June 1, 2020 • 26 mins
The Breakfast Club sat down for a special conversation with conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What if everybody is DJ Envy, Angela Yee, Charlemagne the guy.
We are the breakfast club. Now we are fed up,
We're angry, hurt and tired. The country is wounded. The
phrase I can't breathe is embedded in our minds forever.
The inhumane treatment and senseless murder of George Floyd has
(00:20):
to be the final straw. This was not the first time,
but this has to be where it stops. For almost
ten years, we have been the voice of our community,
working to push our culture forward, focusing on educating our
listeners on entrepreneurship, real estate, mental health, education, and the
importance of being politically engaged and informed. We have always
(00:42):
had diverse guests and are open to the tough conversations.
In that spirit, today we are having a candid conversation
with fellow broadcaster Rush Limbaugh. Why are we having this
conversation with someone whose historical viewpoints differ so significantly from
ours and who we represent, because the dialogue has to
be open beyond who we know or who we talk to.
(01:04):
Every morning. Today, Russia's listeners will hear us, probably for
the first time ever, what we are witnessing in our
nation right now is not normal, and it compels our
attention to understand every side and look for ways to
bring this country together and stop the senseless killing of
our people. So we will start with a conversation that
(01:24):
we think might be the first step. Ladies and gentlemen,
Rush Limbaugh. Every Democrat candidate for president this year has
made it their business to appear on the Breakfast Club,
and now it's it's my honor to appear on the
Breakfast Club. Excuse me, even though I'm not a Democrat. Now, guys,
can I tell you why I wanted to The George
(01:46):
Floyd story is being lost right. There are two things
happening in America, and it sickens me what happened to him.
Legitimate national outrage about a policeman's criminality has been hijacked.
And I don't want to forget about George Floyd. What
happened to George Floyd sickened me, and I wanted to
(02:08):
reach out and tell you all this. I want to
make sure you have no doubt, and I'm not the
only American who feels this way, the senselessness of it.
You know, we're only given one life. We don't get
to do over we only get one. We all take
it for granted because it just happened. We're born, we
don't even remember that. But George Floyd had his taken
(02:30):
away from him. He didn't lose it, he had it
taken away from him in a stupid way. And I
think most Americans are just as angry and sad about
this as I am. And I'm also angry to cops
that stood around there and didn't do it thing to
stop it. It was just I can't tell you how
frustrated it is, and I just I just wanted to
share the emotion I have with you guys about this
(02:53):
and to try to convey to you that I actually
think most Americans are just as sickened and outraged by
it as I am. Yeah, And you know what, one
of the worst things is that I feel like we're
so accustomed to being in these situations where we get frustrated,
where nothing happens, and these police officers are back out
doing the same thing over and over again. And that's
part of the frustration is this is not an isolated incident.
(03:16):
This is something that's been happening in our community for
it hasn't stopped. We don't see when it will stop,
and I think people are frustrated, and it's a combination
of so many different things. Right now, Well, that's I
think absolutely absolutely right. If you look at the the
actual circumstance here, you had what happened to him, It's
on video. You've got the cop, the cop standing there
(03:39):
almost looking like he's bragging or having fun exerting power.
How stupid is the cop? Can the cop not be
aware of what we in this country are going through
precisely because of what he's doing at that moment? How
can anybody be that in sense? So they've or stupid.
It's beyond me to understand. It almost felt like that
(04:02):
the more that people were telling him that he was
killing him and that it was blood coming out of
his nose and that he was lifeless, but he really
felt like just looking at his face, I think that
was probably the closest thing to a devil that I've
ever seen in my life. It was his ego that
just allowed him to keep applying pressure and applying pressure
and taking that man's life. I can't let me answer
(04:23):
your question, Russ Charlomagne talking, We've seen numerous police killings
of one armed black people in this country. Why is
the George Floyd's situation the one that's making you say,
enough is enough and this needs to stop. Why why
is this situation in particular because I'm fed up with
I'm not saying I mean, I'm not tolerant of any
of them, but I'm I'm just I'm fed up with it. Charlomagne,
(04:45):
none of this to me, And I know, I know
that you're going to disagree with me on this. To me,
this is not America. It's a it's a it's a
it's a sad. Oh no, it's definitely America. Well, I see,
but it's it's not what we can be. It's not
what we have been. We're the greatest nation of history
of the world, and we haven't achieved that on the
(05:07):
basis of mood over us or not. I think I
think that. I think it's easy for you to say
because you're you're a white male and that comes with
a different level of privilege. And I do think America
does work, but it works for the people that it
was designed to work for. It doesn't work for everybody
else the way it works for you. Well, it can,
(05:27):
that's the point of America. It can for anybody who
wants to adapt to it, for anybody who wants to
try to take advantage of the unique opportunities that exist
in the United States. We're the only nation that's ever
enshrined the concept of individual liberty and freedom and are
founding documents. We're the only country that's ever created a
(05:47):
document to govern ourselves by that limits government. Now, Uh,
it's it's you know, I look, but George Floyd wasn't
doing anything wrong. Brianna Taylor got killed in her house.
She wasn't doing anything wrong. And so it's not that
people haven't adapted to things. It's just that we get
(06:08):
targeted and then there's no punishment when the police officers
commit these crimes against us. No, no, we talked about
I didn't mean to conflate that George Floyd could have
stopped what was going to happen to him. I don't misunderstand.
