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A podcast focused on the Uptown neighborhoods of Inwood, Washington Heights and Harlem. Our neighborhoods have a voice and we want to be heard and felt. We love Uptown.
Each episode will elevate the people here who are making a difference in the life of this community. We’re also committed to “real talk” that seeks solutions that improve the quality of life in our beautiful Uptown neighborhoods.
Led Black (00:31)
What up everyone, it's Led Black. Welcome to another episode of Uptown Voices. Another Black and Blanco. Octavio, my brother, what's up? It's December. December's here. Christmas in the hood. Yeah, for real. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But man, a lot of stuff going on, so let's get right into it. Yesterday I was part of a really awesome event at Word Up on 165th in Amsterdam. It was for, I don't have the book with me actually, left it in the car.
Octavio Blanco (00:38)
Yes, sir. Yes, A December to remember. Christmas in the hood. Yeah.
Led Black (00:59)
But it's for the book is called when the city stopped It's edited by my friend Robert Snyder who who's actually I didn't know this. He's the official Mahan borough historian Yeah, he's the official cuz I always say he's the official Washington Heights historian because of his first book was with the book. Yeah earlier crossing Broadway Which I also have a blurb. Yeah, I have a blurb at the beginning. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I have somewhere back there,
Octavio Blanco (01:09)
Is that right?
Crossing Broadway, yeah. I've got it back here somewhere. I've got it back here. Everybody who's interested,
everybody who's interested in Washington Heights and wants to know like the history of this place and not just the history but also the now, that's a really good book and Crossing Broadway has some really significant ⁓ meaning to it, right lad?
Led Black (01:30)
Definitely.
Yeah, yeah, for sure, man. I wrote the blurb. I got a blurb in it and I'm also in the book. But again, the new book, When the City Stop, it's edited by him and it's really an important book, right? Because it's a testament to the struggle that people went through in the pandemic, what New Yorkers went through. But it's told in a very interesting way. Instead of him writing it, it's like an anthology of like, know, like first responders, you know, the wives of...
of MTA workers that lost their lives during the pandemic. And then there's poems and stories, what they would do with people that didn't, for example, were not writers per se, they would send someone there and they would take down your information, what you talked about and what you went through. I actually was very lucky, because I think I said this before, during the pandemic, I used to have a weekly column.
Octavio Blanco (02:08)
That's very cool. ⁓
Led Black (02:32)
that column was basically just a rundown of what was happening uptown. And what I did is decided to do in like kind of as an homage, let's say, to love in the time of cholera. I did love in time of Corona. And it was just a weekly breakdown of my experience during the pandemic, experienced the pandemic and watched the heights. You know what mean? And
Octavio Blanco (02:52)
Yes, sir.
Led Black (02:54)
two of those essays made the book. So it was great. So it was me, Robert, Robert Snyder, and then ⁓ coach Dave Crenshaw, who is part of the Uptown Team Dreamers, who, you know, is a long time community activist, organizer, and you know, like he has such deep roots in the community. And, and, and yes, we have to have him on the show for sure. And you know, he's like one those real life superheroes, right? And he was always that, but.
Octavio Blanco (02:56)
Wow.
He's on our list of people to get on the show.
Yeah.
Led Black (03:20)
And during the pandemic, you know, when the pandemic came, you know, instead of like succumbing, you know, he did what he had to do. He went and got people fed. You know what mean? He got people fed. He got them, you know, he brought food to their outdoors, like to their doors up buildings without elevators, you know, to make sure that the elderly and the most vulnerable among us were eating. You know what mean? What was amazing about yesterday, that event, at one point there was one of those women was there. And she said, listen, I came here just to tell Dave,
Octavio Blanco (03:30)
Nice.
Wow.
Led Black (03:50)
that you did this for me, you know what mean? Like you personally, during the pandemic, so I had to come. She hadn't even really known the book. There were people there just because they know Dave and what he means to the community. So it was a beautiful event, a good turnout, which is interesting. Gail Brewer was there. She stopped by. Yeah, which is really cool. Yeah, yeah, so which was really cool. And she's also the one that made Robert Snyder the official Manhattan Borough historian, which is, you know.
Octavio Blanco (04:01)
Amazing.
Nice, I love Gail Brewer. She's such a great person.
Led Black (04:18)
amazing distinction. So it was really cool. then afterwards it was a great event. think I did a good job moderating because I like to talk. know what mean? Robber is so smart. Yeah, yeah. No, I know I did because I like to talk and it's like I'm with these brilliant, awesome people when it was my community. So it ⁓ was a great conversation. And afterwards, know, Gail told me, you know, she did like, I did a great job and I actually signed her book. She asked me to sign her book alongside of
Octavio Blanco (04:23)
You're you I'm sure you did great
Led Black (04:47)
you know, Robert and Dave, which is dope. I never signed the book before, so that was kind of nice to sign a book to her especially. But it was a really nice event. Liz Ritter was there, my man, my brother, Juan Ignacio Rosa came through. ⁓ It was a really nice event, man. Yeah, so I was really, and then afterwards I went to 181 Cabrini and Darryl, who's the homie for, who's been around for Noma, he's the bartender there. We had a good time yesterday. The wife came out.
Octavio Blanco (04:49)
⁓ nice.
Aw man.
⁓ yeah, yeah,
Yeah, man.
Led Black (05:15)
Those
sangrias were hitting, had a great time.
Octavio Blanco (05:18)
I'm sorry that I missed that event. really wanted to go.
Unfortunately, I was out in New Jersey at a funeral for a former colleague of mine. Yeah, it was really sad. It was a former colleague of mine at CNN. He was a photojournalist, Felix Fermin, Puerto Rican, one of the few, especially back in the day in 98 in the early 2000s, photojournalist at CNN in New York City. And he was like a larger than life person.
Led Black (05:27)
⁓ sorry to hear that. ⁓ sorry to hear that.
Octavio Blanco (05:51)
And I didn't have like the closest relationship with him, but he made a real impact on me as a very very young journalist just starting my journey just learning things and so I really couldn't let this this day pass without me paying my respects and it was also as sad as it was it was also a really great opportunity to to reconnect with a lot of former CNNers who were there paying their respects and
Led Black (06:06)
Makes sense,
Octavio Blanco (06:19)
which was really, really great. Some people who I stay in touch with and some people who I don't stay in touch with. Like I learned one thing, one of my former colleagues is SZA's dad and he was at the event. that was like one of the SZA, I know. So that was one of the things that was like, wow, I can't believe it. But it was a very, very nice event. But that's where we were yesterday and we took public
Led Black (06:34)
That's SZA, that's wild. Yeah.
Octavio Blanco (06:46)
transportation out there so was a little bit of a challenge getting out there but on the way back we got a ride back into the city but yeah by the time we got back it was too late and but we but we that we missed that event but it makes me think about the importance of community Washington yeah yeah go ahead sorry yeah yeah
Led Black (07:01)
Hold on, before you say that, before you say that, just wanna
say make sure you pick up the book when the city stopped. Make sure, you know, to the audience, make sure you pick it up and also make sure you subscribe. I'm sorry, continue.
Octavio Blanco (07:08)
Yes.
No, no, no,
no, go, no, that's good. Pick when the city stopped. I'm guessing it's available everywhere books are sold.
It's, yeah, Robert Snyder is a great writer and now editor ⁓ of this anthology. So I'm gonna pick it up. I do like what he writes about. And I do remember those days. I could go on and on. I was actually, during COVID, I was grappling with colon cancer. I was undergoing chemo. And so those, that time hits me for various reasons. I remember the pot bangings and
and the celebration for the essential workers. yeah, again, it's just like a reminder of the importance of our community, right? I had a lot of friends who were helping me out and I remember when I was...
Led Black (07:57)
Thanks.
