← The Breakfast Club
The Breakfast Club
INTERVIEW: Lanny Smith, Cecil Williams, Fredrika Newton & Fred Hampton Jr. Talk Actively Black Apparel + More
00:56:49
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- [00:00]
Host/Announcer
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:05]
Lanny Smith
Wednesday at 10, 9 Central on BET. An all new episode of 106 in.
- [00:10]
DJ Envy
Sports from executive producers LeBron James and Maverick Carter.
- [00:14]
Lanny Smith
It's a new top five countdown with.
- [00:16]
DJ Envy
Hosts Ashley Nicole Moss and Cam Newton.
- [00:19]
Lanny Smith
They're breaking down the top moments in.
- [00:21]
DJ Envy
Sports, culture and entertainment and highlighting both.
- [00:24]
Lanny Smith
Established pros and the stars on the come up. Watch the all new series 106 in.
- [00:29]
DJ Envy
Sports Wednesday at 10, 9 Central on.
- [00:32]
Lanny Smith
BET or catch up the next day on BET.
- [00:37]
Host/Announcer
Everybody needs a break and that's why Diet Coke is the perfect reset. The crisp, refreshing taste turns any pause.
- [00:44]
Fredrica Newton
Whether it's after work, running errands or.
- [00:46]
Host/Announcer
Kicking back with your crew into you time. It's that signal to slow down, take.
- [00:51]
Fredrica Newton
A deep breath and enjoy the moment. However you choose to recharge, an ice.
- [00:55]
Host/Announcer
Cold Diet Coke makes that break even better. Make time for a Diet Coke break. Diet Coke. This is my taste.
- [01:03]
Charlamagne Tha God
Johnny Knoxville here. Check out Crimeless Hillbilly Heist, my new true crime podcast from Smartless media, campside media and big money players. It's the true story of the almost perfect crime and the nimrods who almost pulled it off.
- [01:17]
Lanny Smith
It was kind of like the perfect storm in a sewer.
- [01:20]
Cecil Williams
That was dumb. Do not follow my example.
- [01:24]
Charlamagne Tha God
Listen to Crimeless Hillbilly Heist on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
- [01:36]
Ad Voice/Commercial Narrator
The murder of an 18 year old girl in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved for years until a local housewife, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.
- [01:49]
Fred Hampton Jr.
America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns.
- [02:01]
Ad Voice/Commercial Narrator
Listen to Graves county on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And to binge the entire season ad free, subscribe to Lava for good plus on Apple Podcasts.
- [02:17]
Lanny Smith
Every day I wake up. Wake your ass up.
- [02:19]
DJ Envy
The Breakfast Club.
- [02:20]
Lanny Smith
Do y' all finished or y' all done?
- [02:22]
Charlamagne Tha God
Morning everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Charlamagne the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Lorna Rose is here as well. We got some special guests joining us this morning.
- [02:31]
DJ Envy
Yes, indeed.
- [02:31]
Charlamagne Tha God
We have Alani Smith here. Good morning.
- [02:33]
Lanny Smith
Good morning. Good morning.
- [02:34]
Charlamagne Tha God
We have Cecil Williams. Good morning.
- [02:35]
Cecil Williams
Good morning.
- [02:36]
Charlamagne Tha God
We have Fredrica Newton. Good morning.
- [02:37]
Fredrica Newton
Good morning.
- [02:38]
Charlamagne Tha God
And we have Fred Hampton Jr. Good morning.
- [02:40]
Fred Hampton Jr.
Good morning.
- [02:40]
Fredrica Newton
Morning.
- [02:41]
Charlamagne Tha God
How y' all feeling this morning?
- [02:42]
Lanny Smith
Man, we blessed man. Black and blessed man.
- [02:44]
DJ Envy
Blessed black and highly favored.
- [02:45]
Lanny Smith
Yes, sir.
- [02:46]
DJ Envy
Lanny, why we all gathered here today with all these amazing people Bro.
- [02:49]
Lanny Smith
Man. We had a New York Fashion Week show about a month ago, man, and we were blessed to have these individuals show up and walk on the Runway with us, along with Dr. Bernice King and Elias Shabazz, the daughters of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. And the response to it, the way that black people have responded to seeing these people on the Runway, knowing that this history wasn't that long ago, like they try to tell us that it was, has been powerful, man. So actively black. The company that I founded, we were built with the intention to uplift and reinvest back into the black community. And these incredible legends have been supportive of the brand. So.
- [03:31]
DJ Envy
And when you. When you. I want y' all to know, man. Cecil Williams, right. Y' all know this legendary picture right here.
- [03:35]
Fred Hampton Jr.
That's right.
- [03:36]
DJ Envy
Of the brother drinking out of the. The whites only water fountain. I always wanted to ask you, Mr. Williams, was it a spontaneous act of rebellion or something? Something you plan to do as a statement?
- [03:46]
Cecil Williams
It was a little bit of both. I was thirsty, but also, it was the middle of the sunshine of the summer, you know, as evident. T shirt. But also, this was not the first time I did this. There were many other times that I felt I wanted to get a little close. Really. I was not satisfied with living in the status quo, in segregation. So this was something that I had done many times, and my mother warned me not to do it anymore, more. But I did it again, and this time it was photographed.
- [04:17]
DJ Envy
Did you feel fear in that moment, or was your faith stronger than you feel?
- [04:20]
Cecil Williams
None whatsoever. This is about 15, 20 miles from Orangeburg and on Highway 21 and coming back from an assignment for Jet magazine. But I never sent this picture to jet. It was something that I held in the family, and I knew I would get chewed out had I, you know, given it to my mother and father to see. So I hid it from them and never sent it to JET either.
- [04:41]
Fred Hampton Jr.
Wow.
- [04:41]
DJ Envy
How'd they get it?
- [04:44]
Cecil Williams
Maybe three or four years later, I showed it to them in a conversation one Sunday afternoon during a dinner. It kind of came out, and then I got chewed out.
- [04:53]
Ad Voice/Commercial Narrator
Wow.
- [04:55]
DJ Envy
What did that single act teach you about the power of defiance in the face of injustice?
- [05:00]
Cecil Williams
Well, living in South Carolina, being a child of segregation, it was something that we encountered all day long from birth to death. We in South Carolina, during that period of time, felt again, we were treated as subclass human beings. Not being able to go to a store and go into a restroom or go. Or get a drink of water out of a fountain. Or having to go to a side window or going to a movie theater and having to sit in a separate place or not at all. But again, one thing that I would like to, that's maybe out of characteristic of many southerners, there were many good white people at the time as well. You can't just put a blanket statement against that. All people treated us. There were many good hearted white people at the time and they were friends of my family and they helped support our family. But it was some people in South Carolina, again, who lived by, who treated us as a status quo. Not being able to do this or that.
- [06:02]
Charlamagne Tha God
So crazy to think about it. Like, you know, when you have these conversations, we're really not that far removed from that.
- [06:07]
DJ Envy
No, he's right here.
- [06:09]
Charlamagne Tha God
That's what I'm saying. Like you don't really think about it. Like you said earlier. Like, we're not far removed from racism. And even the stories that my dad tells me, I'm like, this is crazy. This is what, 50 years ago, 60.
