The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Lanny Smith, Cecil Williams, Fredrika Newton & Fred Hampton Jr. Talk Actively Black Apparel + More

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

Today on The Breakfast Club, Lanny Smith, Cecil Williams, Fredrika Newton & Fred Hampton Jr. Talk Actively Black Apparel. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The breakfast club. You're all finished or y'all done? Morning, everybody, it's DJNV. Just hilarious, Charlemagne de Guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Lawn Lawn Laughas is here as well. We got some special guests joining us this morning. Yes, indeed.

We have Alani Smith here. Good morning. Good morning. We have Cesar Williams. Good morning. We have Frederica Newton. Good morning. And we have Fred Hampton, Jr.

Good morning. Morning. How y'all feeling this morning? Man, we blessed, man. Black and blessed, man. Bless, black, and highly favored. Yes, sir. Lany, why were y' all gathered here today with all these amazing people, brother?

Man, we had a New York Fashion Week show about about a month ago, man, and we were blessed to have these individuals show up and walk on the runway with us, along with Dr. Bernice King and Ilya Chbiz, the daughters of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, and the response to it, the way that black people have responded to seeing these people on the runway, knowing that this history wasn't that long ago like they tried to tell us that it was, has been powerful, man. So actively black, the company that I founded, we were built with the intention to uplift and reinvest back into the black community. And these incredible legends have been supportive of the brand. I want you all to know, man, Cecil Williams, right? Y'all know this legendary picture right here of the brother drinking out of the whites-only water fountain. I always wanted to ask you, Mr. Williams, was it a spontaneous active rebellion or something

you plan to do as a statement? It was a little bit of both. I was thirsty, but also, it was a middle of the sunshine of the summer, you know, as evident for a t-shirt, but also this was not the first time I did this. There were many other times that I felt I wanted to really, I was not satisfied with living in the status quo and segregation. So this was something that I had done many times and my mother warned me not to do it anymore, but I did it again and this time it was photographed. Did you feel fear in that moment?

Or was your faith stronger than you fear? None whatsoever. This is about 15 and 20 miles from Orangeburg and on Highway 21 and coming back from an assignment for Jet magazine. But I never sent this picture to Jet. It was something that I held in the family and I knew I would get chewed out. Had I, you know, given it to my mother and father to see.

So I hid it from there. I never sent it to Jet either. Wow. How did they get it? Maybe three or four years later, I showed it to them in a conversation. One Sunday afternoon, during a dinner, it kind of came out, and then I got chewed out. Wow.

What did that single act teach you about the power of defiance in the face of injustice? Well, living in South Carolina, being a child of segregation, it was something that we encountered all day long. From birth to death, we in South Carolina, doing that period of time, felt, again, we were treated as subclass human beings, not being able to. able to go to a store and go into a restroom or get a drink of water out of a fountain or having to go to a side window or going to a movie theater and having to sit in a separate place or not at all. But again, one thing that I would like to, that's maybe out of characteristic of many Southerners, there were many good white people at the time as well. You can't just put a blanket statement against that all people treated this.

There were many good-hearted white people at the time, and they were friends of my family, and they helped support our family. But it was some people in South Carolina, again, who lived by, who treated us as a status quo, not being able to do this or that. So crazy to think about it. Like, you know, when you have these conversations, we're really not that far removed from that time. No. He's right here.

That's what I'm saying. Like, you don't really think. about like you said earlier like we're not far removed from racism and even the stories that my dad told me I'm like this is crazy this is what 50 years ago 60 years I got one of my aunts she said I don't know nothing about no I don't know nothing about no integration yeah because all she knew was segregated schools you know yeah we had we had Ruby Bridges walked the wrong way as well and it was a powerful moment because everybody as remembers that picture six-year-old

little girl being escorted into school by federal marshals and Ruby just turned 71 but you know black don't crack so she looks 45 and she walks out on the runway it made it real to people like that same little girl in that black and white photo is walking right here in front of me um so that's that's the power of having having these individuals here with me showing you know how close we are to to everything that we still fighting to this day do y'all hate you i'm sorry do y'all hate white people god damn i'm right i'm gonna tell you why when i talk to my dad my dad has a feeling towards white people right and i always joke and i laugh about it but then when he tells me

his history of him being in the military and you know they're in the same barracks but then when they go get some food it's white only and his is people in the barracks they go get food he can't yeah he talks about the water fountain in the bathroom and all this other stuff and why he looks at white people the way that he does i understand it so that's why i ask you the same each one of you well it's brought to the forefront by lany smith and again the fashion show in fact um he uh labeled the fashion show. This is not a fashion show. Pictures like this are just evidence of a time and period we lived in America that, seemingly in today's society, some people want to bring it back. But it's long gone, but people that me who have experienced this and people that were on this show

that was put together by this amazing brother who has brought forth this apparel that, again, has crisscrossed across America being put into the hands of today's generation. T-shirts. and other things that he makes. We're not going to stand for, again, re-segregating America. It's going to be something that is long gone. And to answer your question, there, again, many, many good white people.

And, again, it's a myth, I think, that all white people are bad. Of course. I think growing up in South Carolina was such a mind-fuck, because, to your point, I grew up around a lot of good white people, but then we were also aware

of the white people who treated us like, sad as cold. Like, it's certain places you knew you weren't supposed to go. But then I also had my white friend and Thomas and his family who lived right by me so it was a class thing so it's just it's just I don't know South Carolina different but to attack team but you um first I'm a chairman Fred Hampton Jr I'm honored to be here and again Clint Fitzs salute to this brother and his wife his team you know what I'm saying

so everything's political including fashion they to get this pill and the apple sauce for these type of discussions um that as a revolutionary it's a misnomer about like it's motivated just how your moves how we move It's a hatred for someone else, quote, commandante Ernesto Che Guevara. He said, you know, a revolutionary, no matter how preposterous it may sound, it's got about the most sincere, sentiments of love. And I'm not saying this sort of abstract sort of way, but we're talking to work with such organizations, the Black Panther Party.

