December 15, 2025 • 28 mins
Today on The Breakfast Club, Jermaine Johnson Talks Running For Governor Of South Carolina, Affordability, Education. Listen For More!
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FM
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Every day a week ago up the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Morning.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Everybody's d j n V.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Just hilarious.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Charlamagne the guy. We are the breakfast Club along the
Roses here as well. We got a special guest in
the building. He's running for governor of South Carolina. Ladies
and gentlemen, Jamaine Johnson.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Welcome brother. What's going on? Man? Appreciate you all for
having me this moment.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
How do you feel?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Uh? I feeling good this morning? Man, it feels real good.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
You know, we got the opportunity to do some history
making this South Carolina COmON style.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Stead Man, more you be in more, you can be
in the said he speaks Spanish.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
He's Dominican, but don't never want to claim it. Just
break it out whenever you.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Want to know. He's flew in his Spanish.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Test him. Yeahs not be.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I heard that your favorite Christmas?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Why do you want to run for governors South Carolina?
What beautiful stadium?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Well, well, uh, South Carolina deserves a change. It's time
for a new beginning for South Carolina. We've seen some
crazy stuff happening in the state. We know South Carolina
has over six hundred unsolved murders, just since twenty twenty alone,
we have the highest percentage of bridges and district pay
in the entire country. Our roads are the top two
worst than the entire country and most dangerous in the
(01:18):
entire country. But yet we have leaders in South Carolina
that want to look at other states and look at
other countries and talk trash about them, when really South
Carolina needs all the assistants that they can get right
about now. And we have a governor that decided to
send our National guardsmen to Washington, DC because Donald Trump
told them to do. So, you know, it's time for
somebody who really wants to just focus on the issues
that are happened to every day South Carolinians.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
I mean, you know talk about pause overachieve. I mean,
how do you have the time? I mean you talk
about you have a pilot license, your motorcycles, member of
five Beta Sigma, your professor, your business school and a
business school, bought a benedict College which is a HBCU.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
There's so many things that you do. So first, black
state representative, the represented district.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Absolutely fluid in Spanish.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
When do you have the time?
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Why do you forget the University of Delaware?
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I haven't.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
I didn't want to say that one. The University of
Delaware is Biden Award. Yes, we don't come on talking
about but you're doing so much, Wendy, you have the time.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Brother.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Man, listen, I'm blessed with a beautiful wife. Man who's
sitting in here in the studio with me right now,
a black woman. My wife, she's you know, very successful
in her own right. She's a pharmacists. Well so she's
a doctor, so I'm a doctor business administration. I've just
(02:35):
been a blessed individual to have the support of my
family to allow me to do the things that I
need to do. She's not not a selfish individual, so
she just supports me when I have to go out
here in the community and just make the changes I
need to make.
Speaker 5 (02:45):
Did you guys meet at Benedicte.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Now, so we went to College of Charleston. Shout out
to College of Charleston. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
So I played basketball the College of Charleston. Uh, same,
the same time that Stephen Curry was at Davidson. And
let Steph know right now that we beat them. That's
why he ended up going to the NBA that year.
We put them out the tournament. You know, and I
was part of that team down in a college of Charleston.
But that's where we met at UH and we've been
together ever since.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
I was gonna say, you are the second Democrat to
launch a campaign for governor. Talk to us about just
the feats and the things that are about to be
ahead of you, Like, what are you nervous about, what
are you excited about about the m history.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Well, I'm not really nervous about anything. The people all
across South Carolina they want to see something different. They've
been excited ever since I decided to announce my run
for governor because they know I've been the one who's
been fighting on the behalf for years now. I think
most of y'all probably saw that d I speech that
I did that has been saying by over about seven
million people at this point. People all across this country
decided to reach out to me and say, Jermaine, and
(03:42):
we would love for you to run for higher office,
to do something. So the people South Carolina just ready
for something different. I will be the second black nominee
in the history of South Carolina. That is a that's
a big deal right now. And even if you know
by even if I don't win, some young boy or
some young girl will look at me and say, man,
I can now be that guy I could, Like, it's
(04:04):
possible I can grow up to be him when I
you know, when I get up there. So you know,
I went to seven different high schools. I had a
you know, I had a point a GPA my freshman
year of high school. I was homeless most of my upbringing.
I lived in motels, yeah the point eight man, Yeah yeah,
I lived in motels. I lived in an Evergreen motel,
a travel lodge in and all these different places, and
(04:24):
slept on friends couches and things like that. But yet
I still was able to graduate, still was able to
go to college, still was able to get my doctors,
still was able to be a professional athlete.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
You know, a whole bunch of stuff. So kids know
it's possible.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
You know, you mentioned the highways in South Carolina. Anybody
that's been to South Carolina, you just see how much
is growing, right, Like, I mean, traffic is crazy and
chalk and traffic is crazy in places like Mount's Corner.
Does the state have the profit proferit infrastructure to accommodate
the growing popular man?
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Heck no, man, And I know you've seen it yourself.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Man, Listen, anybody who was driven between South Carolina and
North Carolina. You can literally see the line in the
road about how bad it is, Like you can feel
the that you could feel how bad it is. And
because people are dying every single day, this is why
our insurance is so high, Like car insurances continues to
go up, and it's partly because of how bad our
infrastructure is. And we're not truly addressing these issues. People
(05:13):
are dying every single day on these roads, man. And
until we start to take this thing serious, you know,
I don't know what.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
I don't know what's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I was going to ask, you know, you talk about
the murders, you talk about the roads. What's the first
thing you want to do when you get in office.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Well, the biggest thing I'm all about is mental health.
I traveled the state about a year and a half
ago with a bunch of former gang members Bloods and
Cribs and gds, and we went to different communities where
they felt disenfranchised, and we asked them, well, how could
we solve the issues in your communities? And these are
places that were not in my district. I went all
over the state and went about thirty different counties, and
every last county said mental health. Every last one said
(05:50):
mental health, mental health. Because of these kids are out here. Then,
you know, we have a bunch of people who are
running around with undiagnosed mental health concerns, and then they're
raising kids now also with undiagnosed mental health concerns. And
then we also have given them access to guns by
the constitution to carry and all those different types of things.
So it's caused so many problems. Well, I want to
make sure that police officers actually have the support in
(06:11):
terms of having a mental health provider, you know, on
the staff with them. I want to make sure that
the schools have mental health workers in every single district
in the state.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I want to make sure people have that work. Now.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Andrew Yang is also a support How did you and
Andrew Yang get up?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Man?
Speaker 4 (06:25):
So in twenty nineteen, when I was looking at who
all going to support for President of the United States,
I was actually a Corey Booker supporter.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Shout out to Corey Booker. But what Corey.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Booker was talking about wasn't really in my opinion, talking
about solutions. And then I came across the agent God
talk about he wanted to give everybody a thousand dollars
a month, And when I thought about it, I said, Man,
a thousand dollars a month would have really changed my life.
It would have kept me out out of those hoods,
would have kept me out of living in those motels.
That would have really changed everything about me. And when
I met him, it was like he was talking about
(06:56):
AI and all these other things that literally we are
seeing every single day now. Everything he said he was
right about everything, and that's what led me to him,
and I said, Man, I'm gonna go ahead and help you.