Octavio Blanco (08:01)
You know, I was recovering here in the house. My friend Anthony Lopez and his family, he's born and race here in Washington Heights, recently moved up upstate, but they lived right around the corner. And, you know, we couldn't see each other, right? But they called me and they were like, hey, we're outside your window. And so we went to my window and they were down on the sidewalk with the sign saying, you know, get better Octavio, you know, and so that was like a really special
moment from from a good friend of mine and his whole family was there. So we were able to make the social distancing social distancing work. yeah, COVID is ⁓ an incredibly difficult time for the city in this country and this world because it was a global event and ⁓ we're here and we're still recovering. mean, honestly, I don't think that we have recovered. I think a lot of the difficulties that our country is going through is due to the COVID pandemic. A lot of the opportunities
Led Black (08:31)
That's beautiful. That's beautiful.
Octavio Blanco (09:00)
or for people being at home and open to receive all kinds of messaging was taken over by Ne'er-do-wells. And I think that's part of what we're seeing now is some of that coming to life. But anyway, before I go down that rabbit hole, I just wanted to say that being here in the Heights, it really makes me thankful for this community.
One of those things that made me feel thankful for the community recently is that I recently joined the Washington Heights Chamber of Commerce and they had their ⁓ annual which is I guess their second annual mixer for their holiday mixer and toy drive It was on Thursday of this past week and I went with my wife Kathy and ⁓ you know being an entrepreneur has its ups and downs and that
particular day on Thursday, I was feeling the down part pretty, pretty hard. And but I pushed through and I decided I'm going to go to this go to this party. I don't really know who's going to be there. I don't know anybody. I'm a very new member. And so I went and Kathy went she also pushed through she works her butt off. So she's usually pretty tired in the afternoons. And we went and you know, we brought our we brought our little toys that we bought in advance for the kids and that was a beautiful thing.
and we got there and we started to mix and mingle. And you one of the good things about these holiday mixers at places like the Chamber of Commerce is that there's no guilt should be felt if you're trying to like pitch yourself, promote yourself. It's all part of the game. Everybody is expecting that. So it was great liberating opportunity to say, hey, this is what I'm doing now. This is what I'm trying to do. What are you doing? know, tell me about it. And so everybody that I met was super welcoming.
Led Black (10:40)
Bye.
Octavio Blanco (10:42)
Super, super nice. It was this great mix of people, older people, younger people, newcomers, new business owners, established business owners, and it was fantastic. People from the heights. It's okay, man. There'll be other events that they're gonna be doing. ⁓ You'll see. Yeah, it's great.
Led Black (10:55)
I missed it. I wish I would have made it.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I love the, I'm good with all of them, yeah. Those are
my peoples.
Octavio Blanco (11:07)
And the people there were not just from Washington Heights, there was folks from Harlem, there was folks from Inwood. So it was like really a big group of people. we even meet my wife actually, one of the raffles. we got a bottle of Mexican rum. So we'll have to figure out what we're gonna do with that. Maybe on, well, I'll tell you this. Here's my rule on whether or not Octavio drinks. So I don't drink most of the year.
Led Black (11:21)
Nice, what you got?
Or you don't drink. That's right.
Octavio Blanco (11:35)
I don't drink. In December, on special occasions, I'll have a drink. Like New Year's, for example, I'll have a drink. I don't go overboard, but I'll have champagne, I'll have some rum maybe. You know, we'll make a nice drink. I'll go out to a bar with some friends and celebrate something important and I'll have a couple of drinks. So just in December and then come January, I'm like, you know what?
Led Black (11:36)
Gotcha.
Okay, nice.
Nice.
Gotcha.
Octavio Blanco (11:59)
Back to not drinking. Look, I've had a lot of fun in my life. I've had a lot of fun in my life. I've had plenty of drinks in my life. I'm not like ⁓ anti drinking. I just know that like for the most part, I'm good without it. But come December, I can, I can let go. Yeah.
Led Black (12:02)
That's all valid. Yeah.
Yeah, no, know, I agree. Yeah,
you're not like one those annoying non-drinkers, like, you know I don't drink, right? Why are you drinking that poison? Shut the fuck up, leave me, let me, you what mean? Like, you're not one of those people, yeah.
Octavio Blanco (12:18)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, seriously.
No, no, no, no,
no. Let people have their fun. I'm not like that. And I can go and hang with people who are drinking if it gets to the point where people are like really drinking, then I'll be like, peace out. But I'm not going to like come down on folks. I'm good with that. But also, like I said, in December time, I'm like, you know, people do dry January. I do wet December. So like, that's me. That's me. Wet December.
Led Black (12:37)
Right.
That's valid, that's super valid. Yeah, man.
Yeah, I agree. think December's a time to, you you've been working all year, you know, it's a good time to spend time together with other people. And I'm glad you went to that party. I wish I would have gone.
Octavio Blanco (12:55)
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
and I went and when I left, I gotta tell everybody when I left, I felt just complete 180 degree.
turn of like my feelings. I wasn't feeling down anymore. I was feeling excited and I was feeling inspired by everybody that I met. it was, I don't know if you remember, Thursday night was like when it turned really, really brick outside and me and my wife walked home from the places, the place where it was held is a really interesting little event space on Broadway right across the street from Locksmith.
Led Black (13:12)
That's awesome.
yeah.
Octavio Blanco (13:29)
you might have walked by it a million times. It's hard to see. It might be even new, I don't know. Across the street from Mille Lacs-Smith, right next door, right by the liquor store, like literally right next door to the pottery studio that's there now. It might be new, but it's a little tiny, well not tiny, it was a good size, not huge, but a good event space. I think if we ever have...
Led Black (13:34)
or Cross the Street from Locksmith by the liquor store.
where
Buddha Bebar was?
Octavio Blanco (13:55)
A
little bit, yeah, like essentially right there, but not in the exact location. But yeah, on that, yeah, but like, you know, just next to the locksmith, next to the across the street from the locksmith, next to the Ferreteria, next to the, to the, to the, to the clay, studio pottery studio. It's a little,
Led Black (14:00)
Not the same space.
Octavio Blanco (14:14)
little event space I think it's called Cins event space Cins event space and you know they've got a little area where they have a bar and it's really you know for anybody looking for a moderately sized event space it's it's a it's a really good spot so you know maybe if we ever have a an event we might want to like think about about doing it there but
Yeah, we walked down Cabrini. I don't know if you remember, if you know Cabrini, it's like super windy and it was super cold. And I think I almost froze my ears off. Cause like I was good everywhere except for my ears. But have you walked on Cabrini lately? They just installed like trees all up.
Led Black (14:54)
Really?
Octavio Blanco (14:54)
all
up the avenue, all up the Boulevard, Cabrini Boulevard. It's got new trees all the way up from 181st all the way to 187. There must be like, I don't know, 20, 30 new trees that were just planted. It's, it's... What? Can't you just be happy for the new trees?
Led Black (15:09)
feels racist.
But look where they put it. why are we the only, like why, look where they put it. 181st to 187, which is a castle village. Like, hey, here's more riches for you.
Octavio Blanco (15:22)
Nope. Yeah.
that's not just that's
not the only place they put it there there's new trees on on Pinehurst they put to their on pinehurst and then one night and 179th Street there's two new tree spots there Fort Washington is getting new trees and I don't know if if West of Broadway there's new trees too but I think it's like a whole initiative like they're putting on like
gazillion new trees all over the city. So we'll see. We'll have to take a walk west of Broadway and see if any of that's happening on that side because I'm sorry, I meant east of Broadway. Yeah, west of Broadway, it's happening already. East of Broadway, we gotta go check it out. See if that's happening. But I do think it's an initiative citywide. So I don't see why that wouldn't happen.
Led Black (15:58)
for me, Easter Broadway.
Yeah, yeah, It's happened, yeah.
Octavio Blanco (16:13)
Anyway, it is somewhere that I walk in. It's nice to see those trees on Cabrini. But you know, I don't know. Yeah, you're right. like, it hopefully is, hopefully, hopefully it's gonna get, yeah, yeah. No, I, you know what? That was in the back of my mind too. But since I don't know, I was like, I don't know. That doesn't stop you.
