March 7, 2023 • 41 mins
Meet Rana Abdelhamid, a truly inspirational organizer and global human rights activist making positive changes in the world today. Rana is a Truman Scholar, founder of the organizations Hijabis of New York and the Women's Initiative for Self Empowerment which she started when she was 16. She is also a 1st degree Black Belt, and is one of youngest serving board members of Amnesty International USA.
Rana’s list of honors is a true testament to who she is. She has been selected by Forbes as a 30 Under 30 in the social impact category, has received both a NYC Council Proclamation and an International Youth Advocate award by the UN, and has been recognized by countless other organizations for the social impact of her work.
This episode is a special one. We had the opportunity to sit down with Rana both before, and after, her 2022 run as a candidate for the United States Congress to represent the 12th district in New York.
In these conversations, we hear some of her active processing around the outcome of the race. We also learn how heartbreaks around who we are can lead to a lifelong path of community activism and changemaking, how we can channel our emotions into action(s), how our identities inform our decision making process, and how we can all get involved in the political processes that affect our lives both locally and nationally.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Hey listeners. This is Neil Ludovic and Amir
Jan Dolly. Welcome to leave looking at.
Where we have uplifting conversations about the state of
the world, with our heroes, withthe intention to demystify
orient and leave you, our listeners inspired for this
episode, we sat down with Rena, Abdul Hameed, a truly
(00:28):
inspirational organizer, and Global human rights activist
making positive change in the world today but Anna is a Truman
scholar founder of the organization's hijabis of New
York and the women's Initiative for self-empowerment when she
started, when she was 16. She's also a first degree black
belt and is one of the youngest serving board members of
(00:49):
Amnesty, International USA, ranas list of honours is a true
Testament to who she is. She's been selected by Forbes as
a 30 and 2:30 in the social impact category has Both a New
York City Council Proclamation and an international youth,
Advocate award, by the United Nations and has been recognized
by countless other organizationsfor the social impact of our
(01:10):
work. Now, today's episode is a
special one. We had the opportunity to sit
down with Ron up both before andafter her 2020 to run as the
candidate for the United States Congress to represent the 12th
District in New York. In these conversations, we
explore how we can Channel our emotions.
Into action how our identities inform our decision-making
(01:33):
process and how we can all get involved in the political
processes that affect our lives,both locally and nationally.
And now, without further Ado, let's start this episode, we
hope you enjoy it as much as we did and leave afterwards looking
up. We're here welcoming Rana Abdul
Hameed. Who is a new friend, a new,
(01:54):
comrade and running for New YorkCongress.
I think the only word I have right now running is a little
bit. Aw, first of all, hi, Donna,
welcome, thank you so much for that warm.
Welcome. Run a, how are you doing?
How's your day? What's on your radar right now?
Let's start there and then we'lldive into the stories.
Yeah, it's a beautiful day. I've been out and about the city
(02:14):
today and I have just been meeting a ton of people across
New York. City across the district and the
race has taken me to really be connected with people.
I never thought I'd be connectedwith fighting for this vision
for a better New York, but I know has been working towards
that Vision her whole life but the idea to run for Congress
bubbled up to the surface duringthe covid pandemic, which
(02:37):
highlighted the systemic issues that run on her neighborhood of
queens were up. Against if New York City, is the
epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic in the country than
Elmhurst Hospital is Ground Zero.
In people recently died here in just a 24-hour span each day
patients, many with cold and flu, like symptoms line up
outside to be tested located in Queens is Borough accounts for
(03:01):
nearly a third of all covid-19 cases in the city.
So many things were going on both, like, in my neighborhood
within my family, where I was, just so frustrated by the
reality of lack of proper Healthcare infrastructure, lack
of proper economic infrastructure to support.
In communities, especially in a place, like queens.
(03:22):
Were we were just hearing Sirensall the time.
The our hospitals were completely overwhelmed.
It was in those moments at the same time that something so
beautiful. Continue to happen in
communities across New York City.
Like the days, my mom was sick. She had covid where my family
was isolating or taking care of my mom.
People were dropping off groceries to our home, because
(03:44):
they knew we couldn't go out to get groceries.
Like, that was the kind of care that existed.
During that time and people don't think of New York that
way. We built these Mutual Aid
networks, we built these Community fridges did like
support for small businesses wraparound services, for folks
who are experiencing housing insecurity.
And it was in those moments thatlike the idea.
(04:05):
We need institutional change began to really form for me and
also being called on to be that change kept happening.
So I came to this race through an organization called Justice
Democrats and this is the organization that also And ran
people like AOC and dr. Bowman and Cory Bush, they'll
hunt Omar, people who are reallyleading the Progressive Movement
(04:28):
within the Congressional space. It was through someone who
works. With Injustice, Democrats that
approached me and was like, haveyou thought about running for
office? But it honestly wasn't until I
had that institutional support from an organization where I
was. All right.
This is happening. It's like, if I get their
endorsements a dream and so, like I can't walk away from
that. In April of 2021, thanks to the
(04:50):
support of Justice Democrats in her community Rana formally
launched her Congressional Campaign to represent New York's
12th District which at the time included parts of Manhattan,
Brooklyn and Queens. Her primary opponent was Carolyn
Maloney, an established Democratwho had represented the 12th
District for nearly three decades.
The New York Times called the race a generational ideological
(05:14):
and insider versus Outsider battle that will test the Power
and energy of the left. I've been involved in community
organizing and I've been adjacent to and in the political
world from movement perspective for as long as I can remember.
So since I was 14, did I ever imagined that?
I would be running for congress at 28?
Absolutely. Not, I don't know who like it's
(05:36):
it, you never really imagined that and especially me growing
up in all the identities that I carry as a Muslim woman as a
woman of color as a head job wearing growing up working
class. I never imagined someone who
looks like me Being in Congress and I never imagined then myself
being in Congress. And so a lot of I think shifts
in my own assumptions of what I'm able to do as well.
(05:59):
He started laying down the groundwork about the fact that
you've been involved in creatingmovement since you were a team.
So, tell us more about that. Tell us more about the soil that
started churning and forming from those early years.
Yeah, I think to understand how I came to organizing.
It's important to understand. When I talk about Queens, what
(06:20):
Queens I'm talking about. If you grew up in Queens, you
definitely get this. Queens is a type of place where
we have these like ethnic immigrant hubs where it's so
diverse, we have over 800 languages that are spoken here
where the working class neighborhoods of New York City.
That I grew up in a neighborhoodwhere literally walk down the
street and it's the aunties and uncles, and he smells fed effing
(06:42):
and there's good on blasting, out of the mosque.
And also I'm going to Deb's cassette player, you know, it's
like, Singing and like everybody's kind of hustling and
bustling and it's really important that folks are super
interconnected because like, when my mom needs to pick up,
extra shifts to make some extra cash, I can go to my neighbor's
house where I could be at the Moss and it was kind of the
(07:03):
shared Mutual Aid structure thatreally allowed us to survive and
allowed all of us to get through, like anomic hardship.
And so, I grew up on Mutual Aid.I grew up on, like immigrant
hustle. I grew up, like, in a moment
where puny Needed something, people will kind of have your
back and within the context we're like everyone had a lot of
pride in their identity, right? Like I spoke Arabic at home.
(07:26):
My mom were a be walking down the streets of New York City
that's what was up my inflectionpoint in organizing really
happened. Intersection of both class, and
growing up, post 9/11 in New York in the weeks following 9/11
when Rana was 9 years old, her representative, Carolyn Maloney
protested, the treatment of women in Afghanistan, Wearing a
(07:49):
burka on the house floor during her campaign Rana criticized
Maloney's decision saying that after seeing this quote, for the
rest of my life, I knew that as a Muslim woman, my identity
would be weaponized to justify American wars.
It was during a time in which all of a sudden I could pass as
(08:10):
Latina in school and now everyone's like, oh, she's Arab
and she's Muslim. Those are uses bad words, right?
Like not In a way that's positive.
And I came to organizing from a place of frustration, with the
way, the world was perceiving, me and my community.
It's as a high school student, it was like, during the time,
(08:30):
all the stuff was happening post9/11, my community was being
over-policed, there were surveillance in my neighborhood
and stop and frisk and at the same time, like New York City
Public Schools were being shut down because they weren't
performing at the rate that the government was setting then like
my neighborhood was being gentrified.
And so it was like marching wherever I can't doing these
flashbacks. Mobs and doing advocacy and
petitioning and that was how I came to.