And we've been friends ever since.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
You talk a lot about economic empowerment. What's this specific
plan to bring like real investment, real jobs, you know,
real entrepreneurship into rural counties, you know in South Carolina.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Well, one of the things that I've already done is
in my district, I created something the Lord Rich and
Tech Academy. And what that does is it teaches low
coding and no coding technologies to the people in the
rural community and allows them to start their own entrepreneur
businesses in those areas. So in East over South Carolina.
We have started at least forty different small businesses right
(07:37):
there in that rural area needs a majority of black
and brown people that started these different businesses down there.
I want to take that entire program across the state.
I also want to work on this my South Carolina
Resiliency Act. So what that's going to do is going
to mandate South Carolina to be able to produce or
manufacture at least twenty five percent of the resource that
we need in South Carolina. Right now, South Carolina only
(07:59):
produces eleven percent of the food that we can consume
every single year. Eleven percent is not enough, so we
have to import all of our food from other states,
from other countries. I want to say, listen, let's produce
our own stuff. What that's gonna do is that's going
to help out our rural communities as well as our farmers,
to put them back to work, allow them to expand
the farms, and say, listen, we're gonna put We're gonna
get our own produce from the people who are right
(08:19):
here in South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
When did you learn to start projecting your voice and
every time you talk, don't want to do push ups?
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Listen, well, I actually I got a degree in communications.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
But my thing was, it's always attle boy.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Yeah, they always say I was loud man. I've always
been a loud speaker. They've always confused me with saying, hey, man,
you talk a lout like now, I don't talk a lot.
I just talk loud, you know, And I want to
be heard. I need to be heard when I'm speaking
up for people.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
So people always ask if you do become governor, what
we said, when you do become governor, how would be work?
Speaker 1 (08:55):
How would you work with Donald Trump?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Man, listen, man, you're gonna bring that man up up ahead,
man listen. So my thing is, and what I've told everybody,
I don't care who's in the white House. I don't
care if it's Republican. I don't care if it's a
Democrat in the White House. If it's not good for
South Carolina, I'm not supporting it. I'm truly South Carolina. First,
we have these crazy people who are running for office
to call themselves Trump conservatives. I was like, what the
hell is a Trump conservative?
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Man?
Speaker 4 (09:18):
Like, you know, you let one man define what a
conservative is. And that's the problem. So if Donald Trump
wants to do good for South Carolina. I will gladly
work with him. If he wants to do bad, I'll
gladly stand against them. And I've been an independent thinker.
I don't care you know what party you decide to
be with. If it's not good for the people of
South Carolina, I'm not supporting it.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
What's your plan? The overhaul education? So students graduate in
South Carolina either career ready, college ready, our business ready.
You know, we lag behind national average.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Man forty third in the country.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Yeah, it's bad, man, and we haven't done anything about it.
So you know, places like Greenville are receiving more funds
than places like Denmark, right, so we have an issue
where we're not funding these schools adequately. So I want
to do a full on public education audit. What I
want to do is I want to compare the rule
schools that are well performing with the rural schools that
(10:09):
are poor performing, and the urban schools with the you know,
the urban schools that.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Are well performing with the urban schools that are poor performing.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
I want to look at the administration and overhead and
to see if there's any waste for spending with the administration.
And I also want to look at teacher pay. I
want to look at all that and compare them all
across the entire state and create this after this entire audit,
I want to get all the information together and then
make best practices from there. So to make sure that
we have all the information we need to make the
best decision. Right now, we're not doing anything. We're just
(10:38):
looking at social issues. We're more concerned with banning books
in South Carolina. We are the number one state of
banned books. South Carolina is we want to look at
all the crazy stuff going on. Instead of actually investing,
we want to take away public school money and give
it the private damn schools.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Man.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
I mean, that is a problem right there. And in
these private schools, if you want to send your kid
to this private school, they literally can say your kid
can't come to the private school, but my kid can come.
But your tax dollars is gonna pay for my kid
to go to the privat school that Joe kid can't
get to. And that's a problem in South Carolina. So
we have to truly look at public education to make
sure we're fixing and addressing these issues.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
What's the one thing the governor is doing wrong the governor.
Right now, what's one thing that he's doing wrong? If
you could pick out all the things, one thing that really.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Kissing Donald Trump's But I mean, I mean, just to
be honest, he sent two hundred of our National guardsmen
to Washington, d C. And when he sent them up there,
what they're doing is they're literally on the side of
the road picking up trash in DC right now. Well,
if those two hundred National Guardsmen didn't have anything to do, well,
how come they're not in South Carolina helping us solve
those six hundred unsolved murders that I talked about, like
(11:43):
they could they could have easily been put to work
doing something better for the people of South Carolina. But no,
every time Donald Trump calls, he answers. And that's the
problem that we have. We need to be addressing these
issues that are in South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
But when the President calls, aren't you supposed answer them?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
You were supposed to answer, But you don't got to
like do everything that this man say. Every time he
say send I mean, and he did it during hurricane season.
I mean, I mean, come on, man, Like we're sitting
in a situation where it could be seriously dangerous, putting
more South Carolinians at risk because you want to appease
one man.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
That's the problem.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
What would be the consequence saying no to him?
Speaker 4 (12:16):
You're just not gonna be best friends with them anymore.
I mean, I'm I'm you can stop federal funding.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
You can get your resources for like when there's like
emergencies in South Carolina, or even funding for like the
schools and the stuff that you're talking about right now.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Yeah, I mean he could talk about he could talk
about all different types of federal funding issues, but we're
seeing federal funding cuts already, So I mean that doesn't
really matter. He's gonna cut us in ways if he
doesn't like us, you know, and he might threaten once
I become governor, he might threaten to cut funding in
it anyways, just because I'm a black Democrat. You know
what I'm saying, I D right, but I always listen
called me D. I definitely earned it, all right, So
(12:50):
I mean that's the type of person I am.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
So you know, how do you make sure that, like
when you go in and do all the testing in
those schools and you you know, raise those numbers to
get the funding and stuff that the teachers are still
really connected to the students because I've been like I
went to an inner city school, and when we got
more better numbers, score numbers, test numbers, more money, the
teachers they brought in were so disconnected from us, Like
it changed the environment of the school and it was
(13:13):
like it caused more students to not come back to
the school. And I think that happens a lot, especially
in the inner city school So how do you like
do good in those schools? Will also make sure that
the teachers are still like invested in the students.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Right, Well, the thing is you have to make sure
that you are connected with the school. So one thing
that I've done, even as a state representative, I decided
to go and become a substitute teacher. So I wanted
to the public schools to go to. Yeah, it is,
I do a lot, but I wanted to go in
there because I wanted the teachers to to one know
(13:45):
that I cared. I wanted the kids to be able
to see me and say, man, like that's a state representative.
He's a politician, but yet he's still like he's one
of us, and I can be him when I can
see him and I can touch him, you know. So
I went in there to really assess the situation. And
I think you lead by example. And I don't plan
to stop any of the work that I'm doing once
(14:05):
I become governor. I plan to continue on going into
the schools. I plan to continue on going in there
and advocating for them. I even fod a bill that
would mandate that the members of the General Assembly would
have to do at least five days a year of
volunteering or substitute teaching in the public schools because I
needed to see it.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Now, we always talk about trade schools, right I'm a
salute to Lincoln Tech. I'm an ambassador for Lincoln Tech.
