The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Don Peebles On His Mission To Build Affirmation Tower, Black Economic Progress + More

Episode Date: June 28, 2024

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Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey y'all, Nimany here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, The Story Pirates, and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop. Flash, slam, another one gone. Bash, bam, another one gone. The crack of the bat and another one gone. The tip of the cap, there's another one gone. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history.

Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. And it began with me. Did you know, did you know? I wouldn't give up my seat. Nine months before Rosa, it was Claudette Colvin. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records.

Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wake that ass up. In the morning. The Breakfast Club. Yep, Charlamagne Tha God, Jess Hilarious. DJ Envy is not here right now, but we have a very special guest, man. He's an entrepreneur.

He's an author. He's done people, y'all. Okay. All right. He does a little bit of everything, but happy to have you here, sir. Great to be here, man. How are you? Great.

I'm doing great. Now, Mr. Don, I don't know you, so who is Don Peebles? I am a real estate developer and entrepreneur. I'm from Washington, D.C. I was born and raised in D.C. and part in Detroit. I started my company when I was 23 and I build office buildings and I build hotels and condos around the country from Boston down to Miami and then Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vegas. And right now I am trying to build what will be the tallest

building in the Western hemisphere called Affirmation Tower right here in New York City. Out of all these skyscrapers, not one of them is built by a black developer. In fact, the reason I came to New York is back in 2009 or so I was having drinks with Reverend Sharpton at the Havana Club. And he looked out the window and he said, come over here. What do you see? And I said, I see all these tall buildings. He said, well, what don't you see? And I said, I don all these tall buildings. He said, well, what don't you see? And I said, I don't know. And he said, not one of them is owned by one of us. So you need to do something about it. So I came here, started a business here and built some buildings here,

just finished a luxury condo building downtown in Tribeca and decided that I would build a building that reflected economic empowerment for our people. And so I call it Affirmation Tower. I partnered with two other black developers because it needed to be black owned. So 80% black owned, being built by a woman led, black woman led contractor. Cheryl McKissack. Cheryl McKissick. McKissick. Exactly. McKissack. Exactly. And that America promises us equal access to economic opportunities, so this building is going to reflect that, that the first skyscraper ought to be the biggest, and it ought to be the best.

And so we're also going to help Reverend Sharpton and those who fought in the Civil rights movement to have a legacy. We're building a civil rights museum there that Reverend Sharpton and his foundation will lead. And then we're going to make it a symbol and an environment of economic opportunity for our people. Two hotels, apartments, condos, and also I'm building 40 percent affordable housing there, too. Yes. You know, it's very important to note. hotels, apartments, condos, and also I'm building 40% affordable housing there too. Ah, yes. You know, it's very important to note, and you said it already, but I just want to say it in a way people will really understand. You are the most successful black real estate developer in American history, right?

That's safe to say. I guess, yeah. I'm working on it every day. I'm working on trying to make it so that there's, you know, that there's, it's easier and there's so many more of me. And that's really, you know, if I ever have a legacy, it'll be, I'd like it to be that there's many, many, many more people like me who have had an opportunity to come out here and be successful.

And you've been on Breakfast Club before. You've been on Breakfast Club with Miss Cheryl McKissack. So this isn't your first time. So I like when we get to amplify people like you simply because, you know, a lot of our audience, they know how to get money one way, right? And a lot of times that way is entertainment, athletes, not everybody want to be an influencer nowadays.

So I love when we can sit down and have conversations with people like you who've created real wealth and haven't done any of those things. Yeah, I mean, you know, in fact, I was an athlete in high school but i don't believe good enough pardon me i don't believe that oh my god i'm a basketball player didn't grow anymore though i got to be about six foot three when i was 12 and then popped another inch okay i realized also that i could never make myself into Michael Jordan no matter how hard I worked etc but I can make myself into one of the greatest business people around and that's what I tell people young middle

age old the thing about business and entrepreneurship is you can make yourself better every day you get better every day you can work and you can make yourself into a great entrepreneur. And that's the beauty of this. And the real estate business has an industry of low barriers. But if you look at where the real estate business is, it's the major cities around the country where the money is made. And who has a big influence about the politics of major cities around the country? Us, black people. So if we could exercise our political power to create economic power,