(08:52):
It was just like in the streets.Literally at protests my friends
and I would be like there's a princess on this.
There's a smoke out, there's this and we would just show up,
I'm wondering if you remember what that first protest was
like. Oh my God.
I don't even remember. I don't, I honestly don't
remember, but I do know that so much of what I do now and so
(09:14):
much of my values and my understanding or on organizing
and movement work comes from my years in high school which is
like. So what think about the bat was
like such a formative time? Like the organizations that I
was involved with our organizations.
I'm still involved with the people were literally helping me
build, this campaign are people.I've been organizing with Ty
School We still literally wear orange jumpsuits and like go to
(09:39):
Central Park and hand out flyersto like educate people about
Guantanamo. We used to like pretend we were
pregnant to like put like balloons in our stomach like a
people to be aware about the maternal Health accountability
act. This is what we would do.
Did you think that at that time going out was going to make this
kind of change and impact that would lead you to this path or
(10:00):
it was reactionary at that point.
Yeah. I think it was reactive in the
That a huge part of my upbringing, as I was growing up.
I had a lot of Shame around my identity, and I was just like, I
don't want people to know I'm like, Arab, I don't, people
don't know. I'm Muslim, I don't find pride
in that, right? And then I remember being
surrounded by dope. Muslims dope.
(10:21):
Arabs, were older than me, who are in activism and, like,
reading Malcolm X was like, a really big turning point.
And so when I say reactive it was like, I know I'm gonna be
proud, like, I'm gonna wear the hijab.
Like I'm gonna Be out here. I'm gonna speak against
Injustice. It's not fair that my community
is experiencing this, it's not fair that there is inequality,
it's not fair that our schools are being shut down.
(10:43):
It's not fair that I'm growing up in a neighborhood, literally
nickname, asthma alley, right? It was this kind of frustration
with the reality and feeling forso long.
Like I had no power and then finally coming to terms, I do
have power and I can use that tocreate change and I know that
because people have come before me.
(11:04):
And they have used their power to create change in 2010.
But has started the women's Initiative for self-empowerment
to teach Muslim women's self-defense, which she
mentioned in her campaign launchvideo.
I was 16 years old when a man grabbed my hijab in broad
daylight and tried to rip it from my head.
I started a non-profit to train women in self-defense and
(11:26):
organize against hate based violence.
Collectively stepping into our power to feel safe in our
community. The organization now known as
Mallika is active internationally and supports
black and brown women in building power within themselves
and their communities. Starting Monica was the
manifestation of ranas acknowledgement that she can
(11:48):
make a difference and make change since starting Mollica
they've And over 20,000 women and girls in 20 cities across
the globe, with over 800 workshops and 200 global
national and Grassroots Partners.
What brings you from that frustrated space, to that change
making space. That was a really long journey.
(12:09):
I think that was a really long journey.
I think there was a moment was probably in end of college,
where I was like, I'm not going to be angry anymore.
Like, it took me a while to me, like I'm not going to be angry
anymore like because I realized that, Really important.
Right? It's important to feel anger
because oftentimes anger can be used to channel action, right?
(12:30):
That allows you to feel Injustice and oppression in a
way that moves Beyond being passive or taking it.
Right letting yourself take it which is the phase that I was
in. But I got to a point where I was
like, I need to be proactive andreframe for what I'm creating
not, what I'm fighting against. But what am I for?
What is the world that I want tobuild?
I think what was really important for me was to
(12:53):
recognize and love my own community and recognized and
loved. The people who represent the
values, who came before me and created change and recognize
that I'm not alone in this fightand people are fighting to make
the world a better place. And that's beautiful.
That's really hopeful for me. Well, run has love for her
(13:14):
community has fuelled so much ofthe work she's done.
It has also been a source of conflict, like, when she shared
her aspirations with hurry, Mom,Which is a spiritual leader
within a Muslim Community? Yes, I actually growing up a
nerd in a working-class immigrant Community.
I didn't have many options for what path.
I was going to take, and I remember right before I went
(13:36):
away to college, which is a big deal too, because I went away
from my neighborhood and that was a whole thing.
Like I grew up in a conservativeMuslim Community for me to be a
woman leaving my family's home pre-marriage to dorm was like a
huge thing. And I remember before I I left
my Imam who was amazing and incredible was maybe like 70s I
(13:58):
learned so much from him that medown and was like, what are you
going to study? And I was like, I'm going to
study political science and he was like absolutely not and he
went off about how like political space is not built for
anyone who looks like us. This is what he said.
It's going to be difficult. You're going to be pushed out.
You're gonna have to compromise on too many of your values, all
(14:20):
these things, right? The political class.
About corruption and I like all this stuff.
And I remember leaving that and crying.
Like, literally sobbing. I was like, my dream like 18
year old that I know, just my God, it's over.
I can never go into politics, it's done like here and I and
yes, absolute like that. I went off and studied pre-med
for a long time until I failed miserably and I was doing all
(14:44):
this work on the side like people are like what are you
doing? Like why are you living this
double life? Like you hate biology.
You hate. Fill the Immigrant dream.
Like this is the only way, you know, like this is kind of the
path. I never stopped organizing.
I always saw it as my life, not my career, you know, not my
(15:07):
profession, not what I'm going to do as a job.
This was where I was at. I was pre-med there's a
scholarship called The Truman scholarship and it's kind of
like the Rhodes scholarship. It's for public service, really
important. Validator like if you get it's
like a big deal with in the public service realm and so I
told my parents And the deal wasmy parents was like if I get the
Truman scholarship, I'm going toswitch my major and mind you
(15:27):
like to get this scholarship is very competitive.
So I was like, if I can make it through this, if this
organization validates me, then I'll feel like I am enough to be
able to really pursue this public service space and I went
through the process and I got the scholarship and that's when
I was like, all right. So there's hope for me to
actually be within the public service space.
(15:48):
That was that, and then I actually changed my major.
I feel like many people. Of phases.
This conflict that exists with having to have external
validation to Merit whether or not you can go forward in a path
but also you have a very clear Northstar, you know your
mission, you know, your trajectory to talk to us about
that. Yeah.
It takes a lot of faith. That thinks a lot of work.
(16:10):
It takes a lot of reflection andmind you at this point.
You know, I've founded a nonprofit organization.
I'm like, doing self defense classes across the globe.
I'm literally teaching confidence building, and
Organizing training workshops and leading Amnesty
International in the state, all the stuff.
And still I think the important part was always how do I make
(16:32):
sure that I'm rooting myself in the right things and my
attention is focused in orientedaround like, how I can maximize
my impact. So even when I was like in
pre-med, I was like, I'm going to be an OBGYN, do maternal
Health, right? And it really wasn't a shift in
like my mission or Vision. I always wanted to do work.
Have impact on community and come back to.
(16:55):
My neighbor is it was just a tool.
What is my tool that I'm going to be using to actually have
that impact? And I think that's a journey for
everyone. After the break Runners Journey
continues, as she breaks down, the complexities of political
representation, and the impact of gentrification, both of which
would contribute to the unexpected end of her campaign.
(17:16):
Our Guest Rana Abdul Hameed was running to represent New York's
12th District. And we returned here to her
reflecting on this journey Now, despite organizing Community,
her whole life Rana, understood the challenges that many face
when trying to get involved withpolitics, I'm from New Mexico.
Yeah, I was born and raised in small town in Southern, New
Mexico, population. 70,000. 80,000 people, I never really
(17:37):
had a sense of What my role is in is I couldn't even tell you
who are my district Representatives, or when are the
City Council meetings or like this whole sphere is this kind
of mystified for me. But I am somebody that cares
about social environmental change.
I want to understand the political landscape, who are the
(18:00):
players? Who are the stakeholders?
What does that look like? You're not the only one, by the
way, a majority of people are not engaged.
The majority of people are not necessarily.
Really out there aware voting, right.
Even though there's such a robust political infrastructure
in New York city. So for example, with the license
for the peaker plant Energy playhere in Astoria, the community
(18:20):
board and Community organizations.
The city council state-level representatives were huge part
of making sure that they didn't get their license renewed, so
that we were forced to find a renewable option rather than
having to rely on fossil fuel plants, get our energy sources,
I believe it's done on purpose and make it more difficult for
people to have access. And to understand their true
(18:41):
representation. And the reason is because
there's so much money tied into politics, so much corporate
interest so much funding and investment comes from Real
Estate. And from these fossil fuel
companies and that it's within their benefit that people are
not engaged with their politicalprocess.
