Overview of The Staten Island Problem - Part 5: Revenge of the Forgotten Borough
This final episode ties together Staten Island’s 1993 secession movement, Rudy Giuliani’s rise to mayor, and the broader political force driving both: resentment from places and people who feel ignored by the center. The episode argues that Staten Island was an early warning sign for the politics that would later shape the Trump era—especially the appeal of grievance, punishment, and “forgotten” communities demanding power and recognition.
What Happens in This Episode
- The story opens on election night in 1993, when Staten Islanders voted overwhelmingly for secession from New York City.
- On the surface, it looked like a landslide victory for the borough’s independence movement.
- In reality, secession was always going to be blocked by the New York State legislature, which later killed the referendum.
- The episode then widens the lens to show how Staten Island secession and Rudy Giuliani’s mayoral campaign were fueled by the same emotional engine:
- resentment toward Manhattan and city elites
- anger over crime, disorder, and political control
- a sense of being overlooked, disrespected, and left behind
Giuliani, Staten Island, and the Politics of Grievance
- Giuliani is portrayed as an outer-borough figure who understood and exploited Staten Island’s frustrations.
- The episode revisits the infamous police protest at City Hall, where Giuliani chose to inflame tensions rather than calm them.
- That moment is presented as a preview of the style of politics Giuliani would later normalize:
- law-and-order rhetoric
- public shaming
- hostility toward liberal governance
- alignment with angry, alienated constituencies
The “Forgotten Borough” as a Political Model
- The episode connects Staten Island’s experience to a broader theory of resentment in American politics.
- Using political scientist Catherine Kramer’s work on Wisconsin, it explains that resentment often grows from three linked feelings:
- lack of money/resources
- lack of power
- lack of respect
- Staten Island is framed as a place where this resentment became politically organized and electorally effective.
Key Takeaways
- Staten Island secession was less about literal independence and more about protest—a demand to be taken seriously.
- Giuliani and Staten Island shared a politics of the periphery: anti-Manhattan, anti-elite, and rooted in grievance.
- The episode argues that 1993 New York City foreshadowed 2016 America, especially in the rise of Trump.
- The “forgotten borough” idea becomes a broader metaphor for forgotten places in American politics.
- The episode suggests that place matters as much as people in politics, and ignoring that can produce backlash and strongman-style leadership.
Ending and Symbolism
Fresh Kills and the City’s Hidden History
- The hosts visit Fresh Kills, the former Staten Island landfill, now being transformed into a park.
- The landfill becomes a symbol of New York’s layered history:
- what the city throws away
- what gets buried
- what people choose not to remember
- The episode ends with the idea that New York, and America more broadly, are built on forgotten places and forgotten labor.
Woody Guthrie and the Staten Island Lyric
- The final callback is a fun historical detail: Woody Guthrie’s original lyric for “This Land Is Your Land” reportedly said:
- “from California to the Staten Island”
- Guthrie later crossed it out and replaced it with the now-famous “New York Island.”
- The episode closes by restoring Staten Island into the song as a symbolic gesture of recognition.
Bottom Line
This episode argues that Staten Island’s secession movement was an early expression of a much larger political pattern: the rise of resentment, the power of overlooked places, and the appeal of leaders who promise to punish the people at the center. It’s both a local history and a national warning.