July 15, 2025 • 46 mins
@THEKIDMERO
@NEWYORKSTATEAG
@LETITIAJAMESFORNY
@VICTORYLIGHTPODCAST
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know what's upthing? You want to keep? Marrow? This
is victory, like you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
We had a special edition today, Baby, We in Brooklyn
with none other than James Letitia James, New York State
Attorney General. And we're talking about affordability. We're talking about
the mayoral race and Zoran. We're talking about her past,
We're talking about my past. We're talking about her alma
mater present and how she swooped in and saved it.
You know what I'm saying, All that and more.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
And yes she does cuss a lot, you know.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
What I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Like she's my partner's space and we lose him, So
stay right there, don't go nowhere.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Lictory like Lictor he wrote a lot, maryw Hey, you
know like what like I like to be prepared, I
know speaking to people of your magnet. Oh please give
(00:53):
me a break, Marrow. Just like if we have to
be relaxed, chill, that's what we do.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
We're in junius, listen, and I'm lactose in tolerance, so
I'm not gonna have the cheesecake just yet. Because we
got production. They got the lactaids in the back for me.
For real, I'm gonna enjoy.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
One after because I think they I think they have
a lactose Yes, I think so, I think so yeah,
I might do that. You should do that.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I might do that because I didn't want to.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I don't like I said, you're a very important person, right,
and I'm lactose intolerant, so I.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Didn't want to.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
You're very No, It's okay, you know by.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Saying, these are sensitive microphones. So if I sit up
here and start, you know what I mean. I started
put in front of the Laisha James.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
It's fine. You and make me feel at home. Somebody
just follow you around forty that listen.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I have four brothers, okay, okay, I fully understand.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
I'm I'm a follower for three boys and a daughter.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
One daughter is the last one. I'm gonna pray for her,
so she's I'm a son of that. But you know what,
she's gonna represent her own. She's gonna stand right, standing
up to those boys. That's right. That's right.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I'm gonna send it to the Latsia James Camp.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
For strong women exactly and come from a long line.
That's right. That's right. I'm gonna tell that young lady
to stand up and make sure she claims that bathroom.
You're gonna wipe that toil to seat. Tell him to
wipe it down, y'all nasty. I'm talking to my boys directly.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I'm talking to y'all, Amari, you know, Avery, Adrian, stop
pissing on the seat.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Because any since I gotta go sit there.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Right right, And she's not cleaning up after you, she's
not at all. I've seen her do it once. I said,
don't you did? Don't you dare put that clorox wipe
down exactly to those chemicals. Yeah, hands grab them and
bring them into the bathroom like this. No, yes, oh man, listen,
(02:49):
you know the energy man.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
This is Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Okay, this is Latitia James, the Attorney General, first State.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Of New York. Brooklyn is in the house.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
That's why we're here in Brooklyn.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yes, this is yes, your home course. Yes, welcome.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Thank you for having me here.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Thank you for having thank you for being here. I
appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
You know, Brooklyn born and raised.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Like I said, yeah, a lot has changed, a lot
has stayed the same.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
What has changed? What has stayed the same for you?
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Well, you're in juniors, so do you remember the time
when Juniors used to have the beats on the table,
nasty beats. They were nasty though they were out there
with flies and everything.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Anyway, Yeah, I think it was to attract the flies,
to keep them away from the other food.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Well they're not here anymore. But but but the pancakes
are here, the corn beef hashes here, the strawberry cheesecake
is here. Everyone needs to come to Juniors. If you
are a tourist or if you're in New York City
residence or New York State resident, everyone must come to Juniors.
This is a historic place. It's it's sacred.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
It is a moment.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
You know, this moment. Okay, and we're back, you know
what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
We're back. So yeah, listen an institution.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Like I said earlier, I'm lactose intolerant, but you just
put me on game that they have lactose for cheese cake.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Now, so I think so, I think so so. But
a lot has changed. I mean, you see all these buildings,
and I was a city council member when they rezoned
all of this, and you know this was not supposed
to be what we see.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
What was it supposed to be.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
It was supposed to be more commercial and more industrial,
and it turned out to be primarily residential. And a
lot of these units, most brook Nights can't afford it,
Most New Yorkers can't afford it. And they're really small units.
And you know, you know, we have families, We have
big families. And it's unfortunate that individuals are being priced
out of that community. It's unfortunate that countless number of
(04:43):
individuals are homeless, doubling up and tripling up surfing. And
what you see here is La looland Shangri la and
not a community fantasy, not fantasy, and not a community
for Brooklyn Heights. And so I you know, I've lived
in Brooklyn all my life. A lot of the residents,
constituents that are represented, are no longer here. They've moved
(05:06):
to the south, this reverse migration back to the south, Atlanta,
North Carolina, South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
I went south to not too south, just Jersey.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yes, you know, because you couldn't afford it, right, right.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Because it's like, man, why am I going to put
these three kids exactly and now four kids right in
a small unit?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
We got two bedrooms?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Right, you see, I still want to be intimate. Right,
that's called t M I yeah, oh man, So listen,
let's let's keep it. Let's get back. Let's let's get
out of the nasty.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Okay, let's get into some you know some a little
bit more.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Let's walk on the Lord's path.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
You're active in your church and Clinton Hill and south
to Clinton Hill, that's right, walking distance.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
The thoughts on the new pope, because we got an
American pope.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Now I like him. He's he's from Chicago town. Okay,
make that specific town. So I really like him because
he cares about others, and he cares about immigrants more
than anything else. And you know what, you know, when
I walk these streets, you know what break my heart.
Individuals will come up to me who are immigrants who
are just concerned and afraid about what is happening. Individuals
(06:17):
who are concerned about being separated, families where loved ones
have been detained, kidnapped in the middle of the night.
People who are afraid to go to work, go to church,
go to court. Individuals who have witnessed horrific crimes refused
to be witnesses because they're afraid that they might get
caught up with ice and that's just not you know,
(06:40):
the America that I love. And to see all of
these young people, to see all these immigrants just fall
in my arms crying, just breaks my heart.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
As a member of you know, the state legislature seeing
these people, because like you said, it's different now like
there was always you know, immigrant, there was always ice
was always a thing. There was always immigration, and there
was always like, you know whatever. But now to your point,
it feels like a little bit, not a little bit,
a lot scarier because it's just like.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
You look like you might be. It's not, Hey, I'm
going over here now.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
They're going to job sites, they're going to churches, they're
going to they're going to home depot, home depot, parking
lives exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
They just snatching people up.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
And not too far from here is Little Haiti, and
Little Haiti used to be a bustling community. It's quiet
Washington Heights Dominican community. Shout out to my Dominican in community. Yeah, yeah,
yes quiet.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
You know how hard it is to keep Dominicans quiet?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Tell me I know, because they can party, and I
party right there with them. I'm definitely. The point is
is that you know, the number of people that President
Trump has deported, it's less than what President Obama that
numbers wise.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Yeah, a lot of people, a lot of people don't know.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
But he's gonna catch up. Why because of this big
beautiful or ugly bill that they just passed.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Big booty built, big booty assi butter ass bill.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Exactly right, the big booty, big badass, bad building, bad build.
How does that?
Speaker 1 (08:29):
How does something like that even happen in government? You
know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Because like I feel like we're entering uncharted waters in
terms of like you know, you know, you're at the
state level. You know, you have to deal with these
people directly, you know, for funding for.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
All kinds of stuff, all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
What is it like dealing with the administration that looks
like they just mess up? They just funking around like
we just here that Hey, we don't care what's well, Hey,
we're gonna do this. We're gonna move fast and break
stuff like and not in a good way.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah. So you have a compliant Congress. They control both
houses House of Representatives in the Senate, and they got
you know, the Supreme Court, so you got all these
conservative judges so don't come up to me and say
politics don't matter. Don't come up to me and say
voting doesn't matter. I don't want to hear that because
you might get smacked down. Yes it matters, It definitely matters,
(09:22):
particularly now given all that's happened. And don't tell me
that Trump was a friend of communities of color, because y'all,
you know, listen, a lot of brothers came up to
me and said, Tish, I got a stimulus check and
Donald Trump signed it. That's my man. I gotta pay.
I gotta pay for Pampas and food and stuff. Look
(09:42):
with the check, that's my man.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
You know, it's crazy and our community. I was saying
this to Suzora Mamdani. It's not ignorance, it's not you know,
it's not like, oh this person isn't smart.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
It's bro. I am working twelve hours a day, right.
The the media that.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I consume is just like mainstream TV and a lot
of the.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Times, you know, money talks over there.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
That's right, you know.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
So then when you have a.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Situation like uh with my Donnie, where it's like people,
it's like the people you.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Know right speak it right too to their issues to
their issues, right, and that's what Trump did. He spoke
to their economic woes. Isn't it ironic that Trump and
mom Donnie haves a lot in common? You know, simple concept.
We don't want war.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
We just hat affordability.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
And Democrats were talking about democracy and people are like,
what the fuck is that?
Speaker 1 (10:36):
What are you talking about?
Speaker 3 (10:37):
What are you talking about? My language?
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Because I thank you, I thank you, please, thank you
for breaking the seal because I'll be coaching like a motherfucker.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
And I was just waiting because listen, I'm.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
A respectful young man, you know, and I respect Listen.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
It's too early in the morning for me to stop cussing. No,
it ain't because jus okay, this is.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
It is crazy.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
And you didn't get me any food. God damn it.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Well we got you some coffee and some water to
keep you hydrated because you say listen and it ain't
me and you said you had lunch so you got
to keep it light.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
You couldn't do the silver dollar pay's that he did offer.