And the other thing is because we haven't had the kind of
representation like an AOC, right?
(19:03):
Like you you will know most people will know who AOC is
right. But if I say Carolyn Bologna's
name. Most people don't know who that
is even people within the district, and it's because they
don't see themselves in that kind of representation.
If you have a hip Arab Muslim woman, right representative in
New York that will promise you you'll know who that is right,
(19:25):
like, I'm pretty sure most people who share parts of my
identity know who I am in the city and I'm not even in that
seat yet and that is why representation matters so much?
I remember a couple of years ago.
I was speaking with like the first American elected in New
York and they're in Queens. People call from the Bronx who
are create American for help on stuff because they feel seeing
(19:49):
in that representation, there's many reasons.
Why, someone like you who's highly engaged who super
educated, right? Who's entrepreneurial, and
young, and tapped into so many social spaces in, New York City,
would be not involved with such an obvious social space, or
political space to get connected, to, on issues, you
care about. There's just too many barriers.
(20:09):
So I'm a person. I'm in this apartment building.
I'm in Crown Heights. What's the big next sphere of
representation? Can you just demystify that?
What are the systems that I'm nested in?
You have the most dope City councilmember, okay?
Crystal in Crown Heights. You should look her up.
She's amazed do is Crystal, is she the next one up from, from
an individual? There's you as an individual,
(20:31):
then there's the Democratic party in New York, which has
most power because it's a very Democratic state democratic
City. New York City, you have District
leader. Okay, let's take committee
leader, who are representative would engage with the Democratic
party at a county level in? Brooklyn, we would have your
city council member. You have your State Assembly
(20:52):
member? You have your state, senator,
you have your Borough president.And that I would say, maybe like
comptroller you have your mayor,you have your Congressional
member, you, these are kind of the layers of representation.
So for folks that want Want to get more engaged and learn more.
(21:13):
I mean, I remember the process when I had to do this for Harlem
Arts Festival, talking to the Borough president, but I had a
lot of people claim, you know, you should talk to this person
talk to this person. Like, what is the next step for
the average human? That's like, I care about
things. And what do I do with all these
cares? I'm not a person who thinks that
electoral politics is the only way I think electoral politics
(21:33):
is part of it. Right?
And I think if someone's interested in getting involved
in electoral politics or a lot of Clubs across the city as
well, that are easy ways for people to plug in.
And I will tell you that Democratic clubs across New York
City. I hope no one gets offended.
That I want to say this are in dire need of younger more,
diverse, presents and voices. There's the community board.
(21:56):
Anyone could apply to be on their community board, go to
your community board meetings, both happen regularly, and you
can learn about the issues happening in your local
community and then city council.You definitely follow your city
council member you can. Oh them on Instagram or Twitter,
follow your state, senator follow your State Assembly
person. They usually host events at
their offices, things that are going on.
(22:19):
There's a process called participatory budgeting.
We're literally city council members are giving out a million
dollars to community initiatives.
It's a really great way to get involved.
And the other thing, I'll say selfishly to is getting involved
on campaigns. There's a candidate that you are
excited by that. You would like to see represent
your community. It's a really great way to build
(22:40):
networks, learn cut your teeth in the political process and
build community. Hell yeah, this is great.
So, can you keep opening us up to a little bit about the
vocabulary here? You know, what are some
Concepts, some language that people need to know and people
need to understand in order to measure success in measure,
change improvements. I care a lot about housing
Justice because I believe that New York City is an amazing
(23:03):
place and it is a very expensiveplace and very inaccessible
space for so many people. People, and as someone who grew
up and experience, gentrification, and I care a lot
about affordable housing, okay? So there is a metric.
If you want to learn the metric of the day called the average
median income, okay? This is a metric that developers
(23:23):
use and community board uses andcity council.
Member might Borough, presidentsmight use to think about what
actual affordability can look like in a community.
A problem with this metric is ituses median income?
When you look at an average often times, if there's higher
numbers in an average, it will skew that number higher than it
(23:46):
should be. This stat is not hyper
localized. So, for example, a place like
Queens, our income is calculatedwith a place like Westchester,
which we know and Counting Westchester has much higher
incomes in a place in Queens. This is how you get an
apartment. That is Affordable in a place
like Long Island City, that's a one bedroom that's two thousand
seven hundred fifty dollars, right?
(24:07):
So you're like house on one-bedroom.
Well if it's two thousand, sevenhundred fifty dollars and the
developer made an agreement withthe city getting some sort of
tax break that he's building or she's building affordable units.
But the units are not actually affordable right there.
Like, we're gonna keep it at X percent, am I building ends up
being way more expensive than itshould be?
(24:28):
That is a metric that could be changed at a federal level would
have huge implications for How We Do Urban Development and
urban planning, that's my fun fact.
I read an article that you were talking King about basically the
connection with the climate crisis and a housing and crisis.
And I'd love you to dive a little bit more into that about
how they're connected and why housing is such a fundamental
(24:50):
thing. Yeah, this is all interconnected
and when I talk about housing Justice is it's also racial
Justice. It's also gender justice, its
climate Justice, I grew up in a neighborhood literally nickname
asthma Ali. Oftentimes housing and the way
urban planning happened, historically in New York City,
you have working-class immigrantthe hoods relegated to parts of
the city where we're more vulnerable to toxicity.
(25:13):
Toxic air. For me, there are two examples
that we could think of that are really heartbreaking of how
climate Justice is interconnected with housing.
Justice deadly. Flooding cripples the Tri-State
more than 20 lives have been lost entire neighborhoods.
Underwater roads impassable, thesubway.
Shut down hurricane Ida. We saw, people literally died in
(25:35):
their basement apartments in Queens.
Over a dozen people. Because there was so much
flooding that happened, the climate resilient infrastructure
wasn't there. So we haven't invested in making
sure that homes are safe from flooding one.
And two people are people can't afford to live and have to find
(25:57):
these Alternative forms of housing.
So they live in basement apartments which I personally
grew up in a basement apartment,right?
And these basement apartments are not equipped to deal with
the climate crisis. And so people literally, you
know, we're stuck in their home.Homes, when they flooded and
passed away because of that horrific horrific, painful
moment for the City of New York catastrophe in the Bronx, the
(26:21):
deadliest fire in 30 years tearsthrough an apartment building
killing at least 19 people nine of those victims children.
Then you also saw the Bronx fireagain, our buildings are not
equipped to deal with these extreme weathers.
The extreme cold people didn't have heat in their homes, And
we're bringing space heaters into their home as the only
(26:42):
alternative in the middle of a New York City, winter.
And that's how you had a fire happen in this Bronx building in
a low-income neighborhood in theBronx.
And so when I talk about climate, Justice is housing,
Justice. That looks like, retrofitting
all of our buildings. It looks like making sure that
we're investing in renewable energy sources so we're not
reliant on fossil fuels to heat our homes, right.
(27:05):
But it also means that when there is a hurricane like
Hurricane Ida that people don't have to have mold in their home
for five years because they're not receiving the federal
funding to get that mold removed, which is literally,
what has happened in this District?
So where I lived in New York City, more than 10 years was In
Harlem, where a tremendous amount of displacement and
shifting and gentrification was happening the and you've alluded
(27:28):
to so much about how rich Queensis in terms of its culture and
its Vibe. I'm just curious, how do you see
that connecting with with these other?
Important passions of yours. And all of that is in many ways.
Interconnected when people talk about gentrification, there's
beautiful writing about like theloss, right?
(27:51):
And the ongoing grieving and mourning.
And when a community is displaced and someone walking
through their neighborhood and seeing it change day by day and
almost feeling a part of them asbeing lost, I really resonate
with that because that is a reality of me.
Still living in Astoria having grown up here and seeing so many
(28:13):
small businesses shut down on seeing.
So many other institutions come up in luxury, high-rise
developments. Go up.
When people used to live there and now they live, you know, in
Texas because I can't afford to live in New York anymore.
That is the ongoing grieving process the way in which we make
sure that communities and their histories are preserved is by
(28:34):
making sure that we are allowingfor institutions like Marshall
real estate right and in small businesses which are often times
the Crux of these communities Community, organizations, and
cultural institutions actual people's homes and Residences,
right? People actually able to stay if
they want to stay and that requires things like National,
(28:55):
rent control for both commercialand residential rent that
requires things like actually recognizing the history, right?
Of a community and honoring thatthe presence of that community,
Through celebration, through amplification, And there's so
much organizing happening acrossthis District that is rooted in
those kinds of efforts to memorialize and to recognize and
(29:16):
to sustain that cultural resilience when it's being
confronted with so much economicshifts.
