The Breakfast Club - Is There A Solution To Teaching Black History If Removed From Schools Curriculum?

Episode Date: July 21, 2023

Is There A Solution To Teaching Black History If Removed From Schools Curriculum?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God.

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Let's dive into the eerie unknown together. Sleep tight, if you can. Listen to Haunting on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th, 2017, was assassinated. Crooks everywhere unearthed the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. She exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were

turning her beloved country into a mafia state. Listen to Crooks everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. it's topic time call 800-585-1051 to join into the discussion with the breakfast club morning everybody it's dj nv charlamagne the guy we are the breakfast club now if you're just joining us uh we were talking about something in front page news earlier today it was the fact that florida border education approves new black history standards that teach how slaves develop skills for their personal benefit. So we were talking about since they're pulling pretty much black history out of schools now and pulling out the books and don't want to teach black history. What do we need to do as a community to make sure that our young kids actually know what went on in black history and the future generation and how do we educate them that was the question that we were having this morning well you know

like i said earlier you know you can't depend on white institutions to teach you teach our kids you know that is something the nation of islam and other great black leaders have been telling us since the beginning of time uh for me i feel like we just got to encourage our kids to read you know we have to recommend books for them to read i was blessed to have a mother who was a Jehovah's Witness and an English teacher. So, you know, she kept the Bible in my face and watched how I was in the wake. So that was the first literature I was exposed to. Then we had the Book It program when I was a kid in elementary school. And I was reading four books to get a free pizza.

And my mom told me, read things that don't pertain to you. That's when I started reading Judy Blume and Beverly Clearly and all that stuff. And then my pops, you know, he gave me books like the autobiography of Malcolm X, which led me down a rabbit hole of wanting to know everything I could about the NOI. But also any book that I saw Malcolm X reference, I read it, you know, and I've always done that. If I read a book and then they reference another book in that book, then I'll go read, you know, that book. That's why I thought, you know, when somebody like Nipsey Hussle was alive, alive you know he was so brilliant because nipsey would always reference different books in his interviews nipsey hustle even had a book list that that he put out you know and i think that's that's what you have to do you just got to encourage you know our kids to read and recommend them things to read

yeah i i agree with you i said earlier that i think we need to develop more programs like even in the church right a lot of black families go to church together and have those days where we teach about our black history and black heroes. But also I think as parents, I think parents need to knowledge themselves, you know, because it's very difficult to teach your child

if you don't have the proper history. It's like anything else. Like, you know, my father's a retired police officer he was able to teach me laws when i was a kid and teach me about just things as far as you know what to do if i get pulled over what what laws mean and how the judicial system works because he was part of it same thing with my kids you know i have a daughter that's in in the school you know in college right now for real estate and just passed her exam i have a son that that is doing real estate now and sold his first house but like these are things that they learned from their father

but like you said i think we have to educate ourselves so we can actually educate our children because there's a lot with black history that i'm still learning now same here because i honestly wasn't taught as a child i envy uh people who've gone to african-american studies you know i mean i love the way you know somebody like an Amanda Seals can just reference history so quickly. Somebody like a Michael Eric Dyson. And, you know, we know the literacy rates in black and brown communities are high. That's a whole other conversation.

That's actually why Kevin Hart and I started our company with Audible SPH Productions because, you know, I think that sometimes it's not that kids aren't reading. There's just other ways for them to get that information. So instead of reading nowadays, people are listening, you know? So it's like I kids aren't reading there's just other ways for them to get that information so instead of reading nowadays people are listening you know so it's like i always had the idea even though we did put out you know finding tamika and some of a some of the 85 some 85 is about you know what happened the move organization in philadelphia but i always taught that kids um always thought

that kids could take in this information by listening i lost my train of thought just now how the hell i lost my train of thought like you wasn't listening oh now i was saying i think i think that kids can learn uh you know more more by listening now than actually picking up books and reading yeah and oh and i wanted celebrity that's what i'm gonna say i wanted celebrities to do the audiobooks right that was that was an idea we had when we launched this company have have celebrities reading audiobooks right and you know audible kind That was an idea we had when we launched this company, have celebrities reading audiobooks. And, you know, Audible kind of took the idea

and they had Lawrence Fishburne read the autobiography of Malcolm X, but that's fine as long as it happens. You know? But you know what, too, and I would also say this

for a lot of parents. A lot of times, we take our kids to, you know, on vacation. And vacation can mean many different things for many different people.