The motivation of getting up with the first free breakfast programs, free busing programs, survival programs, was not that right at a hatred for anyone, you know what I'm saying? But again, motivate for love for people. But let me say this, though, I think all black people should get them like a mass, Nobel Peace Prize, all of us you know what I'm saying the fact that we ain't just on mass snapped out you know what I'm saying

you know what I say it's ironic that we ain't motivated at a hatred but again and sometimes even though it's a reactionary response it's kind of justified but again for the record it's a motivating out of love for the people I'd like to echo if I could

hi I'm Frederica and Huey Newton was my husband and what came to mind when you even asked that question was a quote from Huey that said what motivates people is not hatred, but it's love for other people. So my mother was white, and she introduced me to Huey

because she was doing work with the Black Panther Party, and she was the only one that they trusted to do the real estate work. So I did not grow up hating anyone, but what I do hate is white supremacy and the impact on black community. I actually hate that, and the impacts of it, the impact that it's had on us. So, again, as my brother said so eloquently, as he always does, as he always does,

is that the Black Panther Party service was out of love, out of love for black people, out of love for oppressed people, and it wasn't guided by hate. So it's impossible for me to hate anybody. I mean, I'm sorry. No, no, go ahead. Now, I just go ask,

what's the biggest misconception people still have about the Black Panther Party? I think there were two, and you can sir join me. One of them is that women were not in leadership in the Black Panther Party. Women were, in fact, 70% of the membership at one point with women. And the fact that Black Panther Party was a racist organization,

and we worked in coalition with all organizations whose common fight was against oppression. So those were two misnomer's. The history likes to do. talk about the misogyny and division between black men and black women in the party. And we came in with our own stuff. The average age was 17 in the Black Panther Party. So you have pimps and educators, you know, all in.

So we fought against, we fought against homophobia. We fought against misogyny. and these things were we were called out for those things. So, you know, we were young men and women whose motivation was love, and people were, like his dad, put their lives on the line and gave their lives out of love, not out of hatred. Did your mother ever, no, you said that your mother was white? Yes.

Did you ever see her face any hardships? I did. My mother's whole business was dismantled as a result of her work with the party. The FBI has a file this thick on my mother. So I grew up also seeing the white people I knew growing up were all progressives. So I saw the great sacrifices that she made financially, emotionally, physically as we all did. So yes, I did. Ms. Frederica, how do you feel today when you see like the government and different people honoring either Black Panther Party or Martin Luther King or Malcolm X?

and, you know, things were so different back then where you didn't feel that support from the government. I didn't see no Black Panther on this. Well, even the way that just talked about are like portrayed in like movies and like, you know, they use it to make money off of the story and the tales or whatever. But then you guys were cast out

and made to be these horrible people who were racist and didn't want anything to do with progression. I see that doors are opening because we've done the work. We've done the work to educate people on what the true history was. I don't see the government supporting us. I mean, maybe local government, the city of Oakland, has given us a lot of support.

We now have the Black Panther Party Museum, and people travel internationally to come see this museum because there has been no history available. So I think that doors are opening, not only with white people, but with black people too, because black people were scared to embrace this history. And I know you could speak to that, too, with Judas and the Black Messiah. Yeah, same tag team, which, um, you know, I'll make sure with the narrative, a lot of time we talk about, you know, struggles and some sort of abstract nostalgia sort of way. But I'm on the chair, the Black Panther Party Cubs and organizations, as we say,

it's tough act of follow, but not to walk in the footsteps, but the Panther Paul steps of the Black Panther Party. And a lot of times, we talked, you know, I was looking to see an interview, I think in late 80s, where they had Muhammad Ali on, they put him on a Wheatie series. box. And the interviewer said, why would you put him on the Wheaties cereal box now? You want to touch him before. And the representative of Wheaties Serial, so we do it now because he's safe. And we say we serve hot politics and hot food. We know our present-day survival programs, so and so forth. And of course, it was tainted when the ruling class, you know what I'm saying, because their position, historically, we even talk about

the Malcolm X talks about the March on Washington. When they position, they can't stop it, co-opt it, watered down, change it, makes something to beat. So we had to, like, there was a lot of battles like even with Judas and the, like Messiah. We had to struggle to subsequently enter what I refer to as a dream team, the cast, and to be able to put that Panther Cubs pill in the apple sauce. It's humbling, being oppressed. It's embarrassing being oppressed. So a lot of times we got to work with different dynamics to get the message out, but still make sure we maintain our politics. Franz Fanon said be able to accept their concessions without compromising our principles. So how do you just

always protect the legacy of the Panthers from being commercialized or white was? because that's why an everyday fight a battle I'm talking I read a comment yesterday I can't I got sleeping with a bulletproof vest

on a political bulletproof vest you know what I'm saying because again a lot of times it's nefarious intent or naivety sometimes people don't mean no harm

they come in not out of egotistical but the title chairman of Fred it's not egotistical you know what I'm saying it's a struggle like for our people

to respect a structured organization the Black Panther Party wasn't just some rag tag group of cats you had the minister defense UEP Newton, Chairman Bobby Seale. And colonization, the impact our people so bad

automatically. They respect ruling class titles. They'll say, professors such and such, wherever when they come to our people. You know what I'm saying? Organization is still up on its own terms. We struggle about Chairman Frey and Defense got Demar and Clark. They were assassinated. You know what I'm saying? The other communities, they don't pay no gains about you order to turn. They say, hold on.

