# Rashad Robinson: From Presence to Power. Trump Targets Mail-In Ballots. Tuskegee Backlash

An episode of [#RolandMartinUnfiltered](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1434424449), 29 Jul 2026, 1 h 31 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/ec5a50b3-3ea1-4b6e-b91b-ae2e00387281/6b2c891e-65ce-4f2c-85df-b49800163369/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=9fce13f2-0092-4f32-888b-ae2e0038728f

7.28.2026 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Rashad Robinson: From Presence to Power. Trump Targets Mail-In Ballots. Tuskegee Backlash Civil Rights leader Rashad Robinson's new book "From Presence to Power: How to Take on the Fights that Matter-and Win" explains the difference between presence and power. He'll be live in the studio. Houston dentist, Dr. Letitia Plummer, wants to be the next Harris County, Texas Judge. She'll be here to explain why she thinks she's the best person for the job. The Trump Administration is going after mail-in ballots again. We'll discuss how Tuskegee University's new dress code is sparking discussion about "anti-blackness." And in tonight's Shop Black Star Network-Dot-com, COS-MOL-O-GY, a brand with a series of hair tools that make wash day feel effortless. Black Star Network Partner: Chapter Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. ____ Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

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[0:49] Speaker 3: Hey folks, Today's two in July twenty eight, twenty twenty six,
[0:53] Speaker 3: coming up and rolling, Mark Black starting network longtime color
[0:58] Speaker 3: Chase Cyo shot Robinson with Your Mean Us talking about
[1:01] Speaker 3: his new book about how we maximize our work Plitical Power. Also,
[1:07] Speaker 3: La Tisha Plumber is wanning to become the next judge
[1:09] Speaker 3: of Aris Galley. We'll talk with her.
[1:12] Speaker 5: Trump is going after mail in voting. They got a
[1:16] Speaker 5: huge victory.
[1:17] Speaker 3: We'll tell you exactly what took place and how that
[1:21] Speaker 3: has lots of folks worried. Also, we talked about Tusky
[1:25] Speaker 3: gets new dress code that's not making a lot of
[1:28] Speaker 3: people happen. It's happy so calling it anti black. And
[1:32] Speaker 3: our latest shot Black Network dot Com segment, It's time
[1:35] Speaker 3: to bringing the phone. I'm rolling unfiltered on the Black
[1:38] Speaker 3: Study Network.
[1:39] Speaker 2: Let's go.
[1:41] Speaker 7: Whatever it is he's got the school finds he's right
[1:49] Speaker 7: on time.
[1:49] Speaker 8: And is rolling. Best believe he's going.
[1:55] Speaker 2: Lost.
[1:55] Speaker 9: Hows to politics, entertainment, chess books.
[2:07] Speaker 7: It's he's booky spress, She's built up question. No, he's
[2:19] Speaker 7: rolling Martin.
[2:33] Speaker 5: Long time civil rights accidents.
[2:35] Speaker 3: Rashad Robinson understands uh protest, understands polical campaigns. He laid
[2:41] Speaker 3: color Change for a number of years and significant campaigns
[2:45] Speaker 3: and wins. Now he has a new book out where
[2:48] Speaker 3: he talks about what really needs to happen in terms
[2:52] Speaker 3: of how we move forward. The book is called Presidents
[2:54] Speaker 3: From Presidence to Power, How to take on the fights
[2:57] Speaker 3: that matter and win. So Ra seun glad to have
[3:01] Speaker 3: you here. Everywhere I go you probably get this as well.
[3:05] Speaker 3: People say I want to do something, bomb up what
[3:07] Speaker 3: to do? And the average person says, I don't have
[3:10] Speaker 3: any power, but you say they do.
[3:14] Speaker 10: Yeah. I think that what the right wing has actually
[3:17] Speaker 10: shown us is that they have totally changed how people
[3:21] Speaker 10: can participate, how everyday people can engage. I mean, if
[3:25] Speaker 10: you go to the gym, you see folks turning on
[3:27] Speaker 10: Fox News and changing the channel. They're wearing their red
[3:30] Speaker 10: caps and their jerseys and as a result, shifting sort
[3:33] Speaker 10: of the way that society works. What sort of happens
[3:37] Speaker 10: in our schools and other sort of environmental spaces that
[3:41] Speaker 10: we're living and operating in. And sometimes we're treating politics
[3:44] Speaker 10: almost like it's a basketball game, where it's theater. The
[3:47] Speaker 10: folks are on the court, the players are on the court,
[3:50] Speaker 10: the players are on the stage, and then we're watching
[3:53] Speaker 10: from the outside and commenting. And I think one of
[3:56] Speaker 10: the things that we have to recognize and in this
[3:59] Speaker 10: era we're to get out of the mess that we're in,
[4:01] Speaker 10: we're going to have to do some things to find
[4:03] Speaker 10: our power. So part of what I've done and from
[4:06] Speaker 10: Presence to Power, which is really a framework, a twenty
[4:09] Speaker 10: first inentury framework for how we understand taking on big tech,
[4:14] Speaker 10: taking on Hollywood, taking on government, taking on all the
[4:16] Speaker 10: forces that stand in your way, is that we're going
[4:19] Speaker 10: to need more of us to find our power. And
[4:21] Speaker 10: I'm not just explaining it to you. I'm not just
[4:23] Speaker 10: giving you concepts. But throughout the book there are nine lessons,
[4:28] Speaker 10: they're exercises in the book. Take out a piece of paper,
[4:31] Speaker 10: map sort of the things that you have and your disposal,
[4:35] Speaker 10: and I ask really clear questions so that we can
[4:38] Speaker 10: find our power in the singular, but also questions so
[4:41] Speaker 10: that we can find our power in the plural. What
[4:43] Speaker 10: I mean by that is finding sort of our ability
[4:46] Speaker 10: to have connect with the networks and finding our people
[4:49] Speaker 10: and finding our tribe so that we can move forward
[4:53] Speaker 10: in a different way.
[4:55] Speaker 3: You cannot find your power, though, unless you understand is
[5:00] Speaker 3: the power of the collective.
[5:02] Speaker 5: So what you described when it came to the right
[5:04] Speaker 5: is where they've done.
[5:05] Speaker 3: They sort of all get how they move and operate,
[5:09] Speaker 3: support one another, drive one another's content that builds this ecosystem,
[5:15] Speaker 3: whether it's groups or whether it's media.
[5:18] Speaker 10: You're absolutely I mean the part of what they've done
[5:21] Speaker 10: to be able to like beat us in the media
[5:23] Speaker 10: space is that they are They're promoting one another, They're
[5:26] Speaker 10: uplifting one another. They've built with their resources and money
[5:30] Speaker 10: ways really for folks who are sort of emerging content
[5:34] Speaker 10: creators to be able to be monetized or not sort
[5:37] Speaker 10: of afraid of their people, being able to make money
[5:40] Speaker 10: for being able for reaching people and engaging voices. And
[5:44] Speaker 10: so we are going to have to find new strategies
[5:46] Speaker 10: and engage in new ways if we're going to win
[5:49] Speaker 10: up against everything that's stacked up in our way. And
[5:52] Speaker 10: so you know, you've been such a pioneer role in
[5:54] Speaker 10: in the media space, building an independent platform that has
[5:59] Speaker 10: sort of launched other voices while at the same time
[6:01] Speaker 10: reaching people in ways that few others are able to do.
[6:05] Speaker 10: And we're gonna need more Roland Martin's. But we're also
[6:08] Speaker 10: gonna need to recognize that as we have these platforms,
[6:12] Speaker 10: the ask and the demands and the political advocacy is
[6:17] Speaker 10: also going to get better. Right, far too often we
[6:20] Speaker 10: are not taking our fights to the corporations that are
[6:23] Speaker 10: profiteering off of injustice. We are not taking our fights
[6:27] Speaker 10: to the profiteers who are sort of gaining higher status
[6:31] Speaker 10: through hierarchy in the face of our oppression. And so
[6:36] Speaker 10: we're gonna need more voices connecting and reaching people, more
[6:40] Speaker 10: narrative infrastructure. We're also just gonna need better campaigns. And
[6:43] Speaker 10: what my book does is it walks through really clear
[6:47] Speaker 10: essential lessons, but then I tell stories from the campaigns
[6:50] Speaker 10: that I've been part of, the ones that I've won,
[6:52] Speaker 10: but many that we've lost along the way, and I
[6:54] Speaker 10: help to try to deconstruct those things. I mean, you
[6:57] Speaker 10: covered very closely so many of the fights I had
[7:00] Speaker 10: with Mark Zuckerberg and Schryl Sandberg really fighting for change
[7:04] Speaker 10: at Facebook because we weren't at a point where we
[7:06] Speaker 10: could get the type of sort of regulation at the
[7:11] Speaker 10: federal level that was required. So I was going back
[7:14] Speaker 10: and forth and they would demand that I signed an NDA,
[7:17] Speaker 10: and I refused, and they would put a big badge
[7:20] Speaker 10: on my suit and I would have to walk around
[7:23] Speaker 10: their offices with that that said no NDA. But because
[7:26] Speaker 10: I didn't sign that NDA, I'm able to tell the
[7:28] Speaker 10: readers how it actually works in those rooms. How do
[7:31] Speaker 10: you know whether or not you're in a dialogue versus
[7:34] Speaker 10: a negotiation. Our opponents want to keep us in a dialogue.
[7:37] Speaker 10: They want to keep us talking. They want to keep
[7:39] Speaker 10: us They want to be able to say, we talk
[7:41] Speaker 10: to those black folks, this is what they think. We're
[7:44] Speaker 10: in conversation. We want to get to the point where
[7:47] Speaker 10: we get to a negotiation, which means we have enough
[7:49] Speaker 10: leverage to force them to do things that they don't
[7:52] Speaker 10: want to do. That means we can't take their money
[7:54] Speaker 10: lots of times. That means we have to actually take
[7:56] Speaker 10: on fights that sometimes might be uncomfortable. But if we're
[7:59] Speaker 10: going to move the all forward and actually get the
[8:01] Speaker 10: type of change, it changes the circumstances that we're in
[8:05] Speaker 10: We're gonna have to do some things different. And that's
[8:07] Speaker 10: why I stepped back in this moment to write this book,
[8:10] Speaker 10: and that's why I'm traveling the country to sort of
[8:12] Speaker 10: offer a real intervention in this moment.
[8:15] Speaker 3: You also have the experience when it comes to fundraising,
[8:21] Speaker 3: and let's just be honest, part of his problem is
[8:25] Speaker 3: that Democrats slash progressive donors have a totally different view
[8:33] Speaker 3: than conservative republican Conservative Republican donors understand how you have
[8:39] Speaker 3: to fund a movement. How significant is that being a
[8:44] Speaker 3: problem in building this cohesive ecosystem Because what the folks
[8:49] Speaker 3: on the left don't left or against progressives don't like
[8:53] Speaker 3: is they don't want dissension or disagreement.
[8:57] Speaker 5: But that's just not how all of this works.
[9:00] Speaker 4: How it works.
[9:00] Speaker 10: I mean, you couldn't be more right. I actually talk
[9:02] Speaker 10: about in the book how the right wings billionaires they're
[9:06] Speaker 10: billionaires that fund their movement are actually sometimes more radical
[9:10] Speaker 10: than their activists. They actually want to push things even further.
[9:14] Speaker 5: Paying for home insurance and days.
[9:17] Speaker 10: And then you know, sort of in our in our situation,
[9:20] Speaker 10: on our side, our activists have to lead and sometimes
[9:25] Speaker 10: drag our donors with us and our you know, if
[9:28] Speaker 10: we if we go too far, sometimes the money will
[9:31] Speaker 10: be removed. And so, you know, when we looked at
[9:34] Speaker 10: all the money that came into racial justice movements in
[9:37] Speaker 10: twenty twenty, a lot of that money I simply didn't
[9:41] Speaker 10: take because it came from corporations and it came with
[9:44] Speaker 10: the type of strings that you know, made it very
[9:47] Speaker 10: hard for us to make the unapologetic demands that we need.
[9:51] Speaker 10: I think money is absolutely a part of the equation.
[9:54] Speaker 2: But I think if we.
[9:55] Speaker 10: Build enough power, if we build campaigns and are unignorable,
[10:00] Speaker 10: if we organize our people in ways that we are
[10:03] Speaker 10: as consequential in election cycles or as consequential to corporations
[10:09] Speaker 10: as we possibly can be, folks are going to have
[10:12] Speaker 10: to find a way to fund us. You know, when
[10:15] Speaker 10: I first started doing work around progressive prosecutors or doing
[10:18] Speaker 10: work in the criminal justice system, there were very few
[10:20] Speaker 10: funders that were actually funding that work. But over time
[10:24] Speaker 10: we became consequential in elections. We weren't just electing reform
[10:28] Speaker 10: minded district attorneys. We were actually turning out black voters
[10:31] Speaker 10: who we could get to vote up and down the ballot,
[10:34] Speaker 10: And as a result, donors needed to engage with us
[10:37] Speaker 10: in a different way. And so I think we have
[10:39] Speaker 10: to be able to build campaigns and build efforts that
[10:42] Speaker 10: were not just going hat in hand with donors asking
[10:44] Speaker 10: them what they want, building efforts that are powerful enough
[10:48] Speaker 10: that we forced them to come to the table and
[10:50] Speaker 10: try to fund and support and align with our work.
[10:53] Speaker 10: But absolutely resources are part of the table. But even
[10:56] Speaker 10: if we have all the resources in the world, that's
[10:59] Speaker 10: not going to cover up bad strategy. That's not going
[11:01] Speaker 10: to cover up a power analysis that doesn't actually understand
[11:05] Speaker 10: that we have to take on profiteers, that we have
[11:07] Speaker 10: to understand the role of perception, that we have to
[11:10] Speaker 10: tell stories that are powerful enough to reach people, engage them,
[11:13] Speaker 10: and activate them in ways that they're going to stay
[11:15] Speaker 10: with us over time. So it does require resources, but
[11:19] Speaker 10: far too often I've seen folks try to cover up
[11:22] Speaker 10: bad strategy with money and that doesn't get us anywhere either.
[11:26] Speaker 5: Last question for you, let's say no, you have to go.
[11:31] Speaker 3: The book that I'm working on that we're thrapped in
[11:33] Speaker 3: February deals with organizations. Yes, And when I think about
[11:39] Speaker 3: legacy civil rights groups, I believe that there are a
[11:43] Speaker 3: lot of people who don't align with how they move,
[11:48] Speaker 3: how they've worked, how they flood, And I think what's
[11:51] Speaker 3: happening is you're born about eccepting purporate otrabitions. And I
[11:56] Speaker 3: think what's happening is right now, people want a place
[11:59] Speaker 3: to go. Oh yeah, people want a place to be
[12:02] Speaker 3: involved with, and so they're asking, okay, but who do
[12:06] Speaker 3: I join? Where do I join? And that to me
[12:10] Speaker 3: and being with all these organations that we do have
[12:14] Speaker 3: a lot of them are risk a version scared.
