Bakari Sellers Talks 'The Moment,' Trump Vs. Biden, Candace Owens, Kanye, Ice Cube, Eric Adams +More

wake up that ass in the morning The Breakfast Club in the morning, we are all DJ Envy Jess Laris, shame the boy, we are the brf fist club, we have a special guest in the building, yes indeed, Bari cers, welcome, what's happening? What's happening? I'm glad to be back. Man how you feelin' man I feel real good

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blessed than I deserve man I like that hoodie over there yeah officer you know we gotta rep our girls man shout out to Don Staley, shout out to Camila Cardoza, my Gamecock lady, sure, mhm. I've been into Lady Gamecock, I mean, for a long time, right, my wife went to USC, so I have two, but what made you start supporting Lady Gamecock so much? uh coach Staley I mean I believe in her she's a good friend of mine she's like a sister an aunt she keeps it real with you um if my daughters can grow up and be like Coach St.

I think they would be amazing women. I mean what she does for the community. There is no. I don't think there is a woman. who has contributed

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to the sport of basketball, um black womanhood, than Coach Staley and I just appreciate her. Do you have her up here, but yeah, she came in a few years ago, we have to get it back, so yeah, we have three championships now, that's it? um your new book The Moment, yeah okay, what do you think about the race? Recognizing that it wasn't because okay, first of all, the title, why the title, so back in 2020 21, when we were all locked in our houses, um and then We watched George Floyd get murdered on camera and I thought on why we saw what we saw and we were in a pandemic and that's why people were locked in their homes mhm, we had the audacity of a 17 year old black woman to take her.

Call and video record what happened. We had 9 minutes of a black man calling his mother with a knee in the neck mhm um and the world couldn't turn around and then everyone took to the streets all over the world and It took all of that just so we would have accountability, not justice , but responsibility, justice is that George Floyd is still here M and at that

moment

maybe it was my youthful naivety, but at that

moment

I thought that maybe the world was changing, maybe we were starting to understand the plight and the pain of being black in this country and maybe we were actually having that racial reckoning, you know, those were the conversations that we were having and then we changed and went back, I mean, we literally have done it from that point where I thought that we were doing. that change we've been rolling back over 1600 banned books, you see what's happening with the attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion, you see the 19th century Arizona abortion bill, so you know I wrote this book about that moment when I was on television. um with felonius Floyd um who spoke before me and Charlamagne knows this.

I am very excited. I cry all the time but he was in the segment before me and I was with Dante Stalworth and I was at my house with my beard and all my pajamas. pants on was when we were still watching tv on laptops and I started thinking about my kids and what I was going to say to my black kids listening to fonus Floyd just talk what did he do to you that's a great point you bought about uh how Everyone thought things were going to change, which made you have more Audacity Of Hope, the George Floyd situation or the election of Barack Obama, the election of Barack Obama.

I thought it was a moment in time because we had come so far, I remember saying, and I had these conversations. I remember standing guard with people like Dick Car Putley and Michelle Obama when there were a lot of us supporting the president of the United States. , Anton Gun, in South Carolina, then Senator Barack Obama and there were fears about Barack Obama. I don't think white people voted for him, that's why Iowa was so important when he went to Iowa. We were thinking, oh, white people are going to vote for this black guy and number two, my father would mention it all the time, we were afraid that he would be were. kill him, I mean, older black people had a legitimate concern that Barack Obama was going to be assassinated and the reason is that he came from a valid place where they had seen all their heroes, that you Ked became martyrs, and that It was a legitimate concern, um.

And so, Barack Obama gave me a lot of hope when he was elected. The death of George Floyd was something that was just a moment that we missed, it was a surreal moment and being able to meet the family and um and look how we, the world, embraced his daughter and you know God works in mysterious ways because he he always uses someone you don't imagine to bring people together and no one would imagine that the person or the vessel he would use would be George Floyd and he did it well, but I was excited, but I was more disappointed, not for George Floyd of course, not for his family, but for the way people reacted or for the white whip to steal a word. from Van Jones, I just mentioned you, you said things went the other way, why do you think things went the other way?

Because there were, like you said, so many people on the street and they just weren't black, they were white, Asian, Jewish. It didn't matter that everyone was protesting why you think things went the other way. There are many white people in this country who are afraid of the Browning of Am

eric

a. I mean Tucker. I talk about this in the book. We've monetized racism and xenophobia and Tucker did a whole segment on Nightly News in front of millions of people talking about the great replacement of Theory M, which is just a White Nationalist Racist Theory and, um, you start to see that fear Bubble Up , I mean you. you have people like Klay Travis, you have Ben Chapiro, you have Candace Owens, I mean, you even have black people that prop up this kind of ignorance and the kind of white supremacy, I thought, and I just think there was a lot of fear in this country and you saw that you saw that rise to the top and that fear has made its way into politics, whether or not you're talking about the Supreme Court and the attacks on Dei, your woke attacks, we made you up.

