Crisis Across America

yet of Donald Trump. But again, as of this late afternoon recording that I'm doing, New York City police have begun to put out barricades in New York City as Donald Trump continues to rage truth social his broke ass Twitter where he's typing in all caps about freedom and justice and literally having a fucking meltdown over what he

knows is coming. And like I've said before, friends, I want to remind us that when Donald Trump and company like Kevin McCarthy and Jim Jordan, who are using their positions to weaponize our government to go after people like Alvin Bragg and haul them before a committee, it's the same bullshit stunts that they pulled with Hillary Clinton and the Benghazi committees and made her sit for eleven hours. And Hillary Clinton never took to social media to call

her people into the streets. Why because she didn't have anything to hide. She could sit in front of them and they could drill her and grill her and do all of these bullshit political theatrics, but at the end of the day, she knew she had the truth on

her side and there was nothing to hide. And I want folks to think about, you know, if Hillary Clinton were so criminal and crooked, if Joe Biden and Hunter Biden were so criminal and crooked, then why wasn't why wasn't there any charges brought on any of these people during the Trump administration when he was weaponizing the Department

of Justice? Where were the cases? There were none, Because just in the same way the fucking Giuliani was laughed out of sixty some odd fucking courts in this country with frivolous, bullshit cases around electoral fraud, Donald Trump in the Department of Justice would have been laughed out of anybody's court on their frivolous claims. So you have to understand that all of this is about a motherfucking grift.

That's all any of this is. And so right now you have folks right that are saying that they're not going to come. There are folks that are trying to organize and get Trump supporters to New York City, and

folks are saying, yeah, we're not going. And why is that because one they think it's going to be a federal trap, or you mean that the Feds will actually do their job unlike what they did on January six, or the fact that Donald Trump does not have lightning in a bottle and he's not going to be able to amp up his mindless supporters to put their lives and livelihood on the line in order to stand their

ground for his criminal, fucking behavior. And just in as I am recording this in the third Oathkeeper's trial that has been ongoing, four of the six defendants are guilty of all charges, including obstruction, and they are Sandra Parker, Laura Steele, William Isaacs, and Connie megs So two defendants. This is according to Kyle Cheney's tweet thread. Two defendants had mixed results but were acquitted or deadlocked on serious charges,

Benny Parker and Michael Greene. B Parker deadlocked on conspiracy to obstruct, Acquitted of obstruction and conspiracy to prevent federal officer from discharging duties. Green acquitted of conspiracy to obstruct, deadlocked on obstruction, Acquitted of conspiracy to prevent federal officers from discharging duties. Green and Benny Parker were both convicted

of entering and remaining in restricted area, a misdemeanor. So all defendants were convicted of at least one thing, but split verdicts on most significant felonies, with again four of the six being guilty on all charges, including obstructions. So is it worth it to put your life, your livelihood that of your family on the line for Donald Trump? Doesn't fucking seem so. So you know, we will see and we will pay close attention to what is happening

over the course of this week. So do stay tune and do stay on top of my social media at d two cents across platforms Instagram and Twitter and Danielle Moody underscore on TikTok. But coming up next my conversation with Christine Quinn, president and CEO of Women in Need, providing shelters to homeless families in New York City and was the first female and openly LGBTQ speaker of the

New York City Council. And in this conversation, we discuss the escalation of the homelessness crisis that is happening nationwide, as well as the epidemic of rent hikes, folks. I am very excited to be joined on WOKE a f by Christine Quinn, who is the president and the CEO of Women in Need, which is the largest provider of shelter and supportive services for families homeless families in New York City and is also the first female and openly