we would change the plight of our people. And that's what I try to do in our business. Who planted that seed in you early on, the seed of entrepreneurship? My mother. You know, my mother probably, I mean, you know, used to tell me that I wasn't cut out to work for somebody else and that I was, you know, more, you know, cut to tell me that I wasn't cut out to work for somebody else and that I was, you know, more, you know, cut out to do something different. And that, you know, that people who came before me

fought hard so that I could have a shot and I had to go out and take it. And she was actually, when I quit college after my freshman year, she was the only person in my family who actually really had the confidence that I would actually make something out of my life. So you dropped out as a freshman? Yep, after my freshman year. And what was you majoring in? I was going into pre-med. I was in pre-med, so I was going to be a doctor. And after my first year, I changed my mind. I didn't want to go into medicine because I was going into it for the wrong reason, for economic security. My mother and I had our ups and downs. And she was in the real estate business. So I learned entrepreneurship from her and I learned the headwinds that she faced, not just as a black person, but as a black woman.

I mean, the headwinds that she confronted were tremendous. And so a big part of what I wanted to do as a business person is to create an environment so that people like my mother got a fair chance and got an opportunity when you had a talented person willing to work hard that you embrace that as a business. And so I wanted to create that kind of environment and knock down some of those barriers that she confronted and that my father and my grandparents did. And so I felt I could do that through business because I can use entrepreneurship as a tool of transformation. I mean, if we end up building Affirmation Tower, it will be a transformative project in so many different ways. I mean, it's been recognized by our Architectural Digest

as one of the most important buildings of our generation. And many other organizations and publications have recognized it because of what it stands for. And I think that's what I've tried to do. I've tried to build buildings that make money, but they stand for something and they mean something. And so how we build our buildings is much more important as to what we build because we try to build our buildings where we're giving people who are super talented a chance. And unfortunately, that sounds very simplistic, but unfortunately, in our economy, in this country, everybody who deserves

an opportunity doesn't get a chance, especially when it comes to black Americans. And that's one of the things I'm concerned about is that the politics have begun to move beyond us, and we can't let that happen either. What has been the biggest obstacle with Affirmation Title? I think getting the governor of New York to actually make a decision to sell us a site. We have proposed, this is the second time now, we have proposed a price and a project a couple years ago, and then Andrew Cuomo had to leave office. And so Hochul came in, canceled it, and then reissued a request for proposals. We've done that, and we're in that process. So that's the biggest obstacle. You know,

good news is, is that we've been able to raise the capital to do it. It's a $3 billion development. And so I think that, you know, it should be a no-brainer, in my view, because we're a very qualified team with the resources to do it. But also, New York owes our people a civil rights museum. It owes our people economic opportunity. and young men and women to walk into a skyscraper from not just New York but all around the country when they come to New York and go into that building and know it was built by people like them. And that's why we call it Affirmation Tower because this promise needs to be affirmed,

this promise of equality economically. This country needs to affirm it. And I think that Governor Hochul owes her election to black voters. She, you know, had a tough race against a Republican and we carried her over the finish line. Now time to, to acknowledge that we have a role in New York city's economy. She listens. Governor Cathy listens. Hopefully she's hearing this right now. You said something interesting. You said you feel like politics is moving past black people.

Expound on that. Well, so if you think about this discussion about DEI right now, let's rewind a moment. This country was built with 249 years of free labor from black people. Industries that had no economic viability were built by us. That gave America the wind in its sails to propel it to have the power economically to be the greatest country in the world. Then another 100 years of extreme oppression. So finally, in the late 1960s, Richard Nixon created an office of minority businesses and minority contracting.

And there were two beneficiaries, actually three, black Americans, Native Americans, which were then called American Indians, and Alaskans. That was it because the country owed them and all of us a debt. Native Americans, because they stole the land from them and put them in these reservations and just decimated their culture. They kidnapped our ancestors and brought them here. So that should have stopped there, and the country should have done right by us by giving our young people better access to education, better health care, better opportunities for economic opportunities,

and access to home ownership and to build wealth. And what happened is, over time, this was used as a political kind of patronage or carrot. So it included Latinos, it included Asian Americans, other people who voluntarily came here, just like the Irish and the Italians, looking for a better life, and they got it here. And they owe America a debt. America doesn't owe them a debt. So to place them in the same status when it comes to access to opportunity as black Americans is insulting and offensive and it's hurt us and think about this and the wealth disparity in this country between blacks and whites was greater in 2018 than it was in 1968 when dr. King was killed the income

disparity was greater in 2018 and when dr. King was assassinated in 68. Home ownership rates were higher for our people in 1968 than 2018. And then, of course, all of these three statistics, they're worse today. So we're not making progress. And the Democratic Party has taken us for granted. Absolutely. They believe that because we're black, Joe Biden, Senator on your program, can't make up your mind between me and Trump, you ain't black. Who is he to determine who's black or not?