Led Black (16:23)
I'm really, yeah, you know, I'm just hoping. It's just funny when they picked, yeah.
That's not me at all. No way. Uh-uh. No way.
Octavio Blanco (16:41)
⁓ wanted to say this
week there's a bunch of interesting, you we're in the middle of the holidays. So there's like all kinds of really cool stuff going on. Well, on Wednesdays is not holiday related, we let and I are going to be interviewing the artist, Tom Sanford. And then, yeah. And he, you might've.
Led Black (16:58)
Townsend, Berth, Townsend, Berth, Uber Kunst on
IG.
Octavio Blanco (17:02)
Yeah, uberkunst on IG and you might have seen him in during the Knicks games. He's he gets highlighted often because he's like one of the Knicks artists. He created
Led Black (17:11)
Yeah.
He's a,
yeah, he's a Knicks artist influencer. I told him that he laughs so much.
Octavio Blanco (17:19)
Yes, yes. Well, I didn't know
that. mean, he created the Ewing, a Ewing sneaker. And I think that sort of put him on the map with the Knicks back in the day. And he's a Knicks fan. So he does all this, but he does a lot of art that's not Knicks related and is really interesting. And he's one of our neighbors uptown. So we're gonna.
Led Black (17:36)
Tom is the man, Tom is the just so dope.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah,
I went to the studio years ago. He had done this, like a series where he painted beers, right? And he asked people, like certain people, he just selected people, then he asked them what their favorite beer was. So I was one of the ones selected. So I picked, I didn't do the stereotypical Presidente, right? That's just too, like, you know what mean? I did a, I'll be the purple haze, because I like, I love New Orleans and I like that beer in New Orleans. So he did that. He did a picture of it, which was really cool.
Octavio Blanco (18:03)
Yeah.
That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. He's a, he is a great artist. Yeah. He had his artwork exhibited in the Noma gallery. I think it might still be there actually kind of, kind of a powerful piece. Um, speaking about beer, you know, obviously as young people, we, everybody's, you know, many of us have had our, our, our fun and he has a piece that's pretty powerful about some of the things.
Led Black (18:12)
But he's a great artist, amazing, just really super talented.
Yeah, he has a piece now. Yeah, he has a piece now.
It's called The Last
Slice. It's called The Last Slice. Yeah, yeah, I love his work. He's really talented. So I'm looking forward to that conversation, And what else is on the calendar? Like what's happening around town?
Octavio Blanco (18:38)
The last life. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, it'll be good. Yeah, so,
so on Wednesday at six, we're going to be there's going to be a holiday party at Noma. ⁓
Led Black (18:55)
⁓ that's right,
no more.
Octavio Blanco (18:57)
That's right, Noma Holiday Party. They're gonna be having their holiday party at 6 p.m. at the United Palace in their gallery space. And that should be a lot of fun. There's gonna be music, there's gonna be artwork, there's gonna be libations and stuff like that. Then on Saturday, yeah, go ahead, yeah, yeah.
Led Black (19:12)
But hold on, hold on, before you
go, I think it's actually bigger than just the NOMAA Holiday party, if I'm not mistaken, because I think there's also a tie-in to the palace, isn't that right? Or no, it's not that day?
Octavio Blanco (19:24)
That's
on the weekend. That's on the weekend on Sunday. ⁓ on the four, I think it's the 14th is Sunday. Sunday is the 14th. And on Sunday the 14th, there's like a whole day of activities at United Palace. That's the holiday market.
Led Black (19:27)
That's on the 10th, the 10th, right?
Right, that's the holiday market. you're right, that's the holiday market. more,
no more holiday market on the 14th and then they're doing it and could, yes, that's correct.
Octavio Blanco (19:49)
Yeah, so
on the 14th, which is Sunday, you're going to have your fill of things to do uptown. You're going to have at United Palace.
In the Plaza Las Americas right there, there's going to be the Noma Holiday Market where you're going to be able to buy all kinds of things, whether it's calendars, anything, know, ornaments, all kinds of things that are like holiday themed. There's going to be music. There's going to be a DJ there spinning outside. And then at 4.30 PM, there's going to be the tree lighting ceremony. ⁓ And then something else.
Led Black (20:23)
Nice.
Octavio Blanco (20:24)
in the in after that but at the same on the same day not United Palace related at recirculation which is the affiliate bookstore for word up which is is going to be the
Uptown Books play, which is a, it's an interesting, it's an interesting play because it's not like there's going to be a stage where the artists or the actors are going to be in the play. You're going to be actually in the play. So it's an experiment, experiential play. You're going to be actually right next to the artist. It's immersive exactly. And that's Saturday the 13th and Sunday the 14th. on Saturday,
Led Black (20:42)
Right.
Yeah, it's immersive. Yeah, yeah.
and Sunday. Right.
Octavio Blanco (21:07)
There's yeah two two
Led Black (21:07)
There's two shows Saturday, right? Right.
Octavio Blanco (21:09)
shows Saturday and then one show on Sunday you can check out Uptown collective comm because there's a lot of an Uptown collective on Instagram you check check there to see there's a all this all these are posted up there and you'll be able to see all these events and then many more from throughout the community of opportunities to to to participate so Uptown collective
Led Black (21:34)
And by the way,
we just had Adrian on the last episode of this podcast. So you could go check out that conversation with that young brother. Like he's doing, you know, he does it all, you know? So go support our art, you know what mean? Because if we don't support our art, no one will.
Octavio Blanco (21:47)
And you know what's funny about that? Since we...
Since we published that episode, which I do encourage everybody to look because this is, you know, we, we, we, we, we highlight a lot of people who are, who are established, but we're also highlighting a lot of people that are, that are in the fight that are trying to be more established. You should know about it. Adrian is one of these brothers who you should know about. And what's hilarious is that since we published that episode, I've run into him like three times, like just like walking around once was at the, at the United, at the.
Led Black (22:16)
That's funny.
Octavio Blanco (22:20)
at the sorry at the Chamber of Commerce holiday party because he's on the board of the of the chamber and then once was in the subway on Sunday as we were coming I mean yesterday as we're coming back from the ⁓ from our from the funeral so we just ran into him so I am I seeing him everywhere where ubiquitous but yeah there's a lot going on go to our Instagram Uptown Collective or go to UptownCollective.com and you should be able to see a lot of the a lot of the events that are that are there
Led Black (22:22)
The party. Nice.
Octavio Blanco (22:50)
And by the way, I'll say it again. Please subscribe to the to the podcast. ⁓ We're doing great, but we could be doing, you know, better. And we'd love to have you as one of our subscribers. We don't want you to miss any of the episodes we publish every Tuesday. So every Tuesday you should be seeing either a black and Blanco episode, which is just me and lead chopping it up, talking about life, talking about uptown or every other week you will have one of these special interviews with somebody from
our uptown community, whether it's in Harlem, Inwood, or Washington Heights, who are making this community ⁓ a better place. We have a lot of guests that we're going to be interviewing coming up. For example, we have coming up not just Tom Sanford, but we also have East Harlem Councilwoman Diana Ayala, who we're going to be interviewing soon and who we should be.
Publishing that interview very very soon either at the end of December Yeah, let's hear him I want it yeah, let's hear my events my events list I mean, I'm sure there's there's more that I could dig up, but if you have some on hand, let me know what you got
Led Black (23:47)
Before, you know, I also have some more events. Do you have more events? I got some more events. Okay, no.
Yeah, because
I think it's actually a great use of this site for things happening to just bring some more attention. So one of the one things that really cool, there's a grant readiness 101 class taking place Thursday, December 11th. It's at the CUNY School of Public Health in Harlem. If you go to the West Harlem Development Corporation's ⁓ IG, I post a lot of things there for them on stuff happening in West Harlem. But there's a lot of important opportunities happening there. There's also So Harlem.
Octavio Blanco (24:06)
Yeah.
Yes, yes.