You know, we used to call people you know, they woke up because you were, you were sleeping with your eyes open, right? You were just trying to see what the man was doing and now they've taken it and bastardized it and turned it into something I'm not. I don't even know what it means anymore, but I think the fear is palpable among a lot of people and they've monetized that, I mean you. Many of the members of the echo chamber that is Fox News are people who are afraid of people of color. They are afraid of black people, they are afraid of immigrants.

I mean, it's just scary that Donald Trump was white last too and do you think the Democrats might have done themselves a disservice by running a woman right after a black man? because the black man also scared them very much, but that woman who was approaching the presidency scared them very much. Let me be, let me be extremely clear, there was no person more qualified to run for president of the United States in history. of this country let Hillary Rodom Clinton shout. I know you're listening to The Breakfast Club this morning, so shout out to Madam Secretary, but this is a sexist country where there was a lot of misogyny involved and I get in trouble with the darkness.

The dark side, in particular, there are a lot of black men who get angry at me on internal networks, etc., when I talk about how there was a lot of misogyny involved in the 2016 election, there were a lot of people who just didn't do it. I feel like a woman could be president should be president could serve and a lot of them were white women who felt that way and a lot of them hear that the white women let us down in that election and we're going to be 100% honest and You know, it was crazy to see that many white women somehow felt that Hillary Clinton was a death by a thousand cuts.

I mean, they've been ostracizing and beating up Hillary Clinton since 1988 just over little things, so I don't think we made a mistake. I mean, very rarely do we pick the most qualified person in our party and do it, so she just got defeated. I mean, there were some people who had to watch. In those elections, nothing happens in a vacuum. I remember them saying she didn't go to Wisconsin, well she was scheduled to go to Wisconsin, she was going. I think the University of Wisconsin Green Bay with Barack Obama was going to have a big rally.

It happened after the nightclub shooting, so they canceled the rally, right, nothing happens in a vacuum, so, you know, that race that blew me away. I was actually in DC. I was having a party at Park uh Park DC Park in DC and I told him. him, the only way we would organize it is if it was a viewing party, if my daughter could come, she was 12, so they let me hide my 12 year old daughter in the park and we were watching the results come in, um , and it was set. it got bad quickly in that we were we were in Jacob she invited me to our daughter's house there thinking we were about to see a first time we had our spouses we were all there my daughter was there listen Florida happened I was like this is this is different M and then the blue wall fell away.

I mean, I remember being depressed, dog. I I Dr. I went to bed early, no, you say, talk about drinking what you say. I drink myself because I tell people that when I said it in the past. when I had good days I drink Jameson when I had bad days I drink Jameson uh but now I drink tequila but I was I was out of it my wife was like you know how you get drunk and snore, you got drunk snore with your mouth open at 2:00 I'm done, I couldn't watch it anymore man I was sad because he said Hillary doesn't get in the white house so when something like George Floyd happens can you have real racism?

Considering that if you don't have people in positions of power, elected officials, yeah, I mean, it's a good support, that's a good question. No, I don't think we have it, even for white liberals. In my book I speak. About this, we have a lot of race-specific problems in this country and they passed a lot of race-neutral laws, for example, PPP loans, etc., during CO relief, they passed CO relief under the lens of the growing links they left to all ships, but what? Do we know who was most directly affected by black co, black AB and Native Am

eric

ans died at higher rates than anyone else and we lost more business during covid than anyone else but the policies were not specifically targeted at us , so you have done it? you know how many black people in this country are unbanked, they just don't have a bank account, these people are hurting, dying and suffering and they don't have a bank account, you can't get a PPP loan without a bank account, etc. when you start to think about this, um, we, you're right, we didn't have people in place who logically thought about having these race-specific policies.

Solutions um and win that. Growing bonds don't lift our ships, what if I got a dingy? What happens if I have a hole in my boat? What if I can't leave the dock and that's why we don't have enough people in power who think like that? That's a very good question, I'm going to say in an introduction in your book and this is something we talk about a lot here, you talked about how you feel when celebrities don't get involved, yeah, and let's talk about that a little bit, yeah, I mean, my dad and I had this conversation and it all starts because an image in my book, well, an image that I talk about in my book, my father was arrested here in front of the South African embassy.

He was protesting against the Earth and he was with Jim, Jim Foreman, and he was with John Lewis. um and the people who built my dad and them were S and Harry Bon right and there was a cross section during that time between celebrity pop culture entertainment and grassroots activism and my dad thinks there should be more of that today and I express that there are people who don't know the work you do Charlamagne people don't know the work they don't know Beyoncé and Jay-Z rescued all the protesters in Baton Rouge when they killed Alton Sterling, but their The argument is that There should be more.

His argument is that you know the work and he used Kanye West, right, he said that Kanye West could do a lot more for the black community. I said dad, Kanye West just left, he left, right? I mean, I like it. I said I said it on CNN I got in trouble for it but I said Kanye West is what happened what happens when black people don't read well um but he thinks there should be more I think there's a lot of people involved I don't know the work they do , but I also compared it to the black church, there just aren't enough people with means that are putting their shoulder to the will to help us get out of the ditch, that's their prerogative if they want to own two Teslas and live behind a gated community, uh or behind a gated community, that's fine, but you know, I think you know this ministry is not for everyone.

