Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Wendell Pierce On Career Journey, Navigating Your Purpose, NPR, PBS Shutdown, Trump, CLTC + More

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INTERVIEW: Wendell Pierce On Career Journey, Navigating Your Purpose, NPR, PBS Shutdown, Trump, CLTC + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Every day up weak, pack your ass.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Up the Breakfast Club.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: You don't finish for y'all done.
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: Yes, it's the world's most dangerous morning to show to
• 0:08
  Speaker 3: Breakfast Club. Charlamagne to God, DJ Nvy just hilarious. But
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: Envy's not here right now. But Laura Lerosa is in
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: and we got a special guest in the building, the
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: Great Windell Pierces here.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Good morning, sorry, good morning, good morning.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me. This is a real honor. I
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: finally made it to the Breakfast Club. You know. I
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: was just feel like you've been on before you No,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: this is my first time. This is my first time.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: It's a real honor man, you know. Like I was
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: telling you, I'm a jazz head, you know, so I'm
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: listening to jazz in the morning and stuff like that.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: And it wasn't until I was in London do a
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: death of a salesman, you know that. The two gentlemen
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: who played my sons, Everyone's like, you don't know about
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: the Breakfast Club. I'm like, yeah, I know about it.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: I lied and then and then and then they would
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: turn me on to it. Like every day we got
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: every I got all my news. That was like my
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: you know, my associated press was the Breakfast Club, you know,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: so so now that was That's why I was joking,
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: I should come in here with my you know, I
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: have my I have my little unto rage and you
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: know that's my bag of cash. Yeah. I love that. Yeah.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: So you glad.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: We're glad that you are finally. Yeah, we're glad that
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: you finally could join us. Man, I wish I could
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: be there in the studio, but I had to be
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: out of town this week.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: No, understand, how are you? First of all, I'm good man.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: It's been a real busy summer. I've been enjoying myself
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: because I'm already back to work. Summer ended for me,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: uh last week. But it's been great. I've been traveling
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: a lot. You know. I have discovered Angila great. Oh man,
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: It's what I call a drop and PLoP. Right, you
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: drop your bag and you flopped down. Oh man, we're
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: giving it. We should be given it away, Charlotte Mane.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: But then again, they.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Listen, I've been going. I've been going there for years. Man.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: I love it. But it's an island that you go
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: to if you like to do nothing.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: That's it. That's why drop and PLoP. I love it.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: So I've been traveling around and uh, you know, had
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: a busy summer because I had a lot of films
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: come out this summer and coming out. So it's good
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: and back to work already.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: And what I said, I just have to say, for
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: just for me personally, you do not age hey, like
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: because I discovered you on the Wire.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: I'm frommost city, so that's right, Baltimore.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: And my favorite show. Like it's one of my favorite cities.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: I feel like it's a hometown with mine.
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: Yes, yes, but I just want to man, you look
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: amazing still.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: You just.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Thank you well. You know they say black don't crack, uh,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: so I'm trying to live up to that. Unless you
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: want crack, unless you want to crack, you know you
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: will crack. There's always exceptions to that, right. I love Baltimore.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: When we were doing the Wire, you know, it was
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: like this delayed response, so it was like our summer camp.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: We would go down work on the Wire, and I
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: had such a good time there. I saw y'all had
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: the whole crew, all the criminals side over here, the cops,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: the cops. You know, we need our we need respect
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: to But I would always go to. There was a
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: club called Choices. I loved Choices and that dance that
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: whatever that dance was. Man, pop, I looked like the
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: old man in the club. That's what I was. And
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: I would go there and they thought I was a
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: cop because I would put on the suit. Choices was,
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: you know, it was it was, it was. I went
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: in with a suit because Choices was. You know, you
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: didn't you didn't play in Choices. It was a real deal.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: It was no TV criminals in there. It was the
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: real deal sometimes. And so I put on a suit
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: and everybody I thought I was real. Five Oh you know,
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: I said, that would keep me safe. Any club you
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: have to go through two metal detectives where you go in.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: You know, it's an issue too too. So I stayed
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: near the door. But I loved Choices. I love Baltimore.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: Baltimore reminded me of New Orleans where I'm from, right
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: has all the same issues. That has all the beautiful
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: stuff too, you know, and to this day a city
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: that I love, have invested in and is a second home.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: When you think about twenty three years and a wire,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: what does that mean to you?
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: The wire was the Canarian the mind. It was the
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: thing that let us know that there was going to
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: be an American decline if we did not take care
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: of the greatest resource we have in this country, and
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: that's its people. And the thing that I'm proud of
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: as an artist is that's the role of artists, not
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: just entertainment. It's the place where we reflect on who
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: what thoughts are to the individual, where you think about
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: who you are, what you want to be, your triumphs,
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: your failures. That's what art is, you know, And that's
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: what the show was. It was a place where we
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: reflect on who we are, what we're doing, our dysfunction, hopefully,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: decide what our values are and then act on them.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: You know. I was very I was very proud of
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: what the Wire is, and the Wire is it's a
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: classic and what makes something classical speaks to people, then
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: speaks to people now, and it will speak to people
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: long after we're gone, because it speaks to that common
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: humanity that we have. You never pass a corner boy
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: anymore without understanding that he has a full life and
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: there's a whole story behind him. So I'm very proud
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: of the Wire, very proud of it.
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: What because because you were early on in saying this right,
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: that the Wire is letting us know what's about to
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: happen coming. How did you know that then when you
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: were doing it, and like, you know, even in the
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: earlier years, because people always ask you about bringing the
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: Wire back, Yeah, and you've been saying it for some time.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: And I always said, you know, the only thing I
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: tried to do. I tried to convince them to do
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: a prequel of the Wire because they always said, y'all
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: too old, too long in the tooth now, you know,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: to be trying to do a sequel. But I said,
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: we should see how it comes up. And actually I
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: talked to Sam Samuel Jackson man he was going to
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: play the folks that that were controlling the towers before
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Stringer and av Yeah, Boxdale took over, right who they
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: that battle for that territory then. So David said, oh yeah, yeah,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: that's a good idea. But he always said he was
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: never going to do it. So it's like a good book.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: I knew that it was going to be effective then,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: because you saw, you saw, you heard how it impacted people.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: I remember one walk I had in Manhattan. I was
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: walking one time and this little old white lady with
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: blue hair stop me on the east side. I said,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: you know, I love the wire. That's my show. A
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: little further along, this real sort of military square, drug
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: guid looked around and said, you know, I love the wire.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: You know, really, I can't talk to you right now
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: because I'm under cover. I'm on the job. Then I
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: got up to like, wow, I got up to one
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: hundred and eighteenth Street whatever, and his brother came up
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: to me. Man, he was looking around just like the
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: other guys looking around. Said yeah, man, I love the wire.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: I can't talk to you right now, but you know
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: I'm hustling. I'm hustling right. So I was just like
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: if a hustler and the little blue headed old lady
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: was still digging the same thing. We were speaking to
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: our humanity. So that's how I knew that's hownew we would
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: make an impact.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: Then, yeah, man, I want I'm glad you keep using
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: that word humanity, right, because how do you ensure each
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: performance speaks to our humanity and not just the character's story.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Uh? First of all, good good research. You know, I
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: learned so much about specifically cops, why someone would become
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: a cop. Most of African American. This was across the
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: board man. Most of the cats I met black men
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: and women who decided to become police officers were from
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: those neighborhoods. And they said that I grew up with
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: miss Anne and mister Joe, and ninety nine percent of
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: the folks are some hard working, you know, working poor
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: going out there and trying to make it, make a
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: way out of no way, as we say. And then
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: they realized, you know, that the crime that was disproportionately
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: affecting their neighborhood was just like that one percent, and
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: they knew that they could have an impact on that.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: And when you tap into that, that's something that's authentic.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: And when something is authentic, it mayn't be something that's
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: totally different from you from a disparate world, but if
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: it is truthful, you recognize it. Right. The more universal,
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: the more specific you are, the more universal your story becomes.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: You know, and no matter where you're from, you can
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: recognize yourself in someone else's story and humanity. That's why
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: I always say, don't try to dumb something down, or
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: don't try to make it just appeal to me, or
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: you think I wouldn't like that Actually, if you're just
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: truthful to that everybody understands it. You could take you
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: could take some hardcore kid, you know, from the hood
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: who's never been you know, traveled outside of his ten
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: block radius and see, you know, uh, see the story
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: of uh, you know, uh, the Black Swan, see a
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: movie like that, and then go, man, I know what
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: she's going through, right, I can understand how how she
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: was trying to become something and had this you know,
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: all these other jealous people trying to keep her down,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: and ultimately, you know, she thrived. You know, they recognize
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: the story that's truthful. So the more authentic and truthful
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: you are, the more universal what becomes. And the way
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: you do that is you tap into something that is authentic.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: And that was the thing that actually made them right.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: Speaking of the wire, I was talking about Black Cops
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: when the writer said, can I use some of that?