It's funny, I was at a performance last night called 44, the unofficial story. We were there. I was there. I was there. I took a brother who is actually Charles Payne who's on Fox

and he joined me. I saw Charles. Yeah. I didn't talk to him, but I saw him wandering in the back. I didn't see you, though. Yeah, no, I was sitting right next to him. I came in right before the performance and took my wife and daughter. But that character of Joe Biden was right on point.

But the party has, we've delivered. Joe Biden would be in Delaware looking at the water as a private citizen for black people. You know, Jim Clyburn and the South Carolina voters saved him in the Democratic primary. And then we delivered the election to him, you know, in the general election. And what is he doing for us? You know that to start a business, you need capital. Normally that comes from a business, you need capital. Normally that comes from venture capital, private equity. Our young guys, young people, young boys and girls

who are coming up with these tech ideas, they need venture capital. Aspiring real estate entrepreneurs, they need capital. There's $87 trillion currently invested in venture capital and private equity in this country, 87 trillion. Out of that, less than 1.25% go to businesses started or run by women and people of color combined. The statistic of how much money black people get as access to that is less than a quarter of 1%. But we represent 14% of this country's population.

All you got to do is look at the 4,400, three black people. Okay. There should be, I mean, if we were in a meritocracy, right, then we should be looking at somewhere of about, you know, and, and what is that? Uh, uh, we'd be 52, 52, um, black people in the 4,400. So we don't have a meritocracy because they keep our young people illiterate when it comes to financial literacy. They don't teach us skills in school. It's all kind of designed to keep us where we are. They tell us about European history. We got to, our kids have to waste their time on listening to what happened or learning

about what happened 300 years ago in Europe. And then don't tell them who they are and where they came from. So I think that we got to start practicing politics. Like Henry Kissinger practiced American foreign policy. Henry Kissinger said America has no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent interest. And that's what we have to do. And our interest is economics. We cannot keep carrying this disproportionate burden of poverty. And then when somebody tries to fight to change it, I mean, Eric Adams trying, I mean, trying to keep our community safe, trying to provide economic opportunity, and then gets overwhelmed with all these migrants and had the nerve to complain about

it. So he complained about it. And then what happened? The Biden administration targets him for investigation and goes and confiscates his cell phone and his iPad when he comes out of an event. And that's just sending a message. Oh, so you think that was directly related to him complaining about the migrant situation? Yeah, I think challenging Biden. Wow.

Because Biden's candidacy is so weak. And so they can't afford to have anybody step out against him. And I think they took their shot at Eric because he was saying, wait a minute, you're going to force me to take resources away from people in New York who need it to take care of these people.

You won't let me put them to work and you won't stop them from coming here and you won't put up any money. It's destroying our city. And he spoke out about it and asked for help. And by the way, the most dependable place for Democrats is California and New York. And now they're going to mess that up because he said, okay, well help me. And they wouldn't help him. In fact, their response was shortly thereafter, they confiscated his cell phone and so forth, raided his campaign finance person's house. I mean, you can subpoena that stuff.

They did that to send a message to him. So Biden weaponized the justice system against our own eric adams eric adams jesus christ black man who's who's leading the city and remember he talked about running for people were talking about him running for president when he first came in remember and and so they send i mean they they they don't want anyone to get out of line and that's i mean the reality is think think about it. I just gave you this statistic. Let me tell you another one.

