"If I Trusted That My Congressman Was Fighting, We Wouldn't Be Talking" | Darializa Avila Chevalier

The race for New York's 13th Congressional District is no longer a foregone conclusion. 🗳️ 

Darializa Avila Chevalier — Afro-Latina, daughter of Dominican immigrants, longtime Washington Heights organizer, and the only woman in the country to outraise an incumbent congressional challenger in the first quarter — sits down with Led Black and Octavio Blanco for one of the most substantive conversations of this campaign. The Mamdani endorsement has changed the race. June 23rd is approaching. Nothing is off the table. 🎙️

 🏠 HOUSING — 88% of District 13 residents are renters. Apartments average $4,000/month. Rents climbed 23% in a year. Her plan: a Green New Deal for NYCHA, federally protected tenant organizing rights, and expanded community land trusts to create pathways to homeownership.

🏗️ NYCHA — The district holds the highest concentration of public housing in the country. Her plan: fully fund and decarbonize NYCHA, create union jobs for residents, and eliminate the equivalent of 400,000 cars in emissions. 

🛂 IMMIGRATION — Her friend Mahm Khalid was kidnapped by ICE off the streets of District 13. The congressman's office turned his family away. No corporate PACs. No AIPAC. No special interest money. 

💰 CAMPAIGN FINANCE — Average donation: $55. She outraised the incumbent — the only woman in the country to do so. Her argument: organized people beat organized money. Mamdani won District 13 by 19 points. 🕊️ FOREIGN POLICY — On Gaza: "It is absolutely a genocide." On the war in Iran: sign the Block the Bombs Act day one. Her framework: babies not bombs. A billion dollars a day funds this war. That billion could fund universal childcare in New York City for a year. 

💉 THE DRUG CRISIS — Safe injection sites save lives — but concentrating the only two in the country in one district is redlining. The solution: distribute them across the city and address root causes through housing, jobs, and healthcare. 

📌 darielizaforcongress.com | @darielisaforny 

⏱️ CHAPTERS 
00:01 Welcome & the Mamdani Endorsement Game Changer 
02:21 Outsider or Organizer? 14 Years in Washington Heights 
03:45 The Incumbent's Absent Office — Nine Years, No Response 
05:25 Housing Crisis: $4,000 Rents & the 88% Renter District 06:00 NYCHA: Green New Deal for Public Housing 
09:52 Forcing HUD's Hand on the Repair Backlog 
12:43 Protecting Immigrant Small Business Owners & SBA Reform 
16:15 Safe Injection Sites, Harm Reduction & the Fentanyl Crisis 
21:00 Led's Personal Experience: Crack Era Deja Vu 
24:58 Social Safety Nets & Fighting Republican Erosion 26:13 Why Democrats Are Failing — And What Different Looks Like 
27:55 Outraising the Incumbent on $55 Average Donations 
29:07 Organized People vs. Organized Money — The Mamdani Model 
30:44 Dark Money, Super PACs & Citizens United 
33:55 Democratic Socialism: What It Actually Means 
37:42 War Powers, Gaza & the Block the Bombs Act 
39:05 Babies Not Bombs: A Politics of Life 
40:50 "Is This a Genocide?" — She Answers Directly 
42:49 The Mamdani Endorsement & the Smear Campaign 
46:08 Closing: Why a Progressive Shift Is Necessary 
47:49 How to Canvass, Donate & Get Involved 
48:28 Dominican Mother's Day & Uptown Art Stroll June 1st 
54:04 Knicks Conference Finals: Brunson, Wemby & Led's Tears 
56:40 One Year of Uptown Voices 
59:23 Closing: Subscribe, Donate & Spread Love 

🎙️ The Uptown Collective is committed to documenting the stories, voices, and ideas that shape Northern Manhattan — with the rigor and independence this community deserves. ▶️ SUBSCRIBE: https://youtube.com/@uptowncollective?si=68xPv3IIxHrhJ2BQ 

🔔 Subscribe. Like. Share. Independent community journalism depends on it. 

❤️ SUPPORT UPTOWN VOICES — TAX DEDUCTIBLE The Uptown Collective Podcast is a fiscally sponsored project of the Maysles Documentary Center. Your contribution supports independent local journalism and is 100% tax-deductible. 👉 Donate: https://bit.ly/4eddiWT 

📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBmbtE4yILFqSWCJtf2Day6NBwHp2FYkU 

Spread love — it's the Uptown way. 💙

Creators and Guests

Host

Led Black

Host

Octavio Blanco

What is Uptown Voices?

Uptown Voices tells the stories of unsung heroes who are transforming New York City's Uptown neighborhoods from Washington Heights to Inwood to Harlem to the South Bronx. Each episode profiles an individual or organization making a positive difference. These social entrepreneurs, artists, and community leaders are navigating critical issues of affordability, public safety, and mental health. Through conversations rooted in journalistic integrity and genuine community ties, this podcast challenges negative narratives and celebrates the true spirit of the vibrant neighborhoods thriving north of Central Park.

Each episode features extended interviews in which subjects tell their stories in their own words. The series examines the interconnected challenges facing Uptown communities—gentrification pressures, resource scarcity, systemic inequities—while simultaneously showcasing the creativity and collective power emerging in response. While uplifting the people shaping Uptown’s future, the podcast holds local elected officials accountable for the promises they make. During this pivotal time, Uptown Voices is creating a unique audiovisual archive.

Uptown Voices is a fiscally sponsored project of the Maysles Documentary Center. Make a tax-deductible contribution to our program here: https://bit.ly/4eddiWT

Led Black (00:01)
What up, what up everyone? Welcome to Uptown Voices with Uptown and the Bronx, the man real answers answers. I'm Led Black.

Octavio Blanco (00:09)
What's up everybody? I'm Octavio Blanco. We're here ⁓ on on on the Black and Blanco edition. ⁓ political. We're gonna we're gonna get we're gonna get political here. We've got ⁓ a special guest with us, somebody who everybody wants to hear from ⁓

I wanna thank everybody for for listening to our podcast. Daria Lisa Avila Chevalier is with us, ⁓ candidate running for District Thirteen. Led, how you doing, man? How you doing, Led?

Led Black (00:47)
I'm doing good, brother. And I'm really excited about this. You know, coming on, coming in the heels of our into yesterday Westpayat. ⁓ I think this is a big this is very important. And I think, you know, that Lisa right now is the person of the hour that ⁓ Mandani endorsement is such a game changer. It's a new race, it's a new day. ⁓ so I'm really excited. So ⁓ joining us right now in the studio is the Democratic candidate for Congress, that Alisa Avila Chamelier. Alisa, welcome to Uptown Voices.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (01:14)
Thanks so much for having me. It's so good to be back.

Octavio Blanco (01:19)
⁓ we are, you know, we we we've just seen ⁓ we've we're seeing w what I would say is ⁓ a tide shift ⁓ in in our community. Our demographics are shifting uptown. ⁓

We've got ⁓ people who've been here for many, many years. We've got newcomers that are here. your opponent is is painting you as an outsider, you know, ⁓ someone who isn't from the community, someone who was plucked from obscurity by the Democratic Socialist Party.

