Best of Interview TD Jakes and Kamala

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Fifty percent right, spec Yeah, I love you to sit down.
Didn't become the most prominent form. Wait your ass up
early in the morning. But they tell me what y'all?
I said, Oh, hell yeah, I'm getting the choice morning
shoe people's choice. I got people. I can't believe you

(00:23):
guys are the basket? Did we know that breakfast club petitions?
Did your time to get it off your chests, whether
you're mad or bless so, so you better have the
same any we want to hear from you on the
breakfast club? Hello, who's this Richard Friday? Hey? What's up? Broke?

(00:44):
Get it off your chests. I just don't understand about
this coronavirus. Man. People get comfortable with you know what
I'm It's like, you know, they're sending those back out
there and it's not over with, you know what I mean? Yeah,
I don't know about I don't know what's going on either, bro.
And it's like I just don't understand, man, because people
trying to name time to be safe, but it's like

(01:05):
they're getting too comfortable with it. I just don't know, man,
what to say about it. It's just on my tips
and I feel like they just staying a little back up.
You know, I don't know. I'm gonna say it was
crazy though, if you, um, you know, remember Sylvia Brown.
Sylvia Brown, she wrote that book when she predicted coronavirus
in two thousand and twenty, and she said, she said that,

(01:27):
um and around twenty twentieth, evin pneumonia like illness was
spread throughout the globe, attacking the lungs and the broncal
tubes and resisting all known treatments. Almost more baffling than
the illness itself will be the fact that it will
suddenly vanish as quickly as it arrived, attack a gatting
ten years later, and then disappear completely. She wrote that
in a book back in two thousand and eight. That's scary.

(01:52):
You know, I appreciate it. I just want to I
just wanted to get out my tip, all right, brother,
Ye Hello, who's this? Yeah Chouard from Atlanta, Georgia. What's up? Brother?
Get it off your chest? Yeah, I'm getting it off
by us. When I have a problem with the line
of like black men or black people in general have
to do better, I'm not feeling that line okay and
talking all right, coolool, The reason being is when uh

(02:17):
A Buck thought, when we talk those to these black
people with a Bucks frills, you didn't have to do
better when the Chinese people were beating up black women.
It's like, here's laws. The Chinese didn't have to do better,
you know what I'm saying. But we don't talk about
the black man in Chicago that came up and Rex
Shop was like, yo, y'all, not you messing with the
sisters here? You know what I mean? What's their windows out?

(02:38):
Was like, yo, y'all, not messing with the sisters. But
yet nobody talks about that. They talk about one single
instident that a black person does that all of us
a every black person has to be uilty of that
one thing. And I'm not feeling that. It's almost like
like like the Adventures movie when you when you when
he killed that spaceship with Detroit depleted and everybody died.
All the alias had on the Adventus if you seen

(02:59):
the movie, We're not connected like that. That was an
individual that you need to be done with. I think
that happened in New York. He talking with the skateboard
that's on him. He's the coward. You're saying all black
people aren't monolistic, and they need to stop using one
or two black people to paint the narrative of a whole.
I think people also didn't like that that whoever was

(03:19):
filming that laughing at it ain't nobody went to go
help the girl. I think that was more of the issue. Also,
it wasn't like he was caught on surveillance and with
people laughing and joking. So but but what about all
the brothers that want to kick hi? What all about
all the brothers that think he's dead wrong and want
to whip his which I think it's a majority of people.
Who What about again back to the tiny shop, when

(03:42):
all the people would beat no more black women, wasn't
a more persons he wants to proof, you know what
I'm saying, But they don't have to do. But everybody
recognized no individuals are doing wrong, and that's it. We're
not blaming all even if you want to go on
switch with the Africans ethne the way that just n
Africans dena We're not and all the time people for that,
they don't have to do better, you know what I'm saying.

(04:05):
What you're saying, well, thank you for calling brother Hello,
who's this all right? This is save how y'all doing
his warning? What's up? Steed? Get it off her chess brother? Hey? Well,
first of all, I would just like to say I
am really supplying supprised that I'm on. I like to
say good morning to y'all, and UM, I really love
y'all show. I've been listening to y'all for about five
five years or so, and I think y'all do a

(04:27):
great job. But UM, what I would like to say
is that, UM, I've heard every black leader UM speak
about what's going on, and I haven't heard um Lewis
para con it has Has anybody heard him say anything?
He says he has a word from from God for America.

(04:47):
You know, he doesn't have the access of social media
anymore because he was banned from Instagram, so you don't
see the noble post that he usually would do. Yep,
they took him off Instagram and took him off Twitter.
They've been they've been banned him off Instagram and banned
him Twitter. I will be looking for that and I
thank you for that, and I think you guys are
doing a great job. Thank you, and I love y'all
and y'all have a great day, all right, you get

(05:10):
it off your chest eight hundred five eight five one
oh five one. If you need to vent, hit us
up now. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, the Breakfast Club.
I'm telling all right, what's you doing of you? If
this is your time to get it off your chest,
whether you're mad or blessed? Eight hundred five eighty five

(05:31):
one oh five one. We want to hear from you
on the Breakfast Club. Hello. Who's this? Hey? Listen boy,
get it off your chess? Hey bo Hey, Charlomagne. Oh
my gosh, Charlomagne, I am a freaking huge fan UM supporter.
Say how m blessed I am? Because oh yeah, hey,

(05:51):
I'm telling Mane, I'm ordered your book. Um. I accidentally
ordered like two or three of them online. I need
the audio one. Can I get a hard copy? Yeah?
Which one you want? Black privileges shown, both of them,
both of them, Levi, Levia. Um, leave your address with
our producer dance. Okay, all right, So I was okay,

(06:15):
oh my god, okay, Um. I was calling in to
say um that I was. I'm so blessed right now
because I was in an abusive relationship for like um
over ten years and UM I ended up getting shot
and beat in my sleep by my ex and yeah yeah,
and I've been suffering from like severe anxiety and panic

(06:36):
attacks and everything. And I've been using UM a plant
from the South specifics that UM the salth specific people
have been using for over three thousand years. UM, and
it's been really helping me. It's a calming um herbal supplement.
And I also sell it. So and I'm and I'm
trying to start my own business with this. UM. I

(06:58):
want to send you some samples all the names to
help with them if if you want to try it. Okay,
let's trade. You said, like I love natural stuff like that.
So you send you skorgan. Our producer will give you
the h an address when you hang when you get
off the phone. Okay. And UM, you can follow me
on Instagram. So I have a page it's UM I

(07:21):
sell Gaba. Actually my dad has a Kaba farm in Songa.
It's um in a South Paciftics and UM. The instagram
is guests who gava it's k E s New k
A b A. Okay, UM that's my Instagram. You guys
follow me. I follow you guys and um. Also, I
have a website, guessaba dot com where you can order

(07:42):
and buy kava from there. All right, thank you for you.
I don't know, I think I could be wrong, but
I think you sell gava. Yeah. Hello, who's this? What's hey?
What's up? Man? Get it off her chess bro man.
First of all, I want to just tell y'all I'm
a fan. I appreciate everything you want to do. Well. Um,
I was calling just to shout my daughters out. This

(08:03):
time of quarantine. We've been a start them a lib
blass line, so I just wanted to shout out they
live glass line. They names of blair, harmony and lyric.
Listen to me the lit glass line. Their lib bloss
line is called musical bliss. Musical bliss. Oh yeah. The
Instagram is a musical blizz three one three? Are they artists? No,

(08:23):
there are two one of them two, the others nine
and one to seven. So I just started something for
them to do while we've been stuck in the house.
Oh that's nice, all right, brother, have a go with Hello.
Who's this? Nicole? Hey? Nicole, get it off your chess morning, Nicole? Hey, Hey,
Saul Man, Hey, and behavior. I'm a college graduate and

(08:47):
I'm also a veteran, and I'm upset because I can't
secure a homelown because I got outside it through the
long balancing, and they don't want to give me the
money for the house that I want. And um, I work.
I still work for the government and I started time
in the military, and I still don't want to give
any money, you know. I hate that. I hate that.
I feel like and I feel like veterans shop like y'all.

(09:09):
The first college gradul in my family and this is what,
you know what I did the right thing. I got
a degree and I started stood here and I still
continue with education and I still can't get the longer
I need. What's your credit? What's your credit? My credit
for as the seven eighty five and I worked hard
to get it there and they still don't even matter. Okay,

(09:30):
I hate that. I hate. I hate I hate how
they treat our veterans. Our veterans should get uh, you know,
free room and board. Our veterans shouldn't have to pay
any taxes, you know what I mean? And ya should
get a stimp and ya should get a stipend every month?
Is this your is this your first time buying a home?
Is this your first home? Yeah? Oh yeah, now we
got you. Now how many? Well, yeah, I'm gonna put

(09:51):
your home. My guy, Matt does mortgages, all right. He's
been able to make miracles happen, especially if your first
time home buy it and your veteran. There's so many
different programs right now. They'll give you down payments for
your home, and they'll also give you closing calls. So
there's a bunch of different programs. You hold on and
I'll give you his number, Matt, the mortgage guys his name,
all right, all right, thank you, all right, get it
off your chest. Eight hundred five eight five, one oh

(10:13):
five one. If you need to vent, hit us up now.
It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, the Breakfast Club, The
Breakfast Club. Everybody is DJ Envy, Angela Yee, Charlomagne, the
guy we are the Breakfast Club was still kicking it
with Angela Bassett, Charlomagne yee. What excites you nowadays? Creatively?

