already highlighted, which is the point I was going to make, I don't see any daylight in him getting this justice given the fact that you're going to have the next administration that's going to be taking office here in another seven days, where that they're not going to have a Department of Justice that's going to come in Mississippi and make sure that.
Mister Gibson gets the justice that he deserves.
You also got to look at Roland, not just the impact from a PTSD standpoint, but this is another classic example that across these fifty states, individuals that look like you and I can clearly see that we have a justice system that allows for a convicted felon to assume the office of the Oval office, but yet a citizen like mister Gibson gets no justice Tracer.
Yeah, I totally agree with our stay representative. I mean, it has been an ongoing thing that we have been seeing time and time at Again, it's unfortunately that this young man has been going through this the past three years. I'm not sure if it gets better with a Trump administration. But like he said, the young man that went through this, he said that him and his team had to organize, had to advocate in order to actually see some real results. So that again is one of the key components and making sure that we get justice served. But you know, I think we just got to keep amplifying our voices in support.
Of this effort.
I mean, this is our reality of a congo and to sit here and have the folk who are supposed to be caring for the servants of the people who are supposed to be executing justice. Sound like the people who were in Georgia when they came to mont Aubury, who were on the on the side of the shooters.
Yeah.
Absolutely, And this absolutely reminds me of Amad Aubrey. And we see cases like this across the country and shame on FedEx. You know, I feel like they should have stepped up to help this brother in bigger ways and support his family as well, so that's also problematic. I think it's also important for us too, and none of us are doing this here, but it's also important that as we highlight the fact that Trump is coming in in his administration, that can make us in this country be less inclined to pursue justice because I know a lot of people can say, well, they're here now, so we might as well forget. We need to continue like this brother is doing. We need to continue to document these situations and these stories. You know, there's going to be more instances of police harassment and the like, and people are going to feel like, well, it's just going to go up to the Justice Department and nothing's ever going to happen. We can't cave in, and I commend this brother for not giving up and trying to find different cases, even though he feels completely despondent about what the results may be. If we stay silent when these situations happen, then they're going to have free reign. And these types of cases and these filings are a reminder that we're not going anywhere. And also the fact that you put this out there for the world to see. Maybe people can help them get better legal services, maybe people can help them with the financial resources that he and his family needs as well. This is a time for all of us to come together, and we can't be intimidated. None of us here are, But we in this country can't be intimidated because there's going to be more cases like this and more people who think, well, Trump's here, So we have no choice in go option and going forward. We can't give up, and we can't quit the fight. And so we stand with this brother and any other anyone else because we know there're going to be more stories like this.
Oh absolutely, we are still constituents, and so we have to demand a level of justice, even if other folks want to ignore it as best that they can folks, The US Supreme Court rejected a new request to put independent federal agencies under direct presidential control. The High Court, without comment, refused to hear an appeal from leech Co, Inc. An Oklahoma based company, seeking to stop a complaint by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The CPSC claims that leech Coe's infant loungers are a safety hazard. Leech Co maintained the complaint was fundamentally flawed because the CPSC's commissioners have job protections that insulate them from putical accountability. The company argued in its appeal that the Constitution gives the president broad power to fire the heads of executive branch agencies. Leech Co urged the Supreme Court to reconsider a ninety year old ruling that paved the way for the independent agencies. Nineteen thirty five ruling Executor versus the United States upheld job protections enjoyed by Federal Trade Commission commissioners. Overturning that ruling has become a top priority for anti regulatory groups and the GOP. The conservative dominated Supreme Court, which is slashed regulatory power in other contexts, reject a similar appeal in October. You know, we can expect to try to see more of this uma congo over the next four years. Republicans want to completely dismantle regulatory agencies you got right now. And this is one of the reasons why Jeff Bezos or The Washington Post did not issue an endorsement the Harris Trump presidential race while Elon Musk spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars because they want to get rid of the naturally relabor relations board. They want to get rid of in many of these places, all these agencies, you've got tech CEOs. The Washington Post is a story Mark Andersson and others are We're literally interviewing people for intelligence jobs. What you have right now is you have billionaires, major company owners CEOs. They cannot stand when you have protections from the federal government. They want to be able to do whatever the hell they want when they want.
And this is a reason why we have to stay mindful.
So many people are just not aware of what organizations like this do, or like the Consumer or Finance Protection Bureau as well a lot of people across the country. I have been getting checks from them from a lawsuit against Lexington Law, you know, a credit agency, and the people didn't even realize this company was supposed to help with credit, but they were playing people. And people are including myself did it years ago, are opening the mail and seeing these checks for like seventeen.
Hundred five ten thousand dollars.
These are from independent agencies that are designed to help protect consumers. And so again this is another classic example of how mindful people need to be about what government is suppose to do and at every level, like you're saying, Trump wants to implement this Project twenty twenty five plan, and the goal of Project twenty twenty five, as he lied about, is to make the American government maga and this is the latest example of that. And so a lot of us who aren't engaged in politics, who aren't voting, we think that the things that we are doing on a daily basis, we're just.
Happy just happening on our own.
The fact that we're able to have paved roads or were able to have consumer protections or able to file, you know, a Better Business Bureau complaint or something like that, this all came from activism. This all came from fighting for people to make sure that Americans had certain protections under the law. And unfortunately, as the song says, you know with Janet, some of us won't know what we had until it's gone. And if we don't start to speak up now about situations like this is going to be too late. And this kind of ties into the first story in terms that we can't just throw our hands up and be like, oh, well, Trump's coming in, We're just gonna lose all our protections. Examples like this are reasons that we need to keep fighting and we need to keep raising awareness about these independent agencies because they're going to need them now more than ever.
Oh absolutely. I mean, in the case of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Republicans have been trying to get rid of that sense it was actually created. And the most laughable thing Teria is to hear them say, oh, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has hurt regular ordinary people, even though it's returned upwards of fifteen to twenty billion dollars to regular ordinary people.
Yeah, so we have to really define what ordinary people is. And I think they've already defined that ordinary people is the ones that are going tomorrow Largo that are billionaires. But it's not for the everyday working family people who is like my brother said, you know, I'm not getting those five thousand dollar checks, but I am getting twenty dollar checks from those credit card agencies that have done me wrong or who did not live up to their full proposal of what was supposed to be given to each consumer when they do sign up for a product or service. So we definitely do have to be very aware of these and the value impact of independent agencies because overall, it is our protection agency. If we don't know anything else about what this agency does, it protects us individuals with our money, our products, and our services. So we have to make sure that one we are vigilant and make sure that they're doing their jobs, but also that they keep and remain in their jobs to keep us safe.
You know, Derek, I.
Saw this interview that sixty minutes Leslie Stall did with Jamie Diamond. It was a celg JP Morgan Chase, which I found to be laughable. And I want you to listen to when these says about pro growth in business because it ties into what we're talking about. Okay, so just check this out.
Were you surprised that Donald Trump won the election? No, why do you think he won?
People were angry at what they call it the state, you know, the swamp, you know, ineffective government that people wanted kind of more pro growth and pro business policies that they didn't want to be lectured to on social policies continuously. I think it's the lecturing part of it. It's the social superiority. It's my way of the highway. I traveled around the country. I felt wherever I went there's.
A sense of gloom out there about the economy. Do you understand that.
I do understand it because I think there are a lot of legitimate concerns that Americans have. For example, you know, ineffective government. They're angry about it, They're angry about immigration. There are people with legitimate issues.
Despite lower unemployment, a calming of inflation, and a soaring stock market. Even he says he's quote cautiously pessimistic about the economy, and as chair and CEO of the largest bank in America, it matters what Jamie Diamond has to say about things. Listen to him on bitcoin. You have called Bitcoin of Ponzi's scheme. You've said that it's as useless.
I need to hit the rest of that, Derek. Here's what I find to be laughable. Ooh, America's out there, they want they want more, uh, you know, pro growth business policies. Really what what I find to be laughable? What I find to be laughable. There's notion of dooming loom of the economy, and I keep saying it. It wasn't because of people like Jamie Diamond. Jamie Diamond for four years kept going, recessions coming, recessions coming, recessions coming, recessions coming, recessions coming. That's all we kept hurt hearing and so and and uh and And the thing is media took that oh, because you know, he leaves the biggest bank in the country and people failed for this nonsense, and so that created this whole notion of doom and groom, doom and groom, doom and gloom. And then he's like, oh more, anytime you hear Wall Street talk about, oh, any effective government. Okay, you notice he didn't say, what's ineffective? Because you can't find a president who had positive job growth every month for four years. If you look at the stock market today and where it was Januar, a week before the inauguration January of twenty twenty one, not even close. You look at inflation today to where it was four years ago, it's the same. So this idea of that, oh my god, the economy is just oh so awful. It's really bs. It's because folk like him kept winding and complaining about a recession was coming that never came.
