Black & Blanco LIVE! Grassroots Activism in Uptown With Special Guests From the Uptown Community Democrats Club - Full Episode

In this engaging conversation, Led Black and Octavio Blanco discuss the importance of community involvement in politics with guests Joanna Garcia and Edwin Mazzara from the Uptown Community Democrats Club. They explore the club's genesis, its focus on grassroots activism, and the need for political education and engagement in local issues. The discussion highlights the diversity within the club, the significance of local political forums, and the role of art and culture in activism. The guests emphasize the importance of accountability in politics and encourage listeners to get involved in their communities to effect change.

Takeaways
The Uptown Community Democrats Club was founded to provide a political home for community voices.
Community political clubs focus on local issues like housing and food insecurity.
Engaging voters means addressing community needs beyond just election seasons.
Diversity within the club enriches the political discourse and activism.
Local political forums are essential for community engagement and representation.
Understanding the political process is crucial for effective advocacy.
Judicial elections impact community members significantly and require attention.
Civic engagement is not limited to elections; it involves ongoing community involvement.
Art and culture play a vital role in maintaining hope and joy in activism.
Apathy in politics can lead to detrimental consequences for communities.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction
03:01 The Genesis of the Uptown Community Democrats Club
05:40 Community Engagement and Political Education
08:49 Diversity and Inclusion in Political Activism
11:41 The Importance of Local Political Engagement
14:50 Addressing Community Issues and Political Representation
17:36 Judicial Elections and Community Impact
20:40 The Role of Community in Politics
23:52 How to Get Involved with the Uptown Community Democrats
26:34 Final Thoughts and Call to Action
39:52 Awakening and Solidarity in America
44:34 Political Accountability and the Role of Democrats
49:24 The Influence of Money in Politics
54:32 Community Engagement and Local Activism
59:24 The Importance of Art and Joy in Activism
01:04:34 The Unique Challenges of Our Time

Creators and Guests

Host

Led Black

Host

Octavio Blanco

What is Uptown Voices?

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 (00:00)
What up, what up, what up everybody. It's Let Black and Octavio Blanco for another Black and Blanco live from Washington Heights in the midst of the snowstorm, as well as like the new American revolution taking place on our shores here. Octavio, before I forget, make sure you subscribe, show us that uptown love. Octavio, please introduce our guest brother. How you doing?

Octavio Blanco (00:21)
Hey, hey, hey, Lyd, thank you, thank you. I hope everybody is staying inside. You know, it's pretty bad outside. The snow is coming down. So best to stay inside and just hang out with us as we try to talk about what's happening in the world and also what's happening in our neighborhood. Today on Black and Blanco Live, we've got two ⁓ amazing guests. When you talk about

community involvement. They're emblematic of this. They're so connected to everything that's going on and very passionate about our neighborhood and the political climate in which we inhabit. I want to welcome Joanna Garcia and Edwin Mazzara, co-presidents of the Uptown Community Democrats Club. Joanna, ⁓ Edwin.

How are you today? Tell me, how's everything going with you guys?

Johanna Garcia (01:15)
⁓ I'm doing fantastic. It's Sunday. I say fantastic, but that's at the backdrop of what happened yesterday. What's good is that I'm warm and enjoying the snow from inside.

Octavio Blanco (01:26)
And Edwin, how about you? How's this week treated you? I know it's been a difficult week, but how are you feeling?

Edwin Rosario Mazara (01:32)
I know. First of all, diva me Octavio, what's up, lad? Thank you for inviting me. Your audience also for being part. I mean, you guys are competing with heavyweights like all political morning shows and church too. that's a good thing. I mean, like Joanna said, you know, considering all the stuff that's going on, you know, it's we're okay or alive, but, know, deep down it's

Led Black (01:36)
Good luck, brother.

That's hilarious.

Johanna Garcia (01:44)
you

Edwin Rosario Mazara (01:58)
It's a struggle. It's hard to enjoy our life, you know, might be privilege or not, when other people are going through so much across this nation and even here in our home in New York City. ⁓ Yeah, enjoying this weather, you know, it's nice and I thought we were gonna do this live outside with the backdrop of the snow, then I understood his hair gets messed up when it's raining.

Octavio Blanco (02:10)
Absolutely.

Led Black (02:19)
Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (02:19)
Yeah.

No, well, we were gonna have a snowball fight. We were gonna have a snowball fight to get some of our some of our aggression out. No, but I want to thank you both for being here. And the reason that we have you here is to talk about the Uptown Community Key Community Democrats Club, which is I think it's a fairly new club, ⁓ political club uptown. And I wanted to hear

more about the club and about its genesis. Well, first of all, you I wanted to say that when I hear about political clubs, I immediately go to like in my mind to like historic New York City, Tammany Hall, like a bunch of, you know, old, old men with big bellies smoking cigars, like having like supplicants come to them and, ⁓ and ⁓

get them asking for money or whatever. this is different, obviously. Tell me, Joanna, what was the genesis of the Uptown Community Democrats? Why is it important that you guys are here doing the work that you're doing? And tell us a little bit about the work that you're doing.

Johanna Garcia (03:27)
Sure, thank you. So the Genesis was about 12, 13 years ago. A small group of us were looking for a political home. We tried a couple of different clubs uptown and felt that it was very top-down, heavy establishment, political expediency, and that it was a, that not really centering the voices of the community they were supposed to represent was normalized.

And to me, as an individual that's involved in both government and politics, that just didn't sit well with me and others. And so a small group of us decided to start a political club and emphasize that, you know, before any kind of political expediency, we center what's good for the community.

And oftentimes that's looked as the taboo, like the wrong recipe if you want to be politically powerful. And to be honest, in the beginning, we were laughed at and said, you're never going to grow. You're not going to survive because that's just not how politics works. And we wanted to prove different. And we did. And in fact, I think it was last year that city and state named us ⁓ one of the top 20 political clubs in the state.

Octavio Blanco (04:40)
That is amazing that, you know, you guys have been able to grow and be successful in this competitive world. What is it that a community political club does? What is that?

Johanna Garcia (05:06)
it, connects. so let's start with, there's a reason why there are so many, in our community who want to stay away from politics who feel disaffected, who feel doesn't represent them. So a community political club centers what's going on, where there is housing insecurity, food insecurity, land use decisions are impacted our neighborhoods.

and also engaging voters on the ground, not around, hey, it's voting season, will you vote for this person? But more like, hey, your school needs help, this community resource is lacking, how do we galvanize people around that? And then as we galvanize around those community issues, we start educating each other on the power levels and the political system that has an effect in that and how we influence ⁓ those political levers.

One of the things that we've done is hold community forums. We're planning very soon to have a housing clinic. We draw people from different backgrounds into our club and it's literally delivering for our community. And then when it's time to do the political stuff, because at the end of the day, we are a political club, we lead with our values. We don't...

elect or support someone because they're part of the establishment or is de facto. We say does this person represent our values? And it's much easier to get people on the ground, you know, in terms of collective signatures. It just translates because it matters. We've connected the community good and need with the political power.

Led Black (06:37)
And Joanne, I just wanna say really quickly, it does matter, right? And I think it matters more than ever as Trump and the whole regime is on the attack. It's interesting, I like to think of Minneapolis as...

Octavio Blanco (06:38)
Yeah, go ahead.

Led Black (06:52)
is ground zero for a new American revolution. I have to shout out to all the people in Minnesota, Minneapolis, St. Paul, who are looking out for their community, looking out for everybody, right? Because I think at this time, this is no longer a laughing matter, and it's not a joke, right? Before in the past, we could play games. And I think you're coming on the right time because this war is coming here as well. Washington Heights, Uptown is a frontline community.

So I just want to commend the both of you for doing this work, because I don't think it could be better time. anything we can do to help amplify that, we're here for that as well.