That's be very clear by those terms. Political prisoners, Muayabu Jamali, ma'amil, and so many others, we have to struggle against be consistent, even when it's not fashionable. Speaking of fashion, Lanny, why was it important to have these historical black figures walk into actively black fashion show? Yeah, so one, the tagline for actively black is there's greatness in our DNA. And very intentional about that because I think over the centuries of oppression, subconsciously our people have accepted. I won't say accepted.

Sometimes it seeps into our subconscious that we are less than, not as good as this is what has been told to us. This is what has been preached to us for centuries. I'm trying to rewrite that narrative. I'm trying to deprogram and reprogram my own people to understand that there's greatness in our DNA. It's literal greatness in the DNA that walked on that runway. When you see Malcolm and Martin's daughters walk on that runway together, that DNA is something that has moved mountains,

that has changed lives, you know what I'm saying? And that exists within all of us. So it was important for our people to see that, to know that we are more than just our trauma. You know what I mean? We have so much greatness inside of us. And if we start acting out of that greatness, that's how we can change things for our community.

How difficult was it getting everybody? And how long did it tell you? It was stressful. One, there was a white supremacist who was killed by another white man about a week before our show. And... How about Charlie Kirk?

Yeah, yeah. And it sent some shockwaves through our plans because you're talking about children of people who were assassinated, real political violence. And so I had to reconvents Ilyasa Shabazz and Dr. King to still be a part of this show. There were some safety concerns. We had to bring in three extra teams of security just to make sure that they were secure because the rhetoric was that there was going to be payback, which never made sense to me. it was a white man that killed him. You know what I mean? But I think the reason why I was able to execute on that was the respect that I had paid to these individuals before. Everyone you see up here, Dr. King, Dr. Ilyasa Shabazz. I went to them and asked them for permission

to put their family members on this gear. I have licensing agreements with them so that when we sell apparel, the Black Panther Party Museum gets money. Fred Hampton, the Hampton House gets money. Cecil Williams Museum gets money, right? The Sabaz Center, the King Center, actively black pays them when we sell this, this merch. And so, you know, you can go on any market or any weekend and you'll see a lot of us selling this stuff, not realizing these people actually lost people in this struggle. And they weren't compensated, right? And so I think I earned a level of respect with them that when I made that call and I asked them, can you walk on this runway for me um they answered the call and i and i feel so humbled i mean dr king when she when she

arrived she gave me a signed speech from from her father and she prayed with me and i and i broke down and cried you know what i mean like her schedule is crazy for her to move around her travel schedule to be there for this show uh it's something i'm i'm forever grateful did you have any concerns any security concerns at all my man canaan made sure we were we were we were we were We were good with the security. We weren't going to let nobody even get close to touching, you know, this royalty. Yeah. Did you respect?

Go ahead. I'm sorry. I'm not going to touch on his level of respect. I'm not telling you, say, black people, we like treat like the Rodney Dangerfields of all races. No respect. And like, it's a real big thing with us. Like, even with the movie Jewish and Black Messiah, Ryan Coogler, I'm saying, the respect that came. This brother here, I mean, the respect, you know, so you can, as this video was a homeless brother talking about,

You can feel disrespect, but the respect that they have, again, that helps set the stage, you know what I'm saying, how we came in and how we continue to move together. If I could say something about licensing rights and bootleg, you can go out any day of the week and see Black Panther Party everything. And there's no way that I could financially stop that. Lanny, how long did you try and get in touch with us? For a few years, I was reaching out. And he didn't have to. He didn't have to. He could have put Huey's imagery.

And this is the second line that he's done. The first was All Power to the People, where it was Black Panther Party icons, the cat. He didn't have to do that. I mean, and he did. So I'll do anything to support him. and actively black anything to support him

because of the respect that he played all of us is I'm just going to say he didn't have to do it a man of integrity he's a man of integrity what does it mean to be actively black that's such a layer question

and there's a reason why I named it that you got to understand when I was starting actively black by the way we'll celebrate five years this Black Friday launched on Black Friday 2020. I had a lot of black people tell me, don't name the company actively black. I had black executives tell me if you put black in this name, it will not be successful. And I realized that a lot of them were speaking from a place of fear of working in corporate

environments where they had to minimize who they were in their identity. And so there's nothing passive about what we have to do to uplift our people, right? So it's a double entendre. I want our people to be more healthy. We do free mental health events. We do physical activations where we're having people do yoga, sound bath, meditation. We're getting our people access to the things that they need so that we can keep moving. That's the only way the movement can keep going is if we're healthy enough to keep moving.

So it's a double entendre. We're active wear brand, but also what we have to do to uplift our people. it's nothing passive about this mission how do you feel when creators because I know a lot of different artists fashion designers or whatever that are black that feel like they shouldn't have to have the responsibility

to like do what you're doing in their work and they make it a point like they don't want to be called black designers they just want to be designers they don't want to have to you know like Kirby when he did the fashion show that he did that talked about the attack on black lives they feel like they shouldn't have to do that

because they're black how do you feel about creators that take that stance yeah um i uh i disagree wholeheartedly i've even seen so many of our black figures make statements against us championing black owned which just really confuses me you know what i mean because when we think about the european designer that our people will spend our money on um we look at something that's made in italy or that's parisian as as as as a as a feature, right? Black-owned is not a description. It's a feature.