I love trade schools, but you really love trade schools.
Explain why and why do you think trade schools are
so necessary?
Speaker 4 (14:31):
Well, I mean, listen, we put too much emphasis on
this for your institutions. I think if you're not an athlete,
or you're not going to be a lawyer or a doctor,
you should be looking at trade schools. And we have
allowed people to really just keep overselling these for year
institutions all the time, and trade schools. We have a
lack of workers right now, We have a lack of electricians.
(14:53):
We have a lack of plumbers, we have a lack
of engineers. You know, my son right now is going
to Menlan's Technical College to get his megatronics degree right now.
Because Scott Motors needs some more workers that's coming to
South Carolina. Michelin said about sixty five percent of their
workforce for retiring over the next few years. We have
a lack of these industrial workers, and I think we
(15:13):
need to put the embassis. I mean, people can come
out of these schools, these trade schools making eighty five
thousand dollars after two years, I mean they'll be nineteen
years old. Man, Like you got to think about that,
you know, helping these kids to learn how to invest
in their futures.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I got cousins Man and Monks Corner who were doing HVAC.
As soon as they got our high school. They an
mister mill in twenty five years.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
That's right, That's right.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
And I love the conversations you're having because you're talking
about economic empowerment, you're talking about mental health, you know
something that you're talking about trade schools. Like all of
that stuff to me is just about affordability and how
to keep people safe. Why is that so hard for politicians?
It's life aining complicated. People just want some more money
in their pocket and they want to feel safe.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Because they allow on Fox News and ceing them to
be the driving talking. And I think that's the problem.
We do the same thing in South Carolina. The Republicans
they quote Fox News, Democrats quote Seeing n you know,
And I think we need to get away from that.
I think we need to get back to addressing the issues.
I mean, I'm all about affordability. People are hungry, man Like,
people are starving out here. We don't even have a
(16:17):
minimum wage in South Carolina. Like people always say, let's
raise minimum wage. We don't have one.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
We have to establish a minimum wage before we can
raise the Dame minimum wage, you know. So I mean
it's issues like that in minimum wage is seven twenty five.
Who was living off a seven twenty five? You know?
Speaker 4 (16:33):
I mean, we have these issues all over the place,
and I don't know why people want to hit on
these big social issues and talk about abortion every single
year and talk about you know, guns every single year.
I mean, man, people just people want the same thing.
They want food, they want safety, they want good schools,
they want good roads, they want good jobs.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
It's South Carolina, a good reflection of politics everywhere. And
the reason I asked that because South Carolina is the
only place where you might be Carrie Sellers in the morning,
but be with you know, Lindsey Graham in the afternoon.
You know what I'm saying. You might be with Tim
Scott on a Tuesday, Jim clyve Burn on a Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
You might be with a.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Nazy Mace on a Thursday, and then you know some
other Jamie Irrison on a Friday. Like it's such a
unique place. Is there any place else else like that?
Speaker 4 (17:17):
I haven't seen any other place like like South Carolina. Man,
South Carolina. We we get together a lot, like Republicans
and Democrats get together a lot. Now that the issue
that I see is that in behind closed doors it
is all listen, it's all a show, y'all.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
It is all.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
It is all a show, a TV show, reality TV show.
Because I've had, you know, some of these Republicans come
with me in the back room and say, Jermaine, I
agree with everything you just said.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Man, Like I'm with you, I'm with.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
You, I'm with you, and then go out there and
say the complete opposite thing. And did I be like, bro, Like,
don't come to the back room and apologize to me,
you know, after you just said this other stuff back here.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Man.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
But they might primary me if I if I vote
this way or if I do that. But you know,
I'm gonna help you on the back end, or I'm
gonna do this. I'm like, man, y'all are some real
live cowards, Like you're a coward. And I say this
all the time. I say, listen, let's tell the truth,
let's talk about it. Let's be honest about this stuff,
you know. And there's just a bunch of cowards in there, man,
And I think that's the problem.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
And that's why I liked your d I speech and
everybody should go watch it if they haven't. But you
directly confronted colleagues as you just kind of put it.
But you said, friends are friends behind the scenes, would
vote for racism when it matters.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
That's right, if you want to speak that. Yeah, man,
So I was so mad when I had to give
that speech.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Man.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I didn't play none of that stuff. Man.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
I was sitting on my desk and I was ready
to go honestly, it was like a long day. But
there was an amendment that went up there that said
no public dollars would go to white supremacy programs. And
now I'm thinking, these people up in here are my friends, right,
So I'm thinking they're gonna say something about this amendment.
They're either going to pass it or they're gonna say
something and then table it. Man, nobody said anything. Nobody
said anything. One of the Republicans just walked by the
(18:49):
Speaker of the House and just put his hand up
like this said move the table.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Didn't say nothing. Bro. I was so mad, and it
said white supremacist, white supremacist.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
And I was like, I said, yo, come on man.
So I jumped up so fast and ran to the front,
and the ladies behind the desk were trying to calm
me down. So if you if you're seeing that in
that video clip, I have a cup of water up there,
it is because the ladies behind the desk gave me
a cuple of water trying to calm me down.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
And I was like, man, I had it. So I
said what I had to say. But what happened after that?
Speaker 4 (19:15):
After I said what I said, I left out the
back of the steps of the State House and I
sat down.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
I actually cried, Man, I cried because I was so hurt.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
I was so hurt that these people that know my kids,
that know my family, I know their family. You know,
we've hung out together and this, and y'all have the
death not to even stand up on my behalf, like
not to say nothing, you know. But after that happened.
So what happened is as I was sitting outside, people
started coming out to the backsteps of the State House saying, Jermaine,
we won.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I said, what you mean?
Speaker 4 (19:41):
We one it said, we pulled the whole proviso out
of the budget.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
They got rid of the whole damn bill.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
Good and because and one by one Republicans came up
to me as I was coming back to the state House.
They were like, Jermaine, we apologized, We're sorry, we did
this some poor tastes. You know, we shouldn't have did
it this way. But it shouldn't it ever got to
that point. They you have spoke up on the front
half and made it known to the people of South
Carolina that white supremacy has no place in South Carolina.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
As a politician, because in your speech too, you also
said that they let you down every time when you
were talking about them voting right as a politician, Like
when you're disappointed like that, Like how hard is it
to like, next day get up and still like fight
in the fight.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Man, it's difficult every day. It is difficult every single
day because you have to go on there and you
got to put yesterday behind you. But the hard part
about it is knowing that every time you push red
or green, somebody's going to die based on your vote.