George Floyd is the essence of innocence. But what I'm
saying is is that America is a place with robust
(06:30):
opportunity if you want to go out and look for
it and find it. Now, the people ripping up the
streets today and last night, the Antifa types. They don't
care to find the they disagree with the whole constructive about. Well, no,
I gotta push back on you with that too. It's
not just the antif for types. You know what I'm saying, Like,
like you see all these white folks out there protesting
(06:50):
luten raising. Hell, you know what I'm saying, Let's not
act like there isn't forty million people who have filed
for unemployment in America. Folksmen sitting around the last three
months waiting on stimulus checks. Than forty four percent of
those people who have been denied unemployment checks are still
waiting on them to come. People of all races are broke.
They don't know where their next meal from. Their savings
are exhausted if they had any, They don't know how
(07:11):
they're gonna pay bills. So of course they're gonna go
out there in loot. Of course they're angry and frustrating.
It turns out unnecessarily, there's no reason to shut down
the country, and there's no reason to lock everybody. Of course,
you put forty million people out of work and tell them,
you know, you penalize them when they do try to
open their businesses. You're gonna create a powder keg. A
powder keg has been created. But that's right, That's why
(07:33):
I can't. That's why I can't. That's why I can't
allow you to say that it's just Antifa out there,
because it is a lot of white people who are fair.
But the anti people, the Antifa people, are the violent ones.
The Antifa people are the ones that are trying to
capitalize on it. There's, of course, there's some legitimate, heartfelt
people out there peacefully protesting. But look you guys, let
(07:54):
me tell you, you are a testament to the opportunity
available in America. Look at you. How did you do it?
Why did you have to overcome to become a breakfast
club and why did you have to overcome become dominant
in morning drive in American radio? Who held you back
or what were you able to overcome in order to
do it? The opportunity is there is the only thing
(08:16):
I'm saying. Right. But you know, you talk about peacefully,
you talk about peacefully protests, right, And you were very
opinionated about Colin Kaepernick, and he was peacefully protesting, right.
And now what people are saying, oh, they're not peacefully protesting.
This is the same thing Colin Kaepernick was kneeling for
that the world was so upset about and the world said,
he's taking it too far and he doesn't know what
he's talking about. This is exactly the reason why he
(08:37):
was kneeling in protesting the fact that an unarmed African
American man was doing nothing. They still don't even know
if he had a fake ten twenty dollar bill and not.
He and that man kneeled on George Floyd for damned
in nine minutes and killed that man, murdered that man
and looked at us like, yeah, I'm doing it, and
what you guys, I'm trying to tell you, I'm all
(09:00):
with you. I'm one thousand percent with you on This
is why I wanted to talk to you because I
know that that there are you know, we all have
preconceptions that we live under and biases that we live under,
and I wanted to reach out to you guys, specifically me.
You were you were the ones that I was told
(09:21):
to speak to that that this is intolerable. I'm happy
to have the conversation and I'm glad you're having it
because I think your audience needs to hear it. And
you know, you said something a little while ago, and
I want to just, you know, talk about that. You know,
this is this is a country America that denies you know,
black people justice and just playing decency. And then they
act like we're just supposed to be happy to be
here because it allows a few of us. To me,
(09:42):
did I say, majority of us out here catch what
you said? You said? You said, you know, you guys
made it. Y'all are successful, you know what I'm saying, like,
But but the rest of us are catching hell out here?
All right? George Floyd and isolated and Charlotte Man, you're
adding things to my mouth that I did and say
you're adding syllables I have not uttered. I was trying
(10:03):
to be complimentary of you, and I'm trying to illustrate
that you are an example to others that want to
try you can succeed. Let me ask a question. If
the Minnesota Vikings had announced two nights in combing they
were gonna hire Colin Kaepernick, would the riots have stopped? No?
I want to go about that. What I'm talking about
(10:26):
you guys Kaepernick, his name is Kaepernick, and the reason
I brought him up to do and I'm just asking
if the Vikings had signed him, would that would the
people have been this, Oh good, Okay, it's got a gang.
You know, we're not gonna protest because that's not gonna
stop white supremacy. That's not gonna stop racism. Okay, we
(10:47):
gotta all right, Peter, George Floyd. But this that was
not an Isola incident. This is a regular occurrence. Let
me add black people in this country. How do you
how that? Being don't want to change the system, how
do you A question for you? You? I want to
know if how are you going to use your privilege
of the white male to combat this prejudice? You you
gotta do side. I don't. I don't buy in no way.
I don't buy the notion of white privilege. See. I
(11:10):
think that's a liberal that's a liberal political constract right
along the lines of political correctness, is designed to intimidate
and get people shut up and admit they're guilty of
doing things they haven't done. No, I don't have I
don't have any No. You know what white privilege is.
White privilege is that what would happen to George Floyd
would not have happened to a white man. Right if
(11:34):
if if what happened to George Floyd had happened to
a white man, we probably wouldn't even have heard about it. Huh.
You definitely would have heard about it. You definitely would
have been you definitely would you definitely George. People get
killed by if George. There's a lot of instances where
(11:57):
this does happen and we don't hear about it. There's
a lot of times that there's no video that exists,
and then people are police officers lie and they say
this is what happened, just like we've seen it happen
so many different times where fortunately there was video. There's
a lot of cases that won't make it that he
about virus. You never hear about that, never make it
the TV, that never make it to social media. Because
(12:19):
I know what I said, guys, I said, if George
Floyd were white, we wouldn't have heard of this, And
if the same thing had happened him, we wouldn't have
heard about it. It wouldn't have been you would you
You'd be just right, you probably wouldn't hear about it.
And you know why because that guy would have been arrested,
(12:40):
he would have been a fired, he'd been charged with
murder long time before all of this, immediately before before
the video hit it the social media, he would have
been charged, fired, arrested, locked up in all that. If
George Floyd was white. There's a there's a Muslim. I
think there's a Muslim officer in Minneapolis now doing twelve
and a half years because he accidentally killed a white
woman and on duty. So I mean, I don't, I don't,
(13:02):
I don't get it, But let me ask a question.