Because it happens so quickly and you need like both Community
protectors and you need policy to intervene in the face of such
incredible amounts of money. That is flooding.
(29:38):
These Red's, what none of us could have known is that soon.
After our original interview run, his campaign would be
directly confronted by the very issues of gentrification that
have been affecting her community, her whole life
through a process called redistricting after the
political chaos in New York state and the stunning decision
redrawing. The maps of congressional
(30:00):
districts that set off a fierce Scramble for seats a number of
Representatives found, they no longer live in their districts
and others will have to run against each.
Other the process of redrawing. Congressional Maps is known as
redistricting and it took place across the country after the
2020 census. As it does every 10 years, to
adjust for population and political changes within States.
(30:22):
In New York, these newly redrawnMaps meant that Queens Runners
home would no longer be includedin the 12th District.
The very District she was running to represent as a result
Rana was forced to drop out of the race.
We sat down with Rana for a second interview.
Her first time, speaking about her decision, after her official
(30:44):
statement in December 2020, 27 months after her campaign ended.
I was redistricted out of the location in which I was trying
to represent. I got redistricted into
representative Alexandra, OcasioCortez's congressional district,
my district was kind of pushed all the way into Manhattan which
(31:07):
is not where I live. And so Abruptly had to jump out
of that race after two years of running, it was definitely one
of the hardest experiences of mylife.
And so many ways. I came into this really from a
place of love for Community, formy family, for my neighborhood
and also from a place of anger. I think just lack of
(31:31):
representation and lack of listening and investment in
housing and in just the real Ages.
Whether it's food, insecurity orclimate Injustice, gender
Injustice that. I saw so many folks in my own
neighborhood deal with, but being ignored and left out by
political representation. And then, I felt like the
(31:51):
culmination of the race. Also, the redistricting process,
which did not take into account,the neighborhood that I was
running to represent. And in many ways erase the North
African Community which gerrymandering oftentimes does
it erases minorities groups? It felt kind of like the reason
why I jumped in was So confirmed, right?
The reason that forced kind of this race to end, so it was
(32:14):
definitely hard. It was through conversations
with her family and campaign supporters.
In addition to prayer and meditation, that run a new
suspending, her campaign was theright Next Step.
However, her community has had to wrestle with this decision in
their own way. There's a ton of people who
didn't believe, we're kind of like, we don't want to vote, we
(32:34):
don't want to do this. We don't want to get involved
and who are door knocking for the first time.
Who donated to a political campaign for the first time who
were like? We're gonna vote for the first
time, right? And when I walk down Steinway
Street, a, some people redirected their anger towards
me my own, like, people who are like my rider die, right?
Who really gave so much. And I understand they gave so
(32:55):
much to this campaign and it wassuch a letdown and for me to
withdraw without the Nuance political context of why I was
withdrawing for them if almost felt I gave up is how they read
it and there were moments when Ieven internalize that and am
constantly going back and forth,maybe I could have done this or
(33:18):
I could have done that but it's even just said sitting with that
decision not just alone but in community and in Collective
creates you feel the frustrationright?
And you don't know who to directit at and it's very it's very
much a mess. But I I do think that there is
important space for that to be held and And for that to be
(33:39):
processed as well and we have been processing it.
Collectively. It's important to go a little
bit easy on ourselves and find ways to take care of ourselves
especially these moments. And I'm, I guess, I'm curious.
Like how are you taking care of yourself right now?
One of the reasons why I ran foroffice is the reality of
gentrification and displacement that I am seeing in my
(34:00):
neighborhood here in. Astoria people talk about
Astoria like is gone, there are no people of color here anymore
that there are no immigrants. There are no Working Class
People year, and many ways, the demographics of a story.
I have shifted substantially from when I grew up.
It's night and day and we're still here and we're trying to
survive. And so I'm working on, you know,
(34:23):
a couple of Storytelling and artprojects and doing a ton of
organizing and teaching self-defense and doing the
things that I wasn't able to do that fill my cup and doing it
with people who I'm closest to creating art with women who
raised me and Unlike teaching self-defense and doing
trauma-informed, facilitation, like, literally do a
trauma-informed training on my auntie's gets, like, the only
(34:46):
time I could say, my auntie's down and tell them why they
can't just call someone fat amazing stuff.
And I feel really lucky to be able to do it now that she's had
time and space away from a, she described it.
The most difficult experience ofher life, Rana has found a way
to transform her anger at the systemic Injustice of the
redistricting process. While still leave.
(35:06):
Looking up, I'm a religious person.
Sin, I believe God makes things happen for a reason and I do
believe that this is an opportunity for redirection and
I believe that this was racist gerrymandering, this isn't me
applying for a job and not getting the job.
This is me and my community investing almost a million
(35:28):
dollars, time energy having Vision, believing in an
electoral process. That often times marginalized in
overlooked us for the first time.
And then being Being completely.Pushed out of that system and of
that process in an equitable unjust way with also being
optimistic and recognizing the power of my community.
(35:51):
And what we built and knowing that we're going to continue to
fight for our needs and continueto build our Collective power.
Even in the face of all that, we're now approaching the end of
this episode and we can't bring it to a close without
underscoring the immense gratitude for run as
vulnerability her ability to Reframe this incredibly
(36:12):
challenging experience into a transformative.
One has been truly touching and inspirational to us.
Thank you, Rhonda from modeling,how to stay committed to one's
Mission. Regardless of what gets in the
way on top of that shortly. After our first interview, Ron
has work, was recognized in the prestigious Forbes 30 under 30
category for social impact further demonstrating that half
(36:34):
the battle is staying true to your path and that recognition
and change will come. So, as we wrap this episode, I
will leave you listeners with a little more to learn about the
human behind the hero for the rapid fire round.
You have 5 seconds or less to give your gut quick response to
it. Whatever it might be, there are
no wrong answers, that are just quick answers and that's what
(36:55):
we're looking for on this day ofRamadan.
What is your favorite drink viscous?
Get kids my gosh. When are you most Productive in
the morning. Who is your biggest inspiration?
My mom either or summer? Winter summer, what's your magic
(37:21):
number? Oh well, I don't know why 13
popped in my head but I don't feel some supplement 13.
There you go. It's my magic numbers.
I think I know the answer to this, but in which subject were
you worst at in school? Oh my God.
What some chick was I worked at?Oh should I say?
I mean, organic chemistry. It was like my worst life ever
(37:42):
in physics science science I heard you say biology before I
was like it's definitely science-related and so which was
your best social studies history?
What scares you? Oh my God!
This is not rapid fire. What scares me?
Oh my God, so much right now. I think like letting people down
(38:06):
scares me. Yeah, I was at scorpions but I
think that's a really good attitude.
If you could live anywhere else in the world other than queens.
All right, Abby. Can I say Manhattan now, Ash
outside of New York outside. A New York loyal.
Yeah, it's out of New York, likelive anywhere else in the world.
Outside of New York. It would be have to be
Alexandria Egypt! Fantastic response!
(38:28):
I love it. Rana, thank you so much for
sharing some wisdom and Inspirations and motivations
here. I'm leaving looking up after
this conversation. So thank you so much, thank you.
And I'm gonna looking up to to thank you both so much.
I really appreciate it. Thank you again to adopt a meat
(38:51):
for joining us. If you want to stay inspired
followed on on Instagram at run,Abdul Hameed and on Twitter at
run of 4 and Y. That's our aana fo R NY or check
out her nonprofit organization Mallika at Malika dot-org.
You can listen to and watch the full 40 minutes.
(39:11):
Follow-up interview with Radha by joining our patreon at
www.payoor.com Actually looking up here a few clips from that
interview and this is like probably the first time I'm
speaking about it again, outsideof the context of it actually
happening but I do think it's important to pause and recognize
(39:33):
how systemically this was reallyviolent and this is really
messed up. Grab an idea that I want to put
out there in the world that I think is too embarrassing for my
Instagram. I put on my Tick, Tock the only
thing that's keeping me. Me going because this was such a
hard experience, like so hard totalk about even now, I honestly
get so emotional about it. Is love this episode, was
(39:58):
created to the combined efforts of myself as executive producer
and our producer, Kyle gets engineer.
Alexander Rossi with support from Eric Erin, the moon 31 team
also includes lead, producer, Lou Chic, Lotus lead designer on
Draya. Kang glass slipper, media, and
engineer. Justin jet, Carter who also
scored this episode. Original theme music by Brady W
(40:19):
and background music provided for glue.
