October 10, 2024 • 29 mins
Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Let's get to the politics.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
In a presidential election, which is now less than four
weeks away, there are several key demographics that can swing
the election in any direction for Democratic nominee Vice President
Kamala Harris or Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
One group that many aren't.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Taking into consideration as far as I'm concerned, is black men.
And I say that based on a New York Times
column written very recently by Charles Coleman Junior. Take a
look at this excerpt from the column right here quote.
Black men today face a unique reality that warrants consideration
under nearly any relevant index for measuring the quality of
(00:42):
American life. How far we get in school, our finances
when compared to those of our white counterparts, and how
long we will live. Black men consistently rank last or
neil last. There is not a black man alive in
this country right now who has ever seen black black
male unemployment equal to or less than that of his
(01:04):
white counterparts.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
This is true even.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
More acutely for a thirty four year old black man
born in nineteen ninety, who may have voted in every
presidential election since his eighteenth birthday, saw the election of
a black president and spent more more of his adult
life with Democrats in the OLISVI office than Republicans. How
could we not be asking ourselves come November, which candidate
(01:27):
can help us change course? End quote again, that was
written by Charles Coleman Junior. He ain't better than my
next guest. That article was well written, given in props,
But damn it, he ain't rolling mar He ain't rolling
Mardin unfiltered.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
That's who I got right here, right now. What's up,
big boy? How you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Man?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
How's everything?
Speaker 3 (01:48):
I Charles a nice brother, but he does belong to
that youth group called Omegasi five.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Oh no, no, no, I take every back every word
I said that take it every word.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I said, brother, Bro, you didn't know what jump about?
What jump about?
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
By the way, by the way, Roland, I saw you stepping.
I said, oh shock, damn Roland was getting it on.
I had to give you props like that. I didn't know, Bro,
I didn't know. I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
I didn't know. I didn't know Bro, not at all.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Let me ask you this man, when you read this
article in all now I got you keep it going
because you keeping it going, Bro, you was moving pretty
damn good way to go and leading the pack. By
the way, you were doing your thing in front of
an audience. It wasn't a private you.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Were doing your thing. I got to give it to you.
Let's get to this. Let's get to this article. Roland.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
When I read you what I just read, I know
you read the whole article. But when I read you
what I just read, how did you feel about what
he had to what he had to say in that column.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
So there are a number of things that Carls wrote
that I've literally talked about on my show and actually
had been talking about for the last twelve years. So
let me pack that, uh in two twelve. First of all,
I sit you guys a graphic. So in two thousand
and eight, black men ninety five percent voted for Obama,
(03:10):
five percent voted.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
For then Senator McCain.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Then it jumps to then it jumps to eleven in
twenty twelve. Why is that because you heard black men's
Black men were saying they felt that Obama did not deliver.
So there was a nine point gap between black men
and black women. So then when you go to twenty
and sixteen, then the number increases, a lot of people
(03:38):
kept saying misogyny. They ain't supporting a woman in Hillary Clinton,
but they know what It was two men in two
thousand and twelve. Now you go to two thousand in
six twenty twenty, it was two men yting Trump. And
what then happens? Same thing? Okay, you see the number increaks.
(03:58):
Now the Trump that you show, It's important to understand
black men are black men are like all other men.
They're naturally more conservative. White men, Hispanic men, Asian men,
black men the issue. But we come to Democrats, black
(04:21):
women are their number one voting black black men are
still their number two.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
So what are you now? Like?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
So, like, what's going on here? What's the difference what
Trump does? Trump presents this tough guy manhood. I'm gonna,
I'm gonna, I'm gonna do what I say. Uh, I
say what I mean, And it's attractive. That's attractive to
a certain group of men. Now, when Charles was talking
(04:51):
about this is satisfaction in terms of these perceptions that
you know, the Democratic Party is a party of women.
But first of all, all perception is alive, and we
say sometimes one perception because reality.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Here's the reality to about black men.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Who's the highest ranking black man in the Democratic Party,
who's not the highest ranking African American Democratic Party got
vice president of College. But the Minardi leader is Jefferson,
who was the who was the person who actually made
the possible for Biden to win?
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Congsme, Jim Cladburn.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Are there more black male members the three black members
of the United States Senate? The four three men, one woman, okay,
three Democrat, one Republican and Tim Scott in the House
more black men than black women.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
We can we can keep going on and on and on.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Now, what brothers are reacting to, and I've heard this
for last decade, brothers are reacting to. All they hear
is black girl magic, black girl magic, black black girl magic.
But what black men gotta understand is we've been the
ones getting all the attention for decades. We can take
into account the journalism, sexism, misogyny. So for instance, if
(06:11):
I asked, I guarantee you this steven A and not
just brothers with the high school diploma go to college degree.
So I asked them, how does the Montgomery boycott start?
They gonna say, oh, that was doctor King and the preachers,
No it wasn't. It was Joeanne Robinson, an Alabama state
professor and the women Women's Political Council. They're the ones
(06:34):
who started the bus boycott. So we have to understand
that men called Shirley Chisholm, which she ran president at
the Black political Convention in Gary, Indiana. The black men
did not want to endorse her.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
It want to endorse her. So we got out.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
So that level, so that level of misogyny is not
just about black men. It's about men period acrosse the board,
whether it's white, black, and Samanic or whatever. Misogyny, you know, stereotypic, stereotypes,
those kinds of things.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I got you men, I got.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
You men thinking a woman shouldn't do certain jobs or
she can't be a leader. But the reality is there
are female leaders all across the world. Mexico, female president, India.
The goal, to my ear was leading and said we
can go.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
On and on.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Okay, but what Charles laid out with Charles laid out,
it is true that what in it is the really
it's a huge piece here with Democrats and I'm gonna
say democratic white strategies don't understand is that the further
you get away from the black civil rights movement. Black
people less self identify as Democrats.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
You and I are gen X.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I've been really painted to this since I graduated from
college in nineteen ninety one. You and I are in
different tax bracts than our parents. You and I and
others aren't focusing on things that our parents didn't focus on.