It was because I remember in twenty fourteen you criticized
President Obama and you said he should do more to
ease racial tensions in the wake of the grand jury
decisions to not indict the white police officers in Ferguson.
You said, if he wants to, he can inspire, and
I think it's called for in this situation. Shouldn't that
same advice apply to President Trump right now? Absolutely? I
(13:23):
think it applies to all presidents. Absolutely, no, no question.
But that's one of their roles is to calm circumstances
and situations like this. But look, can I ask you,
you keep harping on white privilege and racism, would you
tell me how to end it? What? What can we do?
To end this so that you are not frustrated and
angry and feeling like whatever you feel like, because I
(13:48):
hate you guys as that you're angry all the time.
So what can we do to stop the racism? Here's
the thing, right, Um, as long as they as a
system of white supremacy, you know, they will always be
these type of situations. You know, it doesn't matter who's
in the White House. If that person is not willing
to dismantle the mechanism of white supremacy, if that person
(14:10):
is not willing to change legislation that disproportionately impacts black folks,
it doesn't matter, you know what I'm saying, Like, we've
seen this a million times. Tell me what happened. You
had four years of Barack Obama. You had you had Americans,
white Americans voting for Obama because they wanted to say,
we're not racist, We're not a racist country. You had
(14:31):
people electing the first African American president in our history.
He sure for eight years. Why isn't there anything to
show for it that makes you less angry than you were? Then,
once again, it doesn't matter who's in the White House,
if that person is not willing to dismantle the mechanism
of white sumon. Guys, the elections don't matter now. I
(14:53):
think that when you when you, when we got to
stop acting like white supremacy isn't done by design. The
whole function of systemic racism is to marginalize black people.
And it's very hard to get any damn near eighty
year old white man to change his system that's been
working for him in his family for years. I don't
care if it's Biden art Trump. So once again, we
need people that are willing to dismantle the mechanism of
(15:14):
white supremacy. Okay, let me let me ask you, guys,
why do you still vote Democrat? I vote for whoever
I think is the best candidate because Democrat has been
promising to fix your grievances for fifty years, and you
have the same grievances, you have the same complaints. They
haven't done a damn thing for you. They haven't even
(15:36):
punished the people that you think are responsible for the
racism and bigotry being done to you. Why do you
keep supporting them? And you know I don't disagree with you,
and I don't That's why I'm not letting nobody politicize
black pain and tell us that this is one person's
fault just because they are trying to win an election
in November. This is America's fault. And the war on drugs,
(15:58):
mass and conceration, said aggregation, slavery, all of those things
are and have been the proverbial knee on the back
of black folks neck and tell somebody is willing to
dismantle the mechanism of white supremacy, nothing is going to change. Well, Russ,
I also don't want to lose check of what we're
talking about here, because I know we're trying to focus
on George Floyd and what's happening with him and how
(16:18):
can we take some actionable steps to move forward and
what can be done right. So on your end, what
are some things that you feel like cops should be
charged with first degree murder? And I think that the
guys standing around ought to be charged. The other cops
that we're standing around, I think it's it's time to
end this. Look, we we are all aware of police brutality.
(16:41):
We're all aware of the actions that some wrong cops take,
and it's way too many of them against African American men,
and it's time to stop. And you know, I'm not
a policeman, I'm not an executive in a police department,
but it seems to me that if those people end
up being charged and instead of shielded when they commit murder,
(17:01):
it shouldn't be the illegalized murder, and that would be
one way to at least get a start on making
sure it doesn't happen. This. George Floyd was, for everything
I've been able to tell, was a good guy. He
was a nice guy, had a family, and said did
not even come close to deserving having his life taken
(17:23):
from him, like, not at all, not at all. Now,
do you agree with the way that the media's portraying
everything You're in media, and you know media's white media,
of course, do you do you agree with how they
portraying everything that's going on right now? Oh? God, I don't.
I don't think we've gotten the truth out of most
media in three or four years. I don't know. And
I think that's another reason why people are mad. You guys,
(17:45):
they know they've been lied to. They were lied about
so many things for two three four years now, and
so now they don't know what to belief coming out
of the media, and I don't care what it is Fox, CNN,
New York Times, Washington Post. There doesn't seem to be
anywhere in our culture that people have trust in an
institution or series of institutions that provide a backstop and
(18:07):
reliability when something like this happens. And I think that's
creating or contributing the even more of the unrest that's
happening out there. Rush, How would you advise Donald Trump
to handle this situation? Because I see that he's having
some issues. He's calling people thugs, he's talking about sticking
the dogs on people if they try to come into
the White House. But then you see how he treats
(18:27):
people who are protesting to stay at home order and
they have guns, and they're white people, and they're fine people.
So I just want to know what advice would you
give to the president right now to say, this is
what we need to do, and this is how you
should handle it, because I don't think that he's handling
it properly with his verbiage. I think what the president
ought to do is use the God given humility that
(18:49):
he has that and don't doubt me that he does.
He has. He has a lot of human nothing humble
about the president come out now there is even and
every rally you will see his ego, his appreciation the
people that show up. But it's it's simple matter of
(19:10):
understanding he's president of everybody here and trying to quell
these moments of unrest is something that would be really,
really to his advantage. I think what you said about
Obama in twenty fourteen applies when when you said if
he wants to, he can inspire, and I think he's
called for in his situation. But I look at the inspire,
(19:33):
I think he wants to insight. Okay, first, I do
agree with you about the inspiration. I think I think
he can. I think he should. I think all presidents
should in terms of Trump and sighting. Look, the guy
has had everybody and their uncle telling lies and falsehoods
about him for three and a half four years now,
(19:54):
and he's probably a little fed up with it. Before
the shutdown happened, look at what black unemployment was, it
was a record low. The number of African Americans have
had jobs, the wages that were going up, and then
this virus comes along and the bottom has pulled out
from it. He's got to be frustrated. As as he
can be. And I'm not trying to carry his water.