He did offer a silver dollar pay He's a gentleman.
He is a gentleman.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
He's a gentleman.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Actually, his staff was gonna pay twisted. He's a cheap
it's employment. You know what I'm saying. Right, that up,
you know what I'm saying correctly. But they were talking
real they were talking real issues, right. And so the
brothers at the corner, you know, my entrepreneurial brothers, who
were saying, you know, look what Trump did. This is
(11:38):
what Trump is talking about, right, And and Hillary at
the time wasn't talking about their needs, their issues, what
they're going through. And you know, and that's how you
get them, that's how you get them.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And that's and that's exactly what was the hustle. That's
the thing.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
So there's two avenues of that, right, there's the hustle. Yes,
this is all I'm gonna just say whatever to get
your vote, and said, if you want, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
And then so you got me. Another thing I said
was and this is very.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Important, but Mandommie's not as a hustle and he's authentic.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Organs, Yes, thank you. And that was and that's the
point I'm trying to make because I said this to
him when we were walking around, and I'll say it
to you and I think it's true, Tommy. If you
agree or not, Brand loyalty is phenomenal for things like juniors.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
If you're hinest ketchup person, that's your that's your brand
to ketch up. You know.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
If you are your cars is Toyota. You buy Toyota
every time out. That's great.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Brand Loyalty is great for stuff that you buy, not
for politicians. Just because this guy got the same last
name as the other guy, don't mean that he's gonna
do the same thing that his pop said. Also, when
you are raised as a child of a politician, this
gotta be some kind of disconnect, you know what I'm
saying between the you know your constituency and and you
(12:58):
know you you know what I mean as a person
because and I'll say that to say that you've been
quoted as saying.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
You've experienced being a victor.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
You've experienced like all the things that regular New Yorkers experience,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
These dudes have that know.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
They have you feel like they're coming from silver school land.
So how does that you know, that background, that history
that you have informed what you do.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
So listen, I don't come from a legacy family. My
family wasn't in politics. My mom's scrub floors. My dad
was a you know, a super and a couple of
buildings out there. Yeah, all the supers out there. So
you know, I know eviction, I know discrimination, I know hate,
I know hunger, I know pain, I know mental illness,
(13:46):
I know drug abuse, I know all of that, still
dealing with it. I know the correctional facility, still dealing
with it. So I know everyday experience. And so it's important,
and which is why when I ran for office, the
people from the PJS Ingersol Whitman and Farragut, shout out
to them, shout out to Target for Green and Atlantic
(14:10):
Terminal and LG Lafia Gardens. They are the ones that said,
that's official.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
That's what they're calling out there.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
So they're the ones that said, tissue. You know, you
need to be at that table to talk about those issues,
to talk about the high rate of unemployment, to talk
about violence, talk about all these issues, and to talk
about how we need job training and we need jobs
in these pjs, and we need an opportunity obviously to
you know, to move out of the pjs into home
ownership and all of that good stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
And so because that's the point, right, It's like this
is a springboard for you to you know what I mean,
do your thing. You know, if you don't have that
like that, you know, legacy family safety net. You know,
here's the safety net for you go do your thing.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
But so many people are staying in the pj's because
they can't afford this shit. That part of literory, like.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Literory, So how do we get rid of this ship
and make it affordable for real New Yorkers? Because like
I said, like I'm in New Jersey now, you know
what I mean, Like the current mayor you know, right,
and because he can't afford it because he got Turkey money,
you know what I'm saying. Like, and I ain't talking
about Thanksgiving. I had to do it because I have
four children in a two bedroom apartment, right to do it.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Couldn't do it, couldn't do it, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Like I tried, you couldn't do it.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
I adjusted furniture, We did things.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
You couldn't do it.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Pantry also contains the computer and the desk.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
You can't do it, you can't do not possible, It's
not possible. So people are moving out, and so you know,
this is not going anywhere.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
This is this is it.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
But as we go forward, we need to talk about
current infrastructure. We need to start building over the real yard.
You know, I oppose the arena, right Barclays, and I
opposed it because I knew that the focus was all
was all about the Barclays arena. And with Barclays is
where they had that arena is there were people living there? Yeah,
(16:04):
low income people, mostly Latinos and Blacks and a couple
of Jewish people. There was one woman who was a
Holocaust survivor. She wanted to die in her home, and
they used eminent domain to kick them out to build
that arena. Now, I know, listen, you've been there, A
lot of people have been there, So okay, I'm okay
with it.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
That was very funny.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Yeah, that's right. But the point is is that where
was that? Where's the housing? Where's the affordable housing that
they promised right for low and moderate income families? And
so what I said back then came true. They never
built it. It was always about that arena, always about
the arena. And now they've gone on and the developer
went belly up bankrupt, Love that.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
And it's crazy to me too, because it's like, you know,
a lot of like chat to my cousin Gus from Bushwick,
you know what I mean, Like my only family in Brooklyn,
which was like as a Bronx site.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Have you been to Bushwick lately?
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Can you?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
You won't even recognize it at all at all.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
I used to take the train. I'll never forget because
it's the only time I came to Brooklyn. Take the
J train the gates, get off and walk up to
Bushwick and see my theory and family over there.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
And and I tell you to change from like the
math nineties to.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Like even two thousand and five, like it was like people,
if you weren't from here, it wasn't like it was
like scary, you know what I mean, because that's before
you grew up in it.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Yeah, I mean, so it's nothing.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I was last night.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
I was out in the Bronx like two in the morning.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah, well, you know, walking around streaming, doing doing the
thing felt comfortable, you know what I mean. What is
it though about these places that make people that that
gives it that like you know that uh, that that
that image, you know what I mean, that's not really true.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
You know what I mean, it's stereotype and it's the
generalization of communities of Hollywood. People raise families with this community.
You got barbecues and parties.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
You know, their community.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
It's community. It's just community. And so Ingersol, Whitman, Farragut, LG.
You know, it's it's just people trying to make ends
meet like everybody else, struggling, hustling on their grind every day,
and they need to be respected and they want their
voice to be heard. And that's why they came out
and voted for Leticia James when she ran for city
(18:25):
council wayback.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Way, because you went out then you was outside. I
was at the barbecue, at the barbecues, talk.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Talking to people, and they and they invited me into
their homes and you know, we had dinner. We talked
about issues. They wanted childcare, they wanted places for their
children to they want their children to be engaged in
constructive activities. They wanted good schools. They wanted the same
things that you and I want, you know, and so
all of them were not involved in criminal activity. They're
some hard working people in pj's and a significant number
(18:54):
of them are women with children and we need to
understand that we need to provide for them. And that's
what But this young man is speaking to he's speaking
to those issues Mundami, and so you know, I know
people are trying to paint him as you know, to
put him in a box, the stereotype, but he really
is talking about economic issues, just like DT did, Donald
(19:16):
Trump did. But this but Mundami is actually serious. It's
coming from It's coming from the heart's authentic.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Right. Listen, you like the Beyonce of you know, getting elected. Listen,
you can roll your eyes all you want.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Single lady, Hello, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
My arms out there, you know, put.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Your hands out what I'm saying in the club.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Maybe you should. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
So you know, we have this thing in Brooklyn called
Dancing with the Stars. We raise funds for children in
Brownsville and East New York to uh to go to
dancing school and to go to after school programs free
and so elected officials dance. And one time I did
that song. So it was Beyonce, yes, the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Yeah you too, let me se.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
But I lost because there's a competition. I lost to
this guy the gentleman from Bedford Stuyverston Restoration, the executive
director of restoration. But it was, it was, it was
a scam. Why because I did not know that you
could bring people to the audience half a bed sty
and they applauded him. And I didn't know I could
have bring forth Green and Cliinton Hill in my church.
(20:20):
He cheated, He cheatedated, cheated. I could have I could
have had the whole I could have won Pastor would
have been out there clapping exactly and we lost.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Crazy right, So, like I said, the Beyonce of New York,
of New York State politics, My mom, you know, was
a public school teacher, came here in the seventies. Immigrant woman,
was very serious, like you said, about civic duties. Took
it very seriously, quoted in every primary city, council, local,
(20:52):
like local, state, national, every everything. And she instilled that
in me at a young age. So now I don't
want to ask you this because every single.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Time, yeah, I will go vote.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
From the time I turned eighteen, I would say Republican Democrat, this, that,
But what I always saw on the ballot in the
box was the Working Families Party.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Can you explain also not to be overlooked.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
You were the first person to win on that ticket
since nineteen seventy seven.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
No, not seventy seven.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Seventy seven was the last time happened.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
And then you came and and then I came and
did it in the nineties. That's right, Okay, So you
know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
You broke a record record holder. I was.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
I am the face of WFP, the first person to
win on the WFP line.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Alone, alone, alone, now stacking it like y'all gonna do yo.
Name is four different joints.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
No, just alone, just that by itself. And so WFP
was an effort created by formed or organized by David Dinkins,
First African America Command and it was a fusion party
basically to get more individuals out to vote and give
them an option. And so he created it's the notion
of coalition building. And so when I ran for city
(22:13):
council the first time I lost, I lost to James Davis.
