July 9, 2025 • 45 mins
Suzie has been an activist her whole life, recycling, attending No Nukes concert in Central Park, organizing for Black liberation, lobbying for safe bike lanes. As a filmmaker she focused on politics. In 1993 she made the feature documentary Warrior, The Life of Leonard Peltier, recognized as the definitive film on Peltier’s life. In 2001 she wrote, Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. Hear her tale of volunteering for Zohran Mamdani’s campaign to become NYC’s first Democratic Socialist mayor.
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It's Your Voice is broadcast live Wednesdays at 8PM ET Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). It's Your Voice is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
It's Your Voice Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
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make no recommendations or endorsements radio show programs, services, or
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Y Radio or its employees or affiliates. Any questions or
comments should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you
(00:20):
for choosing W four c Y Radio. Logic.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Let's beech logic, Let's speak sure.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
In logic, Let's breech in logic, Let's breach all the
ill logic. Let's brich in logic. Let's lot Hello, and
(00:57):
welcome to It's Your Voice, the show that hosts and
riching conversations in diversity. My name is Bihia Yaxon. I'm
delighted to be your host. I'm a core alignment coach
and a diversity educator, which means I train and coach
individuals and organizations to identify how they want to operate
what they want. Often it's about finding ways they can
(01:20):
be more inclusive and create more belonging for everyone, and
that means everyone and creats happier environments. If you're interested
in seeing samples of how I train or coach, you
can go to my website, which is Know what you
Want Coaching dot WordPress dot com. I am very excited
about our show tonight. My guest is Sussi Bear, a
(01:44):
friend I've known for I think thirty years been added
up exactly, but a long time, and we haven't seen
each other for a long time because she lives in
New York City, so this is like California to New York.
I called her because she's an incredible activist and the
title of the show is Activism New York Style with
(02:04):
Susie Bear, and I'm just going to tell you a
little bit about her. Susie Bear has been an activist
her whole life. Early on, it was things like recycling
aluminum cans and attending the No Nukes concert in Central Park,
But as an adult, her work as a filmmaker focused
on the political. In nineteen ninety three, she created the
feature documentary film Warrior, the Life of Leonard Peltier, recognized
(02:27):
as the definitive film on Peltier's life. In two thousand
and one and is truly enduring. Places still show this
film almost every year. Us to show this film. It's
very powerful. In two thousand and one, she wrote a
book about the Tupac Amaru Riant me if I mispronounced
anything place revolutionary movement in Peru. Susie's activism in New
(02:50):
York City ranges from working with a community based organization
for Black liberation to lobbying for safe bike lanes, currently
getting a new career as an intimacy coordinator on films,
and has spent the past few months volunteering for Zoron
Donnie's campaign to become New York City's first Democratic Socialist mayor. Susie, Welcome, thank.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
You, It's so great to be here, So nice to
see you.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It's so nice to see you. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, we've known each other for a long time. It's funny.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
And what we spoke the other day it was we
hadn't spoken in years. Possibly I thought it was like
it was like yesterday.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Great. It certainly was, Oh my gosh, And I just
love so I I you can go anywhere you want.
But I was thinking that we could flow from like that.
We met and I do want to if I can
have permission to tell people about I got to stay
in your beautiful house in Maine for a while, and
it was on the coast, it was on the ocean.
(03:57):
I can't remember what year it was, but it was
a of the terrible ice storm and people were I
think nine days. It was a serious like trees were
freezing and breaking and cracking and falling online. People were
without power, without running water. It was a serious time.
And I remember thinking, oh my gosh, I'm in someone
else's beautiful house with plumbing all over the place, and
(04:20):
if I don't do I'm thinkingness. Thanks to radio. This
is a shout out to radio.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
I had someone on telling people what to do to drain,
drain the pipes, wow, so that so they wouldn't freeze.
And I remember I was like, thank goodness. At the end,
it was too much, too fast, and I was upstairs.
I'm like, I got to go to the basement. I
got to find the tools. And then luckily they said
the number. The radio post said the number to call
the plumber, and so I copied that down. I ran
(04:50):
and got the tools I remembered, and I called them
up and went and he told me how to do it, like,
and it was. It was quite something and it just
makes me think, yeah, and it just I mean, the
it reminds me of the tragic climate, horrible experiences a
lot of people are having now and my you know,
my heart goes out to Texas and New Mexico also
has horrible flooding, and I just appreciate all the first
(05:13):
responders and including you know, any kind of public announcements
to let people know and how to deal with we
know it needs to improve. But anyway, sorry, I just
had to throw that story out because.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
And you know, you also saved the house, Like if
you hadn't been there, what were we going to like? Yeah, yeah, well.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
I'm so happy it was mutually beneficial. Anyway, that's how
close Susie and I are.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
So I wanted to start with your filmmaking and Warrior
The Life is the Life of Leonard Pelteer or the
Life and legend.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Life of Leonard Peltier.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah wow, I mean, gosh, you were young when you
made that film.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I was in film school when i yeah, film school.
I started it in film school. It was my thesis
project in my last year of film school and I
made a twenty minute film. I read a book in
the spirit of math in the Spirit of Crazy Horse
by Peter Matheson, and I decided to make the film.
(06:16):
I interviewed Peter Mathieson, I interviewed a lot of people
and made a twenty minute film. And one of my
film professors said, this really is a feature film. You
should contact a corporation for public broadcasting and you should
try and get a grant to make this into a
feature film. And that's what I did. And it was easy, peasy,
(06:38):
it was not It was really hard.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Oh my gosh, how long did it take to make it?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Three years, which is not bad. But I sat on film,
I shot on film wow, to be developed and then
printed and then transferred, like I'm I made. I made
a documententary film in the olden days. We don't do
that anymore.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
The real, the real thing, film fit film, film, film,
film crazy And it's so powerful. I remember just calling
up and saying, oh gosh, and such a it did
such an incredible job balancing views and I mean, that's
that's like master level, you know, interview and perspective and
(07:28):
and thank god he was finally finally good. It only
this year, right, February eighteenth. I've had two life sentences.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yes, right, He's been almost fifty years in prison. He's
eighty years old. It was two hours before Trump took
the oath of office. I was talking to someone on
the phone being really mad at Biden for not having
done it, and then I got a text that was like,
he did it. Wait what what? And I mean I'm
(08:00):
part of the Leonard Peltier ad hoc committee. Since he's
gotten out of prison, were now the official Leonard Peltier
Support group and we meet twice a month, talk about
it's his lawyer. We talk about his medical care, his kids,
is all the issues that we were working to get
(08:22):
him out, and now we're working to help him have
a nice life. He's still under the auspices of the
Bureau of Prisons, but he's in his own house and
he can go outside and he can wear what he
wants and he can eat what he wants, and he's
doing very well. We're in the process of making sure
he gets the medical care that he needs that he
(08:44):
did not get while he was in prison. He has
cataracts in his eyes he had he never got any
dental work.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
That's a whole process fifty years. No, don't work.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah. When he was in prison, I called him once.
He had a he has an aneurysm, and he had
to go to the hospital. And I was told that
he really doesn't like to go to the hospital. I
called him one day and or he called me, because
that's how it goes when you're in prison, they have
to call you. He called me and I was like, Leonard,
(09:20):
you just have to go to the hospital. And he said, Susie,
they chain me. My arms are chained to the either side.
My legs are chained to either. This is an eighty
year old man. He said, I can't move. I would
rather be in pain in my cell than in a
hospital chained all fours. And so even when he did
(09:42):
get medical care, it was not great. It was a
bad circumstance. Now he's able to go to a doctor
or a regular doctor. And the Indian he's he's from
the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota and that's where
he is right now. And people should write him letters.
(10:04):
I can. I can give you information if you want to.
If you can post it.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Somewhere, sure, yes, Rebel can post type it into the
chat box on the bottom, right, I will I don't
have it right now, Okay, I can post it with
the podcast.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Okay, awesome.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Wow I heard his heels was declining. Yeah, thanks for
being on the support team. And I'm so happy in
home community in Little Mountain. Yeah, getting the care he needs.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, it's it's expensive, which blows my mind. And he's
on Medicaid or Medicare or whatever, which is now in jeopardy.
