Synopsis: What a Mamdani Win Would Mean for Local Communities: As the mayoral race heats up, we examine how a Mamdani administration would impact working-class families in New York City, with a focus on affordable housing, policy prescriptions, and the potential shift in national politics Description: Wherever you are in the county, you’ve probably heard the name “Zohran Mamdani”. New York City’s mayoral race is a national story, and it’s hard to overstate the significance of the leading candidate in this moment. From Chicago to Dearborn, Michigan, journalists are watching. In this installment of “Meet the BIPOC Press”, Laura Flanders speaks with three BIPOC reporters following this story. “. . . There's this sense that [Left-leaning candidates] have to essentially be apologizing for their policy prescriptions and their stances. Mamdani has not done that . . . For the most part, he very much embraces who he is and what his policy prescriptions are.” - Felipe De La Hoz “I hate giving labels. I don't look at Mandani as a progressive. I look at him as representing the anger and anguish of people who have been left behind with the political apparatus.” - Osama Siblani Guests: • Felipe De La Hoz: Immigration & Policy Reporter, Epicenter NYC • Asha Ransby-Sporn: Writer & Political Strategist; Columnist, In These Times • Osama Siblani: Publisher, The Arab American News Full Conversation Release: While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters. Become a member today, go to https://Patreon.com/LauraFlandersandFriends Watch the special report on YouTube; PBS World Channel October 26th, and on over 300 public stations across the country. Listen: Episode airing on community radio October 29th & available as a podcast.
Synopsis: The mayoral candidate who's got the nation talking, Zohran Mamdani, is on track to make history as New York City's first Muslim-American and second Democratic Socialist mayor.
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Description: Wherever you are in the county, you’ve probably heard the name “Zohran Mamdani”. New York City’s mayoral race is a national story, and it’s hard to overstate the significance of the leading candidate in this moment. If elected, Mamdani would become the first Muslim-American and only the second Democratic Socialist Mayor of the largest city in the U.S. His victory, on a promise to make New York affordable for working people, would have implications for politics everywhere. The race is already garnering both excitement and anxiety. President Trump is threatening to withhold federal funding for New York City if Mamdani wins. From Chicago to Dearborn, Michigan, journalists are watching. In this installment of “Meet the BIPOC Press”, Laura Flanders speaks with Felipe De La Hoz, investigative immigration and policy reporter whose work has been featured in The Intercept, The Washington Post, New York Mag and The Nation; Osama Siblani, publisher and founder of The Arab American News, the largest Arab American newspaper in the U.S., and Asha Ransby-Sporn, organizer and writer for In These Times and co-founder of Black Youth Project 100, where she led the group's national organizing program. Join us as we explore what a Mamdani victory would signal for the nation.
“. . . There's this sense that [Left-leaning candidates] have to essentially be apologizing for their policy prescriptions and their stances. Mamdani has not done that . . . For the most part, he very much embraces who he is and what his policy prescriptions are.” - Felipe De La Hoz
“I hate giving labels. I don't look at Mandani as a progressive. I look at him as representing the anger and anguish of people who have been left behind with the political apparatus.” - Osama Siblani
“More so than I am concerned with Black people being pulled to the Right or being pulled in by Trump . . . I think what we see are people who are disengaged and feel like our political system isn't going to deliver for them at all. Who feel let down by the establishment Democratic party that has sold all of us out for decades, and Black people have borne an enormous amount of the brunt of that impact.” - Asha Ransby-Sporn
Guests:
• Felipe De La Hoz: Immigration & Policy Reporter, Epicenter NYC
• Asha Ransby-Sporn: Writer & Political Strategist; Columnist, In These Times
• Osama Siblani: Publisher, The Arab American News
Full Conversation Release: While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters.
Watch the special report on YouTube; PBS World Channel October 26th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio October 29th (check here to see if your station is airing the show) & available as a podcast.
RESOURCES:
Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:
• Farm Workers to Farm Owners- Watch / Listen: Episode
• These Films Keep People Out of Prison- Watch / Listen: Episode
• Jacqueline Woodson & Catherine Gund: Breathing Through Chaos & the “Meanwhile”- Watch / Listen: Episode and Full Uncut Conversation
• Mamdani, Black Farmers, USDA & ICE: The Stories BIPOC Journalists Uncover- Watch / Listen: Episode and Full Uncut Conversation
Related Articles and Resources:
• California City Residents Denounce Plan to Build State’s Largest Immigrant Detention Center, by ACoM, August 4, 2025, American Community Media
• Dolores Huerta Leads Protest Against California’s Largest Planned ICE Detention Center, by Steve Virgen, CA Neighborhood Reporter, July 30, 2025, 23ABC News KERO
• Forbes Power Women’s Summit 2025: Building What’s Next, September 25, 2025, Forbes
• About el Teatro Campesino’s Luis Valdez, Founding Artistic Director
Full Episode Notes are located HERE.
