Roland Martin appears in The Situation Room with CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux and Ed Rollins to discusses Glenn Beck’s efforts to “take back the civil rights movement” at a rally in Washington.

WATCH: Who Owns The Civil Rights Movement?

Roland Martin appears on Rick’s List with host Rick Sanchez to discuss the intriguing three-way Florida Senate race between Republican Marco Rubio, Independent Charlie Crist and Democrat Kendrick Meek.

WATCH: Roland Martin breaks down Florida’s three-way Senate Race.

Also check out the Pictures of the Week gallery:

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“My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total. And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction, of the Constitution.”

When those words were spoken on July 25, 1974, they were eloquently put by an outstanding woman and fellow Texan, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. She was a member of the House Judiciary Committee investigating the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.

And as I have listened and watched the stunning debate over the potential location of a Muslim community center and mosque two blocks away from where the World Trade Center towers were destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, Jordan’s precise words keep coming to mind.

In the aftermath of the tragic 9/11 attacks, many Americans felt it was critical for the United States to not the let the terrorists — al-Qaida — win by taking from us what we succeeded in getting from the British between 1775 and 1783: our freedom and democracy.

Yet in our zeal to fight terrorism worldwide, we have chipped away at our precious rights, willing to surrender hard fought civil liberties under the guise of protecting ourselves from terrorists at home and abroad. And we stand today, a nation embroiled in a local zoning dispute over the possible building of a 13-story Muslim cultural center that will house a mosque, a theatre and other amenities.

It has been described as the “Ground Zero Mosque,” which is ridiculous considering it will be two blocks away from the site of the fallen World Trade Center towers. Yet what has been fascinating and demoralizing to watch is the clear and unmistakable religious bigotry that has taken over this conversation. Critics of the project contend that they are not trampling our precious constitutional rights of religious freedom by opposing the project. They contend that it is simply in bad taste to build it so close to ground zero, and that Americans are far too emotional about issue.

Other words really come to mind. Irrational. Hysterical. Intolerant. Hypocritical.

Over the last several years, we have witnessed Americans troops shedding blood on the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan, fighting for American liberty and values. We hold ourselves up with self-righteousness as the paragon of democracy and freedom, yet we are quick to stifle the freedom of others we simply don’t agree with.

A lot of the hateful rhetoric spewing out of talk radio, on blogs and on mainstream TV stems from a deep-seated mistrust, hatred and dislike of anyone practicing Islam. In our politically correct way, we say that we respect Muslims who aren’t intent on launching a jihad, but the venom evident in the words of many shows that not to be true. As James Carville debated this issue on CNN with Bill Bennett, Carville talked about his Muslim friends being sickened by this, only to see Bennett demand if they publicly repudiated the Muslims involved in 9/11 and terrorism.

Is that what we’ve come to? We willingly want to demand to see IDs of Hispanic-looking folks who might be here illegally, but we also want any American Muslim to prove their patriotism by denouncing any and every crazed and deranged Muslim in the world who seeks to do us harm? Never mind that we have Muslims fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan — proving themselves to be worthy Americans who are on “our side.”

The pain and heartache that was created on 9/11 was unbearable for many Americans.

The nation was traumatized, shocked and paralyzed by the brazen acts caused by the bastards who didn’t swear allegiance to peace, but instead to a murderous man named Osama bin Laden and a loose-knit terror network named al-Qaida.

For some reasons, Republicans have lost sight of the fact that even President George W. Bush made clear that America hasn’t been at war with Islam. And clearly some Democrats are so afraid to stand up for the U.S. Constitution that they are about as weak as a wet sheet of paper.

Now instead of joining hands with fellow Americans, including Muslim Americans, our deep-seated hatred of Muslims is calling us to detest this community center and mosque.

As the drama has unfolded with rapid speed over the last several days, I’ve tried to understand how a nation so willingly to pronounce our “American values” across the world could so easily forget that the early American settlers left a nation to escape religious persecution. Our Founding Fathers could have easily created a national religion. But they had the foresight to see into the future and allow this to be a land where anyone could choose, or not choose, to practice their religion freely.