But we're we're actually looking for some benefactors to come
forward and help pay for his medical care. He is,
he's an elder in the community. He's he's like Nelson
(10:55):
Mandela and is honored and shouldn't have to to deal
with this. Yeah, sorr.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Oh gosh, thank you again for sporting and con tech information.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Sure awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Well, so you finished film school, you got the grant,
connected with producers, production company, you made the film. It's again,
it's showed every.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Single year my production company. All right, it was my
production I did everything, Kevin, but I had an executive producer.
But that was anyway, Yeah, it was yeah, And from
there I was like, oh, I'll just make another film,
and I'm so easy. It was really hard to find
a subject that I was really interested in. It was
(11:43):
hard to find funding. I finally I eventually I worked
on other people's films, other people projects. Maggie Hadley West
directed a film called war Zone about verbal violence on
the streets of America, and I produced that. I worked
with Sasha Wolf on a narrative film, and then I
(12:04):
decided I would make my new subject would be about
Lori Berenson. It's a very long story. I won't tell
the whole story, but Laurie was a young woman who
went to Peru to be a freedom fighter, sort of
a peace activist, and was arrested very quickly. She had
(12:29):
been in El Salador. She went to MIT. She left
MIT to go to El Salador to work with FMLN,
then went to Peru to work there and was arrested
and given a life sentence for being a trader, given
a military trial. I worked on this film for twenty
(12:50):
years and it and got several grants, worked on it
a lot, but it never at the end. In the end,
she decided she did not want to be part of
the film. So initially she had said yes, but at
the end she decided not to. But I learned so
much about the group that she had joined, the Tupakamaru
(13:12):
Revolutionary Movement, the m RTA, that I was asked to
write a small book about the group, and it's a
very interesting group. It's a it's a long story. But
Shining Paths and the m RTA were the two groups.
Sunding Path was much bigger and were fold was started
(13:33):
peacefully but got a little violent. Stuning Path was pretty
violent the whole time, and the Proving government was always
very violent the military. Anyway, Yes, and you know, someday
I may make that film because I know a lot
about it.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
So you could still you could still complete the film,
even though she doesn't want to be a part of
it herself.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
It would have to be a different film. I have
thought about it, and it would be a film about me.
It wouldn't be a film about her, about my journey
and through that we learn about her. But I worked
for five years on the film. Before I met her,
I had only been dealing with her parents, who she
(14:18):
grew up in the apartment complex where I live right now,
which is a coincidence, and there are a lot of
crazy coincidences like that. Yeah, well, I don't think it's
going away. I think it'll come back.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Wow. Fascinating. Wow. Well speaking of you in your journey, Hm,
where did you go next?
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Where did I go next? Well, you know what, I
had two kids and I had to I had I
needed a job. I needed a job, and my only
skills are as a filmmaker. So I actually found the
greatest job in the world. It's a nice to five
jobs where I make films, and that's at the Fashion
(15:04):
Institute of Technology. I've been there for more than fifteen
years and I make small films for the school. It's
using my only marketaboko.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
I'm glad you enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I do. I do. Thank you, Yes, you're welcome.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Well, I have to be fun to check out some
of those films for the school.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
I'll tell you. I do a lot of work with
the museum at f I T, which is an incredible museum.
If you ever come to New York, anyone comes to
New York, it's free and it's an amazing museum. And
I do a lot of work with the museum. A
lot of the exhibitions have a video that goes with it,
and we do interview people and it's fun.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yes. And then in the meantime, I am in the
process of switching careers and I'm studying to be an
Missy coordinator. Is that what you were going to ask about?
Speaker 3 (16:03):
No, not yet. Everybody to care about that, because I
had no idea what an intimissy coordinator was until you
told me the other day. And I love it. Stay tuned, everybody,
you got to hear that. But before we move away,
I mean, okay, one thing you taught me is that
it's a form of activism, which I was, like, what
explain that to me? But before you explain it to
the listeners and viewers, I was, I'm just wondering if
(16:25):
we could hear about working on the campaign trail. Yes,
that you did, and the and the long and the
walk of that in the night that you met him
in person.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, so our mom, Johnny, He's he's my man. He's
just he is the light in these dark times. Like
I could cry. I he's just so good. I'll tell
you the beginning of the story. I a couple of
months ago, I think it was March. I got an
(16:59):
email to fill out a survey for the city, and
I like to fill out the surveys for the city.
I love New York City so so much and I
want it to be so much better than it is
and it's amazing. But anyway, so I'm filling out the
survey and the mayoral elections coming up, and it's says, so,
who are you going to vote for? And I say
(17:19):
Brad Lander. He was the leading Democrat in the race,
and they're like, anyone else on the list. I'm like, no,
I'm not interested in anyone else. And it would say
what if the person said this, and it was something positive,
had free buses, great, but that's not going to happen,
and that person can't get elected. This survey went through
(17:42):
pages and pages and by the end it was like,
we understand that you don't think this person could get elected.
We understand that you don't know who this person is.
But hypothetically, if someone said these things, would you vote
for that person? And he's like, yes, of course they will.
(18:02):
So that's that would be a great person. But obviously
there is no person like that, because that would be amazing.
And that person was Zoran. And I asked a friend
of mine who works in city politics, you heard of
this guy? And she's like, yeah, he's really good. And
that was the first time I had ever heard of him,
(18:23):
and I still like, when I finished the survey, I
was like, well, yeah, I know he sounds great, but
I can't get elected. But then my friend said he
is great and maybe he could. And that's when I
started doing research about him. And he exploded on Instagram
and they kept saying he's so cute and he says
(18:46):
great things, and then he's like, we need volunteers. At
one point he one of his things was, stop, you
can't send me any money. No more donations. Don't send money.
You've raised all the money. We were allowed to raise
eight million dollars from twenty thousand people, Like, but we
do need you to volunteer, Like, okay, where do I
(19:09):
sign up? And they made it real easy, and I
just started knocking on doors and I'm not kidding. I
knocked on more than a thousand doors, and I talked
to hundreds of people. And it's really nice to talk
to someone when you care about the person you're talking
(19:30):
to them about. There are plenty of people who said,
I have no idea who that guy is. Great, let
me tell you about him. These are the things he
wants and this is what he can do. And yeah,
I got a couple of people who said that they
were going to vote for Cuomo. Andrew Cuomo, you have
a national audience, You're a you're do you know who
Andrew Cuomo is?
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Absolutely, we do.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
It's a terrible person. The former governor of New York
sex abuse charges spent millions of New York state taxpayer
dollars for his defense in these charges that these women filed.
He's just awful. So I would knock on a door
and say, you know, I'm a Zorn volunteer. Are you
(20:14):
a Democrat? Are you going to vote in the primary,
because that's what was coming up. New York Is said
to Democratic town that generally whoever words wins the Democratic
primary wins in the general. That's normally how it goes.
So the primary is really important. And I have ranked
choice voting, And a couple of people said, no, yep,
I'm a Democrat. I'm going to vote for Cuomo. Oh
(20:35):
really tell me why? What? Molly's a strong man and
Trump's a strong man, and we need a strong man
against a strong man. Oh okay, but did you know
that the people who donate money to Donald Trump are
also donating money to Andrew Cuomo. Did you know that
Donald Trump has charges that he can file against Andrew
(20:57):
Cuomo but won't and then have him in a pocket.
And then I would talk about what Zorn wants. Free buses,
freeze fast buses in all five boroughs. Uh, freeze the
rent which he's able to do, rent home spacing, he
wants to. Oh, there's so many things, but.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Of course healthcare that not There's not that much that
he can do.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Oh, supermarket City runs supermarkets in every borough where with
where we can have a union workforce and low prices.
The prices of groceries in New York City is astronomical. Great.
One of the things he's going to do is give
(21:48):
up mayoral control of the schools. When when Bloomberg was
in office, the school boards were corrupt, he consolidated and
said the mayor is going to have control role and uh,
and the mayor will choose a chancellor for the school system.
