Radiolab - Father K

Episode Date: October 13, 2017

Today, while the divisions between different groups in this country feel more and more insurmountable, we zero in on a particular neighborhood to see if one man can draw people together in a potentially history-making election.  Khader El-Yateem is a Palestinian American running for office in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, one of the most divided, and most conservative neighborhoods in New York City. To win, he'll need to convince a wildly diverse population that he can speak for all of them, and he'll need to pull one particular group of people, Arab American Muslims, out of the shadows and into the political process. And to make things just a bit more interesting, El-Yateem is a Lutheran minister. This story was reported and produced by Simon Adler, with help from Bethel Habte, Annie McEwen, and Sarah Qari.  Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate.

Wait, you're listening. Okay. All right. You're listening to Radio Lab. Radio Lab. From W. N. Y. C. See?

Yeah. I'm Chadabumrod. I'm Robert Krollwich. This is Radio Lab. And today we have a little experiment in democracy. Diversity. And division. Yeah.

Comes to us from our reporter, producer, Simon Adler. Okay. All right, Simon. Okay. What do you have to tell me? So. A couple months back, I took the train down to southern Brooklyn. To a little neighborhood called Bay Ridge.

Best known for its portrayal in the movie Saturday Night Fever. You weren't heading there for disco. No. Not exactly. The auditorium appears to be filling up. I was actually down there to go to this Catholic high school auditorium. How you doing? Hey. Sort of the classic high school auditorium sloping down with the stage in front

and like an American flag on one side of the stage and a New York state flag on the other, maybe a thousand seats. And I would say half of them are filled. Like, surprisingly, there's a big turnout for this thing. You look familiar? I look familiar. Have you seen me before? Well, maybe because you're handsome.

Oh. And it would not be unfair to say that the crowd has an average age of 62. The reason I was there. So what brings you here tonight? I'm seated debate. It was to watch the local candidates for the New York. City City Council duke it out.

Who's most likely to do something for you, do you think? I have no idea. I've been hurt on both sides. And can I ask you a question or two? As I was talking to people beforehand, weaving in and out of the rows of chairs, the issues that people were concerned about were really what you would expect.

I'll be in this neighborhood for five years. I've been fighting for a light. At this level of politics. In the meantime, I get aggravated. We have to run for our lives when we cross the streets here. It's horrible. You know, small stuff. away the five-cent bottle tax.

You drink a lot of Mountain Dew or something, so those five cents are going to add it? My water bottles, it jumps up the price when I buy those 24 packs of water. But... Please take your faces. We're about to begin. Eventually, the MC for the evening, this woman in her

70s, dressed from head to toe in pink, walks out onto the stage. This is America in action. We've got a great selection here. She invites the candidates up. five Democrats for Republicans, they sit down at their respective tables, and... Okay, we're ready. It gets underway.

Get on our mark, get set, go. And at first... As your city councilwoman, I will help and make sure that those that have limited income are on fixed income. It's pretty dry. We'll have enough resources and be helped to take care of their pets. Pets? Yeah. So they don't have to put them down, and they don't have to put the mountains in the street.

But then, about an hour, hour and a half into it, there's this moment where... What are your solutions for the overcrowding in schools in this district? Bob Capano? One of the Republican candidates, this guy, Bob Capano, goes off on this riff. It's a matter of budgetary priorities. It takes money to build schools. So perhaps if we put an end to some of the city's sanctuary city policies, like spending $27 million to defend those here illegally who commit felonies from deportations.

from deportation, perhaps we would have more money to build more public schools. And then, just as it seemed like people were settling down. Moving on the next question. This man on the far right side of the auditorium stands up and then goes on to say, Get the Arab people and the frickin Asians out of here. Why are you selling your houses? You're letting everybody take over. Everybody sort of sat up in their seats, and nobody was quite sure if this thing was going to escalate. And shortly after he said this, one of the candidates up on stage, this tall guy, like 6'3-Salt and Pepper Beard, stood up from behind the table and actually walked out in front of it.

And I want to say something, and please forgive me, and said, There is an elephant in the room, and it's called racism and discrimination in this community right here. You have an opportunity in September 12 to tell, send the message to Trump and to the world, that the people of the 4th District are not afraid to send the first Arab-American City Council to represent them. So the reason I was at this debate is, like, it feels right now like America is just at its own throat. It's certainly as divided as I've ever seen it. And I just keep wondering, like, in this. moment, can one person stand for all of us anymore? And here you've got this guy, the guy

you just heard, Hader El-Yatim, a Palestinian-American trying to win an election in one of the most conservative and most divided neighborhoods in New York. And he's running on behalf of a group of people who currently are at the flashpoint of those divisions. Arab-American Muslims. And just to make things a little more complicated, Hader El-Ele-Team is a lot of. Christian. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit. A Christian minister. Yeah, we want to go in the office? Yeah, was that okay?

Yeah, no. Check, check, check. I sat down with him in his office for the first time this past March. I am an Arab, American, Palestinian, Christian, Lutheran, pastor in southwest Brooklyn running for office. Wait, wait, wait, wait, slow that down. Say that for me again, right? Can you say that once more? Sure.

An Arab, American, Palestinian Lutheran pastor in southwest of Brooklyn, who is running for city council because I want to bring a new, bold, fresh, inclusive, powerful voice to present our district and city council. You've got a nice cadence there. You said that. You know, being a preacher, it helps a little bit, too. What's this guy's backstory? How did he end up being in Brooklyn and running for the seat for city's council?

Well, so he was born and raised in Bethlehem on the West Bank. In a Palestinian Christian home, into a family that was poor to a middle class. His father was a carpenter and made most of his money carving, you know, those little like nativity scenes with the wooden camel and the wooden Christ? He carved those for a living. My mother was a housewife and she helped my father in the factory. they worked extremely hard to provide for us a good life. So it was amazing, wonderful, simple life. It wasn't complicated.

So I went to school, grew up in the church. And after high school, Elia team went into the seminary. The Bethlehem Bible College. And then when he was in his second year, this was 1989. I was arrested by the Israeli soldiers. I was picked up from my bed from home at 3 in the morning. and they took me to prison. And for what reason?

I don't know. I never been given a reason why I was arrested. I never been convicted of anything. I was picked up from my bed at 3 in the morning from my father's house and taken to prison. I was in a solitary confinement in a small cell. He says that the Israeli soldiers basically tortured him. Hitting me and putting me outside

against the wall with a bag of my head under the rain and the cold. And they kept asking me, tell us what you did wrong. Tell us what you did wrong. I said, I have nothing to tell you. And a few months later, he was released with no explanation. It just was a bizarre experience. And when he got home...