Years ago while interning at the Houston Defender, I remember writing an editorial about a Texas ACLU lawyer and member of the NAACP defending a leader of the Ku Klux Klan, who was being ordered to turn over membership roles of the group. No matter how much the attorney detested the KKK personally, he spoke of their rights being just as important as the NAACP, and he cited how efforts were made in the 1940s, 50s and 60s to force the NAACP to reveal their membership roles.

Fighting to protect and uphold the U.S. Constitution even means defending those we can’t stand. We cannot be so willing to exclude someone from the protection that the document affords.

Rep. Barbara Jordan also spoke to this issue in that tense hearing room on July 25, 1974:

“Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States: ‘We, the people.’ It’s a very eloquent beginning,” she said. “But when that document was completed on the seventeenth of September in 1787, I was not included in that ‘We, the people.’ I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in ‘We, the people.’”

Any American who claims to love this nation with all of his or her heart should take the same view — no matter how raw our emotions have been rubbed or how much anger we have for the despicable human beings who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11. None of us should be so angry and shameful that we trample the one document that has held this nation together all of these years.

I am a believer in Jesus Christ; He is my personal Lord and savior. I am an American who loves this country with all of my heart and soul. But I also believe that the building of a Muslim community center near the World Trade Center site will not be an insult to the souls lost when those planes flew into the Twin Towers. It will not be a slap in the face to others traumatized by the events of that day. Allowing this project to go forward will show the best of America. It will mean that we not only love and respect our values, but we also revere them to the point that we allow something to go forward, even when other Americans disagree.

Even the pain of 9/11 isn’t enough to turn our backs on the U.S. Constitution. THAT would simply be un-American.

Roland S. Martin is an award-winning CNN analyst and the author of the forthcoming book “The First: President Barack Obama’s Road to the White House as originally reported by Roland S. Martin.” Please visit his website at www.RolandSMartin.com. To find out more about Roland S. Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM

Roland Martin appears on AC360 with David Gergen, Ed Rollins and fill-in host John Roberts to discuss the New York Islamic Center controversy.

Roland explained that President Obama was reinforcing the Constitution by supporting religious freedom but “blew it” by walking back his comments the following day.

Roland also said, “It is amazing to me when you have folks on the Right that have attacked this President by saying he is not one of us and doesn’t understand our values and when he does actually reinforce the Constitution, then it’s a bad thing.”

WATCH: NY Islamic Center Fallout: President Obama Criticized For Reinforcing The Constitution

The beauty of having your own radio or TV show or column is that you have a wonderful opportunity to address many of the significant issues of the day by using the enormous platform that has been bestowed upon you.

That’s why when I read — and then heard — the stunning, childish and venomous discussion Dr. Laura Schlessinger had with one of her callers, it was clear to me that the firebrand radio talk show host blew a perfect shot at using a discussion around race, which could have really helped a lot of people.

Dr. Laura is getting ripped, and rightfully so, for her continuous use of the N-word during a discussion this week with a black female caller. Instead of paying attention and listening to the woman’s genuine concerns about the racist comments made by the friends and family members of her white husband, Dr. Laura made her out to be the villain.

It was clear that Dr. Laura has a beef of her own when it comes to black folks being too sensitive about matters of race, and that’s why she tried to use the example of black comedians using the N-word to buttress her position that the woman should really pipe down and not be so sensitive about such issues. She could have easily pivoted from the caller’s question to this issue, but she didn’t and instead chose to dig herself deeper and deeper into the racial abyss.

First, Dr. Laura needs to step back and realize that, yes, black comedians use the N-word on stage, and it’s something that I have protested and called for all African-Americans to stop using. But let’s be honest, comedians of all ethnic groups do all kinds of crazy stuff on stage — dissing African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, whites, men, women, gays, Jews, the mentally challenged, you name it. So, when the B-word, C-word or F-word is used on stage, are we to say that is perfectly acceptable language offstage?

Dr. Laura also fails at political analysis by asserting that a lot of black folks voted for President Barack Obama because he’s half-black. Should someone remind her that Obama got 95 percent of the black vote. Pretty pale Democrats like Al Gore and Bill Clinton received between 90 percent and 92 percent of the black vote. Dr. Laura, that’s largely a Democratic thing; it’s not necessarily a black thing.

Yet as I listened to the caller, and as Dr. Laura continued haranguing her, it was clear that Dr. Laura — who has made millions dispensing advice on the radio — needs to have someone sit her down and explain how she not only screwed up by tossing out the N-word repeatedly, but she also had a chance to be a part of what many considered to be essential: a national discussion on race.