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: And that's the scene between me and Omar on the
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: bench because we came from the same neighborhood. We are
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: of the same neighborhood, and I'm telling him no more bodies.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: He understands it. The reason he doesn't say anything is
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: because he knows I'm right, right, and so that's the
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: thing that's that's the thing that makes it truthful, and
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: that's the thing that makes it universal and appealing to people.
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: Early on, though, like what did you like how how
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: were you able to kind of shape yourself? Because you know,
• 10:33
  Speaker 5: when you first start working in the business, you just
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: gotta work bills, right, But now knowing you as an actor,
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: even just seeing you've I can feel the characters you've played,
• 10:41
  Speaker 5: and like, you know, it becomes like a brand or
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: almost like a like a reputation for you. Like there's
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: certain things I just expect you to do and take on.
• 10:49
  Speaker 5: But early on, like how did you kind of gear
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: your way into this lane of responsibility, humanity and all things?
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so you know, I trained very seriously. You know,
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: I went to Juilliard and trained four years and all,
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: and I knew that I wanted to if I work
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: that hard. I wanted to do television, I wanted to
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: do film. I wanted to do stage, classically trained actor.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: And so I try to be as diverse as possible
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: every year, do the try effector some stage, television and film. Right.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: And I am tri coastal, live in New Orleans, but
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: I work here in New York. I work in Los Angeles.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: I'm on the golf coast, East coast, West coast. People
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: always say, Wendell Man, hanging there, man, you're gonna be working.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: I'm like, I am working man over here, you over there, right,
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: And so mixing it up like that helps you start
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: to build a career because work gets you work. Right,
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: you work with someone, people see it's okay, they appreciate it.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: You get another job, then that person says, I want
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: to work with you again. So work gets you work.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: And then also your audience starts to starts to see
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: that you are consistently really building your characters in a
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: particular way. So I'm I think my brand, uh would
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: be as that journeyman actor you know who you know,
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: that character actor who is an actor of character you know.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: And so that's what I pride myself on doing all
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: sorts of different things, especially at the same time so
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: you can see the range. You know, I'm playing I'm
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: on Elsbeth right now as a captain, the police officer,
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: and at the same time, I'm raising Canaan where I'm
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: like an old school bank Robert and supplying Canaan with
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: his with all of his product and uh, and I'm
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: his bank. I'm in Superman. This summer has been great
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: a perfect example of that. Thunderbolts started off the summer
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: first time, and you know, the whole Marvel world. And
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: then I did Superman, which has just gone around the world.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: It's really fantastic. I went to you know, uh to
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: the opening and the seed. The impact that that that
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: that franchise has is amazing. And and then later on
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: I worked with Denzel and Highest to Lowis, which is
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: coming out next week. So Spike Lee film Spike Lee Joint.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: I was one of the assassins. The second time I've
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: worked with Denzel. I was one of the assassins on
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Malcolm X. So it's great to be back with Spike
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: and Denzel again.
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: Man, you work, you're working.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: Trying to get out there, trying to get out there,
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: you know. You know, I'm that guy that people see
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: They go, hey man, where do I know you from?
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Hey man?
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: You know you go to my church.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's what happened. So I'm that guy. And
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: then then they go away and then come back say,
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: oh man, I'm sorry, I was just looking at you
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: last night, you know. So it's actually a compliment. It's
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: actually a compliment when people see you like I feel.
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: Like I've never seen you do a role that wasn't
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: grounded in purpose, that intentional.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Uh, well, you haven't seen all my stuff I got.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: I got some bullshit out there. You know. You can't
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: you can't do, you can't do. I am celebrating my
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: fortieth year in the business.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Man, and wow, congratulations, thank you, thank you.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: It's this month. Actually, yeah, you go back. Just I'm
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: fortunate that they bombed, right, because you know, just like
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: work gets you, work bullshit gets you. Bullshit a lot
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: of times. I'm a stop cursy too, but a lot
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: of times feel free a lot of time, A lot
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: of times. A lot of times. The business you know,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: they want you to make chicken salad out of chicken ship.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: So d I got a lot of chicken ship out there,
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: you know. But I tried. I tried to I tried
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: to pick my with purpose. You're absolutely right, because you know,
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: I want to be able to look back at a
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: body of work and and and see you know, a
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: multitude of different roles and uh, you know, tap into
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: trying to come to an understanding of what this journey
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: is all about you know, and I'm was motivated to
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: become an actor by James O. Jones and Roscoe Lee
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Brown Julius Harris. You know, those men kind of set
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: the bar high for me, you know. And for those
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: of you who don't know who Roscale Lee Brown, James
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: OL Jones and Julius Harris are you know? Now you've
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: got a little homework, you know, Google, and you see
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: that they set the bar high, and I like that diversity.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: Well, well let me ask this then, how do you
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: stay grounded in purpose while navigating in an industry that
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: can be performative even even off stage?
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Yes, about what's in important to you? You know, Uh,
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: recognize what your contribution to the dynamic is going to be,
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: and be a be a student of your craft. I
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: tell young actors that all the time. Be a student
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: of your craft. And employment doesn't define you as an
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: actor or an artist. Now that's easy to understand. You know.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: When you're unemployed, you know, you're like, I want to
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: hang in there, you know, I know, even though I'm
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: not being paid, I don't have a gig right now,
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: let me focus on the work. But then there are
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: times when you are employed and you're doing some bullshit.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: You know, you have to also say, employment doesn't define
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: me as an actor. Everyone since being a yes man,
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: you know, saying oh you're good, You're good, that's the joint, right,
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: But you have to know, no, man, this is this
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: is some bull I have to I have to step
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: up my game and so have have some pride in
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: yourself and be a student of your craft and always
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: set the bar high. You see that, you know, man,
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: listen in the culture, people understand that when it comes
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: to basketball, when it comes to sports in general. And
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: I'll never forget the thing that got me so impressed
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: with Lebron is I'll never forget. He was explaining the
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: game one time, and you saw that he was a savant.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: He described every play almost in the second half of
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: the fourth quarter. He said, well what happened this? And
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: then he's basketball you missed And the fact that he
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: remembered it, remember what we're right? What went wrong? He
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: was a savant, right, And so that just that made
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: me really appreciate him, right, really appreciate his game. But
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: you know, and that's the thing that will that that's
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: the thing that will help you and will be there
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: for you in the most difficult times, be a student
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: of your craft. When people are putting you down, when
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: there's conflict, when things aren't going right for you. The
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: one true north that you will always have is I'm
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: a student of my craft and that's important to me,
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: and that will be Uh. You know, you're saving.
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: Grace when you're choosing or I guess like you're getting
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: or casting for roles. You still audition or do they just.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you audition. They try to pretend you're not auditioning.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: Let's just have a meeting, you know, let's just have
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: a meeting, and we're going to film the meeting. You
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: don't mind if we film meetings that we remember, but
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: you know, I just want to have a have some
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: of the reference what we were talking about. You know,
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, yeah, and then and then we'll be
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: talking about the role and they you know, uh, and
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: I like to cut to the chase. I said, well,
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: you know, in the first reel and this first act,
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: this was happening. In the second act, this happening. But
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: the most important thing is when he ultimately expresses his
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: love for this woman. And it's the most difficult thing
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: he's ever done in his life. But he knows the
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: expression of this love. Actually, you know what happens in
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: this scene scene you mind if we read it, let
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: me just read it. Let's just read it. And they're like,
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: oh yes, oh I love to you know, and they're
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: all happy. And that's the thing that actually makes it
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: gives me a little distinction because the most cats would
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: be like, nah, I don't want to read. If it's
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: a meeting, it's a meeting. Either make the offer or not.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: I said, I'm going to show you what I'm going
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: to do. And some actors always feel as though the
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: audition process like that. It's like, man, you Kyle Twan,
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: you don't have to kiss his ass, you know. I'm like, no, man,
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: it's a business meeting. I'm going to show you what
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: I'm going to do with the role. Hope you choose
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: me so we can take this further. But just like
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: if I'm at IBM and I'm a consultant and I say,
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: this is what's going to work best for your company.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: This is how we're going to do it, this is
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: how I want to put it together, develop it, and
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: this is how we're going to execute it. So thank
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: you consider that with your board of directors, I'm out
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: of here, right, And that's the same thing with an actor.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: It's your opening and closing night. You know, my best
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: one of the highlights of my career, I had an
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: audition with the great oh Man, I'm forgetting his name now,
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: such a highlight of my career. I forgot it, oh Man,
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: Bob Fosse, Bob Fosse, Bob Fosse, right, And I went
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: in did the audition and the guy was fumbling. The
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: stage manager. He took the book from him and read
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: it with me. And then the next thing, you know, man,
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: Bob Fosse says, you're great man, I love doing a
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: scene with you. I'm going to find something for you.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: You're too young for this, I said, all right. A
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: couple of months later, I saw on the television Bob
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Fosse died right.
