THE ANTI-BULLSHIT BREAKFAST CLUB — WITH QASIM RASHID

Welcome to The Anti-Bullshit Breakfast Club, where we tear down the smokescreen with folks who give a damn. This week, human rights heavyweight Qasim Rashid joins the table.

WELCOME TO THE ANTI-BULLSHIT BREAKFAST CLUB, where we serve up steaming plates of unfiltered reality alongside rapid-fire reflections from folks who aren’t afraid to call it like it is.

This week, we’re joined by Qasim Rashid, a human rights lawyer, author, and former Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress who’s made a career out of speaking truth to power.

When he’s not busy shedding light on the most pressing human rights issues of our time, this Chicago-based husband and father of three is penning hard-hitting pieces for his massively popular Substack, ‘Let’s Address This with Qasim Rashid’, which boasts a staggering 80,000 subscribers.

So pour yourself an extra-large mug of your go-to afternoon <insert whatever it is with zero judgement from me>, and let’s dive into the Anti-Bullshit Breakfast Club with Qasim Rashid, a man who’s never met a status quo he didn’t want to challenge . . .

Name and occupation

Qasim Rashid, Human Rights Lawyer

If you could fix one broken system tomorrow, what would it be and how

Rectify economic injustice.

That means reparations for Black Americans and Native Americans, restitution for women denied financial autonomy for generations, universal basic income for all people in this country, and a tax system that ensures the super wealthy people pay at least a 90% marginal tax rate on all income and wealth over $100m (just like the tax system employed for nearly 40 years from 1940-1980) — and the super wealthy corporations pay at least a 25% minimum federal tax, while banning stock buybacks, and banning corporations from getting any federal subsidies if they pay any of their workers below a living wage.

What’s the most dangerous lie being normalized in society right now

That poverty is a life choice and those who are low income are at fault, when in reality our economic system is designed to exploit working people into poverty and exempt the wealthy from accountability.

If your activism/work was a dating app profile, what would be your bio

My wife and I just celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary, before smart phones existed. So, I’ve never used a dating app, which means I have no idea what my dating app profile would be. Actually that would be my profile . . . “I’ve never used a dating app before so I have no idea what I’m doing, please swipe right . . . or is it left? Again, I don’t know how this works.”

One book everyone should read

‘My Teacher is an Alien’ by Bruce Coville (and the next three in the four-book series).

Complete this sentence: Give me liberty or give me ________________

The righteous fury of a thousand supernovas because I sure as hell am not going quietly.

What’s the most important story mainstream media isn’t covering

The United States has the worst wealth and income inequality in the developed world, and the disparity between the very rich and the very poor is worse now than it was prior to the Great Depression — and that the vast majority of our community safety, community health, personal health, education disparity, social injustice, and climate injustice issues stem from this economic injustice. It can all be solved with the resources we already have, but too much of media and politicians are already owned by billionaire oligarchs to call it out for what it is.

Which fictional villain do you secretly understand a little too well

Killmonger from Black Panther

What’s the biggest lie about the United States and its allies we’re all consistently fed

That that United States and its allies are driven by international rules based order rather than by economic and military exploitation.

Who are you inspired by and why

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). An unlettered orphan who historian Dr. Michael Hart ranks as “the most the most influential person in history”, Nobel Laureate George Bernard Shaw calls “the savior of humanity”, and British Stateswoman Annie Besant reveres as “one of the great messengers of the Supreme”.

Prophet Muhammad established the pillars of modern humanity by establishing universal freedom of conscience, separation of religion and state, gender equity and equality, abolished slavery and racial injustice, enacted an economic system that empowered workers and prevented the wealthy from exploiting them, mandated biding rules of war that protected all civilians in all circumstances, protected animal welfare and rights, championed climate justice, and protected universal human rights for all people based on their inherent humanity.

As French historian and scholar Alphonse De Lamartine writes, “Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas, of a cult without images, the founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire, that is Muhammad. As regards all the standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?”