I think you have to be decently selfless, and there are a lot of us where we are. you're from, I'm sure where you're from too, but there are a lot of black people that are suffering, there are a lot of black people in poverty, there are a lot of black people that don't have access toquality healthcare, that's right. There are many black people who have no opportunity. I mean, we still have first-generation college students in our communities. We literally have people who are still going to college today who are first generation in their family. What I have to do is go to a high school graduation, so we act like the idiot.

That's right, the most off-the-charts statement in American history is, please hold up your applause until all the names have been called, don't let anyone hear that, no. but we have so many problems and I think there's a reason we don't have a lot of wealth, but I think we have more wealth than we've ever had and there's an opportunity for us to contribute more what's the number in South Carina what do you say 50 almost 50 % of all people don't have their basic needs oh yeah I mean and time back to Co this is what I'm talking about we missed a moment so people ask Barari why black people died because of Co at a higher rate than anyone else.

Well, in Denmark, for example, I lived in a food desert, meaning you can't go a mile or two and have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, our hospital closed, we didn't expand Medicaid, etc., the hospital closed, our drinking water is not clean, so you have all these things that mean you have high cases of preventable diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, etc. we can't get quality healthcare and then a pandemic is superimposed on it, no wonder we are dying at higher rates, but we never remove the onion and ask those questions and people ask what is systemic racism, is there systemic racism, like how to solve it.

Those systems of injustice. I wonder if we missed a moment or just pacified like you know a lot of these corporations did all these corporate Dei programs that you had and it was an election year so people thought, "We can just vote." yeah, the change we wanted, whether we missed a moment or just pacified, a combination of both MH, you know, Trump put his name on the checks, yeah, which was a brilliant political move, absolutely, um, so, Which were? $1,600 check I think 12,200 I think 1,200 1,200 I think it was another 600 too or something like that, it was two $1,200 checks, I don't remember, then Biden made one, but no one remembers that one, so yeah, you just know, I think we pacified each other and I think we missed a moment, I think, but people were also going through a lot of things like me.

I'm talking about Garland Gilchrist, who is dumb. Garland is the lieutenant governor of the state of Michigan and I think it was 26 people. lost in his life in his orbit, I mean, there's a lot of death in black communities, so I think we were trying to survive, and that's my hope. I have two hopes in life, one is that we no longer have to be in a position where we try to survive all the time there are so many people here working today who listen to the show truckers who listen to this program who were trying to survive make ends meet jury number five in the Trump trial I'm trying to get us I'm trying to get us to I'm trying to get us to prosper I want to put us in a position where we're having excess abundance I want us all to be able to live like DJ Envy, right, that's what I want, yes, to live as if we were light-skinned.

I'm very modest about juror number five, how can you recapture the moment? Because I feel like that's the way it is and that's my number two thing and that's why the problem. us is that in order for us to have changes in this country the price is so high for black people that I am trying to lower that price so that we have the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act we have to have the The people of m and Pettis Bridge had to see that brutality with her eyes before we could even talk about criminal justice reform.

We had to watch George Floyd die so we could take down the Confederate flag in South Carolina. Nine people had to die, there's so much pain and sacrifice that comes with being black in this country just to be able to make a living like that price is too high and there's nothing that says here in New York, the rent is too high, too tall. So for Black Folk, the price of change is too high, so I'm trying to lower that price and that's very difficult. Shout out to number five, who was it? Did you hear about juror number five in the Trump trial, huh, when he was interviewed?

They told her that she gets her news from Tik Tok on Google and she said that she listens to inspirational podcasts on The Breakfast Club, so we were trying to figure out from a legal point of view what's why. Is that information necessary, so during V dire Vere you can ask a series of questions and those questions have to be the ones you ask, the defense presents their questions and then the judge reviews them and makes a list of questions, so I usually ask questions like: are you a member of the NRA? What stickers do you have?

Do you know how much you can tell about a person from their stickers, like, don't tread on me, you know, the blue one. black bumper stickers like HK law enforcement bumper stickers if you're horny yeah that'll be fun well that's probably someone you want on your jury right? H if you're a college bully, yeah or who you voted for, you know, if I'm in a criminal trial I want to know if you contributed to um, what are moms against driving drunk, drunk, crazy? Because that means you just have this idea that you can't give my client that kind of grace and that's why you're trying to figure it out. the psychology of the jury asking him that and then I saw a juror who didn't even watch The Breakfast Club but I saw a juror who only gets his news from TRU social they can't really be a jur so they did it they did it wow wow this trial is crazy how do you think it's going to play out oh he will be found guilty I mean he will be found guilty in this trial he will be found guilty in both criminal trials.