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: I'm like, oh man, I never got to work with him.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: And then it stopped. I stopped myself. I said, wait
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: a minute, I did work with him. It was an
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: audience of two, but he and I got to work together,
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: and I'll always remember that moment. Right. So that was
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: my opening and closing night. And so that's how I
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: take all auditions, you know, so that it's important to
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: remember that's your opportunity to show your work. So it's beautiful.
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: I was asking about the auditions because I know in Superman,
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: like you're playing an editor in chief of media outlet,
• 20:56
  Speaker 5: journalistic integrity and all those things are like the brain
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: Perry White. Yeah, Perry White, you come with, but like
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: that's so on time for right now and all the
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: conversations in the media. So how much do you bring
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: into from real life? Like do you connect to real
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: life when you do things?
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: Because I know somebody, yes, especially with that, you know,
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: and even if you don't get to use it in
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: the film, I knew that, Man, newspapers right now are
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: having a hard time, you know, and all of a sudden,
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: how do you make it? And I said, that's kind
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: of like the reason Perry White is always you know,
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: pissed off. You know. It's like, man, how am I
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: as an editor going to keep this newspaper going? And
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: then the biggest story of the universe falls into his lap,
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: which is Superman and he has an inkling that Clark
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: can Superman. I don't care what anybody says. Classes ain't
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: fooling me. And so it's it's I do take take
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: that into account. You know that he's probably an editor
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: who's struggling to keep on top of things, especially with
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: all these different platforms out there that are killing him.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: You know that are killing him. Uh is nobody reads
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: the papers anymore, so everything is online, you know, and
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: different platforms. Uh like this. So I used that to
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: kind of develop Perry White. And what's great about it is,
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: uh that's something that's developing even more that thinking about
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: doing a Daily Planet TV show extension of that with
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: actually it's around Jimmy about Jimmy Olsen. So yeah, so
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: you know that that I always take that's in the
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: development of character. Also, as you're prepared.
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: He spoke earlier about you spoke earlier about Elsbeth. How
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: is it working with Steve Golbert? He announced that that project.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it was it was it was already
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: in the works, so you know, it's uh imitating life,
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: life imitating art. Uh. It was its great. Steve Colbert
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: is fantastic. I didn't have I didn't have much to
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: do with him because he was out, uh so, but
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: he's very talented and that was something that we had
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: already done. By the time the news happened.
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: So because I know he asked you for.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we were. I was on the show and he said, oh, man,
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: I would love to come on the show, you know,
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: even as a corpse. I said, I work on that,
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: you know, I did, you know, and it worked out.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: So I'm not I'm not saying I'm going to take
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: all the credit, but I'm going to take the credit.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: I got him on the show, and uh and so
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: it was really cool. And uh so, you know, whateverything
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: else happened was above my pay grade. I don't know
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: what happened behind the scenes, but it was cool.
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: So Trump keep coming for us because of Charlotte.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: You can help us. Charlamagne, you hadn't let write. Man.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: You know, you know, principle is principal. You know what
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: I'm saying. And actually you are exercising your right of
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: real having principal and that's something that you know, that's
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: something that is your true north. So I appreciate that.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: I appreciate that, my brother. And you know, when you
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: think about you think about all the other times that
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: in times like this, people have given us the playbook
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: of how to stand on business, how to stand on principle.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: And think of Muhammad Ali. Man, they marched down the
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: street against Muhammad Ali right outside this building, up and
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: down Broadway, and nights before y'all were born, when he
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: was fighting. Boy, they hated Muhammad Ali. They hated Muhammad Ali.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: On the day he died. You couldn't find anyone who
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: hated Muhammad Ali. Right, everyone faint. Oh, you know, I
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: always love Mohammed right, But he stood on principle. I
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: think of him and the stand that you're taking. I
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: think of, you know, Martin Luther King in Birmingham Jail.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: I think of black folks in the North Church, you know,
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: on New Year's Eve, waiting to get word about this
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: emancipation that we hear they're going to sign and give
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: us our freedom. Right, there were people who were principled,
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: going all the way back to the Revolutionary War. I
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: give a voice to one of the characters. I'm on
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: ken Burn's American Revolution coming out. It's coming out this month,
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: and I give voice to this one, brother James, who
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: the patriots asked him, you're going to get involved, and
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: even then they say, yeah, we're going to get involved.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: But there's this issue with slavery we really got to
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: talk about. And even then they said, let's okay, we're
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: going to deal with that later. Let's just beat the British, right.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: And then the British offered a whole bunch of folks,
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: will give you a freedom right now if you come
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: to our side and help us. And they really there
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: were a whole bunch of black folks who said, I'm
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: gonna get my freedom, I'm gonna help the British. And
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: then they they messed them, they messed over them. Man,
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: they said, we're going to give you land in the
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: British Empire. You say that to somebody, they always think
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: of London, right, And they gave them Nova Scotia. They
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: gave them Nova Scotia. Right. We're going to put you
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: in the cold of Canada, you know, after the war,
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: so black folks will getting it from both ways and
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: slavery with the Patriots and with the British, you know,
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: kind of being in the turncoats that they were and
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: saying help us. But then we're going to put you
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: in one of the coldest, harshest places of our commonwealth.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: So I say all of that to say that you
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: are a part of a long line of people who
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: stand on principle. So uh and ultimately we know that's
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: that's the thing that will help and that's the thing
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: that will protect you ultimately because people will recognize that.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: So uh man, thank you very much, brother.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: And that's the that's the American aesthetic, you know, that's
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: what the American aesthetic is all about. Yeah.
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: So I've always heard you say that acting is truth telling.
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: So when I listen to you talk just now, just
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: made me wonder when did you first realize that performance
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: could be a form of liberation.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: In New Orleans, there was a group called the Free
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: Southern Theater and they used to perform during doing the
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: Civil Rights movement under the threat of violence. I remember
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: the Klan told them, if y'all do that play, this
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: is we don't know if it's an urban myth now,
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: but if you do the play, you know we're going
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: to kill you, right. So they did the play. Lights
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: go down, everybody's waiting for the curtain call, and they
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: got in the cars and they jetted. So the clan
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: never got them, but they would go on the marches
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: and during the Civil Rights movement and perform, And that
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: was the company that got me interested it was right
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: as I was a kid, so my parents would go
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: and see the play and come back and tell me
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: about it. But then you you know, it's one of
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: those things that inspired me to be an actor and
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: realize that entertainment is just a byproduct of the art.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: If you really want to go to a high level entertainment,
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: it's just a byproduct of the art. The art is
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: really understanding that it's the form where we collectively come together,
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: reflect on who we are, good and bad, who do
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: we want to be, what our values are, and then
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: go out and act on those values. And that's the
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: thing that motivates people. You know, I think I keep
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: talking about the civil rights movement, but you know the
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: song we Shall Overcome to hear that song inspired people
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: right to be a part of a movie like I was.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: I stood on the emen Pettit's Bridge, man, I looked
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: down in the Alabama River and I said, you know,
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: I could hear those souls say tell my story. Don't
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: forget me, right, don't forget me, And think about that man.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: Men and women in the moment before their death looking
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: at the barrel of a gun held by one of
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: their neighbors, saying man, don't let my death be in vain.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: You see those pictures of people right before they're lynched,
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: you know, and this one brother is that one haunting
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: image of this brother just cut up and lashed and
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: beaten naked, right before he's lynched, and he's looking dead
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: into the lens, and it says if he's looking at
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: us in the future, saying remember this, remember me, don't
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: let my death be in vain. So when you stand
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: on principle like that, you are honoring them, don't let
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: their death be in vain, because we're not going to
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: let any anyone just try to sell us a bill
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: of goods and not be truthful and and not tell
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: us that, you know, not try to tell us that
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: we're going to make chicken salad out of that chicken shit.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: You're gonna have me saying that.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: Man, that's what it is when they ask you about
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: tier and say, yeah, that's you try to make chicken
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: salad out of chicken shit.
