Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Don Peebles On His Mission To Build Affirmation Tower, Black Economic Progress + More

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INTERVIEW: Don Peebles On His Mission To Build Affirmation Tower, Black Economic Progress + More · The Breakfast Club

0:00
Speaker 1: Wake that answer up in the morning.
0:02
Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club, yup, Charlamagne to God, Jess Hilarious. DJ
0:07
Speaker 2: Nvy is not here right now, but we have a
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Speaker 2: very special guest man. He's an entrepreneur, he's an author.
0:13
Speaker 2: He's done people, Joe, Okay, alright, all right. He does
0:17
Speaker 2: a little bit of everything. But happy to have you here, sir.
0:20
Speaker 1: Great to be here, man. How are you great? I'm
0:22
Speaker 1: doing great now.
0:24
Speaker 2: Mister Dawn. I don'm gon keep you. I don't know you.
0:27
Speaker 2: So who is done? People?
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Speaker 1: I am a real estate developer and entrepreneur. I'm from Washington,
0:33
Speaker 1: d C. I grew up born and raised in DC
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Speaker 1: and part in Detroit. Started my company when I was
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Speaker 1: twenty three, and I built office buildings, and I built
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Speaker 1: hotels and condos around the country from Boston down to
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Speaker 1: Miami and then Los Angeles, San Francisco, in Vegas, and
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Speaker 1: right now I am trying to build what will be
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Speaker 1: the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere called Affirmation Tower
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Speaker 1: right here in New York City. Out of all these skyscrapers,
1:00
Speaker 1: not one of them is built by a black developer.
1:03
Speaker 1: In fact, the reason I came to New York is
1:06
Speaker 1: back in two thousand and nine or so, I was
1:08
Speaker 1: having drinks with Reverend Sharpton at the Havana Club and
1:12
Speaker 1: he looked out the window and he said, come over here,
1:15
Speaker 1: what do you see? And I see all these tall buildings.
1:18
Speaker 1: He said, well, what don't you see? And I don't know,
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Speaker 1: and he said, not one of them is owned by
1:24
Speaker 1: one of us, So you need to do something about it.
1:27
Speaker 1: So I came here, started a business here, and built
1:31
Speaker 1: some buildings here, just finished a luxury condo building downtown
1:35
Speaker 1: in Tribeca, and decided that I would build a building
1:39
Speaker 1: that reflected economic empowerment for our people. And so I
1:42
Speaker 1: call it Affirmation Tower. I partnered with two other black
1:46
Speaker 1: developers because it needed to be black owned, so eighty
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Speaker 1: percent black owned, being built by a woman led, black
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Speaker 1: woman led contractor exactly, and that America promises us equal
2:03
Speaker 1: access to economic opportunities. So this building is going to
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Speaker 1: reflect that that that the first skyscraper ought to be
2:11
Speaker 1: the biggest and it ought to be the best. And
2:14
Speaker 1: so we're also going to help Reverend Sharpton and those
2:17
Speaker 1: who follow in the civil rights movement to have a legacy.
2:21
Speaker 1: We're building a civil rights museum there that Reverend Sharpton
2:25
Speaker 1: and his foundation will lead, and then we're going to
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Speaker 1: make it a symbol and an environment of economic opportunity
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Speaker 1: for people new hotels, apartments, condos, and also I'm building
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Speaker 1: forty percent affordable housing there too.
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Speaker 2: Yes, you know it's very important to note, and you
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Speaker 2: said it already, but I just want to say it
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Speaker 2: in a way people will really understand. You are the
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Speaker 2: most successful black real estate developer in American history, Right,
2:51
Speaker 2: that's safe to say.
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Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, I'm working on it every day, but
2:56
Speaker 1: I'm working on trying to make it so that there's
2:59
Speaker 1: you know that there's it's easier, and there's so many
3:01
Speaker 1: more of me, And that's really you know, if I
3:03
Speaker 1: ever have a legacy, it will be I'd like it
3:05
Speaker 1: to be that there's many, many, many more people like
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Speaker 1: me who have had an opportunity to come out here
3:11
Speaker 1: and be successful.
3:12
Speaker 2: And you've been on Breakfast Club before, You've been on
3:14
Speaker 2: Breakfast Club with with Miss Cheryl mckisseck, so this isn't
3:17
Speaker 2: your first time. So I like when we get to
3:20
Speaker 2: amplify people like you, simply because you know, a lot
3:23
Speaker 2: of our audience, they know how to get money one
3:26
Speaker 2: way right, and a lot of times that way is
3:29
Speaker 2: entertainment athletes. Now everybody want to be an influencer nowadays.
3:33
Speaker 2: So I love when we can sit down and have
3:35
Speaker 2: conversations with people like you who've created real wealth and
3:38
Speaker 2: haven't done any of those things.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I you know, in fact, I was
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Speaker 1: an athlete in high school, but.
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Speaker 2: I don't believe that good enough. I don't believe that.
3:47
Speaker 1: I'm a basketball player anymore.
3:50
Speaker 2: Though.
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Speaker 1: I got to be about six fifty three when I
3:53
Speaker 1: was twelve, and then it popped another entry. I realized
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Speaker 1: also that I can never make myself into Michael Jordan,
4:01
Speaker 1: no matter how hard I worked, et cetera. But I
4:03
Speaker 1: can make myself into one of the greatest business people around.
4:07
Speaker 1: And that's what I tell people, young, middle aged old.
4:10
Speaker 1: The thing about business and entrepreneurship is you can make
4:13
Speaker 1: yourself better every day. You get better every day you
4:17
Speaker 1: can work, and you can make yourself into a great entrepreneur.
4:20
Speaker 1: And that's the beauty of this. And the real estate
4:22
Speaker 1: business has an industry of low barriers. But if you
4:26
Speaker 1: look at where the real estate business is, it's the
4:29
Speaker 1: major cities around the country where the money is made
4:32
Speaker 1: and who has a big influence about the politics of
4:36
Speaker 1: major cities around the country US black people. So if
4:39
Speaker 1: we could exercise our political power to create economic power,
4:44
Speaker 1: we would change the plight of our people. And that's
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Speaker 1: what I try to do in our business.