In federal criminal trials, you will not go to prison. It will be a little ironic that he is a convicted felon incapable of voting for himself, but he could still be president of the United States. Do you think he will win? No, why not? I don't think he's going to win, it's not what you expect, no, I don't think so, I mean, I'm looking at the fundamentals, we Charlamagne and I shout at Jared too, we have these conversations all the time, but I think the fundamentals are the biggest threat to Joe Biden is not Donald Trump, it is not RFK, it is not Cornell West, it is the couch, that's like people staying home, that's how it is and we have to get out of this subject verb, Donald Trump, like People were tired of that, they know it. he has five kids with three baby mommas, they know he's UNC, they know he was convicted of rape or whatever he was convicted of in a civil matter, they know he has 91 felony charges and all that, and no No they care, they don't care, but you also know part of this is we have to know, we talk about this.

People often say that your life is better now than it was four years ago, and people usually say, "You know, my life was better than before." What we've noticed is that when they were talking, when they say that when they answer the question that way, they're not necessarily talking about Donald Trump doing it that way, they're talking about how their life was better before Covid and they still have it. . He bounced back, I think Michigan is going to be very important, but I think we're starting to see black and brown voters come back to Joe Biden and wake up, people are paying attention and I think Donald Trump plays a very important role. um, what a low ceiling and high floor, so it will be in the 40s period.

I mean, that's where GNA lives. He has G to live at 40%, 42% and I think Joe Biden can eclipse that, I don't. I necessarily want to see a debate, but I think you're going to see one anyway. Are you afraid of what is happening on college campuses? Are you afraid of college kids who feel like they hate Joe Biden's handling of Palestine and Israel? Look, they're out here shouting that they're for Gaza, what do you think of that? Yeah, I think what's happening on the university campus is a shout out to Jalani Cobb, um, at Columbia, he, he, he's the dean of the journalism school there, um, they've got their hands full.

I mean, I also think that while the rise of anti-Semitism that we've seen in this country is palpable, it's something that we have to quell and it has no place in society, you know, on college campuses. do you think that college campuses are a place where you can exchange IDEs do you think that college campuses are a place where you can go and have um um just this kind of no-frills opportunity to learn as much as possible um what you're seeing now in a lot of these campus is unrecognizable and, you know, I feel sorry for those college students who feel persecuted and who are being assaulted on that campus, there's no place for that in terms of the way it plays out in an election. um, you know, it's whether they vote and just from a pure, you know, practical point of view, we're talking about people who were voters at this time, um and I think they're going to be energized, I don't see, I don't see. how anyone who has any level of empathy or sympathy for what's happening in Gaza votes for Donald Trump but to your point they could stay home, right, they can stay home and that if there's a fiery secession, uh, of here to the election that I think there will be I think Joe Biden would be in a much better place why is it so difficult for this country to take into account race in general because we have never dealt with the original sin of This country, I mean, we have never dealt with one of the two original sins, shout out to my Native American friends and followers, but we have never dealt with the issue of slavery like this country, I mean, we built. this free country like we were raped, looted, they took everything from us and no one, they act like that, it was like we never dealt with it and then we had, you know, we had 100 years of oppression and Jim Crow like we literally have.

It wasn't a republic until the Voting Rights Act in the mid-1960s. I mean, think about people like we didn't have full rights in this country until the 1960s MH and we're still fighting for it, so we've never really dealt with that problem and now you know, one of the quotes that I write in this book is that you know that for a lot of people, including a lot of white people, that we love, that we talk to and that are our friends, it's feel the equality. oppression for them mhm and that's the definition of white supremacy um and so we've never dealt with that.

I just don't want more people to have to die, which, oh, and getting back to college campuses, look, we do have. For us, we have to do a couple of things, we have to eradicate anti-Semitism in its path. We also don't need Eric Adams and the NYPD or Kathy Hok and the National Guard on college campuses who don't mix. Well, my father was shot. by law enforcement when they were brought to campuses in 1968, we had Kent State, we had Jackson State, let's just find a way to have some constructive conversations with the students, these outside groups arrest them, whoever from the outside infiltrates these groups of pramas, you know, arrest them. them under jail, but college students, let's find a way to have some, I mean, let's find a way to have a dialogue.

You have the episode White Terror, Part Two, where you talk about legal genocide and you talk about how you and Ben Crump. I get so many threats that you all face for the work you do so I wonder if the work is worth it and I also thank Harry Daniels who worked with us on that case and Andrew Brown who is worth it. That, um, I have a job that I wish didn't exist. You know I'm working with a family right now in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Ricky cob, yeah, he was, he was shot and killed by Minnesota State Police, um and you know, just by looking. the pain that these families go through, I mean, when you do this work you not only have to be their lawyer, but you also have to be their psychologist, psychiatrist, their friend, I mean, we have, as you know, these phone conversations or meetings in which we simply treat you well.

You have to let them cry, you have to let them get it out because they want justice. I mean, they're part of a fraternity, you never want that hit, but you never want your loved one to be a hashtag and you, but you never know when. it's going to happen um and the threats that we get, I mean Ben, I pray for Ben all the time um Ben is one of the most complicated simple people you'll ever meet in your life, like him every Sunday, he's in church with his family mhm when we travel he goes shopping at Walmart he puts on a shirt and dress pants like when we go out to restaurants he buys fried shrimp or just a cheeseburger well done well done could we be with dad , although we could be?