You're running to represent a district that has been anchored by Adriano Espayat. for voters looking at this race, how do you counter that outsider designation? is there like a defining moment or policy failure that on the ground here uptown that made you say I have to step up and challenge the establishment for for myself?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (02:21)
Yeah, no, I I really appreciate the question. I am someone who has been living and organizing here for over 14 years. And as someone who has been organizing with my community, I have felt deeply abandoned by establishment politics, ⁓ including by the representation that the congressman has given us, or the lack of representation, I should say, because over the years I've reached out to his office multiple times to try to address issues that were affecting all of our community and receive no response.

It wasn't until we launched this campaign that actually we heard any type of response from his office. And I've been told multiple times over the course of this race, ⁓ folks say to me, Thank you for running. This is the first time in nine years that our representative has actually reached out to us. And so to me, to hear that kind of ⁓ accusation really it is kind of absurd because the whole reason we're running, right, is because we've had a representative who has been absent.

who was not there for my friend Mahm Khalid when he was kidnapped for by ice off the streets of our district, who turned his family and our friends away, who, you know, has not reached out to community members in the nine years he's been in Congress, who is not, you know, responsive to the needs, who is more seems more interested in voting in the interests of the corporate landlords and and the special interest groups that are funding him than he is in terms of s supporting the families and people who live here.

And I also just I I think it's really rich to hear from somebody who has been taking money from the very corporations that are pricing people out of the city, that he would make that argument, right? That to say that, you know, the work that I've been doing, which has been being with New Yorkers on their hardest days, ⁓ is is not enough to to represent the needs of our of our community or somehow makes me an outsider. I, you know, I think it's it's

He is the one who is taking money from the very the very institutions that are making it harder for New Yorkers to stay. And in a time where, you know, as the representative of the beating heart of Black America, right, where we're seeing 200,000 Black New Yorkers having f having left the city in the last two decades, you know, half of that time has been under his leadership. And so when we ask, like, you know, what is what is this this change in in

the the community that we're seeing, a lot of that has to do with the fact that, you know, it is these corporate landlords that are pricing us out. It is these ⁓ corporate, you know, ⁓ the CEOs of corporate hospitals that are making it harder for nurses to to like be able to do their jobs and in the the hospitals that keep our communities healthy, right? It is the the defunding of our public school system here. It's the things that make it harder for families to to actually stay and thrive in New York City that, you know, have been happening under his watch.

Octavio Blanco (05:17)
Yeah, ⁓ thank you for that for that answer. ⁓ I just wanna make ⁓ sure that my my partner Led is still on here with us. Okay, okay. All right.

Led Black (05:25)
I'm here. I'm here. Yeah, I'm good. Yeah,

so my this to go my question goes to, you know, housing affordability. District thirteen is facing acute housing crisis with two bedroom apartments and apartments averaging four thousand dollars a month and Harlem rents climbing about twenty-three percent in a single year. You've been highly critical ⁓ right now those congressman size to real estate donors. ⁓ beyond identifying the problem, what concrete federal housing tools will you deploy immediately just out the displacement that you just spoke about?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (05:35)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think there's a three prong approach that we need to be taking here. This district is heavily renters. Eighty-eight percent of us are renters, myself included, and we're all feeling the squeeze. ⁓ and I think when it comes to ⁓ public housing, for example, we have the highest concentration of public housing units in the country in this district. And the conditions that we allow folks to live in in NYCHA buildings should really shame every single one of us. The fact that we have not adequately funded NYCHA, that we have not even

Provided, you know, a penny of federal funding to actually sustain and repair NYCHA is part of why we're seeing such a crisis, where instead of actually addressing the the the issue of of repairing NYCHA, we are selling it off in piecemeal to private corporations and to private contractors and making it harder and harder for people to have dignified ⁓ public housing.

so fighting for a Green New Deal for public housing to make sure that NYCHA can become what it was supposed to be, which was a pathway to the middle class, ⁓ which would not only, you know, make it so that community members can can actually live in dignified housing, it would also provide a good dignified union job to NYCHA residents to help them with that pathway towards the middle class. ⁓ it would also decarbonize NYCHA, right? And make it so that in a in a community that has such a high rate of asthma, that has such a high

rate of exhaust from from cars and climate change, right? It would be the equivalent of taking 400,000 cars off the street if we were to fully decarbonize NYCHA. And we would do it in a way that actually maintains NYCHA as a public housing institution. And part of the importance of that is that right now, NYCHA is seen to so many people as a last resort for housing that people want, right? It is most people.

you know, see it as a place where, you know, you can't really have dignified housing. But there are whole communities here, right? Who have been here for generations. ⁓ they want to stay with their communities and and sorry not sure which one that's coming from. But you know, they want to stay in their communities, right? And we should allow them to do that in a dignified way, ⁓ not as like a stepping stone to some kind of market rate solution.

Octavio Blanco (08:02)
Mm.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (08:12)
Where we know time and time again, where we're when we're only offering the market as a solution, if inevitably we get priced out. ⁓ which brings me to the for those of us who live in market rate housing, right? ⁓ so many of us have terrible landlords, and we should have the right to organize. Currently, only NYCHA tenants have the federally protected right to organize against their landlords. ⁓ and it's time that we allow ⁓ tenants across the city, across the country.

to actually organize to demand better from their landlords. And it's time for government to actually hold those landlords accountable. When there are violations that are happening, you know, we need to hold those landlords accountable. No more excuses, no more ⁓ you know, turning a blind eye. We need government on all levels. And I'd be, you know, love to work with all levels of government to make sure that we are actually holding bad landlords accounts. And the last thing is, you know, making sure that we actually have more housing and housing that people can buy.

Led Black (08:42)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (09:09)
The fact that 88% of us are renters, you know, speaks to this crisis of affordability where we are always subjected to the whims of a landlord. And whether or not that landlord chooses to sell our homes or or you know could leave us in condition conditions that are just seem simply undignified, right? We should not have to be subjected to that. And also, so many of us have just like resigned ourselves to the idea that we'll never own a home. But we should have access to that. And part of that means.

expanding programs like community land trusts, expanding the HDFC programs, right? Making it so that we are creating ⁓ pathways for people to actually be homeowners so that they don't get pushed out by these bad landlords.

Octavio Blanco (09:52)
Yeah, you know, back to, you know, NYCHA, the district has one of the highest concentrations of public housing in the country. and you know, residents in developments like East River or Grant Houses, they're dealing with failing heat, mold, infestations. You know, there was a federal monitor who was appointed back in twenty nineteen, but the crisis persists, you know, as a challenger.