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Speaker 2: Who planted that seed in you early on, the seed
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Speaker 2: of entrepreneurship.
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Speaker 1: My mother, you know, my mother probably, I mean, you know,
4:55
Speaker 1: used to tell me that I wasn't cut out to
4:56
Speaker 1: work for somebody else, and that I was, you know more,
5:00
Speaker 1: you know, cut out to do something different, and that
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Speaker 1: you know that people who came before me bought her
5:07
Speaker 1: hard so that I could have a shot and I'd
5:10
Speaker 1: go out and take it. And she was actually then
5:12
Speaker 1: when I quit college after my freshman year, she was
5:14
Speaker 1: the only person in my family who actually really had
5:16
Speaker 1: the confidence that I would actually make something out of
5:19
Speaker 1: my life. So he dropped out as a freshman yep,
5:21
Speaker 1: after my freshman year.
5:22
Speaker 2: And what was what was you major in it?
5:23
Speaker 1: I was going into pre med. I was in pre med,
5:25
Speaker 1: so I was going to be a doctor. And after
5:28
Speaker 1: my first year, I changed my mind. I didn't want
5:30
Speaker 1: to go into medicine because I was going into it
5:31
Speaker 1: for the wrong reason. For economic security. My mother and
5:34
Speaker 1: I had our ups and downs, and she was in
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Speaker 1: the real estate business. So I learned entrepreneurship from her,
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Speaker 1: and I learned the headwinds that she faced, not just
5:43
Speaker 1: as a black person, but as a black woman. I mean,
5:46
Speaker 1: the headwinds that she confronted were tremendous, and so a
5:49
Speaker 1: big part of what I wanted to do as a
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Speaker 1: business person is to create an environment so that people
5:54
Speaker 1: like my mother got a fair chance and got an
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Speaker 1: opportunity when you had a talented person really work hard
6:00
Speaker 1: that I would embrace that as a business and so
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Speaker 1: I want to create that kind of environment and knock
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Speaker 1: down some of those barriers that she confronted them that
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Speaker 1: my father and my grandparents didn't. So I felt I
6:11
Speaker 1: could do that through business because I can use entrepreneurship
6:15
Speaker 1: as a tool of transformation. I mean, we end up
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Speaker 1: building Affirmation Tower. It will be a transformative project in
6:21
Speaker 1: so many different ways. I mean, it's been recognized by
6:24
Speaker 1: our architectural digest as one of the most important buildings
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Speaker 1: of our generation, and in many other you know, organizations
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Speaker 1: and publications have recognized it because of what it stands for.
6:35
Speaker 1: And I think that's what you know I've tried to do.
6:38
Speaker 1: I've tried to build buildings and make money, but they
6:40
Speaker 1: stand for something and they mean something. And so how
6:42
Speaker 1: we build our buildings is much more important as to
6:45
Speaker 1: what we build, because we try to build our buildings
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Speaker 1: where we're giving people who are super talented a chance.
6:53
Speaker 1: And unfortunately that sounds very simplistic, but unfortunately in our economy,
6:58
Speaker 1: in this country, everybody who deserves an opportunity doesn't get
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Speaker 1: a chance, especially when it comes to Black Americans. And
7:05
Speaker 1: that's one of the things I'm concerned about is that
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Speaker 1: the politics have begun to move beyond us and uh
7:13
Speaker 1: and we can't let that happen either.
7:15
Speaker 2: What has been the biggest obstacle with affirmation time.
7:18
Speaker 1: I think getting the Governor of New York to actually
7:21
Speaker 1: make a decision to sell us a site. We have proposed.
7:26
Speaker 1: It's a second time now. We have proposed you know,
7:30
Speaker 1: a price and a project a couple of years ago,
7:33
Speaker 1: and then Andrew Como had to leave office and so
7:36
Speaker 1: Hoko came in, canceled it and then reissued a request
7:40
Speaker 1: for proposals. We've done that and in that process, so
7:43
Speaker 1: that's the biggest obstacle. You know, good news is is
7:46
Speaker 1: that we've been able to raise the capital to do it.
7:49
Speaker 1: It's a three billion dollar development and uh and so
7:53
Speaker 1: I think that, you know, it should be a no
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Speaker 1: brainer in my view, because when we're very qualified team
8:00
Speaker 1: with the resources to do it, but also New York
8:04
Speaker 1: ows our people, a civil rights museum ows our people
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Speaker 1: economic opportunity. And how great would it be for young
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Speaker 1: boys and girls and young men and women to walk
8:16
Speaker 1: into a skyscraper from not just New York but all
8:20
Speaker 1: around the country when they come to New York and
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Speaker 1: go into that building and know it was built by
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Speaker 1: people like them. And that's why we call it Affirmation Tower,
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Speaker 1: because this promise needs to be affirmed, this promise of
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Speaker 1: equality economically, this country needs to affirm it. And I
8:37
Speaker 1: think that, you know, Governor hoche owes her election to
8:39
Speaker 1: black voters. She had a tough race against Republican and
8:45
Speaker 1: we carried her over the finish line. Now time to
8:49
Speaker 1: acknowledge that we have a role in New York City's economy.
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Speaker 2: She listens. Governor Cathy listens. Hopefully she's hearing this right now.
8:58
Speaker 2: You said something interesting. You say, do you feel like
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Speaker 2: politics is moving past black people? It's found on it.