That's the hardest part about it.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
And I truly don't believe that you could be a
politician for thirty forty years.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
And to truly care about people. I don't think you
can because it weighs too much in your conscious if
you truly care about people. I mean, it kills me
every single day knowing how people across South Carolina are
suffering because of what we're doing up there. You know,
even when I was on the riscient kind of Recreage Commission,
I didn't feel right about writing policy without actually talking
to the people. So I drove around all the parks
and met all the employees and met everybody because I
(21:00):
wanted them. I wanted to know what they were doing
every single day. I didn't feel good about making laws
and making things about them, and I had never even
seen what the people on the ground are doing.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
It's tough.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
It's tough, and honestly, I don't have an I don't
have an answer to it, man, because it's it's so
hard dealing with these individuals every single day, knowing that
some of them just don't give a damn about you.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Have any of the other legislators in South South Carolina
like changed the way they approach you since you made
that speech.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
Yeah, man, listen, they a lot of them got to
started getting afraid. They get afraid. I've had some, I've
had some uh doors come to Jesus meetings man, six seven.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Seven black men. That's gotta be a part of your
campaign in somewhere.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Yeah, listen, I got I got my daughter working on something, man,
I got my daughter sixty seven jont Man.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah, But who do.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
You just to piggyback off of Lauren's question, who do
you go to in those vulnerable moments? I mean, I
know you have a beautiful wife, you know, but like.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Is it therapy?
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Is your pastor is it? You know?
Speaker 2 (22:03):
All all of those you got a lot of weights.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Yeah, yeah, I go to I go to my I
go to my wife a lot. I lay a lot
on her shoulders, a lot of the things that I
deal with. And then I also go to my pastor.
I've called my pastor. I don't I don't know how
many times I've called him crying, uh and talking about
the issues, talking about the concerns of the people. I mean,
I had one person, man who didn't want me to
come past this is right when COVID had started, and
he didn't want me to come pass out masks down
(22:27):
in his church because he was more interested in his
political position, uh than me actually saving lives, you know.
And I was so I was so hurt by that man.
And I've talked about those those type of situations. You know,
I have a therapist that I go to. Listen, and
let me make this PSA. It is black, folks. It
is okay to have Jesus and a therapist. You know,
(22:50):
because we always talk about praying things away. Listen, I
pray and I go to therapy, and I need the
assistance that I can to help me deal with some
of these issues and concerns that the people having.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
But it's heavy. It really is.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
What's what's the identity you want South Carolina to have
under your leadership? Because you know, people will say it's
like a lot of old South politics that still shape
the state today. What's it gonna look like under you?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah, No d C and s C. I say that
all the time. No d C and s C.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
Right now, we are too relyant upon Washington d C
and federal policies. I don't want the Washington d C
to dictate what we do in South Carolina. I want
to make sure that we are just self sufficient and
that we are addressing the needs of the people of
South Carolina. No matter if it's red or blue, whatever's
going on, we need address the issues of South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
So that's gonna be our main thing. No d C
in s C.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Well, we appreciate you for joining us.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
I gotta ask, is it true that you are so
poor you cooked off a frozy.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Hot dog and a candle?
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Is that true?
Speaker 4 (23:52):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:52):
That's true, man, that's true.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
Bro, listen, and I don't I do not recommend it, man,
I do not recommend it.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
But it was. It tasted like burnt dog and wax. Man.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
It was terrible. But yeah, so you know, no pot Listen,
there was no electricity or nothing. Oh okay say that.
I'm like, yeah, there was no electricity. So because there
was no electricity, bro, it's like I had to get
like a you know, it was like the you know,
after the electricity go up, like the refrigerator is still
kind of cold. So I had to get one of
the hot dogs and got one of the hot dogs
and lit the candle, man, and put it on top
(24:25):
of the candle, and the.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Outside was burned, but the inside was frozen. Man, I
think it was terrible. Man, I don't recommend.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I would hate to see you hungry.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Oh but thank god I have some people that looked
out for me too. Man. You know, my childhood wasn't
all bad. Man.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
You know, I had people that looked out for me
and gave me opportunities and things. So I'm a blessed man, honestly.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Man.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
And how do you fit into this little last car?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Man?
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Nineteen seventy seven C three Man, ain't no way fitted?
So again, you got it. You gotta like put the
sea all the way. It's a customed seat that I'm
putting that thing.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
And and then I bro.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Yeah, so you ain't got no back seat.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Basically there ain't now there's no vaccinating in the three.
Yeah you driving? I want restoring it now. I'm driven
that thing like a year and.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
A half because the kid he can't get under the day, Like.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Yeah, I'm restoring. I restored myself.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Really to now I don't believe all of it.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Yeah, yeahs I been resorting to myself. Man, I don't
did I don't rebuild the whole running already, I got
I got all new brakes on that thing.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Yeah, I'm gonna recommend somebody, did you?
Speaker 2 (25:39):
But I do it myself.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
D Governor Espel, what don't worry about it?
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Yeah, okay, I don't know Spanish. You're married in Mexican
a year going out? Speaking of which, are you worried
about ice? In?
Speaker 5 (26:07):
Man?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Listen?
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Ice the issue that I have. So I don't have
a problem with ice. I have a problem with what
they're doing and how they're implementing it right now. So
they are they're like literally they're just looking for anybody
who looks Spanish crazy, anybody who looks like that, or
anybody who has a name like that. That's who they're attacking.
Like that's who they're going at. And because that's the issue,
that is my problem. I mean, there's there's clearly a
(26:30):
better way that we can do, uh, you know, to
look at this, this immigration issue. I mean, there's way
we can do amnesty. I mean, we have ambassy for
everything else, Like you know, encourage people to come forward
to say, hey, listen, we're gonna do this, we're gonna
put you on probation for three years, we're gonna have
you pay tax, and we're gonna do this type of stuff.
And then you know, the people who don't come forward,
those are the people you go after, you know what
(26:52):
I mean, we do some stuff like that, but incentivized
people to come forward.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Man, we wouldn't you be scared to come forward at
a time like this?
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Of course I would, because we ain't got an ambassy day.
I mean, I mean we don't. We don'tt We're not
in anybody to do it.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Like, why would I trust government? That's all if I was,
you know, even if that was to happen, why would
I trust government?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Listen? But why I mean why the black people trust government?
Right now?
Speaker 4 (27:12):
I mean, you know, it's a whole it's a whole
bunch of stuff, man, But we got to start somewhere.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Yeah, all right, Well he's running for governor of South Carolina.
Make sure you get out there and vote and support
my man to do How can they donate?
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Man?
Speaker 4 (27:25):
Listen, I need everybody to go to Johnson for SC
dot com, jail h N s O n f O
r SC dot com.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
We got to raise money, y'all.
Speaker 4 (27:34):
You know, y'all know that as a black guy running
for governor of South Carolina, being the second I'll be
the second nominee in the history of South Carolina, we
need to raise as much money as possible. I mean, honestly,
y'all got over six million viewers right now right at
the Breverst Club, my bad eight there you go.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
See know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
If all eight million people just gave a dollar, we
would have more than enough money to become governor South Carolina.