James Davis was a former police officer who was shot
in the head at city Hall. Oh that's why, come on, right,
he was shot in the head.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
He was like, oh, you know I got shot in
the head. Yeah, he died he died.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
He died.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Oh, I thought he got shot in the ram died day.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
He was assassinated and he was the one who started
the phrase stopped the violence. And so he got assassinated
when he was elected. He was elected, got murdered by
someone who came to my house today the night before, Yeah,
to get you no. Oh, listen to the story that
he came to my house and he said he didn't
(22:54):
like James, and was I going to run again? And
I said no, And then he said he hated James,
who was a city council member. And he said, you lost,
but you should run again cause we hate him and
I'm gay, and I think he's trying to bribe me.
And I said, what are you talking about? And I said,
you sh You know you should run. We don't care
if you're gay, run against him. I'm not running. I'm
(23:16):
in school. I was at Columbia. You should run and
he said, I'm thinking about it. In any event. The
next day, James and him walked into city Hall. He
had a gun on him, took James up into the
balcony and murdered him. What yeah, New York City history. Yeah,
(23:38):
So after he was murdered, the Democratic Party decided to
endorse his brother. You know, sympathy, I understand, right right, yeah,
of course, but the community said we want Tish to
run and so I ran on WFP and I won
and the rest is history.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
So that party, I mean when you read it on
the on the ballot, Yeah, it's a sound self explanatory.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yes, the Working Families Party, Yes, this is for working families. Yes.
Is that like, is that the main you know focus?
Speaker 3 (24:08):
It's a progressor it's a progressive party that focuses on
economics and focuses on again advancing the needs of individuals
who've historically been ignored and working people, people whose voices
are usually not heard in rooms where power and decisions
are being made. And so what they wanted to do
is elevate the voices of real people, people who have
(24:29):
lived experiences, people who can relate to those who are
living in the PJS and those who are living in
Brownsville and Beniford, Stuyvesant and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
People who you know, had failure in their life, who've
had you know, success in their life, people who've struggled
in their life. People who know about gun violence and
drug abuse, mental illness, all of that lives experiences, not
(24:52):
the voices of legacy families and those simply of their rich. Yeah,
just regular folks like you, like you could round for office.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Hey, listen, I said this last night on a sound
stream reach a Torres. Watch out what I'm saying, like
my primary gang.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
You know what I'm saying. I don't know. You know
what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Wait a minute, I'm wait a minute. You live in Jersey.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Listen, I will, so does every Adams and that ain't
stop Himdale.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
What are we talking about? You know what I'm saying.
And I'm the Bronx all day. Like, listen, if you
can move back, you couldn't move back. I said that
when I did.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
When I was doing this, uh the rally was on.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I said, listen, the reason why I my greatest house
was because I couldn't afford to stay where I was at.
I was in a residential area. I was in throgs Neck,
you know, in the Bronx, very nice residential area. You know,
a lot of stuff for the kids and stuff like that.
But then stuff started going away, like the libraries program
started getting cut. Everything started getting more expensive, you know.
(26:02):
You know, my son tested into gifting the talented. Wow,
he couldn't even go because I had we had to
leave before he was able to go. And I was
just like, man, he could have got a great education,
you know, like in New York City with all this culture,
all these people, you know, and like you said, like
seeing real people every day.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
You know, Like one of the things I want to
do is bring back boxing. They took away all the
boxing clubs so that young kids can have something constructive
to do. So that's why they're hanging out at the corner.
And then you know, they need to be engaged in
constructive activities. And so you need to come back and
run because there's not a lot of young brothers in
politics with lived experience who look like you.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
So you know, we talked about your ag work in general.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Yeah, And a lot of the knocks on government work
is that it takes so long. It's the bureaucracy and
the red tape to do this and to do that.
But when one alma mater of yours, Preston High School,
was in danger of closing, it was a done deal.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Bronsborough President was like, yo, it's shutting down.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
The nuns was like, ain't none left.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
You know what I'm saying, Uh, you swooped in.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
And and made it happen.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
And the reason I know is for y'all, for the uninitiated.
Preston is a private school in the Bronx for girls.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I shout out to my cousin Patty. She did not
go to President. She went to Spelman, which was a
superior school for girls. You know, I'm just uh in
the Bronx.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Well, I'm gonna take each you on behalf of Preston
about the so superior thing fanness, because those Preston girls,
they were like, you better save our school.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Tish Well, you know, to your to your credit.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Yeah, you came in there and you did it.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
And it was not in the typical what people would call,
you know, governmental fashion where it was it's like, I
we're gonna we're gonna save the school or we're gonna
reopen it in twenty thirty seven.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
You know what I'm saying. You came in there and
you made it happen.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
I got to give credit to the administration, and I
have to give credit to the young students. Those young
students were just absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
You're passionate.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
They were very passionate. They reached out to my office
and I wanted to hear from them. I wanted to
hold a hearing. I heard about this amazing school. And
they came in. They testified, and they you know, had
me there for a couple of hours. They talked about
their experience, their loss of scholarship, their loss of services,
all that they all that Preston offers, what you know,
their vision, their future, all of that was in jeopardy.
(28:40):
And so, as the attorney general that has jurisdiction over
not for profits, it was incumbent upon me to do
everything that I could to save that school. And so
Jalo did a tweet. She's a graduate, Jalo, Jalo, Jalo,
she did, she did a tweet. And then you know,
we spoke to the nuns. And I tell you, you
think negotiating with like, you know, all these rich people
(29:02):
is something negotiating with nuns? Will I went to having
school for your head?
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Yes I was. I was in the ruler era.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Yeah. Some tells me you got knocked upside your head
a couple lot, a lot a lot.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, you know, what I mean.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
I never played football, might have ct I could see
them there.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
We negotiated a deal and Preston will stay open and
Bally's purchased it not for the purposes of a casino,
but you know, using their brand, their name, their resources
to save the school. So shout out to Bally's, shout
out to the nuns, but most importantly those young women or.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Future leaders, big future leaders, because listen, like I said,
president is a high school. High school is that next step,
you know, right, we're going to either going to college,
you know, you're starting a business, whatever you say, high school,
it's thet you're basically adulting, that's right.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
And that and the closing of that school would have
jeopardized their ability to go to college, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
And the consinuity all that stuff is boring.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
And those girls were like save this school, and a
lot of them I was afraid of them, so I
had to press girls. They tough, those little girls. They
were like they go over there leaving and fighting exactly
fight then not fighting across time.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Downer, that's not happening at all, No way, no way,
I recognize those skirts, you know, Oh keeping it, you know,
Bronx School orientated.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Yeah what I mean, I just made that word up.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
You welcome, Uh you are an alumni of the illustrious
QUNI Leman College.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Shout into Lemon Lightning.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
With Ruben Diaz Junior with though and also do say,
martenis my mother.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
You know what I'm saying, Shout out to my mom.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
God bless you.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying. Shut the file. You
know she was a graduating I went to the daycare there.
You know what I mean, shout out.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
To thank you for making me feel Oh, thank you. Listen.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
But I got twenty year olds calling me up now,
so I gotta I gotta pay it forward. But oh so,
you know, as a graduate, you know talk about you
know the importance of a school like Lehman, like you know,
the neighborhood, the area, keeping those universities, those colleges qunie
(31:26):
cunye popping open right available for you know, for us.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
And affordable and affordable. So you know, I didn't have
My parents didn't graduate. You know, they came here from
the South with little, a little education. I knew. I
just knew that I wanted to go to college. I
knew that education was a key to success. It opens
up all doors. And so I wanted to go to Keuney.
Quney offered me an opportunity, and so I traveled from
(31:51):
Brooklyn to Keuney. I worked. I went to leaving because
I wanted to be a social worker. And then I
discovered that, you know, social work. I couldn't pay the bill.
So they said a lot of people don't want to
go to social work. Fin exactly what I wanted to
help people. And so they said you should become an
attorney because you have a gift of gab. And so
(32:11):
Howard University to here I go. Howard, you know of literary.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Of ligy.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Before you became Attorney general, you had mayoral hopes, you
know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (32:31):
I did what made you switch lanes? And follow up
to that, what are you seeing in the current election?
Speaker 3 (32:40):
So I was city council public advocate, now the Attorney General.
The worst kept secret is that I wanted to be mayor.
After public advocate. Something happened to the AG that was
a scandal. He had to step down, and so things change,
you plan God laughs, and so exactly God was left. No,
(33:09):
that's all about That's all about that intimacy for we're
going to go there anyway. So we decided to do
a g because, you know, we wanted to use the
law both as a swart and as a shield and
protect individuals and people need to know that the Attorney
General's office does more than focus on Donald Trump. You know,
(33:29):
tenant issues, landlord tenant issues, worst landlords lists from the
Public Advocates Office that brought into the AG's office. We
actually have filed actions against these terrible landlords. Consumer issues,
data breaches, d theft, wage theft, consumer excessive fees, environmental issues,
(33:50):
reproductive rights issues, antitrust issues, wall street issues, crypto AI,
you name it. It's the office of the Journey. Attorney
General has this wide jurisdiction to investigate a lot of
bad actors and that's what I do every day.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
That's great that you said that, because I was gonna ask,
you know, the media. You know, the sexy media part
about your job is like, oh, she's going up against
Donald Trump. Like it's I feel like it's less about
the individual and more about like what he represents. There
you go, you know what I'm saying, And can you
talk a little bit about that? You know what I'm
(34:28):
saying because a lot of people don't understand. It feels like, oh,
like to the layman, you know what I'm saying, that's
just watching mainstream media. It's like, oh, there's another person
going after Trump. Oh, and it kind of emboldens his base.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
And that's all that I hear when you you know,
and that's all that the media gives attention to. They
give life to that. And I only spend maybe of
my time focused on Donald Trump, and it's really not him.