Who's rooted in grassroots organizing, how does your approach to forcing HUD's hand on billions in repair backlogs differ from the incumbent strategy?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (10:29)
Yeah, you know, as an organizer, one of the benefits of of putting one of us in office, right, is that we don't take no for an answer. We use every single lever available to us and we get really creative about how to use them in order to fight back on these systems that have consistently failed us. And one of the things that we've seen, for example, is a lack of of organizing within the halls of power itself, right? Are we organizing to actually

⁓ get the the votes we need for policy? Are we organizing our own people to come in and show, you know, Congress like why this funding is necessary for our district, right? How are we making sure that there is enough public pressure inside and outside, right, to to actually ⁓ attain the things that we are trying to attain. And you know, I think so much of of government for so long has left the community sidelined on these fights.

when these fights should be at the heart of what our community is doing. ⁓ which is why we see such, you know, ⁓ high rates of of jadedness, right? Where people just don't come out to vote, they don't come out to participate in government, they don't come out to be part of the solution to the problems that they're they're facing day to day. Problems that were created because of the choices of the representatives that we've we've had, right? Because of the choices of the people who don't have to live with the consequences of those policies.

⁓ and so making sure that you know we're actually building coalition and and building co-governance structures where we are actually have a pulse on what the community is needing and that the community is part of that process of advocating ⁓ for for the entire district, right, in the halls of Congress. ⁓ because we know that this is a body of four hundred and thirty-five people and we know that you know, so for so many, like they just don't fight, right? And if we are coming together.

through that model of inside outside and of co-governance, we can really achieve so much more. I am very used to as an organizer ⁓ having limited numbers, having limited resources, and still having an outsized impact on the systems that we're challenging, because that is what organizers are meant to do.

Led Black (12:43)
Thank you. we're watching longtime legacy storefronts, bodegas, family owned restaurants, mom and pops, close up and down Wash Heights, Inwood, Harlem and the Bronx. ⁓ frequ frequently replaced by corporate chains. ⁓ Representative España points to federal SBA resources and his seat on appropriations as a shield for local commerce. What is your specific legislative roadmap to protect independent immigrant business owners from being commer commercialized out of their own neighborhoods?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (13:10)
Yeah, you know, one of the things that we're seeing actually is that a lot of immigrant ⁓ small business owners ⁓ are not eligible to have these these SBA loans, right? And so that is making it really hard for for these small businesses to have the capital that they need to be able to start them, start these businesses and also sustain them. And ⁓ we need to actually make sure that we are putting into law, fighting back against this this is actually a very discriminatory ⁓ policy where we're not allowing

green card holders and other immigrant communities to to be able to start small businesses ⁓ with you know these by not having access to these SBA loans. The other thing we're seeing is that, you know, we have ⁓ small businesses being taxed at the same rate as these major corporations. ⁓ corporations like Amazon, like Walmart. And very clearly these are not the same type of dynamic, right? Where a small mom and pop shop cannot afford to pay the same tax rates as these major

⁓ industries. And we really need to think about the tax reform here to make sure not only that these businesses are actually paying taxes at a rate that is actually affordable for them, but that major corporations like Walmart and Amazon and all of them are paying their fair share. Because right now what we see is that these corporations don't pay enough in taxes. And yet they're the first ones to to receive these bailouts, to receive receive these grants.

From the federal government, from the taxes you and I pay, right? And then the employees that they have, they're paying minimum wage, who they're the conditions that they have to work in are horrific. ⁓ and then they still have to subsist off of ⁓ government support, off of SNAP, off of you know, food stamps and benefits, because they're not being paid a living wage. And so it makes no sense to continue to not tax these major corporations at the rate that actually.

⁓ that they should be ⁓ taxed at based off of the the the extraction of wealth that they they take from our communities, right? ⁓ and yet we're asking small businesses who provide dignified work to so many of our neighbors, who are the the heartbeat of of what it means to be a New Yorker, right? The the the they're like the cultural they are what makes the culture of New York, right? And ⁓ to to see more and more of these small businesses disappear.

Because of the lack of affordability, not just as people as New Yorkers who live here, but also as small businesses central to New York, right? ⁓ And watching them more and more being replaced by these major corporations and these food chains, you know, I think is reflective of a politic that has repeatedly prioritized these corporate donors and corporate interests over, you know, the the people who live here, the working people of the city. ⁓

including the small business owners who you see doing the very same jobs that you know that their employees are also doing.

Octavio Blanco (16:15)
Yeah, it's interesting that go ahead, go go ahead. Yeah, go ahead, sorry.

Led Black (16:15)
Yeah. Yeah. So one of

the things I want to talk about, because this is one of my min one of my issues, you know, is it's something that means a lot to me. Octavio and I live in the same area. We live in the 180s in Fort Wash. ⁓ when I was a kid, I grew up on Wadsworth, which is the other side, right? You know, that's where, you know, Broadway's a divided line up here, right? You know, east of Broadway's poorer, more Dominican, blacker, and west of Broadway's whiter, more affluent, right?

And I remember looking outside my mom's window and looking at Fort Wash, like that was like the promised land. I'm gonna live there. And now I live in Fort Wash. And as you I'm sure you're aware, there's only two safe injection sites in the whole country. And both of them are in our district, right? So one is in Washington Heights, one's in Harlem, right? And these are the only two polices places in Manhattan in in in Manhattan that people of color have any real power. So for me, the the harbor reduction sites, the way it's done, seems like a a

Darializa Avila Chevalier (16:56)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Led Black (17:12)
A Trojan horse for gentrification, right? I think ⁓ it's very interesting when De Blasio enacted this, it was on the last day at midnight before his last term, right? so to me it's an experiment and it's an experiment that that has brought a lot of harm to my to not just to watch heights, but to each Harlem. ⁓ I I wanna get your thoughts on harm reduction and the way it's implemented here.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (17:35)
Yeah, you know, I I think these harm reduction sites have have been really beneficial to a lot of our community members who are struggling with substance abuse. They have saved hundreds of lives and they have supported thousands of New Yorkers into getting rehabilitative services and wraparound services to actually, you know, address their substance abuse concerns, right, and issues. And at the same time, as someone, you know, who lives in the vicinity of one as well, right?

Is, you know, I've walked walk home alone at night sometimes, right? And I understand why some many people are really concerned about what it means that the only two in the country are in our district, ⁓ when it means that people have to come from all over the city to come visit these sites, right? And I think that the solution here is that we need more of them to actually be able to address the demand. ⁓ and we need to have them, you know, equally distributed across the city so that people can actually access them.

Because substance abuse is not just an issue up here. It's a it's an issue across the city and across the country. ⁓ and these services have been really effective in providing people the support that they need to, you know, to let go of their substance abuse. And I the the problem we see is like we know there's a correlation between poverty, extreme poverty, right, and and substance abuse. And it's because when you give folks little to hold on to.

Be that in terms of economic opportunity, in terms of their housing, in terms of like their well-being with their, with their families or their mental health, you know, of course their mental health is gonna struggle. We know that. That is not rocket science for most of us, right? And yet we we lack the infrastructure to address these issues. We're not addressing housing, we're not addressing the fact that people are having a hard time finding employment, we're not addressing ⁓ the rise in mental health concerns among young people, right?