Dot sessions on our patreon. You can also find completely
unedited raw episodes and video form score.
Merch, be the first to access our content and support what?
We're creating also we'd like totake a second to thank you for
joining us today. So, if you haven't already,
please be sure to leave a ratingand review of the podcast in
(40:40):
your app of choice. We also recommend following us
on social media at leave lookingup on all social channels For
subscribing to our mailing list for special content, news, and
first dibs on the episodes, via our website at leave looking
up.com.
Hey listeners. This is Neil Ludovic and Amir
Jan Dolly. Welcome to leave looking at.
Where we have uplifting conversations about the state of
the world, with our heroes, withthe intention to demystify
orient and leave you, our listeners inspired for this
episode, we sat down with Rena, Abdul Hameed, a truly
(00:28):
inspirational organizer, and Global human rights activist
making positive change in the world today but Anna is a Truman
scholar founder of the organization's hijabis of New
York and the women's Initiative for self-empowerment when she
started, when she was 16. She's also a first degree black
belt and is one of the youngest serving board members of
(00:49):
Amnesty, International USA, ranas list of honours is a true
Testament to who she is. She's been selected by Forbes as
a 30 and 2:30 in the social impact category has Both a New
York City Council Proclamation and an international youth,
Advocate award, by the United Nations and has been recognized
by countless other organizationsfor the social impact of our
(01:10):
work. Now, today's episode is a
special one. We had the opportunity to sit
down with Ron up both before andafter her 2020 to run as the
candidate for the United States Congress to represent the 12th
District in New York. In these conversations, we
explore how we can Channel our emotions.
Into action how our identities inform our decision-making
(01:33):
process and how we can all get involved in the political
processes that affect our lives,both locally and nationally.
And now, without further Ado, let's start this episode, we
hope you enjoy it as much as we did and leave afterwards looking
up. We're here welcoming Rana Abdul
Hameed. Who is a new friend, a new,
(01:54):
comrade and running for New YorkCongress.
I think the only word I have right now running is a little
bit. Aw, first of all, hi, Donna,
welcome, thank you so much for that warm.
Welcome. Run a, how are you doing?
How's your day? What's on your radar right now?
Let's start there and then we'lldive into the stories.
Yeah, it's a beautiful day. I've been out and about the city
(02:14):
today and I have just been meeting a ton of people across
New York. City across the district and the
race has taken me to really be connected with people.
I never thought I'd be connectedwith fighting for this vision
for a better New York, but I know has been working towards
that Vision her whole life but the idea to run for Congress
bubbled up to the surface duringthe covid pandemic, which
(02:37):
highlighted the systemic issues that run on her neighborhood of
queens were up. Against if New York City, is the
epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic in the country than
Elmhurst Hospital is Ground Zero.
In people recently died here in just a 24-hour span each day
patients, many with cold and flu, like symptoms line up
outside to be tested located in Queens is Borough accounts for
(03:01):
nearly a third of all covid-19 cases in the city.
So many things were going on both, like, in my neighborhood
within my family, where I was, just so frustrated by the
reality of lack of proper Healthcare infrastructure, lack
of proper economic infrastructure to support.
In communities, especially in a place, like queens.
(03:22):
Were we were just hearing Sirensall the time.
The our hospitals were completely overwhelmed.
It was in those moments at the same time that something so
beautiful. Continue to happen in
communities across New York City.
Like the days, my mom was sick. She had covid where my family
was isolating or taking care of my mom.
People were dropping off groceries to our home, because
(03:44):
they knew we couldn't go out to get groceries.
Like, that was the kind of care that existed.
During that time and people don't think of New York that
way. We built these Mutual Aid
networks, we built these Community fridges did like
support for small businesses wraparound services, for folks
who are experiencing housing insecurity.
And it was in those moments thatlike the idea.
(04:05):
We need institutional change began to really form for me and
also being called on to be that change kept happening.
So I came to this race through an organization called Justice
Democrats and this is the organization that also And ran
people like AOC and dr. Bowman and Cory Bush, they'll
hunt Omar, people who are reallyleading the Progressive Movement
(04:28):
within the Congressional space. It was through someone who
works. With Injustice, Democrats that
approached me and was like, haveyou thought about running for
office? But it honestly wasn't until I
had that institutional support from an organization where I
was. All right.
This is happening. It's like, if I get their
endorsements a dream and so, like I can't walk away from
that. In April of 2021, thanks to the
(04:50):
support of Justice Democrats in her community Rana formally
launched her Congressional Campaign to represent New York's
12th District which at the time included parts of Manhattan,
Brooklyn and Queens. Her primary opponent was Carolyn
Maloney, an established Democratwho had represented the 12th
District for nearly three decades.
The New York Times called the race a generational ideological
(05:14):
and insider versus Outsider battle that will test the Power
and energy of the left. I've been involved in community
organizing and I've been adjacent to and in the political
world from movement perspective for as long as I can remember.
So since I was 14, did I ever imagined that?
I would be running for congress at 28?
Absolutely. Not, I don't know who like it's
(05:36):
it, you never really imagined that and especially me growing
up in all the identities that I carry as a Muslim woman as a
woman of color as a head job wearing growing up working
class. I never imagined someone who
looks like me Being in Congress and I never imagined then myself
being in Congress. And so a lot of I think shifts
in my own assumptions of what I'm able to do as well.
(05:59):
He started laying down the groundwork about the fact that
you've been involved in creatingmovement since you were a team.
So, tell us more about that. Tell us more about the soil that
started churning and forming from those early years.
Yeah, I think to understand how I came to organizing.
It's important to understand. When I talk about Queens, what
(06:20):
Queens I'm talking about. If you grew up in Queens, you
definitely get this. Queens is a type of place where
we have these like ethnic immigrant hubs where it's so
diverse, we have over 800 languages that are spoken here
where the working class neighborhoods of New York City.
That I grew up in a neighborhoodwhere literally walk down the
street and it's the aunties and uncles, and he smells fed effing
(06:42):
and there's good on blasting, out of the mosque.
And also I'm going to Deb's cassette player, you know, it's
like, Singing and like everybody's kind of hustling and
bustling and it's really important that folks are super
interconnected because like, when my mom needs to pick up,
extra shifts to make some extra cash, I can go to my neighbor's
house where I could be at the Moss and it was kind of the
(07:03):
shared Mutual Aid structure thatreally allowed us to survive and
allowed all of us to get through, like anomic hardship.
And so, I grew up on Mutual Aid.I grew up on, like immigrant
hustle. I grew up, like, in a moment
where puny Needed something, people will kind of have your
back and within the context we're like everyone had a lot of
pride in their identity, right? Like I spoke Arabic at home.
(07:26):
My mom were a be walking down the streets of New York City
that's what was up my inflectionpoint in organizing really
happened. Intersection of both class, and
growing up, post 9/11 in New York in the weeks following 9/11
when Rana was 9 years old, her representative, Carolyn Maloney
protested, the treatment of women in Afghanistan, Wearing a
(07:49):
burka on the house floor during her campaign Rana criticized
Maloney's decision saying that after seeing this quote, for the
rest of my life, I knew that as a Muslim woman, my identity
would be weaponized to justify American wars.
It was during a time in which all of a sudden I could pass as
(08:10):
Latina in school and now everyone's like, oh, she's Arab
and she's Muslim. Those are uses bad words, right?
Like not In a way that's positive.
And I came to organizing from a place of frustration, with the
way, the world was perceiving, me and my community.
It's as a high school student, it was like, during the time,
(08:30):
all the stuff was happening post9/11, my community was being
over-policed, there were surveillance in my neighborhood
and stop and frisk and at the same time, like New York City
Public Schools were being shut down because they weren't
performing at the rate that the government was setting then like
my neighborhood was being gentrified.
And so it was like marching wherever I can't doing these
flashbacks. Mobs and doing advocacy and
petitioning and that was how I came to.
(08:52):
It was just like in the streets.Literally at protests my friends
and I would be like there's a princess on this.
There's a smoke out, there's this and we would just show up,
I'm wondering if you remember what that first protest was
like. Oh my God.
I don't even remember. I don't, I honestly don't
remember, but I do know that so much of what I do now and so
(09:14):
much of my values and my understanding or on organizing
and movement work comes from my years in high school which is
like. So what think about the bat was
like such a formative time? Like the organizations that I
was involved with our organizations.
