The Breakfast Club - Best of full interview: Pastor Jamal Bryant On 40-Day Fast Against Target, Black America's Success, Politics + More

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

Best of 2025 - Pastor Jamal Bryant On 40-Day Fast Against Target, Black America's Success, Politics. Recorded 2025. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. I'm investigative journalist Melissa Jeltsin. My new podcast, What Happened in Nashville, tells the story of an IVF clinic's catastrophic collapse and the patients who banded together in the chaos that followed. It doesn't matter how much I fight. It doesn't matter how much I cry over all of this.

It doesn't matter how much justice we get. None of it's going to get me pregnant. Listen to what happened in Nashville on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news,

draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet, we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football. football podcast on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Radhi Dvlukaya, and I am the host of a really good cry podcast. This week, I am joined by Anna Runkle, also known as the crappy childhood fairy, a creator, teacher, and guide helping people heal from the lasting emotional wounds of unsafe or chaotic childhoods.

That talking about trauma isn't always great for people. It's not always the best thing. About a third of people who were traumatized as kids feel worse when they talk about it. Get very dysregulated. Listen to a really good cry on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hi, I'm Dr. Priyanko Wally. And I'm Hurricane DeBolu. On our new podcast Health Stuff, we demystify your burning health questions.

You'll hear us being completely honest about her own health. My residency colon was like a cry for help, honestly. And you'll hear candid advice and personal stories from experts who want to make health care more human. I feel like I never felt like I truly belonged in medicine. We want to make health less confusing and maybe even a little fun. Find health stuff on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Talking about guns with others might not always feel comfortable, but it could save a life. Here's a way to start a conversation. Your family is going over to your neighbor's home for dinner for the first time. How would you ask if there are any

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you by the Ad Council. Wake that ass up. Earl, in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ NV. J.S. Alaria. Charlamiae de Guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Lawlerosa is here. We got a special guests in the building. Yes, indeed. We have

Pastor Jamal Bryant. Welcome, brother. Thank you, sir. Good to be with y'all. How you feeling this morning? Feel great. Feeling good. You flew in this? I flew in last night. Oh, wow, wow. Okay, right after service? Right after service. Yeah. I was too scared. I was going to be delayed. Delta got a whole lot going on right now. So I came in last night, better safe than sorry. You know, you wanted the people who you actually use social media to spread the word and spread what you're doing in a great way. when did you realize that you had to start doing it? I think culture made it. The culture changes every four years.

Church culture changes every 20. So the average church is 15 years behind schedule. So to reach a younger demographic, I knew I had to hear that. Most churches, Charlemagne, broadcasts on Facebook. Most young people are on TikTok. So it's a great disconnect. So social media really is that bridge to make the church relevant to a generation that's disconnected.

And church called, you said church closed changes every 20 years? What's that look like? Well, by virtue of the fact that we're always running behind. So the average black church wouldn't even know what AI is. You have to think most churches didn't even stream until the pandemic. 3,000, 3,045 churches closed in the pandemic simply because they didn't have online given. Wow. They're still passing a plate and writing checks.

and don't know how to download. So a lot of our churches have got to really run up to speed. Wow. And how was that with the old congregation, the older congregation, and the younger congregation, with the TikTok and Facebook mesh? Right. It's really a changing of the guard. Right.

That church is, what was our grandmother's church with funeral home fans and fried chicken downstairs has shifted. And the newer generation may not come to a physical building. They may just strain. And so those who are in the old church said, oh, you ain't really doing it if you ain't in the building when we do everything online. So to say

that you're not really connected to God because you're streaming and not sitting on the pew is a disconnect of what the culture is and where we're going. What's your I mean, I know you get, you always get people that love you or don't love you. They're probably used to this. But what's your motto every day when

you're like, okay, I'm going to get up, I'm going to say something that people probably won't touch. Like, what's that motivating factor? Because sometimes, I think pastor stare away from stuff because they don't want controversy because they think controversy means that God is not within the house anymore. Yeah, there's an incredible book called The Courage to Be Disliked. There's a whole lot of people always live for other people's affirmation. John Maxwell said if you want to be like sell ice cream.