(20:15):
But the black black unemployment rate started going down under Obama, touto.
I mean, that's that's one thing that Trump takes credit for.
It had actually started under President Obama it did. Okay,
Well that's then cast you a question to Russ. Yeah,
moving forward, all right, because you know the cops. Say,
let's say the cops get arrested, the cop gets charge,
(20:38):
you go to jail. Great, how do we dismantle white
supremacy as a whole moving forward? Well, that's another show, guys,
Because A I don't, I don't. You'd have to define
what it means to you? What what? Because I don't.
I don't feel like I am a white supremacist, and
I don't think there's much white supremacy going on out there.
(20:59):
But I need to have your define. See, this is
one of the divides. I'll tell you. I'll tell you that.
To me once again, this system is designed to work
for the people that it was built by, and that's
white folks, particularly all white men. And now that people
have had enough because those white folks I spoke about earlier,
who are out there, you know who really love black
people as much as they love black culture, and they're
(21:19):
out there standing with black folks and they want to
fight with us. I think this is the tipping point,
and we right now are at a point where we
can finally force America to live up to his grand
promises of liberty and justice for all and not just
liberty and justice for white folks. It has that's my
back to the beginning of it has. It's out there.
You guys have done it. Look we're out of time here,
(21:42):
but would you guys like to do this again where
we pick it up right from this point and make
it maybe make a white supremacy, not if we're just
gonna dance the whole time, if you if you're gonna
have some honest conversation with us and stop telling us
things like white privilege, sharks and you don't know what
white supremacy is. If we could do that, yes, well, Rash,
(22:03):
I'm very into having with having these into having these
conversations because I do think it is important for white
people to acknowledge the heart that they've inflicted on the
African American community and to be able to come forward
and admit that we can't even move forward until that happens. Yeah,
I was attempting to do here with all of you
today on the white supremacy thing. I'm not in any
(22:25):
kind of denial. I just know that it's a politically
charged element of the Democrat Party's politics and liberalism. And
I do not cave or compromise or give one iotas
of an inch to liberalism no matter what. So white
white supremacy or white privilege is a construct of today's
Democrat Party, and I'm not going to agree with any
(22:48):
aspect of it as they put it forth. I'm not
denying that there are certain individuals out there I think
they're better than other people, but structurally, institutionally white supremacy. See,
that's it's don't You can't see You can't see how
white people are just treated better in this country and
even just as fire as how many people get pulled
(23:08):
over and by them. We don't have these conversations, but
we gotta be honest with each other, like you gotta
people proportionally they're getting shot by the car. You set
these things up. You have no idea how if and
I can imagine what you're gonna say. If I sit
here and say you have no idea. How I have
been mistreated by various elements, various groups, various companies, various individuals,
(23:33):
my whole life. It's called wife, and it happens, and
we're all mistreated. I've been fired nine times in my career.
But have you ever got don done out your car
because you were driving a nice car? I got just
pat it down just for being black. I've had my
car kid, I've had my tires blown up for I'm
(23:55):
talking about throwing out your call by a police officer
because you're black, driving a nice car, or walking down
the street in Queen's the Air where you're from, and
the police pulling you over and patting you down. Has
these things happened to you? Don't talk about I didn't
got shot at, they didn't shout out my car. Don't
talk about keying a car and popping attire. I'm talking
about ouse. You're blacke nothing. I'm a hermit and the
(24:17):
reck close and I don't. I don't go out and
do all that kind of stuff. No, that's kind of
stuff that's never happened to me. I'll grant you. I
want to ask you one more question before we get
out of here. However, I've never had the cops assumed
that I have. Well, I actually know that isn't true.
I haven't rush stop. I have not pursued by the
cop so I was pursued, but absolutely I have. But look, guys,
(24:37):
let me thank you again forget no, no, let me
thank you again for giving me the time today and
I having access to you and at least the chance
to talk to you. I do appreciate it, and maybe
we can do it again. I look forward to it.
Thank thank you, Rushing. I didn't want to know why
you think rest in peace? That's right. All those white
kids out there on the front lines protesting and fighting
(24:57):
with black people, I salute them, But why do you
Why do you think they're out there, Russ Because they're
fed up with what happened to George Floyd. They're fed
up with this situation that will not stop, that caused
all this and provided the opportunity for all this to happen,
meet the opportunity to protest and riot. There are more
Americans fed up with it than you know. That's my point.
(25:17):
What about America? Though? You don't think that the fact
that there's forty million people who file for unemployment the largest,
the largest unemployment rate since the Depression era. You don't
think that they're fed up about that too? Well, I
already acknowledged that earlier in the conversation. You can't put
forty million people out of work. But I'm telling you
that you have a lot of sympatico people out there.
(25:38):
White people were marching in the sixties with Doctor King.
They were. In fact, Doctor King's death did not cause
this kind of strife in this country. King Jia is
dead because of racism and white supremacy. Uh well, okay,
if that's your answer to everything, then I don't know
how we're we're going is he's dead because he was
(26:02):
fighting against racism in white supremacy. Thank you for the conversation. Now,
this was a serious conversation, at times, an uncomfortable conversation,
even though we have vastly different viewpoints from Rush. It
was an open conversation to have because the dialogue must
be open beyond just our community if we are ever
(26:23):
going to get a real change from all people. This
is the breakfast Club
What if everybody is DJ Envy, Angela Yee, Charlemagne the guy.