Led Black (24:29)
is like a really important, I wanna say almost like a fashion brand incubator in the heart of Harlem. they're having like, calling it Black Smokes Pop Shop. So it's basically like one of a kind.
fashion pieces, you know, that's happening on December 18th. So I think that's going to be really cool. then speaking to some 18th, I'm to be part of the Morir Sonando Comedy Night at the United Palace. I helped to bring that show to the United Palace. So it's going to be Glores Mora and Sasha Mercy and a bunch of other great comedians at the United Palace in the four year Thursday, December 18th. have a doors open at 730. Show starts at 8 p.m. So I got to give that show a plug.
Octavio Blanco (25:09)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's gonna be great. She's hilarious. I like, like, I like Sasha Mercy. Yeah, they're both... Yeah.
Led Black (25:14)
Both of them are really hilarious. Yeah, Sasha Mendes and Glorillaz, they're really super
funny and it's an important, it's a Dominican comedic talent incubator as well. You know, just, really helps to bring out new talent and nurture the talent that exists, you know. So I really am, I'm lucky to be a part of that team just for the United Palace, so.
Octavio Blanco (25:32)
Yeah, and you know...
There's so much talent ⁓ uptown, Dominican talent, just all kinds of talent. And that's why we're here, because sometimes we don't get the opportunity to be highlighted by mainstream media or bigger media that's not necessarily focused in on what we're doing. There's so much that's happening. think there's also like
I think every week there's like a music showcase at M &M Pizza, which is like a somewhat new pizza joint. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I wanna bring the organizer for that onto the show and yeah, Variety Live.
Led Black (26:06)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it's called Variety Live and they've been doing it for a minute. You know what mean?
my brother, I run into him all the time. We talk about it. I have not yet gone. I want to go at some point before the year's over or if not early next year. But like you said, it's people that do poetry, spoken word, rhyme. They might rap, they might sing, they might do comedy. So I'm really like, I got show. We're to have to have them on the show and I'm going have to definitely have to go to the show, show love to that brother for real.
Octavio Blanco (26:25)
Yeah.
Yeah, we do.
That's right.
I want to go as well. we maybe we can coordinate. can can black and Blanco show up at the same place at the same time. So people know that we're actually black and Blanco are not just we're not the same person. ⁓ But yeah, that's that's pretty much. Yeah, I that's that's where that's that's I know you do. I know you do. ⁓
Led Black (26:50)
sure.
Yeah, yeah, for real. For real.
got some shit I wanna say though. I got some shit I wanna say.
Yeah, I got some shit I want to say. I want
to talk about again, like, you know, I always talk about these, you know, these Latinos that just, you know, don't get race But now we're entering like a different phase. Like now what we have is like Latino, like active, like coonery like active, like Uncle Tom stuff, right? Like where it's like you're actively working against us. Right. So I want to bring two people that come to mind. Right. And it's and I'm sorry. And this is not to all my Colombian shelter, my Colombian people love all of you. But two.
Octavio Blanco (27:13)
What?
See ya.
Led Black (27:39)
y'all people need to be checked. And the first is Bernie Moreno, who's the congressman who's pushing the law, trying to end dual citizenship, which is fucked up. But before we go into that, the other one is Valentina Gomez, who is basically running. She didn't win in Oklahoma, now she's trying to run in Texas, and she's talking about filthy Muslims, which is horrible.
Octavio Blanco (27:49)
Yeah, yeah, yes.
⁓ that's her. That's
her, yeah.
Led Black (28:03)
Yeah,
she's disgusting. looks like a right wing Sofia Vergara basically. You know what I'm saying? Like she's disgusting. She's just horrible human being. But let's go back to Bernie Moreno, like how real that is, right? So now, first of all, he himself is a dual citizen, right? Because he wasn't born here.
He's a naturalized American citizen. So that means he also has a Colombian citizenship, but he wants to do away with dual citizenship. And the law basically states that once the law passes, because it's far from passing, right now it's just a disgusting notion that's being brought as a bill, which is horrible enough. basically, yeah.
Octavio Blanco (28:36)
Is it a bill that's, has it been presented already? Is
it, okay.
Led Black (28:39)
Yeah,
he presented the bill, yeah. I don't think it's been reviewed or whatever, but it's been presented, right? And basically it's been put forth, right? And basically it says that if you have one year to make a choice, right? And if you don't make a choice, it will be made for you. You will lose your American citizenship and yes, and everything that entails, right? So you think about that, like that you're
Octavio Blanco (28:44)
Okay.
⁓ what?
Led Black (29:03)
You're stripping away citizenship. We thought that was impossible. I mean, everything they said was, it's just the criminals. It's everybody. It's the illegals, which you shouldn't be saying. It's everybody. But think about that bill. So it's a Latino pushing a bill that's gonna hurt Latinos. This is the point that we have come to in America, where your own people are the ones doing you in.
Octavio Blanco (29:08)
Mmm.
Yeah.
Hmm.
Led Black (29:32)
and they are killing themselves to put themselves in front of white supremacy. Like, please take, I'm not one of them, you know, those people are, like, it's just so gross. And that woman, Valentina Gomez, you know what mean? Like, she's talking about filthy Muslims. She did a video just where, like, they're gonna rape your children. They're filthy, they're pedophiles, and no illegals, and you're like, and the thing is, she has a fat accent. Like, her accent is so thick.
Octavio Blanco (29:48)
Yep.
Yep.
Led Black (29:59)
Like it really, she really does remind me of like racist Sofia Vergara. she, Jay, like you remember how Sofia Vergara, Jay. That's when she comes off as just like a loud, super thick accented Latina talking anti-Latino shit and anti-Muslim shit. Like it is so gross. And I'm really kind of disgusted with it. And you see it now, like, and I'll give you an example. Like, so now even in the Dominican Republic, right, you have like,
Octavio Blanco (30:05)
You
us.
Led Black (30:26)
like people that just have no scruples, no morals, using anything. So there's a mosque being built in Punta Cana, right? And now like local activists, right-wing activists in the country are organizing against a mosque being built. And you know, and then they galvanize the dumbest people among them in the population and you know, and they're protesting a religious building being built.
You know what mean? Like it's so ugly and it's weird to me that the lack of solidarity, I just think it's a really disgusting phase. You know what I mean? We do live in a time of monsters now.
Octavio Blanco (31:03)
It's got my blood boiling. And yes, I had seen the bill and I had read up on it a little bit. And yes, I had seen the disgusting tirade by that politician in Texas. And that was it's just a disgusting example of.
racism in America, racism being perpetrated by our own Latino brothers and sisters. And I hate to include them in the family, but they are, you know, there are brothers and sisters, but somehow they've been infected with the virus of racism and see an opportunity for themselves to be, I guess, risen from
into the good graces of MAGA. Why you'd want that? I don't know. MAGA doesn't want them there except for using them for their nefarious devices, such as this bill that you've just told us about, which ⁓ is absolutely horrendous. I think that dual citizenship is a benefit that Americans deserve and that it's one of
the
reasons why people come to this country. And it's so important. And I should say, you know, that I myself am a dual citizen and I had to fight to reclaim my Mexican citizenship because Mexico at a certain point had that same kind of rule where you had to at the age of 18, you had to decide which did you want to be either Mexican or whatever other citizenship that you want that you that you held at the time.
I was living in the United States, I chose my U.S. citizenship.
And at the time I had to let go of my Mexican citizenship, but I didn't like having to do that. Being put into that choice didn't feel good because I feel like I'm both Mexican and American. And then later on the law changed in Mexico and they said, well, now you can have dual citizenship. And I think that's because so many Mexicans
Went abroad came to the United States and other countries and so I had to go to the Mexican consulate here in New York City and prove my ⁓ my citizenship and Reclaim my Mexican citizenship, which I did so in 2016 and so currently I am a dual citizen Mexico and the United States and my dad has a very interesting Citizenship story. I've told it before I'll tell it again. He was
Led Black (33:38)
Yeah.
