Led Black (00:33)
What up, what up, what up everyone. It's Led Black and my brother Octavio Blanco. And we're here for another Uptown Voices Black and Blanco episode. It is March 1. That's right, it's March 1. Women's History Month, we just finished Black History Month. Outside of my window, I have the Shamrocks 5K. I think a name, right? The name might have changed, right? I think you out there, Octavio, what's going on outside right now?

Octavio Blanco (00:42)
Black and Blanco.

Yeah, it's, it's the, I guess the, I don't know if the name has changed because they're still, they're calling it the Uptown 5k. I'm going to place, there was like tons and tons of people out there ⁓ running. And, you know, let's see if I can, if I can make this happen. But we got a little bit of video out there. We, we, we were out there with the people ⁓ doing some interviews. We'll put those up on our, on our social media.

Um, you know, ASAP, you should be able to see, uh, the runners out there. I think you can hear it in the background here.

but they were out there, there was like thousands, there's thousands and thousands of people out there running. ⁓ It's pretty, pretty amazing.

Led Black (01:38)
Yeah, I saw, ⁓

Yeah, I saw a guy running without a shirt and I'm like, my man, what are you doing? What are you doing? It's not that fucking warm.

Octavio Blanco (01:51)
Well, you know,

it's if you're running, guess, I mean, you should have seen the we got some some of the of the people who were who were ⁓ leading the race and they were moving man like they were like sprinting the whole way. So so it was cool. But yeah, we interviewed a few folks. One of the cool things about the about the race is that it's ⁓

now sponsored by the New York Roadrunners. It used to be sponsored by Cougans, right? And then New York Roadrunners took it over. I think that was a little controversial when that happened, they did. And the Roadrunners attracts a lot, a lot of people to come to the neighborhood. And a lot of these people, it's their first time in Washington Heights. They've never been up here.

And so sometimes, you know, after the race, they'll hang out, they'll go to our, our, our restaurants and our cultural institutions and they'll get to see, you know, what the real Washington Heights is all about and not the, you know, the, the scary, the scary messages that people put out there about the heights and they'll see, you know, it's really fun. There's a lot of like cheering, there's music, there's drums. It's a, it's just a, it's just a good time.

⁓ out there. So yeah, my wife and my son went with me. ⁓ And the runners are really excited to be here. And a lot of them are working towards the New York Marathon. So you do a bunch of races and those races add up. When you complete that, then you're eligible to run the New York Marathon. So we spoke to

Led Black (03:13)
Sure.

Octavio Blanco (03:40)
some people from New Jersey, we spoke to some people from Queens, and we also spoke to some people from Brooklyn that were running for the, it's a group of runners that are Mexican, and they run for a cause, which is the 43 disappeared students in Mexico from Ayotzinapa. These are students who were going, I think it was about 12 years ago, to protest in Mexico.

Led Black (03:59)
Mm-hmm.

Octavio Blanco (04:08)
the authorities and some other, you know, like cartel types intercepted them and killed them and disappeared them and they still haven't been found. And so we actually interviewed one of the parents who was at the race of one of these disappeared students who still is fighting to keep their names alive and to keep the cause going, not just for the 43 people who were disappeared in Mexico.

Led Black (04:18)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Octavio Blanco (04:38)
but for the hundreds of thousands of people who are disappeared in Mexico over the years. So it was interesting. So a mix of causes, some people doing it for the fun, some people doing it to be a part of the New York Marathon, and then some people running for their special causes. So it was really cool to be out there and to feel that energy. And the truth of the matter is it's thousands and thousands of people. So if you haven't been out there,

Led Black (05:04)
Yeah, it's...

Octavio Blanco (05:07)
Maybe next year we should go and we

Led Black (05:07)
Yeah, I stopped.

Octavio Blanco (05:09)
should do it. amazing.

Led Black (05:11)
Yeah, I stepped outside to walk a dog. One thing I don't understand is they don't put, they got rid of all the garbage cans. So I had to take my dog poop with me to my building back inside. Like I thought that was kind of weird, but yeah, no, this is a massive turnout. It's pretty cool. And we got a lot to talk about. We got a lot to talk about too. There's a lot of stuff happening in the world. ⁓ But I think we should start local. Like you started local. Let's keep it local. I just want to make ⁓ people aware of a few opportunities that I think they should. ⁓

Octavio Blanco (05:22)
Yeah, man.

Yeah, and

Allah Allah Allah

Yeah.

Led Black (05:39)
be aware of for their children. ⁓ West Harlem Development Corporation, who is one of my clients, they have a Little Lions summer camp lottery. So if you live within ⁓ community board 10, if I'm not mistaken, ⁓ they have a free lottery. You get to go to the Columbia Little Lions program for the summer. And the deadline for that is March 4th at 5 p.m. So go to WestHallandDC.org for that.

And yeah, it's actually I'm sorry, I misspoke. It's District 9. So District 9, if you're if you live in District 9, you can have your children ⁓ go to go to this camp if you get paid for the lottery. And they also have a second lottery as well. And it's with the Riverside Park Conservancy. And it's a summer sports, multi-sport ⁓ lottery. And again, it's only for people that live in District 9. And but that deadlines to March 25th.

The first one is to March 15th. So I think that's really important. People should look into it. Same website.

Octavio Blanco (06:44)
Yeah, and this week was also the...

Noma's opening of shade women in the Heights. Tell me a little bit about that because you attended that's one of your clients but it's also you know, we're both just like huge fans of Noma were huge fans of Andrea Royal who was our last guest from in on the podcast which I thought was a really interesting conversation with Andrea. ⁓ I wasn't able to go I was attending another event that night. But you were there to tell us a little bit about shade. How was the turnout? What was that all about?