So what now begins to happen? You now begin to
look at stuff differently. If you never own the business,
(08:03):
you don't care about a corporate tax rate.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
You now own the business?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
You do, yes, you do.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
So it's a pocketbook issue.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
So what democrats have not done is they have not
crafted a strategy on how do you my poor target
black people. You're gonna talk to a college educated black
woman different from a non educated black woman. You're gonna
talk to a brother who in Luna chime America different
than urban America. They've always had sort of this one
(08:34):
size bits off. But so what you're not seeing the
data you're now seeing people go You ain't talking to me,
so almost a look.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
U okay, And I'm saying to you now, this is
the way I can get on you because you dropping
facts I'm not disputing it. But then you'll turn around
and you'll point out how folks are on the right, Well,
you know what, they ain't worth the damn look at
what we trying to do here on the left.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
But on the but on the.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Left, you've got folks that that are strategists, that are
in the ears and in the head of candidates that
are manipulating the proceedings, and they ain't paying attention to
our community like you just highlighted.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
But here's the problem.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
The problem is the strategy look like me and you,
so I agree, right, So the problem is the strategists
control the money, control the messaging. They're not paying attention
to the streets. They're not paying attention to the ground.
So when you listen to the ground, you now gotta
realize you now have to communicate with people differently. Now,
(09:38):
when I went through Charles's column, he was talking about
issues criminal justice reform. We're talking about health things on
those lines. Here are facts and it's just flat out
of facts. When you look at the difference between Trump, Harris,
Democrats and Republicans. Republicans wanted to end the Affordable Care
Act the Forward Care Acts. Specifically, he has helped black
(10:01):
folks get insurance, which means help black men. So when
black men say, well, I need to hear something something specific. Well,
when the Vice president's worked on three and a half
years the issue of black infant mortality that impacts black men,
had a brother say no, adul't, I said, brother, when
she's talking about infant mortality, she ain't just talking about
(10:22):
the sister with the baby, because the sister is birthing
black boys.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
I said that.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, my brother, time I start right there. I need
you to.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Start right there, because my point is I ran in
to Senator Chris Coon. I know you know who that is,
based out of Delaware. All right, Chris Coon, based out
of Delaware. He's done some HBCU work with me, and
I really really.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Appreciate him for that. Right, But he asked me about
a question.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
I brought up your name because obviously anytime somebody's talking
to me about politics, particularly on the left, and what
they're trying to do and voices out there that should
be listening to and heard, I always pointed in your direction,
my brother, I never had that. Don't come to me.
Listen to that brother right there. He knows a lot
more about that. Is this I'm venturing into it. I
ain't trying to be no expert in this. Later I
want to parts of it, but I will say this
to you, the messager matters as much as the message.
(11:12):
And if you're going to sit there and say, we've
got a vice president who is black, who is the
Democratic nominee for the president, who is a black woman,
who we have a minority you know, speak of the
House in Hakeem Jeffies, he's black. We saw you know,
Clive Bird, he got bid and elected. If you're gonna
(11:33):
bring up all of these things, and how do these surrogates,
how do these folks that are really.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Financing the campaigns?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
And what have you get away with not paying attention
to the Black community when.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
You know you need them in order to win.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Why are those folks in power letting these folks get
away with that?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Are you trying to win? Are you not right?
Speaker 3 (11:52):
And first of all, you're absolutely right, And messages do matter.
I can tell you in twenty sixteen, on the night
of the Congression of Black Caucus found in LC dinner,
I literally told Hillary Clinton to her face, listen, you're
going to lose this because your people are got their
heads stuck in their epads, and I listened to the ground.
I told her, I've been trying to get your black
(12:14):
male surrogates on my show, and your people are not responding.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
And she was, she said.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
She literally said to Humer and to Marlon Marshall, if
Roland's not getting them, I know others are not as well.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
And so you've got to have the voices out there.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
I can tell you black men were saying early in
the bidenhairs administration.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Where are you black?
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Where your black male administrator, folks? And so you're right,
you've got to be sending out trusted, trusted messengers. But
the Vice President has been doing this. She's see that
as an opportunity. She's been speaking to them when she
she's been speaking to the various groups she's been she's
been having the conversations. But you gotta have more conversations.
But this is not where roan challenge comes in. Here's
(12:55):
the challenge now. Stephen Ay and Okay brought everything. Charles wrote, well,
I'm gonna tell you something. I'd show you what when
the black women listen. When the Black Women met in
twenty twenty win with black women, they launched that to
get her the DP nomination.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
She got it.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
They kept meeting. They've been meeting every Sunday for four years.
Do you know how many times brothers were like, yo, man,
we gotta meet, and.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
I said, we'll organize it. It never happened.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
You know why because typically when stuff got organized in
the black community, sisters are the one that did it.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
So when we did so, when we did the win
with the Black Men.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Call, phenomenal, fifty five thousand folks were on the call
the day after the sisters did. But guess what, it's
a whole bunch of these brothers ain't been on the
call since then. So here's what I'm saying to Charles
and to every black man out there.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
I can't wait for the Democratic Party to speak to
black men.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
I need black men mobilizing and organizing, speaking to black
men about our issues. So I have been this goes
back more than a decade. I have directly challenged my
frat Alpha Phi Alpha. I've challenged all the all the
fraternities in Divine nine, but also I challenge the Prince
Hall Mason's. I challenge black men's groups. See, we can
(14:19):
sit here and say, hey, you know what the party
ain't doing this year.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
But this isn't about party, this is about us. It's
about us.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, but they never listening, Roland. Then you know that,
Come on, Roland, you know they don't listen. If there's
one thing, and you know this be better than most
because you are black men that speaking. You can't stand
when people ain't listening because you know they should be
listening to you, and it drives you crazy.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
You know historically black folks, black men lament their voices
being heard and oh, by the way, little kept secret,
were gonna put it out there.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
On Front Street.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
A lot of times we don't feel the women are
listening to us, and that plays a roll to and
that's not fair.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
That's not always fair because a lot of time they
are listening.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
We just ain't making no damn sense sometimes, So I
get that part.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
First of all, black women been swinging for us for
a long time, even when we were silent.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Oh no doubt.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
So here's what. So here's what.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
And when we start talking about policies, when I when
I cook, when of these brothers I run. I'm in
Philadelphia right now during the show tonight, I'm at linking
University of Tomorrow. When brothers come up to me and
they say, man, I ain't doing nothing, I then go,
what do you mean? So when Charles was talking about
criminal justice reform, he was like, well, they didn't get
they didn't get the George port just as at they
(15:40):
didn't Biden Hair signed executive order. This Civil Rights Division
has investigated twelve police departments, one under Donald Trump.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
So things actually happening.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
What has to happen is we have to make sure
that we are also organized to challenge power to actually
get things done.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
So what should be happening.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Right now is with less than thirty days, brothers should
be asking themselves. Okay, everything Charles laid out is great.