And then, you know, on top of that, we instead of like providing these services to help people rehabilitate from substance abuse, right? We we just ask them to disappear essentially. And what we see is that in areas where they don't have these types of services, people are just using these substances in public, right? And it actually becomes more concerning because people are are using them, they're rushed when they're using them, and so they're more likely to overdose.

⁓ they are more likely to ⁓ buy substances that are laced with something stronger and don't know that it's laced with something stronger. ⁓ and when we have these safe injection sites, for example, you know, it's not that we're providing that, like they're we're not providing these substances. What we're providing is medical attention for people to be able to take them at a rate, ⁓ at a speed that isn't going to cause an overdose. And if an overdose dose were to happen, we have medical professionals there.

To provide Narcan and to make sure that people can survive that. and on top of that, there are wraparound services that are immediately provided. So that when folks come to the decision that, hey, this is actually not what they want for their life anymore, we are it we are in a position where we're immediately offering them those services and giving them that hand ⁓ as opposed to giving them another barrier and closing another door on them when they've come to the decision that they're ready for something else. ⁓ and so for me, yeah.

Led Black (21:00)
Just because ⁓ you know, I I I think there's there has to be like ⁓ nuance between harm reduction and safe injection. Right. And again, I agree there should be ubiquitous, right? If this is a problem all over. But what but it's right now what's happening is like I grew up during the crack era as a kid, right? And it feels like deja vu, right? That the it feels like it's out of control, blight, you know, you see little kids having to step over, you know, ⁓

Darializa Avila Chevalier (21:09)
Mm-hmm.

Led Black (21:26)
You know, junkies with needles coming out their arms, right? Like I mean, that's a real public safety concern. I and I have to s sometimes I just don't I that has to be addressed. And and I just I just really you know, again, I get the the the notion of it, but when you live with it, like you said, it's it's really tough to deal with. Like every day in my corner, that garbage is upturned every day, every single day. I have to tell you know, my have little g my my have children. It's a real, real problem. And I and I just feel like I don't know what the solution is. And and

Darializa Avila Chevalier (21:30)
Yeah.

Led Black (21:54)
And w what would you do day one for this? 'Cause this is really a big concern for uptown.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (21:58)
Yeah, I mean I I think the thing is is that this is a symptom of a larger problem of our institutions abandoning us, right? When folks don't have access to employment, dignified work, right? When they don't have access to dignified housing, when they don't have access to healthcare, right? All of this compounds. And that's why we're seeing rising rates of substance abuse. And so that's why, you know, we're fighting for things that actually

⁓ give people pathways to address these other issues, right? Whether that's housing, whether that's a federal jobs guarantee so that people can have dignified house dignified work, ⁓ whether that is Medicare for all, so that people when they're having mental health struggles can access healthcare. You know, all of these things are correlated with lower rates of substance abuse, right? And now that we have a community that has been subjected to all of these, you know, system failures.

And are struggling with the health mental health impact of that and are have turned to substance abuse at to like help dull that pain, we have to also address it from a public health perspective. To your point, it is of impacting all of us when when kids have to step over needles, when women are walking home at night and don't feel safe, right? I myself am one of those women, right? Where you you sometimes have to wonder, right, like what's happening here, right? And I I think like the the difference is I've seen

Parts of our community where those ⁓ sites don't exist. And it's all happening much more publicly. ⁓ but where the sites do exist, right? Folks go inside, they receive the wraparound services. and I know that, you know, so many of us want a solution right now, right? We want a solution because we feel unsafe right now. when, but then I I think about this and I'm like, well, how did we get to this point? And it's become been a failure of our government to actually address any of these issues.

For many, many years, right? We didn't just get here overnight. It is consistent abandonment after abandonment after abandonment, right? In terms of housing, in terms of healthcare, in terms of ⁓ you know, employ our federal jobs guarantee, all of these issues, right? that have compounded to the moment that we're in. And I think with these, with these sites, right, where we've proven that they they save lives, they actually reduce the number of folks who ⁓ are consuming outside of of their walls, right?

⁓ what we need is is to have more of them spread out across the city so people aren't coming, all everyone isn't coming to this one district, right? ⁓ and concentrating outside of these centers. That's important, not just for the people who live in this community who have to like deal with the the ramifications of so many people coming in to to use these sites, but also the people who need them so that they don't have to travel to a whole nother borough in order to receive the support that they need.

⁓ they should be able to have that support right much closer to home.

Octavio Blanco (24:58)
Yeah, and if I could just ⁓ to stay on the topic with one last thing. I mean, it does seem like this administration in the ⁓ in the White House the is is doing everything it can to reduce ⁓ our our social safety net and ⁓

Darializa Avila Chevalier (25:12)
Mm-hmm.

Octavio Blanco (25:14)
Sounds to me like what you're saying is that the on point and these ⁓ safe injection sites are only ⁓ one part of the solution. The rest of the solution is making sure that we have social safety nets. So, you know, as a as a member of Congress, what what and and going into a minority, ⁓ how do you fight against the the Republican con consistent

erosion of our social safety net.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (25:45)
Yeah, I mean, for one is making sure that we are actually building and organizing a block, right, that can have an outsized impact, even if we don't have the numbers, right? the other part of that is we we actually do need the numbers. Like we need people to vote for the Democratic Party. But people are currently not voting because they sense the abandonment that so many of us have felt, right? Where we've gotten to this point, we're looking around, our lives are not significantly better under democratic leadership.

Led Black (26:04)
Yeah.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (26:13)
And that's because they're not working for us. They're not fighting for us. They're not trying to actually push back on all of this the these policies that Republicans have inundated us with. And if we actually had Democrats who were willing to fight, we were trying to build

And and and have an outsized impact on on these policies, you know, we'd be living in a very different world. If I could trust that my congressman was actually fighting, you and I would not be talking today. I would be working on, you know, I would be still at my job, I would be working on my dissertation. ⁓ but I'm running because of that type of failure of leadership, where there is no vision for for a politic of life. There is no vision for a politic that actually delivers for working people instead of making excuses.

Octavio Blanco (26:44)
Yeah.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (27:02)
For why we can't push back on the onslaught that Trump has given us. And I will say, you know, it's not just Trump. The Republicans have been building this infrastructure for decades. And the fact that Democrats are just now catching up to the need to build infrastructure that will actually be responsive to the working class people of our communities, right? Is deeply shameful. It is embarrassing, really. And

What we need is feet people who are actually going to fight back, who are actually going to build out infrastructure for us to have policies that benefit us ⁓ and to build long term. If we're serious about winning in November as a Democratic Party to take back the House, it matters what kinds of Democrats that we send to office. It can't be more of the same because people have stopped identifying and that's why they're not showing up to the polls.

