Latest / It's Open with Ilana Glazer / Chi Ossé

Transcript

Chi Ossé · It's Open with Ilana Glazer

• 0:00
  I am thrilled about this conversation that I just finished recording with my guest, Chi Ossé. Come on in, it's open and check it out.
• 0:13
  Welcome to It's Open with Ilana Glazer.
• 0:16
  My guest today gives me faith in humanity and is one of my heroes.
• 0:24
  Chi Ossé is the council member for New York City's 36th district representing Bed-Stuy and North Crown Heights and the co-chair of the Brooklyn Delegation.
• 0:36
  Chi made history in 2021 when he became the youngest ever elected member of the New York City Council.
• 0:44
  At just 23 years old, his landslide victory defied skeptics and proved that a new generation of bold, progressive leadership has arrived from grassroots organizing to drafting legislation in the chamber.
• 1:01
  He bridges community energy with institutional power, whether he's tackling housing equity or public safety reform.
• 1:09
  Q embodies a new kind of local leadership, bold, inclusive, relentlessly engaged and powered by the lived experience of this city.
• 1:19
  Fleas. Welcome to our video podcast, council member Chi Ossé.
• 1:26
  So happy.
• 1:26
  To be on the show. Oh my gosh, Chi, it is so, it is my honor to be friends and collaborators and.
• 1:36
  I mean, it's an honor to not only be on its open, but to be a partner in fighting the right fight within the city.
• 1:44
  That's right. Listen, I'm 27 years old. I love my life.
• 1:48
  I have a happy gay life here in New York City, but I can't navigate my day to day living this life without stressing about what's happening within Washington dc We're seeing slashes to Medicaid, a gutting of Snap.
• 2:03
  We're not seeing any fight from our Democratic leaders, Not from Hakeem Jeffries.
• 2:10
  I think I got to register with the Working Families Party or something because I no longer can identify as a Democrat.
• 2:18
  I have the elected officials who I look to AOC now Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, Ayanna Presley, Rashida Talib, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren. But I mean, these are these few shining stars in a dark sky of Democrats.
• 2:33
  Yeah, I mean, I never wanted to be a politician.
• 2:37
  I was called into this role and to run for office in the height of the protest during 2020.
• 2:44
  And I was marching in the streets pissed off about the horrible atrocities that we were seeing against black people within this country. And it evolved into me announcing a bid for city council, not fully knowing the grasp of the powers of the city council, but having this fire within me to want to see change.
• 3:03
  And I think because of that, my entire philosophy behind running for office has always been unthought and unbowed, and I'm worried about where our country is going.
• 3:15
  It's not enough for Democrats to just be anti-Trump, like Hakeem, like Chuck. Not only are they failing against pushing back against Trump, but they told Joe Biden to stay in the race and didn't push him to drop out, which resulted in Trump.
• 3:30
  But we need Democrats who are presenting a future that's worth fighting for Medicare for all, green New Deal with 100% union jobs.
• 3:38
  We need elected leaders who have this vigor to push back against what we are seeing.
• 3:44
  Yeah, vigor. First of all, we have a Gerontocracy problem on our hands.
• 3:48
  We've got some people holding onto their hot seat access to insider trading, and they're making millions and millions and millions dollars of dollars just like the Republicans can.
• 4:01
  We parse out the corporate Democrat from the progressive Democrat, even though it maybe seems obvious?
• 4:08
  Can we just take a moment to talk about or think about what it means to get money from oil companies, from apac, from whatever the fuck that I understand.
• 4:22
  It's hard to get grassroots donation, and I got to say, I want progressives within the Democratic Party to have money to work with.
• 4:29
  I even want people like you fighting this fight to have money, to be comfortable and sleep well. I don't want you to be burning, burning, burning.
• 4:38
  The.
• 4:38
  Midnight oil. So I don't even mean, I'm not talking about private jets.
• 4:42
  I'm just saying traveling comfortably.
• 4:44
  Living.
• 4:44
  Comfortably so that you can fight with rest and health.
• 4:48
  Can we just talk about the huge difference between different types of money.
• 4:53
  That.
• 4:53
  The Democrats are taking?
• 4:54
  Of course, the minority leader, his top donors are apac, Lockheed Martin, which is a weapons manufacturer. Oh No.
• 5:02
  Blackstone and BlackRock. Lord, some of the largest landlords in this country, and I've represented bed se Crown Heights for four years.
• 5:09
  I grew up in these neighborhoods and I've seen the displacement that has impacted my neighbors and my constituents.
• 5:17
  I've seen New York City public housing crumbling while our member, our leader of our Democratic party prioritizes sending billions to Israel, which is participating in genocide.
• 5:29
  All of these national issues really do boil down to the local problems that many of our neighbors are dealing with and why it speaks to a cancer that is impacting our entire Democratic party. They are funded.
• 5:43
  Many of our colleagues, many of our Democrats are funded by the same fiscal entities that funded Donald Trump, that funded Republicans who took back the house.
• 5:53
  So how are they going to be equipped to fight back against Trump when the same people that got them there created the issue that we're in right now?
• 6:02
  Because when people are paying, you owe them.
• 6:04
  That.
• 6:05
  Is how it works. So if the people are paying you in small dollar donations, you owe them.
• 6:11
  I.
• 6:11
  Do want to call in billionaires and Hollywood Elite who say that they're progressive and say, please give millions to progressives.
• 6:18
  But I find that even cultural progressives or cultural liberals, let's say, are scared of breaking the status quo because they think their money is at stake.
• 6:30
  But I'm.
• 6:31
  Like, it's not.
• 6:32
  Nobody's going to watch your movies or cares about your TV show because they can't take care of their basic needs.