(10:36):
M directing Very excited about that. So we'll see the stage.
You know, every time I come to New York, like
last night, I was you know, yesterday I was in
the theater with it was Wednesday, so I got check
out two shows. You know what we're saying those tickets
right now because of Corona empty Scott Root show like

(10:56):
every show on Broadway but his shows. So actually going
to see West Story to night saw sold your Story
last night on Broadway? I saw I saw that in
on Broadway and in London. And what did I see?
I saw uh intimate apparel, which is you know now
an opera ful knowledge so Blair David Allen Greer last night.

(11:16):
So you're not scared to go there? Do you bring
your wipe? Do you wipe down the chairs? See the
wood seats? How long stay on fabric on seats? Did I?
I think I did a little squirt in the hand.
That's it. And just keep my hands to myself, my
arms to myself. Are there scared? I love theater two one.
Are there any movies that you've done in the past
that you would like to recreate today? As we see

(11:37):
people recreating or doing part twos? And well I hear that,
um they're bringing actually um waiting to excel the Broadway. Listen.
That's amazing because between the soundtrack and the story and
the plot, I could probably resete that movie where for
word take get chill and get out. Yeah, yeah, so

(11:58):
that's come. It'll be it'll be nice to see that.
How would it like to shed that character afterward? Like,
because that has to make you feel like, you know,
how you bring a piece of your character home with
you afterward? What was it like to live with that
one too much? I live more with Tina, I think,
don't you. I mean trying to learn the songs and

(12:19):
then she inhaling or exhaling, so you you just really
had to and to laugh and when she spoke, you know,
trying to get bits of that. So that wouldn't seem
a couple of months after like you know, laughing like her,
talking like her kind of strange, but not as much
for for exhale because maybe because it wasn't based on

(12:40):
real life, so it's a character I came up with
or whatever, right, but it was it was cathartic, It
was nice. Nobody's clothes or anything. No, I didn't although
some folks didn't do that. Yeah two before never never,
When you watch What's Love Had to Do It on Broadway?
Does that is that triggering at all? You know? You
think you will see something brand new, You're sitting in

(13:01):
the theater and it was like, oh, that's familiar, that's familiar.
So it was it was it was an odd experience
because I think I literally thought I was gonna see
a different story and then then her life. But her
life is her life and we covered in the movie.
So it was interesting. Deja vu, right, very interesting Tina

(13:21):
and umbro way too. I was like, how was she
running up and down the stree. I was like, yeah,
I saw her backstage in London. It was like, didn't
expect the reaction. We were both like just crying, just
just like you know, because when you play that role, right,
like you talk about the mannerisms of Tina, but you
had to embody that trauma of abuse as well, so

(13:41):
that that had be hard to get up right right. Maybe, Yeah,
it was especially like the uh, you know the scene,
the uh the rape scene, you know, the aquarium and
stuff and or him fighting and dragging you down the hall.
But it was good to have, um colleague, to have

(14:02):
that with someone you trust them speaking Lawrence, you know,
to go through that because you know he really's got you,
you know, got you emotionally, um and just actor to
actor because the hours were long. It was extremely physical.
You actually hurt for thirty straight days, you know, like

(14:25):
you know, if you're not dancing, your lifting weight so
elactic acid build up for thirty straight days something. Everything hurt.
But you had to, you know, go on. Well, thank
you so much for joining us, Thank you for having
me back. That's right, Angela Bassett, it's the Breakfast Club.
Go morning, it's topic time. The phone called eight hundred

(14:51):
and five eight five one five want to join into
the discussion with the Breakfast Club talk about it? Wanting
everybody is DJ Envy, Angela Yee, Charlomagne the guy we
are to Breakfast Club. Now, this jerk I work with
is trying to tell people out there that Santa is
not real. Well, listen, here's the thing. Ps. Three twenty one.
In Brooklyn, they fired a substitute teacher because he told
the students in the class that Santa Claus and the

(15:12):
tooth Fairy is not real. Like this is when you know,
lies go too far, Like you're gonna fire the man
for telling the truth. I like, no, I don't. I
don't have a problem with you know, you wanting to
teach your kids to just lie you know what I mean,
But don't fire the man because he told them the truth.
What's the point? Well, and one of the benefits of
telling your kids about Santa Claus. I'm sure there's some
parents out there that the kids believe in Santa and

(15:33):
he just ruined their world. What great was this again?
Sixth grade? Yeah, I'm sure he just ruined their world.
Now do my kids believe in Santa? Yes, they do,
absolutely positively. Well, what's the benefits it? I love that
kids look forward to something, they look forward to getting gifts,
being good, making cookies, baking cookies as a family, decorating
the tree, and all the things that come with Santa

(15:55):
and Christmas. And also for a lot of parents out there,
this is a good way to make your kid right,
you know around I say, I told what December they
start acting up? Oh, you will get from Santa. You better.
You know how Santa always sees who lordy and nice
kids act straight immediately. I love it. I think it's fun. Okay,
check this out. A little chat a little Tyrone and

(16:15):
class Chad. Parents got more money than a little Tyrone.
Tyrone and Chad both right out there that Christmas list
to this Santa guy. Correct, all right, Chad gets everything
he wants. Lord Tyrone don't get nothing but some socks.
How do you explain to little Tyrone that Santa bought
little Chad everything he wanted, but didn't bring you what
you wanted? Tyrone, Tyrone, good old yea, Lord, what I'm

(16:38):
saying exactly that dumbness, that dumbness question, that dumbness you're
asking the question that's the stupid like, how do you
how do you explain that? How do you explain that
Santa bought you what you wanted but didn't bring this
other little kid what he wanted. Well, you know, Tyrone,
Santa's helping a lot of kids that don't have this year.
And since you're a good kid and you understand, he's

(17:00):
helping those kids that might not understand little Tyrone. Little Tyrone,
I'm one of those kids that ain't got nothing. Ever, Okay,
what a lottle Tyrone run on his list? Santa. I
want you to get my daddy a job for Christmas. Huh, Hey, Santa,
I want you to help my mama through her team
over for Christmas. Oh, Santa grants alwayshes though this is
all just you always get to use just the big

(17:22):
fact a Laddin. He could do whatever he wants. Well
for those situations, Little Tyrone, you gotta ask God. See
what I'm saying? Who God? Listen? Ain't none of these
coming through? Not God, not Santa? And now what Lord
Tyrone do? But angry as hell? He mad as hell? Well,
I don't know what. I gotta stop this. I don't
know what. But my kids believe in Santa and I

(17:42):
love their face. I love the experience Christmas Eve. Every
year we ring the doorbelt, my kids run to the door,
the gifts outside. They think that Santa dropped up some
gifts and coming back. Are you gonna make season? Dress
up in the Santa Claus? Shut up, man, I'm not
messed with you. Let's go to the phone line. Hello,
who's this Hey? What's uping man? We're talking about the
benefits of parents talking about Santa. When my kids were

(18:04):
very young, I allowed them to believe that Santa Claus
was real. Yes, I I went along with the story
and I and the true story is I believe that
Santa Claus was real. When I was young, me too,
But it's got older. I let them discover on their
own that myth or that you know there was a
purpose to that, which is, you know, the challenge reality,
but not for me to destroy their dreams by there

(18:27):
you go. There they're doing. They're thinking, yep, I agree
with you, Thank you. Bro. Hello, who's this Reggie? Hey
we're talking about Santa Bro. Yeah, I know that. But
then you're sitting up there saying, don't teach your kids
about Santa and two fairies. But do you teach your
kids there's no gods? No, I don't teach my kids.
There's no God. You know what I mean. You're wrong.
Why would I teach my kids? There's no God. There's

(18:49):
much more proof that God. There's much more proof that
God exists as opposed to Santa clause, where's the proof
of gods? Uh? This planet that that we're on in
the middle of the sky that's rotate, these trees that
are growing up out of the ground, these birds that
are flying in the sky. Hey, this thing you got
called a body? Okay? No, no, okay, who made it? Then?