LGBTQ speaker of the New York City City Council. Christie and I want to talk first about what we are kind of seeing both in New York City but nationwide, which is this escalation in the homeless crisis. I have traveled to a couple of different cities, recently Washington, d C. San Francisco. I live here in New York and I got to tell you that what I'm seeing is really heartbreaking. I'm seeing full tent cities being created in parks and on sidewalks, people that are clearly living on the brink

and in despair. So I wanted to get your thoughts first on what you are seeing here in New York City, but also why this is becoming such a crisis nationwide. So in New York City, over the past two years,

we have seen fifty percent increase in family homelessness. You know, some of us, I think, in the greater society got lulled into a sense of homelessness being headed in the right direction, if you will, during the pandemic, But that was because jurisdictions like New York and others put eviction moratoriums in place that gave us a false sense of progress. So things are as, unfortunately, as bad as they have ever been. Why is that? A couple of reasons? One,

what are the root causes of homelessness? I mean there's a few. One domestic violence, right, eighty percent of WINS moms are survivors of domestic violence. We as a society have yet to take INTI mid partner violence as seriously as we should, and have yet to come up with real strategies to deter it from happening and to really help those who are the survivors. Move on to people getting evicted. Fifty two percent of WINS moms are working,

but they can't pay the rent. So you can put out whatever job numbers you want, whoever the president is, and I'm happy that the recent ones are good for President Biden, but that doesn't really address those who are living if they're lucky on minimum wage. Three While good paying jobs aren't reaching women of color in urban settings. We have rent in urban settings, and New York is

maybe the highest numbers, but not an exception. We have rents escalating, escalating, escalating, And what used to be an apartment affordable to somebody who's now in shelter. That was an apartment that was affordable to a working class person. Right, So you're seeing this crisis trickle down. Hate to use that term in the worst of all possible ways. Now, the overarching reason why this problem is so vast is no one, not in New York, and I would argue

not anywhere in the country. No electric leader a real significance has said I'm gonna end the crisis of homelessness. No, they all try to manage it so it's not on the cover of the newspaper. Manage it so tourists don't see the homeless. Push them are out, move them out. That's different than having a real conversation with constituents and saying we have a crisis here. You know, we have more children in shelter in New York City than there are seats in the Barclay's Arena where the Nets play.

That's a sin. So we need to be real with voters and say we have a problem that's been out there for decades. We're gonna need a decade at least to solve it. But we're going to solve it. We're not just going to get it to a place where

you don't see it, you know. And I love that you that you bring up that point, because I think for a lot of people, even quote unquote well meaning progressives, that so long as you don't see your homelessness, as long as you're able to ride the subways and you know, go to and from work, as long as you're able to walk down your street and you don't see homeless people,

then you feel fine. And we don't ever ask ourselves, well, what happened to that person that was that I used to pass on my run or that I used to

see on the subway. And I think it's it's twofold, and I want to ask you about this, which is one every time I'm on Instagram, I get messages about how rents in every city or skyrocketing right that you know, we saw just for a moment during the pandemic in twenty twenty and twenty twenty one, people fleeing cities and going too, you know, whether it's in New York, going to Upstate, going to the suburbs, you know, but leaving the cities, and so rents kind of came down a

little bit. But like to your point, they were also on a moratorium of increase. Well, that ship has said, because you're seeing rents be increased six, seven, ten percent in some places, which means that not even for the working class, but whatever is left of the middle class is being squeezed out of cities because they can't afford the rents. And so you know, Mayor Adams has spoken

about this, but hasn't really done anything right. Usually sides, you know, on the sides of the landlords as opposed to the tenants. And so in that issue, when we see rents that are escalating to places that have become so unaffordable. There are rents around here where I live in Brooklyn that you're talking about are four five thousand dollars a month. You know, you need to make a significant six figure salary, a high six figure salary for

that too for that not to phase you. So how do we deal with these issues both and which is that one people who are on the bubble of working class to middle class right, are being squeezed out in a way where their rents are more than thirty three

percent of what their checks are. And then for those who say that they're well meaning and want to care for people who are less fortunate, but at the end of the day just really don't want to see them, right, So you don't have the push to politicians to say, my constituents want this issue solved in a humane and

empathetic way. Absolutely, And you know, this issue of not being seen is particularly vexing when you're working on the issues of family homelessness, because it is not that we want children on the street, but it's a crime to have your child on the street. So no, I mean, I've had intelligent people say to me, oh, I didn't know there were children who were homeless. It's like, you know,

but you don't know what you don't see. So that really and what's one of the reasons that win When I got there seven years ago, we really ramped up our efforts at you know, public relations, media, etc. Not because you know, I'm a girl who doesn't mind being on television, but because if people don't know, they don't push the politicians. If people don't know, they don't hold people accountable, and that really really matters too. You know, I think you raised an issue that really is so important.