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Speaker 1: Well, so if you think about this discussion about DEI
9:08
Speaker 1: right now, let's rewind a moment. This country was built
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Speaker 1: with two hundred and forty nine years of free labor
9:17
Speaker 1: from black people. Industries that had no economic viability were
9:21
Speaker 1: built by us. That gave America the wind in its
9:24
Speaker 1: sails to propel it to have the power economically to
9:28
Speaker 1: be the greatest country in the world. Then another one
9:30
Speaker 1: hundred years of extreme oppression. So finally, in late nineteen sixties,
9:37
Speaker 1: Richard Nixon created an Office of Minority Businesses and Minority Contracting,
9:44
Speaker 1: and there were two beneficiaries, actually three Black Americans, Native
9:49
Speaker 1: Americans which were then called American Indians, and Alaskans. That
9:53
Speaker 1: was it because the country owed them and all of
9:57
Speaker 1: us a debt Native Americans because they stole the land
10:00
Speaker 1: from us and from them and put them in you know,
10:03
Speaker 1: these these reservations and just decimated their culture. They just
10:07
Speaker 1: they kidnapped us, our ancestors and brought them here. So
10:10
Speaker 1: that's should have stopped there, and the country should have
10:13
Speaker 1: done right by us by giving us giving our young
10:16
Speaker 1: people better access to education, better health care, better opportunities
10:20
Speaker 1: for economic opportunities, and access to home ownership and to
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Speaker 1: build wealth. And what happened is, over time this was
10:31
Speaker 1: used as a political kind of patronage or carrot. So
10:36
Speaker 1: it included Latinos, that included Asian Americans, other people who
10:40
Speaker 1: volunteerly came here, just like the Irish and the Italians,
10:43
Speaker 1: looking for a better life, and they got it here,
10:46
Speaker 1: and they owe America a debt. America doesn't owe them
10:48
Speaker 1: a debt. So to place them in the same status
10:53
Speaker 1: when it comes to access to opportunity as black Americans
10:56
Speaker 1: is in selling and offensive and it's hurt us. And
10:59
Speaker 1: then think about this. In the wealth disparity in this
11:03
Speaker 1: country between blacks and whites was greater in twenty eighteen
11:08
Speaker 1: than it was in nineteen sixty eight when Doctor King
11:10
Speaker 1: was killed. The income disparity was greater in twenty eighteen
11:16
Speaker 1: than when Doctor King was assassinated in sixty eight. Home
11:19
Speaker 1: ownership rates were higher for our people in nineteen sixty
11:23
Speaker 1: eight in twenty eighteen. And then of course all of
11:25
Speaker 1: these three statistics they're worse today. So we're not making progress.
11:30
Speaker 1: And the Democratic Party has taken us for granted. They
11:34
Speaker 1: believe that because we're black. Joe Biden sent it on
11:37
Speaker 1: your program. Can't make up your mind between me and Trump?
11:39
Speaker 1: You ain't black?
11:40
Speaker 2: Who is he?
11:41
Speaker 1: He was determined who's black or not? You know it?
11:45
Speaker 1: You know it's funny. I was at a performance last
11:47
Speaker 1: night called forty four the Unofficial Story.
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Speaker 2: You were there.
11:52
Speaker 1: I was there and I took a brother who was
11:56
Speaker 1: actually a Charles Payn who's on Fox, and he joined me,
12:00
Speaker 1: and yeah.
12:02
Speaker 2: I saw him. And I didn't talk to him, but
12:04
Speaker 2: I saw him like wander in the back. I didn't
12:05
Speaker 2: see you that.
12:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I was sitting right next. I came right
12:08
Speaker 1: before the performance and took my wife and daughter. And
12:12
Speaker 1: I mean, but that character of Joe Biden was right
12:14
Speaker 1: on point. But the party has we've delivered. Joe Biden
12:19
Speaker 1: would be in Delaware looking at the water as a
12:21
Speaker 1: private citizens for black people. You know, Jim Clyburn in
12:25
Speaker 1: the South Carolina orders saved him in the Democratic primary
12:28
Speaker 1: and then we delivered the election to him, you know,
12:32
Speaker 1: in the general election. And what is he doing for us?
12:37
Speaker 1: You know that to start a business you need capital.
12:40
Speaker 1: Normally that comes from venture capital, private equity. Our young guys,
12:43
Speaker 1: young people, young boys and girls who were coming up
12:45
Speaker 1: with these tech ideas. They need venture capital, aspiring real
12:49
Speaker 1: estate entrepreneurs, they need capital. There's eighty seven trillion dollars
12:55
Speaker 1: currently invested in venture capital and private equity in this country.
12:58
Speaker 1: Eighty seven trillion out of that, less than one point
13:03
Speaker 1: two five percent go to businesses started or run by
13:08
Speaker 1: women and people of color combined. The statistic of how
13:13
Speaker 1: much money black people get us access to that is
13:16
Speaker 1: less than a quarter of one percent. But we represent
13:19
Speaker 1: fourteen percent of this country's population. All you got to
13:22
Speaker 1: do is look at the four four hundred three black people. Okay,
13:25
Speaker 1: there should be I mean we were in a meritocracy,
13:28
Speaker 1: right then we should be looking at somewhere of about
13:31
Speaker 1: you know, and what is that we'd be fifty two
13:36
Speaker 1: black people in the four to four hundred. So we
13:38
Speaker 1: don't have a meritocracy because they keep our young people
13:42
Speaker 1: illiterate when it comes to financial literacy. They don't teach
13:46
Speaker 1: us skills in school. It's all kind of designed to
13:49
Speaker 1: keep us where we are. They tell us about European history.
13:53
Speaker 1: We got our kids have to waste their time when
13:55
Speaker 1: listening to what happened or learning about what happened three
13:57
Speaker 1: hundred years ago in Europe. And then don't tell them
14:00
Speaker 1: who they are and where they came from. So I
14:02
Speaker 1: think that we got to we gotta start practicing politics
14:06
Speaker 1: like Henry Kissinger practice American foreign policy. Henry Kissinger said,
14:10
Speaker 1: America has no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent interests.
14:15
Speaker 1: And that's what we have to do. And our interest
14:17
Speaker 1: is economics. We cannot keep carrying this disproportionate burden of poverty.
14:23
Speaker 1: And then when somebody tries to fight to change it,
14:27
Speaker 1: I mean Eric Adams trying, I mean trying to keep
14:29
Speaker 1: our community safe, trying to provide economic opportunity, and then
14:33
Speaker 1: gets overwhelmed with all these migrants and had the nerve
14:35
Speaker 1: to complain about it. So he complained about it. And
14:38
Speaker 1: then what happened. The Biden administration targets him for investigation
14:43
Speaker 1: and goes and confiscates his you know, cell phone and
14:47
Speaker 1: his iPad when he comes out of an event, and
14:50
Speaker 1: that that's just sending a message.
14:51
Speaker 2: Oh so you think that was directly related to him
14:54
Speaker 2: complaining about the migrant situation.
14:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think challenging Biden. Wow, Because Biden's candidacy is
15:00
Speaker 1: a week and so they can't afford to have anybody
15:04
Speaker 1: step out against him, and I think they took their
15:07
Speaker 1: shot at Eric because he was saying, wait a minute,
15:10
Speaker 1: you're going to force me to take resources away from
15:15
Speaker 1: people in New York who need it to take care
15:17
Speaker 1: of these people. You won't let me put them to work,
15:20
Speaker 1: and you won't stop them from coming here, and you
15:24
Speaker 1: won't put up any money. It's destroying our city. And
15:26
Speaker 1: he spoke out about it and ask for help. And
15:29
Speaker 1: by the way, the most dependable place for Democrats is
15:32
Speaker 1: California and New York. And now they're going to mess
15:34
Speaker 1: that up because he said, okay, will help me, and
15:38
Speaker 1: they wouldn't help them. And they, in fact, their response
15:41
Speaker 1: was shortly thereafter, they you know, confiscated his you know,
15:45
Speaker 1: evident his cell phone and so forth, raided his campaign
15:49
Speaker 1: finance person's house. I mean that's I mean, you can
15:53
Speaker 1: subpoena that stuff. They did that to send a message
15:55
Speaker 1: to him.
15:55
Speaker 2: So you're so Biden weaponized the justice system against our
16:00
Speaker 2: own Eric Adams, Jesus correct black man, who's who's leading
16:05
Speaker 2: the city.
16:05
Speaker 1: And remember he talked about running for People were talking
16:07
Speaker 1: about him running for president when he first came in, remember,
16:10
Speaker 1: and so they send I mean, they they they don't
16:15
Speaker 1: want anyone to get out of line. And that's I mean,
16:19
Speaker 1: the reality is, think about it. I just gave you
16:21
Speaker 1: this statistic. Let me tell you another one. There's there's
16:25
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty five asset managers who managed the
16:28
Speaker 1: federal government's pension system, three black firms out of one
16:34
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty five three and Biden's in there now.
16:39
Speaker 1: And also he's got account for the nineteen ninety four
16:41
Speaker 1: crime bill. I mean, I mean, he just mean, I mean,
16:45
Speaker 1: you talk about what wrecked havoc on our young people
16:49
Speaker 1: and our people overall and led to this mass incarceration
16:52
Speaker 1: with that that built.
16:53
Speaker 2: And eighty six mandatory minimum sentence in.
16:55
Speaker 1: Two Yes, he was right about that, right avatory.
16:58
Speaker 2: That's one thing that people forget. When he was here
17:00
Speaker 2: in the whole you Ain't Black conversation, you know, I
17:02
Speaker 2: started talking to him about the ninety four crime bill
17:04
Speaker 2: and asking him did that lead to mass incarceration? And
17:06
Speaker 2: he goes, no, it was the eighty six mandatory mean,
17:08
Speaker 2: I'm sentisent And I'm like, well you we're ahead of
17:11
Speaker 2: you taking a lead on that one too. Yes, So
17:13
Speaker 2: he is absolutely one of the architects of mass incarceration. Yeah,
17:17
Speaker 2: this is what it is. And I don't know why
17:18
Speaker 2: people get upset when we bring that truth.
17:20
Speaker 1: Up, right, It's because they're scared because the Democrats know
17:26
Speaker 1: they can't win. By the way, here's what they're afraid of.
17:30
Speaker 1: Richard Nixon in nineteen sixty eight got twenty nine percent
17:37
Speaker 1: of the black vote. I'm sorry, Richard Nixon nineteen sixty
17:40
Speaker 1: let me get it right. Nineteen sixty got twenty nine
17:43
Speaker 1: percent of the black vote against John Kennedy. Joe Biden's
17:48
Speaker 1: not John Kennedy. Now. Donald Trump got eight percent first selection,
17:55
Speaker 1: twelve percent the next one. He's polling in the twenties.
17:57
Speaker 1: I think those numbers of people they're dismissing, I think
18:00
Speaker 1: those numbers are real.
18:01
Speaker 2: I think it'll be an uptake. I can't see twenty.
18:05
Speaker 1: I just think that. I mean, I think people will
18:08
Speaker 1: less likely vote, they may not vote at all. I
18:11
Speaker 1: think the challenge is is what kind of compelling message
18:15
Speaker 1: can this man give us to vote for him? Locked
18:18
Speaker 1: us all up? I mean, I had a step brother
18:21
Speaker 1: who spent most of his you know many I mean
18:24
Speaker 1: many years in jail because he was sick, he had
18:27
Speaker 1: a drug problem, and they weren't saying, hey, he's got
18:32
Speaker 1: an illness. They locked him up and when he you know,
18:35
Speaker 1: when he after his third or fourth time, he was
18:38
Speaker 1: in for a long time over a nothing kind of
18:40
Speaker 1: crime because he was a sick, sick man. And but people,
18:46
Speaker 1: I mean, when it came to our people, it was
18:48
Speaker 1: it was a crime. And now with these opioid issues
18:52
Speaker 1: and so forth, right, it's a disease, always been a disease.
18:55
Speaker 1: So I just think that the Democratic Party, how do
18:58
Speaker 1: we let how do people serve in Congress? I mean
19:01
Speaker 1: I chaired the Congression Black Caucus Foundation Board, and I
19:04
Speaker 1: tried to get everybody to start focusing on economic reciprocity
19:08
Speaker 1: like Kwasion Fume started when he was at the NAACP.
19:12
Speaker 1: So the last four years of Obama's term, I chaired
19:15
Speaker 1: the Congression Black Caucuss Foundation Board, which is the think
19:17
Speaker 1: tank of the African American members of Congress, and to
19:19
Speaker 1: get them to focus Let's leave some of these social
19:22
Speaker 1: issues for a moment, let's focus on economics, and if
19:25
Speaker 1: we can get our people in a better place economically,
19:28
Speaker 1: then we move forward. But if you look at our system,
19:33
Speaker 1: it is funded by those who want to keep the
19:36
Speaker 1: status quo. And now you have this backlash against DEI.
