Zohran Mamdani makes history
The 34-year-old political powerhouse will be New York City’s first mayor of Muslim and South Asian descent.
Issue #98
Hi all —
In his victory speech last night, Zohran Kwame Mamdani asserted that New York City was built by immigrants — and is now going to be led by one.
Voters in America’s largest and most influential city made history, electing 34-year-old Mamdani as the first New York mayor who is Muslim and of South Asian descent.
“Hope is alive,” Mamdani said, thanking the aunties who helped elect him and his wife Rama, along with others who formed a unique coalition that helped him rise. He quoted Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first post-independence prime minister. He commended his parents, “mama and baba,” saying: “You have made me into the man I am today. I am so proud to be your son.” (Mamdani’s mother is acclaimed Indian American director Mira Nair, behind “Monsoon Wedding,” “Mississippi Masala,” “The Namesake,” and “Salaam Bombay!”)
A ton has already been reported on Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, so here are some selections:
Meet the aunties for Zohran, by Jennifer Chowdhury (Harper’s Bazaar): “First-generation immigrant women of color — mothers, grandmothers, aunties — powered Mamdani’s historic campaign from mosque basements to bodega storefronts.”
Inside the improbable, audacious and (so far) unstoppable rise of Zohran Mamdani, by Astead W. Herndon (The New York Times Magazine): “Mamdani saw an opportunity to form a coalition built from his own life and convictions: Muslims, South Asians, renters, young people and progressives.”
Mamdani blazes trail as New York’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor-elect, by Anushka Patil (The New York Times): “Mr. Mamdani’s ascent in New York City was propelled by a relentless focus on affordability and indefatigable campaigning that expanded the electorate in striking ways, mobilizing a coalition of ethnic and religious groups that have rarely been on the receiving end of such intense focus from a citywide candidate.”
What Zohran Mamdani knows about power, by Eric Lach (The New Yorker): “At a moment when the country is consumed with nativist fervor and New York appears a nest of cynical cronyism … Mamdani is running a campaign that embraces the city as a beacon for immigrants like him.”
Mamdani spoke of his aunt’s fear after 9/11. Backlash revealed how Islamophobia persists, by Shefali Luthra (The 19th): “A speech by … Mamdani — and the conservative reaction to it — highlight how Muslim women are specifically targeted during times of heightened Islamophobia or anti-Arab sentiment.”
As Mamdani rises, South Asians emerge as a political force in New York, by Sarah Chatta, Maya King and Jeff Adelson (The New York Times): “There are roughly 450,000 South Asians in New York City, about 5% of the population. … But the community has been growing rapidly, including a Bangladeshi population that has nearly tripled in the last decade.”
As Mamdani’s influence grows in U.S. politics, I guess it’s also finally time for many Americans to get Mamdani’s name pronunciation correct, if they haven’t already.
As I always compare: If you can say Arnold Schwarzenegger, you can definitely say…
MUM-DHA-NEE
Thanks for joining the conversation,
Vignesh
From the RWB archive
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https://livwritesai.substack.com/p/zohran-mamdanis-nyc-platform-a-critical
https://substack.com/@sergemil/note/p-178138133?r=3znpi3&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action