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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wake that answer up in the morning.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
The Breakfast Club, yup, Charlamagne to God, Jess Hilarious. DJ
Nvy is not here right now, but we have a
very special guest man. He's an entrepreneur, he's an author.
He's done people, Joe, Okay, alright, all right. He does
a little bit of everything. But happy to have you here, sir.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Great to be here, man. How are you great? I'm
doing great now.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Mister Dawn. I don'm gon keep you. I don't know you.
So who is done? People?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I am a real estate developer and entrepreneur. I'm from Washington,
d C. I grew up born and raised in DC
and part in Detroit. Started my company when I was
twenty three, and I built office buildings, and I built
hotels and condos around the country from Boston down to
Miami and then Los Angeles, San Francisco, in Vegas, and
(00:50):
right now I am trying to build what will be
the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere called Affirmation Tower
right here in New York City. Out of all these skyscrapers,
not one of them is built by a black developer.
In fact, the reason I came to New York is
back in two thousand and nine or so, I was
having drinks with Reverend Sharpton at the Havana Club and
(01:12):
he looked out the window and he said, come over here,
what do you see? And I see all these tall buildings.
He said, well, what don't you see? And I don't know,
and he said, not one of them is owned by
one of us, So you need to do something about it.
So I came here, started a business here, and built
some buildings here, just finished a luxury condo building downtown
(01:35):
in Tribeca, and decided that I would build a building
that reflected economic empowerment for our people. And so I
call it Affirmation Tower. I partnered with two other black
developers because it needed to be black owned, so eighty
percent black owned, being built by a woman led, black
woman led contractor exactly, and that America promises us equal
(02:03):
access to economic opportunities. So this building is going to
reflect that that that the first skyscraper ought to be
the biggest and it ought to be the best. And
so we're also going to help Reverend Sharpton and those
who follow in the civil rights movement to have a legacy.
We're building a civil rights museum there that Reverend Sharpton
(02:25):
and his foundation will lead, and then we're going to
make it a symbol and an environment of economic opportunity
for people new hotels, apartments, condos, and also I'm building
forty percent affordable housing there too.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yes, you know it's very important to note, and you
said it already, but I just want to say it
in a way people will really understand. You are the
most successful black real estate developer in American history, Right,
that's safe to say.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I guess, yeah, I'm working on it every day, but
I'm working on trying to make it so that there's
you know that there's it's easier, and there's so many
more of me, And that's really you know, if I
ever have a legacy, it will be I'd like it
to be that there's many, many, many more people like
me who have had an opportunity to come out here
and be successful.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
And you've been on Breakfast Club before, You've been on
Breakfast Club with with Miss Cheryl mckisseck, so this isn't
your first time. So I like when we get to
amplify people like you, simply because you know, a lot
of our audience, they know how to get money one
way right, and a lot of times that way is
entertainment athletes. Now everybody want to be an influencer nowadays.
(03:33):
So I love when we can sit down and have
conversations with people like you who've created real wealth and
haven't done any of those things.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah, I mean I you know, in fact, I was
an athlete in high school, but.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
I don't believe that good enough. I don't believe that.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
I'm a basketball player anymore.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Though.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
I got to be about six fifty three when I
was twelve, and then it popped another entry. I realized
also that I can never make myself into Michael Jordan,
no matter how hard I worked, et cetera. But I
can make myself into one of the greatest business people around.
And that's what I tell people, young, middle aged old.
(04:10):
The thing about business and entrepreneurship is you can make
yourself better every day. You get better every day you
can work, and you can make yourself into a great entrepreneur.
And that's the beauty of this. And the real estate
business has an industry of low barriers. But if you
look at where the real estate business is, it's the
major cities around the country where the money is made
(04:32):
and who has a big influence about the politics of
major cities around the country US black people. So if
we could exercise our political power to create economic power,
we would change the plight of our people. And that's
what I try to do in our business.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Who planted that seed in you early on, the seed
of entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
My mother, you know, my mother probably, I mean, you know,
used to tell me that I wasn't cut out to
work for somebody else, and that I was, you know more,
you know, cut out to do something different, and that
you know that people who came before me bought her
hard so that I could have a shot and I'd
go out and take it. And she was actually then
(05:12):
when I quit college after my freshman year, she was
the only person in my family who actually really had
the confidence that I would actually make something out of
my life. So he dropped out as a freshman yep,
after my freshman year.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
And what was what was you major in it?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I was going into pre med. I was in pre med,
so I was going to be a doctor. And after
my first year, I changed my mind. I didn't want
to go into medicine because I was going into it
for the wrong reason. For economic security. My mother and
I had our ups and downs, and she was in
the real estate business. So I learned entrepreneurship from her,
and I learned the headwinds that she faced, not just
as a black person, but as a black woman. I mean,
(05:46):
the headwinds that she confronted were tremendous, and so a
big part of what I wanted to do as a
business person is to create an environment so that people
like my mother got a fair chance and got an
opportunity when you had a talented person really work hard
that I would embrace that as a business and so
I want to create that kind of environment and knock
(06:06):
down some of those barriers that she confronted them that
my father and my grandparents didn't. So I felt I
could do that through business because I can use entrepreneurship
as a tool of transformation. I mean, we end up
building Affirmation Tower. It will be a transformative project in
so many different ways. I mean, it's been recognized by
our architectural digest as one of the most important buildings
(06:28):
of our generation, and in many other you know, organizations
and publications have recognized it because of what it stands for.
And I think that's what you know I've tried to do.
I've tried to build buildings and make money, but they
stand for something and they mean something. And so how
we build our buildings is much more important as to
what we build, because we try to build our buildings
(06:49):
where we're giving people who are super talented a chance.
And unfortunately that sounds very simplistic, but unfortunately in our economy,
in this country, everybody who deserves an opportunity doesn't get
a chance, especially when it comes to Black Americans. And
that's one of the things I'm concerned about is that
the politics have begun to move beyond us and uh
(07:13):
and we can't let that happen either.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
What has been the biggest obstacle with affirmation time.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I think getting the Governor of New York to actually
make a decision to sell us a site. We have proposed.
It's a second time now. We have proposed you know,
a price and a project a couple of years ago,
and then Andrew Como had to leave office and so
Hoko came in, canceled it and then reissued a request
(07:40):
for proposals. We've done that and in that process, so
that's the biggest obstacle. You know, good news is is
that we've been able to raise the capital to do it.
It's a three billion dollar development and uh and so
I think that, you know, it should be a no
brainer in my view, because when we're very qualified team
(08:00):
with the resources to do it, but also New York
ows our people, a civil rights museum ows our people
economic opportunity. And how great would it be for young
boys and girls and young men and women to walk
into a skyscraper from not just New York but all
around the country when they come to New York and
(08:22):
go into that building and know it was built by
people like them. And that's why we call it Affirmation Tower,
because this promise needs to be affirmed, this promise of
equality economically, this country needs to affirm it. And I
think that, you know, Governor hoche owes her election to
black voters. She had a tough race against Republican and
(08:45):
we carried her over the finish line. Now time to
acknowledge that we have a role in New York City's economy.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
She listens. Governor Cathy listens. Hopefully she's hearing this right now.