We are the breakfast club. Now we are fed up,
We're angry, hurt and tired. The country is wounded. The
phrase I can't breathe is embedded in our minds forever.
The inhumane treatment and senseless murder of George Floyd has
(00:20):
to be the final straw. This was not the first time,
but this has to be where it stops. For almost
ten years, we have been the voice of our community,
working to push our culture forward, focusing on educating our
listeners on entrepreneurship, real estate, mental health, education, and the
importance of being politically engaged and informed. We have always
(00:42):
had diverse guests and are open to the tough conversations.
In that spirit, today we are having a candid conversation
with fellow broadcaster Rush Limbaugh. Why are we having this
conversation with someone whose historical viewpoints differ so significantly from
ours and who we represent, because the dialogue has to
be open beyond who we know or who we talk to.
(01:04):
Every morning. Today, Russia's listeners will hear us, probably for
the first time ever, what we are witnessing in our
nation right now is not normal, and it compels our
attention to understand every side and look for ways to
bring this country together and stop the senseless killing of
our people. So we will start with a conversation that
(01:24):
we think might be the first step. Ladies and gentlemen,
Rush Limbaugh. Every Democrat candidate for president this year has
made it their business to appear on the Breakfast Club,
and now it's it's my honor to appear on the
Breakfast Club. Excuse me, even though I'm not a Democrat. Now, guys,
can I tell you why I wanted to The George
(01:46):
Floyd story is being lost right. There are two things
happening in America, and it sickens me what happened to him.
Legitimate national outrage about a policeman's criminality has been hijacked.
And I don't want to forget about George Floyd. What
happened to George Floyd sickened me, and I wanted to
(02:08):
reach out and tell you all this. I want to
make sure you have no doubt, and I'm not the
only American who feels this way, the senselessness of it.
You know, we're only given one life. We don't get
to do over we only get one. We all take
it for granted because it just happened. We're born, we
don't even remember that. But George Floyd had his taken
(02:30):
away from him. He didn't lose it, he had it
taken away from him in a stupid way. And I
think most Americans are just as angry and sad about
this as I am. And I'm also angry to cops
that stood around there and didn't do it thing to
stop it. It was just I can't tell you how
frustrated it is, and I just I just wanted to
share the emotion I have with you guys about this
(02:53):
and to try to convey to you that I actually
think most Americans are just as sickened and outraged by
it as I am. Yeah, And you know what, one
of the worst things is that I feel like we're
so accustomed to being in these situations where we get frustrated,
where nothing happens, and these police officers are back out
doing the same thing over and over again. And that's
part of the frustration is this is not an isolated incident.
(03:16):
This is something that's been happening in our community for
it hasn't stopped. We don't see when it will stop,
and I think people are frustrated, and it's a combination
of so many different things. Right now, Well, that's I
think absolutely absolutely right. If you look at the the
actual circumstance here, you had what happened to him, It's
on video. You've got the cop, the cop standing there
(03:39):
almost looking like he's bragging or having fun exerting power.
How stupid is the cop? Can the cop not be
aware of what we in this country are going through
precisely because of what he's doing at that moment? How
can anybody be that in sense? So they've or stupid.
It's beyond me to understand. It almost felt like that
(04:02):
the more that people were telling him that he was
killing him and that it was blood coming out of
his nose and that he was lifeless, but he really
felt like just looking at his face, I think that
was probably the closest thing to a devil that I've
ever seen in my life. It was his ego that
just allowed him to keep applying pressure and applying pressure
and taking that man's life. I can't let me answer
(04:23):
your question, Russ Charlomagne talking, We've seen numerous police killings
of one armed black people in this country. Why is
the George Floyd's situation the one that's making you say,
enough is enough and this needs to stop. Why why
is this situation in particular because I'm fed up with
I'm not saying I mean, I'm not tolerant of any
of them, but I'm I'm just I'm fed up with it. Charlomagne,
(04:45):
none of this to me, And I know, I know
that you're going to disagree with me on this. To me,
this is not America. It's a it's a it's a
it's a sad. Oh no, it's definitely America. Well, I see,
but it's it's not what we can be. It's not
what we have been. We're the greatest nation of history
of the world, and we haven't achieved that on the
(05:07):
basis of mood over us or not. I think I
think that. I think it's easy for you to say
because you're you're a white male and that comes with
a different level of privilege. And I do think America
does work, but it works for the people that it
was designed to work for. It doesn't work for everybody
else the way it works for you. Well, it can,
(05:27):
that's the point of America. It can for anybody who
wants to adapt to it, for anybody who wants to
try to take advantage of the unique opportunities that exist
in the United States. We're the only nation that's ever
enshrined the concept of individual liberty and freedom and are
founding documents. We're the only country that's ever created a
(05:47):
document to govern ourselves by that limits government. Now, Uh,
it's it's you know, I look, but George Floyd wasn't
doing anything wrong. Brianna Taylor got killed in her house.
She wasn't doing anything wrong. And so it's not that
people haven't adapted to things. It's just that we get
(06:08):
targeted and then there's no punishment when the police officers
commit these crimes against us. No, no, we talked about
I didn't mean to conflate that George Floyd could have
stopped what was going to happen to him. I don't misunderstand.