But ultimately the mayor was in charge. And the idea
(22:10):
of of one person being the mayor of the biggest
city in the country and in charge of the biggest
school system in the country is ridiculous. Yes, and every
mayor says that they'll Oh, no, we'll figure something out. Oh,
we'll figure something out. This is the first person who
says I'm going to give up power. It is too
much for one person. And we're not going to go
(22:32):
back to the old ways and we're not going to
have it the current way. We're going to figure out
a new way. And and that's incredible, that's.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Incredible, that's very refreshing, right, Like, don't give me many everyone,
and we're going to We're gonna give away some power.
I'm going to give power power back into the hands
of perhaps educators about education.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Right. Just I think with today or yesterday, the Teachers
Union uh said that they were supporting him, which is amazing. Yeah, yeah,
he's Oh he's so, he's so. I was canvassing for
weeks in the rain, like I canvas for Harris in Pennsylvania.
(23:19):
But I did more. I have never worked so hard
for a candidate in my life. I think he's just
that good. So I canvassed for several weeks. I got
my door on card I forgot to I don't have it,
and and and then it seemed like I was better
(23:40):
suited to use my car. I have a car, and
I just drove materials, signs and tables and and tents
from one part of Brooklyn to Upper Manhattan to the Bronx.
So I was driving all over the city and going
to the office where he pay up the materials to
(24:01):
put in the car, and some strong person puts it
in my car. And then I tried it all. And
every single person, I'm not kidding, is beautiful and working
so hard, Like they all have a smile on their
face everything. I could also be the parent of every
single one of them. They're also young.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Well, smiles are beautiful, you know. Yeah, show the love beauty. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Oh, and everyone was different. Oh, it was incredible. It
was incredible. I did a lot of jobs in that office,
the driving around, and then right, this is the story.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
And then.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
It was a Sunday, and yeah, I had gone to
uh to a mosque in the Bronx. I'd never been
to a mosque before, I'm ashamed to say, but now
I have. And it was to hand out flyers that
we had in Urdu and Indy and and Spanish. We
(25:06):
actually needed it. There were a lot of people from Huszakhstan.
There was It was a diverse group of people who
are going to the to the mosque that I didn't know.
Sorry it was Friday because it was Friday priers. Yes, yes,
Friday midday. And the people were very nice, handed out flyers.
(25:30):
Everyone was great. I had There was another volunteer with me.
His name was Herschel and he was very white and
we were just both handing out flyers. Everyone was nice
to us. We talked to people, made sure they knew
where they're pulling, where their voting station was. A lot
of them, uh were not citizens, so they couldn't vote.
(25:55):
But it was really nice. And I got to go
to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx where there's lots of
Italian food and I got anyway. Oh and I also
put up posters in the Bronx and they loved to
see the zoron posters. That was great. Anyway, I had
a whole full day on Friday. I came home, lie
(26:15):
down on my bed. I'm like, ah, that was good work,
good work, that's great. And then I get a text.
Did you see Zoran is walking from the top of
Manhattan to the bottom of Manhattan? Oh my god?
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Now how far is that for for us non New Yorkers?
How how long a walk? Is that.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
I'm gonna say, I don't. I seven to ten miles? Oh, okay,
seven miles, six miles. I could google it, that's okay.
He started at seven in the morning. No, he started
seven at night and he got there at two in
the morning. It was seven hours of walking. Okay. So
(26:54):
I so I live. If you look at Manhattan, I'm
kind of in the lower middle area. I live on
twenty third Street. So and my friend who lives uptown
told me about it. I'm like, oh my god, he's walking,
walking all the way down. Well, that's going to take
a long time. I don't have to run anywhere right now.
Let's figure out how's he going to go? How's he
(27:16):
going to walk? I'm trying to figure it out. I'm
looking on Instagram, I'm looking on Twitter, I'm looking like where,
And then I'm in some group chats with volunteers, and
I'm like, anyone seen him? Do you know where he is?
And I decide it's still it's going to be five hours.
It's going to be four hours from now. I don't
have to like find him this minute. So I rested
(27:39):
a little, went out with my kid and walked around
the city a little bit and then came home and
I was like, you know what, I'm going to find him.
I'm going to find him. And I did the math,
and what I figured out was he should get to
twenty third Street by midnight, so I twenty third if
he walks down broad Way, which would make sense, and
(28:02):
got to twenty third Street that there is a park
there called Madison Square Park. The flat Iron Building is there,
and I was like, you know what, I'm going to
walk to the park at eleven o'clock. I'm going to
drink a beer. I'm not going to get crazy. I'm
just going to hang out. It's a beautiful night, not
too hot. And if he gets here by midnight, I
(28:24):
will walk with him. If he doesn't, that means he
went a different way. And I'm not going to run
around the city trying to find him. But I will
sit for let's say an hour. So I'm sitting there
and drinking my beer. Just if there are people on dates.
I love New York. If there's always something going on.
Oh look at them them. Oh that's see. There was
(28:45):
one couple. Oh they were so sweet. They there were
like tables and chairs and they had they brought a picnic.
It's just this anyway. It was lovely, and there was
a first date that was going on also anyway, But
I'm just sitting there and I digress. And then it's
midnight and I'm checking and someone says, yeah, he's on
(29:06):
Broadway at forty second coming down. Oh is he? But
he's going to come down on sixth. We don't know.
I think, Okay, it's midnight, he's not there. Okay, I'm
going to walk up Broadway because I think he's coming
down Broadway. I'm going to walk up Broadway and if
I see him, great. If I don't, I'm going home.
So I start walking and I actually see a group
(29:26):
of people and I say, oh, oh, they're going to
a club. There's a club over there. Nope, that's not him.
I walk almost another block and I see Nouren walking
with his white shirt and his tie, and I see
a group of people behind him. There he is there,
he is like honestly, he's like, this is the man
(29:48):
that I have been working so hard for happily, like
every every minute of work has been joyful. And so
I walk towards to him and I get to him.
He's in the front. No one's between me and him,
and I just said, I've been waiting for you, and
(30:08):
he goes, I've been waiting for you as we hugged,
beautiful and we hug and I'm just like, I here is.
I can't even believe it. I like, I can't even
believe it. Oh my god, here he is, like I'm
actually holding on to him. Oh my.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (30:31):
And can I share a picture? Can I show a picture?
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Oh? Absolutely? Do you see?
Speaker 2 (30:37):
I see click that yep, and'll tell you to do
im a trial and now choose it. Okay, we go there,
it is there, it is.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Wow, twelve o five, that's exactly what you just described.
White shirt tie, huge crowd behind him, you guys hugging
each other, yep.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, wow. And my face, I'm like, I can't even
believe it. I cannot believe it. This is this, here's
the man. Oh my god, Oh my gosh. Oh yeah,
that was amazing. So if we hugged for a little
bit longer than maybe was appropriate, but that's fine. And
(31:22):
then someone's like what yes, exactly, and then someone grabbed
my phone because they're really thoughtful and started taking pictures.
That's how that picture happened. And I got my phone back, like,
oh my pictures, and then uh, I just started walking
and we walked for two hours down and we didn't
stay on Broadway. We went all kind of a circuitous path.
(31:46):
Everywhere we went, people honked the horn, they're yelling their people,
you know, eating on the sidewalk, the outdoor cafes. Oh
my god. There is people jumping out of their seats
to take a picture with him, like incredible. Excuse me,
(32:06):
I want to share one more picture. Yeah, you can
have hold on, just a good one. Sorry, that's okay.
He so we just kept walking. Yeah, I'm just gonna
is it okay if I just share a couple okay? Absolutely,
And and somemb nails are hard to see. Oh got it? Sorry, okay,
(32:31):
by this one. Yep. That's like on Houston, just walking
down people they just want to see him, They want
to touch him. They it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
It just must radiate sincerity, something that's just yes, or
find apparently like warmth and integrity or something when they
see him.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Yeah, yeah, and honesty, like he's I'm going to hear
one more. We he stopped. We stopped at one point two.