The left, so to speak, has a whole bunch of issues they care about, rent control, rent stabilization, affordable housing. But you'll see a New York City council or assembly member who's on the top of the most left endorsement list get an endorsement on Tuesday and on Wednesday stand up and say I don't want to shelter in my neighborhood.

You can't be. We shouldn't allow people to get away with that, and we shouldn't allow the left to get away with that, because who should be at the top of our progressive agenda but women of color and children of color. And that is who is homeless in New York. Now, as it relates to the real estate industry, you know, and housing, I take a little bit of it, maybe an unconventional tact. Let's dialogue with the real estate industry.

They build housing, what are they need? And want to build housing that is affordable to my clients, but also to the you know, mythical teacher and firefighter who are living in New York City. So let's have those conversations. Now. Clearly what they want is subsidies. Okay, I can, I can yield that they should get some subsidies. Should they get the depth of the subsidies they want? No, but let's have that debate. But I've had conversations with real estate.

May not phrase them in the right way, but basically they're saying, you know what, if somebody comes from shelter and they've not lived and are building this nice, will they know how to live? Okay? Whatever, let's address the right way to say that somebody's moving to a new neighborhood and they don't know anybody, and they may have been in shelter for two years, given how long it takes, and they haven't paid you know, a content or whatever

for a while. They may need I believe people need aftercare. It's a big transition what they're going for. So let's set up that aftercare. But I don't want WIND to run it. I want the settlement house in the neighborhood near where they live to run it, or the community based group in the neighborhood near where they live to run it. So if there are paying bill issues that landlord can call that neighborhood group and we can work

to help. And interestingly, you know, the real estate folks have said that would really be of interest to them. I said they should sell, they should help fund it. Those conversations are ongoing. But you know, people, you know, I don't always know that people want to help. But there are people who want to help and don't know how to help. But there are other people who should help and need to be don't want to help to help, and that has not happened enough in the Adams administration

or to date in the new Hoco administration. People need to be told I want to switch gears now because there's there's another issue. I mean, there are many, but there's another issue that you know, when people think about New York City, and folks who live in New York City, they think about freedom, right, they think about living in this diverse place where you can walk down the sideway, you hear seven eight different languages, you see and hear all types of people, and people come here for the

freedom of that experience. What we've seen, though, Christine, over the past couple of months right in particular, that have made headlines there's an escalation in hate crimes towards the LGBTQ community. There was a member whose home whose apartment building was vandalized and was harassed at a at a drag story time followed home building vandalized. Most recently, there was an LGBTQ flag in front of a restaurant in Soho that was taken and burned. Right the person, a woman,

was just arrested on charges. When people see things like that, they're not shocked when they hear about it in a red state right or in a red area right. When they hear about these things in New York City, I think a lot of people, not just the people in New York City but nationwide, are like, oh my god, this is really this is scary because if this can happen in New York right, then this can happen anywhere.

What are you making, you know of what seems to be an escalation towards the LGBTQ community in cities that have long time been safe havens. So it's the LGBTQ plus community. We've seen it in the Asian American community and in the Jewish community recently. Yep. And you know, before I got elected to the City Council. In nineteen ninety nine, I ran the New York City was then called the New York City Gay Lesbian Anti Violence Project.

It's now just called the Anti Violence Project. And one of the things we documented was that as our community got more power and visibility, the attacks would escalate, and as there was coverage in the press and the media. At that time. I'm a million years old, but at back time, you know, ellen coming out something like that happens,

violence goes up. Or elected officials and people of stature say anti LGBTQ plus things or anti Asian, etc. Violence goes up because people who hate are always tragically a step away from acting out. So when something happens that angers them, it pushes them. When they, you know, see a congress member say something anti LGBTQ plus, it pushes

them over the line to act out violently. And what happens with some types of hate and actually LGBTQ plus Asian and anti Semitic or evidence of that, those haters will go to the places they think those communities are and lash out in those areas. And that's what we're seeing.