And guess what, rolland the same individuals who said the sky was falling, they knew the sky wasn't falling. This is what we call in the military psychological warfare. You keep telling those individuals one particular thing, knowing the fact that there are no facts, there's no evidence, and there's no data to prove otherwise. And so it's really easy to get on one's platform and say the sky is falling, or to better yet, say you can't afford as three dollar aggs, or you can't afford bread or gasoline. But here's the interesting thing, Roland. After the election, you know what happened. Eighty million Americans went and traveled during Thanksgiving. You know what also happened during Thanksgiving?
Roland?
We broke records on Black Friday, in Cyber Monday and give Back Tuesday.
Broke records during this economy.
Wait, I'm gonna show you this here. This was justtan seingn dot com. Jamie Diamond, April twelve, twenty twenty four. Jamie Diamond says chance of a bad economy is quoted higher than other people think. Okay, Jamie, what happened.
Our GDP rolling was almost three percent, and as you also stated, the number of jobs that were created every month during this administration.
So let's tell Jamie Diamond the facts.
The facts are Barack Obama gave Trump a healthy and strong economy. Joe Biden is about to give Trump a healthy and strong economy. And so when you start talking about the sky is falling, that's one part. The other part that and I appreciate what onm A. Congo and Teresa also mentioned about the the regular piece Roland. We all remember what happened last year when the Supreme Court overturned the Chevron doctrine that was been in place for forty years, something that was put in place since nineteen eighty four to make sure that we have an EPA, to make sure that we have agencies and organizations to make sure that we have the right guardrails in our society to keep us safe. Can you imagine if we didn't get if we deregulated FAA. Do you think anybody going to get on a plane if we deregulate FAA. Do you think if we do away what Project twenty twenty five wants to do and get rid of OSHA, you think people going to want to go to a plant and come back be okay? And here's the last part, rolling guess what else they want to do this year? They want to do tort reform Roland. Why they want to go after and do tort reform because then they could put a cap on how much citizens can to corporations.
That's wrong.
Well, here's what I think is really interesting here and again. And the reason I am singling JP Morgan CEO Jamie Diamond out is because of the Congo. He is part of the problem. This is September. This is September twenty twenty four. CEO JP Morgan warrens us of economic fate worse than recession. The worst outcome stackflation, which we saw in the nineteen seventies, which is where you have high inflation along with high unemployment. Guess what on the Congo, you don't have high inflation, you don't have high unemployment. And so these are the kinds of scary stories. So when he comes out and says it, all these mainstream media people repeat it and then people watch it. Go by God, here's what going to happen. And so then you have companies. This happened when Biden and hair to go over Amazon. If I'm correct, Walmart, I know Facebook did. All these folks were laying off people in January and February. In March of twenty twenty one because of recession's coming. Recessions coming, and it never came. So maybe Jamie Diamond needs to look himself in the mirror and say, hmm, did I contribute to the doom and gloom? Because I kept saying what was coming and it never happened. And maybe because you had the FED chair and President Biden Vice President Kamala Harris, who were being proper stewards of the economy, maybe what they did actually worked.
And I would say, in addition to it never happening, quite the opposite happened. Everything from oil production to their stocks and everything. It went up under Biden. And so all of these guys, you know, the their a little vest at their country clubs and everything, talking about the doom and gloom, and they are benefiting hand over fist from Biden's policies. And on top of that, when you look at what's going to be happening with some of these other CEOs in these companies, so much of Biden's infrastructure plans, things that are not going to be going into effect until after he's out of office.
There's gonna be a boon for years to come.
And so I believe that Jamie Diamond and others like him intentionally try to keep this negative perspective on the market because they want to be able to try to position themselves to benefit in any way, shape or form.
And on the low, he's trying.
To stay close to the Trump administration as well, because he knew that there was a possibility of Trump coming in. He knew if Biden or Harris won that he wasn't going to get any smoke from them. But of course they're fearful of anything that the Trump Administration's going to say sense to go with that maga doom and gloom mindset.
You know.
And again, you know, facts really do matter here, Teresa, and I think just for a lot of people, you know, they really get confused when we talk about things along those lines, and we talk about inflation in all of that. So if you go back to January twenty twenty one, inflation was one point eight percent in December twenty twenty, it was one point nine percent, in one point nine percent in January twenty twenty one, Then all of a sudden you begin to see gasoline prices rise. What nobody wants to own up to is that was part of a deal that Trump cut with Opek because gasoline prices increased after he left office. But nobody wants to deal with that. But here's also the reality when you talk about inflation rates. And the reason this is important because you know, for the people who out here who want to say, oh my god, look how sky high it is, so that and somehow Trump is going to make things better.
Huh.
Two thousand and seventeen was two point one percent, It went down to one point nine percent, and went up to two point three percent, It dropped to one point four percent. Then, of course twenty twenty one, and we were talking about still in COVID. Coming out of COVID, it jumps to seven percent, then six point five. Then it's cutting half to three point four, been down to two point seven. It's even lower right now. So the reality is our inflation right now is close to where it was twenty nineteen when Trump was there. And so what you have is you have these people out here who love to lie and just make stuff up. In fact, I cracked on one of them earlier. You know, Laura Logan used to be a really great reporter, but she since lost her damn mind by being a deranged MAGA person, And so she posted this tweet and I had to smack her on it because I'm trying to find it where she talked about, oh, how Trump is going to come in and he's going to save our economy And I'm sitting there going or fix it, and I'm trying to understand, what are you fixing when unemployment is at an all time low. You've had positive job growth every single month for four years. Look at the stock market, look at wages, all the economic indicators. So what the hell is he fixing? And when Jamie Diamond talks about this pro business growth, Hey, Jamie, how about pro worker growth? How about their wages?
Yeah, JP Morgan isn't thinking about the pro worker but that is a very good solution. If they did start thinking about that, I believe their numbers will be way different. Going back a little bit in terms of disinformation and how you know, even with the recent announcement of Meta and how you know, pretty much they are no longer having these tracker to tell us if something is miss misinformation and misinformed, and just you know, the many folks that I think the high level talk of points that they NAMA's team did a very good job of not being descriptive of how we're going to fix America, how we're going to make at America grit again, how we're going to fix a border when Democrats we got really descriptive of it's already fixed, wages are high, people are back to work, the GDP is doing agree, inflation, inflation is down. And so I find it very interesting about these CEOs. And but like I said, and like you said before, Roland, it's very dangerous language that JP Morgan and the rest of them. It's either they're not paying attention to what's going on to lay the land, or they're forecasters and analysts are not necessarily doing their job as effective as they should be getting the lay of the land data versus just a high level scope that is, it sounded like a portfolio analysis for pro businesses that aren't small businesses, are are not micro businesses.
But it definitely looks like a.
Testament to what we are about to see in the next seven days when we Magna fully gets launched.
But honestly, I.
Don't I'm a little bit less.
How do I want to say this less?
Uh, I'm not.
Fearful of a Trump administration.
I think.
When we start really looking at the details, it will self destruct itself. So I really do see a lot of opportunity here for those who do fight for the working family, those who do fight for Democrats, civil rights, justice in general. That that when we look at the facts and the numbers, I think it will definitely come to light. I think just right now we're seeing such a short term. We saw a short term of analysts with the campaign and the messages that has been coming around that. But I think you know when the rubber history role will start seeing the truth come out in full scale.
Well, first of all, I'm listen. Listen. I can sit here and say with what I do and what my income is and what I own, or I say, yeah, I'm not scared, but I'm scared for millions of Americans. When you see these folks talking about two trillion dollars in cuts, I know exactly what they're targeting. I know exactly if they're going to be targeting folks who depend upon food benefits, they're going to be targeting individuals who don't have economic means. They're gonna be targeting the poor, They're gonna be targeting the working class. That's who they're going to be targeting, and so people need to be on guard for what is about to happen. And again I dare say this here that one of the reasons why, and look, inflation was real. Prices were real. Food going up, goods and services going up was real. But we also had price gouging that was going on. We had companies that were literally looting this country trying to make as much money as they can. And people blame the present, they blame the vice president, they blame democrats, they blame all of that. Well, guess what, you can't blame them now. You can't blame them now. And if you look at the economic success that you've seen under the Biden hass administration, Trump, you screw it up even one negative month, it's on you, son. And then let's see what they then have to say. Folks got to go to a quick break. We'll be right back rolling Martin Unfolks on the Black Star Network. Support the work that we do. Of course, bring out, join out Breening Funk Fan Club. Our goal is to get twenty thousand of dollars fans contributing on average fifty bucks each a year. That's four alls of nineteen six a month thirteen cents a day. You can support us by going to using the stripe app to give via cash apps. This cash up shut down all of our accounts and others as well with a change in their rules, so you can go there. You can send your checking money order the peelbox five seven one ninety six, Washington, DC two zero zero three seven dad zero one nine six PayPal are Martin unfiltered, venmos RM unfiltered, Zeo rolling at Rollinsmartin dot Com rolling at Roland Martin unfiltered dot Com. Folks will be right back. What's up, y'all? Look? Fan Base is more than a platform. It's a movement to.