That's right. But if you add sprinkles, somebody going to be allergic to it. And so I think that the call to be great and the call to make a difference is realizing that you're going to go outside of the culture. When Dr. King was killed, his popularity was at its lowest. But now everybody got street signs and t-shirts. And a lot of times people don't recognize your greatness until after you make the impact. Mahat and Gandhi say, first they laugh at you, then they try to kill you, then they try to copy what you did.

And so once you find out how to be a frontiersman and to make that difference, it'll really free you from other people's opinion. I want to ask one more back to the church question. is a physical church necessarily needed, right? And the reason I ask that is, as you talk about the amount of people at DoStreem, right? Yeah. It's difficult to get out if you have a bunch of kids and everything that's going on in this world.

People are scared. Is it a physical church needed now? Absolutely. It is the power of unity. There was an article a couple of weeks ago how social media has made this the loneliest age. So people are connected online, but disconnected from people. So a lot of people are depressed.

a lot of people have anxiety, a lot of people have sleep disorder, a lot of people are confronting mental illness. But online, everything is up and we stuck. But I think that that sense of community, that sense of connectedness is still necessary. Before we get into the Target fast, I want to talk about Jesse Waters from Fox News, right? Yes.

Jesse Waters said you was racist. Yes. Because you criticized black people who went to the White House for the Black History Month program. Right. What do you say to that? That he clearly doesn't know what race. racism is because I wasn't talking about white people.

I was talking about black people who were having an identity crisis who were in there cheering for Black History Month under an administration that wants to make it illegal. No federal agency could honor Black History Month. So for them to have a program was absolutely crazy. And all the more, they raised up my picture, Charlemagne, after announcing who was the new FBI director. director. So for your own people to do that to you, I was calling them out. I don't know why he would call that racism as much as it was exposure. Black people don't have the capacity to be racist. I wonder why they did hold your picture up in the White House. Three of them. Shalman, you've been to the White House. No, I have. Yeah, you've been to the White House. Never in your life. He said he's not going there. Never, under nobody. No. Oh, wow. I've been to the Vice President House. Huh? I've been to the Vice President. Yeah, well, let's take

the vice president house. You're not going in the vice president's house with a picture or a sign. No. Holding up no stick. You barely can't get a backpack in there. So for them to have three pictures of me in the East Wing is absolutely crazy. Yeah. And I don't know. Jasmine Crackett is up there. Hakeem Jeffries is up there. Clivebun is up there. Why put my picture up? So I think it was a targeted attack. And so for them to assume I wasn't going to say anything was outlandish. You did call him the spooks who sat by the door, though. Yes. But that's a good thing. Yeah. To be a spook who sat by the door.

Yeah. In the context of the book. Was funny in Charlemagne. None of them Negroes read it. They didn't even know what I was talking about. I also called them as a runaway slave. Which is a good thing. And they didn't even understand the context of it because they're lost in their own misery of delusion. You also said, you reminded them that you ain't never scared.

You reminded them you from the west side of Baltimore And he told them they got a problem to pull up on you Has anybody reached out to you to have that conversation Or whatever that pull up you thought was going to do? No, they made videos. They don't have none of that in them. This was the society, this was the fraternity of Carlton Banks. None of them got that kind of DNA in them.

So they all went on and did social media posts. I don't even know if they knew what that meant. They needed a hood interpreter, a hood whisperer to tell them what it is that that meant. But they are so lost that they have that access to the president and didn't champion any of the needs of their own community. So while they're there celebrating Black History Month, they should have said to them,

hey, if we're going to celebrate it, we can't ban the books that record it. If we're going to celebrate it, then we can't penalize the public schools that want to teach it or fire the instructors who are really ambassadors for it. for them to have that access and that opportunity and not, in the words of Bishop Jacobs, maximized the moment with just a waste.

You're from Baltimore. How come you don't say church pew? Listen. Tell everybody from Baltimore don't have that slain. No, they do. They be all I say that. Oh, yeah, no. I'm local and global.

Okay. So I got out. You got out, but it's in like, period. Oh, yeah, it's a half and a half with wings. Period. No, I got it. All day long. I'm Baltimore through and through, but I spent time in Baltimore in Atlanta.

I went to Morehouse, then I went to Duke for grad school, and then I went back to Baltimore. And what's your relationship, like, with the black pastors who were also working with President Trump? Because I know you called them out before, too. Yeah. It was on their top. So is there, like, is there a working relationship? Because I think you do make points that people should listen to, and they're there. Yes.