[12:18] Speaker 10: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I mean, I give in
[12:22] Speaker 10: the books some examples of the type of questions you
[12:24] Speaker 10: can ask, the type of ways that you can kind
[12:27] Speaker 10: of determine whether or not engaging in an activity or
[12:30] Speaker 10: an effort is a good use of your time, or
[12:32] Speaker 10: engaging with an organization the different types of organizations a
[12:36] Speaker 10: good use of your time. And I think that's incredibly important.
[12:40] Speaker 10: Part of what the right wing has done is they
[12:42] Speaker 10: have forced their organizations and their political leaders to respond
[12:46] Speaker 10: and engage differently. And sometimes I think we're waiting for
[12:49] Speaker 10: our organizations to do everything for us when we can
[12:53] Speaker 10: actually force those organizations to respond differently. Or wondering where
[12:56] Speaker 10: the democrats are and why democratic leaders aren't engage. And
[13:00] Speaker 10: I can think about so many moments where the right wing,
[13:03] Speaker 10: just line activists have changed the incentive structure for their
[13:07] Speaker 10: elected officials. Politicians who were once considered institutionalists in the
[13:12] Speaker 10: Senate are no longer institutionalists because they can't afford to be,
[13:16] Speaker 10: And so we do have to change sort of what
[13:19] Speaker 10: is expected, what the floor looks like, and what the
[13:22] Speaker 10: ceiling looks like. I have a whole chapter on infrastructure
[13:26] Speaker 10: in the book, which is not always a sexy term,
[13:29] Speaker 10: but I really do try to deconstruct it. I talk
[13:32] Speaker 10: about I tell stories of the civil rights movement and
[13:36] Speaker 10: talk about Bayard Rusted and Ella Baker going to doctor
[13:40] Speaker 10: King and building the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and why
[13:42] Speaker 10: they built it. Not that we should build a new
[13:46] Speaker 10: Southern Christian Leadership Conference, but they built it because they
[13:49] Speaker 10: saw a gap. They saw that there were all these
[13:51] Speaker 10: disconnected churches and religious leaders and they needed a stronger
[13:55] Speaker 10: base of connected folks. And if they could get those
[13:58] Speaker 10: folks aligned and engage, the sum total of that could
[14:01] Speaker 10: be more than the individual parts. And that was a technology.
[14:06] Speaker 10: It was an intervention at that moment. I think lots
[14:09] Speaker 10: of times what happens on our side is we continue
[14:13] Speaker 10: to look back at sort of the legacy of those
[14:15] Speaker 10: moments and try to recreate them, not try to recreate
[14:18] Speaker 10: the sort of strategic insight that came from it. We
[14:22] Speaker 10: need new interventions. You've been so powerful at sort of
[14:25] Speaker 10: seeing the media landscape and not trying to create the
[14:28] Speaker 10: old thing, but fighting the next war. And so our
[14:31] Speaker 10: infrastructure of tomorrow is going to have to be about
[14:34] Speaker 10: fighting the next war. It's going to have to be
[14:36] Speaker 10: recognizing about what are the ways in which technology can
[14:40] Speaker 10: be used, and what are the ways in which we
[14:42] Speaker 10: need to recognize that it could be dragging us into
[14:44] Speaker 10: the past. How do we use the tools of tomorrow?
[14:47] Speaker 10: How do we build the infrastructure of tomorrow? And part
[14:49] Speaker 10: of what my entire career has been about has been
[14:53] Speaker 10: about using technology, has been about finding openings, has been
[14:57] Speaker 10: about taking on campaigns where we have been David and
[15:00] Speaker 10: we've taken on Goliath, and sort of in this next role,
[15:04] Speaker 10: I want to go out and I want to make
[15:05] Speaker 10: the interventions that help us win more things. So this
[15:08] Speaker 10: is a book that's also going to have a lot
[15:10] Speaker 10: of backlash because I'm talking about corporations and I'm talking
[15:14] Speaker 10: about corporate power. So I'm not going to be on
[15:15] Speaker 10: every media outlet, and there's going to be a lot
[15:17] Speaker 10: of places that are just not going to want to
[15:20] Speaker 10: hear some of this. So I appreciate you always creating
[15:23] Speaker 10: space for this, and I hope that those who are watching,
[15:26] Speaker 10: those who are listening recognize that in this moment, if
[15:29] Speaker 10: you're tired of losing and you want to win more things,
[15:32] Speaker 10: that our opponents have a whole infrastructure for getting out
[15:34] Speaker 10: our ideas. And so From Presence to Power is sort
[15:38] Speaker 10: of my intervention in this moment, and hopefully an intervention
[15:42] Speaker 10: for all of us that know that we have to
[15:44] Speaker 10: do something different.
[15:47] Speaker 3: Well, as I said here, the severe storm that is
[15:51] Speaker 3: sitting over the nation's capital that's about to bring down
[15:56] Speaker 3: some massive brain, there are severe storms happening all across
[15:59] Speaker 3: this talking politically, uh and uh, this is at the
[16:03] Speaker 3: moment where we all run and seek shelter and never
[16:06] Speaker 3: come out. We've got to get involved in this, uh
[16:09] Speaker 3: and be active because these people simply if we do nothing,
[16:14] Speaker 3: if we as always say, if we're present, we have
[16:17] Speaker 3: no presence, then they're going to solidify the power. Yeah,
[16:22] Speaker 3: the book is called From Presence to Powers how to
[16:25] Speaker 3: take on the fights that matter and wim of our
[16:28] Speaker 3: Chard Robinson show.
[16:29] Speaker 5: We appreciate it. Thanks you. All right, folks, gonna go
[16:33] Speaker 5: to a quick break.
[16:34] Speaker 3: We come back.
[16:35] Speaker 5: We talked to a panel at the bottom of the hour.
[16:37] Speaker 3: We be talking with doctor Latsia Plummer, who wants to
[16:40] Speaker 3: becoming the next Harris County judge.
[16:41] Speaker 5: Uh in the Houston area.
[16:43] Speaker 3: You're watching Rolling my unfiltered on the Black Studding Network.
[16:48] Speaker 3: All right, folks, let me again pushed for a second.
[16:50] Speaker 3: My mom had questions about her Medicare, so she called
[16:53] Speaker 3: Chapter a Medicare advisory company, and she texts me right
[16:56] Speaker 3: after saying it's a great benefit. It was easy person
[17:00] Speaker 3: who walked her through the whole thing. And now she
[17:02] Speaker 3: understands better what's going on because also it's not just her.
[17:06] Speaker 3: Woman in Yonkers wrote in saying the process was so simple,
[17:09] Speaker 3: the enrollment was easy, and she was so glad she called.
[17:12] Speaker 3: And there's Maryland, ninety years old in Florida, living on
[17:15] Speaker 3: Social Security. Her premium climbed every single year north of
[17:19] Speaker 3: four hundred dollars a month for coverage she could barely
[17:22] Speaker 3: afford anymore.
[17:23] Speaker 2: So what does she do?
[17:24] Speaker 3: She called Chapter if they found her the same top
[17:27] Speaker 3: tier coverage for hundreds of dollars less ninety years old,
[17:31] Speaker 3: and finally somebody in her corner. I hear stories like
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[17:38] Speaker 3: was not built to work for you. Too much fine print,
[17:41] Speaker 3: too many plans. Yet Chapters advisors are independent and honest,
[17:44] Speaker 3: the only Medicare advisors that compare every plan nationwide. They're
[17:48] Speaker 3: focused on one thing, what actually works for you. If
[17:52] Speaker 3: you're already in the right plan, they'll tell you no games.
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[17:58] Speaker 3: of eleven one hundred dollars a year all Texas. Twenty minutes,
[18:01] Speaker 3: you talk to a real person and it's completely free help.
[18:05] Speaker 3: So called chapter at seven two four two six four
[18:08] Speaker 3: eight two eight one seven two four two sixty four
[18:12] Speaker 3: eight two eight one.
[18:13] Speaker 2: That's Chapter.
[18:15] Speaker 4: That's a good question.
[18:17] Speaker 11: Why do so many people seem to think they know
[18:19] Speaker 11: black men so well, but they think we want what
[18:21] Speaker 11: they think we need.
[18:22] Speaker 4: Hell, they even tried to tell us why and how
[18:24] Speaker 4: we vote out. They never had a conversation with us,
[18:27] Speaker 4: never asked us how we felt. Brings us joy, what
[18:29] Speaker 4: makes us angry? What makes us scared.
[18:31] Speaker 12: How do we live?
[18:32] Speaker 4: That's what this show is about. No translation, because we
[18:36] Speaker 4: don't need anybody speaking for us. We can speak for ourselves.
[18:39] Speaker 13: This will be a show where we bring brothers on
[18:40] Speaker 13: that you don't see on every other talk show. Nope,
[18:43] Speaker 13: brothers that are doing work in local communities with black men,
[18:46] Speaker 13: for black communities. We're going to hear each other and
[18:49] Speaker 13: try to understand so perhaps we can move forward together.
[18:53] Speaker 13: No translation, because we don't need anybody speaking for us.
[18:56] Speaker 14: What we need is each other.
[18:57] Speaker 4: No translation. Right here on the Black Star figured out.
[19:07] Speaker 9: With medicine and science under attack, I want to keep
[19:10] Speaker 9: you and your family informed and healthy.
[19:13] Speaker 15: I'm doctor Ebany Hilton, and I knew at the age
[19:15] Speaker 15: of eight that I wanted to be a doctor.
[19:17] Speaker 9: So I studied hard and became the first African American
[19:20] Speaker 9: female and sociologist hiring the Medical University of South Carolina.
[19:24] Speaker 1: Since it's opening in eighteen twenty four.
[19:27] Speaker 9: And I always say I was made into a doctor,
[19:29] Speaker 9: but I was born to be a mother. And as
[19:31] Speaker 9: a new mom, wife's, sister, daughter, and friend, I understand
[19:35] Speaker 9: how Frank you I medical crisis Candy. I care for
[19:38] Speaker 9: individuals on some of the worst days of their lives,
[19:41] Speaker 9: and it's my mission to provide you with a safe
[19:44] Speaker 9: space against clarity on issues affecting your mind. Audience, I
[19:48] Speaker 9: recognize that there are health disparities, particularly as it pertains
[19:52] Speaker 9: the race, and I want to help bridge the gap
[19:54] Speaker 9: between you.
[19:55] Speaker 1: Ny of health care providence.
[19:57] Speaker 8: Join me every.
[19:57] Speaker 15: Thursday or second Opaenia for My.
[19:59] Speaker 4: Life our network.
[20:01] Speaker 9: For each week, I'll invite guest friends from various medical
[20:03] Speaker 9: fields to share the latest helpers. We'll discuss topics of
[20:07] Speaker 9: the vaccine today, intulent sil health, medical bias, infertility, menopause,
[20:13] Speaker 9: Andrew Paul's nutrition and aging. Together with my medical colleagues,
[20:18] Speaker 9: we aim to provide you with a second opinion. Don't
[20:21] Speaker 9: miss it thursdays only on the Blackstar Network.
[20:30] Speaker 16: Hatred on the Streets a horrific scene white nationalists rally
[20:34] Speaker 16: that descended into deadly violence of.
[20:39] Speaker 2: White people are moving.
[20:40] Speaker 10: Their their man.
[20:42] Speaker 2: As an agory pro Trump mob storm to the US capital.
[20:46] Speaker 1: Six.
[20:47] Speaker 3: We're about to see the lies where I call white
[20:49] Speaker 3: minority resistance. We have seen white folks in this country
[20:53] Speaker 3: who simply cannot tolerate black folks the voting.
[20:56] Speaker 11: I think what we're seeing is the inevitable result of
[21:00] Speaker 11: violent denial.
[21:01] Speaker 15: This is part of American history.
[21:03] Speaker 13: Every time that people of color have been in progress,
[21:06] Speaker 13: whether real or symbolic, there has been.
[21:08] Speaker 15: But Carol Anderson at every university.
[21:10] Speaker 5: Calls white rage as a backlash.
[21:13] Speaker 3: Says the wife of the Proud Boys and the Boogaaloo
[21:15] Speaker 3: Boys America.
[21:16] Speaker 2: There's going to be more of this guy.
[21:20] Speaker 17: This country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and
[21:24] Speaker 17: its attitudes because of the fear of white people.
[21:28] Speaker 3: The food that you're taking our job, they're taking out
[21:30] Speaker 3: our resourcers, they're taking our women.
[21:32] Speaker 2: This is white being.
[21:52] Speaker 7: My name is Bill Duke, and you're watching roland Mark
[21:57] Speaker 7: on Filter.
[22:03] Speaker 10: In in.
[22:10] Speaker 5: In in.
[22:17] Speaker 2: In in in in.
[22:29] Speaker 1: In in.
[22:39] Speaker 2: In in.
[22:48] Speaker 1: In in.
[22:56] Speaker 2: In in.
[23:03] Speaker 17: In in.
[23:10] Speaker 3: In in.
[23:17] Speaker 1: In in.
[23:27] Speaker 5: In in.
[23:36] Speaker 2: In in.
[23:46] Speaker 3: In All right, folks, let's bring up our panel right now.
[24:23] Speaker 3: Glad to have them joining us on today's show. Joining
[24:28] Speaker 3: us right now with Cody Sian, She of course is
[24:32] Speaker 3: a co founder and CEO of POLITICKI and joining us
[24:35] Speaker 3: from DC. Randy Brant, entrepreneur author speaker out of DC
[24:38] Speaker 3: as well, and doctor Masa Gonna Lead, former Senior Advisor
[24:41] Speaker 3: for Environmental Justice the EPA. Let them have all three
[24:44] Speaker 3: of you here.
[24:44] Speaker 2: I mean, Cody is real simple.
[24:45] Speaker 3: What what Rashaw talked about is so important that people
[24:49] Speaker 3: are going to have to understand that you can't sit
[24:52] Speaker 3: on the sidelines if you want to see change, and
[24:56] Speaker 3: it's not going to happen just because it literally in
[25:00] Speaker 3: people doing the work.
[25:04] Speaker 14: Absolutely, And I was so curious to hear what those
[25:06] Speaker 14: principles that he had delineated were. But I mean, I
[25:10] Speaker 14: think you're right, Roland. I think every day we see
[25:12] Speaker 14: people having to take up the charge to do the work,
[25:15] Speaker 14: and I think his book is a really poignant example of.
[25:18] Speaker 2: How we do that virtually, Randy.
[25:21] Speaker 3: Too many people have been sitting on the sidelines, expecting
[25:24] Speaker 3: others to do the work and thinking stuff is going
[25:26] Speaker 3: to just magically change, right, And.
[25:29] Speaker 12: I think everyone is looking for someone to lead them,
[25:33] Speaker 12: just you said earlier about how we're looking for an
[25:35] Speaker 12: organization to join or someone to tell us what to do.