Led Black (07:18)
The was magnificent. It was a really good turnout. A lot of love in the room. Andrea, you have the roses, lot of the Wilhelmina. You had a lot of these great artists there, but also a lot of new people that I've never seen before. It was a great exhibit. I think it's running. think, if I'm not mistaken, it's April, but they do have gallery hours, and there's an artist talk coming soon as well. So stay tuned for that.

I think it's, think Shade is going on 17 years as a super important artist. And I think it's important for, especially for Women's History Month, for the women artists of our community, you know, to stand up and show them that love. Because I think it's super important that we support our own. So please check out Shade, Women in the Heights Shade at the Noma Gallery on 175th and Broadway. Super important. And while we're on the topic of Noma,

They also have the Uptown Art Show poster contest going until March 15th. You your design will be the emblem of this Uptown Art Show, which takes place every June. It's a huge month-long celebration of the arts of town. And you know, your image is gonna be everywhere, right? So it's gonna be on the banners, it's gonna be on the little booklet that you get during the Uptown Art Show. It's gonna be everywhere. Last year it was Tom Sanford, who's a good friend of the podcast, good friend of ours.

He won it last year. I hope he submits again. He might be the first person to win twice in a row. I don't think that's ever happened before. But yeah, I think it's important, support Noma and make it happen. I also have to share one thing, which is also this past Friday was Dominican Independence Day. And I received a commendation from our state senator, Robert Jackson. Shout out to my brother, DeVino. ⁓

DeVino, as well as Joanna, who works for the office and Edwin, who also works in the office. And what was really cool is that Robert Jackson was, it was me and five other people, out to Letty, Liriana, who's my friend, who's also one of the honorees. they, Robert Jackson was reading people's name and then Jumaane came in and you know, he actually got to read my commendation. It was really cool. I got to give him thanks for that wonderful speech he gave during inauguration.

And he was like, let Black, I love that name. You know what mean? So that was really cool to have him say that to me. You know what saying? I'm a big fan of his. I think he's a powerhouse and he's a real fighter for the people. I really appreciate that love from him and for Robert Jackson. So I had to share that.

Octavio Blanco (09:36)
Yeah.

Yeah, well, you well deserved, know, you've been, you know, you've been a backbone, of the one of the one of the one of the backbones of this community for many, many years, shedding, you know, spreading love and, and making sure that this community is heard and seen. ⁓ You know, you do it out of love that you have for your neighbors and your neighborhood.

Led Black (09:52)
Thank you, brother.

Octavio Blanco (10:16)
for the culture of this community. You've been at it for many, many years. I've been a fan for a long time and ⁓ you know, it's much deserved and I hope that this is the start of many, many good things for you to come. I mean, you're prolific in the way that you write, you're prolific in the way that you spread love of the community. You're the voice, one of the strongest voices for this community and we're here to support you.

And I just wanted to say also about the Noma poster contest that not only is it a huge honor and not only does it, you know, will your artwork be, you know, on all the literature and on posters and on merch and things like that, but you'll also be, ⁓ you'll win $2,000. That's the price. That's the, that's the prize for the, for the winner. Two stacks, two stacks. ⁓

Led Black (11:08)
That's two stacks right there. ⁓

Octavio Blanco (11:15)
You know, so, so, you know, it's a really, really important part of the community. The art stroll is something that has been growing and it's been ⁓ every year it's better. Every year we see more and more like, it's not just artists, it's businesses, it's individuals. It's a lot of people in the community coming together to support. ⁓

this group of people, artists, who come to Uptown and who make Uptown their home and who've developed this incredible ⁓ community of creators, of painters, of sculptors, of all kinds of artists. So ⁓ it's a beautiful thing. ⁓ art, it's not easy being an artist. ⁓ Most of the time artists are...

not just artists, they're doing their thing for their daily bread and artists, something they're doing for the love. ⁓ having a community like Noma in Washington Heights really ⁓ is striving to help both established artists and new artists.

to become established and to make sure that they can develop their work ⁓ in a way that gets them seen, both inside the community and outside of the community. So that's really amazing. ⁓ Yeah, that night that you were ⁓ with Noma, I was ⁓ at the GW bus terminal on the floor, on the basement floor. There's a new ⁓

Led Black (12:39)
Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (13:01)
what's it called? It's a ⁓ Family ⁓ Enhancement Center. It's called FECWHINN. And it's sort of like a community center. You can drop in and check out what services are available or they can connect you to services. But also you can just drop in and if you've got like

you need a quiet spot to just like chill for a second. You can go there. They do lock the doors. You need to knock on the door and then they'll unlock it for you. And you can go in and chill. You can do work there. You can see what's available. I was there because of, there was a group there called the Uptown People's Project. And it's this thing called, it's this.

organization that is kind of regrouping and they're, they're looking for to recruit ⁓ basically block captains to represent their blocks in what is in what's called a co governance, a ⁓ co governance group, basically co governance, it works in parallel with ⁓ other government groups.

So they've got an open line of communication with Carmen de la Rosa's office. And they also work in parallel with Community Board 12. And it's just another way for people in the community to make sure that they can have their voices.

heard and that their ⁓ issues are being addressed. And so it was very interesting if you are wanting to get involved in the community in some kind of unofficial official way, the Uptown People's Project.

⁓ is recruiting. Also, you know, make sure that you go and attend your community board meetings. I try to attend because of the work that I do here with you, Led, so that I can report a few of ⁓ the issues that come up at the community board meeting. ⁓ This ⁓ last week, CB12 had their general meeting and it was a really interesting meeting because I don't know if you're familiar with River

Riverside Park, the viaduct, the Riverside Drive viaduct, the one that goes over where the BBQ.

Led Black (15:36)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

What'd you do to the All Time

Octavio Blanco (15:49)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, one of the things that came up there, and I think that maybe in in one of our next live episodes, we should have somebody from that community. The that viaduct has been under construction since like, 2024. And that can or why I should say it's been under construction before 2024.