It's about the harms to New Yorkers, immigrants, you know,
putting conditions on all these grants, saying to New York City,
(35:03):
you're gonna lose all this money unless you you know,
he can see seed to our politics, our view of
the world, our priorities, all of that. It's jeopardizing medicaid, healthcare,
jeopardizing education funds, law enforcement grants, environmental grants, reproductive grants,
(35:26):
nursing home grants. You know, hospitals are going to close,
nursing homes are going to close. So, as the Attorney General,
I took an oath to the Constitution and to individuals
in the State of New York to stand up against
these harms that are going to have a direct impact
on the lives of New Yorkers. That's what I do.
Has less to do with Donald Trump. It's about protecting
New Yorkers.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Protecting New Yorkers. Man consuming protection is a big deal.
You talked about it. You talked about wage theft, Yeah,
talk about the Yeah. Break down a few of these
things for people that don't know, because I've heard of
these things, but now I'm not super well versed in
these things.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Okay, let's talk about deet that for a minute. So
you see what's happening in Brooklyn. People own brownstones. They've
been owning brownstones. They were giving them away back in
the sixties in the city. People wouldn't come over here
because it was allegedly it was dangerous. Brownstones now are
worth millions, millions, multi millions. So you have a lot
of senior citizens, mostly women of mostly people of color,
(36:26):
who are cash poor and are sitting on equity worth millions.
So you got bad actors who come in take advantage
of them, offer them money, steal their homes, have them
sign deeds deeds that they cannot transfer because that they're
behind their mortgage. They can't afford the maintenance of the property,
they fall behind on taxes, they fall behind their mortgage.
(36:48):
And then you have someone and sometimes people even look
like them who were actually fronts saying I'm going to
help you, just sign this, and you have seniors who
don't understand the financial documents that they're signing, and next
thing I know, they steal their brownstones. That's happening in
Central Brooklyn, Southeast Queens, It's happening in Harlem, happening all over,
(37:08):
happening in Buffalo, happening upstate New York. That's ded theft.
And so we go after these bad actors. And we
worked in Albany with the legislature to pass a law
to make it a crime. So now I'm going after
your ass. If you take advantage of senior citizens and
you try to steal their property, I'm gonna put you
in jail. Not you, okay, wage theft. You got people
(37:29):
who like you know, construction workers who work on these
some of these buildings, and they're not being paid prevailing wage,
and that's wage theft that they pay them for less.
They misclassify them.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Or you work for.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
You work for you know, drizzly or you work for
door Dash, and they steal your wages, they steal your tips,
and they take your tips and they pay you your
tips as if it's your base wage, and it's wage theft,
and they do it time and time again, and we've
been going after them as well, and the unions. You know,
(38:04):
part of the progress of this nation is because of
the labor movement. And I will defend labor because I
recognize that the labor movement and the middle class are
inextricably tied. And the labor movement, they bring complaints to
me each and every day based on their workers, their
members who are victims of wage theft. You know, I
can recall when I was a city council member one
(38:25):
of these buildings, a construction worker who was an immigrant
fell and died somewhere on Flatfish Avenue, and the company
just literally left them. And it was my community, this community,
residents and of public housing, put their nickels and dimes
together and we gave them a funeral, and they raised
(38:47):
money and they sent them back to his country for
a proper funeral.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
That's crazy.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
See what happens.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
That's what happens.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
Like you know, and you got a lot of a lot.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
There's, you know, going back to the ice thing, there's
a lot of you know, fear mongering amongst immigrants, you
know going on right now.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
They just want to work. They just want to work,
you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Like the dudes in the home Depot, they're not selling fed,
that's right. Like they just trying to swing a hammer
and put some shingles on your.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
Right, that's right. And before this administration, before the Trump administration,
we used to have task force. We would work with
the federal government and go after drug dealers and individuals
who are bringing in illegal guns and people who are trafficking,
infented on on all of that. And now they're over
there in home Depot and the vast majority of the
individuals that they are kidnapping are people who are not
(39:36):
engaging in crime. He said he was going to go
after the criminals. He's going after hard working people. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
This is ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Thank you for saying that, because you said, you say kidnapping,
and that's what I call it. Because if you run
down on me at church and you just throw a
bag over my head and throw cups on me and
you don't tell me what you're taking me?
Speaker 3 (39:52):
You're kidnapping me, right, and they're all messed up. You
don't even know who they are.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Come on you for Brooklyn from the Bronx. If somebody
runs down on us massed up, right.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
What are we gonna do? Hey? Hey, what you got
going on? Right?
Speaker 1 (40:06):
Right? You know?
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Yeah, there's no peaceful response to somebody massed up running
down there?
Speaker 1 (40:11):
No way, no way.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
So we're talking about waist theft, d theft.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
People take an event, get take advantage.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Of by bad actors. You know.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
Uh, you did a lot of work with Brad Lander
in this in this area. Yes, the mayor a race. Yes,
we saw Brad and Zoran cross endorse each other.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Yes, right, kind of like forming a coalition.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Yes, there is an energy in New York, yes, right
now in the city politically, Yes that I haven't seen.
Speaker 3 (40:44):
And I want to say ten years exactly, you know
what I mean exactly.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
I want to ask you two questions, why do you
think that Hakeem Jeffries number one and number one A
Chuck Schumer has not endorsed Zoran as he is the
Democratic nominee for maya of New York, Which would make
(41:12):
sense to you for you to support you, you know,
the members of your party.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
Yeah, what's going on. So, just as congress Member the
leader's district Hakim Jeffreys, who's a very good friend of
mine who I support, and I know Senator Schumer who
lives not too far he's also a friend. I suspect
that in the coming weeks months that they will endorse
(41:36):
and embrace zoron MNDAMI. They've yet to meet him. There's
a lot of stereotypes and caricature of Zoran and a
lot of people have labeled him as this extremist, this
far left, anti semi individual, and it's just not the
(41:58):
case at all. He on affordability, he ran on economic issues,
and a lot of his policies can be enacted through
pilot programs and with greater understanding of what his vision
is for the city of New York.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
How does it feel to have potentially have an ally
in the Mayor's office that shares your values? Right, that
is about working class people, that is about the New
Yorkers that make New York.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
So I endorsed Adrian Adams, who's the Speaker of the
City Council, and then ultimately Adrian Adams across endorse Zoron
and Brad and the Working Families, and as a supporter
of the Working Families line, it was an honor to
embrace Zoron and I believe in his vision and so
that's why I am supporting him and working with him
(42:50):
at this point in time. And I feel somewhat confident
that Brad is going to be a major player in
Zoron's administration talk.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
About because you know, like I hope that he is
a lot of people, you know, you know, like regular
regular people, I have to say, will look at what
Brad has done as a loss. But yeah, you know,
you know, in politics a loss could be is a win, right,
It's a win for down the road.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
This is this loss was a major win for the
City of New York and also for coalition building, right
because a lot of people are labeling Zoron as anti
Semi and Brad is Jewish. So Brad brings some bona
farides to the to the to the table, and he
(43:38):
also is a validator for Zorn and as well as
I I'm really excited because, as you said, you know,
when when Barack Obama won Flappish Avenue and Dkal Avenue,
and Lafayette Avenue was a party. You could not walk
these streets that night. It was a party. I was
(43:58):
supposed to be interviewed somewhere around here. I live a
couple of blocks. I couldn't get fast these streets because
people were crying and partying, and I couldn't walk five
feet without somebody hugging me and kissing and carrying on.
And that's what I felt the night that he won.
Speaker 2 (44:16):
So get ready, there's a palpable energy like you were
saying when Obama won it, when AOC when I was
in the Bronx on the ground with se out there
and the love she was getting in the street from.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
Just people hopping out a car, It's like, yo, oh,
I just want to hug you.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Thank you so much, you coming down here and me
so much to me.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
People don't understand.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
I said it before, but people don't understand, like how
far that goes and how I'm not going to say
you started it, but you are one of the people
that does that, that is in the that will come
down here and be in the community and talk to
the people like and not you know, just be up all.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
The way up there in Albany or a the way
up there. Whatever.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
You know, it's just on a computer, like I be
afraid of people. It's that retail politics and so and
that's what AOC and that's what Zoron has done, and
that's what so many others have done. Knock on doors,
talk to people in their humble homes and listen. Politicians
need to listen more than anything else. And so you know,
and you know, I call it gerontocracy. We gotta move on,
(45:28):
you gotta embrace, you know, some the new blood, the
new kids, new voices, new energy in these streets. That's
what we gotta do. And so you know, I may
be part of that population, even though I don't look
at thank you very much. But the point is is
that it's this is just this new energy that I'm feeling.
(45:50):
And for all of those moms and dads and Ingersol
whitmen and Farragut and LG and Alanic terminal that are
struggling right now, we see you.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
We hear you.