[25:39] Speaker 12: And I really want people to be empowered that everyone
[25:42] Speaker 12: can do something, even if it's by themselves. They can
[25:45] Speaker 12: decide that they're going to help educate people about voting,
[25:50] Speaker 12: or they're going to ensure that they can drive people
[25:52] Speaker 12: to vote, or they are just going to you know,
[25:54] Speaker 12: I've been really thinking about building community and going back
[25:57] Speaker 12: and just hosting dinners at my home on Sundays where
[26:01] Speaker 12: we get together and talk and so people can feel
[26:03] Speaker 12: as if, you know, they have a voice that's being
[26:05] Speaker 12: listened to, and we can talk about action plans. But
[26:08] Speaker 12: everyone has the power to do something, and right now
[26:12] Speaker 12: it's very clear that we need everyone.
[26:15] Speaker 2: With offa.
[26:17] Speaker 6: Well.
[26:17] Speaker 17: Ella Baker made sure to you know, highlight for us
[26:21] Speaker 17: that each and every one of us has leadership inside
[26:24] Speaker 17: of us. We don't have to wait for some politician
[26:27] Speaker 17: or some corporate leader, or whoever it might be. That
[26:30] Speaker 17: each and every one of us has not only a responsibility,
[26:33] Speaker 17: but the gifts to be able to lead, to be
[26:35] Speaker 17: able to make change happen.
[26:36] Speaker 5: So we should make.
[26:37] Speaker 17: Sure that we are continuing to follow the words of
[26:40] Speaker 17: miss el Baker and others who have shared with us
[26:43] Speaker 17: that we can get it done ourselves.
[26:45] Speaker 2: Well.
[26:45] Speaker 3: To your point, the reason that was a conflict which
[26:49] Speaker 3: with el Baker and doctor King. She believed in pew
[26:54] Speaker 3: to pulpit, he believed in pulpit to pew, And so
[26:59] Speaker 3: that's how I think it's also important because it was
[27:01] Speaker 3: the people driving the agenda, not necessarily leadership telling folks
[27:05] Speaker 3: what we're doing.
[27:09] Speaker 15: The power of the people.
[27:10] Speaker 17: Ela Baker always reminded us of that, and if you
[27:13] Speaker 17: follow many of the grassroots leaders and others who I've
[27:16] Speaker 17: worked with, it has always been about the grassroots where
[27:20] Speaker 17: many of the impacts are happening, but the opportunities also
[27:23] Speaker 17: have to be a leading voice and the framing out
[27:25] Speaker 17: of policy. That's one of the things I'm excited about
[27:27] Speaker 17: reading with Shad's book, because real power, real change happens
[27:32] Speaker 17: from the grassroots up. That does not mean that others
[27:34] Speaker 17: are not critically important in the process. But if it's
[27:37] Speaker 17: not changing the lives of everyday folks, why are we
[27:40] Speaker 17: doing it? And unfortunately, we have some folks who want
[27:43] Speaker 17: all the attention, they want the glamor the spotlight of leadership,
[27:46] Speaker 17: but they don't want to do the hard work.
[27:49] Speaker 3: I want to stay right there on that particular point.
[27:52] Speaker 3: It is not about the glamour or the attention. Unfortunately,
[27:57] Speaker 3: when Cooney, we're living in this attention economy where that's
[28:02] Speaker 3: what it's all about, where real work is not about
[28:05] Speaker 3: becoming a celebrity.
[28:09] Speaker 15: It's really not Roland, and I think a lot of
[28:11] Speaker 15: people have missed that.
[28:12] Speaker 14: With the advent of social media, I think it has
[28:15] Speaker 14: given so many people a platform, and that's not necessarily
[28:18] Speaker 14: a bad thing, right. I think it's great that people
[28:21] Speaker 14: have platforms. But I think what the issue is that,
[28:24] Speaker 14: fortunately my generation, we don't see enough people really step
[28:28] Speaker 14: into the forefront to really lean into what leadership looks like.
[28:32] Speaker 14: And I think it's because of bystander effect, right Roland,
[28:35] Speaker 14: Everybody thinks somebody else is going to do something about
[28:38] Speaker 14: the problem, and thereby nobody ends up doing anything at all.
[28:41] Speaker 14: So I think we have to recognize that with an
[28:44] Speaker 14: opportunity and with the platform comes power, and I really
[28:48] Speaker 14: call more young people to really step up to the
[28:50] Speaker 14: poolpit and really start to gather the people behind them.
[28:55] Speaker 3: Randy, remember when we were in Shreedport, Louisiana, and it
[28:59] Speaker 3: was after brother had shot and killed seven of his
[29:02] Speaker 3: kids and two of the women, and there was a
[29:05] Speaker 3: young man who stepped up to the microphone and he
[29:09] Speaker 3: implored those on the panel to pass the baton, and
[29:13] Speaker 3: he talked about his big social media follower And what
[29:16] Speaker 3: I said to him was, Hey, why don't you organize
[29:19] Speaker 3: and mobilize your followers, your people younger folks, I said,
[29:24] Speaker 3: and then when you've done that, when you come back
[29:27] Speaker 3: to the table, you actually don't have to ask to
[29:30] Speaker 3: pass the baton.
[29:32] Speaker 2: You have created something. Well.
[29:34] Speaker 3: He then goes back and puts the video out, criticizing
[29:38] Speaker 3: me for what I said. And I said, but you're
[29:41] Speaker 3: proving my point. All you were doing is just putting
[29:44] Speaker 3: out videos, I said. I said, you need to understand
[29:48] Speaker 3: becoming a leader is not just about clicks and views.
[29:54] Speaker 3: It's literally about building something.
[29:59] Speaker 12: You're right, I mean, there's responsibility that comes with when
[30:02] Speaker 12: you do get attention because you're on social media and
[30:05] Speaker 12: you are putting out videos, which is a form of activism.
[30:09] Speaker 12: Hopefully in people's videos, they're educating people, they're motivating people.
[30:14] Speaker 12: But at the same time, what is the next step,
[30:16] Speaker 12: What are you doing to actually make change and showing
[30:22] Speaker 12: other people how to make change? And I believe oftentimes
[30:26] Speaker 12: people get lost in the fame and the attention of things.
[30:29] Speaker 12: We see a lot of social media presence where they
[30:34] Speaker 12: are now traveling and showing what they're doing as far
[30:41] Speaker 12: as their personal lives, which is also fine, but have
[30:44] Speaker 12: you lost your vision?
[30:46] Speaker 1: Have you lost your goal?
[30:47] Speaker 12: And if your goal is to make changes within the
[30:49] Speaker 12: black community, then you have to keep your eye on
[30:52] Speaker 12: that prize.
[30:54] Speaker 3: Folks, numerous times you heard me discuss on this show
[30:58] Speaker 3: why it's important for us to pay attention to local races.
[31:02] Speaker 3: So much attention obviously is on the building two blocks
[31:06] Speaker 3: and where I sit, the White House, also few blocks
[31:09] Speaker 3: from Congress, state capitals, governors and mansions. But we also
[31:14] Speaker 3: understand that all politics is also local, and so we
[31:19] Speaker 3: encourage people to focus on city council races, school board races,
[31:24] Speaker 3: DA races, municipal judge races, as well as county races. Well,
[31:29] Speaker 3: Harris County is about to go through a leadership change,
[31:33] Speaker 3: leading Hidalgo opted not to seek re election. When the
[31:37] Speaker 3: Democratic primary took place, my next guest actually beat the
[31:42] Speaker 3: former mayor of Houston and East Parker we the Democratic nominee.
[31:45] Speaker 2: But she's in a tough fight.
[31:47] Speaker 3: You've got a significant forces in Harris County where Houston
[31:51] Speaker 3: is that are conservative who want to take back the
[31:56] Speaker 3: county judge. And so my next guest is a dentist
[31:58] Speaker 3: and entrepreneur also for member of the Houston City Council,
[32:01] Speaker 3: doctor Letitia Plumber.
[32:02] Speaker 2: Glad to have you here.
[32:05] Speaker 3: You're running against Republican Orlando Sanchez, he served as a
[32:09] Speaker 3: county treasurer. He's run for mayor. Uh, he's been He's
[32:12] Speaker 3: run for any number of positions.
[32:15] Speaker 7: Uh.
[32:16] Speaker 2: And look, you have a blue county.
[32:21] Speaker 3: Republicans in Austin, Texas, the state capital, hate that they
[32:24] Speaker 3: would love to capture the county judge judge position. What
[32:29] Speaker 3: are you saying to people over the next a little
[32:33] Speaker 3: more than two months, how they have to just when
[32:36] Speaker 3: we were talking about, maximize their power if they want
[32:39] Speaker 3: to see the see a Democrat, maintain that county judge
[32:44] Speaker 3: position in Harris County.
[32:47] Speaker 1: Now, first of all, Roland, thank you for allowing me
[32:49] Speaker 1: to be here with you today.
[32:50] Speaker 16: And so listen, no matter who you are, what side
[32:53] Speaker 16: of the fence you're on, where religion or culture you are,
[32:56] Speaker 16: everyone wants a couple of things. You know, Here's county.
[32:59] Speaker 16: We are known for our disasters. We don't want to
[33:02] Speaker 16: flood every time it rains. We want to live in
[33:04] Speaker 16: a safe environment. We want a level of economic opportunity
[33:08] Speaker 16: for everyone wants safe you know, good schools for us
[33:10] Speaker 16: to go to. And so I'm really driving that affordability
[33:13] Speaker 16: message as well, just trying to stay on the issues
[33:16] Speaker 16: that really affect almost five million people within the county,
[33:19] Speaker 16: regardless of what side they're on. And so we're just
[33:22] Speaker 16: driving that message that's really resonated and I truly believe
[33:25] Speaker 16: what God is to this win.
[33:29] Speaker 3: You talk about that. Obviously it is a diverse county. Frankly,
[33:33] Speaker 3: it is larger than some states.
[33:35] Speaker 2: And so what do you see?
[33:39] Speaker 3: You know, what are your three or four issues that
[33:42] Speaker 3: you believe will resonate with voters in Harris County.
[33:46] Speaker 16: So the number one thing is disaster recovery, preparedness and resilience.
[33:50] Speaker 16: We flood every single time it rains here, and so
[33:53] Speaker 16: making sure that we're putting infrastructure dollars in communities that
[33:57] Speaker 16: struggle the most. Looking at social determinants is something that
[34:00] Speaker 16: we're focusing on the economic opportunities here. We spend billions
[34:04] Speaker 16: of dollars in terms of procurement. Oftentimes the same corporations
[34:07] Speaker 16: or companies get the bids every single time. So looking
[34:10] Speaker 16: at how do we make sure that small to mid
[34:12] Speaker 16: sized businesses actually have an opportunity. Our public health system
[34:16] Speaker 16: Texas is the highest uninsured and we do have hair
[34:19] Speaker 16: As Health here, which is great. We have over a
[34:21] Speaker 16: million people experience our sixteen community centers and our hospitals
[34:27] Speaker 16: here and so ensuring that they stay funded consistently. And
[34:30] Speaker 16: then we're looking at environmental justice challenges. We've got cancer
[34:33] Speaker 16: clusters across the county. We have air quality issues that
[34:37] Speaker 16: really allow a lot of our low income communities to
[34:40] Speaker 16: have challenges, and so looking at their environdmental justice issues
[34:43] Speaker 16: as well. And then obviously everyone talks about public safety.
[34:47] Speaker 16: Public safety is a big deal. It's an issue, but
[34:49] Speaker 16: I want to look at root causes. Our county jail
[34:51] Speaker 16: is overpopulated, eighty percent of our inmates have mental health challenges.
[34:55] Speaker 16: Looking at our county jail system and seeing how do
[34:57] Speaker 16: we ensure that non violent offenders actually have a chance
[35:00] Speaker 16: and a shot to lower recentivism, and trying to see
[35:05] Speaker 16: how we can support our mental health residents so they
[35:08] Speaker 16: don't end up in the Harrison County jail system.
[35:11] Speaker 3: Wan to you talk about that? What places are you studying?
[35:16] Speaker 3: Are you looking at where they've had a drastic reduction?
[35:20] Speaker 3: Are you looking at Baltimore and looking at Mayor Brandon Scott.
[35:24] Speaker 3: Have you tried to communicate with him to get to
[35:26] Speaker 3: understand what his plan was to bring murders to a
[35:29] Speaker 3: fifty year low and dramatically drop crime in Baltimore.
[35:35] Speaker 1: Absolutely. As a matter of fact, we are teaming up.
[35:36] Speaker 16: We're creating a task force that will help us look
[35:39] Speaker 16: at best practices across the nation and bringing experts to
[35:42] Speaker 16: the table because you know, a lot of the Republicans
[35:45] Speaker 16: want to build another jail, that's their plan, and we
[35:47] Speaker 16: know that that's not what we want to do here
[35:49] Speaker 16: in Harrison County. You know, we spend about fifteen million
[35:52] Speaker 16: dollars outsourcing fifteen hundred approximately inmates to Mississippi Louisiana, and
[35:58] Speaker 16: I would like to create a work for or to
[36:00] Speaker 16: justice program, or rather justice to workforce program, and I
[36:04] Speaker 16: am looking at best practices across the nation to see
[36:06] Speaker 16: how we can lower recentivism and give those non violent
[36:08] Speaker 16: offenders an opportunity to have a chance to take care
[36:13] Speaker 16: of their families in the future.
[36:14] Speaker 3: You talked about contracts as relations to African Americans. What
[36:17] Speaker 3: does Harris County currently stand?
[36:21] Speaker 1: Very low?
[36:22] Speaker 16: As a matter of fact, the African Americans are almost
[36:24] Speaker 16: the lowest in terms of their involvement with large county contracts,
[36:27] Speaker 16: and a lot of that's capacity building Roland. We don't
[36:31] Speaker 16: do a really good job making sure that are mid
[36:33] Speaker 16: size is small businesses are actually a part of the conversation.
[36:36] Speaker 1: Oftentimes, you know, because.
[36:38] Speaker 16: There is a percentage that you have to use MWBE programs,
[36:41] Speaker 16: oftentimes they'll get on the contract and they'll never get
[36:43] Speaker 16: a job and they just kind of sit on the
[36:45] Speaker 16: line on that. And so really looking at procurement is
[36:48] Speaker 16: something that I want to do. When I was at
[36:49] Speaker 16: the City of Houston, we use what was called co ops,
[36:52] Speaker 16: which large large, big box into tease that will allow
[36:56] Speaker 16: that get the bids and then you know, then they.
[36:58] Speaker 1: Obviously have lower rice.
[37:01] Speaker 15: We've got to be careful about.
[37:02] Speaker 16: That because obviously, you know, oftentimes that really boxes out
[37:05] Speaker 16: those small to mid sized folks. And so I was
[37:08] Speaker 16: able to do a carve out at the City of
[37:10] Speaker 16: Houston to allow our big box folks engage with our
[37:14] Speaker 16: small to mid sized businesses to be a part of
[37:16] Speaker 16: the conversation.