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: What's the difference between visibility and representation and which one
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: matters more to you?
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: At this point in your life.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: You always want you always want to be impactful, So
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: representation is really important. But I don't sleep on visibility.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: But you can't. You can't just that can't just be
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: the sole purpose of why you want to be out there,
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: you know, because that means you do anything for that.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: You know, you do anything for that, man, I see,
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: you know, uh, you know that's why everybody has a podcast.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: Everybody's you know, you know, man, everybody's a content creator
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: where they came up with a phrase for an and
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: ever I'm a content creator, you know. I'm an independent journalist.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: That's the other one. I'm an independent journalist. Actually, that
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: one's kind of him because you know, you could be
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: doing you could be getting away with a whole bunch
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: of stuff, and like, I'm an independent journalist, and actually
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: that independence forces you to to uh be more principal
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: with your journalism. Right. The only thing that will give
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: me the power or that visibility is if I'm uniquely
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: a journalist, because so many media companies are compromising that
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: now just to stay out of you know, be dodging
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: bullets and at the same time promote other propaganda. But
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: uh so visibility is important. If I had to give
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: up one, I'll give up the visibility for representation because
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: I know that that is impactful that. You know, how
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: many times are we hearing about people for the first time.
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: We didn't know we're so impact in people's lives until
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: later because someone said, no, you've you've been sleeping on
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: this person, right, you don't know about so and so
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: you don't know you know, in your gay man, you
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: know you hear about that producer. You go, man, yeah,
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: you know about all the cats who were coming up
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: in the Bronx and the music hip hop was happening
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: and all of that. But hey man, this cat was
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: the one who's the best DJ out there, right, and
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: so you start to hear that, and so that's because
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: he was truthful. And the representation is the thing that
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: cannot be denied. And this it's going to impact someone
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: who will ultimately that'll give you the visibility. It may
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: be delayed. It's just like the Wire. You know, everybody
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: was sleeping on it when it was on air. Now
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: twenty years later, it's still impactful, right because the representation
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: was there, you know. And we never were nominated for
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: an Emmy.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: That's crazy, wow.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: Never nominated for an Emmy, never nominated for an Emmy.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: None of the performances nominated for an Emmy. You know,
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: and we could go down the line, performance after performance
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: after performance. We have the repertory company of some of
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: the best actors in the game. Yeah, and so that
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: just goes to show you, you know. But ultimately somebody
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: recognized it and said it's deserving of the Peabody Award. Right,
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: So you are making an impact, you know, So I'll
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: take representation of visibility.
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: Your work is so impactful though, in like what's happening
• 33:31
  Speaker 5: in media right now is like anybody who is like,
• 33:33
  Speaker 5: you know, standing, like you said, tints down right, Like
• 33:36
  Speaker 5: the American Revolution series that you talked about that's on PBS.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's going to be on PBS. Ken Burns The
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: American Revolution.
• 33:43
  Speaker 5: Is that? Because I've been seeing so much stuff about
• 33:45
  Speaker 5: NPR and PBS with the Trump administration, like.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: Perfect example, perfect example of representation being important. We're living
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: in a time where funding is being cut. The Corporation
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: of Public Broadcasting no longer exists. Just think about just
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: think about that. PBS and NPR are going to be gone.
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: And that's because in all coups, you take over the
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: media first, so you can control the propaganda, and a
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: part of it is silencing those you feel as though
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: are going to shed light on your criminality, right, And
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: that's that's the thing that is so important to make
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: sure that you get out there and something like that.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: The American Revolutionary think of all the ken Burns Civil War,
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: the Vietnam War, the recent when he did with country music,
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: you know, to show to the to show the roots
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: of country music and how impactful it was and how
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: you know, multi racial it was. You know, So all
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: of that doesn't have a platform, you know, and so
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: you have to fight against that. I mean, that's why,
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: you know, it's important to support organizations and institutions that
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: we'll be able to get give voice to the voiceless,
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: give a stage, you know, an opportunity to folks, you know.
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: And that's why as an artist, you understand, you know
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: that this form is where we reflect on who we are,
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: who we hope to be. But at the same time,
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: as an advocate, I feel as though the social justice
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: movement of the twenty first century is economic development. And
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: that's why at this time and in this moment, when
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: there's so much funding pulling back and opportunities that are
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: taken away, it's important to create those opportunities. And that's
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: why right now, I'm very proud of something that we're
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: announcing and launching. It's a great segue into that, which
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: is the Coalition for Legacy Theaters of Color Fund, which
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: I have been a part of creating to give opportunities
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: to those legacy theaters who have been in the creative
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: cultural economy of this city of New York for over
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: twenty five years, and also those new companies who are
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: giving that legacy a chance to live on. And that's
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: what this fund is going to fund, the productions and marketing,
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: and it's a ten million dollar commitment that we're announcing
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: today the Coalition WOW, the Coalition for Legacy Theaters of Color.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: It's a partnership that I am giving my full throated
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: endorsement to the Caesars Palace Time Squared project, which is
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: a hotel in Casino. I'm very honored that they are
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: giving a commitment to making sure that those cultural institutions
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: like that are sustained going into the future. So they
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: listen to my proposal of supporting companies like the Negro
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: Ensemble Company and the Billie Holliday Theater and the Black
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: Spectrum Theater and New Heritage Theater Group, who have been
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: around since you know, for twenty five, thirty forty fifty years,
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: even serving communities of color with theater. They inspired me
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: to be an actor when I was a little boy
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: reading about them in New Orleans, right, and then came
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: up here and so proud to now join with jay
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: Z and Rock Nation and sl Green and Caesar's Gaming
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: and Caesars Entertainment to bring this coalition together. And that's
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: why they are building this project. But you know, you
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: can do well and do good, and they understand that
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: this project is about making sure that the community has
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: some input and then they're servicing the community. And this
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: is this is something that I'm proud of. It's going
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: to be right in the middle of Broadway, and that
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: in the Broadway community is at the is the pinnacle
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: of theater in New York and the cultural economy and
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: so uh, I'm proud to be a part of that.
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: I'm proud to to launch this fund today and give
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: my full throated endorsement of Caesars Palace Times Square.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: It's the fun that is congratulations, thank you, thank you
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: very much.
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: Is the fun The sole reason you wanted to support
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: the bid for Rock Nation and that sl Green Caesar Palace.
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: Uh I wanted to support it. First of all, I'm
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: an artist, right. First of all are artists, and to
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: see these companies that should be who aren't getting the
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: attention they deserve, who are underfunded in my eyes, who
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: should who have given and created a legacy that has
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: to be sustained. That was the most important thing to
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: me as an advocate. You know, I'm from New Orleans.
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: Twenty years ago we were destroyed by Katrina. And the
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: one thing I learned is the social justice movement for
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: the twenty first century is economic development and to that's
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: the way you build sustainability. That's why how you protect
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: communities on all And one of the reasons I support
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: this is because this is clearly an economic engine that's
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: going to develop Times Square, that's going to bring multitudes
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: of jobs. You know, is going to have a halo
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: effect of affecting all the businesses around Time Square. And
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: at the same same time, think of all the people
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: that come in that's going to be coming to see
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: coming to be a part of Caesars and to stay
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: at the hotel and go to the casino. That's more
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: of an influx of people who are coming to Broadway.
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: You know, almost it's projected to be almost you know,
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: eight hundred thousand more people who are going to be
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: coming to Broadway. Now, take these companies who never get
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: the attention, who never get the real quality marketing that
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: this is going to present. This sixty five million people
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: who are part of this rewards program that they're going
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: to have access to. There's going to be childcare, so
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: you know, the development has said, we're going to really
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: put put our put our belief into action childcare for
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: Broadway workers. There's going to be debt relief, student debt relief,
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: medical debt relief, you know, health relief. And I think
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: that's important. I'm a union man, so my union Actors
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: Equity is supporting it Local eight or two, which is
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: a musicians union. So this is now you see a
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: part of me as a producer. You know, I'm a
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: Tony Award winning producer. So I understand here's an opportunity
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: where art meets commerce. And so we understand the art,
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: that's the thing that everyone shares. We have a vision
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: of how art can impact community. We may have differences
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: on how we build that economic engine and the commerce
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: that will support that but we have commonality there. But
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: the economic engine that a project like this brings, I've
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: seen it in New Orleans post Katrina. I've seen this
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: particular company, Caesars in New Orleans and how people have
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: the same concerns about whether or not we should have
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: this casino right in the French Quarter. You know, this
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: is the heart of our culture, and it has been
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: more than beneficial. It has developed the French Quarter, it
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: has brought jobs there, it has brought more visitors there.