19:42
Speaker 1: Think about what's happening in the country. Now they're saying
19:45
Speaker 1: that diversity, equity, and inclusion is not a good thing. Now, look,
19:49
Speaker 1: I think it's too broad of a lens, and I
19:51
Speaker 1: think it should be focused on Black Americans and Native Americans, period,
19:54
Speaker 1: end of the story. And that's what it should be,
19:56
Speaker 1: and we shouldn't the fact that our black politicians act
20:00
Speaker 1: really allowed our chance of fairness or equity or reciprocity
20:06
Speaker 1: to get diluted by including everybody who happened to be
20:11
Speaker 1: you know, non white, and then many Latinos identify as
20:17
Speaker 1: white anyway, So this country doesn't owe anybody a debt
20:21
Speaker 1: other than Black Americans, the Native Americans. Everybody else owes
20:24
Speaker 1: the country a debt, and they got to pay it.
20:26
Speaker 1: But the fact that they ignore it economically, it's a
20:28
Speaker 1: big problem.
20:29
Speaker 2: Frankly, you know John O'Brien, who I love, you know,
20:33
Speaker 2: he says that DEI is the only way for America
20:38
Speaker 2: to continue to grow. So you have to teach black
20:40
Speaker 2: people and brown people, you have to teach them financial
20:44
Speaker 2: literacy because there's not enough educ what is it educated
20:48
Speaker 2: college college educated white men to keep the GDP where
20:52
Speaker 2: it needed to be in the future. So you're gonna
20:54
Speaker 2: have to teach black and brown people those skill sets
20:56
Speaker 2: to thrive in this economy.
20:58
Speaker 1: I agree with John. John's a very good end of mind,
21:00
Speaker 1: and I agree with him. However, I think that the
21:05
Speaker 1: untapped resource in America are Black people. The most untapped
21:11
Speaker 1: resource in America are black men. We are not utilized efficiently.
21:18
Speaker 1: We are not given the skill set and the tools
21:22
Speaker 1: to provide for our families and to help make our
21:27
Speaker 1: country better. And so that's where I don't. I do not.
21:33
Speaker 1: I no longer believe the DEI, and I never did,
21:36
Speaker 1: frankly believe the DEI should be anything other than Black
21:40
Speaker 1: Americans and Native Americans. And I think if we did that,
21:43
Speaker 1: it's a case that you can present and stand in
21:46
Speaker 1: any room and say, because no one's going to argue.
21:49
Speaker 1: I gave a speech in front of CEOs and executives
21:53
Speaker 1: over at you know, one of these things, at Harvard
21:55
Speaker 1: Club or a banker club, one of these two and
21:57
Speaker 1: I about a month ago, and I talked about this
22:00
Speaker 1: and I said, let me tell us tell you something
22:01
Speaker 1: that this country owes black Americans a debt and here's why.
22:07
Speaker 1: And people afterwards came up to me, thanked me and agreed.
22:10
Speaker 1: During the Q and A period, I mean, there was
22:12
Speaker 1: an agreement there. But when you say that somebody just
22:15
Speaker 1: volunteerily immigrated here eight years ago and they get to
22:18
Speaker 1: cut in front of the line, two people push back
22:21
Speaker 1: on that, and it looked there's racism in this country.
22:23
Speaker 1: So no matter what we do, some people won't support it.
22:26
Speaker 1: But this country needs black Americans to be in the
22:30
Speaker 1: economic mainstream and send our people to college. But then,
22:35
Speaker 1: you know, you think about it again. I hate to
22:37
Speaker 1: bash Joe Biden, but look what he said at Morehouse.
22:41
Speaker 2: I'm criticizing black people are afraid, criticized the Democrats. You're right.
22:45
Speaker 1: He went to Morehouse College and gave this commencement address
22:49
Speaker 1: after these young men worked for four years, busted their
22:52
Speaker 1: butt to go and get an education, work hard, study hard,
22:56
Speaker 1: and go out here with some sense of optimism, and
22:58
Speaker 1: told them America wasn't there for him. And I said,
23:00
Speaker 1: what the heck is he talking about. He's probably telling
23:02
Speaker 1: the truth, unfortunately, but he's in charge, he's a president.
23:05
Speaker 1: And I said, yeah, where's the right And I remember,
23:08
Speaker 1: I remember Obama went there and gave it, gave a
23:12
Speaker 1: commencement address, so I went and looked it up. He said,
23:15
Speaker 1: no better time in America for you than now. It
23:17
Speaker 1: ain't gonna be easy. The people who came before you
23:19
Speaker 1: was hard for them, harder for them, and they were
23:21
Speaker 1: able to get through it. You can. But it's about optimism.
23:25
Speaker 1: But Biden tells people and the Democrats got to stop
23:28
Speaker 1: telling us that Trump is so bad or the Republicans
23:31
Speaker 1: are so bad. They should be saying, look what we've done.
23:35
Speaker 1: We deserve another term because of what we have done
23:39
Speaker 1: we've delivered. Not this person so bad or he's a
23:44
Speaker 1: convicted felon, or this or that. It's about what they
23:48
Speaker 1: have done. And they've shifted this narrative to being able
23:51
Speaker 1: to sell their inferior product to us by saying that
23:55
Speaker 1: the other products worse.
23:56
Speaker 2: Don I say that all the time. I literally say
23:58
Speaker 2: all the time. They have to stop focusing on talking
24:01
Speaker 2: about how bad Donald Trump is. Then just tell us
24:03
Speaker 2: about what you the good you've done. I get mad
24:05
Speaker 2: at liberal media because liberal media will spend all day
24:09
Speaker 2: on their programs, all day on their social media talking
24:12
Speaker 2: about Trump. You're not changing nobody's mind about Trump. That
24:14
Speaker 2: already supports Trump would tell me about the good that
24:17
Speaker 2: the Biden administration has done, and then maybe black people
24:20
Speaker 2: we won't be sitting around saying, well, what are they
24:21
Speaker 2: doing for us? What have they done? We know if
24:23
Speaker 2: you tell.