No. It's Nikki Giovanni's ego tripping. A lot of people miss. what the assignment is because they want the proximity of power without even really having the real access of it. And so it's got to go beyond what is the photo op or a handshake to say, oh, I know the president. But now that you know them, what are you gonna do about it?

And so I think that there's a common ground for us to be able to meet, but you've got to make sure that you don't sell your own people out in the process. To your point, that's why I never wanted to go to the white house. Because it's just like for what? Like I'm not going just for a photo op, if I'm not presenting anything,

going with somebody who's presenting something. What's the point? I'm with you on the 50-yard line, but you represent too much people of influence who won't have that access. So when it is that you go there, this is an era, Charlemagne,

where you would have more influence than any head of any civil rights organization. More people are listening to you. I don't want to call the names of organizations than a lot of those organizations. Let's go a step further. We step outside of this room,

go now and ask people, who was the head? of this organization, head of that, they have no idea. And so I think that you've got to realize that the shaping of influence is different than the microphone

that you would have entree to get into those spaces. Would you meet with Trump? I would meet with Trump, but I wouldn't go by myself. I wouldn't go by myself. I'd have to take some credible people with me to, one, hold me accountable

so we can all say what happened in that meeting and two, to make sure y'all ain't going to play me like Zelensky. There ain't no way in the world you're going to have all them cameras rolling and then say you ought to be grateful to be here and how come you ain't got a suit on? Yes, you got to have some level of accountability in it.

Would you pray before you go in there? I pray before. I pray in there. I'd have a vial of my grandmother's oil in my pocket. Oh, no, all of that. But there's no way I would just go in there. How do you think he's, let's get you the hands of it? I think he did it.

What this administration has shown us is diplomacy is no longer honored. That was an argument in the barbershop. That was not world leaders talking about the devastation of hundreds of thousands of lives. So I give him high commendation that the argument should not be whether he had a suit on is what are you going to do about innocent children being bombed, about seniors who are living out in the street? And the question that he should have said, why do y'all have suits on when your people are fighting to get Medicaid? Why y'all got suits on when all of these students are getting ready to be robbed of scholarships from Pell Grants? Why y'all got suits on?

When the stock market is losing billions of dollars every day, everybody should be in overalls. So he should have flipped it, but I think he did it in as much decency intact as it could. I want to ask you, too, as a pastor, what makes you get involved in politics so much? Because I see a lot of pastors like to stay clear from that. Why do you like to get involved? Well, one, a lot of staying clear now. because they don't know what this administration is going to do. This administration has already said that they want to take away 501C3s.

They want to look at anybody who stands with Palestine as a terrorist organization. But I think that it's got to be revolution comes with inconvenience to know that it goes against the prick and you've got to stand on business. And to be a real profit is not you get a car, you get a house, you get money, A real prophet biblically was to confront the king and say, you're out of order. You're not doing this right. And I think that you're going to find a whole lot of people emerging, and there are people who are doing it. What has happened in the culture is we have confused notoriety with strength.

The most powerful preachers in every major city don't have megachurches, but they're in the community doing the hard work, but they don't have press conferences. They don't know the governor. They don't know the mayor. but the people in the community they serve honor and respect them. Let's talk about this, the 40-day fast of Target. Yes. And this is something that you're trying to put into play and why? I'm not trying.

You are putting into play. Yeah. So people are asking why did we pick Target when Walmart out of order, McDonald's is out of order, John Deere's out of order, Bank of America's out of order. Amazon is out of order. We wanted to go, the African proverb, says if you want to eat an elephant, do

one piece at a time. So we pick Target first for several reasons. Number one, Target is headquartered in the same city George Floyd was killed. When George Floyd was killed, Target came out, made an announcement that they're going to invest two billion

dollars in the black business. Two billion, drum roll, and it starts December of 2025. When Trump made the announcement, January of 2025, they dishonored that commitment. So we

wanted to hold them accountable because when they made the pleasure, it had nothing to do with DEI. Secondly, I am embarrassed Breakfast Club to say to you, Negro spend $12 million a day in Target. And I don't know any black business

that amasses that much money in any singular day. Is it 12 million a day? A day. Number three, Target is on 27 college campuses and not one HBCU. Number four, outside of the federal government, Target is the largest employer of black people.