You said something interesting. You say, do you feel like
politics is moving past black people? It's found on it.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Well, so if you think about this discussion about DEI
right now, let's rewind a moment. This country was built
with two hundred and forty nine years of free labor
from black people. Industries that had no economic viability were
built by us. That gave America the wind in its
(09:24):
sails to propel it to have the power economically to
be the greatest country in the world. Then another one
hundred years of extreme oppression. So finally, in late nineteen sixties,
Richard Nixon created an Office of Minority Businesses and Minority Contracting,
and there were two beneficiaries, actually three Black Americans, Native
(09:49):
Americans which were then called American Indians, and Alaskans. That
was it because the country owed them and all of
us a debt Native Americans because they stole the land
from us and from them and put them in you know,
these these reservations and just decimated their culture. They just
they kidnapped us, our ancestors and brought them here. So
(10:10):
that's should have stopped there, and the country should have
done right by us by giving us giving our young
people better access to education, better health care, better opportunities
for economic opportunities, and access to home ownership and to
build wealth. And what happened is, over time this was
(10:31):
used as a political kind of patronage or carrot. So
it included Latinos, that included Asian Americans, other people who
volunteerly came here, just like the Irish and the Italians,
looking for a better life, and they got it here,
and they owe America a debt. America doesn't owe them
a debt. So to place them in the same status
(10:53):
when it comes to access to opportunity as black Americans
is in selling and offensive and it's hurt us. And
then think about this. In the wealth disparity in this
country between blacks and whites was greater in twenty eighteen
than it was in nineteen sixty eight when Doctor King
was killed. The income disparity was greater in twenty eighteen
(11:16):
than when Doctor King was assassinated in sixty eight. Home
ownership rates were higher for our people in nineteen sixty
eight in twenty eighteen. And then of course all of
these three statistics they're worse today. So we're not making progress.
And the Democratic Party has taken us for granted. They
believe that because we're black. Joe Biden sent it on
(11:37):
your program. Can't make up your mind between me and Trump?
You ain't black?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Who is he?
Speaker 1 (11:41):
He was determined who's black or not? You know it?
You know it's funny. I was at a performance last
night called forty four the Unofficial Story.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
You were there.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I was there and I took a brother who was
actually a Charles Payn who's on Fox, and he joined me,
and yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
I saw him. And I didn't talk to him, but
I saw him like wander in the back. I didn't
see you that.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Yeah, No, I was sitting right next. I came right
before the performance and took my wife and daughter. And
I mean, but that character of Joe Biden was right
on point. But the party has we've delivered. Joe Biden
would be in Delaware looking at the water as a
private citizens for black people. You know, Jim Clyburn in
the South Carolina orders saved him in the Democratic primary
(12:28):
and then we delivered the election to him, you know,
in the general election. And what is he doing for us?
You know that to start a business you need capital.
Normally that comes from venture capital, private equity. Our young guys,
young people, young boys and girls who were coming up
with these tech ideas. They need venture capital, aspiring real
(12:49):
estate entrepreneurs, they need capital. There's eighty seven trillion dollars
currently invested in venture capital and private equity in this country.
Eighty seven trillion out of that, less than one point
two five percent go to businesses started or run by
women and people of color combined. The statistic of how
(13:13):
much money black people get us access to that is
less than a quarter of one percent. But we represent
fourteen percent of this country's population. All you got to
do is look at the four four hundred three black people. Okay,
there should be I mean we were in a meritocracy,
right then we should be looking at somewhere of about
you know, and what is that we'd be fifty two
(13:36):
black people in the four to four hundred. So we
don't have a meritocracy because they keep our young people
illiterate when it comes to financial literacy. They don't teach
us skills in school. It's all kind of designed to
keep us where we are. They tell us about European history.
We got our kids have to waste their time when
listening to what happened or learning about what happened three
(13:57):
hundred years ago in Europe. And then don't tell them
who they are and where they came from. So I
think that we got to we gotta start practicing politics
like Henry Kissinger practice American foreign policy. Henry Kissinger said,
America has no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent interests.
And that's what we have to do. And our interest
(14:17):
is economics. We cannot keep carrying this disproportionate burden of poverty.
And then when somebody tries to fight to change it,
I mean Eric Adams trying, I mean trying to keep
our community safe, trying to provide economic opportunity, and then
gets overwhelmed with all these migrants and had the nerve
to complain about it. So he complained about it. And
(14:38):
then what happened. The Biden administration targets him for investigation
and goes and confiscates his you know, cell phone and
his iPad when he comes out of an event, and
that that's just sending a message.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Oh so you think that was directly related to him
complaining about the migrant situation.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Yeah, I think challenging Biden. Wow, Because Biden's candidacy is
a week and so they can't afford to have anybody
step out against him, and I think they took their
shot at Eric because he was saying, wait a minute,
you're going to force me to take resources away from
people in New York who need it to take care
(15:17):
of these people. You won't let me put them to work,
and you won't stop them from coming here, and you
won't put up any money. It's destroying our city. And
he spoke out about it and ask for help. And
by the way, the most dependable place for Democrats is
California and New York. And now they're going to mess
that up because he said, okay, will help me, and
(15:38):
they wouldn't help them. And they, in fact, their response
was shortly thereafter, they you know, confiscated his you know,
evident his cell phone and so forth, raided his campaign
finance person's house. I mean that's I mean, you can
subpoena that stuff. They did that to send a message
to him.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
So you're so Biden weaponized the justice system against our
own Eric Adams, Jesus correct black man, who's who's leading
the city.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
And remember he talked about running for People were talking
about him running for president when he first came in, remember,
and so they send I mean, they they they don't
want anyone to get out of line. And that's I mean,
the reality is, think about it. I just gave you
this statistic. Let me tell you another one. There's there's
one hundred and sixty five asset managers who managed the
(16:28):
federal government's pension system, three black firms out of one
hundred and sixty five three and Biden's in there now.
And also he's got account for the nineteen ninety four
crime bill. I mean, I mean, he just mean, I mean,
you talk about what wrecked havoc on our young people
(16:49):
and our people overall and led to this mass incarceration
with that that built.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
And eighty six mandatory minimum sentence in.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Two Yes, he was right about that, right avatory.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
That's one thing that people forget. When he was here
in the whole you Ain't Black conversation, you know, I
started talking to him about the ninety four crime bill
and asking him did that lead to mass incarceration? And
he goes, no, it was the eighty six mandatory mean,
I'm sentisent And I'm like, well you we're ahead of
you taking a lead on that one too. Yes, So
he is absolutely one of the architects of mass incarceration. Yeah,
this is what it is. And I don't know why
(17:18):
people get upset when we bring that truth.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Up, right, It's because they're scared because the Democrats know
they can't win. By the way, here's what they're afraid of.
Richard Nixon in nineteen sixty eight got twenty nine percent
of the black vote. I'm sorry, Richard Nixon nineteen sixty
let me get it right. Nineteen sixty got twenty nine
(17:43):
percent of the black vote against John Kennedy. Joe Biden's
not John Kennedy. Now. Donald Trump got eight percent first selection,
twelve percent the next one. He's polling in the twenties.
I think those numbers of people they're dismissing, I think
those numbers are real.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
I think it'll be an uptake. I can't see twenty.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I just think that. I mean, I think people will
less likely vote, they may not vote at all. I
think the challenge is is what kind of compelling message
can this man give us to vote for him? Locked
us all up? I mean, I had a step brother
who spent most of his you know many I mean
many years in jail because he was sick, he had
(18:27):
a drug problem, and they weren't saying, hey, he's got
an illness. They locked him up and when he you know,
when he after his third or fourth time, he was
in for a long time over a nothing kind of
crime because he was a sick, sick man. And but people,
I mean, when it came to our people, it was
(18:48):
it was a crime. And now with these opioid issues
and so forth, right, it's a disease, always been a disease.
So I just think that the Democratic Party, how do
we let how do people serve in Congress? I mean
I chaired the Congression Black Caucus Foundation Board, and I
tried to get everybody to start focusing on economic reciprocity
like Kwasion Fume started when he was at the NAACP.
(19:12):
So the last four years of Obama's term, I chaired
the Congression Black Caucuss Foundation Board, which is the think
tank of the African American members of Congress, and to
get them to focus Let's leave some of these social
issues for a moment, let's focus on economics, and if
we can get our people in a better place economically,
then we move forward. But if you look at our system,
(19:33):
it is funded by those who want to keep the
status quo. And now you have this backlash against DEI.