Here's a question. I'm a black man. What are the
five things I care about? And where does Harris line up?
And where does Trump line up? And if I got
(16:22):
more check marks by Harris's name, I ain't even thinking
about Donald Trump.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Cause see, let's.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Be real clear. I'm gonna put this out you and I.
It don't actually matter who wins. They don't actually have
a material impact on us because of frankly, where we
are financial Well, let me say it is here to
a brother out there, who is asking the question about unemployment,
getting the capital for business things on those lines, you
(16:49):
better be asking yourself who cares about your health care?
Who cares about your education? Who cares about civil rights?
Who cares about the environment. You got a hurricane bearing down,
another one across the country. If you are brother, who's
providing benefits to you to be able to escape that
when you can take care of your family?
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Well, we're gonna do.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Stop saying what folk not doing and step back and say, well,
let me find out people are doing and then.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
How that's impacted my life.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yes, yeah, I can feel you on that rolling. But
here's my deal.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Like, for example, that message being sent by you is admirable.
I'm glad I'm giving you my airways. You got your own,
you know, but I'm glad I'm giving you my airways
to say.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
You know what you're saying because you deserve it. The
flip side to this is this, though, Kamala Harris should
be saying that more effectively.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
And oh, by the way, I appreciate her on the View,
I appreciate her on Stephen Colbert, I appreciate her in.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Those platforms they ain't rolling Martin now let.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Me give you and I know how I know how
liberal leaning you are, but I also know that even
when liberals sit in front of you, oh they better
bring this stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
It's gonna be a problem. You ain't gonna let them
off the.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Hook after I'll say this, I'm black leaning.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
You got fine, Fine, right, I'm going them. No, I'm
going that.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
I'm going that, that's accurate, that's accurate. I'm just saying,
where the hell I ain't see did she sit down
with you yet?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Did she sit down with you yet?
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Hold up, that's actually that's actually happening.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Okay, all right, So okay, okay, but to your point,
but to your point, trust me, and I've been saying
this for years as well.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
You're absolutely right.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
You have to all show because so for instance, uh
what about three weeks ago she was on Ricky Smiley Show.
Uh yeah, yeah they did, they did all the smoke.
But that's also part of the deal. Part of the
deal is with these campaigns, I'm talking about strategies now
and again, they don't look like us. This is also
(18:56):
getting to understand you better have a better respect for
black owned media and for black voices, and also how
you're communicating Again. Where the campaigns have made a mistake
is they don't understand the old model of hitting the
black churches, going to NAACP. That's gone. We're now living
(19:19):
in a world. It's a digital world, a technology world.
They're getting information from different voices, from podcasts, from digital shows.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Listen, I pulled the data the other day. I pulled that.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
I said, somebody, I did. I've done your show three times.
If you add up all the views, that almost hits
a million. Guess what, it's some shows on CNN not
even getting four hundred thousand people. So that's why those
shows are mad, because people are going to other places.
What I and look, sixty five percent of my YouTube
audists are black men. What needs to be happening here?
(19:54):
The messaging absolutely has to change. They got to be
driving out more surrogean. But what you are seeing is
you are seeing her talk about the opportunity. But what
also has to happen when we start talking about facts.
When brother tell me, man Trump with with with with
the stimulus checks? I go, do you realize that Biden
has gave me a bigger check in twenty twenty one?
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Right? Trump gave us money? Trump Trump gave us. Trump
gave us money for HBCUs.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Do you realize that Biden has given you a lot
more for HBCUs.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
You realize that to.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Really mess you up? The budget that Trump submitted cut
HBCU funding.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
I didn't know that. I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Budget that doctor Walter Kimbro, who's been a ABCU president
for different schools, has broken down.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
He submitted budgets that actually cut HBCU funding. It was
restored by cognists. But he's been permissioned a lot.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
But again Folk failed for the lie of oh no,
I guaranteed them funding.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
Not true. So all these I.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Saw your show.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
I saw your show when you did that. I saw
that guest on your show when you had to check them.
I remember I watched that.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
So all these people who are talking about what they
have it done, like again brug the Trump Department of
Justice said we're gonna pull back on cossit decreeds because
they hurt police morale. The Trump Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr,
they investigated one police department, Biden Harris DJ they've investigated well,
(21:32):
but they literally put.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Cops in prison.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
So you're saying, who's been better on criminal justice reform.
Who's been holding cops accountable? It ain't even close. The
problem is. And I've criticized the White House. I said,
y'all gonna have I've hit Coreine Jehan Pierre saying when
are you gonna talk about it from the podium every
time they do it, I do it on my show.
But the White House has not been aggressive at killing
(21:59):
their own what Charles is talking about.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
And that's real. And if I.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Interviewed the Vice president, we gonna talk about it now.
If we're not in Vice President, we're gonna discuss that.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
My last question, I'm gonna throw this about it because
this is, this is this is a deep proportion, this
is this is this is my thinking.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
And I'm not saying it's different than yours.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
It's just that being in corporate America, having the maneuver
through the terrain that we both have had the maneuver
through for decades, knowing the challenges that we face. One
of the things that I'm popular for saying this flat
of me. You know, I want to buy a house,
I ain't buying it without you showing it to me.