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Now streaming on the Blackstar Network I was challenged by my uncle early on, before you had a career, Like I was maybe eight years old, and my uncle said, what do you want to do? And I told him I wanted to be a rapper, and he said, okay, well, I don't know anything about the music business, so what you should do is learn everything there is to know about the music business, and I'll make sure that you have the resources to push you through. And so I went and bought books. All you need to know about the music business hit me, and I just wanted about a bunch of books to start reading, as a ten year old read reading. And so I learned, you know, all things licensing, mechanical rights. I learned about publishing, and learned about how composition is broke up into two pieces, the writer's portion and the producer's portion. But by the time I actually learned, I came back and I was ready and like, okay, I got it.
He would going to prison. So I had all this information.
I'm Russell L.
Honore, Lieutenant Gerald United States sorrow retired, and you're watching Roland Martin.
I'm felt, oh wait, wait, wait, wait, all right, folks, welcome back. The one thing we can always count on for sheer stupidity. Uh is maga and when you listen to some of the absolutely crazy, idiotic things that they say, you go, what's wrong with you people? Todd Rokita, Republican is has been elected the Attorney General of Indiana. And look, ad positions are important and ruy. They used to have a black ag in Indiana, but he was about as he was, about as useless as Clarence Thomas. But if you want to hear stupidity, just listen to this nonsense.
And as your Attorney general and with your help together, we will make Indiana a truly free state where we are rewarded for the results of our work and not the politics of DEI, ESG, S, CRT or what other other acronym or pronoun they want to throw at us. Where law fair is outlawed, where innocent life is respected, just as our constitutions demand, Where we can raise our children the way God intended without interference.
By woke schools, doctors, or courts.
Where there are two genders, male and female, and they each have their own sports teams. Where our immigration laws are respected and criminals are kept behind bars. And where we are no longer vaxed or masked, and finally where we can speak our own opinion, especially when it's not politically correct or establishment approved, without fear of losing our livelihood.
As your I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna say it right now. And if y'all watching me and you're in Indiana, y'all really need to need to pray, because I'm gonna tell you right now, Teresa, I don't want to hear jack from one of these white folks and one of their kids die because of vaccine lack of vaccinations. See, these fools, these fools are against vaccinations, They are against folks being treated all this stuff in school. And so these idiots who have been complaining about masks and vaccinations and all of that, they're complaining about, oh oh are woke schools. First of all, Indiana is real white and real red. But see it's always the whining deal. But I'm gonna tell you. See, See they think they've got RFK JR. Who should not be who should not be the secondary of health of human services. They think folks like that should be in charge. But I'm telling you when when they little white killed children start dying because they're in the classroom with some other kid who's not vaxed, and they start bringing in some diseases. I don't want to hear a damn thing, because that's the kind of y'all cloud for that fool. You're gonna get what you think you're not gonna get, and I'm telling you, we're just gonna look at.
You and go. We tried to tell you.
I think we've seen a lot of that, even when the first round came. You know, the amount of disinformation that was coming across when it came to the vaccine, but the amount of lies that we're seeing, I think we started to see that disinformation that's actually phizzle out within the first year. I mean I did kind of like a social like there was a higher report. I can't remember who put the report together, but that report indicated how many folks were not anti vacs. And you know, it's unfortunate that it takes lives loss in order for people to believe that something does work. But I do believe that most people have common sense and know, like I've gotten a vaccine, I've never caught COVID, but I'm also using precautions as well. That virus is still out here today. So we just need to continuously be cautious. But I think we're still going to hear the cries, the yells, the anti vacs, but those who do use common sense will be getting the vaccination.
I mean, you know.
And again, Derek, I'm watching these people and you hear that sort of nonsense, and they're like, oh, that's right. We now can say with what we want, do with what we want. We don't have to get fired. And we're against vaccinations. They wind and complain about mask and I'm sitting there going, okay, all right, but trust me, when y'all start dying and you saw hollering where's the government, where's protection? Because it is like that are now in.
Charge, you know, Roland, I don't think when they start dying that's gonna change anything. I mean, they were dying during COVID Here in Georgia. We've had twelve, maybe thirteen hospitals that close in the rural parts of Georgia, and then they ain't doing anything about it. And that in rural Georgia, that's where most of their constituents are. Here's the here's the bottom line, Roland. I think their propaganda machine is exactly what you and Theresa outline, and that is, you know they're going to keep this fuel, this red meat going.
Dei and ty Woake.
You know, I was just watching the NCAA president and they asked him, are you seeing this whole transgender movement in the NCAA, And he said, when you combine division one, division two, division three, you have over five hundred thousand student athletes, five hundred thousand Rowland. They said they had nine cases. That's it, nine cases. In those nine cases, the student elected to stop playing the sport. They went through the conversion. So it wasn't like a young man went through a conversion and start playing women's sports or vice versa. Nine out of a half a million. And so they got this Probabanda machine. Keep going to talk about immigration, talk about DEI, talk about woe, talk about you know, we need to ban books because you know, you all making our children, you know, uncomfortable. This is just part of their probably Ganda machine to keep that red meat for their base going.
Absolutely and again, what you see when these things happen, you see sheer stupidity. Perfect example, You've got a house speaker Mike Johnson on the CONGO who When asked about aid for California wildfires, this idiot said, this.
Would providing create to California with college.
And you're sharing.
I think we've had a serious conversation about that.
Obviously, there's been water resources management for US, management mistakes.
All sorts of problems, and it does come down to leadership.
And it appears to us that state and multiple leaders where derelict in their duty in many respects.
So that's something that has to be factored in.
I think there should.
Probably be conditions on that day.
That's my personal view.
We'll see what the consensus is.
I haven't had a chance to socialize that appos any of the members over the weekend.
We've all been very busy, but it'll be part of the discussion for sure.
What about the deadlimit in Grace my Tines Defomatic, Chris John, There's some discussion about.
That, but we'll see where it goes.
I'll say this here, Okay, all right, y'all want to roll a that next time something happens in Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina and Democrats unt control, then say fine, we go slaps conditions on that. Once again, I need people to understand if this is the game you want to play, all right, let's play.
You know, I was really loving your session that you had with Michael Steele and Tim Miller and Karen Hunter over the weekend watching. One of the things you were saying in there is that Democrats gotta play hard, they got to come out and be tough, they gotta fight back, and how their pace to keep playing off of a model of politics that's about fifteen to twenty years old. And I really appreciate you saying that because this is another example of that with Mike Johnson talking and in all of the states that you just mentioned Roland and has to be also putting Indiana in it. Most of these Republican states are among the poorest states in the country. They are among some of the most crime written states in the country. But what they like to do is focus on particular cities, lack led cities. But you never hear them talk about the states which are read leadership, right, And so Indiana? Is Indiana tops in education? Is it tops in you know, crime prevention? Is it tops in economics? You know, in terms of income? None of these things, none of these factors. So where all of a sudden they're going to say we're going to liberate Indianda. You've had, you know, Republican leadership forever, and so right now your students are going to become less intelligent, people are going to become sicker, they're going to get less access to resources, they're.
Going to have their programs cut.
Notice he didn't mention anything about women's right to a women's right to choose because maybe felt like that wouldn't get applause. So they are going to implement as many draconian policies as possible to keep them at the bottom. And if you feel like you're struggling now as a state, what do you really think is going to happen over these next four years? And the fact that my Johnson wants to tie conditions to what's happening in California right now, this already shows their lack of humanity. As far as I know, I don't believe Trump has agreed to go and visit California, although he's already gone to places like Europe acting as president. These people have evil policies and they want to put as many people down as possible. But as the Laja Madison always reminds us, LB James Johnson's quote, if you can convince the poor riss white man that he's better than the best colored man, he won't realize you're picking his pocket. Give him someone to look down on, and the amphiest pockets for you. I think that's why Derek is saying he's feeling like representative is saying that he doesn't even feel like they're going to care even if their kids do get sicker and poor, because more of us are suffering as well.
Again, when they start wanting and complaining, I don't want to hear anything. All right, folks, we come back. We're going to talk about the Alabama community of fighting against environmental injustice and warning the Body administration to uphold what they said they were going to do with just one week remaining. Also, we were the only media outlet live streaming the MLKA program at Department of Justice, where they also were saluting Assistant Attorney General Christian Clark, who leads the Civil Rights Division. Will show you what she had to say about their work over the last four years. We'll also talk about what's happening in Los Angeles where the fires continue smoke excuse me, the wins are increasing and so they are really concerned that this may get worse before it actually gets better. So lots more for us to talk about. Right here, I'm Rollard Martin, unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Back at the moment.