• 6:41
  I see this as a part of that movement that we are seeing within this political moment, Zorn's amazing campaign over this past year with the New York City show that big money can be beaten, right.
• 6:56
  And that.
• 6:56
  People are attracted and want to vote for elected officials and politicians and candidates that have a vision that's worth fighting for and speaks to the issues that they're dealing with, whether it be affordability or childcare or public transportation.
• 7:10
  And Zoran Win win reflected how there is a change that our party needs to see in order to push back against the horrors that we're seeing within this country. That's.
• 7:21
  Right.
• 7:21
  His win cracked the Democratic party open and he need to send a message to apac, to Lockheed Martin, to BlackRock and Blackstone, to MetLife that their money and their association with our party is politically toxic and that we need leaders who are unthought, unpassed, grassroots, and can truly be well-equipped to push out and stamp fascism forever.
• 7:41
  That is correct. The people are more powerful than the people in power.
• 7:45
  Is that what it is? It really is. The people are more powerful.
• 7:49
  That has been such exciting mountain to climb together as New Yorkers. I.
• 7:53
  Mean.
• 7:53
  New York City is what we are so wealthy in is our diversity.
• 7:58
  We honestly create so much money for this country because of all the different ideas and lived experiences that we have, that diversity actually leads to our profitability in this country.
• 8:10
  And we were able to show we are the currency, we are the wealth, we are the value, and we can make the world that we want.
• 8:18
  And it actually turns out everybody wants affordability.
• 8:20
  This wasn't just a campaign of people who need what Zoran is talking about. It was people who want.
• 8:29
  To.
• 8:29
  Create a world of what Zoran is talking about.
• 8:31
  And when you say unthought and Unpassed, you are referencing Shirley Chisholm.
• 8:35
  Absolutely.
• 8:35
  She was the first ever black person in Congress.
• 8:38
  Incredible.
• 8:38
  The first, and.
• 8:39
  We're the first black woman to run for president. That's.
• 8:41
  Right. Her book, unthought and Unpassed is such an incredible playbook of how she got from community organizing to Congress, which is exactly what you've done.
• 8:52
  She talks about organizing childcare for women and families and maps step-by-step, her road to Congress.
• 9:01
  And now her husband helped her keep raising her, I think three girls in, and she would go to DC and then come back to Brooklyn.
• 9:09
  And also the way that she wrote about it was like the sixties and the way she wrote about Vietnam.
• 9:16
  And.
• 9:17
  How it was so confusing.
• 9:18
  How could we be spending this money when people are poor and hungry here?
• 9:23
  It's unbelievable. Or totally believable. In fact.
• 9:26
  Believable.
• 9:27
  Or not, it's evil that we are still stuck in the same conundrum paying for war because that's the only way that these uncreative people know how to profit and not feeding our people.
• 9:38
  There's.
• 9:39
  A totally different creative economy on the other side of this monstrosity.
• 9:43
  Totally.
• 9:44
  To reflect off of Shirley Chisholm, in terms of her stance on being anti-war, some people see international relations or the genocide in Gaza or other problems that are happening abroad as something that does not impact them. And even pundits who are maybe pro-Israel say, what about the issues that are happening at home? It's all cyclical.
• 10:08
  It impacts everything that is happening here.
• 10:11
  US funding wars abroad and not funding our poor and uplifting our working class and improving in the material conditions of people's lives is all cyclical. It impacts each and every single one of us.
• 10:26
  I think that when we see the horrors and the genocide happening to the people in Gaza and the people in Palestine, it's not just about taking a stance on that.
• 10:36
  It's about everybody taking that in as something that a government can do to its people. That what is happening and seeing it on our phones is training us to believe that this is something a government can do to its people.
• 10:53
  And we don't see very much of government.
• 10:55
  It's a really good government feeding its people. I mean, it literally creates that reality, but by way of virtual reality, we see it and we're like, oh, well, that's what happens. No, that's not what happens. It's happening. But that I can't stand it.
• 11:09
  I can't stand it. I can't stand to see ice tase our immigrants. Absolutely.
• 11:14
  Immigrants are founding Immigrants and Americans. Right?
• 11:19
  There are Americans that ice is harassing to.
• 11:24
  I really believe that the majority of Americans, I really do believe the majority of Americans have And we're being told a different story with.
• 11:35
  Absolutely.
• 11:35
  The algorithm that very few men own these guys on the algorithm.
• 11:38
  So.
• 11:38
  They're telling us what we are, but I don't really think that's what we are.
• 11:42
  I think what happened with Zo, Ron's election and the election in Georgia electing a female governor and female lieutenant governor and Pennsylvania, they retained Democratic Supreme Court justices and California passed Prop 50.
• 11:57
  I don't think Americans are as foolish as these motherfuckers think that they are.
• 12:00
  Yeah.
• 12:01
  I think many of our elected officials in our political zeitgeist thinks that voters are stupid. That's.
• 12:09
  Right.
• 12:09
  And voters and people are feeling the real impacts of what failed leadership looks like. That's.
• 12:19
  Right.
• 12:19
  Within this country, within our states, within our cities, people are struggling to put food on their table, to keep roofs over their heads, to support their children and make sure their children have adjust good education. People are fucking fed up. And I'm fed up too. Me too.
• 12:35
  I'm one of the people.
• 12:37
  I feel the pressures of what inaction is doing to me.
• 12:43
  And.
• 12:43
  Those around me. That's.
• 12:44
  Right. And.
• 12:45
  I can't move another day without wanting to fight back against that. It's unfair.
• 12:52
  It's unfair that these people are doing this to us and we have the power, as we've seen in these past elections, to change the shit for the better.