There are 400,000 black people on payroll and don't honor us. So we're giving that kind of money, that much human capital, and to not honor us, I think, is dismally disrespected. And because they're publicly traded, we wanted to see what will happen in those, 40 days that shows the data. This is the impact when black people walk away and to share it with those share crops. So it will not just be 40 days, but every movement has to have a benchmark, has got to have a strategy, and you've got to have some data. Why are you calling it a fast

and not a boycott? Yeah. I called it a fast because this was a call to the black church to become active. Something happened silently that scholars and historians are going to have to pay a attention to the rise of black lives matter Charlemagne was the very first movement of civil rights for black people that was not birthed out of the church the very first civil rights movement that happened that didn't have a religious leader at the front and so the black church is going backwards

this is the largest demographic of black people since we've been in America who don't go to church at all who don't subscribe to organized religion. We're at 28%. The largest amount of black people who self-identify as atheists who say they don't believe in God, don't believe in nothing.

So this was a call specifically for black Christians to show the younger generation. Our head is not in the sand. We're a part of it, but we're aligning it with prayer. That those 40 days is the high holy season for the Christian community. we're praying because this is a spiritual warfare that we're under with J.D. Vance and Donald Trump with all of the things that are happening with these executive orders, marching is good, protesting is necessary.

Petitions are important. But if we don't bring a spiritual grounding to it, I think that we're going to miss it. During the Montgomery bus boycott, that lasts 381 days, what nobody talks about is for 381 days every night they went back to the church. I'm investigative journalist Melissa Jeltson. My new podcast, What Happened in Nashville, tells the story of an IVF clinic's catastrophic collapse and the patients who banded together in the chaos that followed. We have some breaking news to tell you about. Tennessee's Attorney General is suing a Nashville doctor. In April 2024, a fertility clinic in Nashville shut down overnight and trapped behind locked doors were more than a thousand frozen embryos.

was terrified. Out of all of our journey, that was the worst moment ever. At that point, it didn't occur to me what fight was going to come to follow. But this story isn't just about a few families' futures. It's about whether the promise of modern fertility care can be trusted at all. It doesn't matter how much I fight. Doesn't matter how much I cry over all of this. It doesn't matter how much justice we get. None of it's going to get me pregnant. Listen to what happened in Nashville on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Dr. Priyank Wally. And I'm Hurricane DeBolu.

On our new podcast Health Stuff, we demystify your burning health questions. You'll hear us being completely honest about our own health. I'm talking about very serious stuff right now, and you're laughing at me. And you'll hear candid advice and personal stories from experts who want to make health care more human. Sometimes you're there to live. Listen, to understand, to empathize, maybe to give them an understanding or a name for what's going on. That helps people a lot, understanding that it's not just in their head. We are breaking down the science, talking with experts, and sharing practical health tips you can actually use in your day-to-day life.

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Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, y'all, it's me, your man, M.G. Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael F. Liorio. And I'm Laquan Jones. If you're looking to win your fantasy football league, you need to tune in to the NFL fantasy football podcast. It's right there

in the name. Every week, Florio, LQ and I bring you the latest news from around the league. We break down every match give you our analysis and advice so you know who to start, sit, drop, and trade to bring that championship trophy home. I just want to remind everyone how good Rishie Rice was last season. And there's three healthy games. He was the wide receiver two in fantasy. I think Rishie Rice just goes off this week. The Chiefs come on a flip pass to Rice. This side, touchdown! Remindery Stevens is my sleeper this week. This is a matchup where I think I can slide in

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On my new podcast, The Unwanted Sorority, we weighed through transformation to peel back healing and reveal what it actually looks like, and sounds like, in real time. Each week, I sit down with people who live through harm, carried silence, and are now reshaping the systems that failed us. We're going to talk about the adultification of black girls, mothering as resistance, and the tools we use for healing. The unwanted sorority is a safe space, not a quiet space. So let's walk in.

We're moving towards liberation together. Listen to the unwanted sorority, new episodes every Thursday, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Danny Shapiro, host of the hit podcast Family Secrets. We were in the car, like a Rolling Stone came on, and he said, there's a line in there about your mother. And I said, what? What I would do if I didn't feel like I was being accepted is choose an identity that other people can't have.