(19:09):
Santa man? The universe is made by itself, Okay, no
doubt asteroids and everything, damn your history, bro, No doubt
the universe is made by itself. But there's not a
baby on this planet. There's not a baby on this
planet that's made by itself. See, it's still got you
still gotta take your pietas and put it out of
the woman and procreate. Something created those children, something created

(19:32):
this world. But but all that, But I believe in Santa,
and Santa does exist, and so does the tooth fairy.
Good morning, Megan, Good morning. What are the benefits of
parents of telling kids about Santa Um the appreciation that
comes from the kids when they realized that their parents
were really Santa all those years? And do your kids
believe in Santa? I have one that doesn't, one that doesn't. Okay,

(19:53):
how does that work? A house divided cannot stand? How
does that work? Well? I have a ten year old
in the five year old and once my ten year
old sound up, he wasn't real. I just made sure
that she didn't tell her little sister. So her little sister,
because how did it ten? Ye'll find out It was
that one year he didn't get what he wanted. Huh Um,
kids in school, I'm sure other kids, Yeah, And I didn't.

(20:14):
I wasn't gonna lie to her. But you know, all
those years, she never asked me, So I never told her. Okay,
how can caw can parents that he would never lie
to their kids, But you've been lying to him about
standing believe life. You know, my son found the elf
on the shelf this weekend and picked it up. It
was so mad because if you touch the elf on
the shelf and loses his magical powers. And he was
so upset and crying and my daughter had to google

(20:36):
and if you put centimon around the elf on the shelf,
he gets his magical powers back. Yeah, I didn't know that,
but saying it, why are you looking at me like that?
I think that the daddy, instead of sentiment, is putting
a little white powder called colcine on the table somewhere
and he's sniffing it. Because you sound crazy right now?
All right, well, okay, forget you, Diane. Yeah, how are you?
How are you? We're talking about saying the okay, yes,

(21:00):
you know what. Thank you very much for what you did,
because when I went through my divorce and I had
my sons, I straight up told them there is no
Santa Claus. In fact, you better pray to Jesus that
you get what you want, because I am the real
Santa Claus. Right. I had to print my baby boy though,
because about that time he was in kindergarten. But I

(21:21):
sat him down, told them what was going on. You
can make your list, but I want you to pray
to God because I am the real Santa Claus. But
I told him I can't know what you can't do
to go to school and tell you look, kindergarten friends,
there's no Santa Claus because you might upset some children
in the classroom. And I don't want to teach your
calling me. But in the meantime and in clean time, no,
I'm the real Santa I told my mother. I said,

(21:43):
as a single parent, I said, this is very stressful,
and I'm telling my kids the truth. Of course, she
thought it was horrible as a financial thing for you
if you have been in the financial thing. For everybody,
it's a believing thing. They got him, all right, Well, listen,
all you poor kids out there. I want y'all to
believe that y'all gonna get that Xbox this Christmas, and

(22:04):
when you don't get it, I want y'all to still
believe by sitting in front of a TV if you
got one, playing imaginary Xbox imaginary call of duty. Bun's
your little kids like this point in the TV what
they fingered? Stop you, man, It's crue to teach kids
about Santa Claus if you can't afford to be Santa,
and you got this kid expecting all this stuff on
this list, knowing you can't afford it, but you're still
telling them about Santa. You are checking your kids up

(22:27):
for failure and you're doing them a grave dis service.
That'd be good. I believe in Santa. I'm doing okay.
How do you tell a little poor kid that they
didn't get what they want on they list? For this
little boy sitting right next to them in class got
everything you wanted just because his parents doing a little
bit better in life. How? How that's not fair? Life?
Stop fair? You know? Well, you know, I bet you did.

(22:49):
It's a black Sand, it's a white Santa. If the
white Sander bring you everything you want, black Sand always
let you down. The black Santa looks like your daddy
looking at the bit. All right, we got more all
coming up next with a breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club Morning.
Everybody is DJ Envy Angela Yee, Charlemagne, the guy we

(23:10):
are the breakfast club. We got a special guests in
the buildings. Indeed, Bishop the Drip Jakes, I'm gonna tell
you something. There's nobody I would rather talk to this
morning other than you. Thank you, like like like hearts
are heavy? You know why the tragic acts accident that
happened to mister Kobe Bryant, his daughter and all the
other folks on the plane. Hell, how do you make
the helicopter? How do you make sense of that? Like?

(23:32):
How could that have been God's plan? You don't make
sense of it. You endure it, you survive it, you grieve,
you go through the process. I think where we get
in trouble it's when we try to explain and understand
things that are unexplainable. Right now, we got to survive
it because our whole nation has taken a blow. The
family and particular sports fans, other athletes are are grieving

(23:56):
right now. And I think that to try to explain
something like you know more than you know, we don't know.
They're still investigating what happened, whether it's human error or
whether it was the weather or the climate, all of
those play a factor, and that we look for somebody
to blame. How could God allow that to happen? Or
this or that or the other? But right now, tragic
things happen in life every day. But this is a

(24:16):
person that we knew and loved and a part of
our community. It's okay to be sad, It's okay to grieve,
It's okay to go through those range of emotions anger
and being upset and what have you. But at the
end of the day, we're in a survival mode right now. Now,
what do you tell somebody who's on a fence with
religion and believing and they see something like this and

(24:37):
they say, wow, you know, he had a thirteen year
old that died, and there was other tweens on that
plane that died. What do you tell that person for
faith and how they can continue to believe? Yeah, I
think it is your faith that gets you through those
unexplainable moments. And I think you'll have to realize it's
terrible and as tragic as it was. We're grateful his
wife wasn't on board. We're grateful the whole family wasn't

(24:58):
on board. I look for things that are positive in
the midst of the pain. Not denying the pain, but
I look for things that are positive. As for trying
to get somebody to believe who doesn't believe you, really,
you really can't do that because God can't be explaining.
He must be revealed and you have to have an
open heart to allow that to happen in your life. Yeah,
and if you believe God does everything for a reason,

(25:20):
you can't only believe that when the positive things happen, right, absolutely,
because many times the positive things come out of the
most horrific things in our lives. I mean, you look
at your own life. Sometimes the worst tragedies brought you
into an awareness or sensibility over years that if this
hadn't happened, that hadn't happened, Time will judge the validity
of the situation. Right now, we have to endure, and

(25:43):
you still have to lift up the family members of
who have lost somebody right now, and the daughters and
his wife and all the family members of the other
people who are on the helicopter too, and they lost
somebody completely different from who we know. When you're famous,
people know you from what you do, but your family
knows you from who you are, and it's a much
deeper loss. It's a it's a greater kind of pain,

(26:06):
and it's very difficult to get through. I listen to
a sermon you gave on us at Timber twenty second
title keep it Moving, and it almost seems like keeping
it moving after death seems insensitive. So how do you
keep it moving? You have to keep it moving because
life keeps moving, because bills keep moving, because illnesses keep moving,

(26:27):
threats keep moving, problems don't stop because you're in pain,
and so sometimes the therapy is in keeping it moving.
But of course when you're the family, you have to
shut down for a minute and breathe and recalibrate. And
it may be over the next two years or twenty
years that you feel that pain. My mother died in
ninety nine, and if I think about it hard now,
I'll get emotional. I mean because and I don't even

(26:50):
want that to go away. I don't even want that
to go away. Because sometimes the sadness validates the value
of what you lost. Explain that a little more. With
the sadness, the sadness, the greater the sadness, it's an
indication that the greater the love. Some people don't feel
sadness because they don't feel love. Then if you're a
great lover. You have great pain when people leave your life,
and to the degree that we miss and we feel

(27:12):
that pain, and that pain in many ways is a
tribute to the significance of that individual in your life.
Are there times that you question your own faith? And
is that a common thing for people to do, to
just question. I used to answer that question and say no,
and then I went through something in said you, and
I have to say yes. I have gone through those
moments where I was in grief and wondered, you know,

(27:34):
why did you allow this to happen. I was a
little bit angry with God. I healed, I got over it,
I was okay. But I have had those moments of challenge.
We have to remember that faith does not mean the
absence of doubt. Faith and doubt cohabitated in the same space.
And to be completely honest about it, that faith is
something we believe, but what we like to do is no,

(27:57):
and you cannot know. You have to believed. That's the
whole premise of being a believer is to believe that
which you cannot see. And you have to do that
in the presence of voices of doubt who are telling
you it's not worth it. It's just like going to work.
Sometimes you don't want to go, but there's another voice
says you got to go, and you're conflicted, and yet
you keep it moving. And I think a lot of

(28:18):
times people are trying to get out of the conflict.
But the conflict is a part of life, and we're
all conflicted from time to time, and yet we find
a way to keep it moving. That's right. There was
a time you said you thought about leaving the ministry. Yes,
I've absolutely been there and went through when I first
got in, especially national International ministry. All the things that

(28:39):
come along with that are hard to manage, notoriety, interviews, bloggers,
or lastly reports. Mine was the Washington Post article and
I wasn't used to that, and I come from West Virginia.
I'm a country boy, and I thought, I don't I
didn't sign up for this. I don't need that. But
the reality is this one woman came into a book

(29:02):
signing and changed my life. She had just gotten out
the hospital. She'd had a tubal pregnancy and the baby
was dead and she was living with a dead body
body inside of her, so it almost killed her. She
was very weak. She got out of the hospital against
the doctor's request and came to me as if she

(29:23):
knew what I was thinking, and said, it's for us
that you do it, it's not for them. And when
you go through moments of challenge and pain, you have
to find purpose, and sometimes you forget why you do
what you do and why you must endure or what
you endure it. And she she moved me like in
a major way. If it wasn't for that woman coming

(29:43):
in that day and talking to me, I don't know
that I would have been in ministry. Now we'll do.
The righteous always have to suffer. Everybody sufferers. Everybody sufferers.
The emblem of Christianity is across. That's a big warning
that if God's spirit not his son, He's not going
to you. Everybody goes through suffering, no matter how rich
ye are, no matter how poor year are, no matter

(30:04):
how famous you are, no matter whether you're homeless or
living in a mansion. We were all born and we
are all going to die. Yeah, death is not discriminated
at all. It does not discriminated. Would you want to know,
because that's what we were talking about that this morning.
I was saying that it's yesterday morning. It was the
unexpectedness of death. I think that would you would you
want to know? No? I wouldn't want to know. No.

