September 17, 2025 • 38 mins
Bienvenidos a The Moment. Each week, journalists Jorge Ramos and Paola Ramos — a father-daughter duo- bring the Latino perspective to the center of today’s conversation with guests who are redefining politics, power, and identity in America.
In our first episode, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani joins us to talk about what it takes to win the Latino vote, how to make the world’s wealthiest city affordable, and what it would mean to become the first Muslim mayor in New York’s history.
You can listen now on the free iHeartRadio app. New episodes drop every Wednesday.
The Moment is a production of Radio Ambulante Studios and iHeart's My Cultura Podcast Network.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Well, I'm Horge Ramos and and this is the moment,
a momento.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
In case you don't know, by the way, Jorge is my.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Dad and I'm Paula's father.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
This is the very, very first time that we are working.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Together in English with an accent.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
But look, in all seriousness, this is a space, we
hope where we get to do exactly this. No, two
journalists who are father and daughter, two people who grew
up in two very different generations, get to do what
we love most, which is be in conversation with some
of the best thinkers out there, activists, artists, other journalists,
(00:48):
people that make us think and that lead us to
have profound, deep thought provoking conversation.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Whenever there's a Latino issue we want we want to
discuss it right here. And also we call it the
moment because I honestly believe Paula. Then in just a
few years, people are going to ask us, what did
you do during those years? And this is our answer.
This is what we did, asking questions, stop questions, challenging power.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Particularly a time where Latinas and immigrants continue to be
one of the most misunderstood in folks out there. So
we hope that this helps us all understand what it
means to be Latino and what it means to be
an immigrant in this moment, and that we really start
to make sense of what this country is going through.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
People might not realize, but we talk to each other
many many times during the day. We text each other,
we talk about news, and basically we're just moving that
conversation from the cell phones to this podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Another thing that people don't know is that beyond you
and I talking all the time, which to this day,
I don't know that's weird.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Or not what we do, I don't think it is.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
It may be normal. But you and I grew up
a partner. I guess I grew up. I spent most
of my childhood in Madrid, living in Spain, across the Atlantic.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
It was very difficult.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
I spent almost thirteen years from you, and I mentioned
this because in a way, yes, this podcast will be
about politics now, Yes it will be about understanding the
Trumpet administration. It'll be about current affairs, but it'll also
be I think, our way to take back time to
maybe have some of those conversations, those more vulnerable conversations
(02:18):
that we didn't get to talk about and so yes,
we'll intertwine all of it, and we invite everyone to
be part of this space, to be part of this conversation,
to make us think, to push back, debate with us,
and more than anything learned from our guests.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
So this is the moment, but also this is our.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Moment for our very first episode. We want to have
a conversation about what political change looks like in the country.
But I think more than anything about what the type
of change people are ready or not ready to embrace
in this moment to do that, I actually want to
take people to New York City. When I think of
New York City that I remember the very first time
(02:54):
I came to the city as a college student. One
of the reasons why I fell in love with New
York City is because it was was progressive, You had
people that looked like me, and it was dreamy. It
was everything that I.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Wanted in a city.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
It has become my city. But this is why it
is then shocking to kind of look at the November
twenty twenty four election results and when you see in
those numbers, is that if you zoom in, actually New
York City saw one of the highest right word shifts
in the country. So what I'm talking about is this
fact that if you zoom into neighborhoods across New York City,
(03:30):
you look at the Bronx, you look at the Upper
West Side, you look at these traditionally Democratic bastions. Donald
Trump made significant inros there.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
It was very hard to believe, very hard to believe.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
And he made inroads in very heavy Latino and immigrant neighborhoods.
And so in the middle of this picture where you
see Donald Trump's right word shifts across the nation, giving him,
of course, his profound and resounding victory. In the middle
of that story, something else happens. That is that this summer,
the underdog in New York City's Democratic primary now a
(04:05):
thirty three year old self described Democratic socialist whose parents
are immigrants. This person shocks the nation, he shocks the
Democratic Party, He shocks Onmo Trump when he suddenly beats
Andrew Como.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Well, Paula. He did more than that.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
He managed to reverse Trump's trend, winning a lot of
voters from Latino communities, working class communities, and communities of
color across New York City that the Trump campaign targeted.
So we're talking about the New York City candidate for Mayor,
Souran mam Danny.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
And that is exactly what is at the heart of
this episode. Now this one question, does the man Danny
campaign represents a new kind of path for the Democratic
Party or perhaps the question is is the party ready
for him?
Speaker 1 (04:48):
After a break, we'll be right back with Souran Mamdani.
So for those who are not following very closely in
the race for mayor in New York City, I want
to know a little bit more about you and your identity.
Your mother is a filmmaker, your father's an academic. You
move from Uganda to Manhattan when you were seen years old.
When did you begin to feel that you are a
(05:08):
New Yorker?
Speaker 4 (05:09):
It was quite soon. I fell in love with the
city almost immediately. And it was a city that first
I knew, mostly in Morningside Heights where I grew up,
and then it was one that I got to see
through the eyes of the Bronx when I went to
high school. And it's the city where I've become a man,
the city where I met my wife, the city where
I got my citizenship, and now the city that I'm
(05:30):
running to represent.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
When I identify myself, I say, before anything else, I'm
an immigrant, Honestly, before anything else. I'm the father of
Paola and Nicolas in Carlota. But I feel that even
after forty years in this country, I still feel like
an outsider, as an immigrant.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
I wonder if you feel that way.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
I think one of the most beautiful things about this
city is that everyone can belong, that everyone can feel
of this place. You know, I would be the first
immigrant mayor in generations New Yorkers were born outside of
this country, and that idea of how many different New
York cities exist within one. You know, we're often told
(06:09):
a specific story of this city as if it is
the only story. But the further you go across the
five boroughs, the more you understand that all of these
different places are a part of this same city. And
what I love about it is the fabric of this
city is one that allows people to see themselves in it,
not to feel as if they are merely visiting or
(06:31):
they are here to be tolerated, but they are here
to be celebrated. This this is their home town.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
You still feel like an immigrant or I'm not sure
about that. I think I do, But that's why I'm
asking you know, I.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Am an immigrant. I definitely feel my immigrant identity, and
to me, that's not intention with feeling like a New Yorker.
So much of what New York City is is a
celebration of immigrant culture. You know, when I'm speaking in
or Do and eating Brianni, I am still doing so
as a New Yorker. And that's what I love about
this place is it doesn't ask you to give up
(07:04):
any of yourself to become a part of it. It
asks you to bring all of it and join everyone
who's here.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
And I think that's the story that I want to
focus on, how an immigrant wins in New York City. Obviously,
it's not surprising that everyone was shocked when you won.
I mean everyone in the Democratic Party was shocked because
in February you were pulling out one percent. Yes, you
know the story, little to no name recognition, and yet
here you are. But I want to focus on understanding
(07:32):
your victory. You know, because if you zoom into, those
numbers are incredibly interesting because you do very well with
Latino voters. You keep zooming in. You do well in
Washington Heights, you do well in Queens, you do well
in parts of the Bronx, and if you continue to
zoom in, you do well in precincts where Donald Trump
made significant in roads with Latino voters in twenty twenty four.
(07:53):
And so the question is how do you do that, Like,
how do you do so well with Latino voters?