But listen what we we need five dollars, ten dollars,
twenty dollars. This is a real grassroots movement and we
want to go grassroots to grassroos funded.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
And that's just for radio that don't count, like the
YouTube and the podcast.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
We'll get it. We'll get them, we'll get it. We'll
get them all to give a dollar, man, get them,
get them all to give a dollar, or get them
to give twenty dollars.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Good morning, hold every day.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
A week ago.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Wake your glass up, the Breakfast Club. Finish, y'all done,
Every day a week ago up the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Morning.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Everybody's d j n V.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Just hilarious.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Charlamagne the guy. We are the breakfast Club along the
Roses here as well. We got a special guest in
the building. He's running for governor of South Carolina. Ladies
and gentlemen, Jamaine Johnson.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Welcome brother. What's going on? Man? Appreciate you all for
having me this moment.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
How do you feel?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Uh? I feeling good this morning? Man, it feels real good.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
You know, we got the opportunity to do some history
making this South Carolina COmON style.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Stead Man, more you be in more, you can be
in the said he speaks Spanish.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
He's Dominican, but don't never want to claim it. Just
break it out whenever you.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Want to know. He's flew in his Spanish.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Test him. Yeahs not be.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I heard that your favorite Christmas?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Why do you want to run for governors South Carolina?
What beautiful stadium?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Well, well, uh, South Carolina deserves a change. It's time
for a new beginning for South Carolina. We've seen some
crazy stuff happening in the state. We know South Carolina
has over six hundred unsolved murders, just since twenty twenty alone,
we have the highest percentage of bridges and district pay
in the entire country. Our roads are the top two
worst than the entire country and most dangerous in the
(01:18):
entire country. But yet we have leaders in South Carolina
that want to look at other states and look at
other countries and talk trash about them, when really South
Carolina needs all the assistants that they can get right
about now. And we have a governor that decided to
send our National guardsmen to Washington, DC because Donald Trump
told them to do. So, you know, it's time for
somebody who really wants to just focus on the issues
that are happened to every day South Carolinians.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
I mean, you know talk about pause overachieve. I mean,
how do you have the time? I mean you talk
about you have a pilot license, your motorcycles, member of
five Beta Sigma, your professor, your business school and a
business school, bought a benedict College which is a HBCU.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
There's so many things that you do. So first, black
state representative, the represented district.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Absolutely fluid in Spanish.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
When do you have the time?
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Why do you forget the University of Delaware?
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I haven't.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
I didn't want to say that one. The University of
Delaware is Biden Award. Yes, we don't come on talking
about but you're doing so much, Wendy, you have the time.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Brother.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Man, listen, I'm blessed with a beautiful wife. Man who's
sitting in here in the studio with me right now,
a black woman. My wife, she's you know, very successful
in her own right. She's a pharmacists. Well so she's
a doctor, so I'm a doctor business administration. I've just
(02:35):
been a blessed individual to have the support of my
family to allow me to do the things that I
need to do. She's not not a selfish individual, so
she just supports me when I have to go out
here in the community and just make the changes I
need to make.
Speaker 5 (02:45):
Did you guys meet at Benedicte.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Now, so we went to College of Charleston. Shout out
to College of Charleston. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
So I played basketball the College of Charleston. Uh, same,
the same time that Stephen Curry was at Davidson. And
let Steph know right now that we beat them. That's
why he ended up going to the NBA that year.
We put them out the tournament. You know, and I
was part of that team down in a college of Charleston.
But that's where we met at UH and we've been
together ever since.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
I was gonna say, you are the second Democrat to
launch a campaign for governor. Talk to us about just
the feats and the things that are about to be
ahead of you, Like, what are you nervous about, what
are you excited about about the m history.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Well, I'm not really nervous about anything. The people all
across South Carolina they want to see something different. They've
been excited ever since I decided to announce my run
for governor because they know I've been the one who's
been fighting on the behalf for years now. I think
most of y'all probably saw that d I speech that
I did that has been saying by over about seven
million people at this point. People all across this country
decided to reach out to me and say, Jermaine, and
(03:42):
we would love for you to run for higher office,
to do something. So the people South Carolina just ready
for something different. I will be the second black nominee
in the history of South Carolina. That is a that's
a big deal right now. And even if you know
by even if I don't win, some young boy or
some young girl will look at me and say, man,
I can now be that guy I could, Like, it's
(04:04):
possible I can grow up to be him when I
you know, when I get up there. So you know,
I went to seven different high schools. I had a
you know, I had a point a GPA my freshman
year of high school. I was homeless most of my upbringing.
I lived in motels, yeah the point eight man, Yeah yeah,
I lived in motels. I lived in an Evergreen motel,
a travel lodge in and all these different places, and
(04:24):
slept on friends couches and things like that. But yet
I still was able to graduate, still was able to
go to college, still was able to get my doctors,
still was able to be a professional athlete.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
You know, a whole bunch of stuff. So kids know
it's possible.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
You know, you mentioned the highways in South Carolina. Anybody
that's been to South Carolina, you just see how much
is growing, right, Like, I mean, traffic is crazy and
chalk and traffic is crazy in places like Mount's Corner.
Does the state have the profit proferit infrastructure to accommodate
the growing popular man?
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Heck no, man, And I know you've seen it yourself.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Man, Listen, anybody who was driven between South Carolina and
North Carolina. You can literally see the line in the
road about how bad it is, Like you can feel
the that you could feel how bad it is. And
because people are dying every single day, this is why
our insurance is so high, Like car insurances continues to
go up, and it's partly because of how bad our
infrastructure is. And we're not truly addressing these issues. People
(05:13):
are dying every single day on these roads, man. And
until we start to take this thing serious, you know,
I don't know what.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
I don't know what's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I was going to ask, you know, you talk about
the murders, you talk about the roads. What's the first
thing you want to do when you get in office.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Well, the biggest thing I'm all about is mental health.
I traveled the state about a year and a half
ago with a bunch of former gang members Bloods and
Cribs and gds, and we went to different communities where
they felt disenfranchised, and we asked them, well, how could
we solve the issues in your communities? And these are
places that were not in my district. I went all
over the state and went about thirty different counties, and
every last county said mental health. Every last one said
(05:50):
mental health, mental health. Because of these kids are out here. Then,
you know, we have a bunch of people who are
running around with undiagnosed mental health concerns, and then they're
raising kids now also with undiagnosed mental health concerns. And
then we also have given them access to guns by
the constitution to carry and all those different types of things.
So it's caused so many problems. Well, I want to
make sure that police officers actually have the support in
(06:11):
terms of having a mental health provider, you know, on
the staff with them. I want to make sure that
the schools have mental health workers in every single district
in the state.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I want to make sure people have that work. Now.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Andrew Yang is also a support How did you and
Andrew Yang get up?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Man?
Speaker 4 (06:25):
So in twenty nineteen, when I was looking at who
all going to support for President of the United States,
I was actually a Corey Booker supporter.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Shout out to Corey Booker. But what Corey.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Booker was talking about wasn't really in my opinion, talking
about solutions. And then I came across the agent God
talk about he wanted to give everybody a thousand dollars
a month, And when I thought about it, I said, Man,
a thousand dollars a month would have really changed my life.
It would have kept me out out of those hoods,
would have kept me out of living in those motels.
That would have really changed everything about me. And when
I met him, it was like he was talking about
(06:56):
AI and all these other things that literally we are
seeing every single day now. Everything he said he was
right about everything, and that's what led me to him,
and I said, Man, I'm gonna go ahead and help you.