Edwin Rosario Mazara (07:26)
I mean, thanks, ⁓ Lad. I do want to add that it's not only the two of us. Like there's a whole family, a very diverse community within UCD. Those are the acronyms for uptown community Democrats because it's truly a community club. it touches a lot to what was the purpose of political clubs back in the old days. back in the old days, I mean, before any of us was born.

It was truly more of a a political arm for the community as opposed to a political machine for an elected official or someone's personal, you know, political aspirations and personal agenda. And that's how in listening to Joanna and the Genesis, because she's one of the co-founders, I came in later around 2018 or ⁓ 2019.

You see it in how we operate. You know, this is not a top to bottom, know, top down organization where the leader of the club or the elite that is telling us how to vote, how to move. It's really community members from a walk of life. You know, I'm Dominican, she's Cuban. So we're Caribbean, Afro-Caribbeans, but we also have Jewish, we have Greeks, we have Puerto Ricans, we have other Dominicans, Dominican Americans in this club.

⁓ And it's a true, it's a true collective of diversity. I don't like to use the word Big Ten because it's kind of cliche and it obviously is you for all the wrong reasons when we talk about establishment, you know, Democrats, which we are also very much against. But it is a big time because we do have all type of people in our club and all type of ages too. And it brings back to the center the community aspect of WAPA because everything's political.

You know, people run away and younger kids think that that by osmosis or default, they were born apolitical. But, you I don't blame them, you know, all the stuff that happens. It's easy to get discouraged to participate. But, you know, since 2016, you know, it's you go a little bit back, but definitely from 2016 on, are seeing again, this resurgence of younger people joining in. We saw that during the Madani campaign and all the other stuff.

who want to participate, and this is a home for them, uptown community Democrats.

Octavio Blanco (09:40)
You know, I was so impressed this past week and it sort of shows just the strength that your group has gained when you guys had the congressional candidates forum and you had all the all the Democratic candidates who were to speak to the community. It was a packed house. You had the the incumbent Adriano Espallat there, the satellite, you know, from Washington.

Daria Lisa Avila Chevalier, who is a very, you know, a lot of people have been looking at her as a possible strong challenger. And Oscar Romero from El Barrio there, who I thought was a very interesting candidate as well, with very well spoken and good ideas. And you even had the socialist candidate whom I actually.

If you remind me of his name, I don't remember it, but he was, you know, an interesting guy, very actually very funny. But what I loved most is that I had my son there who he's 16 and he was, he was engaged. He was listening and it was, and he was there in person. And, you know, it just goes to show for him and for other people, but also the youth that these are real people.

Right? A lot of times they're filtered through television screens or the internet or social media. But when you have them there in person, you see them stumble, you see them struggle, you see that they're real people. You know, I don't know if you guys saw this, but Bad Bunny put ⁓ a post, I think it was yesterday or the day before talking about the talking about politicians and saying, reminding

his audience that politicians work for us. They are, they are our representatives. They're not there for us to get next to and, you know, get our picture taken. These are not, you know, celebrities. so it was interesting to see somebody of that, in that world and of that stature remind, people that these politicians work for us. So, you know, what I,

Johanna Garcia (11:25)
Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Octavio Blanco (11:48)
also like is that you are there year round and you're looking into the nitty gritty of policy. You're making decisions as to what do we need and how do we pressure these politicians? So can you respond, you know, react a little bit to how that works? How is it that the group makes its decisions? What are some of the issues that this particular club is looking to?

to improve? And what did you think of the candidates and what they were saying, if you were able to comment on that?

Johanna Garcia (12:23)
or do you want me to go first or?

Edwin Rosario Mazara (12:25)
No, you go first.

Johanna Garcia (12:26)
Okay. First of all, Octavio, let your son know he is welcome. We love young people and engage in them. We've had different events and opportunities for young people. We actually asked them to come up with ideas, whatever they're passionate about, and then we'll create a committee around supporting whatever that is in the community just to get them engaged.

So open invitation, not only to yourself, but to all the young people in the Heights and in Inwood. In regards to issues, we've always been, so first of all, we were one of the founding members as a political club of Northern Manhattan's Not For Sale. So from the very beginning, we've been about protecting our community from displacement.

and land use decisions that will harm our neighbors. So we're very much about educating each other about housing policy, which is very complicated when you get into land use language. And that's how they get us. That's how they pull the wool over our eyes because they make it so complex. And so we're constantly educating ourselves about what's going on, not only on the state level, but on a city level.

with policies that don't even have the word housing in it, but it's going to impact what our neighborhoods are going to look like. Certainly immigration, ⁓ certainly education, and certainly also ⁓ racism. ⁓ We talk about the different, I like to say the colors of racism because we can say racism is black and white, but it isn't. Racism is colorism, is social economics.

it's class, ⁓ how does that actually look like on the ground? And also how are institutions holding up a system that continues to oppress us on the background of ⁓ racism? So those are things that we're constantly educating ourselves around. And we're actually planning, we have a new plan this year that we're going to roll out to involve more of the community. We want tenant advocates

to have a say, we want education advocates to have a say, just have different kind of affiliates have a say in the direction of our club. And in regards to the Congressional Forum, I think it was a very good, it was very good to display not only the diversity of our club, but also the interest, the interest, know, Washington Heights and Inwood up here,

We get a bad rap for not caring about these issues, not caring about our representation. Our forums show differently. People care. People want to know what not only our incumbent, you know, the incumbent is doing or his platform is, but also people who are stepping up. It's hard to step up and actually challenge an incumbent, especially in Congress.

And it's important for people to hear firsthand what that is. So I think it was a good forum. We want to continue building on that in the sense that we want to educate people on what the process is. And it's the nitty gritty. It's things that people don't really care about. But for example, I want your audience to know that soon you're going to see people in the corner with green sheets. Those green sheets is where you sign and say that person, that candidate.

has a right to be on the ballot. Doesn't mean you're voting for them, but just that that person has a right to be on the Democratic ballot, right? And then there's this whole political calendar. It's the nuts and bolts that we explain. I call it the political minutiae, but I think it's important for people to know that that's kind of, you know, the little nitty gritty of getting people into office.

Edwin Rosario Mazara (15:58)
Yeah, to add to that, Octavio, I think one of your questions was like, how do we do that? what and Joanna mentioned, you know, we were very intentional about how we participate. We don't want people also to get the idea that this club is only reduced to the electoral cycle. We also, like she said, the birth of this movement or this political club.

begins with community engagement. It started with us fighting the rezoning, you know, in 2017. And for a moment, we were able to win against the city. then, you know, the community got screwed over because it was it was thrown back to the courts. And now I mentioned that the courts because it's very important to see the other aspects of what we do. One of the things that we do and the other day I was talking to a political consultant and he was like, you know what, that's that's interesting because the left doesn't really

think about it that way. And this is where he has words. You know, we're pretty much in tune and responsible for getting judges also elected. You know, a lot of people don't know that a lot of these judges that work in the civil courts and a Supreme Court get elected. You know, they're on the ballot. Maybe you don't flip the ballot over. Maybe you don't see it. Maybe you just go and vote for certain, you know, positions and you forget the importance of the courts and

We have seen in the past few years, you know, how certain groups, whether they're extreme right or right, whatever you want to call them, conservative groups have worked to not only stack the Supreme Court, but many other federal courts as well. And this is why it's mind blowing for people now to see so many things happening and no accountability, but this is why it's happening. So we tend to forget, and that's the nitty-gritty.

the nitty-gritty things that Joanna's talking about, that there's more to just electing a congressperson or an assemblyperson or city council member or state senator. We have also county committee members, have judicial delegates who are responsible for that bridge between the community and these lawyers or judges who want to move up, whether it's to a civil court or a supreme court. And one of our own members, Anya Brinson, was in the last past election,

was actually elected thanks to her career, her work, and also our support as a club and community to civil court. And this is important because these courts, you have housing courts, and you also have criminal courts too. And this is where our people get usually the shorter end of the stick. So it's very important for us to understand that it's not just getting someone elected for one of these positions. There's so many other things.