Speaker 4 (07:57):
I think the first thing is by listening. You know,
after Donald Trump won the presidency and we saw a
right word shift in New York City's results, and the
fact that that shift took place far from the caricature
of Trump voters, but in many places, in fact, in
the heart of immigrant New York City. I went to
(08:18):
Fordham Road in the Bronx, I went to Hillside Avenue
in Queens, and I asked New Yorkers, who did you
vote for and why. Many of the New Yorkers that
spoke to me were Latino New Yorkers, and they told
me in English, and some of them even told me
in Spanish through a friend who was translating, why they
voted for Donald Trump. And again and again, it came
back to the cost of living. It came back to
(08:38):
them feeling like it was easier to afford this city
four years ago, and now the cost of rent, the
cost of childcare, the cost of groceries was putting this
city further out of reach, and the things that they
used to take for granted were now negotiations and debates
of which of these two things they could afford. And
in speaking to Latino New Yorkers and hearing that time
(08:59):
and again, knowing that it wouldn't take the classic condescension
that is often offered when a result goes the other way,
but instead an embrace of the same agenda that they
were feeling in their day to day lives that could
bring them back to this party. And then even as
we progress through this campaign, we knew that our agenda
of making the most expensive city the United States of
(09:21):
America affordable was one that was popular with New Yorkers
across race, across religion, across region. And yet I also
had heard from a number of our volunteers and our
supporters Latino New Yorkers that if only you could do
something in Spanish so I could give this same message
to my abuela. And so that was the feedback that
(09:41):
led me and my campaign team to make a video
in Spanish, which if you watch the video, it starts
in the daytime and it ends in the nighttime, because
that's how long it took me to get every single line.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
You're saying, I'm boiler pretty well, yes, well, who is
my friend? You're great in Spanish? Very well, thank you
very much.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
But then, is what is the lesson learned for Democrats
in Washington d C. I mean, is it that what
you and Trump have in common? Is it that you're
talking about the economy and ways that Latinos can understand?
And is that enough?
Speaker 4 (10:10):
I think so often in our party we treat voters
of color, not just primarily, but oftentimes exclusively through the
question of identity, and we leave behind any questions of class.
And what I heard from many of these same New Yorkers,
who oftentimes I had been told would never vote for
Donald Trump because of everything he had said and has
(10:32):
said about Latinos, we're telling me that for them, the
most important crisis with whether or not they could afford
this city and to actually respond to that, as opposed
to going to lecture someone as to why they made
the wrong decision. And also it's trying. You know, I
don't speak Spanish. I speak the ten words that every
(10:52):
New Yorker knows growing up in this city. And yet
you know, my friend Amanda was up for taking me
through six hours of that video where she taught me
that it's not larenta. It's larenta. You know that you
actually you have to roll your arm and you have
to get it right, and you have to put in
the work. And that respect is often one that is
denied to Latino voters, but also immigrant New Yorkers at large.
(11:15):
I would say, where you go to a consultant and
they tell you, these are the voters you speak to,
the ones who voted in the last three primaries, these
are the only ones that were worth your time. And
we asked the question, what if you gave your time
to those that had never been given that same consideration,
What if they were actually shown that they were a
part of the same constitution.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
But is this economic populism? I mean, you're concentrating on affordability,
and you're concentrating on childcare, free bosses housing. It sounds wonderful,
but I wonder if it's realistic. You've been asked this
question in a thousand times and you've been giving all
kinds of answers, but people might think that you might
be underestimating the costs At the end, Who's going to
(11:53):
pay for all that? Isn't that the question?
Speaker 4 (11:55):
It is a question, and to that there is an answer.
We live in the wealthy city, in the wealth this country,
in the history of the world. I'm speaking about running
a city that has a city budget, city government's budget
of one hundred and fifteen billion dollars, give or take,
state budget of about two hundred and fifty two billion dollars,
give or take. There's an immense amount of money. Now,
when Andrew Cuomo wanted to spend nine hundred and fifty
(12:17):
nine million dollars to give tax break to Elon Musk,
people did not question whether it was realistic. But when
we want to spend less money than that to make
every bus free in New York City, we're told that
it's an agenda that is too ambitious.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
You mean you need more taxes.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
I've spoken about the need to increase revenue. I've said
there are two ways I think that are the most productive.
One is raising the state's top corporate tax rate to
match that of New Jersey. The other is raising the
personal income tax rate on the top one percent of
New Yorkers who make a million dollars a year or
more by two percent. So if you're making a million dollars,
that would just be an additional twenty thousand.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Dollars in taxes.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Yes, I've said, I've said that what I'm running on
is an agenda to deliver for working class New Yorkers
and an honesty as to how we will raise the
money in order to do so. And knowing that amidst
that plan of raising revenue, there is also the real
opportunity to look at the way we spend our money
(13:13):
now and ask the hard questions to ensure that every
single dollar is going towards the intended outcome of making
the city more affordable.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
So despite that is, what are your chances of win?
Do you think today you think you're gonna win?
Speaker 4 (13:24):
I feel quite confident, which means that you feel confident.
I do. I feel confident, and I smile because you know,
today we got the news that Eric Adams and Curtis
Leewa are being considered for jobs in the Trump administration,
And oftentimes this kind of news is framed in the
(13:45):
context of how it impacts the race. And I feel
just as confident as I did yesterday about winning this race.
What outrages me in this news is that it's an
affront to our democracy. It's an affront to the very
notion that makes so many of us proud to be American,
that we can choose our own leaders, not that they
pick themselves or their friends. The conversations that have taken
(14:06):
place between Eric Adams and the Trump administration, or Andrew
Cuomo and Donald Trump himself, they are not conversations about
the welfare of New Yorkers. They're not conversations about how
to make the city more affordable. They are conversations about power,
how to secure it and retain it.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
So it's this system against you, and that's how you
see it, all those systems or everyone against you.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
No, I don't see it as everyone against me. I
see it as running against the politics of the past.
And New Yorkers are tired of that politics, a politics
that promises you that which you already have and tells
you simply to celebrate it, as opposed to crying out
for that which you deserve. You know, we just found
out that Andrew Cuomo has spoken to Donald Trump more
than he's spoken to Kathy Hokle in the last few months.
(14:46):
That tells you about someone whose understanding of politics is
tied not only did the past, but also to these
specific people that he can see himself in and they
can see themselves in. And yet what New Yorkers have
been crying out for for you years is a functioning
relationship between city Hall and Albany City Hall and Democrats
in DC. And I say this as someone who thinks
(15:10):
the greatest mayor in our city's history was Federal Laguardian
and you cannot disentangle his accomplishments from the relationship he
built with Washington, DC and with those of his party
that were there. And that's also what I'm seeking to build.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
You know, many Latino immigrants came to New York City
from living on their socialist regimes. So when you say
that you are on socialist democratic socialist, many of them
are very scared and they would never vote for someone
who calls himself a socialist. I was seeing the numbers
in New York City. There are about one hundred and
(15:43):
forty thousand Cubans in twenty twenty two, the largest just
share of our rivals were from Venezuelans. So what can
you tell them about you being a socialist? They simply
can't vote for you because you're a socialist.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
You know, I was told this when I started the race,
that there were many New Yorkers who I could not
reach because of the fact of how I described my
politics as being a democratic socialist. And I was proud
that by the end of the primary, we won Latino
voters by seven points, and we won it by not
(16:18):
looking to debate those same New Yorkers as to their
own experiences, but rather by understanding them, by listening to them,
and by explaining that these experiences that they've been told
to me, whether it's with the sense of freedom narrowing
in one's life, or the inability for any dissent to
take place without repression, that these were the exact examples
(16:40):
of the opposite of what it was that we were
fighting for.
Speaker 5 (16:44):
Now.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Our vision, my vision as a democratic socialist, is one
that can be best described by the words of doctor
King decades ago, when he said, call it democracy or
call it democratic socialism. There must be a distribution of
wealth for all of God's children in this country. And
we often hear politicians say New York City is the
(17:06):
greatest city in the world. They don't answer the question
of what good is being the greatest city in the
world if you cannot afford to live here. What good
are the freedoms that we talk about if you can't
afford to exercise them. And so to these same New
Yorkers who have had these kinds of experiences, ones that
are often characterized by the absence of freedom, I speak
to them about the ways in which our freedom here
cannot simply be in the rights that we have, but
(17:28):
are in our ability to afford that same city to
use those rights. And I've found time and again that
what people care most about is if they can actually
afford their day to day life in this city.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
You have the same ideology is not that important?
Speaker 4 (17:42):
I think It's not been the first question that New
Yorkers have asked me. But even more than that, I've
often been asked us to what does it mean when
I say that I'm a Democratic socialist.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I think that's important because Republicans and some Democrats weaponize
that term so much. I mean, it's completely misconstrued. So
what's the most simple way to address a Spanish speaking
Latino New Yorker who may want to vote for you,
but he's so scared about that term.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
I would tell that New Yorker that to be a
democratic socialist is to believe that every New Yorker should
live a dignified life, and that that is city government's
responsibility to ensure that it's about the things that you need,
not the things that you want or the things that
you'd like, but that you need to live that dignified life.