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: So this is for me, an economic engine, and I
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: feel as though the twenty first century social justice movement
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: starts with it economic development, and especially in a time
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: when so much is being cut back, we have to
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: exercise our right of self determination. So I challenge the
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: partnership to say, I'm an artist, these are the companies
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: that I want to support, and if you want to
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: reach out to the community, I ask you to support
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: them too, And they said, we're willing to do that.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: Man, blame Rock Nation for all of that.
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: And as you said earlier, when though, that's why representation
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: is important. Because you have a company like Rock Nation
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: who cares about the communities like Manhattan Plaza in that area.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: They care about the folks on Broadway.
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: They listen to people like yourself, and they brought something
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: to the table to benefit those people.
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, man, listen, you talk about Manhattan Plaza. There's a
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: fifteen million dollar commitment there. You know, there's twenty million
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: dollars going towards kids and families and seniors being able
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: to afford the tickets of Broadway. There's subsidizing ticket purchases
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: like that. So I tell people all the time, never
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: lose the ability to have your concerns and your questions.
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: Never lose the ability to be offended. And so challenge,
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: challenge yourself, and challenge anyone who wants to come and
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: do a development like Caesars in Times Square and say
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: this is what I expect. And they've heard that, and
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: they're answering that security, sanitation, infrastructure around it, jobs in
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: that area, the development of what the engine will bring
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: to the table. They are showing you the impact that
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: it can have, the economic engine. And that's why I
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: feel comfortable doing it. I've seen it done at this
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: particular company in New Orleans. I know how important it
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: is that a company like the Negro Ensemble Company is
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: started by Douglas Tronoward and Robert Hooks and so many people.
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: The last time I saw them in the theater that
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: they had was when I was in school in like
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: nineteen eighty two. It was a second production a play
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: called a Soldier's Play and a young actor in Denzel
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: Washington Adolf Caesar was playing the sergeant. And they haven't
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: had a play on Broadway since Ceremonies in Dark Old Men,
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: which was like nineteen seventy one. It's because they haven't
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: had the opportunity of marketing and funding. So this is
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: a chance. I wanted to bring an infusion of sustainability
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: to them because they should have their place at the
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: pinnacle of cultural economy in New York. And that's UH,
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: and that's what this fund is all about. The coalition
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: of legacy Theaters of Color, and that's what this fund
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: is going to be built on, and that's what we're
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: going to be building to make sure that they get
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: the recognition, have the sustainability, and have the marketing and
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: funding UH that is needed. And that's the commitment that
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: the Caesars partnership is bringing, and I'm partnering with them
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: to make sure that it's sustainable.
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: If the blame Rock Nation.
• 45:37
  Speaker 4: If the if the proposal for the casino is you know,
• 45:41
  Speaker 4: is denied, what is that? How would that impact the
• 45:44
  Speaker 4: CLTC fund?
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: Uh? Yeah, it it It means it doesn't happen initially
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: because you know, it means it doesn't happen. But then
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: we we we we go on and will uh you know,
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: the advocacy doesn't stop, you know, uh, and we'll look
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: for ways to fund it. Initially and you know, I
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: will challenge those who are part of the partnership to say,
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: even though we lost this, which I don't think they'll lose,
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: but we will find a way to still build a fund.
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: I'm still going to be committed to it. This is
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: something that you know is a long time commitment from it.
• 46:25
  Speaker 5: What do you say to people who still after everything
• 46:27
  Speaker 5: you just talked to us about, right, who still say
• 46:29
  Speaker 5: this is bad for Broadway? Broadway just started, it's uptick
• 46:33
  Speaker 5: since the pandemic, and now you're bringing something that will
• 46:35
  Speaker 5: be against the business.
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: Right. Yeah. First of all, I say take your emotions
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: out of it, and let's look at it like business folks.
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: Let's look at the spreadsheet. Do you want to have
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: sixty five million people with their eyes on your business.
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: In marketing, do you want to bring in on average
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: eight hundred thousand more people to your business? Do you
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: want to increase that pool? Do you want to have
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: cross marketing with with the theaters that are going to
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: be around there, the theaters who will be a part
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: of our fund. Uh. There's a rewards program that Caesars
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: has that directly to the businesses that will be a
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: part of the rewards program. Where you know that is
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: direct dollars to the business. It's a discount to the
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: members of the rewards program, but that discount is paid
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: for directly from the seat from Caesars, and so it
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: is not a discount to those theaters. So when it
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: comes to marketing, you can't buy marketing at this level.
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: When it comes to extending your pool of prospective clients,
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: as you say, or you're the people who are going
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: to be going into the theater, you can't buy that
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: level of influx. So I tell people all the time,
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: your concerns are valid, your questions are valid. But as
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: I say to my community in New Orleans, because I
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: was bringing back my neighborhood which is now on the
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: National Register of Historic Places, the price you have to
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: pay for complaint is bring a solution to the table. Oh,
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: we have a solution to the table. Now, where's yours?
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: Where is your economic impact of two hundred and fifty
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: million dollars to the community around you in security, sanitation, healthcare,
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: an economic engine for all the businesses. Employment. The other
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: thing that we have is a job fare for you
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: were unemployed that the Broadway workers on a monthly basis
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: can come to seizures for a job fair, the job fair,
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: student debt relief, medical debt relief, housing rental relief. So
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: that's our solutions to the table. That's our answers to
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: your complaint. Where yours?
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: That was a response. Do you feel like you get
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: to go ahead?
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: Charlie?
• 49:31
  Speaker 5: No, you go?
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: No, you go.
• 49:35
  Speaker 5: I don't know if I shifted a bit, but I'm
• 49:36
  Speaker 5: just sitting here like thinking about you know, what you're
• 49:38
  Speaker 5: doing right now with you know, with the fund, everything
• 49:42
  Speaker 5: we talked about with your career and like the roles
• 49:44
  Speaker 5: that you've had, and I don't know, do you feel
• 49:47
  Speaker 5: like you get your flowers enough for like just impact
• 49:49
  Speaker 5: but also like just the half that you're paving for
• 49:51
  Speaker 5: other artists, not even just actors. But artists in general
• 49:53
  Speaker 5: who really want to stand for substance I have.
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: I've been given a great blessing to know and meet,
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: I should say, just meeting Ozzie Davis, Ruby, d Sidney Poitier,
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: Arabella Fonte, Mary Alice, folks who have inspired me as
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: an artist, who were like a part of that Moses generation.
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: They give you the gift of their talent and their
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: time and inspiration, and that Moses generation hands you this
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: baton as a part of the Joshua generation, and you
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: take that on and as they have passed on, feeling
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: that responsibility to them, I'm standing on their shoulders. That's
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: my flowers, that's my flowers. I'll never forget meeting Sidney Puartier.
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: He came to a play. I was doing Fences in
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: Pasadena and man, they said, you know he's here and he.
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: I ran to my dressing room and took off my costume.
• 51:11
  Speaker 2: I couldn't wait to meet the man. And I opened
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: my door and he was standing in the threshold.
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: And I just burst into tears. I tear up thinking
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: about it now, and I just said, thank you, thank
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: you for everything you've given me. You've changed my life.
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: This is the only moment I'm gonna have with you.
• 51:27
  Speaker 2: I just want to thank you. God is going to
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: bless you because you have impacted so many people and
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: made so much. And he said, oh, man, thank you
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: so much. Man, you don't have to. And I said,
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: but that says an artist. I just remember you as
• 51:42
  Speaker 2: a man. There's a famous interview when he lands and
• 51:46
  Speaker 2: he says, you're asking me all these questions. You haven't
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: said anything about. Ask me a question about being a father,
• 51:52
  Speaker 2: about being a husband, about being a man by a
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: black man. You insult me and assuming that I'm only
• 51:59
  Speaker 2: supposed to answer these certain things in a box. And
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: and I was able to tell him that and share
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: that with him. And that's my flowers. That's my flowers.