And we've been friends ever since.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
You talk a lot about economic empowerment. What's this specific
plan to bring like real investment, real jobs, you know,
real entrepreneurship into rural counties, you know in South Carolina.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Well, one of the things that I've already done is
in my district, I created something the Lord Rich and
Tech Academy. And what that does is it teaches low
coding and no coding technologies to the people in the
rural community and allows them to start their own entrepreneur
businesses in those areas. So in East over South Carolina.
We have started at least forty different small businesses right
(07:37):
there in that rural area needs a majority of black
and brown people that started these different businesses down there.
I want to take that entire program across the state.
I also want to work on this my South Carolina
Resiliency Act. So what that's going to do is going
to mandate South Carolina to be able to produce or
manufacture at least twenty five percent of the resource that
we need in South Carolina. Right now, South Carolina only
(07:59):
produces eleven percent of the food that we can consume
every single year. Eleven percent is not enough, so we
have to import all of our food from other states,
from other countries. I want to say, listen, let's produce
our own stuff. What that's gonna do is that's going
to help out our rural communities as well as our farmers,
to put them back to work, allow them to expand
the farms, and say, listen, we're gonna put We're gonna
get our own produce from the people who are right
(08:19):
here in South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
When did you learn to start projecting your voice and
every time you talk, don't want to do push ups?
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Listen, well, I actually I got a degree in communications.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
But my thing was, it's always attle boy.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Yeah, they always say I was loud man. I've always
been a loud speaker. They've always confused me with saying, hey, man,
you talk a lout like now, I don't talk a lot.
I just talk loud, you know, And I want to
be heard. I need to be heard when I'm speaking
up for people.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
So people always ask if you do become governor, what
we said, when you do become governor, how would be work?
Speaker 1 (08:55):
How would you work with Donald Trump?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Man, listen, man, you're gonna bring that man up up ahead,
man listen. So my thing is, and what I've told everybody,
I don't care who's in the white House. I don't
care if it's Republican. I don't care if it's a
Democrat in the White House. If it's not good for
South Carolina, I'm not supporting it. I'm truly South Carolina. First,
we have these crazy people who are running for office
to call themselves Trump conservatives. I was like, what the
hell is a Trump conservative?
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Man?
Speaker 4 (09:18):
Like, you know, you let one man define what a
conservative is. And that's the problem. So if Donald Trump
wants to do good for South Carolina. I will gladly
work with him. If he wants to do bad, I'll
gladly stand against them. And I've been an independent thinker.
I don't care you know what party you decide to
be with. If it's not good for the people of
South Carolina, I'm not supporting it.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
What's your plan? The overhaul education? So students graduate in
South Carolina either career ready, college ready, our business ready.
You know, we lag behind national average.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Man forty third in the country.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Yeah, it's bad, man, and we haven't done anything about it.
So you know, places like Greenville are receiving more funds
than places like Denmark, right, so we have an issue
where we're not funding these schools adequately. So I want
to do a full on public education audit. What I
want to do is I want to compare the rule
schools that are well performing with the rural schools that
(10:09):
are poor performing, and the urban schools with the you know,
the urban schools that.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Are well performing with the urban schools that are poor performing.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
I want to look at the administration and overhead and
to see if there's any waste for spending with the administration.
And I also want to look at teacher pay. I
want to look at all that and compare them all
across the entire state and create this after this entire audit,
I want to get all the information together and then
make best practices from there. So to make sure that
we have all the information we need to make the
best decision. Right now, we're not doing anything. We're just
(10:38):
looking at social issues. We're more concerned with banning books
in South Carolina. We are the number one state of
banned books. South Carolina is we want to look at
all the crazy stuff going on. Instead of actually investing,
we want to take away public school money and give
it the private damn schools.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Man.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
I mean, that is a problem right there. And in
these private schools, if you want to send your kid
to this private school, they literally can say your kid
can't come to the private school, but my kid can come.
But your tax dollars is gonna pay for my kid
to go to the privat school that Joe kid can't
get to. And that's a problem in South Carolina. So
we have to truly look at public education to make
sure we're fixing and addressing these issues.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
What's the one thing the governor is doing wrong the governor.
Right now, what's one thing that he's doing wrong? If
you could pick out all the things, one thing that really.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Kissing Donald Trump's But I mean, I mean, just to
be honest, he sent two hundred of our National guardsmen
to Washington, d C. And when he sent them up there,
what they're doing is they're literally on the side of
the road picking up trash in DC right now. Well,
if those two hundred National Guardsmen didn't have anything to do, well,
how come they're not in South Carolina helping us solve
those six hundred unsolved murders that I talked about, like
(11:43):
they could they could have easily been put to work
doing something better for the people of South Carolina. But no,
every time Donald Trump calls, he answers. And that's the
problem that we have. We need to be addressing these
issues that are in South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
But when the President calls, aren't you supposed answer them?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
You were supposed to answer, But you don't got to
like do everything that this man say. Every time he
say send I mean, and he did it during hurricane season.
I mean, I mean, come on, man, Like we're sitting
in a situation where it could be seriously dangerous, putting
more South Carolinians at risk because you want to appease
one man.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
That's the problem.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
What would be the consequence saying no to him?
Speaker 4 (12:16):
You're just not gonna be best friends with them anymore.
I mean, I'm I'm you can stop federal funding.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
You can get your resources for like when there's like
emergencies in South Carolina, or even funding for like the
schools and the stuff that you're talking about right now.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Yeah, I mean he could talk about he could talk
about all different types of federal funding issues, but we're
seeing federal funding cuts already, So I mean that doesn't
really matter. He's gonna cut us in ways if he
doesn't like us, you know, and he might threaten once
I become governor, he might threaten to cut funding in
it anyways, just because I'm a black Democrat. You know
what I'm saying, I D right, but I always listen
called me D. I definitely earned it, all right, So
(12:50):
I mean that's the type of person I am.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
So you know, how do you make sure that, like
when you go in and do all the testing in
those schools and you you know, raise those numbers to
get the funding and stuff that the teachers are still
really connected to the students because I've been like I
went to an inner city school, and when we got
more better numbers, score numbers, test numbers, more money, the
teachers they brought in were so disconnected from us, Like
it changed the environment of the school and it was
(13:13):
like it caused more students to not come back to
the school. And I think that happens a lot, especially
in the inner city school So how do you like
do good in those schools? Will also make sure that
the teachers are still like invested in the students.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Right, Well, the thing is you have to make sure
that you are connected with the school. So one thing
that I've done, even as a state representative, I decided
to go and become a substitute teacher. So I wanted
to the public schools to go to. Yeah, it is,
I do a lot, but I wanted to go in
there because I wanted the teachers to to one know
(13:45):
that I cared. I wanted the kids to be able
to see me and say, man, like that's a state representative.
He's a politician, but yet he's still like he's one
of us, and I can be him when I can
see him and I can touch him, you know. So
I went in there to really assess the situation. And
I think you lead by example. And I don't plan
to stop any of the work that I'm doing once
(14:05):
I become governor. I plan to continue on going into
the schools. I plan to continue on going in there
and advocating for them. I even fod a bill that
would mandate that the members of the General Assembly would
have to do at least five days a year of
volunteering or substitute teaching in the public schools because I
needed to see it.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Now, we always talk about trade schools, right I'm a
salute to Lincoln Tech. I'm an ambassador for Lincoln Tech.