And it stalled in 2024. And it's been like the people who live in the buildings that are adjacent to the viaduct.

they've been blocked from their access to the road. And a lot of residents from those buildings were at the community board general meeting, ⁓ really upset because like, for one, it's annoying, right? Because the construction has been frozen since 2024. And that means that there's like, you know,

all the construction materials are strewn all over the place there. Apparently they say, I've driven by on my bike and it's true, it blocks access to the entrance of their buildings, which is annoying. One of the ⁓ people who was speaking was saying, on the one hand, it's annoying because when we order in, right, like you order your Chinese or you order your pizza.

The delivery folks can never find the entrance, right? They're always like struggling to find the entrance because of all this construction work or all this construction material. But more serious than that, and there's been instances already where people inside of those buildings have had an emergency, like a heart attack or something like that. And the emergency services can't

get in in time, it delays emergency services. And I do believe that it's had one serious impact for somebody who was having a heart attack who wasn't able to get out in time. need to verify that. But if I remember correctly, that was covered ⁓ in local media. And, ⁓ you know, and I, what's interesting on top of that, is that the city councilman for that area,

Sean Abreu lives there. And not only is he the city councilman, but he's the head of the transportation committee for the city council. And so the hope is that he'll be able to make sure that there's ⁓ some sort of resolution to the situation. ⁓ Not that he hasn't been trying he has. But the issue is that the ⁓ contractor

Led Black (18:28)
wow.

Octavio Blanco (18:55)
⁓ apparently said that it's not equipped ultimately to do the work that's necessary to complete the job. And so the contractor and the city have been in court fighting over this. But in the meantime, as they're in court fighting over this, nothing has happened. And the people within these buildings are, are, are like struggling.

and are are frankly scared because what a lot of people are elderly, a lot of people, you know, are worried that if they have an emergency, if there's a fire, if they have a heart attack, you know, not to mention this, the annoyance of like your everyday life of like your pizza not being delivered to the right place. But they're scared to live in their homes because they've seen it happen. And they don't want to happen again, that somebody has an emergency and emergency services can't get to them.

So it was really interesting to hear the conversation at the CB12 meeting. ⁓ I'm gonna, you know, maybe in the next couple of episodes, we're gonna have somebody from them to explain what's going on. Maybe we'll can get the city councilman, Sean Abreu, to come on and discuss what's going on there and what's being done. ⁓ But it was eye opening. So it's just to show like it's something that I've been saying and that you've been saying, it's important to be involved.

But also, you know, all these city, all these community board meetings are on YouTube. So like, if you don't make it to the board meeting, you can watch it on YouTube. That's what I do. I go to the gym, I put it on and I listen to what's going on. Not to mention that there's like committees. So there's like the Parks and Culture Committee. There's the Transportation Committee. All these committees, you should be, if you have an issue or if you're just an interested person, you should go on YouTube, CB12.

⁓ It's really a good resource and it's place that you can learn about some of the nitty gritty things that are happening ⁓ in the neighborhood, whether it's like new restaurants and things like that.

Led Black (20:58)
That's.

That's real dedication though. So you go to the gym and you watch the community board. ⁓

Octavio Blanco (21:05)
Hahaha!

Led Black (21:06)
That's hilarious.

Octavio Blanco (21:07)
I mean, I mean,

look, listen, they're a bunch of characters too, you know, like it's not boring, right? mean, like sometimes they get into it and it's like, you know, it's like a little soap opera uptown, you you see how the sausage is made, you know, but it's cool. It's cool too, because you see.

Led Black (21:17)
It's like reality TV. That's funny.

That's hilarious.

That's funny.

Octavio Blanco (21:34)
You see what the elected officials are usually on there. ⁓ You know, this last one, Manny De Los Santos was on there and ⁓ he was talking about how his office is working ⁓ with NMIC ⁓ for ⁓ tax prep. So people that are interested and need ⁓ free tax prep reach out to Manny De Los Santos' office. I think also Senator Robert Jackson's office.

is also working with NMIC. ⁓ So, you know, if you, think it's, you make under $68,000 and you qualify for free tax prep services. you know, connect with both of those, there's state senators, Robert Jackson, and also Assemblyman ⁓ Manny de los Santos. Assemblyman Manny de los Santos is also, was also talking about his office is helping

to for Women's History Month to connect women who are in need of mammograms. You know, sometimes that's difficult to for some for some ⁓ women in our community to get scheduled for those things. And Manny De Los Santos office ⁓ is ⁓ coordinating with ⁓ caregivers so that women in the community who are ⁓ behind on their mammograms and need a mammogram.

can schedule themselves for a mammogram. So important to prevent ⁓ cancer and things like that, which as we know can be destructive to women's health and to families because if you're a mother, you're usually the, you're a very important part of our family. And so we need you to take care of yourselves. And so if you haven't gotten a mammogram and it's because you haven't been able to connect with a caregiver,

Led Black (23:10)
for sure.

Thrill.

Octavio Blanco (23:31)
⁓ Manny De Los Santos' office is there ⁓ and ⁓ able to help to connect you.

Led Black (23:38)
Yeah, and shout out to Nimic and Mariel Isaldo, who was also on the show when we first started. Shout out to her and all the important work she does in this community. She's a powerhouse. ⁓ think Robert Jackson named her Woman of the Year, I think recently, or she was named Woman of the Year for SOMOS, I'm not sure, but she deserves it. She's amazing. My friend Vanessa Perez just started working at Nimic, and I think that's a good ⁓ place for her to work. I think Nimic is super important, so shout out to them.