• 52:12
  Speaker 2: That's where I tell all the folks who want to
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: be content creators right right, you know, ready looking for
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: that likes. You know, if you give more, that's your like.
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: You know, don't work. If the more you give, that's
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: the thing that you know years from now you'll be
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: able to have some sense of accomplishment. And that's that's
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: what this is all about, you know, that's the thing
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: that motivates me as an artist and as an activist.
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: I learned twenty years ago. I said, twenty years from now,
• 52:49
  Speaker 2: some kid is going to ask me in New Orleans
• 52:50
  Speaker 2: darkest hour, what did you do? And I want to
• 52:55
  Speaker 2: be able to have an answer. And I did. I
• 52:58
  Speaker 2: put together a a resident initiated redevelopment of Punchy Train Park,
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: the neighborhood I grew up in, and brick by brick,
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: house by house, block by block, we rebuilt our neighborhood
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: and it's on the National Register of Historic Places. So
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: now twenty years later, I can say this is what
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: I did. Kid, right, go look at that market right there.
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: That's what we did together. Now I can hand that
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: paton off to you. That's my flowers. That's my flowers.
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: And that's why I'm doing it with these theaters, man,
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: you know, they they inspired me. I am only here
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: because of them? Is this the most uncool interview on
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: Breakfast Club?
• 53:41
  Speaker 3: What I love it?
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: This one of the most insightful ones.
• 53:46
  Speaker 3: What you just said is why I love these type
• 53:48
  Speaker 3: of conversations, because twenty years from now, it's going to
• 53:50
  Speaker 3: be some kid watching this interview and learning so much
• 53:54
  Speaker 3: from your wisdom.
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, thank you man, that's uh you know, first
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: of all, the platform that you give folks is so
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: valuable and so important, And what you guys are doing
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: is impactful too. So that's why I'm I'm honored.
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: To be here.
• 54:09
  Speaker 3: I just got a couple more questions. You know, when
• 54:11
  Speaker 3: I think about your work, right like you've You've done
• 54:14
  Speaker 3: a lot of work that has dealt with systems from
• 54:16
  Speaker 3: poverty to policing, the housing. How do you, as a
• 54:21
  Speaker 3: black man stay hopeful when the systems seem not to change?
• 54:32
  Speaker 2: Because I know, I understand the power of exercising and
• 54:39
  Speaker 2: practicing radical self care, practice radical self care, And how
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: how dare I lose faith or lose hope or optimism?
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: As you think of those who were chained in the
• 55:02
  Speaker 2: bottom of those ships, who were thrown overboard, chained together
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: to their death. How dare you the centuries of folks
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: of your family who had no reason to hope, but
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: they still found a way to give vision and find
• 55:27
  Speaker 2: joy in their humanity? I mean, think about it, think
• 55:33
  Speaker 2: about it. How dare we, at any moment, especially where
• 55:39
  Speaker 2: we are right now, lose hope? Because what happens is
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: I think about you know, I came back at New
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: Year's Eve, I spent in a krog Ghana, which is
• 55:55
  Speaker 2: really hip. You know. In twenty twenty, they started the
• 55:58
  Speaker 2: Year of the Return and they have that Afro Future
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: concert and they have the biggest, the biggest New Year's
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: Eve party on the beach man It literally it had
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: the fireworks display that went off for half an hour,
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: and I was just like, people were like, that's enough.
• 56:13
  Speaker 2: We don't want no more fireworks. You know, I never
• 56:15
  Speaker 2: thought I'd get tired of fireworks. But I was thinking
• 56:20
  Speaker 2: about all the folks, all the kids that I want
• 56:24
  Speaker 2: to have an impact on, if I could just bring
• 56:27
  Speaker 2: them here, because the one thing, just a trip to Africa.
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: First of all, let's get out of this whole idea
• 56:32
  Speaker 2: of one day before I died, I was gonna make
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: it to the motherland. No man, next weekend, Get on
• 56:38
  Speaker 2: the plane and go for the weekend and come back. Right,
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: That's a part of that disconnect. The poorest person here
• 56:47
  Speaker 2: is a rich man on the continent. The poorest person
• 56:51
  Speaker 2: here is a rich man on the continent. Once they
• 56:54
  Speaker 2: see that sort of poverty and go oh okay, wait
• 56:56
  Speaker 2: a minute. Then you go there and I see so
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: many people like it's not how much we lost in
• 57:03
  Speaker 2: the Middle passages, how much we held on to so
• 57:06
  Speaker 2: you go, wait a minute, I know you that looks
• 57:10
  Speaker 2: just like Bookie.
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: You know, I.
• 57:14
  Speaker 2: Was in Uganda. I was in Uganda at the National
• 57:17
  Speaker 2: Theater and they were speaking their language language I forget,
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: which I like a tribe and they said, hmm, I said, man,
• 57:27
  Speaker 2: Robert Ziahmugga, I said, Robert. He was the artistic director
• 57:32
  Speaker 2: of the National Theater of Uganda in Coompala. Was that, Robert,
• 57:36
  Speaker 2: I know you look at the breakfast club. What's up? Man?
• 57:41
  Speaker 2: And I said, I said wow, Man, I said, wow,
• 57:43
  Speaker 2: we do that too. I can't believe we held on
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: to that, man. I was all emotional. Black people held
• 57:48
  Speaker 2: on to it, man, because you know, you go, I
• 57:51
  Speaker 2: can't believe it. What that girl lost all her money?
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: He said. Wendell, he goes, yes, you held on to it.
• 57:58
  Speaker 2: But it's not just an ex depression. That's a written
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: word for like disappointment and shame. Right. You see a
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: woman or a man they do something and you don't
• 58:10
  Speaker 2: appreciate it and go, oh, that's a that's a shame,
• 58:12
  Speaker 2: and you go he goes, yeah, he said, No, that's
• 58:16
  Speaker 2: a written word in our language, right, and that's why
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: it sounds like that you held on to it, but
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: you don't know what the language is because you cut
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: off from language. And I start to realize that there's
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: so much of that that we don't know about. And
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: I say that to say I don't lose hope because
• 58:34
  Speaker 2: I just those kids need that epiphany. Right, we are
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: the violence in our community is as a student of
• 58:44
  Speaker 2: human behavior, and you have psychologists on here, they could
• 58:48
  Speaker 2: actually tell you better than I is a reflection of
• 58:51
  Speaker 2: the depression, the mental anguish and depression and the trauma
• 58:58
  Speaker 2: in our community. Right, Like, you try to do everything
• 59:02
  Speaker 2: right and buy the book, and every step of the
• 59:04
  Speaker 2: way someone is going to challenge you every step of
• 59:08
  Speaker 2: the way. Right, put your house up for sale. It's
• 59:12
  Speaker 2: a praise lore. Right, we put systems in the place
• 59:16
  Speaker 2: where education you're not going to get the money you want. Right,
• 59:20
  Speaker 2: and now what this administration is going to do and
• 59:23
  Speaker 2: administration is like it, we're going to take this public
• 59:25
  Speaker 2: money that's supposed to be set aside for public education. Right,
• 59:29
  Speaker 2: white flight has happening from our public education and kind
• 59:32
  Speaker 2: of give it to them to subsidize their private education. Well,
• 59:35
  Speaker 2: we're going to shut down the Department of Energy or
• 59:37
  Speaker 2: the Department of Education. Right, but if so, at every
• 59:42
  Speaker 2: step of the way, and that causes trauma, Man, you
• 59:45
  Speaker 2: get tired of it and you're angry, and so therefore
• 59:49
  Speaker 2: conflict resolution isn't Hey, hold on, let's talk about this.
• 59:53
  Speaker 2: I see you as myself now. It's like you just
• 59:55
  Speaker 2: lash out, right, So conflict resolution becomes right. So, as
• 59:59
  Speaker 2: a student human behavior, you just want to give people
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 2: instances of epiphany and hope. So I always think, man,
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 2: to take those kids, just a trip to Africa and
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 2: see it. Right, That's why it's so important to travel
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 2: and have experience and different experiences and say that this
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 2: is a part of who you are and your humanity.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 2: It doesn't even have to be that just to go, hey,
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 2: we're going to spend a day in the park and
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 2: learn about grass, different grasses. What does that have to
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 2: do with anything? Mister Pearce, has everything to do with
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 2: you find some interest in it, or at least find
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 2: out I don't like this. That's an epiphany too, you
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: know something. I don't want to spend my time trying
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 2: to discern the different blades of grass. I want to
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 2: do something else. So what do you want to do now, Okay,
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 2: now let me make that decision. So now you're thinking,
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 2: so that's the sort of work, the personal work that
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 2: would be able to change systems, then you could have
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 2: Then you can really have an impact. The reason we
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 2: don't change the systems is because people are trying to
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 2: spend so much time to just stay in the system. Right,
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 2: So I'm not going to do anything to kick me out.