Led Black (27:55)
To to your point, right? I think that blue, no matter who, can't be a thing anymore. It's like it's blue, but it really matters who, right? Like it really it ri So you have made campaign finance a central pillar of your campaign, explicitly refusing corporate pack money and drawing a sharp line against the incumbents' top donors like APAC. However, elections in New York are notoriously expensive and these things are ridiculous, not just in New York, across the country, they're spending millions.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (28:03)
It really does matter. What?

Led Black (28:22)
Realistically, how do you build a competitive winning field operation to defeat a a deeply funded political machine strictly using small dollar grassroots donations? And also I have to mention that you've actually ⁓ outf outraised S by at the first quarter, right? Is that is that correct?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (28:37)
I did. Yes.

We I I outraised him. I was the only person, I was the only challenger in the city to outraise an incumbent. And I was the only woman in the country to do that. So that was really exciting. ⁓ and you know, I think it speaks to a hunger for this type of politic, right? ⁓ folks understand that we're up against ⁓ these institutions that are in many ways buying our democracy away from us. And so, you know, it was really exciting that we were able to f out fundraise him.

Led Black (28:48)
Wow.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (29:07)
⁓ that our average contribution was $55. And that, you know, I think it speaks to the popularity of this type of politic. ⁓ I've known from the beginning that we weren't gonna out fundraise APAC, we weren't gonna out fundraise corporate real estate developers or Columbia or any of his other donors. ⁓ but that was never my goal. My goal was to fundraise enough to build out the infrastructure necessary to have organized people be organized money.

Right. And as an organizer, again, this is what what I mean when I say having an outsized impact with the resources that you have, right? We really were intentional about how we are building this campaign to make sure that it is people powered, right? To make sure that people have the resources to be able to go out, talk to their neighbors and ⁓ and get them out to vote. And so that's what we've been doing. That was our goal from the very beginning. I'm very excited that we have been, you know, proving that we can meet this goal and

⁓ you know, we're at a point where ⁓ I think a lot of people have already seen how you know organized people can beat organized money. We just saw that last year with with Mayor Mamdani, ⁓ where all of these corporate interests, all of these, you know, billionaires were were pouring money in for Cuomo. ⁓ and still, you know, the mayor won in this district by 19 points in in the primary and and then 34 points in in the general.

Right. And so I think that speaks to the hunger that folks have here for a politic that is accountable to them, not to not to their donors.

Octavio Blanco (30:44)
You know, ⁓ talking about funding, when we talk about big money in politics, one of the biggest shadow is dark money. These are funds that are poured into super PACs by outside groups when where the actual donors are entirely hidden. Do you explicitly disavow any dark money or super PAC spending that might try to enter this race to support you? And if elected,

What specific campaign finance reforms will you champion to permanently overturn Citizens United and shine a light on these hidden donors?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (31:21)
Yeah. You know, I I can't speak to I I know what our we have fundraised, right? And my commitment to what we have fundraised is is what that is. And I don't coordinate with any outside groups. ⁓ so I can't speak to to what's going on there. But I can say that I do not take money from corporate PACs. I do not take money from special interest groups like APAC, ⁓ or you know, Columbia University or any of the sorts. And so ⁓ I think what we're seeing

is, you know, more and more crypto and AI and APAC and all of these ⁓ you know industries and corporations that ⁓ have an outsized impact on our impact on our democracy are really invested in dropping millions and millions of dollars to decide races for the working people of those districts. And we saw that in North Carolina, we saw that in Illinois in Illinois. ⁓ And what we're seeing though is that we're able to win despite that.

Right, despite the the millions of dollars that are being dropped in the last minute of these elections. ⁓ and so I really, you know, I really think that one of the major problems in our society at the heart of all of this is the in the impact of of money in in politics. ⁓ the fact that I have to spend so many hours a week fundraising, right? ⁓ you know, I'm very proud of the fact that I'm the only woman in the country to have out fundraised a child incumbent, but it is very

draining and exhausting, right, to do to have to do that when what I should be doing is talking to my community, is talking to voters and and talking to them about what their day-to-day reality is, right? The fact that I have to do that instead of talking to the my neighbors, right, is a reflection of how flawed our political system is and why, you know, it is so incredibly hard for working class candidates to enter politics. So we need on the federal level, the types of reform that we saw last year that really helped New Yorkers

Be heard, right? Things like ⁓ matching funds, right? Things like ⁓ making sure that we are fighting back against Citizens United, which is the, you know, Supreme Court ruling that made it so that corporations would be considered people in politics. ⁓ which is we all know corporations are not people, right? ⁓ and yes, for some reason, right, we are seeing we allow that to be the case in our politics. ⁓ making sure that we are just reforming across the board.

Led Black (33:30)
Yeah. Right.

Right.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (33:45)
⁓ the the way that that money impacts our politics because it does not make sense to me that these races cost millions and millions of dollars.

Led Black (33:55)
You know, in in the last mayor or primary, we saw historically working class, lower income income blacks at Wash Heights and and in the Bronx break heavily for establishment candidates like Andrew Como over progressive options. Furtherfor for more many older Latino immigrants who fled authoritarian regimes in their home country, the word socialism triggers deep mistrust. How do you translate your your democratic social platform to senior voters and older heads who are hesitant about your ideological label?

But I'm are not the most reliable voters on June twenty-third. And and to say that like socialism used to be like a death knell for a candidate, right? And now it's not, you know, and I think ⁓ mom Donnie's leading the charge there. But speak to that, because there is a distrust of socialism. It's like they think, you know, automatically, and I guess, you know, we've been conditioned to think that way as well, you know, in terms of about socialism. So talk about that.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (34:45)
Yeah, you know, socialism to me is really about making sure that workers are able to enjoy the fruits of the labor that they produce, right? That, you know, we are we spend our days producing labor, doing work. We should be able to benefit from that. We should be able to get paid in a way that is reflective of the work that we've done. We should be able to live in a society that is dignified.

⁓ that provides all of the things that we need to be well, right? ⁓ and the fact that so many of us work so hard day in and day out, many of us work two to three jobs in this community and still don't have the means to be able to afford dignified housing, still don't have the means to to enjoy themselves and spend time with their family, you know, that to me is a reflection of the failures of this capitalist system we we've been in, right?

And a socialist system is one that says, you are work a working person, you should have time to also enjoy the fruits of your work. You should find dignity in your work. You should be able to lead a dignified life outside of your work, right? And that means, you know, coming together in a democratic way, which is why I'm a democratic socialist, to decide, well, how are we going to use the resources that we as workers produce, right?

How are we gonna use these tax dollars? Are we gonna use them to invest in our communities, fund our schools, ⁓ you know, fund a Medicare for all program? Or are we gonna use it to line the pockets of of Walmart, of Amazon, of you know, these major corporations that are exploiting our labor constantly? So for me, again, democratic socialism is really about making sure that all working people can lead a dignified life.