• 13:00
  Speaking of democracy, can we talk about what you have achieved in your short time and your young life in New York City Council with the power of the people behind you and your understanding and the power of democracy?
• 13:15
  Yeah.
• 13:15
  First of all, you spearheaded and passed legislation to provide Narcan in bars.
• 13:20
  Can we talk about that?
• 13:21
  Absolutely.
• 13:21
  So I see harbor reduction as a public safety tool at our disposal. And many people do drugs that just happens and everybody.
• 13:33
  Do drugs.
• 13:34
  If people are going to do drugs, there needs to be safety measures in case someone overdoses in case someone is testing their drugs.
• 13:44
  So this was a piece of legislation that was personal to me.
• 13:48
  I used to work in nightlife.
• 13:49
  I've had a friend who's overdosed on fentanyl before.
• 13:54
  I see every life as something that should be protected regardless of if someone's doing drugs or not.
• 14:02
  So we passed a bill within my first year in the city council that would provide bars and nightclubs with Narcan and Fentanyl test strips to make sure that if people are doing drugs, that if they are overdosing, they can be saved, their lives can be saved. Can.
• 14:19
  I just remind everybody?
• 14:19
  Alcohol is a drug.
• 14:22
  It just has been embraced culturally because the way the profit system around it has flowed, but alcohol is a drug as well.
• 14:29
  Drug use has been criminalized since Nixon, but beforehand it used to just be this thing in the margins of society that wasn't necessarily at the center of society, but criminalization of drug use is a tool of propaganda.
• 14:42
  Nobody.
• 14:42
  Wants someone, they love to be addicted to drugs or to overdose.
• 14:47
  But I'm just remembering, I'm like, why is Chi defending it?
• 14:50
  He saved lives because the conservative movement has weaponized drug use.
• 14:54
  Even though plenty of conservatives and plenty of people who vote conservative use drugs or the people they love use drugs.
• 14:59
  If someone's overdosing on drugs, I'd rather, and they maybe have substance abuse or addicted to drugs.
• 15:08
  I'd rather have a system put in place that can save their life and put them on the path towards recovery if that's something that they need rather than them just dying of their addiction.
• 15:19
  So all life should be valid and protected no matter who the person is or what substances they use. Right.
• 15:26
  Because I'm just unpacking this, the.
• 15:28
  Groundbreaking.
• 15:28
  Right. Because the conservative movement says that if you use drugs, you should be punished and you shouldn't be saved.
• 15:35
  That's.
• 15:35
  Crazy. And then also, can we just talk about the Department of Sanitation for a second?
• 15:38
  You love the Department of Sanitation.
• 15:40
  I do love the Department of Sanitation. I love too.
• 15:42
  I love them. It's.
• 15:43
  An agency that picks up the trash for 9 million people. That's so insane.
• 15:49
  Incredible.
• 15:50
  If they didn't exist, could you imagine what the city.
• 15:53
  We would be so fucked.
• 15:53
  Would look like? They have a hard job at hand. Right. Incredibly.
• 15:56
  Hard.
• 15:56
  Not only is there a shit ton of trash, but some people are not that clean within the city.
• 16:01
  So they have multiple problems at hand.
• 16:01
  I love the Department of Sanitation.
• 16:07
  I think they need a lot more funding to do what they're doing. Copy.
• 16:10
  And I'm hoping the next mayor does that.
• 16:12
  Because also, first of all, I have Department of Sanitation merch.
• 16:14
  I have a t-shirt of theirs.
• 16:15
  Hell yeah.
• 16:16
  I like work out in it.
• 16:16
  I'm like, I'm a tough guy.
• 16:17
  There you go.
• 16:18
  And then also I saw a video you made once about the Department of Sanitation's Art Show.
• 16:22
  Right.
• 16:23
  Oh.
• 16:23
  My God, that's a deep cut.
• 16:25
  There is an amazing organization called the Sanitation Foundation, which is a nonprofit that raises money for the Department of Sanitation, supports its workers, highlights.
• 16:34
  Some of the amazing work that they do in that art show is just a bunch of really unique pieces of trash that individuals who worked for the Department of Sanitation put together and made it to amazing sculpture.
• 16:47
  It was beautiful.
• 16:48
  It was really cool.
• 16:49
  It was really cool. I'm going, whew.
• 16:50
  Because to have to raise funds for the Department of Sanitation is cuckoo.
• 16:55
  Within the wealthiest city in the wealthiest.
• 16:56
  Country. It's insane. Okay, girl.
• 16:59
  Yeah.
• 16:59
  The Fair Act.
• 17:01
  Yes.
• 17:02
  The.
• 17:02
  Fair Act. That's my landmark piece of legislation.
• 17:06
  You changed the city with the Fair Act.
• 17:09
  Tell me how.
• 17:11
  Listen, I am a tenant myself.
• 17:14
  When I was looking for an apartment I was moving out of, I was living in my mom's, the house I grew up at when I first won my seed for the city council and 23.
• 17:26
  Years old.
• 17:26
  23.
• 17:27
  Years old, so much to her. And when I was looking for apartments, I was like, what the fuck is a broker fee?
• 17:32
  I was looking at different apartments and sometimes there wasn't someone there, but there were still charging a broker fee.
• 17:39
  Sometimes the broker wouldn't even be paying attention.
• 17:42
  They'd be vaping outside. While I was looking at the apartment in New York City, when you're a prospective tenant looking for an apartment prior to this bill, you would be forced to not just pay first month's rent, not just pay the security deposit, but you would've to pay a broker fee that ranged from 15 to 30% of your annual rent.
• 18:00
  So to move into a new apartment in the city would cost upward of $10,000 at least, which is ridiculous.
• 18:07
  Impossible. I mean, that is impossible.