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Next on Get Wealthy with Me, Deborah Owe's America's wealth Coach. Women of color are starting ninety percent of the businesses and country.
That's the good news.
The bad news, as a rule, we're not making nearly as much as everyone else. But joining us on the next Get Wealthy episode is Betty Hines. She's a business strategist and she's showing women how to elevate other women.
I don't like to say this openly, but we're getting better at it. Women struggle with collaborating with each other, and for that reason, one of the things that I demonstrate in the sessions that I have is that you can go further together if you collaborate.
That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on black Star Network.
On the next A Balanced Life with Me, Doctor Jackie, We're talking about leveling up, or to put it another way, living your very best life. How to take a bull step forward that'll rock your world.
Leveling up is different for everybody. You know, I think we fall into this trap which after which often gets a stuck because we're looking at someone else's level of journeys, what level of means to them. For some, it might be a business venture, for some it might be a relationship situation.
But it's different for everybody.
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I was challenged by my uncle early on, before I even had a career, Like I was maybe eight years old, and my uncle said, what do you want to do? And I told him I wanted to be a rapper, and they said, okay, well I don't know anything about the music business. So what you should do is learn everything there is to know about the music business, and I'll make sure that you have the resources to push you through. And so I went and bought books. All you need to know about the music business hit me in. I just wanted about a bunch of books to start reading. As a ten year old read reading, and so I learned, you know, all things licensing, mechanical rights, I learned a bad publishing, learned about how the composition is broke up into two pieces. The writer's portion and the producer's portion. But by the time I actually learned that came back, I was rid of and like, Okay, I got it.
He would go in the prison. So I head out his information.
Hatred on the streets. A horrific scene.
White nationalists rally that descended into deadly violence.
White people are losing their their minds. As a angry pro Trump mort storms to the US capital the s Trump, We're about to see the lives of what I call white minority resistance. You have seen white folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting.
I think what we're seeing is the result of violent denial. This is part of American history.
Every time that people of color had made progress, whether real or symbolic, there has been what Carold Anderson at every university calls white rage as a backlash.
SA is the wife of the Proud Boys and the Boogaaloo Boys America. There's going to be more of this.
It's all the proud.
This country is getting increasingly racist and his behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people.
The few that they're taking our job, they're taking our resources. They're taking out women. This and white bel.
Hey, this is Motown recording artist Kim.
You are watching Roland Martin unfiltered?
Boy?
He always unfiltered, though I ain't never.
Known him to be vilm Is there a nothing?
Is there another way to experience Roland Martin than to be unfiltered? Course he's unfiltered. Would you expect anything less? Watch watch what happens next. Residents of a small community in Alabama say when it rains, it floods. The Shillow community is located in between Elba and New Brockton along US Highway eighty four. Residents say flood has been taking place. It has been constant since twenty and eighteen, when work began expanding US eighty four from two lanes to four. This has led to persistent issues with septic tank overflows and an invasion of water moccasins, rats, and mosquitoes. As a result of the flooding, they are stripping the key up with rising home owners insurance and many homes there have gone on repaired. Joining us right now, it's doctor Robert Bullet and profession sure and the director of the Bullet Center for Environmental Justice and Climate Justice at TEXASU, the University in Houston and pastor of Timothy Williams, director of the Shiloh Community Center. Now, so let's talk about So what are the folks that Alabama said, state officials there, they.
Don't want to do anything. We talked with the governor.
She just didn't even want to do nothing. She wouldn't even come out. She kept avoiding my calls. And pretty much they don't want to do anything for the Shallow community.
Let's talk about the demographics there. How many people live there?
It is thirteen homes.
It's thirteen homes on the side that were are which is the shallow community. Thirteen homes and that's how many people live on the side that's been flooded.
Okay, but I'm talking about but the town, how lrd is the town? And what do city leaders say? What do county leaders say?
Well, it's we're in a rural area, which is the country, but it's county. The county wants to help. But at the same time, the county cannot touch the state property.
So this highway is so this is state property.
Yes, state and federal Okay, yes, sir, all right, And so the county cannot do anything without the state allowing them or giving them permission to do anything.
Okay, go ahead, Okay, let me just break it down brow I wrote a book twenty years ago, two thousand and three called Highway Robbery, Transportation Racism in New Roster Equity.
If I had to put.
A cover on that book today, I will put Shiloh on the cover. What has happened is that an area that is outside of the city, outside of the city proper of Elbo, that was about three.
Four thousand people.
I grew up there, very segregated, and the landowners in Shiloh, like my family, have on land out there since reconstruction eighteen seventies. What they did they took a two lane highway and made it into four lanes. They elevated the highway about twelve fifteen feet high, which was flat before, and turned the drains the stormwater drain system on the community. So the community now is in a bold and the area never flooded, but it floods down and it's been flooding for six years as a result of a Floyd Highway US eighty four, which is a highway that goes from Florida all the.
Way to New Mexico.
But this is the last leg. The only part of the highway that floods right now is Shiloh. And when they developed the environmental impact statements for the highway, they knew that this area would flood if they elevated the highway and turned the drains. Not to say the state new, the State new, and the federal government the FHWA.
The highway was.
Federal Highwayministration on the USDOT. This highway was constructed under the previous administration in twenty eighteen under the Trumpet administration, and it flooded for two years from eight twenty eighteen twenty twenty. It has flooded four years under the Biden Harrison administration. The community fouled a tied to six civil rights complaint in twenty twenty two. It was resolved in twenty twenty four by the federal government USDOT under Secretary of People to judge on the volunteer resolution agreement to fix the highway.
They admit that the highway was flawed and it's.
Flooding the community, but they didn't go the full force of justice by saying the highway flooded. The highway flooded the community. Community houses are damage of sinking. And how can you say you're going to fix a highway that the state built, would not require the state to fix the homes and repair and all the day. That's the injustice that's going on right now.
So Pete Bleus, Judge was talking to ABC News about this in November. This is what he had to say.
I came here to see for myself.
Yeah, I got no audio in here.
Where a speaker better position to make sure that we can engage the State of Alabama in meeting their responsibilities to this community to make sure that these community members are not left behind. So you agree that it's the highway that caused this, I can't say anything about the investigation that's underway right now, so I gotta be colored within alive.
Let me say this, we have a significant and substantial concern about the impact of the highway on this community and about what members of this community are going through. That is part of why there is an active investigation and active engagement with the Alabama DOTEAM. The experiences of a homeowner here in this Shiloh community matter just as much as anybody else in the wealthiest zip code in America. But the bottom line is people who live here need to be taken.
Care of, all right.
Blue Judge also said that the residents there they were not at faults.
One thing I'm sure of is that nobody in this community is responsible for where you all are going through, and nobody should have to live with what you all are.
Going through right now. All right, So y'all came to DC. Did y'all meet with the secretary of Blue Judge today? Sir? What happened?
He kept pretty much aboarding us. We've called before trying to set up a meeting with him. You know, after he came in April and the appointment was turned down, they said he can't meet with you.
Well, this is what's happening. There have been promises.
When he came in April, April third of two and twenty four, he walked the community that the horrific condition. He looked at the highway up. The highway is at the level of the community's rooftops. He said, this is insane. And he looked at the houses that are sinking into the mud. He watched all of that, and he said when he would go back to Washington, he was going to ensure that this community is made whole because it's not their fault. Now the fact he said, now he's kind of quivaling about, well, we don't know what's causing the problem. But if you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that if you elevate a highway twelve to fifteen feet high and turn the drains toward the community and the community is nine in the bold, the low gravity will dictate what's going to happen.
You don't have to have a PhD for that. And this community has been flooded for this period of time.
And even when the complaint, the civil rights complaint that they filed, it took two years for them to finish the investigation. So under this administration, this community flooded two years during the time that the investigation was going on, and it still floods. So we talking about four years under this administration and two years on the previous administration, that's six years. It should not take six years for any community to receive funding to resolve the problem. And that's money available for that and USDOT to correct this problem. So it's not a lack of fund, it's the lack of will.
Who's the memory of Congress for this area.
Barrymore being More is a member of Congress is what is republican?
He's a Republican.
What has he done?
Well, He hasn't done anything. I talked with him a month ago asking him what could he do? And I've been talking with Congressman Barry Moore asking him different things. What can they do to help Shiloh? They haven't done anything. Now I can say that he brought people out, some of his people that works with him over the Montgomery office.
They came out and they solved the problem.
But they couldn't guarantee us that they were going to get this problem resolved.
And so we also have a representative.
Okay, I'm confused here, Yes, sir, he's a Republican member of Congress. You get Republicans to control the state. His job is to be there for a constituent. That's right, that's right, and he's and they say, oh, we can't do anything.