Think about what's happening in the country. Now they're saying
that diversity, equity, and inclusion is not a good thing. Now, look,
I think it's too broad of a lens, and I
think it should be focused on Black Americans and Native Americans, period,
(19:54):
end of the story. And that's what it should be,
and we shouldn't the fact that our black politicians act
really allowed our chance of fairness or equity or reciprocity
to get diluted by including everybody who happened to be
you know, non white, and then many Latinos identify as
(20:17):
white anyway, So this country doesn't owe anybody a debt
other than Black Americans, the Native Americans. Everybody else owes
the country a debt, and they got to pay it.
But the fact that they ignore it economically, it's a
big problem.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Frankly, you know John O'Brien, who I love, you know,
he says that DEI is the only way for America
to continue to grow. So you have to teach black
people and brown people, you have to teach them financial
literacy because there's not enough educ what is it educated
college college educated white men to keep the GDP where
(20:52):
it needed to be in the future. So you're gonna
have to teach black and brown people those skill sets
to thrive in this economy.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
I agree with John. John's a very good end of mind,
and I agree with him. However, I think that the
untapped resource in America are Black people. The most untapped
resource in America are black men. We are not utilized efficiently.
We are not given the skill set and the tools
(21:22):
to provide for our families and to help make our
country better. And so that's where I don't. I do not.
I no longer believe the DEI, and I never did,
frankly believe the DEI should be anything other than Black
Americans and Native Americans. And I think if we did that,
(21:43):
it's a case that you can present and stand in
any room and say, because no one's going to argue.
I gave a speech in front of CEOs and executives
over at you know, one of these things, at Harvard
Club or a banker club, one of these two and
I about a month ago, and I talked about this
and I said, let me tell us tell you something
that this country owes black Americans a debt and here's why.
(22:07):
And people afterwards came up to me, thanked me and agreed.
During the Q and A period, I mean, there was
an agreement there. But when you say that somebody just
volunteerily immigrated here eight years ago and they get to
cut in front of the line, two people push back
on that, and it looked there's racism in this country.
So no matter what we do, some people won't support it.
But this country needs black Americans to be in the
(22:30):
economic mainstream and send our people to college. But then,
you know, you think about it again. I hate to
bash Joe Biden, but look what he said at Morehouse.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I'm criticizing black people are afraid, criticized the Democrats. You're right.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
He went to Morehouse College and gave this commencement address
after these young men worked for four years, busted their
butt to go and get an education, work hard, study hard,
and go out here with some sense of optimism, and
told them America wasn't there for him. And I said,
what the heck is he talking about. He's probably telling
the truth, unfortunately, but he's in charge, he's a president.
And I said, yeah, where's the right And I remember,
(23:08):
I remember Obama went there and gave it, gave a
commencement address, so I went and looked it up. He said,
no better time in America for you than now. It
ain't gonna be easy. The people who came before you
was hard for them, harder for them, and they were
able to get through it. You can. But it's about optimism.
But Biden tells people and the Democrats got to stop
(23:28):
telling us that Trump is so bad or the Republicans
are so bad. They should be saying, look what we've done.
We deserve another term because of what we have done
we've delivered. Not this person so bad or he's a
convicted felon, or this or that. It's about what they
have done. And they've shifted this narrative to being able
(23:51):
to sell their inferior product to us by saying that
the other products worse.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Don I say that all the time. I literally say
all the time. They have to stop focusing on talking
about how bad Donald Trump is. Then just tell us
about what you the good you've done. I get mad
at liberal media because liberal media will spend all day
on their programs, all day on their social media talking
about Trump. You're not changing nobody's mind about Trump. That
already supports Trump would tell me about the good that
(24:17):
the Biden administration has done, and then maybe black people
we won't be sitting around saying, well, what are they
doing for us? What have they done? We know if
you tell.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Us, yeah, you're exactly right, and that they spend all
that time, If they could spend time educating the country
about the disparities and the obstacles that Black Americans go through,
there would be greater support for DEI. But what's happening
is they're like, they're going along with this stuff and
(24:44):
then just again vilifying Trump. And you can't. I mean,
if we're going to move forward, we got to expect
someone to say, hey, what they're doing for us? Right?
And I think that's where, you know, we are allowing
this to shape and we got a whole these black
politicians accountable to they're not Democrats first. They're black first.
(25:05):
And you know because before they were ever a Democrat,
they were black and they were elected by black people
to come to Washington to advocate for them or to
go into office and advocate for them. And one of
the few political leaders that I think is actually doing
that is Adams. I mean, Adams, you know, gave us
press conference of a couple of weeks ago and talked
(25:26):
about how chocolate his administration was. So they got and
they started criticizing him for that. So, I mean, we
need to demand better from ourselves. And it's not enough
by the way one of us gets successful. I mean,
my success would mean nothing if I didn't create an
environment of opportunity for other black people. I would be
(25:49):
worse than a white successful business. People shouldn't celebrate me
or any other business person based on us making some
money for ourselves. What have we done to impact our
community to move it forward? I mean, and we can't
just celebrate because hey, somebody made some money. That's not
(26:10):
what this is about. And we don't get that right
to say, hey, I'm successful, I'm gonna focus on my family.
I'm gonna focus on my business. We got a broader responsibility.
And if we start owning, if everybody owns up to
this and we hold people accountable, then you know, you know,
I think we make some progress. Look, people don't like
I mean, I deal with this where these bankers and
(26:31):
these you know, these private equity funds and so forth
don't like me and don't want to invest in our
projects because of what I say. But that's okay. I'm
not going to be silent about what I believe in.
And I think people need to do that and think
about the other communities that advocate for their people. Think
about Jewish Americans who are advocating for Israel right now.
They're not bashful about it, and there's no repercussions on
(26:53):
it either. But if we advocate for ourselves, if we
challenge a system, there are ramifications on us, and we
got to stop that.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
What are the conversations like behind closed doors? Because I mean,
I know that you're active in politics. I'm sure that
you donated to a lot of campaigns. So when you're
having these conversations with these elected officials behind closed doors,
what are they saying back to you?
Speaker 1 (27:13):
First, they say, most of them will say, wait a minute, Trump,
what are you going to do? You can't vote for Trump.
Trump's horrible, And I'm like, well, you're paying into the narrative.
What I'm telling you is that the Democrat leadership has
to come forward with doing things for our people, helping
us move forward, and it's not I mean, you can
(27:34):
no longer try to make us comfortable in poverty. I mean,
that's really what it is. It's just being comfortable in poverty.
It's like I say these I mean, I look at
I mean, what did Malcolm X say. Malcolm X said
that it wasn't the conservative white that he was worried
about that would do us in. It was a white
liberal who would befriend us and convince us that they
(27:56):
were our friends and get us to vote for them, and.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
The boxing the wolf you get.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah, But also you got to think about how far
back we go, right, So in the nineteen sixties and
so forth. I mean, we were in the fifties, we
were treated so badly. Our parents and our grandparents were
treated so badly, So to be nice to us or
respectful or polite to us was such a big leap
based on what they were dealing with. But we're beyond
(28:23):
that now being nice to us and polite to us
and enough and we need want we got this. See see.
I don't think Joe Biden believes that any of us
in this room have the same aspirations as our white counterparts,
and that we don't have the same aspirations for our
children as our white counterparts do. I think he believes
(28:44):
that our dreams have a ceiling to them and that
our ambitions are tapered, and that's where the problem is.
And I think this paternalistic approach to us is just wrong,
and I think we've got to start holding them accountable
and make them compete for our support by results.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
To me, that is just plain common sense, and it
bugs me out when people don't see that. People will
come to me and be like, why are you so
critical of the Democrats? Why are you so critical of Biden?