I gotta look in it. I want to buy a car,
I want to see I want to chess drive that
bad boy. I gotta see it, you know. And then
(22:39):
I think about civil rights nineteen sixty four, I think
about voting rights nineteen sixty five.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
I think about Lyndon B.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Johnson talking about we'll have the Negroes vote for us
for the next two hundred years.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
If we if we pulled this off.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
He was the president, but both Republicans and Democrats supposedly
brought it to his desk to be signed, and the
Democrats got all the credit for And ever since that time,
to me, we have said to the Republican Party, we
want nothing to do with y'all. And the Democratic Party
has known this. So on one side you got a
(23:11):
party that knows they ain't gonna get.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Our support, as your chart showed.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
So therefore they ain't gonna do but so much. And
on the left they know they got our support. So
how much do they have to do for us beyond
lip service, which to me epitomizes the struggle involving disenfranchisement
to some degree. When we're talking about our community. It
is fair for me to ask you, as my brother
and my boy, and who I respect, how right I
(23:37):
am or how wrong I am in feeling that way
what I just articulated, I'll give you the last word,
and I'll lean on what you say.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
You're partly right, which you've got to go back way further.
Black people, black people coming out of slavery, people of
African descent formerly a slave bafiness aligned with Republicans because
there was a group called the Radical Republicans. It was
the Radical Republicans that pushed forth to thirteenth fourteen fifteenth Amendment,
(24:10):
and they were posed to slavery. Then you had about
an eight to ten year period of reconstruction. Black people
were running for office. We were the they majority of
the South Carolina legislature, on and on and on. Then
there was an election in eighteen seventy six, contested election.
They cut a deal which is called the Great Confines
of eighteen seventy seven, when they pulled the federal troops
(24:32):
out of the last three Southern states. What then happened
then the racist Southern Democrats took over and read all
the black people out. What then happened was the Radical
Republicans they stopped protecting black people.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
Black folks were anger.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
So then when you go through the you go through
the black people half of black people, and Bruce Bartlett,
longtime Republicans, go to his Twitter feed, he literally tweeted
a bunch of this stuff earlier today. That you go
through the early twentieth century, more than fifty percent of
black people were still voting Republicans. Then the Republicans start
aligning with Southern Democrats. It was called the lily White movement.
(25:09):
Y'all look up lily White movement. Herbert Hoover was a
leader of a lily white movement. Then all of a sudden,
you start going forward. Then what then happened? Well, a
lot of these Republicans joined with Southern Democrats. They opposed FDR,
but when it came to benefits for black people, guess what,
losing black support. Night go to nineteen sixty Kennedy Nixon.
(25:33):
Nixon was not aggressive and going after the black vote.
That angered Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson talked about it in
his book. And then you go to sixty four. Nineteen
sixty four, it was Barry Goldwater Center Barry Goldwater who
opposed the sixty four Civil Rights Act.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
That's when the break happened. That's when black.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Folks said, oh, the hell with this here, We're done
with y'all. And that's when it flipped. Then you go
to sixty eight. They began to and a lot of
the Republicans were supported of civil rights.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
And then get go.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Look at the very Goldwater book, The Conscious of a Conservative,
and it's that book where the shift begin to happen.
Then you have the Southern strategy. They begin conservative Democrats,
the conservative Republicans, and people about to be blown away.
A lot of those Republicans supported the sixty four Civil
Rights Act, sixty five Voting Rights Act, but they fill
a buster the sixty eight Civil Rights Act. It was
(26:28):
centered it would brook black Man, my offer brother who
broke to the bus in the Senate. But check this
out and continue in the House. Because the Republicans were like, well,
we don't want them living with us as well, they
are joined with the Democrats. King gets assassinated eight belfore
sixty eight there'll be Jason's a letter on April fifth,
sixty eight saying this past his builder on his legacy
is signed to law nine days later. But ever since then,
(26:50):
the Republicans begin to dues the Southern strategy and they
begin to align with those Southern Democrats, those dixicrats and
began to drive on an issue of rates and ever
since then now here So Republicans, you look. One of
the first bills I wanted to blow you away. One
of the first bills Republicans took up that the Trump
won became in twenty seventeen. They got rid of an
(27:13):
Obama era law to end discrimination in auto house in auto.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Loans, one of the first bills.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
So what Republicans have not done is Republicans have made
a decision if we support a lot of this stuff
black people care about, that's going to antagonize our white
bas Seventy percent of all voters stephen A in America
are still white. So what you're seeing right now, the
teamsters and all these union think about it. Bid Harris
(27:40):
is the most pro union administration in more than fifty years.
Why are some man of these union workers still supporting
Trump because they're picking whiteness and culture over their own pocketbook.
We got to understand my book, White Fear breaks it down.
It's all there. Republicans are not going to support a
(28:02):
lot of the issues that we care about because it
does not align with their white base. That is a fact,
and that's what you're seeing in the racial politic. And
last point, real quick, but they keep saying the working class, working.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Class quick, no, no, real quick, the black.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Working classes with Harris, la pinut working class with Harris,
white working class.
Speaker 4 (28:23):
That's who's not with Harris.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
But they always leave off the white party and don't
want to talk about that. You've gotta confront whiteness as
an identity in America to understand the American politics.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
Even in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
One of the things I'm determined to do is to
have a white conservative on this show to debate against you.
I would love to see that. That would be musty television.
My brother, I got to get on. I know you
ain't running, I know you coming.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Man, I appreciate I appreciate you as always. You deserve
the last word or that. I really appreciate that education
in that perspective. But man, thank you so much. Roland Martin, unfiltered,
roll and law and unfiltered, get ready it will always
get ready to vote, go to the damn polls. Absolutely
appreciate you. My brother will talk soon.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
Thanks a lot, appreciate it.