And in New York City, there's a consensus that every
(18:30):
child should be able to go to K through twelve,
that there should be a library, that you should have
a sanitation department, of fire department, of police department. And
yet there are other things that we all know to
be necessary, and yet we are accepting of the fact
that one could be priced out of it childcare before
your child can go to K through twelve, that child
care costs twenty five thousand dollars a year. Housing. We
(18:53):
are seeing more and more New Yorkers being priced out
of the places that they call home. If you even
think about public transits in the name public transit cost
two dollars and ninety cents per ride, but one in
five New Yorkers can't afford that anymore. And so it's
applying that consensus to that which is needed and necessary.
That's what drives this vision of a city that's affordable,
a city that freezes the rent for rent stabilized tenants,
(19:16):
makes the slowest buses fast and free, and delivers universal
childcare for each and every New Yorker.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Politically, I think I have to ask you this question,
just going back to socialismo, do you think that Miguel
Dias Canel in QY is a dictator?
Speaker 4 (19:30):
I haven't thought much about Miguel Diaz, I'll be honest
with you. I think mostly about these five boroughs and
how we can actually deliver affordability for New Yorkers.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
But do you think Nicolasma Duro is a dictator in Venezuela.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
I think he has done many a horrible thing.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
But again, do you do you think it's important that
you say that they are dictators and that people understand
here in New York that you are not aligned with them.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
I think it's clear and it's important for me to
showcase how this a vision for the people of the city,
and as you said, it is in stark contrast to
the experiences that many others have had. And I think
when I hear from a number of Venezuela New Yorkers
about what drove them to come to this city, the
conditions that they had to live through. I understand their skepticism,
(20:17):
I understand their caution, and yet I have found in
them and understanding that my vision is one that is
distinct from that experience.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
But I wonder if you're reluctant to call them dictators
in Cuba and Venezuela.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
I'm not reluctant. I just haven't thought about them that often.
I'll be honest with you. I think that Maduro's government
is one of repression, There's no question about it.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
And I think in Cuba, sorry, and also it's happened
in QS in nineteen fifteen, And I.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Think that the repression that whether we're speaking about Cuban
New Yorkers or Venezuela New Yorkers, that they have had
to live through is a repression that stands in a
clear contrast from what our vision is here.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
That you do think a lot about is Andrew Cuomo.
So one of his main lines of attack against you.
He loves to remind voters that you once stated that
you wanted to defund the police. He also likes to
remind people that you once also stated that you implied
that NYPD was racist. Some people are genuinely concerned about that, right,
(21:21):
because as he's framing you, he wants some people to
think that you don't understand public safety. So how do
you address those accusations?
Speaker 4 (21:28):
You know, Andrew Cuomo, I was saying, is a politician
of the past, and he wishes that we were still there,
and he runs against my campaign, not for our own
vision of public safety, not for the platform that we've
actually shared, but instead for these tweets from twenty twenty.
And I've been very clear throughout the entirety of this
(21:48):
campaign that we are not defunding the police. We're not
running to do so. We are running to actually work
with the police to create true public safety. And our
vision for that is one that empowers and enables police
officers to do their jobs. And part of that is
a recognition that by putting the responsibility of responding to
nearly every single failure of the social safety net on them,
(22:12):
we are making it impossible for them to actually respond
to those shootings and those murders, by asking them to
respond to two hundred thousand mental health calls a year,
and so our vision is one that says we need
to create a department of Community Safety that will be
tasked with the responsibility whether it's a mental health crisis
or homelessness, and that we should ensure that we bring
(22:33):
an end to this exodus of officers from the department
that when I started running, was about two hundred officers
a month, now is about three hundred, three hundred and
fifty officers a month. And when you ask why are
they leaving, oftentimes they will say it is because of
the forced overtime that they are being told they have
to take. Now, there are some officers who want to
(22:54):
take over time and they take their overtime. What I'm
speaking about is the distinction where you have I have
an officer who has three days off and then they
are told at the last moment that that vacation they
planned with their family they have to come back for
a second day and they have no choice about that.
And that is a tough life for many to live.
And that's part of the sexodust that we see as.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
It currently stands today. Do you see the NYPD as
an extension advice like the way that things are playing
out right now, how do you see.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
That I see these as two distinct entities, and yet so.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Many people want to emerge those right and deputize them.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
And yet I have seen a number of incidents that
give me great pause and concern. I mean, I heard
a story of a New Yorker who took down all
of the numbers on the wall of all of the
apartments on that floor, such that ice would not know
which door to knock on. That's how people are living
right now. And it's not just one that extends at
(23:47):
an individual level. It's also one that extends at a
communal level. If you go into certain neighborhoods in New
York City, you feel the absence of that bustle. You
feel when you speak to small business owners, you hear
from them about how fewer customers they have that are
actually coming in. I mean, we just had the West
Indian Day Parade and I was speaking to the owner
of a health food store called Nannis, and he was
(24:08):
telling me that they've been in business for years and
they feel fewer and fewer people coming through their doors
because they're terrified. It is a real chilling of the city.
And what the NYPD must do and must be is
distinct from ice that we have to ensure that the
(24:28):
possibility of collaboration that has been opened up by Eric
Adams's administration is one that we not only never fulfill,
but is one that we put in the past and
return instead to a policy of sanctuary cities that are
not simply a reflection of our values. They are also
policies that have kept New York are safe for decades.
(24:49):
These were policies that were defended by Rudy Giuliani, and
now we are looking at them as if they are
an example of a city that is in crisis, when
in fact, this is part of how he made this
city safe.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Really, just because before we get into immigration, I just
want to stick with this idea of the police because
and I'll tell you why please. I think what Trump
has done very well is reimagine the role of the police. Now,
what he does very well is attempt to dismantle systems.
No attempt to reimagine what the National Guard looks like,
(25:22):
the NYPD can look like, how to invoke things. And
so I wonder if, as Democrats, right, if the Democratic
Party has something to learn about the way that Trump
can dismantle a system. And I would then ask you
why shy away from this idea of defunding the police, right,
I feel like, if you are in the Trump world,
(25:45):
they are so radical and adamant about their ideas. Do
Democrats kind of shy away from embracing some of these
more progressive ideas?
Speaker 4 (25:53):
Like?
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Is there something to learn from them?
Speaker 4 (25:55):
I think Republicans have shown us that there is no
limit to their imagination.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Right.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
They want to remake this country in a manner that
we would have scarcely thought plausible or possible just years ago.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
I mean, some would say that they even dream more
than Democrats.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
And I think oftentimes we can see with our own
party the inability to have an affirmative vision. It is
a party that we have seen too often is simply
reacting to the vision that is being put forward. So
much of our campaign was an argument that democracy isn't
just under attack from an authoritary administration from the outside,
(26:33):
it's also under attack from a withering belief in its
ability to deliver on the inside. And while Republicans say
that there is no limit to their imagination, Democrats are
so often constructing an ever lowering ceiling to what we
think is possible.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
I ever, feel like you have to compromise. I mean, like,
as a true Democratic socialist, Like, do you feel like
you have to compromise to win? To win? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (26:57):
I don't feel that way, and I think I've shown
that doing in fact have to do that. You know,
when I started this race as a Muslim immigrant New
Yorker who's a Democratic socialist, I was told time and
time again that either by virtue of my identity or
my ideology or my age, that this idea was an
interesting one at best, but it would never actually be
(27:19):
considered by New Yorkers across the five boroughs. And what
we saw is not only did we win this race,
we won it by a margin of thirteen points. We
want it with the support of close to six hundred
thousand New Yorkers votes, the most votes of any primary
winner in New York City history. And that shows what's
possible when you actually are willing to fight for something
(27:41):
you believe in. And it's not to say that every
single New Yorker agrees with me on every single issue,
but I shared many a time in this race about
the words of Ed Koch, who said, if you agree
with me in nine out of twelve issues, vote for
me twelve out of twelve see a psychiatrist, because that's
what it means to live in this city. It means
to know that tension and disagreement is a natural part
of living in a place together, and that as long
(28:03):
as there is a central theme that we can agree
on that we can fight for together, and that being affordability,
than anything is possible.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Physic about immigration. Many, many Latinos are living in fear
in New York City right now. This is supposed to
be assigned Toy City. Regardless of that, they still feel
so much, so much fear. So what would be concrete
steps that you would take in order just to protect
those immigrants.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
There are a number of things. The first is to
ensure that we do not see any more incidents such
as the ones that have taken place under this administration
of collaboration between the NYPD and ICE, that goes in
violation of our sanctuary city policies. The second thing is
not only protect those policies, but to strengthen them. The
third thing is to look at what is possible under
the tools that we have right now. Of the eight
(28:48):
and a half million people who call the city home,
four hundred thousand are in danger of immediate danger of deportation.