I always judge people. how you eat first of all, some of you need to be Jud says Well done, the burger thoughwith cheese it's well done I mean, I have some And that must bother you, maybe you'll get better, yeah, I mean some of you, some of you. "Everyone has some eating habits that need to be judged correctly. I'm just saying, but he's a good guy and he doesn't get credit for the work he does, so I thank Ben and people like Harry Daniels, people who do this work and who does it right? Is it true that they're not allowed to talk to the media about their cases?

So sometimes, like when the case is filed, they have to be very careful about the things you say um and then when Cas is resolved. , there's usually some level of confidentiality involved, like what was going on, what numbers were coming and going, but you can talk about the case pretty freely. I talk about the Andrew Brown case in that now I also want you to write a letter to your son. D, sure, let's know why you want to write that and how difficult it was to write that. Talk about his namesake, although yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I wanted this in the book. black men, we talked about the voting power of the black man and I wrote this letter to Stokeley because I wanted him to know and be very proud of who he is, I wanted him to know who his grandfathers were, the strength of his grandfathers and his grandfathers.

He wanted him to know the power his father and his grandfather had and he wanted him to know who. stokeley carmichel was and stokeley was my dad's best friend you know stokeley was there when my dad got out of prison you know your best friend is there when you get out of prison so he was there for him at that time and I just wanted it. to know um I wanted him to feel um when he reads those words I don't want to say King we overuse that but I wanted him to be a very very proud black man when he reads that and I want I wanted uh the parents when they read that so they can Realize that we have to talk to our children like that, and you know, even the children that we are not born with, there are a lot of black men running around in our communities that don't have fathers and we have to be willing to put our arms around them too, so It wasn't difficult to write it, it was something I wanted to do, so it actually flowed quite freely.

Now you said faith and fear can't coexist, yeah, break that. down, yes it's hard for me because I have anxiety which is worse than most people know. I have a general anxiety disorder, so I'm in therapy once every two weeks just to deal with that. Ay Vant says that's when my thoughts are. in my head without adult supervision, right, and so to me, you're not supposed to be faithful with fear and Bishop Jake

talks

to me about that all the time, sometimes you literally have to let it go and let that God, um, that's when my vices get the best of me sometimes, when you try to let it go, that's when you find yourself in the shakum, uh, that's when or, excuse me, African American performing arts centers, if you like black strip clubs or ballet, if you like white strip clubs, that is. when you find yourself in a bottle of casamigos or classa aul or whatever, listen man, healing is healing M, yeah, okay, self care, self care, those are some of the best therapists in the world, yeah, Shout out to the city of Tampa, Atlanta, some of the best. some of the best therapists in the world therapists in the world some of the best therapists in the world okay, yeah, but n, so I feel like you have to be faithful and I'm working to eradicate that fear.

I'm not there yet because you know fear can become paralyzing. You'll be so afraid of what's outside that you'll stay inside, you know? So you have to be willing to fight those things, so, um, shout out to Bishop! Jake he's one of the great heroes of our time I love that guy what's the importance of Snick man we we we we no I don't hear about it enough and what could black people learn today by Snick. Snick went. about Snick it was about us it was about self-empowerment blacks today could learn that if we're going to have any change it doesn't start in um it doesn't start in 1600 Pennsylvania it starts locally it starts in your in your districts it starts in your churches, Snick, it was amazing because they were to places like Philadelphia, Mississippi, where Goodman Sherer and Cheney were lynched and thrown into a ravine, where they went, met people where they were, stayed in their homes, built a community, empowered communities and, uh, my goodness.

Dad was one of the members of Snick, shout out to Judy Richardson, you know Marian Barry Julian Bond, you know all these great heroes and heroines that we just don't know enough about and that's why I love them. I dedicated that book to founders of Snick and it starts locally, I mean, you guys here have possibly one of the worst mayors in the United States of America, so you have a lot of work to do, damn Eric Adams, yeah, Eric's terrible, I think which is so bad. um Eric Adams comes from a leaning where he's relatively old school, which is fine um but he frames his discussion as if he's the sole arbiter of what's right and what's wrong um he doesn't believe in um getting opinions.

Sean is not his, he lives in a decent echo chamber and believes law enforcement is the end all be all and I know crime has been a problem in most major cities, we have seen crime go down, but it takes a community, a community. Appearance Eric is someone who wants to be a celebrity, you know, it's hard to be a public servant and a celebrity, those things don't really fit together. Barack Obama has people who think you can do both, but he was a natural, he was a natural, um, Eric is kind of like that. Best suited to be a deacon and you know there's nothing wrong with that, but I don't know how many deacons you're going to elect to be mayor of the largest city in the United States, so I mean, it is what it is, but You know, in a couple of years you can replace them.

What do you think about the crime problem in these cities? Because you know that you have to look at crime holistically, though, right? Many people say that he is one of the main ones. The problem is bail reform. Many of these criminals are repeat offenders and do not stay in prison long enough and come out and commit the same crime. I think last week a gentleman punched a woman in the face and punched a six-year-old girl in the face, yeah, you gotta lock them up, right? You know, I tell people all the time, like my mom and dad, they don't want, they don't want less police.