Speaker 3 (46:02):
Definitely see James like this, gentleman.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
It's a victory.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
Like it's boy kid Maryland. He would do rag baby
and we.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
Alive from Brooklyn. I'm from the Bronx, though you know
what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (46:13):
Always a representative, but he's lactose intolerant. Cout the Germans fool.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
Ab lictedly like like like mm hmm ablictedly like like
like like
You know what's upthing? You want to keep? Marrow? This
is victory, like you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
We had a special edition today, Baby, We in Brooklyn
with none other than James Letitia James, New York State
Attorney General. And we're talking about affordability. We're talking about
the mayoral race and Zoran. We're talking about her past,
We're talking about my past. We're talking about her alma
mater present and how she swooped in and saved it.
You know what I'm saying, All that and more.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
And yes she does cuss a lot, you know.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
What I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Like she's my partner's space and we lose him, So
stay right there, don't go nowhere.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Lictory like Lictor he wrote a lot, maryw Hey, you
know like what like I like to be prepared, I
know speaking to people of your magnet. Oh please give
(00:53):
me a break, Marrow. Just like if we have to
be relaxed, chill, that's what we do.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
We're in junius, listen, and I'm lactose in tolerance, so
I'm not gonna have the cheesecake just yet. Because we
got production. They got the lactaids in the back for me.
For real, I'm gonna enjoy.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
One after because I think they I think they have
a lactose Yes, I think so, I think so yeah,
I might do that. You should do that.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I might do that because I didn't want to.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I don't like I said, you're a very important person, right,
and I'm lactose intolerant, so I.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Didn't want to.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
You're very No, It's okay, you know by.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Saying, these are sensitive microphones. So if I sit up
here and start, you know what I mean. I started
put in front of the Laisha James.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
It's fine. You and make me feel at home. Somebody
just follow you around forty that listen.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I have four brothers, okay, okay, I fully understand.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
I'm I'm a follower for three boys and a daughter.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
One daughter is the last one. I'm gonna pray for her,
so she's I'm a son of that. But you know what,
she's gonna represent her own. She's gonna stand right, standing
up to those boys. That's right. That's right.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I'm gonna send it to the Latsia James Camp.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
For strong women exactly and come from a long line.
That's right. That's right. I'm gonna tell that young lady
to stand up and make sure she claims that bathroom.
You're gonna wipe that toil to seat. Tell him to
wipe it down, y'all nasty. I'm talking to my boys directly.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I'm talking to y'all, Amari, you know, Avery, Adrian, stop
pissing on the seat.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Because any since I gotta go sit there.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Right right, And she's not cleaning up after you, she's
not at all. I've seen her do it once. I said,
don't you did? Don't you dare put that clorox wipe
down exactly to those chemicals. Yeah, hands grab them and
bring them into the bathroom like this. No, yes, oh man, listen,
(02:49):
you know the energy man.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
This is Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Okay, this is Latitia James, the Attorney General, first State.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Of New York. Brooklyn is in the house.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
That's why we're here in Brooklyn.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yes, this is yes, your home course. Yes, welcome.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Thank you for having me here.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Thank you for having thank you for being here. I
appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
You know, Brooklyn born and raised.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Like I said, yeah, a lot has changed, a lot
has stayed the same.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
What has changed? What has stayed the same for you?
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Well, you're in juniors, so do you remember the time
when Juniors used to have the beats on the table,
nasty beats. They were nasty though they were out there
with flies and everything.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Anyway, Yeah, I think it was to attract the flies,
to keep them away from the other food.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Well they're not here anymore. But but but the pancakes
are here, the corn beef hashes here, the strawberry cheesecake
is here. Everyone needs to come to Juniors. If you
are a tourist or if you're in New York City
residence or New York State resident, everyone must come to Juniors.
This is a historic place. It's it's sacred.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
It is a moment.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
You know, this moment. Okay, and we're back, you know
what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
We're back. So yeah, listen an institution.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Like I said earlier, I'm lactose intolerant, but you just
put me on game that they have lactose for cheese cake.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Now, so I think so, I think so so. But
a lot has changed. I mean, you see all these buildings,
and I was a city council member when they rezoned
all of this, and you know this was not supposed
to be what we see.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
What was it supposed to be.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
It was supposed to be more commercial and more industrial,
and it turned out to be primarily residential. And a
lot of these units, most brook Nights can't afford it,
Most New Yorkers can't afford it. And they're really small units.
And you know, you know, we have families, We have
big families. And it's unfortunate that individuals are being priced
out of that community. It's unfortunate that countless number of
(04:43):
individuals are homeless, doubling up and tripling up surfing. And
what you see here is La looland Shangri la and
not a community fantasy, not fantasy, and not a community
for Brooklyn Heights. And so I you know, I've lived
in Brooklyn all my life. A lot of the residents,
constituents that are represented, are no longer here. They've moved
(05:06):
to the south, this reverse migration back to the south, Atlanta,
North Carolina, South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
I went south to not too south, just Jersey.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yes, you know, because you couldn't afford it, right, right.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Because it's like, man, why am I going to put
these three kids exactly and now four kids right in
a small unit?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
We got two bedrooms?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Right, you see, I still want to be intimate. Right,
that's called t M I yeah, oh man, So listen,
let's let's keep it. Let's get back. Let's let's get
out of the nasty.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Okay, let's get into some you know some a little
bit more.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Let's walk on the Lord's path.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
You're active in your church and Clinton Hill and south
to Clinton Hill, that's right, walking distance.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
The thoughts on the new pope, because we got an
American pope.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Now I like him. He's he's from Chicago town. Okay,
make that specific town. So I really like him because
he cares about others, and he cares about immigrants more
than anything else. And you know what, you know, when
I walk these streets, you know what break my heart.
Individuals will come up to me who are immigrants who
are just concerned and afraid about what is happening. Individuals
(06:17):
who are concerned about being separated, families where loved ones
have been detained, kidnapped in the middle of the night.
People who are afraid to go to work, go to church,
go to court. Individuals who have witnessed horrific crimes refused
to be witnesses because they're afraid that they might get
caught up with ice and that's just not you know,
(06:40):
the America that I love. And to see all of
these young people, to see all these immigrants just fall
in my arms crying, just breaks my heart.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
As a member of you know, the state legislature seeing
these people, because like you said, it's different now like
there was always you know, immigrant, there was always ice
was always a thing. There was always immigration, and there
was always like, you know whatever. But now to your point,
it feels like a little bit, not a little bit,
a lot scarier because it's just like.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
You look like you might be. It's not, Hey, I'm
going over here now.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
They're going to job sites, they're going to churches, they're
going to they're going to home depot, home depot, parking
lives exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
They just snatching people up.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
And not too far from here is Little Haiti, and
Little Haiti used to be a bustling community. It's quiet
Washington Heights Dominican community. Shout out to my Dominican in community. Yeah, yeah,
yes quiet.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
You know how hard it is to keep Dominicans quiet?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Tell me I know, because they can party, and I
party right there with them. I'm definitely. The point is
is that you know, the number of people that President
Trump has deported, it's less than what President Obama that
numbers wise.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Yeah, a lot of people, a lot of people don't know.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
But he's gonna catch up. Why because of this big
beautiful or ugly bill that they just passed.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Big booty built, big booty assi butter ass bill.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Exactly right, the big booty, big badass, bad building, bad build.
How does that?
Speaker 1 (08:29):
How does something like that even happen in government? You
know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Because like I feel like we're entering uncharted waters in
terms of like you know, you know, you're at the
state level. You know, you have to deal with these
people directly, you know, for funding for.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
All kinds of stuff, all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
What is it like dealing with the administration that looks
like they just mess up? They just funking around like
we just here that Hey, we don't care what's well, Hey,
we're gonna do this. We're gonna move fast and break
stuff like and not in a good way.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah. So you have a compliant Congress. They control both
houses House of Representatives in the Senate, and they got
you know, the Supreme Court, so you got all these
conservative judges so don't come up to me and say
politics don't matter. Don't come up to me and say
voting doesn't matter. I don't want to hear that because
you might get smacked down. Yes it matters, It definitely matters,
(09:22):
particularly now given all that's happened. And don't tell me
that Trump was a friend of communities of color, because y'all,
you know, listen, a lot of brothers came up to
me and said, Tish, I got a stimulus check and
Donald Trump signed it. That's my man. I gotta pay.
I gotta pay for Pampas and food and stuff. Look
(09:42):
with the check, that's my man.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
You know, it's crazy and our community. I was saying
this to Suzora Mamdani. It's not ignorance, it's not you know,
it's not like, oh this person isn't smart.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
It's bro. I am working twelve hours a day, right.
The the media that.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I consume is just like mainstream TV and a lot
of the.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Times, you know, money talks over there.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
That's right, you know.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
So then when you have a.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Situation like uh with my Donnie, where it's like people,
it's like the people you.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Know right speak it right too to their issues to
their issues, right, and that's what Trump did. He spoke
to their economic woes. Isn't it ironic that Trump and
mom Donnie haves a lot in common? You know, simple concept.
We don't want war.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
We just hat affordability.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
And Democrats were talking about democracy and people are like,
what the fuck is that?
Speaker 1 (10:36):
What are you talking about?
Speaker 3 (10:37):
What are you talking about? My language?
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Because I thank you, I thank you, please, thank you
for breaking the seal because I'll be coaching like a motherfucker.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
And I was just waiting because listen, I'm.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
A respectful young man, you know, and I respect Listen.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
It's too early in the morning for me to stop cussing. No,
it ain't because jus okay, this is.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
It is crazy.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
And you didn't get me any food. God damn it.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Well we got you some coffee and some water to
keep you hydrated because you say listen and it ain't
me and you said you had lunch so you got
to keep it light.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
You couldn't do the silver dollar pay's that he did offer.