So that's a statue of Fiarrela LaGuardia. He was a
Socialist Republican mayor in the like thirties. He is he
(33:21):
is one of the greatest mayors of New York City ever,
and he is he is. Zoran would say who is
the greatest mayor of New York and he would say
Fiarella Laguardian. And so there's a statue and we passed
it and he sat there.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
I assume that's that's the LaGuardia Airport is from.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yes, yes, yeah, I know that.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, oh my gosh, yeah incredible.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
Yeah, thanks for giving us the feel of that. And
I mean, I'm I feel a natural high myself just
listening to them. It was.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
It was incredible just walking around and people like coming
in and people were joining walking and then leaving and
then it was amazing. All right. So then after two
hours of walking two hours for me, he had been
walking for seven hours. Yeah, this is the one. We
get to the bottom of Manhattan, which is okay, it's
(34:26):
where the Staten Island Ferry is. It's where you can
see the Statue of Liberty And we got there and
he sat. He just sat down and he's like, everybody,
sit down, just sit down. We've been walking, sit down,
and someone asked him, was this your idea? And he said, no,
it wasn't my idea. It was that guy's idea. And
(34:47):
it was a great idea. Wasn't this amazing? He's like, like,
this was so cool, it was so great. And then
there are forty people, maybe fifty people sitting in front
of him, like in a semicircle, and he's like, you
can tell he's tired, and he just goes, so let's
go around. Tell me your name and where do you
(35:09):
start walking from? And we just went around the whole
Every single person said their name and where they started,
and they all said a little something else because they
love him.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Wow. Talk about inclusion and creating a sense of belonging.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Right right right?
Speaker 3 (35:27):
Oh my god, wow, amazing. Yeah, this is so amazing.
Oh my gosh. Well, I maybe wasn't fair to you
because we only have nine minutes left, so we might
have to we might have to have you come back.
But let I don't know. I just want to make
sure you get to tell people.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
What yes, And I'm going to share one more picture.
I'm sorry, hold on, I'm going to share one more
picture because it's more important.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Hey, it's your voice. You choose, You choose how this
time is spent.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
So he was in he was in Upper Manhattan on
a very hot day and there are a billion people
out and everyone speaking Spanish. And my friend was there
and she's like, give me your phone, go stand next
to him. I finally got next to him and I
was wearing my shirt. One of the biggest issus. We're
just going to talk multiple talk about instant of coordinating
another day. Okay, Doorn did not create a lot of merch,
(36:25):
like nothing, practically. I think a lot of his campaign
money had to go to security, and we all want
him say so do that. But random people made merch.
This T shirt was made by one of the volunteers
and he made twenty shirts and he just said on
the group chat, I made some shirts. You want one, well,
(36:45):
you can have it for ten bucks. This guy spent
all day in his apartment ironing on I don't know
exactly how he did it, but like making these shirts.
I mean I used some platform and I made bumper
stickers because I needed something on my car that said
I love Zoran fun.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
So was this a second This is a different time
when you.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Saw him out. This is another time when I met
I met him twice, yes, imagine twice.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
Okay, this was apparently during the day in a Spanish
speaking neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yes, and I'm not sure if you can tell, but
his white shirt is completely soaked. It was so hot.
And when he got there, he was wearing his jacket
and someone was like, dude, take to take the jacks, please,
please take the checks off. And well, in that twenty
minutes that I maybe half an hour, he spoke to
(37:43):
hundreds of people. He got an icy from a woman,
he got a donut from another guy, and he got
a pastry, and he got a cold coffee drink from
all the local stores.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Yeah. Wow. You know what Another thing he wants to do. Sorry,
I'm just gonna keep going. It's my voice, right. He
wants he wants to make the city safer. And one
of the issues is that our unhoused population, many of
(38:18):
whom have some mental health issues. Our current mayor, Eric Adams,
wants to pull people off the street and put them
in shelters and put them in facilities whether they want
to or not. Take them out. People don't think that
they're safe and that's not fair. There are plenty of
people who are unhoused and have mental illness and are safe.
(38:41):
Doran's plan is to create one in the subways. There
are a lot of former stores in the subway stations.
Not every subway station, but some of them have they
used to sell stuff. Turn that into a mental health clinic.
He wants to stop cops from responding to mental health
health calls and have a whole different department. This is
(39:03):
why some cops really support him. There's a lot of
cops who support him because he says, this is not
what you were trained for, right, Even.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
My brother who was a copsy.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
Right, It's not what they were trained for. And there
should be a whole different group of people who are
trained for this who answer these calls. So if they're
right there in the subway system, they can get there faster.
He also right, right. He also, I just heard him
talk about it today and I don't remember what it's called. Clubhouse.
(39:37):
There's something called a clubhouse for unhoused people with mental
health challenge. I don't know what it is, but he
said there's one that's already in effect in New York
City called I forget what it's called, but he sees
a problem and finds the healthy, respectful way to try
(39:59):
and all of that problem. What an idea?
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Well I heard someone and I know this is not
your field and we do not have time to discuss it,
but I just want to mention that I heard someone
interviewing him saying, Okay, how are you going to pay
for all this? Which is always a good question, right,
people are going to want to know. But I imagine
do you know where people can find the information? Is
(40:24):
that like spelled out on the website? Or how do
we how do people who are wondering like, oh, that
sounds so great, but how's he going to pay for it?
Speaker 2 (40:32):
Right?
Speaker 3 (40:33):
You have how can we find the answer to this?
Speaker 2 (40:35):
Well you can go to his website, so Momdannie fromayer
dot com. Also, what he has said is that he
wants to tax people making over a million dollars two
percent more, and corporations have the tax rate be the
same as New Jersey, which is four percent higher. This
(40:58):
has to be approved by the governor. But what I
but what I know is that if he has the
support of most of the city, he has now gotten
more vote than any mayor in the history of New
York City.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
Telling you something. Yeah, well, it's going to be interesting
to see how the relationship between him and the governor
evolved and answers some of these questions. Wow, I love
your enthusiasm. I love learning about this man who's you know,
already striking the consciousness of America.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Right.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
You sure made New York City sound like friendly and close,
like you've dispelled some myths that we might have been
holding in our head.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Oh it's great. And can I tell you people came.
I there was a volunteer from Alaska. There's a volunteer
from Massachusetts. There were volunteers coming from all over the place.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
Wow, we have like two minutes left, but thank you
for the Zoron Donnie continued campaign.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
You already you.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
Already got him and he's the general election in the primaries.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
Yeah, okay, it's November.
Speaker 3 (42:17):
Okay, gosh, this is so exciting. And I will just
ask you, what's your I mean, your enthusiasm is contagious,
just like courage is contagious. I'm wondering any kind of
last minute like message to listeners who are like excited
and want to be activists, and if.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
You find some, if you find someone who really resonates
with you go help them. Oh my god, my it
brings me so much joy. It it's we're in dark
times and I have been feeling joy because of this man,
because he's honest, because he's he's real. And I know
(43:02):
that there are Democratic Socialist candidates in places around this country,
which means that they have a similar philosophy. I don't
imagine anyone. I really think he is unique.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
Well, okay, that is awesome. And I also just want
to say I think it's important for people to look
up what democratic socialists is because I think just the
word socialism has such a terrible stigma, and what it
means depends on which country it is, which application is.
There's of course lots of failures, lots of bad association,
lots of negativity, and you know, a lot of it
(43:40):
really also valid. But this is a this is a
different thing.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Yes, And and he has said very clearly his plan
is not the Democratic socialist plan. It is his own plan.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
It's good to hear, and we need to learn more
and just to get educated instead of making assumptions based
on phrase that we have associations with. Oh my gosh,
Susie Bear, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Yack then thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (44:06):
Oh my god, California to New York. I'm gonna get out.
I can't wait to show up one day out there.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
Yees, oh my god.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
And you're welcome here. And let me thank everybody. Thank you,
thank our sound engineered rebel, Thank your producer Dean Piper,
Thank you all the listeners and viewers and gosh, maybe
all have enriching conversations and diversity this week. And share
and spread the enthusiasm that Susie has and tune in
next Wednesday at a pm Eastern Time on Talk for
TV or W four c Y dot com. Thanks again,
(44:40):
good night
Speaker 1 (44:41):
Otic, Let's beach, let's beak show, let's speak, let's preach,
elgic gellow letswich is largic gallo lets, pitch of the Hut.