I knew something had happened to me in the middle of the night, but I couldn't hold on to what had happened. These are just a few of the moving and important stories I'll be holding space for on my upcoming 13th season of Family Secrets. Whether you've been on this journey with me from season one or just joining the Family Secrets family, we're so happy to have. you with us. I'll dive deep into the incredible power of secrets, the ones that shape our identities, test our relationships, and ultimately reveal who we truly are. Listen to Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. For prayer. So I think that in the movement, you've got to have a faith entity intertwined in it in order for you to move forward. What do you say to some of the people that have black

products in Target that they say that, you know, because of this boycott, if a boycott happens, and people are stopping to go to Target, that is going to affect their products even more. I know we had the co-founders of Rucker Roots on the Breakfast Club, and we found the lit bar. And they were saying that if people don't come into the store, which Target is their hugest manufacturer, they're hugest buyers. So what happens to those products? Number one, the lip bar and all of those entities understand a new thing out called drop ship. you don't have to go in a physical store to help them.

Because of that, in foresight, we partner with the U.S. Black Chamber of Commerce. So every person that goes to Targetfast.org, within an hour, I send you a digital directory of 300,000 black businesses across the country. So we don't want those businesses to be adversely impacted. We want people to support them, but do it online. I can support the lip bar and not go. in the Target to do it. I can go online to do it. And so I think that as innovative and creative people, as black people are, let's do it online. We do everything else online. So let's support

them. And the 1,000 black vendors who are placed in Target, we're going to prominently place on the website so that you'll be able to find them quickly without any pause. I saw you, okay. So two things to what you're saying. So the first thing, when they were up here, they talked about the inventory and just how much money they have to put ahead to be in these stores that comes out of their own pocket that they will lose out on if people do not um if they're not supporting these like uh companies or whatever so even if you're buying it from their website because they're already in contract for this amount of inventory with a lot it to target they lose out they don't profit on that now yeah well that money has

already been spent a movement comes with inconvenience it came a that same argument happened in the Montgomery bus boycott the question was asked what do we do for the bus mechanic mechanics who were all black. So what they did is they pulled all of those bus mechanics out of Montgomery and set up garages at the churches. What nobody is talking about is four mechanic shops came out of it. So I understand that it's an inconvenience. I know we've got to go a different route.

But I would then say, that's up the ante. It's a business principle. Let's buy more to cover what is that loss. Companies take losses all the time. But a group of misguided preachers went in. into Target in Detroit and say, let's just buy black inventory and come out. You're still supporting Target.

So I think that we've got to come away, even if we've got to raise the price in order to make the balance, let's do it. One of the things that black people do wrong, whenever it is we're supporting black business, we always want a discount. Let's pay full price and support them. Let's not just do it with lip service,

but let's do it through the investment. I saw you. My last thing, to your point, of like just up in the ante online. Yes. The women from Rucker Roots talked about how majority. Ellen Sellers. Ellen, I'm sorry, I don't know how they named.

They're in front of me. I own Jameson. I own Jameson and Ellen Sellers talked about how even in Walmarts, majority of their clientele that they make a large amount of their money off of on those products, they don't have the access to the dot com. So being able to walk in, like, it's just different in some of the lower rural areas. So being able to walk into a Walmart or a target helps them as far as immature and creates access for those people. What about that?

Yeah, I think that we've got to ask ourselves what is the principle and is the principle more important than the profit? You've got a whole lot of churches who have space that is underutilized and underused. The fact that in 2025 we don't have a minority-owned retail space to direct people on says that we got to re-evaluate how we do business. So going into Target to buy whatever this product is, to say, hey, forget that they don't honor us, forget that they've disrespected to George Floyd family, forget that they are only allowing black people

on entry-level positions. Let's do it for lipstick. I think that we're losing the larger conversation. I want to see the sisters win. I want to see them do overwhelmingly well, but I think that we've got to get into a room and figure out how do we make it more accessible for those in rural areas.

I don't think that the answer is to keep shooting ourselves in the foot, and then ask for a chaos. Well, when we ever get there, Pastor, like, you know, we want to get there, right? When we ever own our own Target slash Walmart, what we ever own our own car manufacturer, where we ever own our own so we can rely on it,

it just seems like we're far stretched from that. Yeah, so one of the things that we're asking for Target to do and for all of the demands that we're asking of Target, please go to Targetfast.org. They're on 27 college campuses, but no HBCUs. I'm asking Target to partner with 10 HBCUs to show our businesses how to scale up and to go into the retail space. Reven Shopton is one of my mentors, but in the history of black people, we have never marched black people into a white business to say spend money here. So we got to figure out how it is that we really reroute and redirect so that we can create an ecosystem for us to be able to do.

