Welcome back to the black table here on the Blackstar Network this is our weekly hour devoted to exploring ideas and subjects of special import to people of African descent and to everyone working to build a better Society I’m your host Greg Carr and we think every week we’re
Providing something that is unique and joining in the work of the Blackstar Network to do that work but today we have something that is singularly unique we are joined by the founder and the Chief Executive Officer of of the Black Star Network in order to discuss his
Latest book White fear how the Browning of America is making white folks lose their mind and that would be n one other than Roland es Martin this is the brother who we all know well award-winning host managing editor of Roland Martin unfilter the founder of the Black Star Network the OT Network a
Daily commentator and a range of media including iHeart media is heard all over the country and in fact all over the world a commentator in White media whether it be ABC MSNBC BBC uh we met in the wake of uh his Public Service he’s always everywhere all the time and we
Could talk about a lot of things I’m just gonna mention one other thing because I know he’s ran to talk about this book uh he’s a member of the Texas A&M University journalist Ring of Honor an inductee to the National Association of black journalists Hall of Fame and in
2022 the felt he was nominated and became a fellow of the society professional journalist I should also mention that he is a professor uh has been a scholar in Residence at Fisk University soon to be T joined by Talladega University has spoken at a number of HBCU including many
Commencements and of course he is a member of alpha F Alpha the oldest and the coldest welcome to your network and to brother Roland Martin how are you brother I’m all good all good glad to be here let’s get it we are happy no question and I know I know that was a
Long long introduction but I tell you what man this book White fear in a very succinct way you have captured so much of what is going on today and you put it all in historical context I believe as you always said was my Angelou that said that you are a natural
Teacher this book is a teaching text brother so if you don’t mind maybe we could start with this because you’re constantly processing constantly and we’ll talk a little bit later about how you deconstruct major issues for folk on on a daily basis what was your process
In in writing this book well it was um it was interesting because um Jan Miller Jan Miller is literary agent I met her at uh an EMT Smith golf tournament we actually they actually sat me next to her and we were just talking and and Jan has represented Joel ostein Bishop TD
Jake uh Dr Fields sicy Tyson I mean she’s like representing some m major major people and so we’re just sitting at the table and we were talking and uh and she asked me you know uh like two or three ideas and she’s like oh my God I
Love all of those she says she I want to represent you and I was like you know I’d already published five books myself um so I didn’t necessarily feel feel as if I needed a literary agent I didn’t care about the publishing world I didn’t care about their validation I didn’t
Need them to say yes or no to we’re going to publish this because I can do it my damn self and I was like you know all right cool and so for like three years J kept going Roland when are you going to get me something and uh and I
Told her it it it I was so busy I was just so just too many things that were going on and and I’m like I I need somebody who can just do this for me and I just I I can’t there’s some people who can sit down and over three or six
Months just block out this time and just focus on this but I have way too many other things that are going on and and I was at the NAACP convention in 2018 in San Antonio and I met a sister who’s a publicist who said I got a
There’s a woman I know who was a ghost writer I was like you serious she’s like yeah she said I I’ll connect y’all I immediately hit her up Leah lakens and I said Jan all right we ready and and it was just in in the in the thesis of the
Book I’ve been talking about I I’ve been writing it in columns I’ve been talking about it on television I’ve been talking about it on radio but the book process was different and so and so I called Leah I said Leah listen I do not have time to literally sit down and write
This so what I am going to do is I will do a complete brain dump and so we probably had 10 15 conversations where I would just talk and so I actually and and I give and what people don’t understand is uh I speak all around the
Country all around the world I don’t write speeches I’ve only written two speeches in my life I never read from them I was like well that was a waste of my damn time can can I ask you just because that would that is a revelation I’m sure to many people who are watching
Right now um I think about the great jazz musicians and how they didn’t compose every note they would lay out the charts and then every night they say Sunny Rollins you go see him five nights in a row it’s gonna be five different concerts hear you speak it is well
Organized it’s laid out you have the thesis the punctuation points but you’re saying that is where does that come from then if you’re not writing it down Ro there’s no like okay when I say when I say I don’t write it down there is no outline oh you don’t even have chart in
Your mind no no no no there are no notes there’s there no there’s there’s like literally none of that if this was R it’s it’s is completely freestyle there literally is no uh there there’s none of that and so so um what I do iect that Leah lakens did a substantial amount of
Work but this book is in your voice and it is organiz the logic that you speak so I don’t know how much work had to do right that that’s that’s how it was done so literally literally that’s why I was funny when I when I had to do the when I
Had to do the audible version I people people said oh my God I love listening to the audible version because I’m hearing you and I was like yeah because I I read it like I speak which is how how she put it together and and so for
Me it was literally here’s the thought and I would just unfold it and then she would ask a question and I would unroll it and then she would ask a question then and I would just talk at sometimes I would just talk for 10 15 20 minutes