It can mean taking them to Six Flags. It can mean taking them to Miami for Disney World or whatever. And I think sometimes, and that's fine, but we're going to have to think of alternative things to do. You're talking about experiences. Right, but like going to museums, like the museum that just opened up in South Carolina. International African American Museum.

The one that's opened up in D.C. And even the one in South Carolina I want to go to because there's so much history, right? You learn that's where the first ships came that a lot of us touched down on this land. So I would love to learn that history. I've been fortunate enough to go to Africa and fortunate enough to go to South Africa and see these different places from where Bob Marley was in Jamaica to where I'm trying to think of some of the houses that we went to over there. So many different houses.

You're absolutely right what you're saying, but you're speaking from a person who has the financial means. Right, but that's what I'm saying. Instead of maybe going to Six Flags, going to the museum. And sometimes those museums, the prices are not that expensive. They're $10 for a ticket and I'm sure a lot of times they do it for free just to teach our own. But just experiences

like that, that we can actually see, touch, and get the proper knowledge. How about, yo, how about do something as simple as go get a library card? That's true. You know what I'm saying? Go get a library card

and then go, you know, look up some books to go get. I always tell people all the time, start with the autobiography of Malcolm X. There's a great book that I read when I was young

called From N Words to Gods by Akil, and the way that he wrote the book, he wrote the book the way we actually talk. You know what I mean? So it was like he's cursing it and he's using street vernacular. Yeah, right.

But he's educating at the same time. You know what I mean? Like everything don't have to be 18-letter Shakespearean words for you to learn. Like I was able to go to Nelson Mandela's house. I was able to go to where Nelson Mandela grew up. So I was able to see it, but I had the means to do it. But before I had the means, my mom had me in those museums. let's go to the phone lines we got Jamisha on the line Jamisha good morning good morning good morning Jamisha hey DJ Envy and y'all I want to first say that

I love you guys and I listen to you guys every morning thank you very much Jamisha we appreciate it yes so I just wanted to chime in and just give my advice. I am 37, just to give you guys a idea of where I'm coming from. I'm a mom of a three-thing boy, and I try to just share stories with him because the literature out there is not very fun for the kids to read or interstate. So I feel like it starts at home. We as the parents have to be encouraged to learn it so that we can simply verbally share those stories with our kids. So that hopefully when they get older, they'll read those stories or watch those movies that we watched when we got older. Or sometimes when we were even younger and we didn't understand what was going on. Totally agree.

So I agree that it, I just feel like it starts there. Totally agree. All right. Thank that it's... I just feel like it starts there. Totally agree. All right, thank you. I totally agree. Thoughts in the house. Hello, who's this? Hey, my name is Jerry. Hey, Jerry.

Good morning. Talk to us. What's your thoughts? Good morning, gentlemen. Good morning, DJ and DJ. Good morning, Jerry. First of all, I wanted to say

that I think he's good. He's a really good son because I just lost my child's father through gun violence in February. Oh, man. Jesus.

Sorry to hear that. I understand where it's coming from. But I think we have to meet kids where they are. There's, like, so many social media apps, TikTok and stuff like that. I feel like maybe artists in different actors or just different people in the media in general should start maybe relaying black history facts that way.

You have to make these tips where they are. You're right, but you do realize on TikTok, one of the biggest things on TikTok, I don't know what you call it, is book talk. Yes, it's hashtag book talk. Yeah, book talk.