I'm still involved with the people were literally helping me
build, this campaign are people.I've been organizing with Ty
School We still literally wear orange jumpsuits and like go to
(09:39):
Central Park and hand out flyersto like educate people about
Guantanamo. We used to like pretend we were
pregnant to like put like balloons in our stomach like a
people to be aware about the maternal Health accountability
act. This is what we would do.
Did you think that at that time going out was going to make this
kind of change and impact that would lead you to this path or
(10:00):
it was reactionary at that point.
Yeah. I think it was reactive in the
That a huge part of my upbringing, as I was growing up.
I had a lot of Shame around my identity, and I was just like, I
don't want people to know I'm like, Arab, I don't, people
don't know. I'm Muslim, I don't find pride
in that, right? And then I remember being
surrounded by dope. Muslims dope.
(10:21):
Arabs, were older than me, who are in activism and, like,
reading Malcolm X was like, a really big turning point.
And so when I say reactive it was like, I know I'm gonna be
proud, like, I'm gonna wear the hijab.
Like I'm gonna Be out here. I'm gonna speak against
Injustice. It's not fair that my community
is experiencing this, it's not fair that there is inequality,
it's not fair that our schools are being shut down.
(10:43):
It's not fair that I'm growing up in a neighborhood, literally
nickname, asthma alley, right? It was this kind of frustration
with the reality and feeling forso long.
Like I had no power and then finally coming to terms, I do
have power and I can use that tocreate change and I know that
because people have come before me.
(11:04):
And they have used their power to create change in 2010.
But has started the women's Initiative for self-empowerment
to teach Muslim women's self-defense, which she
mentioned in her campaign launchvideo.
I was 16 years old when a man grabbed my hijab in broad
daylight and tried to rip it from my head.
I started a non-profit to train women in self-defense and
(11:26):
organize against hate based violence.
Collectively stepping into our power to feel safe in our
community. The organization now known as
Mallika is active internationally and supports
black and brown women in building power within themselves
and their communities. Starting Monica was the
manifestation of ranas acknowledgement that she can
(11:48):
make a difference and make change since starting Mollica
they've And over 20,000 women and girls in 20 cities across
the globe, with over 800 workshops and 200 global
national and Grassroots Partners.
What brings you from that frustrated space, to that change
making space. That was a really long journey.
(12:09):
I think that was a really long journey.
I think there was a moment was probably in end of college,
where I was like, I'm not going to be angry anymore.
Like, it took me a while to me, like I'm not going to be angry
anymore like because I realized that, Really important.
Right? It's important to feel anger
because oftentimes anger can be used to channel action, right?
(12:30):
That allows you to feel Injustice and oppression in a
way that moves Beyond being passive or taking it.
Right letting yourself take it which is the phase that I was
in. But I got to a point where I was
like, I need to be proactive andreframe for what I'm creating
not, what I'm fighting against. But what am I for?
What is the world that I want tobuild?
I think what was really important for me was to
(12:53):
recognize and love my own community and recognized and
loved. The people who represent the
values, who came before me and created change and recognize
that I'm not alone in this fightand people are fighting to make
the world a better place. And that's beautiful.
That's really hopeful for me. Well, run has love for her
(13:14):
community has fuelled so much ofthe work she's done.
It has also been a source of conflict, like, when she shared
her aspirations with hurry, Mom,Which is a spiritual leader
within a Muslim Community? Yes, I actually growing up a
nerd in a working-class immigrant Community.
I didn't have many options for what path.
I was going to take, and I remember right before I went
(13:36):
away to college, which is a big deal too, because I went away
from my neighborhood and that was a whole thing.
Like I grew up in a conservativeMuslim Community for me to be a
woman leaving my family's home pre-marriage to dorm was like a
huge thing. And I remember before I I left
my Imam who was amazing and incredible was maybe like 70s I
(13:58):
learned so much from him that medown and was like, what are you
going to study? And I was like, I'm going to
study political science and he was like absolutely not and he
went off about how like political space is not built for
anyone who looks like us. This is what he said.
It's going to be difficult. You're going to be pushed out.
You're gonna have to compromise on too many of your values, all
(14:20):
these things, right? The political class.
About corruption and I like all this stuff.
And I remember leaving that and crying.
Like, literally sobbing. I was like, my dream like 18
year old that I know, just my God, it's over.
I can never go into politics, it's done like here and I and
yes, absolute like that. I went off and studied pre-med
for a long time until I failed miserably and I was doing all
(14:44):
this work on the side like people are like what are you
doing? Like why are you living this
double life? Like you hate biology.
You hate. Fill the Immigrant dream.
Like this is the only way, you know, like this is kind of the
path. I never stopped organizing.
I always saw it as my life, not my career, you know, not my
(15:07):
profession, not what I'm going to do as a job.
This was where I was at. I was pre-med there's a
scholarship called The Truman scholarship and it's kind of
like the Rhodes scholarship. It's for public service, really
important. Validator like if you get it's
like a big deal with in the public service realm and so I
told my parents And the deal wasmy parents was like if I get the
Truman scholarship, I'm going toswitch my major and mind you
(15:27):
like to get this scholarship is very competitive.
So I was like, if I can make it through this, if this
organization validates me, then I'll feel like I am enough to be
able to really pursue this public service space and I went
through the process and I got the scholarship and that's when
I was like, all right. So there's hope for me to
actually be within the public service space.
(15:48):
That was that, and then I actually changed my major.
I feel like many people. Of phases.
This conflict that exists with having to have external
validation to Merit whether or not you can go forward in a path
but also you have a very clear Northstar, you know your
mission, you know, your trajectory to talk to us about
that. Yeah.
It takes a lot of faith. That thinks a lot of work.
(16:10):
It takes a lot of reflection andmind you at this point.
You know, I've founded a nonprofit organization.
I'm like, doing self defense classes across the globe.
I'm literally teaching confidence building, and
Organizing training workshops and leading Amnesty
International in the state, all the stuff.
And still I think the important part was always how do I make
(16:32):
sure that I'm rooting myself in the right things and my
attention is focused in orientedaround like, how I can maximize
my impact. So even when I was like in
pre-med, I was like, I'm going to be an OBGYN, do maternal
Health, right? And it really wasn't a shift in
like my mission or Vision. I always wanted to do work.
Have impact on community and come back to.
(16:55):
My neighbor is it was just a tool.
What is my tool that I'm going to be using to actually have
that impact? And I think that's a journey for
everyone. After the break Runners Journey
continues, as she breaks down, the complexities of political
representation, and the impact of gentrification, both of which
would contribute to the unexpected end of her campaign.
(17:16):
Our Guest Rana Abdul Hameed was running to represent New York's
12th District. And we returned here to her
reflecting on this journey Now, despite organizing Community,
her whole life Rana, understood the challenges that many face
when trying to get involved withpolitics, I'm from New Mexico.
Yeah, I was born and raised in small town in Southern, New
Mexico, population. 70,000. 80,000 people, I never really
(17:37):
had a sense of What my role is in is I couldn't even tell you
who are my district Representatives, or when are the
City Council meetings or like this whole sphere is this kind
of mystified for me. But I am somebody that cares
about social environmental change.
I want to understand the political landscape, who are the
(18:00):
players? Who are the stakeholders?
What does that look like? You're not the only one, by the
way, a majority of people are not engaged.
The majority of people are not necessarily.
Really out there aware voting, right.
Even though there's such a robust political infrastructure
in New York city. So for example, with the license
for the peaker plant Energy playhere in Astoria, the community
(18:20):
board and Community organizations.
The city council state-level representatives were huge part
of making sure that they didn't get their license renewed, so
that we were forced to find a renewable option rather than
having to rely on fossil fuel plants, get our energy sources,
I believe it's done on purpose and make it more difficult for
people to have access. And to understand their true
(18:41):
representation. And the reason is because
there's so much money tied into politics, so much corporate
interest so much funding and investment comes from Real
Estate. And from these fossil fuel
companies and that it's within their benefit that people are
not engaged with their politicalprocess.
And the other thing is because we haven't had the kind of
representation like an AOC, right?
(19:03):
Like you you will know most people will know who AOC is
right. But if I say Carolyn Bologna's
name. Most people don't know who that
is even people within the district, and it's because they
don't see themselves in that kind of representation.
If you have a hip Arab Muslim woman, right representative in
New York that will promise you you'll know who that is right,
(19:25):
like, I'm pretty sure most people who share parts of my
identity know who I am in the city and I'm not even in that
seat yet and that is why representation matters so much?
I remember a couple of years ago.