Led Black (18:30)
Mm-hmm.

Edwin Rosario Mazara (18:39)
than make up a democracy. And this is how we engage with younger people too, to understand that, you there's more beyond just seeing a commercial paid by Fulano de Tala

Octavio Blanco (18:49)
Hehehehehe

Led Black (18:51)
Yeah, you know, I agree. And for those that are not Dominican, Fulano de Talas just refers to like a person in general. ⁓ But to go back to both of what you're saying, I think it's opaque on purpose, right? It's opaque so we don't look too much further. So we just kind of like just kind of be apathetic. So again, I'm going to commend your club for getting rid of that opacity, right? Like opacity, right? Because it's super important. But before we go any further,

Johanna Garcia (18:58)
Mm-hmm.

Led Black (19:21)
I want y'all to tell us how we can follow you. What are your URLs? What are your Instagram handles? Give us all that before we go any further because I think it's super important that like, this is activation time. Like what's happening in Minneapolis, it should be like a little red lighthouse, right? At least it'd be a lighthouse to shine light on what's happening because this is coming to us. is not just happening over there. So tell us all the information. How can people get in touch? How can people get involved?

Johanna Garcia (19:46)
The easiest way is going to our website, is www.uptowncommunitydems, and you sign up. And once you sign up, you learn about everything that we're doing. We're also on IG at Uptown Community Dems. So even like what Edwin was mentioning in terms of judicial candidates, when we have judicial candidate forums, we open it to the whole public. We don't want it to just be this.

secret, you know, and that's the thing about politics. It's like, if you're, if you know, you know, and it shouldn't be that way because politics impacts everyone. should not be. And that's one of the things I thought about when we founded the club. I don't want it to be a behind the curtain process. It's a, it should be known. shouldn't be a trade secret controlled by the powers they be. So we'd to open up forums. we have, we have meeting greets and we always open it up.

to everyone, whether you're a member or not a member, better to be a member of course, because it supports our work. But besides judicial delegates, we have something called, and the public also votes for this, we also have what's called county committee, county committee. And county committee in a very, like very strictly, if you look at it, look at it in paper, it's a person that represents kind of a block or two.

in the district and yeah, like a block leader. And then they, they vote at a county committee once a year. And what too many clubs do is that they just use that county committee person that one time a year. And when that year, when that event comes, they tell them how to vote. We approach it very differently. We use our county committee members as civic block captains. We educate them.

Edwin Rosario Mazara (21:09)
luck to you.

Johanna Garcia (21:36)
on what they can share with their neighbors on their block. And we hear from them what's important in regards to the issues on that block. So they're actually civic engagement by practice block captains. And you all, county committee members, you vote for them. But no one knows what that is.

Octavio Blanco (21:57)
You know, I just want

Edwin Rosario Mazara (21:58)
or the

importance of it as well, because when you see that there's a vacant seat, for example, there's someone who's holding a position, either they resign or they step down, or they want to run for another high, another office and they get elected, the seat is vacant. And how do you think it gets filled before a special election, as to the county committee members? And it's a lot of the things that we don't...

People don't see other other than just the big names, like you said on TV, whether it's a higher office, ⁓ Congress or president or whatever mayor. But democracy has so many components and small moving parts. And the fact that we don't participate as much as we should at those levels is why we continue as a community to not have the right representational or the right information.

You go downtown or you go anywhere else. They're very active and participate a lot. And we like to say this a lot. Like if it was a school in downtown, I bet you that they wouldn't fix the road in front of the school, whatever. Well, yeah, because it shouldn't be like that. But yet they are participating and they're there. You know, they're up front. And this is what we as a club are vying for and working very hard to do to make sure that people up here uptown like the name of your show, the uptown voices are heard. They're at the table.

Octavio Blanco (23:15)
That's so important. And I think it's so important because a lot of people, especially now where we're being deluged by information, whether it's on television, where social media, whether it's on shows like like this, whatever the case may be, a lot of people feel powerless to do something. They don't know how to get involved. They don't know what's happening. And they feel like it's just happening to them without their input. And it is happening to them.

without their input because they're not getting involved. I appreciate that this group of yours exists because I think that it gives everybody who wants to have a say, a place to go where they can have others who are working with the same frame of mind or maybe differently, but somewhere where you can discuss ideas and unite into

deciding what it is that you want for your community and how it is that you pressure the elected to do what we need because we need to remember that they work for us. But most, a lot of times the special interests, you know, they get in there because the community is unable to coalesce around issues and we lose out. So super important. also, this, of the things

One of the drums that I continue to beat is that we need to get involved as a community locally in local politics. And I also, you national politics and we can talk about the presidential election. Congress is important, but like you said, state assembly, city council, community board, county, county council, all these things are super important, but it's like a complex puzzle.

And if you go to your club, then you can become a part and become better educated and have a better understanding of what's needed.

Johanna Garcia (25:17)
Agree. And I glad you said, know, what's going on in Minnesota and other parts of the country. It's unfortunately a matter of time before it's at our front door. And if you already have an infrastructure where you have a community that's civically engaged and they could connect with each other and say, OK, this is the plan, then I think it just makes it that much easier for us to push back as a people.

Edwin Rosario Mazara (25:43)
in the

Led Black (25:44)
And you know, before we let you guys go, you know, I always like to say that you're either at the table or you're on the menu. So I want to thank you for helping bring more people to the table because I'm tired of being on the menu. And you guys want to leave us with any last words?

Johanna Garcia (25:51)
Mm-hmm.

Led Black (25:59)
I forgot the claps.

Edwin Rosario Mazara (26:02)
.

Octavio Blanco (26:04)
That's our live studio audience.

Johanna Garcia (26:04)
Go to your...

Led Black (26:05)
Yeah

Johanna Garcia (26:05)
Go to your...

Edwin Rosario Mazara (26:06)
Now that the audience calmed down.

Like Joanna said, definitely extend an invitation to everyone in the community to join us, whether you want to be an active member or an honorary member, but definitely within our space so we could not only grow as a club, but also all of us grow individually as community members, civically engage and active and make sure that our community continues to move forward and grow because it's going to be a very difficult year.

It's going to only get difficult as we go on, especially as we get closer to the midterms in November. There's going to be more stuff that's going to happen. It's eventually, know, New York is not immune. It'll eventually get here, like you stated earlier. So we have to be ready. We have to be engaged. We have to be informed. We have to be willing to jump into this fight.

at our own pace and capacity because that's the beauty of our club too. You don't, you join this club, it's not that you are expected, you know, to do this or that. You are expected, whatever your talents are and whatever you can do. We have artists here, you know, we have art, we're going to, you know, we have this plan that we're going to roll out. We're to have a block party. We're going to have this, we're going to have that. That's all human. We're humanizing again.

what politics should be because it's a way of life. It's a standard. It's what rules everything. Once you pay taxes, you're politically involved. If you're neutral, you're having a political opinion, even if you think you're not. So this is a home for everyone, not just for political, it is for everyone and we welcome everyone to join us.

Led Black (27:42)
Love that.

Johanna Garcia (27:42)
Yeah, and

I just just to add to that or rather reaffirm, we're not a club that expects you to know everything when you come in. And oftentimes people are afraid to join political systems because there's so much jargon and you feel you have to understand how power moves. All we need, the only two things you need is passion. You need to be passionate about something and people just bring that naturally. And you need to care about your neighbors. Those are the only two things you need.

to be able to jive in our political club. ⁓ The rest we'll do together.