[37:16] Speaker 1: I wanted the same thing we get to the county.
[37:19] Speaker 1: And I also put a rotation in.
[37:20] Speaker 16: Place, whereas every single time a contract was one, you
[37:25] Speaker 16: rotated out of the process, which allows another person, another
[37:28] Speaker 16: company to be able to be a prime on that
[37:31] Speaker 16: and then bring someone up. And so you know, we
[37:33] Speaker 16: spend billions of dollars in terms of procurement at the
[37:36] Speaker 16: county and oftentimes the same folks get the same jobs
[37:39] Speaker 16: every single time.
[37:40] Speaker 3: Well, again, that definitely is a way to actually build
[37:45] Speaker 3: and grow capacity and must stop for your question.
[37:49] Speaker 17: Doctor Plumer's good to see you. Thank you for raising
[37:52] Speaker 17: environmental justice. Also, at the end of let's say you
[37:56] Speaker 17: win the election, at the end of your term, what
[37:59] Speaker 17: changes will have had happened in Harris County, what will
[38:01] Speaker 17: be different?
[38:02] Speaker 5: What will look like differently?
[38:05] Speaker 4: So much?
[38:06] Speaker 16: Number one, our jail is going to be look is
[38:08] Speaker 16: to look completely different. We're going to lower recentivism. We're
[38:11] Speaker 16: going to handle the mental health crisis that we are
[38:13] Speaker 16: experiencing Harris County, you know, really really head on. So
[38:17] Speaker 16: you're going to see that difference there. Environmental justice is
[38:20] Speaker 16: obviously a big conversation I have. I was able to
[38:22] Speaker 16: drive down one point five million dollars working with nonprofit
[38:26] Speaker 16: entities and cancer clusters in fifth Ward. I want to
[38:28] Speaker 16: expand that and really look at the whole entire county.
[38:32] Speaker 16: How do we work with TCQ, you know, how do
[38:34] Speaker 16: we look at permitting, How do we make sure that
[38:36] Speaker 16: we hold these large industries accountable? That are really focused
[38:40] Speaker 16: in are in our low income community. So that's going
[38:42] Speaker 16: to look way different. We're going to see another hospital
[38:46] Speaker 16: in our East End area and our and our unincorporated
[38:50] Speaker 16: two million people unincorporated East Harrison County.
[38:53] Speaker 1: You're going to see a.
[38:54] Speaker 16: Medical facility there that will allow us to take care
[38:57] Speaker 16: of the folks that live in those those unincorporate weighted areas.
[39:01] Speaker 16: And you are going to see a procurement department that
[39:03] Speaker 16: looks completely different. It's going to be equitable and fair,
[39:06] Speaker 16: and you're going to see a rotation of building capacity,
[39:08] Speaker 16: and then you know, and then finally, we are going
[39:11] Speaker 16: to deal with disaster, recovery and resilience in a way
[39:13] Speaker 16: different way. Right now, it was incredibly reactive. I would
[39:16] Speaker 16: like to put together what I'm calling lilypad resiliency hubs.
[39:19] Speaker 16: They're deployable hubs that will move across the county when
[39:22] Speaker 16: disaster happens. And so it's going to look way different
[39:25] Speaker 16: in four years.
[39:26] Speaker 11: It may not.
[39:26] Speaker 16: It's definitely not going to happen overnight. But you know,
[39:28] Speaker 16: I'm not really a politician by trade. I'm a doctor
[39:31] Speaker 16: by trade, which means I heal people every single day.
[39:34] Speaker 16: And we're going to heal these communities and make sure
[39:36] Speaker 16: they're able to thrive.
[39:37] Speaker 15: Randy, doctor Plumber, what made you?
[39:40] Speaker 12: What inspired you to say I want to serve in
[39:44] Speaker 12: this way. I want to serve my area in this way.
[39:49] Speaker 1: No, thank you so much for that question.
[39:50] Speaker 16: You know, I sat on city council, did a great job,
[39:53] Speaker 16: checked all the boxes. I felt like we had accomplished
[39:56] Speaker 16: the goal. And then I heard in these Parker was
[39:58] Speaker 16: the only one in the race, and I just in
[40:00] Speaker 16: my heart, in my mind, I could not imagine how
[40:03] Speaker 16: we didn't have an option. I always teach my boys
[40:05] Speaker 16: up three signs. I teach my boys all the time
[40:08] Speaker 16: the best thing is to have options because you're not
[40:11] Speaker 16: boxed in and making decisions.
[40:12] Speaker 1: And so that's what we did.
[40:13] Speaker 16: We brought a different option to Harris County voters and
[40:16] Speaker 16: we did it, and we were outnumbered, we were outpolled,
[40:19] Speaker 16: we were out raised, out named in every way. But
[40:22] Speaker 16: our message resonated, and I'm just so honored and unboled
[40:25] Speaker 16: honestly to be able to be the first African American
[40:28] Speaker 16: to ever hold the seat, and just just excited to
[40:31] Speaker 16: be able to help my community when cony.
[40:36] Speaker 15: Thank you for that, doctor plumber.
[40:37] Speaker 14: I love the notion of having options, and as you mentioned,
[40:40] Speaker 14: healthcare has been at the center of your career. I'm
[40:43] Speaker 14: curious about what lessons from the healthcare field have most
[40:46] Speaker 14: influenced your work in public office.
[40:50] Speaker 1: Yeah. So I use it all the time.
[40:53] Speaker 16: So as a doctor, I have to first listen to
[40:55] Speaker 16: my patient. My patient will always tell me what the
[40:57] Speaker 16: problem is, way before I look at any data, look
[41:00] Speaker 16: at the diagnostics, I look at my X rays, I
[41:02] Speaker 16: diagnose the problem from my scientific perspective, and then.
[41:05] Speaker 1: I ask the patient. I tell the patient, these are
[41:06] Speaker 1: our options. What do you want to do? These are
[41:08] Speaker 1: pros and the cons.
[41:09] Speaker 16: And we bring specialists in to have that conversation and
[41:12] Speaker 16: make sure we give them all the information that they need.
[41:14] Speaker 1: Then they decide.
[41:15] Speaker 16: They've got that level of autonomy and authority to decide
[41:17] Speaker 16: on how they want to be handled, and then we
[41:19] Speaker 16: execute and heal. I do the exact same thing in politics.
[41:22] Speaker 16: It's no different. And I think what we don't do
[41:25] Speaker 16: is elected leaders, is we don't listen enough. Just have
[41:28] Speaker 16: to be quiet long enough to listen, because our community
[41:31] Speaker 16: has all of the answers, and I think that's really
[41:33] Speaker 16: where it starts. And so I use that same type
[41:36] Speaker 16: of you know, platform or structure in making my decisions
[41:40] Speaker 16: every single day. It's got as great wins at city
[41:43] Speaker 16: Council and it's going to get us great wins at
[41:44] Speaker 16: Harris County.
[41:45] Speaker 3: Money obviously is important, and so how is fundraising going?
[41:51] Speaker 1: Yeah, fundraise is good.
[41:52] Speaker 16: I mean, you know, I will tell you Roland, you know,
[41:54] Speaker 16: We're never going to raise as much as Republicans. But
[41:56] Speaker 16: I was outraised ten to one in this race. And yes,
[42:00] Speaker 16: money's important, but people are more and that's what we
[42:02] Speaker 16: approved in this race.
[42:04] Speaker 1: We have got people that are ready to go.
[42:05] Speaker 16: I think over four hundred people have already signed up
[42:08] Speaker 16: to volunteer on our campaign. And I will continue to fundraise,
[42:11] Speaker 16: doing our call time and driving those dollars in to
[42:14] Speaker 16: make sure that we can do all the things that
[42:16] Speaker 16: we need to do to let people know who I am,
[42:18] Speaker 16: what I see in for, and why I'm asking humbly
[42:21] Speaker 16: asking them for their support.
[42:22] Speaker 1: And so yes, it's coming in.
[42:23] Speaker 16: It's fundraising is tough right now, it's a summer, everyone's
[42:27] Speaker 16: on holidays, but it is consistent. People are having fundraisers
[42:31] Speaker 16: over and over and over again. For me, call time
[42:33] Speaker 16: is doing great.
[42:34] Speaker 1: So we're excited about this.
[42:36] Speaker 3: I just had Rashad Robertson on and he was talking
[42:39] Speaker 3: about his book From Presence to Power, how to take
[42:43] Speaker 3: on the fights that matter and when as you are
[42:46] Speaker 3: traveling around Harris County, I'm quite sure you're hearing people say,
[42:50] Speaker 3: you know what, I don't believe I can make a difference.
[42:53] Speaker 3: How what do you say to those folks we'll checked
[42:58] Speaker 3: out of a process in terms of in terms of
[43:01] Speaker 3: not voting, especially African Americans.
[43:06] Speaker 16: You know, I tell them that everything is political, and
[43:09] Speaker 16: I know that oftentimes they think that voting is the
[43:11] Speaker 16: political answer, but everything in the life they're dealing with
[43:14] Speaker 16: their kids is political, dealing with their businesses is political.
[43:18] Speaker 16: You have to find a way to advocate for yourself
[43:20] Speaker 16: and we do that really well. And we're just engaging people.
[43:24] Speaker 16: But I'll tell you, well, one the reason why people
[43:26] Speaker 16: are disengaged because they don't believe in the process anymore.
[43:29] Speaker 16: You know, politicians say they're going to do something, you
[43:31] Speaker 16: only see them when it's.
[43:32] Speaker 1: Time to go vote. They don't show up any other time.
[43:34] Speaker 16: They make all these campaign promises and there's zero execution
[43:38] Speaker 16: at the end. And that's what we're trying to is
[43:41] Speaker 16: that look what I did, Look at my record, Look
[43:43] Speaker 16: what I did at city council, look at what we're
[43:45] Speaker 16: able to achieve, trust the process. I'm just trying to
[43:48] Speaker 16: bring hope back to these communities.
[43:50] Speaker 1: But we have to show it. We have to show it.
[43:52] Speaker 16: And I'm taking that very seriously because you know, voter
[43:56] Speaker 16: apathy is going to increase if we don't actually do
[44:00] Speaker 16: what we're going to say.
[44:01] Speaker 1: And that's what my promise is to them, and and
[44:04] Speaker 1: we're just trying to just.
[44:05] Speaker 16: Get them engage and tell them we have to people
[44:09] Speaker 16: and people thought so hard for the opportunity to vote.
[44:12] Speaker 1: We just can't. We just can't let it not be
[44:15] Speaker 1: something that we're focused on and doing.
[44:17] Speaker 3: Technology is obviously critically important, and you know, I'm constantly
[44:23] Speaker 3: saying the folk that when you when you are talking
[44:28] Speaker 3: to the room, you actually are speaking to for more people,
[44:33] Speaker 3: So you're not just talking to the room when you're streaming,
[44:35] Speaker 3: how you use the technology to drive your messaging because
[44:38] Speaker 3: obviously ads are expensive, and so.
[44:41] Speaker 2: What is happening there?
[44:43] Speaker 3: Because somebody may say, Hey, I couldn't come to your
[44:45] Speaker 3: town hall, but is your team are y'all streaming those events?
[44:49] Speaker 2: How are you.
[44:49] Speaker 3: How are you driving social uh to reach low propensity voters? Uh?
[44:55] Speaker 10: Do you do?
[44:55] Speaker 3: You have a strong digital campaign with TikTok and Instagram
[45:00] Speaker 3: and Facebook and all the other social media platforms.
[45:03] Speaker 17: We do.
[45:04] Speaker 3: We do.
[45:04] Speaker 16: We have an amazing team and we're using the voting
[45:07] Speaker 16: data to be able to drive that conversation. So it's
[45:11] Speaker 16: incredibly targeted. One good thing about text is that we
[45:14] Speaker 16: all do research. We lock doors, and we make phone calls,
[45:17] Speaker 16: and all that goes into one database, and so we're
[45:19] Speaker 16: using that it's called van and we use that system
[45:22] Speaker 16: to make sure that we're touching people consistently and letting
[45:24] Speaker 16: them know.
[45:25] Speaker 8: I'm also everywhere.
[45:26] Speaker 16: Every town hall is not only virtual, but it's also
[45:31] Speaker 16: in person, so they can come personally.
[45:32] Speaker 1: Meet me, but they can also you know, watch and
[45:35] Speaker 1: stream online.
[45:36] Speaker 16: We've got people and influencers sharing our information all the time.
[45:39] Speaker 16: We are definitely using our social media aspects to get
[45:43] Speaker 16: to folks. But the other thing too is that you know,
[45:45] Speaker 16: we've got five million people. Average age is about thirty seven.
[45:48] Speaker 16: We also have talked about older voters, and older voters
[45:51] Speaker 16: are churches and they're at Bible studies, and so we
[45:53] Speaker 16: get the joint we have to meet people where they are.
[45:56] Speaker 16: Many people live in unincorporated areas, and the county's massive,
[46:00] Speaker 16: so I've got to go to those different neighborhoods and
[46:02] Speaker 16: go to their civic club meetings and super neighborhoods and
[46:05] Speaker 16: all of those things. So I am really busy. This
[46:08] Speaker 16: is not anything that we're taking lightly. But we are
[46:10] Speaker 16: using every single avenue to touch all of our voters
[46:14] Speaker 16: to make sure they know who I am and what
[46:15] Speaker 16: we stand for.
[46:16] Speaker 2: You talked about it being massive.
[46:17] Speaker 3: People really don't understand how large Harris County is when
[46:22] Speaker 3: you talk about running for statewide. I mean, listen, you're
[46:24] Speaker 3: covering two hundred fifty four counties. You know this again,
[46:27] Speaker 3: as they said, this one county population wise as larger
[46:30] Speaker 3: than several states.
[46:33] Speaker 1: Twenty four to be exact.
[46:36] Speaker 16: It's almost five million people, and two million of them
[46:38] Speaker 16: live in the unincorporated areas.
[46:40] Speaker 1: It is massive.
[46:41] Speaker 2: It is massive.
[46:42] Speaker 16: But I will tell you this, I ran citywide for
[46:45] Speaker 16: city council and so Houston, just Houston proper itself, is large,
[46:49] Speaker 16: and so you know it being large isn't such a
[46:53] Speaker 16: such a big deal to me. It's really touching people
[46:55] Speaker 16: that didn't know who I was as a council member
[46:58] Speaker 16: and really just getting my name idea up. So a
[47:00] Speaker 16: lot of effort, a lot of creativity, but our message
[47:03] Speaker 16: is resonating. So and then we're building our surrogate base
[47:07] Speaker 16: and we'll have sarrogates. I'll be able to go to
[47:09] Speaker 16: meetings and really speak on our behalf. And so I
[47:12] Speaker 16: can't do this by myself. This has got to be
[47:14] Speaker 16: a collective effort, collaborating with the Texas Democratic Party, with
[47:18] Speaker 16: our heres with Harris County Democratic Party as well, and
[47:22] Speaker 16: so really kind of doing coordinated campaigns, working with our
[47:24] Speaker 16: down ballot, our down ballot candidates as well. Top of
[47:30] Speaker 16: the ticket obviously Tall Rico and Hinehosa. So we are
[47:33] Speaker 16: looking at this from a broad scale, but we're drilling
[47:37] Speaker 16: down to people got here and I'm never going to
[47:39] Speaker 16: forget that, and those are the ones that are going
[47:41] Speaker 16: to move the ground enough to make sure we win.
