Life and career

Martin was born in Houston, Texas. His maternal great grandparents had migrated from Haiti to Louisiana, where his family is from. He graduated with a B.S. in journalism from Texas A&M University and a master's degree in Christian communications from Louisiana Baptist University.

During the 1990s, Martin was a contributor on the BET Sunday morning news program Lead Story. He is the former executive editor of the Chicago Defender. Martin hosts a morning radio talk show on WVON in Chicago, and was with CNN as a contributor from 2007-2013. He guest-hosted Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull while Brown was on maternity leave in April and May 2009.

Martin has defended Michael Steele and other black Republicans against charges of being "Uncle Toms", arguing that the label is inappropriate.

In March 2013, Martin announced on Twitter that he was leaving CNN. His last day was on April 6, 2013.

It was announced on July 9, 2013, that Martin would be the host of TV One's first live one-hour, weekday morning news program titled News One Now. The program premiered on November 4, 2013.

Martin and his family currently reside in Leesburg, Virginia.

Controversy

On February 5, 2012, Roland Martin's Twitter account responded to an underwear advertisement featuring the association football player David Beckham, stating "If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham's H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him!" GLAAD (the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) responded on its website: “Martin’s tweets today advocating violence against gay people weren’t an accident — they are a part of a larger pattern for Martin. Anti-gay violence in America is a serious problem". In response to the Tweets, it was reported that Roland Martin had been suspended by CNN for the controversial remarks. His suspension was lifted on March 14, 2012.

Articles

• "What would Jesus really do?"
• "The new reality for Bush and the Democrats"
• "Obama Birth Issue is Nutty"
• "Roland Martin is on Watch"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]