There's 165 asset managers who manage the federal government's pension system. Three black firms out of 165. Three. And Biden's in there now. And also, he's got to account for the 1994 crime bill. I mean, he just... Absolutely. I mean, you talk about what wrecked havoc on our young people

and our people overall and led to this mass incarceration with that bill. And the 86 mandatory minimum sentencing, too. Yes, that's right. People forget about that one. That's right. Mandatory. That's one thing that people forget. When he was here in the whole You ain't black conversation you know i started talking

to him about the 94 crime bill and asking him did that lead to mass incarceration and he goes no it was the 86 mandatory minimum sentencing i'm like well you were ahead of you taking lead on that one too yes so he is absolutely one of the architects of mass incarceration yeah this is what it is and i don't know why people get upset when we bring that truth up. It's because they're scared because the Democrats know they can't win. By the way, here's what they're afraid of. Richard Nixon in 1968

got 29% of the black vote. I'm sorry, Richard Nixon in 1960. Let me get it right. 1960 got 29% of the black vote against John Kennedy. Joe Biden's not John Kennedy. Now, Donald Trump got 8% first election, 12% the next one he's polling in the 20s. I think those numbers, people, they're dismissing this.

I think those numbers are real. I think they're overstating. I think it'll be an uptick. I don't know. I can't see 20, 22%. I mean, I think people will less likely vote. They may not vote at all. I think the challenge is, is what kind of compelling message can this man give us to

vote for him? Locked us all up i mean i had a stepbrother who spent most of his you know many i mean many years in jail because he was sick he had a drug problem and and they weren't saying hey he's got an illness they locked him up and when he you know when he after his third or fourth time he was in for a long time over a nothing kind of crime because he was a sick man. And but people, I mean, when it came to our people, it was it was a crime. And now with these opioid issues and so forth, it's an illness. Right. It's a disease. Always been a disease.

So I just think that the Democratic Party, how do we let, how do people serve in Congress? I mean, I chaired the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Board, and I tried to get everybody to start focusing on economic reciprocity, like Kwezi and Fumey started when he was at the NAACP. So the last four years of Obama's term, I chaired the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Board, which is the think tank of the African-American members of Congress. And to get them to focus. Let's leave some of these social issues for a moment.

Let's focus on economics. And if we can get our people in a better place economically, then we move forward. But if you look at our system, it is funded by those who want to keep the status quo. And now you have this backlash against DEI. Think about what's happening in the country now. They're saying that diversity, equity, and inclusion is not a good thing. Now, look, I think it's too broad of a lens, and I think it

should be focused on black Americans and Native Americans, period, end of the story. And that's what it should be. And we shouldn't't the fact that our black politicians actually allowed our chance of fairness or equity or reciprocity to get diluted by including everybody who happened to be you know non-white and and then many latinos identifies white anyway so this country doesn't owe anybody a debt other than black Americans and Native Americans. Everybody else owes the country a debt. And they got to pay it. But the fact that they ignore us economically is a big problem, frankly. You know, John O'Brien, who I love, he said that DEI is the only way for America to continue to grow.

So you have to teach black people and brown people. You have to teach them financial literacy because there's not enough educated, what is it? Educated college, college educated white men to keep the GDP where it needs to be in the future. So you're going to have to teach black and brown people those skillsets to, to, to thrive in this economy.

I agree with John. John's a very good friend of mine and I agree with him. However, I think that the untapped resource in America are black people. The most untapped resource in... Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together.

You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout? Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real, inspiring stories from the people you know, follow, and admire, join me every week for Post Run High. It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy, and very fun. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So y'all, this is Questlove, and I'm here to tell you about a new podcast I've been working on with the Story Pirates and John Glickman called Historical Records. It's a family-friendly podcast. Yeah, you heard that right. A podcast for all ages. One you can listen to and enjoy with your kids starting on September

27th. I'm going to toss it over to the host of Historical Records, Nimany, to tell you all about it. Make sure you check it out. Hey, y'all. NIMINI here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Historical Records brings history to life through hip hop. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history. Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records.

Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. America are black men. We are not utilized efficiently. We are not given the skill set and the tools to provide for our families and to help make our country better. And so that's where I don't, I do not, I no longer believe the DEI, and I never did, frankly, believe the DEI should be anything other than black Americans and Native Americans. And I think if we did that, it's a case that you can present

and stand in any room and say, because no one's going to argue. I gave a speech in front of CEOs and executives over at, you know, one of these clubs, I think it was the Harvard Club or Banker Club, one of these two, about a month ago. And I talked about this, and I said, let me tell you something, that this country owes black Americans a debt, and here's why. And people afterward came up to me, thanked me, and agreed during the Q&A period. I mean, there was an agreement there. But when you say that

somebody just voluntarily immigrated here eight years ago, and they get to cut in front of the line, too, people push back on that. Now, look, there's racism in this country, so no matter what we do, some people won't support it. But this country needs black Americans to be in the economic mainstream and send our people to college. But then, you know, you think about it. Again, I hate to bash Joe Biden, but look what he said at Morehouse College. He's not bashing. You're just criticizing. I'm criticizing.