We are the most creative people on earth. We are the most soulful people on earth. It's a feature to be black-owned. When you think about what we've created from nothing. And so I champion it. But also, I'm not a designer. You know, I didn't start this because I was a designer. I went to design school.

I'm a former basketball player. hurt my knee 30 days after I signed my first NBA contract. This is not a world that I even thought I was going to be in. Actively Black is a purpose-driven, mission-driven thing. I didn't even start this to make the most money possible. It was how do I create something that can uplift my people? And in 2020, after the murder of George Floyd and Brianna Taylor and Amad Aubrey, I saw a lot of the brands that I grew up wearing make performative declarations about what they were going to do for black people.

And never do it. And you see four years later, that's what it was. It was performative. It was part of a marketing strategy. And so my thought was it's time for us to stop asking for a seat at the table and build our own table. You know, the McKenzie report that came out in 2024 says black people today spend between $20 to $25 billion on apparel and shoes annually. So when I'm talking about any reparation, it's reclamation. It's something that if we turn our influence, our global influence inward to something that we own that champions us.

How powerful is that? If we're giving back to not only these folks, but to our community at the size that we are now, what happens when we build the black-owned version of Nike? You know, what happens when Actively Black is a multi-billion-dollar brand that can keep doing what we're doing? Right. And, by the way, may I piggyback on that? My image of drinking out of the fountain had been, you might say, stolen over decades, used without asking permission.

When Laney Smith, an active right came in to photograph us, he said he was going to give us a contribution to our non-profit museum. We have the first and only civil rights museum in South Carolina, the South Carolina Civil Rights Museum. And 45 days after, again, this brother and his brand, his crew came in and photographed us and put this image on his apparel, we got a check from him. Wow. Well, PayPal, if you want to want to pay him. And then again, after the New York show, again, they sold, I think, maybe about $50,000 more t-shirts. They sent me another check, so they reciprocate. But what he's doing here is so ingenious because it's little known that the power and impact of one image, say an image.

An image is eight times more effective than the written language, and educators should begin to use this in our systems today, teaching everyone. And having that power and capacity to see, no longer is it really going to be a reading, writing, and arithmetic. It's going to be reading, writing, and seeing, or looking, and with AI making his presence. So this brother is using images to make an impact. So what my fellow individuals here are doing and myself, we are bringing, again, the sacrifices where we pave the way for today's generation. forward and the power and impact to make this relative today is immeasurable by again such acts as what he's doing to put images on t-shirts you always look so clean in that picture what you was doing for money back then brother season I was

taking pictures I took pictures ever since I was nine years old and at 12 years old I found out I could make money I did a waiting for thirty five dollars and we're home boys in South Carolina home state so and as you know we we don't give up. But by the way, when you asked a question about, again, about, you know, what's happened today and things like that, we're not going back. We as a people have fought too long and too hard. And not only that, we have the stamina to face anything that's going on in America today. We're not going back to that. The young people are not going to stand for it. The middle-aged people are not going to stand for it. And the old people like us who have

actually experienced this, we're not going back. It's going to be, we're going forward with democracy, freedom, and justice. Do you believe today's generation carries the same spirit of sacrifice that your generation did? Yes, it's just that it has not been focused on and utilized. But things like this act that this brother put together will help to materialize this. It would be amazing of how he has really put into motion millions of people across the United States. Something as simple as an image on a T-shirt. This classic image.

here of Huey Newton, a statement that, again, you can't really measure the impact that that will be to young minds who are growing up. And again, reading, writing, arithmetic had its place in our education, but again, it's a different thing. Again, five and six years old, our students and our youth are using cell phones. And so it's amazing of what the future is going to bring with this kind of instant learning that we are not. are accustomed to you know you know Lanny you have put a post up and you said all the black people who have said posted or reposted I am not my ancestors get ready the chance to prove that statement is coming soon it's easy for us to talk tough while not living in Jim Crow and this Jim

Crow 2.0 is fully installed we're going to see that ancestor in passing in real time yeah how do you how do you want folks to show up because I agree with you I don't know if they got to what we got the stamina yeah I love the optimism here you know what I'm saying but you know I see people make that statement, I am not, we are not our ancestors. And it pisses me off. You know what I mean? When you think about the sacrifices that were made, we can't stay out of certain stores. You know what I'm saying? I've been telling people, hey, Lulu Lemon don't want you. Come get these types from actively black. We can't stay out of certain stores and they tell us they don't want us. So I don't know that we have collectively our generation and the younger generation shown that we have that level

of sacrifice and grit that it takes. You know, people gave their lives. You know what I mean? I'm reading, rereading Asada's. In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down. Unlock elite gaming tech at Lenovo.com. Dominate every match with next level speed, seamless streaming, and performance that won't quit. So you can push your gameplay beyond performance

with Intel Core Ultra processors. For the next era of gaming, upgrade to smooth high-quality streaming with Intel Wi-Fi 6E and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking. Win the tech search. Power up at Lenovo.com. In the new podcast, Hell in Heaven, two young Americans moved to the Costa Rican jungle to start over, but one will end up dead. The other tried for murder. Not once. People went wild. Not twice. Stoned. But three times.