Music Credit: original sound design by Jeannie Hopper
Support Laura Flanders and Friends by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/c/lauraflandersandfriends
0:00
123.
While our weekly shows are edited at a time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offered to our members and podcast subscribers the full, uncut conversation.
These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters.
0:23
The New York City mayor's race is already one for the history books.
When Zoran Mamdani, a young state assemblyman from Queens, defeated the state's former governor Andrew Cuomo in the primary this summer, it shocked the Democratic establishment and attracted attention from across the country.
0:39
In the general election this November, Mamdani faces Cuomo, now running as an independent and Republican Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels.
Mayor Adams has withdrawn and that tightened the race a bit, but Mamdani is still enjoying a 2 digit lead as we record this.
0:58
And if he's elected, he'd be the first Muslim American and only the second democratic socialist elected mayor of New York City.
His victory on a promise to make the metropolis of New York affordable for working people would have implications for politics everywhere.
1:15
It's already garnering both excitement and anxiety in different quarters, and even reporters in places with a whole lot else going on are watching, as you'll find out this month on the feature we call Meet the BIPOC Press.
We've invited from New York City, Felipe de Los, contributing editor for The New Republic, editor of the weekly newsletter Borderlines, and a journalist at Epicenter NYC from Dearborn, MI.
1:41
We're joined by Osama Siblani, the longtime publisher and founder of The Arab American News, the largest Arab American newspaper in the country.
Siblani is also one of the founders of the local Arab American Political Action Committee.
And from Chicago, we have Asher Ransby Spawn, columnist for In These Times and cofounder of Black Youth Project 100.
2:05
She was very involved in the campaign to elect Chicago's own progressive backed mayor, Brandon Johnson in 2023 and has some thoughts about what that story could have to teach the Mamdani campaign.
For this week, our conversation is what would Mamdani's victory signal for the nation and why is it already so significant?
2:25
Thank you all.
I hope I'm not overstating the degree to which all eyes are focused on New York City when you do in fact have quite a lot going on, Asha, I mean, you are in the part of a lot happening in Chicago right now, and I appreciate you taking the time how you're doing.
2:41
And are you actually as focused on Mumdani as this introduction would suggest?
Yeah, Thank you.
Thank you so much, Laura, for for having me.
And yeah, it is absolutely a, an intense and complicated time here in Chicago.
3:02
And so, you know, I, I'm pretty focused locally.
We have really are facing a military invasion.
It's just like I I I don't think I can overstate the degree to which the chaos that Border Patrol and ICE has been causing not only in immigrant communities, but in black communities and working class communities all across the city.
3:26
We're heading into a budget season where, you know, our progressive mayor is going to going to you don't have to deliver on on his his promises.
And he's kind of, you know, foreshadowed.
He's been talking about taxing the rich as a part of how we protect against Trump cut.
So we're in the midst of all of that.
3:43
And also, I think that, you know, I went to College in New York City.
I have family in New York City and, and feel connected to to the movement there.
And I think it has brought a lot of hope to to people.
I think, you know, my mom, Donnie is an inspiring leader and, and is not alone, I would say.
4:06
And I think that's important for for the, the, you know, New York City folks to, to, to think about and make sure that we're connecting to a kind of national movement.
And I think that that's the type of leadership, whether it's Iran, Momdani talking about making a city like New York work for the working class and not just the rich or a Brandon Johnson, you know, standing up and saying federal agents are not welcome here.
4:35
They can't use city property for, you know, harassing Chicagoans.
That's the type of like bold leadership that we're going to need on our side to go up against these fascists and kind of try to get some of the more run-of-the-mill establishment types who are getting in our way out.
4:53
Thanks, Josh.
I mean, you put your finger on something really important, which is that our commercial media love to have individual heroes and individual stories.
And Zora Mamdanis is certainly a great one.
But as you point out, he's not alone.
Coming to you, Felipe, how are you balancing those two things and how are you thinking about his campaign right now?
5:13
What's unique and special and extraordinary about it?
And also what reflects what Asha said?
There's a broader wave of change.