I was speaking with like the first American elected in New
York and they're in Queens. People call from the Bronx who
are create American for help on stuff because they feel seeing
(19:49):
in that representation, there's many reasons.
Why, someone like you who's highly engaged who super
educated, right? Who's entrepreneurial, and
young, and tapped into so many social spaces in, New York City,
would be not involved with such an obvious social space, or
political space to get connected, to, on issues, you
care about. There's just too many barriers.
(20:09):
So I'm a person. I'm in this apartment building.
I'm in Crown Heights. What's the big next sphere of
representation? Can you just demystify that?
What are the systems that I'm nested in?
You have the most dope City councilmember, okay?
Crystal in Crown Heights. You should look her up.
She's amazed do is Crystal, is she the next one up from, from
an individual? There's you as an individual,
(20:31):
then there's the Democratic party in New York, which has
most power because it's a very Democratic state democratic
City. New York City, you have District
leader. Okay, let's take committee
leader, who are representative would engage with the Democratic
party at a county level in? Brooklyn, we would have your
city council member. You have your State Assembly
(20:52):
member? You have your state, senator,
you have your Borough president.And that I would say, maybe like
comptroller you have your mayor,you have your Congressional
member, you, these are kind of the layers of representation.
So for folks that want Want to get more engaged and learn more.
(21:13):
I mean, I remember the process when I had to do this for Harlem
Arts Festival, talking to the Borough president, but I had a
lot of people claim, you know, you should talk to this person
talk to this person. Like, what is the next step for
the average human? That's like, I care about
things. And what do I do with all these
cares? I'm not a person who thinks that
electoral politics is the only way I think electoral politics
(21:33):
is part of it. Right?
And I think if someone's interested in getting involved
in electoral politics or a lot of Clubs across the city as
well, that are easy ways for people to plug in.
And I will tell you that Democratic clubs across New York
City. I hope no one gets offended.
That I want to say this are in dire need of younger more,
diverse, presents and voices. There's the community board.
(21:56):
Anyone could apply to be on their community board, go to
your community board meetings, both happen regularly, and you
can learn about the issues happening in your local
community and then city council.You definitely follow your city
council member you can. Oh them on Instagram or Twitter,
follow your state, senator follow your State Assembly
person. They usually host events at
their offices, things that are going on.
(22:19):
There's a process called participatory budgeting.
We're literally city council members are giving out a million
dollars to community initiatives.
It's a really great way to get involved.
And the other thing, I'll say selfishly to is getting involved
on campaigns. There's a candidate that you are
excited by that. You would like to see represent
your community. It's a really great way to build
(22:40):
networks, learn cut your teeth in the political process and
build community. Hell yeah, this is great.
So, can you keep opening us up to a little bit about the
vocabulary here? You know, what are some
Concepts, some language that people need to know and people
need to understand in order to measure success in measure,
change improvements. I care a lot about housing
Justice because I believe that New York City is an amazing
(23:03):
place and it is a very expensiveplace and very inaccessible
space for so many people. People, and as someone who grew
up and experience, gentrification, and I care a lot
about affordable housing, okay? So there is a metric.
If you want to learn the metric of the day called the average
median income, okay? This is a metric that developers
(23:23):
use and community board uses andcity council.
Member might Borough, presidentsmight use to think about what
actual affordability can look like in a community.
A problem with this metric is ituses median income?
When you look at an average often times, if there's higher
numbers in an average, it will skew that number higher than it
(23:46):
should be. This stat is not hyper
localized. So, for example, a place like
Queens, our income is calculatedwith a place like Westchester,
which we know and Counting Westchester has much higher
incomes in a place in Queens. This is how you get an
apartment. That is Affordable in a place
like Long Island City, that's a one bedroom that's two thousand
seven hundred fifty dollars, right?
(24:07):
So you're like house on one-bedroom.
Well if it's two thousand, sevenhundred fifty dollars and the
developer made an agreement withthe city getting some sort of
tax break that he's building or she's building affordable units.
But the units are not actually affordable right there.
Like, we're gonna keep it at X percent, am I building ends up
being way more expensive than itshould be?
(24:28):
That is a metric that could be changed at a federal level would
have huge implications for How We Do Urban Development and
urban planning, that's my fun fact.
I read an article that you were talking King about basically the
connection with the climate crisis and a housing and crisis.
And I'd love you to dive a little bit more into that about
how they're connected and why housing is such a fundamental
(24:50):
thing. Yeah, this is all interconnected
and when I talk about housing Justice is it's also racial
Justice. It's also gender justice, its
climate Justice, I grew up in a neighborhood literally nickname
asthma Ali. Oftentimes housing and the way
urban planning happened, historically in New York City,
you have working-class immigrantthe hoods relegated to parts of
the city where we're more vulnerable to toxicity.
(25:13):
Toxic air. For me, there are two examples
that we could think of that are really heartbreaking of how
climate Justice is interconnected with housing.
Justice deadly. Flooding cripples the Tri-State
more than 20 lives have been lost entire neighborhoods.
Underwater roads impassable, thesubway.
Shut down hurricane Ida. We saw, people literally died in
(25:35):
their basement apartments in Queens.
Over a dozen people. Because there was so much
flooding that happened, the climate resilient infrastructure
wasn't there. So we haven't invested in making
sure that homes are safe from flooding one.
And two people are people can't afford to live and have to find
(25:57):
these Alternative forms of housing.
So they live in basement apartments which I personally
grew up in a basement apartment,right?
And these basement apartments are not equipped to deal with
the climate crisis. And so people literally, you
know, we're stuck in their home.Homes, when they flooded and
passed away because of that horrific horrific, painful
moment for the City of New York catastrophe in the Bronx, the
(26:21):
deadliest fire in 30 years tearsthrough an apartment building
killing at least 19 people nine of those victims children.
Then you also saw the Bronx fireagain, our buildings are not
equipped to deal with these extreme weathers.
The extreme cold people didn't have heat in their homes, And
we're bringing space heaters into their home as the only
(26:42):
alternative in the middle of a New York City, winter.
And that's how you had a fire happen in this Bronx building in
a low-income neighborhood in theBronx.
And so when I talk about climate, Justice is housing,
Justice. That looks like, retrofitting
all of our buildings. It looks like making sure that
we're investing in renewable energy sources so we're not
reliant on fossil fuels to heat our homes, right.
(27:05):
But it also means that when there is a hurricane like
Hurricane Ida that people don't have to have mold in their home
for five years because they're not receiving the federal
funding to get that mold removed, which is literally,
what has happened in this District?
So where I lived in New York City, more than 10 years was In
Harlem, where a tremendous amount of displacement and
shifting and gentrification was happening the and you've alluded
(27:28):
to so much about how rich Queensis in terms of its culture and
its Vibe. I'm just curious, how do you see
that connecting with with these other?
Important passions of yours. And all of that is in many ways.
Interconnected when people talk about gentrification, there's
beautiful writing about like theloss, right?
(27:51):
And the ongoing grieving and mourning.
And when a community is displaced and someone walking
through their neighborhood and seeing it change day by day and
almost feeling a part of them asbeing lost, I really resonate
with that because that is a reality of me.
Still living in Astoria having grown up here and seeing so many
(28:13):
small businesses shut down on seeing.
So many other institutions come up in luxury, high-rise
developments. Go up.
When people used to live there and now they live, you know, in
Texas because I can't afford to live in New York anymore.
That is the ongoing grieving process the way in which we make
sure that communities and their histories are preserved is by
(28:34):
making sure that we are allowingfor institutions like Marshall
real estate right and in small businesses which are often times
the Crux of these communities Community, organizations, and
cultural institutions actual people's homes and Residences,
right? People actually able to stay if
they want to stay and that requires things like National,
(28:55):
rent control for both commercialand residential rent that
requires things like actually recognizing the history, right?
Of a community and honoring thatthe presence of that community,
Through celebration, through amplification, And there's so
much organizing happening acrossthis District that is rooted in
those kinds of efforts to memorialize and to recognize and
(29:16):
to sustain that cultural resilience when it's being
confronted with so much economicshifts.
Because it happens so quickly and you need like both Community
protectors and you need policy to intervene in the face of such
incredible amounts of money. That is flooding.
(29:38):
These Red's, what none of us could have known is that soon.
After our original interview run, his campaign would be
directly confronted by the very issues of gentrification that
have been affecting her community, her whole life
through a process called redistricting after the
political chaos in New York state and the stunning decision
redrawing. The maps of congressional
(30:00):
districts that set off a fierce Scramble for seats a number of
Representatives found, they no longer live in their districts
and others will have to run against each.