I want better police, right? In fact, I think you should pay the police more because you pay for what you do well, if you want quality people. I think I think that the police police should go through psychological evaluations of the U not only when you go up but every two years. because it's a stressful job, so you don't need a crazy person to get hired in a stressful job, but you have to look at crime holistically, as you now know for a long time, the reason we saw crime rates rise criminality. It's because people were hungry M and if they don't have food, they will come and take yours, that's right, if they don't have work, they will get it by any means possible.

There is a lot of hustle and bustle on the road. The price of brick rose exponentially. I do criminal defense work. I was surprised how much people had to pay for a brick. I mean, how much does a brick cost right now? I don't want to tell you because I feel like I might know too. A lot of what you mean, you're a lawyer, yes you know, right now my partner is telling me they were paying 4550. Damn yeah, I thought gz said 175, didn't you? That was a long time ago. That wasn't even true. I don't think so yeah I mean you know a decent price for a long period of time was 35 30 35 they were 17 we should all have been selling dope back then so you know how much money you can make on 175 okay guys , Alright.

What do you think of Adam saying it's an attack on black mayors across the country? He was here on Breakfast Club and he said it was an attack on black mayors across the country, but he says if you talk about black people. Mayors, I mean, he, I don't think he's in the top 10, I mean, you've got people like you've got people doing great work, Andre Dickens, Atlanta, great work, regards, Andre, you've got the mayor of Birmingham, my good friend, Randle Wolfin, you have the mayor. from Little Rock, um, Frank Scott, you're right, you've got the mayor of uh, from Charlotte V, you've got the London race, she's got her hands full in San Francisco, she works hard every day, so look, there's Ros barck and, oh, Ros barck, oh. and I forgot my friend in Jackson um Jackson Mississippi um chway chway lumba so you got, you got people and I hope, I hope, ra elev Karen bass Karen bass oh Karen bass is cool and she's got her hands full in La, you got all these people that's better than Eric but there's an attack on a black man you don't like Eric H no I can say no I mean but the people I don't like know it and you know it so how does it get personal between you?

Although it's not personal, okay, okay, no, I'm constructively criticizing the job he has the way I like it. I do the same in the book. I'm talking about Jason Whitlock. I'm talking about Stephen A Smith. I'm talking about uh Ice Cube. and I don't know that he doesn't like it personally, but what do you say about Stephen A Smith? I think Stephen A Smith, um, I think he appreciates the white gaze and I think he's turned it on white gays. appreciating the white lgbtq community I didn't say g a z e gays gay did it sound like you said what's wrong with gays g a z e I'm GL I have to Cle what are you saying?

But you know you know he has friends with the Shan Hannides and Tucker Carlsons of the world, he gives them his platform, you know, last week he talked about how when Donald Trump says that black people find it relatable that he's going through his prosecution, I think your anti-intellectualism Stephen A. Smith confused that, um, that persecution with prosecution, as if you couldn't compare the plight of my father, who was unjustly arrested, went to trial, went to prison, right, that's a persecution with the plight of Donald Trump, they shot him, yes, they shot, no. even shot for shot so you can't you can't compare that and I think he's speaking out loud and I think he's coming from a place of anti-intellectualism where he doesn't know it and I think he's being used as a conduit for white supremacy, particularly in these Echo Chambers, and what happens is that white people, white conservatives, can behave when you say stupid things like, for example, you know that black people find it relatable that Donald Trump is impeached in the first place. it perpetuates stereotypes that we're hypercriminalized etc., but when you say white people now look at you and say huh, there's even a black guy who says that too and he's kind of a useful idiot when it comes to stuff like that now.

I don't agree that sports take up all the time, but that's what it is, but there's a lot at stake for that level of ignorance, so, and you know, you know Jason Whitlock is a different animal, I think Jason Whitlock. Ice Cube Stephen A Smith are all in different lanes. I don't want people to think they are the same, but I think they contribute to the erosion of our culture and, in particular, the success of it. I don't like. generalization of uh when they ask those questions like if someone asked Stephen A Smith I shouldn't accept it, I should say I can't speak for all black people, I mean, but that's what I am, that's anti-intellectualism when you, but and that's also like a weird level of confidence because he appreciated the question so he said, I'm an arbiter of all things black, let me tell you how black people feel, but I mean I used to hang out as Sheriff David Clark.

I mean did you hear what he said about um remember in 2017 you gave him the Donkey of the Day in 2017 if I'm not mistaken 2017 2018 because he was like when J.R Smith and the players wore hoodies and he said you shouldn't wear hoodies because it would remind white people of Trayvon Martin, what are we talking about? I mean, this isn't the first time we've been down this road with him, so, you know, it's about responsibility in our community, so I just called M and Ice Cube, so I think Ice Cube raises his head. head when it needs attention.