Yeah, I think there are a few things happening here.
I mean, to have an incumbent mayor who was up until pretty recently running for re election polling at seven, 8% is almost unheard of.
5:31
And I think it's sort of reflective of the ways that the local electorate has viewed, you know, Eric Adams administration as fundamentally A corrupt one, and one that's, you know, also too close for comfort to the Trump administration, which is very unpopular here in in, you know, many parts of the country.
5:48
And so, you know, there is a part of that.
Is that sort of a repudiation of that way of doing business to some extent.
I also think that the Mundammi campaign, its success has been in part predicated on what everyone will tell you is the, you know, the most important thing in an electoral campaign like this, which is getting out there talking to voters.
6:05
Ground game.
Ground game was absolutely massive for their primary win.
And, you know, it's not rocket science.
It's simply a fact of, you know, I think connecting with people who were sort of disillusioned, disassociated from politics and presenting a vision that while it is progressive and, you know, presents a lot of sort of progressive points, is fundamentally about affordability and about some of the things that are, you know, issues that people resonate with, you know, and kind of are welcoming alternative vision of.
6:36
And so I think that, you know, a lot of, you know, if you look at a lot of the kind of national media, they they're sort of treating Mandani as sort of a stand in for all of this sort of culture war stuff.
And, you know, I really don't think that that's been sort of really the driver of his campaign as such, right?
6:52
It's been much more about kind of, you know, pushing back against certain things, like, for example, the notion that, you know, New York City should move away from its sanctuary status, things that matter to people and, you know, positing that we can live in a city where people can afford rent, right?
7:08
And people can afford childcare.
And those messages are not necessarily incredibly complex, but they are resident.
How do you explain, Felipe?
You know New York is home to the Democratic, the Democratic Party's House and Senate leadership.
7:24
Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are right there.
Neither one at the time of this recording have endorsed Mumdani.
How do you explain that?
Do you think that will shift and is that significant to you?
I think there are a couple of things here.
7:39
One of them is sort of internist in, you know, New York City politics where like Hakeem Jeffries has long had sort of personal animosity and conflict with some of our sort of local progressive clubs and stuff.
And so I think there's even a a slight kind of personal factor there in in, you know, for him.
7:56
But for both of them, I think it's also the case that, you know, it's not lost on anybody that this is part of what I would say is a decades long now sort of struggle over what the Democratic Party is really supposed to represent and how it's supposed to conduct himself.
You know, everybody understands that Mundani is positing a different approach.
8:16
You know, is, is sort of, you know, willing to stand up to some of the, you know, party dogma.
And I think there's a sort of a caution among some of the Democratic leadership to embrace that, even if it's overwhelming the cure at this point, that he's probably going to win and they're going to have to work with him, right?
8:34
And that's why we've had some grudging sort of endorsements, like from Governor Hochul, right, who finally came around.
You know, people are realizing that the writing is on the wall.
But, you know, I think they're loathe to accept or admit that that kind of a message is resonating more than, you know, the the messages that they would prefer to embrace.
8:52
Osama coming to you there in Dearborn, the Arab American News polled Arab American leaders once the primary was over, about the success of Mumdani in that primary this summer.
What did you find?
People were thinking about Mumdani from that point of view.
9:12
Well, first of all, we're fixated on on what's happening in the Middle East, especially in Gaza and in Lebanon.
But again, 7000 miles away.
We are not able to make a difference there.
But we're looking at what we can make here in order to make a difference.
9:28
And as you can tell, it's a municipality election in New York and other areas including Dearborn and Dearborn Heights where the capital of Arab America.
And we are right now almost a month away from a little bit, a month away from the election.
9:44
And this election is pretty much set.
I think that the result of it is set in here.
However, New York and Mandani comes in as a focus, very important focus for our community and for the country is as a whole.
10:01
I, I believe what Mandani is representing in here is a, a part of the Democratic Party that has been revived.
And I believe that Jeffrey and, and Schumer are not responding to him or not supporting him.
10:18
It's because they represent the dying party of the, of the Democratic Party.
It's like what happened in the Republican Party when Donald Trump took it over and he took it over all the way to the right.
I, I hate, you know, giving labels.
10:33
I don't think Mandani, I don't look at Mandani as a progressive.
I look at him as representing the anger and anguish of people who have been left behind with the political apparatus.
And and they do not see what what's happening to them, whether it's a rent, it's food, schooling, education, public health, everything that they've left been left behind.
10:57
So he's addressing these issues and that's why he has this kind of support.
