Sure

... than pictures, and the, the moment was, uh, arriving there, dri- driving up PCH and getting to Sunset Boulevard, where Sunset Boulevard connects kinda down by the beach, and everyone was fleeing.

Like, people were ...

And I, and I ...

The first thing you have to do is where you park your car, and where do you park your car that it's not gonna catch on fire? I mean, that, that's a r- that's a thing that's going through your head.

And then you have to base, like, "Okay, I'm taking this gear with me, but I might need to come back to my car to get other gear." So you have to ...

Your car is now your base, right? Because there's no cell phones.

it was so eerily quiet.

Was my first boots on the ground priority for you? We got to repeal the Lake and

Riley Act because we got to stop deporting people.

It makes no sense that we could be here in the Bronx and we have something right now that's making it easy to deport people.

That's crazy.

Because we all know and we're seeing ICE and Border Patrol are not just going after someone who they think is not here legally or illegally.

They're going after anybody.

They're going after citizens, right? Yeah.

You know what I mean? So why are you that person that could withstand that that pressure? Because that

Yeah

... versus what we've seen what has happened for me.

Now, so to your question, we start from that place.

We start from that place.

We start from that place, but where do we go? Let's be clear.

Michael Blake, I wanna protect our immigrants.

I wanna repeal the Laken Riley Act.

What is the ask of folks watching? What is the ask of folks, whether they're in your district or not, how can they support you and help you get across the finish line?

When you look at your district and you see how underserved they are, are people coming to you, the people that would be your future constituents, are they coming to you seeking answers or has the electorate just become kind of used to their politicians not delivering?

No, they're, they're, they're, well, they're used to Ritchie Torres not deliver.

Uh, and so, you know, I, I was on the block.

I was at 161st Street, uh, not far from Yankee Stadium, and three different people walked up to us and in real time, in succession said, "I've reached out to Ritchie Torres' office.

They never call us back." "We reached out to Ritchie Torres' office said, 'We need help.' No one actually contacted us." "We desperately need something different." That was just like walking down the block.

They recognized me and they recognized that they needed something different.

Uh, and so when we think about what's happening, it's not just that people are frustrated in general.

Yeah.

Uh, what is your sense of, of all of that in terms of Ritchie Torres?

I think when we look at what the, the energy is in New York, uh, you know, I was someone who crossed endorsed Sharm el-Doni, our mayor elect.

Ritchie Torres refused to endorse me, actually endorsed Andrew Cuomo.

When we talk about the energy of how I've helped mobilize Democrats across New York and across the country, um, Ritchie Torres has not only attacked the members of the squad, he's called the DSA a Mickey Mouse party, and has literally told people, uh, to go F off, uh, when he didn't agree with them.

Uh, there is a new vision of what's happening right now, uh, in which people are saying enough is enough and that we're sick and tired of it.

And so in the district, saying the poorest congressional district in the country, a district where just recently an explosion happened at one of our public housing developments, a district where you have a community in New York City where one out of four people are in poverty and wondering how they're going to pay their bills, a, a district that we still are wondering...What will happen if and when ICE rolls up in the Bronx, because we saw what they did in Canal Street.

Uh, as someone who is a son of Jamaican immigrants, I'm saying very clearly, there is a new vision of what we can and deserve to have in this district in the Bronx.

It, it seems at least from h- from here that he's been a little bit distant, uh, from his own, uh, district, and more out there trying to make a, make a, a name for himself in, uh, you know, the, the, the establishment circles.

What, what is your view?

Well, well, first, to, to brief this conversation, uh, given my, my role with Next Level Sports, I would also agree that there, there is no acceptable form of, of editing out, uh, factual information.

And if, quite frankly, if they were to just let the whole thing play, we wouldn't be having the conversation right now because Donald Trump clearly said a rhetoric that was reprehensible and unacceptable.

There was no reason to make those edits in that regard.

People are speaking and, and seeking the truth.

Uh, as it relates to, to Zoron, our, our mayor-elect, uh, you know, I ran in the mayoral primary and Zoron and I cross-endorsed each other, uh, and largely because we talked about, uh, cost of living and affordability being the number one issue.

When people are wondering right now, when one in four New Yorkers are wondering around poverty and paying of their bills, that is far more important than anything else that is happening here.

Um, you know, the people that do that kind of thing, where they're weaponizing lies or genuine hate and anti-Semitism, you know, I think you gotta be very careful about platforming people, but that is their business model.

Hmm.

I recognized and saw the power of when you have someone who was from Ethiopia who talked about, uh, the recognition of Israel and that dynamic.

I get that, and I saw that.

I appreciated that.

But Ryan, Krista, and everybody, the, the journey continued thereafter, because you start to then realize slowly that you are being given a side that's not giving the full picture.

2017, I spoke at an AIPAC, uh, conference, and particularly it was around Black and Jewish leaders coming together for that moment.

Right? Uh, and I said within one of those events, "AIPAC had changed my life forever" in that moment, because quite frankly, it allowed me to go to Israel, which I had never been before, to see it, which I'm also an ordained reverend, which obviously adds to this dynamic, you know.

So was that a concerted strategy, uh, to, to tie these all together? And, and how do you see the connection between Torres being the kinda guy who takes money from AIPAC and, and is also maybe behind on economic populism?

I'm curious, what specific metrics would you use to expand it or evaluate it in- in New York City schools? What would success look like, say, five years into a Blake administration?

administration?... first and foremost, the pedagogy, uh, the focus on literacy has to be improved.

We have to make sure that there is a, you know, a, a tenfold improvement on third grade literacy because that is the ultimate barometer on progress that happens for students.

Um, we have to make sure, uh, that suspensions continue to decline and attendance continues to increase.

Uh, and, and that level of continuity, uh, would have tremendous impact.

But then, fundamentally, we need to make sure that we have, not just high school graduation, but college acceptance as well as career readiness for entrepreneurship.

Because the vision around My Brother's Keeper is changing the narrative, and changing the narrative is intertwined around the approach of how do we make sure, yes, you're doing well academically, but you also have a family community engagement-

Right on.

How do you deal with something, some thing, and I meant that, and someone like MAGA and Donald Trump? Because it appears right now, he is running roughshod through, um, Washington, DC through the legislative branch and just doing whatever the hell he wants.

You know, you gotta check a bully, you gotta check a fool, you gotta check a clown, and that's what he is.

And the reason why we defeated him, uh, when we elected President Biden is that we wouldn't let his lies just sit there silently.

And a lot of times, that's the problem.

You know, you, you can't just be nice with a fool, right? Donald Trump has been this way his entire career, his entire life.

And what I'm saying is, let's look at all that's happening.

When you have a scenario of the absolutely inhumane idea, uh, of saying, "Well, well, in two weeks, I'll let you know and if we attack Iran." That is crazy, crazy talk to be coming out of a president of the United States.

So is everybody there, everyone? Is, is it, it's not just you three, right?