The most recent thing we saw was Caitlyn Clark, for example, offering Caitlyn Clark $5 million and he doesn't have $5 million. to pay Caitlyn Clark two Caitlyn Clark said that she found out about the offer at the same time everyone else found out about the offer directly on Twitter, so it wasn't even a real thing and three, you have black women like Asia. Wilson, who's been dominating for a long time, paid him half a million, mhm, okay, 250, then we had the Black Agenda that he came up with himself, I guess, and it wasn't clear, it didn't articulate our needs. he had the ability to talk to black women in particular that came to him, he shut them down and so I just want to hold people accountable like people hold me accountable and if you have a problem what do I do, I mean, I , I.

I will accept criticism and be willing to move on or be part of the solution to get out of the way. So how do you use that level of celebrity as an ice

cube

likeStephen A Smith? How do you use that to your advantage? I mean, look at John, look at people like John Legend, look at people like Kri Washington, look at people who are in his lane, who are curious and want to learn more, look at Charlamagne, people hate me, but let me ask a question about Charlamagne likes it when people hate you, but the problem, the problem with that, sometimes I feel like people forget the good that people do and when they do something that is a wrong step, they take that step falsely along the way.

I mean, do that, we've already seen, what did you think? The Breakfast Club having Cace Owens on it was a decision, but I'm not doing it because I'm your friend, no, no, I don't care if you have Candace Owens if you're holding her accountable, right? I think the problem with Candace Owens is that she went on this tour to be embraced by black personalities and she wanted to get back involved in the black community because she has been ostracized because of her anti-Semitism from her house and I No. Do you have any use for Candace Owens?

I offered to debate with her. She wanted to debate me. Offer me $100,000 to debate her. I said, "I'll do it." No, I don't want you to be fooled because someone wants to re-engage or find a new place in our community and find a new place in our house? Yeah, I don't even think she was trying to do that. Like Candace has wanted to come to Breakfast Club for years like she talked to Candace six and seven years ago, yeah, that's right. It was just for me, it was just yeah, bringing it up to have a conversation.

I mean, I don't and I don't think I'm not someone who believes in canceling people. I'm not someone who thinks you shouldn't have a conversation. but if you're going to have that conversation, you can't just give vent, you have to be willing to dismiss it like Candace or it's an anti-Semitic point, right? Candace Owens has views and opinions that I believe are simply anti-Semitic. It is the antithesis of what it means to be black in this country. Candace Owens supports white supremacy. I mean, I think all of those things are facts and I think if you want to have a conversation, as long as we can root it in the facts, then.

Whether, yeah, it's interesting, right? Because you know it's me. I listen to people like Candace Owens talk and I tell myself I don't know if they're propping up white supremacy or if that's just another way black people think. I think like especially black conservatives and the reason I say that, especially with the bleeding thing, yeah, when they were saying, "Let's get the people out of the Democratic Plantation." They don't have to be conservative, but let's start getting them to think independently. I don't know if that's necessarily shoring up white supremacy. I don't know, Cace is in a way now, Cace and Tucker are in a weird situation, you know, it was 9/11, it was an inside job, it was the fake moon landing, it's the real Holocaust, we know. a lot of brothers that talk like that, although we know a lot of black people that talk like that, they look and we have and that's fine and when you're in the barbershop how you call them fools is up to me.

I don't know, I'm on point right now. I think I don't know what is what anymore. To be honest with you, but there's a reality, there's a fact and then there isn't and that Donald Trump has done a great job of just rolling back our institutions so that people start questioning things and it's bullshit, I mean, you know. , questioning whether the Holocaust is real is oh that's just ridiculous it's also disrespectful I mean that's just as bad as who said the SLA we learned slavery was good Ron slavery was a choice oh slavery was one election was Kanye Kanye Kanye and then Ronda Santis was we learned a lot from slavery there were benefits I mean those things are like that why does Kanye get so many passes from who? from people in general because he was talented exactly like that, so we pick and choose who we want to crucify, we pick and choose who we want to exclude, well I mean, no one can do 808 like Kanye, but he's an anti, I'm not? with Kanye, no, I don't do Kanye West at all as I haven't for a long period of time since I dropped out of college.

I mean, I think you're wearing Yeezys today, although who am I messing with? I don't have people going crazy. I thank Puma. I have my suede, my suede Pumas on. um no, I don't think, I don't think people get a pass. I think they are more talented, there is more grace. but I think Grace is exhausted like Kane doesn't have a home in the black community. You don't think I know anything about that anymore, but I think he does. A lot of people still pick on Kanye. He just had it. a number one album, he only had one number one album and that's it, but Drake dethroned him, even though he still had a number one album.

I don't know, I don't know, like I said, number one single, number one single, number one single. the number one single now is no, no, he had a number one album, that number one album I thought was the number one single, the last number one single too, no, it wasn't because the number one single was Fortnite. I'm a Swifty, number one single, Carnival. it was number one a few weeks ago a few weeks ago T Taylor Swift replaced it and then Drake just yeah and she her song started M yeah yeah it's just interesting have you had Taylor Swift here?

No, no, never, it's just interesting to have a conversation with I was like. What is he never about? Oh no, I mean, never, ever, yeah, it's just interesting to have conversations with black people with different lines of thought. I think sometimes we do ourselves a disservice by staying in our own echo chamber and just labeling people as stupid because they think. different from us no, Kanye West is dumb, although no, I agree that some people think differently than you, okay, but Kanye West is Kanye West is dumb, dumb on certain issues, yes, like him, he is a genius Yes, yes, he is a genius, he is brilliant.