It's hashtag book talk. Like, even when I'm putting out books, you know, on my own or through my imprint, like these public, these Barnes and Nobles and Simon and Schuster, they always talk about book talk they want book talk to be talking about their books because it's so big right so these kids are having these conversations yeah

and and those are the conversations that i love and let's open up the phone lines again 800-585-1051 what are some suggestions to better educate future generations on black history that is the question and i just want to say one thing it's like sometimes you know what's that what's the saying sometimes your your skinfolk ain't your kinfolk skinfolk ain't your kinfolk and the reason i say that is because a lot of times i see people trying to educate and people the first thing they say is oh it's a lie like and i remember when uh you started talking mental health right and people like oh he's just doing it for a check he doesn't really care it is that never i ain't never got paid for nothing from and this man has has gave up his is i don is almost to give up his life.

But he's put his life in books to explain and to see how he's felt. And he's done so many things. And the same thing with me and trying to teach people about real estate. It's like when we try to do these things, we try to really put on for our community so that we can learn to get the education that we didn't have. And we're not saying that we know everything, but we just want to open the door for you guys to start reading, to start doing research on these things,

to start asking questions. Just ask questions. That's all we want. And we'll take your calls when we come back. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. It's topic time.

Call 800-585-1051 to join in to the discussion with The Breakfast Club's talk about it morning everybody it's dj nv charlamagne the guy we are the breakfast club now if you're just joining us uh this conversation comes from uh front page news now florida border education approves new black history standards that teach how slaves develop skills for their personal benefit. So obviously they're trying to take our black history out of the school system. And we're asking, you know, what is the solution?

You know, how can we change that? I already told you, you know, you can't depend on white institutions to teach your kids. You know what I mean? Like we have to start encouraging our kids to read and we have to recommend books for them to read at home. You know, another good thing that I do, you know, around our house is so much black imagery right you know i mean so you know you hear jess alari is making jokes about the big ass harriet tubman picture but that's true i got four daughters so i want them to see strong images of of black women so they'll they'll ask questions who is that you say oh that's harriet tubman like the young lady said then you can have a conversation

about that's right who harriet tubman is you know, you hope that education continues on as they get older. Right. Well, let's go to the phone line. We have Diane on the line. Diane, good morning. Good morning. How are you this morning? Doing well.

Talk to us. What's your thoughts, Mama? Okay. Well, good morning, first of all, to everyone. I'm here. I'm DJ. I'm doing Shalana God. Ladies, let's figure out.

I just want to say good morning. But I myself, to say good morning. But I myself, I'm a grandma. And my oldest child was older than you, Salome Nagar. But what happened is because of the climate, I retired. And I was faced with the opportunity to homeschool my 11 and 15-year-old grand. I've been doing this for a couple of years. We were registered through the Board of Eds in North Carolina.

I'm from New York, but my family is from South Carolina. I took it upon myself to incorporate black history as a subject. That's right. And I teach them. And we've been in all the books. 16, 19, black history is our social studies book. We do that. We talk about history.

We have this link, blackfacts.com website, which gives you so much pertinent information about history. We talk about that. We're in the Koran. We're in the Bible. Your book, Shook One, we're just all over the the place but I make sure that they know the foundation I also because I've gone through something some years

ago I send out inspirations every morning 6 o'clock in the morning used to be one or two people it's now 150 people and I do it one by one because I don't do but what I do is I invite them on Black History.

Not just for February, but for every month. And we talk about things, not just the normal things people would talk about Martin Luther King. Not that we don't talk about them, but we've gone into everything. We talk about the Massachusetts. We talk about the history. So I do that. Growing up in New York, history was something that black history, we were a part of.

There was a lot of feelings that there was a foundation of history, and we were kind of taught that in schools a little bit. But the rest, we lived. We grew up in that era. It's different now, and it's true. A lot of black families don't need a history. A lot of them don't have time to teach their children.

A lot of them do depend on the schools. But you have to be mindful and careful of what's going on in the schools. They were able to see during the pandemic how they were handling that. And they're not being taught. But you can't blame the parents because a lot of them don't know themselves. You're right, Queen. Thank you very much. Thank you so much.

By the way, how old are you as a grandmother? I'm close to 70. Close to 70. God bless you. I never thought I would be in this position to be doing this, but I embrace it. I love it. We love it, too.