(30:26):
I wouldn't want to know. Some people feel differently about it,
but I wouldn't want to know. I wanted to surprise me.
I don't want to live waiting on a date to leave.
I want to live every day to the fullest, not
with the cloud hanging over my head about a date
that could be twenty years off, for thirty years off,
and then to adjust my life to dying. I'd rather

(30:46):
build my life around living and let death find me
whenever it does. All right, we got more with Bishop
td Jakes. When we come back, don't move. It's the
Breakfast Club, Go Morning Morning. Everybody is DJ Envy angela
Ye Charlomne the god we all the Breakfast Club was
still kicking it with Bishop td Jakes. What are your
feelings towards suicide? Because you hear so many different things
with suicide. If you're suicide, you'll never make it to heaven.

(31:08):
If you're suicide, God to look at you. What are
your thoughts on suicide or so many kids are the
first thing that popped into my mind when you said
that it's not whether you go to heaven or not.
I think we should work harder to stop suicide. I
think that suicide is epidemic, particularly Amongst African American young people,
in a way that's reprehensible. One of the reasons that
I started the foundation that we're going to talk about

(31:30):
is because of mental health. And mental health is a
huge issue in our community. And I think you have
to understand that a lot of people who take their life,
they really didn't take their life. The sickness did. So
the person who we say committed suicide is as much
a victim as if they were a victim of a homicide.

(31:50):
Because if you have emotional mental health issues, it affects
your decisions and your judgment and your view of life.
So to judge that who, I'm not God, so where
they spend eternity? You, I'm not God. But I do
think that the person is a victim, and I would
think that if you're a victim, we just believe that
they're in a better place. You wanted the first. You know,

(32:12):
people are the cloth that actually embraced you know, therapy
and you know, telling people to go out then you know,
get help for them. Mental health because a lot of
times we tell a lot of people take it to
the church, just pray about just pray about it, and
we don't treat it like it's a sickness. We treat
it like it's a spiritual issue and it's a health issue.
And I think you'll have to differentiate one from another. Sure,
you're going to pray, but you also do everything you

(32:32):
can do to be at the best that you can be.
And I do think that prayers are beauty, but it
is not enough for a lot of people who have
serious trauma that they've endured and they need to be
able to talk, they need to be able to heal,
and sometimes they have chemical imbalances. It causes them to
be where they are. I got to teach her that says,
I go to therapy and I pray, absolutely, do it all. Absolutely,

(32:52):
I take blood pressure medicry to pray over it every day.
Pray it works, and let it works. Jesus, you are
not planning to launch on online Jake's Divinity School That yeah, Yeah,
it has launched. It's up and running. It's everything that
I'm doing now is about training the next generations. It's

(33:13):
empowering them to accomplish their dreams to reach their goals.
I'm leveraging my relationships and academics, and I'm levering my
relationships with corporate America to create a pipeline because a
lot of us, the only pipeline we have to the
world we want to be is the one we see
on TV. But you'll never watch TV long enough to

(33:33):
get there. So we have to stop watching our dreams
and start creating a pathway where we can facilitate our dreams.
I see more and more young people coming to church.
Now we see that more or is it slowing down
a little bit? You know, that's a that's a great question.
I think it varies from church to church and from
region to region. I see a lot of young people
who are really interested in faith. Many of them are

(33:55):
coming to church. My demos are swinging younger and younger.
Fifty percent of my church it's millennials. So I'm seeing
a huge interest in young people coming to church. But
I also am seeing a deterioration of attendance because a
lot of young people yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. And
you want to watch what you want to watch it.

(34:15):
So we stream twenty four hours a day. We scream
all week long because young people stay up at night
and I often sleep late in the morning. Nothing like
what doing your lundry, watching Bishop TV see what I'm saying,
or working out in the gym, Yeah, but I do.
I mean I ride in the morning. I put one
of your stormers on. Whether this from YouTube or was
it the podcast? That's how I consume it. But I've
been to part of house as well. Yes, your head,

(34:37):
there's nothing like being a part of house. It's different.
It is different being there from watching it on TV.
You can get a perception on TV. But I think
when I was here before, I talked about the difference
between a picture and an ultrasound. When you actually go
in it, you see it from a whole different perspective
than when you're avoid your own louse. I feel like
a college basketball game, I'm saying. It had that kind

(34:57):
of energy, like it feels like a college basketball game.
Any impact from Kanye doing what he's been doing with
his Sunday services, you know something, I'm thrill anybody who's
out there who's doing something positive to help change the world,
I'm thrilled about it. I just hope that while he's
busy doing that that somebody's taking care of him, because
the problem with being talented and being gifted and being

(35:18):
good in intention, and sometimes people are so excited about
your gift that they take your gift and leave you behind.
And I think it's very very important for him in
order to remain stable and remain functional, that he's not
so busy giving to us that nobody's giving to him.
But I've seen the music. The music is hot. I've
seen his performances. I think it's absolutely wonderful. But I

(35:42):
want somebody There's a scripture in the Bible says no
man cared for my soul. I want us to care
for his soul as much as we care for his music.
Would hold I would definitely consider doing something like that.
My focus, however, is everybody's hosting him, who's pastoring him. Yeah,
you understand what I'm saying. And sometimes I don't want

(36:03):
to be seen as a gig. I don't want to
be seen as an opportunity. I want to be an
year sometimes for people who don't have anybody to talk to.
So I don't want to be in the crowd that
reaching after him, trying to snatch his gift. I want
to be the guy who's sitting over in the corner saying, hey,
are you okay? How are you balanced? How are you emotionally?

(36:23):
How are you mentally? Because we are seeing too many
of our artists drift away, be killed, commit suicide. Nobody
was investing into that mental right, well right, and you
need somebody around you who doesn't just want you for
what you do, to say are you okay? Think of
the culture shock it is to go from being in

(36:45):
the hood one moment to being a celebrity next moment,
with no training, no preparation, no therapy, and all of
a sudden, you step into this world and you can't
get out. Once you're famous, you can never be anonymous.
So your success can become your prison. And so if

(37:06):
you're going to realize that, and you're going to recognize that,
we have to in our community have to be slow
to join the bandwagon of stoning people who got into trouble.
We have to be more on the side of the
ambulance who rushes to the scene of the crime to
see what we can do, because we are hurting too.
We know that you are hurting, and we know how
to speak the kind of language to get you back

(37:27):
up one. I like to reduce people to their mistakes
a lot of time, absolutely, absolutely, while we make our own.
And so we're all trying to figure out life. In
the moment you figure it out, it changes. You go
through stages at different ages, and different ages bring on
different challenges, and nobody gets it right every turn, because

(37:48):
every turn is a new experience and you're back to
one again and you're learning again. As soon as you
get used to having little kids, they're not little kids.
As soon as you get used to having teenagers, they've
left the house. And everything keeps changing on us all
the time. So you never get to be a master
at your life because of courses keep changing. You know,

(38:09):
a ball winning. Everybody is DJ Envy, Angela Yee, Charlomagne
the God. We are the Breakfast Club. We're still kicking
it with Bishop TD Jakes. When young people come to church,
what are they looking for? You know, when my grandmother
went to church, you wanted to hope, She wanted to
make sure that her family was okay, and she had

(38:30):
an opportunity. So what are people coming to church for now?
Because it's different now my kids are online. They look
for certain things they have more questions and require more answers.
So what are people looking for now when they come
to church? You know, I think it varies from person
to person. I think hope has a factor degree and
it like we're bleeding right now, we're talking about Kobe
right now. It reminds us of how the brevity of life.

