Opinions on the recently elected New York Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, are as numerous as they are outrageous. From how he is running the most influential city in the world, to how he responds to reporters and even his wife’s social media history, Mamdani faces no shortage of scrutiny. 

Say what you want about Mamdani, but he knows what he is doing. 

The death threats this man gets alone are absurd. Most recently, 18 year old Emir Balat and 19 year old Ibrahim Kayumi, both residents of Pennsylvania, attempted to assassinate the mayor by detonating explosives in front of his mansion.

Aside from violence, Mamdani has encountered his fair share of racial discrimination. He has been slandered several times just for being the first Muslim mayor of New York City. He has also faced criticism for saying that immigrants make New York City better.

Everyone who is complaining about how Mamdani is running the city must have been sleeping under a rock to not notice the state of the city before he came in. 

For example, one social media post depicts a woman standing in front of a trash can, with a caption that reads “Welcoming myself to the beautiful NYC. Thank you Zohran Mamdani #snowisblack #trash everywhere” clearly mocking the efforts of his administration.

Let me ask you this: when was NYC ever clean? 

The comments under the post did not disappoint, with netizens calling out the woman for standing in front of the trash can, lacking common sense and being illogical in calling NYC dirty now that Mamdani is in charge. 

Not only that, when it came to the insane blizzard that hit the city earlier this year, Mamdani took initiative by paying citizens to come out and shovel snow.

But what did some people have to say? “Oh, he came out to help just for a minute so they could get all the pictures they needed for PR.”

Did the citizens get the money for helping? Yes. And did the mayor get out of his heated mansion to come shake hands with people shoveling snow? Yes. So what really is the problem here? 

It has only been a couple of months since Mamdani has come into power, so we cannot tell what the future holds. 

In fact, despite his best efforts to avoid them, there are controversies regarding his stance on Gaza. His wife, Rama Duwaji, was seen liking a post that was celebrating the Oct. 7, 2022 Hamas attacks. 

There has also been a video circulating recently of a man yelling at Zohran Mamdani at a public event over his comment that Israel has the right to exist. The man is visibly angry over this comment and tells Mamdani how he should take a clear stance, since he advocated for Palestine during his campaign.

I understand that he needs to speak up more on his stance and spread awareness about the ongoing conflict, but that is a lot of pressure to put on one person who logically cannot do anything about the situation. He cannot stop America’s interference in any of the conflicts.

But one of the major reasons why Mamdani is being targeted has nothing to do with his policy, but simply the color of his skin.

Whether you like it or not, you have to deal with the fact that he is the mayor now, and you can’t deny he’s doing a pretty good job.

Mamdani is active in his community and he accepts New York City for what it is, a city of immigrants, culture and diversity. That’s more than can be said for many of the city’s previous mayors.

Categories: Opinion