The city has a program that could provide legal defense
vises for New Yorkers in attention. Of those four hundred thousand,
the city served less than two hundred last year, and
so we have put forward a commitment to fund additional
(29:12):
tens of millions of dollars in legal defense services because
we know that by simple virtue of having a lawyer
in those proceedings, it increases your chances of going home
to your family elevenfold. And that's our responsibility to do
everything in our power to make sure that we're keeping
families together. And this is something that I've found New
(29:36):
Yorkers are crying out for, that clarity and that courage
to actually stand up for what this city represents. You know,
we have tourists from across the world who come here
to see the statue of liberty, and then we turn
our back on those same words that are etched into
stone by practicing this politics of collaboration with Donald Trump.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
One of the main pushbacks now that Republicans are constantly
saying is that how will this thirty three year old
self described democratic socialists handle such a huge budget? Can
he do it?
Speaker 4 (30:05):
I am and I'm equipped not because of my unique
mastery of the work of that budget, but because of
the fact that I will run this city and lead
this city with equal parts, understanding that I am the
one who is responsible for what happens in city Hall,
and I have to surround myself with people who are
(30:26):
characterized by track records of excellence and of outcomes, not
people who are simply the quickest to say yes to
each and every idea that I have. And one side
of youth is also a humility of that which you
don't know, because what we've seen in so many of
our so called leaders is a sense as if they
must answer every question. And what I see in city
(30:50):
Hall is the necessity of having a team of people
who have worked across multiple mayoral administrations, Ones who are
not hired on the basis of a prior personal relationship,
their identity, their ideology, but a question of can you
deliver on this agenda. It's an ambitious agenda, it's a
necessary agenda. It will require the best of the best,
(31:13):
and that's the team that we're putting together.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
You just mentioned that if you win in November, you
would be the first mostly mayor in New York. What
does that mean for the perception of Muslims in America?
Since ninety eleven, you.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Know, I've been asked this question many times of what
it means to be the first Muslim mayor and what
does it mean to me to be Muslim? I think
often of my grandmother Kulsum, who helped to raise me,
and my grandfather Yusuf, and they taught me that to
be a good Muslim is to be a good person.
It's to help those in need and harm no one.
(31:46):
And what I've found so often is that this presents
an opportunity just to showcase how New York City and
New Yorkers can be defined in so many different ways,
and none of it asks for politics of preference or hierarchy,
rather one of equality and of respect. And I also
(32:09):
know that there are many misconceptions, you know. I had
a New Yorker who came to me and said, and
I heard, you're going to be the first Muslim mayor.
I said yes, They said, am I going to be
able to buy alcohol in New York City? I said,
you know, where do you buy your alcohol today? Probably
from a Muslim guy who runs your bodega, So you're
going to be.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Fine, okay, since we're laughing. So one of the things
that people ask you, not ask you, they tell you
the same way that they tell me, is that at times,
fairly or unfairly, they call us both Nepple babies.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
That's man.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
So I get that a lot, obviously, because this this
dude is my dad, obviously, your your father is a
very renowned academic, your mother obviously is a very well
known filmmaker. Growing up, like, did you feel like you
had to be this like extraordinary person? You know what
I'm saying, Like, was it like did you feel this uh,
(33:05):
this drive not to be this exemplary kid?
Speaker 4 (33:09):
I I didn't feel the weight of any kind of
burden in that manner. I I was really lucky in
that my parents have been incredibly supportive and they've been
supportive whenever they see that passion in my eyes. And
that's meant when I wanted to be, you know, and
I was an aspiring rapper, that they were willing to
(33:30):
support that as something their son was doing.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
And so they know that that wasn't going to go anywhere.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
There was a point at which my dad put me aside,
said I think I think it's it's a politican, so
I think, you know it's and I was like, you know,
I understand that, I respect that, but but I think
that that support, that belief, that love, that I was
raised with, it gave me the courage to have an
(34:00):
imagination and believe in the possibility of it and not
to limit myself in the many ways in which the
world seeks to limit so many of us. You know,
there are many New Yorkers who grow up only with
a caricature of themselves as the example of what they
could be, a box that they are told to fit into,
and the more that they constrain themselves somehow, the smaller
(34:22):
that box becomes. And I was raised with this sense
that whatever it was that I was interested in, whatever
it was that I was passionate about, that was something
that was worth giving my time to, and I think
it was. It has changed my life and my sense
of possibility in this life. Though. When I told my
mother that I wanted to run for State Assembly, she
(34:43):
asked me, are you sure you can do that with
just a bachelor's studient. I said, yes, as it's possible that.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
Let me adjust manage with this.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Do you have a favorite of your mom's movies, or
a favorite of your dad's books that everybody should watch
or read.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
I leave it to Okay to make this, but I'll
tell you my favor.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Okay, Okay.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
My favorite of my father's books is From Citizen to Refugee.
It tells the story of the last ninety days when
he lived in Uganda before he was expelled in nineteen
seventy two, and in the first ninety days where he
was a refugee living in a camp in England. And
it is a book, unlike many of his others, where
he's writing it himself, about himself and about the world
(35:25):
around him, and how he's reckoning with this moment of
expulsion and what it means as we've alluded to be
a man of hybrid identities and see the world through those.
And for my mother, I have to say Mississippi Masala,
which is the reason that I'm alive. My mother met
(35:47):
my father researching this film, and it is also a
film that tells the story of so many who live
lives in between the boundaries that we are often told
exists in our city and in our country and in
our world.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
For them, one second, we cannot finish an interview without
having you say by in Spanish, come on, what is this?
Speaker 4 (36:13):
And then yeah, I hear my favorite Spanish favorite ones cloud.
There's no question always doing a cloud.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
In the accent.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
It's New York City, It's you know, it's it's this
is how you move to New York City. And that's
what I love is that we are a city of
all of these things at once, and and it's a
place that really gives you a fluency in the world.
And yet there are so many whose ideas of the
(36:49):
world are ones of fear, are ones where they they
seek to cast it aside, and this is a city
that's a celebration of it.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
So thank you so much. We're really appreciated.
Speaker 4 (36:59):
Thank you so much. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
A few days after the interview, the Mamdani campaign centers
the following statement.
Speaker 5 (37:06):
I want to be clear on where I stand. I
believe both Nicolas Maduro and Miguel di Escanel are dictators.
Their administrations have stifled free and fair elections, jailed political opponents,
and suppressed the free and fair press. And yet our
federal government's long history of punitive policies toward both countries,
including extra judicial killings of Venezuelans and the continuation of
(37:29):
a decades long blockade of Cuba have only worsened these conditions.
Democratic socialism is about dignity, justice and accountability, and above all,
it's about building a democracy that works for working people,
not one that praise on them.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
The Moment is a production of radian Bulantes Studios in
partnership with Iheartmichael Dura podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Our staff includes danielle A Larcon, Lauda Rojasa Ponte, Nquel
Santiago Colon and Lisa Serda, with the help from Paula Alian,
Diego cor So, Natalie Ramirez and Elsa Lionaujoa.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Our theme song is by Elias Gonzalez.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
The CEO Radio Bulante Studios is Carolina Guerrero.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Executive producers I Heart, Arlene Santana and Leo Romes. Pablo
Calda also serves as a producer.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
If you like the Moment, pero tavien te gustam podcast Enespanol.