(38:51):
It reminds us that we don't take time for ourselves.
It reminds us that there is a life after this life.
And so people start to think about faith differently. But
I also think that people come to the Black Church
differently than they do for other people who come to church.
They look for our leaders to be involved in the
community in some way. They look for our levels of

(39:14):
quantifiable results. How does this help me right now? In
the here and now, not the sweet by and by inspiration?
The inspiration. And there's one other thing I want to
bring up. They call these people to come to church.
If you come to church consistently, church becomes a family.
And for many of us, that's something we didn't have.
Right I learned sometimes it's not so much about pastoring

(39:36):
our young man, it's about fathering them. I got a
few more questions. How long can you go without tipping
the water. Even when I watch you sermons, never been
answer that question. Incidentally, I don't know. I can go
a pretty good way. I don't think to go for
the water. Yeah, when I get to speaking or teaching,
the only thing I'm thinking about is what I'm doing.

(39:58):
We had a discussion the other day about when you
go in the confessional, right if they have a responsibility
when say, someone commits a crime and they go and
confess that. Now, if someone comes to you and they
does something, and they've done something illegal and they tell
you that, is that something that you feel a responsibility
to report to the authorities or is that something that
becomes this was a confidential conversation. Well, you have the

(40:21):
same kind of privilege, said an attorney does when somebody
comes and discloses something to you. And that's important because
nobody's going to come talk to you about something if
they feel like they're going to get reported. There are
some exceptions to that. However, when it comes to child abuse,
you are legally required that if you know it, you
absolutely have to report it. There are other issues that

(40:43):
are kind of on the borderline where you have to
use your best judgment, but it has to be serious
for you to violate the confidential learder, Like I said,
if I came in to you sad, I'm gonna shoot
Charlamagne tomorrow. That's serious. And the very fact, the very
God wouldn't like that exactly, the very fact that it's
that it is, and I'm going to I have an

(41:04):
obligation to prevent that from But if it was already done, yeah,
then that's what and how long ago was it done?
And what can be accomplished by exposing that? It's a
judgment called Have you ever had to do that? I've
done everything well and sometimes I have claimed my privilege
as a clergyman not to testify in a trial. And

(41:26):
that privilege is only held up in court if it
is just you and me in the room. If one
other person is in the room, or if somebody else
was on the phone, it violates. I didn't lose that
privilege and that ability not to speak about the issue.
I heard you on over Super Soul Conversations to your
latest one to transform your life, and you spoke about

(41:48):
how to use transformational thinking and moving beyond your limiting belief?
What does that look like to you? You know, everything
is about a change of mind. If I change your
economics status, but I don't change your mentality, your status
will fall back down to your mindset. Every change, weight, loss, health, changes,

(42:09):
whatever it is, starts in the way you think. And
until you begin to deal with the story you tell
yourself and are willing to challenge your own truth, you
can't really help a person to move forward when they
hold to their old story. Well what about when you're
not ready for that transformation? Because I was thinking this morning,
how can transformational thinking help you in matters of grief?

(42:32):
Because when you look at a situation like you know,
the Brian family, her whole life has been transformed and
she has to change the way she thinks moving forward.
But she didn't ask for that. No, you didn't ask
for it. Nobody wants that sort of thing to happen,
and it takes time. You don't change your mind overnight
about anything, whether it's a tragedy or whether it's a

(42:53):
decision to go back to school. They're the feeling of misplacement.
Anytime there's a change, a big change in your life,
and give yourself time to adapt to that change and
accept that change and then figure out who am I now?
Without Kobe in my life? Who am I now? Without
this job? You can have a new year all you
want to, but until you have a new youth, having

(43:14):
a new year doesn't matter. I want to tell you too,
I finally got the worthy man. Really. It hit me
over the holidays, but I honestly just felt worthy of existing.
It really did. Yeah, I remember that conversation we had.
Getting to worthy is difficult when you have been abused

(43:36):
or traumatized, or be a little degraded, or have some
issues in your past where you and if you don't
get to worthy, you self sabotage. You can self sabotage
opportunities because you say you want them, but then you
sabotage them because you really don't feel worthy of them.
The hardest thing in the world is to love somebody

(43:57):
who doesn't love themselves, because they will reject your love.
They'll cancel it out every time because they don't feel
worthy of being loved. I don't believe that you could
love me because I don't love me, so how could
you love me? And that happens more times than not
in relationships, in life and in business. And when I
challenge you to get to worthy, it is getting to

(44:17):
the place that you accept the good things that God
has done in your life and settling as them being
your reality rather than living the trauma of where you
came from. Absolutely, well, we appreciate you for joining us
this morning. Yeah, and he's got the International Leadership Summit
in Charlotte April thirty of the May second. Yeah, and
I'm gonna invite you right on the hear pulling up.
I will really, man, I'm pulling up already, had pretty

(44:41):
you don't make me crowd to you show. I'm seriously
enough if you would come, that would mean everything to
me because when I'm this is the most amazing event
I'm bringing together. I've got Denzel Washington coming, I've got
Tyler Perry coming. I've got Dave Stewart coming. Dave Stewart,
it's one of thirteen black billionaires in the world and
he's also a believer, and he's going to be coming.

(45:03):
We're gonna be having Christian speakers, pastors that are going
to be speaking. We've got women who are CEOs and
executives that are going to be mentoring the young women
at The Leadership Conference is going to be in Charlotte
at April twenty eighth through the thirty first, and it's
just a conglomerate of a lot of different things, because
I don't want to just be inspirational and not transformational,

(45:29):
because if I keep inspiring you and it doesn't happen,
then you get tired of hearing that he's gonna be
all right. So I want to put the elements in
the room that cause us that it's gonna be all
right to happen in your life. People who pull themselves up,
people who fought back, people who want when you know better,
you do better. And that's why I'm having the leadership conference.

(45:49):
But there the mental health and I'm putting myself on it.
Come right on, OK, I gotta see what day because
you know, you know so many people heard you and
I talk about when you did your book and the
power of your booking, the power of your story. It
helped a lot of other people to begin to begin
to be able to talk. You're opening your mouth to
speak about your life and about your childhood. Became a

(46:12):
model for many other black men who don't talk enough.
So I take you very seriously in that spot. I
admire you very greatly for what you're doing, and having
the boldness to speak about that, and I look forward
to doing a lot of things with you that I
think it's very important. My brother expected Rachel, it's Bishop
TD Jakes. Thank you for joining us again. It's been

(46:33):
a real pleasure. Thanks for having me. It's the breakfast Club.
Go morning. It's don't be a dusty because right now
you want some. It's time for Donkey of the day.
So if we ever feel I need to be a
donk man heed with the heat. Did she get any day? Please? Do?
I had become Donkey of the days, bitching donk. You

(46:55):
today called to Mega church pastor and tele evangelist Paula
White king Eve. In the history of life has a
last name been more appropriate for a human. See the
mayonnaise is heavy on this pale skin sandwich. Okay, I
mean Paula White Cane is a human jar of helmets
in the flesh. I'm talking the thickest of cold sauces.
I mean you can't get more of a mix of oil, egg,
yolk and an acid either vinegarl lemon juice. Why Charlomagne,

(47:18):
why do you refer to some white people as mannaise
flavored mammals? Talk to me. Well, it's just simply because
too much Manna's ruins every dish. You need just enough
for tuna, just enough for potato salad. Even if you
want to put it on a sandwich, just put a
little bit, one little light layer, Okay, keep it simple.
Too much mayonnaise than anything ruins the dish, and so

(47:40):
is the same with whiteness. Listen, white people, my name
is Charlomagne the God Lana McKelvey. I'm going to tell
you things that nobody else will tell you. Okay, I
am your people. Everyone knows when you add too much
whiteness to something, it ruins it. Okay. That's why everybody
wants diversity, because if you allow too many white people
to come together and make decisions for the whole of us,
it will be a lot of people left with a

(48:00):
bad taste in their mouth aka too much goddamn an.
So it's not lost on me that Paula's name is
Paula White Kane. Kane, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve,
who killed his brother Abel because he was jealous that
God liked Abel's offering more than his own. Paula White Kane,
your name just spells out trouble. White Kane like cocaine.

