1 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: Pushkin. Five miles off the shore of Manhattan, there is 2 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:20,560 Speaker 1: a place called Staten Island. We don't live in the 3 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:23,040 Speaker 1: glitter of Broadways. We don't live in Yankee Stadium. 4 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 2: Where we live is in every day Staten Island. We 5 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:30,040 Speaker 2: weren't sophisticated. We were not you know, East side of 6 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:34,560 Speaker 2: Manhattan or West Side of Manhattan liberals. We were country people. 7 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:39,879 Speaker 1: And thirty years ago Staten Island decided it didn't want 8 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: to be part of New York City anymore. 9 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:44,839 Speaker 2: Who will you trust your friends and neighbors and the 10 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 2: people in Staten Island? 11 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:50,159 Speaker 1: Who are you trust the people five miles overseas? Staten 12 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: Island was trying to secede from New York City, but 13 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: not without a fight. 14 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 2: See, if nothing else, I hope that I can convey 15 00:00:57,840 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 2: to the people of Staten Island that I deeply care 16 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:02,880 Speaker 2: about them and about all of them. If this were 17 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 2: a political visit, Wine Blazes, would I come. It's a 18 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:10,360 Speaker 2: pipe dream. It's just not going to happen. People are 19 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 2: not facing the reality. My god, what are they thinking? 20 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:18,039 Speaker 1: What unfolded over the span of the next four years 21 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: was a battle for the soul of the city, which 22 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 1: I as a person living in the city had never 23 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:27,240 Speaker 1: heard about. And the more I researched, the more I realized, 24 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 1: this is exactly what's happening in the country right now. 25 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: This is what happens when a group who feels like 26 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: they've been ignored and forgotten for decades decides that they've 27 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:37,399 Speaker 1: had enough. 28 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 2: All of you who are in favor of seceding from 29 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:46,320 Speaker 2: the City of New York, would you please raise your hands. 30 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: This is a story about a democracy falling apart. It's 31 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: about neighbors turning on each other in a very specific 32 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 1: strain of resentment that started in the outer boroughs of 33 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:06,480 Speaker 1: New York City and then went national with people like 34 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani. 35 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 2: We reached for a feeling that exists in this city, 36 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:20,360 Speaker 2: but we're not stopping. Harley and the Paul's generally speaking 37 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 2: national Enquiry did a Paul that's unbelievable. This is a 38 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:27,000 Speaker 2: win that you beat everybody right right into the White House. 39 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: I'm been that of Haffrey and I have done a deep, 40 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: deep dive into this overlooked and misunderstood moment from thirty 41 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: years ago when New York City almost tore itself apart. 42 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,240 Speaker 1: Because I think it anticipated everything about how our country 43 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:46,480 Speaker 1: is tearing itself apart. Right now this summer, we're celebrating 44 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:49,399 Speaker 1: our two hundred and fiftieth birthday as a country. It's 45 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:52,799 Speaker 1: the anniversary of an act of secession. This is who 46 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: we are, this is what we do. So it's time 47 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:00,920 Speaker 1: to ask a big question, how do you solve the 48 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: Staten Island problem? The Forgotten Borough? I don't know. I 49 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:06,120 Speaker 1: think we just might get rid of that nickname. 50 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 2: My position was to ask yourself what close freedom? 51 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: The Staten Island problem is coming July ninth from Pushkin Industries. 52 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:18,959 Speaker 1: Listen on the Revisionist History Feed wherever you get your podcasts.