Uh and and again what people to understand you know I’ve done our 90minut lectures and it’s it’s no notes it’s no it’s no reference points it’s none of that you you will rarely ever see me like pull my phone out and if I if I read something and and I’m quoting
It it’s because I literally just saw it uh like when I spoke sat when I spoke uh to the NAACP and spok Washington I was reading the book that you gave me uh on um on um um on WB deis his speeches and and I and I I began my speech with his
Quote in this in the Hampton idea speech actually before that talking about speaking truth um and so and so when I so doing the book is the same way I speak what I do is I literally walk into the room and I feel the room I I allow it’s
Is all spiritual I I discern and so I walk into the room and and I feel I I can I I can literally feel the room I can literally feel what the tension the drama is and what this audience needs to hear and so I speak I mean there have
Been moments where I settled on what I was going to say and let me say when I settled on what I was going to say I don’t I don’t settle on three points I literally come up this is probably because of my my newspaper background I come up with the
Headline and then I speak so the the title of my speak my speech drives what I do and that’s what happens let me ask you about that as well and by the way uh and that’s why this book the same way so like like the title was like point blank
White fear white fear no question and and then the subtitle so that was so I have been talking about this for 13 years and when I lay out when I say that that when I me and John Avon were at CNN in 2009 that’s when this book T I said
John we this what I said John we are living in the beginning stages of white minority resistance yes I said and it’s white fear and so that’s what drove it so that’s why it was no stretch to figure out what to call this it was like boom here it is and then when
January 6 happened because like every time here what was crazy they kept they kept pushing it back and I kept saying listen y’all white people are gonna keep losing their minds so at some point we’re gonna have to publish this book because you can’t just keep waiting was
Like Charlottesville and it was like the next thing the next thing and then when January 6 happened out and and they kept pushing the deadline back I said you can’t push it back further because I actually wanted the book to be out uh before for the election actually wanted
To be out the beginning of uh 2020 and it was like something else happened so we went back and had to change some stuff and then when January 6 happened I I I never forget I was in Atlanta there was a day after waro uh and Olof won the
Runoff I was in a restaurant I was with the warn out campaign celebrating the V win and I was watching an unfold on television and I was standing there and I was smiling and some was like man why are you smiling I said oh I’m smiling I
Said because now the rest of the world now gets to understand what black people been talking about I said this is white fear and so that’s why that image is from January 6 and the image you see right right here it’s a white man with his arms outstretch like he’s Jesus and
What he’s saying his head back he’s saying all of this is ours is ours no question no so all of that so so and again because I’m an old newspaper guy so for me the image and the headline and the subhead they all have to flow
Together so when you see it you know exactly what I’m talking about and maybe we can pick this up after the first break but I do want to ask you now maybe you can get a minute a minute or two on this um you pioneered the use of the word lie in
Broadcast media I remember when you were at TV1 you saying they won’t call him a lie won’t call him not now you pick up the New York Times The Washington Post the word lie around Donald Trump BL so my my question really is as white fear has has this book emerged what changed
What saying it they they could not they could look the default the default of mainstream White media is to give people the benefit of the doubt um it’s to speak in these nonhuman non what well we don’t want to you know we don’t want to you know shade
It we don’t want to take sides we don’t no no no no truth is truth I mean again again let me just again it just resonated and this is real simple this is literally what Dubois said for in the world this alone is necessary that if a
Man speak and act he speak and act the truth and not a lie yes sir yes sir that’s from the Hampton idea speech 1906 yes sir that’s that’s that’s succinct and so the problem is mainstream White media does not want to apply real life if I came home at 2
Am. my daddy son where you been right now I can sit here my my daddy is not gonna say uh son you are you’re stretching the truth um he’s not going to say um that’s a misconception that you are providing to me he G say he gonna say why your ass
Lying why you lying so mainstream mainstream media is like no no no in order for us to calling a lie yes we have to know the intent of the person saying it we have to know their intent no if I came home at 2 am
My intent is to lie so I don’t get my ass whooped yes so I know so Daddy know the intent because I’m trying to come up with something to explain why I rolled in at 2 am when I was supposed to be home by midnight so you call it you call
A thing a thing you call a lie a lie yes sir well we’re going to pick up with that right after the Break um we are here with the founder and the CEO of the Blackstar Network Roland Martin uh who just uh quoted his father Reginal Martin
Senor who I know is watching this as we speak we will come back on the other side of the break uh here at the black table back in a moment Hatred on the streets a horrific scene white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence not white people are losing their damn mind as an angry prot Trump M storms the US C but all we’ve seen we’re about to see the rise of what I call White minority resistance we have seen white
Folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting I think what we’re seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial this is part of American History every time that people of color have made progress whether real or symbolic there has been what Carol Anderson at em University calls white