• 18:09
  You have to be rich to move anywhere to rent. I mean, it's not the city of 10 years ago.
• 18:15
  It's not the city of 20 years ago.
• 18:19
  It's not sustainable.
• 18:20
  So what did you do?
• 18:21
  So I introduced a bill called the Fair Act, fairness and Apartment Rentals Expenses Act, which would require that whomever hires a broker, whether landlord or tenant pays the broker fee.
• 18:31
  So in the old ways of doing things, your landlord would hire the broker and then the tenant would pay the broker fee. I think that's unfair, which is why we pushed and passed the Fair Act.
• 18:42
  I had millions and millions spent against me by the real estate industry of New York.
• 18:48
  They tried to buy out some of my colleagues and it was but I knew that I needed to use this tool at my disposal, which was social media.
• 18:58
  No one at the time within politics was speaking to people in a transparent way, in an educational way about things that were happening within the city and within government and within politics.
• 19:07
  And I knew that I couldn't win.
• 19:11
  Except you.
• 19:11
  Except.
• 19:12
  Me. You were breaking through using social media in a new way, educational, entertaining, and beautiful. Just stylistic. Thank you. Beautiful. I.
• 19:19
  Appreciate that.
• 19:20
  I knew that we weren't going to beat the real estate lobby just by doing politics the old way.
• 19:24
  I needed to bring the public involved.
• 19:28
  And I started telling them about how they could save thousands of dollars.
• 19:31
  We did this together, how they could save thousands of dollars in rental expenses if this bill passed, if they called their council member, if they showed up to a city council hearing if they testified themselves.
• 19:41
  Many people have never even been to City Hall before and people were listening and watching and asking how to help and showing up.
• 19:48
  And because of people power, because of organizing people through technology and through social media, we were able to pass this bill and beat the real estate lobby.
• 19:59
  You beat the real estate lobby by passing the Fair Act.
• 20:02
  And now people renting apartments do not have to pay brokers.
• 20:06
  Fees, and they're saving thousands of dollars a year in fees when they're moving.
• 20:11
  Incredible. You are phenomenal.
• 20:11
  Thank you. Amazing. Gee, amazing. Thank you.
• 20:16
  Fuck. Okay. Incredible.
• 20:21
  And then organized around budget, justice, housing affordability, public safety reform with a community centered lens. Yeah.
• 20:29
  Recognizing municipal spending as a tool.
• 20:31
  For equity. Yeah. I mean, I think it was a priority of mine when coming into the council to advocate for our money to be spent in the right way.
• 20:41
  And being a council member, I've been able to secure a lot of funding for parks within my district, investing in our roads, getting protected bike lanes established.
• 20:53
  I wanted to make sure that Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights were not neglected, right?
• 20:56
  Yes.
• 20:57
  And that was funding our park so that they could be state-of-the-art.
• 21:00
  We have a park not too far away from here called St. Andrew's Playground, which has not had a renovation in 40 years.
• 21:08
  And.
• 21:09
  We were able to secure 20 million to invest in that park. Incredible.
• 21:13
  So these incredible, these public investments make our community safer, provide space for our young people and show that our community is not neglected.
• 21:24
  And that was a top priority of mine when I came into the city council.
• 21:28
  We are worth clean bathrooms.
• 21:28
  I'm thinking as a parent, it's very important to have a clean bathroom.
• 21:34
  Your kid can pee in quick for people who their home isn't. They don't want to be there all the time. They need to park.
• 21:42
  They need to park to sit in. People deserve greenery.
• 21:45
  It doesn't matter whether you're, these billionaires seem to think that they're actually worth billions of dollars and we are worth whatever money we have.
• 21:52
  It's so twisted. It's like you guys, this is just a game that has been played and also it was rigged for you to win more money. Totally.
• 22:02
  But.
• 22:03
  You're not actually, you're flesh and.
• 22:04
  Blood. It's rigged economy.
• 22:05
  It's a rigged economy.
• 22:06
  Your flesh and blood and certainly your spirit is not worth more.
• 22:11
  We're all equal human beings.
• 22:13
  It's crazy. Absolutely.
• 22:13
  And that's why, I mean, some of these investments also included, we built thousands or green lit thousands of units of affordable housing.
• 22:20
  Within.
• 22:20
  This community. So not only are we investing in parks, but homes for people to stay and to move into so that they could use those parks.
• 22:26
  Incredible. Incredible.
• 22:30
  When you were first running and we did a Zoom fundraiser.
• 22:33
  Oh my God. Throwback. I think it was an Instagram.
• 22:35
  Was it Zoom or Instagram Live?
• 22:38
  I think so. And you were like 23 and Yeah, it was like, and I was asking you, I said to you, it has taken me time to come to understanding my place in this system.
• 22:51
  And I said, how do you know, understand this system so sharply and know how to navigate it so powerfully?
• 22:59
  And.
• 23:00
  You said, I'm black, I'm a third generation.
• 23:03
  I've lived it.
• 23:04
  Black American from Brooklyn, a third generation Brooklynite.
• 23:08
  And I'd just love to hear more about that.
• 23:10
  Yeah. I mean, a lot of my politics, a lot of policy or embedded with my lived experience.
• 23:18
  I grew up in Brooklyn and I've seen various different changes that my communities have seen. I've seen displacement. I've seen gun violence.
• 23:26
  I've seen poverty that my neighbors have experienced.
• 23:30
  I've seen inequities when it's come to our city budget and funds that go into one neighborhood versus another neighborhood.
• 23:39
  My parents have always raised me to love and have pride in who I am and where I come from, especially when it comes to my blackness.
• 23:50
  And that's allowed me to move through this world with the confidence that I have. Right? That's.
• 23:55
  Right.