Octavio Blanco (36:33)
Yeah. it's it's it's it's also ironic that when we were talking about ⁓ socialism ⁓ and we're talking about ⁓ bailouts, we we we don't usually talk about corporate socialism and the way that we we we bail out corporations, but we refuse to bail out people the who who are in ⁓ who are in ⁓ dire straits. So ⁓ a

Moving on, I want to touch on foreign policy and war powers. ⁓ a clear generational fault line has emerged in this district regarding US foreign policy, particularly concerning Gaza and ongoing military escalations in the Middle East and let's say also Cuba possibly. You've spoken out against the current administration, and let's not forget Venezuela. You've spoken out against the current administration's stance if elected.

What specific actions will you take on the House floor to reassert Congress's war powers and ensure that younger constituents of draft age are protected from unauthorized military conflicts?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (37:42)
Yeah, you know, I I think the fact that we haven't even been able to pass ⁓ a joint resolution of disapprovals on this on this war is a reflection of the lack of moral clarity of so much of our leadership, where their only condemnation of these wars is because they are upset that Trump didn't come to them first. When the wars themselves are the moral failure, right? They are a moral and economic failure.

Actually, because in the first six days of this war with Iran, we could have fully funded the universal ⁓ childcare program that Mayor Mamdani ran on. Because it cost a billion dollars of American taxpayer money every single day we're in this war. and you know, one of the things that I would do day one, right, is make sure that we are signing on to block the bombs, that we are actually making sure that our money is no longer going towards endless slaughter abroad.

⁓ we need to make sure that our resources are actually coming back to our communities. which is why I'm running on a platform and and a framework really of of babies not bombs, because so many of us are tired of waking up every single morning knowing that our kids are hungry, that s over a hundred thousand of them in the New York City public school system are homeless. And yet we wake up to our tax dollars being used on bombs that are slaughtering little girls in Iran, slaughtering.

Led Black (38:47)
Mm.

⁓

Darializa Avila Chevalier (39:05)
families in Gaza, slaughtering families in Lebanon, right? We are also tired of a politics of death, right? We and the politics of death that is being conducted with our money, with the money that we work to earn. What we need instead is a politics of life. We need to make sure we're actually investing in our communities, that we are funding our schools from cradle to college, that we're expanding the child tax credit so that there is no child in this city or in this country

Who has to suffer through the indignity of childhood poverty? We need to make sure we're supporting parents and actually giving them paid family leave, making sure that we are actually investing in all of the things that our babies need, which are things that every single person in our community needs, whether that's healthcare, education, housing, all of these things are what make our communities a dignified place to to live.

Led Black (39:58)
Yeah, and I and I have to talk about that. That's really good point because, you know, sometimes we get lost in Trump, Trump, and I hate Trump. I fucking hate Trump. I love Trump. I abor Trump. But but I think we get lost in Trump's fault, Trump's fault. But but the reason we are here now is it's a bipartisan issue, right? These people can agree on anything, but when it comes to Israel, they agree on everything. And it's more money. There's a new I've heard now that there's a ⁓

Octavio Blanco (40:08)
Ha ha ha.

Led Black (40:27)
something in Congress like it's a within a bill that they're looking to ⁓ i integrate Israeli and and American military, right? ⁓ which I think is ludicrous and we've given so much. I think Israel has has basically just, you know, sucked the v vitality out of this country. ⁓ and I have to ask you plainly, is this a genocide?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (40:50)
It's absolutely a genocide. And you know, I think the fact that we have had so many of our representatives, including ours, vote time and time again to send more arms to a country that is committing a genocide is reflective of a larger problem, right? It's reflective of of a politic that is in the interests of this insatiable war machine, right? The fact that it you know we are constantly bombarding countries outside of of Palestine, right? We're are

provide outside of just providing arms to Israel. We're also bombing places like Yemen and Iran and, you know, can starting ⁓ wars in in Latin America. ⁓ you know, the the fact that we are so heavily invested, so much of our budget goes towards the war machine, I think speaks to this this economy of death that we've really created, that so many of our representatives are committed to. We can't even get the Pan Pentagon to pass an audit.

Trillions and trillions of dollars, and we can't get them to pass an audit. And yet we are continuing to defund our schools. We have one of the most segregated schools in the or school systems in the country in this district, in this city. And the fact that we are more and more seeing the privatizations of our schools with these charter schools. And yet I have friends of mine saying that, you know, they looked at two schools for their son, and one got a grant for a music program and the other got a grant for an AC in the gym.

You know, I think is such a reflection of the abandonment that we have been feeling by Republicans and Democrats alike in the name of a war machine. And, you know, I think so many of us, we're just very tired. We're just so tired of having to to beg for crumbs from our representatives because of their commitment to to this politic death. And we just we really deserve a politic of life, one that actually.

has a vision for our communities.

Led Black (42:49)
And I want to say another thing. What I find interesting is that I feel like, you know, your campaign is is been resonating for a while. I think the the Mamdani endorsement just took it over the top. But to be honest, I feel like they w you weren't getting the coverage you you know that you should be. You are raised, right? You said, you're the first woman to do this, right? In that win that way. But you're not getting coverage. Now I think you're getting the coverage. And and it's funny, but you've got the smears, right? You got the the post coming at you, even political, right?

And again, it's funny when when the machine does that. Sometimes the stuff, your tweets, your old tweets make make people like you more, right? Because they weren't even bad. They weren't even horrible, right? I call Biden and Muento on this show every day. Like I hate Biden too, right? So, you know, and you t and you said something about Bernie. Yeah, Bernie too. Bernie took forever to call it a genocide. There's nothing wrong with those things. But how do you deal with that? How do you do how do you not let it throw you off kilter?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (43:44)
Yeah, I think, you know, the fact that they're focusing on this, they're focusing on this politics of the past, relitigating that type of politics, relitigating tweets that I tweeted when I was younger, right? is a reflection of what I'm I'm arguing is that we as a community get ignored time and time again by the people who are supposed to represent us. Instead of focusing on the issues that we're talking about, instead of focusing on the things that we're fighting for, right? They're talking about tweets.

That I wrote years ago, over half a decade ago, right? ⁓ and you know, to to to your point, they highlight that I've been feeling the way I feel about establishment politics for a very long time. And that I was not the only one in my community who feels that way, right? Would I have worded that like that today? No. ⁓ you know, I think I'm yeah, I've grown a lot since then, right? And I'm growing into into the

Led Black (44:30)
Yeah.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (44:41)
Congresswoman that my or the hope to be con hopeful congresswoman that my community deserves, right? and I think it's reflective of the fact that we, you know, are constantly being asked as communities of color, as working class people, to save the Democratic Party from itself when the Democratic Party should be fighting for us, right? And so that's why I say like it matters not only that we're sending Democrats to the to the office.

in the general, right? It matters what kinds of Democrats we're sending to Washington. Do we want Democrats who don't show up, who ⁓ are gonna vote with more of the same, who turn a blind eye when our neighbors get kidnapped off our streets? Or do we want Democrats who have felt the same type of abandonment, who are willing to fight tooth and nail for the things our communities deserve, who will be with them on the hardest days of their lives?