After I came out from prison, there's a lot of people came to our house. They say, oh, look, see what they did to you. Now you have to do this to them. You know, they come to recruit you to belong to a political party. In this case, it was the palest. Palestinian Liberation Organization, which at the time was explicitly an armed resistance movement that often targeted Israeli citizens. And they say, oh, look, see what they did to you. Now you have to do this to them. And I said, absolutely not. This is not the way I want to live the rest of my life. You know, I always wanted to be engaged in a place where I can bring hope. I can help people.

and the only way I can do that was through being, become a minister. So he doubled down in his studies, finished seminary, was working in Palestine. And then in the early 90s, he was actually sent to start a new Lutheran church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. So I came to Brooklyn in 1995. I remember on the first day, I was shocked. because biking down Fifth Avenue, if you take the whole neighborhood in, we are in Bay Ridge,

which I actually did not too long ago on a bike. What you notice is, on the right we have Leif Erickson Park, a nod to the neighborhood's Scandinavian past, this sort of crazy mix of different kinds of people. The Bay Ridge Bakery, beautiful neon sign, looks like it hasn't changed much since the 1960s. Johnny Pumps,

A fireman bar, firefighter bar. Did I hit record? I did hit record. All right. Skin Flint's pub. It's sort of like looking at a geological cross-section of the neighborhood's history. The Bean Post pub with the Schnitzel House on the left. You can see how groups of people layered themselves on top of groups of people,

making themselves part of one of the most deeply mixed neighborhoods in the country. And when you get just a little bit sour, it's impossible to not notice one of the latest groups trying to settle it. Abu Ar-Kram furniture, almost got it by a car, the Yemen cafe, El Zahar Halal Meat, women walking around in hijab, got a hookah lounge, hookah nuts. That sounds nice. Turkish kebab, Hazar.

And how large is the Arab community in the 43rd district? We don't have that exact because... Again, Father El Yatim. When the census department... 10 years ago, they told the Arab community, if you are an Arab, check white. So we don't have specific numbers. But the estimates I heard are somewhere between 20 and 30,000. Wow. Living in southwest Brooklyn. That's a huge community. Yeah, I mean, that's only about 10% of the total population. But in a Democratic primary for city council, we need only about

4,000 votes to win. Four thousand votes total. Yeah. That's it? Wow. Yeah. I mean, the turnout is very law. And we have an open seat. So we'll have a bigger chance winning because we're not running against an incumbent. What's the margin of victory typically? They can be squeakers. I mean, just several years back, the race was won by just 31 votes. Oh, what? 31? Yeah. So it would seem that if this guy can just, well, despite the fact that there's never been an Arab American on city council before, it seems that if he can get out the Arab American vote, he's got a shot. Well, a shot.

I mean, you just told us there's a lot of Arabs there, so he should own this election. Well, yes, but at the same time... This neighborhood is such a microcosm. I think that Islam is an evil ideology. That's what I think. Of, like, everything that's going on. This is Kayla.

Kayla Santosuoso. She's the former deputy director of the Arab American Association of New York. I am something else. I'm what you call it American. And she said, if you look around the neighborhood, you'll see all these... sort of national level issues playing out on the ground.

It's like a, you know, like a shadow play or something. And I think it's an ideology. Take the travel ban. I mean, you've got... One of the largest Muslim neighborhoods in the country, right? Right next to all of these people who voted for Trump, who support the travel ban. No immigration whatsoever. None. Zero.

And shifting national demographics. We're one of the last remaining New York City neighborhoods where there is still strong white working class. that is in the process of being priced out. Gentrification is really hitting white people hard, and so clearly there's going to be tension there. Like, we've just got a lot of the elements of the struggles and the anxieties

that are going on on a national level. So... Candidate log, 1.10 a.m. With all of this in mind... We're still out there and search for new voters. Huddor Elliott team. Candidate signing out. Along with the help of his campaign manager...

He's full of dad jokes. It's kind of amazing. The woman you just heard a couple seconds ago, Kayla. Now, I'm the campaign manager for Elia Team for City Council. Have you guys become, like, best friends? She's my mother-in-law. Why do you call me your mother-in-law? Because I love my mother-in-law.

Sat out to represent the Arab community. I am a candidate going where no other candidate have gone before. Oh, my God. Here we go. Captain... See? Captain... I mean, don't encourage this behavior. So, Captain Kirk.

Captain Hudders, what's the difference? But dad joke aside, it's true. He really is trying something that's never been tried before. And one reason that it's never been tried before is that those 20-some-thousan Arab Americans for the last 20 years, they've been hiding. Like for me, it's been unnerving to be in a district where you don't feel like people are watching out

for your own near community. This is Linda Sarsur. I am Palestinian, Muslim-American community organizer born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. And she says, the key thing to know is that not long after the 9-11 attacks. The U.S. government in 2003 did engage in a registration program. A registry called N. Sears, a national security entry, exit registration system.

Which meant that males over the age of 16 who were from these like 29 countries of origin. Countries that had a historic connection to terrorism. Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, go down the list. People from those countries that were visitors, temporary work. non-U.S. citizens had to come and formally register with the federal government. FBI told me, give me people, Muslim people. They're treating us like animals. That's it. Linda was there with some of these men providing translation services in this post office-like room. Where there are all these windows.

The men would be called up one at a time, photographed, fingerprinted. Look at their passport, ask them general questions. And I noticed that at one point that there were some men that were being told to either leave, or just go home and got some stamps in their passport with future appointments. Or they were telling them to go to the 10th floor. That's when my, like, something like I got punched in the stomach, like I felt really nauseous. I was like, what's going on here? So when I went to ask the officer, she was told...

The 10th floor was the FBI headquarters. This wasn't just some information gathering operation. They were planning to deport people. And as this realization sunk in throughout the waiting room... I can't tell you the faces that these people had. Like, they didn't know what they're doing. destiny was. And in fact, about 10% of those that did go register were put on deportation proceedings and many of them were deported. No going home, no packing a bag. And I think that's

where the divide starts. And so the Arab American population in New York and at Bay Ridge learned it was better to not show up, to not be counted. Yeah. And then just a few years later, the Associated Press came out with their investigative reports. The Associated Press reports details how police used informants. The New York Police Department has operated an intelligence unit targeting Muslims. Turns out that after 9-11, the NYPD was putting large sections of the community under varying degrees of surveillance. This is Matt Apuzzo.

