There was a certain warmth and sincerity in my first meeting with Zohran Mamdani at the funeral services for Rep. Charles Rangel this past spring. Our second encounter last Friday, at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, amplified the earlier impressions. I was joined by several reporters and photographers, most notably my AmNews colleague Ariama Long, and Milton Allimadi, whom I have known and traveled with on our coverage of national and world politics.
It was interesting to witness the exchanges between Mamdani and Milton, two talented young men born in Uganda. Milton nodded in agreement when Mamdani mentioned the extent to which, during the recent days of his mayoral campaign, he had experienced some of the “most shameful examples of Islamophobia, racism, and bigotry that we’ve seen in the city’s recent political history.”
Milton expressed some of the concerns faced by vendors, noting that the city spends about $20 billion with them each year, but out of that money, “Black and Latino businesses get less than 2%.”
He said that if that could be rectified, it would resolve a lot of problems. Milton then picked up on Mamdani’s complaint about negative campaigning and asked, “Can New York, can the country, withstand that amount of hate-mongering?”
Mamdani seemed pleased with these assertions and scribbled down some notes. I was deeply gratified to see how in concert they were and wished that kind of camaraderie were more widespread and could be bottled for the future. Despite the rancor the race for mayor has aroused, Mamdani has been unflappable, maintaining the poise of a seasoned contender. Even when I attempted to make light of his name and referred to him as “Zodani,” compressing it and mocking how often people garble it, a slight smile crept across his face.
I was curious about how he would react if I greeted him with the Arabic words “Peace be unto you,” and his reply was barely audible. Far more audible was his reply asserting the existence of Israel, disputing any claims otherwise. Generally, he tends to emit a gentle demeanor, but that should not be taken as submission.
A determined fighter quality looms below the unruffled surface. As the first Muslim mayor of New York City, which seems to be a certainty at this point (pending another October surprise), he’s going to need resolve and toughness unlike any in the past.
Still waiting for the part of the article that explains why a 2 term Assemblyman is “more than qualified” 🤔.