And I'd be like, why aren't you Why aren't you, Like,
what are you seeing that I'm not seeing?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Yeah, I mean, look, I think if you look at
Barack Obama, he was a transformative president because of who
he was and what he stood for, but he focused
a lot on trying to be president for everybody, and
so criticizing him I think was off limits publicly, and
(29:44):
so we would go to him or his people privately.
But Biden and others who followed, now's the time, Okay,
You've got to compete for our support, just like you
compete for everybody else. They go to these rich donors
and say, hey, we're gonna keep We're gonna protect carried
interest for private equity from don't worry. We're gonna maybe
(30:05):
raise taxes a little bit. We're gonna protect carried interests.
And they keep giving them money, so they give and
take our votes make presidents. We got to use that
leverage and that power to get things to move our
community forward so that we no longer carry this burden
of disproportionate burden of poverty. We should not stop until
(30:29):
we have fifty plus members of the four four hundred.
We should not stop, you know, until we are on
par with everybody else on income, net worth, and home ownership.
I mean, home ownership is where most Americans build their wealth.
Look at where we are. But we can't stop. And
also we can't the Democratic Party told us they made
(30:50):
a choice. They supported the teachers union over charter schools.
Charter schools better educate our young people. It's clear, it's
clear as day anywhere in the here in New York City.
You can look at Success Academy, you can look at
so many other places. So either the public school district
systems have to do better educating our kids, or they
got to compete for enrollment. But the teachers Union is
(31:13):
against that, and so the Democrats consistently sighed with him.
The only ones that stood up Como and Eric Adams.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Wow, you know who're voting for in November.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
I don't. I don't right now. I mean, it'd be
very hard for me to vote for Biden right now.
I really feel that he owes us an explanation and
he owes us some concrete. If he stepped up and said,
I'm going to do this, this, this, this, this, and
I'm starting right now, start signing executive orders. Look at
all these executive orders he signs for everything. Else signs
(31:46):
some for us mandate that public employee pension systems that
benefit from tax exempt status have to invest their money
and manner in which it's reflective of population demographics or
the demographics of their pension beneficiary. Think about it, Many
(32:09):
of these government employees disproportionately are black, and can't he
get access to our own money. So if he did
things like that, then I could look differently. And I
really I need the Democratic Party overall. I've been a
lifelong Democrat. I need them to step up and start
fighting for us, and they're just not doing it and
fighting for us by proposing legislation in the Congress and proposing,
(32:33):
you know, legislation in these cities. Do you know that
black contracting in major cities in the US, like DC,
for example, Marion Barry in nineteen eighty made a requirement
that at least thirty five percent of all contracts went
to black owned businesses. You want to know what that
requirement is today? Twenty percent and it's local disadvantage businesses
(32:56):
twenty percent. Local disadvantaged business lost fifteen percent. Think about that.
And so if you look around the country, look at Detroit.
Who's rebuilding Detroit? Not black people, white people. Who's getting
the economic benefit? So these politicians can't keep doing this
to us and getting our vote.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Would you said, it'd be haffey to vote for Biden,
would be hafy to vote for Trump.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
It would be hard for me to vote for Trump.
But I would do business with Trump if he were transit.
Donald Trump said I'm going to do this, this, and this,
then I would do that. What I'm doing right now
is I'm putting together a group of black business people
and we are going to ask to meet with President Biden,
(33:39):
and we're going to ask to meet with President Trump.
And we're going to have an agenda and We're going
to ask them to tell us where they stand on
this agenda and what they would do to move this
agenda forward, and then make an informed decision on what
we do.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
So even with the history, well I about to say
even with the history of Trump, but I mean Biden
had the history as well.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Yeah, I mean, I mean again, you know they I
was talking to somebody about Trump the other day and
they said, well, what about the Central Park five is
a horrible thing. I mean, and he was reaction very
quick to rush adjuster judgment and so forth. Is a
horrible thing. Joe Biden is responsible for five hundred thousand
black men in jail.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
What about an attempting cool of the country. Are Trump
saying I want to terminate the Constitution to overthrow the results?
Speaker 1 (34:22):
I mean, that's a disturbing thing. But these are words
and in reality, I mean words you know that only
gets implementative if our government, Congress and everything else went
along with it. So I think the problem with him
is is he's erratic and by the way, and the
Democrats should be scared to death because the next Republican
(34:44):
is probably going to be a bit more measured and
a bit more you know, in control of themselves, and
they're going to have a message to our people because
what's going to happen is they're seeing that we are
receptive and now that they see us as receptive, we're
not going to write us off. They'll start competing for
our vote, as they should. And so you know, I think, look,
(35:06):
doctor King Senior, Martin Luther King Senior was a Republican.
The first Democrat he endorsed with John Kennedy in nineteen
sixty and that was because of some of the things
that Kennedy did during the Civil rights movement, and that
was when there was a bit of a shift between
for black voters to go more Democratics. So we should
(35:27):
be we should be just bipartisan. We should be again
supporting those who support us. Our agenda is economic opportunity.
If they're not locking up rich black men and women
on a regular basis, they're they're not, you know, attacking
people in that way. So we have more economic power,
(35:51):
we can protect our own people, we can give environments
of opportunity, and that's what that needs to happen. But
it has to happen fast. It's way overdue.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
What do you say about conservatives who are you know,
gutting things, getting rid of things like the DEI programs
are attacking you know, affirmative action, you know type programs
like what would you say to that?
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Well, I think that we gave them the opera Democrats
served it up to them because again when I was
they it's too broad. I mean it includes Asian Americans,
it includes Latino Americans. That it I mean, it includes
so many people who volunteerily immigrated to this country.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
But they're attacking it because it includes us.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Well, I don't know. I think you got to put
it back to them. I think black people, we are
to fight for ourselves. Hey, this should only be for
US and Native Americans. That's what it was attended for.
This country only owes these US and Native Americans a debt.
So let's close the EI to make it just reflective
of that. This country did not do anything. It didn't
enslave Latinos, it didn't enslave Asians. I mean, this country
(36:48):
owes Black Americans a debt for building it financially for free.
So if we so, I think the answer is we
got to narrow it back to what it belongs to
and then fight that fight, and that fight is winnable
and people will be persuadable. There's racist in this country
and they're anti Semitic people in this country, and that
(37:10):
will that will be for a long time, probably forever.
They're not going to persuade them, But I think there's
other people you can persuade based on the facts. And
I wonder why these liberals have ignored our economic interest
and are they the ones who want to keep us,
you know, in a subordinate and subservient position, so that
(37:35):
we're controllable, because that seems like it to me. They
want a controllable constituency, but they do nothing for us.
I mean, everybody gets something, gay community got all these things.
I mean, you look at it. They're fighting again on
reproductive issues, right, I mean they're fighting on these other
east but when it comes to us, they're not willing
to fight. They're just scaring us. Hey, Trump's are racist,
the Republicans are racist, and you don't have any choice
(37:57):
but us, and we are not going to do anything
for you, but we're not gonna be racist, and we're
gonna be nice to you. That's not enough.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
Don peebles, ladies and gentlemen. Don you want to give
some information what he can follow you on Instagram, Twitter.
I don't think you owned it that much.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
No, I'm on Instagram, R D Peebles on Instagram and uh,
you know, and I'm on Twitter as well, Don Peebles,
but uh and I like to get people's thoughts because
I do, you know, I want. We need to be
working together and building our army about change that's right
and supporting you. I mean, the fact that you are
(38:32):
willing to say something that all of us should be
saying is by criticizing inaction of our party, who hasn't
who we've delivered for, who hasn't delivered for us? I mean,
we got to all join in this because if we do,
then they're gonna listen and we're gonna get results if
we And again this whole idea of dividing us, that's
(38:55):
another thing kind of take away our power collectively. So
we work together here we can change in It's a
great time to change things.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
I agree. It's don people, ladies and gentlemen, it's the
breakfast Club.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Thank you for coming, brother, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Wake that ass up in the morning. Breakfast Club
Wake that answer up in the morning.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
The Breakfast Club, yup, Charlamagne to God, Jess Hilarious. DJ
Nvy is not here right now, but we have a
very special guest man. He's an entrepreneur, he's an author.
