Above is one image of the Social Media post from Roland Martin that sparked outrage has now been deleted. Without going into the particular reasons surrounding the post; people felt it was necessary to call out Martin for being insensitive to the incident. It’s obvious that Martin knew the family very well and was emotionally distraught afterwards upon learning of the news of the tragic event that took place in Virginia. However his decision to post pictures across social platforms, in hindsight, took an unexpectant turn. The jury is out. It’s a problem.
Martin decided to address the mental health and the emotional well-being of Black men on his program rather than the results of all that were involved. (The Black woman and their children.) This was a mistake for the social media audience at large.
As one comment stated, ( from Roland Martin’s deletion statement Instagram post): Let’s be clear here, your original post wasn’t just insensitive Roland, it was a masterclass in missing the point. You framed a man aka your frat, brother “ who mur de red his wife and then ki l led himself (while his own children were in the house) as some kind of victim. “ That’s willful blindness to bru tal ity and that’s why so many women were offended by your original post. You intentionally choose to frame your frat brother as something he clearly wasn’t and that’s a loving husband and father.
comment continues: Also your fraternity didn’t ask you to take the post down solely because of “ social media rules.” They asked because no brand, no organization with an ounce of sense wants to be associated with a raging, abu sive + mu rd erous drunk which is exactly what your frat brother was and your original post ignored that ugly truth and chose to coddle his memory instead of fully honoring the woman he slau ghter ed while his kids were home.
comment continues: I also think it’s sad that your ego is writing checks your judgment can’t cash. Instead of stepping back & recognizing how damaging your post was to Black women, to survivors of do mes tic abu se, to anyone who understands that mu rd er isn’t a tragedy that happened to the murd er er, you’re doubling down. “ I only took it down because the fraternity made me.” 😒 That’s not a defense. That’s an admission that you lack the basic decency to humble yourself, admit wrong doing & self correct…
comment continues: Here’s what’s even more sad, at your big old age, you’re still refusing to acknowledge on this post the one thing that matters being your complete lack of empathy for women when one of your male peers commits unspeakable harm against them. Men like u need to understand that’s not brotherhood. That’s complicity…✍🏽 It’s honestly sad to see even men who should know better choose not to do better when it comes to protecting horrible men aka men like your frat brother! …end of comment.
Here’s the segment on Roland Martin’s channel. This discussion is important along with the discussion that was not addressed.
Journalist Sophia A. Nelson posted an excellent statement at the beginning of the program that Martin added to the beginning of his discussion after the police chief’s statement. To be fair to Martin, the panel of Black psychologists he gathered stressed that understanding the cause does not excuse the outcome.
An interesting post came up on our timeline… that algorithm is really working.
Updated on 4/20/26
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