[47:44] Speaker 3: Obviously, when you look at the demographics, the reality is
[47:46] Speaker 3: Harris County is a majority minority district some four to
[47:49] Speaker 3: six percent Latin or twenty percent African American, twenty almost
[47:53] Speaker 3: twenty five percent white. And so this also is about
[47:56] Speaker 3: part of coalition building.
[48:00] Speaker 16: It absolutely is. And one thing that I love about
[48:02] Speaker 16: my background is, you know, my mother is Arab in
[48:04] Speaker 16: Yemeni and my dad is Black Americans. I really do
[48:07] Speaker 16: understand kind of the cross culture that we experience in
[48:10] Speaker 16: Harris County, and I think that's kind of one of
[48:12] Speaker 16: my one of my superpowers to be. To be honest,
[48:15] Speaker 16: I'll tell you you know, seventy nine percent of African
[48:17] Speaker 16: Americans did not vote in the midterm in that March primary.
[48:21] Speaker 3: And so we've got to no, no, no, no, no, no,
[48:23] Speaker 3: no no, I don't want you to go past that.
[48:25] Speaker 3: Give the number again.
[48:26] Speaker 16: Yeah, yeah, seventy nine percent of black voters did not
[48:32] Speaker 16: vote in the March primary in.
[48:34] Speaker 3: Terms of Harris County, in Harris County, and so this
[48:38] Speaker 3: is the reason I reason I want you to repeat
[48:40] Speaker 3: that because when I was trying to explain to people
[48:43] Speaker 3: jas congress Woman Jasmin Crockett and what happened there, she
[48:48] Speaker 3: needed massive turnout in Harris County.
[48:51] Speaker 2: To win folks. Folks simply you know, folks did not vote.
[48:56] Speaker 3: And people are like, I'm not understanding the I'm like,
[48:57] Speaker 3: because you have to look at the actual numbers, go
[48:59] Speaker 3: right ahead.
[49:01] Speaker 11: Yeah.
[49:02] Speaker 16: So so there are people rolling that we just need
[49:04] Speaker 16: to touch again. These are folks that voted for Kamala, right,
[49:08] Speaker 16: We're just got to bring them back. And so we're
[49:09] Speaker 16: we've got very targeted messaging to folks and trying to
[49:12] Speaker 16: understand you know, what is it, what is it about
[49:15] Speaker 16: what made you stay home in this March primary, and
[49:19] Speaker 16: and and there are opportunities there and I love that,
[49:22] Speaker 16: and so we're going to bring We're gonna we're going
[49:24] Speaker 16: to ignite the our base. We're going to talk to
[49:28] Speaker 16: every voter across the county. But we really have to
[49:31] Speaker 16: figure out how we can increase our black our black
[49:35] Speaker 16: voter turnout, and not just for me, but for our
[49:38] Speaker 16: down ballots. I mean, we've got some great down ballot
[49:41] Speaker 16: candidates that that that could just do amazing things in
[49:44] Speaker 16: Harris County.
[49:45] Speaker 15: And so you know, that's that's my job.
[49:47] Speaker 16: I've got to deliver Harris County. And a lot of
[49:50] Speaker 16: folks don't really realize that, but to win Texas, you
[49:53] Speaker 16: have to win Harris County.
[49:54] Speaker 1: There are no options. And so I'm taking that.
[49:57] Speaker 15: Job very far.
[49:57] Speaker 3: You mean you mean as a you mean as a
[49:59] Speaker 3: Democrat obviously Republican as well in Texas. But yeah, if
[50:03] Speaker 3: you don't win Harris County, you ain't winning nothing nothing.
[50:07] Speaker 1: It all stops here. Everything stops the Harris County and
[50:10] Speaker 1: so and so.
[50:12] Speaker 16: You know, I really do believe that it's a big charge,
[50:14] Speaker 16: but it's something I'm taking seriously. And man, we're gonna
[50:17] Speaker 16: do everything we can to make sure that Mike don
[50:20] Speaker 16: Ballot folks have an opportunity to represent Harris County.
[50:23] Speaker 3: Well, I've not decided whether we're going to be in
[50:26] Speaker 3: the state in the September or October, but I'm sure
[50:30] Speaker 3: we're crossing paths as we broadcast from the Lone Star
[50:33] Speaker 3: State lead to the midterm elections.
[50:36] Speaker 15: I would love that.
[50:37] Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
[50:38] Speaker 2: All right, I appreciate it. Letitia Plummer, good luck, thanks
[50:40] Speaker 2: a lot.
[50:41] Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me.
[50:43] Speaker 3: All Right, folks, gotta go to a break. We'll be
[50:44] Speaker 3: back rolling Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. Don't forget support
[50:47] Speaker 3: the work that we do. Join our Bring the Funk
[50:49] Speaker 3: fan Club goes get twenty thousand of our fans contributed
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[50:54] Speaker 3: the nineteen since the month thirteen cents today. Support this
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[50:59] Speaker 3: Are New show with Joe Johnson. We have the promo
[51:02] Speaker 3: coming up next and so again you want to contribute
[51:05] Speaker 3: via cash app, use a stripe cure coach.
[51:07] Speaker 2: You see it right here.
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[51:14] Speaker 3: some money or to make it payable. Rolling Mark Unfiltered
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[51:26] Speaker 3: roland s Martin dot Com.
[51:28] Speaker 2: Rolling at Roland Mack Unfiltered dot Com will be right back.
[51:33] Speaker 5: That's good question.
[51:35] Speaker 11: Why do so many people seem to think they know
[51:37] Speaker 11: black men so well but they think we want what
[51:39] Speaker 11: they think we need.
[51:40] Speaker 4: Hell, they even tried to tell us why and how
[51:42] Speaker 4: we go down and never had a conversation with us,
[51:45] Speaker 4: never asked us how we felt, brings us joy? What
[51:47] Speaker 4: makes us angry? What makes us scared?
[51:49] Speaker 2: How do we live?
[51:50] Speaker 4: That's what this show is about.
[51:52] Speaker 13: No translation is we don't need anybody speaking for us.
[51:55] Speaker 13: We can speak for ourselves. This will be a show
[51:57] Speaker 13: where we bring brothers on that you don't see on
[51:59] Speaker 13: every other time. Nope, brothers that are doing work in
[52:02] Speaker 13: local communities with black men for black communities. We're going
[52:06] Speaker 13: to hear each other and try to understand so perhaps
[52:09] Speaker 13: we can move forward together.
[52:11] Speaker 4: No translation, because we don't need anybody speaking for us.
[52:14] Speaker 4: What we need as each other. No translation, right here
[52:17] Speaker 4: on the Black Star Network.
[52:18] Speaker 3: Check it out, all right, folks, Let me begin personal
[52:25] Speaker 3: for a second. My mom had questions about her Medicare,
[52:28] Speaker 3: so she called Chapter, a Medicare advisory company, and she
[52:31] Speaker 3: texts me right after saying, it's a great benefit. It
[52:34] Speaker 3: was easy, a real person who walked her through the
[52:37] Speaker 3: whole thing. And now she understands better what's going on
[52:40] Speaker 3: because also it's not just her. Woman in Yonkers wrote
[52:43] Speaker 3: in saying the process was so simple, the enrollment was easy,
[52:46] Speaker 3: and she was so glad she called. And there's Maryland,
[52:49] Speaker 3: ninety years old in Florida, living on Social Security.
[52:52] Speaker 2: Her premium climb every.
[52:53] Speaker 3: Single year north of four hundred dollars a month for
[52:57] Speaker 3: coverage she could barely afford anymore.
[53:00] Speaker 5: Do She called Chapter.
[53:01] Speaker 3: They found her the same top tier coverage for hundreds
[53:04] Speaker 3: of dollars less ninety years old and finally somebody in
[53:08] Speaker 3: her corner. I hear stories like that again and again
[53:11] Speaker 3: from our community. The Medicare system was not built to
[53:14] Speaker 3: work for you. Too much fine print, too many plans
[53:17] Speaker 3: you had. Chapters advisors are independent and honest, the only
[53:20] Speaker 3: Medicare advisors that compare every plan nationwide. They're focused on
[53:24] Speaker 3: one thing, what actually works for you. If you're already
[53:28] Speaker 3: in the right plan, they'll tell you no games, and
[53:31] Speaker 3: people who switched to a chapter saved and the average
[53:34] Speaker 3: of eleven one hundred dollars a year all Texas.
[53:36] Speaker 2: Twenty minutes. You talk to a real person and it's
[53:38] Speaker 2: completely free help.
[53:40] Speaker 3: So called chapter at seven two four two sixty four
[53:44] Speaker 3: eight two eight one seven two four two sixty four
[53:47] Speaker 3: eight two eight one.
[53:48] Speaker 2: That's chapter.
[53:50] Speaker 17: This is a simple man, and this is David Mann,
[53:52] Speaker 17: and you're watching rowland Mark unfiltered.
[54:00] Speaker 2: Folks.
[54:01] Speaker 3: Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to weigh in
[54:06] Speaker 3: on their new restrictions on mail in ballots. This also
[54:10] Speaker 3: follows a big victory that they actually received in court.
[54:18] Speaker 3: So an appeals court actually spoke up about this and
[54:24] Speaker 3: give me one second, one pull this up.
[54:27] Speaker 2: And so this was posted earlier today and loss for voters.
[54:32] Speaker 3: The DC Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling upholding parts
[54:36] Speaker 3: of Donald Trump's executive order targeting mail voting, including allowing
[54:40] Speaker 3: DHS to build a citizenship registry the USPS to withhold
[54:45] Speaker 3: mail ballots from states that don't share voter data with
[54:49] Speaker 3: the government.
[54:50] Speaker 2: Now.
[54:50] Speaker 3: On Monday, the Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court
[54:53] Speaker 3: to free several lower court rulings that block Trump's March
[54:56] Speaker 3: executive order from taking effect while the administration appeals. The
[55:00] Speaker 3: executive order would only allow states to deliver mail in
[55:02] Speaker 3: ballots again to federal people and federal citizenship lists.
[55:06] Speaker 2: Or eligible voters.
[55:06] Speaker 3: The Postal Service could deny delivery of mail in ballots,
[55:09] Speaker 3: and federal funding could be withheld from states that don't
[55:12] Speaker 3: comply with the new rules. In a statements listener of
[55:15] Speaker 3: generally the United States, D John Sowers said, quote and
[55:18] Speaker 3: the injunction is especially indefensible because the agencies are still
[55:21] Speaker 3: deliberating over how, if at all, to implement the order.
[55:24] Speaker 3: If the District court premptively decided that whatever the agencies
[55:28] Speaker 3: may choose to do will necessarily be unlawful, the administration
[55:32] Speaker 3: is asking the court to approve this request quickly so
[55:34] Speaker 3: that the new policies can take effect in time for
[55:36] Speaker 3: the midterm elections. The reality here mustafa it's not enough time.
[55:41] Speaker 3: And you've heard Senator Tom Tillis and others say that.
[55:45] Speaker 3: But again, what Donald Trump in MAGA is trying to do.
[55:49] Speaker 3: You will talk about rigging elections. This is rigging elections.
[55:54] Speaker 17: Yeah, this is major voter suppression. This is rigging elections.
[55:57] Speaker 17: This is making sure that you know, less people have
[56:00] Speaker 17: the opportunity to fully participate. You know, I think you
[56:03] Speaker 17: know what was one and one hundred fifty million people
[56:06] Speaker 17: voted in twenty twenty four, or third of those we're
[56:09] Speaker 17: actually people who utilize male in ballots because it's more
[56:14] Speaker 17: convenient for a whole lot of folks. You know, there
[56:16] Speaker 17: are elders who can't get out and want to make
[56:18] Speaker 17: sure that they'll still be able to be able to participate.
[56:20] Speaker 5: Their others, you know, who are working and can't participate.
[56:23] Speaker 17: So once again, this is literally taking away the opportunity
[56:26] Speaker 17: for people who whether they are Democrats or Republicans or
[56:29] Speaker 17: independents you know, from all kinds of communities, the ability
[56:33] Speaker 17: to fully participate in the civic process. And it just
[56:36] Speaker 17: you know, it is par for the course once again
[56:38] Speaker 17: for this administration, who knows that their policies are whack.
[56:42] Speaker 17: They know that their policies are not something that the
[56:44] Speaker 17: vast majority of Americans are interested in because they see
[56:47] Speaker 17: that they're living under much harsher conditions.
[56:50] Speaker 5: So once again they try.
[56:51] Speaker 17: And do whatever they can to lower the amount of
[56:54] Speaker 17: people who want to vote so that they can at
[56:56] Speaker 17: least be competitive in the next election.
[56:58] Speaker 3: The thing here, when coone that we have to really
[57:01] Speaker 3: pay attention to. Once again, this is about theft. This
[57:08] Speaker 3: is about limiting folk who vote. You've got some states
[57:12] Speaker 3: like organ in Colorado, especially Organ Washington State. I'm sorry,
[57:16] Speaker 3: We're all voting takes place by mail.
[57:22] Speaker 15: You on mute, Yes, Roland. This is infuriating, but unfortunately
[57:29] Speaker 15: not surprising.
[57:30] Speaker 14: We've seen this administration time and time again try to
[57:33] Speaker 14: stemy the votes of particularly black and brown voters, right,
[57:37] Speaker 14: but mail in voting is no different. Trump wants to
[57:40] Speaker 14: limit mail in voting even though this is predominantly how
[57:43] Speaker 14: he's been able to cast his own votes. As Mustafa stated,
[57:46] Speaker 14: thirty percent of ballots have been cast that way in
[57:48] Speaker 14: the twenty twenty four election, and so it makes sense
[57:50] Speaker 14: to think that that at least that percentage would use
[57:53] Speaker 14: them again. And let's really think about it, when we
[57:56] Speaker 14: think about voter disenfranchisement, when you take away something like
[57:59] Speaker 14: mail voting, that's the number one way to disenfranchise of
[58:02] Speaker 14: people because we know that mail in voting increases voter participation,
[58:06] Speaker 14: particularly for people with demanding work schedules, caregiving, responsibility, disabilities, illnesses,
[58:12] Speaker 14: people that are historically disenfranchised and disengage.
[58:16] Speaker 10: Right.
[58:16] Speaker 14: It also helps people to vote more informed, right, Roland.
