Coming Soon: The Staten Island Problem

On the 250th anniversary of the United States, Revisionist History investigates the overlooked story of New York City almost breaking apart as Staten Island threatened to secede. Over the course of five episodes, The Staten Island Problem reconstructs the battle for New York City amidst the turbulent early 1990s — the rise of Rudy Giuliani, the peak of the homicide rate, the Wu-Tang Clan, a young Donald Trump, and the first Black mayor of New York — all through the prism of the city’s Forgotten Borough. And ultimately asks: What do you do when a democracy looks like it’s falling apart? See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

• 0:07Speaker 00

  Pushkin.

• 0:12Speaker 00

  Five miles off the shore of Manhattan, there is a place called Staten Island.

• 0:19Speaker 01

  We don't live in the glitter of Broadway. We don't live in Yankee Stadium. Where we live is in everyday Staten Island.

• 0:26Speaker 02

  We weren't sophisticated. We were not, you know, east side of Manhattan or west side of Manhattan liberals. We were country people.

• 0:36Speaker 00

  And 30 years ago, Staten Island decided it didn't want to be part of New York City anymore.

• 0:42Speaker 01

  Who will you trust? Your friends and neighbors and the people in Staten Island? Or will you trust the people five miles overseas?

• 0:49Speaker 00

  Staten Island was trying to secede from New York City, but not without a fight.

• 0:55Speaker 01

  If nothing else, I hope that I can convey to the people of Staten Island that I deeply care about them and about all of them. If this were a political visit, why in blazes would I come?

• 1:07Speaker 03

  It's a pipe dream. It's just not going to happen. People are not facing the reality.

• 1:12Speaker 04

  My God, what are they thinking?

• 1:15Speaker 00

  What unfolded over the span of the next four years was a battle for the soul of the city, which I, as a person living in the city, had never heard about. And the more I researched, the more I realized this is exactly what's happening in the country right now. This is what happens when a group who feels like they've been ignored and forgotten for decades decides that they've had enough.

• 1:38Speaker 05

  All of you who are in favor of seceding from the city of New York, would you please raise your hands?

• 1:52Speaker 00

  This is a story about a democracy falling apart. It's about neighbors turning on each other in a very specific strain of resentment that started in the outer boroughs of New York City and then went national with people like Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani. We reached for a feeling that exists in this

• 2:13Speaker 05

  But we're not stopping, are we?

• 2:19Speaker 05

  In the polls, generally speaking, National Enquirer did a poll that's unbelievable that says I win, that you beat everybody. They win. Right into the White House.

• 2:29Speaker 00

  I'm Ben Madoff-Haffrey, and I have done a deep, deep dive into this overlooked and misunderstood moment from 30 years ago when New York City almost tore itself apart. Because I think it anticipated everything about how our country is tearing itself apart right now. This summer, we're celebrating our 250th birthday as a country. It's the anniversary of an act of secession. This is who we are. This is what we do. So it's time to ask a big question. How do you solve the Staten Island problem?

• 3:02Speaker 06

  The forgotten borough? I don't know. I think we just might get rid of that nickname.

• 3:06Speaker 07

  My position was to ask yourself, what cost freedom?

• 3:10Speaker 00

  The Staten Island problem is coming July 9th from Pushkin Industries. Listen on the Revisionist History feed wherever you get your podcasts.