Look for Radio Bulante Historias de Toda America Latina wherever
you listen to podcasts.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
I'm corg Ramos and am Paula Ramos.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Thanks for listening.
Well, I'm Horge Ramos and and this is the moment,
a momento.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
In case you don't know, by the way, Jorge is my.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Dad and I'm Paula's father.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
This is the very, very first time that we are working.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Together in English with an accent.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
But look, in all seriousness, this is a space, we
hope where we get to do exactly this. No, two
journalists who are father and daughter, two people who grew
up in two very different generations, get to do what
we love most, which is be in conversation with some
of the best thinkers out there, activists, artists, other journalists,
(00:48):
people that make us think and that lead us to
have profound, deep thought provoking conversation.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Whenever there's a Latino issue we want we want to
discuss it right here. And also we call it the
moment because I honestly believe Paula. Then in just a
few years, people are going to ask us, what did
you do during those years? And this is our answer.
This is what we did, asking questions, stop questions, challenging power.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Particularly a time where Latinas and immigrants continue to be
one of the most misunderstood in folks out there. So
we hope that this helps us all understand what it
means to be Latino and what it means to be
an immigrant in this moment, and that we really start
to make sense of what this country is going through.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
People might not realize, but we talk to each other
many many times during the day. We text each other,
we talk about news, and basically we're just moving that
conversation from the cell phones to this podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Another thing that people don't know is that beyond you
and I talking all the time, which to this day,
I don't know that's weird.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Or not what we do, I don't think it is.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
It may be normal. But you and I grew up
a partner. I guess I grew up. I spent most
of my childhood in Madrid, living in Spain, across the Atlantic.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
It was very difficult.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
I spent almost thirteen years from you, and I mentioned
this because in a way, yes, this podcast will be
about politics now, Yes it will be about understanding the
Trumpet administration. It'll be about current affairs, but it'll also
be I think, our way to take back time to
maybe have some of those conversations, those more vulnerable conversations
(02:18):
that we didn't get to talk about and so yes,
we'll intertwine all of it, and we invite everyone to
be part of this space, to be part of this conversation,
to make us think, to push back, debate with us,
and more than anything learned from our guests.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
So this is the moment, but also this is our.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Moment for our very first episode. We want to have
a conversation about what political change looks like in the country.
But I think more than anything about what the type
of change people are ready or not ready to embrace
in this moment to do that, I actually want to
take people to New York City. When I think of
New York City that I remember the very first time
(02:54):
I came to the city as a college student. One
of the reasons why I fell in love with New
York City is because it was was progressive, You had
people that looked like me, and it was dreamy. It
was everything that I.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Wanted in a city.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
It has become my city. But this is why it
is then shocking to kind of look at the November
twenty twenty four election results and when you see in
those numbers, is that if you zoom in, actually New
York City saw one of the highest right word shifts
in the country. So what I'm talking about is this
fact that if you zoom into neighborhoods across New York City,
(03:30):
you look at the Bronx, you look at the Upper
West Side, you look at these traditionally Democratic bastions. Donald
Trump made significant inros there.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
It was very hard to believe, very hard to believe.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
And he made inroads in very heavy Latino and immigrant neighborhoods.
And so in the middle of this picture where you
see Donald Trump's right word shifts across the nation, giving him,
of course, his profound and resounding victory. In the middle
of that story, something else happens. That is that this summer,
the underdog in New York City's Democratic primary now a
(04:05):
thirty three year old self described Democratic socialist whose parents
are immigrants. This person shocks the nation, he shocks the
Democratic Party, He shocks Onmo Trump when he suddenly beats
Andrew Como.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Well, Paula. He did more than that.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
He managed to reverse Trump's trend, winning a lot of
voters from Latino communities, working class communities, and communities of
color across New York City that the Trump campaign targeted.
So we're talking about the New York City candidate for Mayor,
Souran mam Danny.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
And that is exactly what is at the heart of
this episode. Now this one question, does the man Danny
campaign represents a new kind of path for the Democratic
Party or perhaps the question is is the party ready
for him?
Speaker 1 (04:48):
After a break, we'll be right back with Souran Mamdani.
So for those who are not following very closely in
the race for mayor in New York City, I want
to know a little bit more about you and your identity.
Your mother is a filmmaker, your father's an academic. You
move from Uganda to Manhattan when you were seen years old.
When did you begin to feel that you are a
(05:08):
New Yorker?
Speaker 4 (05:09):
It was quite soon. I fell in love with the
city almost immediately. And it was a city that first
I knew, mostly in Morningside Heights where I grew up,
and then it was one that I got to see
through the eyes of the Bronx when I went to
high school. And it's the city where I've become a man,
the city where I met my wife, the city where
I got my citizenship, and now the city that I'm
(05:30):
running to represent.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
When I identify myself, I say, before anything else, I'm
an immigrant, Honestly, before anything else. I'm the father of
Paola and Nicolas in Carlota. But I feel that even
after forty years in this country, I still feel like
an outsider, as an immigrant.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
I wonder if you feel that way.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
I think one of the most beautiful things about this
city is that everyone can belong, that everyone can feel
of this place. You know, I would be the first
immigrant mayor in generations New Yorkers were born outside of
this country, and that idea of how many different New
York cities exist within one. You know, we're often told
(06:09):
a specific story of this city as if it is
the only story. But the further you go across the
five boroughs, the more you understand that all of these
different places are a part of this same city. And
what I love about it is the fabric of this
city is one that allows people to see themselves in it,
not to feel as if they are merely visiting or
(06:31):
they are here to be tolerated, but they are here
to be celebrated. This this is their home town.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
You still feel like an immigrant or I'm not sure
about that. I think I do, But that's why I'm
asking you know, I.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Am an immigrant. I definitely feel my immigrant identity, and
to me, that's not intention with feeling like a New Yorker.
So much of what New York City is is a
celebration of immigrant culture. You know, when I'm speaking in
or Do and eating Brianni, I am still doing so
as a New Yorker. And that's what I love about
this place is it doesn't ask you to give up
(07:04):
any of yourself to become a part of it. It
asks you to bring all of it and join everyone
who's here.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
And I think that's the story that I want to
focus on, how an immigrant wins in New York City. Obviously,
it's not surprising that everyone was shocked when you won.
I mean everyone in the Democratic Party was shocked because
in February you were pulling out one percent. Yes, you
know the story, little to no name recognition, and yet
here you are. But I want to focus on understanding
(07:32):
your victory. You know, because if you zoom into, those
numbers are incredibly interesting because you do very well with
Latino voters. You keep zooming in. You do well in
Washington Heights, you do well in Queens, you do well
in parts of the Bronx, and if you continue to
zoom in, you do well in precincts where Donald Trump
made significant in roads with Latino voters in twenty twenty four.
(07:53):
And so the question is how do you do that, Like,
how do you do so well with Latino voters?
Speaker 4 (07:57):
I think the first thing is by listening. You know,
after Donald Trump won the presidency and we saw a
right word shift in New York City's results, and the
fact that that shift took place far from the caricature
of Trump voters, but in many places, in fact, in
the heart of immigrant New York City. I went to
(08:18):
Fordham Road in the Bronx, I went to Hillside Avenue
in Queens, and I asked New Yorkers, who did you
vote for and why. Many of the New Yorkers that
spoke to me were Latino New Yorkers, and they told
me in English, and some of them even told me
in Spanish through a friend who was translating, why they
voted for Donald Trump. And again and again, it came
back to the cost of living. It came back to
(08:38):
them feeling like it was easier to afford this city
four years ago, and now the cost of rent, the
cost of childcare, the cost of groceries was putting this
city further out of reach, and the things that they
used to take for granted were now negotiations and debates
of which of these two things they could afford. And
in speaking to Latino New Yorkers and hearing that time
(08:59):
and again, knowing that it wouldn't take the classic condescension
that is often offered when a result goes the other way,
but instead an embrace of the same agenda that they
were feeling in their day to day lives that could
bring them back to this party. And then even as
we progress through this campaign, we knew that our agenda
of making the most expensive city the United States of
(09:21):
America affordable was one that was popular with New Yorkers
across race, across religion, across region. And yet I also
had heard from a number of our volunteers and our
supporters Latino New Yorkers that if only you could do
something in Spanish so I could give this same message
to my abuela. And so that was the feedback that
(09:41):
led me and my campaign team to make a video
in Spanish, which if you watch the video, it starts
in the daytime and it ends in the nighttime, because
that's how long it took me to get every single line.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
You're saying, I'm boiler pretty well, yes, well, who is
my friend? You're great in Spanish? Very well, thank you
very much.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
But then, is what is the lesson learned for Democrats
in Washington d C. I mean, is it that what
you and Trump have in common? Is it that you're
talking about the economy and ways that Latinos can understand?