I also want to share that like, so you know, one of my other hats I wear, I'm the social media director for the New York Latino Film Festival. ⁓ NYLIF is not just a festival, it's also an agency. So, you know, we handle activations and promoting certain things. So I just found out maybe a few weeks ago that we're going to be promoting Matt Bills to Pay, which is the movie that I fell in love with last year, right around the time in April of last year, I went to a festival that was taking place at Lincoln Center.

with Calixto, know, the head of ⁓ Nylyf. And from that moment on, I fell in love with the movie. You know, I kind of, I kept, you know, bothering Calixto about how that should be opening night, you know, and understand he has many considerations. He's the head of the festival. There was other things that kind of, you know, been opening night, but he chose ⁓ that film. And so for me, it's like a full circle moment that, you know, I saw the film, believed in it so much. And now, and now we're, we're going to be behind helping to.

to make that movie a success. comes out April 17th, 2026. And you know, it's real important that we make a lot of noise for this film. It's an important film about a working class Dominican family in the Bronx, BX stand up. It's a Bronx film. The Bronx is like a character in the film. So you see Orchard Beach, see Florida Road, you see City Island, right? And it's about the struggles of young, poor, working class Dominican families. It is my second favorite movie of the year.

last year, only behind sinners, which is this, I don't think that movie has, you know, a parallel whatsoever, but in terms of ⁓ Matt Biltopé is that movie is that super important. Joel Afonso Vargas, who's the director, just made this film with like no money. And you know, they won best ensemble cast at Sundance last year. And you know, it's been, you know, they went to Berlin, they went to London, they went to China.

And you know, they've been wowing audiences across the globe and they come here April 17th. It's only the run starts in New York, meaning we're going to be in two theaters. think Film Forum, if I'm not mistaken, and the Grand Conquest in the Bronx, only two theaters. But what's important about that is if we do well, then the run gets extended and you know, we could take it across the country. So super important film. I want to make sure y'all show it love. Mad Bills to Pay is the IG, so follow it. I'm actually doing the IG. ⁓

That's my part of my my purview for that. And it's an important film. Super excited about it. Destiny Checo, Juan Collado, Natalie and Johanna Florentino. They just it's an amazing cast like this. There's one scene in the film where they're talking about vaccines. To me, that's what that's the reason they got the ensemble cast because they all of them as individually as a unit just killed the film. So again, Madbills to Pay, April 17th.

2026, ⁓ you know, we're gonna be doing some activations around it before that. We're gonna do some intimate screenings for it. ⁓ You know, so just make sure you support that film, support Dominican filmmakers, Dominican films and New York City films. So, Matt Bills to pay April 17th.

Octavio Blanco (27:18)
Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. I wanted to see it when it was at the film festival and I missed it, unfortunately. So I'm looking forward to the opportunity to go to the theater and support it. And if there's any activations up here, I'd like to go there. And I hope that the cast and crew and directors and everybody, we can bring them onto the program and talk to them about the film, talk to them about their experience.

Led Black (27:33)
For sure. You on the list, my brother. Yeah, you on the list.

Octavio Blanco (27:48)
filmmaking is not easy. ⁓ It's expensive, it's time consuming, it's an art form, it's emotional, ⁓ and it's a business. So it's all these things thrown together. ⁓ So it's really encouraging to see this culture and representing the Bronx and representing our people, our neighborhoods ⁓ is so, so crucial so that we can tell our own stories rather than rely on other

Led Black (28:16)
Yep.

Octavio Blanco (28:18)
people to tell the stories of how they see us, which sometimes is not the accurate way of looking at things. So much love to you, Led, for pushing this and for being a part of it and for, like, as always, supporting the culture.

Led Black (28:21)
Right.

Yeah, in the New York.

Yeah, yeah, no, for real, I mean, I'm really excited about this film. know, I really don't like to really do things that I really love, you know what mean? So I really, really, really love this film. So I'm not lying when I say this movie's important. And you know, for Joel Alfonso Vargas, who's the director, like this is his first debut, you know what I mean? And for him to win at Sundance and then, and we also got a write-up in the New Yorker this weekend about the film, which is really nice. So we got some love on that. And you know, Joel.

Octavio Blanco (29:00)
cool.

Led Black (29:03)
This was a school project. He was studying film in London and he had a very small budget to make a short. And then he took some money from his own and from his family and he made the feature. So he had to do the short but had a feature. And then he had these, he had people from London, like a London film crew in the Bronx. You know what mean? Like coming to the Bronx. there's so many, like, his vision is different. It's...

Octavio Blanco (29:22)
Hmm.

Led Black (29:31)
It's like he sets the camera in the middle. The camera's not moving. It's all dialogue. It's 70 % to 80%, know, impromptu, know, improvised, right? Like they got a beat and they just worked it. you know, that takes talent. You know what mean? That takes a lot of time to be able to knock it out the park like they did. So I'm just waiting. You know, I'm really happy this movie's coming out and I want the world to see it. I want the world to show it love.

and we need to take this around the globe, you know what mean? So it's already around the globe, it come back to New York, but then now the hard part starts, right? Because a lot of times when it comes to our films and to our projects, you know, we could dazzle the world, but there's never money behind it, right? So the point is to blow it up so they see that we matter and they put more money behind it and more people get involved, because it really is an important special film. Matt Bills to pay.

Octavio Blanco (30:12)
Yeah.

Yeah, and have

the have the industry buy our our products by our films, by our stuff. it's cool. I didn't realize that it was 70 % improvised. That makes me that makes me think of it's like ⁓ it's almost like hip hop. It's like, ⁓ you know, it's like a freestyle film or something like it's like, you know, like that when you when you hear people who are able to just like lyrically come off the dome like that and

be able to communicate ⁓ just like their thoughts effectively, artistically be. And then if you can do that in film, that's pretty cool too. Not to say that it's like a hip hop movie. I mean, it's a conversation, but to say that it's like, it's really interesting, it sounds very innovative that they're like basically improvising so much of it.

Led Black (31:03)
No, but...