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They sort of went nuts. Until one night, everything spins. out of control. Listen to hell in heaven on the I-Heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here we go. Hey, I'm Cal Penn, and on my new podcast, Here We Go again, we'll take today's trends and headlines and ask,

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about what happened to Lee and free his friend. And if you're with me, you're golden, I'll take care of you. I'm going to be with you. You stuck with me for life. Listen to the Crying Wolf podcast

starting on October 22nd on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. biography and just when you read the things that she went through as a revolutionary for our people, I don't know to me people that's willing to give up so much for the struggle. It's people that have told me, man, I love actively black silently, but I can't publicly support it because I might lose this or somebody might be. So if you scared to lose a check, if you're scared to

what these people are going to think of you for being boldly black, then you don't, you definitely not our ancestors because our ancestors are willing to die for this. And so that's what I meant by that. Like we're going to find out soon. We see what's happening in this country. We're going to see who's willing to actually stand up and be like our ancestors. You know, Brother Cecil, you've witnessed, you know, segregation, civil rights marches, movements like Black Lives Matter. How do you see the evolution of protest in America? Well, I think today with social media and other kinds of things that we have in our society that runs rampart through all from middle school children on up.

We have different tools for today's environment and for today's opposition and the things that are, again, oppressive to us as a people. But one thing is going to remain the same. We as African-Americans have the stamina. We come from, again, as he very aptly puts out, It's in our DNA to withstand the heat, withstand the pressure, and to move on. But again, as I stated a minute ago, I believe that today's generation, they have the capacity to do it.

It's just that they have not been focused in the right. And so we're kind of running around aimlessly without, you might say, leadership to what we can do today. But just, for example, suppose, for example, people of color were to unite. Suppose Jewish people, Hispanic people, African-American people, our Indian brothers, our East Indian brothers, our Native Americans, who, by the way, whose history has been wiped off the face of the earth by mayor of the fact that they just stood down and withstood European settlements in this country. Just think if people of color would unite. Just think of the political possibilities of that kind of coalition. I think we have to be, we have to unite ourselves first. That's, you know, there's so, there's so many things that divide us.

We still got diaspora wars. We still have so much toxicity when it comes to even between black men and black women. I think if we can unite first, I think everybody else is going to follow our lead like they always do. You know what I mean? So, yeah, that's, that's part of my, my point. plan and my mission with actively black is to be that flag, that banner that we can all fly under. I'm not just building this just for Black America. I'm building this for the entire diaspora, you know what I mean, when I say actively black. I know there's always the conversations

about reparations. Is there a way you guys feel like, is there a way that you feel like you could ever be really repaid for what your families have had to go through, what you've had to experience? Because people make that conversation so simple of like, we should be receiving this because we went through this, but you guys personally experienced so much loss and hurt. Like, is that or is there a real answer to that for you? No.

Of course, no matter resources can conversate, you know what I'm saying? And I'm going to say this to the terrorism that we've been subjected to. In fact, we say that, you know, every day of September 11 for us. And in fact, we define December 4th, 1969, amongst other days, is one of our September 11 stories.

We say yesterday, and which two of our twin tower was, quote, unquote, fail, Chairman Frey and Defense and tomorrow Clark but just the question of resource I mean reparations are definitely

economics is the resources play a key role but the political significance of this is important too so how we view ourselves a lot of our people don't think we're worthy of being attacked and like we have the

you know what I'm saying so for the ruling class in particular to acknowledge that you know what I'm saying again we are we are I say black people we're the OVs not the OGs we have the original victims of terrorism people have been terrorizing

and such euphemisms as slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, deaths passing away. So that discussion that's happening in so many other communities, people on reparations. Why has it such a position not to talk about that in the black community and reparate, even more

than just the economics. The bodies, the most valuable resource that have been stolen from our people are black bodies. We've got political prisoners who are still locked up. We've got to get that, you know what I'm saying? And the resource to finance too. You know, I wanted to address the question that you asked before about

the ancestors and how does it feel it saddens me when I see those posts online but it also makes me think that it's it's real evidence of lack of education around what ancestors actually were so it's by design and here's evidence that there's misinformation even my own grandchildren when I when I overhear what they're learning, what they're taught in school. And my own son and my grandchildren get no history on revolutionary organizations like the Black Panther Party. So this is just further evidence when you see something so ignorant that says we are not our ancestors.

I said, you're actually not. But had you read about what your ancestors actually did, what they actually did instead of the sanitized version of Martin and Malcolm. and the Black Panther Party and all the history that was erased, then you would be proud to say, I want to be like my ancestor. That's my goal. And it's so scary because they're really trying to delete

and get rid of all of our history. So like you just said, your grandkids, the things that they're being taught, it's not even of what you all went through. I don't know the first thing about it, you know. So it's like, how does history lessons go for you? Are you their teacher then? Like, do you, how do you handle that?

When you see what they're being taught and what they're not being taught? Thank God I have a museum. As, as Cecil so aptly said, black people are visual. And the Black Panther Party knew that. They're visual learners. We weren't necessarily a reading community. So at the beginning, at the end, the front and the back of every Black Panther Party newspaper, which is in publication for 13 years, there was images,

is Emery Douglas, the Sally Dixon were our artists. And they painted, they drew what was more impactful than what they would have read, had they read. My kids are the same way. They come and they see the images

in the museum, and they ask questions. It impacts them. When I brought my granddaughter to the actively black show two years ago, and my grandson, this time, and they were blown away.

My grandson, wait, hold up, that's Ruby Bridges, Nana. And when it was Tommy Smith and John Carlo, what? He's 15 years old. So he is learning some history, but to see it in living color and him wearing. He only wears actively black. He only wears actively black apparel to school.