- [06:19]
DJ Envy
Years ago, I got one of my aunts, she said, I don't know nothing about no, I don't know nothing about no integration.
- [06:23]
Lanny Smith
Yeah.
- [06:24]
DJ Envy
Cause all she knew was segregated schools.
- [06:26]
Lanny Smith
You know, growing up, we had Ruby Bridges walk the Runway as well. And it was a powerful moment because everybody remembers that picture. Six year old little girl being escorted into school by federal marshals. And Ruby just turned 71. But you know, black don't crack. So she looks 45 and she walks out on the Runway. It made it real to people. Like that same little girl in that black and white photo is walking right here in front of me. So that's the power of having these individuals here with me, showing how close we are to everything that we still fighting to this day.
- [06:58]
Charlamagne Tha God
Do y' all hate. I'm sorry, do y' all hate white people?
- [07:01]
Cecil Williams
God damn.
- [07:03]
DJ Envy
What the hell?
- [07:03]
Charlamagne Tha God
Now I'm gonna tell you why. When I talk to my dad, my dad has a feeling towards white people, right? And I always joke and I laugh about it, but then when he tells me his history of him being in the military and you know, they're in the same barracks, but then when they go get some food, it's white only. And his people in the barracks, they go get food and he can't. He talks about the water fountain and the bathroom and all this other stuff and why he looks at white people the way that he does. I understand it.
- [07:27]
Cecil Williams
So.
- [07:28]
Charlamagne Tha God
So that's why I ask you the.
- [07:29]
Lanny Smith
Same.
- [07:31]
Charlamagne Tha God
Each one of you.
- [07:34]
Cecil Williams
Well, it's brought to the forefront by Lany Smith and again, the fashion show. In fact, he labeled the fashion show. This is not a fashion show. Pictures like this are just evidence of a time and period we lived in America that seemingly in today's society, some people want to bring it back, but. But it's long gone. But people like me who experienced this and people that were on this show that was put together by this amazing brother who has brought forth this apparel that again, has crisscrossed across America and being put into the hands of today's generation. T shirts and other things that he makes, we're not going to stand for. Again, resegregating America is going to be something that is long gone. And to answer your question, there are again, many, many good white people. And again, it's a myth, I think, that all white people are bad.
- [08:27]
DJ Envy
Of course, I say growing up in South Carolina was such a mind because to your point, I grew up around a lot of good white people. But then we were also aware of the white people who treated us like status quo. Like there's certain places you knew you weren't supposed to go. But then I also had my white friend and Thomas and his family who lived right by me. So it was a class thing. So it's just. It's just.
- [08:46]
Lanny Smith
I don't know.
- [08:46]
Fred Hampton Jr.
Top Carolina, different attack team. Which you first? I'm Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. I'm honored to be here again. Clint F. Salute to this brother and his wife, his team, you know what I'm saying? Because, say, everything is political, including fashion, to able to get this pill and the applesauce for these type of discussions, it's revolutionary. It's a misnomer about, like, it's motivated. How your moves, how we move is a hatred for someone else. Quote, Commandante Ernesto Che Guevara said, you know, a revolutionary, no matter how preposterous it may sound, is guided by the most sincere sentiments of love. And I'm not saying in some sort of abstract sort of way, but talking about the work of such organizations, the Black Panther Party, the motivation for getting up with the first free breakfast programs, free busing programs, survival programs, was not directed out of hatred for anyone, you know what I'm saying? But again, motivated for love for people. But let me say this, though. I think all black people should get, like a Mass Nobel Peace Prize. All of us, you know what I'm saying? The fact that we ain't just on Mass snapped out, you know what I'm saying? A lot of times it's ironic that we ain't motivated out of hatred. But again. And sometimes, even though it's a reactionary response, it's kind of justified. But again, for the record, it's motivated out of love for the people.
- [09:55]
Fredrica Newton
I'd like to echo if I could. Hi, I'm Frederica, and Huey Newton was my husband. And what came to mind when you even asked that question was a quote from Huey that said, what motivates people is not hatred, but it's love for other people. So my mother was white, and she introduced me to Huey because she was doing work with the Black Panther Party, and she was the only one that they trusted to do the real estate work. So I did not grow up hating anyone. But what I do hate is white supremacy and the impact on black community.
- [10:31]
Lanny Smith
Absolutely.
- [10:32]
Fredrica Newton
I actually hate that and the impacts of it and the impact that it's had on us. So, again, as my brother said so eloquently, as he always does. As he always does is that the Black Panther Party service was out of love, out of love for black people, out of love for oppressed people. And it wasn't guided by hate. So it's impossible for me to hate anybody. I mean, I'm sorry. No, no, go ahead.
- [11:02]
DJ Envy
Now, I was going to ask what's the biggest misconception people still have about the Black Panther Party?
- [11:06]
Fredrica Newton
I think there were two, and you can, sir, join me. One of them is that women were not in leadership in the Black Panther Party. Women were, in fact, 70% of the membership at one point with women. And the fact that Black Panther Party was a racist organization. And we worked in coalition with all organizations whose common fight was against oppression. So those were two misnomers. The history likes to talk about the misogyny and division between black men and black women in the party. And we came in with our own stuff. The average age was 17 in the black Panther Party. So you have pimps and educators. So we fought against. We fought against homophobia. We fought against misogyny. And these things were We. We were. We were called out for those things. So, you know, we were young men and women whose motivation was love. And people were like his dad, put their lives on the line and gave their lives out of love, not out of hatred. Did your mother ever. I know you said that your mother was white, that she. My mother, J. Did you ever see her face any hardships? I did. My mother's whole. Whole business was dismantled as a result of her work with the party. The FBI has a file this thick on my mother. So I grew up also seeing the white people I knew growing up were all progressives. So I saw the great sacrifices that she made financially, emotionally, physically, as we all did. So, yes, I did. Yeah.
- [12:50]
Host/Announcer
Ms. Frederica, how do you feel today when you see like the government and different people honoring either Black Panther Party or Martin Luther King or Malcolm X and. And you know, things were so different back then where you didn't feel that support from the government.
- [13:03]
DJ Envy
I ain't seen no Black Panther on this.
- [13:04]
Host/Announcer
Well, even. Even the way that. Even the way that it's talked about or like portrayed in like movies and like, you know, they use it to make money off of the story and the tails or whatever. But then you guys were cast out and made to be these horrible people who were racist and didn't want anything to do with progression.
- [13:20]
Fredrica Newton
I see that doors are opening because we've done the work. We've done the work to educate people on what the true history was. I don't see the government supporting us. I mean, maybe local government. The city of Oakland has given us a lot of support. We now have the Black Panther Party museum and people travel internationally to come see this museum from the. Because there has been no history available. So I think that doors are opening not only with white people, but with black people too, because black people were scared to embrace this history. And I know you could speak to that too with Judas and the Black.
- [13:55]
Fred Hampton Jr.