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 2: That's why when people say I'm not going to run
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 2: for Senate anymore, and then all of a sudden, you know,
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 2: Senator Tillis, it's now speaking truth. Right. It's like, man,
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 2: you've been here for twenty years now that you know
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 2: you don't have to try to kiss ass to get
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 2: somebody's vote. Now, now you're going to say, oh, okay,
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: I want somebody to put I want somebody to get
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 2: in the government. See. And this is the thing that
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 2: our president is good at. And I don't support him,
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: you know a lot of you know. But the one
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 2: thing I got to say is there's a certain way
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 2: you behave when you have fuck you money, right, Like
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: I don't have to do anything to Coyle's outed you.
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 2: I don't have to kiss your ass. I don't have
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 2: to do anything right because it's not going to affect
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 2: me because if you know, if you if you cut
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 2: me off tomorrow, I'm cool because I'm I got some
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 2: chips in my pocket. I'm good. That's an old term.
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: I'm sure at my age, I got so I'm stacking chips.
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 2: That's like an old but you know then you know
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 2: so so when so when he starts to get a
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: little protective, like we don't need to put out them files,
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 2: then you know then you know he doesn't have fucking
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 2: you money, doesn't have any any protective I'm scared of
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 2: this ship, you know. So that's a long way to
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 2: get around to exercise radical self care. And when you
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 2: do that, then your contribution to the dynamic is different.
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 2: You change the paradigm then, and that's how you change
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 2: the system. That was a long winded man. We love,
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 2: but that's how you change it. That's how you change it.
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 2: You know, don't be exercise radical self care and stand
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 2: on principle. Bro, you know what I'm saying, that's what
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 2: it is. That's that's the people we remember. That's the
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 2: people we remember, right, So I think that's how we
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 2: changed the system. That's how we changed. I went on
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 2: a I went on a barbershop tour, uh during the campaign, right,
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 2: and uh the last Kamala I actually did it on
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 2: my own, everybody thought. And then then you know, I
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 2: was saying, hey, man, be selfish. I want I want you.
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 2: I want you to challenge me and say this is
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 2: what I want, and then I can show you everything
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 2: in the platform that will service you. Right. So it
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 2: was the barbershop too. I remember going to Milwaukee and everything.
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 2: The rather said, Man, but you know, I don't think
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 2: you know, they haven't done shit for me nothing. I said, Man,
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 2: let's just go down the list of everything we as
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 2: much as we hate the government, everything we love about
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 2: the government. Social Security, we got money set aside for
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 2: disability and you know a lot of people on disability,
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 2: the hustle of disability sometimes right, social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Right.
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 2: Everything you think about my political party gave. You can't
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 2: name anything that people care about in this country, right.
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 2: That is saying this is important to us, that it
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 2: was a part of government that came from that other side,
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 2: those who do not have our best interests at heart,
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 2: because the other side was always about keeping people ignorant
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 2: of the game. So we can all make a lot
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 2: of money because we will always be able to hustle
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 2: the If you vote for me, you might become a
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 2: member of the rich white boy club. That is the
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 2: thing that is the kart on the stick. That the
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 2: right has always been good at messaging. They haven't provided anything,
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 2: you know, and that seems like a radical idea. But
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 2: you know that's I forgot the question. Now I went
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 2: down the rabbit hole.
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 4: But all the time they write a messaging like the
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 4: right is always good at messaging.
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, So I think the way you change the system,
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 2: the way you change the system is first of all,
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 2: be authentic and truthful and not care about I'd look
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 2: forward to politicians and say, you know, something that was wrong? Right,
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 2: that was wrong. We shouldn't have said that. Folks should
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 2: be able to say right now, even defund the police.
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 2: That was the wrong messaging. We knew what we wanted.
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 2: We didn't want all this money going into militaristic policing.
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 2: So redistribute the wealth of the or redirect redirect the
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 2: resources or something. We should have said something else. We
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 2: learned it in the sixties, Burn baby burn, that did
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 2: not win US elections, you know. But the one thing
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 2: I got, I got to give the right their due
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 2: and the last person you were expected from, Richard Nixon
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 2: started the EPA. Richard Nixon started the EPA, And that
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 2: is something we got to give him credit for. And
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 2: we should tell the right. One of your one of
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 2: the pillars of your philosophy, started the EPA. So why
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 2: are you going against it now? Richard Nixon started.
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 3: The Yeah, they'll probably say he was wrong, Yeah.
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 2: Definitely, Yeah, he said, yeah, then then they'll bring up Watergate,
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 2: right exactly.
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you a couple more questions.
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 3: You're such a moral compass, right, and then it seemed
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 3: like you in some roles you're casted as a moral
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 3: compass too in real life?
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: Who keeps you honest? Incentive?
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 2: I love the books of Albert Murray. The omni American
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 2: Omni Americans is one of my favorite books, just under
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 2: he was a great philosopher. I was able to meet him.
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 2: I grew up and went to Marcellus and great jazz
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 2: trumpet player and all, and we would we would go
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 2: up and uh talk to mister Murray, Albert Murray, Man,
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 2: Albert Murray really taught me the understanding of what is
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 2: your contribution to the diaspora. Then he also taught me
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 2: that there's a uniqueness to our contribution to the human
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 2: diaspora as black folk. Right, we are also why the
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 2: book is the Omni Americans the best demonstration of the
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 2: American aesthetic when it comes to like jazz, freedom within form.
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 2: To improvise a solo while you honor the structure of
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 2: the song is an example of the American aesthetic. We
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 2: are a nation of laws, but we have to be
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 2: adaptable and be able to do improv and honor that
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 2: where the two can coexist, where you can honor the
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 2: form but at the same time exercise your right as
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 2: an individual to be as individual as you can be
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 2: and to have that duality. Came from our community. That's
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 2: with the creation. That's the creation of jazz, that's creation
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 2: of hip hop. Right. Hip hop was always about you know,
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 2: you're taking this, you know, it was always about the DJ.
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 2: Remember about the DJ and the hype man was just
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 2: to come to see the DJ, and then he started
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 2: more and more and more becoming the front. Right, and
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 2: then somebody would kick out the plug from the street
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 2: lamp and the party's over. But that that's that's what
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 2: it's about, you know. But Albert Murray teaches me that
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 2: that's that's why it strengthened his philosophy of understanding that
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 2: there's a discussion of the Western civilization, of the contributions
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 2: of man and woman, and don't forget the unique contribution
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 2: that our experience, unique experience has given to that. Right
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 2: and once and once you understand that, then you can
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 2: appreciate all the variations of it. That there's a uniqueness
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 2: to someone who has our experience and the Caribbean experience,
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 2: or our experienced Caribbean experience and the African experience in Africa,
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 2: and understand the connection of all of that. And those
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 2: are the Omni Americans. That's been the great contribution. And
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 2: that's why so many cultures, you know, admire it, pretend
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 2: that they don't and and but emulate it, you know. Ooh,
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 2: and that and that Albert Murray, that's the man, that's
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 2: the man. Read his books. Man read the Omni Americans.
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 2: It is great, the great book. And that keeps me
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 2: on track. That gives me, you know, that helps fight
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 2: through all the craziness and stuff too, you know, because
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 2: it's by design to separate you, right when you hear
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 2: the arguments of I remember I was in Budapest and
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 2: I came back and I was like, who these Ados
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 2: people are? You know? It was Ados, right, And Roland
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 2: Martin called me and said, boy, they gonna come after you.
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 2: I'm like, this makes no sense what you're talking about.
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 2: We're not connected. I'm just and now it's FBA or whatever.
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 2: And you notice it only comes up around election time.
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 2: So you're sitting there going somebody is paying this to
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 2: go forward promoting this. And what's around this time is
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 2: people get in where they fit in, and when they
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 2: start making money, they start you know, listen, man, I'm
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 2: gonna believe it. I'm gonna embrace it. I'll never forget.
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 2: Rush Limbaugh mentioned on his show, oh man, you know
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 2: those liberals are gonna kill Clarence Thomas and everything. And
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 2: but I like that actor playing Clarence Thomas, Wendell Pierce.