This almost makes me cry because he only would wear Nike before. He would only wear Nike. And I try and talk to him about what's going on. But he only wears active. black to his school. You know, the beauty of what Landy's doing though, is he got the images, but then he got the people to tell the stories. Yeah.

What scares me is that we live in an era where people can make up images and then make up stories behind those images. So I don't know why we have so much faith in, you know, the images of this era moving forward. Yeah, I mean, I think that was also part of the strength of what we did with the show, right? It was not just the imagery. It wasn't just the videos as people being able to see them in person, you know. So I know one of the things we've talked about.

Dr. Ilya Sabaz has talked about, Dr. King has talked about, is taking what we did at New York Fashion Week, going on tour, letting people see Cecil Williams, Frederica Newton, Chairman Fred Hampton Jr., in person, seeing Ruby Bridges walk out in person, because that, you know, AI can't do that, you know what I mean? And something I think is really, really dope, you know, but I just want to make sure it's true.

Your clothing products are made from cotton from black farmers, or is that a specific line? Specific line. So, you know, when Trump announced the 150% tariffs, it really impacted us. Most of our performance apparel, at leisure apparel, is made from overseas. So we were trying to look to find a domestic partner to see what we could get done here in the United States. And I thought about these black farmers who have lost 90% of their land in the last 75 years. So we used to own 20 million acres of farmland black farmers. We now only own 3 million acres of farmland

And in the next 20 years That could potentially go to zero So we partnered with Bridgeforth Farms A fifth generation black farmer And we source the cotton directly from them So the hoodie I'm wearing right now It shows on the back It says made from cotton

Made from cotton Rown by black farms I think that's so dope So when people when people buy this product when they're buying this hoodie and they're buying that cotton shirt there's money that's going directly

to these black farmers who have been historically discriminated against from the government and there's some power in it it's a story of reclamation people don't understand that the entire United States economy

was built off the backs of slavery and cotton and we're talking about trillions of dollars in today's money that was generated that our people were kept out of so what happens when we reclaim this thing

that was once used to enslave us what if we use that to save us. You know what I mean? And that's what I've been trying to get people to understand, especially about this collection in particular. I had black people telling me, man, the cotton shirt is too expensive. The hoodie is too expensive. It's like, man, you'll go

spend $800 on that, Louis. You'll go spend it on that Gucci. But you're telling me that this collection that is literally from cotton grown by black farmers that is supporting us that black dollar recirculate. That black dollar recirculate in our community is too expensive and that's an issue of how we value ourselves versus the things that we value from other people not understanding that we are the

sauce and the seasoning we are the originators of all of this that gets colonized repackaged and sold back to us that is actively black though that is dope that is a flex made from cotton grown by black farmers yeah now you hooked up with the Michael Jackson estate and did a Michael Jackson collab how difficult was there. Honestly, you know, these collabs have come in a way that these doors have been open where now it's, they're coming at us. I got a shout out, Damon John, founder of Fubu, because it started with him.

He reached out to do a Fubu collab. We sat down, talked about it, got everything straight, and he asked me, what else are you working on? And I showed him a concept of a Black Panther actively black collab, because that, the movie that came out in 2018 with such an inspiration to me, he picked up the phone in the middle of the meeting and called the head of licensing for Marvel and Disney and said, y'all need to see what I just saw. So our first major collaboration was for Wakanda Forever. And when that happened, it just kind of opened the floodgates. The Bob Marley estate reached out ahead of the

One Love movie. So that's how we got that collaboration. We've got one with the Tupac estate as well. So now that, you know, they saw that we operated in excellence and the way that we executed on these collaborations. So now the doors have been open. So we got a Bosquiat collab coming out this December. It will release at Art Basel. All of these, these legends in black history, Charlemagne, you're wearing the Muhammad Ali collab that we got. Lonnie Ali literally told me, she said, we've done collabs with every brand you could think of. But my husband stood for way more than what he just did in the ring. I believe actively black can tell a story they can't tell. So I think that's the power of what we're doing with actively black. I want to ask

you, brother Fred, your father once said you can kill a revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution. So what does that revolution look like in 2025? I want you to chime in on that too, Fred Greene. A couple of things. People get involved in struggle or become quote-to-quote conscious, one of three ways. Inspiration, aspiration, or desperation. These are definitely different the deficit times. There's a dimension in the war in the war, you get your respective armies,

suit up and you boot up and you get out and get out. Revolution, you gain the mass and participation on the masses of the people. These times right now a quote from Lennon and say what takes people 20 years

to learn in ordinary times. They can learn in two years in revolutionary times. I've often said that I'm a revolutionary and reactionary times. So right now you see like at war speed

the different type of discussions. You look in 1960s with 60s during the black power movement. You had a different sort of athlete. You had a different sort of entertainment. It was a climate where Marvin Gaye was able to go against Barry Gordon and record. I'm going on whether you like it or not. It was a climate where James Brown,

who had a whole totally different song playing at first. Well, Etraib Brown, I know his email Jim LaLameen went to droll down on him. He said, drove down on him. He came back out and I'm black and I'm proud. Even at different street tribes, a lot of people refer to as the gangs. You had the devil disciples in Chicago's gill up publicly and say, we're now renowned ourselves to be known as the black disciples. due on part to the political education we received from chairman.

I want to respect chairman. What the black chairman of the party impacted on them. The vice laws. As the FBI tried to approach the vice laws in Chicago and told me they'd give them a certain portion of the west side if the Panther Party couldn't open a free medical center. Chairman Fred won these brothers and sisters to a point of unity where they subsequently worked at the free medical center and by the government's own account, they own records.