Octavio Blanco (33:47)
Born in Mexico his mother though was from New Mexico and she had been illegally Deported essentially from New Mexico to Mexico and she died when my dad was one year old so my dad grew up his whole life and was Mexican and didn't know that his mother was American until many many years later We moved to the United States and we touched we we
connected with some long lost family who told him, by the way, you know, we've got your mom's birth certificate and she's from New Mexico. And so being that you were born of an American citizen, you have birthright citizenship with the United States. And so with her birth certificate, he went to the naturalization office and...
didn't get naturalized. He reclaimed or he claimed reclaimed his birthright citizenship and and was was granted his birthright citizenship.
Led Black (34:39)
Very interesting.
Octavio Blanco (34:45)
Yeah, this is just a disgusting turn of events. It's a hateful bill and it's just another example of the way that the powers that be in this day and age, in MAGA, in the White House, are incentivizing and arming government against foreigners, people of color, immigrants, whether
you be here undocumented or documented. They're trying to get us out. ⁓ this is a further proof of that.
Led Black (35:14)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. And you know, I'm also a dual citizen, right, of the United States of the Dominican Republic. My whole family, the whole household is, you know, and thankfully, you know, shout out to my wife, know, Eileen Fuentes, you know, she wrote a, she put together a piece on social media, like kind of.
Octavio Blanco (35:29)
Yes. ⁓
Led Black (35:36)
putting together like just the steps to become a dual citizenship. Just for Dominicans, basically it was a really Dominican Republic related, it did really, it was one of those pieces that really worked the social media milieu. a lot, it really spread and other people actually even started businesses kind of based off of it. A lot of people sometimes shared it with credit, without credit, but you know, it happens the same as you 2016 because of Trump, right? My wife was like, listen, Trump is coming to power.
You know what I mean? And we need to be ready. And of course I agree with her, but she's like the make it happen, right? So she makes sure we went through that paperwork. First we did me and her, you know, her and I, and then we did the kids. So we all have our dual citizenship, but it's really important, right? It's really important. And for that to be like even on the table and the fact that it was put on the table by another Latino.
who's a dual citizenship, right? It's really like, pick me shit. Like, ⁓ I'm not, please, please. And like, that's really foul, right? And again, like, my youngest daughter, right, Sarai, she said something, I was asking her, like, what would you do, right? What would you do where you're gonna pick DR America? She was like, to be honest, if America is even asking me that, then I have to pick DR, right? If it's gotten to the point where that's a requirement, then why do I even wanna stay here?
Octavio Blanco (36:35)
It's disgusting.
Led Black (36:57)
Right? And I think, you know, remigration is a theme that's coming up now, you know, like the theme that comes out of Europe, you know, and racist, you know, right-wing circles in Europe. And now the president is retweeting it, talking about remigration. They want to get rid of all of us, right? But it's also a fantasy, right? We make this country run. So what you gonna do?
Octavio Blanco (37:19)
Yeah.
Led Black (37:21)
You know what mean? What are you gonna do? There's nothing without us. And if you do decide to get rid of us, you would lose everything in the balance. And again, I think we're headed, 2026 is gonna be the year of living dangerously. 2026 is the year where all of the bad choices come to fruition, right?
Octavio Blanco (37:45)
Yeah.
Led Black (37:45)
2026 is where where you know, ICE is gonna get all the more of their funding, right? I saw a video today where they let a dog loose on a citizen who they were trying to apprehend and the man got bit up by a malinois like a military grade dog. We're sticking dogs on people.
You know what mean? This is where we're at and all the funds haven't come yet and all the snap benefits cuts haven't come yet. Like 2026 is gonna be a tough, tough year for this country. And again, that's where community comes. We're gonna have to really look out for each other. You know what I mean? And I think through the pandemic, going back to when the city stopped and about the pandemic, I think what the pandemic showed me is how strong and resilient New Yorkers can be.
Octavio Blanco (38:21)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Led Black (38:32)
Right? That we, when, when, when, when push comes to shove, we out there for each other. And I'm very proud so far how the city has reacted against ICE. I mean, I know I'm sure you saw that when in Canal Street, we didn't let them come out of the, out of their little base and it was NYPD and it
Octavio Blanco (38:41)
Yeah.
Yeah, and when we say when you say this when you say the
city I want to be clear the citizens of this city not the NYPD not That's exactly what that's that's what I want to
Led Black (38:54)
The citizens, yeah. No, the NYPD was helping them. The NYPD was basically
clearing us out of the way and throwing people on the ground. It was the NYPD doing that, right? Yeah.
Octavio Blanco (39:04)
That's, that is what I want to make clear because, because
up to this point, the city of New York, meaning mayor Adams and his police department are not defending us, the citizens of New York against this ice incursion. So just wanted to clarify that because it's the people of New York city.
Led Black (39:19)
At all. At all.
It's the people themselves. Yeah. No, you're 100 % right.
The people in New York City. And you see it on social and in Staten Island I see like, you know, tires getting slashed.
Right? ⁓ You're seeing in Queens people like looking out for one, people looking out for each other.
Octavio Blanco (39:39)
in Queens.
Led Black (40:43)
And then, you know, the other thing I want to point out though, I think it's very important, you know, and again, I'm not trying to trigger you with your love of your AI gods, okay? I'm sorry, Octavio. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. don't mean to, the great AI Imperial Master. No, I'm joking. No, no, I'm joking. I'm joking. I'm joking.
Octavio Blanco (40:51)
No!
It's a, you put it, you, why are you putting me on blast like that? It's not that I love it. I don't love it. I just, you know.
Led Black (41:05)
I'm joking. I do that to my wife too because she,
I guess, I know that it's very useful. mean, my argument is the overall thing of it, But what's my point, but we live now in a world of AI slop, right? It's AI everywhere, right? So what I'm, the reason I say that is because there was a video that was circulating maybe two, three weeks ago, right? Where it was a cop.
Octavio Blanco (41:13)
Yeah, no, I agree.
Yes, we do.
Yes.
Led Black (41:28)
Right, he's telling ICE agents, don't fucking bring this shit to Washington Heights and that shit got on a lot of pages. I was gonna post it myself until I dug a little deeper. It was AI, right? It's AI. that's another aspect that blurs the lines in ways that we don't even understand right now. And it's only getting more, more ingenious.
Octavio Blanco (41:30)
to get out. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, you gotta be careful. Yep.
Yeah, yeah, it's more, yeah,
it's more ingenious, more prevalent.
Led Black (41:55)
It's more
sophisticated. And what's weird about it too, which I was telling you know, what's very interesting about AI, right? It's a reflection. And again, and not for the tools to use, saying, but AI in a way, it's a very much a reflection of this country. Because there's a lot of racist AI slop
Octavio Blanco (42:06)
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Led Black (42:13)
Like, I mean, really racist, like
black people and brown people acting like animals, like gorillas, you know what mean? Like it's weird. There's a lot of like, like really disgusting racism. You know what mean? I just feel like we're entering this new phase of existence. And I think 2026 is the year where all the things that we never thought possible are possible. think America is going full Israel, meaning America is going to go on the attack.
Octavio Blanco (42:23)
Yeah, well, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Yep, yep.
Led Black (42:41)
everywhere,
right? I mean, it's just, think Venezuela, like it's so wild that I, know, again, the beauty of social media in a way is that you get to interact with other people and other thoughts, right? And I'm getting, I'm seeing people like saying, Venezuelans, right? Saying, hey, look, I don't like Trump, some of them, but I don't like Maduro, right? And getting rid of Maduro is worth whatever.
Octavio Blanco (43:08)
Yes.
Led Black (43:08)
And
again, that's, I think, naive thinking, right? Because that lady that won the Nobel Peace Prize, she basically wants to give ⁓ Venezuelan oil to the highest bidder. She's just an instrument of just giving everything away.