I believe Mandani is leading a revolution in here.
It's happening in New York, the Big Apple, but I think that it's going to spread all over the country.
You have mentioned the candidates, the candidacies of others in your in your region.
11:18
Osama and Abdul Al Saeed running for U.S.
Senate is a big one.
What do you think you're seeing there in terms of a new electorate turning out or an electorate perhaps that demands that we take a different look at some constituencies that perhaps we've been making assumptions about?
11:35
I think Mamdan is campaign and Abdul say it campaign and other campaigns just popping up in the country everywhere represents the change in the mood in the American public and the American voters.
They want someone who really represent people on not special interest and not Big Tax and the pharma and others who are who've been dictating policies in Washington, DC.
12:00
I think that we have in Washington right now the best politicians that money come by and things are going to change.
And I think they're changing right now.
You can see it obviously in in Mandani's campaign, but we also see it in Abu Sayyid campaign.
When he started his campaign, he was behind in, in his race against the, the two state senator and and US congresswoman.
12:24
But now he is way ahead of them.
He is leading the pack right now.
And that's why he's he's appealing to people.
He's discussing the issues that that cares that people care about.
He's going up north where the people have not heard of his name and he is making a huge difference.
12:41
People are listening to him because he is talking about issues that are important to them.
So it really doesn't matter anymore what is your name, whether it's Abdul, Say it, or John Smith, it really doesn't matter.
What matters is you're talking about issues that are important to people and they are feeling, they're feeling, especially today, they're feeling the pain in their pockets and, and, and their dinner table and also in their kids schooling and their, and their public health.
13:08
So, so I really believe that there is a change in attitude also on foreign policy.
Usually foreign policy is not something on the radar of, of American people or American voters.
But today with what's happening in Gaza and what's happening in Ukraine and how our foreign policy is being operated and, and conducted, people are very angry.
13:28
There are polls that being conducted and we're looking at it and we see a majority of American people are shifting from both parties and, and going into independence.
Like we're like here in Michigan, we have a the mayor of Detroit, Mike Duggan, who is running as an independent for governor.
13:47
He is not he he left the Democratic Party and and ran as a Democrat because he doesn't see in the Democratic Party anything that resembles what Michigan Michiganders want.
In terms of independence, Vermont's independence, Senator Bernie Sanders was up there campaigning for El Sayed, and he's been campaigning for Zora Mamdani as well in New York.
14:11
You wrote recently, Asha, that Mamdani's campaign was doing something that Sanders campaign never managed regarding black voters and the need for us to change perhaps our sense of that black voter archetype.
Yeah, you know, my, my work has been in in black communities, in black movement.
14:30
And then I also, you know, I, I consider myself a part of the left and have, you know, supported progressive and leftist and socialist candidates and all of that.
And so I'm always thinking about, well, what is that intersection and why isn't it?
Why doesn't it feel bigger?
You look at polling of Black American adults and especially on economic issues, but on a wide range of things, we are one of the demographics that has one of the most favorable views across the board of socialism.
15:03
We tend to support things like investing in good jobs, expanding the public sector, universal healthcare, and there's a way in which our movements sometimes haven't tapped into that full potential.
And I think that that is important, important organizing and political work to be done.
15:21
And so, you know, we saw in the days after the primary, there were some takes saying, you know, majority black precincts went for Cuomo and use that which which is in part true.
15:37
But it's not a data point that actually tells the whole story there.
Because if you then look at at the polling going in or some of the exit polls, what you see is that among black voters that knew who mom Donnie was, he had enormously high support.
15:53
And so it's, it's really just thinking about that potential.
And I know and have seen the campaign, especially going into the general general has invested in some ways in a concerted effort to make sure that, you know, black voters across the board know who he is.
16:10
I also think that there's a big distinction across age, which is, you know, true across the board.
And then, you know, I, I think that we sometimes interplay, you know, what the polling about likely voters says versus what the polling about a whole demographic says, right.
16:31
And what I see in my organizing is that I more so than I am concerned with black people being pulled to the right or being pulled in by Trump.
While there is a, you know, small there, there are some people who are being pulled that way.
16:46
Disturbing polling recently, but keep going.
Yes, yes.
And I, I've dug into that.
But even more so than that, I think what we see are people who are disengaged and feel like our political system isn't going to deliver for them at all.
And, you know, who feel let down by the establishment Democratic Party that has really sold all of us out for for decades.
17:12
And, and, and black people have borne enormous amount of the brunt of that impact.