Yeah, because I asked him, I said, they also try to push off. We got to push a bill through Congress and he was saying that takes ten years. I said, but what can you do? He said, well, because I don't know, you have to push a bill through Congress to do what for Shaloh to get funding to help the shallow community.
It was pretty much to blow us off. Okay, okay, this is this is why we call this highway Robert.
The fact that there's new development occurring along that highway on the other side, and the fact that even the county engineer, the Coffee County engineer, when ABC News came and asked him, did this community flood before the highway? They have maps in chargeing it, we all know come there all the time.
They didn't flock.
And then ABC News asked them, well, why would they build a highway like this, designed and engineered so that it's so high and the community is placed in the mold, And the county engineer said on tape that the engineers that developed this highway build this highway, cared more about the highway, not flooding down in the community. So this is the dilemma that we're in now in terms of the shadow community. The thirteen homes on that side, on the down side of the highway basically were to be sacrificed. They were expendable, and they were supposedly be washed away and never be heard of a game.
But that's not the case.
That's questions from my panel. Derek.
You first, you know, as a state representative, I am.
Saddened by your case because you're doing that need legislation to bring funds to Shiloh. And my question to you is, given that this administration is about to end and another one begin in seven days, what steps are you planning to take to address the needs of Shotout community with the current next administration, given that it started when he was in office.
Let me just answer this.
That should do justice under the previous administration, administration the next administration, we will continue to press the case the fact that this highway has in essence, performed an act of takings of this communities of the residence property, illegally taken the use of their property. They can't have picnics, they can't grow gardens, they can't do all the things that they would do before this highway. And so the fact that we are now here in Washington to make a last ditch effort to plead with and appeal to the Secretary dot to keep his promise that he made in April and to have his legacy not be that he left office in a few days and going to Michigan or wherever he's going to and let black people drown their homes, sink into the mud, and that.
Legacy and the history washed away.
That's what we're saying, and that the new administration coming in, we will appeal to the new Trump administration, whoever the US DOT Secretary is, to say that this needs to be addressed because a highway infrastructure project should not destroy a community. And that's what we'll be talking about.
And we're not going anywhere.
We're not We're not We're not going to go home and just shut up and just let this be, because our property is historical property has been passed down from generation to generation and his generational wealth. We've had land back and reconstruction, and this is the land that we're fighting for because the whole bottom line is is that they want our properties right by us Hiwa eighty four and they want us just to go away, shut up and just let this be and give you penies.
That's not happening. We're going to continue to fight.
You know, if Secretary peat Buddha Judge doesn't do anything within these seven days and we're here in Washington, d C. For a final push, like doctor Bullet said to let Secretary of Pete know that we're not going anywhere you promise us, and we need you to deliver. It's nothing hard. All you got to do is do what you have promised the Shallow community people. Because the people betted on Secretary peat Buddha Judge when he came. They had high hopes that he would come back to DC and do what he told us that he was going to do. But he failed the shallow community because he didn't do anything. He waited months and months, waited this thing out, and then in October we got a v r A in October, and he still sat back and waited and waited, and he began to talk about how it's not the shallow community fault, and so our thing is.
You know, it's not our fault. We need you to deal with it before you leave.
Rebecca. I'm sorry, Teresa, Teresa, that.
Doesn't seem like a hard ass one. I definitely appreciate you gentlemen actually coming one.
It has I've been.
Sitting here googling and researching in just a bit more about your story.
I do question the uh one.
I think the concerns is what are some of the and maybe you already said it and I missed it, but would like for you to talk about the conditions that people are dealing with right now. And then also, are there any national organizations, you know, taking an interest in what you guys are doing and to help because this is something that is happening presently that you are dealing with.
Well, some of the things that people are dealing with in Shalloh is the overflooding of the septic tanks. The houses are sinking, the roofs are cracking, mildew mold.
The people didn't ask for this. Their homes are destroyed.
I know for a fact, if I just talk about my home, I'm not just a community leader, but I'm one that's dealing with a home that is sinking, a home that is cracking.
It's not safe, the structure is not safe.
We've had contractors to come out, We've had insurance taken away, and.
It's been rough.
Lungs infected with muldew mode and you know, it's a lot homes been flooded. It's just been devastating. I mean their homes are cracking. I mean it's sinking in the red mud. And Secretary Pete solve this you know, and it get emotional because you know, we lost everything when I stepped up to speak about Charloh. I lost my company, I lost my restaurant, you know, just to shut you up. You know, you got to shut up about this and and leave it alone. You know, we've lost We've lost everything, you know, and it's a real fact because in Alabama, racism is prevalent. They they don't they don't hang you anymore. You know what I'm saying. They come after your finances. And they said, well, we kill his finances, kill all this contracts for its cleaning business.
He'll go away.
But I told him, I'm not going away. I'm here until Shalloh get justice. And that's what the people are dealing with. So they're trying to shut everybody up.
Now.
The state of Alabama is in al Dot is in Shalloh, you know, trying to give people penies, trying to buy them off and everything.
But we're not going anywhere.
We're going to continue to fight because Charloh, you'll get justice.
The other thing, you have to understand that anytime you have an area that's flooded for six years, you have subsidence, which means the land is sinking. Their homes are sinking. They're unleveled. When you have an unleveled home, your foundation is cracked, Your roofs are compromised.
When it rains, it rains into the addicts.
The addicts get mold. People breathing mold. Well, he past Wisiaman tell you that that he has mold in his house. And when you breathe mold, the families are sick. And in terms of mold and getting bronchitis, it's not just the structure of infrastructure problem.
This is a health problem.
It's also a problem in terms of your if you can't you get damaged to your house because of the highway that's flooding and the highway and you turn in a claim to your insurance company, they're not going to pay. So he's lost this homeowners insurance that he's had for many years. Didn't need flood insurance because it didn't flood. If something would happen and it still floods, he would be totally homeless. So what we're talking about is is devastation.
Now.
The national groups that we have on board right now is the Sierra Club. Ben Jells is working with us on a national basis. We're having a national press a press briefing tomorrow at the National Press Club, the bullet Center for Environmental Climate Justice at texasun University. We team with Sierra Club to make the issue national. This is not a local issue. As I said before, We're just booking on Highway Robert. There are case studies like this all across the country, disproportionately blackened people of color. Well highways have not created opportunity. Infrastructure projects that have destroyed neighborhoods, communities.
Wealth and inheritance.
That's how it it translates out and how we are making sure that those who are in power. When we voted and elected the Biden has administration, when people just came in with the infrastructure law, there's billions of dollars for this kind of project and not one dime has been spent in Shiloh on correcting the problem.
As relates to the homeowners.
I'm a congo.
What is it that we can do the average person who's not part of the government and me. Are there go fund me campaigns? Are there petitions? Are there other things that people who are across the country who are not part of an administration can do? To support this cause.
We have a go fund me.
Doctor Bullet got up the Bullet Center and people can sow into the go fund me. They can send funds there as well and keep spreading the word. We've got petitions.
Uh.
The Sierra Club has done over five thousand uh petitions.
Uh.
They're getting ready to deliver tomorrow to the Biden inherits administration. Also the Secretary of Peat. But we got word that Secretary of Pete Buddha Judge is cleaning up his office and he's getting ready to get out of here. You know, he's running and not wanting to to help the shallow community because people homes are damaged, people will have to have new homes, and their health.
People are mental too, mental destroyed. I mean, uh.
Within six years, they kept getting false hope, you know, promises that people are gonna they're gonna do this and they're gonna do that, and they fail the people and the people have no confidence in in the administration. They don't have any confidence that the people are gonna come through and work for them. And that's why all dot is trying to move in and try to capitalize on this and and take people's property. You know, like we said earlier, the property has been in our family since reconstruction.
Uh, there's a historical vacue you there. The other thing is the fact that that Secretary Peak Boodlee just did an interview with NPR all Things Considered, a couple of days ago, and it was an exit interview talking about all the things that been done with us DOOT, with the Biprolitian Infrastructure Law, the one point two trillion hours, and he mentioned all the different projects. I forget how many thousands, sixty seventy thousand projects. And he's leaving, he clearing on his offices, packing up, and what we say is that there's still one project that's unfinished. Business is unfinished, and he needs to finish this before he leaves in a few days. And what we're not talking about millions and millions and millions of dollars. We're talking about a community homeowners that could be made whole. Justice to be done, And we're not talking about busting anybody's budget except the budgets that are being broken and busted by homeowners paying for loss and damage to their homes. And many of the families on fixed incomes and a number of them are veterans. I mean, we're talking about hard working tax beyers who own their homes, who inherited that property. If we want to keep that property, that's what we're talking about. It's not just talking about a highway and flooding. This is talking about destruction and wiping away an entire community that has deep history and a legacy of transforming well, passing on, passing on, passing on.