Let's get to the politics.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
In a presidential election, which is now less than four
weeks away, there are several key demographics that can swing
the election in any direction for Democratic nominee Vice President
Kamala Harris or Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
One group that many aren't.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Taking into consideration as far as I'm concerned, is black men.
And I say that based on a New York Times
column written very recently by Charles Coleman Junior. Take a
look at this excerpt from the column right here quote.
Black men today face a unique reality that warrants consideration
under nearly any relevant index for measuring the quality of
(00:42):
American life. How far we get in school, our finances
when compared to those of our white counterparts, and how
long we will live. Black men consistently rank last or
neil last. There is not a black man alive in
this country right now who has ever seen black black
male unemployment equal to or less than that of his
(01:04):
white counterparts.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
This is true even.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
More acutely for a thirty four year old black man
born in nineteen ninety, who may have voted in every
presidential election since his eighteenth birthday, saw the election of
a black president and spent more more of his adult
life with Democrats in the OLISVI office than Republicans. How
could we not be asking ourselves come November, which candidate
(01:27):
can help us change course? End quote again, that was
written by Charles Coleman Junior. He ain't better than my
next guest. That article was well written, given in props,
But damn it, he ain't rolling mar He ain't rolling
Mardin unfiltered.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
That's who I got right here, right now. What's up,
big boy? How you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Man?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
How's everything?
Speaker 3 (01:48):
I Charles a nice brother, but he does belong to
that youth group called Omegasi five.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Oh no, no, no, I take every back every word
I said that take it every word.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I said, brother, Bro, you didn't know what jump about?
What jump about?
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
By the way, by the way, Roland, I saw you stepping.
I said, oh shock, damn Roland was getting it on.
I had to give you props like that. I didn't know, Bro,
I didn't know. I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
I didn't know. I didn't know Bro, not at all.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Let me ask you this man, when you read this
article in all now I got you keep it going
because you keeping it going, Bro, you was moving pretty
damn good way to go and leading the pack. By
the way, you were doing your thing in front of
an audience. It wasn't a private you.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Were doing your thing. I got to give it to you.
Let's get to this. Let's get to this article. Roland.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
When I read you what I just read, I know
you read the whole article. But when I read you
what I just read, how did you feel about what
he had to what he had to say in that column.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
So there are a number of things that Carls wrote
that I've literally talked about on my show and actually
had been talking about for the last twelve years. So
let me pack that, uh in two twelve. First of all,
I sit you guys a graphic. So in two thousand
and eight, black men ninety five percent voted for Obama,
(03:10):
five percent voted.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
For then Senator McCain.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Then it jumps to then it jumps to eleven in
twenty twelve. Why is that because you heard black men's
Black men were saying they felt that Obama did not deliver.
So there was a nine point gap between black men
and black women. So then when you go to twenty
and sixteen, then the number increases, a lot of people
(03:38):
kept saying misogyny. They ain't supporting a woman in Hillary Clinton,
but they know what It was two men in two
thousand and twelve. Now you go to two thousand in
six twenty twenty, it was two men yting Trump. And
what then happens? Same thing? Okay, you see the number increaks.
(03:58):
Now the Trump that you show, It's important to understand
black men are black men are like all other men.
They're naturally more conservative. White men, Hispanic men, Asian men,
black men the issue. But we come to Democrats, black
(04:21):
women are their number one voting black black men are
still their number two.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
So what are you now? Like?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
So, like, what's going on here? What's the difference what
Trump does? Trump presents this tough guy manhood. I'm gonna,
I'm gonna, I'm gonna do what I say. Uh, I
say what I mean, And it's attractive. That's attractive to
a certain group of men. Now, when Charles was talking
(04:51):
about this is satisfaction in terms of these perceptions that
you know, the Democratic Party is a party of women.
But first of all, all perception is alive, and we
say sometimes one perception because reality.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Here's the reality to about black men.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Who's the highest ranking black man in the Democratic Party,
who's not the highest ranking African American Democratic Party got
vice president of College. But the Minardi leader is Jefferson,
who was the who was the person who actually made
the possible for Biden to win?
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Congsme, Jim Cladburn.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Are there more black male members the three black members
of the United States Senate? The four three men, one woman, okay,
three Democrat, one Republican and Tim Scott in the House
more black men than black women.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
We can we can keep going on and on and on.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Now, what brothers are reacting to, and I've heard this
for last decade, brothers are reacting to. All they hear
is black girl magic, black girl magic, black black girl magic.
But what black men gotta understand is we've been the
ones getting all the attention for decades. We can take
into account the journalism, sexism, misogyny. So for instance, if
(06:11):
I asked, I guarantee you this steven A and not
just brothers with the high school diploma go to college degree.
So I asked them, how does the Montgomery boycott start?
They gonna say, oh, that was doctor King and the preachers,
No it wasn't. It was Joeanne Robinson, an Alabama state
professor and the women Women's Political Council. They're the ones
(06:34):
who started the bus boycott. So we have to understand
that men called Shirley Chisholm, which she ran president at
the Black political Convention in Gary, Indiana. The black men
did not want to endorse her.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
It want to endorse her. So we got out.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
So that level, so that level of misogyny is not
just about black men. It's about men period acrosse the board,
whether it's white, black, and Samanic or whatever. Misogyny, you know, stereotypic, stereotypes,
those kinds of things.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I got you men, I got.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
You men thinking a woman shouldn't do certain jobs or
she can't be a leader. But the reality is there
are female leaders all across the world. Mexico, female president, India.
The goal, to my ear was leading and said we
can go.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
On and on.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Okay, but what Charles laid out with Charles laid out,
it is true that what in it is the really
it's a huge piece here with Democrats and I'm gonna
say democratic white strategies don't understand is that the further
you get away from the black civil rights movement. Black
people less self identify as Democrats.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
You and I are gen X.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I've been really painted to this since I graduated from
college in nineteen ninety one. You and I are in
different tax bracts than our parents. You and I and
others aren't focusing on things that our parents didn't focus on.