Led Black (28:16)
Dope-ness. So you heard it there, folks. Make sure you join up. Make sure you hit them up, because we need this kind of action in our community. You were going to say something, everyone? I'm sorry.

Edwin Rosario Mazara (28:25)
No, I was waiting for the applause for Joanna, like, what's up with...

Led Black (28:27)
⁓

Johanna Garcia (28:28)
you

Led Black (28:28)
That applause is a little too much. ⁓

Edwin Rosario Mazara (28:30)
you

Octavio Blanco (28:34)
We've got a plot. Our live audience is very engaged. We're really happy that you guys are here. Before we let you go, just once again, what are your socials?

Edwin Rosario Mazara (28:46)
for the club or individuals. ⁓ Uptown Community Dams, that's the website that Joanna mentioned. We're on Instagram and Facebook as well.

Johanna Garcia (28:45)
go ahead Edwin.

Octavio Blanco (28:49)
no, for the club, for the club. Unless you want to, but yeah, for the club.

It's all uptown community dead ends, uptown community dead ends.

Edwin Rosario Mazara (29:01)
Yeah, I mean, you launch

your type and I'm talking about in Democrats. We're going to come up.

Octavio Blanco (29:06)
All right, sounds good. All right, thank you very much, you guys.

Led Black (29:06)
Perfect. Thanks a lot, folks.

Have a good day. All right, bye bye.

Edwin Rosario Mazara (29:10)
Thank you.

Johanna Garcia (29:10)
Thank you for

having us. Take care.

Led Black (29:12)
Octavio, my brother, let's talk, man. You know what I mean? Like, so I wanna say that I'm checking the IG live and some of the comments and shout out to all the people on there. A lot of people from the club were on there. Adriana Quinones, she put a very good point, right? She says, my concern is that national midterms won't happen. And I think, you know, that's completely on point, right? I think that's the whole reason this is happening, right? Trump has already said that, you know, why do we need to have these midterms anyway? So, you know, I think...

Octavio Blanco (29:27)
Yeah, she did.

Led Black (29:41)
that pendulum is swinging and I think they're headed for a trouncing. So I think the whole point of this is to intensify, to make a reason to cancel the national elections, right? And I think this is what I said before, that a lot of times it's a failure of negative imagination. We never think that the other side will stoop so low, but we need to think that way. We need to think they are capable of anything, because they are, right? We kind of stop playing around.

and thinking this is not what it is, right? This is Martin Luther King week just passed, right? Last Monday was Martin Luther King day. This past Monday, I should say. And I always think of a few things he said. know, one of the things he said at the end of his life, he says, I think we've integrated into a burning house. And I think that's apt because this feels like a burning house, right? But also he says, we will either live together as brothers or perish together as fools. And again, that seems to be what happened, right?

Because what you have now in Minneapolis is two white people have been killed, right? And I say that not to be facetious, but what I mean by that is if you're willing to kill white people, then none of us is safe. No one is safe. These were citizens. Alex yesterday, he's a nurse for veterans, right? I saw a video where he was reading last rite to a veteran, right? Like these were honorable people.

doing nothing but standing up for a community, what we talk about every day, and they were executed on the street like dogs, right? So this is a different thing, and I think we need to act like it, and I think that these conversations are more important than ever.

Octavio Blanco (31:20)
Yeah, you know what's funny? Well, not funny, but interesting is that and I tell you this all the time lead. Maybe a year ago, I would have been like lead midterms are gonna happen for sure. Come on. Don't be like that. Like, seriously, you're being crazy lead. They're gonna happen. midterms are gonna happen. But I don't know that they're gonna happen. I think I think you're right. You've been right.

Led Black (31:32)
Hahaha!

Octavio Blanco (31:47)
about all of this, even when I thought you were on the fringe, all of the things that you've said are coming to pass. And I am worried about the midterms because the way that this militia or that these jackboot soldiers are acting is to incite violence, right? That's what they want to have happen. And once the community

resorts to violence once something like that happens, then that gives the power to the administration to say, well, it's, it's out of control. Now we're it's an insurrection. Now we're gonna have to, you know, cancel the midterms because we need to quell this insurrection or they would probably not say cancel. They'll probably say, we'll postpone it in, you know, what that, that, that postponement.

Who knows when it would come back. So I do think that it's, that you're right. And I am also concerned about this. And that's why, even though they're killing people on the street with impunity, at this stage, I would say that I am so proud of the people in Minnesota who have been able to maintain their human dignity.

and not resort to violence in the way that, you know, we've started to see people who are arming themselves on the street. you know, Alex had a carry permit, a concealed carry permit, and he had a weapon. It's scary, you know, that that that that that's happening. And that's exactly what the administration wants. The administration wants the

Led Black (33:31)
Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (33:40)
people wants to push the people to the edge wants to push for violence so that they can feel free to to do whatever fascistic policies they have in mind. So I think you're absolutely right. That's why these clubs like the one that we were just like Uptown Democrats or any any clubs like Uptown Indivisible and and whatever whatever the case may be. It's important to join these because

Led Black (33:54)
you

Octavio Blanco (34:08)
If you're in these groups, then you feel not so out of control. If you're in these groups, then you feel like you have some agency. Even though everything may not work out the way you want it to, at least you're in there making a difference. Instead of, you know, being violent and acting out because you're angry. I do think that everybody should

should be protesting. There's a protest on Tuesday at 5.30 and Foley Square to get ice out of our city. So I believe in protest, but I don't believe in violence. And I continue to implore people out there who are angry to stay peaceful. But you've said this a lot of times, Lyd, they might test the wrong person, right?

Led Black (34:59)
Yeah, I agree. think I think it's only a matter of time before someone Luigi's them. Right. It's only a matter of time before you have, you know, a veteran who himself who has the actual training and decides, you know, enough is enough. And not that I want that to happen, but I'm saying it's it's it's it's cause and effect. But I also think I also want to go beyond like is protesting is not enough. You know, it's good. It's part of the the the game plan. But we're going to need

people engage, we need local committees and groups formed that we warn each other. So if they are 180th, we know, hey, they're going to 190th. We need to create ways, just the way Minneapolis do, to keep our neighbors safe. And I think that also we need to hit them where it hurts, in their wallets. We need to pull our resources and our attention from some of these things that are involved with the harm being done.

You know, and if I could go back to what happened yesterday, right? You know, first of all, he did, he was, had a legal, a gun. It was a legal gun. And, and, and if you look at the video, cause I've seen now a lot of, a lot of videos that I didn't see, you know, when it first happened, there was an ICE agent who pulls the gun. So he wasn't, he didn't have the gun on him. He had the gun legally in behind his back. You saw the ICE agent take the gun out. And then what you see either on purpose or by mistake,

he lets the gun go off. And then the rest of the agents responded with fire and they put 11 bullets in that man, right? So you could just show you these are not trained people. These are just sadistic murderers. And this is what we have in our streets. So what I'm saying is that, that like everything we're seeing now is a lie and every step we take leads to worse, right? That's why I was saying, this is ground zero. Minneapolis.

Octavio Blanco (36:34)
Yeah.

Led Black (36:54)
and St. Paul ground zero for a new American revolution. Cause there's an awakening happening, right? I think the fact that I think it was a strategic mistake for the Trump regime to go into Minneapolis the way they did to go in so heavy handed and these casualties are backfiring on them because the people are starting to wake up. And I'll give you an example, Bonvino, the head of BCP, whatever, know, him and Noam, Kristi Noam basically read the same script.

Octavio Blanco (37:21)
Yeah.

Led Black (37:21)
And the

script was that he attacked them with a gun, right? And he was fighting the agents and therefore he was violently resistant. So therefore they had to do it. But when you look at the tape, that's not true, right? You see a man get murdered in cold blood. But what I'm saying, that's part of the regime lying. And again, people are seeing through it. So we are now, we have crossed the Rubicon. It has begun.