Messiah team, which, you know, I'll make sure with the narrative. A lot of times we talk about, you know, struggles and some sort of abstract, nostalgic sort of way. But I'm honored to the Black Panther Party, Cubs and organizations. As we say it's tough act to follow but not to walk in the footsteps but the Panther Paul steps of the Black Panther Party. And a lot of times we talk, you know, I was looking to see an interview, I think late 80s where they had Muhammad Ali on. They put him on a weedy cereal box. And the interviewers say, why would you put them on the weedy cereal box? Now you want to touch him before and the representative of Wheatie serial. So we do it now because he's. Cause he's safe. And we say we serve hot politics and hot food with our present day survival program, so on and so forth. And of course attainted when the ruling class, you know what I'm saying? Cause their position historically, we even talk about the Malcolm X talking about the march on Washington when they position this and they can't stop it. Co opt it, water it down, change it, make Something to beat. So we had to. Like, there was a lot of battles. Like, even with Judas and the Black Messiah, we had to struggle to subsequently end up with what I refer to as a dream team with the cast. And to be able to put that panther cub peel in the applesauce, it's humbling being oppressed. It's embarrassing being oppressed. So a lot of times we gotta work with different dynamics to get the message out, but still make sure we maintain our politics. Frantz Fanon said, be able to accept their concessions without compromising our principles.
- [15:20]
DJ Envy
So how do you just always protect the legacy of the Panthers from being commercialized or whitewashed?
- [15:27]
Host/Announcer
Cause that's probably everyday fight.
- [15:29]
Fred Hampton Jr.
Hey, battle. I just read a comment yesterday. I can't. I said, I gotta sleep with my. My, my. With a bulletproof vest on. A political bulletproof vest. You know what I'm saying? Cause again, a lot of times it's nefarious intent or naivety. Sometimes people don't mean no harm. They come in not out of egotistical. But the title Chairman Fred, it's not egotistical. You know what I'm saying? It's a struggle, like, for our people to even respect a structured organization. The Black Panther Party wasn't just some ragtag group of cats. You had the minister Defense uap Newton Chairman Bobby Seale. And the colonization impacted our people so bad, automatically they respect ruling class titles. They'll say professor, such and such. Reverend, when it comes to our people, you know what I'm. Organization that stood up on its own terms. We struggle about Chairman Freddie and Defense Count Demar Clark. They were assassinated. You know what I'm saying? We don't. The other. Other communities, they don't play no games about you. You. You ordered the terms. They say. Hold on, let's make. Let's be very clear about those terms. Political prisoners. Mumia Abu Jamali, ma'. Am. And so many others. We have to struggle with them. Again, be consistent, even when it's not fashionable.
- [16:26]
DJ Envy
Speaking of fashion, Lanny, why was it important to have these historical black figures.
- [16:31]
Lanny Smith
Yeah.
- [16:31]
DJ Envy
Walking the actively black fashion show?
- [16:33]
Lanny Smith
Yeah. So 1. The tagline for actively black is there's greatness in our DNA. And very intentional about that. Because I think over the centuries of oppression, subconsciously, our people have accepted. I won't say accepted. Sometimes it seeps into our subconscious that we are less than. Not as good as. This is what has been told to us. This is what has been preached to us for centuries. I'm trying to rewrite that. Narrative. I'm trying to deprogram and reprogram my own people to understand that there's greatness in our DNA. There's literal greatness in the DNA that walked on that Runway. When you see Malcolm and Martin's daughters walk on that Runway together, that DNA is something that has moved mountains, that has changed lives. You know what I'm saying? And that exists within all of us. So it was important for our people to see that, to know that we are more than just our trauma. You know what I mean? We have so much greatness inside of us, and if we start acting out of that greatness, that's how we can change things for our community.
- [17:33]
Charlamagne Tha God
How difficult was it getting everybody? And how long did it take?
- [17:36]
Fredrica Newton
Man.
- [17:40]
Lanny Smith
It was stressful. 1. There was a white supremacist who was killed by another white man about a week before our show. And.
- [17:49]
DJ Envy
Hello, Charlie Kirk. Yeah.
- [17:51]
Lanny Smith
Yeah. And it sent some shockwaves through our plans because you're talking about children of people who were assassinated. Real political violence. And so I had to reconvince Eliasa Shabazz and Dr. King to still be a part of this show. There were some safety concerns. We had to bring in three extra teams of security just to make sure that they were secure, because the rhetoric was that there was gonna be payback, which never made sense to me because it was a white man that killed him. You know what I mean? But I think the reason why I was able to execute on that was the respect that I had paid to these individuals before. Everyone you see up here, Dr. King, Dr. Elias Shabazz, I went to them and asked them for permission to put their family members on this gear. I have licensing agreements with them. So that when we sell apparel, the Black Panther Party Museum gets money. Fred Hampton, the Hampton House gets money. Cecil Williams Museum gets money. Right. The Shabazz center, the King center, actively black pays them when we sell this merch. And so you can go on any market, any weekend, and you'll see a lot of us selling this stuff, not realizing these people actually lost people in this struggle and they weren't compensated.
- [19:10]
Fredrica Newton
Right?
- [19:11]
Lanny Smith
And so I think I earned a level of respect with them that when I made that call and I asked them, can you walk on this Runway for me? They answered the call. And I feel so humbled. I mean, Dr. King, when she arrived, she gave me a signed speech from her father, and she prayed with me, and I broke down and cried, you know what I mean? Like, her schedule is crazy for her to move around her Travel schedule to be there for this show is something I'm forever grateful for.
- [19:36]
Charlamagne Tha God
Did y' all have any concerns, any security concerns at all?
- [19:40]
Lanny Smith
My man Kanan made sure we were good with the security. We weren't gonna let nobody even get close to touching this royalty. Yeah, go ahead.
- [19:51]
Fredrica Newton
I'm sorry.
- [19:51]
Fred Hampton Jr.
I wanna touch on his level of respect. A lot of times I say black people, we, like, treat like the Rodney Dangerfields of all races. No respect. And, like, even. It's a real big thing with us. Even with the movie Judas and black Messiah Ryan Coogler. You know what I'm saying? The respect that came this brother here, I mean, the respect, you know, so you can. This video was a homeless brother talking about. You can feel disrespect, but the respect that they have, again, that helps set the stage, you know what I'm saying? How we came in, how we continue to move together.
- [20:20]
Fredrica Newton
If I could say something about licensing rights and bootleg. You can go out any day of the week and see Black Panther Party everything. And there's no way that I could financially stop that. Lanny, how long did you try and get in touch with us?
- [20:43]
Lanny Smith
For a few years. I was reaching out.
- [20:45]
Fredrica Newton
And he didn't have to. He didn't have to. He could have put Huey's imagery. And this is the second line that he's done. The first was all power to the people, where it was Black Panther Party icons, the cat. He didn't have to do that. I mean, and he did. So I'll do anything to support him. And actively black. Anything to support him because of the respect that he played to all of us. Is. I'm just going to say he didn't have to do it.
- [21:18]
DJ Envy
Man of integrity.
- [21:19]
Fredrica Newton
He's a man of integrity.
- [21:20]
Host/Announcer
What does it mean to be actively black?