[58:19] Speaker 14: If you're sitting at home in front of your computer
[58:21] Speaker 14: and you can have the time to thoroughly look up information,
[58:25] Speaker 14: that generally means you're a more prepared voter.
[58:28] Speaker 1: Right.
[58:29] Speaker 15: It also reduces election day congestion for people who actually.
[58:32] Speaker 14: Want to go in and cast a ballot in person,
[58:34] Speaker 14: which is fine, some people love to do that, but
[58:37] Speaker 14: it reduces election day congestion for people who are going
[58:40] Speaker 14: to be able who can't do that. Right, provides flexibility,
[58:43] Speaker 14: allows ballot tracking. There's so many pros to mail in voting,
[58:47] Speaker 14: so it makes sense that of course our fascist in
[58:50] Speaker 14: chief would want to get rid of it.
[58:52] Speaker 12: Randy, it is so infuriating because all of this is
[58:57] Speaker 12: based online. He has pushed this near to that there
[59:01] Speaker 12: is fraud involved in mail in voting, and every research
[59:05] Speaker 12: has shown that that is simply not true. But he
[59:08] Speaker 12: gets away with these lives because people don't do the research.
[59:11] Speaker 12: He says something and people believe it, and so it's
[59:14] Speaker 12: so disgusting that his agenda is being pushed.
[59:17] Speaker 8: Forward on nothing but lies.
[59:20] Speaker 12: You know, this will affect so many people, and it's
[59:22] Speaker 12: the people, like even the people who serve in the military.
[59:25] Speaker 8: How do they expect them?
[59:27] Speaker 12: How does he expect them to vote when they are
[59:29] Speaker 12: overseas serving our country?
[59:32] Speaker 8: In all ways, it cuts off what we consider a democracy.
[59:36] Speaker 12: A democracy should make voting the easiest thing that we
[59:39] Speaker 12: do because we want everybody to participate. But someone who
[59:43] Speaker 12: has to steal an election doesn't.
[59:46] Speaker 3: All right, folks, let's talk about this nutcase in the
[59:49] Speaker 3: White House. During Monday's General Motors Tour in Milford, Michigan,
[59:52] Speaker 3: the twice in peach grimly convicted con Man in chief,
[59:56] Speaker 3: Donald Trump literally said something that was be yon stupid.
[1:00:01] Speaker 3: Michigan has been hit hard by his terrors, particularly the
[1:00:06] Speaker 3: automobile industry, yet this dumb ass claimed his historic tars
[1:00:12] Speaker 3: are reinvigorating. You know what, I don't know why I'm
[1:00:16] Speaker 3: reading all this, Just play it, you know, I mean, this.
[1:00:20] Speaker 4: Was really.
[1:00:23] Speaker 15: They've come a long way.
[1:00:25] Speaker 6: It's amazing what tariffs will do for General Motives and
[1:00:29] Speaker 6: what the election has done.
[1:00:32] Speaker 4: They're doing great.
[1:00:33] Speaker 6: General Motives is doing fantastically, the best year they've ever had.
[1:00:37] Speaker 6: And I won't get into it, but there's a reason
[1:00:41] Speaker 6: we've been very good to General Motives. And the rest
[1:00:45] Speaker 6: of the world doesn't love me, but that's okay. It's
[1:00:48] Speaker 6: called America first, right, it's been amazing.
[1:00:54] Speaker 8: Mister Reste's.
[1:00:59] Speaker 14: Motive, she's been with me.
[1:01:02] Speaker 6: Does anybody o Margo, like, how well do you know?
[1:01:06] Speaker 2: She's been with me for y'ah?
[1:01:07] Speaker 3: That's General motorc of Mary Barraly. She know better that
[1:01:13] Speaker 3: they've had slow job growth in Michigan. General Motors has
[1:01:20] Speaker 3: lost more than three billion dollars due to TERRFFS. They
[1:01:24] Speaker 3: pretty much gutted their electric vehicle fleet because of Trump's
[1:01:29] Speaker 3: hatred for evs, also impacting their bottom line. Every GM
[1:01:34] Speaker 3: exacutly standing there knew his ads was lying.
[1:01:38] Speaker 14: That's why they had that look on their face. Roland,
[1:01:40] Speaker 14: I mean, it's the same look any of us would
[1:01:42] Speaker 14: have on our face. They're flabbergasted. I mean, the scary
[1:01:46] Speaker 14: thing is people continue to allow him to come to
[1:01:49] Speaker 14: their businesses and make a fool out of them, because
[1:01:52] Speaker 14: it really looks crazy.
[1:01:53] Speaker 15: But let's get into the facts.
[1:01:55] Speaker 14: Like you said, we know that not only his tariffs
[1:01:59] Speaker 14: have affected Michigan, but he's continued to tear if Canada
[1:02:03] Speaker 14: right next door, who got so pissed off that they
[1:02:06] Speaker 14: canceled the joint celebration that they were planning to have
[1:02:09] Speaker 14: in conjunction with Michigan. And They've continued to find issue
[1:02:14] Speaker 14: with Trump's policies. And I think the one person who
[1:02:17] Speaker 14: had it right was Curtis Hurdle, the chairman of the
[1:02:19] Speaker 14: Michigan Democratic Party, when he said he's happy the president's
[1:02:22] Speaker 14: here campaigning with the Republicans because it shows that the
[1:02:26] Speaker 14: Republicans actually don't want to do anything, but you know,
[1:02:30] Speaker 14: continue to kiss up to him, and they don't want
[1:02:32] Speaker 14: to stand up for him, and he's terribly unpopular. I
[1:02:35] Speaker 14: think Curtis is the only one who had it right,
[1:02:37] Speaker 14: and unfortunately he continued to make a charade out of
[1:02:41] Speaker 14: himself at General Motors.
[1:02:42] Speaker 15: It's a shame they let him do.
[1:02:43] Speaker 3: So, we're talking a state that right across the river
[1:02:51] Speaker 3: there mustafa is Canada. Significant trade with that country who
[1:02:57] Speaker 3: Dald Trump has been attacking. Tariffs have absolutely wrecked the
[1:03:02] Speaker 3: American economy.
[1:03:04] Speaker 17: Oh, without a doubt.
[1:03:05] Speaker 5: I grew up them.
[1:03:06] Speaker 17: You know, part of my youth was in Detroit. So
[1:03:08] Speaker 17: I have a family who worked in the auto industry,
[1:03:10] Speaker 17: still work in the auto industry and used to go
[1:03:12] Speaker 17: across the bridge to Windsor So. I mean, I know
[1:03:16] Speaker 17: both sides of that bridge. Well, you know, the tariffs
[1:03:19] Speaker 17: have not been helpful to our country. Yes, there's been
[1:03:21] Speaker 17: impacts to Canada. Also, he's talking about fifty percent tariffs
[1:03:25] Speaker 17: once again in relationship to some of the products that
[1:03:28] Speaker 17: are coming across from Canada. You know, as was stated
[1:03:32] Speaker 17: as well, these terraffs have also had huge impacts on
[1:03:34] Speaker 17: the auto industry. We've lost twenty thousand jobs in the
[1:03:37] Speaker 17: auto industry over the last two years.
[1:03:40] Speaker 5: Let me say that again.
[1:03:40] Speaker 17: Twenty thousand good hard earned money working positions have been
[1:03:45] Speaker 17: lost over the last two years thanks to the policies
[1:03:49] Speaker 17: that this administration.
[1:03:50] Speaker 5: Has moved forward on.
[1:03:52] Speaker 17: And then you talked about the electric vehicles. You know,
[1:03:54] Speaker 17: the vehicles of the future that actually help to make
[1:03:57] Speaker 17: sure that folks breathe cleaner.
[1:03:58] Speaker 1: Air, get better mileage for the charge, but he.
[1:04:02] Speaker 17: Did not see value in them because he's so tied
[1:04:04] Speaker 17: to the fossil fuel industry. So they continue to do
[1:04:08] Speaker 17: all these missteps that one impact the economy, impact people's health,
[1:04:13] Speaker 17: and then people stand beside him and smile. I understand,
[1:04:16] Speaker 17: you know, I've been out on you know, and visiting
[1:04:18] Speaker 17: with presidents at different locations and other leaders of federal agencies.
[1:04:23] Speaker 17: But at the same time, there comes a point when
[1:04:26] Speaker 17: you have to push back. You can do it respectfully,
[1:04:28] Speaker 17: you can have signage there that tells the truth about
[1:04:31] Speaker 17: what's actually going on. But we continue to allow this
[1:04:34] Speaker 17: misinformation and disinformation that hurts our country. Is significantly going
[1:04:38] Speaker 17: to hurt our country based upon the partnerships that we've
[1:04:41] Speaker 17: had with folks who have been allies before. But it
[1:04:44] Speaker 17: is really hurting the pocketbooks of everyday Americans because you know,
[1:04:49] Speaker 17: now we're not making the money. Wealth gap is growing,
[1:04:51] Speaker 17: and then of course people can't even get healthcare because
[1:04:53] Speaker 17: it can't afford to go. So these are the things
[1:04:56] Speaker 17: that are coming out of his tariffs. There have been
[1:04:58] Speaker 17: nothing positive that have come out of the tariffs, and
[1:05:01] Speaker 17: history has told us you have to be very selective
[1:05:04] Speaker 17: of how you use tariffs. You do not put these
[1:05:06] Speaker 17: broad stroke tariffs in place, because there are many, many
[1:05:10] Speaker 17: impacts that will happen. But he continues to give these
[1:05:12] Speaker 17: false narratives, continues to put veneers over things, and continues
[1:05:16] Speaker 17: to hurt our country.
[1:05:17] Speaker 8: Randy, there is not one economist that says these terrorts
[1:05:22] Speaker 8: have worked. But again he is allowed to just keep
[1:05:25] Speaker 8: pushing on.
[1:05:26] Speaker 12: And it makes me literally nauseous that no one speaks up,
[1:05:29] Speaker 12: no one seems to stop them. I have been shocked
[1:05:32] Speaker 12: at the fragility of people, these people that we consider leaders,
[1:05:36] Speaker 12: that GM would sit there and smile and have them there.
[1:05:39] Speaker 8: It's disgusting to me, and I'm also struck.
[1:05:42] Speaker 12: It takes a special kind of jacked up person president
[1:05:46] Speaker 12: to ruin our relationship with Canada.
[1:05:48] Speaker 8: Do you know how hard that was to do?
[1:05:49] Speaker 5: But he did it.
[1:05:50] Speaker 1: He found a.
[1:05:51] Speaker 12: Way where we have no good relations, it seems, with
[1:05:55] Speaker 12: almost anybody, because he's such a disgusting creature that the
[1:05:58] Speaker 12: entire world knows exactly what we know and talk about,
[1:06:02] Speaker 12: but the people around him continue to just treat him
[1:06:06] Speaker 12: like a petulant child and allow him to get away
[1:06:09] Speaker 12: with doing whatever he wants to do.
[1:06:11] Speaker 8: And it impacts people every single day.
[1:06:14] Speaker 12: Again, when you talk about people losing their jobs, and
[1:06:17] Speaker 12: when someone loses their jobs, we know that affects families,
[1:06:20] Speaker 12: that affects schools, that affects the entire county and country.
[1:06:25] Speaker 12: And so it's just sad that they're allowing this mad
[1:06:27] Speaker 12: man to run around and do what he wants to do,
[1:06:30] Speaker 12: even when it has proven to be destructive to our
[1:06:34] Speaker 12: economy and to our country.
[1:06:36] Speaker 3: Well, that is absolutely case. And so I don't know
[1:06:39] Speaker 3: what the hell these people are shitting here doing. All right,
[1:06:41] Speaker 3: let me go to break. When we come back.
[1:06:43] Speaker 2: Tuskegee.
[1:06:44] Speaker 3: Boy, they've got people riled up regarding their new dress code.
[1:06:48] Speaker 3: They've said, do rags, bonnets and house slippers. Don't bring
[1:06:54] Speaker 3: that bullshit on campus. We'll discuss next.
[1:06:57] Speaker 2: Right here in Roland Martin, I'm filtered on the Blackstune Network.
[1:07:02] Speaker 3: All right, folks, let me begin persha for a second.
[1:07:04] Speaker 3: My mom had questions about her medicare, so she called
[1:07:07] Speaker 3: Chapter a Medicare advisory company, and she texts me right
[1:07:10] Speaker 3: after saying it's a great benefit. It was easy a
[1:07:13] Speaker 3: real person who walked her through the whole thing. And
[1:07:16] Speaker 3: now she understands better what's going on because also it's
[1:07:19] Speaker 3: not just her. Woman in Yonkers wrote in saying the
[1:07:22] Speaker 3: process was so simple, the enrollment was easy, and she
[1:07:25] Speaker 3: was so glad she called. And there's Maryland, ninety years
[1:07:28] Speaker 3: old in Florida, living on Social Security. Her premium climbed
[1:07:31] Speaker 3: every single year north of four hundred dollars a month
[1:07:35] Speaker 3: for coverage she could barely afford anymore.
[1:07:37] Speaker 2: So what if she do? She called Chapter?
[1:07:39] Speaker 3: They found her the same top tier coverage for hundreds
[1:07:42] Speaker 3: of dollars less ninety years old, and finally somebody in
[1:07:46] Speaker 3: her corner. I hear stories like that again and again
[1:07:49] Speaker 3: from our community. The Medicare system was not built to
[1:07:53] Speaker 3: work for you. Too much fine print, too many plans.
[1:07:56] Speaker 3: Yet Chapters advisors are independent and honest, the only Medicare
[1:07:59] Speaker 3: advisors that compare every plan nationwide. They're focused on one thing,
[1:08:03] Speaker 3: what actually works for you. If you're already in the
[1:08:06] Speaker 3: right plan, they'll tell you no games. People who switched
[1:08:10] Speaker 3: to a Chapter saved and the average of eleven one
[1:08:12] Speaker 3: hundred dollars a year all Texas. Twenty minutes you talk
[1:08:15] Speaker 3: to a real person, and it's completely free help so
[1:08:19] Speaker 3: called chapter at seven two four two six four eight
[1:08:22] Speaker 3: two eight one seven two four two sixty four eight
[1:08:26] Speaker 3: two eight one.
[1:08:27] Speaker 2: That's chapter.
[1:08:28] Speaker 4: That's a good question.
[1:08:30] Speaker 11: Why do so many people seem to think they know
[1:08:32] Speaker 11: black men so well, but they think we want what?
[1:08:34] Speaker 4: They think we need help? They even tried to tell.
[1:08:36] Speaker 13: Us why and how we vote out. They never had
[1:08:38] Speaker 13: a conversation with us, never asked us how we felt.
[1:08:41] Speaker 13: Brings us joy, what makes us angry?
[1:08:43] Speaker 4: What makes us scared?
[1:08:44] Speaker 2: How do we live?
[1:08:45] Speaker 4: That's what this show is about. No translation because we don't.
[1:08:49] Speaker 5: Need anybody speaking for us.
[1:08:50] Speaker 4: We can speak for ourselves.