I don't know why black people are afraid to criticize the Democrats. You're right. He went to Morehouse College and gave this commencement address after these young men worked for four years, busted their butt to go and get an education, work hard, study hard, and go out here with some sense of optimism

and told them America wasn't there for him. And I said, what the heck is he talking about? He's probably telling the truth, unfortunately, but he's in charge. He's the president.

And I said, where's the hope? Right. And I remember Obama went there and gave a commencement address. I went and looked it up. He said, no better time in America for you than now. It ain't going to be easy. The people who came before you was hard for them, harder for them. And they were able to get through it. You can. But it's about optimism. But Biden tells people and the Democrats got to stop telling us that Trump is so bad or the Republicans are so bad. They should be saying, look what we've done. We deserve another term because of what we have done. We've delivered. Not this person's so bad or he's a convicted felon or this or that. It's about what they have done.

And they've shifted this narrative to being able to sell their inferior product to us by saying that the other product's worse. Don, I say that all the time. I literally say all the time, they have to stop focusing on talking about how bad Donald Trump is and just tell us about the good you've done. I get mad at liberal media

because liberal media will spend all day on their programs all day on their social media talking about trump you're not changing nobody's mind about trump that already supports trump but tell me about the good that the biden administration has done and then maybe black people we won't be sitting around saying what are they doing for us right what have they done we know if you tell us yeah you're exactly right and and that they spend all that time if they could spend time educating the country about the disparities and the obstacles that black Americans go through, there would be greater support for DEI. But what's happening is they're going along with this stuff. And then just, again, vilifying Trump. And you can't, I mean, if we're going to move forward, we got to expect someone to say, hey, what they're doing for us.

Right. And I think that's where, you know, we are allowing this to shape. And we got to hold these black politicians accountable, too. They're not Democrats first. They're black first. That's right. And, you know, because before they were ever a Democrat, they were black and they were elected by black people to come to Washington to advocate for them or to go into

office and advocate for them. And one of the few political leaders that I think is actually doing that is Adams. I mean, Adams, you know, gave gave us press conference a couple of weeks ago and talked about how chocolate his administration was. And they started criticizing him for that. So, I mean, we need to demand better from ourselves. And it's not enough, by the way. One of us gets successful. I mean, my success would mean nothing if I didn't create an environment of opportunity for other black people.

I would be worse than a white successful business. People shouldn't celebrate me or any other business person based on us making some money for ourselves. It's what have we done to impact our community to move it forward. I mean, and we can't just celebrate because, hey, somebody made some money. That's not what this is about. And we don't get that right to say, hey, I'm successful.

I'm going to focus on my family. I'm going to focus on my business. We got a broader responsibility. And if we start owning, if everybody owns up to this and we hold people accountable, then, you know, I think we make some progress. Look, people don't like,

I mean, I deal with this, I think we make some progress. Look, people don't like, I mean, I deal with this where these bankers and these private equity funds and so forth don't like me and don't want to invest in our projects because of what I say. That's okay. I'm not going to be silent about what I believe in. And I think people need to do that and think about the other communities that advocate for their people. Think about Jewish Americans who are advocating for Israel right now. They're not bashful about it. There's no repercussions on it either. But if we advocate for ourselves, if we challenge a system, there are ramifications on us. And we've got to stop that.

What are the conversations like behind closed doors? I mean, I know that you're active in politics. I'm sure that you donated to a lot of campaigns. So when you're having these conversations with these elected officials behind closed doors, what are they saying back to you? First, they say most of them will say, wait a minute, Trump, what are you going to do? You can't vote for Trump. Trump's horrible. And I'm like, well, you're paying into the narrative.

What I'm telling you is that the Democrat leadership has to come forward with doing things for our people, helping us move forward. And it's not, I mean, you can no longer try to make us comfortable in poverty. I mean, that's really what it is. It's just being comfortable in poverty. It's like I say these, I mean, I look at, I mean, what did Malcolm X say? Malcolm X said that it wasn't the conservative white that he was worried about that would do us in.

