Council Member Chi Ossé channels Carrie Bradshaw of “Sex and The City” in a recent Instagram video, lounging on his couch and thinking aloud.
“Back at my place in Brooklyn, it was Valentine’s Day, and my new boyfriend was late,” he says. “Did he not care? Or was he just stuck on the B25? I couldn’t help but wonder…why is shit not working?”
The video is the third installment in his new online series, “Why Is Shit Not Working,” where he makes politics palatable by spotlighting New Yorkers’ frustrations. This episode broke down the city’s sluggish bus system over the iconic “Sex and The City” intro music, and his previous episode synthesized the long-awaited Interborough Express over Doechii’s “Denial is a River” backing track.
View this post on Instagram
Ossé, who serves as a member of the New York City Council representing the 36th District (covering Bedford-Stuyvesant and parts of northern Crown Heights), sees social media as a direct line to his constituents: a very Gen-Z approach.
“That’s the goal of the series – to speak to people about what they deal with, the basic shit they go through, the questions they have. To entertain them, to educate them, to activate them,” Ossé said of his Instagram account, where he’s amassed 99,200 followers — with another 42,000 on TikTok.
He knows he’s ahead of the game regarding online outreach.
“I’m literally ‘mother’ when it comes to politicians making content in New York right now,” he added, laughing at his desk at City Hall.
‘Brooklyn is in my blood’
Chi Ossé grew up in Park Slope and later Crown Heights with his father, Reginald Ossé (also known as Combat Jack), an attorney and hip-hop podcasting pioneer, and his mother, Akim Vann, a former math tutor who now owns Bakery on Bergen. Both his parents were raised in Brooklyn.
“Brooklyn is in my blood,” Ossé said.
He credited the borough’s diversity for shaping him and said his family experienced its transformation firsthand. He recalled how Park Slope was a Black neighborhood, a history he says many have forgotten.
That’s partly what inspired Ossé to introduce and successfully pass the FARE Act last year. The bill requires the person who hired a broker – usually the landlord – to pay the broker fee rather than the tenant.
Osse introduced the bill on Instagram in May 2024, urging his followers to attend a rally and hearing at City Hall. He followed up with several more videos, building support with a guest appearance by actor and comedian Ilana Glazer. In November, it passed the council by a veto-proof majority.
“We were up against a multimillion real estate lobby that threw everything against us. But the people were on our side,” Ossé said in a November 13 video with 186,000 views on TikTok.
Ossé said his family instilled political awareness and a deep sense of Black pride in him. He recalls politics being a frequent topic at the dinner table and especially draws inspiration from his grandfather, Teddy Vann, a Grammy-winning music producer who explored the Black experience through his art.
“My family, I think they were very proud of their careers and what they’ve been able to achieve. And that definitely bled into who I am,” he said.
Ossé said his education also shaped him. He attended Friends Seminary, a Quaker day school in Gramercy Park, where he was introduced to silent meetings, a core Quaker tradition.
“If you felt inclined to speak, you could stand up and share whatever was on your mind,” Ossé said.
For someone naturally talkative, the practice became a platform. At the predominantly white school, he used the meetings to address issues like the lack of diversity and classism.
“School really cultivated that for me. In terms of feeling at peace in saying the uncomfortable,” said Ossé.
Although he appreciated this Quaker tradition, Ossé is not a Quaker. His father raised him as a Nichiren Buddhist, and this year, he’s been reconnecting with the practice. While many associate Buddhism with gentleness, Ossé challenges that perception.
“I think a lot of people when they hear someone’s a Buddhist, assume they’re really nice or really calm, not aggressive. Those aren’t traits I’d use to describe myself,” he said with a laugh.
Ossé recalled attending his first protest in middle school when he and a few friends traveled to Washington, D.C., to oppose the Keystone Pipeline. Not long after, he found himself swept up in a movement of a different scale.
How Ossé found his footing on social media
In May 2020, like millions of others, Ossé saw the video of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police. Outraged, he took to the streets. He remembers a nonviolent protest at the Barclays Center turning violent due to police intervention.
“People were tuning in to what I was documenting and sharing,” he said.
As the protests continued, then-22-year-old Ossé emerged as a leader, rallying alongside newfound allies. His talent for organizing quickly took shape in Warriors in the Garden, a coalition of activists he co-founded, whose account amassed 41,500 followers on Instagram.
After weeks of nonstop protesting, Ossé turned his focus to policy, criticizing his predecessor in the 36th District, Robert Cornegy, for backing a city budget he believed fell short of meaningfully divesting from the NYPD’s excessive funding.
“It was literally two weeks of protesting, that vote, and then I decided to run for office,” he said. “It was impulsive, for sure. But there was a level of passion pushing that impulsiveness.”
Although Warriors in the Garden disbanded four years ago, Ossé hasn’t given up the fight. Last month, he introduced the CURB Act, a bill aimed at limiting the NYPD Strategic Response Group, a heavily armed, rapid-response unit originally formed to combat terrorism. Ossé argues that the SRG has increasingly been deployed at nonviolent protests, where it has used aggressive crowd control tactics. He’s pushing to regulate the SRG at City Hall – and on Instagram.
Looking ahead, Ossé is taking a page out of President Donald Trump’s playbook.
“Trump’s whole strategy is communication,” he said, emphasizing his ability to reach large audiences. He believes Democrats fall short in this area but remains committed to amplifying his message.
“I think we are in an age where public opinion is incredibly important,” said Ossé.
In an Instagram recap of his 2024 accomplishments, Ossé said many thought he was too young to accomplish anything when he was elected in 2022.
“But what they weren’t counting on was me not being alone,” he said in the video, which cut to shots of New Yorkers on the street, telling Ossé how they had found him.
“I actually saw your TikTok about it,” one told him.
“I’m here because of your videos,” said another.