- [21:26]
Lanny Smith
That's such a layered question. And there's a reason why I named it that you got to understand. When I was starting actively black, by the way, we'll celebrate five years this Black Friday. We launched on Black Friday 2020. I had a lot of black people tell me, don't name the company actively black. I had black executives tell me, if you put black in this name, it will not be successful. And I realized that a lot of them were speaking from a place of fear of working in corporate environments where they had to minimize who they were in their identity. And so there's nothing passive about what we have to do to uplift our people. Right? So it's a double entendre. I want our people to Be more healthy. We do free mental health events. We do physical activations where we're having people do yoga, sound bath, meditation. We're getting our people access to the things that they need so that we can keep moving. That's the only way the movement can keep going is if we're healthy enough to keep moving. Right. So it's a double entendre. We're activewear brand, but also what we have to do to uplift our people. It's nothing passive about this mission.
- [22:36]
Host/Announcer
How do you feel when creators, Because I know a lot of different artists, fashion designers or whatever that are black, that feel like they shouldn't have to have the responsibility to like, do what you're doing in their, in their work. And they make it a point like, they don't want to be called black designers. They just want to be designers. They don't want to have to. You know, like Kirby, when he did the fashion show that he did that talked about the attack on black lives. They. They feel like they shouldn't have to do that because they're black. How do you feel about creators that take that stance?
- [23:05]
Lanny Smith
Yeah, I, I disagree wholeheartedly. I've even seen so many of our black figures make statements against us championing black owned, which just really confuses me, you know what I mean? Because when we think about the European designer that our people will spend our money on, we look at something that's made in Italy or that's Parisian as a feature, Right? Black owned is not a description. It's a feature. We are the most creative people on earth. We are the most soulful people on earth. It's a feature to be black owned. When you think about what we've created from nothing. And so I champion it. But also, I'm not a designer. You know, I didn't start this because I was a designer. I went to design school. I'm a former basketball player. Hurt my knee 30 days after I signed my first NBA contract. This is not a world that I even thought I was going to be in actively. Black is a purpose driven, mission driven thing. I didn't even start this to make the most money possible. It was, how do I create something that can uplift my people? And in 2020, when, after the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, I saw a lot of the brands that I grew up wearing make performative declarations about what they were going to do for black people and never do it. And you see, four years later, that's what it was, it was performative. It was part of a marketing strategy. And so my thought was, it's time for us to stop asking for a seat at the table and build our own table. The McKinsey report that came out in 2024 says Black people today spend between 20 to 25 billion on apparel and shoes annually. So what I'm talking about ain't reparation. It's reclamation. It's something that if we turn our influence, our global influence inward to something that we own that champions us, how powerful is that? If we giving back to not only these folks, but to our community at the size that we are now, what happens when we build the black owned version of Nike? You know, what happens when actively black is a multi billion dollar brand that can keep doing what we're doing?
- [25:11]
Host/Announcer
Right?
- [25:12]
Cecil Williams
And by the way, may I piggyback on that? My image of drinking out of the fountain had been, you might say, stolen over decades, used without asking permission. When Lanny Smith, an active Wright, came in to photograph us, he said he was going to give us a contribution to our nonprofit museum. We have the first and only civil rights museum in South Carolina, the South Carolina Civil rights museum. And 45 days after, again, this brother and his brand, his crew came in and photographed us and put this image on his apparel. We got a check from him, well, PayPal if you want to. And then again after the New York show, again, they sold I think maybe about $50,000 more T shirts. They sent me another check. So they reciprocated. But what he's doing here is so ingenious because it's little known that the power and impact of one image, say an image. An image is 8 times more effective than the written language. And educators should begin to use this in our systems today, teaching everyone and having that power and capacity to see. No longer is it really going to be a reading, writing and arithmetic. It's going to be reading, writing and seeing or looking. And with AI making his presence. So this brother is using images to make an impact. So what my fellow individuals here are doing and myself, we are bringing again the sacrifices that we where we pave the way for today's generation forward. And the power and impact to make this relative today is immeasurable by again, such acts as what he's doing to put images on T shirts.
- [27:02]
DJ Envy
Minister, you always look so clean in that picture. What you was doing for money back then. Brother Cecil.
- [27:07]
Cecil Williams
I was taking pictures. I took pictures ever since I was 9 years old. And at 12 years old I found out I could make money. I did a wedding for $35.
- [27:15]
Fred Hampton Jr.
Wow.
- [27:15]
Cecil Williams
And we were homeboys in South Carol home state. So as you know, we don't give up. But by the way, when you asked a question about again, about what's happened today and things like that, we're not going back. We as a people have fought too long and too hard. And not only that, we have the stamina to face anything that's going on in America today. We're not going back to that. The young people are not going to stand for it. The middle aged people are not going to stand for it. And the old people like us who have actually experienced this, we're not going back. It's going to be, we're going forward with democracy, freedom and justice.
- [27:56]
DJ Envy
Do you believe today's generation carries the same spirit of sacrifice that your generation did?
- [28:01]
Cecil Williams
Yes. It's just that it has not been focused on and utilized. But things like this act that this brother put together will help to materialize this. It would be amazing of how he has really put into motion millions of people across the United States with something as simple as an image on a T shirt. This classic image here of Huey Newton. A statement that again, you can't really measure the impact that that will be to young minds who are growing up. And again, reading, writing, arithmetic had its place in our education. But again, it's a different thing. Again, five and six years old, our students and our youth are using cell phones. And so it's amazing what the future is going to bring with this kind of instant learning that we are now accustomed to.
- [28:52]
DJ Envy
You know, Lanny, you had put a post up and you said, all the black people who have said, posted or reposted, I am not my ancestors. Get ready. The chance to prove that statement is coming soon. It's easy for us to talk tough while not living in Jim Crow. And this Jim Crow 2.0 is fully installed. We gonna see that ancestor comparison in real time.
- [29:09]
Lanny Smith
Yeah.
- [29:10]
DJ Envy
So how do you, how do you want folks to show up? Because I, I agree with you. I don't know if they got the, if we got the stamina.
- [29:17]
Lanny Smith
I love the optimism here, you know what I'm saying? But you know, I see people make that statement. I am not. We are not our ancestors.
- [29:23]
DJ Envy
Sure enough.
- [29:24]
Lanny Smith
And it pisses me off, you know what I mean? When you think about the sacrifices that were made, we can't stay out of certain stores, you know what I'm saying? I've been telling people, hey, Lululemon, don't want you come get these tights from actively black. We can't stay out of certain stores and they tell us they don't want us. So I don't. We have collectively our generation and the younger generation shown that we have that level of sacrifice and grit that it takes. You know, people gave their lives. You know what I mean? I'm reading Rereading Assata's the NBA season.
- [29:55]
Charlamagne Tha God
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- [30:55]
Narrator/Promo Voice
Culture and entertainment is colliding like never before.
- [30:58]
Lanny Smith
Wednesday at 10, 9 Central on BET.
- [31:01]
DJ Envy
Is BET's all new series 106 in.