So what now begins to happen? You now begin to
look at stuff differently. If you never own the business,
(08:03):
you don't care about a corporate tax rate.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
You now own the business?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
You do, yes, you do.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
So it's a pocketbook issue.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
So what democrats have not done is they have not
crafted a strategy on how do you my poor target
black people. You're gonna talk to a college educated black
woman different from a non educated black woman. You're gonna
talk to a brother who in Luna chime America different
than urban America. They've always had sort of this one
(08:34):
size bits off. But so what you're not seeing the
data you're now seeing people go You ain't talking to me,
so almost a look.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
U okay, And I'm saying to you now, this is
the way I can get on you because you dropping
facts I'm not disputing it. But then you'll turn around
and you'll point out how folks are on the right, Well,
you know what, they ain't worth the damn look at
what we trying to do here on the left.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
But on the but on the.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Left, you've got folks that that are strategists, that are
in the ears and in the head of candidates that
are manipulating the proceedings, and they ain't paying attention to
our community like you just highlighted.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
But here's the problem.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
The problem is the strategy look like me and you,
so I agree, right, So the problem is the strategists
control the money, control the messaging. They're not paying attention
to the streets. They're not paying attention to the ground.
So when you listen to the ground, you now gotta
realize you now have to communicate with people differently. Now,
(09:38):
when I went through Charles's column, he was talking about
issues criminal justice reform. We're talking about health things on
those lines. Here are facts and it's just flat out
of facts. When you look at the difference between Trump, Harris,
Democrats and Republicans. Republicans wanted to end the Affordable Care
Act the Forward Care Acts. Specifically, he has helped black
(10:01):
folks get insurance, which means help black men. So when
black men say, well, I need to hear something something specific. Well,
when the Vice president's worked on three and a half
years the issue of black infant mortality that impacts black men,
had a brother say no, adul't, I said, brother, when
she's talking about infant mortality, she ain't just talking about
(10:22):
the sister with the baby, because the sister is birthing
black boys.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
I said that.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, my brother, time I start right there. I need
you to.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Start right there, because my point is I ran in
to Senator Chris Coon. I know you know who that is,
based out of Delaware. All right, Chris Coon, based out
of Delaware. He's done some HBCU work with me, and
I really really.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Appreciate him for that. Right, But he asked me about
a question.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
I brought up your name because obviously anytime somebody's talking
to me about politics, particularly on the left, and what
they're trying to do and voices out there that should
be listening to and heard, I always pointed in your direction,
my brother, I never had that. Don't come to me.
Listen to that brother right there. He knows a lot
more about that. Is this I'm venturing into it. I
ain't trying to be no expert in this. Later I
want to parts of it, but I will say this
to you, the messager matters as much as the message.
(11:12):
And if you're going to sit there and say, we've
got a vice president who is black, who is the
Democratic nominee for the president, who is a black woman,
who we have a minority you know, speak of the
House in Hakeem Jeffies, he's black. We saw you know,
Clive Bird, he got bid and elected. If you're gonna
(11:33):
bring up all of these things, and how do these surrogates,
how do these folks that are really.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Financing the campaigns?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
And what have you get away with not paying attention
to the Black community when.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
You know you need them in order to win.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Why are those folks in power letting these folks get
away with that?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Are you trying to win? Are you not right?
Speaker 3 (11:52):
And first of all, you're absolutely right, And messages do matter.
I can tell you in twenty sixteen, on the night
of the Congression of Black Caucus found in LC dinner,
I literally told Hillary Clinton to her face, listen, you're
going to lose this because your people are got their
heads stuck in their epads, and I listened to the ground.
I told her, I've been trying to get your black
(12:14):
male surrogates on my show, and your people are not responding.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
And she was, she said.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
She literally said to Humer and to Marlon Marshall, if
Roland's not getting them, I know others are not as well.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
And so you've got to have the voices out there.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
I can tell you black men were saying early in
the bidenhairs administration.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Where are you black?
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Where your black male administrator, folks? And so you're right,
you've got to be sending out trusted, trusted messengers. But
the Vice President has been doing this. She's see that
as an opportunity. She's been speaking to them when she
she's been speaking to the various groups she's been she's
been having the conversations. But you gotta have more conversations.
But this is not where roan challenge comes in. Here's
(12:55):
the challenge now. Stephen Ay and Okay brought everything. Charles wrote, well,
I'm gonna tell you something. I'd show you what when
the black women listen. When the Black Women met in
twenty twenty win with black women, they launched that to
get her the DP nomination.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
She got it.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
They kept meeting. They've been meeting every Sunday for four years.
Do you know how many times brothers were like, yo, man,
we gotta meet, and.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
I said, we'll organize it. It never happened.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
You know why because typically when stuff got organized in
the black community, sisters are the one that did it.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
So when we did so, when we did the win
with the Black Men.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Call, phenomenal, fifty five thousand folks were on the call
the day after the sisters did. But guess what, it's
a whole bunch of these brothers ain't been on the
call since then. So here's what I'm saying to Charles
and to every black man out there.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
I can't wait for the Democratic Party to speak to
black men.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
I need black men mobilizing and organizing, speaking to black
men about our issues. So I have been this goes
back more than a decade. I have directly challenged my
frat Alpha Phi Alpha. I've challenged all the all the
fraternities in Divine nine, but also I challenge the Prince
Hall Mason's. I challenge black men's groups. See, we can
(14:19):
sit here and say, hey, you know what the party
ain't doing this year.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
But this isn't about party, this is about us. It's
about us.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, but they never listening, Roland. Then you know that,
Come on, Roland, you know they don't listen. If there's
one thing, and you know this be better than most
because you are black men that speaking. You can't stand
when people ain't listening because you know they should be
listening to you, and it drives you crazy.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
You know historically black folks, black men lament their voices
being heard and oh, by the way, little kept secret,
were gonna put it out there.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
On Front Street.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
A lot of times we don't feel the women are
listening to us, and that plays a roll to and
that's not fair.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
That's not always fair because a lot of time they
are listening.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
We just ain't making no damn sense sometimes, So I
get that part.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
First of all, black women been swinging for us for
a long time, even when we were silent.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Oh no doubt.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
So here's what. So here's what.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
And when we start talking about policies, when I when
I cook, when of these brothers I run. I'm in
Philadelphia right now during the show tonight, I'm at linking
University of Tomorrow. When brothers come up to me and
they say, man, I ain't doing nothing, I then go,
what do you mean? So when Charles was talking about
criminal justice reform, he was like, well, they didn't get
they didn't get the George port just as at they
(15:40):
didn't Biden Hair signed executive order. This Civil Rights Division
has investigated twelve police departments, one under Donald Trump.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
So things actually happening.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
What has to happen is we have to make sure
that we are also organized to challenge power to actually
get things done.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
So what should be happening.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Right now is with less than thirty days, brothers should
be asking themselves. Okay, everything Charles laid out is great.