I think that is possible, but there's a plan that has to be a foot in order to make it done. I don't have any problem with the boycott, but I don't have a problem with the bycott either. I just feel like, you know, people should do something. Agreed. If they're moved to do something. But I saw you repost the preachers who led their flock into the store to buy all the black products. Why did you feel the need to speak out against that? Read the room.

There's no way. But which room, though. Everybody's room different. No, no, no, no. Read the living room. Yeah, the Japanese proverb said The best room in the house is the room for improvement. You'll notice that it caught on nowhere.

Nobody thought that that was a good idea except for those pastes. I heard a lot of people talking about a buy cut. Yeah. In Target? Yeah. Oh, I missed that memo. Yeah, I heard a lot of people saying going there and buy all the black products. Yeah, don't do that.

Yeah, don't do that. I think that there's got to be a different way that we redirect. I think, to my sister's point, how do we support these businesses? To Envy's point, we don't have a major retailer. We're the most creative people. Y'all have brought everybody in him. Master P got on from selling from the trunk of his car. So I think that we've got to be innovative and put a think tank together,

say, Magic Johnson, you bought all these movie theaters. In a concession saying, can I now buy lipstick? I don't know the answer to it. But I think that we've got to figure out a way and figure out a path and figure out a tributary. I just don't want us to make the same mistakes that are generations, before us made. Meaning like, people would knock Martin Luther King,

Jr. for his methods. And you know, different organizations would knock each other and say, no, we should be doing it this way. We should be doing it that way. It's just like, as long as everybody's doing something, I feel like it all can be effective. In a sense, I'm gonna meet you on a 50 yard line. If you got beef with somebody, me and you are friends

and you find out who you got beef with, I'm at dinner with. You're like, oh man, I thought we was together. Oh, shall make, don't worry about it. It was just cheesecake. we didn't even talk about you you would look at me with a different kind of eye like hey man if we

in it together how are you carousing with the person who was against me and so I think that there's got to be a line in the sand of how it is that we stand without attacking each other I think that's where the rubber hits the road that can be many different paths

I spoke at a college last week in Michigan and I asked them who is the head of the LGBTQ movement. And all of these college students, nobody can answer it. And I said, do you all believe that LGBTQ has a movement? They said, yes. And I said, you don't know the head. I said, no. I said, that's the memo black people got to take. Have a movement without making one singular spokesperson. That what it is that we're doing can be rested on the back of the shoulder of one person being

the leader. So the movement doesn't have to be just Shopton or Jasmine Crockett or Maxine waters that all of us are moving towards that end, but it is not one entity against another. The reality is Malcolm X made Martin King a better leader because he questioned his philosophy and he had to defend it. And so I think one of the things that the Detroit pastors did made us sharpen the conversation as to why it is that we're not going. So it's not just a social media post or rai-rah moment, but there's something really tangible for us to argue. To that point, I feel like Malcolm was wrong for that. And the reason I say that is because Martin Luther King Jr. was doing real work in an area we needed him to do real work, meaning that he was building with John O'Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson to get actual legislation passed.

But we need somebody like Martin, I mean, Malcolm, raising hell in the streets. So to me, there was no reason for Malcolm to be calling out Martin and vice and versa. Yeah, I think it was calling out the philosophy. The students who were part of the civil rights movement before they could protest, before they could demonstrate. straight, they argued on the college campus with the professor. And they had to have practice. So if somebody spits on you, this is what you do. They try to pull you out from the lunch counter. This is what you do. The reality is we are no longer arguing philosophies. We're just arguing about people and personality on who I don't

like, who I agree with. But I think that iron sharpens iron in that space of arguing and articulating what we stand on and why there needs to be different tracks. My issue, there's not with people who argue against my methodology my issue is with those who don't believe in nothing who are just internet gangsters oh this ain't going to work

we ain't never going to stick together this thing's going to have no traction okay then what are you going to do how those people reached out to you and people that don't agree with what you're doing like those pastors that took their congregation into buy have you had those conversations so y'all can get on the same page and say some of the things

that you're talking about yes yes so as soon as I saw it because I know them. Three-fourths of them. I text him, hey, man, y'all on the wrong side of history. You said amen and you say, naked. It was a Sunday. It was a Sunday. It was a Sunday.