24:24
Speaker 1: Us, yeah, you're exactly right, and that they spend all
24:28
Speaker 1: that time, If they could spend time educating the country
24:32
Speaker 1: about the disparities and the obstacles that Black Americans go through,
24:36
Speaker 1: there would be greater support for DEI. But what's happening
24:40
Speaker 1: is they're like, they're going along with this stuff and
24:44
Speaker 1: then just again vilifying Trump. And you can't. I mean,
24:48
Speaker 1: if we're going to move forward, we got to expect
24:51
Speaker 1: someone to say, hey, what they're doing for us? Right?
24:55
Speaker 1: And I think that's where, you know, we are allowing
24:58
Speaker 1: this to shape and we got a whole these black
25:00
Speaker 1: politicians accountable to they're not Democrats first. They're black first.
25:05
Speaker 1: And you know because before they were ever a Democrat,
25:07
Speaker 1: they were black and they were elected by black people
25:11
Speaker 1: to come to Washington to advocate for them or to
25:15
Speaker 1: go into office and advocate for them. And one of
25:18
Speaker 1: the few political leaders that I think is actually doing
25:21
Speaker 1: that is Adams. I mean, Adams, you know, gave us
25:24
Speaker 1: press conference of a couple of weeks ago and talked
25:26
Speaker 1: about how chocolate his administration was. So they got and
25:30
Speaker 1: they started criticizing him for that. So, I mean, we
25:34
Speaker 1: need to demand better from ourselves. And it's not enough
25:40
Speaker 1: by the way one of us gets successful. I mean,
25:42
Speaker 1: my success would mean nothing if I didn't create an
25:46
Speaker 1: environment of opportunity for other black people. I would be
25:49
Speaker 1: worse than a white successful business. People shouldn't celebrate me
25:55
Speaker 1: or any other business person based on us making some
25:58
Speaker 1: money for ourselves. What have we done to impact our
26:03
Speaker 1: community to move it forward? I mean, and we can't
26:07
Speaker 1: just celebrate because hey, somebody made some money. That's not
26:10
Speaker 1: what this is about. And we don't get that right
26:13
Speaker 1: to say, hey, I'm successful, I'm gonna focus on my family.
26:17
Speaker 1: I'm gonna focus on my business. We got a broader responsibility.
26:20
Speaker 1: And if we start owning, if everybody owns up to
26:22
Speaker 1: this and we hold people accountable, then you know, you know,
26:26
Speaker 1: I think we make some progress. Look, people don't like
26:29
Speaker 1: I mean, I deal with this where these bankers and
26:31
Speaker 1: these you know, these private equity funds and so forth
26:34
Speaker 1: don't like me and don't want to invest in our
26:36
Speaker 1: projects because of what I say. But that's okay. I'm
26:39
Speaker 1: not going to be silent about what I believe in.
26:41
Speaker 1: And I think people need to do that and think
26:44
Speaker 1: about the other communities that advocate for their people. Think
26:47
Speaker 1: about Jewish Americans who are advocating for Israel right now.
26:50
Speaker 1: They're not bashful about it, and there's no repercussions on
26:53
Speaker 1: it either. But if we advocate for ourselves, if we
26:56
Speaker 1: challenge a system, there are ramifications on us, and we
26:59
Speaker 1: got to stop that.
27:00
Speaker 2: What are the conversations like behind closed doors? Because I mean,
27:03
Speaker 2: I know that you're active in politics. I'm sure that
27:06
Speaker 2: you donated to a lot of campaigns. So when you're
27:09
Speaker 2: having these conversations with these elected officials behind closed doors,
27:11
Speaker 2: what are they saying back to you?
27:13
Speaker 1: First, they say, most of them will say, wait a minute, Trump,
27:16
Speaker 1: what are you going to do? You can't vote for Trump.
27:18
Speaker 1: Trump's horrible, And I'm like, well, you're paying into the narrative.
27:21
Speaker 1: What I'm telling you is that the Democrat leadership has
27:26
Speaker 1: to come forward with doing things for our people, helping
27:31
Speaker 1: us move forward, and it's not I mean, you can
27:34
Speaker 1: no longer try to make us comfortable in poverty. I mean,
27:37
Speaker 1: that's really what it is. It's just being comfortable in poverty.
27:39
Speaker 1: It's like I say these I mean, I look at
27:41
Speaker 1: I mean, what did Malcolm X say. Malcolm X said
27:44
Speaker 1: that it wasn't the conservative white that he was worried
27:47
Speaker 1: about that would do us in. It was a white
27:51
Speaker 1: liberal who would befriend us and convince us that they
27:56
Speaker 1: were our friends and get us to vote for them, and.
27:59
Speaker 2: The boxing the wolf you get.
28:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, But also you got to think about how far
28:03
Speaker 1: back we go, right, So in the nineteen sixties and
28:06
Speaker 1: so forth. I mean, we were in the fifties, we
28:09
Speaker 1: were treated so badly. Our parents and our grandparents were
28:12
Speaker 1: treated so badly, So to be nice to us or
28:16
Speaker 1: respectful or polite to us was such a big leap
28:20
Speaker 1: based on what they were dealing with. But we're beyond
28:23
Speaker 1: that now being nice to us and polite to us
28:25
Speaker 1: and enough and we need want we got this. See see.
28:29
Speaker 1: I don't think Joe Biden believes that any of us
28:32
Speaker 1: in this room have the same aspirations as our white counterparts,
28:37
Speaker 1: and that we don't have the same aspirations for our
28:40
Speaker 1: children as our white counterparts do. I think he believes
28:44
Speaker 1: that our dreams have a ceiling to them and that
28:48
Speaker 1: our ambitions are tapered, and that's where the problem is.
28:53
Speaker 1: And I think this paternalistic approach to us is just wrong,
28:57
Speaker 1: and I think we've got to start holding them accountable
29:00
Speaker 1: and make them compete for our support by results.
29:05
Speaker 2: To me, that is just plain common sense, and it
29:09
Speaker 2: bugs me out when people don't see that. People will
29:11
Speaker 2: come to me and be like, why are you so
29:13
Speaker 2: critical of the Democrats? Why are you so critical of Biden?
29:18
Speaker 2: And I'd be like, why aren't you Why aren't you, Like,
29:21
Speaker 2: what are you seeing that I'm not seeing?
29:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, look, I think if you look at
29:28
Speaker 1: Barack Obama, he was a transformative president because of who
29:32
Speaker 1: he was and what he stood for, but he focused
29:35
Speaker 1: a lot on trying to be president for everybody, and
29:38
Speaker 1: so criticizing him I think was off limits publicly, and
29:44
Speaker 1: so we would go to him or his people privately.
29:48
Speaker 1: But Biden and others who followed, now's the time, Okay,
29:53
Speaker 1: You've got to compete for our support, just like you
29:56
Speaker 1: compete for everybody else. They go to these rich donors
29:59
Speaker 1: and say, hey, we're gonna keep We're gonna protect carried
30:02
Speaker 1: interest for private equity from don't worry. We're gonna maybe
30:05
Speaker 1: raise taxes a little bit. We're gonna protect carried interests.
30:07
Speaker 1: And they keep giving them money, so they give and
30:10
Speaker 1: take our votes make presidents. We got to use that
30:15
Speaker 1: leverage and that power to get things to move our
30:19
Speaker 1: community forward so that we no longer carry this burden
30:23
Speaker 1: of disproportionate burden of poverty. We should not stop until
30:29
Speaker 1: we have fifty plus members of the four four hundred.
30:32
Speaker 1: We should not stop, you know, until we are on
30:36
Speaker 1: par with everybody else on income, net worth, and home ownership.
30:41
Speaker 1: I mean, home ownership is where most Americans build their wealth.
30:43
Speaker 1: Look at where we are. But we can't stop. And
30:46
Speaker 1: also we can't the Democratic Party told us they made
30:50
Speaker 1: a choice. They supported the teachers union over charter schools.
30:55
Speaker 1: Charter schools better educate our young people. It's clear, it's
30:58
Speaker 1: clear as day anywhere in the here in New York City.
31:01
Speaker 1: You can look at Success Academy, you can look at
31:02
Speaker 1: so many other places. So either the public school district
31:06
Speaker 1: systems have to do better educating our kids, or they
31:09
Speaker 1: got to compete for enrollment. But the teachers Union is
31:13
Speaker 1: against that, and so the Democrats consistently sighed with him.
31:18
Speaker 1: The only ones that stood up Como and Eric Adams.
31:22
Speaker 2: Wow, you know who're voting for in November.
31:24
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't right now. I mean, it'd be
31:27
Speaker 1: very hard for me to vote for Biden right now.
31:31
Speaker 1: I really feel that he owes us an explanation and
31:35
Speaker 1: he owes us some concrete. If he stepped up and said,
31:39
Speaker 1: I'm going to do this, this, this, this, this, and
31:42
Speaker 1: I'm starting right now, start signing executive orders. Look at
31:44
Speaker 1: all these executive orders he signs for everything. Else signs
31:46
Speaker 1: some for us mandate that public employee pension systems that
31:53
Speaker 1: benefit from tax exempt status have to invest their money
31:59
Speaker 1: and manner in which it's reflective of population demographics or
32:03
Speaker 1: the demographics of their pension beneficiary. Think about it, Many
32:09
Speaker 1: of these government employees disproportionately are black, and can't he
32:14
Speaker 1: get access to our own money. So if he did
32:16
Speaker 1: things like that, then I could look differently. And I
32:19
Speaker 1: really I need the Democratic Party overall. I've been a
32:22
Speaker 1: lifelong Democrat. I need them to step up and start
32:25
Speaker 1: fighting for us, and they're just not doing it and
32:28
Speaker 1: fighting for us by proposing legislation in the Congress and proposing,
32:33
Speaker 1: you know, legislation in these cities. Do you know that
32:37
Speaker 1: black contracting in major cities in the US, like DC,
32:41
Speaker 1: for example, Marion Barry in nineteen eighty made a requirement
32:47
Speaker 1: that at least thirty five percent of all contracts went
32:50
Speaker 1: to black owned businesses. You want to know what that
32:51
Speaker 1: requirement is today? Twenty percent and it's local disadvantage businesses
32:56
Speaker 1: twenty percent. Local disadvantaged business lost fifteen percent. Think about that.
33:01
Speaker 1: And so if you look around the country, look at Detroit.
33:05
Speaker 1: Who's rebuilding Detroit? Not black people, white people. Who's getting
33:09
Speaker 1: the economic benefit? So these politicians can't keep doing this
33:13
Speaker 1: to us and getting our vote.
33:14
Speaker 2: Would you said, it'd be haffey to vote for Biden,
33:16
Speaker 2: would be hafy to vote for Trump.
33:19
Speaker 1: It would be hard for me to vote for Trump.
33:21
Speaker 1: But I would do business with Trump if he were transit.
33:24
Speaker 1: Donald Trump said I'm going to do this, this, and this,
33:28
Speaker 1: then I would do that. What I'm doing right now
33:30
Speaker 1: is I'm putting together a group of black business people
33:35
Speaker 1: and we are going to ask to meet with President Biden,
33:39
Speaker 1: and we're going to ask to meet with President Trump.
33:42
Speaker 1: And we're going to have an agenda and We're going
33:45
Speaker 1: to ask them to tell us where they stand on
33:47
Speaker 1: this agenda and what they would do to move this
33:50
Speaker 1: agenda forward, and then make an informed decision on what
33:53
Speaker 1: we do.
33:54
Speaker 2: So even with the history, well I about to say
33:56
Speaker 2: even with the history of Trump, but I mean Biden
33:58
Speaker 2: had the history as well.
33:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I mean again, you know they I
34:04
Speaker 1: was talking to somebody about Trump the other day and
34:06
Speaker 1: they said, well, what about the Central Park five is
34:07
Speaker 1: a horrible thing. I mean, and he was reaction very
34:10
Speaker 1: quick to rush adjuster judgment and so forth. Is a
34:13
Speaker 1: horrible thing. Joe Biden is responsible for five hundred thousand
34:16
Speaker 1: black men in jail.
34:17
Speaker 2: What about an attempting cool of the country. Are Trump
34:20
Speaker 2: saying I want to terminate the Constitution to overthrow the results?
