{"id":331089,"date":"2025-10-25T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T08:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/331089\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T08:00:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T08:00:22","slug":"zohran-mamdani-vows-to-embrace-muslim-identity-amid-political-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/331089\/","title":{"rendered":"Zohran Mamdani vows to embrace Muslim identity amid political attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, pledged Friday to further embrace his Muslim identity in response to growing attacks by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his surrogates that he characterized as \u201cracist and baseless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Encircled by faith leaders outside a Bronx mosque, Mamdani<\/a> spoke in emotional terms about the \u201cindignities\u201d long faced by the city\u2019s Muslim population, choking back tears as he described his aunt\u2019s decision not to ride the subway after the Sept. 11 attacks because she didn\u2019t feel safe being seen in a religious head covering.<\/p>\n

He recounted how, when he first entered politics, an uncle gently suggested he keep his faith to himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are lessons that so many Muslim New Yorkers have been taught,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cAnd over these last few days, these lessons have become the closing messages of Andrew Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa and Eric Adams.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a news conference later Friday, Cuomo accused Mamdani of \u201cplaying the victim\u201d for political purposes and denied that Islamophobia existed on a wide scale in New York.<\/p>\n

Throughout the race, Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has been criticized by Cuomo and others<\/a> over his criticism of Israel\u2019s government which he had accused of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n

But the tone of those attacks have amped up in recent days, drawing allegations from some Democrats that Cuomo\u2019s campaign is leaning into Islamophobia in the final stretch of the campaign.<\/p>\n

Appearing on a conservative radio station Thursday, Cuomo appeared to laugh along at host Sid Rosenberg\u2019s suggestion that Mamdani would \u201cbe cheering\u201d another 9\/11 attack. \u201cThat\u2019s another problem,\u201d Cuomo replied.<\/p>\n

A Cuomo social media account posted, then removed, a video depicting Mamdani eating rice with his hands and describing his supporters as criminals. A campaign spokesperson said the video was posted in error.<\/p>\n

At an event endorsing the former governor, Mayor Eric Adams invoked the possibility of terrorist attacks in New York City, seeming to suggest \u2014 without explanation \u2014 they would be more likely under a Mamdani administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York can\u2019t be Europe. I don\u2019t know what is wrong with people,\u201d Adams said, standing alongside Cuomo. \u201cYou see what\u2019s playing out in other countries because of Islamic extremism.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a debate earlier this week, Sliwa, the Republican candidate, falsely smeared Mamdani as a supporter of \u201cglobal jihad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about Rosenberg\u2019s comments, Cuomo said he \u201cdidn\u2019t take the remarks seriously at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I think it\u2019s an offensive comment. But it did not come out of my mouth,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Messages left with Adams\u2019 and Sliwa\u2019s campaign were not immediately returned.<\/p>\n

In his speech Friday, Mamdani said he was aiming his remarks not at political opponents but at his fellow Muslim New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dream of every Muslim is simply to be treated the same as any other New Yorker,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd yet for too long we have been told to ask for less than that, and to be satisfied with whatever little we receive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To that end, Mamdani said he would further embrace his Muslim identity, a decision he said he consciously avoided at the start of his campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that if I behaved well enough, or bit my tongue enough in the face of racist, baseless attacks, all while returning back to my central message, it would allow me to be more than just my faith,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cI was wrong. No amount of redirection is ever enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cI will not change who I am, how I eat, or the faith that I\u2019m proud to call my own. But there is one thing that I will change. I will no longer look for myself in the shadows. I will find myself in the light.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani, who won the primary in stunning fashion, has faced skepticism from some in the Democratic establishment, particularly over his criticism<\/a> of Israel. On Friday, Mamdani earned the endorsement of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.<\/p>\n

Cuomo told reporters that Mamdani\u2019s criticism of Israel had made Jewish people afraid to leave their homes.<\/p>\n

He also rejected Mamdani\u2019s claim that Muslim New Yorkers have been made to feel uncomfortable in their own city.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t tell me New Yorkers are Islamophobic. They\u2019re not,\u201d Cuomo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he is doing is the oldest, dirtiest political trick in the book: divide people,\u201d Cuomo said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, pledged Friday to further…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":331090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[5297,10762,5340,90,5289,57,8123,556,405,403,50,37380,80,2068,19500,89,61,67,132,68,5301],"class_list":{"0":"post-331089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-andrew-cuomo","10":"tag-assault","11":"tag-curtis-sliwa","12":"tag-elections","13":"tag-eric-adams","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-hakeem-jeffries","16":"tag-islam","17":"tag-new-york","18":"tag-new-york-city","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-political-endorsements","21":"tag-politics","22":"tag-race-and-ethnicity","23":"tag-racism","24":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","25":"tag-u-s-news","26":"tag-united-states","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-us","29":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115433755571149591","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}