He did offer a silver dollar pay He's a gentleman.
He is a gentleman.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
He's a gentleman.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Actually, his staff was gonna pay twisted. He's a cheap
it's employment. You know what I'm saying. Right, that up,
you know what I'm saying correctly. But they were talking
real they were talking real issues, right. And so the
brothers at the corner, you know, my entrepreneurial brothers, who
were saying, you know, look what Trump did. This is
(11:38):
what Trump is talking about, right, And and Hillary at
the time wasn't talking about their needs, their issues, what
they're going through. And you know, and that's how you
get them, that's how you get them.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And that's and that's exactly what was the hustle. That's
the thing.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
So there's two avenues of that, right, there's the hustle. Yes,
this is all I'm gonna just say whatever to get
your vote, and said, if you want, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
And then so you got me. Another thing I said
was and this is very.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Important, but Mandommie's not as a hustle and he's authentic.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Organs, Yes, thank you. And that was and that's the
point I'm trying to make because I said this to
him when we were walking around, and I'll say it
to you and I think it's true, Tommy. If you
agree or not, Brand loyalty is phenomenal for things like juniors.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
If you're hinest ketchup person, that's your that's your brand
to ketch up. You know.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
If you are your cars is Toyota. You buy Toyota
every time out. That's great.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Brand Loyalty is great for stuff that you buy, not
for politicians. Just because this guy got the same last
name as the other guy, don't mean that he's gonna
do the same thing that his pop said. Also, when
you are raised as a child of a politician, this
gotta be some kind of disconnect, you know what I'm
saying between the you know your constituency and and you
(12:58):
know you you know what I mean as a person
because and I'll say that to say that you've been
quoted as saying.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
You've experienced being a victor.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
You've experienced like all the things that regular New Yorkers experience,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
These dudes have that know.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
They have you feel like they're coming from silver school land.
So how does that you know, that background, that history
that you have informed what you do.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
So listen, I don't come from a legacy family. My
family wasn't in politics. My mom's scrub floors. My dad
was a you know, a super and a couple of
buildings out there. Yeah, all the supers out there. So
you know, I know eviction, I know discrimination, I know hate,
I know hunger, I know pain, I know mental illness,
(13:46):
I know drug abuse, I know all of that, still
dealing with it. I know the correctional facility, still dealing
with it. So I know everyday experience. And so it's important,
and which is why when I ran for office, the
people from the PJS Ingersol Whitman and Farragut, shout out
to them, shout out to Target for Green and Atlantic
(14:10):
Terminal and LG Lafia Gardens. They are the ones that said,
that's official.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
That's what they're calling out there.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
So they're the ones that said, tissue. You know, you
need to be at that table to talk about those issues,
to talk about the high rate of unemployment, to talk
about violence, talk about all these issues, and to talk
about how we need job training and we need jobs
in these pjs, and we need an opportunity obviously to
you know, to move out of the pjs into home
ownership and all of that good stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
And so because that's the point, right, It's like this
is a springboard for you to you know what I mean,
do your thing. You know, if you don't have that
like that, you know, legacy family safety net. You know,
here's the safety net for you go do your thing.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
But so many people are staying in the pj's because
they can't afford this shit. That part of literory, like.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Literory, So how do we get rid of this ship
and make it affordable for real New Yorkers? Because like
I said, like I'm in New Jersey now, you know
what I mean, Like the current mayor you know, right,
and because he can't afford it because he got Turkey money,
you know what I'm saying. Like, and I ain't talking
about Thanksgiving. I had to do it because I have
four children in a two bedroom apartment, right to do it.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Couldn't do it, couldn't do it, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Like I tried, you couldn't do it.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
I adjusted furniture, We did things.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
You couldn't do it.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Pantry also contains the computer and the desk.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
You can't do it, you can't do not possible, It's
not possible. So people are moving out, and so you know,
this is not going anywhere.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
This is this is it.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
But as we go forward, we need to talk about
current infrastructure. We need to start building over the real yard.
You know, I oppose the arena, right Barclays, and I
opposed it because I knew that the focus was all
was all about the Barclays arena. And with Barclays is
where they had that arena is there were people living there? Yeah,
(16:04):
low income people, mostly Latinos and Blacks and a couple
of Jewish people. There was one woman who was a
Holocaust survivor. She wanted to die in her home, and
they used eminent domain to kick them out to build
that arena. Now, I know, listen, you've been there, A
lot of people have been there, So okay, I'm okay
with it.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
That was very funny.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Yeah, that's right. But the point is is that where
was that? Where's the housing? Where's the affordable housing that
they promised right for low and moderate income families? And
so what I said back then came true. They never
built it. It was always about that arena, always about
the arena. And now they've gone on and the developer
went belly up bankrupt, Love that.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
And it's crazy to me too, because it's like, you know,
a lot of like chat to my cousin Gus from Bushwick,
you know what I mean, Like my only family in Brooklyn,
which was like as a Bronx site.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Have you been to Bushwick lately?
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Can you?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
You won't even recognize it at all at all.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
I used to take the train. I'll never forget because
it's the only time I came to Brooklyn. Take the
J train the gates, get off and walk up to
Bushwick and see my theory and family over there.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
And and I tell you to change from like the
math nineties to.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Like even two thousand and five, like it was like people,
if you weren't from here, it wasn't like it was
like scary, you know what I mean, because that's before
you grew up in it.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Yeah, I mean, so it's nothing.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I was last night.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
I was out in the Bronx like two in the morning.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah, well, you know, walking around streaming, doing doing the
thing felt comfortable, you know what I mean. What is
it though about these places that make people that that
gives it that like you know that uh, that that
that image, you know what I mean, that's not really true.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
You know what I mean, it's stereotype and it's the
generalization of communities of Hollywood. People raise families with this community.
You got barbecues and parties.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
You know, their community.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
It's community. It's just community. And so Ingersol, Whitman, Farragut, LG.
You know, it's it's just people trying to make ends
meet like everybody else, struggling, hustling on their grind every day,
and they need to be respected and they want their
voice to be heard. And that's why they came out
and voted for Leticia James when she ran for city
(18:25):
council wayback.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Way, because you went out then you was outside. I
was at the barbecue, at the barbecues, talk.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Talking to people, and they and they invited me into
their homes and you know, we had dinner. We talked
about issues. They wanted childcare, they wanted places for their
children to they want their children to be engaged in
constructive activities. They wanted good schools. They wanted the same
things that you and I want, you know, and so
all of them were not involved in criminal activity. They're
some hard working people in pj's and a significant number
(18:54):
of them are women with children and we need to
understand that we need to provide for them. And that's
what But this young man is speaking to he's speaking
to those issues Mundami, and so you know, I know
people are trying to paint him as you know, to
put him in a box, the stereotype, but he really
is talking about economic issues, just like DT did, Donald
(19:16):
Trump did. But this but Mundami is actually serious. It's
coming from It's coming from the heart's authentic.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Right. Listen, you like the Beyonce of you know, getting elected. Listen,
you can roll your eyes all you want.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Single lady, Hello, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
My arms out there, you know, put.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Your hands out what I'm saying in the club.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Maybe you should. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
So you know, we have this thing in Brooklyn called
Dancing with the Stars. We raise funds for children in
Brownsville and East New York to uh to go to
dancing school and to go to after school programs free
and so elected officials dance. And one time I did
that song. So it was Beyonce, yes, the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Yeah you too, let me se.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
But I lost because there's a competition. I lost to
this guy the gentleman from Bedford Stuyverston Restoration, the executive
director of restoration. But it was, it was, it was
a scam. Why because I did not know that you
could bring people to the audience half a bed sty
and they applauded him. And I didn't know I could
have bring forth Green and Cliinton Hill in my church.
(20:20):
He cheated, He cheatedated, cheated. I could have I could
have had the whole I could have won Pastor would
have been out there clapping exactly and we lost.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Crazy right, So, like I said, the Beyonce of New York,
of New York State politics, My mom, you know, was
a public school teacher, came here in the seventies. Immigrant woman,
was very serious, like you said, about civic duties. Took
it very seriously, quoted in every primary city, council, local,
(20:52):
like local, state, national, every everything. And she instilled that
in me at a young age. So now I don't
want to ask you this because every single.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Time, yeah, I will go vote.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
From the time I turned eighteen, I would say Republican Democrat, this, that,
But what I always saw on the ballot in the
box was the Working Families Party.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Can you explain also not to be overlooked.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
You were the first person to win on that ticket
since nineteen seventy seven.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
No, not seventy seven.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Seventy seven was the last time happened.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
And then you came and and then I came and
did it in the nineties. That's right, Okay, So you
know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
You broke a record record holder. I was.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
I am the face of WFP, the first person to
win on the WFP line.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Alone, alone, alone, now stacking it like y'all gonna do yo.
Name is four different joints.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
No, just alone, just that by itself. And so WFP
was an effort created by formed or organized by David Dinkins,
First African America Command and it was a fusion party
basically to get more individuals out to vote and give
them an option. And so he created it's the notion
of coalition building. And so when I ran for city
(22:13):
council the first time I lost, I lost to James Davis.