We didn't ask for this fight, but this fight has begun. And now the only way forward for us is solidarity, right? To know that we are all together, right? Going back to Martin Luther King says, we would either live together as brothers or perish together as fools. Now, what are we gonna be, right? And that's the thing that I think America has lacked for a long time is brotherhood and sisterhood, right? Like in Dominican Republic, right? You could, you know, not that there isn't colorism, not that there isn't an equality, right? But there's a sense that...

My fellow Dominican is my brother or my sister, right? That doesn't exist in this country. And the only way we can exist as a country is with that. So I think this is leading to that. I hope that this changes. And I also hope fucking Trump dies. I hope he dies as soon as possible because I think when that motherfucker croaks, I think that the MAGA movement is over because it's a personality cult.

Octavio Blanco (38:34)
Ha ha ha ha!

Led Black (38:42)
JD Vans don't have the ribs. The rest of those chumps are just chumps. And I think that if he dies before he gets to pardon them, hopefully we see them all being brought to justice and held accountable. So that's my hope. I hope that big ass fucking thing he has on his hand just explodes. And I fucking hate that motherfucker. again, I reiterate, I am throwing the only party when that motherfucker dies.

Octavio Blanco (39:06)
Look, I think I'm getting ahead of myself, but I do feel like you said that we've crossed the Rubicon. But I also feel that we've crossed the Rubicon because number one, we're seeing even Republicans start to question whether or not this is the right thing to do. Because this is not

You know, a lot of people didn't imagine that this was going to be something that they that they would see. So politically, I feel that we're seeing Donald Trump and the MAGA movement start to die as well. Politically, I do think that that he's dying. And I know that you have strong feelings against the establishment Democrats, but even ⁓

Chuck Schumer is out there saying that he's, no, no, no, he's saying he's not gonna vote for this big increase in DHS funding and that we're looking, right now we're looking at a possible government shutdown over the DHS funding. know, even,

Led Black (39:58)
He wrote a letter? He wrote a sharply worded letter?

Octavio Blanco (40:18)
the establishment Democrats who were gonna go ahead and vote for this big increase are now saying that they're not going to. that's, think, interesting evolution. They're finally, finally believing what we're all seeing and what we've all been telling them for, I don't know, for how many years now.

Led Black (40:44)
My brother, I am not convinced of that whatsoever. Cuck Toomer is a liar. He does nothing, right? And if you look at the vote where seven Democrats voted for the increase, right? That is political machinations, right? Chuck said, hey, look, you guys are probably not running or you're doing this. Do this for the rest of us. Chuck Schumer is not to be trusted. Apex Shakur is not to be trusted. None of these establishment Democrats are to be trusted. Nothing they did. It's too little, too late.

There's a war being waged on our people and he only speaks after two people were killed dead in the street. Like I don't believe anything they say. I think it's all imagination. And when we say Chuck Schumer and Jeffreeze and when we get rid of those people is when I'll be happy. Hillary talking shit from the sidelines. I don't want to hear her mouth either. Like again, I don't believe anything they say and they have lost all credibility and trust.

and I don't think they're here to do anything but save their own skin and he needs to go. He needs to fucking go.

Octavio Blanco (41:43)
Absolutely. Politically, they've lost all credibility. I don't know, if it's all credibility. think that there are people, and I think there are people that are afraid of change. They see people who are establishment, and they feel safe with those people. ⁓

Led Black (42:07)
I I hate to, can

I interrupt you for one second? I'm sorry, Octavio. It is more than that, right? They are paid opposition. They're not really opposition. They are there to keep the left in a certain structure. They're not there to change anything. They are there to take our energy and our power and send it a certain way. So we never really challenge the status quo. So we never get really the things we want. They have the same owners.

Octavio Blanco (42:10)
Absolutely.

Led Black (42:37)
Right? They're owned by the same people. So we keep trying to like, no, they need to go. If you're only speaking up now, what I saw a picture of, it was a video of Chuck Schumer fucking yucking it up with, with Narco Rubio. They were yucking it up and like giving each other hugs. That's not the kind of energy we need. We don't need that energy. We need, Hey, look, these people, when we get in power, they're going to go to jail. They're going to go under the jail.

We're gonna prosecute. That's the only energy we need. And again, we keep playing these games. Well, no, Chuck Schumer, all those people need to go. They need to go. We are done with them. This is their fault too. Like that's the thing we don't realize. This is their fault too. Barack too. Barack doesn't get saved here. Barack was put a lot of money to ICE. Homan was a Barack Obama appointee, right? So what I'm saying is that these games that they keep playing with us,

We need to not fall for it. We need to get rid of them. We need new leadership or this country will die.

Octavio Blanco (43:33)
Yeah, I think that issue of accountability is crucial because we're dealing with an administration that is acting with complete impunity, murdering people on the street, murdering Americans, and not just murdering people, like stopping Americans and requesting and demanding that they give their citizenship documents.

This is, you're not supposed, you're not supposed to have to be walking around with proof of citizenship in the United States. And you're not supposed to be getting pulled over and questioned just because of the way that you look. Now I know that that's what happens and that's what historically has been happening. But, you know, this is, the lost of due process.

that we are experiencing in America and the whomever wants to be the next congressman, the next city council person, the next president of the United States, the next state assembly member, accountability in any way, shape or form is gonna be tantamount. If you're not talking about making sure

that these horrible, horrible criminals are put in jail or worse, then you're going nowhere. And let's talk a little bit about APEC. That was at the Uptown Democrats Conference, Uptown Democrats Congressional Forum. That was one of the questions. And the incumbent, Espeyat, you know, he was dancing. He was, he was...

He was doing the rope a dope. the rest of the, of the candidates were, strongly and, forcefully saying, no, they would not accept, and will not accept APAC money. you know, how, how important do you think it is in terms of when they're for a candidate to be clear about where their funding comes from in particular, APAC money?

Led Black (45:43)
Listen, I think it's super important, but I also think it's super important that like, that we take, we need a fundamental revolution in this country. And I don't mean bloody revolution. I mean, we need to get money out of politics, right? This is not really, this is not, this is not brain surgery, right? If we get the money out of politics and we make the people the primary mover instead of the corporate donors and the special interests, then we could change this overnight.

Right? you know, APAC, yes, like you need to come out against APAC, of course, but APAC shouldn't even be allowed to have that much influence. Right? APAC primary, Jamal Bowman, they did it, Cory Bush, right? They said it, right? It wasn't even a secret. They gave some guy $20 million to run against Jamal Bowman, right? So Jamal Bowman, who was duly elected by his people, lost to money. So did Cory Bush. I love Cory Bush. One of the few real ones we had in Congress, right? And because he said, hey, there's a problem here.

They got rid of her. So that's part of the problem. APAC shouldn't have the influence it has, but APAC has bought both sides. Right. So that needs to change too. And again, we really need to, again, I think it's also in turn to a degree, you know, our fault because we weren't that involved, but that's over with. Right. Like we have a regime in power. We have a time in power. This fucking guy, he talked about now a possible four term motherfucker. You are not making it to 2027. So please stop with the fourth term.

Like you're not getting the third term. You're not going to be alive. You're dying within the next few months. God willing. See the OK, please. So what I'm saying is these are revolutionary times and the people that are going to represent that represent us need to represent that. We if we want this country to continue, we need new leadership and we need a new way of this democracy needs to be reborn and re and rebirth. And it needs complete and utter overhaul, because if we don't have that.