34:22
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a disturbing thing. But these are words
34:24
Speaker 1: and in reality, I mean words you know that only
34:29
Speaker 1: gets implementative if our government, Congress and everything else went
34:34
Speaker 1: along with it. So I think the problem with him
34:37
Speaker 1: is is he's erratic and by the way, and the
34:40
Speaker 1: Democrats should be scared to death because the next Republican
34:44
Speaker 1: is probably going to be a bit more measured and
34:47
Speaker 1: a bit more you know, in control of themselves, and
34:52
Speaker 1: they're going to have a message to our people because
34:55
Speaker 1: what's going to happen is they're seeing that we are
34:57
Speaker 1: receptive and now that they see us as receptive, we're
35:00
Speaker 1: not going to write us off. They'll start competing for
35:01
Speaker 1: our vote, as they should. And so you know, I think, look,
35:06
Speaker 1: doctor King Senior, Martin Luther King Senior was a Republican.
35:10
Speaker 1: The first Democrat he endorsed with John Kennedy in nineteen
35:15
Speaker 1: sixty and that was because of some of the things
35:18
Speaker 1: that Kennedy did during the Civil rights movement, and that
35:20
Speaker 1: was when there was a bit of a shift between
35:24
Speaker 1: for black voters to go more Democratics. So we should
35:27
Speaker 1: be we should be just bipartisan. We should be again
35:30
Speaker 1: supporting those who support us. Our agenda is economic opportunity.
35:37
Speaker 1: If they're not locking up rich black men and women
35:42
Speaker 1: on a regular basis, they're they're not, you know, attacking
35:47
Speaker 1: people in that way. So we have more economic power,
35:51
Speaker 1: we can protect our own people, we can give environments
35:53
Speaker 1: of opportunity, and that's what that needs to happen. But
35:56
Speaker 1: it has to happen fast. It's way overdue.
35:59
Speaker 2: What do you say about conservatives who are you know,
36:01
Speaker 2: gutting things, getting rid of things like the DEI programs
36:03
Speaker 2: are attacking you know, affirmative action, you know type programs
36:06
Speaker 2: like what would you say to that?
36:07
Speaker 1: Well, I think that we gave them the opera Democrats
36:10
Speaker 1: served it up to them because again when I was
36:13
Speaker 1: they it's too broad. I mean it includes Asian Americans,
36:17
Speaker 1: it includes Latino Americans. That it I mean, it includes
36:20
Speaker 1: so many people who volunteerily immigrated to this country.
36:23
Speaker 2: But they're attacking it because it includes us.
36:25
Speaker 1: Well, I don't know. I think you got to put
36:27
Speaker 1: it back to them. I think black people, we are
36:29
Speaker 1: to fight for ourselves. Hey, this should only be for
36:31
Speaker 1: US and Native Americans. That's what it was attended for.
36:34
Speaker 1: This country only owes these US and Native Americans a debt.
36:38
Speaker 1: So let's close the EI to make it just reflective
36:42
Speaker 1: of that. This country did not do anything. It didn't
36:45
Speaker 1: enslave Latinos, it didn't enslave Asians. I mean, this country
36:48
Speaker 1: owes Black Americans a debt for building it financially for free.
36:53
Speaker 1: So if we so, I think the answer is we
36:56
Speaker 1: got to narrow it back to what it belongs to
36:59
Speaker 1: and then fight that fight, and that fight is winnable
37:03
Speaker 1: and people will be persuadable. There's racist in this country
37:07
Speaker 1: and they're anti Semitic people in this country, and that
37:10
Speaker 1: will that will be for a long time, probably forever.
37:13
Speaker 1: They're not going to persuade them, But I think there's
37:15
Speaker 1: other people you can persuade based on the facts. And
37:19
Speaker 1: I wonder why these liberals have ignored our economic interest
37:27
Speaker 1: and are they the ones who want to keep us,
37:30
Speaker 1: you know, in a subordinate and subservient position, so that
37:35
Speaker 1: we're controllable, because that seems like it to me. They
37:37
Speaker 1: want a controllable constituency, but they do nothing for us.
37:40
Speaker 1: I mean, everybody gets something, gay community got all these things.
37:44
Speaker 1: I mean, you look at it. They're fighting again on
37:46
Speaker 1: reproductive issues, right, I mean they're fighting on these other
37:49
Speaker 1: east but when it comes to us, they're not willing
37:52
Speaker 1: to fight. They're just scaring us. Hey, Trump's are racist,
37:54
Speaker 1: the Republicans are racist, and you don't have any choice
37:57
Speaker 1: but us, and we are not going to do anything
37:59
Speaker 1: for you, but we're not gonna be racist, and we're
38:01
Speaker 1: gonna be nice to you. That's not enough.
38:05
Speaker 2: Don peebles, ladies and gentlemen. Don you want to give
38:08
Speaker 2: some information what he can follow you on Instagram, Twitter.
38:10
Speaker 2: I don't think you owned it that much.
38:11
Speaker 1: No, I'm on Instagram, R D Peebles on Instagram and uh,
38:16
Speaker 1: you know, and I'm on Twitter as well, Don Peebles,
38:20
Speaker 1: but uh and I like to get people's thoughts because
38:22
Speaker 1: I do, you know, I want. We need to be
38:25
Speaker 1: working together and building our army about change that's right
38:29
Speaker 1: and supporting you. I mean, the fact that you are
38:32
Speaker 1: willing to say something that all of us should be
38:36
Speaker 1: saying is by criticizing inaction of our party, who hasn't
38:42
Speaker 1: who we've delivered for, who hasn't delivered for us? I mean,
38:45
Speaker 1: we got to all join in this because if we do,
38:49
Speaker 1: then they're gonna listen and we're gonna get results if
38:52
Speaker 1: we And again this whole idea of dividing us, that's
38:55
Speaker 1: another thing kind of take away our power collectively. So
38:58
Speaker 1: we work together here we can change in It's a
39:00
Speaker 1: great time to change things.
39:01
Speaker 2: I agree. It's don people, ladies and gentlemen, it's the
39:04
Speaker 2: breakfast Club.
39:05
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming, brother, thank you for having me.
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Speaker 2: Wake that ass up in the morning. Breakfast Club