Rage as a backlash this is the r of The Proud boys and the bugaloo boys America there’s going to be more of this here’s all the proud boys guys this country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people the fear that
They’re taking our jobs they’re taking our resources they’re taking our women this is white Feld [Applause] Welcome back to the black table here on the Blackstar Network we’re joined by the founder and CEO of the Blackstar Network Roland Martin author of white fear and uh when we left Roland you quoting your father saying you going call a lie a lie and you were quoting
Our Fred brother webd Boyce and you know it it occurred to me as you were talking and I hadn’t made this connection that like dub Boyce uh in the education of black people speeches before historically black colleges white fear is really driven by a voice that you
Have been honing and crafting now for decades and in that Hampton idea uh speech that he gave in 1906 he talks about the great fear so here we are a century and almost two decades later and you’re talking about the great fear what is why fear Ro it’s real simple and that
Is this has been theirs from the beginning from the start that that that scene I love it every time I play it I get in trouble because YouTube they block it um but but that that great scene from The Good Shepherd yes um it it’s it’s real clear I mean they they
They they say it this scene between Joe pachy uh and Matt Damon and Matt Damon is a wasp uh and um and Joe py is a mobster and they’re going to him for the purpose of trying to kill uh Castro uh the movie was directed by uh Robert
Dairo uh also stole Stars Angelina Jolie and Joe Pet’s characters he said let me ask you something he said we Italians got our family the Irish got this he said the Catholics got this he said now we got Dem mean he said even the n-words they’ve got their music what do you people
Have and without even looking up Matt Damon says we have the United States of America the rest of you are just visiting that so white fear is this is ours we ain’t giving this up so now all of a sudden we are becoming the America The Melting Pot uh we are
Becoming that Nation see and so and so the fear is hold up wait a minute hold up y’all are now trying to redefine what it means to be an American yes because to be an American has been white Anglo-Saxon Protestant yes now all of a sudden they now have to now factor
In because now we are elected to office we now are CEOs we now are owners we now have opinions we now are not we we now are not fully subjugated uh to their control so we now are in advertising we’re now in media we now are writing
Columns we now are show hosts so they no longer get to control the narrative and so the fear is that of redefining what it means to be American the fear is hold up we we got to share power we got to share money we got to share whoa whoa
Whoa King talks about that and Where Do We Go From Here chaos Community yes where where where he literally says White America is not prepared for they they simply are wholly unprepared and wholly uneducated in dealing with this and so I lay out in every point in history when
We’ve had black success it’s followed by white backlash because the fear is they’re taking our jobs they’re taking our resources they’re taking what is ours they’re taking our land they’re taking our women they’re taking our culture and that’s and and that’s so that’s the natural every single time
Something happens and so it’s in the data it’s in the polling data it’s in the research so this thing started when I said this poll that was taken the question was asked are you optimistic about the future of America for your children every group said a majority said Yes except white Americans
September 2016 the question was asked are you optimistic about the future of America economically for the next 10 years black people lowest wealth highest optimism that’s an oxymoron Latino second low wealth second highest optimism white people by far largest wealth lowest optimism and so you you
Then have to now go the the second the third and the fourth and fifth layer to go hold up why is that because at every step of the way they have been conditioned that if we now are getting something black Latino Asian Native American that means they are losing what
They haven’t had to confront is now the issue yes is Now population decline the white death rate is higher in about 15 than white birth rate so y’all want we losing no y’all dying that’s right you’re not repopulating that’s what I want to ask you about R it’s very
Interesting I mean four sections elegantly framed very direct four sections three chapters section one three chapters section two two chapters each sections three and four data driven history driven metaphor driven and uh as we know we’ve heard you talk about that metaphor from uh the the Good Shepherd
And and that’s in chapter six I believe one of your favorite metaphors in section two but the way you frame it and you talk about data you you open the book talking about this 2018 Pew uh data and you frame this whole context uh you you use a number
2043 that’s it and what what is help us understand the that date for you I never forget 30 years ago I’m 24 years old the story comes out America is going to be a nation majority people of color in 6070 years people like man please that’s so far away I’m not gonna be
Here then guess what 1990 comes and then 2000 and 2010 and then look you have immigration and then you have legal immigration and then you have white folks stop having babies and black black birth stabilize and Latinos having babies and all of a sudden numbers and all of a sudden it’s
Like oh it’s not going to be 2060 it’s not going to be 2055 it’s not GNA be 20 that number kept dropping and all of a sudden it becomes this gonna be 2043 so then people kind of like wait a minute I might still be here and now and now all
Of a sudden you now begin to see it you now begin to see the change you now begin to see people pop popping up in places oh we’re now getting black CEOs and Latino CEOs and white men start freaking out because we start seeing white women assuming leadership