Octavio Blanco (43:15)
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, she's, she's, she's on board. She's on board
with this, ⁓ with whatever Trump wants to do to take over Venezuela. She's on board and politically on her from her point of view. I, I can understand, but I do agree with you in the broader scheme of things politically giving him the keys to the city or the keys to the country is extremely naive.
Led Black (43:31)
Right.
It's extremely naive, right? And the thing is, again, and this is not pro maduro, right? This is not what I'm saying. But what I'm saying to you is that they are going to do what they did in the Middle East, right? Break it so they could take the resources and never let them have like a functioning, stable democracy. It will always be fraught, but that's what they want.
Octavio Blanco (43:49)
Not Pro Maduro. Not Pro Maduro.
Yeah which to be fair it's what's
been happening, which it's what the United States historically has been doing and what's interesting is that in the last well I would say I don't know if I want to go back a full decade but at least in the last few years
the Latin American countries were starting to get their act together and starting to sort of like emerge from this like pseudo colonialist period and starting to control some of their own economies. Some of their economies were becoming much, much better independently. And I think the United States and well, was like previous to that was doing everything they could to like.
control Central and South America. There was a little bit of a a a distancing once they felt I think that they had enough exerted enough control but now with the rise of Maduro and other leftists and the rise of Trump was on the on the on the right you're seeing this like the old the old gears are starting to to churn again to try to control ⁓
Led Black (45:18)
Monroe is like a
more muscular Monroe doctrine, you know what mean? But the thing is, the thing is that the but, if you have, if you go in for regime change in Venezuela, right, that is, that's a ticking time bomb, right? You could throw that whole region into chaos, right? And it could,
Octavio Blanco (45:21)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
and he's not, and Trump is
not a big fan of Columbia's president either. So, you know, if, if, if Columbia's president hangs, if he hangs onto the presidency, what's to say that Trump won't want to go, against Columbia who, where, by the way, we already have a lot of American troops, like embedded there. could just flip the switch and now they're like, gonna, they can do whatever they want in Columbia. So I do this.
Led Black (45:43)
Yup. He doesn't like Petro either,
Yeah.
And I think that the end goal too, because Marco Rubio is to get rid of the Cuban regime as well. And I think that's a long term dream. And I think he would love to be the Cuban gusano to do it. You know what I'm saying? So I think he wants to do it. But one thing I want to say too is I'm kind of really disgusted with the Dominican Republic's president, Abinadel, right? Because he had Pete last called for alcohol, Hexef, in the DR.
Octavio Blanco (46:11)
yeah, that's for sure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Led Black (46:32)
You know what mean? And
he had him in the yard and basically it was like, yeah, I'm down to attack another Latin American country. Yes, you could use my country for staging and to facilitate an attack on another Latin American country, right? Regardless of that Latin American country's left, right, whatever, like that is a disgusting, but.
Octavio Blanco (46:51)
Money talks, man, money talks.
Led Black (46:54)
It's disgusting though, right? It's like, think
Octavio Blanco (46:56)
Absolutely.
Led Black (46:57)
Dominican Republic, you know, is, Dominican Republic is an important emerging nation, you know, but I think by 2030s it's no longer gonna be considered like a developing nation, right? It has one of the best economies in Latin America. It's doing really well. Yeah, but it's doing really well, but this is a stain.
Octavio Blanco (47:10)
Hmm. Okay, I want to know more about that actually. That's interesting.
Led Black (47:20)
right, it's a stain on him, it's a stain on our country that we're gonna allow the United States to attack another country, like, and we're gonna facilitate that, we're gonna provide, you know, facilities. I'm totally, utterly disgusted by those actions.
Octavio Blanco (47:34)
Yeah, I I agree with you that it's disgusting, but I got to say it's, it's that money. It's that money that talks and unfortunately right now, like you said, we're in a phase in our society in our global society, but also in our local society about where do our, ⁓ what are, what do we care? What is, what is important to us? Where do our, where, where, where, where do we draw the line? You know, you could throw money at things and that helps in many,
But at the same time, at what cost? do we, are we so cynical, right? That we don't believe in human rights? Are we so cynical that we can't help each other out? And unfortunately, you know, the Trump administration understands the power of money and the power of attention in the media and the power of all that. And so they leveraged that very, very well. I mean, how else do
expect, do you think that people like the ones we opened up talking about in in Texas and the two Colombian lawmakers, know, what could they be after? It's money and attention, you know, and when they get that, that's power. you know, so we're at a time now that we need to really draw the line and tell the world what's important. I think, like you said, 2026, everything
Everything is on the table. With the money that's going to flow into ICE, we're going to be really literally in a war zone in these communities. And we need to be on alert. We need to be on alert.
Led Black (49:12)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think
what we can expect going forward from the actions we have just seen is a very muscular, internal military solution for this regime, meaning local, this hemisphere, right? So Latin America is about to feel this and also internally, you know, it's gonna be felt.
And I think we're headed for very turbulent times. And you know, right now, people should really be up in arms that, you know, the regime is just killing people on boats off the coast of Latin America, right? Like they're just killing people, double tapping people, killing them on as they're as they're trying to survive an attack without any knowing that they just we, we, we believe we believe that their drug, have drugs there, right? Which doesn't make sense because but for a lot of reasons.
But even if it were drugs, then you get on that boat and you take those drugs and you make those people face law. Like that's what the law is. So what I'm saying is like, we're living in a time where like even the normal rules don't apply anymore.
Octavio Blanco (50:14)
Yeah. Let me...
Well, let me get
in here because this is super important what you're bringing up. And it's the issue. I don't like, I hate the fact that that fentanyl comes into this country and that it's addicting our people and our people are addicted to it. I hate that. I hate the fact that people are making millions off of the suffering of everyday Americans. I hate that.
but I also hate killing people without due process. I also hate deporting people without due process. I hate it because I know that it's not just drug dealers and undocumented people who deserve due process and who are losing due process, but you and me are going to lose our due process if we allow other people's due process to be taken away.
this regime, the Trump administration, to willy-nilly decide who's a criminal, who deserves to live and who deserves to die, who deserves to live in this country and who has to be deported without facing due process, then this country is done. This country was born out of the desire for liberty. It was born because we did not want to be ruled by a king who can make
rules and laws as if they were divine providence. We are a country of laws and due process of the law for individuals, whether they be citizens or not. Now let's be clear, due process is for everybody who is standing on American ground, right?
Led Black (51:57)
That's true. Do processes for everybody. Everybody.
for everybody, every person.
Octavio Blanco (52:05)
that for everybody. And if anybody
loses due process in America, everybody loses due process in America. So guess what? We've already essentially lost due process in America because up to this point, there has been no repercussion. There has been no blowback. There is nothing. Now, like I said, I hate.
Led Black (52:15)
Thanks.
Octavio Blanco (52:27)
the fact that fentanyl is flowing into our shores, right? But let's look at some, but hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Let me just, yeah, there's nothing to, allow me to finish my thought, like, it has nothing to do with fentanyl. Those boats couldn't even reach US shores. Those boats might've been carrying drugs. They might've been fishermen. Those boats might've been carrying drugs to like, know, Nicaragua or Honduras, which by the way,
Led Black (52:33)
It has nothing to do with that. This has nothing to do with fentanyl.
Octavio Blanco (52:58)
president just pardoned a major drug trafficker who's been jailed of cocaine, you know, so exactly
Led Black (53:03)
400 million times or something like that.
Octavio Blanco (53:10)
What is going on? It's definitely not what they're saying. It's something completely different. It is the constant erosion of our rights as people in the United States. I'm never going to say Americans, although it is the erosion of rights for Americans, which by the way, I thought that's what the Republican party, you know, stood for. They're always all up in arms about my individual rights and get out of, you know, my individual rights and my right to bear
arms and all that but why why because ultimately they're not for that they all want to bear arms because they know that we're all going to be fighting against each other and that's what they hope i hope that that never never occurs but i think that that's what the end game is for them they want they want to see this this this nation reimagined completely and they don't care about destroying
Led Black (54:01)
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree.