I love trade schools, but you really love trade schools.
Explain why and why do you think trade schools are
so necessary?
Speaker 4 (14:31):
Well, I mean, listen, we put too much emphasis on
this for your institutions. I think if you're not an athlete,
or you're not going to be a lawyer or a doctor,
you should be looking at trade schools. And we have
allowed people to really just keep overselling these for year
institutions all the time, and trade schools. We have a
lack of workers right now, We have a lack of electricians.
(14:53):
We have a lack of plumbers, we have a lack
of engineers. You know, my son right now is going
to Menlan's Technical College to get his megatronics degree right now.
Because Scott Motors needs some more workers that's coming to
South Carolina. Michelin said about sixty five percent of their
workforce for retiring over the next few years. We have
a lack of these industrial workers, and I think we
(15:13):
need to put the embassis. I mean, people can come
out of these schools, these trade schools making eighty five
thousand dollars after two years, I mean they'll be nineteen
years old. Man, Like you got to think about that,
you know, helping these kids to learn how to invest
in their futures.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
I got cousins Man and Monks Corner who were doing HVAC.
As soon as they got our high school. They an
mister mill in twenty five years.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
That's right, That's right.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
And I love the conversations you're having because you're talking
about economic empowerment, you're talking about mental health, you know
something that you're talking about trade schools. Like all of
that stuff to me is just about affordability and how
to keep people safe. Why is that so hard for politicians?
It's life aining complicated. People just want some more money
in their pocket and they want to feel safe.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Because they allow on Fox News and ceing them to
be the driving talking. And I think that's the problem.
We do the same thing in South Carolina. The Republicans
they quote Fox News, Democrats quote Seeing n you know,
And I think we need to get away from that.
I think we need to get back to addressing the issues.
I mean, I'm all about affordability. People are hungry, man Like,
people are starving out here. We don't even have a
(16:17):
minimum wage in South Carolina. Like people always say, let's
raise minimum wage. We don't have one.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
We have to establish a minimum wage before we can
raise the Dame minimum wage, you know. So I mean
it's issues like that in minimum wage is seven twenty five.
Who was living off a seven twenty five? You know?
Speaker 4 (16:33):
I mean, we have these issues all over the place,
and I don't know why people want to hit on
these big social issues and talk about abortion every single
year and talk about you know, guns every single year.
I mean, man, people just people want the same thing.
They want food, they want safety, they want good schools,
they want good roads, they want good jobs.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
It's South Carolina, a good reflection of politics everywhere. And
the reason I asked that because South Carolina is the
only place where you might be Carrie Sellers in the morning,
but be with you know, Lindsey Graham in the afternoon.
You know what I'm saying. You might be with Tim
Scott on a Tuesday, Jim clyve Burn on a Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
You might be with a.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Nazy Mace on a Thursday, and then you know some
other Jamie Irrison on a Friday. Like it's such a
unique place. Is there any place else else like that?
Speaker 4 (17:17):
I haven't seen any other place like like South Carolina. Man,
South Carolina. We we get together a lot, like Republicans
and Democrats get together a lot. Now that the issue
that I see is that in behind closed doors it
is all listen, it's all a show, y'all.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
It is all.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
It is all a show, a TV show, reality TV show.
Because I've had, you know, some of these Republicans come
with me in the back room and say, Jermaine, I
agree with everything you just said.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Man, Like I'm with you, I'm with.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
You, I'm with you, and then go out there and
say the complete opposite thing. And did I be like, bro, Like,
don't come to the back room and apologize to me,
you know, after you just said this other stuff back here.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Man.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
But they might primary me if I if I vote
this way or if I do that. But you know,
I'm gonna help you on the back end, or I'm
gonna do this. I'm like, man, y'all are some real
live cowards, Like you're a coward. And I say this
all the time. I say, listen, let's tell the truth,
let's talk about it. Let's be honest about this stuff,
you know. And there's just a bunch of cowards in there, man,
And I think that's the problem.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
And that's why I liked your d I speech and
everybody should go watch it if they haven't. But you
directly confronted colleagues as you just kind of put it.
But you said, friends are friends behind the scenes, would
vote for racism when it matters.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
That's right, if you want to speak that. Yeah, man,
So I was so mad when I had to give
that speech.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Man.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I didn't play none of that stuff. Man.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
I was sitting on my desk and I was ready
to go honestly, it was like a long day. But
there was an amendment that went up there that said
no public dollars would go to white supremacy programs. And
now I'm thinking, these people up in here are my friends, right,
So I'm thinking they're gonna say something about this amendment.
They're either going to pass it or they're gonna say
something and then table it. Man, nobody said anything. Nobody
said anything. One of the Republicans just walked by the
(18:49):
Speaker of the House and just put his hand up
like this said move the table.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Didn't say nothing. Bro. I was so mad, and it
said white supremacist, white supremacist.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
And I was like, I said, yo, come on man.
So I jumped up so fast and ran to the front,
and the ladies behind the desk were trying to calm
me down. So if you if you're seeing that in
that video clip, I have a cup of water up there,
it is because the ladies behind the desk gave me
a cuple of water trying to calm me down.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
And I was like, man, I had it. So I
said what I had to say. But what happened after that?
Speaker 4 (19:15):
After I said what I said, I left out the
back of the steps of the State House and I
sat down.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
I actually cried, Man, I cried because I was so hurt.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
I was so hurt that these people that know my kids,
that know my family, I know their family. You know,
we've hung out together and this, and y'all have the
death not to even stand up on my behalf, like
not to say nothing, you know. But after that happened.
So what happened is as I was sitting outside, people
started coming out to the backsteps of the State House saying, Jermaine,
we won.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I said, what you mean?
Speaker 4 (19:41):
We one it said, we pulled the whole proviso out
of the budget.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
They got rid of the whole damn bill.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
Good and because and one by one Republicans came up
to me as I was coming back to the state House.
They were like, Jermaine, we apologized, We're sorry, we did
this some poor tastes. You know, we shouldn't have did
it this way. But it shouldn't it ever got to
that point. They you have spoke up on the front
half and made it known to the people of South
Carolina that white supremacy has no place in South Carolina.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
As a politician, because in your speech too, you also
said that they let you down every time when you
were talking about them voting right as a politician, Like
when you're disappointed like that, Like how hard is it
to like, next day get up and still like fight
in the fight.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Man, it's difficult every day. It is difficult every single
day because you have to go on there and you
got to put yesterday behind you. But the hard part
about it is knowing that every time you push red
or green, somebody's going to die based on your vote.