It's we don't have anything because this this nonsense of okay, get a Democrat in there But if it's just another corporate Democrat who doesn't give a fuck about us. It doesn't matter I don't want to see Kamala Harris again as president. I don't want to see and another motherfucker This guy was his name on Newsome Newsome is such a fraud. He is such a fraud, right? He was in Davos This week, right and he and he did this whole thing where the European leaders have no spine They need to stand up and be

Well, when Ben Shapiro was on the show, you didn't have a spine. Ben Shapiro ate your lunch, and that's a little dewy little bitch too. And he said, Newsom couldn't say it was a genocide. If you can't call it a genocide at this point, what are you doing? So again, but Gavin Newsom thinks he's gonna run. Fuck out of here. Rahm Emanuel, he thinks he could be president. Fuck out of here, right? That's what it needs. The new motto for these motherfuckers is fuck out of here. You know what mean? We don't need any of them.

Octavio Blanco (48:32)
Shit, man. Like, you know, I think you're right. And I also but I also think that a net Fernandez on the on the on the chat says apathy killed us. And apathy absolutely killed us. Apathy. We were just like flowing. We just didn't care. We weren't part of the discussion.

So yes, to your point, change is needed. And that change should also be backed by us making sure that our electeds know that we are not apathetic anymore. We are in there and we are gonna be watching their asses. We're not gonna just elect you to get in there and then you get to go play with your friends and do whatever the hell you want and pray for your...

your billion dollar payout when you're done. No, we're going to be watching what you do. And if you don't do what we say, there's going to be consequences, consequences from the people. So apathy is not, is not a thing anymore for us. We have to be involved. We, know, some people say, you know, like, well, you know, these, these political groups, these political clubs, you know, they're just recruiting people, yada, yada, yada. But the truth of the matter is

people on their own working just like one person without solidarity, without having others in their camp, it's really, really hard to do stuff. if you're gonna get, if you need to get involved, you need to attend meetings, need to, they're all on YouTube, they're live, you can watch them, you can participate on Zoom for a lot of them.

all need to get involved from the very basic level of your community board all the way up to your congressional and your senatorial and your presidential election. Getting involved in whatever way possible, whether it's a club or you do it on your own, it doesn't matter. Get involved. Otherwise, this doesn't work and we're and we are paying the consequences of it right now.

Led Black (50:26)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I agree. I think we have to get involved. But again, I go back to my point is that we need a new framework, right? We need campaign reform. We need these people not to be able to make money in the stock market while they're Congress people or while they're in Congress. That's crazy, right? Like, you you go in Congress, you have a small fortune. Then when you get out of Congress, you have a bigger fortune and you go work for the lobbying firm and make more of a fortune, right? It's a revolving door on both sides. And I like to say like, again,

You know, the one good thing about Trump and I fucking hate Trump, right, is in certain ways he has lifted the veil, right? For too long, this was like a little club between Democrats and Republicans and they play little games and they would talk shit on TV, but then they would yuck it up together, right? And then Trump came along and says, y'all weak, I'm taking over this whole thing. And the Republicans acquiesce, but so did the Democrats. They don't have the fight in them. And again, listen, I was one of those people.

that believed in Barack, right? I was a reluctant patriot, right? I grew up listening to Malcolm, right? I believe that America was irredeemable, right? And then here comes along a black man named Barack Hussein Obama who says, I could be president. And I believe for the first time in my life, right? But then I see all this, but then at the end of the whole thing, you have Michelle yucking it up with George Bush with Dubya, like, you know, giving him mints and candies like,

I thought he was a war criminal, right? And so what I'm saying is we need unity, we need to be involved, but we also need a fundamental restructuring of this whole caboose because what Trump has done is just accelerate the decline, but the decline was already happening. Like again, I keep going back to it and I know you got offended last time, but fuck Biden, fuck Barack, fuck Kamala, fuck Hillary. We need no more of those people dictating to us. We need to clean house.

Because it's already the Chinese century. It's gone. Canada made a historic deal that Carney referred to as a rupture, right? A rupture. So China's now, Canada and America just gets further and further for the fray. It has tons of money, it has tons of weapons, but it has lost something tremendous. And again, either we get it back in terms of people power,

or we lose the whole thing, right? And that's where we're at. We don't need no more letter writing. We don't want no more any none of this. And again, these people get, these are the people that led us into the wilderness. How could we expect them to lead us back? Right? And that's what we have to really, really stop. Like, again, we need to stop playing teams. Democrats, Democrats, Democrats are not going to save us if those Democrats are not us. If they're not us, if it's just going to be Chuck Schumer.

and Apex Shakur and all these people that are just horrible, right? Like now you see how bad they are. If we don't have a fundamental change in this country, this country will die.

Octavio Blanco (53:36)
Yeah, look, yes, I don't disagree. I don't want to see those centrist Democrats because one of the things that I found myself realizing as I engage with you, Led, is that, and I don't know how it is that my eyes were so closed. ⁓

I don't know how it is, but the Democrats that we have in power, that we've had in power, are actually like Republican light, right? There is like no true, besides Bernie, who got jerked big time and should have gotten the presidential candidacy, you know?

the Democrats are Republican light. There is no real Democrats in there. And so I've had the wool covering my eyes. think a lot of us get into that debate, into that like, Democrats versus Republicans and what are they doing? And we don't see the bigger picture where it's like,

Yeah, but are these people actually there to represent us? And what I've been, and I agree with you, I think that...

Led Black (55:00)
Octavio, Octavio,

I'm sorry, let me interrupt you really quickly, because this live is gonna end on IG. To all the people checking us out on IG, head up, click the link in bio, go to the Uptown Voices page on YouTube, and we're gonna continue the conversation there, because you know, there's an hour limit on IG. So just continue, I'm sorry, my brother.

Octavio Blanco (55:20)
no, no, no, that's all right. All I'm saying is that we've had, I've had the wool covering my eyes. I've seen that I've now I have my eyes open to the fact that the, that the, the, that the people are not being adequately represented. And that's why it's so important that we encourage everybody out there to be involved so that we can finally, finally, finally get representation for the people.

Led Black (55:51)
Yeah, yeah, I agree, man. Like I think that this is no longer a time for fun and games, right? We really do need fighters in there. I think Mamdani proved it, right? Like Mamdani has been so, so on message, so he don't backtrack, right? He says, Nanyahu comes here, we're gonna arrest him, right? Like that's the kind of clarity we need from our leaders going forward, right? If you wish you, if like you say, Espadilla was tap dancing,

We don't need tap dancers. You know what I'm saying? I know he's Dominican, he could dance, but we don't need that kind of dancing right now. You know what I'm saying? Like we really need solid leaders that are gonna stand up for us. And until we get that, we're not going anywhere. You know what I mean? And community is of utmost importance and we really need a complete overall.

Octavio Blanco (56:39)
Yeah, yeah, lead. You know, also, there's so many issues that that we can get into. You know, I personally with the the APEC situation and the and the the Israeli genocide that is being perpetrated on the Palestinian people, if you're not able to recognize that and say it, then that's a problem. And people say, well, if you say that you're being anti-Semitic.

really don't believe that at all. Like we need to separate and bring forward the truth that just because you feel that there's a genocide happening because it is, that doesn't mean that you're against Jews. That means that you're against the bombing of women and children indiscriminately that's leveled an entire region.

It's it's uninhabitable. So we're seeing these atrocities happening in our day and age. We're seeing the growth of fascism in our day and age, and it requires solidarity. Somebody on the chat said solidarity is the kryptonite to fascism. So we need to make sure that we're together in this.

Led Black (57:57)
And I just want to say this, I hate to beat a dead horse, but that genocide began under Biden. Right? Like that genocide began under Biden. Trump, of course, is taking that genocide to another level. Right? They already have plans for Gaza to make it like a beachfront resort, which is crazy. They already cut it in half and then they have plans to desecrate all those bodies that are underneath the soil still.