And is that enough?
Speaker 4 (10:10):
I think so often in our party we treat voters
of color, not just primarily, but oftentimes exclusively through the
question of identity, and we leave behind any questions of class.
And what I heard from many of these same New Yorkers,
who oftentimes I had been told would never vote for
Donald Trump because of everything he had said and has
(10:32):
said about Latinos, we're telling me that for them, the
most important crisis with whether or not they could afford
this city and to actually respond to that, as opposed
to going to lecture someone as to why they made
the wrong decision. And also it's trying. You know, I
don't speak Spanish. I speak the ten words that every
(10:52):
New Yorker knows growing up in this city. And yet
you know, my friend Amanda was up for taking me
through six hours of that video where she taught me
that it's not larenta. It's larenta. You know that you
actually you have to roll your arm and you have
to get it right, and you have to put in
the work. And that respect is often one that is
denied to Latino voters, but also immigrant New Yorkers at large.
(11:15):
I would say, where you go to a consultant and
they tell you, these are the voters you speak to,
the ones who voted in the last three primaries, these
are the only ones that were worth your time. And
we asked the question, what if you gave your time
to those that had never been given that same consideration,
What if they were actually shown that they were a
part of the same constitution.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
But is this economic populism? I mean, you're concentrating on affordability,
and you're concentrating on childcare, free bosses housing. It sounds wonderful,
but I wonder if it's realistic. You've been asked this
question in a thousand times and you've been giving all
kinds of answers, but people might think that you might
be underestimating the costs At the end, Who's going to
(11:53):
pay for all that? Isn't that the question?
Speaker 4 (11:55):
It is a question, and to that there is an answer.
We live in the wealthy city, in the wealth this country,
in the history of the world. I'm speaking about running
a city that has a city budget, city government's budget
of one hundred and fifteen billion dollars, give or take,
state budget of about two hundred and fifty two billion dollars,
give or take. There's an immense amount of money. Now,
when Andrew Cuomo wanted to spend nine hundred and fifty
(12:17):
nine million dollars to give tax break to Elon Musk,
people did not question whether it was realistic. But when
we want to spend less money than that to make
every bus free in New York City, we're told that
it's an agenda that is too ambitious.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
You mean you need more taxes.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
I've spoken about the need to increase revenue. I've said
there are two ways I think that are the most productive.
One is raising the state's top corporate tax rate to
match that of New Jersey. The other is raising the
personal income tax rate on the top one percent of
New Yorkers who make a million dollars a year or
more by two percent. So if you're making a million dollars,
that would just be an additional twenty thousand.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Dollars in taxes.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Yes, I've said, I've said that what I'm running on
is an agenda to deliver for working class New Yorkers
and an honesty as to how we will raise the
money in order to do so. And knowing that amidst
that plan of raising revenue, there is also the real
opportunity to look at the way we spend our money
(13:13):
now and ask the hard questions to ensure that every
single dollar is going towards the intended outcome of making
the city more affordable.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
So despite that is, what are your chances of win?
Do you think today you think you're gonna win?
Speaker 4 (13:24):
I feel quite confident, which means that you feel confident.
I do. I feel confident, and I smile because you know,
today we got the news that Eric Adams and Curtis
Leewa are being considered for jobs in the Trump administration,
And oftentimes this kind of news is framed in the
(13:45):
context of how it impacts the race. And I feel
just as confident as I did yesterday about winning this race.
What outrages me in this news is that it's an
affront to our democracy. It's an affront to the very
notion that makes so many of us proud to be American,
that we can choose our own leaders, not that they
pick themselves or their friends. The conversations that have taken
(14:06):
place between Eric Adams and the Trump administration, or Andrew
Cuomo and Donald Trump himself, they are not conversations about
the welfare of New Yorkers. They're not conversations about how
to make the city more affordable. They are conversations about power,
how to secure it and retain it.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
So it's this system against you, and that's how you
see it, all those systems or everyone against you.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
No, I don't see it as everyone against me. I
see it as running against the politics of the past.
And New Yorkers are tired of that politics, a politics
that promises you that which you already have and tells
you simply to celebrate it, as opposed to crying out
for that which you deserve. You know, we just found
out that Andrew Cuomo has spoken to Donald Trump more
than he's spoken to Kathy Hokle in the last few months.
(14:46):
That tells you about someone whose understanding of politics is
tied not only did the past, but also to these
specific people that he can see himself in and they
can see themselves in. And yet what New Yorkers have
been crying out for for you years is a functioning
relationship between city Hall and Albany City Hall and Democrats
in DC. And I say this as someone who thinks
(15:10):
the greatest mayor in our city's history was Federal Laguardian
and you cannot disentangle his accomplishments from the relationship he
built with Washington, DC and with those of his party
that were there. And that's also what I'm seeking to build.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
You know, many Latino immigrants came to New York City
from living on their socialist regimes. So when you say
that you are on socialist democratic socialist, many of them
are very scared and they would never vote for someone
who calls himself a socialist. I was seeing the numbers
in New York City. There are about one hundred and
(15:43):
forty thousand Cubans in twenty twenty two, the largest just
share of our rivals were from Venezuelans. So what can
you tell them about you being a socialist? They simply
can't vote for you because you're a socialist.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
You know, I was told this when I started the race,
that there were many New Yorkers who I could not
reach because of the fact of how I described my
politics as being a democratic socialist. And I was proud
that by the end of the primary, we won Latino
voters by seven points, and we won it by not
(16:18):
looking to debate those same New Yorkers as to their
own experiences, but rather by understanding them, by listening to them,
and by explaining that these experiences that they've been told
to me, whether it's with the sense of freedom narrowing
in one's life, or the inability for any dissent to
take place without repression, that these were the exact examples
(16:40):
of the opposite of what it was that we were
fighting for.
Speaker 5 (16:44):
Now.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Our vision, my vision as a democratic socialist, is one
that can be best described by the words of doctor
King decades ago, when he said, call it democracy or
call it democratic socialism. There must be a distribution of
wealth for all of God's children in this country. And
we often hear politicians say New York City is the
(17:06):
greatest city in the world. They don't answer the question
of what good is being the greatest city in the
world if you cannot afford to live here. What good
are the freedoms that we talk about if you can't
afford to exercise them. And so to these same New
Yorkers who have had these kinds of experiences, ones that
are often characterized by the absence of freedom, I speak
to them about the ways in which our freedom here
cannot simply be in the rights that we have, but
(17:28):
are in our ability to afford that same city to
use those rights. And I've found time and again that
what people care most about is if they can actually
afford their day to day life in this city.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
You have the same ideology is not that important?
Speaker 4 (17:42):
I think It's not been the first question that New
Yorkers have asked me. But even more than that, I've
often been asked us to what does it mean when
I say that I'm a Democratic socialist.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I think that's important because Republicans and some Democrats weaponize
that term so much. I mean, it's completely misconstrued. So
what's the most simple way to address a Spanish speaking
Latino New Yorker who may want to vote for you,
but he's so scared about that term.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
I would tell that New Yorker that to be a
democratic socialist is to believe that every New Yorker should
live a dignified life, and that that is city government's
responsibility to ensure that it's about the things that you need,
not the things that you want or the things that
you'd like, but that you need to live that dignified life.