Here's a question. I'm a black man. What are the
five things I care about? And where does Harris line up?
And where does Trump line up? And if I got
(16:22):
more check marks by Harris's name, I ain't even thinking
about Donald Trump.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Cause see, let's.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Be real clear. I'm gonna put this out you and I.
It don't actually matter who wins. They don't actually have
a material impact on us because of frankly, where we
are financial Well, let me say it is here to
a brother out there, who is asking the question about unemployment,
getting the capital for business things on those lines, you
(16:49):
better be asking yourself who cares about your health care?
Who cares about your education? Who cares about civil rights?
Who cares about the environment. You got a hurricane bearing down,
another one across the country. If you are brother, who's
providing benefits to you to be able to escape that
when you can take care of your family?
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Well, we're gonna do.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Stop saying what folk not doing and step back and say, well,
let me find out people are doing and then.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
How that's impacted my life.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yes, yeah, I can feel you on that rolling. But
here's my deal.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Like, for example, that message being sent by you is admirable.
I'm glad I'm giving you my airways. You got your own,
you know, but I'm glad I'm giving you my airways
to say.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
You know what you're saying because you deserve it. The
flip side to this is this, though, Kamala Harris should
be saying that more effectively.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
And oh, by the way, I appreciate her on the View,
I appreciate her on Stephen Colbert, I appreciate her in.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Those platforms they ain't rolling Martin now let.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Me give you and I know how I know how
liberal leaning you are, but I also know that even
when liberals sit in front of you, oh they better
bring this stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
It's gonna be a problem. You ain't gonna let them
off the.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Hook after I'll say this, I'm black leaning.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
You got fine, Fine, right, I'm going them. No, I'm
going that.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
I'm going that, that's accurate, that's accurate. I'm just saying,
where the hell I ain't see did she sit down
with you yet?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Did she sit down with you yet?
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Hold up, that's actually that's actually happening.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Okay, all right, So okay, okay, but to your point,
but to your point, trust me, and I've been saying
this for years as well.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
You're absolutely right.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
You have to all show because so for instance, uh
what about three weeks ago she was on Ricky Smiley Show.
Uh yeah, yeah they did, they did all the smoke.
But that's also part of the deal. Part of the
deal is with these campaigns, I'm talking about strategies now
and again, they don't look like us. This is also
(18:56):
getting to understand you better have a better respect for
black owned media and for black voices, and also how
you're communicating Again. Where the campaigns have made a mistake
is they don't understand the old model of hitting the
black churches, going to NAACP. That's gone. We're now living
(19:19):
in a world. It's a digital world, a technology world.
They're getting information from different voices, from podcasts, from digital shows.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Listen, I pulled the data the other day. I pulled that.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
I said, somebody, I did. I've done your show three times.
If you add up all the views, that almost hits
a million. Guess what, it's some shows on CNN not
even getting four hundred thousand people. So that's why those
shows are mad, because people are going to other places.
What I and look, sixty five percent of my YouTube
audists are black men. What needs to be happening here?
(19:54):
The messaging absolutely has to change. They got to be
driving out more surrogean. But what you are seeing is
you are seeing her talk about the opportunity. But what
also has to happen when we start talking about facts.
When brother tell me, man Trump with with with with
the stimulus checks? I go, do you realize that Biden
has gave me a bigger check in twenty twenty one?
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Right? Trump gave us money? Trump Trump gave us. Trump
gave us money for HBCUs.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Do you realize that Biden has given you a lot
more for HBCUs.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
You realize that to.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Really mess you up? The budget that Trump submitted cut
HBCU funding.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
I didn't know that. I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Budget that doctor Walter Kimbro, who's been a ABCU president
for different schools, has broken down.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
He submitted budgets that actually cut HBCU funding. It was
restored by cognists. But he's been permissioned a lot.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
But again Folk failed for the lie of oh no,
I guaranteed them funding.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
Not true. So all these I.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Saw your show.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
I saw your show when you did that. I saw
that guest on your show when you had to check them.
I remember I watched that.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
So all these people who are talking about what they
have it done, like again brug the Trump Department of
Justice said we're gonna pull back on cossit decreeds because
they hurt police morale. The Trump Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr,
they investigated one police department, Biden Harris DJ they've investigated well,
(21:32):
but they literally put.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Cops in prison.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
So you're saying, who's been better on criminal justice reform.
Who's been holding cops accountable? It ain't even close. The
problem is. And I've criticized the White House. I said,
y'all gonna have I've hit Coreine Jehan Pierre saying when
are you gonna talk about it from the podium every
time they do it, I do it on my show.
But the White House has not been aggressive at killing
(21:59):
their own what Charles is talking about.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
And that's real. And if I.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Interviewed the Vice president, we gonna talk about it now.
If we're not in Vice President, we're gonna discuss that.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
My last question, I'm gonna throw this about it because
this is, this is this is a deep proportion, this
is this is this is my thinking.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
And I'm not saying it's different than yours.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
It's just that being in corporate America, having the maneuver
through the terrain that we both have had the maneuver
through for decades, knowing the challenges that we face. One
of the things that I'm popular for saying this flat
of me. You know, I want to buy a house,
I ain't buying it without you showing it to me.