And so, you know, I think it's it's both about how do we make sure that leftists are reaching communities with their message about affordability and economics, but in a way that also speaks to the particular particularities of race, of racism, of racial capitalism.
17:41
And it's it's manifestations in our country that they are doing that, that people know who they are.
Walk and chew gum.
Am I hearing Asha maybe walk and?
Also chew gum and then also that engages people who are disengaged entirely.
17:59
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18:18
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18:34
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Now back to our full uncle conversation.
Felipe the race has changed a little, I think, since the New York Attorney General, Letitia James came on board strongly behind Zora Mamdani.
18:54
And in just the last few weeks, we've seen huge rallies happen with Letitia, James and Mumdani specifically representing a sort of face of defiance against ICE raids and in support of the immigrant population in New York.
19:12
What are you seeing that you think is important about all that, and is it significant for policy going forward?
You you cover policy on the immigration front with your newsletter.
Sure.
Yeah.
I mean, I think Tish James has enormous credibility here for a number of reasons.
19:28
I mean, she has a, you know, a very interesting and, and sort of varied career in politics.
She was Public Advocate, became attorney general at a pretty pivotal moment and was actually sort of a one of the forefront, you know, national figures actually holding Trump to account during his first term.
You know, and subsequently, right, you know, famously brought the the prosecutions, you know, against him.
19:49
The only ones that really ultimately stuck.
Those were more like Alvin Bragg, but you know, the investigations onto the the Trump Organization and whatnot.
And you know, now has been actually indicted by the Trump administration in a nakedly political fashion, which I think, you know, goes to show that the the extent to which she was a real antagonist to that administration, which actually I think helps.
20:09
Mundani, again, because of the unpopularity of the Trump administration here.
And so she's someone who's got a lot of credibility and a lot of, you know, clout in different sort of parts of the party, right?
She's someone who is actually very well respected in sort of moderate parts of the, the the party here, if a little begrudgingly.
20:26
And she has a lot of credibility and sort of left-leaning circles.
And so I think she's a good avatar to kind of bring together some of those things.
And I think, you know, do what Mundani increasingly doesn't need but has needed for a good part of this campaign, which is essentially have people vouch for him, right?
20:43
He was, you know, a virtual unknown, you know, 7-8 months ago.
I mean, like, you know, zero name recognition.
And so, you know, to kind of ping off what Usher was saying as well.
You know, he's someone who I think needed kind of trusted local interlocutors to really say like, no, this guy's for real.
20:59
And now we're getting to the point where, you know, he has that kind of name recognition and those vouches that kind of allows him to be out in campaigning.
Now to to your point about immigration enforcement, you know, I think this is also one example of part of why Mondani has been successful, which is that he is not campaigning from the defensive posture, right?
21:19
So he is someone who, you know, he'll be out in an event.
Some will be like, you're a socialist and he'll be like, Yep.
Now let's talk about the buses, right?
And I think that, you know, that seems like a simple enough strategy, but it's one that I think a lot of, you know, sort of left-leaning candidates haven't adopted because there's this sense that they have to essentially be like apologizing for their policy prescriptions and their stances.
21:42
And, you know, that he has not done that.
He is fully embraced, you know, the things that he, the positions that he's taken, the things he said, he's obviously been questioned a lot about certain, you know, sporadic statements that he's made.
And he's walked back on some very, very, like, minor points, like something he said about the police like years ago or whatever.
21:59
And that's just politics for you.
But for the most part, you know, he very much embraces who he is and what his policy prescriptions are.
And, you know, he's someone who will say, yeah, we're going to get ice out of New York City.
We're going to, you know, defend, you know, we're going to freeze the rents the entire time that, you know, I'm mayor.
22:18
And these slogans, you know, there are going to be practical questions about implementation, you know, if and when he's mayor, right?
Can he get ice out of New York City?
Probably not, right?
That there's not really a legal mechanism for that.
But it doesn't really matter, right?
You know, you campaign in poetry and you govern in prose.
22:35
People like that, people, you know, understand what he's trying to convey, even if, you know, some of it is kind of, you know, procedurally iffy.
And so I think that you know, his sticking to the script and sticking to his message unapologetically not, you know, all the time saying sorry, sorry, sorry for having these these positions is partly what his secret sauce is.
22:55
And then he just seems like a nice guy, you know, go up them on the street and have a conversation.
Now, that hasn't necessarily saved him from some pretty brutal coverage in the media.