That's what we're talking about.
All right, then, well, we will reach out to the Department Transportation see an answer. The botmob line is they are there until until eleven fifty nine am next Monday, and we'll see what they say. I sent people to to other text messages. We'll see if he responds as well. So gentlemen, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot.
Thank you, folks.
Gotta go to the break. We come back, we're gonna talk about Jack Smith's report. Is it going to finally be released? We'll discuss that right here on Roland mart unfiltered on the Blackstart Network. Don't forget support the work that we do. You can also we hear from Kristin Clark, of course, who gave her farewell address today at the Department of justice, support the work that we do. Join I bring the Funk Fan club you can actually go to. If you want to give you a cash app, you can do so by using the Stripe app. Of course cash havep close our accounts because they change their rules and impacted at churches and nonprofits and others, and so you can use a stripe app in order to give you a cash app. So the QR code is right here on the screen. If you are listening to simply go to Blackstart Network dot com. We have the q QR code on the website as well. If you want to see your checking money over a peal box five seven one nine six Washington d C two zero zero three seven dads zero one nine six. Paypalals are Martin Unfiltered, venmos r M Unfiltered, Ze Rolling, at Roland Smartin dot com, rolland at Roland Martin on Filter dot com. Also download the blackstod network app Apple Phone, Android Phone, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, amas On Fire TV, Xbox one, Samsung Smart TV. We'll be right back. What's up, y'all? Look, fan base is more than a platform.
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I mean soon to the Black Star Network for y'all.
Were you on that stage or when you and you're seeing two and three four generations in the audience that that's got has got to speak to you about the power of.
What your other com Most definitely, I think we were doing our show for our tour before our break, and remember I was watching this kid. I could not take my eyes off of him because he was about d nine or so.
Were sitting in the front.
Road with it over on the right hand side.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, I was.
I was amazed that this kid knew everything and he was I was like ship tripping to see how many songs this kid, this kid.
Actually knew and he knew him all and he and he knew them all. We had to go over there and bring him on stage and take.
A picture with him, you know, at the end of the show and stuff, because it was just that amazing.
It's like, this is crazy. You know.
The music travels everywhere, you know, like like what Philip was saying, seen as young kids. Then you see here are songs on commerci those coal commercials. Then you have the young ones that's seeing out here on Music Animation.
Next on the Black Tape with me Greg Carr, there's a lot of talk about the inevitability of another civil war in this country. But on our next show, we'll talk to a noted author and scholar who says we're actually in the middle of one right now. In fact, Steve Phillips says, the first one that started back in eighteen sixty one, well it never ended.
People carrying the Confederate flag, wearing sweatshirts saying maga civil war. January sixth, twenty twenty one, stormed you US capital hunted down the country's elected of Bushow built the gallows for the vice President of the United States had to block the peaceful transfer of power in this country.
On the next Black Team Here on the Black Star Network.
Hi everybody.
I'm Kim Colsty, I'm Dotty Simpson Cole from Blackness, and.
You watch well than mine.
I'm filthy.
Well none case. Federal Judge Iileen Cannon made a sensible ruling. What a shock She's extended denied a request to extend the injunction against the Jack Smith DJ Justice Department report from releasing that particular volume.
Uh.
And of course she stopped it from doing so, and so the report could be released as soon as midnight tonight, barring any future legal action. The judge for here releasing a portion of the report about the classified document case because two cod defenders are still facing charges. The DJ still has a pending motion before the Eleventh Circuit asking to immediately release the portion of the report about January six, but the court has yet to rule on that motion. Also, Jack Smith the resign from position from his position on Friday. You know a lot of people have been highly critical of Attorney General Merrick Garland, saying he waited way too long to appoint Jack Smith two years into his term to hold to hold Donald Trump accountable. And the question which I think is a legitimate question on the congo, you know, will Merrick Garland go down as one of the worst attorney generals in American history. Now, granted that you had the Attorney general under Richard Nixon who went to jail because of his involvement in Watergate, but there's no doubt in my mind that Merrick Garland was an awful was one of the probably the worst decision that Joe Biden made in his four years as president.
Yeah.
Absolutely, And of course it depends on who's writing the history. But from our perspective and those of us who work on this side of the of the island in this space, he's absolutely one the worst. Look when you come down to it, If it wasn't for Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony, and if it wasn't for the January sixth Committee, there probably would have been no charges filed against Trump in any way, shape or for him. It wasn't until after that that people started getting serious. There should have been something the day after the insurrection happened. But this idea that has been driving me nuts to keep saying this, Oh, we didn't do such and such because we didn't want to be political. Not doing anything is a political decision. In action is a political decision.
And so they left this slide four months.
Was at fourteen sixty whatever it was before they decided to actually do anything.
And Merrick Garland has just been too slow on so many things, and many of us wanted somebody like the Doug Jones.
And it's sad because the Justice Department has done some incredible things. We talked about Kristin Clark wan to talk about her later as well, But some of the things that happened directly under his leadership as it relates to Donald Trump, are ridiculous and we are partially be where we are today because of his inaction, and so he absolutely goes down in history as one of the worst.
Yeah, I agree.
I you know, we can say a lot about the choices that were made, and you know, in terms of expediency, we didn't get it, just even as American people on so many issues that were happening during this administration, and what we needed was a justice system that actually.
Stood as tall as some of these issues.
So it's very unfortunate, but I would hope this is another lesson learned as they are writing the history books of the person that we are choosing is not something that looks like Garland.
Derek.
Yeah, Roland, you know, I agree both with doctor Ommacongo and Teresa Mary. Garland is one of the worst ags due to his inaction. But I also want to, you know, make sure that we get documented that Mitch McConnell. If Mitch McConnell would have done what he said from the floor in the Senate Chamber about Donald Trump, about January sixth and all the other things, then Donald Trump would have been precluded forever running for president again. And so there are a lot of areas where we can point to Roland that because of those inactions and thinking that the American public was going to make the correction right on, which they didn't, and they just thought January sixth was just enough travesty that it was gonna be enough for the American public to say say no to Trump.
Unfortunately, that's not the case, folks.
Earlier today, I was add to the Department of Justice where they had their annual MLK program and also was a opportunity to salute Christian Clark, the Assistant Attorney General who led the Civil Rights Division under the Biden has administration for the last four years. They did remarkable work and I have said consistently that this dj was the most aggressive civil rights division since Robert F. Kennedy served as Attorney General. There are a number of civil rights luminary leaders who were actually at the ceremony today. Members of Congress were there as well. Ben Crump spoke and shared these words about Christian Clark and her role at the Department of Justice.
The King Oftentimes, when we talk about the law and how we use this instrument, I believe that we should always use it for an instrument of good. That there are many who believe is she be used as a weapon of oppression. Doctor King said in his Letter from the Birmingham Jail, which I believe is one of the most incredible documents ever written in the course of human history. Ryan in that jail everybody remembers he said, in justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. How have I submit to you, my brothers and sisters. I think that wasn't the only profound statements that he made in that letter. I submit that the most profound statement he said in that letter was when he talked about just because they tell us it's legal, that don't make it right. He said, we must remember everything Hitler did to the Jews in Germany they said was legal, but that didn't make it right. He said, we must remember that they said slavery was legal, but that didn't make it right. He said, we must remember they said segregation was legal, but that didn't make it right. And he said everything they did to that little boy money in Mississippi, they said was legal. But doctor King said, but that doesn't make it right. I thank god, I thank god, I thank god that when the local officials said what they did to George Floyd was legal, that Christian Clark in the Civil Rights Division said, that don't make it right. When they said what they did to Breonna Taylor and Louisville Contact, what's legal. That Christian Clark and the Civil Rights Division said, But that don't make it right. What they did to my Irbry when they listed him in Prayswick, Georgia, and they said that was legal, that Christian Clark and the Civil Rights Division, that didn't make it right. And when they beat Tyree Nichols to death five black police officers and miss Memphis, Tennessee, and they tried to say that it was legal, that Christian Clark and the Civil Rights Division said, but that doesn't make it right.
And now saw your Massy.
Springfield, Illinois rolland I know you showed the video on your show many times, Derek, I know that's where ACP first started after the race Rights. It reminds us that we still have so much work to do. National Affair Housing Center CAMP. I know we got so much work to do, Christian Clark, I said it on many occasions, and I heard some of my colleagues say it. Save Robert Kennedy and what they did back in the sixties with doctor King and Congressman Lewis and Fanny lou Hamer and others.
I cannot think of a Justice Department.
And Civil Rights Division that has done more to make the Constitution real for all Americans.
I'm so moved by this program.
I'm going to try and keep it together here as we close things out. My remarks today are in tribute to the extraordinary career staff of the Civil Rights Division, who are the ones who really make the magic happen.
I want to ask all of the current and former members of.