I think if you put him in a study there aren't many people who can compete with him, but I think when he's running for president of the United States, a lot of the things he says are dumb, but I also feel like that's the case. a lot of times it's who you get your information from, well that's a certain level of individual responsibility too, like where you get your news from, like me, that's not a Democrat or Republican thing, that's no one, that's it, it's a stubborn . click on your part or just make a phone call to get your news wherever you get it and that's my you know, look, that's my libertarian leaning, that's individual responsibility at its finest, do you think the news is working? a poor job of amplifying and highlighting the things the Biden administration does well because it seems like all they do all day is talk about how bad Trump is, to your point, no one cares about that, yeah I mean, on our television, yes, no.

I want to hear about Trump farting in court. I don't want to hear about him falling asleep, do I? I mean, treat them like treat them like any other criminal defendant, right, but yeah, we didn't hear about what Joe Biden did for black farmers. you don't hear about the $7 billion for HBCUs, you don't hear about the fact that the number of black businesses, the proportion of black businesses between 22 and 2019 has doubled, right?, you don't hear about what he and KLA Harris have made. As for African American female mortality, you don't hear about The Holdings or the written opinions of Koni Brown Jackson, who he put on the Supreme Court, you just don't hear enough about those things, and that too.

It's the media's fault, yes, it's the White House's fault, yes, of course, and that's why there is a certain level of distrust. You know, Kamla Joe Biden are not the best messengers. People don't even listen to Barack Obama like that anymore. No, he's done, yeah. I mean, we have to find the people who are. I would say there are more people who listen to all of you than there are who listen to you well, so you know it's important to have the right Messengers out there, meeting people where they're good, you know. They are preparing to blame this election if Biden loses.

You know, they're getting ready to blame black men. I know I'm right about that and you know for a long period of time you can't just show up and start talking, talk to black men, you know, on Labor Day. I think we have to do a better job listening to all black men. About the pain they feel, it's hard, it's hard to be a black man in this country. Because when you walk out your doors you are not loved. You have to live in this perpetual state of anguish and anxiety because you don't know what awaits you.

You have to take care of your home. For me, I have a wife. I have three children and I spend a lot of my time in my own head, making sure that I can provide for them, you're making sure the end meets the stress, you're dealing with the way people look at you, um, and the way that you have to do it. Calm down okay, we live in a very toxic kind of environment, so I talk about all that stuff and we have to listen to the pain that black men are going through until we start to open our ears and listen to that, um, you.

We will continue to see slides and you know a lot of black men will gravitate towards the toxicity or the toxic masculinity that is Donald Trump. The black men who voted for Donald Trump. I don't think they're big numbers, but they're voting for. him because he looks tough, he

talks

tough, right? I mean, that's what it is, it's a personality, it's an entertainment factor, um, and we have to understand that, right, we have to understand where that comes from and then you can attack. What is your hope for this book? What is the biggest learning you want people to take away from the moment?

I want people to realize where we are and where we can go and I want people to realize that especially as black people we have the ability to change our destiny um I want it to at the end talk about the young people of this country and I go to Applebee's, all right, and the reason I go to Applebees across from the VA in Garner Fery is because they serve liquor like this. It's not hers, you know, they actually serve, actually p p, like they're supposed to, uh, these fancy places, anyway, um, but I was talking to the waiter and she told me she was born in 200 and I told her I said there's more and I started thinking about it.

I imagine a child born in 2000, they saw 911, they saw a housing crisis, a financial crisis, election of the first black president, Tea Party, reelection of the first black president, Parkland, Fort Hood, Charleston, massacre, um. They have seen a shooting in a synagogue. They have had the largest mass shooting in the history of the country in Las Vegas, Nevada. They have seen the election of Donald Trump. They have insurrection insurance. oh Insurrection, they've seen Co, they've seen the precipice of World War III, they've seen Russia invade Ukraine and they've done all this under the influence of social media, where it's like you know just the vitri, all of that.

It is what it is and they're still here, I mean, these young people are so dumb, their kids are amazing, I mean, that's why they need more grace, all of us have kids that are amazing because they're still here, I mean, everyone. you are. worried about you, I mean Envy, worried about GNA appearing in the freaknick uh uh documentary definitely not, that was not my mistake. I had real fears, although eh, that's a real fear that everyone should worry about. I have no problem being one. I'm afraid of that, so I just say these young people need Grace and I write that, you know, they give me hope and there's a lot of hope to be had.

Well, the new book, The Moment, is now available. Make sure you go pick it up. I want you to know that she bought it directly from apple bee food. Food and liquor. You get BK's heart. Okay, food and liquor. When Bukari started talking about inflation, he was like the target and too tall. the white man too tall my dad went to Piggly Wiggly man, that's how I knew it was real, it was like we were talking, it was like, man, you saw the price of the barari vendors, it's The Breakfast Club, good morning, wake up that ass early. in the morning the breakfast club