James Davis was a former police officer who was shot
in the head at city Hall. Oh that's why, come on, right,
he was shot in the head.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
He was like, oh, you know I got shot in
the head. Yeah, he died he died.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
He died.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Oh, I thought he got shot in the ram died day.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
He was assassinated and he was the one who started
the phrase stopped the violence. And so he got assassinated
when he was elected. He was elected, got murdered by
someone who came to my house today the night before, Yeah,
to get you no. Oh, listen to the story that
he came to my house and he said he didn't
(22:54):
like James, and was I going to run again? And
I said no, And then he said he hated James,
who was a city council member. And he said, you lost,
but you should run again cause we hate him and
I'm gay, and I think he's trying to bribe me.
And I said, what are you talking about? And I said,
you sh You know you should run. We don't care
if you're gay, run against him. I'm not running. I'm
(23:16):
in school. I was at Columbia. You should run and
he said, I'm thinking about it. In any event. The
next day, James and him walked into city Hall. He
had a gun on him, took James up into the
balcony and murdered him. What yeah, New York City history. Yeah,
(23:38):
So after he was murdered, the Democratic Party decided to
endorse his brother. You know, sympathy, I understand, right right, yeah,
of course, but the community said we want Tish to
run and so I ran on WFP and I won
and the rest is history.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
So that party, I mean when you read it on
the on the ballot, Yeah, it's a sound self explanatory.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yes, the Working Families Party, Yes, this is for working families. Yes.
Is that like, is that the main you know focus?
Speaker 3 (24:08):
It's a progressor it's a progressive party that focuses on
economics and focuses on again advancing the needs of individuals
who've historically been ignored and working people, people whose voices
are usually not heard in rooms where power and decisions
are being made. And so what they wanted to do
is elevate the voices of real people, people who have
(24:29):
lived experiences, people who can relate to those who are
living in the PJS and those who are living in
Brownsville and Beniford, Stuyvesant and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
People who you know, had failure in their life, who've
had you know, success in their life, people who've struggled
in their life. People who know about gun violence and
drug abuse, mental illness, all of that lives experiences, not
(24:52):
the voices of legacy families and those simply of their rich. Yeah,
just regular folks like you, like you could round for office.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Hey, listen, I said this last night on a sound
stream reach a Torres. Watch out what I'm saying, like
my primary gang.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
You know what I'm saying. I don't know. You know
what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Wait a minute, I'm wait a minute. You live in Jersey.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Listen, I will, so does every Adams and that ain't
stop Himdale.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
What are we talking about? You know what I'm saying.
And I'm the Bronx all day. Like, listen, if you
can move back, you couldn't move back. I said that
when I did.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
When I was doing this, uh the rally was on.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I said, listen, the reason why I my greatest house
was because I couldn't afford to stay where I was at.
I was in a residential area. I was in throgs Neck,
you know, in the Bronx, very nice residential area. You know,
a lot of stuff for the kids and stuff like that.
But then stuff started going away, like the libraries program
started getting cut. Everything started getting more expensive, you know.
(26:02):
You know, my son tested into gifting the talented. Wow,
he couldn't even go because I had we had to
leave before he was able to go. And I was
just like, man, he could have got a great education,
you know, like in New York City with all this culture,
all these people, you know, and like you said, like
seeing real people every day.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
You know, Like one of the things I want to
do is bring back boxing. They took away all the
boxing clubs so that young kids can have something constructive
to do. So that's why they're hanging out at the corner.
And then you know, they need to be engaged in
constructive activities. And so you need to come back and
run because there's not a lot of young brothers in
politics with lived experience who look like you.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
So you know, we talked about your ag work in general.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Yeah, And a lot of the knocks on government work
is that it takes so long. It's the bureaucracy and
the red tape to do this and to do that.
But when one alma mater of yours, Preston High School,
was in danger of closing, it was a done deal.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Bronsborough President was like, yo, it's shutting down.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
The nuns was like, ain't none left.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
You know what I'm saying, Uh, you swooped in.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
And and made it happen.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
And the reason I know is for y'all, for the uninitiated.
Preston is a private school in the Bronx for girls.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I shout out to my cousin Patty. She did not
go to President. She went to Spelman, which was a
superior school for girls. You know, I'm just uh in
the Bronx.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Well, I'm gonna take each you on behalf of Preston
about the so superior thing fanness, because those Preston girls,
they were like, you better save our school.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Tish Well, you know, to your to your credit.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Yeah, you came in there and you did it.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
And it was not in the typical what people would call,
you know, governmental fashion where it was it's like, I
we're gonna we're gonna save the school or we're gonna
reopen it in twenty thirty seven.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
You know what I'm saying. You came in there and
you made it happen.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
I got to give credit to the administration, and I
have to give credit to the young students. Those young
students were just absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
You're passionate.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
They were very passionate. They reached out to my office
and I wanted to hear from them. I wanted to
hold a hearing. I heard about this amazing school. And
they came in. They testified, and they you know, had
me there for a couple of hours. They talked about
their experience, their loss of scholarship, their loss of services,
all that they all that Preston offers, what you know,
their vision, their future, all of that was in jeopardy.
(28:40):
And so, as the attorney general that has jurisdiction over
not for profits, it was incumbent upon me to do
everything that I could to save that school. And so
Jalo did a tweet. She's a graduate, Jalo, Jalo, Jalo,
she did, she did a tweet. And then you know,
we spoke to the nuns. And I tell you, you
think negotiating with like, you know, all these rich people
(29:02):
is something negotiating with nuns? Will I went to having
school for your head?
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Yes I was. I was in the ruler era.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Yeah. Some tells me you got knocked upside your head
a couple lot, a lot a lot.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, you know, what I mean.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
I never played football, might have ct I could see
them there.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
We negotiated a deal and Preston will stay open and
Bally's purchased it not for the purposes of a casino,
but you know, using their brand, their name, their resources
to save the school. So shout out to Bally's, shout
out to the nuns, but most importantly those young women or.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Future leaders, big future leaders, because listen, like I said,
president is a high school. High school is that next step,
you know, right, we're going to either going to college,
you know, you're starting a business, whatever you say, high school,
it's thet you're basically adulting, that's right.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
And that and the closing of that school would have
jeopardized their ability to go to college, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
And the consinuity all that stuff is boring.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
And those girls were like save this school, and a
lot of them I was afraid of them, so I
had to press girls. They tough, those little girls. They
were like they go over there leaving and fighting exactly
fight then not fighting across time.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Downer, that's not happening at all, No way, no way,
I recognize those skirts, you know, Oh keeping it, you know,
Bronx School orientated.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Yeah what I mean, I just made that word up.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
You welcome, Uh you are an alumni of the illustrious
QUNI Leman College.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Shout into Lemon Lightning.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
With Ruben Diaz Junior with though and also do say,
martenis my mother.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
You know what I'm saying, Shout out to my mom.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
God bless you.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying. Shut the file. You
know she was a graduating I went to the daycare there.
You know what I mean, shout out.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
To thank you for making me feel Oh, thank you. Listen.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
But I got twenty year olds calling me up now,
so I gotta I gotta pay it forward. But oh so,
you know, as a graduate, you know talk about you
know the importance of a school like Lehman, like you know,
the neighborhood, the area, keeping those universities, those colleges qunie
(31:26):
cunye popping open right available for you know, for us.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
And affordable and affordable. So you know, I didn't have
My parents didn't graduate. You know, they came here from
the South with little, a little education. I knew. I
just knew that I wanted to go to college. I
knew that education was a key to success. It opens
up all doors. And so I wanted to go to Keuney.
Quney offered me an opportunity, and so I traveled from
(31:51):
Brooklyn to Keuney. I worked. I went to leaving because
I wanted to be a social worker. And then I
discovered that, you know, social work. I couldn't pay the bill.
So they said a lot of people don't want to
go to social work. Fin exactly what I wanted to
help people. And so they said you should become an
attorney because you have a gift of gab. And so
(32:11):
Howard University to here I go. Howard, you know of literary.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Of ligy.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Before you became Attorney general, you had mayoral hopes, you
know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (32:31):
I did what made you switch lanes? And follow up
to that, what are you seeing in the current election?
Speaker 3 (32:40):
So I was city council public advocate, now the Attorney General.
The worst kept secret is that I wanted to be mayor.
After public advocate. Something happened to the AG that was
a scandal. He had to step down, and so things change,
you plan God laughs, and so exactly God was left. No,
(33:09):
that's all about That's all about that intimacy for we're
going to go there anyway. So we decided to do
a g because, you know, we wanted to use the
law both as a swart and as a shield and
protect individuals and people need to know that the Attorney
General's office does more than focus on Donald Trump. You know,
(33:29):
tenant issues, landlord tenant issues, worst landlords lists from the
Public Advocates Office that brought into the AG's office. We
actually have filed actions against these terrible landlords. Consumer issues,
data breaches, d theft, wage theft, consumer excessive fees, environmental issues,
(33:50):
reproductive rights issues, antitrust issues, wall street issues, crypto AI,
you name it. It's the office of the Journey. Attorney
General has this wide jurisdiction to investigate a lot of
bad actors and that's what I do every day.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
That's great that you said that, because I was gonna ask,
you know, the media. You know, the sexy media part
about your job is like, oh, she's going up against
Donald Trump. Like it's I feel like it's less about
the individual and more about like what he represents. There
you go, you know what I'm saying, And can you
talk a little bit about that? You know what I'm
(34:28):
saying because a lot of people don't understand. It feels like, oh,
like to the layman, you know what I'm saying, that's
just watching mainstream media. It's like, oh, there's another person
going after Trump. Oh, and it kind of emboldens his base.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
And that's all that I hear when you you know,
and that's all that the media gives attention to. They
give life to that. And I only spend maybe of
my time focused on Donald Trump, and it's really not him.