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements radio show programs, services, or
products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability,
explicit or implied, shall be extended to W four c
Y Radio or its employees or affiliates. Any questions or
comments should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you
(00:20):
for choosing W four c Y Radio. Logic.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Let's beech logic, Let's speak sure.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
In logic, Let's breech in logic, Let's breach all the
ill logic. Let's brich in logic. Let's lot Hello, and
(00:57):
welcome to It's Your Voice, the show that hosts and
riching conversations in diversity. My name is Bihia Yaxon. I'm
delighted to be your host. I'm a core alignment coach
and a diversity educator, which means I train and coach
individuals and organizations to identify how they want to operate
what they want. Often it's about finding ways they can
(01:20):
be more inclusive and create more belonging for everyone, and
that means everyone and creats happier environments. If you're interested
in seeing samples of how I train or coach, you
can go to my website, which is Know what you
Want Coaching dot WordPress dot com. I am very excited
about our show tonight. My guest is Sussi Bear, a
(01:44):
friend I've known for I think thirty years been added
up exactly, but a long time, and we haven't seen
each other for a long time because she lives in
New York City, so this is like California to New York.
I called her because she's an incredible activist and the
title of the show is Activism New York Style with
(02:04):
Susie Bear, and I'm just going to tell you a
little bit about her. Susie Bear has been an activist
her whole life. Early on, it was things like recycling
aluminum cans and attending the No Nukes concert in Central Park,
But as an adult, her work as a filmmaker focused
on the political. In nineteen ninety three, she created the
feature documentary film Warrior, the Life of Leonard Peltier, recognized
(02:27):
as the definitive film on Peltier's life. In two thousand
and one and is truly enduring. Places still show this
film almost every year. Us to show this film. It's
very powerful. In two thousand and one, she wrote a
book about the Tupac Amaru Riant me if I mispronounced
anything place revolutionary movement in Peru. Susie's activism in New
(02:50):
York City ranges from working with a community based organization
for Black liberation to lobbying for safe bike lanes, currently
getting a new career as an intimacy coordinator on films,
and has spent the past few months volunteering for Zoron
Donnie's campaign to become New York City's first Democratic Socialist mayor. Susie, Welcome, thank.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
You, It's so great to be here, So nice to
see you.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It's so nice to see you. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, we've known each other for a long time. It's funny.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
And what we spoke the other day it was we
hadn't spoken in years. Possibly I thought it was like
it was like yesterday.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Great. It certainly was, Oh my gosh, And I just
love so I I you can go anywhere you want.
But I was thinking that we could flow from like that.
We met and I do want to if I can
have permission to tell people about I got to stay
in your beautiful house in Maine for a while, and
it was on the coast, it was on the ocean.
(03:57):
I can't remember what year it was, but it was
a of the terrible ice storm and people were I
think nine days. It was a serious like trees were
freezing and breaking and cracking and falling online. People were
without power, without running water. It was a serious time.
And I remember thinking, oh my gosh, I'm in someone
else's beautiful house with plumbing all over the place, and
(04:20):
if I don't do I'm thinkingness. Thanks to radio. This
is a shout out to radio.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
I had someone on telling people what to do to drain,
drain the pipes, wow, so that so they wouldn't freeze.
And I remember I was like, thank goodness. At the end,
it was too much, too fast, and I was upstairs.
I'm like, I got to go to the basement. I
got to find the tools. And then luckily they said
the number. The radio post said the number to call
the plumber, and so I copied that down. I ran
(04:50):
and got the tools I remembered, and I called them
up and went and he told me how to do it, like,
and it was. It was quite something and it just
makes me think, yeah, and it just I mean, the
it reminds me of the tragic climate, horrible experiences a
lot of people are having now and my you know,
my heart goes out to Texas and New Mexico also
has horrible flooding, and I just appreciate all the first
(05:13):
responders and including you know, any kind of public announcements
to let people know and how to deal with we
know it needs to improve. But anyway, sorry, I just
had to throw that story out because.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
And you know, you also saved the house, Like if
you hadn't been there, what were we going to like? Yeah, yeah, well.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
I'm so happy it was mutually beneficial. Anyway, that's how
close Susie and I are.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
So I wanted to start with your filmmaking and Warrior
The Life is the Life of Leonard Pelteer or the
Life and legend.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Life of Leonard Peltier.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah wow, I mean, gosh, you were young when you
made that film.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I was in film school when i yeah, film school.
I started it in film school. It was my thesis
project in my last year of film school and I
made a twenty minute film. I read a book in
the spirit of math in the Spirit of Crazy Horse
by Peter Matheson, and I decided to make the film.
(06:16):
I interviewed Peter Mathieson, I interviewed a lot of people
and made a twenty minute film. And one of my
film professors said, this really is a feature film. You
should contact a corporation for public broadcasting and you should
try and get a grant to make this into a
feature film. And that's what I did. And it was easy, peasy,
(06:38):
it was not It was really hard.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Oh my gosh, how long did it take to make it?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Three years, which is not bad. But I sat on film,
I shot on film wow, to be developed and then
printed and then transferred, like I'm I made. I made
a documententary film in the olden days. We don't do
that anymore.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
The real, the real thing, film fit film, film, film,
film crazy And it's so powerful. I remember just calling
up and saying, oh gosh, and such a it did
such an incredible job balancing views and I mean, that's
that's like master level, you know, interview and perspective and
(07:28):
and thank god he was finally finally good. It only
this year, right, February eighteenth. I've had two life sentences.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yes, right, He's been almost fifty years in prison. He's
eighty years old. It was two hours before Trump took
the oath of office. I was talking to someone on
the phone being really mad at Biden for not having
done it, and then I got a text that was like,
he did it. Wait what what? And I mean I'm
(08:00):
part of the Leonard Peltier ad hoc committee. Since he's
gotten out of prison, were now the official Leonard Peltier
Support group and we meet twice a month, talk about
it's his lawyer. We talk about his medical care, his kids,
is all the issues that we were working to get
(08:22):
him out, and now we're working to help him have
a nice life. He's still under the auspices of the
Bureau of Prisons, but he's in his own house and
he can go outside and he can wear what he
wants and he can eat what he wants, and he's
doing very well. We're in the process of making sure
he gets the medical care that he needs that he
(08:44):
did not get while he was in prison. He has
cataracts in his eyes he had he never got any
dental work.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
That's a whole process fifty years. No, don't work.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah. When he was in prison, I called him once.
He had a he has an aneurysm, and he had
to go to the hospital. And I was told that
he really doesn't like to go to the hospital. I
called him one day and or he called me, because
that's how it goes when you're in prison, they have
to call you. He called me and I was like, Leonard,
(09:20):
you just have to go to the hospital. And he said, Susie,
they chain me. My arms are chained to the either side.
My legs are chained to either. This is an eighty
year old man. He said, I can't move. I would
rather be in pain in my cell than in a
hospital chained all fours. And so even when he did
(09:42):
get medical care, it was not great. It was a
bad circumstance. Now he's able to go to a doctor
or a regular doctor. And the Indian he's he's from
the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota and that's where
he is right now. And people should write him letters.
(10:04):
I can. I can give you information if you want to.
If you can post it.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Somewhere, sure, yes, Rebel can post type it into the
chat box on the bottom, right, I will I don't
have it right now, Okay, I can post it with
the podcast.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Okay, awesome.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Wow I heard his heels was declining. Yeah, thanks for
being on the support team. And I'm so happy in
home community in Little Mountain. Yeah, getting the care he needs.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, it's it's expensive, which blows my mind. And he's
on Medicaid or Medicare or whatever, which is now in jeopardy.
