New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has shown so far that he knows everything there is to know about the Democratic Party’s handbook regarding Black voters.
After it became apparent that he failed to reach Black voters during the Democratic primary, he redoubled his efforts to reach the community. Now, he is facing criticism from progressives who object to his failure to appoint any Black deputy mayors.
From The New York Times:
After winning the Democratic mayoral primary last year, Zohran Mamdani acknowledged that his victory came without much support from Black voters, and he pledged to do better.
Mr. Mamdani spent the next few months working to improve his relationship with Black leaders in New York City and vowed, from Black church pulpits around the city, that he would have a diverse administration representative of the city.
But in his rollout as mayor, Mr. Mamdani has appointed five deputy mayors, none of them Black; one was Latino.
On Thursday, Mr. Mamdani announced Afua Atta-Mensah, who led his campaign outreach to Black voters, as the new chief equity officer and commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice. The mayor also reaffirmed his commitment to releasing a long overdue and mandated plan to address racial disparities in New York City, vowing to do so in his first 100 days in office.
The moves were welcomed by Black and Latino leaders, but they still questioned Mr. Mamdani’s commitment to racial equity.
Black and Latino residents make up more than half of New York City’s population, yet Mamdani didn’t see fit to appoint any as deputy mayors — even after making sweeping promises to the Black community during the campaign.
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Critics say that this sends a message that Black leaders are being shut out of the inner circle where the most significant decisions are made. One strategist named Tyquana Henderson-Rivers said it is “damaging that there’s no Black deputy mayor,” and that “there’s no representation in his kitchen cabinet.”
She further pointed out that Mamdani is “acting out what Black people don’t like about the D.S.A. (Democratic Socialists of America)...acting as if race doesn’t matter.”
Civil rights leader Kirsten John Foy told The New York Times that it was “shocking” for someone who claims to listen to “the cries of Black and Latinos in the city for access to power.”
Marc H. Morial of the National Urban League argued that a diverse leadership team is a “basic rule of being a mayor” and said City Hall should “mirror the city.”
L. Joy Williams of the New York State NAACP summed it up nicely: “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of focus and attention on the needs of Black New Yorkers in the city.”
If I had been in the room, I’d have thrown up my hands and yelled, “That’s by design, you numbskulls!”
For the life of me, I cannot understand why these people act surprised when Democrats play nice with Black voters during elections, only to turn around and ignore them after they gain power. It’s the same playbook they have used for decades.
It’s like clockwork. A Democrat like Mamdani pretends to care about the well-being of Black constituents. Then turns his back on them when it becomes clear he no longer needs them. To Democrats, we are nothing more than pawns to be exploited for our votes.
But these people are going to get an even harsher wake-up call when he gets into full swing. His policies, like all socialist endeavors, sound lovely — until they are actually put into practice. As is typical with Democrats, his policies will appear to help Black Americans and others. But in the end, it will be Black people who are harmed the most.
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