Podcast: Download
Are African Americans wrong to try and shut down any critique or criticism by Black folks of President Barack Obama? Do you think some Black people are too sensitive when other Blacks critique the President? Roland Martin takes your calls during the radio portion of “NewsOne Now.”
Rep. G. K. Butterfield, the next chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, joined Roland Martin Thursday on “NewsOne Now” to talk about President Barack Obama’s plan to use an executive order to institute immigration reform and the President’s upcoming address to the nation.
When asked if Pres. Obama should wait for Congress to act on immigration reform, Rep. Butterfield said, “The immigration system in America is broken and President Obama has deferred to Congress time and time again trying to invite congressional action and that has failed.”
“Speaker Boehner just refuses to bring the Senate immigration bill to the floor for a vote.” Butterfield said, “The President cannot continue to wait while 11 and 12 million people live in the shadows.”
Martin asked Mr. Butterfield what would he say to those African Americans who believe President Obama’s action on immigration reform will hurt Black employment. Butterfield told Martin many of the 12 million undocumented individuals in this country are “children and families, they’ve been here for years and years. American is the only country that they know. They do the jobs everyday [and] they do the jobs well. They work at our hotels and on the coast line doing the fishing, the shrimping and the boating and all of that.” Butterfield added, “We’ve got to find a way to provide a safety net and a path to citizenship for many of these individuals.”
Rev. Al Sharpton held a news conference on Wednesday to address allegations that he owes more than $4M in state and federal taxes.
According to the New York Times:
Mr. Sharpton has regularly sidestepped the sorts of obligations most people see as inevitable, like taxes, rent and other bills. Records reviewed by The New York Times show more than $4.5 million in current state and federal tax liens against him and his for-profit businesses.
Rev. Sharpton responded to these claims by saying the attack on his taxes is a result of his support of President Barack Obama and his involvement in Ferguson.
On Thursday, Roland Martin and the “NewsOne Now” Straight Talk panel (featuring Armstrong Williams, Candice Burns and Joia Jefferson Nuri) discussed the claims of tax evasion being made against the prominent reverend.
Armstrong Williams called the allegations against Sharpton “…an indictment of our legal system, because as an entrepreneur, I don’t see how anybody for so many years cannot pay federal taxes. It’s one thing if we’re talking about income taxes, but when you’re not paying your payroll taxes, you’re not paying your employees and you’re stealing.” When talking about Sharpton’s foundation, Williams added, “I don’t see how the government allowed him to set up such a structure where he can pay himself.”
Williams said, “It’s as if they’ve given him a pass for so long and all of a sudden somebody is mad at him and its ok, you’re going to become like everybody else. These stories just don’t happen, but you cannot ignore the legalities that he has been involved in.”
Do you find the timing of this report by the New York Times a little peculiar?
Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw talked with “NewsOne Now” host Roland Martin on the “Beyond The Lights” movie premiere red carpet.
When asked by Martin about how the music in the film creates a separate dialog of its own, Mbatha-Raw said that it shows “us how she (Noni, the main character in the movie) is evolving away from that packaged sort of sexualized princess into a more authentic singer-songwriter.”
Mbatha-Raw said that the intense chemistry between her character and Nate Parker‘s character, Kaz, is a “meeting of souls.” She added, “Noni is very much suffocating in this very plastic shinny Hip-Hop world and Nate’s character, Kaz, really brings the sense of reality and integrity, and they both kind of complement each other in many ways.”
Mbatha-Raw told Martin that while their characters find each other in the movie, they also “find themselves.”
It’s WTH?! Thursday on “NewsOne Now” with host Roland Martin, Aruba Tommy Bennett and Ebony Steele.
This week’s list of wild and crazy stories begins with a man sending his girlfriend to serve his wife divorce papers and catching a beatdown as a result; a young man’s little brother doesn’t care for somebody messing with him and goes looking for the guy; aand finally, the “hot car” mom is accused of using $100K in donated funds to pay for her boyfriend’s rap album. WOW!
Yes y’all, it’s WTH?! Thursday on “NewsOne Now” with Roland Martin.
All that and more in this edition of the NewsOne Now Audio Podcast.