They say it was a record load until they called black on black crime. So to go to the heart of the question, that's what it is. these type of dynamics, you know what I'm saying, where, you know, our relationships, our music, our discussions, it's a whole, you can feel it. You know, my mother tells me, I like to call them war and love stories. She comes, you know what I'm saying, two, three in the morning, you know what I'm saying, the people, you know what I'm saying,

not drunks or wine here's who are demoralized, even the terms of you, notice what I'm saying, who demoral, they empower to the people, you know what I'm saying, a different climate, that's what I'm saying, and you can see it even now. I'm watching, right now Chicago, you can see it, the type of discussion that are being up, And a lot of people are forced to have this discussion.

I'm going to say this in closing. People talk about segregation. Like, oh, we stood together. Oh, no, it's all so you cannot negate. A lot of people are forced together. You know what I'm saying? You're talking about the 60s. Don't talk about all the nice things.

You got, you cannot negate Nixon's role. You know what I'm saying? I'm going to say this. He turns more than me black. He turns more than me black. When that he don't believe me, you know what I guess can hear. I get letters right now. I hear what you're saying now, chairman.

Yeah, yeah. The lines have been drawn. Yeah. And to your point, it's forcing people. to pick which side they're going to be on. And for a long time when we got comfortable, there were a lot of our own people who would straddle that line.

And now that the lines are drawn where you're seeing the Black History Museum being attacked, when you're seeing these things happen where it's so blatant, you can't hide behind straddling that line. Emperor has no clothes. And we're even seeing it actively black. A lot of black people who are afraid to put on the brand because it said actively black,

they're now like, yo, I need that. Because whether you wear this or not, your melanin ain't going to change. You're black and you're going to be treated as such, you know what I'm saying? So if that's the case, you might as well, you know, rep this gang. You know what I'm saying? Like let this be the set that you claim. You know, the KKK, the proud boys, they still walking around.

We should have no beef with another black man while these people who have taken our lives. lives are still walking around. You want to, you want to run up on somebody, run up on these white supremacists. You know what I'm saying? And so I think that's what you're saying, is we're going to see our own who may have been turned against each other. We're going to be forced to come together to turn against the real opposition. Fredericka, I want to ask y'all too. What does revolution look like? And is Ms. Frederica and Mr. Cecil, you are killing me to call them by the first names. You're crazy. I've been saying that the whole time. No, you haven't. You've just been saying any

names. Brother Frederica, Brother Cistul. The past. forward for us as African Americans and people of color is we've got to write our own stories. You see, it's a difference in, say, let's say, a famous fable is Native Americans on the shores of Plymouth Rock, and they see three ships come over, and the guy gets off the ship and says, I discovered America or whatever. The Indians didn't write those stories. It was really, written from a European standpoint. So we've got to, today, the path forward with us, we've got to write our own stories,

we've got to tell, we've got to make investments and so forth. I admire what you're doing in my town of Orangeburg, a town where there's two HBCUs. You have established the Crystal Restaurant. I started to bring you a Crystal hamburger, by the way. I'll be down there this weekend. Okay, well, we'll come by and see our museum. But we've got to invest and become,

We are the world's greatest prosumers, no, consumers. Consumers, yeah. We all really move that a little further and say we are also producers. We make things. We manufacture things. Content creation, for example, is something we could do. And the power we have to own podcasts, such as we do, reaching millions of people at the time. This is what we've got to do in the path forward to come together and to come to grips of what's happening today.

And this is what if I were here in Newton, I'm a Cecil Williams, yes, from the small act of defiance that I did. But this is what we must do today to get it all together. Sister Frederigo? As a 73-year-old woman, my act of revolution looks different than when I was 17. And so all I can, not all I can do. What I can do, first of all, is know that revolution looks like many things. and the world that I live in and that I create.

Revolution looks like bringing people who wouldn't ordinarily be together in the same room together. People who would never embrace this Black Panther Party, not only history, but be proud of it, are now proud of it as a result of the work that we've done. There are organizations that asked me to speak that visit our museum. as Lanny said earlier, who would never, I'm talking about black people, who would never have embraced this history before out of fear, but because we talk about heightening the contradiction,

they are now forced, forced to embrace this history. And so I can't speak to the broader what revolution looks like, but I can do my work to make sure that this history is available so that people learn about our victories and our mistakes. One of the things we talk about is for young revolutionaries today to make sure that they address their own mental, spiritual, and physical health, that you cannot be impactful or effective if you are broken inside if you're not whole. And that's one thing that, I mean, we were fighting for our lives every day.

We didn't have the luxury to meditate like this woman did or even know the importance of. So as a result, you have a lot of wounded comrades who have not, who didn't have the luxury of taking care of themselves, have trauma that was never addressed. So that's what at the museum, and the Dr. Huey P. Newton's Foundation just celebrated 30 years this month of existence. And at this museum, we thank you. We address all of the needs, the physical and emotional needs. We have meditation. We have sound vass. we have I mean this month we're just full of

full of activities so that we can keep ourselves healthy while we fight this war I'm glad you said that because I always say I feel like our generation is the first generation that has the luxury of healing all the previous generation was just trying to survive thank God thank God we were something like yesterday like even a luxury to just kind of like take the time to educate yourself like stop like and just watch something

or learn something a lot of times people didn't have that like you literally had to fight every minute of your life just to be okay 24 hours a day. We didn't just check in and punch a time clock, and we didn't get paid. So it was completely volunteer, and we live collectively. And at night, you were on watch to make sure that the police didn't shoot up where you were living. So this was, I mean, real life for a revolutionary at that time. And so we didn't have the luxury to even talk about recreation or taking care of ourselves. I think when I met Erica, when Erica Huggins, when she came home from prison, And she was the first person I knew in the party who would meditate.