The Civil Rights Division, and I see that there are many here, to please stand and be recognized.
It is a profound honor to be with you.
Today reflecting on the enduring legacy of doctor Martin Luther King, Junior, a.
Great American whose vision, courage.
And commitment to justice transformed our nation's moral and social fabric. As we closed today's tribute to his life and monumental contributions he made, we also celebrate our own hard work to advance his dream, a dream of a nation where equality, justice, and fairness are not just aspirational ideals, but tangible realities for us all.
Doctor King was a visionary.
He believed deeply in the promise of America, even as he recognized the profound inequities and systemic racism that plagued our society. He fought tirelessly for civil rights, practiced nonviolent resistance, and embraced the inherent dignity.
Of every human being. His leadership during the civil rights.
Movement of the fifties and sixties in and I a fire that continues to burn in the hearts of those who seek justice and equality.
It burns in our own hearts. But as we've seen today, the work doctor King began is far from done.
When President Biden nominated me on the morning of January sixth, twenty twenty one, and the Senate confirmed me for this role. On the one year anniversary of George Floyd's death, our country was in the throes of unrest, with echoes of the nation's earlier civil rights movement sounding in the streets. Black people had been tragically killed. Ahmud Arbury died for the apparent offense of jogging, while Black Breonna Taylor died on the floor of her apartment because of an illegitimate search warrant. George Floyd died with a police officer kneeling on his neck, and not just black people felt the brunt of prejudice and violence. The previous year, COVID had unleashed hate fueled violence targeting Asian Americans. Anti Semitic and Islamophobic violence were also skyrocketing. The targeting of LGBTQI people, especially children, was rampant. But the proliferation of violence and hate sparked a counter reaction. Protesters of all stripes mounted more than ten thousand demonstrations. Yellow paint on the streets reminded people that Black Lives Matter. Activists toppled Confederate statutes statues. Mississippi removed the Confederate flag Confederate symbol from its flag corporations, states and localities designated Juneteenth a holiday. Washington's football team shed its racist name and logo, and, in a seemingly small move that actually matters, publications began to capitalize block when using it to describe people. This change acknowledged the shared history, identity, and community among people who identify as black. It seemed to suggest understanding by institutions that previously privileged an archaic.
Style over a minor edit that cost nothing.
It hinted at respect and a willingness to confront a collective history of racism and injustice.
All welcome, overdue.
And symbolic steps, but none of them enough to fully realize doctor King's dream. I stepped into this role with great pride to return to the place where I started my career as a baby lawyer in two thousand, but also with a sense of the urgency of the moment. At the Civil Rights Division, we have long enforced federal laws that protect people from discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, disability, religion, and military status for sixty seven years. Our explicit mission has been to give force and meaning to the law, to elevate them beyond mere words on paper, to integrate them into the reality of everyday life for all Americans, regardless of their background, zip code, or circumstance. We've sought to redeem the promise of the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty four, the Voting Rights Act of nineteen sixty five, the Fair Housing Act of nineteen sixty eight, and more. As we reflect on doctor King's legacy, I want to talk about how the Civil Rights Division has fulfilled this mission.
In the last four years, under.
The leadership of President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland, we have revitalized and empowered the Division. We have expanded the scope of our action to address both overt and covert barriers to civil rights. We have made progress that will be difficult to reverse and changes that are more than symbolic, more than gestures. George Floyd's tragic killing ignited not just a wave of protest, but a renewed national conversation about policing in the criminal justice system. Doctor King had earnestly hoped for such dialogue, but to see the persistence of police misconduct today would have left him heartsick. Doctor King peacefully submitted to arrest, a fact that critics of the Black Lives Matter movement might have invoked as evidence that he was not critical of law enforcement, but King was critical. In his nineteen sixty three at the March on Washington, he said, we can never be satisfied as long as Black Americans are victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. This is as true today as he spoke those words, as true for white and brown victims, as for black ones, as true in the North as it is in the South.
In case after case, the Division.
Has prosecuted police officers and officials in our jails and prisons who thought it was acceptable to brutalize people disproportionately people of color, who didn't show the right level of respect, who did not comply with police orders quickly enough, or who ran away in fear. Through our prosecutions, we have shown that such impunity by law enforcement is not acceptable, that the job of police is to enforce the law and ensure public safety, not to adjudicate, adjudicate guilt and meet out punishment that could lead to loss of life. We've also worked collaboratively with local law enforcement agencies to implement reforms. I've engaged with law enforcement groups across the country and participated in trainings. And we also have conducted pattern or practice investigations, yielding invaluable findings reports that lay bare for the public that police brutality persists decades after the sit ins, the marches, and the letters from jail. We have uncovered and exposed systemic problems and discriminatory policies and practices. Let me be clear, the vast majority of law enforcement in our country works to keep us safe. They make personal sacrifices and put their own lives on the line. But we also know that police officers need more resources, training, and accountability to do their jobs properly.
Since twenty twenty.
One, we've negotiated and implemented consent decrees with cities such as Louisville and Minneapolis, where city leaders and police departments all agree on and stand with us in the pursuit of reform. Decrees address issues such as excessive use of force, bias policing, and the failure to protect people's civil rights.
Our work has also yielded powerful.
Success stories in places such as Seattle, Albuquerque, Newark, and Baltimore, where we have worked hard to make real the.
Goals of existing consent decrees.
Where policing has improved, violent crime has declined, and constitutional policing policies are becoming rooted in the culture of the communities and their police departments. Our decrees require independent monitors and provide accountability both within police departments and with the community, creating long lasting change that aligns with doctor King's vision of a just society. And we've been dynamic in our approach to this work, using other tools like the Americans with Disabilities Act to address the full range of complex issues that we face. Doctor King regarded the rights to vote as paramount. He understood that the ballot made public officials accountable, that it made them responsive, that it made them listen to the voices of marginalized communities. So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote, I do not possess myself.
I cannot make up my mind. It is made up for me.
I cannot live as a democratic citizen observing the laws I have helped to enact.
I can only submit to the edict of others. King observed.
The Civil Rights Division has carried forward Doctor King's vision for voting rights by vigorously enforcing the Voting Rights Act and fighting voter suppression across the country. In recent year, states have introduced restrictive laws that make it harder for historically disenfranchised communities to access the ballot. We've sued to enjoin on constitutional voter id laws, pushed back against racially jeri mandered redistricting maps, work to ensure language access for minority voters, stood up for military members participating from overseas, advocated for voters with disabilities, and work to address other tactics that, in the words of one Court of Appeals quote, targeted African Americans with almost surgical precision. The Division has continued to push for restoration of the full protections of the Voting Rights Act, work to undo the Supreme Court's twenty thirteen decision in Shelby County, Alabama versus Holder that eviscerated key provisions of the law and opened up the floodgates of voter suppression. We've worked hard to make it clear that the right to vote is not an indulgence or reward bestowed by the state. As we prepare to mark the seventieth anniversary the Voting Rights Act of nineteen sixty five, we must all continue to push for something that should be beyond dispute, that we all deserve to have a voice in our democracy.
Doctor King, I'll.
Say this here, and y'all heard what I said before a congo, Derek and Teresa, when you talk about this Department of Justice, and you know, while I was sitting there, you know, it really ticked me off because I have said numerous times to Karine, Jean Pierre, Chief of Staff, Jeff Zeinz, Steve Benjamin, on and on and on. I have implored this White House, how is it that this Department of Justice Civil Rights Division has done so much great work police accountability, prosecuting hate crimes, putting cops in jail, putting jailer's prison, Wharton's in jails. When it comes to a red lining, mortgage discrimination, how discrimination? I actually sent a video in at this ceremony. There are a number of people sent videos in and they played my video as well, and I talked about that here. And if it's one thing that probably drives me crazy, the most recent is that the White House Press Office of Communications folks just for four years screwed up, never from the podium high lighting the great work. And that was one of the reasons why people believe that this administration hadn't done anything on criminal justice reform. But they did, but they never talked about it. And Merrick Garland was an awful communicator. If you want to understand how awful this is. The Department of Justice has cameras. They actually live stream news conferences. Today's event, the black We were the only camera at today's event. We were the only camera. Christen once said she asked me to come, Roland, please come on Monday. I was like, listen, I'm gonna try to be there. I said, hey, let's send a camera.
You know, we were there.
We live streamed it. If y'all want to see the whole ceremony, go to our YouTube channel, go to the Blackshating Network app. Well, the only camera that's there. And I'm like, no one will ever know your story unless you tell your story. And so that's probably the one thing that just drove me crazy. All the great stuff they did, the public rarely heard about it because the White House never amplified it.