(48:23):
What do we call white cocaine? That white girl? Do
we have to play a game a guess what race
it is? To tell you what Paula White Kane is.
Have you figured it out already? Okay, now let's proceed.
Paula White Kane delivered a pryance service which was screamed
on Facebook Live. And what was her prayer about? There
was an effort to secure one term impeached president, the
celebrity in chief, Donald J. Trump's reelection. You can't make

(48:46):
this kind of stuff up. God is the best Noah
and planner and apparently comedy scriptwriter. Would you like to
hear Paula White Kane calling on the African ancestor to
deliver Donald Trump a second term in the White House.
Let's go. Angels are being dispatched right now, Hamanda. Her

(49:09):
angels have even depended, dispatched from Africa, right now, Africa,
right now, Africa, right now, from Africa, right now, They're
coming here in the name of Jesus, from South America.
They're coming here. Angelic reinforcement, Angelic reinforcement, angelic reinforcement. I
feel the need to remind y'all. Right, now that Satan
has a kingdom too, I also feel the need to
remind y'all I don't like the waste God's time. I

(49:31):
pray for the basics, good physical and mental health, divine
protection of myself and those I love, and constant discernment.
That's all I want, Okay, everything else I can handle.
And even when things aren't going my way, I look
for the lesson what God is attempting to show me. Okay,
not Paula White king. She thinks she can go caring
on God. Okay, she thinks going caring on God is

(49:54):
gonna get Trump in the White House. God is not
the police, Paula, He's the God. Don't have to listen
to you now, tell listen to wait a minute, one second.
Is there more to the prayer? Wait? Is there more
to the actual prayer, not the prayer with the sauce
on it? Is there more to the actual prayer? Oh
that ye strike and strike and strike and strike until
you have victory for every enemy that is aligned that

(50:15):
can shoot. Let there be that we would strike the
ground for you will give us victory. God, I hear
a sound of abundance of rain. I hear a sound
of victory. I hear a sound of shouting and singing.
I hear a sound of victory the Lord because it
is done now, I'm telling you, right now, God, Jesus,

(50:35):
the Holy Ghost, and Beyonce all think that prayer to
the spam fold is okay. There's a virus attached to
that prayer, and the virus is called Mayo nineteen. No
math can prevent the transmission of it, and it's literally
killed millions. There's only one way to keep Mayo nineteen
from effecting us all, and that's by adding that sauce.
He as a sauce that black people have that makes

(50:56):
everything better. Listen to what happens when we add some
sauce the paula white tongue. Just listen. That's that sauce
dropping clues b for that black people's sauce. Okay, See,

(51:17):
it's the sauce that black people have that makes the
canes of the world end be those of us who
are able. Do you hear me? I said? The canes
of the world are jealous and envy those of us
who are able to do the things they are not,
so much so they would rather kill their black brothers
and sisters by praying to re elect someone who is
a direct threat to our very lives. Now, Paula King

(51:39):
White understands the sauce. Okay, don't think she doesn't. Because
Miss Billy Graham Cracker called on the ancestors from Africa
to helped Trump. She called on the spirits from Africa
and South America to helped. But what she doesn't understand
is the spirits I've already intervened. See, there is a message,
and it signs all around us. Okay, sending the Kamala

(52:00):
Harris and Joe Biden. That's how I worried, because I
voted for sending to Harris, not Joe Biden, but sending
to Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. It looks like they're
gonna flip George. You know why because there is a
spirit who is buried in Atlanta, who called Atlanta home,
who is already causing good trouble up in heaven, and
he has reminded us of the power of the vote,
even from the grave. Listen to your ancestor mind. Dear friends,

(52:21):
your vote is precious, all most sacred. It is the
most powerful, non violun tool we have to create a
more perfect union. It's not too long ago people stood
in unmovable lines. They had to pass a so called
literacy tests. He a poll tax. On one occasion, a

(52:43):
man was asked to cut the number above us in
a law. So on another occasion, one was asked to
cut the jelly beans on a job, all to keep
down from casting that ballot. Today, it is unbelievable that
there are Republican officials are trying I ain't to stop
some people from voting. Listen, let'sen dropping the clues bombs.

(53:06):
John Lewis, you made your ancest to the proud everybody
who went out there and voted in massive numbers. And listen,
it doesn't stop there. He senda to Kamala Harris and
Joe Biden. Looks like they're gonna flip Arizona too, to
adopt a home of an American patriot, a man who
you said, who you said, it's not a war hero.
You said he's not a war hero because he was captured.

(53:28):
You said, I like people who weren't captured. What that
man has a message to you and all your followers.
If you don't think this is God talking to you
right now, Paula Kain White and President Donald Trump. Then
you don't know God. Listen, American people did their civic
duty and chose a new president. I congratulate the President elect,
and I will do all in my power to help
him lead us through the many challenges confronting our nation.

(53:50):
And I know there are many Americans who were disappointed
on election night. The better America is one in which
we never forget that whatever our differences, we're all America.
We must respect our common citizenship by treating each other
with respect. That's why I've been so disturbed by reports
of increased acts of intimidation, harassment, and even violence directed

(54:13):
at minority, racial, and religious groups in the aftermath of
this election. Sound like he's speaking from that grave. Look here,
miss Bishop td Snowflake, and I want you to remember this.
When God decided to bless you, God will cause situations
to come together in your favor. No matter what does
this try to do, God in voters have already blessed

(54:34):
this year's election. Things have clearly come together in the
favor of the Harris Biden ticket, and there's nothing Miss
Jimmy Swagglers can do about it. Please let Chelsea Handler
give Paula Kane White the biggest he haw heehaw heehaw.
That is way too much, dan Manna Paula White King,
Kane White, Paula White King something. It's the solid thing
at all. Right, Well, thank you for that. Do okay today? Yes, man,

(54:58):
keep it like. We have more coming up next. It's
the Breakfast Club, The Breakfast Club. You're looking for the best,
best of the best. The Breakfast Club is back with
another memorable interview. Morning. Everybody is DJ Envy and Angela Yee,
Charlomagne the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. We have
a special guest in the building. Yes she went to

(55:19):
the other h you, but we're got a slide this morning.
Kamala Harris, US, Senator of California field the next President
of the United States of America. The run ms Kamala
has good boy, I am so happy and honored to

(55:41):
be here. You're gonna listen. Let him just Howard like
absolutely not so who beat you? N L. V. Hampton
or Howard? It was Howard? Thank you? Who has the
best homecoming in the world every year? Hampton? Howard Hampton,
who produced third Goood Marshall Howard Howard, You got a

(56:03):
couple of who produced the Black Panther We did you
know we did the costol you know we did the
costume black out with you. I'm gonna share the level.
I didn't go to college, but if I was, you
about to say, well, who was stealing from the financial
a department dementall got bad food over that slide? Were welcome?

(56:29):
Yes here, not for those who may not know. Let
us know a little about yourself. You're from the big area, right.
I was born in Oakland, okay Um, and I went
to Howard. I went out of Howard to law school
in California. I started my career in the DA's office
in Oakland, California, and then I was elected the first
black woman to be elected a district attorney in the

(56:52):
state of California in San Francisco. I was there for
two terms, and then I was elected Attorney General of California,
making me the first woman and the first African American
ever elected as an attorney channel. So did you grew
up an Ara the Black Panthers? Yes, the Deviny influence

(57:12):
on you are oh absolutely. I mean my parents, look
my sister and I joke we grew up surrounded by
a bunch of adults have spent full time marching and
shouting Wow, justice right. So they my parents actually met
when they were active in the civil rights movement. My godmother,
my aunt Mary, was one of the founders of the
Black Studies department at San Francisco State, which was the
first black studies department in the country. So they were

(57:33):
active and they were vocal and aking and civil rights activists.
I'm surprised you got an inside voice. Howard trains you
to do things like that. But what got you into politics?
Because you did go to Howard that's a party school,
So we figured you, really, what got you into politics?

(57:56):
What made you want to say this is the route
I want to go. You know, I grew up in
a unity of folks, like I said, who are marching
and shouting? And I said, you know, yes, there is
an important role to play on the outside, banging down
the door on bended knee, trying to change the systems.
But we also have to be inside the room where
the decisions are being made. And I ran for district
attorney because I wanted to be the one who was

(58:18):
making decisions about what we were going to do with
criminal justice policy and In fact, I wrote a book
back in two thousand and eight based on my belief
about what we need to do to reform the criminal
justice system in here and here's how I think about it.
Criminal justice policy. We have been offered a false choice,
the choice suggesting that you're either soft on crime or
you're tough on crime, instead of asking are we smart
on crime? Right? And by that I mean recognizing that,

(58:42):
you know, the public health model tells us if you
want to deal with a health epidemic, smartest, most effective,
and cheapest way to deal with it is prevention first.
If you're dealing with it in the emergency room or
the prison system, it's too late and it's too expensive.
So let's be smart on crime. And that means let's
be smart in knowing that if we really want to
have public safety, let's prevent crime from happening in the

(59:04):
first place, which means focusing on communities that we know
need more economic support, need more pathways to economic health
and success, doing what we need to do to recognize
that there is a direct connection between public education and
public safety. So let's prioritize public education and instead of
just being only concerned about public safety because there's a

(59:25):
real connection, and it's actually cheaper to focus on educating
young people than it is on incarcerating whole communities of people. Yeah,
that's one of the first things I saw you do
that I was extremely impressed with. If it was the
Back on Track program, that's right, what's that all about?
So Back on Track is a program that I started
years ago. I focused on the eighteenth through twenty four

(59:47):
year old young you know, drug sales offender. And the
reason I focused on that population is because they're just
a lot of them. And I also focused on that
population because whether we were at Hampton or Howard when
we were in college, we were eighteen through twenty four,
and we were called college kids. When you turn eighteen
and you're in the system, you're considered an adult, period,