And I believe I don't know this, but I believe based on my experience in ADP and my experience working on hate crimes and city council, I believe the haters are enraged that Donald Trump is not president yep, and that they've lost their king, and that is part of what is fueling them and that they're seeing in New York more LGBTQ elected officials than ever before, more LGBTQ

elected officials in higher positions than ever before. After having had twelve years of eight years of the lesbian speaker and four years of the gay speaker, these people are pissed off. You know, we're rising while they're falling. So I think that is part of it. Now, what is the response every time there is a hate crime, doesn't matter who it's against, we need to speak out, We need to condemn it. We need to stand with every community and the highest level people, the mayor, the governor,

the senators, etc. Etc. Need to do that. One. Two, the police department needs to engage and I really applaud them for apprehending this woman so quickly. And whether we like all the cameras out there or not, wake up people. You can't do anything and not end up with a picture of yourself. You will get caught, and the haters need to know the police department takes this seriously. There's a hate crime unit and they will bring every resource they have to bear to apprehend hate criminals out there.

We need to spread that message and I know a relationship as a community is complicated with the police, but it is important in these hate crime moments to stand with the police. And I know historically I'm not saying it's not now. I just don't know. Historically the hate crimes unit has been very diverse and very effective and very sensitive. So it's a good, you know, part of

the department to be working with. Now when will this stop, I don't know, but I do know that's standing with ourselves as a community and standing with other communities is the main thing that makes a difference. And it is also a place where standing there in solidarity is very helpful in dealing with the trauma. And I just want anybody who hears this, if you were a member of a community that has been suffering hate crimes. That's the thing about hate crimes. They're not designed to hurt that

one person. They're designed to hurt the whole community. And if you feel traumatized and then say what's wrong with me? I wasn't the person who was attempted? Right? You do feel trauma? Get it addressed quality VP's hotline, Speak to somebody, because unexpressed trauma eats away at your soul, lessens you as a person, and that's what these horrible people ultimately want.

You know, Christine, you say so many valuable things here, and I wonder as a you know, as a former politician, you know, we are seeing this escalation right in violence and hate because of the rhetoric right that we are seeing across across the country. What do you think? What what kind of response should there be to politicians who are using their microphones, their platforms, their their social media handles to stir and create hate, Like should they be

held accountable? Should there be some type of standard here? Absolutely? You know, people during the presidential elections with Trump would say to people on you know, TV, your podcast or whatever, well, are you saying he's responsible for the violence? And everyone would be like, oh, I'm not saying that. Yes, I am saying that. I am saying that I've seen it, I know it, I've documented it. And we need to

be that clear and hold people that accountable. And you know what if these fools, who are you know, picketing, drag story hour, opposing children learning in a fun way, let's go to their house if where it countsil never bocher lives. Isn't sacred their house. Yeah, we're not going to vantilize it, not gonna ventialize it. We'll stay in appropriate distance away so people can come in and out of the front door. But you know what, what's good

for the goose is good for the gander. And you know, back in the day, there was a very anti gay school board out in Queen's Cummings. Was the woman's name, I can't remember her first name, who was chair of the school board, and she was opposed to the rainbow curriculum. And we went out to Queens. It wasn't pleasant. The neighbors weren't happy to see us. But you know what, yeah, you'd be afraid to do what we gotta do. Keep it peaceful, keep it without you know, vandalism. I love that.

Christine Quinn, I thank you so much. Thank you for your time and for the work that you're doing on so many different fronts. Really appreciate you. And just before you go. Please tell people, particularly those that live in New York or actually want to use WIN as a model for what they can do in their own communities and places where they can get more information. Yeah, please go to our website. It's win nyc dot org. That's two ends w I n NYC dot org. Wonderful. Thank

you so much for making the time. I appreciate you. Take care bye. That is it for me today. Dear friends on woke app as always, power to the people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.