• 23:56
  It's also given me the craziness and the nerve to think I could run for office at 22 years, two years old.
• 24:03
  And the magic to actually fucking do it.
• 24:04
  Exactly.
• 24:05
  And then the fucking magic and power to pass all this legislation that you did.
• 24:09
  That's Brooklyn, right? That's.
• 24:10
  Brooklyn.
• 24:11
  There's this spirit that I'm so grateful that my parents have instilled in myself and my siblings that you should question and challenge power.
• 24:18
  That's the Brooklyn way to do it.
• 24:22
  And doing it with community is the way that you get there.
• 24:26
  And I am so grateful to have learned those lessons, to share those lessons with people around me because it's how we make our communities stronger and more beautiful and more vibrant.
• 24:38
  I navigate everything I do with that Brooklyn spirit.
• 24:42
  Can we talk about your parents for a second? Your dad is Reggie Oay, better known as Combat Jack.
• 24:47
  But.
• 24:48
  Your dad was a hip hop attorney.
• 24:49
  Yeah. Yeah. My dad.
• 24:52
  Wow.
• 24:53
  My dad passed away in 2017.
• 24:53
  May he rest in peace, love him.
• 24:57
  Wouldn't be here without him and still hear him in everything that I do today.
• 25:03
  But he would say his children were his first love.
• 25:06
  And then hip hop was his second. Maybe he would say hip hop was his first love.
• 25:09
  I'm not sure.
• 25:11
  But he was a pioneer within the hip hop industry and was a pioneer in hip hop podcasting and had a lot of conversations, many different people within that field, whether they were musicians or around that field.
• 25:28
  And what I've always appreciated about my father's craft and also just the conversations that we had growing up, was he always found that intersection between politics and culture and believed in the importance of them driving one another. Right?
• 25:43
  There is no politics without, or there is no strong political North Star without cultural culture backing it.
• 25:52
  So it's something that I have tried to build within my political career, within how I navigate this crazy world of politics and something that my dad instilled in me. Right.
• 26:06
  You're doing it Chi that, oh my God, God, he is in your heart. He is with you.
• 26:10
  Thank you.
• 26:10
  Every step of the way you are continuing his work.
• 26:14
  So.
• 26:15
  Hip Hop attorney, he was an artist representative to get good deals.
• 26:19
  For them.
• 26:19
  Incredible.
• 26:20
  So he initially started his career representing different artists, a lot of them from Brooklyn, which he learned so much about the industry in that way.
• 26:27
  And I don't think he loved being.
• 26:29
  Because the artists were from Brooklyn.
• 26:30
  The artists were from Brooklyn. I mean, he represented Jay-Z was one of his first artists before.
• 26:38
  So I think that gave him a great understanding of how the industry worked.
• 26:44
  And.
• 26:44
  Then brought that into podcasting to critique and speak up and use that intel within Greater conversation.
• 26:53
  And your mom a Kim Vann.
• 26:53
  So she had a bakery.
• 26:56
  My mom has a bakery. She does.
• 26:56
  She's a small business owner.
• 26:58
  Yeah. Incredible.
• 26:59
  Prospect Heights. Shout out the bakery on Burger.
• 27:01
  Yes, yes, yes. Okay, cool. So it's in the same spot. Yeah. So Aki Van, her dad is Teddy Van and Grammy Award winner.
• 27:07
  Yeah.
• 27:07
  So this is just Brooklyn royalty that has.
• 27:10
  Led you here. Yeah. People are going to call me a Nepo baby, but you're not a Nepo baby unless your parents do the same thing that you do now, I think, right?
• 27:20
  No.
• 27:21
  Andrew Cuomo is like a nepo baby. His dad was a governor.
• 27:24
  I'm not a Nepo baby because I'm not going to music.
• 27:27
  But also a Nepo baby has inherited wealth and doesn't have to worry about money.
• 27:32
  At all. Exactly. I have to worry about money. Believe me.
• 27:34
  A Nepo baby doesn't even know what is needed to create legislation to pass the fair act.
• 27:39
  Exactly.
• 27:40
  And Nepo baby has inherited wealth and never needs to worry about money if you, you know what I.
• 27:45
  Mean? Exactly. Clock that.
• 27:46
  Clock that.
• 27:47
  And.
• 27:48
  Nepo baby has inherited wealth and never has to worry about money.
• 27:51
  Like Andrew Cuomo the governor, an elderly nepo baby.
• 27:54
  And.
• 27:55
  Just like his brother, just an aging nepo baby.
• 27:58
  So no one will be calling you ne baby.
• 27:59
  Thank you. Nobody sometimes do that online, but.
• 28:01
  Oh, that's insane. And truly it's like just leave. Also, they're probably just bots. True.
• 28:05
  Don't even take it in. That's true.
• 28:09
  It's just genuine garbage.
• 28:10
  Do you have them to.
• 28:11
  I don't even really take it. It Do you read.
• 28:12
  The comments?
• 28:12
  No. When.
• 28:14
  Did you stop reading comments?
• 28:16
  Honestly, during Broad City.
• 28:16
  I was like, I can't do.
• 28:18
  This. Really? And you've never returned?
• 28:19
  Sometimes I do, and then when I see a scary one, I'm like, Nope, forget it.
• 28:23
  Because it's, I have a bit of a theory about AI where a lot of human beings are AI.
• 28:31
  Because.
• 28:32
  They are containers for programming and they don't have their own minds.
• 28:36
  So.
• 28:36
  You're pretty much the same as a bot if you're more programming than your own mind.
• 28:41
  Oh my God.
• 28:42
  I choose to believe that virtual reality is virtual.
• 28:48
  And.
• 28:48
  It's not physical reality, so I just don't really clock it.