And that's a tremendous failure on the Biden Harrison administration, especially when we are going through consistent issues back to back about civil rights, about injustice, about fighting for our neighbors and community, and then you have an AG like Kristin Clark literally probably should have been Merrick Garland in that position because it seems like her and her team is actually doing the work, and so the priority is what it seems like is that one the justice system has been doing the work. So when we say, you know, how do we make sure that black and brown communities, more so African American communities had a voice, it is because our assistant AG Christen Clark and her team did what they were supposed to do. It's very unfortunate, like I said before, on the communications side, because this would have been an easy win at the podium during White House briefings. Starting off with a Justice report that has to do with how they are taking back and upholding our constitutional rights as Americans as the citizens would absolutely have made Americans great again.
You know, you know, perfect example, Derek. They released, you know, the the only report the federal government has ever done on what took place in nineteen twenty one, that took place last Thursday. They had a community forum on Saturday, and there were a lot of people who people said, oh, this is just symbolic, it means nothing.
No.
Setting the historical record, I believe is important, and who you put in charge is important. And I can tell you that Christian Clark, the work that she did in her staff absolutely has been amazing. And I just hate the fact that this White House did not do more to lift them up. When you talk about the prosecutions, when you talk about the guilty verdicts, when you talk about again not just civil rights, but economic rights, all of that so important. And I can guarantee you, Derek, the DJ Civil Rights Division for the next four years won't even come close to what Christian Clark did the last.
For you, you know, Roland, I would never bet you, but I agree with you that the next four years will not be like his first time in office. You know, Ama Congo said it best, despite him coming into office, we can't give up.
And while Christian Clark was given her remarks, Roland, a couple of things came to mind.
When you think about what this Supreme Court has done in the last nine years, which you think about what the Republican Party has done these last nine years, what just took place recently during his last election, Roland, the second time Trump's going to be in office won't be like the first time, and a lot of folks thinking, well, we survived the first four years, we should be able to survive at this time.
He won't have the kind of voices.
Around him that needs to be around him that preserve and protect the Constitution. And so when you think about you know, Kristen Clark mentioned about the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act in the Fair Housing Act, well that's not part of the Thirteenth Amendment, fourteenth Amendment, and fifteen Minute Amendment. Those three laws rolling can be overturned, just like the Chevron case, just like Roe v. Wade, and just like the Affirmative Action. Things have been around forty to fifty years that set precedented are no longer the case in the United States. So we can very well wake up in the next four years without a Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty four, without a Voter Rights Act of nineteen sixty five, and without a Fair Housing Act of nineteen sixty eight.
That's what concerns me.
I'm a congo.
Christian Clark is a hero. I mean period, bottom line.
I mean, when it comes down to it, I've seen you tirelessly on this network bring up the various things that she has done under her department. And we know I was hoping for the Kamlo wins so she could be an attorney general. But we talk about, well, the next administration was going to happen. I actually believe that the next administration is going to be the opposite effect that people that she was fighting for or in terms of fighting to convict, are going to be the people that they're setting free. And so this actually ties into our first or first one or two seg blocks. Tonight, we were talking about the protection bureaus and they're like, people don't know what they have until it's gone. And the fact of the matter is that they fought for so much for us under these four years protections we didn't know we had because unless you're watching the Blackstar Network, you weren't getting it anywhere else. But now when we see so many of these these these these criminals, these racists, these anti semits, these the Islama folks, we're going to be walking free. The folks are going to be pardoned all of this. We're going to be like, where's the Justice Department, where's the Well, we had a great Justice Department in terms of its civil Rights division that was doing incredible work for us every single day.
I know that she's not done. I can't wait to see what she's doing next.
But the mainstream media and media in general missed a great opportunity in highlighting her work. But as you started off with this, Roland, the Biden administration itself did a terrible job of promoting what this black woman did to help keep us safe, and not just black people, like she said, but so many of us safe. And I'm glad that you were the only camera in the room, but there should have been one hundred more.
But I'm glad we have that story to share with the country and the world.
So for folks, if you missed it, simply go to our Black Start Network app or go to our YouTube channel YouTube dot com for Slash Roland as Martin to actually see that full program and you'll listen to all of the amazing people and listen to things that they had to say about the work of Christian Clark and her Civil Rights Division. So we thank her profusely for being a patriot for the work that she did for the last four years. And trust me, we will remember that and it's going to be tough for any Democrat administration tot to equal surpass what they did.
Uh.
And because we clearly know, no Republican administration will come close, will remotely come close to having a strong civil rights division, especially with the nutcase Donald Trump has named to leave the Civil Rights Division. Derek, I'm a Congo and Teresa, thank you so much for being on today's panel. Thank you so very much. Folks, that is it for us. Don't forget support the work that we do. What I said to y'all earlier is a perfect example, and I'm not making this up. I stood up. Actually when I got there, I sat next to Kristen Clark and I stood up. Been looking at the bat. There was only one camera. There was only one camera that was in the back of that room today that was live streaming or recording this event, and that was ours. And look, it cost me to pay somebody to pay it, to pay you know, a freelancer to get our gear to go there, uh and stream that event. We didn't make any money off of that event. No one paid us to actually be there, but it was important to be there. So when I'm when I'm walking you through this when I'm telling you about the work that we do, when I'm talking about the events that we cover, when I talk about the people that we bring on, you know, I I there's there's there's there's a freelance producer who I uh am onboarding. I talked to her today, Who's going to be helping us produce our show and then two of our other shows on the network. Uh guess what that's going to cost money?
Uh?
When we talk about bringing on two additional show hosts, I'm working on that as we speak. When we talk about also bringing on a couple of writers, those things cost money. And listen, these ad agencies out here, they don't want to support news. Uh we talk to them, They're like, oh no, our clients want to be away from news, especially any opinionated news. So you know, they ain't trying to support any black news. And so when we talk about joining our Brina Funk fan club, that's what we're talking about. And those things are real. Those costs are real, and so we want you if you have And again, our goal every year is to get twenty thousand of our fans. So far we get about thirty seven thousand donors who've been a part of our Brinder Funk fan club since we launched this show six years ago. And the goal is to raise a million dollars a year from our fans. And there are people who say, hey, you know what, I can't do fifty bucks and people have donated twenty five, thirty, fifteen, ten, five one dollar and so we support all of them for doing that. And we've had some other people who say, you know what, I can donate more than that. In fact, I've had people, I've had people I saw some of the people who gave today, and so we appreciate all of that. But do understand. Do understand you take the story of the folks Shiloh, Alabama. National media isn't talking to them. National media isn't covering them. Tomorrow on the show, we're going to talk about the water problems they're having in Richmond, Virginia. National media isn't talking about those things. And so when you support this show with your dollars, you are supporting black news and information. There is no other black media company, black owned media company doing what we're doing, not black targeted or black owned, not one. None of them are doing what we do. Every single day, and so please be sure to support us in everywhere that you can. If you want to contribute via cash app, you can't do it direct because cash app got rid of all of our accounts because they change their rules, and so the way to give via cash app is to do so via Stripe. This is the QR code. If you're listening, simply go to Blackstartnetwork dot com to contribute. If you want to, you're gonna be old school and send your checking on the order in I get it, I understand. You can do it to our peel box five seven one ninety six, Washington, d C two zero zero three seven. That's zero one nine six. PayPal is our Martin Unfiltered venmo is RM unfiltered sale, rolling at Roland Smartin dot com rolling at Roland Martin Unfiltered dot com. You can download our Blackstart Network app. We've crossed one hundred thousand now we're on our way to two hundred thousand downloads. That's critically important, so you can download it on your Apple phone or your Android phone. You can also do Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon fireTV, Xbox one, Samsung Smart TV. Be sure to get my book White Fear how the browning of America is making white folks lose their minds Availa on bookstores nationwide, Amazon, Barnes, and Noble. Of course, you can also get the audio version which I read on Audible and don't forget. You can get our Roland Martin unfiltered Black Start Network merchandise, our two newest shirts. We try to tell you FAFO tweeny twenty five and also don't blame me, I voted for the Black Woman. Some of you have had some issues in receiving your merchandise. The folks there with Creator Spring, they have had one of their suppliers, one of their warehouses they shut down. So they've been trying to make some adjustments, and so we have been talking to them directly about making sure you're able to get your products in a timely manner. And so you can get your merchandise at Roland Martin dot Creator, dash Spring dot com, or you can go to Blackstore Network dot com to check it out as well. And so, folks, when you buy merchandise, listen, even my book proceeds of the book because right back into the show to fund the work that we are doing. So folks, we appreciate all of you. Thank you so very much. I will see all of you tomorrow right here on ROLLINGD Martin Unfiltered and the Black Star Network. How h black Star Network.
A real revolution there right now.
I thank you for me and the voice of Black Amerans, a moment that we have. Now we have to keep this going.
The video of phenomenal is between Black Star Network and black owned media and something like seeing in.
You can't be black owned media and be scared. It's time to be smart, bring your eyeballs hot, you dig