But we're we're actually looking for some benefactors to come
forward and help pay for his medical care. He is,
he's an elder in the community. He's he's like Nelson
(10:55):
Mandela and is honored and shouldn't have to to deal
with this. Yeah, sorr.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Oh gosh, thank you again for sporting and con tech information.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Sure awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Well, so you finished film school, you got the grant,
connected with producers, production company, you made the film. It's again,
it's showed every.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Single year my production company. All right, it was my
production I did everything, Kevin, but I had an executive producer.
But that was anyway, Yeah, it was yeah, And from
there I was like, oh, I'll just make another film,
and I'm so easy. It was really hard to find
a subject that I was really interested in. It was
(11:43):
hard to find funding. I finally I eventually I worked
on other people's films, other people projects. Maggie Hadley West
directed a film called war Zone about verbal violence on
the streets of America, and I produced that. I worked
with Sasha Wolf on a narrative film, and then I
(12:04):
decided I would make my new subject would be about
Lori Berenson. It's a very long story. I won't tell
the whole story, but Laurie was a young woman who
went to Peru to be a freedom fighter, sort of
a peace activist, and was arrested very quickly. She had
(12:29):
been in El Salador. She went to MIT. She left
MIT to go to El Salador to work with FMLN,
then went to Peru to work there and was arrested
and given a life sentence for being a trader, given
a military trial. I worked on this film for twenty
(12:50):
years and it and got several grants, worked on it
a lot, but it never at the end. In the end,
she decided she did not want to be part of
the film. So initially she had said yes, but at
the end she decided not to. But I learned so
much about the group that she had joined, the Tupakamaru
(13:12):
Revolutionary Movement, the m RTA, that I was asked to
write a small book about the group, and it's a
very interesting group. It's a it's a long story. But
Shining Paths and the m RTA were the two groups.
Sunding Path was much bigger and were fold was started
(13:33):
peacefully but got a little violent. Stuning Path was pretty
violent the whole time, and the Proving government was always
very violent the military. Anyway, Yes, and you know, someday
I may make that film because I know a lot
about it.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
So you could still you could still complete the film,
even though she doesn't want to be a part of
it herself.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
It would have to be a different film. I have
thought about it, and it would be a film about me.
It wouldn't be a film about her, about my journey
and through that we learn about her. But I worked
for five years on the film. Before I met her,
I had only been dealing with her parents, who she
(14:18):
grew up in the apartment complex where I live right now,
which is a coincidence, and there are a lot of
crazy coincidences like that. Yeah, well, I don't think it's
going away. I think it'll come back.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Wow. Fascinating. Wow. Well speaking of you in your journey, Hm,
where did you go next?
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Where did I go next? Well, you know what, I
had two kids and I had to I had I
needed a job. I needed a job, and my only
skills are as a filmmaker. So I actually found the
greatest job in the world. It's a nice to five
jobs where I make films, and that's at the Fashion
(15:04):
Institute of Technology. I've been there for more than fifteen
years and I make small films for the school. It's
using my only marketaboko.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
I'm glad you enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I do. I do. Thank you, Yes, you're welcome.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Well, I have to be fun to check out some
of those films for the school.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
I'll tell you. I do a lot of work with
the museum at f I T, which is an incredible museum.
If you ever come to New York, anyone comes to
New York, it's free and it's an amazing museum. And
I do a lot of work with the museum. A
lot of the exhibitions have a video that goes with it,
and we do interview people and it's fun.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yes. And then in the meantime, I am in the
process of switching careers and I'm studying to be an
Missy coordinator. Is that what you were going to ask about?
Speaker 3 (16:03):
No, not yet. Everybody to care about that, because I
had no idea what an intimissy coordinator was until you
told me the other day. And I love it. Stay tuned, everybody,
you got to hear that. But before we move away,
I mean, okay, one thing you taught me is that
it's a form of activism, which I was, like, what
explain that to me? But before you explain it to
the listeners and viewers, I was, I'm just wondering if
(16:25):
we could hear about working on the campaign trail. Yes,
that you did, and the and the long and the
walk of that in the night that you met him
in person.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, so our mom, Johnny, He's he's my man. He's
just he is the light in these dark times. Like
I could cry. I he's just so good. I'll tell
you the beginning of the story. I a couple of
months ago, I think it was March. I got an
(16:59):
email to fill out a survey for the city, and
I like to fill out the surveys for the city.
I love New York City so so much and I
want it to be so much better than it is
and it's amazing. But anyway, so I'm filling out the
survey and the mayoral elections coming up, and it's says, so,
who are you going to vote for? And I say
(17:19):
Brad Lander. He was the leading Democrat in the race,
and they're like, anyone else on the list. I'm like, no,
I'm not interested in anyone else. And it would say
what if the person said this, and it was something positive,
had free buses, great, but that's not going to happen,
and that person can't get elected. This survey went through
(17:42):
pages and pages and by the end it was like,
we understand that you don't think this person could get elected.
We understand that you don't know who this person is.
But hypothetically, if someone said these things, would you vote
for that person? And he's like, yes, of course they will.
(18:02):
So that's that would be a great person. But obviously
there is no person like that, because that would be amazing.
And that person was Zoran. And I asked a friend
of mine who works in city politics, you heard of
this guy? And she's like, yeah, he's really good. And
that was the first time I had ever heard of him,
(18:23):
and I still like, when I finished the survey, I
was like, well, yeah, I know he sounds great, but
I can't get elected. But then my friend said he
is great and maybe he could. And that's when I
started doing research about him. And he exploded on Instagram
and they kept saying he's so cute and he says
(18:46):
great things, and then he's like, we need volunteers. At
one point he one of his things was, stop, you
can't send me any money. No more donations. Don't send money.
You've raised all the money. We were allowed to raise
eight million dollars from twenty thousand people, Like, but we
do need you to volunteer, Like, okay, where do I
(19:09):
sign up? And they made it real easy, and I
just started knocking on doors and I'm not kidding. I
knocked on more than a thousand doors, and I talked
to hundreds of people. And it's really nice to talk
to someone when you care about the person you're talking
(19:30):
to them about. There are plenty of people who said,
I have no idea who that guy is. Great, let
me tell you about him. These are the things he
wants and this is what he can do. And yeah,
I got a couple of people who said that they
were going to vote for Cuomo. Andrew Cuomo, you have
a national audience, You're a you're do you know who
Andrew Cuomo is?
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Absolutely, we do.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
It's a terrible person. The former governor of New York
sex abuse charges spent millions of New York state taxpayer
dollars for his defense in these charges that these women filed.
He's just awful. So I would knock on a door
and say, you know, I'm a Zorn volunteer. Are you
(20:14):
a Democrat? Are you going to vote in the primary,
because that's what was coming up. New York Is said
to Democratic town that generally whoever words wins the Democratic
primary wins in the general. That's normally how it goes.
So the primary is really important. And I have ranked
choice voting, And a couple of people said, no, yep,
I'm a Democrat. I'm going to vote for Cuomo. Oh
(20:35):
really tell me why? What? Molly's a strong man and
Trump's a strong man, and we need a strong man
against a strong man. Oh okay, but did you know
that the people who donate money to Donald Trump are
also donating money to Andrew Cuomo. Did you know that
Donald Trump has charges that he can file against Andrew
(20:57):
Cuomo but won't and then have him in a pocket.
And then I would talk about what Zorn wants. Free buses,
freeze fast buses in all five boroughs. Uh, freeze the
rent which he's able to do, rent home spacing, he
wants to. Oh, there's so many things, but.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Of course healthcare that not There's not that much that
he can do.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Oh, supermarket City runs supermarkets in every borough where with
where we can have a union workforce and low prices.
The prices of groceries in New York City is astronomical. Great.
One of the things he's going to do is give
(21:48):
up mayoral control of the schools. When when Bloomberg was
in office, the school boards were corrupt, he consolidated and
said the mayor is going to have control role and uh,
and the mayor will choose a chancellor for the school system.