He's done people, Joe, Okay, alright, all right. He does
a little bit of everything. But happy to have you here, sir.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Great to be here, man. How are you great? I'm
doing great now.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Mister Dawn. I don'm gon keep you. I don't know you.
So who is done? People?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I am a real estate developer and entrepreneur. I'm from Washington,
d C. I grew up born and raised in DC
and part in Detroit. Started my company when I was
twenty three, and I built office buildings, and I built
hotels and condos around the country from Boston down to
Miami and then Los Angeles, San Francisco, in Vegas, and
(00:50):
right now I am trying to build what will be
the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere called Affirmation Tower
right here in New York City. Out of all these skyscrapers,
not one of them is built by a black developer.
In fact, the reason I came to New York is
back in two thousand and nine or so, I was
having drinks with Reverend Sharpton at the Havana Club and
(01:12):
he looked out the window and he said, come over here,
what do you see? And I see all these tall buildings.
He said, well, what don't you see? And I don't know,
and he said, not one of them is owned by
one of us, So you need to do something about it.
So I came here, started a business here, and built
some buildings here, just finished a luxury condo building downtown
(01:35):
in Tribeca, and decided that I would build a building
that reflected economic empowerment for our people. And so I
call it Affirmation Tower. I partnered with two other black
developers because it needed to be black owned, so eighty
percent black owned, being built by a woman led, black
woman led contractor exactly, and that America promises us equal
(02:03):
access to economic opportunities. So this building is going to
reflect that that that the first skyscraper ought to be
the biggest and it ought to be the best. And
so we're also going to help Reverend Sharpton and those
who follow in the civil rights movement to have a legacy.
We're building a civil rights museum there that Reverend Sharpton
(02:25):
and his foundation will lead, and then we're going to
make it a symbol and an environment of economic opportunity
for people new hotels, apartments, condos, and also I'm building
forty percent affordable housing there too.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yes, you know it's very important to note, and you
said it already, but I just want to say it
in a way people will really understand. You are the
most successful black real estate developer in American history, Right,
that's safe to say.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I guess, yeah, I'm working on it every day, but
I'm working on trying to make it so that there's
you know that there's it's easier, and there's so many
more of me, And that's really you know, if I
ever have a legacy, it will be I'd like it
to be that there's many, many, many more people like
me who have had an opportunity to come out here
and be successful.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
And you've been on Breakfast Club before, You've been on
Breakfast Club with with Miss Cheryl mckisseck, so this isn't
your first time. So I like when we get to
amplify people like you, simply because you know, a lot
of our audience, they know how to get money one
way right, and a lot of times that way is
entertainment athletes. Now everybody want to be an influencer nowadays.
(03:33):
So I love when we can sit down and have
conversations with people like you who've created real wealth and
haven't done any of those things.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah, I mean I you know, in fact, I was
an athlete in high school, but.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
I don't believe that good enough. I don't believe that.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
I'm a basketball player anymore.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Though.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
I got to be about six fifty three when I
was twelve, and then it popped another entry. I realized
also that I can never make myself into Michael Jordan,
no matter how hard I worked, et cetera. But I
can make myself into one of the greatest business people around.
And that's what I tell people, young, middle aged old.
(04:10):
The thing about business and entrepreneurship is you can make
yourself better every day. You get better every day you
can work, and you can make yourself into a great entrepreneur.
And that's the beauty of this. And the real estate
business has an industry of low barriers. But if you
look at where the real estate business is, it's the
major cities around the country where the money is made
(04:32):
and who has a big influence about the politics of
major cities around the country US black people. So if
we could exercise our political power to create economic power,
we would change the plight of our people. And that's
what I try to do in our business.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Who planted that seed in you early on, the seed
of entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
My mother, you know, my mother probably, I mean, you know,
used to tell me that I wasn't cut out to
work for somebody else, and that I was, you know more,
you know, cut out to do something different, and that
you know that people who came before me bought her
hard so that I could have a shot and I'd
go out and take it. And she was actually then
(05:12):
when I quit college after my freshman year, she was
the only person in my family who actually really had
the confidence that I would actually make something out of
my life. So he dropped out as a freshman yep,
after my freshman year.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
And what was what was you major in it?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I was going into pre med. I was in pre med,
so I was going to be a doctor. And after
my first year, I changed my mind. I didn't want
to go into medicine because I was going into it
for the wrong reason. For economic security. My mother and
I had our ups and downs, and she was in
the real estate business. So I learned entrepreneurship from her,
and I learned the headwinds that she faced, not just
as a black person, but as a black woman. I mean,
(05:46):
the headwinds that she confronted were tremendous, and so a
big part of what I wanted to do as a
business person is to create an environment so that people
like my mother got a fair chance and got an
opportunity when you had a talented person really work hard
that I would embrace that as a business and so
I want to create that kind of environment and knock
(06:06):
down some of those barriers that she confronted them that
my father and my grandparents didn't. So I felt I
could do that through business because I can use entrepreneurship
as a tool of transformation. I mean, we end up
building Affirmation Tower. It will be a transformative project in
so many different ways. I mean, it's been recognized by
our architectural digest as one of the most important buildings
(06:28):
of our generation, and in many other you know, organizations
and publications have recognized it because of what it stands for.
And I think that's what you know I've tried to do.
I've tried to build buildings and make money, but they
stand for something and they mean something. And so how
we build our buildings is much more important as to
what we build, because we try to build our buildings
(06:49):
where we're giving people who are super talented a chance.
And unfortunately that sounds very simplistic, but unfortunately in our economy,
in this country, everybody who deserves an opportunity doesn't get
a chance, especially when it comes to Black Americans. And
that's one of the things I'm concerned about is that
the politics have begun to move beyond us and uh
(07:13):
and we can't let that happen either.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
What has been the biggest obstacle with affirmation time.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I think getting the Governor of New York to actually
make a decision to sell us a site. We have proposed.
It's a second time now. We have proposed you know,
a price and a project a couple of years ago,
and then Andrew Como had to leave office and so
Hoko came in, canceled it and then reissued a request
(07:40):
for proposals. We've done that and in that process, so
that's the biggest obstacle. You know, good news is is
that we've been able to raise the capital to do it.
It's a three billion dollar development and uh and so
I think that, you know, it should be a no
brainer in my view, because when we're very qualified team
(08:00):
with the resources to do it, but also New York
ows our people, a civil rights museum ows our people
economic opportunity. And how great would it be for young
boys and girls and young men and women to walk
into a skyscraper from not just New York but all
around the country when they come to New York and
(08:22):
go into that building and know it was built by
people like them. And that's why we call it Affirmation Tower,
because this promise needs to be affirmed, this promise of
equality economically, this country needs to affirm it. And I
think that, you know, Governor hoche owes her election to
black voters. She had a tough race against Republican and
(08:45):
we carried her over the finish line. Now time to
acknowledge that we have a role in New York City's economy.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
She listens. Governor Cathy listens. Hopefully she's hearing this right now.