Positions and all of a sudden like okay oh my goodness what’s going on and then you know that was a point when you had 20 members of Congressional Black Caucus and then it became 30 then it became 40 then it became 50 now it’s 58 the Corr
Black Caucus is the largest caucus in the Democratic caucus so now it’s like like hold up then all of a sudden November 2008 yes which you really focus on in chapter one help us with that because you you in the first two sections you open section one chapter one with Obama
Then you turn to Trump in section two and whiteness as a kind of currency that class issue you raised and then you walk us through history all along and by chapter three you connect Trump to this long Arc barring from Ronald Reagan barring from the playbooks you know but
As you say you you say this thing really hit a critical moment when Obama was elected because it came real because all of a sudden and see this is where this is where lot a lot of white folks get confused they go well I don’t understand you know we voted for
Him no a percentage of you voted for him the reality is Democrats have not gotten a majority of the white vote uh since the early 1960s and so all of a sudden it’s whoa whoa whoa this thing is real and see what I lay out with white fear and this is the
Mistake that a lot of people make they think I’m only speaking in terms of oh it’s these white conservatives no no no it’s also white liberals and progressives because I dare say I’ve experienced a significant amount of racism from White aggressives because whiteness is still the operative phrase It’s perception so
I go go back to James D Anders say the education of blacks in the South 1860 1935 yes slavery’s over white abolitionist from the north oh my goodness we’ve got to get down south and we’ve got to begin to open schools uh to educate uh these uneducated illiterate
Negroes yes sir and they arrive and 500 schools have already opened that’s right and and the freed slaves like oh I’m sorry we weren’t waiting on y’all nope that they were like well hold up and the free slaves then said now y’all can assist us that’s right but
This ain’t like you coming to save us no we’ll take your money but we would prefer that you just train us to teach because we don’t want your teachers that’s very and so black folks never like like we wern’t sitting around waiting that’s right so now all of a
Sudden what then happens is Obama becomes president and now becomes real and all of a sudden even white progressives have to now confront wait wait a minute they yeah we we oh yeah y’all been running stuff too that’s why I’m highly critical in the Democratic party who controls the money flow who
Controls who controls the pur streams oh you want our black votes but then you don’t want to spend the money and so and one of my criticisms of President Obama is that he didn’t nothing about that uh and he allowed that system to actually even get worse uh because what he did
Was because he was black he did not need the political infrastructure the sophisticated political infrastructure that’s put in place by Reverend Jesse Jackson Senor Ron Brown late Dr Ron Walters Harold IIs and others and so because he didn’t need it he decimated it not realizing that he was hurting
Black candidates be during his presidency and after him because that system that was created that the system that was created that led to him being able to run he actually participated in its demise and now we’re trying to rebuild that uh that’s that’s a whole separate book uh but the thing is the
Thing is so now when you start talking about white fear it’s yes we now have a seat at the table and so now it then becomes again as king talks about it didn’t cost America much to allow us to go to Parks swiming swimming pools to
Stay in hotels he said the question is now are you prepared to write that much larger check and that’s the history of whiteness in America with black success followed by white backlash it’s always like all right we we give y’all some stuff we pay passing laws uh that’s
About it though we ain’t doing nothing else and we’re like that scene from Malcolm X no no like the scene when the cop says all right you came you came and got what you wanted now it’s time to go right no no I’m not satisfied that’s
Right and so that’s where we are and so now what they’re having to confront is wait wait wait a minute y’all want more yes why you asking for more because we didn’t get enough well what and it’s like but is that enough so five or six years into reconstruction
Look look look look we pass the 13th 14th 15 we really tired of of all we really tired enough is enough oh so 243 Years of Slavery that you fixed in five years and then it’s like enough is enough and that’s that is the recurring
Theme in history of a lot of white folks is we’ve done enough what can y’all just drop it can y’all just move on do you have like why are you what are you protesting why you keep act look we gave you that law well no no that that law
Only deals with this and so now we are now confronted with we’re saying no no no no no no I’m not satisfied and now the backlash is but you’re now taking you’re you’re taking from me and and what about my what about my children your children now have to compete
Because before you could just make phone call and your kids got the job now you got to compete against that well-educated sister and that well educated brother and that well educated Latina and a well educated Asia now it’s like well hold up wait wait a minute
Hold up now because we you know we we are we had to ourselves and before all we had to do was compete against against against these poor white folks and now what are y’all doing yes you you now are going to have to compete and then now we
Are State Controllers and now we are requiring diversity uh standards if you want to participate in private equity and now we are City treasurers and because now oh why did I mention those two that’s money yes sir because to understand America if you ain’t having a money conversation you’re not having an
American conversation white fear the basis of white fear is about money money in America is power that’s a that’s a good place to PO we’re going when we come back from the break we’re going to explore uh another dimension that you talk about that Roland Martin writes