But ultimately the mayor was in charge. And the idea
(22:10):
of of one person being the mayor of the biggest
city in the country and in charge of the biggest
school system in the country is ridiculous. Yes, and every
mayor says that they'll Oh, no, we'll figure something out. Oh,
we'll figure something out. This is the first person who
says I'm going to give up power. It is too
much for one person. And we're not going to go
(22:32):
back to the old ways and we're not going to
have it the current way. We're going to figure out
a new way. And and that's incredible, that's.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Incredible, that's very refreshing, right, Like, don't give me many everyone,
and we're going to We're gonna give away some power.
I'm going to give power power back into the hands
of perhaps educators about education.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Right. Just I think with today or yesterday, the Teachers
Union uh said that they were supporting him, which is amazing. Yeah, yeah,
he's Oh he's so, he's so. I was canvassing for
weeks in the rain, like I canvas for Harris in Pennsylvania.
(23:19):
But I did more. I have never worked so hard
for a candidate in my life. I think he's just
that good. So I canvassed for several weeks. I got
my door on card I forgot to I don't have it,
and and and then it seemed like I was better
(23:40):
suited to use my car. I have a car, and
I just drove materials, signs and tables and and tents
from one part of Brooklyn to Upper Manhattan to the Bronx.
So I was driving all over the city and going
to the office where he pay up the materials to
(24:01):
put in the car, and some strong person puts it
in my car. And then I tried it all. And
every single person, I'm not kidding, is beautiful and working
so hard, Like they all have a smile on their
face everything. I could also be the parent of every
single one of them. They're also young.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Well, smiles are beautiful, you know. Yeah, show the love beauty. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Oh, and everyone was different. Oh, it was incredible. It
was incredible. I did a lot of jobs in that office,
the driving around, and then right, this is the story.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
And then.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
It was a Sunday, and yeah, I had gone to
uh to a mosque in the Bronx. I'd never been
to a mosque before, I'm ashamed to say, but now
I have. And it was to hand out flyers that
we had in Urdu and Indy and and Spanish. We
(25:06):
actually needed it. There were a lot of people from Huszakhstan.
There was It was a diverse group of people who
are going to the to the mosque that I didn't know.
Sorry it was Friday because it was Friday priers. Yes, yes,
Friday midday. And the people were very nice, handed out flyers.
(25:30):
Everyone was great. I had There was another volunteer with me.
His name was Herschel and he was very white and
we were just both handing out flyers. Everyone was nice
to us. We talked to people, made sure they knew
where they're pulling, where their voting station was. A lot
of them, uh were not citizens, so they couldn't vote.
(25:55):
But it was really nice. And I got to go
to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx where there's lots of
Italian food and I got anyway. Oh and I also
put up posters in the Bronx and they loved to
see the zoron posters. That was great. Anyway, I had
a whole full day on Friday. I came home, lie
(26:15):
down on my bed. I'm like, ah, that was good work,
good work, that's great. And then I get a text.
Did you see Zoran is walking from the top of
Manhattan to the bottom of Manhattan? Oh my god?
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Now how far is that for for us non New Yorkers?
How how long a walk? Is that.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
I'm gonna say, I don't. I seven to ten miles? Oh, okay,
seven miles, six miles. I could google it, that's okay.
He started at seven in the morning. No, he started
seven at night and he got there at two in
the morning. It was seven hours of walking. Okay. So
(26:54):
I so I live. If you look at Manhattan, I'm
kind of in the lower middle area. I live on
twenty third Street. So and my friend who lives uptown
told me about it. I'm like, oh my god, he's walking,
walking all the way down. Well, that's going to take
a long time. I don't have to run anywhere right now.
Let's figure out how's he going to go? How's he
(27:16):
going to walk? I'm trying to figure it out. I'm
looking on Instagram, I'm looking on Twitter, I'm looking like where,
And then I'm in some group chats with volunteers, and
I'm like, anyone seen him? Do you know where he is?
And I decide it's still it's going to be five hours.
It's going to be four hours from now. I don't
have to like find him this minute. So I rested
(27:39):
a little, went out with my kid and walked around
the city a little bit and then came home and
I was like, you know what, I'm going to find him.
I'm going to find him. And I did the math,
and what I figured out was he should get to
twenty third Street by midnight, so I twenty third if
he walks down broad Way, which would make sense, and
(28:02):
got to twenty third Street that there is a park
there called Madison Square Park. The flat Iron Building is there,
and I was like, you know what, I'm going to
walk to the park at eleven o'clock. I'm going to
drink a beer. I'm not going to get crazy. I'm
just going to hang out. It's a beautiful night, not
too hot. And if he gets here by midnight, I
(28:24):
will walk with him. If he doesn't, that means he
went a different way. And I'm not going to run
around the city trying to find him. But I will
sit for let's say an hour. So I'm sitting there
and drinking my beer. Just if there are people on dates.
I love New York. If there's always something going on.
Oh look at them them. Oh that's see. There was
(28:45):
one couple. Oh they were so sweet. They there were
like tables and chairs and they had they brought a picnic.
It's just this anyway. It was lovely, and there was
a first date that was going on also anyway, But
I'm just sitting there and I digress. And then it's
midnight and I'm checking and someone says, yeah, he's on
(29:06):
Broadway at forty second coming down. Oh is he? But
he's going to come down on sixth. We don't know.
I think, Okay, it's midnight, he's not there. Okay, I'm
going to walk up Broadway because I think he's coming
down Broadway. I'm going to walk up Broadway and if
I see him, great. If I don't, I'm going home.
So I start walking and I actually see a group
(29:26):
of people and I say, oh, oh, they're going to
a club. There's a club over there. Nope, that's not him.
I walk almost another block and I see Nouren walking
with his white shirt and his tie, and I see
a group of people behind him. There he is there,
he is like honestly, he's like, this is the man
(29:48):
that I have been working so hard for happily, like
every every minute of work has been joyful. And so
I walk towards to him and I get to him.
He's in the front. No one's between me and him,
and I just said, I've been waiting for you, and
(30:08):
he goes, I've been waiting for you as we hugged,
beautiful and we hug and I'm just like, I here is.
I can't even believe it. I like, I can't even
believe it. Oh my god, here he is, like I'm
actually holding on to him. Oh my.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (30:31):
And can I share a picture? Can I show a picture?
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Oh? Absolutely? Do you see?
Speaker 2 (30:37):
I see click that yep, and'll tell you to do
im a trial and now choose it. Okay, we go there,
it is there, it is.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Wow, twelve o five, that's exactly what you just described.
White shirt tie, huge crowd behind him, you guys hugging
each other, yep.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, wow. And my face, I'm like, I can't even
believe it. I cannot believe it. This is this, here's
the man. Oh my god, Oh my gosh. Oh yeah,
that was amazing. So if we hugged for a little
bit longer than maybe was appropriate, but that's fine. And
(31:22):
then someone's like what yes, exactly, and then someone grabbed
my phone because they're really thoughtful and started taking pictures.
That's how that picture happened. And I got my phone back, like,
oh my pictures, and then uh, I just started walking
and we walked for two hours down and we didn't
stay on Broadway. We went all kind of a circuitous path.
(31:46):
Everywhere we went, people honked the horn, they're yelling their people,
you know, eating on the sidewalk, the outdoor cafes. Oh
my god. There is people jumping out of their seats
to take a picture with him, like incredible. Excuse me,
(32:06):
I want to share one more picture. Yeah, you can
have hold on, just a good one. Sorry, that's okay.
He so we just kept walking. Yeah, I'm just gonna
is it okay if I just share a couple okay? Absolutely,
And and somemb nails are hard to see. Oh got it? Sorry, okay,
(32:31):
by this one. Yep. That's like on Houston, just walking
down people they just want to see him, They want
to touch him. They it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
It just must radiate sincerity, something that's just yes, or
find apparently like warmth and integrity or something when they
see him.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Yeah, yeah, and honesty, like he's I'm going to hear
one more. We he stopped. We stopped at one point two.