I'm a reporter for the New York Times based in Washington. And he, along with his team at the AP, back in 2011, broke this story. We found out there was a unit called the demographics unit. secret team of NYPD intelligence officers. These detectives, they were mapping the human terrain of New York. Snooping around neighborhoods, going into different shops. All the Muslim butcher shops, the cafes, the bookstores, bars, the nightclubs, restaurants. Bucca bars.

Marking down things like... They play Al Jazeera, and it's this far from a mosque. It's used informants known as mosque crawlers. Our mosques were under surveillance. And so the Arab community in Bay Ridge, who had done nothing wrong, they were terrified. I mean, the police were even keeping track of their kids. Like, which parks do our kids were playing soccer? A couple things worth noting here.

One, in the end, the operation never turned up any terrorists. And two, when those things happened, none of their local representatives. No state legislator, no local elected officials stood up and said this is wrong. Don't target my constituents. You know, these people are from my district, nothing. And what that does is it makes you feel like the people quote in power. don't care about us. Like, we were out on our own.

And I started realizing that there was going to have to be a moment where we had somebody in a local area. Somebody who is Arab. Stand up and protect us. And this is where Elia team steps in? No, not quite yet. So first, Linda started to raise these thoughts with imams and business leaders. A whole bunch of leaders from different institutions. And they decided the first step was to run a candidate for the New York City Council.

The idea was start small and start in a place where they have a strong base, Bay Ridge, which also happened to be Linda's neighborhood. And according to her, a lot of the unions and a lot of the people in politics were like, Linda, this is your seat. You have to run for the seat. So I saw it like unfold before my very eyes. But Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. The politics changed.

I think Islam hates us. You know, nobody talks about it. We need American Muslims on our front lines. Yes, we have to look at mosas. It's not politically correct. Radical Islamism. We have to see what's happening. And, um...

Joining me now is Lendezar Khore, Executive Director of the Arab... In this new political climate... I profile a group... Linda Sarsour. She's a Nanda Sars Sour. I started doing a lot of national work. She was on all the cable news shows, became a national figure. And really, a polarizing one.

But why is that? Well, in large part because, and I'm sure she would hate me saying this, but her brand, oddly, is very similar to Donald Trump's. She can be very reactive. She's just going to say it like it is. I'd say it straight. I'm very Brooklyn, and maybe because I was born and raised here, but I tell it like it is. I don't really... And more than just telling it like it is, she's a provocateur.

She's tweeted some tongue-in-cheek posts about how Sharia law wouldn't be that bad. More recently, she called CNN anchor Jake Tapper, a member of the alt-right. I mean, she's brash. And... Feminist poster child. Linda Sarsour, Linda Sour, Linda Sour tits. The conservative media, I don't need counseling after I hear Linda Sarsaw speak.

I just need a bucket. Jumped all over her for it. Here is the witch. Linda Sarsur. She is a radical anti-Semite. I will not submit to you. Taking these missteps and warping them into totally unfounded claims. Linda Sarsor, she is an extremist who has backed terrorists in the past.

This bitch won't be happy until this whole goddamn country is Muslim. You make us assimilate. Thank you for being truthful witch. So it just didn't feel right at the moment and didn't want to run for the New York City Council. And so, after four or five years of planning, organizing, and laying the groundwork so that Linda Sarsur could run

and represent the Arab community, there was suddenly this moment of, oh God. What are we going to do? You know. This, by the way, again, is Kayla Santo Suoso, who at the time was working with Linda at the Arab American Association.

And then I remember a moment when at the association, I walked in, and I said to her, like, I just got out of a meeting that Father Kay was in. And I was like, well, at that time, I was like, I think I was calling him Reverend Elia team. I don't remember what I was calling him, but I was like, don't you think he'd be a great person to run for counsel? And she, like, slammed our hand down on the table. And she's like, Kayla, I was just thinking about the same thing. It was like a light bulb went off. So we both like started going through our heads of like why. He meets us in the middle. He's got all these connections with people.

outside of the Arab community. He's a parent of public school students. He worked at an Orthodox Jewish hospital. He's clergy liaison to the NYPD. He's Lutheran. He's Arab, but he's Christian. He's not Muslim. And they started thinking, like, he's going to be able to get votes that no other Arab could. Like, oh my God, he's like the most intersectional. Let me not use that jargony term. He's like the person with the most complex identity that might just be so complex that it'll work. And so... They reached out to me and they said, listen, we want you to do this. And, you know, he thought about the fact that doing this,

it would require him to quit his job, it would be tough on his family. But it felt again like here was an opportunity to help the people around it. To help the people in my community. So I think, I'm not sure of it. Like the end of December, where I became like, yes, 100%.

And so... I will bring our voice to city council A couple months later, I announced on February 26. This is not only my campaign, this is your campaign. At Lasage restaurant. A local Lebanese restaurant. This is your campaign.

He's up front, shouting into the microphone, blowing out the speakers. Every single seat was filled. We are going to win. And we are going to win. And his message to them was essentially... We cannot sit and live in the shadow anymore. We have to be engaged. we have to be involved, we have to be part of the decision making in this country,

we have to bring our perspective to the table. Because the fact is other people cannot represent us. So let's last make history together. We have to present ourselves. Boy, I'm really getting lucky with the park in this spot. It's your relationship with God? I think so. And pretty much right off the bat, those words like us and ourselves,

they presented a series of challenges for Father Elia team. The first one being... There's a large number of Arab Americans who are American citizens, but they are not registered, and they refuse to be part of the political system in this country because they don't trust it. Like here is a community that has avoided government to the nth degree for the past decade and a half.

So what does he do? Well, during the month of Ramadan, which is the holy month... Three or four nights a week, he would show up to the mosques with a stack of literature and a larger stack of voter registration forms. On the night, I tagged along with him and his campaign manager, Kayla.

It was hot, muggy. Elliot team was dressed in his minister garb, you know, suit and collar. And now you take the flipboard. And as we walked into the mosque, I take my shoes out here. It wasn't at all clear to me how this was going to go. Considering what's happening in the Middle East, the war, and the division, and the different groups.

I was not sure if they were ready to support a candidacy of an Arab Christian to represent them. So we're standing in the back of this huge room that has, like, green carpet and a low, low ceiling. There are like 700 people there standing shoulder to shoulder, all praying in unison. They have to do this ritual four times. And then there was a break in the prayer.