What’s a truth about power that most people are afraid to say out loud

Worldly power is a curse and a test, and most people who attain it fail the test because they fail to live up to its obligations of truly serving all humanity on the tenets of absolute justice.

If you could have dinner with one person — dead, alive or fictional — who would it be and why

My father, who is currently suffering from late stage Parkinson’s disease. And I would have dinner with him on the day he arrived in the United States in 1976, only 26 years old, no children, and with only $30 in his pocket. I would love to have dinner with him that evening and ask him about his hopes and dreams for the future.

When you’re not at work what will we find you doing

Defeating my children at Mario Kart because they need to know who’s boss; playing Pickleball with friends; going for a long run; or grabbing a late night coffee date with my wife Ayesha after the kids are in bed and knocked out for the night.

What’s the most effective form of resistance you’ve witnessed

On May 28th, 2010, the Taliban attacked two mosques belonging to my Muslim community in Lahore, Pakistan, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. The Taliban killed 87 members of our community that day with AK-47s and suicide bombs. They attacked us during worship services in the early afternoon to intimidate us to stop our worship, and to prevent future worship. The attack lasted for several hours until the terrorists were finally detained by around 4pm.

When the time for evening prayer arrived just a few hours later, members of my community did not hesitate. They returned to the mosques that had just suffered a horrific terrorist attack, and unwaveringly offered their prayers, and history witnesses that not one prayer has since been missed at that mosque. To me, this is an act of resistance so noble, courageous, and powerful I can only sit and marvel at their example.

What’s a belief you held five years ago that you've completely changed your mind about

I went out of my way to make fun of my friends who played Pickleball and now I absolutely love the sport :) On a more serious note I entered law school with a firm belief in the value of the death penalty — and left law school as a staunch advocate to abolish the death penalty in the United States.

Complete this sentence: The revolution will not be ________________

Won by armchair activists. We need to activate, organize, and mobilize our communities with our feet, our dollars, and our voices every single day of the year if we hope to bring about meaningful transformational change to our nation.

What is an organization, movement, non-profit, etc, close to your heart and goals of collective liberation that you would like everyone to know about — and consider donating to — and why

Humanity First USA is a non-profit I've worked with for decades. I first deployed with them as a college student to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina killed thousands of Americans.

I’ve traveled with them to Turkey after the devastating earthquake a few years ago, to Lahaina, Hawaii after the devastating fires last year, to Guatemala to help fund and build a state of the art hospital to provide maternal care to women, to Mali to help fund and build schools and medical centers in rural parts of the country, and likewise have helped raise resources to support Palestinians suffering genocide in Gaza.

They are a world class organization that is relentlessly at the forefront of working to end suffering and poverty, and I would encourage everyone to contribute to them.

And finally, what’s the most ridiculous hill you’re willing to die on

Okay, hear me out . . . Studies show that driving slow in the left lane on the highway causes more accidents than does speeding. So, we should have a social contract with all drivers that if you are driving slow in the left lane and in a given month more than five people report your plate as impeding traffic because you were going slower than the speed limit, then you should be required to either pay a fine that funds education for orphans who lost their parents due to reckless drivers, or engage in ten hours of restorative justice before you get your license back.

And for those who think it is unfair to punish slow drivers, all they have to do is NOT drive in the left lane and there’s no issue. It’s not the slow driving that’s being punished, it’s the slow driving in the left lane that’s being punished because not only is that illegal, it is demonstrably dangerous and costs lives. My proposed idea would decrease accidents, increase funding for orphans, increase hours spent improving a community through restorative justice, and unite drivers into the common cause of encouraging safe driving. It’s honestly a win-win all around! And if you still don’t think my idea is great then you should ask yourself why you’re so opposed to helping orphans???

---

Thank you to Qasim for his wonderful work. Please follow his work here on Substack, as well as X, Instagram, and Bluesky.