So I said, hey, man. I said, hey, man, you're on the wrong side of history. He texted me back and said, hey, this is what I thought process was. This is why it is that we did it. I said, it would have gone a whole lot further and better if you had the conversation before you went in there. So I went on a college campus and go

speak in Detroit. Wayne State, I come out of lecturing and the press is there and says, what do you think about these pastors going to Target? I said, what pastors? What are you talking about? The reporter showed it to me on the phone. And so that's when I got in it.

And I think that communication can solve a whole lot of issues on so many different levels, whether you're married or whether you go on political agendas. Silence is the worst thing that you can ever do. But when we learn how to talk to each other and discuss it, I understood where it is that they were coming from. Those pastors are now walking alongside us for the target phase.

But I think that communication is necessary. I also want to put on record that I think that is good for black people to be in a Republican Party. I don't think, oh, black should be Democrat. We need somebody else who is in there. But if you in there, you've got to. advocate for your people at the same time. I saw you say that Target has been trying to reach out to you.

Yes. But you, I'm going to talk to no diversity officer. You may not have a job next week. You reached out during Black History Mon. I don't know if you're going to make it to St. Patrick's Day. So I need somebody who got some job security and got some influence to make

a decision. I think this generation don't want symbolic wins. They want substantive strides. And if you're just doing there to say we met we talked all the street credibility is gone i need somebody who can make a decision and you got to ask envy what's in the mind of a CEO that can lose 12 million dollars a day and say i'm not me so the person that reached out to you felt had no influence yeah not enough influence got you yeah so you're going to send the black people out to talk to the black guy go talk

to the black guy we'll see what your people's mad about settle them down got you yeah no no no no i need to talk to the CEO or I need to talk to somebody who was on that board of Target or who can really help me understand where you are. And if you all are being punked by J.D. Vance and Trump, tell me that. And let's figure out how we can walk alongside each other. But we know that's what it is. Yeah, that's what it is. But tell me that. Yeah. When you, so I know that in talking about meeting, eventually, y'all want to have a conversation or there is something scheduled, right? You guys will be meeting June 12th in Minneapolis? That's when their stockholders meeting is. Oh, their shareholders meeting. Yes. Yeah. So we, we are planning on going there. I'm hoping that we have

resolved by then. That's what I was getting to. Yes. We can't wait till June. But June 12th and there now is an underground murmur that they don't even want to do an in-person shareholds meet. They want to do it by Zoom. Because they don't want you guys to show them. Yeah. Yes. But that's why it's important for you to have the data to show how this has been impacted, how much money you've lost in the stock, and what is at stake. So we wanted to take, uh, take, uh, take. take all of that to the shareholders meeting June 12th. You know there was a bunch of Target shareholders who filed a class action lawsuit against Target and they claim that Target artificially inflated stock prices and failed to warn investors

about how removing DEI and ESG, which is environmental, social, and governance policies could cause stock prices to plummet. And it also talks about how Target concealed the backlash and suffered from the Pride Month campaign after they removed the LGBTQ merchandise. And that's how they've been losing all of that money since. November of 2024. America's

worst nightmare is the marginalized unifying. If all of the different sectors came together

that's when you have real power. Fingers separated don't mean anything. Fingers together become a fist.

The poor people's campaign is what Dr. King was putting together just before he was assassinated.

He said the same poverty that's happening in Selma is the same poverty that's in the Appalachian

Mountains. What happened that really frightened J. Edgar Hoover against the Black Panther Party was they were unifying all marginalized people. So imagine if we're dealing with immigration, we don't allow the media to just make it a Mexican issue. Let's talk about the 500,000 Haitians who are unprotected. Let's talk about the Africans who are being deported.

Hear this family, who they're not even deporting back to Africa. They're in jail right now in Panama. And we're not doing anything or raising the alarm. If all of these factions come together, a sister out of Harvard University says for you to have a real revolution, you don't need 100%

participation. You only need 3%. If 3% of the population organized, you can shut any culture down, any government down, any society down. And what we're saying in these town hall meetings with these Republican senators and congresspeople is people

are waking up saying, hey, this and what I signed up for. This can't be the last train to Paris. Let me get out of here and change directions. So I think that you're getting ready to see a percolating in America of those who are marginalized that it is not just a race issue. It is a class issue. My last question for you, where are you at now numbers-wise?