George Floyd is the essence of innocence. But what I'm
saying is is that America is a place with robust
(06:30):
opportunity if you want to go out and look for
it and find it. Now, the people ripping up the
streets today and last night, the Antifa types. They don't
care to find the they disagree with the whole constructive about. Well, no,
I gotta push back on you with that too. It's
not just the antif for types. You know what I'm saying, Like,
like you see all these white folks out there protesting
(06:50):
luten raising. Hell, you know what I'm saying, Let's not
act like there isn't forty million people who have filed
for unemployment in America. Folksmen sitting around the last three
months waiting on stimulus checks. Than forty four percent of
those people who have been denied unemployment checks are still
waiting on them to come. People of all races are broke.
They don't know where their next meal from. Their savings
are exhausted if they had any, They don't know how
(07:11):
they're gonna pay bills. So of course they're gonna go
out there in loot. Of course they're angry and frustrating.
It turns out unnecessarily, there's no reason to shut down
the country, and there's no reason to lock everybody. Of course,
you put forty million people out of work and tell them,
you know, you penalize them when they do try to
open their businesses. You're gonna create a powder keg. A
powder keg has been created. But that's right, That's why
(07:33):
I can't. That's why I can't. That's why I can't
allow you to say that it's just Antifa out there,
because it is a lot of white people who are fair.
But the anti people, the Antifa people, are the violent ones.
The Antifa people are the ones that are trying to
capitalize on it. There's, of course, there's some legitimate, heartfelt
people out there peacefully protesting. But look you guys, let
(07:54):
me tell you, you are a testament to the opportunity
available in America. Look at you. How did you do it?
Why did you have to overcome to become a breakfast
club and why did you have to overcome become dominant
in morning drive in American radio? Who held you back
or what were you able to overcome in order to
do it? The opportunity is there is the only thing
(08:16):
I'm saying. Right. But you know, you talk about peacefully,
you talk about peacefully protests, right, And you were very
opinionated about Colin Kaepernick, and he was peacefully protesting, right.
And now what people are saying, oh, they're not peacefully protesting.
This is the same thing Colin Kaepernick was kneeling for
that the world was so upset about and the world said,
he's taking it too far and he doesn't know what
he's talking about. This is exactly the reason why he
(08:37):
was kneeling in protesting the fact that an unarmed African
American man was doing nothing. They still don't even know
if he had a fake ten twenty dollar bill and not.
He and that man kneeled on George Floyd for damned
in nine minutes and killed that man, murdered that man
and looked at us like, yeah, I'm doing it, and
what you guys, I'm trying to tell you, I'm all
(09:00):
with you. I'm one thousand percent with you on This
is why I wanted to talk to you because I
know that that there are you know, we all have
preconceptions that we live under and biases that we live under,
and I wanted to reach out to you guys, specifically me.
You were you were the ones that I was told
(09:21):
to speak to that that this is intolerable. I'm happy
to have the conversation and I'm glad you're having it
because I think your audience needs to hear it. And
you know, you said something a little while ago, and
I want to just, you know, talk about that. You know,
this is this is a country America that denies you know,
black people justice and just playing decency. And then they
act like we're just supposed to be happy to be
here because it allows a few of us. To me,
(09:42):
did I say, majority of us out here catch what
you said? You said? You said, you know, you guys
made it. Y'all are successful, you know what I'm saying, like,
But but the rest of us are catching hell out here?
All right? George Floyd and isolated and Charlotte Man, you're
adding things to my mouth that I did and say
you're adding syllables I have not uttered. I was trying
(10:03):
to be complimentary of you, and I'm trying to illustrate
that you are an example to others that want to
try you can succeed. Let me ask a question. If
the Minnesota Vikings had announced two nights in combing they
were gonna hire Colin Kaepernick, would the riots have stopped? No?
I want to go about that. What I'm talking about
(10:26):
you guys Kaepernick, his name is Kaepernick, and the reason
I brought him up to do and I'm just asking
if the Vikings had signed him, would that would the
people have been this, Oh good, Okay, it's got a gang.
You know, we're not gonna protest because that's not gonna
stop white supremacy. That's not gonna stop racism. Okay, we
(10:47):
gotta all right, Peter, George Floyd. But this that was
not an Isola incident. This is a regular occurrence. Let
me add black people in this country. How do you
how that? Being don't want to change the system, how
do you A question for you? You? I want to
know if how are you going to use your privilege
of the white male to combat this prejudice? You you
gotta do side. I don't. I don't buy in no way.
I don't buy the notion of white privilege. See. I
(11:10):
think that's a liberal that's a liberal political constract right
along the lines of political correctness, is designed to intimidate
and get people shut up and admit they're guilty of
doing things they haven't done. No, I don't have I
don't have any No. You know what white privilege is.
White privilege is that what would happen to George Floyd
would not have happened to a white man. Right if
(11:34):
if if what happened to George Floyd had happened to
a white man, we probably wouldn't even have heard about it. Huh.
You definitely would have heard about it. You definitely would
have been you definitely would you definitely George. People get
killed by if George. There's a lot of instances where
(11:57):
this does happen and we don't hear about it. There's
a lot of times that there's no video that exists,
and then people are police officers lie and they say
this is what happened, just like we've seen it happen
so many different times where fortunately there was video. There's
a lot of cases that won't make it that he
about virus. You never hear about that, never make it
the TV, that never make it to social media. Because
(12:19):
I know what I said, guys, I said, if George
Floyd were white, we wouldn't have heard of this, And
if the same thing had happened him, we wouldn't have
heard about it. It wouldn't have been you would you
You'd be just right, you probably wouldn't hear about it.
And you know why because that guy would have been arrested,
(12:40):
he would have been a fired, he'd been charged with
murder long time before all of this, immediately before before
the video hit it the social media, he would have
been charged, fired, arrested, locked up in all that. If
George Floyd was white. There's a there's a Muslim. I
think there's a Muslim officer in Minneapolis now doing twelve
and a half years because he accidentally killed a white
woman and on duty. So I mean, I don't, I don't,
(13:02):
I don't get it, But let me ask a question.