Octavio Blanco (54:06)
the rights that we have, and they don't care about destroying the humans that live here.
Led Black (54:14)
Yeah, I mean, you're right, 100 % it's a revolution.
Right? We're in the midst of a right-wing, all-encompassing revolution. Right? But what's worse is like these are the, you know, the people that can't shoot straight. Right? So it's like, instead of like, you know, again, this is gonna sound crazy, but this is not the most effective way to create like a white supremacist state. Like, you know, you're going about it the wrong way, because you're gonna impoverish that state, and you're gonna bankrupt that state. Yeah, but I'm saying,
Octavio Blanco (54:45)
Don't tell him.
Led Black (54:47)
We're taking the whole American experiment with it, right? Like it's really all falling apart. You know what mean? It's ridiculous.
Octavio Blanco (54:49)
Yeah. Well, my hope, my hope is
that the what's becoming clear is that the people at the top really have no idea what they're doing and are not intelligent. Hopefully, I hope that that's going to become clear and that by their own inadequacy, the American people will wake up and say, this is not
Led Black (55:02)
Yeah, yeah, right.
Octavio Blanco (55:13)
This is not right. This is not what we want. But 2026 is the time where we need to not just wake up, but we need to speak up. We need to be on if if you know we we're most of our audience is here in New York, but are we we have?
Led Black (55:23)
Yeah.
We're going
to be doing this show live from Guantanamo. We're like, what up, Uptown Voices, Guantanamo Voices.
Octavio Blanco (55:32)
Exactly. Guantanamo voices.
You know, I've had this, I've had this, this potato sack on my head for a week. Yeah, man. It's crazy.
Led Black (55:45)
God, that's crazy. No,
I wanna say shout out to Hands Off NYC because follow them on Instagram. I think that's also the website. They've been doing trainings. They've been training thousands of New Yorkers of how to deal with ice, how to, you know.
Octavio Blanco (55:50)
Yeah.
Led Black (56:01)
disrupt without getting yourself hurt or arrested, but also to document. those shout out to them, check their mouth, follow them, take one of those classes. You know, my wife, again, like I don't always like to give her credit to her face, you know, cause then she won't shut up, right? But I'd rather tell you about it. Like she bought us all whistles.
Octavio Blanco (56:19)
yeah, yeah, everybody should have a voice.
Led Black (56:20)
right? So that you could alert,
you know, you could alert some, you know, that and also the NYIC, the New York Immigrant Coalition, I think it is, they're very important on Instagram. They put a lot of information about what we can do as a community to combat ICE. And again, like you said, this is, we have no choice here.
Octavio Blanco (56:28)
Yeah.
Yeah, we don't.
Led Black (56:40)
Right?
either we submit, you know what mean, or we push forward. And I think that's the only choice you had. think it's important as Mamdani comes into, to ⁓ really come together, to really look out for one another, to not be hateful. Even without, you know, again, like I'm not, we need to really be very thoughtful in how we move forward and have solidarity. Don't shit on each other. Like, don't shit on Muslims, don't shit on gay people, don't shit on nobody because we need
Octavio Blanco (56:49)
Exactly.
Yes. Yes.
Yeah, what's the point?
Led Black (57:09)
need
all of us in that. We need each other. And again, we need to move forward because the people committing all the griff and the crime and taking us back decades, they don't take a moment off. So neither can we.
Octavio Blanco (57:21)
Yeah,
A
house divided cannot stand, right? That's the truth. People think it's a cliche, but it's the truth. A house divided cannot stand. And as we see, the more of us that are standing together, the more powerful we are. And we made our voices clear and our choices clear when this city voted for Mayor Mamdani because he has explained to us that his vision is to fight ICE and to protect us from this incursion.
And, you know, so that's a great first step. Now we need to take the following, however many hundreds or thousands of steps we have to take to protect our city. But like you said,
Use a whistle. Don't try not to get involved, you know, physically. Don't don't do anything violent. That's only going to make the matter worse. And that's what the administration wants to happen. They're going to threat. They're going to provoke us. They're going to provoke us and they're going to provoke us and they're going to make us mad and they're going to get us angry. And we need to take a moment. We need to say chill. We need to be like, OK, yeah, this is wrong. You're doing is wrong. We need to go on social media. We need to be in real life. We need to be challenging our politicians.
and telling them like, this is what I saw, this is where it's happening, you need to protect us.
Led Black (58:37)
And you know, and I agree with you 100,000%. I think we do need to be careful, remain lawful and remain nonviolent, right? So I'm say I'm 100 % nonviolent, right? I wanna say that first before my next statement, right? Right? That I believe in that to the core, right? That you don't want to challenge the state.
Octavio Blanco (58:54)
No.
Led Black (59:05)
with violence because they have overwhelming violence, right? And they will use that violence, our violence as a subtext to undermine us and oppress us further. With that said, I also think that, first of all, the people that work for ICE are goons, right? ⁓ They are not smart, they are not trained.
Octavio Blanco (59:08)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
They're not
trained.
Led Black (59:26)
And they just put and they're very hateful. think there is a good mixture of January Sixers, Proud Boys, just good old Bubbas and you know, these people that are just hateful people, right? I think that soon, right, you will see where they go at the wrong one, right? Where they come, because again, because they're masked, right? Because they're not following protocol.
Octavio Blanco (59:33)
Yep.
Led Black (59:55)
because they're coming up on you on some wild operations, they're making it very likely that someone either out of anger or fear or both fights back, right? So I think we're very close to some type of ICE agent either being killed or several of them are being injured because their tactics are incendiary, racist, and they make matters worse. So I think, yeah.
Octavio Blanco (1:00:07)
Yeah.
And not just that,
because yes to everything you said, they are racist, yes they are incendiary, yes they're not trained. But guess what? Other people, other criminal organizations are using those tactics. They're dressing up to look like ICE agents and they're going after people who they want to hurt. And so it's really hard nowadays. It's really hard.
Led Black (1:00:44)
The raping women, yeah. The assaulting
women, yeah.
Octavio Blanco (1:00:47)
It's
hard to tell whether or not you're actually being accosted by ICE or a gang, right? So, you know, I think you're right. I think for your own safety, like...
just run if you can, if you're being attacked by folks. But you're right, they're gonna go after the wrong one and it's gonna get ugly. And that's what the government is waiting for, unfortunately. So this administration here in New York City that's coming on board, Mayor Mamdani, I'm so thankful for all the promises that he has made. And I'm so excited that he's gonna be in charge and he's gonna be able to try to protect us as
best he can, because in other places it's just not happening. But I do commend, I do commend places like Chicago and Los Angeles, where we see those local jurisdictions, those mayors really standing up. And in Chicago and in Illinois, we've seen the mayor and the governor standing together. in California too, Los Angeles and in Sacramento and with mayor, with governor Newsom, we've seen, we've seen, you know, the, the,
That it's not just the big cities. It's also the states. I hope that in this state we have mayor Mondani and our governor Hokel who you know She's been tiptoeing that ⁓ tightrope for for a little while. She did come to you know Jesus I suppose is what you would call it and and accept the fact that mayor Mondani is a political force and endorsed him but I don't like it that she doesn't seem to be
as vocal as I'd like her to be when it comes to protecting the people of the state of New York against the Trump administration regime, which is actively fighting to hurt her folks, her constituents.
Led Black (1:02:43)
I agree. She needs to get it together.
And now I just want to correct you is not coming to Jesus. It's coming to Allah now because of Mom Donnie. So please, please get it correct. You know what mean? No.
Octavio Blanco (1:02:50)
That's right. That's right. Thank you. Thank you for that correction.
I also wanted to correct myself on something that I said
earlier. I said that I had gotten my dual citizenship in 2016. All the years are just melding together. Mexico changed its law in 1998, and so that must have been when I did it, because I did it at a time right when it happened, or just soon after. So it wasn't 2016, it was closer to 1998. But that being the case, I am a dual citizenship, and it happened, you know, but it...