And in New York City, there's a consensus that every
(18:30):
child should be able to go to K through twelve,
that there should be a library, that you should have
a sanitation department, of fire department, of police department. And
yet there are other things that we all know to
be necessary, and yet we are accepting of the fact
that one could be priced out of it childcare before
your child can go to K through twelve, that child
care costs twenty five thousand dollars a year. Housing. We
(18:53):
are seeing more and more New Yorkers being priced out
of the places that they call home. If you even
think about public transits in the name public transit cost
two dollars and ninety cents per ride, but one in
five New Yorkers can't afford that anymore. And so it's
applying that consensus to that which is needed and necessary.
That's what drives this vision of a city that's affordable,
a city that freezes the rent for rent stabilized tenants,
(19:16):
makes the slowest buses fast and free, and delivers universal
childcare for each and every New Yorker.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Politically, I think I have to ask you this question,
just going back to socialismo, do you think that Miguel
Dias Canel in QY is a dictator?
Speaker 4 (19:30):
I haven't thought much about Miguel Diaz, I'll be honest
with you. I think mostly about these five boroughs and
how we can actually deliver affordability for New Yorkers.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
But do you think Nicolasma Duro is a dictator in Venezuela.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
I think he has done many a horrible thing.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
But again, do you do you think it's important that
you say that they are dictators and that people understand
here in New York that you are not aligned with them.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
I think it's clear and it's important for me to
showcase how this a vision for the people of the city,
and as you said, it is in stark contrast to
the experiences that many others have had. And I think
when I hear from a number of Venezuela New Yorkers
about what drove them to come to this city, the
conditions that they had to live through. I understand their skepticism,
(20:17):
I understand their caution, and yet I have found in
them and understanding that my vision is one that is
distinct from that experience.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
But I wonder if you're reluctant to call them dictators
in Cuba and Venezuela.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
I'm not reluctant. I just haven't thought about them that often.
I'll be honest with you. I think that Maduro's government
is one of repression, There's no question about it.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
And I think in Cuba, sorry, and also it's happened
in QS in nineteen fifteen, And I.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Think that the repression that whether we're speaking about Cuban
New Yorkers or Venezuela New Yorkers, that they have had
to live through is a repression that stands in a
clear contrast from what our vision is here.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
That you do think a lot about is Andrew Cuomo.
So one of his main lines of attack against you.
He loves to remind voters that you once stated that
you wanted to defund the police. He also likes to
remind people that you once also stated that you implied
that NYPD was racist. Some people are genuinely concerned about that, right,
(21:21):
because as he's framing you, he wants some people to
think that you don't understand public safety. So how do
you address those accusations?
Speaker 4 (21:28):
You know, Andrew Cuomo, I was saying, is a politician
of the past, and he wishes that we were still there,
and he runs against my campaign, not for our own
vision of public safety, not for the platform that we've
actually shared, but instead for these tweets from twenty twenty.
And I've been very clear throughout the entirety of this
(21:48):
campaign that we are not defunding the police. We're not
running to do so. We are running to actually work
with the police to create true public safety. And our
vision for that is one that empowers and enables police
officers to do their jobs. And part of that is
a recognition that by putting the responsibility of responding to
nearly every single failure of the social safety net on them,
(22:12):
we are making it impossible for them to actually respond
to those shootings and those murders, by asking them to
respond to two hundred thousand mental health calls a year,
and so our vision is one that says we need
to create a department of Community Safety that will be
tasked with the responsibility whether it's a mental health crisis
or homelessness, and that we should ensure that we bring
(22:33):
an end to this exodus of officers from the department
that when I started running, was about two hundred officers
a month, now is about three hundred, three hundred and
fifty officers a month. And when you ask why are
they leaving, oftentimes they will say it is because of
the forced overtime that they are being told they have
to take. Now, there are some officers who want to
(22:54):
take over time and they take their overtime. What I'm
speaking about is the distinction where you have I have
an officer who has three days off and then they
are told at the last moment that that vacation they
planned with their family they have to come back for
a second day and they have no choice about that.
And that is a tough life for many to live.
And that's part of the sexodust that we see as.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
It currently stands today. Do you see the NYPD as
an extension advice like the way that things are playing
out right now, how do you see.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
That I see these as two distinct entities, and yet so.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Many people want to emerge those right and deputize them.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
And yet I have seen a number of incidents that
give me great pause and concern. I mean, I heard
a story of a New Yorker who took down all
of the numbers on the wall of all of the
apartments on that floor, such that ice would not know
which door to knock on. That's how people are living
right now. And it's not just one that extends at
(23:47):
an individual level. It's also one that extends at a
communal level. If you go into certain neighborhoods in New
York City, you feel the absence of that bustle. You
feel when you speak to small business owners, you hear
from them about how fewer customers they have that are
actually coming in. I mean, we just had the West
Indian Day Parade and I was speaking to the owner
of a health food store called Nannis, and he was
(24:08):
telling me that they've been in business for years and
they feel fewer and fewer people coming through their doors
because they're terrified. It is a real chilling of the city.
And what the NYPD must do and must be is
distinct from ice that we have to ensure that the
(24:28):
possibility of collaboration that has been opened up by Eric
Adams's administration is one that we not only never fulfill,
but is one that we put in the past and
return instead to a policy of sanctuary cities that are
not simply a reflection of our values. They are also
policies that have kept New York are safe for decades.
(24:49):
These were policies that were defended by Rudy Giuliani, and
now we are looking at them as if they are
an example of a city that is in crisis, when
in fact, this is part of how he made this
city safe.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Really, just because before we get into immigration, I just
want to stick with this idea of the police because
and I'll tell you why please. I think what Trump
has done very well is reimagine the role of the police. Now,
what he does very well is attempt to dismantle systems.
No attempt to reimagine what the National Guard looks like,
(25:22):
the NYPD can look like, how to invoke things. And
so I wonder if, as Democrats, right, if the Democratic
Party has something to learn about the way that Trump
can dismantle a system. And I would then ask you
why shy away from this idea of defunding the police, right,
I feel like, if you are in the Trump world,
(25:45):
they are so radical and adamant about their ideas. Do
Democrats kind of shy away from embracing some of these
more progressive ideas?
Speaker 4 (25:53):
Like?
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Is there something to learn from them?
Speaker 4 (25:55):
I think Republicans have shown us that there is no
limit to their imagination.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Right.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
They want to remake this country in a manner that
we would have scarcely thought plausible or possible just years ago.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
I mean, some would say that they even dream more
than Democrats.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
And I think oftentimes we can see with our own
party the inability to have an affirmative vision. It is
a party that we have seen too often is simply
reacting to the vision that is being put forward. So
much of our campaign was an argument that democracy isn't
just under attack from an authoritary administration from the outside,
(26:33):
it's also under attack from a withering belief in its
ability to deliver on the inside. And while Republicans say
that there is no limit to their imagination, Democrats are
so often constructing an ever lowering ceiling to what we
think is possible.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
I ever, feel like you have to compromise. I mean, like,
as a true Democratic socialist, Like, do you feel like
you have to compromise to win? To win? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (26:57):
I don't feel that way, and I think I've shown
that doing in fact have to do that. You know,
when I started this race as a Muslim immigrant New
Yorker who's a Democratic socialist, I was told time and
time again that either by virtue of my identity or
my ideology or my age, that this idea was an
interesting one at best, but it would never actually be
(27:19):
considered by New Yorkers across the five boroughs. And what
we saw is not only did we win this race,
we won it by a margin of thirteen points. We
want it with the support of close to six hundred
thousand New Yorkers votes, the most votes of any primary
winner in New York City history. And that shows what's
possible when you actually are willing to fight for something
(27:41):
you believe in. And it's not to say that every
single New Yorker agrees with me on every single issue,
but I shared many a time in this race about
the words of Ed Koch, who said, if you agree
with me in nine out of twelve issues, vote for
me twelve out of twelve see a psychiatrist, because that's
what it means to live in this city. It means
to know that tension and disagreement is a natural part
of living in a place together, and that as long
(28:03):
as there is a central theme that we can agree
on that we can fight for together, and that being affordability,
than anything is possible.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Physic about immigration. Many, many Latinos are living in fear
in New York City right now. This is supposed to
be assigned Toy City. Regardless of that, they still feel
so much, so much fear. So what would be concrete
steps that you would take in order just to protect
those immigrants.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
There are a number of things. The first is to
ensure that we do not see any more incidents such
as the ones that have taken place under this administration
of collaboration between the NYPD and ICE, that goes in
violation of our sanctuary city policies. The second thing is
not only protect those policies, but to strengthen them. The
third thing is to look at what is possible under
the tools that we have right now. Of the eight
(28:48):
and a half million people who call the city home,
four hundred thousand are in danger of immediate danger of deportation.
