In this interview, Dennis Prager hosts Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of BOND (Brotherhood of a New Destiny), an organization dedicated to rebuilding the Black family by first rebuilding the man. Peterson recounts his upbringing on a plantation in Alabama, emphasizing a family structure grounded in faith, work ethic, and mutual respect. He argues that the civil‑rights movement, rather than merely changing laws, disrupted Black family dynamics by removing fathers from homes and fostering dependence on political leaders, which he claims led to the current social issues. Peterson asserts that systemic racism is a fabricated, unprovable concept used to divide and control both Black and white Americans, insisting that problems stem from character, not color. He outlines BOND’s initiatives: men’s and women’s forums, weekly meetings, an Entrepreneur Academy, and a global outreach aimed at teaching forgiveness, personal responsibility, and entrepreneurship to restore families. He references his recent book, The Antidote: Healing America from the Poison of Hate, Blame, and Victimhood, positioning it among works that could solve America’s problems. When asked about endemic racism, he dismisses it as a lie, and when prompted about policing, he suggests a need for character‑based leadership and community involvement, though detailed policy views are not fully elaborated in the excerpt.
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I have on the line a man I have admired for 206 years. That's how I feel. Jesse Lee Peterson and I have been good friends for many decades. Is that correct, Jesse?
Absolutely. It seems like forever. When you said 220 years or whatever, it sounds real.
I was waiting for your reaction. I had a feeling you would agree. Jesse, Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson is the founder and president of BOND, an organization dedicated to rebuilding the Black family. Their mission is, quote, rebuilding the family by rebuilding the man. And his latest book is The Antidote: Healing America from the Poison of Hate, Blame, and Victimhood. I think his books are so important I would tell you that I would put them in the top 20 books that could help solve America's problems. That is how much I admire his courage and his insights. So Jesse Lee Peterson, in a nutshell, what is your take on what is happening?
First of all, Dennis Prager, again, for having me on, I appreciate it. I'm not surprised about what's happening. This has been building up for the last 70 years, and it started, in all honesty, when they broke up the Black family. As you know, I, uh, I was born on a plantation down in Alabama, and one good thing that we— many good things, but the one great thing is that we had family back then. Men and women got married, uh, they had children under the umbrella of God, uh, they believed in God. The grandparents were around. We were taught to work. Uh, from day one. And while growing up, my, my grandparents used to tell me all the time, especially my grandmother, she's like, we're gonna take care of you until you're 18 years old, and once you turn 18, you're leaving here. And I'm like, well, where am I going? She was like, I don't know and I don't care, but you'll be— you're a grown man, you'll be ready, and you're gonna leave. When I turned 18, I left home. I finished high school and left home, but I was prepared for it because we were taught to love and not to hate. We treated all people in spite of Jim Crow law. We treated all people the way that we would like to be treated. We were never taught to hate America. That didn't— that was unheard of. And we were taught that there was good and evil in all people. Some people serve evil, some serve good, but we should treat all people, uh, as our neighbor. And so our neighbor as ourselves. So we did, but And all I see, Dennis, the civil rights movement started and the intent should have been to change the laws so that the same law that governed white people governed black Americans. And we would have been fine today. It wouldn't be such as it is. But instead, they took the fathers out of the home. The so-called civil rights leaders became the heads of the people, the blacks, and the blacks stopped— not all, but most stopped thinking for themselves and start relying on those people and relying on the Democratic Party. And it's just been downhill ever since. And today, Black Americans are suffering not because of racism. Racism in all, in all, and, and it's a made-up word. And that word is used to divide and conquer, to keep Blacks angry and to keep whites on the run, uh, catering to the Blacks because they don't want to lose their stock. And, uh, and so it's the character. And if we don't restore the family, as we've been doing at BARR for the last 30 years It's going to only get worse instead of getting better because giving Black people free stuff, catering to them, is not solving the problem. But being honest with them about restoring the family, a return to God, loving America, is the answer to the problem. This has been tested. We've been under a test for a while. I remember when we had the knockout games happening in America where the Blacks were going around knocking out white people, robbing their stores in broad daylight, and there was nothing done about it. That was a test run. And when they noticed that America wasn't going to do anything, they kept on and kept on and kept on building and building evil until now we have this outburst in America. It's a, it's a chance, really. It's bad what we see happening, but if we deal with it with the right attitude, then we can, uh, restore America back to its normal state of being. But we got to stand up and speak up, get involved, vote these people out, and bring in men and women who are going to stand for America and not against America. It's It's about character, not color.
How do you react as a black man to the statement that there's endemic racism in America?
That's a made-up lie. It doesn't exist. And no one can prove that it exists. But they use all these fancy words in order to deceive us. And they give us words with things that cannot be proven. There is no systemic racism. There is no racism, period. It's either good or evil. You treat people with love. You treat them with hate. When I was growing up, that word did not exist. It was like it was right or wrong, not good or not racism. And people who are on the side of evil, gonna— they're going to treat you poorly, but that's just something they have to deal with. It doesn't mean that it's racism. And so this whole idea about systemic racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, deadbeat dadism, Allah ism, antisemitism— those are just made-up words. It's either right or wrong, good or evil. You're either of character or you're not. And that's what white Americans need to wake up and realize and start speaking the truth about. Otherwise, they're going to do more than just bend knees and lick boots and clean feet. That's not going to solve the problem at all. It's just bringing out the worst in the Blacks rather than the good.
How do you restore the Black family?
Well, the one thing that we've been doing at Bond for the last, uh, 30 years, uh, we have men's forums every first Thursday night and ladies' forums every third Thursday night and Sunday morning meetings every Sunday at 11 AM. What we're doing is showing them how to overcome the anger. They have to forgive their parents for failing them, not teaching them to work, not living in the right way and being good examples. And once they forgive, God forgives them and takes that anger away from them so that they can see. Because anyone who has anger is living in the darkness and cannot see. And but when these guys, and ladies too, overcome that anger, it's amazing how their lives start to change. And they see that it's not the person's color, it's not the physical person, him or herself, it's the heart. If the heart is not right, then they're going to give you a rough time and have a rough tough time in their own lives. And we have an Entrepreneur Academy where we start to teach these men how to start their own businesses, how to find jobs, and all that good stuff. And it's just been amazing what has happened. And the organization now, Dennis, is worldwide. We work with men and women around the world, everybody and their mama, of all races. And they see that it does start in the home. They have to forgive so that God can forgive them, and then they can see the right way to go and treat people in the right way.
The, the organization, folks, is BOND. B-O-N-D. What is your take on police?
I think I, I have much respect and I love police departments. I love the police around the world. They put their lives on the line every day to protect the innocent away from the criminals. And what they're trying to do to the police department today is unheard of. I pray to God that this is one thing that most Americans will stand up and say, no, this would not happen. Just imagine, they're talking about taking the guns away from the cops, but yet the gang members in the inner cities around the country, and I'm very familiar with them, are loaded with all kinds of weapons. Who's going to protect the innocent? Innocent blacks are already having a hard enough time. In their own homes from the gang members. They can't even sit in the front room in many cases at night.