So we can never forget that Biden did this. Biden started this. when Kamala, listen, I wish Kamala would have been a better liar, right? If she would have said, hey, look, we're gonna change tactics. Even if you didn't change it, you would at least been in office, right? She wasn't, again, that's why these, at the very core, these centrist Democrats have other allegiances, right? They have other masters.

And if we're not the master of them, who is, right? So that's what I'm saying. It's like, we need to gut this because we're already losing out. And again, I think, you know, again, it's just, feel, I've been talking about this shit for like 10, 11 years. Every time, and I've been saying this every time I was at a cocktail party, like a cool party, I'm ruining someone's night, you know, because I was talking about the, about the, you what's going to happen. But it's like, I've been right this whole time, right? Because I saw this happening and now,

Octavio Blanco (59:10)
No.

Led Black (59:17)
We're at the point of no return. I remember reading a term that they use during the first administration to describe the Trump administration as malevolent incompetence. So they have plenty malevolent, but they're also plenty incompetent. And when you see the way-

Octavio Blanco (59:34)
Yeah.

Led Black (59:38)
Alex, who's a martyr for the cause now, right? When you see him shut down in the street like that, you see how incompetent they were, how grossly just violating everything, right? You realize that that could be our saving grace. That these people, all they have is hate, but they don't have the mythology to implement that. But we do. I think we need to really coalesce one another.

black, white, brown, indigenous. Indigenous people are being like, ask for their passports, right? Like this is where we're at with it. This is nonsensical, right? But again, this is because the system that was here has atrophied to the point where it's just a money ⁓ grab and Trump is the ultimate grifter and doing his ultimate grift. But again, if we don't do these things, if we don't come forward, if we don't, don't just, it's not just about getting rid of Trump, right?

Octavio Blanco (1:00:10)
You

Led Black (1:00:30)
Too long, the Democrats say, we're not Trump. That's not enough. What are you providing? Again, I go back to mom, Donnie, I'm gonna do this, this and this. All the other Democrats say, we're not Trump. And that's not enough. And we need to change. And again, who's gonna die next, right? Who's the next person gonna get killed, right? And then how are they gonna lie to us? I think we are here. And I also wanna say that like,

Octavio Blanco (1:00:39)
Yeah.

Led Black (1:00:55)
This is what they did around the world, right? The United States occupied Dominican Republic twice, Haiti as well, right? They got rid of Allende, right? They installed Pinochet. This is what they've been doing. Iran is on the news, but in 1953, you got rid of Mosaddegh, right? And installed the Shah, right? And the Shah instituted a brutal regime that had everyone, you know. So what I'm saying is like,

Octavio Blanco (1:00:58)
Yeah.

Led Black (1:01:21)
The hate that America did around the world, the dysfunction that they put around the world, the cruelty that is coming back, right? And the only power we have is people power. So we need to start using it. And again, it's not just the Republican party. We need a lot to do on this side as well.

Octavio Blanco (1:01:43)
And, and I think that we as a people need to believe in ourselves. I think we've been, we've been hit over the head so much that a lot of people, they just feel like I'm powerless. And that's not the case. The cliche says si se puede, yes we can. And it's true. Look at what happened in New York city with Mamdani. The people made that happen. Of course, you know, we had a, we had somebody who was savvy and able to politically

⁓ make it happen. But that was the people making it happen. So believe in yourselves, you know, make sure that you know that you can do this. You know, I believe that this country has been through worse times than it is right now. This is a really terrible time, but we've slowly made it through it. Now, you know, we've been set back pretty bad right now.

We got set back pretty bad right now. So we're gonna have to rebuild. We're gonna have to rebuild and we're gonna have to set it straight. And it's not gonna be immediate. It's not gonna take, it's not gonna be something that we're gonna do overnight, unfortunately. But we all have to believe in ourselves, believe in our neighbors, believe that if we keep doing what we're doing and we keep fighting the good fight and be involved.

that we can make a difference. It may not happen immediately. And I know Americans, they want their stuff fast. You want your delivery here like five minutes ago, but you want your Amazon to arrive quickly. But ⁓ this might take some time and we need to get used to that. We need to get used to that and get involved and make sure that we're fighting for that change.

Led Black (1:03:29)
And I agree, the only little bit of pushback that I want to give is the notion that, yes, of course, there's been worse times in this country. You had a civil war, know, there's been world wars. But I think this particular moment is unique in the sense that the kind of technology that can be brought to bear, right?

I told you this before, you my car was stolen last year, right? And then when I reported it to the police, you know, I gave them my story and then they were able to check the story via all the cameras across the city. they say, yeah, I saw you coming off the bridge four. yeah, I saw you at midnight where you told me you parked your car. ⁓ I saw your car be going to the Bronx at 2 a.m., right?

And that was like, wow. So they have all this power to see everything that's happening. ICE is tapped into that. And I say all that to say is that the kind of technology they have now, they never had. Right. So the government can control us in a way that was not possible. Not possible. So, yes, this may not be as worse as it's been, but this has the potential to get way worse. Right.

Trump is uniquely incompetent, uniquely megalomaniac. He's a megalomaniac of a different sort, right? So what I'm saying is we have never been here, right? So yeah, sometimes it might've been worse, but I think this has the potential to be much worse. Trump is the most powerful man on the planet. On the planet, right? He's talked about, he kidnapped Maduro,

Octavio Blanco (1:05:08)
Yeah. ⁓

Led Black (1:05:14)
Right now wants Greenland, right? This is so what I'm saying is there's no precedent for this. So the thinking that, yeah, we've been through worse. We have, but it's a different country. They didn't have these kind of tools at the disposal. Right. And again, that's what I fear. Like we need to look at the world thoroughly what it is. And I always keep talking about these myths that we believe in. We need to start.

And you had a good idea, I should write down the myths. But we believe in American exceptionalism, that it can't happen here, it won't happen here, just wait till the next three years. and we're gonna get them in the midterms. All those things are part of the old world. We are in a new world. And this new world is a different one, right? The amount of power, you know, they didn't have nuclear weapons in the Civil War, right?

Octavio Blanco (1:05:46)
Yeah.

Led Black (1:06:09)
we're different, like this is a different thing. And I also think if maybe if we had dealt with the South truly in the Civil War, we might not be here now, right? And going back to the Civil War analogy, right? After the Civil War, you had Reconstruction, where for a period there was actually laws in place to make black participation in this country's democracy a thing. So during that time you had a real flourishing of black people. Black people,

became governors and congress people and all that. And then what you had right after that, the end of reconstruction, right? You had the deer, you had all those rights were just taken away slowly. And then you instituted Jim Crow and a new slave current in a sense spread over the South. So they weren't slaves technically, but there was those slaves who were sharecroppers. They had no rules. So what I'm saying,

Octavio Blanco (1:07:00)
Yeah.

Led Black (1:07:02)
This is what we're going through now. This is the end of a second reconstruction. Since the Voting Rights Act, we've been slowly getting some rights and some benefits. But now, right now you see this turn. Trump is taking a decade and just ripping it back. So again, sometimes I think it's a nice notion. We've been here, it's been bad before. No, it has been bad before. But this is a new era and the amount of power that he can bring to bear. The most powerful man on the planet is Trump.

That has never happened before. We have never been, in the history of humanity, in the history of humanity, there's never been one person to have so much power, never. And this guy's, this guy's deranged, demented, sick, right? Like he's a literal madman, right? And this literal madman has how many?

Octavio Blanco (1:07:41)
and be so deranged.

Led Black (1:07:56)
followers, 50 million, right? How many, we got all those votes. He might've lost some of those votes, but there's still a diehard MAGA that supports him. That's organized, agitated, and they buy all the bullshit. Right, so I'm saying, yes, we have had hard times in this country, but we've never lived through a moment like this, where the world is one world in a sense, right? The president in 1865,

Octavio Blanco (1:08:07)
as white nationalists.