[1:08:51] Speaker 13: This will be a show where we bring brothers on
[1:08:53] Speaker 13: that you don't see on every other talk show. Nope,
[1:08:56] Speaker 13: brothers that are doing work in local communities with black men,
[1:08:59] Speaker 13: for black community. We're going to hear each other and
[1:09:02] Speaker 13: try to understand z brahas we can move forward together.
[1:09:06] Speaker 13: No translations because we don't need anybody speaking for us. No,
[1:09:09] Speaker 13: what we need is each other, no translation, right here
[1:09:12] Speaker 13: on the Blackstar Network.
[1:09:13] Speaker 4: Check it out.
[1:09:18] Speaker 2: Hey, this is Motown recording artist Kim.
[1:09:20] Speaker 3: You are watching Roland Martin Unfiltered boy, he always unfiltered,
[1:09:26] Speaker 3: though I ain't never known him to be filtered? Is
[1:09:28] Speaker 3: there another Is there another way to experience Rolling Martin
[1:09:31] Speaker 3: than to be unfiltered?
[1:09:32] Speaker 2: Course he's unfiltered. Would you expect anything less?
[1:09:35] Speaker 5: Why watch?
[1:09:36] Speaker 2: Watch? Watch what happens next? All right, y'all?
[1:09:50] Speaker 3: U tuskes new president has updated the University of manual
[1:09:54] Speaker 3: and that includes a dress code.
[1:09:56] Speaker 2: President Doctor Mark A.
[1:09:57] Speaker 3: Brown, sitting on a welcome letter to students out line
[1:10:00] Speaker 3: of the new policy and behavioral standards for the academic
[1:10:03] Speaker 3: school year, Yours, Tuskegee University Students. We're excited to welcome
[1:10:07] Speaker 3: you to Tuskege University next month, as you are arriving
[1:10:10] Speaker 3: at an extraordinary time in the university's history. Tuskegee has
[1:10:14] Speaker 3: entered its Renaissance era of transformation and renewal, and we
[1:10:17] Speaker 3: are expecting a thirty two year new a thirty two
[1:10:20] Speaker 3: year new student enrollment high in August. Tuskegee is focused
[1:10:24] Speaker 3: on challenging you academically with resources to ensure graduation while
[1:10:28] Speaker 3: preparing you for the workplace. You're required to find internships
[1:10:32] Speaker 3: in their area of interest, identifying certifications to enhance professional skills,
[1:10:36] Speaker 3: and develop a resume. There are more than thirty certifications
[1:10:39] Speaker 3: you can get at Tuskegee at.
[1:10:40] Speaker 2: No additional cost.
[1:10:42] Speaker 3: You must also visit the University Career Center in Kenny Hall.
[1:10:45] Speaker 3: It is there where you'll be able to connect with
[1:10:47] Speaker 3: potential employers, internships, and learn more about career opportunities long
[1:10:51] Speaker 3: before you your senior year. You cannot wait until you
[1:10:54] Speaker 3: are senior to focus on your career options. University has
[1:10:57] Speaker 3: developed a new policy for student attire on camp, classroom attendants,
[1:11:01] Speaker 3: and cell phone use in classrooms. Thus, ke Use students
[1:11:04] Speaker 3: now have a dress code for public and professional places.
[1:11:07] Speaker 3: The student handbook requires students to arrive on campus with
[1:11:10] Speaker 3: a business suit and proper shoes for a business meeting.
[1:11:14] Speaker 3: Students are prohibited from wearing revealing clothing in class, to
[1:11:17] Speaker 3: the cafeteria, or in official setties like convocation. They're also
[1:11:21] Speaker 3: not able to wear bedroom shoes, bonnets, or do rags
[1:11:24] Speaker 3: to class or the cafeteria. Faculty will be empowered to
[1:11:28] Speaker 3: respond to students who are inappropriately dressed based on these guidelines.
[1:11:32] Speaker 3: Faculty will also be able to respond to a different
[1:11:35] Speaker 3: classroom challenge cell phones unless directed by the professor. Students
[1:11:39] Speaker 3: are no longer allowed to use their cell phones while
[1:11:42] Speaker 3: in class, they should be turned off to eliminate any
[1:11:45] Speaker 3: distraction from the instructor's lesson. We are attaching the attendance
[1:11:49] Speaker 3: policy to minimize any confusion around attendants. Students are required
[1:11:54] Speaker 3: to go to class. That is the heart of all
[1:11:56] Speaker 3: academic success, and we track attendants. The goal here is
[1:12:00] Speaker 3: not meant to restrict you from enjoying the Tuskegee experience,
[1:12:03] Speaker 3: but to prepare you with a salid foundation for the
[1:12:06] Speaker 3: workforce you will enter once you leave Tuskegee. Employers are
[1:12:10] Speaker 3: less forgiving, and too often presentation may overrule stillar preparation.
[1:12:15] Speaker 3: Tuskegee University continues to prepare the best and brightest for
[1:12:18] Speaker 3: a lifetime of success. With these changes, we want to
[1:12:21] Speaker 3: ensure every student is as prepared as they can be.
[1:12:24] Speaker 3: I look forward to seeing you in August. We reached
[1:12:27] Speaker 3: out to Tuskeg University to have the president or representative on,
[1:12:32] Speaker 3: but they were unavailable.
[1:12:33] Speaker 2: We definitely want to have them on very soon now.
[1:12:36] Speaker 3: This, of course, as usual when you factor in threads, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter,
[1:12:43] Speaker 3: and every Facebook and everything else explodes into a social
[1:12:48] Speaker 3: media conversation. Now it's about respectability politics. It's about being
[1:12:53] Speaker 3: anti black consciously said Tuskegee passed the Harbor policy as
[1:12:57] Speaker 3: somebody with a master's in adult higher education police house
[1:13:00] Speaker 3: students show up the class will never lead to higher
[1:13:03] Speaker 3: class attendance and does not lead to higher graduation rates. Okay,
[1:13:08] Speaker 3: which means dressed for success is a claim based in fallacy.
[1:13:11] Speaker 3: He's another post from Nostly. No dress for Success has
[1:13:14] Speaker 3: the same underlying tone as Massa coming to be. It
[1:13:17] Speaker 3: just sounds cooonish, like why you're associating success with looks?
[1:13:21] Speaker 2: Keep paying two or two?
[1:13:23] Speaker 3: What about Yamaka's, Koolfie's and Jia. I'm not reading the
[1:13:28] Speaker 3: rest of these. Let me get to the panel. Randon,
[1:13:30] Speaker 3: you're a Tuskegee graduate. Here's my problem. Okay, they didn't
[1:13:38] Speaker 3: link a dress code to attendance. The memo addressed attendance.
[1:13:47] Speaker 2: Here's the other thing.
[1:13:49] Speaker 3: They did not say. Tell me if I'm wrong. I
[1:13:54] Speaker 3: did not hear bonnets are banned from campus.
[1:13:59] Speaker 2: I did not to hear that.
[1:14:01] Speaker 3: Howse shoes are banned from campus? How to hear that
[1:14:05] Speaker 3: do rags are banned from campus? What I read was
[1:14:10] Speaker 3: you can't wear them to class or the cafeteria. What
[1:14:17] Speaker 3: the hell is the problem?
[1:14:23] Speaker 8: There should be no problem.
[1:14:25] Speaker 12: As a Tuskegee graduate of Proud Tuskegi graduated, I was
[1:14:28] Speaker 12: there from eighty eight to ninety two. I was very
[1:14:31] Speaker 12: pleased to see the changes that were happening. And of
[1:14:34] Speaker 12: course this is an overall change. They're not just talking about,
[1:14:38] Speaker 12: you know, everyone's focusing on do rags and bonnets, where
[1:14:41] Speaker 12: they also are talking about just a renaissance and changing
[1:14:44] Speaker 12: things and improving. What's happening at the university, which is
[1:14:49] Speaker 12: want what you want your leaders to do. That's what
[1:14:52] Speaker 12: you would want to happen at any corporation, our higher
[1:14:57] Speaker 12: institution where.
[1:14:58] Speaker 8: You look at it and say how can we improve?
[1:15:00] Speaker 8: So I'm sure the phones were disruptive to people's learning.
[1:15:05] Speaker 12: I'm sure people coming to class who are scantily dressed
[1:15:09] Speaker 12: could be distracting to hire learning.
[1:15:12] Speaker 8: How do we get people to feel that you can't
[1:15:15] Speaker 8: learn if you're.
[1:15:16] Speaker 12: Not attending classes. So it was an overall restructuring and
[1:15:21] Speaker 12: a set of rules. And it's unfortunate that the only
[1:15:24] Speaker 12: thing that they're focusing on and all this bruhaha is
[1:15:27] Speaker 12: over bonds and do rags. When you think about it.
[1:15:32] Speaker 12: My mother sent me to school to be to get
[1:15:36] Speaker 12: a job. Okay, she knew she wasn't going to take
[1:15:38] Speaker 12: care of me later. I don't know a job right now,
[1:15:43] Speaker 12: whether it be wrong or right, where I am allowed
[1:15:46] Speaker 12: to wear a do rag or a bondit Now people
[1:15:49] Speaker 12: have been saying, oh, what if you work for home? Well,
[1:15:51] Speaker 12: if you work from home.
[1:15:52] Speaker 8: That's fine.
[1:15:53] Speaker 12: But Tuskegee's job is to prepare me to work and
[1:15:59] Speaker 12: work anyway to become employable or at least go to
[1:16:03] Speaker 12: another school to get another degree. There's always been a
[1:16:08] Speaker 12: code of conduct anywhere you go. And so why are
[1:16:13] Speaker 12: you sending your child to Tuskegee or why are you
[1:16:16] Speaker 12: going to Tuskegee if you're not willing to learn and
[1:16:20] Speaker 12: to rise to certain standards. You know, I was thinking
[1:16:24] Speaker 12: about many years ago, I had a meeting at a
[1:16:27] Speaker 12: major tech company and I was we were talking about
[1:16:30] Speaker 12: you know, DEI, and the woman shared with me, she said,
[1:16:34] Speaker 12: I really wish I should I meet as a sister.
[1:16:36] Speaker 8: Should I meet a lot of brilliant black candidates.
[1:16:40] Speaker 12: But it's almost as if they need a finishing school
[1:16:43] Speaker 12: because sometimes because of our you know, state in this country,
[1:16:47] Speaker 12: these are first time people who are attending college or
[1:16:50] Speaker 12: no one has taught us how to write a resume,
[1:16:53] Speaker 12: which is a part of the new program that Tuskegee,
[1:16:56] Speaker 12: the new renaissance.
[1:16:57] Speaker 8: That they are implementing.
[1:16:59] Speaker 12: How to dress, Yes, what it means to show up
[1:17:01] Speaker 12: on time, that it's actually fifteen minutes early, so attendance
[1:17:05] Speaker 12: is important.
[1:17:06] Speaker 8: They haven't learned those things.
[1:17:07] Speaker 12: So while yes, these people may be brilliant, they have
[1:17:10] Speaker 12: earned a degree, they don't know some of the things
[1:17:14] Speaker 12: that you need to know to make it in corporate America.
[1:17:17] Speaker 8: They don't know the rules.
[1:17:18] Speaker 12: So what Tuskegee is saying is they're taking on their
[1:17:22] Speaker 12: responsibility and saying, we're going to teach these children and
[1:17:25] Speaker 12: prepare them for the workplace. We're going to set a standards,
[1:17:28] Speaker 12: which I don't know where else they don't do that.
[1:17:32] Speaker 12: I just want to say one more thing. I've heard
[1:17:35] Speaker 12: two things. One people have said, well, I'm paying for
[1:17:37] Speaker 12: my education, so I should be able to wear what
[1:17:39] Speaker 12: I want to wear. And I'm saying, when you pay
[1:17:42] Speaker 12: for your meal in a restaurant, it doesn't mean you
[1:17:44] Speaker 12: can wear a bikini and show up. And secondly, what
[1:17:47] Speaker 12: people are saying is that at white schools. They don't
[1:17:50] Speaker 12: police your hair, your bonnets, or do REGs. And I
[1:17:53] Speaker 12: don't believe white schools are even thinking about how to
[1:17:57] Speaker 12: prepare our students to.
[1:18:00] Speaker 8: Function in a white racist society.
[1:18:03] Speaker 12: How do we prepare our students, our black students to
[1:18:07] Speaker 12: be able to excel in this world as it is.
[1:18:11] Speaker 12: They're not trying to liberate you. It's not because they
[1:18:13] Speaker 12: want you to have more freedom. Is that they're completely
[1:18:15] Speaker 12: ambivalent to you and toward our costs.
[1:18:20] Speaker 3: Okay, when Cony, here's what really bothers me, folks automatically
[1:18:31] Speaker 3: jumped to, oh, this is anti black.
[1:18:36] Speaker 2: First. Our bonnet's only a black thing. Do rags house slippers? Man?
[1:18:45] Speaker 3: I went to Texas A and m you know what,
[1:18:47] Speaker 3: I couldn't stand the wost god damn loud ass strong
[1:18:52] Speaker 3: slippers and sitting here and all you hearing is popping
[1:18:56] Speaker 3: when somebody's walking in class.
[1:18:58] Speaker 2: It's like it's smacking. Mean. I just I sit here
[1:19:01] Speaker 2: and I'm just like, yo, what are we doing? Like?
[1:19:06] Speaker 2: What the hell are we doing?
[1:19:08] Speaker 3: All of these people are commenting on do wax bonnets
[1:19:13] Speaker 3: and slippers, but they ain't got nothing to say about
[1:19:17] Speaker 3: requiring them to have internships and get certifications, and I'm
[1:19:22] Speaker 3: just sitting here going.
[1:19:23] Speaker 2: Really, really, are we tripped?
[1:19:28] Speaker 5: Really?
[1:19:30] Speaker 2: And you come to class.
[1:19:33] Speaker 5: Like that's a problem.
[1:19:37] Speaker 2: Saying hey, yo, you can't.
[1:19:39] Speaker 3: They didn't say you can't wear cargo shorts. They didn't say,
[1:19:45] Speaker 3: oh you must have like a country club a collar shirt.
[1:19:49] Speaker 14: I'll go ahead, So Randy, I didn't go to tuskig.
[1:19:54] Speaker 14: I want to Howard, and we got our own stuff
[1:19:56] Speaker 14: to deal with right now. But what I will say
[1:19:59] Speaker 14: on to Ski right now is that I don't see
[1:20:02] Speaker 14: any problem with what doctor Brown is implemented. And I
[1:20:05] Speaker 14: got to say this as like the resident young person
[1:20:07] Speaker 14: on the panel right now that I guess this is
[1:20:10] Speaker 14: going to get people into tizzy. But I do think
[1:20:13] Speaker 14: that young black students need to embody rigor not only
[1:20:18] Speaker 14: in how they show up for class and how they dress.
[1:20:20] Speaker 15: How I was taught in my home was how.