The caller was disturbed about those in her husband’s inner circle driving their racial stereotypes, as well as making racial comments in front of her.

When I keep hearing folks talk about the need for a national conversation about race, it’s not all about President Obama leading it. If we are to conquer our racial demons, it’s necessary for the caller’s white husband to be willing to look his friends and family members in the eye and say, “Your comments are insulting to my wife and I want you to stop. Now!”

The real problem many of us have when confronting racial matters is that we are too unwilling to challenge those closest to us. No child wants to enter into a verbal battle with his or her mother or father who could hold racist views or accept racial stereotypes. But none of us can be silent when that happens. It was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Do you recall the restaurant scene in the movie, “The Blind Side,” where the “friends” of Sandra Bullock were making off-handed racial comments? When she had enough of their mess, she made clear that she would be dining with others. She refused to allow their racial hang-ups to stain her. Bullock could have easily kept the friendship intact by saying nothing and moving on. But she chose a different path.

Dr. Laura had the same opportunity. She could have listened to the woman and dispensed some genuine advice that might have helped the caller and her listening audience. Instead, she grabbed the chip on her shoulder that revealed to us that she is clearly annoyed when some blacks complain about racism. She compounded that by telling the woman she should never have married outside of her race if she couldn’t stand racial humor. Folks, that’s NOT how to do it.

Dr. Laura has apologized, but that hasn’t stopped folks like Marc Morial, CEO of the National Urban League, from calling on The Talk Radio Network to drop her syndicated show.

If we truly want folks to “get over it” — that’s what Dr. Laura essentially told this black woman to do when it came to racism — it is going to take us reforming the bigots, and not admonishing the offended. I fundamentally believe we can get people to see their racial bigotry or insensitive views and offer them a pathway toward healing, but that can only happen when we’re willing to challenge one another — friend or foe — as well as look into the mirror and confront our own deeply embedded views on race.

Roland S. Martin is an award-winning CNN analyst and the author of the forthcoming book “The First: President Barack Obama’s Road to the White House as originally reported by Roland S. Martin.” Please visit his website at www.RolandSMartin.com. To find out more about Roland S. Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM

Roland Martin appears in the CNN Newsroom with Kyra Phillips to discuss Maxine Waters’ press conference, Friday August 13, 2010. In what Roland called a “smart, bold move,” Waters put pressure on the Congressional Ethics Committee by demanding they release information regarding her case as well as a date for an adjudicatory hearing.

WATCH: Waters Putting Pressure On Ethics Committee is a ‘Smart, Bold Move’

Roland Martin talks to Bernice King about her desire to unite the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

WATCH: Bernice King Opens Up About The SCLC.

On Wednesday, July 28th a 13-year-old boy died after he was repeatedly shot as he rode his bicycle near his West Pullman home. The young-man, whose name was Robert Freeman was shot 22 times.

Roland Martin appears on Rick’s List with fill-in host Don Lemon to discuss the unrelenting epidemic of violence amongst Chicago’s youth. Ronald Holt and Annette Nance-Holt, who lost their son, Blair Holt in a 2007 shooting join the conversation by phone. Chicago community activist, Victor Woods also weighs in on the topic.

WATCH: Chicago’s children under siege.

Part 1

Part 2

Roland Martin appears on AC360 with Michaela Angela Davis and host Anderson Cooper to discuss Essence Magazine recently hiring a white fashion director.

WATCH: Essence’s controversial new hire.

Roland Martin talks with Bob Johnson co-founder of BET about the increasing wealth gap between African Americans and Whites. Recently, Johnson addressed this issue with members of the Congressional Black Caucus calling it a wealth gap tsunami that is threatening African-American Families.

According to a recent report from the Institute on Assets and Social Policy (IASP) at Brandeis University, the wealth gap between African-American families and White families has quadrupled over the course of a generation from $20,000 to $95,000.

Johnson states that we need to have a national dialogue at the highest levels of government as well as between Black and White Americans to recognize that race played the primary role in the wealth gap.

Johnson goes on to explain programs that can be instituted to help close the wealth gap between White and Black Americans.

LISTEN: Bob Johnson Discusses Wealth Gap Between Whites and African-Americans