The city has a program that could provide legal defense
vises for New Yorkers in attention. Of those four hundred thousand,
the city served less than two hundred last year, and
so we have put forward a commitment to fund additional
(29:12):
tens of millions of dollars in legal defense services because
we know that by simple virtue of having a lawyer
in those proceedings, it increases your chances of going home
to your family elevenfold. And that's our responsibility to do
everything in our power to make sure that we're keeping
families together. And this is something that I've found New
(29:36):
Yorkers are crying out for, that clarity and that courage
to actually stand up for what this city represents. You know,
we have tourists from across the world who come here
to see the statue of liberty, and then we turn
our back on those same words that are etched into
stone by practicing this politics of collaboration with Donald Trump.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
One of the main pushbacks now that Republicans are constantly
saying is that how will this thirty three year old
self described democratic socialists handle such a huge budget? Can
he do it?
Speaker 4 (30:05):
I am and I'm equipped not because of my unique
mastery of the work of that budget, but because of
the fact that I will run this city and lead
this city with equal parts, understanding that I am the
one who is responsible for what happens in city Hall,
and I have to surround myself with people who are
(30:26):
characterized by track records of excellence and of outcomes, not
people who are simply the quickest to say yes to
each and every idea that I have. And one side
of youth is also a humility of that which you
don't know, because what we've seen in so many of
our so called leaders is a sense as if they
must answer every question. And what I see in city
(30:50):
Hall is the necessity of having a team of people
who have worked across multiple mayoral administrations, Ones who are
not hired on the basis of a prior personal relationship,
their identity, their ideology, but a question of can you
deliver on this agenda. It's an ambitious agenda, it's a
necessary agenda. It will require the best of the best,
(31:13):
and that's the team that we're putting together.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
You just mentioned that if you win in November, you
would be the first mostly mayor in New York. What
does that mean for the perception of Muslims in America?
Since ninety eleven, you.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Know, I've been asked this question many times of what
it means to be the first Muslim mayor and what
does it mean to me to be Muslim? I think
often of my grandmother Kulsum, who helped to raise me,
and my grandfather Yusuf, and they taught me that to
be a good Muslim is to be a good person.
It's to help those in need and harm no one.
(31:46):
And what I've found so often is that this presents
an opportunity just to showcase how New York City and
New Yorkers can be defined in so many different ways,
and none of it asks for politics of preference or hierarchy,
rather one of equality and of respect. And I also
(32:09):
know that there are many misconceptions, you know. I had
a New Yorker who came to me and said, and
I heard, you're going to be the first Muslim mayor.
I said yes, They said, am I going to be
able to buy alcohol in New York City? I said,
you know, where do you buy your alcohol today? Probably
from a Muslim guy who runs your bodega, So you're
going to be.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Fine, okay, since we're laughing. So one of the things
that people ask you, not ask you, they tell you
the same way that they tell me, is that at times,
fairly or unfairly, they call us both Nepple babies.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
That's man.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
So I get that a lot, obviously, because this this
dude is my dad, obviously, your your father is a
very renowned academic, your mother obviously is a very well
known filmmaker. Growing up, like, did you feel like you
had to be this like extraordinary person? You know what
I'm saying, Like, was it like did you feel this uh,
(33:05):
this drive not to be this exemplary kid?
Speaker 4 (33:09):
I I didn't feel the weight of any kind of
burden in that manner. I I was really lucky in
that my parents have been incredibly supportive and they've been
supportive whenever they see that passion in my eyes. And
that's meant when I wanted to be, you know, and
I was an aspiring rapper, that they were willing to
(33:30):
support that as something their son was doing.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
And so they know that that wasn't going to go anywhere.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
There was a point at which my dad put me aside,
said I think I think it's it's a politican, so
I think, you know it's and I was like, you know,
I understand that, I respect that, but but I think
that that support, that belief, that love, that I was
raised with, it gave me the courage to have an
(34:00):
imagination and believe in the possibility of it and not
to limit myself in the many ways in which the
world seeks to limit so many of us. You know,
there are many New Yorkers who grow up only with
a caricature of themselves as the example of what they
could be, a box that they are told to fit into,
and the more that they constrain themselves somehow, the smaller
(34:22):
that box becomes. And I was raised with this sense
that whatever it was that I was interested in, whatever
it was that I was passionate about, that was something
that was worth giving my time to, and I think
it was. It has changed my life and my sense
of possibility in this life. Though. When I told my
mother that I wanted to run for State Assembly, she
(34:43):
asked me, are you sure you can do that with
just a bachelor's studient. I said, yes, as it's possible that.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
Let me adjust manage with this.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Do you have a favorite of your mom's movies, or
a favorite of your dad's books that everybody should watch
or read.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
I leave it to Okay to make this, but I'll
tell you my favor.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Okay, Okay.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
My favorite of my father's books is From Citizen to Refugee.
It tells the story of the last ninety days when
he lived in Uganda before he was expelled in nineteen
seventy two, and in the first ninety days where he
was a refugee living in a camp in England. And
it is a book, unlike many of his others, where
he's writing it himself, about himself and about the world
(35:25):
around him, and how he's reckoning with this moment of
expulsion and what it means as we've alluded to be
a man of hybrid identities and see the world through those.
And for my mother, I have to say Mississippi Masala,
which is the reason that I'm alive. My mother met
(35:47):
my father researching this film, and it is also a
film that tells the story of so many who live
lives in between the boundaries that we are often told
exists in our city and in our country and in
our world.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
For them, one second, we cannot finish an interview without
having you say by in Spanish, come on, what is this?
Speaker 4 (36:13):
And then yeah, I hear my favorite Spanish favorite ones cloud.
There's no question always doing a cloud.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
In the accent.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
It's New York City, It's you know, it's it's this
is how you move to New York City. And that's
what I love is that we are a city of
all of these things at once, and and it's a
place that really gives you a fluency in the world.
And yet there are so many whose ideas of the
(36:49):
world are ones of fear, are ones where they they
seek to cast it aside, and this is a city
that's a celebration of it.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
So thank you so much. We're really appreciated.
Speaker 4 (36:59):
Thank you so much. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
A few days after the interview, the Mamdani campaign centers
the following statement.
Speaker 5 (37:06):
I want to be clear on where I stand. I
believe both Nicolas Maduro and Miguel di Escanel are dictators.
Their administrations have stifled free and fair elections, jailed political opponents,
and suppressed the free and fair press. And yet our
federal government's long history of punitive policies toward both countries,
including extra judicial killings of Venezuelans and the continuation of
(37:29):
a decades long blockade of Cuba have only worsened these conditions.
Democratic socialism is about dignity, justice and accountability, and above all,
it's about building a democracy that works for working people,
not one that praise on them.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
The Moment is a production of radian Bulantes Studios in
partnership with Iheartmichael Dura podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Our staff includes danielle A Larcon, Lauda Rojasa Ponte, Nquel
Santiago Colon and Lisa Serda, with the help from Paula Alian,
Diego cor So, Natalie Ramirez and Elsa Lionaujoa.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Our theme song is by Elias Gonzalez.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
The CEO Radio Bulante Studios is Carolina Guerrero.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Executive producers I Heart, Arlene Santana and Leo Romes. Pablo
Calda also serves as a producer.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
If you like the Moment, pero tavien te gustam podcast Enespanol.
Look for Radio Bulante Historias de Toda America Latina wherever
you listen to podcasts.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
I'm corg Ramos and am Paula Ramos.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Thanks for listening.
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