About in his book White fear we’re going to tie this to something you just mentioned R the question of memory the question of The Narrative of America and really the question being asked what do you want and how what we want uh differs very greatly from what some of these
White folk think we want so we’ll be back in a moment here at the black Table When we talk about Blackness and what happens in Black Culture we’re about covering these things that matter to us are speaking to our issues and concerns this is a genuine people powered movement with a lot of stuff that we’re not getting you get it and you spread
The word we wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us we cannot not tell our own story if we can’t pay for it this is about uh covering us invest in blackowned media your dollars matter we don’t have to keep asking them to cover our stuff so
Please support us in what we do folks we want to hit $2,000 people $50 this month wa $100,000 we’re behind $100,000 so we want to hit that yall money makes this possible check some money orders go to PO Box 57196 Washington DC 2000 37-196 the cash app is dollar sign RM
Unfiltered PayPal is R Martin unfiltered venmo is RM unfiltered zel is Roland rolands Martin.com welcome back to the black table here on the Blackstar Network remember to support the Blackstar Network download the app uh subscribe to all of the uh social media platforms and all of the streaming platforms for this over-the-top network and we are joined today by the founder of the Blackstar
Network and CEO Roland Martin and we’re discussing his book White fear Roland when we left you talked about how to understand America you talked about money being at the center of this you know very interesting in section uh two you open with a conversation that Tony Morrison had with Charlie Rose uh a
Question where where she’s trying to help him understand that the objectives of black people don’t clash with with the objectives of a different kind of society and when you talked about white folk having their privileges taken away it reminds me in section 4 chapter n you recount a conversation with George W
Bush around this question of privilege I’m wondering if if you might help us understand not only what some of the white Elites are afraid of losing but also and this specifically relates to chapter 5 when you talk about history symbolism critical race theory is this also War for how we even think about
America because excluded please please go right ahead absolutely uh I’ll take I’ll take the um um the second the second part first and that is again it goes to the redefining of what does it mean to be an American what does it actually mean to be an American what does that phrase
Even mean I’m an American what does that mean what is the basis of that uh in his book I Never Had It Made Jackie Robinson talks about why he stopped um doing the pledge of allegiance and saluting the flag and standing for the uh star spangle Banner because he’s like I know
What I endured I know what you’re thinking and he said if even one African-American uh doesn’t have it made than I Never Had It Made and and and so what what Jackie is talking about is the black Collective what Jackie is saying is don’t talk about how Jackie Robinson
Has prospered but if too many but my brothers and sisters are still being down tried and impacted by Red lining and racism then I Never Had It Made white folks want us to believe that well Oprah is a billionaire Michael Jordan is a billionaire look at Tiger Woods look
At Beyonce look at Jay-Z look at Chris Rock look and so they go through this but Chris Rock in his comedy special says H he said I live in a neighborhood and the only two black people in my neighborhood are me and Mary J blig and we’re the only to
Entertainers so he’s so what he’s saying is how did all of these other white folks become rich and they’re not even entertainers they’re dentists how how they’re doctors how do they like how could y’all afford oh because you’re operating economically at a whole different level and so for us
The only pathway is entertainment or Sports and so when you start breaking that down you start understanding um how then we then are viewed now what we’re saying is no no no we want to be like y’all we want to be a seven fig dentist we want to be a seven figure
Architect we want to be a seven fig engineer we want same thing why do we have to because see if you’re telling us that we only have to um play sports and and sing and dance in order to enjoy what the American dream what you’re really saying is I still need need you
To be 21st century mandingos and perform for us yes and how how does that r as you raise that because one of the things that you really carry as a theme throughout the book is black institution building and self-determination completely in the chapter on History symbolism and the kind of theft of our
Memory you talk about the role of the black press and of course Blackstar Network being another example of independent institution and you’re always bringing I saw a couple of your interns at this Center for uh journalism and democracy the Nicole hannnah Jones opening your name was raised several
Times uh including by your interns who were there you you do you employ a lot of HBCU interns and you also talk about um in the chapter on education the importance of HBCU I mean how important is is is the value of independent black
Own black run in in this work so I I go back to uh I keep and I keep referencing this because I I do believe among the thousand plus books I have that Where Do We Go From Here chaos or Community is in the top three of all books that I have
It is it I cannot stress enough I know I’ve sold more copies of this book than the king children I I I I invoke I I mentioned this in speeches and lectures everywhere um because there’s a portion in that book where King says that there are four institutions that are prime
Position to liberate black people he uses the word liberate he says the Negro Church the Negro press negro fraternities and sororities and negro professional and business organizations he’s talking about infrastructure he’s talking about you need to have institutions to liberate you cannot have in individuals cannot