Because I know you were looking to get 100,000 people by this Wednesday to 5th when it starts. We are at 110,000 people have come. And we did it before we ever got to the Breakfast Club. so now y'all we got to get to 150 we got we got to get to 150 because numbers is power it was important for me to have tangible evidence of how many people are standing behind us that is not just a post it's not just likes and shares but a hundred thousand people i can press a button and send the email to say hey we outside in target hey we're in Cincinnati so that the people at target know that we mean business that is not just uh symbolism, but there's substance behind it. How can people get behind you? Go to targetfast.org. It's just one word.

There you'll see what is our list of a demands. When it is that you sign up for Target Fast, I'm going to send you a digital directory to those 300,000 businesses. And even for those of you who don't go to church or watch online, I'm going to send you a daily prayer devotional so that you can stay focused, no pun intended, so you can stay on target

for what it is that we're trying to get done. All right. Well, we appreciate you for joining us this morning. Again, that's Targetfast.org. And thank you so much, brother. Man, thank you. And when y'all come to Atlanta, I'm coming through. I ain't even got a ticket. I'm coming. Well, yeah, he came,

Pastor Jamal. It's popped up to my Black Effect Podcast Festival. I'm coming this year. I want to come to New Birth, man. You got to come. I want to come one Sunday and check it up. Yeah, you got to come. Absolutely. It's room at the cross. Hey, let me say this to you. I'm from Baltimore. Do you know the first place I ever had Crabs? Charleston, South Carolina.

Monk's Corner. Monks Corner. Okay. Monks Corner, AME Church. After James? Blake, just back in the 80s. All right, okay.

It was the first place that I ever had crape. My family's from Georgetown, South Carolina. Okay. So we used to come down there every summer. But Baltimore,

was the first time you had crabs and you from Baltimore? Was they better than Baltimore? No, never. Never. Let's not go too far. I was not going to draw it up. I was just doing trauma bonding

with Charlotte. No, no. No, Baltimore was the home of crate. My crab ain't no trauma? It's trauma that I had to do it in South Carolina before I headed in Boston. It's amazing. thing. It's great. It's amazing. It's great. Just not as good as Baltimore, but it's good.

Thank y'all. Pastor Jamal, Brian, it's the breakfast club. Good morning. Wake that ass up. Earl's in the morning. The Breakfast Club. I'm investigative journalist Melissa Jeltson. My new podcast, What Happened in Nashville, tells the story of an IVF clinic's catastrophic collapse and the patients who banded together in the chaos that followed. It doesn't matter. how much I fight, doesn't matter how much

I cry over all of this, it doesn't matter how much justice we get. None of it's going to get me pregnant. Listen to what happened in Nashville on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Fulrio, and together we host

the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast. You're ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet, we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm Dr. Priyankowali. And I'm Hurricane DeVolu. On our new podcast Health Stuff, we demystify your burning health questions. You'll hear us being completely honest about our own health. My residency colon was like a cry for help, honestly. And you'll hear candid advice and personal stories from experts who want to make health care more human. I feel like they never felt like I truly belonged in medicine. We want to make health less confusing and maybe even a little fun.

Find health stuff on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Radhi Dvluca and I am the host of a really good cry podcast. This week, I am joined by Anna Runkle, also known as the crappy childhood fairy, a creator, teacher, and guide helping people heal from the lasting emotional wounds of unsafe or chaotic childhoods. But talking about trauma isn't always great for people. It's not always the best thing. About a third of people who are traumatized as kids feel worse when they talk about it. Get very dysregulated.

Listen to a really good cry on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Talking about guns with others might not always feel comfortable, but it could save a life. Here's a way to start a conversation. Your family is going over to your neighbor's home for dinner for the first time. How would you ask if there are any unlocked guns in the home? Hey! Hey, we're so excited for tonight. Before we come over, though, may I ask if there are any unlocked guns in your home? Our guns are stored securely, locked in a safe that the kids can't access. Awesome. Learn how to have the conversation at Agreetoagree.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council. This is an I-Heart

podcast. Guaranteed Human.