It's about the harms to New Yorkers, immigrants, you know,
putting conditions on all these grants, saying to New York City,
(35:03):
you're gonna lose all this money unless you you know,
he can see seed to our politics, our view of
the world, our priorities, all of that. It's jeopardizing medicaid, healthcare,
jeopardizing education funds, law enforcement grants, environmental grants, reproductive grants,
(35:26):
nursing home grants. You know, hospitals are going to close,
nursing homes are going to close. So, as the Attorney General,
I took an oath to the Constitution and to individuals
in the State of New York to stand up against
these harms that are going to have a direct impact
on the lives of New Yorkers. That's what I do.
Has less to do with Donald Trump. It's about protecting
New Yorkers.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Protecting New Yorkers. Man consuming protection is a big deal.
You talked about it. You talked about wage theft, Yeah,
talk about the Yeah. Break down a few of these
things for people that don't know, because I've heard of
these things, but now I'm not super well versed in
these things.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Okay, let's talk about deet that for a minute. So
you see what's happening in Brooklyn. People own brownstones. They've
been owning brownstones. They were giving them away back in
the sixties in the city. People wouldn't come over here
because it was allegedly it was dangerous. Brownstones now are
worth millions, millions, multi millions. So you have a lot
of senior citizens, mostly women of mostly people of color,
(36:26):
who are cash poor and are sitting on equity worth millions.
So you got bad actors who come in take advantage
of them, offer them money, steal their homes, have them
sign deeds deeds that they cannot transfer because that they're
behind their mortgage. They can't afford the maintenance of the property,
they fall behind on taxes, they fall behind their mortgage.
(36:48):
And then you have someone and sometimes people even look
like them who were actually fronts saying I'm going to
help you, just sign this, and you have seniors who
don't understand the financial documents that they're signing, and next
thing I know, they steal their brownstones. That's happening in
Central Brooklyn, Southeast Queens, It's happening in Harlem, happening all over,
(37:08):
happening in Buffalo, happening upstate New York. That's ded theft.
And so we go after these bad actors. And we
worked in Albany with the legislature to pass a law
to make it a crime. So now I'm going after
your ass. If you take advantage of senior citizens and
you try to steal their property, I'm gonna put you
in jail. Not you, okay, wage theft. You got people
(37:29):
who like you know, construction workers who work on these
some of these buildings, and they're not being paid prevailing wage,
and that's wage theft that they pay them for less.
They misclassify them.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Or you work for.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
You work for you know, drizzly or you work for
door Dash, and they steal your wages, they steal your tips,
and they take your tips and they pay you your
tips as if it's your base wage, and it's wage theft,
and they do it time and time again, and we've
been going after them as well, and the unions. You know,
(38:04):
part of the progress of this nation is because of
the labor movement. And I will defend labor because I
recognize that the labor movement and the middle class are
inextricably tied. And the labor movement, they bring complaints to
me each and every day based on their workers, their
members who are victims of wage theft. You know, I
can recall when I was a city council member one
(38:25):
of these buildings, a construction worker who was an immigrant
fell and died somewhere on Flatfish Avenue, and the company
just literally left them. And it was my community, this community,
residents and of public housing, put their nickels and dimes
together and we gave them a funeral, and they raised
(38:47):
money and they sent them back to his country for
a proper funeral.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
That's crazy.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
See what happens.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
That's what happens.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
Like you know, and you got a lot of a lot.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
There's, you know, going back to the ice thing, there's
a lot of you know, fear mongering amongst immigrants, you
know going on right now.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
They just want to work. They just want to work,
you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Like the dudes in the home Depot, they're not selling fed,
that's right. Like they just trying to swing a hammer
and put some shingles on your.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
Right, that's right. And before this administration, before the Trump administration,
we used to have task force. We would work with
the federal government and go after drug dealers and individuals
who are bringing in illegal guns and people who are trafficking,
infented on on all of that. And now they're over
there in home Depot and the vast majority of the
individuals that they are kidnapping are people who are not
(39:36):
engaging in crime. He said he was going to go
after the criminals. He's going after hard working people. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
This is ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Thank you for saying that, because you said, you say kidnapping,
and that's what I call it. Because if you run
down on me at church and you just throw a
bag over my head and throw cups on me and
you don't tell me what you're taking me?
Speaker 3 (39:52):
You're kidnapping me, right, and they're all messed up. You
don't even know who they are.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Come on you for Brooklyn from the Bronx. If somebody
runs down on us massed up, right.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
What are we gonna do? Hey? Hey, what you got
going on? Right?
Speaker 1 (40:06):
Right? You know?
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Yeah, there's no peaceful response to somebody massed up running
down there?
Speaker 1 (40:11):
No way, no way.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
So we're talking about waist theft, d theft.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
People take an event, get take advantage.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Of by bad actors. You know.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
Uh, you did a lot of work with Brad Lander
in this in this area. Yes, the mayor a race. Yes,
we saw Brad and Zoran cross endorse each other.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Yes, right, kind of like forming a coalition.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Yes, there is an energy in New York, yes, right
now in the city politically, Yes that I haven't seen.
Speaker 3 (40:44):
And I want to say ten years exactly, you know
what I mean exactly.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
I want to ask you two questions, why do you
think that Hakeem Jeffries number one and number one A
Chuck Schumer has not endorsed Zoran as he is the
Democratic nominee for maya of New York, Which would make
(41:12):
sense to you for you to support you, you know,
the members of your party.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
Yeah, what's going on. So, just as congress Member the
leader's district Hakim Jeffreys, who's a very good friend of
mine who I support, and I know Senator Schumer who
lives not too far he's also a friend. I suspect
that in the coming weeks months that they will endorse
(41:36):
and embrace zoron MNDAMI. They've yet to meet him. There's
a lot of stereotypes and caricature of Zoran and a
lot of people have labeled him as this extremist, this
far left, anti semi individual, and it's just not the
(41:58):
case at all. He on affordability, he ran on economic issues,
and a lot of his policies can be enacted through
pilot programs and with greater understanding of what his vision
is for the city of New York.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
How does it feel to have potentially have an ally
in the Mayor's office that shares your values? Right, that
is about working class people, that is about the New
Yorkers that make New York.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
So I endorsed Adrian Adams, who's the Speaker of the
City Council, and then ultimately Adrian Adams across endorse Zoron
and Brad and the Working Families, and as a supporter
of the Working Families line, it was an honor to
embrace Zoron and I believe in his vision and so
that's why I am supporting him and working with him
(42:50):
at this point in time. And I feel somewhat confident
that Brad is going to be a major player in
Zoron's administration talk.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
About because you know, like I hope that he is
a lot of people, you know, you know, like regular
regular people, I have to say, will look at what
Brad has done as a loss. But yeah, you know,
you know, in politics a loss could be is a win, right,
It's a win for down the road.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
This is this loss was a major win for the
City of New York and also for coalition building, right
because a lot of people are labeling Zoron as anti
Semi and Brad is Jewish. So Brad brings some bona
farides to the to the to the table, and he
(43:38):
also is a validator for Zorn and as well as
I I'm really excited because, as you said, you know,
when when Barack Obama won Flappish Avenue and Dkal Avenue,
and Lafayette Avenue was a party. You could not walk
these streets that night. It was a party. I was
(43:58):
supposed to be interviewed somewhere around here. I live a
couple of blocks. I couldn't get fast these streets because
people were crying and partying, and I couldn't walk five
feet without somebody hugging me and kissing and carrying on.
And that's what I felt the night that he won.
Speaker 2 (44:16):
So get ready, there's a palpable energy like you were
saying when Obama won it, when AOC when I was
in the Bronx on the ground with se out there
and the love she was getting in the street from.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
Just people hopping out a car, It's like, yo, oh,
I just want to hug you.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Thank you so much, you coming down here and me
so much to me.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
People don't understand.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
I said it before, but people don't understand, like how
far that goes and how I'm not going to say
you started it, but you are one of the people
that does that, that is in the that will come
down here and be in the community and talk to
the people like and not you know, just be up all.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
The way up there in Albany or a the way
up there. Whatever.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
You know, it's just on a computer, like I be
afraid of people. It's that retail politics and so and
that's what AOC and that's what Zoron has done, and
that's what so many others have done. Knock on doors,
talk to people in their humble homes and listen. Politicians
need to listen more than anything else. And so you know,
and you know, I call it gerontocracy. We gotta move on,
(45:28):
you gotta embrace, you know, some the new blood, the
new kids, new voices, new energy in these streets. That's
what we gotta do. And so you know, I may
be part of that population, even though I don't look
at thank you very much. But the point is is
that it's this is just this new energy that I'm feeling.
(45:50):
And for all of those moms and dads and Ingersol
whitmen and Farragut and LG and Alanic terminal that are
struggling right now, we see you.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
We hear you.
Speaker 3 (46:02):
Definitely see James like this, gentleman.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
It's a victory.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
Like it's boy kid Maryland. He would do rag baby
and we.
Speaker 1 (46:10):
Alive from Brooklyn. I'm from the Bronx, though you know
what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (46:13):
Always a representative, but he's lactose intolerant. Cout the Germans fool.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
Ab lictedly like like like mm hmm ablictedly like like
like like
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