And we have to say, the New York Times especially has spent a lot of ink meant reminding people of his position, criticizing US support for Israel during the Gaza war, standing up for Palestinian rights, showing up at demonstrations, being one of the founders of Students for Action for Palestine in his campus years.
23:24
Coming to you, Osama, what perhaps this is a leading question.
Are commercial media getting wrong about that part of his platform as it relates to his popularity?
Well, you know, I'm sure you've heard of this saying that you believe in one person that can change the world.
23:47
I think that I do.
Donnie is one of those people because he is really changing the world from the largest city in the United States in this campaign and he's changing a lot of things.
And that's why the mainstream media is going after him because the mainstream media, unfortunately, this is the same media that went for the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
24:16
And they beat the Trump for war.
And they have George Bush and Tony Blair for in their, their invasion of Iraq for unsubstantiated and, you know, accusations of, of weapons of mass destruction.
24:31
So I think that they have lost a lot of their respect and a lot of their, you know, readership because of this.
And also social media has taken a toll on them as well because they are telling what's what's happening.
We know right now what Mandani is saying, not through the New York Times, not through the Washington Post, unfortunately, but through social media.
24:52
And it's making, it's making its, its way to the hearts and minds of people around the country.
And that's why I believe and one person can change the world.
Gandani is 1 of.
Them now Asha will say, but there's movement behind Mamdani not to say a coalition.
And I love the phrase that you used in a recent discussion with our friend Dan Denver at the Dig where you talked about the lessons of the Brandon Johnson experience there in Chicago as mayor for the Mamdani future.
25:20
And you say we have experienced a certain amount of, I think you said coalitional strain?
Yeah, I I don't, I don't.
Lord, I didn't mean that.
He is doing it alone, of course.
I know you didn't.
I'm just using it as a segue for Asha to talk about coalitions and coalitional strain.
What is the take away lesson Asha from Chicago so far from your point of view?
25:41
Yeah.
And I, I just want to appreciate Osama's point, which I think is an important compliment to mine about movements and coalition, is that I do also think this is a time when we need leadership.
And, you know, I think, and I think that we should want that.
26:01
I think sometimes our communities are so used to being let down by people in positions of power that we actually like, take this posture that we don't want any power at all or we don't want the people who are on our side to be successful.
And so it's, it's a growing edge to figure out how do we actually like support and have the back of people who we do believe can be champions and can be leaders in their own right.
26:26
And, you know, getting really good at being able to distinguish, you know, a leader when they they are going to champion the the demands and the vision of a movement.
But correct me if I'm wrong, my feeling around Chicago was there was huge anticipation and excitement around Brandon Johnson's campaign and his victory as a progressive win for the left.
26:45
And since then, a lot more criticism, although maybe that's changed in this confrontation with ICE.
Yeah, I I do think that it took reorientation.
27:00
You know, there we've been in decade, we have had decades if, you know, we have decades of mayors in Chicago that have sold off parts of public infrastructure to make money for their friends who have, you know, run the city like a, you know, deal making machine with, you know, a patronage system just to hold on to political power.
27:23
And we have run campaigns in in a city that has been the heart of experimenting with neoliberal reforms that have made our city more unequal along the lines of race and class.
And so movements have come together and blamed Chicago mayors for the choices that they've made.
27:44
And so the way that we understand politics is through the eyes of kind of like the, the, you know, the, the buck stops with the person on the 5th floor, as we say in Chicago, or that's where the mayor's office is in City Hall.
And I think that one of the big lessons is that, you know, there are real challenges to governing a big city as a progressive executive.
28:09
And there are a lot of other people and power structures that influence the decisions that you can make or the things that happen.
And I think just the public education to show that we may have elected a mayor, but the same people who are the same people, the same companies, the same money that elected a Rahm Emanuel who closed 50 schools or, you know, made other decisions, You know, along the line with the kind of privatization neoliberal agenda of like, cutting back spending that supports the everyday people in the working class, that political class, those operatives, that political money is still in the ecosystem being spent to shape the political reality to oppose or support measures that do or don't hurt their pockets.
28:57
And they're very much still activated.
And then, you know, there are things that only the governor has the power to do.
Now we're in in this moment where Trump is making massive cuts.
And so there's a real challenge to think about as an executive.
What do you have the power to do?
And then for the movement to know, we've got to keep our eyes on this bigger power structure that that still exists, that we've got to kind of organize around.
29:21
So that has been, I think, a growth edge for the movement here in Chicago to figure out how do we Orient to a bigger picture set of actors who are shaping our political reality.