You said something interesting. You say, do you feel like
politics is moving past black people? It's found on it.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Well, so if you think about this discussion about DEI
right now, let's rewind a moment. This country was built
with two hundred and forty nine years of free labor
from black people. Industries that had no economic viability were
built by us. That gave America the wind in its
(09:24):
sails to propel it to have the power economically to
be the greatest country in the world. Then another one
hundred years of extreme oppression. So finally, in late nineteen sixties,
Richard Nixon created an Office of Minority Businesses and Minority Contracting,
and there were two beneficiaries, actually three Black Americans, Native
(09:49):
Americans which were then called American Indians, and Alaskans. That
was it because the country owed them and all of
us a debt Native Americans because they stole the land
from us and from them and put them in you know,
these these reservations and just decimated their culture. They just
they kidnapped us, our ancestors and brought them here. So
(10:10):
that's should have stopped there, and the country should have
done right by us by giving us giving our young
people better access to education, better health care, better opportunities
for economic opportunities, and access to home ownership and to
build wealth. And what happened is, over time this was
(10:31):
used as a political kind of patronage or carrot. So
it included Latinos, that included Asian Americans, other people who
volunteerly came here, just like the Irish and the Italians,
looking for a better life, and they got it here,
and they owe America a debt. America doesn't owe them
a debt. So to place them in the same status
(10:53):
when it comes to access to opportunity as black Americans
is in selling and offensive and it's hurt us. And
then think about this. In the wealth disparity in this
country between blacks and whites was greater in twenty eighteen
than it was in nineteen sixty eight when Doctor King
was killed. The income disparity was greater in twenty eighteen
(11:16):
than when Doctor King was assassinated in sixty eight. Home
ownership rates were higher for our people in nineteen sixty
eight in twenty eighteen. And then of course all of
these three statistics they're worse today. So we're not making progress.
And the Democratic Party has taken us for granted. They
believe that because we're black. Joe Biden sent it on
(11:37):
your program. Can't make up your mind between me and Trump?
You ain't black?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Who is he?
Speaker 1 (11:41):
He was determined who's black or not? You know it?
You know it's funny. I was at a performance last
night called forty four the Unofficial Story.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
You were there.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I was there and I took a brother who was
actually a Charles Payn who's on Fox, and he joined me,
and yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
I saw him. And I didn't talk to him, but
I saw him like wander in the back. I didn't
see you that.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Yeah, No, I was sitting right next. I came right
before the performance and took my wife and daughter. And
I mean, but that character of Joe Biden was right
on point. But the party has we've delivered. Joe Biden
would be in Delaware looking at the water as a
private citizens for black people. You know, Jim Clyburn in
the South Carolina orders saved him in the Democratic primary
(12:28):
and then we delivered the election to him, you know,
in the general election. And what is he doing for us?
You know that to start a business you need capital.
Normally that comes from venture capital, private equity. Our young guys,
young people, young boys and girls who were coming up
with these tech ideas. They need venture capital, aspiring real
(12:49):
estate entrepreneurs, they need capital. There's eighty seven trillion dollars
currently invested in venture capital and private equity in this country.
Eighty seven trillion out of that, less than one point
two five percent go to businesses started or run by
women and people of color combined. The statistic of how
(13:13):
much money black people get us access to that is
less than a quarter of one percent. But we represent
fourteen percent of this country's population. All you got to
do is look at the four four hundred three black people. Okay,
there should be I mean we were in a meritocracy,
right then we should be looking at somewhere of about
you know, and what is that we'd be fifty two
(13:36):
black people in the four to four hundred. So we
don't have a meritocracy because they keep our young people
illiterate when it comes to financial literacy. They don't teach
us skills in school. It's all kind of designed to
keep us where we are. They tell us about European history.
We got our kids have to waste their time when
listening to what happened or learning about what happened three
(13:57):
hundred years ago in Europe. And then don't tell them
who they are and where they came from. So I
think that we got to we gotta start practicing politics
like Henry Kissinger practice American foreign policy. Henry Kissinger said,
America has no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent interests.
And that's what we have to do. And our interest
(14:17):
is economics. We cannot keep carrying this disproportionate burden of poverty.
And then when somebody tries to fight to change it,
I mean Eric Adams trying, I mean trying to keep
our community safe, trying to provide economic opportunity, and then
gets overwhelmed with all these migrants and had the nerve
to complain about it. So he complained about it. And
(14:38):
then what happened. The Biden administration targets him for investigation
and goes and confiscates his you know, cell phone and
his iPad when he comes out of an event, and
that that's just sending a message.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Oh so you think that was directly related to him
complaining about the migrant situation.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Yeah, I think challenging Biden. Wow, Because Biden's candidacy is
a week and so they can't afford to have anybody
step out against him, and I think they took their
shot at Eric because he was saying, wait a minute,
you're going to force me to take resources away from
people in New York who need it to take care
(15:17):
of these people. You won't let me put them to work,
and you won't stop them from coming here, and you
won't put up any money. It's destroying our city. And
he spoke out about it and ask for help. And
by the way, the most dependable place for Democrats is
California and New York. And now they're going to mess
that up because he said, okay, will help me, and
(15:38):
they wouldn't help them. And they, in fact, their response
was shortly thereafter, they you know, confiscated his you know,
evident his cell phone and so forth, raided his campaign
finance person's house. I mean that's I mean, you can
subpoena that stuff. They did that to send a message
to him.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
So you're so Biden weaponized the justice system against our
own Eric Adams, Jesus correct black man, who's who's leading
the city.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
And remember he talked about running for People were talking
about him running for president when he first came in, remember,
and so they send I mean, they they they don't
want anyone to get out of line. And that's I mean,
the reality is, think about it. I just gave you
this statistic. Let me tell you another one. There's there's
one hundred and sixty five asset managers who managed the
(16:28):
federal government's pension system, three black firms out of one
hundred and sixty five three and Biden's in there now.
And also he's got account for the nineteen ninety four
crime bill. I mean, I mean, he just mean, I mean,
you talk about what wrecked havoc on our young people
(16:49):
and our people overall and led to this mass incarceration
with that that built.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
And eighty six mandatory minimum sentence in.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Two Yes, he was right about that, right avatory.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
That's one thing that people forget. When he was here
in the whole you Ain't Black conversation, you know, I
started talking to him about the ninety four crime bill
and asking him did that lead to mass incarceration? And
he goes, no, it was the eighty six mandatory mean,
I'm sentisent And I'm like, well you we're ahead of
you taking a lead on that one too. Yes, So
he is absolutely one of the architects of mass incarceration. Yeah,
this is what it is. And I don't know why
(17:18):
people get upset when we bring that truth.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Up, right, It's because they're scared because the Democrats know
they can't win. By the way, here's what they're afraid of.
Richard Nixon in nineteen sixty eight got twenty nine percent
of the black vote. I'm sorry, Richard Nixon nineteen sixty
let me get it right. Nineteen sixty got twenty nine
(17:43):
percent of the black vote against John Kennedy. Joe Biden's
not John Kennedy. Now. Donald Trump got eight percent first selection,
twelve percent the next one. He's polling in the twenties.
I think those numbers of people they're dismissing, I think
those numbers are real.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
I think it'll be an uptake. I can't see twenty.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I just think that. I mean, I think people will
less likely vote, they may not vote at all. I
think the challenge is is what kind of compelling message
can this man give us to vote for him? Locked
us all up? I mean, I had a step brother
who spent most of his you know many I mean
many years in jail because he was sick, he had
(18:27):
a drug problem, and they weren't saying, hey, he's got
an illness. They locked him up and when he you know,
when he after his third or fourth time, he was
in for a long time over a nothing kind of
crime because he was a sick, sick man. And but people,
I mean, when it came to our people, it was
(18:48):
it was a crime. And now with these opioid issues
and so forth, right, it's a disease, always been a disease.
So I just think that the Democratic Party, how do
we let how do people serve in Congress? I mean
I chaired the Congression Black Caucus Foundation Board, and I
tried to get everybody to start focusing on economic reciprocity
like Kwasion Fume started when he was at the NAACP.
(19:12):
So the last four years of Obama's term, I chaired
the Congression Black Caucuss Foundation Board, which is the think
tank of the African American members of Congress, and to
get them to focus Let's leave some of these social
issues for a moment, let's focus on economics, and if
we can get our people in a better place economically,
then we move forward. But if you look at our system,
(19:33):
it is funded by those who want to keep the
status quo. And now you have this backlash against DEI.