Led Black (1:03:21)
Yeah,
and I want to say too, like, I know we almost over, but I want to say we need to lock arms and close ranks. And what I mean by that is, right, I know you saw last this week where Trump referred to Somalis as garbage and he went on an extended rant talking about how Somalis are garbage, right? And that's just such a disgusting way to describe a whole group of people.
Octavio Blanco (1:03:37)
⁓ God, Yes.
Led Black (1:03:50)
But I will say this, right? So lock arms, we're gonna lock arms together in solidarity with each other. But what I mean by close ranks is, there were some Somalis, just like how we have some Latinos, who were like, Trump is the answer, right? He's the answer, right? And now those people are there looking stupid, right? Because they supported their own oppression.
Octavio Blanco (1:04:13)
Yeah.
Led Black (1:04:13)
So that's
what I mean, close ranks. Like, I'm sorry to all those Latinos, to all those other people, you will always have a space on this side, yes. But this needs to change now. You need to make that move now. You need to not be one of the ones that's like gloating over what's happening. And there's gonna have to be some real like atonement, you know what I mean? Like you led us hear.
Octavio Blanco (1:04:34)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Led Black (1:04:37)
Right? We don't trust your judgment. some social media people telling me, Mom, Donnie, you voted for Trump. Shut the fuck up. Why would I listen to you? Why would I listen to you?
Octavio Blanco (1:04:43)
Yeah, let me say
something about that, about people having conversations, whether it's online in real life, at the Christmas dinner, at the New Year's party.
Here's the thing. I'm one. I'm a mediator, right? I am certified in the state of New York as a mediator. So communication is really important to me. But part of mediation is both parties need to have the idea that they're going to try to resolve the issue in an amicable way. so I cannot and I will not and I refuse to enter into communication and have a debate with somebody who is
pro-MAGA and pro this regime because I will not speak to somebody and expect them to
to speak with me in a way that we can find a resolution if their point is my destruction, right? If your whole point is to eliminate me from this country, if your whole point is to get rid of me and my people from this nation where we are citizens and we are trying to be citizens and we are working and we're making this country better, if your point is to get us to be done and to eliminate us,
I'm not going to spend my time talking to you. So like you say, led to the Latinos who are pro-maga. If you come to your senses and you come back and say, you know what, I saw the error of my ways. Fine. I'm open to hearing about whatever you want to talk about. But if you're going to come back to me with, well, you know, this and that and the other is why you're still a MAGA supporter. We're done. I'm not, I'm not there for that.
Led Black (1:06:23)
Yeah, it's ridiculous. Yeah,
I agree. agree. know, like, and sometimes I engage just to, you know, for shits and giggles, you know what mean? But most times it's like, you know, what's wrong with you? And it's funny because most of the people have like, you know, like, you know, the Bible verses in their, in their bios, you know, Jesus first, and you're like...
Octavio Blanco (1:06:31)
I know.
Led Black (1:06:42)
What like what Jesus is that that hates people of fuck everybody like it's really gross and again And this is not to to take away blame from white people and their bullshit with my god That's not what I'm saying. But again, I think I said it before like it makes sense Right if someone's telling you those people are hurting you it kind of know what what I'm saying is it's a easier It's an easier sell right as my group is being hurt by this group, right?
Octavio Blanco (1:07:01)
Yeah.
Led Black (1:07:10)
And, but when you're part of the group that you're there is being told the problem and you think and you side with that, that's even worse, right? It's way worse when you sell out your own, like you're doing this to us. And that's what I find so gross.
Octavio Blanco (1:07:24)
I can't really argue with that. The only point that I would make as well in agreement with what you're saying is that.
Those people, the white people who are MAGA, those people, the Latino people who are MAGA, those people, the Somali people who are MAGA, all those people probably are lacking in education or are educated and are using it for their own advantage individually rather than their advantage for their community.
And I am disheartened at the fact that in this country right now, we're not supporting our educational system the way we really should be, that we're taking away funding from our schools, that we're not giving our youth the tools that they need to have, to make good decisions and to really understand the history from where we came from. And ⁓ all that stuff is unfortunately
one of the main reasons why the opportunity presented itself to essentially brainwash people into believing that others are here to take away from from them, which they are not the only ones who are here to take away from Americans and and and and immigrants in this country at this point is the administration a kleptocracy that is looking to steal from all of us so that they can be richer and everybody
else who's not a billionaire and a gazillionaire already can be poorer. I just, unfortunately that's the state of affairs. But fortunately, fortunately as we have said and I think every episode that we've ever done, community is the answer. Sticking together is the answer. I do agree with you that locking arms and closing ranks, keeping those folks who may be part of our our cohorts but don't agree with what we're saying and are not going to
Led Black (1:09:03)
Yeah.
Octavio Blanco (1:09:27)
to seemingly come to Allah, we're going to have to really exclude you from what we're doing and you're done.
Led Black (1:09:35)
Yup, yup, yup, yup. Yeah,
like, I'm at the point right now where you either, you have to be on the right side of history. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. You know what saying? You either with the tyrant or you with the people. And if you were the tyrant, I don't really want to be bothered anymore. Like I'm done. And I think it just, need to, that's what I mean by close. Yeah, we got to lock arms, yes, but we have to close ranks just because you're a person of color or this, you're not just going to get that automatic because if you're working for the other side, right? Like we need to be really clear about who our enemies are. And yes, some of our enemies are our own. And that's how we need to be dealt with. I broke down MAGA into three components.
racist, rich folks, and rubes. Right? Like, you know what saying? Like, and it makes sense. If you're a racist, this makes sense. This is great. This is my guy, right? And if you're rich, this also makes sense, right? Because he's one of you. You're the same class, right? But it's the rubes. The rubes are more numerous. The rubes are easily fooled. The rubes are not, and again, it's not about education. I don't have a college degree.
Octavio Blanco (1:10:20)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Yep.
Led Black (1:10:42)
I'm not talking about degrees. I'm talking about intelligence, right? And just being aware and being a reader. Like, these are the rules, but the rules are the majority, right? And Manga used to be a cult for stupid white people. It has now crossed over. And now it's even more dangerous because this information is everywhere and our enemies live in our buildings.
Octavio Blanco (1:10:59)
Yeah.
Yeah,
Led Black (1:11:06)
You know what mean? Enemies are a relative sometimes. It's crazy.
Octavio Blanco (1:11:08)
so I want to just make this point also before we wrap it up. I just want to say this.
Well, what I said what I said, right? If you're for MAGA and you wanna talk to me about why MAGA is great and why I should change my mind, I'm not gonna change my mind. And if you're for MAGA and you're not gonna ever change your mind, then we're just not gonna talk. On the other hand, if you're like rational, and let's say we're talking about housing, right? Which is a huge issue in New York City and in Washington Heights. Let's say that you have policy.
ideas that maybe I don't agree with, but I haven't thought of in the past, or maybe I'm not even aware of your policy ideas. I'm willing to have that conversation. I'm willing to hear you out if you're bringing interesting and non, you know, interesting ideas to the fore. but, you know, so, so I'm not excluding like conversations, all conversation with people who maybe I don't agree with.
because some policies need to be discussed. Some policies need to be debated, you know, and some ideas that nobody has the final word on every idea. Sometimes it takes a little bit of, know, giving a little bit and taking a little bit. I think that's what this country was actually founded on. You know, it's a, we need to give some and take some. It's not everybody has the answer. can't please everybody all the time.
said if you're fighting to eliminate me then we're not talking but if you have policy ideas that I may not understand or or that I may not believe in and and I'm willing to have that conversation but not about you know eliminating me as a a as a human being
Led Black (1:12:43)
Mm-hmm.
Facts, facts. On that note, this is the end of the episode. Make sure you subscribe. Spread love is the uptown way. You heard? Let's go.
Octavio Blanco (1:12:59)
Yeah. Subscribe. Yep. Bye.
All righty.