Liberate us as a people um Patton as an indiv indidual could not do what he did against Hitler’s uh third right he needed an army and so our institutions are those things that survive when we transition to become ancestors the institutions that’s what passes the Baton and so you
Need the institutions that also is reaching a mass of people and so you can be an individual teacher but when you are now teaching several hundred students you are now passing the knowledge on to them and so now all of a sudden you’re teaching more and more and
More now they’re taking the knowledge and going further so if we are not if we don’t understand that as we are now try as we’re breaking down white fear you have to build institutions what I’m actually doing is a reverse and I I think the book is right there it’s a
Reverse of jural Gerald Horn’s book uh dealing with Claude bourett but key the key thing is not Claude Brett’s negro Associated Press it’s the it’s the second the Jim Crow Paradox because in the as Geral horn lays out the Jim Crow Paradox is when we were breaking down
Institutions but as horn right we’re putting a nail in our own coffin because we were fighting white supremacy fighting Jim Crow but while we were doing that we were ending our institutions I invoked Jackie Robinson a little bit earlier and when people talk about you know Jackie Robinson made the major leagues
No no it was only called the major leagues because white folks had more money and they had better stadiums and better lighting and better uniforms and better travel and could afford different food but the actual Major League stars were in The Negro Leagues and so the better talet was in the Negro Leagues
They were simply shut out of so I even don’t even want to call the major leagues I want to call it white baseball yes sir and so what then happens because of our and and I understand it trust me I understand it but because we were like
No no no we are good enough we are good enough and and how dare you leave us out we’re good enough it’s like oh my God ja Jackie made the major leads yes let me be real clear I’m not I’m not dissing jacking anybody who act a fool just
Understand this is literally sitting right here yes sir anybody act a fool I’m not dissing Jackie Robinson I’m not minimizing his impact but what it was is this this no no we gonna show y’all well you you write in the book what happens we do it and the demise of the Negro
Leagues the demise the demise of an institution that’s right and so so what happens so we take our black bodies but we take our black dollars and every black person in America becomes a Dodgers fan and so we’re filling the stadiums and so we’re overlooking the fact that when Branch Ricky was looking
To sign Robinson he wasn’t just looking at Robinson or he was wasn’t just looking at Josh Gibson he wasn’t just looking at Satchel pagee he was looking at the crowds so the black dollars followed so for black people why this has to be redefined or reprogrammed yes sir we have to
Understand that when we want to flow over to White institutions we have to realize that what we cannot do is destroy what’s our own because see when they don’t no we’re not going to cover that well then who’s left to cover oh no we’re not g to focus on that well so now
We are now asking please C can y’all please can y’all please can y’all please come cover us can you okay you know what fine you can’t can’t give us an hour can can can we just get 30 seconds on your air yet over look doc I I can tell you
Um when I did when I went to um the Apollo Theater when the movie Get on Up came out yes sir this the perfect example and I’m not gonna name I’ll tell you offline who who the sing who the person was yes sir but here we are at
The Apollo Theater and I appreciate Tia Watkins because what she did is she was a public she made sure that my setup was just as prominent as Entertainment Tonight Access Hollywood yes sir so with TV1 and so we’re sitting there and and this was actually the second time I met
Chad with Bosman this is where we actually exchange phone numbers and so I’m sitting there and I’m interviewing Dan akroy and I’m interviewing um Glazer and I’m interviewing um um the Rolling Stone MC Jagger MC Jagger yeah and I’m interviewing Chadwick and I’m interviewing I’m interviewing um um
Spencer um inter but there was there’s one person was in the movie who chose not to sit down with me huh I don’t know why huh but they wanted to go sit down with Entertainment Tonight of course and I and I start laughing because I’m like H Entertainment Tonight might give you
30 seconds right I’m gonna give you 10 minutes that’s right and see you the people you claim to be representing are going to see you so again so for whatever whatever hangup you had whatever you know whatever mood you were in yes which what you should have done
What and see I I need people listening to understand the only reason we even talk about emit because my go see that movie folk yes m said you come with me it was a black photographer yes I need black people to understand yes sir we see that image
That iconic image of Bernice King on the lap of ketta Scott King at at’s funeral but people don’t talk about how that happened they don’t understand oh my good um uh uh monetta sleep became the first African-American to win a puss prize for phot graphy what they don’t
Understand is that the White media employed Jim Crow practices at the funeral and they said Oh The Press pool oh hell no it’s whites only and it was Lon Bennett at Ebony and Simeon Booker at jet who went to ketta Scott King and they said Mrs King they are not going to
Allow Ebony and jet and black media into the Press pool in the church and ketta King said please let everyone know if Ebony and Jet are not allowed in the Press pool there will be no press pool in my in the church at my husband’s funeral and they let sleep in and that’s
How he was able to shoot the photo that iconic photo that no white photographer got and that’s what led to the pullit Sur prize and so what I’m saying is that’s black institutions where Keda Scott King did not say well uh the world is covering the funeral of my Martin and
So the Associated Press in UPI and the New York Times and Newsweek in time in the BBC they are the majors y’all hear my language that’s the majors and so no she said no no no no no because she said she remembered before AP and UPI and