I gotta look in it. I want to buy a car,
I want to see I want to chess drive that
bad boy. I gotta see it, you know. And then
(22:39):
I think about civil rights nineteen sixty four, I think
about voting rights nineteen sixty five.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
I think about Lyndon B.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Johnson talking about we'll have the Negroes vote for us
for the next two hundred years.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
If we if we pulled this off.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
He was the president, but both Republicans and Democrats supposedly
brought it to his desk to be signed, and the
Democrats got all the credit for And ever since that time,
to me, we have said to the Republican Party, we
want nothing to do with y'all. And the Democratic Party
has known this. So on one side you got a
(23:11):
party that knows they ain't gonna get.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Our support, as your chart showed.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
So therefore they ain't gonna do but so much. And
on the left they know they got our support. So
how much do they have to do for us beyond
lip service, which to me epitomizes the struggle involving disenfranchisement
to some degree. When we're talking about our community. It
is fair for me to ask you, as my brother
and my boy, and who I respect, how right I
(23:37):
am or how wrong I am in feeling that way
what I just articulated, I'll give you the last word,
and I'll lean on what you say.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
You're partly right, which you've got to go back way further.
Black people, black people coming out of slavery, people of
African descent formerly a slave bafiness aligned with Republicans because
there was a group called the Radical Republicans. It was
the Radical Republicans that pushed forth to thirteenth fourteen fifteenth Amendment,
(24:10):
and they were posed to slavery. Then you had about
an eight to ten year period of reconstruction. Black people
were running for office. We were the they majority of
the South Carolina legislature, on and on and on. Then
there was an election in eighteen seventy six, contested election.
They cut a deal which is called the Great Confines
of eighteen seventy seven, when they pulled the federal troops
(24:32):
out of the last three Southern states. What then happened
then the racist Southern Democrats took over and read all
the black people out. What then happened was the Radical
Republicans they stopped protecting black people.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
Black folks were anger.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
So then when you go through the you go through
the black people half of black people, and Bruce Bartlett,
longtime Republicans, go to his Twitter feed, he literally tweeted
a bunch of this stuff earlier today. That you go
through the early twentieth century, more than fifty percent of
black people were still voting Republicans. Then the Republicans start
aligning with Southern Democrats. It was called the lily White movement.
(25:09):
Y'all look up lily White movement. Herbert Hoover was a
leader of a lily white movement. Then all of a sudden,
you start going forward. Then what then happened? Well, a
lot of these Republicans joined with Southern Democrats. They opposed FDR,
but when it came to benefits for black people, guess what,
losing black support. Night go to nineteen sixty Kennedy Nixon.
(25:33):
Nixon was not aggressive and going after the black vote.
That angered Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson talked about it in
his book. And then you go to sixty four. Nineteen
sixty four, it was Barry Goldwater Center Barry Goldwater who
opposed the sixty four Civil Rights Act.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
That's when the break happened. That's when black.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Folks said, oh, the hell with this here, We're done
with y'all. And that's when it flipped. Then you go
to sixty eight. They began to and a lot of
the Republicans were supported of civil rights.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
And then get go.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Look at the very Goldwater book, The Conscious of a Conservative,
and it's that book where the shift begin to happen.
Then you have the Southern strategy. They begin conservative Democrats,
the conservative Republicans, and people about to be blown away.
A lot of those Republicans supported the sixty four Civil
Rights Act, sixty five Voting Rights Act, but they fill
a buster the sixty eight Civil Rights Act. It was
(26:28):
centered it would brook black Man, my offer brother who
broke to the bus in the Senate. But check this
out and continue in the House. Because the Republicans were like, well,
we don't want them living with us as well, they
are joined with the Democrats. King gets assassinated eight belfore
sixty eight there'll be Jason's a letter on April fifth,
sixty eight saying this past his builder on his legacy
is signed to law nine days later. But ever since then,
(26:50):
the Republicans begin to dues the Southern strategy and they
begin to align with those Southern Democrats, those dixicrats and
began to drive on an issue of rates and ever
since then now here So Republicans, you look. One of
the first bills I wanted to blow you away. One
of the first bills Republicans took up that the Trump
won became in twenty seventeen. They got rid of an
(27:13):
Obama era law to end discrimination in auto house in auto.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Loans, one of the first bills.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
So what Republicans have not done is Republicans have made
a decision if we support a lot of this stuff
black people care about, that's going to antagonize our white
bas Seventy percent of all voters stephen A in America
are still white. So what you're seeing right now, the
teamsters and all these union think about it. Bid Harris
(27:40):
is the most pro union administration in more than fifty years.
Why are some man of these union workers still supporting
Trump because they're picking whiteness and culture over their own pocketbook.
We got to understand my book, White Fear breaks it down.
It's all there. Republicans are not going to support a
(28:02):
lot of the issues that we care about because it
does not align with their white base. That is a fact,
and that's what you're seeing in the racial politic. And
last point, real quick, but they keep saying the working class, working.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Class quick, no, no, real quick, the black.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Working classes with Harris, la pinut working class with Harris,
white working class.
Speaker 4 (28:23):
That's who's not with Harris.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
But they always leave off the white party and don't
want to talk about that. You've gotta confront whiteness as
an identity in America to understand the American politics.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
Even in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
One of the things I'm determined to do is to
have a white conservative on this show to debate against you.
I would love to see that. That would be musty television.
My brother, I got to get on. I know you
ain't running, I know you coming.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Man, I appreciate I appreciate you as always. You deserve
the last word or that. I really appreciate that education
in that perspective. But man, thank you so much. Roland Martin, unfiltered,
roll and law and unfiltered, get ready it will always
get ready to vote, go to the damn polls. Absolutely
appreciate you. My brother will talk soon.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
Thanks a lot, appreciate it.
Host
Stephen A. Smith
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