And yeah, I.
And, you know, I do think there's a little bit of like, you know, we can struggle with each other about what the priority policy is going to be or what the best moment to take a risk versus not is going to be.
29:50
But at the end of the day, I think this moment where we are experiencing just enormous attacks from Trump's federal government, both in terms of sending in ICE and Border Patrol, but also economic attacks, those things impacting places across the country.
30:07
But he's made some targeted attacks on Chicago.
He just pulled $2 billion that was meant to fund the extension of our redline, our train to reach more of the like black and working class parts of the South Side.
He's finding all of these ways to really target our city economically, too.
30:25
And I think what we're seeing is a lot of unity and a lot of clarity about what side we're on.
And the sides feel very clear, I mean.
Donald Trump's administration does seem to be helping to unify his opposition, and that's great.
But as we or and as we draw to a close in this conversation, I would love to hear from each of you a little about what strengths your media outlets bring to this moment.
30:48
Because I think, you know, we have a tendency in the commercial media to create kind of straw man images of different demographic groups and then to report heavily on any divisions within that Group, A practice that is not the same when it comes to white politics.
31:06
People are allowed to have all sorts of opinions coming to you, Osama, in that delicate balance that you've identified between individual history makers and the movements that they're a part of.
And I hear you.
We need both.
Where do you think your reporting and the reporting of institutions like yours has strength?
31:25
Perhaps over the commercial media that at this point seems so incredibly cowed in any case, but never covered movements well.
Well, let me just say by last 41 years since the establishment of the Arab American news, many things have changed.
31:41
And the cities that we were operating in, especially in Dearborn, Dearborn in the history, it was a racist town.
It was pushing.
Everybody was not white outside of the city.
And when actually, when I started the newspaper in 1984, the mayor launched a campaign headline.
32:01
Let's talk about the Arab problem because the Arabs were coming in from the windows when, when the doors were shut in the face of African Americans and other, you know, ethnic groups.
And he won.
He was, he was #3 in the, in the polls and he came out to, to win in 1985 and become the mayor of, of, of Dearborn.
32:21
But what happened 40 years later?
Abdullah Hussein Hamoud is the mayor of Dearborn Today the the president of the City Council is Mohammed Sereni.
The the head of the District Court is said in salami.
Both of them, all of them are Lebanese American.
32:39
The head of the police is ASA Shaheen, who is an Egyptian American.
So, so we have changed also in the urban highs, in Anthramic, in and everywhere in Birmingham.
Things are moving forward.
So I think we've made a difference in trying to bring our community back into the, into the political and the electoral process.
33:00
This is where you can make a difference.
This is why we admire what Mandani is doing, what Abdullah Hamoud is doing, what Mobaedun is doing in Dearborn Heights, because they're bringing our community, lifting our community, bringing them in order to participate, vote, because voting is the power of the people and they have a chance to make it every year, whether it's municipality, whether it's midterm or presidential election.
33:23
We have made a great deal of, of progress in here in Michigan.
It's a swing state, as you know, Laura, and we have done a great deal in educating our community and how to vote.
We did not endorse any of, of the candidate in the Republican Democratic Party for the president or the Senate because they were not representing what we believe.
33:43
And, and, and some of them lost by 17,000 votes and the president, the President Trump won Michigan by 150,000.
I think like exactly what what Biden did in 2020.
And that shows you that Biden lost our support and, and they played the, you know, the cards in here when, when they brought Trump in order to, you know, give us lip service, talk about peace and all the stuff.
34:10
We, we did not support him.
And he he did gain some votes because people were voting against the Democrats that were not voting for Donald Trump.
So we, we try to educate our community.
We try to encourage him to become public servants, to engage with other communities and to participate in the political process.
34:28
And that's how we can change.
Asha, you have advice for reporters covering the situation both in Momdani's in in New York but also beyond.
Yeah.
And you know, to circle back here to something you mentioned, which is kind of the the lens through which we we assess political leaders and especially progressive and, and movement backed political leaders.
34:55
You know, a big part of what we've experienced is just how completely tied up the corporate backed political class that is really like an alliance of the real estate industry, the finance sector, the charter school industry and now they're kind of newest coalition partner are Pro Israel forces.
35:18
How aligned those sets of political interests are with our local mainstream media that really shapes, especially for people outside of Chicago, an interpretation of politics and what goes on here that is both in terms of, you know, some of our big newspapers and local mainstream broadcast newsrooms.
35:42
But then it's also paid media.