• 28:53
  It's fake. And I'm like, you don't even know what you're talking.
• 28:55
  If it's a real human and not a bot. I'm like, you don't even know.
• 28:57
  What.
• 28:57
  You're saying. This is for your safety.
• 28:59
  Too.
• 28:59
  So if people are calling you NPO babies, they don't even know.
• 29:02
  They don't know left from right.
• 29:04
  Black.
• 29:05
  From white, hard, from soft up from down.
• 29:05
  They don't even know what the fuck is.
• 29:07
  Going on. Yeah, it's fringe.
• 29:07
  Don't worry. Great. Fuck.
• 29:09
  I hate them, but I will fight for their rights anyway.
• 29:14
  They.
• 29:15
  Deserve Narcan.
• 29:17
  They deserve Narcan.
• 29:18
  They.
• 29:18
  Deserve snap if they.
• 29:19
  Need it. Exactly. And.
• 29:21
  Also they deserve clean water and not for AI and data centers to use all their water.
• 29:24
  Exactly.
• 29:25
  So anyway, so that you really are, I would call it Brooklyn royalty, not Napa Baby. Now you're from Brooklyn Royalty. Incredible.
• 29:33
  Brooklyn is in my blood.
• 29:33
  It's everything that I do.
• 29:37
  I think one of the largest lessons that both my entire family has always taught me to do is to question power.
• 29:42
  And I think that was at their own fault.
• 29:47
  Sometimes I would question their power, of course, but.
• 29:49
  I'm living it.
• 29:50
  Right.
• 29:51
  Now with my child.
• 29:51
  Yeah.
• 29:52
  We're really trying to raise a self autonomous being, and then I'm like, oh, I wish you would just do what the fuck I say, dude, it's.
• 30:00
  Hard. That's crazy. But yeah, and I think it's turned out for the best, and I think there's just something, so maybe I can't just categorize that as being Brooklyn, but there is this identity that comes with people from Brooklyn or people who moved to Brooklyn and.
• 30:21
  Have.
• 30:21
  Established roots here and have found their way here.
• 30:24
  That individuality really bleeds through in terms of your personal politic.
• 30:30
  A hundred percent. The way that your father Reggie Oay understood the intersection of politics and culture and in fact how the two power each other.
• 30:41
  I see the same in you.
• 30:42
  I see an artistic creativity in the way that you do your job. Zo Ron's campaign, it was so millennial.
• 30:51
  Because.
• 30:51
  You could see this being a personal creative project through which he was self-actualizing himself.
• 30:57
  You.
• 30:57
  Know what I mean? And that's what I see in you. I see a creativity and a beauty, truly a beauty.
• 31:06
  I'm specifically talking right now about the latest GQ spread.
• 31:09
  Oh yeah.
• 31:10
  Gorgeous. Thank.
• 31:11
  You very much. I appreciate that.
• 31:12
  Just gorgeous. And it's this service.
• 31:16
  I think I really find this to be a service to politics as a sphere, but your constituents, for us to be like, yeah, that's my councilman. He is beautiful. He is cool and relaxed.
• 31:31
  You and your boyfriend just look like, oh, just relax. And you're just like, listen, we're pretty. There's a humanness to it. That is a service to me.
• 31:39
  We need beauty and humans create beauty and appreciate beauty, and it's a very important part of changing the world for the better.
• 31:47
  That can be such grunt work.
• 31:50
  And so really it means a lot to me to see these beautiful photos of you that you can take pride in the way you look and the way you look is the way you feel and the way you feel is how you want all of us to feel taken care of. Totally.
• 32:05
  I think policy is personal for me, and I think because of that, when I entered this world of politics, I knew that I couldn't pretend to be a politician or pretended to be someone who even wanted to be in politics my entire life.
• 32:19
  I just knew how to come in as myself. And sometimes I've been like, maybe I should be more political.
• 32:25
  Even the fact that I'm wearing a suit right now. I do like wearing a suit.
• 32:28
  I think RuPaul says that wearing a suit changes sometimes how you navigate in the world. Totally.
• 32:35
  And I have to say it's soft.
• 32:35
  It's not starchy. Yeah.
• 32:37
  Yeah, exactly.
• 32:38
  I find it to be like, I hear you, that you could wear something like funkier, but it's just polished in what you're doing today. You're at the office.
• 32:45
  Exactly. There you go. Yeah.
• 32:47
  I wanted to bring my a hundred percent authentic self to how I came into this world of politics.
• 32:53
  Not only in terms of advocating for issues that impact myself and people around me and the community that I come from, but in terms of even some of the press that we get and how I bring some of my personality out naturally in whatever outlets that I speak to.
• 33:10
  What do you do for joy?
• 33:10
  Pleasure, rest. Do you rest?
• 33:13
  I'm going to be been working together and becoming friends for the past five years. I am going to be on you about taking time off. I'm talking weekends, dude. I know. I see a ooc.
• 33:24
  On.
• 33:24
  The weekends. She's doing this, she's doing that. I'm.
• 33:26
  Like.
• 33:26
  You need sleep. I just want her to be able to sustain.
• 33:30
  So she's my hero. I just want everyone to be getting enough sleep.
• 33:35
  What do you do?
• 33:36
  Yeah, I mean, I love eating. I love cooking. My partner works in food, so.
• 33:41
  We.
• 33:41
  Try a lot of different restaurants.
• 33:43
  And.
• 33:44
  I love Brooklyn, so I do prospect Park a lot.
• 33:49
  I love to go. I love to go out dancing when I have the energy to do that.
• 33:54
  Nice. In Brooklyn.
• 33:54
  In Brooklyn.
• 33:55
  Sometimes.
• 33:56
  In Manhattan. Sometimes I'll go out and people are like, you're my council member.