The moderate liberal. It was a white liberal who would befriend us and convince us that they were our friends and get us to vote for them. The fox and the wolf, you call it. Yeah, but also you've got to think about how far back we go, right? So in the 1960s and so forth, I mean, we were in the 50s, we were treated so badly. Our parents, our grandparents were treated so badly. So to be nice to us or respectful or polite to us was such a big leap based on what they were dealing with. But we're beyond that now.

Being nice to us and polite to us isn't enough. And we need, we got this, see, I don't think Joe Biden believes that any of us in this room have the same aspirations as our white counterparts. And that we don't have the same aspirations for our children as our white counterparts do. I think he believes that our dreams have a ceiling to them. And that our ambitions are tapered. And and that's where the problem is. And I think this paternalistic approach to us is is just wrong. And I think we've got to start holding them accountable and make them compete for our support by results. To me, that that is just plain common sense. and it bugs me out when people don't see

that people will come to me and be like why are you so critical of the democrats why are you so critical of of biden and i'll be like why aren't you why aren't you like what are you seeing that i'm not seeing yeah i mean look i think that i think if you look at Barack Obama, he was a transformative president because of who he was and what he stood for. But he focused a lot on trying to be president for everybody. And so criticizing him, I think, was off limits publicly. And so we would go to him or his people privately. But Biden and others who follow, now's the time, okay, you've got to compete for our support just like you compete for everybody else. That's right. They go to these rich donors and say, hey, we're going to protect carried interest for private equity firms.

Don't worry. We're going to maybe raise taxes a little bit. We're going to protect carried interest. And they keep giving them money. So they give and take. Our votes make presidents. We got to use that leverage and that power to get things to move our community forward so that we no longer carry this disproportionate burden of poverty. We should not stop until we have 50 plus members of the Forbes 400. We should not stop, you know, until we are on par with everybody else on income, net worth, and home ownership. I mean, home ownership is where most Americans build their

wealth. Look at where we are. But we can't stop. And also, we can't. The Democratic Party told us. They made a choice. They supported the teachers' union over charter schools. Charter schools better educate our young people. It's clear as day. Anywhere in the country, here in New York City, you can look at Success Academy, you can look at so many other places. So either the public school district systems have to do better educating our kids

or they've got to compete for enrollment. But the teachers union is against that. And so the Democrats consistently side with them. The only ones that stood up, Cuomo and Eric Adams. Wow. You know who you're voting for in November? I don't. OK.

I don't right now. I mean, it'd be very hard for me to vote for Biden right now. I really feel that he owes us an explanation and he owes us some concrete. If he stepped up and said, I'm going to do this, this, this, this, this, and I'm starting right now, start signing executive orders. Look at all these executive orders he signs for everything else. Signs them for us. Mandate that public employee pension systems that benefit from tax-exempt status have to invest their money in a manner in which it's reflective of population demographics or the demographics of their pension beneficiaries. Think about it. Many of these government employees disproportionately are black and can't even get access to our own money. So if he did things like that, then I could look differently. And I really, I need the Democratic Party overall. I've been a lifelong Democrat. I need them to step up and start fighting for us. That's right. And they're just not doing it. And fighting for us by proposing legislation in the Congress and proposing legislation in these cities.

Do you know that black contracting in major cities in the U.S., like D.C., for example, Marion Barry in 1980 made a requirement that at least 35% of all contracts went to black-owned businesses. You want to know what that requirement is today? 20% and it's local disadvantaged businesses. 20% local disadvantaged businesses. Lost 15%. Think about that.

And so if you look around the country, look at Detroit. Who's rebuilding Detroit? Not black people, white people. Who's getting the economic benefit? So these politicians can't keep doing this to us and getting our vote. You said it'd be hard for you to vote for Biden. Would it be hard for you to vote for Trump?

It would be hard for me to vote for Trump, but I would do business with Trump if he were trans. If Donald Trump said, I'm going to do this, this, and this, then I would do that. What I'm doing right now, I'm going to do this, this, and this, then I would do that. What I'm doing right now is I'm putting together a group of black business people, and we are going to ask to meet with President Biden, and we're going to ask to meet with President Trump,

and we're going to have an agenda, and we're going to ask them to tell us where they stand on this agenda and what they would do to move this agenda forward and then make an informed decision on what we do so even with the history well i'm about to say even with the history of trump but i mean biden has a history as well yeah i mean i mean again you know they i was talking to somebody about trump the other day and they said well what about the central park five? It's a horrible thing. I mean, and he was reactionary, quick to rush to judgment, and so forth.