So we are going to allow me to speak now to address the people so they know that I am here. So we sort of tiptoe through all these people. We are up at the front of the mosque. They introduce him. Salamu ala. And he launched into this speech. Basically saying, you know, this is our historic opportunity for, the Arab community to send their first ever Arab American to city council.

And even with the language barrier, you can hear the passion in this speech and a response that was tepid at best. So when he was done, we headed out to the front of the mosque, and as the service let out, This sea of 700 people come crashing out of the mosque. Salamu ala, how in a lot? And their excitement for him is on open display. They're giving him hugs, they're saying we're behind you, we love you. I believe in this guy, I think he is the best candidate in the field,

and he will represent the community. Only you can represent the community, we are behind you 100%. To see you, we want this stab, in shah-l-l-l-l-l-h-l-h-l-h-l-h-l-h-l-h-l-h-gall. Thank you. Congratulations. Good luck, man. And that evening, 12-25 in the morning, we are at mosque number two. We went to a second mosque.

Oh, you're going to go out of September 12thew. And then a third. And then a third. How you doing? Good. Good to see you. Each time that same energetic response. People are just pouring out.

He seems to know everyone. And most importantly. Where did all look a pen to? I have ten pens. People were signing his petition. the ballot. Okay, address 39 Arden Avenue. Okay, so just sign here.

And registering to vote. Register him, please. Register him. So you just registered to vote? Yes, this is my first time registering. Many of them for the first time. You're the best. Did you just register?

Oh, not. First time? First time? Yeah. Only for him. You register voter? You know what I mean? Oh!

What's up, brother? 100%. Okay, sorry. Ultimately, everybody thinks we're insane when we say we're investing a fair amount of our resources in people who have never voted before and people are kind of like, are you, what? You know, like, don't do that. It's a waste of money.

Because for many of these people, the whole thing about registering and then later voting. It was a foreign language to them. No, no register. Sometimes when he'd ask people to register to vote, they'd respond. But why? We already gave you money. I understand, but this is the process. Other people thought that just registered.

registering to vote was the same as voting for him. I said, no, no, you did not vote for me. The vote is September 12th. He said, but I signed the papers two weeks ago. And on top of that, we did see signs of that mistrust of government. I have to register? Well, you don't have to. Do you want to get the first Arab American and city council?

Yeah, sure. I don't know this. I don't do this. It's okay. It's all right. It's the first time for a lot of people, so it's fine. I'm kind of hiding under the radar right now, you know. What kind of information I'm giving you?

But still, after going from mosque to mosque through all of Ramadan, by like three months before the election. We have registered close to 300 voters. Just at the mosques. Yeah. Do you think you can get those 4,000 votes from the Arab community alone? We are, you know, not counting on the Arab. We're counting about 1,000 votes from the Arab community.

Wait, only 1,000 votes? Yeah, just 1,000. Didn't you just say there were tens of thousands of Arab Americans living there? Well, yes, there are. There are. So. But first of all, if I get this correct, about 250 Arab American votes were cast in the last council primary. 250. Even getting to that 1,000 number was going to be a heavy lift.

And there's one more wrinkle here. So in Brooklyn, we have about 800 families that attend our church. The folks you might expect to be his most ardent supporters. Other Arab-American Christians... We are the main Orthodox church in Egypt. Like Sharif here. Shereef, S-H-E-R-I-F. I am a deacon in the church.

You're going to vote for El-E-Ti? I don't know yet. They were really uninterested in supporting him. Will you be voting for Father Kader El-Yatim? No, no, no. I don't know I am. You are you open? No.

In the beginning of my campaign, I tried to reach out to them. No, for me personally, no. And I feel Bushback. No. No, I don't know. Why is that? And what's going on? Well, the Arab Christians in our district are the vast majority are Republicans.

So, yeah, I will say 95% of them are Republicans. So that's number one. Number two, you have the situation in Egypt where Christians are being attacked. 44 now been killed after bombing Christian churches in Egypt. And churches are being burned. St. George's Church and Tanta ripped apart by these radical groups. ISIS claiming responsibility. Many of the dead are children. You see, there's tensions.

Well, and so is there a level of distrust in the Christian Arab community of you? Because you are so close with the Muslim Arab community here? I mean, I will give you an example. I have a very close friend of mine. His name is Francois. And so people went out to him and saying, we cannot support him. And he said, why not? Why? He said because he's very close with the Muslims

and they will take advantage of him. But this is the dynamics. This is what's happening. So eventually they decided only going after the Arab vote. It wasn't the right numbers game. Like, that's just not going to work. And so what that meant was... I need to get 3,000 votes from non-Arabs in the district to win this election.

In other words, he was going to have to convince the majority white voters that he could represent them too. Which wasn't going to be easy. All right, walking down fifth here. As I discovered when maybe a month before the election, I went on a stroll to try to take the pulse of some of the neighborhood's white residents. Have you lived here in Bay Ridge for a while? All my life.

Has the neighborhood changed a lot? Yes. It's more foreigners than American. And it's scary. Listen, you're talking to a 78-year-old Irish woman. And you have newcomers coming into our district. What do they know about it? Nothing.

They do not know. And when I asked them about Father Elyatine specifically... Do you know anything about him? No, I don't, and I don't care to. Honestly, I'd never heard of him. The one that's running... Father Elyoteen. Right.

He's Egyptian. He's Palestinian. Okay. My palace. Still Egyptian. That's how I feel. It just completely turns me off. And just to be clear here, you're a Democrat. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. These are Democrats.

If anybody asked me to vote for Donald Trump when he was running, I would turn around and say, hell no. But I feel this is our country. This is America. And I feel an American person should be in for office. Was that representative of what you heard? On that street, on that day, yes. But clearly, it's not like everyone down there has these opinions. And this by no means excuses their behavior or language, but I think it explains some of it that they see rent prices going up

and dozens of new Arab folks moving into the neighborhood every month. These are not the gentrifying force, though. Oddly enough, the Arab immigrants and even more so the Chinese immigrants, they in some ways are. Let's talk about the issues that I'm. here, and every issue. Jumping back to the debate from the top of the piece, this is one of the Republican candidates,

Liam McCabe. Overcrowded schools, whether it's infrastructure and transportation. It can be traced to one particular issue in South Brooklyn, and that is illegal home conversion. Absolutely my signature issue. Developers or landlords are taking these single family homes,

knocking out all the walls on the ground floor and the second floor, and then putting up these these temporary walls building these very tiny cramped domiciles that they can then rent out to 10 or 15 families. And what that does

is, first of all, it's incredibly unsafe for the people living in the house. But also, it's putting stress on the sewer system and streets. It causes classroom sizes to go up. Housing prices go up because there are just less actual single family homes on the market.

