W. Kamau Bell

speaker

1,269 appearances 5 recordings 5 series first heard Mar 2025 last heard 14 Oct

W. Kamau Bell’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

Trend

recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Oct 2025 with 1.

Appearances

newest first · ▶ plays the moment

Blocks: I Wish I Knew w/ Neal Brennan · W. Kamau Bell · 1 May 2025 podcast

So I think, yeah, it's easier now, but there's still, like, gonna be a hot, there's still gonna be a percentage of black people who are gonna tell you, we are the holders of what is black, and you have to deal with that. And that's the thing about, like, my kids going to South.

I want you to understand that, like, there is a black consciousness, or people who think they're in charge, but they're not, and you need to just sort of understand that that's out there so you know how to deal with it.

it's yeah it's elective yeah it's like yeah if you want to buy into that but also just so you know so you're not like oh yeah is that are you a hotep you know what i mean like you should know what the stakes are and who's and so you're you know we have to it's important that they travel around me as many different types of black people as possible to understand that there's like there's a lot of different types and we do you encourage them being around like or being exposed to black conservative people

You know what I mean? My oldest is 13, so she's not quite ready for Trump. Right, but I'm saying, like, do you... I'll say this. Like, if you're around... If you're a black kid growing up in Oakland, which my kids are, and you go to Alabama, you're automatically around black people who are more conservative than black people in Oakland. Now, they're not necessarily voting for Trump.

Some of them are, though. But so I think that's the other thing, too, is, like, just the way they are in the world and their belief. Also more church-focused. Like, my kids... past churches, like they don't know, they don't spend time in churches. So being around black people in the South, you're around more, just not small C conservative people.

So you have to sort of understand that there are different types of people out there, and it's fine, great, great. They're not bad.

So, my oldest is applying to high school right now. And it's sort of just... Pretty good religious high schools. That's what I'm saying. So, her mom, Melissa, went to, like, Catholic school K through 12. Like, actually through college, too. Me, too. Except for college one year. Yeah, she went to Santa Clara. So, she's... But she's not... She's Catholic in culture, not Catholic in... Yeah.

Yeah, we don't go to mass. So when we started talking about high schools, she was like, there's a couple Catholic high schools in the East Bay. And I was like, ugh. But then we went and checked them out. And I went to Catholic high school for a couple years, so I understand. But we went and checked them out. So first of all, they're Bay Area Catholic. Right. So it's just not Louisiana Catholic.

Yeah. There's a lot of, everybody, everybody's in. And also the schools aren't even mostly Catholic kids. But for me, it was like, you know what? A big part of cultural IQ is knowing about religions. And they will teach her about religions of the world, including Catholicism, of course. And so for me, it was like, you actually have a hole here that you don't know this because your parents are...

Awful. And, but I think you should, it will behoove you to sit down in a classroom and actually learn about the religions of the world in a way that I just got from being out in the world. Yeah. So, so yeah, so I would say like, I don't want my kids to grow up without a concept of religion. We don't talk about like God in any sort of like real sort of like, oh, there's a God like in our family.

They do, however, hear me all the time being like, oh, thank you, black Jesus. Like, they do hear me, like, as a person who, like, whew, that was close. Thank you, Black Jesus. So they understand that there is a sense of, like, there is a thing that I'm relying on that I'm calling Black Jesus. And so they understand those things.

But I think that, like, I am happy that she's going to have sort of, like, a deep dive into these things because I think it's important to know. And maybe you develop a relationship with religion on your own or God or spirituality. But it is interesting to me to think that, like, we basically have raised godless kids.

Yeah, no, for sure. That's why I sort of only flirted with atheism as a teen, but I never could commit to it because I was like, I kind of do need black Jesus. When I say thank you, black Jesus, I am saying thank you. You're talking about Michael Jordan, of course. Of course, of course. I am saying thank you to something that is higher than me.

I do it as a joke, but I am actually expressing gratitude to... In that moment, like something is bigger than me is helping me through this moment. But my kids don't have, didn't, but I also got that through going to church with my mom, going to my grandmother's Baptist churches where black women passed out and they had to speak in tongues.

So I got it in a more up close and personal way than my kids have gotten it.

But I think the other thing is like, it's important to me that they have, like we talk about gratitude all the time. Like we will get, because of my career, like we got to go to Universal Studios for free, and I'm sort of clear with them like, you didn't earn this. Yeah. You don't deserve, I don't deserve this. Yeah. So we should be grateful for the fact that we get to do this, you know.

Impossible. It's an ongoing discussion. You can't just have that discussion once. It's like you have to keep having it to instill the idea.

No, but I think that with our careers, with my career, you get access to stuff that even your friends who are maybe even richer than us don't get access to. You know what I mean? So I just want to be aware that this is not promised to us. And this is the thing about being from the South. Say thank you to everybody, which is totally a Southern thing. Say yes, ma'am.

I'm sort of instilling those Southern values because I think those are important.

America, who the... Yeah. No, I mean... Just on the way here this morning, listening to the news, we have achieved... Like, Trump has achieved something... But it's funny.

Showing 1001–1020 of 1,269 · page 51 of 64