No, but what's actually interesting, there is like a hip hop tie into the movie, right? Because Joelle, you know, he's a New Yorker, he's from the Bronx, right? So he's a hip hop head, right? So even the title of the film, Matt Bills to Pay, comes from a Biggie Smalls lyric, where he goes, baby on the way, Matt Bills to Pay. And that's basically that line, baby on the way, Matt Bills to Pay. That's what the movie's about. It's about a young Dominican guy who gets a younger girl pregnant and now...

Octavio Blanco (31:22)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Led Black (31:38)
He has to, his life changes, right? So there's a new life coming into the world and he's just like a Dominican hustler that's not making, you know, a small time hustler. So that's why, so you're right in a sense. That was very astute of you. It is hip hop film in certain ways too. It comes from that make it happen culture.

Octavio Blanco (31:52)
Mmm.

man, I can't wait to see it. Yeah, you know, it's, it's, and it's important. I want to see, I really want to see it because, know, we do have a situation in, in, our, in our society, you know, a lot of times, you know, men get their girls.

pregnant and then they bounce and it's I know it's stressful. I know it's difficult and I know it's it's but but you know like if those are stories that need to be told and I haven't seen the movie so I don't know I don't know what the story is in terms of like what the decisions are that the that the young man makes to to whether to take take care of his of his of his new family or what he does.

But it's real, that's real. That's a real life thing that happens. a lot of times, know, women are left on their own to ⁓ fend for themselves. And that's sad because, you know, everybody needs a support, especially if you took part in creating a life, you know.

Led Black (32:45)
So

Facts, facts. And I think it's time we talk about what's happening in the world. know, yesterday, the United States initiated another war of choice. ⁓ They killed Ayatollah Khomeini. It was America and Israel's choice. ⁓ you know, they killed Ayatollah Khomeini. And regardless of what you feel about Ayatollah Khomeini, right, to me, that's irrelevant right now. The fact is that he's the most important figure for a huge chunk.

Octavio Blanco (33:04)
Yeah.

Yeah, wasn't my choice, wasn't my choice.

Led Black (33:28)
of the world, right? Like, you know, it's not just he's the leader of the country, he's also a religious figure. So it's almost like you took out a religious figure to be provocative, right? And I think people don't understand, you know, I think especially Americans, I think Americans are ignorant about the world and they don't understand, you know, if it's a Middle Eastern country, they're all the same. But Iran is not the same. know, Iran is, you know, I'm going to make an argument that some might disagree with, but

Octavio Blanco (33:36)
Yeah.

Led Black (33:57)
Iran, Egypt, and Turkey, right, are the only true countries in the Middle East. And what I mean by that is they're not countries that were created by colonial powers, right? Iran was the Persian Empire. Egypt has been Egypt for millennia. Turkey's been Turkey for a long time with the Ottoman Empire. The rest of those countries were drawn up and then they're artificial. The rest of them. Yeah, those are straight facts. So, and also, you know,

Octavio Blanco (34:19)
Those are facts. Those are facts.

Led Black (34:25)
The religion of Shiism, right? When you learn about Islam, right? And shout out to all my Muslim brothers and sisters, it's Ramadan right now. Shout out to them, you know what I mean? And when you learn about Islam and Shiism, right? Shiism comes out of a belief that the person that would follow Muhammad as the next caliph should come from the family, right? So their belief is there. The reason is Shia, they were partisans of Ali.

who was the father, the prophet's son-in-law. And they felt that he should be ⁓ the next caliph. But they were overruled and there was a ⁓ confrontation ensued and two of his sons were killed. And that's how Shiism is born. So every year, I'm not sure what day they celebrate Ashura because of that reason. So they self-flagellate, you know? So what I'm trying to say is that this is a religion that's built on sacrifice.

is built on the underdog mentality. So by doing this, I think we've unleashed something that we just do not understand. And I think that Trump is in over his head like everything else, so is P-Hex-F. And I think we will rule the day that this happened and it's going to be disastrous.

Octavio Blanco (35:45)
I don't know what is going to happen. I don't know, you know, it's there's Shia ism, there's Sunni ism, there's all these, there's all these different factions. But the fact that the fact is that there's 90 million Iranians, it's a huge

country with a big population. They're definitely not poor because although there's all kinds of sanctions on them, they still get to have a lot of oil that they sell on the international market. ⁓ but for me, for me, the main problem is that our president has gotten us into a war that he doesn't have the legal

power to do like as president, you cannot unilaterally declare war, you have to go through Congress and Congress has been just like always flat footed, trying to argue whether or not they're going to enforce their war powers act now that now that that Trump has done this, of course,

Led Black (36:51)
Haha

Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (37:01)
after the fact they're all saying yes we're going to enforce it but you know the the damage has been done this this

Led Black (37:08)
Yeah, to

that point, I wanted to say one thing. Like I saw something on social where someone said, I'm glad Congress is not alive to see this. And, you know, ⁓ and to go back to the things we're always talking about. Right. So, you know, the resolution that would have contained this war was held back by Hakeem Jeffries. Right. He didn't push it. He held it back on purpose. He wanted this war because his benefactors wanted this war.

Octavio Blanco (37:17)
Hahaha

Led Black (37:37)
So it goes to show you that like, you know, it's not just Republicans, the Democrats again are off the skating and they're doing their best, you know, to do what their benefactors tell them to do, which is disgusting. And I want to say, I forgot to say this, right? One of the reasons that we even here right now is in 1953, the Iranian people elected Mohammed Mossadegh, right? And Mohammed Mossadegh was like, wait a minute, all this revenue for oil is going to BP. What's going on? And when he started to question,

America and the British basically fomented, you know, ⁓ protests, right? They fomented unrest. They messed with markets. They messed with economies, right? That sounds really familiar, right? Because that's what's happening now. And what they did when they got rid of Mosaddegh, they installed the Shah of Iran, right? And so basically, it's a...

a family of a monarch that existed a long time ago. And they basically installed them. And then they had a secret police which was the Zavok, which just really just had their hooks on everyone. was a totalitarian state. But they were friends with Israel and they were friends with America, so was okay. And that led to in 1979, Diatola Khomeini, the predecessor of the Diatola that just passed yesterday, him installing a fully theocratic regime.