It's making the neighborhood more dense than it was ever meant to be. And so for a lot of these people who have lived in this neighborhood for a long time, I think it feels like their daily lives are being affected by these forces outside their control

and they are reacting emotionally to those things. So you're fighting for... I'm fighting for the district, fighting to make sure the quality of life. Just one example. A couple months before the election, Elia team was going around, knocking on doors. And what are your views on illegal immigration?

We need to do immigration. reform. We need to make sure the undocumented are protecting our sanctuary city. No. No, you don't have my vote. It's not a sanctuary city. You're not interested to follow federal law. Get the fuck out of my sight. All right. Thank you. Get the fuck out of my sight. Thank you. You pay federal law. And several of the Republican candidates...

You know, I deeply believe that illegal immigration is a big root cause of this. ...are trying to harness those emotions. Well, those who come here illegally, get a handout of public health benefits. That must stop it is! One Republican candidate wrote about me, I am a radical, lifters Palestinian clerk.

Presumably they're using the word cleric, insinuating that you are not, in fact, Christian, but you are Muslim. Is that the insinuation there? Yeah, I mean, that is part of their plan. They're trying to use the fear of the people against my candidacy. then the comments underneath that post, it is just terrifying.

I'm going to hang him. For example, one guy said, or this one, I cannot read it on radio, but I will show it to you. I'll read it. He's a fucking asshole and should be treated as such. I have lived in this community for the past 22 years and never in my life faced anything like this. And it is very interesting because the attacks not only coming from Republicans, but also coming from Democrats in the race. The Democrats, they don't kind of under the table.

Elia team claims that some of the Democrats are making the argument that, yes, he might be able to win a Democratic primary, but because he's Arab, he won't be able to win the general election. So don't waste your vote on him. And Justin Brannon, who's really the establishment democratic frontrunner in the race? His flyers and his lit says, our neighborhood, our guy. So for me, as an Arab American who are living here, what that's supposed to mean? It is dog-wistling, a statement of exclusion.

I'll just say on that, as a white dude from Wisconsin, when I see that flyer, I don't see that division in that. Am I just blind to it? You have to understand the context of the neighborhood. And the context is everything wrong in the neighborhood is blamed on the Arab and the Chinese. If the street is dirty because of the neighborhood, these damn Arabs, you know? Like when I go out and say, I'm fighting for the community and say,

Hosei, he's just only fighting for his community. It means only the Arab people. But if somebody else said the word community, it's okay. It means everybody. And I don't mean to push back, but it seems like you, okay, it seems like you two are essentially doing the same thing to one another, yeah? He's saying when you say the word community, it's only about the Arab community, and when he says our neighborhood, you're saying he's just talking about the white folks in Bay Ridge. Isn't it the same thing happening in both directions? Well, it could be, but we need to understand the backgrounds. We have a president who used so much rhetoric. He came up with a Muslim ban and building the wall and attacking minorities and

people of color. Our councilman and his staff never took a stand on these issues and came out in support of the Arab and Muslim community. You have to look at the history. And will it seems like maybe his opponents are playing up this kind of identity politics. Over and over again, I saw Eliotim making explicit attempts to reach out across those boundaries. These are Republicans for Eliotic. Take this, for example, at this noisy firefighter bar. He strolled up to this table of burly white men and just started giving hugs. And I mean, just listen to how Brooklyn he sounds here. Let's hear that once more.

How you doing? Is he behaving? Can I give you a kiss at least? The whole thing has been a really delicate line. Kayla Santo Suoso. Because we really wanted to be honest and not adjust too much, but while also letting people know that this campaign wasn't just for the Arab community, it was for them as well.

And so the campaign was also focusing on things that, well, things that mattered to everyone. What's happening here? They're doing a complete renovation of the station. There's no archery at this station. You know, a real daily life concerns. The station is going to be closed for at least five months. As you see, it's chaotic.

On a cloudy morning, Elia team set up a podium right in front of the cordoned off staircase of a closed subway station and railed against the MTA for doing with next to no warning at all, these repairs that were really just cosmetics weren't needed at all. We think about our students. We think about our small business owners, the Mops, a pub, shops, who will be in. affected and impacted from closing this station for no reason. I mean, what's more unifying here in New York than complaining about the subway. And he also went after specific groups, groups who were traditionally white.

I just want to say thank you so much for this opportunity to invite me to be with you tonight. Like on this rainy Thursday night in this YWCA multi-purpose room that felt a lot like an elementary school cafeteria. And I thank you for inviting me to share my reasoning why I'm running for city council. And also to tell you that I will be very proud to be the first one to represent the democratic socialist in City Hall. Who are the Democratic Socialists? These are the Bernie Sanders people. And the important fact to know is there are lots of anti-establishment, white people in this district. This neighborhood in the presidential primary went Bernie and went Trump.

He beat Hillary. He beat Hillary. in this district. So Elia team has to put on the clothes of Bernie at Brooklyn Jew. Yes. And watching him try to do that, a couple things struck me.

As he said, I was born and raised in Bethlehem, Palestine, and my father actually also carpenter. No relation. No relation. First, how he was intentionally bringing parts of himself to the fore while pushing other parts into the background. So I'm going to tell you that we have some common. And second, we are committed to justice.

And I think that's why you are here tonight, right? Otherwise, you are in the wrong room, no? How he highlighted specific policies that represented those parts of himself. Issues like economic justice, a free education, our universities. I have two daughters in college, and I know how much it caused me. I know that my wife and I, we have to get a second job to be able to pay for them to go to college. So did they decide to support him, or no? Well, in fact, they did.

You are a socialist. He was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, both the local and national chapters of the organization, which was a huge deal. Yes. 100%. And I was like, okay, we are a business. Now it's interesting, right?

Because with that endorsement came some real support. I came to the campaign through the DSA. DSA seemed like a good conduit. I am a Democratic Socialist. Locally, they committed hundreds of volunteers. We had 15, 200 volunteers yesterday. The sort of manpower that allowed them to flood the neighborhood and knock on thousands of doors.