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 2: I really like him. So I reached out to him.
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 2: I said, you know, I wanted to have a dialogue, right,
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 2: I said, it doesn't have to be on the show,
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 2: you know, I appreciate it and his whole thing. They
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 2: came back, and it was us like, no, man, we
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 2: know you support Obama, we know publicly you a liberal,
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 2: and it wouldn't be a good look. And I was
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 2: just like, man, you make one hundred million dollars a year,
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 2: what does this matter. Let's have a real conversation. And actually, wow,
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 2: it taught me something about Clarence Thomas too. Clarence Thomas
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 2: and I literally almost had the same lives, right from
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 2: the South, black Catholic grandparents with farmers. Education was real
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 2: important to him, important to the family. We go to college,
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 2: Clarence Thomas goes to college. Clarence Thomas was a radical,
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 2: radical man. This afro is picking his head. He's going
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 2: on protests, you know, almost like a black panther, and
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 2: goes to law school and all he wants to do
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 2: is come back to Savannah and practice law. And it's
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 2: at that point that he's completely rejected, right, and it
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 2: shows you how insidious racism can be, how insidious racism
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 2: can be. He was just like, but I have a
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 2: Yale law degree. You know, I'm better than most of
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 2: the partners in these old you know, old line law firms.
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 2: They say, yeah, but we still don't watch it, right,
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 2: And He didn't take it as oh man, look how
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 2: racist they are. He said, well, it must because they
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 2: think less of my degree, so affirmative action is awful.
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 2: I'm just like, what, You're not gonna blame them at all. No,
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna blame everything that gave me an opportunity to
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 2: get there. And then the only job he could get
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 2: was with the Republican a d in the in the Midwest,
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 2: and so and then he was on track. But I
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 2: actually think Clarence Thomas is a perfect example of how
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 2: insidious racism can be, because I think he is really thinking,
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 2: I'm giving you the best of humanity and I'm still
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 2: being rejected, and it has developed I think a self
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 2: hate in him, a self hate of all of.
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 5: That, you know, self hate, And so I feel like
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 5: sometimes I think this goes back to Charlomne's questions about
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 5: like you keeping hope alive throughout all your work, it
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 5: can make you feel like these things aren't never ever
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 5: ever going to change, Like you know, like no matter
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 5: what you do, what you accomplished, would you try to
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 5: do There's always someone to say, but you.
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 2: Have so many examples of when it does change and
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 2: how it feels when you just think of just your
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 2: education dream, you know, think about graduation. There were times,
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 2: you know, when you had a paper due or you
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 2: were taking a test and you're like, man, I'm just
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 2: not going to get through this. You ultimately do when
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 2: you know, when you find people who support you where
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 2: you least expected. You know, people you assume were against
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 2: you were like, I'm going to recognize your excellence. There
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 2: are so many of those times also that should embolden you,
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 2: that should give you encouragement. The mistake that we make
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 2: is we think that once we accomplish something we support,
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 2: accomplish a change, that is done. The work is done.
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 2: But it's like a crime disease. Right, It's like a
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 2: chronic disease. You have to be ever vigilant. We never
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 2: thought that in twenty twenty five, we have to protect
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 2: the Voting Rights Bill or reconstitute it because they've taken
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 2: out Section four, which actually protects you, gives you all
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 2: the voting right protections. They've actually taken that out. So
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 2: you have to be ever vigilant to make sure that
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 2: it works for you. Right. That's where the hope comes in, right,
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 2: because you know that those who do not have our
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 2: best interests at heart, and you have to do everything
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 2: possible to give yourself that hope. Right, And that's what
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 2: I mean by exercising radical self care, doing the things
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 2: necessary that you know are necessary to get you there.
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 2: And don't get distracted by trying to convince something, trying
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 2: to convince someone who does not have your best interests
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 2: at heart. That's just on a personal level, and you
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 2: translate that into a larger level too.
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 3: It's my last question, mister Pis. You've been very generous
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 3: with your times, so thank you. How do you define
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 3: cultural legacy and who are you building yours for?
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 2: Albert Murray? Once again, the man teaches you what culture is.
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 2: Culture is a people intersecting with life itself. The literal
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 2: intersection of how people deal with life is culture. How
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 2: they deal with pain and joy, death and life developments, enlightenment.
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 2: That is culture. And when you when you understand that,
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 2: and entertainment is a byproduct of that, When you understand
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 2: that's that's what the culture is. That's what the definition
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 2: of culture is. You are keenly aware of how it
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 2: is an exercise and futility. If you don't contribute to culture,
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 2: you have to say, well, how is this going to
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 2: bring some meaning to how we deal with this situation
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 2: in life? Are we just making noise, talking gossip or
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 2: or we're saying, hey, let's enlighten ourselves about this. What
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 2: does this mean? This is how it's destructive? And how
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 2: can we make this constructive? That's cultural legacy. It's I
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 2: think of the culinary arts of New Orleans. What gumbo
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 2: is all about. The scraps from the table mixed with
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 2: flower and burning flower in some oil and getting your
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 2: root going the holy trinity of celery, onions and bell
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 2: pepper chopped up. And that's going to be my season.
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 2: And I'm going to build this from nothing and build
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 2: it into a dish that is known around the world gumbo, right,
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 2: And that's a metaphor for what we need to how
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 2: we can look at it. So I have nothing, So
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 2: how am I going to make an impact on how
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 2: we literally live our lives. I'm going to give sustenance.
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 2: We're going to feed ourselves and at the same time
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 2: be as creative with what we do that people are
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 2: gonna remember it. That's what gumbo is all about. You know.
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 2: It's like when a guy is shooting his shot, he's like, man,
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 2: you know you still stay shooting your shot. Yeah, that's
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 2: actually just like you know, you're trying to trying to
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 2: get that person's interest in you at the same time
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 2: trying to find out what is it about them? Right,
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 2: the two happening at the same time. Right, If you're saying, hey, man,
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 2: I want to become something, not only are you interested
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 2: in it, but how am I going to change the
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 2: game and then be a student of the game and
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 2: not be jealous of somebody who does it better than me,
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 2: but actually, go, man, I need to get there. That
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 2: is the development of culture, and that's how you leave
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 2: a cultural impact for me as an artist. I'm trying
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 2: to do that as an artist, but I'm also trying
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 2: to do that as an advocate. Right. That is what
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 2: you know, supporting institutions that have legacy is all about,
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 2: And that's the impact that I hope to have. That
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 2: you know, to build and sustain companies who have built
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 2: and build something in me and in my heart, right,
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 2: these companies have given me encouragement, they have given me vision,
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 2: and I want to make sure that they're sustained and
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 2: go into the future, right because they motivated me when
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 2: I was younger and I was starting my career. That's
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 2: what culture is, That's what cultural legacy is all about.
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 2: And having that cultural impact is entertaining. Yes, people will
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 2: always remember the joy of being entertained by the culture
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 2: that you create, but also it has to bring some
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 2: insightfulness and impact their lives long after, right. I'm always
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 2: thinking of the words of Arthur Miller that says, there's
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 2: a certain immortality in the theater now given by monuments
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 2: of books, but with the knowledge and actor takes with
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 2: them until their dying day. That in a dusty theater
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 2: on the stage, he cast the shadow of a person
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 2: who was not himself, but all the distillation of everything
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 2: he has ever seen, and all the unsung heart songs
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 2: that the common man feels but never utters, he gives
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 2: voice to. And then doing that he joins the ages.
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to join the ages, giving voice to the voiceless.
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 2: That's cultural legacy, and that's cultural impact.
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: You should gonna be a time about uncool.
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 2: How the hell what amazing?
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 3: That's important, mister Wendell Piss, Thank you man, Thank you
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 3: for your wisdom, thank you for your insight, thank you
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 3: for your art, thank you for your service to our people.
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 3: Thank you for the Coalition of Legacy, Theaters of Color.
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 3: Thank you, just just thank you, brother.
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Man. I am so honored to be here
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 2: at the Breakfast Club. It really is. It's a smile
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 2: on my face. Smile on my face. I got some
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 2: cache now.
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: As soon as they said you, I'm like.
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 2: Baltimore in the house. Man. I love Baltimore. I love Baltimore.
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 2: Thank you for the breakfast Thank you.
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: It's window Piers, It's the Breakfast Club.
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 3: Hold up every day a wake, clake your ass up,
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 3: the Breakfast Club.
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: You don't finish for y'all done.