Mm-hmm.

Led Black (1:08:23)
was not as powerful as the president is today. We have led this to a point where this guy is like a demigod in terms of the amount of power he has. So I'm just saying that to say that like this is a new thing and old analogies and old thinking is not gonna get us out of it, unfortunately.

Octavio Blanco (1:08:30)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. And

when we're and when we are, when, when he's done and God willing, people who are there to represent us are in or beginning to be there, we can start to create the country that we want and in the image that we want. want to, I want to bring it back to the local, to something local, because, this is a report that I saw this morning.

that I think it's where us as people, as local people might be able to like, you know, have a say. But did you hear that Hudson River Park Trust has a contract with ICE for them to be able to park their vehicles there? Hudson River Park Trust, they're like the people who...

Led Black (1:09:28)
Hudson River Trust, what is Hudson River Trust?

Octavio Blanco (1:09:36)
⁓ It's a nonprofit that manages the parks. Now, it's not city parks. It's the nonprofit arm. They supplement. It's like the Fort Tryon Park Trust. You know how that's different than parks. So Hudson River has the same thing. Hudson River has a Hudson River Park Trust, which is a nonprofit that supplements. And usually, they do great things because they give funds.

Led Black (1:09:57)
What?

Octavio Blanco (1:10:04)
to fix things, they give funds to clean up, but the trust has apparently reported reports are out there that they have a contract with ICE and is letting ICE park their vehicles in their garage. ⁓

Led Black (1:10:20)
So we need to change that. I

want all that information, because we need to make that not a thing anymore.

Octavio Blanco (1:10:25)
Yeah,

we need to make sure that people know about that. I'm going to send you the info because that's right on our doorstep. We can't let our

We can't let that happen. We just can't let that happen. We need to do everything in our power. OK, I see you want to park in the city, find your own damn parking. Don't you can't you can't come to like Hudson River Park Trust. If you're a if you're somebody who donates money to the Hudson River Park Trust and you feel strongly about how ice needs to be out of our communities, you need to withhold your donations to the Hudson River Park Trust.

until they end the contract with ICE for parking. you know, check out the yeah, we got to put them on blast. This is total bullshit. So I'll send you that report ⁓ and we can we can get that out onto the Uptown Collective social media channels and let everybody know that this is something that's happening and we need and we can't have that. We just can't have that. That's one small thing, right? But it's a but it's real.

Led Black (1:11:06)
Yeah, we need to put them on blast. We need to put them on blast. This is bullshit.

Yeah,

it's real. No, I agree. ⁓

Octavio Blanco (1:11:29)
It's real and we can

do something about that. So, you know, that's where I think that like the conversation that we've been having is so important because we need to find our ways in because you never know where that's going to lead to. You know, you never know what this little thing could happen, could do. You know, so, yeah, we'll put them on blast. I'll send you that info. so keep an eye out on Uptown Collective for this or just look it up. Just Google it. You'll see it.

Led Black (1:11:41)
For real, I agree.

Yeah, and then since, you know, we're going back to local, this is actually a good thing. The Uptown Art Show poster contest is in effect until, they're accepting submissions until March 15th of this year. That Uptown Art Show, for those that don't know, it's a year, it's a yearly month-long celebration of the art show of town, spearheaded by the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance. And, know, for full disclosure, I do the social media, but I think knowing was super important.

We're very proud to be part of that team. So go to nomanyc.org and hit them up because this is an important institution and the Uptown Astro is super important. And the person that's a grand prize of $2,000, second prize, a hundred and third prize is 500. But besides the cash, which is always nice, your image gets to be like the emblem for this important ⁓ cultural

manifestation of talent. So hit up nomanyc.org and submit. got until the 15th. One of our ⁓ last guests, one of our guests recently, Tom Sanford, uberconstantig won the last year. It was a great design. know, Thomas the man. So, you know, and I told him he should submit again. He might be the first person to win two years in a row.

Octavio Blanco (1:13:05)
Love Tom, love him.

Led Black (1:13:13)
You know what mean? But just want to all the artists in the community, you know, they accept all types. It could be a photo collage, know, visual art, whatever you want. I think you submit. It's important. And again, we can't let these people steal our joy.

Octavio Blanco (1:13:28)
Yeah, and that's one thing about the Mamdani administration is I think is so cool is that he really wants that hopefulness and that joy to stay alive because you got to be fueled. And if you don't have joy, if you don't have any hope, even though it's really difficult to have any hope, if you don't have any joy, you don't have any hope, then it's really hard to get it activated and get out there because you feel defeated already. We cannot feel defeated. We cannot do that.

Led Black (1:13:53)
Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (1:13:57)
Find your joy, find those things that you've got to do. If you're an artist and you create art, keep creating your art, keep creating your comedy, keep creating your music, know, keep doing it because we need it. We need it to stay positive. We need it to stay alive. So it's more important now than ever because we cannot feel defeated. And the way we don't feel defeated is when we connect with others. And one of the ways that we can connect with others is through music, is through art, is to theater, is to poetry, is through comedy, you know.

Led Black (1:13:58)
It's funnier.

Mm-hmm.

Octavio Blanco (1:14:26)
So just all those people who are creators out there, keep creating, keep creating the joy. ⁓ I also wanted to say that on the 27th is the Community Board 12 ⁓ general meeting. Now they meet in the Columbia Presbyterian Library, which is on Fort Washington and 168th Street.

Led Black (1:14:31)
No.

Octavio Blanco (1:14:53)
When you get there, it'll be easy. You'll see where to go. I encourage everybody to go to the community board general meeting. You'll learn what's happening. You'll see who's doing the work. Those are all volunteers. Those are all volunteers. So they're on our side. They're our voice. And we need to be there to support them and tell them what's important. So be there if you can. It's on the 27th. I believe it starts at 6.

at the Columbia Presbyterian Library on Fort Washington and 168th Street. So, so, Led, what do you say? What do you say? What do you say?

Led Black (1:15:29)
That's right.

So I want to say two things before we get out of here, right? First, Tuesday, we got a new episode dropping with my sister, a pillar in this community, Veronica Liu of Word Up Books. It's a great conversation that's dropping Tuesday. Make sure you check us out. I want to leave soon because my wife is making manguilo de esgolpes. You know what mean? So I'm have some mangu, some chong, some fried cheese and egg. I always thought that sounds like a great band.

Mangui Los Tres Golpes here presenting, you know what mean? But, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, no, but again, this podcast has been, again, I gotta tell you, thank you for pushing me to do this. You're doing your thing. Yeah, yeah, no, this has been a great ride. And every day, I realize how important this is. And tell everyone, please subscribe, us some love.

Octavio Blanco (1:15:59)
Yeah. ⁓

Thank you for agreeing,

Led Black (1:16:25)
You know, tell your people about this, tell them to subscribe, keep checking us out. So we drop every Tuesday and we're doing lives, I think almost every Sunday now. You know what mean?

Octavio Blanco (1:16:34)
Yeah, the plan is to

go as many Sundays as possible.

Led Black (1:16:37)
Right, exactly. you know, uptown voices, black and black, just show us love. you know, again, this is, we're here, right? So when we get picked up and we're to do this from Guantanamo, I like to joke, you know what mean? So. Nah, but, right, brother, spread love.

Octavio Blanco (1:16:48)
That's right. We'll be shouting it from the window. All right. All right. Here. How about this? How

about this? How about this? A little clapping.

Yeah, spread love. Thank you, Lev. Thank you for everything. We're gonna sign out now.

Led Black (1:17:02)
Yes, sir. See you soon,

Yes, sir.

Octavio Blanco (1:17:06)
Alrighty, that was awesome.