- [31:04]
Narrator/Promo Voice
Sports, hosted by NFL star Cam Newton and sports analyst Ashley Nicole Moss. 106 in Sports is where the biggest plays meet the biggest conversations. Each week, Cam and Ashley are counting down the top five moments everyone's talking about. From the most jaw dropping highlights on the field to the viral clips taken over the feed, to the culture shifts shaping fashion, entertainment and black excellence. The Top five Countdown dives into all the game winning touchdowns, buzzer beaters, red carpet fits and headlines making stories that define our culture. With Cam bringing an athlete's perspective and Ashley bringing an analyst's edge, they're breaking down every angle. The wins, the controversies and the unforgettable moments that keep us talking. Whether it's a wild play that broke the Internet or a championship celebration for the ages or the latest trends shaking up culture. If it's big, it's on 106 in sports. Whether it's stars like LeBron, Stephen Giannis and Durant making waves on and off the court, you know it's making the Countdown. So tune in and join the conversation because it's where sports meets style, competition meets culture, and every moment matters.
- [32:09]
Lanny Smith
Don't miss the all new series on Wednesdays at 109 Central on bets 106 and sports.
- [32:14]
Narrator/Promo Voice
If you want to relive the countdown or catch what you missed, stream the next day on bet.
- [32:21]
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- [33:21]
Host/Announcer
In the new podcast Hell in Heaven two young Americans move to the Costa Rican jungle to start over. But one will end up dead, the other tried for murder. Not once. People went wild, not twice, stunned, but three times. John and Anne Bender are rich and attractive and they're devoted to each other. They create a nature reserve and build a spectacular circular home high on the top of a hill. But little by little their dream starts to crumble and our couple retreat from reality.
- [34:01]
Lanny Smith
They lose it.
- [34:02]
Charlamagne Tha God
They actually lose it.
- [34:03]
Fredrica Newton
They sort of went nuts.
- [34:06]
Host/Announcer
Until one night everything spins out of control. Listen to Hell in Heaven on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [34:20]
Lanny Smith
Biography. And just when you read the things that she went through as a revolutionary for our people, I don't know too many people that's willing to give up so much for the struggle. It's people that have told me man, I love actively black silently, but I can't publicly support it because I might lose this or somebody might be. So if you scared to lose a check, if you scared to what these people gonna think of you for being boldly black, then you definitely not our ancestors cause our ancestors were willing to die for this. And so that's what I meant by that. Like we gonna find out soon. We see what's happening in this country. We gonna see who's willing to actually stand up and be like our ancestors.
- [35:02]
DJ Envy
You know, Brother Cecil, you've witnessed, you know, segregation, civil rights marches, movements like Black Lives Matter. How do you see the evolution of protest in America?
- [35:11]
Cecil Williams
Well, I think today, with social media and other kinds of things that we have in our society that runs rampart through all from middle school children on up, we have different tools for today's environment and for today's opposition and the things that are, again, oppressive to us as a people. But one thing is going to remain the same. We as African Americans have the stamina we come from. Again, as he very aptly puts out, it's in our DNA to withstand the heat, withstand the pressure, and to move on. But again, as I stated a minute ago, I believe that today's generation, they have the capacity to do it. It's just that they have not been focused in the right. And so we're kind of running around aimlessly without, you might say, leadership to what we can do today. But just, for example, suppose, for example, people of color were to unite. Suppose Jewish people, Hispanic people, African American people, our Indian brothers, our East Indian brothers, our Native Americans who, by the way, whose history has been wiped off the face of the earth by mere the fact that they just stood down and withstood European settlements in this country. Just think if people of color would unite. Just think of the political possibilities of that kind of coalition.
- [36:42]
Lanny Smith
I think we have to be. We have to unite ourselves first. There's so many things that divide us. We still got diaspora wars. We still have so much toxicity when it comes to. Even between black men and black women. I think if we can unite first, I think everybody else is going to follow our lead like they always do. You know what I mean? So, yeah, that's part of my plan and my mission with actively black is to be that flag, that banner that we can all fly under. I'm not just building this just for black America. I'm building this for the entire diaspora. You know what I mean? When I say actively black, I know.
- [37:18]
Host/Announcer
There'S always the conversations about reparations. Is there a way you guys feel like. And is there a way that you feel like you could ever be really repaid for what your families have had to go through, what you've had to experience? Because people make that conversation so simple of like, we should be receiving this because we went through this, but you guys personally experienced so much loss and hurt. Like, is that. Or is there a real answer to that for you?
- [37:44]
Fredrica Newton
No, you can take that.
- [37:46]
Fred Hampton Jr.
Of course. No matter. Resources can compensate. You know what I'm saying? And I'm gonna say this. The terrorism that we've been subjected to, in fact, we say that, you know, every day of September 11th for us. And in fact, we define December 4th, 1969, amongst other days, is one of our September 11th stories. We say yesterday, which two of our twin Towers quote, unquote, fail. Chairman Free and Defense of the Monarch. Clark. But just the question of resource. I mean, reparations, definitely. Economics. The resources play a key role, but the political significance of this is important too. So how we view ourselves. A lot of our people don't think we worthy of being attacked. And like, we have to, you know, saying so for the ruling class in particular, to acknowledge that, you know, saying again, these. We are. We are. I say black people. We the OVs, not the OGs. We are the original victims of terrorism. People have been terrorizing us as euphemism as slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, delves, passing away. So just so that that discussion, I mean, that's happening in so many other communities, different people on reparations. Why is it such a position not to talk about that with the black community? And reparation, even more than just the economics, the bodies, the most valuable resources that have been stolen from our people are black bodies. We got political prisoners who are still locked up. We got to get that. You know what I'm saying? And the resource, the finance, too.
- [38:59]
Fredrica Newton
You know, I wanted to address that. The question that you asked before about the ancestors. And how does it feel? It saddens me when I see those posts online, but it also makes me think that it's real evidence of lack of education around what our ancestors actually were. So it's by design. And here's evidence. There's misinformation. Even my own grandchildren, when I overhear what they're learning, what they're taught in school, and my own son and my grandchildren get no history on revolutionary organizations like the Black Panther Party. So this is just further evidence. When you see something so ignorant that says we are not our ancestors, I said, you're actually not. But had you read about what your ancestors actually did, what they actually did, instead of the sanitized version of Martin and Malcolm and the Black Panther Party and all the history that was erased, then you would be proud to say, I want to be like my ancestors. That's my goal. And it's so scary because they're really trying to delete and get rid of all of our history. So, like you just said, your grandkids, they don't. The things that they're being taught is not even of what you all went through. Don't know the first thing about it, you know? So it's like, how does history lessons go for you? Are you their teacher then? Like, do you. How do you handle that? When you see what they're being taught and what they're not being taught? Thank God I have a museum that they. As Cecil so aptly said, black people are visual. We and the Black Panther Party knew that. They're visual learners. We weren't necessarily a reading community. So at the beginning, at the end, the front and the back of every Black Panther Party newspaper, which is in publication for 13 years, there was images. Emory Douglas, Asali Dixon were our artists. And they painted, they drew what was more impactful than what they would have read had they read. My kids are the same way. They come in and they see the images in the museum and they ask questions. It impacts them. When I brought my granddaughter to the Actively Black show two years ago, and my grandson this time, and they were blown away. My grandson. Wait, hold up. That's Ruby Bridges, Nana and when it was Tommie Smith and giancarlo, what? He's 15 years old, so he is learning some history. But to see it in living color and him wearing. He only wears actively black. He only wears actively black apparel to school. This almost makes me cry, because he only would wear Nike before. He would only wear Nike. And I try and talk to him about what's going on, but he only wears actively black.