We're glad that God kept you here to be able to do it. That's right, Mama. Absolutely. Absolutely. You all have a blessed day, and thank you so much. Keep doing what you're doing. Have a great weekend, Mama. Hello, who's this?

Hey, this is Rasheed out of Trenton. Hey, what's up, brother? Talk to us. Hey, man, I want to give out a shout out, a shout out for giving people information as far as how to learn in history. But I got the easiest format for anybody. If you can't follow this format,

you just don't want to learn. All you got to do is go to YouTube and Google KRS-One. Then you can also Google certain songs because hip-hop has information on this. You got the Gravediggers, Pick, Sickle, and Shovel, where RZA actually break it down, the whole slave trade of the song. That's all in the verse. You know, you got Sons of Man, you got Killer Army.

You know what I'm saying? You got Poe Rikers, Shout Out Poe Rikers. You got Killer Mike. You got Early Ice Cube. You got Early Ice Cube. Exactly. Early Ice Cube. But you're right. Public Enemy.

California. Public Enemy. Public Enemy. A lot of those artists are artists that are our era of artists where people are saved. Like you said, Karis One. Karis One, when he's breaking down. I want to play that Karis One. You must learn.

You must learn. You must learn. We're going to pull that record up. Exactly. He breaks down all the, you know, he talks about, you know, who created the stoplight and who created this and this, that, and the other. Exactly. Exactly.

Along with Black Cop. Even, like you said, you must learn. But listen, I know it's our era. But still, if you're trying to learn and you listen to hip hop,, well, this is the easy, lazy way for you to do it. All right, I'll give him another. You're absolutely right. I'll give him another suggestion. Google Kendrick Lamar's reading look, reading

recommendations. Google Nipsey Hussle's reading recommendations. I'm looking at Kendrick's right now. Invisible Man by Rob Fellison. Things Fall Apart. The Black and the Berry by Wallace Thurman. Roots by Alex Haley, The Color Purple by Alice Walker.

That's Kendrick's reading list. So it's not like we don't have people out here that are encouraging people to read. What's the moral of the story, man? The moral of the story is what I said earlier.

You can't rely on white institutions to teach your kids black history. You know what I mean? You do have to do a lot of self-education at home, man.

And I also want to say, please, let's stop repeating white propaganda, talking points in regards to black people. If we start having conversations about black people, self-educating and encouraging each other to read. Please, folks, let's not start saying black people can't read and black parents don't teach their kids to read. That's not that's nonsense. And that's not all the way accurate. You know, I'm saying all these people who called up here who called up here telling us how they teach their kids at home, the grandma who said she homeschooled her kids and taught them black history, y'all give me a lot of hope. There's nothing dumb about us.

There's nothing uneducated about us. Don't listen to these white propaganda talking points about us in regards to literacy. And please, don't repeat them. Man. All right. All right, when we come back, we got your rumor report. Dwight Howard, he's in a sticky situation.

We'll get to it next. You are nasty. What? Not Dwight Howard, you. Because of the way you worded that. What?

You know what you just did. I just said Dwight Howard. Stop acting stupid. You like to play dumb. I said Dwight Howard was in a sticky situation. Okay. When we hear about the situation,

you're going to hear why it's sticky. A sticky predicament. See? Why the guy be a predicament? We'll get to it next. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.

It's Freaky, Freaky, Freaky Friday. 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 iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. their territory. Oh my god. What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love.

I forgive myself. It's okay. Have grace for yourself. You're trying your best, and you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We've got chills, thrills, and stories that'll make you wish the lights stayed on. So join me, won't you? Let's dive into the eerie unknown together. Sleep tight, if you can. Listen to Haunting on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, what's up? This is Ramses Jha. And I go by the name QWAR. And we'd like you to join us each week for our show, Civic Cipher. That's right. We discuss social issues, especially those that affect black and brown people, but in a way that informs and empowers all people. We discuss everything from prejudice to politics

to police violence, and we try to give you the tools to create positive change in your home, workplace, and social circle. We're going to learn how to become better allies to each other, so join us each Saturday for Civic Cipher on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.