To make sure we are fighting for them every single day. And I think so many people, you know, have have really resigned themselves to ⁓ just accept the politics that are because they've been told repeatedly for decades that there's no one coming to to fight for them. And so the reason I think this campaign resonates with so many people is because we're saying just the opposite. Like I am one of those people who has been abandoned and I'm willing to actually fight for our community.

Led Black (46:08)
And we need some fighters. I think fighting is is is necessary. You know what I mean? Is it's not just singing, we need to be swinging as well. You know what I mean? So ⁓ but you know, we're gonna give you the floor to close. You know, I want you to speak directly to the district, to the voter in the district who's who respects Congressman as but y'all historic legacy as the first unformally undocumented immigrant congress, but feels the strain of of the times we're living under. Why is a progressive shift the necessary path forward for District 13?

Octavio Blanco (46:15)
Mm.

Led Black (46:37)
And why should they trust you with your vote? And thanks again for taking the time to talk to us.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (46:40)
Yeah,

well, thank you again for having me. It's always so great to talk to you both. And ⁓ you know, I think as an Afro-Latina, as a daughter of Dominican immigrants, as someone who has had to stay up and do the math to see whether I could even afford to stay in the city that I love, you know, I am someone who has felt abandoned by the type of leadership that we have. And it's not enough anymore to have representation that shares our culture.

But doesn't share our values and doesn't understand the fight that each and every one of us have to go through every day to survive the policy decisions that our leadership has made time and time again. What we need is people who have gone through that struggle, who have been with our neighbors on the darkest days of their lives and who want to actually fight to transform our our structures into ones that actually work for working people. We need representatives who also share our values, who share our fight.

who share our commitment to being there for one another day in and day out, not because it's easy, not because it's convenient, but because it is what our community needs and it's what they're willing to do every single day.

Led Black (47:49)
Last thing, tell us your socials, you know, URLs. How can people donate? How can they canvas? 'Cause I heard you got I've heard that you have a com tremendous canvassing operation already. I heard it's very effective and and and you know, they're doing their thing. So how can people get down? Tell us everything.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (47:58)
We do.

Absolutely.

Yeah. Well, come out on Canvas, knock doors. If you can't knock doors, you can also phone bank and text bank ⁓ and you can knock your own block as well. So you can do that by signing up at Darielisa for Congress dot com. You can follow us at social on our socials at Darylisa for NY, and you can always donate at our website as well through the Act Blue on our website. So thank you so much. I really appreciate you both for having me here. ⁓ you know, remember to come out and vote June twenty third.

Led Black (48:28)
Thank you.

Octavio Blanco (48:29)
Thank you, Dorothy Lisa.

Led Black (48:33)
And hopefully we can get you back one more time at least before this this election. So all right. Thank you so much. Have a great day. Bye-bye. Good luck.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (48:35)
Take care and tell your mom's

Octavio Blanco (48:41)
Bye.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (48:41)
felice a la madre dominicana Take care everyone

Led Black (48:43)
That's right, that's right. Happy Dominican Mother's Day.

Octavio Blanco (48:44)
yeah, that's right. That's right. Happy Dominican's Mother's Day. Bye

bye.

Led Black (48:48)
Yeah.

Thank you so much. Yeah, that was amazing. That was a great interview, Octavio. ⁓ and I do I did forget about Dominican Mother's Day. I think it was my my mother in law called my wife and told her and and we were like, shit, it's Dominican Mother's Day. So shout out to my mom, Melanda Moronta, straight out of Esperanza, Dominican Republic, and shout out to my wife, my mother in law, you know, shout out to all the Dominican mothers out there, man. Like they, you know

I say that like my Dominican mom is just so much more than a mom throughout my life. You know, she's been my my confidant. Like when I've gotten in trouble with the laws, you know, whatever anything I went through, you know, she was always there. So shout out to my mom and to all the Dominican mothers, because w for as far as Dominicans go, our women really hold it down. You know, we have the most powerful women in the world, I think. So yeah, shout out to Dominican mothers.

Octavio Blanco (49:34)
And ⁓ and and I I gotta say, you've got a ⁓ you've got a really tight relationship with your mom from what I can see for as an outsider. You know, you play dominoes with her on Sunday. I think that's so cool that you do that. It's it's it's every s

Led Black (49:44)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, every Saturday. It's Saturday. We go, yeah,

every Saturday we play dominoes. She makes a feast. And then we also drink. And she she she's eighty-eight, you know what I mean? She out drinks me, and that's not a lie. You know, she she should be throwing it back. I have to she goes, Leo, get on hojito mi vaso. And I'm like, no, no, you there's no ojito in that vaso. But this was a great great this has been a good week, man. You know, we had a spot yeah yesterday.

Octavio Blanco (50:01)
Ha ha ha ha ha.

Led Black (50:11)
⁓ and and today we had Donna Lisa. This is an important race and I'm glad we get you know, get put these people before we you know, before the before the community. So I think it's important.

Octavio Blanco (50:21)
Yeah, we we we certainly are doing what we can and I'm gonna make a a a pitch to everybody. we we are a tax deductible we you can make a tax deductible contribution to us. ⁓ if you wanna keep us working on this stuff, please, please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Uptown Voices. We are a ⁓

Fiscally sponsored project of the Mazels Documentary Center, which I think is pretty incredible because you know, that's a center that's that's dedicated to to documentary film. And I'm gonna put that up again in case you guys didn't ⁓ get to it. But we're not obviously a documentary film. We're we're we are but we are documenting our community and we wanna keep doing that. It's not just politics, we also

One of the main things that we do is we document the incredible people in this community who are making it better. ⁓ you know, musicians, ⁓ artists, ⁓ community organizers, all these, all these types of people. So it's not just politics. We do a lot more than that. ⁓ and we want to keep doing it. So, you know, please consider making a donation. We really would appreciate it. Yeah.

Led Black (51:27)
Mm-hmm

Yes, sir. For real. Show some love. Break us off

a little bit, you know what I'm saying? Subscribe, like, tell your people, all that. But let I wanna just say this shout out to my brother Angelo Ortiz, who's watching us on IG. And you know, he he also forgot about Dominican Mother's Day. So he's saying he's saying, so it's actually a little sad. So this is his first Dominican Mother's Day where his mom just passed. You know, her name is Floralba Tavares. Shout out to my brother Angelo and my condolences.

Octavio Blanco (51:50)
Just a little bit.

Ha ha ha.

⁓

Led Black (52:13)
You know, this is gonna be my third year for without my dad. So I you know, so I I I understand some condolences to them. So happy Dominican Mother's Day. So everyone, yo, go call your mom. If you're Dominican, your the the other that you love, your wife's don't forget, buy flowers. I I cut I completely fucked up. But she she has a Dominican mom too, my wife, so she forgot too. So I think I think I'm a little bit in the clear. ⁓ I also wanna say real important before we we we sign off, I think we got a few more minutes. ⁓ tomorrow.