My name is Michael. My name is Tom. Allureeathees Care with Hatter-Elea-Ele-Team campaign. Trying to convince people to vote for. When people understood his stances on the legislation, I think people were really excited about that. I'm feeling good. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

And more than just helping them knock on doors, because of the national endorsement on many evenings of the week, they actually had folks from all over the United States phone banking for him, calling from places like Florida to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, again, pitching people to vote for Father Elliott team. I am trying to show that my candidacy for city council, it is for everyone in this district. And this is, I find this so fascinating about you,

that I see such a contradiction in, everything you're saying there, that you're saying you want to represent the whole community, which I'm sure you do. But at the heart of it, like, what's motivating that is wanting to give voice to this group of people that don't have a voice. Absolutely. I mean, that is 100% and I cannot deny that. I mean, one of the most motivating factors are me running because I wanted to make sure my community has a voice and has representation. But I'm running to represent everyone, you know. Like it's just weird. Yeah, I mean, it is weird because, you know.

Was that a question in your mind going into this? Like, how do I walk this incredibly tiny tightrope of telling the Arab community, I am you? And this is our moment. But simultaneously telling the majority of the neighborhood, like, but I'm still you too. Like, don't worry. I can be both. You know, people have to understand my identity. I mean, I went and knocked on thousands of doors.

We talked to people. And my talking points at the door was always, I'm a father of four, my wife is a school nurse. I love this community. I didn't speak only about the Arab and Muslim community. I spoke about affordability, a livability in the community. We spoke about transportation. We spoke about police accountability.

We spoke about things that people in the community said, In this district said, yes, we are going to support you. We need somebody like you who can go on our behalf. So at the end of the day, my identity is who I am. I am running as who I am, and I will not allow anybody to take that away from me. And so just a couple of days before September 12th, before the election, I checked in with Kayla to see how things were looking. How many days do we have left here?

Five days. Yeah. And apparently, she told me, as Elia Team and his canvassers had been going around to all of these doors knocking, they had been taking notes on people. And in those notes, each person was given a number from one to five. Based on their level of support. One is like, that person was so pro-Elea team, you didn't even need to go to that door. You're just marking them down. Five is like, sorry, I'm voting for somebody else.

Twos and ones are positive IDs. And just a couple of days before the election, an election I'll remember. mind you, they only need 4,000 votes to win. The number of positive IDs they had was... 5,500. So you currently have 5,500, give or take? Yeah, ones and twos. So we'll be very interesting to see how the primaries will be translated in numbers when September 12 comes. Okay, well, we're going to take a break, and when we come back?

It'll be Election Day. Election Day. This is Jeffrey. And this is Marjorie. From Boise, Idaho. Radio Lab is supported in part By the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation enhancing public understanding of science

of technology in the modern world. More information about Sloan at www. www. Chad, Robert. Radio Lab. And we're going to go back to Simon. Adler. Should we do election day? Yeah, let's have an election. Okay. What happens? So the election, this is September 12th.

All right, so it is 6 in the morning. 2017. The sun is yet to rise. We are outside the Elia team, get out the vote, headquarters. Here we go. Where's the lit that we're using for this? And so I show up at 6 in the morning, and everything is already a buzz. There were dozens of volunteers, staff workers.

You're all so amazing. Thank you for coming this morning. Hovering around these plastic folding tables that were set up everywhere. Don't leave without one or two signs. So what we're going to do is we're going to give you a giant stack of literature. Makes sense? All right. Sweet. And shortly after I got there, Kayla and Father Elyateen both arrived. We're matching. That's pretty awesome.

Yeah, I got the memo. Yeah, right? They were in matching Democrat blue, Kayla in blue jeans in a blazer. Father Elyteam in an Oxford with the white collar. I can't believe we are saying today's election day. Wow. It used to say September 12, September. And as quickly as he arrived.

No opposition. in sight and enjoy yourselves. He was sent out to start the day. Yeah, 86th. Beautiful day in the neighborhood. And so, uh... It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. We hopped in his car, and that was sort of the beginning of the day.

And really, his job was just to shake as many hands of as many people as he could in as many different disparate parts of the district as possible. What should be the basis of whether or not you win a race is ID and pull. ID as many positive IDs as you can. Pull out as many of those people on election day. Pull out, meaning pull them to the polls. Exactly. Get as many of your positive IDs out to the polls as you can.

And for their campaign to do this, we have to effectively have two different operations. First and foremost. Hello. Salam alaikum. Salaam aik. Can you speak Arabic? There's got to be an Arab community operation.

Did you vote? So we have likely Arabic speakers. Their assumption was that an Arab voter is going to need their handheld much more tightly to get them to the polls. Like a lot of these people have never been to the polls before. And so... Okay, can you just give her a message then? They had like six people on their phones just going down these lists. I'm going to speak to Rana.

And my volunteer is reverend... Calling people saying, have you come out and voted today? Bring all the family. Thank you so much. Simultaneously, that same person who's been called... I'm basically the person that actually make sure that you go vote. He's being flanked. by a group of canvassers.

All right, this is a Mohammed. Marching up to their apartment and banging on their door, saying, 1C, 2E, 3D, 4A and 4D. Come out and vote. We're going to pull you out. I think we're coming to you guys. Hello, Marhabo. We're going to say, like, what time are you going to the polls?

Up to what time, nine or? Yeah, nine. You need you to go vote. Father Kaye need you to go vote. They had this very, very. long script they would go through and I don't remember all of the Arabic but they would often say so are you going to the polls today

and the response would be enshallah like God willing and they weren't supposed to accept that they'd have to say no no no no no no no no inshallah tomorrow today not God willing you willing and then they would have to get them to say either like I promise on my head or I promise on my heart

and if they got either of those then they felt like they had imposed social pressures that would work on the Arab community and then On top of all this, we have to do the standard operation of get out the vote with the triple prime voters, which is like the voters that reliably vote in primaries. In this community, largely white, largely over the age of 50. All right, St. Nicholas, old folks home. You're sitting back again.

I am back again. Going into nursing homes, sending out even more canvassers, and even... Woo! The occasional shout out the passenger window of your car. And early on in the day, back at the campaign headquarters, It was free. Okay, they're going to 707. Yeah.

No, I need somebody who's free. Now what he needs? It was clear just how complicated and resource-intensive running these two parallel campaigns was. Just take a couple of people to vote. Where? I'm going to send a... Elia team had just received a call from several Muslim women

saying that they needed a ride to the polls. His wife, Grace, was going to go pick them up. But she needed someone to go with. Let me let Andy know. I'm going to go with them to get the voters. So this organizer Reidad said she would do it. But... No, no, no, you can't leave the table.

You got to do intake. Yeah, yeah, I'll be able to... One of the campaign directors, Andy, said, no, you've got to stay here. What's up? What's up? I'll take this one. I'll take care of this. To pick up a voter?