- [42:02]
DJ Envy
You know, the beauty of what Lanny's doing, though, is he got. He got the images, but then he got the people to tell the stories. What scares me is that we live in an era where people can make up images and make up stories behind those images. So I don't know why we have so much faith in the images of this era moving forward.
- [42:20]
Lanny Smith
Yeah, I mean, I think that was also part of the strength of what we did with the show. Right. It was not just the imagery, it wasn't just the videos. It was people being able to see them in person. So I know one of the things we've talked about, Dr. Ilyasi Shabaz has talked about, Dr. King has talked about, is taking what we did at New York Fashion Week, going on tour, letting people see Cecil Williams, Fredrica Newton chairman, Fred Hampton Jr. In person, seeing Ruby Bridges walk out in person. Because that, you know, AI can't do that. You Know what I mean?
- [42:51]
Fredrica Newton
And something I think is really, really dope, you know, But I just want to make sure it's true. Your clothing products are made from cotton from black farmers, or is that a specific line?
- [43:00]
Lanny Smith
Specific line. So, you know, when, when Trump announced the 150% tariffs, it really impacted us. Most of our performance apparel, athleisure apparel is made from overseas. So we were trying to look to find a domestic partner to see what we could get done here in the United States. And I thought about these black farmers who have lost 90% of their land in the last 75 years. So we used to own 20 million acres of farmland, black farmers, we now only own 3 million acres of farmland. And in the next 20 years, that could potentially go to zero. So we partnered with Bridgeforth Farms, a fifth generation black farmer, and we sourced the cotton directly from them. So the hoodie I'm wearing right now, it shows on the back it says made from cotton.
- [43:50]
Fredrica Newton
Made from cotton grown by black farmers. I think that's so dope.
- [43:56]
Lanny Smith
When people, when people buy this product, when they buying this hoodie and they buying that cotton shirt, there's money that's going directly to these black farmers who have been historically discriminated against from the government. And there's some power in it. It's a story of reclamation. People don't understand it. The entire United States economy was built off the backs of slavery and cotton. And we're talking about trillions of dollars in today's money that was generated that our people were kept out of. So what happens when we reclaim this thing that was once used to enslave us? What if we use that to save us? You know what I mean? And that's what I've been trying to get people to understand, especially about this collection. In particular, I had black people telling me, man, the cotton shirt is too expensive, the hoodie is too expensive. It's like, man, you'll go spend $800 on that Louis, you'll go spend it on that Gucci. But you're telling me that this collection that is literally from cotton grown by black farmers, that is supporting us, that that black dollar recirculates in our community, is too expensive. And that's an issue of how we value ourselves versus the things that we value from other people not understanding that we are the sauce and the seasoning. We are the originators of all of this that gets colonized, repackaged and sold back to us.
- [45:15]
Fredrica Newton
That is actively black, though.
- [45:16]
Lanny Smith
That is dope.
- [45:17]
Fredrica Newton
That is a flex made from Cotton grown by black farmers.
- [45:20]
DJ Envy
That's dope.
- [45:20]
Charlamagne Tha God
Now, you hooked up with the Michael Jackson estate and did a Michael Jackson collab. How difficult was that.
- [45:28]
Lanny Smith
Honestly? You know, these collabs have come in a way that these doors have been open where now it's. They're coming at us. I gotta shout out Daymond John, founder of fubu. Cause it started with him. He reached out to do a FUBU collab. We sat down, talked about it, got everything straight, and he asked me, what else are you working on? And I showed him a concept of a Black Panther actively Black collab. Because the movie that came out in 2018 was such an inspiration to me. He picked up the phone in the middle of the meeting and called the head of licensing for Marvel and Disney and said, y' all need to see what I just saw. So our first major collaboration was for Wakanda Forever. And when that happened, it just kind of opened the floodgates. The Bob Marley estate reached out ahead of the One Love Movie. So that's how we got that collaboration. We've got one with the Tupac estate as well. So now that, you know, they saw that we operated in excellence in the way that we executed on these collaborations. So now the doors have been open. So we got a Basquiat collab coming out this December. It'll release at Art Baseline. All of these. These. These legends in black history. Charlamagne, you wearing the Muhammad Ali collab that we got. Loni Ali literally told me, she said, we've done collabs with every brand you could think of, but my husband stood for way more than what he just did in the ring. I believe Actively Black can tell a story they can't tell. So I think that's. That's the power of what we're doing with Actively Black.
- [46:57]
DJ Envy
I want to ask you, brother Fred, your father once said, you can kill a revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution. So what does that revolution look like in 2025? I want you to chime in on that, too, Frederick.
- [47:12]
Fred Hampton Jr.
A couple of things. I think people get involved in struggle or become quote, unquote conscious one of three ways. Inspiration, aspiration, or desperation. And these are definitely different depths of times. There's different war and the revolution. The war, you get your respective armies suit up and you boot up and you get down to get down. Revolution, you gain the mass and participation of the masses, of the people. These times. Right now, it's a quote from Lennon, say, What takes people 20 years to learn? In ordinary times, they can learn in two years in revolutionary times. I've often said that I'm a revolutionary in reactionary times. So right now you see, like at warp speed, different type of discussions. You look in the 1960s, 60s during the black power movement, you had a different sort of athlete. You had a different sort of entertainer. It was a climate where Marvin Gaye was able to go against Bear Gordy records. I'm gonna put this song out. What's going on. Whether you like it or not, it was a climate with James Brown, who had a whole totally different song playing at first. Well, H. Rap Brown, I know as imam Jamel Alameen, went drove down on him. He said, get up the ante. He came back out, said, I'm black and I'm proud. Even the different street tribes a lot of people refer to as the gangs. You had the devil disciples in Chicago get up publicly and say, we now renown ourselves to be known as the black disciples. Due on part to the political education we received from chairman. I only respect chairman with the black chamber for the black. And the party impacted on them. The vice laws after the FBI tried to post the vice laws in Chicago told me they'd give them a certain portion of the west side if the panther party couldn't open a free medical center. Chairman Fred warned these brothers and sisters to a point of unity where they subsequently worked at the free medical center. And by the government's own account, they own records. They say it was a record low till they call black on black crime. So to go to the heart of the question, that's what it was. These type of dynamics, you know what I'm saying? That our relationships, our music, our discussions, it's a whole. You can feel it. You know, my mother tells me I like calling war and love stories. She come, you know, saying two, three in the morning, you know, say coming down the street, the people, you know, saying not. Not drunks or wine is. Who are demoralized. Even the terms we use. Notice what I'm saying. Who the more they a power to the people, you know what I'm saying? A different climate. That's what you don't say. And you can see it even now. I'm watching right now. Chicago. You can see it. The type of discussion that is being up. A lot of people are forced to have these discussions. I'm going to say this in closing. People talk about segregation like, oh, we stuck together. Oh, no. This also you cannot negate. A lot of people were forced together, you know what I'm saying? You talk about the 60s. This. Don't. Just don't talk about all the nice things. You cannot negate Nixon's role. You know what I'm saying? I'm gonna say this. He turns more than me black. He turns more than me black when he don't believe me. You know what I'm saying? I catch. Can hear. I get letters. Right now. I hear what you're saying now, chairman.