Right? And I would never take away about how oppressive that regime is. Totally. It's not, I'm not going to ever say it is it, but this is not how you handle these issues. Right? And now, you know, now we're stuck and Israel wants to reinstall, I think the grandson of the Shah. Right? Like that's cool. Like we're just going to reinstall someone. Right? And I want to say to the Iranian people, like the Iranian people are super smart. They're super, ⁓

Octavio Blanco (39:09)
Absolutely.

Led Black (39:28)
courageous and determined and tenacious and America and Israel really fucked with the wrong one, right? And we're gonna find out how bad of ⁓ a choice this would make. Because again, I almost understand Israel's take on this in the sense that like they hate Iran, Iran is their biggest impediment to a greater Israel, which is the plan all along, right? To take everything over.

Huckabee just said it in the interview with Tucker Carlson, they can have it all. They want it all and Iran is the one stopping them. So I kind of understand that. But for this country, it's really more about the Epstein files.

Octavio Blanco (40:07)
And and let's not

I don't want to I also just sorry to interrupt you but I think it's important to say and I you know, we have to say is that Iran is no, you know, it's it's not an innocent either. I mean, Iran's main from my understanding from what I've heard from the Ayatollah anybody else. Their main goal is to destroy Israel like they want

Israel totally obliterated and gone. So like, I can understand Israel's point of like wanting to, you know, it's they've been at each other's throats for for for a long time. I just really have a I really have an issue. But I really have an issue with how

Led Black (40:49)
But yeah, I mean, think that's, have, Octavia, I have to push back a little bit. I

have to push back a little bit. I gotta push back a little bit, Octavia, because like again, they installed a leader that was friendly to Israel, right? And again, I think it's not to rationalize or try to be, to kind of like put some different spin on it, but.

Octavio Blanco (40:58)
Okay, what's up?

Led Black (41:17)
You have no choice but to oppress when your enemies are America and Israel, right? You have no choice. And that's what I think no one understands, right? It's like all our news comes from a certain perspective, right? And again, it's not to say, to downplay it. I'm telling you what I'm saying. But when you have active, when you already had your country taken away from you once, right? You're gonna do everything to keep your country, right? And again, not to say that what they're doing is right.

But again, I don't feel like sometimes you have a choice. When America wants your resources and they will do anything to take them, I think you have no choice sometimes to do things that are ugly.

Octavio Blanco (41:57)
Yeah, yeah, I just think that, you know, the that we need to be clear, regardless of what the history was also just that these two nations have been at each other's throats and also are really, you know, looking to eliminate each other, which is actually I feel like ultimately like an impossibility or like these kinds of wars are just not going to be unless you go.

nuclear, you know, which I hope doesn't happen. These these wars are never going to eliminate the other person. So, you know, ultimately, nations or nations are going to need to speak each other speak to each other.

Led Black (42:33)
Yeah, but again, I hate to say this again. One of those nations

is an artificial colonial creation. Right? And that's what you can never forget, that I was installed in the region, right? And you took people from another region and then they used this claim. Like if Native Americans say, God, we were on this land. It was only 2000 years ago when they were on this land, right? But they can't have them a hand back, right? So if the Lenape say, yo, we back.

Octavio Blanco (42:43)
Well.

Yes.

Led Black (43:02)
We want Manhattan, because we were here, no one would do that, right? And I think that's kind of the problem, right? Yeah, yes, they are belligerent, but why? Why are they belligerent? You know what mean? it's like, so that's the thing. It's like, we are here in this. I mean, what I'm saying is like, we cannot take away that Israel has bombed Syria, they have bombed Lebanon, they have bombed Yemen, they have bombed everybody, right? Like, they are the aggressors here. And for too long, world was like,

Octavio Blanco (43:03)
Hahaha!

No, know, I know, but yeah.

Yeah.

Led Black (43:32)
The problem is Iran. Iran is no like when you look at what we've every country's gone, every country in the Middle East has been has been disposed. You know, Iraq, all these countries have have have have been sacked. So there is there's a problem here. And I just don't think we can't do that. ⁓ there's two people. No, hold on. Hold on. There's one group that there's the real aggressor and one that keeps continuing to to to respond in an ugly way.

Octavio Blanco (43:48)
Well, yeah, I mean.

Led Black (44:02)
Right? But again, this is their neighborhood. They're the Persian Empire that goes back millennia. You're supposed to have some strength in your community, I think, in your area.

Octavio Blanco (44:08)
Yeah, I mean, look, lead, lead,

like, I get it, I get it. But like, I mean, we could go back and back and back. And I'm not saying that it to discount, I'm not

Led Black (44:18)
You can't, wait, hold on, you can't go back too far. Hold

on, can't, no, hold on, you can't go back too far, because the state just came out in 1948. So you can't go back too far. So you can't go back too far.

Octavio Blanco (44:25)
No, but you can go back,

you can go back to Jewish communities in the Middle East that were Iraqi Jews or what are you trying to say? What are you trying to say here?

Led Black (44:38)
Who's in power?

Who's in power in Israel? It's not the Sephardim, it's the Ashkenazi. They're from Poland, from east, from Latvia. So, you know what's funny? In Israel, you don't do DNA tests. You know why? Because the ancestry goes to Eastern Europe, right? It doesn't go to that area. The people from that area, right? You gotta think about it. You implanted a foreign thing.

Octavio Blanco (44:44)
Well, yeah, well.