Think about what's happening in the country. Now they're saying
that diversity, equity, and inclusion is not a good thing. Now, look,
I think it's too broad of a lens, and I
think it should be focused on Black Americans and Native Americans, period,
(19:54):
end of the story. And that's what it should be,
and we shouldn't the fact that our black politicians act
really allowed our chance of fairness or equity or reciprocity
to get diluted by including everybody who happened to be
you know, non white, and then many Latinos identify as
(20:17):
white anyway, So this country doesn't owe anybody a debt
other than Black Americans, the Native Americans. Everybody else owes
the country a debt, and they got to pay it.
But the fact that they ignore it economically, it's a
big problem.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Frankly, you know John O'Brien, who I love, you know,
he says that DEI is the only way for America
to continue to grow. So you have to teach black
people and brown people, you have to teach them financial
literacy because there's not enough educ what is it educated
college college educated white men to keep the GDP where
(20:52):
it needed to be in the future. So you're gonna
have to teach black and brown people those skill sets
to thrive in this economy.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
I agree with John. John's a very good end of mind,
and I agree with him. However, I think that the
untapped resource in America are Black people. The most untapped
resource in America are black men. We are not utilized efficiently.
We are not given the skill set and the tools
(21:22):
to provide for our families and to help make our
country better. And so that's where I don't. I do not.
I no longer believe the DEI, and I never did,
frankly believe the DEI should be anything other than Black
Americans and Native Americans. And I think if we did that,
(21:43):
it's a case that you can present and stand in
any room and say, because no one's going to argue.
I gave a speech in front of CEOs and executives
over at you know, one of these things, at Harvard
Club or a banker club, one of these two and
I about a month ago, and I talked about this
and I said, let me tell us tell you something
that this country owes black Americans a debt and here's why.
(22:07):
And people afterwards came up to me, thanked me and agreed.
During the Q and A period, I mean, there was
an agreement there. But when you say that somebody just
volunteerily immigrated here eight years ago and they get to
cut in front of the line, two people push back
on that, and it looked there's racism in this country.
So no matter what we do, some people won't support it.
But this country needs black Americans to be in the
(22:30):
economic mainstream and send our people to college. But then,
you know, you think about it again. I hate to
bash Joe Biden, but look what he said at Morehouse.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I'm criticizing black people are afraid, criticized the Democrats. You're right.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
He went to Morehouse College and gave this commencement address
after these young men worked for four years, busted their
butt to go and get an education, work hard, study hard,
and go out here with some sense of optimism, and
told them America wasn't there for him. And I said,
what the heck is he talking about. He's probably telling
the truth, unfortunately, but he's in charge, he's a president.
And I said, yeah, where's the right And I remember,
(23:08):
I remember Obama went there and gave it, gave a
commencement address, so I went and looked it up. He said,
no better time in America for you than now. It
ain't gonna be easy. The people who came before you
was hard for them, harder for them, and they were
able to get through it. You can. But it's about optimism.
But Biden tells people and the Democrats got to stop
(23:28):
telling us that Trump is so bad or the Republicans
are so bad. They should be saying, look what we've done.
We deserve another term because of what we have done
we've delivered. Not this person so bad or he's a
convicted felon, or this or that. It's about what they
have done. And they've shifted this narrative to being able
(23:51):
to sell their inferior product to us by saying that
the other products worse.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Don I say that all the time. I literally say
all the time. They have to stop focusing on talking
about how bad Donald Trump is. Then just tell us
about what you the good you've done. I get mad
at liberal media because liberal media will spend all day
on their programs, all day on their social media talking
about Trump. You're not changing nobody's mind about Trump. That
already supports Trump would tell me about the good that
(24:17):
the Biden administration has done, and then maybe black people
we won't be sitting around saying, well, what are they
doing for us? What have they done? We know if
you tell.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Us, yeah, you're exactly right, and that they spend all
that time, If they could spend time educating the country
about the disparities and the obstacles that Black Americans go through,
there would be greater support for DEI. But what's happening
is they're like, they're going along with this stuff and
(24:44):
then just again vilifying Trump. And you can't. I mean,
if we're going to move forward, we got to expect
someone to say, hey, what they're doing for us? Right?
And I think that's where, you know, we are allowing
this to shape and we got a whole these black
politicians accountable to they're not Democrats first. They're black first.
(25:05):
And you know because before they were ever a Democrat,
they were black and they were elected by black people
to come to Washington to advocate for them or to
go into office and advocate for them. And one of
the few political leaders that I think is actually doing
that is Adams. I mean, Adams, you know, gave us
press conference of a couple of weeks ago and talked
(25:26):
about how chocolate his administration was. So they got and
they started criticizing him for that. So, I mean, we
need to demand better from ourselves. And it's not enough
by the way one of us gets successful. I mean,
my success would mean nothing if I didn't create an
environment of opportunity for other black people. I would be
(25:49):
worse than a white successful business. People shouldn't celebrate me
or any other business person based on us making some
money for ourselves. What have we done to impact our
community to move it forward? I mean, and we can't
just celebrate because hey, somebody made some money. That's not
(26:10):
what this is about. And we don't get that right
to say, hey, I'm successful, I'm gonna focus on my family.
I'm gonna focus on my business. We got a broader responsibility.
And if we start owning, if everybody owns up to
this and we hold people accountable, then you know, you know,
I think we make some progress. Look, people don't like
I mean, I deal with this where these bankers and
(26:31):
these you know, these private equity funds and so forth
don't like me and don't want to invest in our
projects because of what I say. But that's okay. I'm
not going to be silent about what I believe in.
And I think people need to do that and think
about the other communities that advocate for their people. Think
about Jewish Americans who are advocating for Israel right now.
They're not bashful about it, and there's no repercussions on
(26:53):
it either. But if we advocate for ourselves, if we
challenge a system, there are ramifications on us, and we
got to stop that.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
What are the conversations like behind closed doors? Because I mean,
I know that you're active in politics. I'm sure that
you donated to a lot of campaigns. So when you're
having these conversations with these elected officials behind closed doors,
what are they saying back to you?
Speaker 1 (27:13):
First, they say, most of them will say, wait a minute, Trump,
what are you going to do? You can't vote for Trump.
Trump's horrible, And I'm like, well, you're paying into the narrative.
What I'm telling you is that the Democrat leadership has
to come forward with doing things for our people, helping
us move forward, and it's not I mean, you can
(27:34):
no longer try to make us comfortable in poverty. I mean,
that's really what it is. It's just being comfortable in poverty.
It's like I say these I mean, I look at
I mean, what did Malcolm X say. Malcolm X said
that it wasn't the conservative white that he was worried
about that would do us in. It was a white
liberal who would befriend us and convince us that they
(27:56):
were our friends and get us to vote for them, and.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
The boxing the wolf you get.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah, But also you got to think about how far
back we go, right, So in the nineteen sixties and
so forth. I mean, we were in the fifties, we
were treated so badly. Our parents and our grandparents were
treated so badly, So to be nice to us or
respectful or polite to us was such a big leap
based on what they were dealing with. But we're beyond
(28:23):
that now being nice to us and polite to us
and enough and we need want we got this. See see.
I don't think Joe Biden believes that any of us
in this room have the same aspirations as our white counterparts,
and that we don't have the same aspirations for our
children as our white counterparts do. I think he believes
(28:44):
that our dreams have a ceiling to them and that
our ambitions are tapered, and that's where the problem is.
And I think this paternalistic approach to us is just wrong,
and I think we've got to start holding them accountable
and make them compete for our support by results.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
To me, that is just plain common sense, and it
bugs me out when people don't see that. People will
come to me and be like, why are you so
critical of the Democrats? Why are you so critical of Biden?