That's the hardest part about it.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
And I truly don't believe that you could be a
politician for thirty forty years.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
And to truly care about people. I don't think you
can because it weighs too much in your conscious if
you truly care about people. I mean, it kills me
every single day knowing how people across South Carolina are
suffering because of what we're doing up there. You know,
even when I was on the riscient kind of Recreage Commission,
I didn't feel right about writing policy without actually talking
to the people. So I drove around all the parks
and met all the employees and met everybody because I
(21:00):
wanted them. I wanted to know what they were doing
every single day. I didn't feel good about making laws
and making things about them, and I had never even
seen what the people on the ground are doing.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
It's tough.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
It's tough, and honestly, I don't have an I don't
have an answer to it, man, because it's it's so
hard dealing with these individuals every single day, knowing that
some of them just don't give a damn about you.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Have any of the other legislators in South South Carolina
like changed the way they approach you since you made
that speech.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
Yeah, man, listen, they a lot of them got to
started getting afraid. They get afraid. I've had some, I've
had some uh doors come to Jesus meetings man, six seven.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Seven black men. That's gotta be a part of your
campaign in somewhere.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Yeah, listen, I got I got my daughter working on something, man,
I got my daughter sixty seven jont Man.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah, But who do.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
You just to piggyback off of Lauren's question, who do
you go to in those vulnerable moments? I mean, I
know you have a beautiful wife, you know, but like.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Is it therapy?
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Is your pastor is it? You know?
Speaker 2 (22:03):
All all of those you got a lot of weights.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Yeah, yeah, I go to I go to my I
go to my wife a lot. I lay a lot
on her shoulders, a lot of the things that I
deal with. And then I also go to my pastor.
I've called my pastor. I don't I don't know how
many times I've called him crying, uh and talking about
the issues, talking about the concerns of the people. I mean,
I had one person, man who didn't want me to
come past this is right when COVID had started, and
he didn't want me to come pass out masks down
(22:27):
in his church because he was more interested in his
political position, uh than me actually saving lives, you know.
And I was so I was so hurt by that man.
And I've talked about those those type of situations. You know,
I have a therapist that I go to. Listen, and
let me make this PSA. It is black, folks. It
is okay to have Jesus and a therapist. You know,
(22:50):
because we always talk about praying things away. Listen, I
pray and I go to therapy, and I need the
assistance that I can to help me deal with some
of these issues and concerns that the people having.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
But it's heavy. It really is.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
What's what's the identity you want South Carolina to have
under your leadership? Because you know, people will say it's
like a lot of old South politics that still shape
the state today. What's it gonna look like under you?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah, No d C and s C. I say that
all the time. No d C and s C.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
Right now, we are too relyant upon Washington d C
and federal policies. I don't want the Washington d C
to dictate what we do in South Carolina. I want
to make sure that we are just self sufficient and
that we are addressing the needs of the people of
South Carolina. No matter if it's red or blue, whatever's
going on, we need address the issues of South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
So that's gonna be our main thing. No d C
in s C.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Well, we appreciate you for joining us.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
I gotta ask, is it true that you are so
poor you cooked off a frozy.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Hot dog and a candle?
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Is that true?
Speaker 4 (23:52):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:52):
That's true, man, that's true.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
Bro, listen, and I don't I do not recommend it, man,
I do not recommend it.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
But it was. It tasted like burnt dog and wax. Man.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
It was terrible. But yeah, so you know, no pot Listen,
there was no electricity or nothing. Oh okay say that.
I'm like, yeah, there was no electricity. So because there
was no electricity, bro, it's like I had to get
like a you know, it was like the you know,
after the electricity go up, like the refrigerator is still
kind of cold. So I had to get one of
the hot dogs and got one of the hot dogs
and lit the candle, man, and put it on top
(24:25):
of the candle, and the.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Outside was burned, but the inside was frozen. Man, I
think it was terrible. Man, I don't recommend.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I would hate to see you hungry.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Oh but thank god I have some people that looked
out for me too. Man. You know, my childhood wasn't
all bad. Man.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
You know, I had people that looked out for me
and gave me opportunities and things. So I'm a blessed man, honestly.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Man.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
And how do you fit into this little last car?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Man?
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Nineteen seventy seven C three Man, ain't no way fitted?
So again, you got it. You gotta like put the
sea all the way. It's a customed seat that I'm
putting that thing.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
And and then I bro.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Yeah, so you ain't got no back seat.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Basically there ain't now there's no vaccinating in the three.
Yeah you driving? I want restoring it now. I'm driven
that thing like a year and.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
A half because the kid he can't get under the day, Like.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Yeah, I'm restoring. I restored myself.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Really to now I don't believe all of it.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Yeah, yeahs I been resorting to myself. Man, I don't
did I don't rebuild the whole running already, I got
I got all new brakes on that thing.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Yeah, I'm gonna recommend somebody, did you?
Speaker 2 (25:39):
But I do it myself.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
D Governor Espel, what don't worry about it?
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Yeah, okay, I don't know Spanish. You're married in Mexican
a year going out? Speaking of which, are you worried
about ice? In?
Speaker 5 (26:07):
Man?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Listen?
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Ice the issue that I have. So I don't have
a problem with ice. I have a problem with what
they're doing and how they're implementing it right now. So
they are they're like literally they're just looking for anybody
who looks Spanish crazy, anybody who looks like that, or
anybody who has a name like that. That's who they're attacking.
Like that's who they're going at. And because that's the issue,
that is my problem. I mean, there's there's clearly a
(26:30):
better way that we can do, uh, you know, to
look at this, this immigration issue. I mean, there's way
we can do amnesty. I mean, we have ambassy for
everything else, Like you know, encourage people to come forward
to say, hey, listen, we're gonna do this, we're gonna
put you on probation for three years, we're gonna have
you pay tax, and we're gonna do this type of stuff.
And then you know, the people who don't come forward,
those are the people you go after, you know what
(26:52):
I mean, we do some stuff like that, but incentivized
people to come forward.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Man, we wouldn't you be scared to come forward at
a time like this?
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Of course I would, because we ain't got an ambassy day.
I mean, I mean we don't. We don'tt We're not
in anybody to do it.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Like, why would I trust government? That's all if I was,
you know, even if that was to happen, why would
I trust government?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Listen? But why I mean why the black people trust government?
Right now?
Speaker 4 (27:12):
I mean, you know, it's a whole it's a whole
bunch of stuff, man, But we got to start somewhere.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Yeah, all right, Well he's running for governor of South Carolina.
Make sure you get out there and vote and support
my man to do How can they donate?
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Man?
Speaker 4 (27:25):
Listen, I need everybody to go to Johnson for SC
dot com, jail h N s O n f O
r SC dot com.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
We got to raise money, y'all.
Speaker 4 (27:34):
You know, y'all know that as a black guy running
for governor of South Carolina, being the second I'll be
the second nominee in the history of South Carolina, we
need to raise as much money as possible. I mean, honestly,
y'all got over six million viewers right now right at
the Breverst Club, my bad eight there you go.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
See know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
If all eight million people just gave a dollar, we
would have more than enough money to become governor South Carolina.
But listen what we we need five dollars, ten dollars,
twenty dollars. This is a real grassroots movement and we
want to go grassroots to grassroos funded.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
And that's just for radio that don't count, like the
YouTube and the podcast.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
We'll get it. We'll get them, we'll get it. We'll
get them all to give a dollar, man, get them,
get them all to give a dollar, or get them
to give twenty dollars.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Good morning, hold every day.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
A week ago.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Wake your glass up, the Breakfast Club. Finish, y'all done,
The Breakfast Club News
Hosts And Creators
Charlamagne Tha God
DJ Envy
Jess Hilarious
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.