- [49:44]
Lanny Smith
Yeah, yeah. The lines have been drawn, and to your point, it's forcing people to pick which side they're gonna be on. And for a long time, when we got comfortable, there were a lot of our own people who would straddle that line. And now that the lines are drawn, where you're seeing the Black History Museum being attacked, when you're seeing these things happen, where it's so blatant you can't hide behind straddling that line, Emperor has no clothes. And we're even seeing it with actively black. A lot of black people who are afraid to put on the brand because it said actively black. They're now like, yo, I need that. Because whether you wear this or not, your. Your. Your melanin ain't gonna change you black, and you gonna. You can, and you're gonna be treated as such. You know what I'm saying? So if. If that's the case, you might as well, you know, rep this gang, you know what I'm saying? Like, let this be the set that you claim. You know, the. The. The kkk, the proud boys, they still walking around. We should have no beef with another black man while these people who have taken our lives are still walking around. You want to run up on somebody, run up on these white supremacists, you know what I'm saying? And so I think that's what you're saying, is we're going to see our own who may have been turned against each other. We gonna be forced to come together to turn against the real opposition.
- [51:03]
DJ Envy
Fredjika. Cecil, I want to ask y', all, too. What does revolution look like?
- [51:06]
Fredrica Newton
What is Ms. Frederica and Mr. Sisa? You are killing me.
- [51:10]
DJ Envy
I'm just saying, Brother Frederica and brother.
- [51:12]
Lanny Smith
You crazy.
- [51:12]
DJ Envy
I've been saying that the whole time.
- [51:14]
Cecil Williams
No, you haven't.
- [51:14]
Fredrica Newton
You've just been saying their names.
- [51:15]
DJ Envy
Brother Frederica, Brother Cecil.
- [51:17]
Cecil Williams
The path forward for us as African Americans and people of color is we've got to write our own stories. You see, it's a difference in, say, let's say a famous fable is Native Americans on the shores of Plymouth Rock, and they see Three ships come over and the guy gets off the ship and says, I discovered America or whatever. The Indians didn't write those stories. It was written from a European standpoint. So we've got to today the path forward with us. We've got to write our own stories, we've got to tell, we've got to make investments and so forth. I admire what you're doing in my town of Orangeburg, a town where there's two HBCUs. You have established the Crystal Restaurant. I started to bring you a Crystal hamburger.
- [52:08]
DJ Envy
By the way, I'll be down there this weekend.
- [52:10]
Cecil Williams
Okay.
- [52:10]
Fred Hampton Jr.
All right.
- [52:11]
Cecil Williams
Come by and see our museum. But we've got to invest and become. We are the world's greatest prosumers, no consumers. We all really move that a little further and say we are also producers. We make things, we manufacture things. Content creation, for example, is something we could do. And the power we have to own podcasts such as reaching millions of people at a time. This is what we got to do in the path forward to come together and to come to grips with what's happening today. And this is what. If I were Hugh Newton, I may. Cecil Williams, yes, from the small act of defiance that I did. But. But this is what we must do today to get it all together.
- [52:57]
Fredrica Newton
Sister Rodrigo, as a 73 year old woman, my act of revolution looks different than when I was 17. And so all I can, not all I can do, what I can do first of all is know that revolution looks like many things and the world that live in and that I create revolution looks like bringing people who wouldn't ordinarily be together in the same room together. People who would never embrace this Black Panther Party, not only history, but be proud of it, are now proud of it as a result of the work that we've done. There are organizations that ask me to speak, that visit our museum, as Lanny said earlier, who would never. I'm talking about black people who would never have embraced this history before out of fear. But because we talk about heightening the contradiction, they are now forced, forced to embrace this history. And so I can't speak to the broader what revolutionary, what revolution looks like, but I can do my work to make sure that this history is available so that people learn about our victories and our mistakes. One of the things we talk about is for young revolutionaries today to make sure that they address their own mental, spiritual and physical health. That you cannot be impactful and effective if you are broken inside, if you're not whole. And that's one Thing that. I mean, we were fighting for our lives every day. We didn't have the luxury to meditate like this woman did, or even know the importance of. So you. As a result, you have a lot of wounded comrades who have not. Who didn't have the luxury of taking care of themselves, have trauma that was never addressed. So that's what at the Museum and the Dr. Huey P. Newton's foundation just celebrated 30 years this month of existence. And at this museum. Thank you. We address all of the needs, the physical and emotional needs. We have meditation. We have sound baths. We have. I mean, this month we're just full of activities so that we can keep ourselves healthy while we fight this war.
- [55:20]
DJ Envy
I'm glad you said that, because I always say I feel like our generation is the first generation that has the luxury of healing.
- [55:25]
Fredrica Newton
Yes.
- [55:26]
DJ Envy
All the previous generations were just trying to thank God.
- [55:28]
Fredrica Newton
Thank God.
- [55:29]
Host/Announcer
We were talking about that yesterday. Like, even the luxury to just kind of, like, take the time to educate yourself, like, stop and just watch something or learn something. A lot of times people didn't have that. Like, you literally had to fight every minute of your life just to be.
- [55:41]
Fredrica Newton
Okay 24 hours a day. We didn't just check in and punch a time clock, and we didn't get paid. So it was completely volunteer, and we lived collectively. And at night, you were on watch to make sure that the police did not. Didn't shoot up where you were living. So this was. I mean, real life for a revolutionary at that time. So. And so we didn't have the luxury to even talk about recreation or taking care of ourselves. I think when I met Erica, when Erica Huggins, when she came home from prison, she was the first person I knew in the party who would meditate. And she taught. She brought Huey to that practice where he started to meditate and to embrace this whole spiritual aspect of revolution. We can't be effective if we're not taking care of ourselves.
- [56:27]
DJ Envy
Can I ask, what was Huey P. Newton's vision for freedom beyond revolution like? What did peace look like to him?
- [56:37]
Fredrica Newton
Peace, I think, was the absence of any fear. The absence of. To live life without fear of. Gosh. It's a question that I never asked him. I don't know that he ever attained. I know that he didn't ever attain himself in his own life, but I think maybe peace was the absence of feeling fear about being black. You know, just to feel. To know that your children were not subject to the same things that he was. That our grandchildren could live a life. I Don't know. It's so hard to visualize because I've.
- [57:16]
Lanny Smith
Never had it and we've been so conditioned. And when you just said that, it sparked. I want to make sure I recognize her. The black woman behind actively black. Who's here? Bianca Winslow. I could not do this without her. But we're getting ready to welcome our first child into this world.
- [57:37]
Fredrica Newton
Congratulations.