It's a horrible thing. Joe Biden's responsible for 500,000 black men in jail. What about an attempted coup of the country? Are Trump saying, I want to terminate the Constitution and overthrow the results of the election? I mean, that's a disturbing thing, but these are words. And in reality, I mean, words, you know, that only gets implemented if our government, Congress,

and everything else went along with it. So I think the problem with him is that he's erratic. And by the way, and the Democrats should be scared to death because the next Republican is probably going to be a bit more measured and a bit more, you bit more in control of themselves, and they're going to have a message to our people because what's going to happen is they're seeing that we are receptive. And now that they see us as receptive and not going to write us off,

they'll start competing for our vote, as they should. And so I think, look, Dr. King Sr., Martin Luther King Sr. was a Republican. The first Democrat he endorsed was John Kennedy in 1960. And that was because of some of the things that Kennedy did during the Civil Rights Movement. And that was when there was a bit of a shift between for black voters to go more Democratic. So we should be just bipartisan. We should be, again, supporting those who support us. Our agenda is economic opportunity.

They're not locking up rich black men and women on a regular basis. They're not attacking people in that way. So if we have more economic power, we can protect our own people. They're not attacking people in that way. So if we have more economic power, we can protect our own people. We can give environments of opportunity. And that's what needs to happen. But it has to happen fast. It's way overdue.

What do you say about conservatives who are gutting things, getting rid of things like the DEI programs, or attacking affirmative action-type programs? What would you say to that? Well, I think that we gave them the opportunity. Democrats served it up to them because, again, it's too broad. I mean, it includes Asian Americans. It includes Latino Americans.

I mean, it includes so many people who voluntarily immigrated to this country. But they're attacking it because it includes us. Well, I think you've got to put it back to them. I think think black people are to fight for ourselves. Hey, this should only be for us and Native Americans. That's what it was intended for. This country only owes us and Native Americans a debt. So let's close DEI to make it just reflective of that. This country did not do anything. It didn't enslave Latinos. It didn't enslave Asians. I mean, this country owes black Americans a debt for building it financially for free. So I think the answer is we got to narrow it back to what it belongs to and then fight that fight. And that fight is winnable and people will

be persuadable. There's races in this country and there are anti-Semitic people in this country and that will be for a long time, probably forever. We're not going to persuade them. But I think there's other people you can persuade based on the facts. And I wonder why these liberals have ignored our economic interests. And are they the ones who want to keep us, you know, in a subordinate and subservient position so that we're controllable? Because that seems like it to me, they want a controllable constituency,

but they do nothing for us. I mean, everybody gets something. Gay community got all these things. I mean, you look at it, they're fighting again on reproductive issues, right? I mean, they're fighting on on reproductive issues right i mean they're fighting on these other issues but when it comes to us they're not willing to fight they're just scaring us hey trump's a racist the republicans are racist and you don't have any choice but us

and we aren't going to do anything for you but we're not going to be racist and we're going to be nice to you that's not enough wow don people's ladies and gentlemen uh don you you want to give some information where they can follow you on instagram, Twitter? I don't think you're on there that much. No, I'm on Instagram, RDPeebles on Instagram. And, you know, and I'm on Twitter as well, Don Peebles. But and I'd like to get people's thoughts because I do, you know, I want we we need to be working together and building our army about change. That's right. And supporting you. I mean, the fact that you are willing to say something that all of us should be saying is by criticizing inaction of our party, who we've delivered for, who hasn't delivered for us. I mean, we got to all join in this because if we do, then they're going to listen

and we're going to get results. If we, and again, this whole idea of dividing us, that's another thing, kind of take away our power collectively. So we work together here. We can change things. It's a great time to change things.

I agree. It's Don Peebles, ladies and gentlemen. It's The Breakfast Club. Thank you for coming, brother. Thank you for having me. Wake that ass up in the morning's The Breakfast Club. Thank you for coming, brother. Thank you for having me. Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Hey, guys.

I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep keep going that's what my podcast post run high is all about it's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories their journeys and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together listen to post run high on the iheart radioRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, y'all.

Niminy here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, The Story Pirates, and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history. Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning

in to Historical Records because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.