Yeah. Muhammad. Can it be Muhammad? Like, just said Muhammad. He doesn't speak Arabic. He doesn't speak Arabic. But, turns out, Muhammad doesn't speak Arabic. speak Arabic.

Do you mean somebody who speaks Arabic? Which... No, not necessarily. Eventually turned out to not actually be a problem. So why doesn't Muhammad go? Please. I know, I know, so why doesn't Muhammad go? Muhammad?

Yes, he's taking too much to the South of Africa. Muhammad? Yes, he's going. Come here. So go. But then, Wudad pointed out that if these are women, it would be more appropriate for all those going to pick them up to be women.

I'm letting you know, cultural stuff. That's saying one. And so, Muhammad can be here. Muhammad can take my place for a little bit. What do you want to do? I'll take your post. And so finally... Easy day, hectic.

They said, Widad, just go. And this was all for just two votes. But I will say, despite all that, midway through the day, it did appear like this two-pronged approach was working. This is his first time voting. You did? Yeah.

You did? That was 50 doors? About 50 doors, yeah. 71 people. The canvassers were getting good feedback. And on the street, Both. First time voter.

We registered him. Arab folks and... Hello. I voted for you, right. You're glad. Thank you so much. White folks were coming up to him and saying, like... That's what I'm talking about.

Hey, we voted for you. Khadar al-Yatim. Khabar al-Iteam, Khabar al-Ateam, Ghabila. This is Ravia, a canvasser who's been with the campaign from the beginning. You don't understand what this means for the Arab American community. You only know what it means is possible. It's pretty personal. Have you voted today?

Great. I'm going to get all emotional. You're getting emotional? I don't want to be emotional. My husband is banned in Malaysia because he's from Yemen. Okay, I can't do this because I'm... Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So, yeah. It is very personal.

But then... Hi, how are you? In Eliotim's car at about two in the afternoon... How's the numbers looking? they got their first sense of what voter turnout was looking like. Yeah, right, right, yeah. So the number said that we're underperforming in a few poll sites where we should be doing better.

And, you know, sorry, let me start that again. I'm, like, frazzled now. This is Mohamed Khan, the campaign's treasurer. Yeah, the number said that, you know, poll sites where we have strong support are showing lower turnout. than we were hoping for. So obviously we don't know who people are voting for,

but we're guessing that since less people are voting there overall, that means that less folks are voting for us. And then pull sites where we know our opponent has strong support, we're seeing higher turnout. And so what are the strategies to remedy that? So we just need to allocate more canvassing resources to areas where we see underperformance so we can turn more people out to vote.

So go knock on those doors. It's hard. Knocking the doors, pull people out of their homes, and make sure they vote. And so, with about four hours remaining... So right now it's all about talking to individuals, dragging people off the streets. All of the leaders of the campaign, including Linda Sarsoor... You literally got to find people that are recognizable. Hit the streets.

Barbershops. Of North Bay Ridge. They were literally going into Arab-owned stores... Telling them, you got to go to the polls. And if you did not, I'm taking you right now. Barbershops, delis, huka lounges. Yeah, he's going to go vote. You're going on the court?

But you're going to have two votes. He's going to leave the store and go. He's changing his clothes. You going to vote? See? He's taken to have two votes. And while this was happening... Yeah, I don't live in your district.

I'm here to help out. I'm here to campus for you. The final push of volunteers were showing up. It's a good time to push again. Do we go a fourth pass? Yes. Go, go, go, go, go. Let's go, go. Let's go, come on.

And when they got the updated turnout numbers... We have two of our poll sites that have made of our poll sites that have been hit at 115% of turnout already. It seemed to be working. So we just got to keep that up. What's the emotion at the moment? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's a close race.

At least it feels like it. Based on the turnout numbers that we're seeing and the way that turnout's happening, there's basically two strongholds that are currently developing. North Bay Ridge, South Bay Ridge. So South Bay Ridge, which is largely white, seems to be turning out hard for the establishment candidate, Justin Brannon. And North Bay Ridge is where... the majority of the Arab Americans live.

And in that moment, the campaign makes a decision. So at this point, we're zeroing in all of our efforts on just, you know, everything north of 70th Street. That the only way to win is to push hard to get as many votes as they can in those Arab American neighborhoods and essentially right off trying to convince the white voters. So this is like, you know, we got to...

It's our people are going to make the difference so we go for our people. Yes. We're doing good. We've got to stay in our town. Yeah. That's it. Focus on our part of town.

And so with like an hour remaining, everyone went out for one final push. Let's do it. Cars were driving by honking their horns for him. It's a pollution in southwest of Brooklyn. Do you believe this? Look at this. It's incredible. We just broke the 12-hour shift.

I just wanted you. How are you? Oh, I know. Thank you for you tonight. Hey. Thank you so much. Good morning today. I hope you went. Thank you so much.

I just saw your picture. I said, that's my man. Thank you, my brother. Thank you, Habib. Yes, I'm going. I'm going. All the best, I'll bless you. Can you take a picture of us? Sure, yeah. How are you, sister?

Ready, one, two? Thank you. Thank you. By my watch, it is 9 o'clock. the campaign is over. I was with Elia team right when we hit 9 o'clock. And in that moment, I don't know from where, but someone handed him an infant.

And he was just standing on this dark street, his back against a minivan, his face illuminated by the light, pouring out from his campaign headquarters, with this baby in one arm, And his cell phone pressed tightly up against his ear, asking Kayla. How the numbers look? What the numbers were looking like.

Still, they're still counting. We're still counting. All of his volunteers, staff, and supporters were gathering in the patio of this bar pizzeria called the Firefly. It's not over to the zone. Waiting there for Elia team to arrive, as well as the results. Kayla called me as I was walking up to the Firefly Bizzaria because at that time the numbers from South Brooklyn came in. She said, I've added these results with what we already know.

And she said, we lost. The moment before I walked into... So let's see what happened, the Firefly. After word got around that they had, in fact, lost. Linda Sarsour... stood up on this picnic table and addressed everyone. I know a lot of folks who are here who are not children of immigrants or if you're not Arab American or Muslim,

you do not understand what this campaign meant to us and to our communities. And for us, it is not over. And I want to say to Father Kaddr, Father Kaddr did not have to do this. He did not have to quit his job, a father of four. But Father Kader did it. He did it to help us build the political voice that we knew we always had in this community to allow people to pay attention to us and our issues.