It was because I remember in twenty fourteen you criticized
President Obama and you said he should do more to
ease racial tensions in the wake of the grand jury
decisions to not indict the white police officers in Ferguson.
You said, if he wants to, he can inspire, and
I think it's called for in this situation. Shouldn't that
same advice apply to President Trump right now? Absolutely? I
(13:23):
think it applies to all presidents. Absolutely, no, no question.
But that's one of their roles is to calm circumstances
and situations like this. But look, can I ask you,
you keep harping on white privilege and racism, would you
tell me how to end it? What? What can we do?
To end this so that you are not frustrated and
angry and feeling like whatever you feel like, because I
(13:48):
hate you guys as that you're angry all the time.
So what can we do to stop the racism? Here's
the thing, right, Um, as long as they as a
system of white supremacy, you know, they will always be
these type of situations. You know, it doesn't matter who's
in the White House. If that person is not willing
to dismantle the mechanism of white supremacy, if that person
(14:10):
is not willing to change legislation that disproportionately impacts black folks,
it doesn't matter, you know what I'm saying, Like, we've
seen this a million times. Tell me what happened. You
had four years of Barack Obama. You had you had Americans,
white Americans voting for Obama because they wanted to say,
we're not racist, We're not a racist country. You had
(14:31):
people electing the first African American president in our history.
He sure for eight years. Why isn't there anything to
show for it that makes you less angry than you were? Then,
once again, it doesn't matter who's in the White House,
if that person is not willing to dismantle the mechanism
of white sumon. Guys, the elections don't matter now. I
(14:53):
think that when you when you, when we got to
stop acting like white supremacy isn't done by design. The
whole function of systemic racism is to marginalize black people.
And it's very hard to get any damn near eighty
year old white man to change his system that's been
working for him in his family for years. I don't
care if it's Biden art Trump. So once again, we
need people that are willing to dismantle the mechanism of
(15:14):
white supremacy. Okay, let me let me ask you, guys,
why do you still vote Democrat? I vote for whoever
I think is the best candidate because Democrat has been
promising to fix your grievances for fifty years, and you
have the same grievances, you have the same complaints. They
haven't done a damn thing for you. They haven't even
(15:36):
punished the people that you think are responsible for the
racism and bigotry being done to you. Why do you
keep supporting them? And you know I don't disagree with you,
and I don't That's why I'm not letting nobody politicize
black pain and tell us that this is one person's
fault just because they are trying to win an election
in November. This is America's fault. And the war on drugs,
(15:58):
mass and conceration, said aggregation, slavery, all of those things
are and have been the proverbial knee on the back
of black folks neck and tell somebody is willing to
dismantle the mechanism of white supremacy, nothing is going to change. Well, Russ,
I also don't want to lose check of what we're
talking about here, because I know we're trying to focus
on George Floyd and what's happening with him and how
(16:18):
can we take some actionable steps to move forward and
what can be done right. So on your end, what
are some things that you feel like cops should be
charged with first degree murder? And I think that the
guys standing around ought to be charged. The other cops
that we're standing around, I think it's it's time to
end this. Look, we we are all aware of police brutality.
(16:41):
We're all aware of the actions that some wrong cops take,
and it's way too many of them against African American men,
and it's time to stop. And you know, I'm not
a policeman, I'm not an executive in a police department,
but it seems to me that if those people end
up being charged and instead of shielded when they commit murder,
(17:01):
it shouldn't be the illegalized murder, and that would be
one way to at least get a start on making
sure it doesn't happen. This. George Floyd was, for everything
I've been able to tell, was a good guy. He
was a nice guy, had a family, and said did
not even come close to deserving having his life taken
(17:23):
from him, like, not at all, not at all. Now,
do you agree with the way that the media's portraying
everything You're in media, and you know media's white media,
of course, do you do you agree with how they
portraying everything that's going on right now? Oh? God, I don't.
I don't think we've gotten the truth out of most
media in three or four years. I don't know. And
I think that's another reason why people are mad. You guys,
(17:45):
they know they've been lied to. They were lied about
so many things for two three four years now, and
so now they don't know what to belief coming out
of the media, and I don't care what it is Fox, CNN,
New York Times, Washington Post. There doesn't seem to be
anywhere in our culture that people have trust in an
institution or series of institutions that provide a backstop and
(18:07):
reliability when something like this happens. And I think that's
creating or contributing the even more of the unrest that's
happening out there. Rush, How would you advise Donald Trump
to handle this situation? Because I see that he's having
some issues. He's calling people thugs, he's talking about sticking
the dogs on people if they try to come into
the White House. But then you see how he treats
(18:27):
people who are protesting to stay at home order and
they have guns, and they're white people, and they're fine people.
So I just want to know what advice would you
give to the president right now to say, this is
what we need to do, and this is how you
should handle it, because I don't think that he's handling
it properly with his verbiage. I think what the president
ought to do is use the God given humility that
(18:49):
he has that and don't doubt me that he does.
He has. He has a lot of human nothing humble
about the president come out now there is even and
every rally you will see his ego, his appreciation the
people that show up. But it's it's simple matter of
(19:10):
understanding he's president of everybody here and trying to quell
these moments of unrest is something that would be really,
really to his advantage. I think what you said about
Obama in twenty fourteen applies when when you said if
he wants to, he can inspire, and I think he's
called for in his situation. But I look at the inspire,
(19:33):
I think he wants to insight. Okay, first, I do
agree with you about the inspiration. I think I think
he can. I think he should. I think all presidents
should in terms of Trump and sighting. Look, the guy
has had everybody and their uncle telling lies and falsehoods
about him for three and a half four years now,
(19:54):
and he's probably a little fed up with it. Before
the shutdown happened, look at what black unemployment was, it
was a record low. The number of African Americans have
had jobs, the wages that were going up, and then
this virus comes along and the bottom has pulled out
from it. He's got to be frustrated. As as he
can be. And I'm not trying to carry his water.
