Mamdani Meets With Black New Yorkers In Harlem

Last Saturday (June 28), the presumptive Democratic candidate for New York City’s mayoral race, Zohran Mamdani, appeared at the Harlem headquarters for the National Action Network. It was the second time that Mamdani spoke before the civil rights organization, having done so in the final days before voting ended. NAN president Reverend Al Sharpton and lauded filmmaker Spike Lee sat behind Mamdani as he spoke, and they met with Mamdani privately after the conference was held.

The appearance is a pivotal one for Mamdani, a New York state assemblyman and democratic socialist who has energized the political discourse by defeating former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in the primary race. A closer look at his victory numbers by The City showed that he won 52% of the first-place ranked-choice votes in areas of the city where more than half the population was Asian. But Cuomo had an overwhelming lead of 59% to 26% in precincts where 70% or more of the population is Black, signaling a divide despite Mamdani’s expansion of the electorate.

“They say that Mamdani and Lander endorsed each other, so against the Black woman,” Sharpton said of Mamdani’s cross-endorsement of the city comptroller over city councilwoman Adrienne Adams a week earlier. “Something about that politics ain’t progressive to me.” But Sharpton appeared to be more open-minded if not outwardly endorsing Mamdani on this visit. “We should give credit that this man has energized our young voters, has brought in new voters and has made the city have to deal with some issues,” Sharpton said after Mamdani arrived. “We all ought to thank him and listen to what he has to say.”

“The more he’s out here and community members get to know him, the better he will be received,” local Democratic leader Alyah Horsford-Sidberry said to the New York Times. “They’ve just got to get to know him and see him at more events like this. What’s important, though, is that his concerns are the community’s concerns.” But there seems to be more willingness in the Black community to listen to what Mamdani is offering, but hope he can follow through. “[A]re you able if you win in November to go from aspiration to reality?” senior pastor Dabar Bethlehem Cathedral H. Curtis Douglas said, adding: “He’s going to have to convince people in the next five months that he can deliver.”