And she taught, she brought Huey to that practice where he started to meditate and to embrace this whole spiritual aspect of revolution. We can't be effective if we're not taking care of ourselves. Can I ask what was, what was Huey P. Newton's vision for freedom beyond revolution? Like what did peace look like to him? Peace, I think, was the absence of any fear. the absence of to to live life without fear of um gosh it's a question that i never asked him i don't know that he ever attained i don't know i know that he didn't ever attain himself in his own life

but i think maybe peace was the absence of feeling fear about being black you know just to to feel to know that your children were were not subject to the same things that he was um that our grandchildren could live a life I don't know it's so hard to visualize because I've never had it and we've been so

we've been so conditioned and you know when you just said that it sparked you know I want to make sure I recognize her the black woman behind actively black

who's here Bianca Winslow I could not do this without her but we're getting ready to welcome our first child into this world congratulations

thank you I got a son on the way there's there's greatness in his DNA but when you said that I'm one of the things that I started thinking about was I got to have conversations with him about when the police get behind you this is how you got a that that fear that we don't even realize is embedded because we've had to deal with it for so long the things that we that we have to prepare for that other people who are not black they don't have to think about those things so when you say that peace is like the absence of fear that was that really struck me because it's it's been heavy on my mind the world that my son is getting ready to answer it's true i mean i wore out my carpet

when my son got his driver's license in particular because i wasn't afraid that he would get an accident i was afraid that he would be killed by the police and i don't you know that's not something that everybody has white folks don't grow up thinking that they're going to have to have that talk with their kids but that's in our DNA that's that's that's reproductive survival success make sure that our kids know the real truth that's a revolutionary act to have to prepare your kid to live I want to I want my grandchildren not to have to prepare their sons and daughters in the same way I had to prepare their dad we appreciate you for joining us how can people pick up some of

your clothing line and actively black.com you can find us on all social networks, actively black, what you see here is the result of the tribe of so many black people supporting actively black. That fashion show, we didn't have any major sponsors who funded it. We had to come out of pocket. We had to come out of what was generated because people supported the brand. And that's the importance of buying black owned. That's why it's important to buy black on. It's not just another t-shirt. It's not just another hoodie. it allows us to reinvest back into our communities. It allows

us as actively black to support these living legends. I just got to say this one last thing because it's what inspired me to reach out to these living legends. I read a story that Rosa Parks was facing eviction in the later part of her life. And that pissed me off because how could somebody who made so many sacrifices

for us, all the people who made money off of the movement, how could nobody have been taking care of her? You know what I'm saying? And when I read that story, I was like, who can I find who's still living that we can support. And so the first people I reached out to were John Carlos and Tommy Smith, famous for that 1968 photo at the Olympics.

And that was our actual first collaboration. And I did it because I was able to sell this product and cut them a check. You know what I'm saying? Like we got to take care of the ones who paved the way for us so that we can continue. So that's why I champion buying black owns so much. Have some grace for black founders. We get less than 0.3% of all venture capital investment. We are building from underneath the ground.

When you look at skyscrapers, they dig 120 meters deep in the ground before they start building upwards. A lot of times our own people give up on us before we've even cracked the surface. We are building from underneath the ground. We need your support so that we can actually build the skyscrapers so you can see that one day. There's no reason why we shouldn't have our own Nike.

That's what actively black is. When we build this multi-billion-dollar brand, it's not for my personal wealth. It's for us to uplift our people, actively black.com. I want, I want our brother, Cecil, sister, Frederica, give them the museum websites, so people can donate. Well, you can go to Cecil Williams, I'm sorry, South Carolina Civil Rights Museum, but we also have a way of like PayPal and the email address there and several other ways, but we're easily fine. We're, again, in a college town of Orangeburg, South Carolina.

And we need your support, even dollars, one dollar helps. So please support us as well. That's right. Got a few part gifts. I want to make sure you get this. And then, so Fred, you can close us out, make sure you got that. What's the, what's the museum? Black Panther Party Museum.

We're going to talk over with Sister Frederica. Boy, he just gave it to me. I said, thank you. That's all. I said. It was thanking. On Instagram is at the Black Panther Party Museum and the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation celebrating 30 years this year. Please come visit us in Oakland, California, Black Panther Party Museum.

We're open, I mean, and we're packed, too. So this month celebrates the Black Panther Party History Month, and we're full of celebration. So please visit us there. Thank you. I can. Also, I'm on, thank you all for having us here. Clint's a salute to our fellow panelist. Clinchfitts Salute to actively black.

December 4th International Revolutionary Day come to Chicago. Also, the Hamptonhouse.org. We've got our programs going to childhood, home of Chairman Fred Hampton, in Maywell, Illinois. Again, the Hamptonhouse.org. I want to close out this quote by minister,

Dr. U.E.P. Newton. A pitch is worth a thousand words, but action is supreme. By the way, this is a quality product that this brother is made. One of the things that impress me, like I've had many people come along. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Well, when I first felt the quality of the materials and what he was doing, that convinced me that this was the right brothers to support. So it equals anything that's out there, you know, all the apparel that he is making now and all the things that he does. He deals, he works at top of the line, first class. Absolutely. All right. Well, it's the Breakfast Club.

Good morning. Thank you, guys. Thank you so much. Hold up. Every day I wake up. Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club. Are you all finished or y'all done?

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