(20:15):
But the black black unemployment rate started going down under Obama, touto.
I mean, that's that's one thing that Trump takes credit for.
It had actually started under President Obama it did. Okay,
Well that's then cast you a question to Russ. Yeah,
moving forward, all right, because you know the cops. Say,
let's say the cops get arrested, the cop gets charge,
(20:38):
you go to jail. Great, how do we dismantle white
supremacy as a whole moving forward? Well, that's another show, guys,
Because A I don't, I don't. You'd have to define
what it means to you? What what? Because I don't.
I don't feel like I am a white supremacist, and
I don't think there's much white supremacy going on out there.
(20:59):
But I need to have your define. See, this is
one of the divides. I'll tell you. I'll tell you that.
To me once again, this system is designed to work
for the people that it was built by, and that's
white folks, particularly all white men. And now that people
have had enough because those white folks I spoke about earlier,
who are out there, you know who really love black
people as much as they love black culture, and they're
(21:19):
out there standing with black folks and they want to
fight with us. I think this is the tipping point,
and we right now are at a point where we
can finally force America to live up to his grand
promises of liberty and justice for all and not just
liberty and justice for white folks. It has that's my
back to the beginning of it has. It's out there.
You guys have done it. Look we're out of time here,
(21:42):
but would you guys like to do this again where
we pick it up right from this point and make
it maybe make a white supremacy, not if we're just
gonna dance the whole time, if you if you're gonna
have some honest conversation with us and stop telling us
things like white privilege, sharks and you don't know what
white supremacy is. If we could do that, yes, well, Rash,
(22:03):
I'm very into having with having these into having these
conversations because I do think it is important for white
people to acknowledge the heart that they've inflicted on the
African American community and to be able to come forward
and admit that we can't even move forward until that happens. Yeah,
I was attempting to do here with all of you
today on the white supremacy thing. I'm not in any
(22:25):
kind of denial. I just know that it's a politically
charged element of the Democrat Party's politics and liberalism. And
I do not cave or compromise or give one iotas
of an inch to liberalism no matter what. So white
white supremacy or white privilege is a construct of today's
Democrat Party, and I'm not going to agree with any
(22:48):
aspect of it as they put it forth. I'm not
denying that there are certain individuals out there I think
they're better than other people, but structurally, institutionally white supremacy. See,
that's it's don't You can't see You can't see how
white people are just treated better in this country and
even just as fire as how many people get pulled
(23:08):
over and by them. We don't have these conversations, but
we gotta be honest with each other, like you gotta
people proportionally they're getting shot by the car. You set
these things up. You have no idea how if and
I can imagine what you're gonna say. If I sit
here and say you have no idea. How I have
been mistreated by various elements, various groups, various companies, various individuals,
(23:33):
my whole life. It's called wife, and it happens, and
we're all mistreated. I've been fired nine times in my career.
But have you ever got don done out your car
because you were driving a nice car? I got just
pat it down just for being black. I've had my
car kid, I've had my tires blown up for I'm
(23:55):
talking about throwing out your call by a police officer
because you're black, driving a nice car, or walking down
the street in Queen's the Air where you're from, and
the police pulling you over and patting you down. Has
these things happened to you? Don't talk about I didn't
got shot at, they didn't shout out my car. Don't
talk about keying a car and popping attire. I'm talking
about ouse. You're blacke nothing. I'm a hermit and the
(24:17):
reck close and I don't. I don't go out and
do all that kind of stuff. No, that's kind of
stuff that's never happened to me. I'll grant you. I
want to ask you one more question before we get
out of here. However, I've never had the cops assumed
that I have. Well, I actually know that isn't true.
I haven't rush stop. I have not pursued by the
cop so I was pursued, but absolutely I have. But look, guys,
(24:37):
let me thank you again forget no, no, let me
thank you again for giving me the time today and
I having access to you and at least the chance
to talk to you. I do appreciate it, and maybe
we can do it again. I look forward to it.
Thank thank you, Rushing. I didn't want to know why
you think rest in peace? That's right. All those white
kids out there on the front lines protesting and fighting
(24:57):
with black people, I salute them, But why do you
Why do you think they're out there, Russ Because they're
fed up with what happened to George Floyd. They're fed
up with this situation that will not stop, that caused
all this and provided the opportunity for all this to happen,
meet the opportunity to protest and riot. There are more
Americans fed up with it than you know. That's my point.
(25:17):
What about America? Though? You don't think that the fact
that there's forty million people who file for unemployment the largest,
the largest unemployment rate since the Depression era. You don't
think that they're fed up about that too? Well, I
already acknowledged that earlier in the conversation. You can't put
forty million people out of work. But I'm telling you
that you have a lot of sympatico people out there.
(25:38):
White people were marching in the sixties with Doctor King.
They were. In fact, Doctor King's death did not cause
this kind of strife in this country. King Jia is
dead because of racism and white supremacy. Uh well, okay,
if that's your answer to everything, then I don't know
how we're we're going is he's dead because he was
(26:02):
fighting against racism in white supremacy. Thank you for the conversation. Now,
this was a serious conversation, at times, an uncomfortable conversation,
even though we have vastly different viewpoints from Rush. It
was an open conversation to have because the dialogue must
be open beyond just our community if we are ever
(26:23):
going to get a real change from all people. This
is the breakfast Club
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