• 33:58
  There's a trash can that I need.
• 34:03
  And I'm like, I'm fully out. I'd be like 3:00 AM and someone would be like, Hey, I want you to pass this bill around. I'm like, okay.
• 34:12
  Girl. Email me.
• 34:14
  I can't say bye though.
• 34:16
  It's.
• 34:16
  Like, I need your vote.
• 34:18
  Yeah, totally. And also it's like it is good to get feedback.
• 34:21
  But's not a 3: 00 AM. Yeah, totally. You're not a 3:00 AM.
• 34:23
  But's not a 3: Trying to focus partying while partying is not fun. Okay. So that's cool.
• 34:27
  But's not a 3: And do you sleep well?
• 34:29
  But's not a 3: I do sleep well. Good. I've really instituted a lot of, I'm trying to get in bed before 11.
• 34:33
  But's not a 3: Nice. You get.
• 34:35
  But's not a 3: Those eight hours, get up 5 30, 6 30.
• 34:37
  But's not a 3: Whoa. Naturally. Or alarm.
• 34:39
  But's not a 3: Alarm.
• 34:39
  But's not a 3: Copy that.
• 34:40
  But's not a 3: Yeah. Only time I can go to the gym.
• 34:42
  But's not a 3: And how often do you go to the gym?
• 34:43
  But's not a 3: Four days a week.
• 34:44
  But's not a 3: Ooh. Yeah.
• 34:45
  But's not a 3: Incredible.
• 34:46
  But's not a 3: It's.
• 34:46
  But's not a 3: A CrossFit girl.
• 34:47
  But's not a 3: Nice. Yes. No, I've seen.
• 34:49
  But's not a 3: It's intense.
• 34:50
  But's not a 3: Yeah.
• 34:50
  But's not a 3: Yeah.
• 34:51
  But's not a 3: Go ahead.
• 34:51
  But's not a 3: Marjorie Taylor Green is a big CrossFit girl, and I feel a little Marjorie Taylor greeny when.
• 34:56
  But's not a 3: Sometimes I relate to her and I'm like, this is not cool, dude.
• 35:00
  But's not a 3: She's starting to do a pivot right.
• 35:01
  But's not a 3: Now. Her rebrand is hysterical. Her rebrand is cracking me up. I'm like, girl, you believe that Jews control space slice? No, a hundred percent.
• 35:08
  But's not a 3: But also I'm like, I do admire Marjorie Taylor Green's commitment to the gym, which is clear.
• 35:15
  But's not a 3: Yeah. The thing is, I remember seeing those videos prior to doing CrossFit.
• 35:19
  But's not a 3: I'm like, crazy. What is this crazy woman doing? And now it's like, oh, I know everything that she's doing.
• 35:22
  But's not a 3: And I do that at six 30 in the morning.
• 35:25
  But's not a 3: Appreciate I'm the crazy.
• 35:27
  But's not a 3: Person doing it.
• 35:27
  But's not a 3: Too. I appreciate something that makes across the aisle happen.
• 35:30
  But's not a 3: You know what I mean? If that's CrossFit, so be it.
• 35:32
  But's not a 3: I just started on my gym journey this year, got back to the gym. I don't know what the hell I was doing.
• 35:38
  But's not a 3: I was making it work.
• 35:39
  But's not a 3: Are you tired?
• 35:41
  But's not a 3: All the time.
• 35:41
  But's not a 3: Yeah.
• 35:42
  But's not a 3: Yeah.
• 35:43
  But's not a 3: For how long has this happened? For?
• 35:45
  But's not a 3: I don't know. I go up and down and my sleep mirrors my mental health.
• 35:49
  But's not a 3: So this week I was having a nodded up, tangled conversation with myself all week and wasn't sleeping well.
• 35:57
  But's not a 3: Do you have therapy? A therapist? Yeah.
• 35:59
  But's not a 3: Yeah, I do Psychoanalysis. I go to therapy three times a week.
• 36:03
  But's not a 3: Wow.
• 36:04
  But's not a 3: That's my gym. And now I'm trying to match my physical therapy, meaning the gym with my mental health therapy. Do you do therapy? I.
• 36:09
  But's not a 3: Do. Great.
• 36:10
  But's not a 3: Yeah.
• 36:10
  But's not a 3: Great. I wish there were more times a week.
• 36:13
  But's not a 3: Yes. It's.
• 36:14
  But's not a 3: Hard to find the time. I mean, you need to find the time. Are you spiritual?
• 36:18
  But's not a 3: Yeah.
• 36:18
  But's not a 3: Okay.
• 36:19
  But's not a 3: Oh yeah. I believe in God. I definitely identify as a Jew in my faith, and I definitely consider myself spiritual. What is And the.
• 36:30
  But's not a 3: Planet earth.
• 36:31
  But's not a 3: This.
• 36:31
  But's not a 3: Planet to me is what God is.
• 36:33
  But's not a 3: Which.
• 36:34
  But's not a 3: Is why I'm so like human rights. Duh, duh.
• 36:39
  But's not a 3: We're incredible. We don't need any more inventions.
• 36:44
  But's not a 3: Seriously. That is fake shit.
• 36:44
  But's not a 3: We do not need. Look around.
• 36:48
  But's not a 3: You, look.
• 36:48
  But's not a 3: Around you, look at you we're incredible.
• 36:52
  But's not a 3: I think sometimes about how in superhero movies or whatever, an X-Men, they'll get a cut and this superhero's powers it heals immediately. Okay.
• 37:01
  But's not a 3: But we heal too. Our cuts.
• 37:03
  But's not a 3: Heal. It's really, the body's amazing. It's.
• 37:05
  But's not a 3: Incredible.