Led Black (45:02)
on soil that belonged to other people. And then it wasn't just, you didn't just implant it and make it friendly, you made it a Sparta, right? So if you make a Sparta that oppresses everyone else, you're gonna get pushback. I'm sorry. These are human beings.

Octavio Blanco (45:09)
But listen, look.

I know you,

I know, but you know, I'm just trying to say this and you and everybody, we can argue about the history of it, but we, don't think are at a point in history where we can just say, well, this can no longer exist. Because if you're saying that, then that's very, very problematic. you're, but.

because we're saying that it's problematic for Israel to do what it's doing in Palestine, which is exactly that. They were saying Palestine can no longer exist and you know, it's disgusting and we hate that and we think that Israel is wrong. But we also, know, I just, I don't know, man. I, I, I'm not saying it's, it's a, all I'm saying is that it's taking us away from

really what we need to be talking about in this instance, which is our American response to Iran. And I just wanted to say one, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, I just want to say one last thing that, you know, what I found very interesting about this war that we're engaging in is that the British have nothing to do with it.

Led Black (46:14)
You know what the thing is, Octavio, Octavio, let me, okay.

Octavio Blanco (46:31)
⁓ The British haven't been or from what I can see and from what I've heard the British didn't give us any kind of like Arm like aerial support the British haven't done any bombing the British have been saying that they want ⁓ the United States and Iran to to slow down what's going on whereas in the past the British have always been our like go to like

brethren when we are active in the Middle East. And to me, it's very telling that the British are at arm's length here. It's really, really interesting. I don't know ultimately like what it means, but my spidey senses are tingling over the fact that the British are like not really like involved from what I can see.

Led Black (47:24)
I'll give you

an answer. It's called genocide. They don't want to be involved with another one. Right? And that's the thing I think no one wants to say is that one of these states is an apartheid genocide state. Right? And if it's different, if they came there and were peaceful, coexisting with them, but from the very beginning, it's been belligerent, the Nakba, right? When you expel 750,000, 700, 750,000 people from Palestine to start your state.

Octavio Blanco (47:28)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Led Black (47:53)
That's the problem, right? It has never been just another peaceful force in the area. No, it was implanted with people from other places, right? Because of course there's always been a Jewish presence in the Holy Land, always. I would never deny that. But when Zionism comes about in the 1880s, right? There was 5 % Jewish people.

in the Holy Land. And also what's interesting about that, these people were basically the same people. They all got along. Everyone coexisted, right? Muslims, Jews, and Christians have coexisted in the whole land forever, right? But what happened is you had an alien presence come from Europe and it was installed there by the powers that be. And now we're here and now we're screwed. And again, this is about a greater Israel. They're not content with what they have.

They want it all. Right. They want it all. And that's where and Trump, because he's a fucking dumbass, he got rolled by Nanyahu. And, know, he wants to he don't want to talk about the Epstein files. He got rolled into this war. So now we've begun World War Three. Right. And America is much more alone than it's ever been. Right. It's they have they have Saudi Arabia, Israel and America together. You know, and I think that that's what get lost because our for so long.

We only got one side of the story. And I think there's another one of those myths that we've been, that's been baked into our subconscious. And again, I think if you look at, just look at social media, everyone, everyone in this country now is looking at Israel different. Everyone. Right? And I think that's how we have to look at it. And if you love Israel, which is cool, Friends don't let friends commit genocide. Right?

And again, the people that support Israel at the top level don't give a fuck about Israel either. They don't care about Jews. They don't care about Jewish people. They don't give a fuck about Jewish people. And again, that's why I got to shout out to all the Jewish people that say, no, don't do this in my name. The Jewish Voices for Peace, those are the front line people who say, nah, don't do this in my name. Don't do this genocide in my name. So that's what I'm saying. think that's super important that there is one super aggressor here. I'm sorry, go ahead.

Octavio Blanco (49:51)
No, they don't.

And let's not forget that Mike

Huckabee is a Christian nationalist whose whole belief system is on the prayer that they have that there will be war in Israel and in the Middle East because they believe that

⁓ this war is going to bring about the resurrection of Christ and that it will bring about like the end of days and when the end of days comes, Huckabee and their Christian nation are gonna be the ⁓ survivors and the inheritors of the earth. So there's this like extremist

Led Black (51:07)
But,

but connected, I touch base on that. ⁓ 100%. There's actually, yeah, there's actually more Christian Zionists than Jewish Zionists, right? But what's very interesting, right? Where does that belief come from? That, and again, you left out the best part that according to this theology that the Jews either have to convert or they're gonna die. That's what happens at the end times when the Messiah comes back. Like the Jews convert or die.

Octavio Blanco (51:08)
religious view on the right side.

Yes.

Right, right.

Led Black (51:35)
But what's interesting about this whole thing, that comes from the Schofield Bible. So the Schofield Bible came on like 1900, early 1900s, and basically this is the text for this belief. But who published that text? Look it up. It was Zionists, right? Zionists knew early on that they needed America to do their bidding for them, and they cultivated that from the very beginning. From the very beginning, look it up. The Schofield Bible was put out by them. So that's what saying, it's like,

Octavio Blanco (51:35)
Right.

Led Black (52:04)
We can we can pretend that it's just two people fighting and one is that no it's not it's a concerted effort to take people's land and To and to it's a height it right to hide it to not there's no there's no there's no cameras allowed in Gaza There's no nothing allowed there right no fool right there. So so what I'm saying is this is a this is a genocide There's a live genocide. We've never seen this. So once you commit genocide all your all your all your excuses fall fall away, I think

Octavio Blanco (52:30)
Well, there's been

And there's been more journalists killed in 2025. It was a record number and the majority of them were killed. And no, I'm saying worldwide, like Mexico is a big place where people were, but the biggest, yes, yes. Most of the dead, most of the dead journalists were killed by Israeli bombs and children.