Other the process of redrawing. Congressional Maps is known as
redistricting and it took place across the country after the
2020 census. As it does every 10 years, to
adjust for population and political changes within States.
(30:22):
In New York, these newly redrawnMaps meant that Queens Runners
home would no longer be includedin the 12th District.
The very District she was running to represent as a result
Rana was forced to drop out of the race.
We sat down with Rana for a second interview.
Her first time, speaking about her decision, after her official
(30:44):
statement in December 2020, 27 months after her campaign ended.
I was redistricted out of the location in which I was trying
to represent. I got redistricted into
representative Alexandra, OcasioCortez's congressional district,
my district was kind of pushed all the way into Manhattan which
(31:07):
is not where I live. And so Abruptly had to jump out
of that race after two years of running, it was definitely one
of the hardest experiences of mylife.
And so many ways. I came into this really from a
place of love for Community, formy family, for my neighborhood
and also from a place of anger. I think just lack of
(31:31):
representation and lack of listening and investment in
housing and in just the real Ages.
Whether it's food, insecurity orclimate Injustice, gender
Injustice that. I saw so many folks in my own
neighborhood deal with, but being ignored and left out by
political representation. And then, I felt like the
(31:51):
culmination of the race. Also, the redistricting process,
which did not take into account,the neighborhood that I was
running to represent. And in many ways erase the North
African Community which gerrymandering oftentimes does
it erases minorities groups? It felt kind of like the reason
why I jumped in was So confirmed, right?
The reason that forced kind of this race to end, so it was
(32:14):
definitely hard. It was through conversations
with her family and campaign supporters.
In addition to prayer and meditation, that run a new
suspending, her campaign was theright Next Step.
However, her community has had to wrestle with this decision in
their own way. There's a ton of people who
didn't believe, we're kind of like, we don't want to vote, we
(32:34):
don't want to do this. We don't want to get involved
and who are door knocking for the first time.
Who donated to a political campaign for the first time who
were like? We're gonna vote for the first
time, right? And when I walk down Steinway
Street, a, some people redirected their anger towards
me my own, like, people who are like my rider die, right?
Who really gave so much. And I understand they gave so
(32:55):
much to this campaign and it wassuch a letdown and for me to
withdraw without the Nuance political context of why I was
withdrawing for them if almost felt I gave up is how they read
it and there were moments when Ieven internalize that and am
constantly going back and forth,maybe I could have done this or
(33:18):
I could have done that but it's even just said sitting with that
decision not just alone but in community and in Collective
creates you feel the frustrationright?
And you don't know who to directit at and it's very it's very
much a mess. But I I do think that there is
important space for that to be held and And for that to be
(33:39):
processed as well and we have been processing it.
Collectively. It's important to go a little
bit easy on ourselves and find ways to take care of ourselves
especially these moments. And I'm, I guess, I'm curious.
Like how are you taking care of yourself right now?
One of the reasons why I ran foroffice is the reality of
gentrification and displacement that I am seeing in my
(34:00):
neighborhood here in. Astoria people talk about
Astoria like is gone, there are no people of color here anymore
that there are no immigrants. There are no Working Class
People year, and many ways, the demographics of a story.
I have shifted substantially from when I grew up.
It's night and day and we're still here and we're trying to
survive. And so I'm working on, you know,
(34:23):
a couple of Storytelling and artprojects and doing a ton of
organizing and teaching self-defense and doing the
things that I wasn't able to do that fill my cup and doing it
with people who I'm closest to creating art with women who
raised me and Unlike teaching self-defense and doing
trauma-informed, facilitation, like, literally do a
trauma-informed training on my auntie's gets, like, the only
(34:46):
time I could say, my auntie's down and tell them why they
can't just call someone fat amazing stuff.
And I feel really lucky to be able to do it now that she's had
time and space away from a, she described it.
The most difficult experience ofher life, Rana has found a way
to transform her anger at the systemic Injustice of the
redistricting process. While still leave.
(35:06):
Looking up, I'm a religious person.
Sin, I believe God makes things happen for a reason and I do
believe that this is an opportunity for redirection and
I believe that this was racist gerrymandering, this isn't me
applying for a job and not getting the job.
This is me and my community investing almost a million
(35:28):
dollars, time energy having Vision, believing in an
electoral process. That often times marginalized in
overlooked us for the first time.
And then being Being completely.Pushed out of that system and of
that process in an equitable unjust way with also being
optimistic and recognizing the power of my community.
(35:51):
And what we built and knowing that we're going to continue to
fight for our needs and continueto build our Collective power.
Even in the face of all that, we're now approaching the end of
this episode and we can't bring it to a close without
underscoring the immense gratitude for run as
vulnerability her ability to Reframe this incredibly
(36:12):
challenging experience into a transformative.
One has been truly touching and inspirational to us.
Thank you, Rhonda from modeling,how to stay committed to one's
Mission. Regardless of what gets in the
way on top of that shortly. After our first interview, Ron
has work, was recognized in the prestigious Forbes 30 under 30
category for social impact further demonstrating that half
(36:34):
the battle is staying true to your path and that recognition
and change will come. So, as we wrap this episode, I
will leave you listeners with a little more to learn about the
human behind the hero for the rapid fire round.
You have 5 seconds or less to give your gut quick response to
it. Whatever it might be, there are
no wrong answers, that are just quick answers and that's what
(36:55):
we're looking for on this day ofRamadan.
What is your favorite drink viscous?
Get kids my gosh. When are you most Productive in
the morning. Who is your biggest inspiration?
My mom either or summer? Winter summer, what's your magic
(37:21):
number? Oh well, I don't know why 13
popped in my head but I don't feel some supplement 13.
There you go. It's my magic numbers.
I think I know the answer to this, but in which subject were
you worst at in school? Oh my God.
What some chick was I worked at?Oh should I say?
I mean, organic chemistry. It was like my worst life ever
(37:42):
in physics science science I heard you say biology before I
was like it's definitely science-related and so which was
your best social studies history?
What scares you? Oh my God!
This is not rapid fire. What scares me?
Oh my God, so much right now. I think like letting people down
(38:06):
scares me. Yeah, I was at scorpions but I
think that's a really good attitude.
If you could live anywhere else in the world other than queens.
All right, Abby. Can I say Manhattan now, Ash
outside of New York outside. A New York loyal.
Yeah, it's out of New York, likelive anywhere else in the world.
Outside of New York. It would be have to be
Alexandria Egypt! Fantastic response!
(38:28):
I love it. Rana, thank you so much for
sharing some wisdom and Inspirations and motivations
here. I'm leaving looking up after
this conversation. So thank you so much, thank you.
And I'm gonna looking up to to thank you both so much.
I really appreciate it. Thank you again to adopt a meat
(38:51):
for joining us. If you want to stay inspired
followed on on Instagram at run,Abdul Hameed and on Twitter at
run of 4 and Y. That's our aana fo R NY or check
out her nonprofit organization Mallika at Malika dot-org.
You can listen to and watch the full 40 minutes.
(39:11):
Follow-up interview with Radha by joining our patreon at
www.payoor.com Actually looking up here a few clips from that
interview and this is like probably the first time I'm
speaking about it again, outsideof the context of it actually
happening but I do think it's important to pause and recognize
(39:33):
how systemically this was reallyviolent and this is really
messed up. Grab an idea that I want to put
out there in the world that I think is too embarrassing for my
Instagram. I put on my Tick, Tock the only
thing that's keeping me. Me going because this was such a
hard experience, like so hard totalk about even now, I honestly
get so emotional about it. Is love this episode, was
(39:58):
created to the combined efforts of myself as executive producer
and our producer, Kyle gets engineer.
Alexander Rossi with support from Eric Erin, the moon 31 team
also includes lead, producer, Lou Chic, Lotus lead designer on
Draya. Kang glass slipper, media, and
engineer. Justin jet, Carter who also
scored this episode. Original theme music by Brady W
(40:19):
and background music provided for glue.
Dot sessions on our patreon. You can also find completely
unedited raw episodes and video form score.
Merch, be the first to access our content and support what?
We're creating also we'd like totake a second to thank you for
joining us today. So, if you haven't already,
please be sure to leave a ratingand review of the podcast in
(40:40):
your app of choice. We also recommend following us
on social media at leave lookingup on all social channels For
subscribing to our mailing list for special content, news, and
first dibs on the episodes, via our website at leave looking
up.com.
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