(01:00:09):
regardless of the fact that we know that's the very
phase of life in which we have invested billions of
dollars in this world, in these places called colleges and universities,
knowing that that's the prime phase of life where you
can mold somebody to be a productive, an accomplished adult.
And so I focused on that population also understanding that

(01:00:30):
when they pick up that first offense, they will be
designated a felon for life. And so what we did
is essentially I created a program focused on them and
basically getting them job counseling. A lot of the young
men are fathers, getting them support for what they naturally
want to do, which is parent their children, but may
not have the skills or the resources. We focused on

(01:00:53):
what to do around housing and a just wrap around,
and we ended up as a result of doing that
and then when they would graduate the program dismissed their charges.
But what we also ended up doing is reducing their
likelihood of reoffending by a huge percentage. And that was
a model of what ended up later by the Justice
Department being designated as a model of innovation and law

(01:01:15):
enforcement in the country. What do we do with so
many with drugs being legalized, I should say, marijuana being
legalized in so many different states, and a lot of
these kids, like you said, are in jail for that
same legalized crime. Now we need to decriminalize marijuana. We
have a problem with the mass incarceration in our country.
And let's be clear, the war on drugs was a

(01:01:37):
failed war. It was misdirected in essence, and you know,
we're now more people are understanding when we talk about
the opioid epidemic that when you're talking about substancecies, that's
a public health matter that should not be thought of
as a criminal justice matter. And so what we need
to do is recognize that we have to get people
into treatment where that is appropriate. But as it relates

(01:01:58):
to incarcerating people well for marijuana, I think it is
long overdue that we recognize we need to change the
system absolutely. Or I want to go back to the
Oakland days for a minute, because you said the Black
Panthers had an influence on you, and it's this whole
conversation we've been having about how do we improve relations
between police and the communities, and Black Panthers were an
organization that actually policed the police. Do you think that

(01:02:20):
an organization like that could exist now in twenty eighteen.
I think that one of the greatest advances in the
fight for civil rights has been the smartphone. Oh okay.
People would come out to me coma, what all of
a sudden is going on with all these cases of
police misconduct? What's going on? And I'd look at people

(01:02:42):
and say, you know, you sound like a colonist. You know,
are you calling him a coloni? Right? Right, right, right,
fair enow. But the point being, you know what colonists do.
They go to a place that's been existing that way
for thousands of years, and because they're seeing it for
the first time, they think they've discovered. So the great

(01:03:03):
thing about the smartphone has been that now it is
undeniable when it happens, there is evidence sometimes playing for
us in real time as we know. It is audio,
it is visual, and it is highlighting a need to
reform the criminal justice system about around recognizing that we
need to do a better job of training police officers,

(01:03:25):
around bias, around use of force, around the necessity to
de escalate a situation instead of using force as the
first option as though it is the only option. And
more people are now involved in this discussion than ever
before because it is not just us who is experiencing it.
Now everyone is experiencing it, at least in terms of

(01:03:48):
seeing it happen. And I think this is part of
what has led to the reforms that are starting to
take place, But there's still a lot more to do
on the pather is Remember, one of the biggest contributions
that the Panthers made was their breakfast program. Absolutely, they
were feeding the community and protecting the community in that way.

(01:04:08):
All right, we have more we Senator Kamala Harris, when
we come back, don't move. It's to breakfast club. Good morning, wipe.
But I don't won't never sell my soul and I
could take that and I ain't wanna know morning. Everybody
is DJ Envy, Angela Yee, Charlomagne, the guy. We all

(01:04:31):
the breakfast club. We have Kamala Harris in the building.
But let's talk about these schools and these shootings. I
mean it's scary. Well, first of all, you know, we
have many, many communities where our six and seven year
olds are going to sleep at night here in gunfire.
Absolutely they are experiencing such trauma that is undiagnosed and untreated.

(01:04:51):
Babies of our community who have regularly attended funerals of
somebody who was killed as a result of gun violence,
having families members. It may have even happened in front
of them. So we have enough trauma in our community
that we need to deal with without expecting that our
second grader is going to now go to school and

(01:05:12):
look up in the front of the class of their
teacher and she's strapping a gun. That doesn't make any
sense when we're talking about school safety. There are things
that we need to address that include thinking about why
is this an issue? And part of it is that
we have not passed meaningful smart gun safety laws in

(01:05:33):
this country. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about how
the NRA has grabbed people by that there they and
and has has has caused people to have a lack

(01:05:55):
of courage to address the fact. Again another false choice.
I'm in favor of the Second Amendment, and I also
want I want smart on safety laws. Assault weapons shouldn't
be walking the streets of a civilized country. We should
have universal background checks. It makes sense. It's just practical
that you might want to know before someone can buy
a gun that they've been found by a court to

(01:06:16):
be mentally unstable. You just might want to know that.
That's smart about The missing ingredient to get something done
is for Congress to have the courage to act. Bottom line,
And that's where I would say, Okay, so then what
can we as people who want to encourage Congress to
act do? What can we do? Let's focus on the
twenty eighteen elections. Let's focus on electing people who will

(01:06:40):
have the courage and getting rid of people who don't. Well,
you know, even with that said, you know, when everybody
saw the police shootings happening, Barack Obama was in office,
why didn't he have the courage to act to implement
something to where a police ye weren't so gun hole. Well,
I think that it's one of his big regrets that
he was not able to get smart gun safety laws passed.

(01:07:03):
In terms of the reforms, listen, Eric Holder, who was
appointed by Barack Obama to be the US Attorney General
and the United States Department of Justice under Barack Obama
did some really good work. They started opening pattern and
practice investigations investigating various police departments around the country who

(01:07:24):
had a pattern and practice of racial discrimination and excessive force.
And you know what's going on now under this guy,
Jeff Sessions. You've been on his ass, by the way, yeah, yeah,
And under him, they're closing those pattern and practice investigations.
Under the previous administration, there were consent decrees where there
had been a finding of misconduct. The court kicked in

(01:07:47):
and said you have to act a certain way, and
we're gonna watch that. They're shutting down all of those,
they're reviving the war on drugs, they're reviving mandatory minimum sentences.
And you know, again, that's why we have got to
be vigilant at this moment in time, because we are
looking at an administration that is rolling back the clock

(01:08:08):
in a profound, profound way. Why is Jeff Sessions doing
that though? Like, is it really just uh, Donald Trump
trying to erase everything Barack Obama did? Or is that
what they really really want, like they want to take
take us backwards, so to speak. Listen, I think this
has been on Jeff sessions agenda for a very long time.
Don't forget Kreta. Scott King spoke out against Jeff Sessions

(01:08:33):
when he was up years and years and years ago
for an appointment. This is part of who he is.
This is his history, this is his mission. He is
silently and maybe not so silently, carrying it out right
before us. Why aren't you afraid to speak out against him?
I do speak. You're afraid because we have to speak truth, Charlemagne,

(01:08:59):
We have to speak truth. You know what, this is
a moment in time that's actually requiring all of us
to check ourselves about whether we're gonna have the courage
to speak and to speak truth, no matter how uncomfortable
it makes some people feel, no matter how much it
may visit upon us criticism or expose us to attacks,

(01:09:20):
We've got to speak truth. We've got to speak truth
about what is happening with this administration. Also because as leaders,
the people know, they know, they know in their hearts,
they know intuitively, instinctively that things are wrong, and we
need to put the label on it when we see
what it's actually happening from the inside. And so that's
part of why I do it, because I believe that

(01:09:42):
people have a right to know what their government is
doing for them and to them. And you know, come
what may, in terms of any response, how do we
get our country back in order? Though it just seems
like ever since Trump came in office, it just seems
like it's just been an outspurt of racism going on,
and it seems like it's her our kids more than
anything else out there. So I travel around the country

(01:10:05):
and I will tell you that I'm not buying the
suggestion that we are divided as a country. And here's
why I say that. You know, when you wake up
in the middle of the night with that thought that's
been weighing on you. Maybe you know some people call
it the witching hour at three o'clock in the morning,
when you wake up in a close sleet with that
thing that's been worrying you. It is never through the

(01:10:26):
lens of the party with which you're registered to vote,
or you know, the demographic upholster put you in. And
for the vast majority of us, that thought has to
do with one of just a very few things our
personal health, the health of our children or our parents.
Can I get a job, keep a job, pay the
bills by the end of the month. For so many
of our students, can I pay off their students? Can

(01:10:46):
they pay off their student loans? The vast majority of
us have so much more uncommon than what separates us.
And we've got to hold on to that in this
fight right now, and then look to twenty eighteen, frankly,
and the elections that are coming up in almost two
hundred days as an opportunity to act. What I love

(01:11:07):
about this moment with this administration and power is people
are acting. Look back to the Women's March, look it too,
the March for our lives, the March for science because
also this administration is putting forward policies that basically say
science should not be the basis of public policy, which
is ridiculous. But people are taken to the streets in

(01:11:29):
a way they never have and in that way, our
democracy is working. Now. We just got to take to
the streets and then walk those streets to the polling
place and vote. Because they used to say we couldn't vote. Legally,
we weren't allowed to vote. Now they say we won't.

