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Zohran Mamdani speaks out on the normalisation of Islamophobia

New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has delivered a speech on the normalisation of Islamophobia:


Zohran Mamdani: “To be Muslim in New York is to expect indignity”

In his speech, Zohran Mamdani began by speaking about mayoral candidates Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, as well as current mayor Eric Adams:

Yesterday, Andrew Cuomo laughed and agreed when a radio host said that I would cheer another 9/11.

Yesterday, Eric Adams said that we “can’t let our city become Europe.” He compared me to violent extremists, and he lied when he said that our movement seeks to burn churches and destroy communities.

The day before that, Curtis Sliwa slandered me from a debate stage when he claimed that I support global jihad.

And every day, Super PAC ads imply that I am a terrorist or mock the way I eat, push polls that ask New Yorkers questions like whether they support invented proposals to make halal mandatory, or political cartoons that represent my candidacy as an airplane hurtling towards the World Trade Center.

Mamdani then pivoted to addressing New York’s Muslim population:

But I do not want to use this moment to speak to them any further. I want to use this moment to speak to the Muslims of this city.

I want to speak to the memory of my aunt, who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her hijab.

I want to speak to the Muslim who works for our city—whether they teach in our schools or walk the beat for the NYPD, New Yorkers who all make daily sacrifices on behalf of this city, only to see their leaders spit in their face.

I want to speak to every child who grows up in New York marked as the Other, who is randomly selected in a way that rarely feels random, who feels that they carry a stain that can never be cleaned.

Growing up in the shadow of 9/11, I have known what it means to live with an undercurrent of suspicion. I will always remember the disdain I faced, the way my name could immediately become “Mohammad,” and how I could return to my city only to be asked in a double mirrored room at the airport if I had any plan of attacking it.

And since I was very young, I have known that I was spared the worst of it. I was never pressured to be an informant like classmates of mine. I have never had the word ‘terrorist’ spray-painted on my garage, as one of my aides has. My mosque has never been set on fire.

To be Muslim in New York is to expect indignity. But indignity does not make us distinct—there are many who face it. It is the tolerance of that indignity that does.

Mamdani also released a video on the same topic:

Islamophobia and other forms of racism are increasingly normalised in the UK too, with Reform MP Sarah Pochin saying earlier today that seeing Black and Asian people in adverts ‘drives her mad’. Earlier this same month, Conservative Robert Jenrick complained that residents of Birmingham had failed to ‘integrate’ into British culture, with Birmingham’s Muslim population representing nearly 30% of the city’s residents.

Islamophobia VS anti-Islamophobia

In related news, a partner at the venture capital firm Sequoia Capital said that Mamdani:

comes from a culture that lies about everything. It’s literally a virtue to lie if it advances his Islamist agenda. The West will learn this lesson the hard way

As Forbes reported, however:

The controversy escalated significantly as over a thousand founders and tech professionals subsequently signed an open letter demanding Maguire face disciplinary action. The comments are also likely to have angered some of Sequoia’s largest investors, the sovereign wealth funds from majority-Muslim countries in the Middle East.

Adding to the controversy, the Financial Times confirmed yesterday that Sequoia’s COO, Sumaiya Balbale, a practicing Muslim who was well-regarded internally and by the start-ups she worked with, resigned after five years at the company. The public comment was cited as the direct trigger for Balbale’s resignation, which she privately characterized as resulting from an Islamophobic atmosphere.

Featured image via ZohranKMamdani

By Willem Moore

This post was originally published on Canary.