News weekend time and New York Times had Martin in the papers in the magazines he was an Evon and Jet yes and so that’s Institution in building and so I’m marrying those two by saying as we are confronting white fear as we are demanding full Equity equality I’m not
Satisfied at the same time we are not denying black institutions because even when we’re in those places they still are going to run and control them and I’m a last Point here and I I don’t think I when I use the story of Winnie Mandela I’m at CNN and um the they can’t
Find anybody at CNN all those people who were on air to go the fly of Birmingham to interview wi Mandela and so John Klein being president of CNN us calls me and says hey Roland uh do you want to do this hell yeah of course this is Winnie
Mandela this is a freedom fighter a no Nelson Mandela out of prison as president unless there’s a Winnie Mandela fighting on the outside that’s right and so I go to Birmingham and interview her and first of all that was a flirtatious woman she was flirting with me the whole time that is her
Reputation as a photo she made she made me put my arms around her she oh you cute she was flirting me she was wi was a flirt so it was hilarious we in a church too it was too funny so I interview her and
So we get back and they go oh we need to talk to you okay well uh why didn’t you ask her about when she was on trial for uh put putting the you know on Tri I said yeah so I said I said why in the hell y’all didn’t gonna interview her
Right I said I said I asked her what I wanted to ask her that’s right they said we not GNA run the interview I went to John Klein I said hey man your folk in Atlanta not gonna run an interview so I need the tape I’m G run on my TV1 show
This weekend now John was like great you know that’s that’s you know great I got it went to came to DC transferred because it was literally on a tape was on it was on a tape transferred it aired it in two parts on TV1 March 2018 I’m in
Memphis preparing for M50 the aniversary of assassination wheny Mandela dies while there I interview Rend Jackson I interview um I interview um Randall Robinson I then tell my man Keenan restream the interview the only reason the only reason you or anyone else is able to see me and Winnie Mandela is
Because I had a black show on a blackowned network as an outlet to show it yes sir that’s why I’m talking about we have to we have to we have to be as we’re breaking down still breaking down Jim Crow and breaking down this this this white fear we cannot forego our black
Institutions because they are the ones that are always there with us when we are because they also are the impetus for fighting and the organs for putting pressure on the on the white institutions you cannot have black institutions that are crumbling while you’re trying to break down of the
System absolutely absolutely thank you for walking us through that Rome um the importance of Institutions and also teaching other lessons such as the importance of owning your material intellectual property a lot of lessons being taught today at the black table uh we’re going to come back in a moment
With our founder and CEO of the Blackstar Network Roland Martin discussing his book White fear how the Browning of America is making white folks lose their minds here at the black table on the Blackstar Network back in a moment Hatred on the streets a horrific scene white nationalist rally that descended into deadly violence will not white people are losing their damn Minds there an angry Pro Trump M storm the US capital we’ve seen sh we’re about to see the rise of what I call White minority resistance we have seen white
Folks in this country who simply cannot tolerate black folks voting I think what we’re seeing is the inevitable result of violent denial this is part of American History every time that people of color have made progress whether real or symbolic there has been what Carol Anderson at em University calls white
Rage as a backlash this is the rise of the proud boys in the bugaloo boys America there’s going to be more of this here’s all the proud boys guys this country is getting increasingly racist in its behaviors and its attitudes because of the fear of white people the
Fear that they’re taking our job they’re taking our resources they’re taking our women this is White Field [Applause] Welcome back to the black table here on the Blackstar Network don’t forget to support the Blackstar Network in every form download the app and stay tuned for shows which run 24 hours a day seven days a week including this one the black table Roland you know you propose a
Number of solutions in this book and maybe we could spend the last four or five minutes talking couple of things if you want to mention them I’ll just throw a couple out and you can obviously take it however you want to take it you predict that Trump was going to run
Again he has announced you identify major issues voter suppression you zero in North Carolina and Alabama certainly we see them back Supreme Court has been arguing them we’ve had a couple of shows on that and you talk about the fact that there’s no good to have a Department of
Justice if you’re not going to use it and people are calling on MAR maritt Garland to move forward um perhaps if you’d say a few words about what you see coming next in this battle that we’re fighting and how and you do this in the conclusion how you expect white folk
Black Folk and other folk to respond um black people must be fully prepared because when you when you back a rat into a corner it will do well whatever it needs to to get out of the corner yes sir we are going to see more violence we’re going to see more
Vitriol because as each day passes is it it is a nail in that coffin what we also must confront and this is where I’m going to have our Latino slh Hispanic brothers and sisters are going to have to aggressively confront the racism the classism that comes from many
Of their countries where they have a negative view of black people we’re going to have to deal with white Hispanics identifying with whiteness in America so therefore aligning with white nationalism now that is going to be a very difficult subject for a lot of people because is going to force them to
Confront the realities of that white racism that emanates from the countries and so not everyone that calls themselves Brown is brown and that and that’s and that’s that’s that’s going to be real it’s going to be real and so what what also is going to be happening is uh you’re