- [57:37]
Lanny Smith
Thank you. Thank you. I got a son on the way. There's greatness in his DNA. But when you said that, one of the things that I started thinking about was I gotta have conversations with him about when the police get behind you, this is how you gotta react. That fear that we don't even realize is embedded because we've had to deal with it for so long. The things that we have to prepare for, that other people who are not black, they don't have to think about those things. So when you say that peace is like the absence of fear, that really struck me because it's been heavy on my mind. The world that my son is getting ready to enter.
- [58:12]
Fredrica Newton
It's true. I mean, I wore out my carpet when my son got his driver's license, in particular, because I wasn't afraid that he would get an accident. I was afraid that he would be killed by the police. And I don't. You know, that's not something that everybody has. White folks don't grow up thinking that they're going to have to have that talk with their kids. But that's in our DNA. That's reproductive survival, success to make sure that our kids know the real truth. That's a revolutionary act to have to prepare your kid to live. I want to. I want my grandchildren not to have to prepare their sons and daughters in the same way I had to prepare their dad.
- [59:02]
Charlamagne Tha God
We appreciate you for joining us. How can people pick up some of.
- [59:04]
Lanny Smith
Your clothing line and actively black.com youm can find us on all social networks. Actively Black. What you see here is the result of the tribe of so many black people supporting Actively Black. That fashion show, we didn't have any major sponsors who funded it. We had to come out of pocket. We had to come out of what was generated because people supported the brand. And that's the importance of buying Black owned. That's why it's important to buy Black Owned. It's not just another T shirt. It's not just another hoodie. It allows us to reinvest back into our communities. It allows us, as actively black, to support these living legends. I just gotta say this one last thing. Because it's what inspired me to reach out to these living legends. I read a story that Rosa Parks was facing eviction in the later part of her life. And that pissed me off because how could somebody who made so many sacrifices for us, all the people who made money off of the movement, how could nobody have been taking care of her, you know what I'm saying? And when I read that story, I was like, who can I find who's still living that we can support? And so the first people I reached out to were John Carlos and Tommie Smith, famous for that 1968 photo at the Olympics. And that was our actual first collaboration. And I did it because I was able to sell this product and cut them a check, you know what I'm saying? Like we gotta take care of the ones who paved the way for us so that we can continue. So that's why I champion buying black owned so much. Have some grace for black founders. We get less than 0.3% of all venture capital investment. We are building from underneath the ground. When you look at skyscrapers, they dig 120 meters deep in the ground before they start building upwards. A lot of times our own people give up on us before we've even cracked the surface. We are building from underneath the ground. We need y' all support so that we can actually build the skyscraper. So you can see that one day, you know, there's no reason why we shouldn't have our own Nike. That's what actively Black is. When we build this multi billion dollar brand, it's not for my personal wealth. It's for us to uplift our people actively. Black dot com.
- [61:12]
DJ Envy
I want a brother Cecil. Sister Frederica give them the museum websites. Yeah, so people can donate.
- [61:17]
Cecil Williams
Well, you can go to Cecil Williams Museum. I'm sorry, South Carolina Civil Rights Museum. But we also have a way of like PayPal and the email address there and several other ways but we're easy to find. We're again in a college town of Orangeburg, South Carolina and we need your support. Even dollars. One dollar helps. So please support us as well. That's right.
- [61:41]
Lanny Smith
Got a few part gifts. I want to make sure you get this and then and then so Frederick close us out. Make sure you got that.
- [61:48]
DJ Envy
What's the museum?
- [61:51]
Fredrica Newton
Black Panther Party Museum on.
- [61:55]
DJ Envy
Go talk over sister Frederica.
- [61:57]
Lanny Smith
He just gave it to me. That's all I said.
- [62:01]
DJ Envy
Thank you.
- [62:02]
Fredrica Newton
On Instagram is at the Black Panther Party Museum and the Dr. Huey P. Newton foundation celebrating 30 years this year. Please come visit us in Oakland California Black Panther Party Museum. We're open. I mean, and we're packed too. So this month celebrates the Black Panther Party History Month and we're full of celebrations. So please visit us there. Thank you.
- [62:27]
Fred Hampton Jr.
Also I'm on. Thank you all for having us here. Salute to our fellow panelists. Clinch fit. Salute to actively black December 4th International Revolutionary Day. Come to Chicago. Also the Hampton House.org we get our programs going to childhood home Chairman Fred Hampton, Maywood, Illinois. Again, Hampton House.org I want to close out this quote by Minister Dr. Uep Newton. A pitch is worth a thousand words, but action is supreme.
- [62:52]
Cecil Williams
By the way, this is a quality product that this brother. One of the things that impressed me like I've had many people come along.
- [62:58]
Lanny Smith
And want to thank y' all so.
- [63:00]
Charlamagne Tha God
Much for joining us.
- [63:01]
Cecil Williams
But when I first felt the quality of the materials and what he was doing, that convinced me that this was the Wright brothers to support. So it equals anything that's out there. You know, all the apparel that he is making now and all the things that he does, he deal. He works at top of the line, first class.
- [63:18]
Lanny Smith
Absolutely.
- [63:18]
Cecil Williams
All right.
- [63:19]
Charlamagne Tha God
Well, it's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Thank you guys.
- [63:20]
Fredrica Newton
Thank you so much.
- [63:23]
Lanny Smith
Every day I wake up, wake your ass up.
- [63:25]
DJ Envy
The Breakfast Club.
- [63:31]
Fredrica Newton
Hey, this is Sarah. Look, I'm standing out front of a.m. p.m. Right now and well, you're sweet and all, but I found something more fulfilling, even kind of cheesy.
- [63:40]
Lanny Smith
But I like it.
- [63:41]
Fredrica Newton
Sure you met some of my Dieterian.
- [63:43]
Cecil Williams
Needs, but they've just got it all.
- [63:45]
Fredrica Newton
So farewell, oatmeal. So long, you strange soggy.
- [63:49]
Fred Hampton Jr.
Break up with bland breakfast and taste AM PM's bacon, egg and cheese biscuit made with cage free eggs, smoked bacon and melty cheese on a buttery biscuit. AM PM Too much Good stuff.
- [64:00]
Charlamagne Tha God
Johnny Knoxville here. Check out Crimeless Hillbilly Heist, my new true crime podcast from Smartless Media, Campside Media and big money players. It's the true story of the almost perfect crime and the nimrods who almost pulled it off.
- [64:14]
Lanny Smith
It was kind of like the perfect storm in a sewer.
- [64:17]
Cecil Williams
That was dumb. Do not follow my example.
- [64:21]
Charlamagne Tha God
Listen to Crimeless Hillbilly Heist on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
- [64:33]
Ad Voice/Commercial Narrator
The murder of an 18 year old girl in Graves County, Kentucky was went unsolved for years until a local housewife, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.
- [64:46]
Fred Hampton Jr.
America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns.
- [64:58]
Ad Voice/Commercial Narrator
Listen to Graves county on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts. Short on time, but big on true crime. On a recent episode of the podcast Hunting for Answers, I highlighted the story of 19 year old Lachey Dungey. But she never knocked on that door, she never made it inside, and that text message would be the last time anyone would ever hear from her. Listen to Hunting for Answers from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [65:42]
Host/Announcer
This is an iHeart podcast.