(01:11:50):
We need to get out and vote because voting. US
voting is connected to every one of the other issues.
US voting is connected to who's going to be in
office and how they think about criminal justice policy. Who's
going to be office and pay attention to something like
the rate of black babies and infant mortality. Who's going
to pay attention to the fact that young black men

(01:12:13):
are are still at the bottom of the economic ladder
in terms of opportunity, much less success in the economic health.
Who's in office is going to make a difference. All right,
we have more with Senator Kamala Harris when we come back,
don't move. It's the breakfast club. Good morning, the Breakfast
Club A shoot and I know the fun I tell

(01:12:35):
you morning. Everybody is DJ Envy Angela Yee, Charlomagne the guy.
We are the Breakfast Club. We have sent it a
kamala Harris, still in the building, Charlemagne, And I know,
of course you just mentioned me too in Times of
your big supporter today. But you're also a too short fan.
Yes I am too short, Yes, Harris, what's my favorite?

(01:13:01):
I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that. I'm not
doing that. Two shorts right from Oakland. But you can,
you can, you can? You can like both? Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
of course I love music. Now they call you the
female Barack Obama. That's what I've seen when I got on.
By the way, Now, now are you are you considering

(01:13:22):
and do or do you see yourself possibly running for president?
Is that right now? I'm just focused on what's in
front of me. You know, I've seen too many people
focus on that thing out there and they trip over
the thing right in front of them. So I was
just in Detroit last weekend campaigning and talking to folks
about the need to get out and vote. Um, I'll
be all over this, all over many states, I'm gonna

(01:13:45):
be in Chicago, I'm gonna be in Wisconsin, I'll be
in Florida, probably go to Philly. We really have to
turn out it. Look what happened in Alabama. Everybody should
really see and remember what happened just in a recent
election where Doug Jones, a white dumb mcrat The math
is that a white Democrat one in the South because

(01:14:05):
of black women. So our boat really matters when we
get out. It was over ninety percent of black men
two week we came out of this. Yeah, and that's right,
And that's right, that's true, that's exactly right, that's exactly right.
You was on the debate team in college. I was
how does that help you on your line of work?
First of all, it taught you how to um, to

(01:14:26):
come back from an argument. You know. It teaches you
how to stand in front of a room of people
and express your point and then and then when your
point is being attacked, to come back and respond. Um.
It teaches you how to think quickly, and it gives
you confidence in the fact that you can stand in
front of a room of people in state a position

(01:14:46):
and defend it because sometimes for so many of us
we're the only one who is like us in a room.
And when you're the only one like you in a room,
there is a natural tendency to want to just kind
of blend in. But what you learn during debate, or
what you learn at an HBCU, or if you have

(01:15:06):
the blessing of having a family or a community that
teaches you, um, you learn instead that when you're in
that room, you got to speak up, and you've got
to acquire the skills to know how to do that
and to have the confidence to do it. You know,
I mentor a lot of people, and I always tell
them your entire life, you will have many experiences where

(01:15:28):
you're the only one like you in that room, the
only one looks like you, the only one who's had
the experiences you've had. And when you sit in that room,
you have to remember we are all in that room
with you. There was the Minangelo quote, I'm not alone
because I stand with ten. Yeah. Yeah, it's funny because
I put my kids in debate class because of that,
to be able to use their words to fight back

(01:15:49):
and not have to use their hands and still hurt
just the same. And you got to objectively see both
sides right. And also and to your point, also, the
great thing about learning debate is that you learn there
are rules of debate, right, you know, because also to
your point, when you argue, some people would suggest that's
pure emotion and that if you're getting in an argument
with somebody, you're just emotional and unreasonable. What debate teaches

(01:16:13):
you is no, it's actually quite civilized to stand up
and disagree with someone, and there are rules about how
you do it, because that is what is done among
thinking people. You do debate. I mean, you can go
back to history in different forms of debate the dozens. Yes,
that doesn't tell you didn't like what they said and
you just keep it right. But that's that was debate.

(01:16:39):
Your question, you know, you mentioned, of course we went
to HBCUs. How important is the HBCU because we got
away from it a couple of years ago and I'm
looking at a lot of the colleges and attendance and
enrollment is low. So how important is HBCU to you
and especially black families? Let me tell you, I am
who I am today for two reasons because of my
mother and the family I was raising, and Howard University

(01:17:01):
an HBCU. What you and I know when we walked
onto that campus for the first time, we were surrounded
by people that look like us all everywhere. Everybody you
walk onto and I'll just speak about Howard, but I
know Hampton is the same. You walk onto that campus,
you can look over on one area and you will
see a bunch of young African Americans who are students

(01:17:23):
who are in the business school walking around with briefcases.
You look over at another area and they're walking around
in leotards because they're in the School of Fine Arts.
The football captain and star, and the homecoming queen and
the debate team, and there are sororities and fraternity and
what you learn at an HBCU is you do not

(01:17:43):
have to fit into somebody's limited prospective on what it
means to be young, gifted, in black. You can be
all those things. When I was at Howard, I pledged
a sorority, I was on the debate team, I was
the chair of the Economic Society when to my share
parties too, And you didn't have to choose. You could

(01:18:04):
be fully actualized. And there was such beauty to that
because this country still has such a limited view of
what it means for a person to be young and
smart and black. And so at those years when you're
learning your identity to be in that environment where basically

(01:18:25):
everybody just says to you can be whatever you want
to be, and by the way, and if you don't,
it's because you need to work harder, right, Because that's
the other thing that happens. You can't walk away and say, oh,
it's because of my skin color that I didn't get that. Nope, Nope,
that's not it. So it's a wonderful it's a wonderful
place to learn who you are and to be proud

(01:18:48):
of who you are and to leave them with the
confidence of walking into the world also knowing one other thing.
You know, people from time to time will come up
to you and they'll say, oh, you're special, you're unique.
And I tell people, don't let it, don't let anybody
tell you that, because there is there is something about
being told that that also suggests you're the only one
like you, which means you're alone. And what an HBCU

(01:19:13):
SEU reminds us of. No, we come with people, We
got people. There are a lot of us. We're not alone. Right,
Well made, you want to go to HBCU with a
different world. No, I have family members that went to Howard.
I wanted to go to Howard. Yeah, gots she has
to go. So one last one, brother, I saw you
talking about corporate donations. Yeah, and you said you would

(01:19:37):
depend It depends whether you would take them or not.
I think that money has had such an outside influence
on politics, and especially with the Supreme Court determining Citizens United,
which basically means that big corporations can spend unlimited amounts
of money influencing a campaign. Right, We're all supposed to

(01:19:57):
have an equal vote, but money has now really tip
the balance between an individual having equal power in an
election to a corporation. So I've actually made a decision
since I had that conversation that I'm not going to
accept corporate pack checks. Wow, Um, I just I'm not.
You're gonna raise money for campaigns and stuff? Well, you know,
I've raised so far this year three million dollars for

(01:20:19):
my colleagues for the twenty eighteen election cycle, and most
of that money has been like an eighteen dollars twenty
dollars increments. People are turning out. What's the website? Yeah? Um,
go to Kamala Harris dot org and you will find it. Okay,
a m La Harris h. If you decide to run
for president in twenty twenty, we'll do a fundraiser before you,

(01:20:41):
right here on the radio. Noah, we definitely will. We
did one last year for Harry Belafonte's organization, Change for Change.
We can get you a million of two. Okay, if
you decide, Have I ever been a dream of yours?
Have you ever thought about it? I had so many dreams,
I had so many I do, I really do. I

(01:21:02):
do see the beauty of you know, everything that you
raised in terms of the reaction and the other side
of the tragedy of what's happening, and that gives me
a great sense of optimism about our future. And in
the history of our people. We march, we shout, we sing,

(01:21:23):
we dance. Right, look at who just got the pulletzer prise,
but look at that. We look at Beyonce and what
she did at coach Alla. Right. It has always been
as part of our history that our artists, everybody is
part of the movement. Everyone understands that it's about the

(01:21:47):
expression of feeling and and we can do that with
joy and with with conviction and with purpose. Great. I
think God is setting us up for a woman of
color president in Mala Harris. I think she's our future president.
And I hope she hope God puts his hands on
her and says, you know what, I want you to do.

(01:22:07):
This as God's plan. Put that on your playlist. Two
by Drill. We thank you for joining us. Thank you guys,
it's honor to be with you. Thank you for coming.
All right, it's the Breakfast Club. Good morning morning. Everybody
is DJ Envy, Angela Yee, Charlomagne the guy. We all
the Breakfast Club. It's time for your positive note gives
some positivity. Positive note for this beautiful Christmas day. Man

(01:22:27):
is always to remember that the best of all gifts
around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family,
all wrapped up in each other. Breakfast Club. You don't
finish her, y'all dumb

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