You’re going to see again folks are going to fight back which means that when you are in a war you must be on war footing you must be preparing for war which is why I say we need to be fortifying our children educationally what we cannot do is be in a war and
Then all of a sudden we approaching 2043 and the demographic numbers are changing and we and our education levels are awesome excuse me are abysmal we’ve got to ensure that our kids are strong up toart I want us to return to that day of educational fervor that existed that
Existed post uh slavery that existed during Jim Crow when you had black families that had 20 kids and Mom and Daddy never got past the third grade but all 20 kids graduated from college like like what was that but you had and black people and they they never
Made more than $10,000 they were broke but they said no no no no y’all going to see it it was a fervor yes I need that to happen I need us to truly understand Collective power April 3rd 1968 talks about that in his speech at Mason Temple where he says black people
Individually are poor yet collectively represent one of the most powerful and the largest economies in the world and so when I’m fighting for black adverti black own advertising dollars that’s a collective thing because if we’re able to drive the use use the power of the collective to now let’s just say we get
10% of the 322 billion spent in advertising that’s $32 billion do when right now we’re getting 0.5% you talking about on the federal level we’re getting that 560 billion dollars is being spent on federal contracts yet we’re getting 1.67% 9 billion of the 560 billion
Imagine if we go from 9 billion to 56 billion this is where this is where I I I I battle with with with with folks who who’s who who who who stand and fight for reparations and and I make clear I’m not a PO I can make the intellectual
Argument I can make the philosophical the economic argument as well but what I’m also looking at is who’s fighting for the existing money versus the hypothetical money yes sir see so I so I’m like yo fight you do what you do yes but somebody over here has to be
Applying pressure to the system and say no no it’s 560 billion right now the federal government is spending yes sir where’s our fair share where’s our fair share in advertising where’s our fair share in the states in the county in the city in the school district and what see
Again it’s it’s understanding when you’re in a war you don’t fight on one front you got multiple fronts happening in a war and everybody forgets I’m going go back to Patton Patton wasn’t the only three star general who became a fourstar that was Bradley that was e see you had
Multiple generals leading different battles because they were trying to win a war we want to act like there’s only one front no no no no go do you and I’m not gonna go do you but over here this is the front that I’m fighting so that’s
What I need people uh to understand what we’re doing where we’re trying to go and what is required and I need white people I need white people to be listening to Jane Elliott and Tim Wise and confronting their whiteness in church in their amilies they have work to do it’s
Not just on us King said I’m I’m I’m leading my people into a burning house well guess what we can’t always be the firefighter because sometimes we not at that house when it’s burning yes sir we need white folks to step up and that’s why also called to challenge people you
Got to you got you’ve got to do something you’ve got to um be an active participant uh in this thing because we’re not going back they can they can get every red hat they want to holla make America great again you can look because every survey they talk about the
Optimum period was the 1950s well it wasn’t Optimum for us it was for y’all yes so we ain’t going back to that this is now the redefining of America and now that we’re gonna have to confront what that means it’s war and we have to be prepared for this educationally philosophically
Spiritually morally on every front absolutely well I mean thank you for joining us and for this book which seems to capture uh an entire career an ongoing work of insight and so white fear has given us a road map to what we have to confront and how to confront it
We want to thank you for spending some time with us here at the black table on your black star Network so we appreciate that brother thank you so much of course of course R appreciate you man we’ll be back in a moment to clear the table and prepare for our next
Session at the black table I’m faraji Muhammed live from LA and this is the culture the culture is a two-way conversation you and me we talk about the stories politics The Good The Bad and The downright ugly so join our community every day at 3 p.m. Eastern and let your voice be heard hey we’re
All in this together so let’s talk about it and see what kind of trouble we can get into it’s the culture weekdays at 3 only on the Blackstar Network welcome back to the black table here on the Blackstar Network we have had a remarkable hour with our founder and CEO Roland Martin um certainly now you see why the Black Star network is important if you didn’t know before and as he made some closing remarks he
Evoked several folk who have endorsed this book this book which is flying off the bookshelves he he talked about Jane Elliot and Jane Elliott said you know once we get this information in every classroom in the United States we will all stop seeing race as real and start appreciating
And appreciating all of us as we are Tim Wise who said America is spinning out of control but William Barber Reverend Barber understand white fear so you can release and resist it and finally Roland Martin writes in this book he says I want this book to be the rallying Cry of
Change is now and we are change so with that in mind and that ringing in our ears if you haven’t downloaded the Blackstar Network app please do so share tell folk globally because uh this network is on the March and you understand the importance of black own black control media that is truth
Telling thank you ran for being with us on here on the Black Star Network at the black table and we’ll be back next Week
source