Led Black (52:40)
by Israel, ⁓

Yeah, yeah, but the biggest killer of journalism is Israel. It's Israel. Right? And children, right? So...

Yes, the

idea, yeah. And the thing is that like, if you look at what doctors, know, Doctors Without Borders, know, these doctors that go to Gaza to look at what's happening there, to help the people, they'll say something that like, on certain days, the IDF is gonna shoot children in the head, and then you just see a bunch of head shots. The next day, they're gonna shoot them in the groin, and you see a bunch of groin shots. This is fucked up, and we're paying for this, right? And that's the difference, it's like, I ran my mind, might not be great.

and may not have the issues, but we're not paying for it. We're paying for that shit. How many billions do we give to a country that's not poor, right? It's not a poor country, right? It's not a poor country. So what is that aid for? Well, granted, we make that money, we sell them all the weapons, but at some point, you know what I mean? Like we have to address that, that's the elephant in the room. That's what the Epstein Files is about. It's not so much about child pedophilia. It's about control that they has of people here and all the politicians, every single one of them, right?

Octavio Blanco (53:36)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Led Black (53:57)
Like let's be, how many politicians of ours here are controlled by that country? Yeah, right, a lot.

Octavio Blanco (54:03)
Mm-hmm, by their finances.

And also, let's not forget that most of the time, I don't know if this is gonna be one of these times, but most of the time when a president or when the United States goes to war, what often happens is this rally, what's called rally around the flag. And I definitely believe that the reason that we are currently at war with Iran

Yes, Israel, definitely. ⁓ But also this fact that our president's approval ratings are so low that he is looking desperately for a way to raise his approval ratings, especially as the midterms approach. ⁓ And he is not even close to being beyond starting a war to get the people.

to rally around the flag and to raise his approval ratings. I really truly think that it's as cynical as that sounds that that's the reason why we're right now urgently needing to go to war against Iran because this president hopes that it's going to raise his approval ratings.

Led Black (55:16)
Well, I mean, as,

Listen, I don't disagree with that, but I don't think that's the impetus for this, right? And I don't think that the facts ⁓ are with you on this one, right? ⁓ The American military establishment does not want this war, right? They've wargamed this to death and they do not want this war. This war is a Hail Mary. Of course,

Octavio Blanco (55:32)
What do mean?

Led Black (55:46)
You can get rid of America is the strongest military force the world has ever seen. Of course, America could dispense with the regime in Iran, but what comes after, right? If you broke it, it's yours, right? So no American military person that worth his salt wanted this war. Israel wanted this war and Saudi Arabia wanted this war. And according to what I'm reading, they both were the last ones to say, yo, my man, you're thinking you should do this.

I think you should do this. And maybe they use those justifications to him, right? But again, I think the real reason we're here now is Israel, and if you think about it, Israel attacked first and they killed the Ayatollah first, right? This was a provocative app on purpose, right? That was done on purpose.

Octavio Blanco (56:33)
And, I don't want to take away the fact that the people of Iran have been protesting now and being killed for raising their voices. And that I think ultimately, I think that supporting people's, you know, right to self-determination.

is important. also, but I also just believe that the way that we went about this is wrong. You know, it's just wrong. We have rules for a reason if this is, you know, like we're all being held to follow the rules in our lives. I think that our president should also follow the rules if our Congress said, All right, let's do this. Let's go to war.

Hey, that's one thing if it's but if it's just the president saying, ⁓ you know what, I want to go to war no matter what the representatives of this country believe that's wrong. I just think that on a certain like very basic level, like our ⁓ rules, our Congress, our laws are not worth a hill of beans right now.

Like we are totally rudderless. We are just being led by a dictator who's doing whatever he wants.

Led Black (57:50)
You know-

Mm-hmm. You know

But you know, I just wanna put, cause we only have a few minutes, I just wanna push back really quickly, right? It's not just Trump, right? And it's not just the Republicans, right? And one thing I like about Ro Khanna when he says, he started the whole Epstein, we have an Epstein class in this country that's Republican and Democrat, right? And that's the fucking problem, right? That they all, they all down. Schumer's down with this war.

Octavio Blanco (58:05)
Yeah.

Yes. Yes, yes. Yes.

Led Black (58:24)
Apoxycure is down with this war. Fetterman is down with this war, right? So it's not just Trump. It's the system that wants this. And then I also have to say, because we only have a minute, make sure you subscribe to the podcast. Show us that love, because we only got a minute. But also, I also want to say in this last minute that what they're doing to Cuba is fucked up, right? There's a medieval siege on Cuba right now where they can't get.

Octavio Blanco (58:28)
Yeah.

yeah.

Led Black (58:47)
petroleum and they're not allowing it to come in from anywhere. So they're taking a modern country and reducing it to something that's akin to like a thousand years ago. And I think that's fucked up and it's wrong. And we need a whole overhaul of both sides. I'm tired of both sides. We need new leadership that's gonna lead us in the right direction because oppressing people ain't it.

Octavio Blanco (59:10)
Yeah.

Well, we're about to sign off here, but let's pick this up this week. Let's do another live ⁓ midweek, maybe like Tuesday night or something like that. Let's get back on live. Let's keep talking this week about these issues. ⁓ I also want to say that tentatively, we are going to be interviewing Daria Lisa for Congress. She's one of the... ⁓

Led Black (59:24)
Let's do it.

Let's do it, brother.

Yes, sir.

Octavio Blanco (59:43)
people who is challenging Adriano Espaillat. That's gonna be next Sunday ⁓ coming up. And that's the eighth, Sunday the eighth. So make sure that you tune in next Sunday for the interview with Daryliza, ⁓ who is challenging Adriano Espaillat ⁓ for his seat in Congress. So, let any last words.

Led Black (1:00:07)
Spread love as the uptown way. Thank you.

Octavio Blanco (1:00:09)
Spread

love. Thank you.