[1:20:22] Speaker 14: You show up indicates a lot about how A the
[1:20:26] Speaker 14: teacher's going to treat you, be, how your classmates are
[1:20:28] Speaker 14: going to receive you, and be what position and.
[1:20:30] Speaker 15: Posture you're in to learn?
[1:20:32] Speaker 14: Right, So if I show up and the thing that
[1:20:34] Speaker 14: I went to sleep with, because we're not only talking
[1:20:36] Speaker 14: about do rags and bonnets.
[1:20:38] Speaker 15: Right, we're also talking about house slippers.
[1:20:39] Speaker 14: If I show up to school in my pajamas, am
[1:20:43] Speaker 14: I equipped to learn that day?
[1:20:44] Speaker 15: Realistically? The answer is no, I'm still asleep.
[1:20:47] Speaker 14: I haven't showered, I haven't brushed my teeth, I haven't
[1:20:50] Speaker 14: really started my day.
[1:20:51] Speaker 15: I haven't activated myself.
[1:20:53] Speaker 8: Let's also talk.
[1:20:54] Speaker 14: About decorum in terms of honoring our professors. You know,
[1:20:57] Speaker 14: one of the things I love is being on here
[1:20:59] Speaker 14: with doctor Cars sometimes because that was my professor at
[1:21:02] Speaker 14: Howard University. Do you know how much of an honor
[1:21:05] Speaker 14: that is sometimes to share the stage with him. I
[1:21:08] Speaker 14: came from a tradition that we used to honor our elders.
[1:21:12] Speaker 2: Right.
[1:21:12] Speaker 14: I would not show up and hug and kiss my
[1:21:15] Speaker 14: grandmother with a bonnet or do rag on because I'm
[1:21:19] Speaker 14: in the presence of someone that I consider an elder.
[1:21:22] Speaker 10: Right.
[1:21:22] Speaker 14: So I'm in class with someone who's taken their time
[1:21:26] Speaker 14: out to really dedicate themselves to the education of young
[1:21:30] Speaker 14: black students, and I can't get dressed in a way
[1:21:34] Speaker 14: that's considered or deemed appropriate. What am I really doing there?
[1:21:38] Speaker 7: Right?
[1:21:38] Speaker 14: I think what Tuskegee University is trying to do is
[1:21:41] Speaker 14: continue their tradition of excellence that was started by their
[1:21:45] Speaker 14: founder W. E. B.
[1:21:46] Speaker 15: Du Bois.
[1:21:47] Speaker 14: And when we really think about where, you know, what
[1:21:50] Speaker 14: the policies and the philosophies that Du Boys embodied, this
[1:21:54] Speaker 14: is not too far from it right all we're asking here.
[1:21:58] Speaker 14: It's not about respectability politics. It's about how young and
[1:22:01] Speaker 14: black boys and black girls are going to show up
[1:22:03] Speaker 14: in the world and how they're going to be received.
[1:22:05] Speaker 14: We already know Roland that we have to be twice
[1:22:08] Speaker 14: as good. How are we going to be able to
[1:22:10] Speaker 14: do that if we're not stepping up to the plate
[1:22:14] Speaker 14: in terms of how we're showing up in the classroom.
[1:22:16] Speaker 14: That starts with the outside, and that starts with how
[1:22:20] Speaker 14: we look when we show up to learn. So we
[1:22:22] Speaker 14: really have to make sure that we're understanding the importance
[1:22:25] Speaker 14: of this. It's not only about what the student looks like,
[1:22:28] Speaker 14: but it's about their mind posture and their heart posture
[1:22:30] Speaker 14: when they step in the classroom. And I just don't
[1:22:33] Speaker 14: believe that it can be in the right space when
[1:22:35] Speaker 14: you're not really dressed, like you got up from sleep.
[1:22:38] Speaker 15: So I really think we got to.
[1:22:40] Speaker 14: Think about that and evaluate that. But I know this
[1:22:43] Speaker 14: is going to cause tensions within the black community. But
[1:22:45] Speaker 14: I say let it, because we have to get back
[1:22:47] Speaker 14: to our standard of black excellence.
[1:22:49] Speaker 2: We stoppa.
[1:22:50] Speaker 3: This is the Virginia Union University dress Code. The items
[1:22:58] Speaker 3: below provide an overview of items prohibited by the Videau
[1:23:02] Speaker 3: dress Code, but not.
[1:23:03] Speaker 2: Limited to, except in the residence halls.
[1:23:07] Speaker 3: And at designated university activities and events on and off canvas, pajamas, bathrooms, bras,
[1:23:16] Speaker 3: largerie and boxer shorts worn in public spaces and or
[1:23:19] Speaker 3: as outerwear except in the residence halls. Bedroom slippers except
[1:23:23] Speaker 3: in the residence halls. Pants worn in a baggy fashion
[1:23:27] Speaker 3: mid hit with undergarments revealed, undershirts, wife beaters without a top,
[1:23:31] Speaker 3: shirt except in the residence halls. Appearing in public spaces
[1:23:35] Speaker 3: without a shirt, top, or blouse except in the residence halls.
[1:23:39] Speaker 3: Do rags, head rags, scars and bonnets for men and
[1:23:42] Speaker 3: women except in the residence halls. Caps and hats for
[1:23:46] Speaker 3: men and women worn inside of buildings except for the
[1:23:49] Speaker 3: residence halls or with permission from an administrator. Curlers, rollers,
[1:23:54] Speaker 3: and other items used to groom hair except in the
[1:23:57] Speaker 3: residence halls. Shirts worn as head reps except in the
[1:24:01] Speaker 3: residence halls, hoodies with hoods over the head while inside
[1:24:05] Speaker 3: a building, micro.
[1:24:07] Speaker 2: Mini skirts, mid jip shirts, see through.
[1:24:10] Speaker 3: Blouses, low cut blouses, and or other such a tire
[1:24:13] Speaker 3: that revealed excessive cleavage in classroom buildings, clothing, jewelry, hats
[1:24:19] Speaker 3: and other garments, and or other accessories without scene or
[1:24:23] Speaker 3: offensive language guests and or profenity on the display allude
[1:24:27] Speaker 3: to drugs, drug paraphernelia, and other legal substances. Students are
[1:24:32] Speaker 3: expected to use good judgment in determining what to wear
[1:24:35] Speaker 3: at especial events. Examples of special events are new student
[1:24:40] Speaker 3: orientation activities, fault complication founders, day career fairs, on campus interviews,
[1:24:46] Speaker 3: honors programs, and convocation. The attire for these events is
[1:24:50] Speaker 3: outlined below. Dress pants, no jeanes, business suit, dress shirt,
[1:24:56] Speaker 3: tie and dress shoes, professional skirtl was his dress or
[1:25:01] Speaker 3: two piece suit, skirt or pants and dress shoes. Students
[1:25:05] Speaker 3: requesting special permission for head attire due to religious affiliation
[1:25:09] Speaker 3: should give notice to the Dean of Students office.
[1:25:16] Speaker 17: They're setting expectations right that, you know, instead of having
[1:25:20] Speaker 17: the bare minimum, they're saying, this is how we are
[1:25:22] Speaker 17: going to show up on that particular campus. You know,
[1:25:26] Speaker 17: my grandfather was a farmer and a coal miner, and
[1:25:30] Speaker 17: there was many times when you know, he had the
[1:25:32] Speaker 17: coal dust on him, or he had dirt on him,
[1:25:34] Speaker 17: but as soon as he could get that off of him,
[1:25:37] Speaker 17: he made sure that he was always sharp. He was
[1:25:40] Speaker 17: sharp because he had an expectation for our family and
[1:25:43] Speaker 17: for himself that we would be honored, and that he
[1:25:47] Speaker 17: always pumped.
[1:25:48] Speaker 5: Into us that we were special.
[1:25:50] Speaker 17: And with that specialness, it was just the expectation that
[1:25:54] Speaker 17: we were going to not only show up a certain way,
[1:25:56] Speaker 17: but we were going to also make sure that we
[1:25:58] Speaker 17: were well prepared. And I see so many of my
[1:26:01] Speaker 17: folks who I love dearly not understand how truly special
[1:26:05] Speaker 17: they are. And with those folks who often talk about
[1:26:08] Speaker 17: oppressors and colonizers, which is a real conversation, if you
[1:26:12] Speaker 17: actually understood history, you would understand that when we presented
[1:26:15] Speaker 17: ourselves in a certain way, when we dressed in a
[1:26:18] Speaker 17: certain way, that's when they would call us upity. That's
[1:26:21] Speaker 17: when they would try and knock us down a peg.
[1:26:23] Speaker 17: And they no longer have to do that in many
[1:26:25] Speaker 17: instances now because we do it ourselves. We go to
[1:26:28] Speaker 17: the lowest common denominator in the way that we present
[1:26:31] Speaker 17: ourselves and then wonder why you know we're not exceeding
[1:26:36] Speaker 17: in the way that we need to. Yes, there are policies,
[1:26:38] Speaker 17: Yes there have been sets of actions that are out there,
[1:26:41] Speaker 17: but we also have to make sure that we are
[1:26:43] Speaker 17: preparing ourselves to be able to navigate all those things,
[1:26:47] Speaker 17: to be able to get over the hurdles in one
[1:26:49] Speaker 17: of those is how we show up. So you have
[1:26:52] Speaker 17: a right, But if you choose to go to an
[1:26:54] Speaker 17: institution and they share with you what their set of
[1:26:56] Speaker 17: expectations are, if you don't want to go to Tuskegee,
[1:26:59] Speaker 17: you don't have to go to Tuskegee. You can go
[1:27:01] Speaker 17: someplace else that might have a lower set of expectations.
[1:27:05] Speaker 17: But you're also missing out on the opportunity to go
[1:27:07] Speaker 17: to a historic institution. And they should have a set
[1:27:10] Speaker 17: of values. They should have a set of expectations because
[1:27:14] Speaker 17: they are trying to prepare you to be as amazing
[1:27:17] Speaker 17: as you possibly can be and to be able to
[1:27:19] Speaker 17: navigate this world that when you step outside of those doors.
[1:27:21] Speaker 5: You're going to have to deal with.
[1:27:28] Speaker 2: This is Hampen's dress code.
[1:27:30] Speaker 3: Examples of inappropriate dress and or appearance do rag stocking caps,
[1:27:35] Speaker 3: skull caps, and bandanas prohibited at all times on the
[1:27:40] Speaker 3: campus of halfa University, except in the privacy of the
[1:27:43] Speaker 3: student's living quarters. Head coverings and hoods for men in
[1:27:49] Speaker 3: any building, baseball caps in hoods for women in any building.
[1:27:54] Speaker 3: This policy does not apply to headgear considered as part
[1:27:58] Speaker 3: of a religious or cultural address, bare feet, shorts that
[1:28:01] Speaker 3: reveal buttocks, shorts, all types of genes at programs dictating
[1:28:06] Speaker 3: professional or formal attire, such as the musical arts Faull complication,
[1:28:10] Speaker 3: founders day and commencement. Clothing with derogatory, offensive, and or
[1:28:13] Speaker 3: elude messages, either in words or pictures. Men's undershirts of
[1:28:18] Speaker 3: any color worn outside of the private living quarters of
[1:28:21] Speaker 3: the residence hall, sports jerseys without a conventional T shirt
[1:28:25] Speaker 3: underneath men and women's pants that show underwear. They lay
[1:28:31] Speaker 3: it out right here. And I guess, just I guess
[1:28:36] Speaker 3: what what drives me crazy anyway, y'all can jump in.
[1:28:39] Speaker 3: What drives me crazy is when we resort to, oh,
[1:28:44] Speaker 3: that's white folks, Oh that's white folks. Oh you try
[1:28:46] Speaker 3: to do the work of massive, Then that's the part
[1:28:51] Speaker 3: that's angry me.
[1:28:52] Speaker 12: The most is because people act as if it reminds
[1:28:56] Speaker 12: me when people would say you're speaking, you're just talking
[1:28:58] Speaker 12: white because you're using grammar, And I'm like, why would
[1:29:01] Speaker 12: you give white people that much credit, as.
[1:29:03] Speaker 8: If we're the only that we can't speak proper English.
[1:29:07] Speaker 12: Everything black doesn't have to be associated with something negative.
[1:29:12] Speaker 12: To me, one of the things I've loved about us
[1:29:16] Speaker 12: as a people is that we take pride in how
[1:29:19] Speaker 12: we look. You know, I told a story about on
[1:29:22] Speaker 12: Sunday mornings when I would, you know, all the grandchurch,
[1:29:25] Speaker 12: my grand my grandmother and grandfather would take us all
[1:29:27] Speaker 12: the church, all their grandchildren, all the cousins, and we'd
[1:29:30] Speaker 12: be dressed to the nines, and it was about black
[1:29:33] Speaker 12: people gathering, and we weren't dressing for white people.
[1:29:36] Speaker 8: There wasn't a white person in sight. But we took
[1:29:38] Speaker 8: so much pride in how we looked.
[1:29:41] Speaker 12: And even those of us who did not even have
[1:29:43] Speaker 12: the money to buy something fancy, they would iron their
[1:29:47] Speaker 12: clothes so well to ensure they looked as sharp as
[1:29:50] Speaker 12: they possibly could. And it was a sense of pride.
[1:29:53] Speaker 12: Even now, when we go around, black people always stand
[1:29:57] Speaker 12: out because of how well we dress.
[1:30:00] Speaker 8: We take pride in it.
[1:30:01] Speaker 12: And we have actually talked poorly about unmellanated people, how
[1:30:07] Speaker 12: they will wear the pajama pants and the sloppy ponytails
[1:30:12] Speaker 12: and don't seem to.
[1:30:13] Speaker 8: Care about how they look.
[1:30:14] Speaker 12: Part of blackness has always been pride in your presentation.
[1:30:20] Speaker 12: And to say that it's anti black, to say you
[1:30:24] Speaker 12: should not wear something that you typically sleep in outdoors
[1:30:28] Speaker 12: is absolutely the opposite.
[1:30:30] Speaker 8: It's black pride, it's blackness.
[1:30:33] Speaker 12: It's loving ourselves to say I want us to represent
[1:30:38] Speaker 12: ourselves well when or with each other, because what do
[1:30:40] Speaker 12: they think Tuskegee is but a campus full I was
[1:30:43] Speaker 12: there of black students with black professors who are sacrificing
[1:30:49] Speaker 12: and themselves.
[1:30:50] Speaker 8: Are not there for the money.
[1:30:51] Speaker 12: They're there for the purpose, you know, to be there
[1:30:55] Speaker 12: to teach us, to teach a generation, to make the
[1:30:58] Speaker 12: Black community.
[1:30:59] Speaker 8: Even strong her And we should take pride in how
[1:31:02] Speaker 8: we look and go to class.
[1:31:03] Speaker 15: And it's business.
[1:31:05] Speaker 8: School is business. Yes, you have a blast. I had
[1:31:07] Speaker 8: a blast.

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