Is the kickoff for the 24th annual Uptown Art Show from 6 to 8 30 p.m. It's gonna be at the Hispanic Society on 155th and Broadway. And it is this, yeah, you're gonna be there. The Uptown community, our community is gonna be there. It's a free event. ⁓ I I would try to get there. I think RGP, if they're not closed yet, they might be closed, but so get on it. and it's gonna be a great event how we we kick off the arts.

Octavio Blanco (52:52)
I'm gonna be there.

Led Black (53:10)
for the summer season every year. So officially Uptown Summers begin on June first or whenever the Uptown R Show begins. And it's gonna be a great event. They're gonna do a bunch of great honorees like my brother Michael Palmamin, who's amazing. Mark Jamel Mansion is also one of the honorees because of it's an important institution uptown. And so make sure you come out to that. And then we're doing after party. Me and my brother John Ollman ⁓ we're gonna do an after party at the Hilltop

It's the Hilltop Dine. I never get the right name, but it's a few like a 158th from Broadway, 159th from Broadway. And it's the it's ⁓ unofficial second annual ⁓ after party. It's called Understyle After. So, you know, make sure you you go to Uptown Collective on IG, Uptown Voice on IG, spread that love, all that. I'm excited. Also, the Knicks, fucking on Wednesday, we get in the finals, baby, against the Spurs. And I want that because, first of all, it was Spurs and Knicks in the NBA Cup, and to me.

Octavio Blanco (53:54)
Yeah, yeah, the Knicks.

Led Black (54:04)
There's the two greatest competitors in the game right now are Jalen Brunson and Wembayama. Bar none. These guys have so much heart. You know, I I've never been a Spurs fan, but I'm a Wemby fan. I ain't gonna lie. That dude, it really is an alien. I've seen him do things I've never seen anyone do on both sides of the courts, but I think at the end of the day, still it don't matter who the Knicks play, we could play anybody. We could go in the past and play anybody. We this Knicks team run is historic and and it's a it's a it's just so

I I I go I'm gonna lie, I'm not gonna lie, like I was watching a video IG of Jalen Brunson and tears came out of my eye. I'm like, yo, I'm crying for the Knicks. You know what I mean? But that's how much it means to you, to me, to so many New Yorkers, you know, this is this is phenomenal historic.

Octavio Blanco (54:38)
Ha ha ha

And we can be unified about that in particular. You know, maybe we can disagree about everything else, but at least we can have unity on the Knicks. I'm so psyched about the Knicks. It's great. And yeah, much respect to Yemby. I mean, like, that guy is incredible. I can't believe it. I always say it's unfair that he's even on the court because like he can take I've never seen somebody take a half court shot like it was a free throw. I mean, come on. That's that's sick. It's it's it's crazy. But

Led Black (54:51)
For real.

Yeah, that's insane. Yeah.

Before you go further, like that day, that first game, right? It's a fast it's it's a transition bucket. He's like twenty-eight feet away. They're down three. The game is on the line. For him to stop and just with all the confidence the world, that's that shot made no sense. It made no sense. But once he hit it, you could just see I was just in my living room like by myself, like I was in shock.

Octavio Blanco (55:34)
Yeah.

Whoa.

Led Black (55:40)
You could

tell the other players were in shock. It was one of these things. And then he did another like halftime shot. This this kid is amazing. And we're watching something. This is the new, this is Spurs Knicks every year for the next three or four years. Like, fuck every fuck what you heard. Like, this is and again, this is what this is, man. I'm telling you, the Knicks is going back to the finals next year, and the Spurs may win next year, but this year is ours.

Octavio Blanco (56:04)
Yeah, man. Yeah. ⁓ I'm excited about that. And I I'm I'm really excited about

But what we've been doing, brother, you know, much, much, much respect to you. ⁓ thank you to everybody who's, you know, on the chat today, everybody who's contributed, everybody who's following. We're doing it for you, you know, we're doing it for like we're not bullshitting you. Like we really need people to shine a light on this community, and we just decided those people should be us. So I mean, we just did it. We we didn't know exactly what we were getting.

Led Black (56:12)
Yes, sir, yes sir.

Octavio Blanco (56:40)
Yeah.

of the year that we've been doing this led. And I and I really look forward to the following this this coming year and to do more of this together and to see where it takes us from here on out. I'm so, so proud of us and and I'm so proud of everybody in the community who's like getting activated, who's getting engaged. We talk about civic duty, we talk about civics and having people get engaged. And that's what it takes. You know, get engaged, get get go to your community board

Led Black (56:45)
Yeah, me too.

Yeah, sure.

Octavio Blanco (57:11)
Tw meetings, go in and and and and when you see something, when you see like, for example, here's what you need to do. One thing that I want to say: when you see something that's messed up in the community, like a tree that's fallen down or ⁓ garbage that isn't picked up, you know what I'm saying? Like, or something big, take a picture of it. And if you post it on Instagram, make sure you're tagging our our representatives, our our community board, because

It's not like that they're out there and they can see everything all the time. You know what I mean? Make sure that they know. Tag Uptown Collective, tag Uptown Voices. We'll we'll amplify that. But definitely use the social media to our benefit. Because yeah, you know, social media, it can have a lot of detriment, but we're trying to use it for our benefit. So make sure that you're using it for our benefit too.

Led Black (57:47)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that's that's a good point. And and and to that point, right? Like, there's been times where either I'm cause I'm always all out and about and everywhere, right? but there's times where I take a picture or someone tags me in a picture, sends me a picture, you know, and and I share it and I and I like, you know, car kudos to to to our councilwoman Carmen de la Rosa, right? When whenever I tag her on something that I think is of value, she she not only a you know

responds on social media, but then she works to address it as soon as possible. There's happened one time there was like a just like a huge, like just there was just bunch of needles on the in the 191 tunnel. It was just like a bunch of just equipment, just you know, paraphernalia all over the floors of the tunnel. And I took pictures and I tagged and I tagged her and within within within a day or two it it was it was resolved. You know, again it comes back, right? Of course

But it's a never ending fight, you know what I mean? And and and and this is the price of citizenship, right? Like that you have to become involved with your community. You have to you have to do things like you c we can't wait for anyone else to save us. And no one's coming to save us. And again, if if we want these politicians to to do what we want, we we we must apply pressure, people pressure. You heard? And I think we're almost done, Octavio. ⁓ my brother, thank you thank you once again. It was a great hour.

Octavio Blanco (59:17)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Led Black (59:23)
like you said, I'm really appreciative of of of this opportunity to work with you and and make this happen. And and this is good it's going really good. And I'm enjoying it. So everyone subscribe to the channel. Send us a little you know, break us off a little bit if you can, you know, and and keep showing that love. Thank you so much. Spread love is the uptown way. I'll talk my brother. We'll talk soon. Yes, sir. Peace.

Octavio Blanco (59:36)
Spread love. All right, peace.