So that's a statue of Fiarrela LaGuardia. He was a
Socialist Republican mayor in the like thirties. He is he
(33:21):
is one of the greatest mayors of New York City ever,
and he is he is. Zoran would say who is
the greatest mayor of New York and he would say
Fiarella Laguardian. And so there's a statue and we passed
it and he sat there.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
I assume that's that's the LaGuardia Airport is from.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yes, yes, yeah, I know that.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, oh my gosh, yeah incredible.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
Yeah, thanks for giving us the feel of that. And
I mean, I'm I feel a natural high myself just
listening to them. It was.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
It was incredible just walking around and people like coming
in and people were joining walking and then leaving and
then it was amazing. All right. So then after two
hours of walking two hours for me, he had been
walking for seven hours. Yeah, this is the one. We
get to the bottom of Manhattan, which is okay, it's
(34:26):
where the Staten Island Ferry is. It's where you can
see the Statue of Liberty And we got there and
he sat. He just sat down and he's like, everybody,
sit down, just sit down. We've been walking, sit down,
and someone asked him, was this your idea? And he said, no,
it wasn't my idea. It was that guy's idea. And
(34:47):
it was a great idea. Wasn't this amazing? He's like, like,
this was so cool, it was so great. And then
there are forty people, maybe fifty people sitting in front
of him, like in a semicircle, and he's like, you
can tell he's tired, and he just goes, so let's
go around. Tell me your name and where do you
(35:09):
start walking from? And we just went around the whole
Every single person said their name and where they started,
and they all said a little something else because they
love him.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Wow. Talk about inclusion and creating a sense of belonging.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Right right right?
Speaker 3 (35:27):
Oh my god, wow, amazing. Yeah, this is so amazing.
Oh my gosh. Well, I maybe wasn't fair to you
because we only have nine minutes left, so we might
have to we might have to have you come back.
But let I don't know. I just want to make
sure you get to tell people.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
What yes, And I'm going to share one more picture.
I'm sorry, hold on, I'm going to share one more
picture because it's more important.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Hey, it's your voice. You choose, You choose how this
time is spent.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
So he was in he was in Upper Manhattan on
a very hot day and there are a billion people
out and everyone speaking Spanish. And my friend was there
and she's like, give me your phone, go stand next
to him. I finally got next to him and I
was wearing my shirt. One of the biggest issus. We're
just going to talk multiple talk about instant of coordinating
another day. Okay, Doorn did not create a lot of merch,
(36:25):
like nothing, practically. I think a lot of his campaign
money had to go to security, and we all want
him say so do that. But random people made merch.
This T shirt was made by one of the volunteers
and he made twenty shirts and he just said on
the group chat, I made some shirts. You want one, well,
(36:45):
you can have it for ten bucks. This guy spent
all day in his apartment ironing on I don't know
exactly how he did it, but like making these shirts.
I mean I used some platform and I made bumper
stickers because I needed something on my car that said
I love Zoran fun.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
So was this a second This is a different time
when you.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Saw him out. This is another time when I met
I met him twice, yes, imagine twice.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
Okay, this was apparently during the day in a Spanish
speaking neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yes, and I'm not sure if you can tell, but
his white shirt is completely soaked. It was so hot.
And when he got there, he was wearing his jacket
and someone was like, dude, take to take the jacks, please,
please take the checks off. And well, in that twenty
minutes that I maybe half an hour, he spoke to
(37:43):
hundreds of people. He got an icy from a woman,
he got a donut from another guy, and he got
a pastry, and he got a cold coffee drink from
all the local stores.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Yeah. Wow. You know what Another thing he wants to do. Sorry,
I'm just gonna keep going. It's my voice, right. He
wants he wants to make the city safer. And one
of the issues is that our unhoused population, many of
(38:18):
whom have some mental health issues. Our current mayor, Eric Adams,
wants to pull people off the street and put them
in shelters and put them in facilities whether they want
to or not. Take them out. People don't think that
they're safe and that's not fair. There are plenty of
people who are unhoused and have mental illness and are safe.
(38:41):
Doran's plan is to create one in the subways. There
are a lot of former stores in the subway stations.
Not every subway station, but some of them have they
used to sell stuff. Turn that into a mental health clinic.
He wants to stop cops from responding to mental health
health calls and have a whole different department. This is
(39:03):
why some cops really support him. There's a lot of
cops who support him because he says, this is not
what you were trained for, right, Even.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
My brother who was a copsy.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
Right, It's not what they were trained for. And there
should be a whole different group of people who are
trained for this who answer these calls. So if they're
right there in the subway system, they can get there faster.
He also right, right. He also, I just heard him
talk about it today and I don't remember what it's called. Clubhouse.
(39:37):
There's something called a clubhouse for unhoused people with mental
health challenge. I don't know what it is, but he
said there's one that's already in effect in New York
City called I forget what it's called, but he sees
a problem and finds the healthy, respectful way to try
(39:59):
and all of that problem. What an idea?
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Well I heard someone and I know this is not
your field and we do not have time to discuss it,
but I just want to mention that I heard someone
interviewing him saying, Okay, how are you going to pay
for all this? Which is always a good question, right,
people are going to want to know. But I imagine
do you know where people can find the information? Is
(40:24):
that like spelled out on the website? Or how do
we how do people who are wondering like, oh, that
sounds so great, but how's he going to pay for it?
Speaker 2 (40:32):
Right?
Speaker 3 (40:33):
You have how can we find the answer to this?
Speaker 2 (40:35):
Well you can go to his website, so Momdannie fromayer
dot com. Also, what he has said is that he
wants to tax people making over a million dollars two
percent more, and corporations have the tax rate be the
same as New Jersey, which is four percent higher. This
(40:58):
has to be approved by the governor. But what I
but what I know is that if he has the
support of most of the city, he has now gotten
more vote than any mayor in the history of New
York City.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
Telling you something. Yeah, well, it's going to be interesting
to see how the relationship between him and the governor
evolved and answers some of these questions. Wow, I love
your enthusiasm. I love learning about this man who's you know,
already striking the consciousness of America.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Right.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
You sure made New York City sound like friendly and close,
like you've dispelled some myths that we might have been
holding in our head.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Oh it's great. And can I tell you people came.
I there was a volunteer from Alaska. There's a volunteer
from Massachusetts. There were volunteers coming from all over the place.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
Wow, we have like two minutes left, but thank you
for the Zoron Donnie continued campaign.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
You already you.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
Already got him and he's the general election in the primaries.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
Yeah, okay, it's November.
Speaker 3 (42:17):
Okay, gosh, this is so exciting. And I will just
ask you, what's your I mean, your enthusiasm is contagious,
just like courage is contagious. I'm wondering any kind of
last minute like message to listeners who are like excited
and want to be activists, and if.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
You find some, if you find someone who really resonates
with you go help them. Oh my god, my it
brings me so much joy. It it's we're in dark
times and I have been feeling joy because of this man,
because he's honest, because he's he's real. And I know
(43:02):
that there are Democratic Socialist candidates in places around this country,
which means that they have a similar philosophy. I don't
imagine anyone. I really think he is unique.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
Well, okay, that is awesome. And I also just want
to say I think it's important for people to look
up what democratic socialists is because I think just the
word socialism has such a terrible stigma, and what it
means depends on which country it is, which application is.
There's of course lots of failures, lots of bad association,
lots of negativity, and you know, a lot of it
(43:40):
really also valid. But this is a this is a
different thing.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Yes, And and he has said very clearly his plan
is not the Democratic socialist plan. It is his own plan.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
It's good to hear, and we need to learn more
and just to get educated instead of making assumptions based
on phrase that we have associations with. Oh my gosh,
Susie Bear, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Yack then thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (44:06):
Oh my god, California to New York. I'm gonna get out.
I can't wait to show up one day out there.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
Yees, oh my god.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
And you're welcome here. And let me thank everybody. Thank you,
thank our sound engineered rebel, Thank your producer Dean Piper,
Thank you all the listeners and viewers and gosh, maybe
all have enriching conversations and diversity this week. And share
and spread the enthusiasm that Susie has and tune in
next Wednesday at a pm Eastern Time on Talk for
TV or W four c Y dot com. Thanks again,
(44:40):
good night
Speaker 1 (44:41):
Otic, Let's beach, let's beak show, let's speak, let's preach,
elgic gellow letswich is largic gallo lets, pitch of the Hut.
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Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.