And I'd be like, why aren't you Why aren't you, Like,
what are you seeing that I'm not seeing?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Yeah, I mean, look, I think if you look at
Barack Obama, he was a transformative president because of who
he was and what he stood for, but he focused
a lot on trying to be president for everybody, and
so criticizing him I think was off limits publicly, and
(29:44):
so we would go to him or his people privately.
But Biden and others who followed, now's the time, Okay,
You've got to compete for our support, just like you
compete for everybody else. They go to these rich donors
and say, hey, we're gonna keep We're gonna protect carried
interest for private equity from don't worry. We're gonna maybe
(30:05):
raise taxes a little bit. We're gonna protect carried interests.
And they keep giving them money, so they give and
take our votes make presidents. We got to use that
leverage and that power to get things to move our
community forward so that we no longer carry this burden
of disproportionate burden of poverty. We should not stop until
(30:29):
we have fifty plus members of the four four hundred.
We should not stop, you know, until we are on
par with everybody else on income, net worth, and home ownership.
I mean, home ownership is where most Americans build their wealth.
Look at where we are. But we can't stop. And
also we can't the Democratic Party told us they made
(30:50):
a choice. They supported the teachers union over charter schools.
Charter schools better educate our young people. It's clear, it's
clear as day anywhere in the here in New York City.
You can look at Success Academy, you can look at
so many other places. So either the public school district
systems have to do better educating our kids, or they
got to compete for enrollment. But the teachers Union is
(31:13):
against that, and so the Democrats consistently sighed with him.
The only ones that stood up Como and Eric Adams.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Wow, you know who're voting for in November.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
I don't. I don't right now. I mean, it'd be
very hard for me to vote for Biden right now.
I really feel that he owes us an explanation and
he owes us some concrete. If he stepped up and said,
I'm going to do this, this, this, this, this, and
I'm starting right now, start signing executive orders. Look at
all these executive orders he signs for everything. Else signs
(31:46):
some for us mandate that public employee pension systems that
benefit from tax exempt status have to invest their money
and manner in which it's reflective of population demographics or
the demographics of their pension beneficiary. Think about it, Many
(32:09):
of these government employees disproportionately are black, and can't he
get access to our own money. So if he did
things like that, then I could look differently. And I
really I need the Democratic Party overall. I've been a
lifelong Democrat. I need them to step up and start
fighting for us, and they're just not doing it and
fighting for us by proposing legislation in the Congress and proposing,
(32:33):
you know, legislation in these cities. Do you know that
black contracting in major cities in the US, like DC,
for example, Marion Barry in nineteen eighty made a requirement
that at least thirty five percent of all contracts went
to black owned businesses. You want to know what that
requirement is today? Twenty percent and it's local disadvantage businesses
(32:56):
twenty percent. Local disadvantaged business lost fifteen percent. Think about that.
And so if you look around the country, look at Detroit.
Who's rebuilding Detroit? Not black people, white people. Who's getting
the economic benefit? So these politicians can't keep doing this
to us and getting our vote.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Would you said, it'd be haffey to vote for Biden,
would be hafy to vote for Trump.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
It would be hard for me to vote for Trump.
But I would do business with Trump if he were transit.
Donald Trump said I'm going to do this, this, and this,
then I would do that. What I'm doing right now
is I'm putting together a group of black business people
and we are going to ask to meet with President Biden,
(33:39):
and we're going to ask to meet with President Trump.
And we're going to have an agenda and We're going
to ask them to tell us where they stand on
this agenda and what they would do to move this
agenda forward, and then make an informed decision on what
we do.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
So even with the history, well I about to say
even with the history of Trump, but I mean Biden
had the history as well.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Yeah, I mean, I mean again, you know they I
was talking to somebody about Trump the other day and
they said, well, what about the Central Park five is
a horrible thing. I mean, and he was reaction very
quick to rush adjuster judgment and so forth. Is a
horrible thing. Joe Biden is responsible for five hundred thousand
black men in jail.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
What about an attempting cool of the country. Are Trump
saying I want to terminate the Constitution to overthrow the results?
Speaker 1 (34:22):
I mean, that's a disturbing thing. But these are words
and in reality, I mean words you know that only
gets implementative if our government, Congress and everything else went
along with it. So I think the problem with him
is is he's erratic and by the way, and the
Democrats should be scared to death because the next Republican
(34:44):
is probably going to be a bit more measured and
a bit more you know, in control of themselves, and
they're going to have a message to our people because
what's going to happen is they're seeing that we are
receptive and now that they see us as receptive, we're
not going to write us off. They'll start competing for
our vote, as they should. And so you know, I think, look,
(35:06):
doctor King Senior, Martin Luther King Senior was a Republican.
The first Democrat he endorsed with John Kennedy in nineteen
sixty and that was because of some of the things
that Kennedy did during the Civil rights movement, and that
was when there was a bit of a shift between
for black voters to go more Democratics. So we should
(35:27):
be we should be just bipartisan. We should be again
supporting those who support us. Our agenda is economic opportunity.
If they're not locking up rich black men and women
on a regular basis, they're they're not, you know, attacking
people in that way. So we have more economic power,
(35:51):
we can protect our own people, we can give environments
of opportunity, and that's what that needs to happen. But
it has to happen fast. It's way overdue.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
What do you say about conservatives who are you know,
gutting things, getting rid of things like the DEI programs
are attacking you know, affirmative action, you know type programs
like what would you say to that?
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Well, I think that we gave them the opera Democrats
served it up to them because again when I was
they it's too broad. I mean it includes Asian Americans,
it includes Latino Americans. That it I mean, it includes
so many people who volunteerily immigrated to this country.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
But they're attacking it because it includes us.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Well, I don't know. I think you got to put
it back to them. I think black people, we are
to fight for ourselves. Hey, this should only be for
US and Native Americans. That's what it was attended for.
This country only owes these US and Native Americans a debt.
So let's close the EI to make it just reflective
of that. This country did not do anything. It didn't
enslave Latinos, it didn't enslave Asians. I mean, this country
(36:48):
owes Black Americans a debt for building it financially for free.
So if we so, I think the answer is we
got to narrow it back to what it belongs to
and then fight that fight, and that fight is winnable
and people will be persuadable. There's racist in this country
and they're anti Semitic people in this country, and that
(37:10):
will that will be for a long time, probably forever.
They're not going to persuade them, But I think there's
other people you can persuade based on the facts. And
I wonder why these liberals have ignored our economic interest
and are they the ones who want to keep us,
you know, in a subordinate and subservient position, so that
(37:35):
we're controllable, because that seems like it to me. They
want a controllable constituency, but they do nothing for us.
I mean, everybody gets something, gay community got all these things.
I mean, you look at it. They're fighting again on
reproductive issues, right, I mean they're fighting on these other
east but when it comes to us, they're not willing
to fight. They're just scaring us. Hey, Trump's are racist,
the Republicans are racist, and you don't have any choice
(37:57):
but us, and we are not going to do anything
for you, but we're not gonna be racist, and we're
gonna be nice to you. That's not enough.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
Don peebles, ladies and gentlemen. Don you want to give
some information what he can follow you on Instagram, Twitter.
I don't think you owned it that much.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
No, I'm on Instagram, R D Peebles on Instagram and uh,
you know, and I'm on Twitter as well, Don Peebles,
but uh and I like to get people's thoughts because
I do, you know, I want. We need to be
working together and building our army about change that's right
and supporting you. I mean, the fact that you are
(38:32):
willing to say something that all of us should be
saying is by criticizing inaction of our party, who hasn't
who we've delivered for, who hasn't delivered for us? I mean,
we got to all join in this because if we do,
then they're gonna listen and we're gonna get results if
we And again this whole idea of dividing us, that's
(38:55):
another thing kind of take away our power collectively. So
we work together here we can change in It's a
great time to change things.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
I agree. It's don people, ladies and gentlemen, it's the
breakfast Club.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Thank you for coming, brother, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Wake that ass up in the morning. Breakfast Club
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