• 37:05
  But's not a 3: It's not like what you're just doing is fast forwarding what humans can already do to make it like a superhero. We are superheroes. We're incredible.
• 37:15
  But's not a 3: It's such a shame that we've really lost the fucking plot here.
• 37:18
  But's not a 3: And are making things so much more complicated than.
• 37:21
  But's not a 3: It has.
• 37:21
  But's not a 3: To be.
• 37:21
  But's not a 3: It's ridiculous. Oh my gosh.
• 37:22
  But's not a 3: It's complicated to distract us from what's really important, which is that we all get our basic needs met. Now for y'all, we have mutual friends.
• 37:33
  But's not a 3: Who.
• 37:33
  But's not a 3: Had some questions for us.
• 37:33
  But's not a 3: Okay. So here they are.
• 37:38
  But's not a 3: Hey Chi. Hey Lana, Mo and Oscar from Papi G's. Here. Chi, congrats on your reelection. That's my council member right there. Okay.
• 37:45
  But's not a 3: We're barring our question from the most recent mayoral debates.
• 37:49
  But's not a 3: What is your bagel order?
• 37:49
  But's not a 3: Salacious. Anyways, let us know.
• 37:54
  But's not a 3: Chow.
• 37:57
  But's not a 3: Oh my God. Shout out. I also love poppy juice. Have you been?
• 38:00
  But's not a 3: I love poppy juice. Oh, damn. It's so fun.
• 38:02
  But's not a 3: Maybe we'll go there. Fun.
• 38:02
  But's not a 3: That would be really fun.
• 38:05
  But's not a 3: Fun. That would be so fun. Oh my gosh. Oh.
• 38:07
  But's not a 3: God. My bagel order is so basic, but it's just so fucking good.
• 38:10
  But's not a 3: Let's hear it.
• 38:11
  But's not a 3: I do a poppy seed bagel. Copy.
• 38:12
  But's not a 3: That.
• 38:13
  But's not a 3: Lightly toasted. I know. That's controversial. Scallion cream cheese, thinly sliced tomato like paper, thinly sliced tomato, red onion locks, capers, dill.
• 38:28
  But's not a 3: Okay, so first of all, my husband David and I are kind of obsessed with just the cream cheese and tomato order.
• 38:34
  But's not a 3: Oh my God. That's also really good.
• 38:34
  But's not a 3: That's the go-to when the lox is a little.
• 38:40
  But's not a 3: Yeah, it's like confident, lean.
• 38:43
  But's not a 3: Love.
• 38:44
  But's not a 3: It. That is a really good order. And also the red onions, like the way you said it, I was tasting it. For me, it is an everything bagel.
• 38:51
  But's not a 3: I would say scooped. I dig lightly.
• 38:53
  But's not a 3: Toasted.
• 38:54
  But's not a 3: I'll say scoop.
• 38:55
  But's not a 3: For the carb reasons or for the flavor reasons.
• 38:57
  But's not a 3: The ratio of ingredients, reasons. Okay.
• 39:00
  But's not a 3: Yeah. I like when people have that as the.
• 39:02
  But's not a 3: Response. Just.
• 39:03
  But's not a 3: Don't eat a bagel if you're not going to eat carbs.
• 39:05
  But's not a 3: A hundred percent. A hundred percent.
• 39:05
  But's not a 3: Just like or eat half a bagel.
• 39:08
  But's not a 3: But don't make me watch you finger the bagel.
• 39:11
  But's not a 3: I know. Because you're worried about your fingers, so you know what I mean.
• 39:15
  But's not a 3: Totally. And then I would have cream cheese, whitefish, salad.
• 39:21
  But's not a 3: Yum.
• 39:22
  But's not a 3: Yum. Tomato yum and capers.
• 39:25
  But's not a 3: Yum.
• 39:26
  But's not a 3: Nest dad, cream.
• 39:27
  But's not a 3: Cheese and whitefish salad.
• 39:29
  But's not a 3: It is naughty. Well, chi, this has been like, I mean, it continues to be a dream.
• 39:36
  But's not a 3: To.
• 39:37
  But's not a 3: Be friends, collaborators, and to now be your interviewer.
• 39:41
  But's not a 3: Yeah. This is so fun.
• 39:43
  But's not a 3: I'm so excited. Chi, you're incredible.
• 39:45
  But's not a 3: And you just give me so much life and so much faith, and I'm so excited for anybody who didn't know Chi to know you now I'm amazed by you and continue to be. Thank you so much.
• 39:55
  But's not a 3: It's open with Ilana Glazer and Chi Ossé.
• 39:59
  But's not a 3: I want to thank my phenomenal guest, Chi Ossé for being a great guest for this podcast, but also for inspiring me and giving me faith in humanity.
• 40:08
  But's not a 3: I did not do this alone. This project takes a whole village.
• 40:11
  But's not a 3: I want to thank my creative collaborators, producers, David Rooklin, Annika Carlson, Madeline Kim, Kelsie, Kiley, and Glennis Meagher.
• 40:20
  But's not a 3: And thanks to the crew who made the audio visual so beautiful.
• 40:24
  But's not a 3: I'm talking Lexa Krebs.
• 40:26
  But's not a 3: I'm talking Rachel Suffian and Kevin Deming.
• 40:30
  But's not a 3: Graphics and the intro music were made by the incredibly talented Raymo Ventura.
• 40:35
  But's not a 3: This awesome outro music is made by one of my favorite new bands, Don Hur.
• 40:39
  But's not a 3: And thank you to our editor Tovah Lebowitz. This is a star pick production, and don't forget to like and subscribe to this show wherever you watch and listen to podcasts and follow us on at its open pod on socials. See you next time. Love you. Bye.