We're doing this again. We're coming back to the second round. Wait, so he lost. Do we, do we know, do they know why? Yeah, so he ended up losing by just under 700 votes, which is about 7% of the total votes cast. Do we know what, what account for the difference? Yeah, we can't know for sure why. because the voter records don't come out until December. But there are a couple things that we do know.

One was that there were no Arabic translators at the polls. Really? Yeah. Let me see how far I can get. I'm just following it. We actually had reporter Sarakari go down into one of the polling locations to see exactly what was going on. Hi, can I just ask what languages you guys are translating?

Cantonese and Mandarin. How about you? Kentonis. Spanish, English to Spanish. Okay, is there somebody an Arabic translator? Fortunately, Arabic is not a approved language to have an interpreter in Brooklyn. Oh, okay. Actually, in New York, I believe it's a state law.

Turns out what languages are provided in any borough of New York City are decided upon based on census data. And because there is no census data for the Arab community. That makes me so angry. Yeah, that's why. Did they say you can't come here? Or do they just go neutral? Well, the problem was the interpreters that the campaign was attempting to provide for these folks. At several of the polling locations, they were actually turned away from the polls.

By the New York State official, by the election people? By the folks working the polls. Really? Which it turns out is illegal. They were illegally turned away? They were illegally turned away. But despite all that, they did in fact get out more Arab American voters than have ever. turned out for a race like this, like by a factor of four.

By, oh, four, that's interesting. Where they ended up coming up short, it would seem, is with the white voters. And nobody has a perfect explanation for this, but I did talk to some political movers and shakers down in the area, and they offered up sort of three different explanations. One is that the message that he was delivering to the white folks just failed to connect. The second one is that having these two campaigns at the same time, one for the Arabs, one for the white folks, that that just damned him from the beginning.

Just like in terms of resources or in terms of messaging? All of the, either. And then the third one is that this had nothing to do with him. This had nothing to do with this campaign. Just in this moment, there were not enough white folks who would be willing to vote for an Arab candidate no matter what. No, it's nice to hear it to be able to speak. back to it then.

Yeah. I'm not used to that. Where emotionally, where are you? Are you like, have you like gotten past? A couple weeks after the election, I headed back down to Bay Ridge to sit down one more time with Father Elia team. Well, the truth is that I haven't taken a day off yet. Wait, why? Because I've been so busy.

Why are you doing this to yourself? Not doing this to myself. It is just the outcome of this campaign has been. of this campaign has been unbelievable. So the moment we finished with the campaign, we continue to meet to discuss the political power that we have built and what we are going to do with it. Because we have almost 3,000 people came out and voted,

we can make a difference in any election. And that's why I said we cannot slow down now. We need to continue to educate the community. We need to continue to be engaged with them. We cannot lose the momentum. We cannot afford to lose the momentum. We just can't. So this is...

So are you a politician now? Like, is that what? No, this is the will of the community. We have demands. We have political power. And we have an address now. And the address is Khadr Eliotteam. So elected officials, you want to talk to us.

You come and speak to us through Khadr Elia team. That's the only way you can talk to us. Wow. Yeah, I feel like what struck me in that conversation was like he spent his entire campaign trying to speak to all sorts of different groups. He was saying, I can represent you all. I am yours, everyone.

But in that final conversation, what I heard from him in that was him becoming more and more a voice of just one group, one community, his community. Well, that's, yeah. But is that, you know, this is the game. I feel like this is him recognizing

the nature of the game and deciding to come from a position. of strength. And I say, I'm all for. So you want him to basically tighten his grip on the Arab vote and then walk into room after room across New York City say, when you want our votes, deal with me, I've got votes to push, I've got votes to give and withhold. I'm a boss. I tell you what I want. I want that community to step out and be heard and have a voice. And this is how it happens. I think it has to, if you believe in this system, it has to be possible for someone talented enough to be able to stand up and say two things at the same time, two things that seem

contradictory that he does believe in. And that has to be possible. Yeah, I understand that. But, I mean, in this particular moment in this particular, I mean, I don't think identity politics is a choice in this moment, you know? I mean, you remember the woman who's like, still Egyptian, still Egyptian, he's being seen as one thing that he is not. He's not choosing it.

He doesn't have to become that one thing. What do you do? You can't just like pretend to have a rainbow coalition when there's no chance. of that? Or you can make one. You just fight. You got that out of your system? Yes, sorry. As you were saying, son. We've just railroaded it through your piece here. I'm sorry. So how does he feel about all this? Well, yeah, I was going to say, oddly enough. I tried to put all of this in front of him. Well, that brings me actually to the question that I think is at the heart of everything I've watched is you were really trying to transcend identity politics.

You were trying to at one time speak to those people and yet at the same time say, no, that my Arabness has nothing to do with this. You tried to do both, and I think that, I worry that that is why it didn't work. I don't know. I have to think about what you just said, but, you know, I went out there as myself, as an Arab American Lutheran pastor. But I had to take stance on issues that really matter to me and to the things that I am passionate about.

But does that mean you're sort of a better person than you are a politician? I'd like to see myself like that, definitely. I mean, I did what I thought, what my team thought was the right thing to do. And would you run again? Sure. Yes. It's worth noting that since we first aired this episode, Father Elia Team, his family have moved to possibly an even more politically complicated place.

The state of Florida. Our story was reported and produced by Simon Adler. With production help from Bethel Hoppe and Annie McEwen. Real quick, some special thanks to Abir Kawas and Paula Keehan. David Lewis and Bridget Bergen from the WNYC Newsroom, Ralph Profetto and Justin Brannon, Rebecca Chaisonne, David Fox, Sarah Kari, and Annie McKeown for their help gathering tape, the Muslim Democrats of New York, Salam Arabic Lutheran Church, and everyone on the Chudder Elia team for city council team for putting up with me for eight months. Obviously, thanks to Simon. You're welcome. All right, well, ready?

Get out of here? I'm ready to go. All right. Hi there. My name is Mikhail Marchenka, and I'm calling from Kansas. in the city, Missouri, and I'm going to read the credits. I apologize in advance if I mispronounce any of the names. Radio Lab was created by Jet Avamrod and is produced by Soren Wheeler.

Dylan Keefe is our director of sound design. Our staff includes Simon Adler, Rachel Cusick, David Gebel, Bethel Hopty, Tracy Hunt, Matt Kilty, Robert Krollwich, Annie McEwen, Latif Nassar, Melissa Adonnell, Ariana Wack, and Molly Webster. From Amanda Aroncic, Shima Oli, David Fox, Nigar Fatali, Phoebe Wang, and Katie Ferguson. Our fact checker is Michelle Harris.