I I can't tell you the volume of ads and text messages spreading misinformation about policies to invest in affordable housing, policies to protect public safety in a root Causeway that have gone out.
36:02
Not just not not only criticizing our mayor, but but also criticizing progressives that we elected to City Hall and ultimately criticizing the vision of a move that wants to make our city better for the working class.
So there's a lot of money poured into making people inside and outside of Chicago see things in a certain way.
36:23
And that's why it's so important, one that I think media and getting our message out there to interpret politics for people is also so important and that we hold on to spaces that we do have outlets, you know, like in these times where I write in other places.
36:40
That takes me to you, Felipe, there in the belly of the beast of New York City.
There's still a little bit of reporting still to do on the mayor's race, but then the coverage of the administration that follows.
Where will you be focusing?
What's you think the special source that you at Epicenter and you and independent media bring to this job?
37:00
And what's your advice to other reporters Who was who, As I said earlier, you know, commercial media aren't good at covering movements, and this is a movement story.
Sure, you know, this might sound a little bit odd, but I think that there is a, an intent to look at real politic on my part and on the part of some alternative media.
37:19
And that, you know, a lot of the mainstream media tends to view itself as the ones that are savvy, that understand what's going on.
And yet it, you know, their coverage is often predicated on assiduously ignoring certain things.
Like, for example, you know, there's all this insinuation about, oh, you know, are Jewish voters concerned about Mandani?
37:36
Like, you know, or is the, is the New York Jewish community fearful?
And, you know, I mean, you go and you can certainly find people who will, you know, give you that perspective.
Nonetheless, the polls that we have seen that have, you know, breakdowns by demographic, you know, the crosstabs, we've seen that Jewish voters seem to per the polls, right, that everyone agrees are are real, you know, mostly supporting them, Donnie, right?
38:00
And that's just a reality.
And so I think that, you know, there's kind of this like, you know, there are cultural factors and there are institutional factors that sort of point a lot of the institutional media towards staring at the jingling keys.
But we have the the ability, I think, to look at things from a longer term perspective, you know, understand that there are things that have trajectories that they originated somewhere and that they are headed in a certain direction instead of just this particular moment in time.
38:28
You know, I'll tell you, for example, I think it's important to understand a Mondani mayoral T in the context of the recent de Blasio mayoral T, right?
Something that, you know, I covered and that my colleagues here were writing about at the time.
And, you know, de Blasio was the one time, you know, big progressive hope here in New York City.
38:46
And for the most part, people consider him to have kind of flamed out for a number of reasons that I think that the Mandani campaign has pretty top of mind, right?
And so I think like, you know, there are these kind of histories and trajectories and, and sort of, you know, foundations of things that that we're able to kind of incorporate into our reporting that that, you know, unfortunately a lot of, you know, outlets just kind of like to live in the moment and sort of not really think about those things and how they've kind of affected the way that politics has played out so.
39:19
If you add one piece of advice to reporters covering, let's say, the next six months in local politics across this country with a focus of New York, Felipe, what would it be?
I would say that it is sort of crucial to understand like the context of everything, right, Like sort of like what where certain ideas originated.
39:43
You know, we've had a lot of astroturfing and sort of injecting ideas into the into the political conversation that, you know, are not really rooted in anything, you know, popular or, you know, that are sort of manufactured populism.
39:59
And so, you know, I think it's important to keep that in mind and to really be able to identify where that's happening, when who's responsible and how that's affecting the conversation.
Not to say that it doesn't affect the conversation because it certainly does.
You have to engage with that.
But you know, you shouldn't treat it as, you know, just something that that is sort of an organic thing when when it is not.
40:21
So not just snapshot reporting.
Osama, would you have any advice you want to give reporters?
Yes, of course.
Not to look at the names, not to look at the ethnic origin, not to look at the colour, not to look at the religion of these people, but look at their, you know, actions and look at their programs and look at their initiatives.
40:41
And I think that if we do that, then we can let the people, the right people for the right position.
It's another balancing act.
Asha, what's your one sentence advice to journalists out there?
Yeah, I think expose the money being spent against him and, and and don't take, you know, some of the critique at face value with at least following the money and seeing who's going to profit or, or who who stands to profit from the city remaining, you know, unaffordable to the working class and, and drawing those links.
41:15
Felipe Osama, thank you so much.
It's been a great conversation.
I look forward to having you again back on the program here at Laura Flanders and friends.
Thanks for having me.
Thank.
You for inviting me?
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41:33
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41:48
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