{"id":349115,"date":"2025-11-02T00:06:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T00:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/349115\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T00:06:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T00:06:25","slug":"sharpton-says-islamophobia-marring-mayoral-race-as-mamdani-courts-black-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/349115\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharpton says ‘Islamophobia’ marring mayoral race as Mamdani courts Black voters"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rev. Al Sharpton blasted what he called Islamophobic hate speech in the city\u2019s race for mayor<\/a> as Muslim Democratic frontrunner Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani made a campaign stop in Harlem on Saturday, claiming divisive language will only pit New Yorkers \u201cagainst each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am outraged at the ugly Islamophobia that has been used in this campaign,\u201d Sharpton told members of the National Action Network<\/a> at the House of Justice in Harlem with Mamdani by his side. \u201cTo act as though every Muslim is a terrorist and connecting (him) to something as ugly as what happened to us on 9\/11 is an insult to the intelligence of all New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his speech, Sharpton introduced the audience to Rev. Travis Boyd, the pastor of Sharon Baptist Church in the Bronx. Boyd\u2019s mother was killed in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, when Boyd was just a child.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat little boy, who was a victim of 9\/11, says that you can\u2019t use my mother\u2019s death as a political prize,\u201d Sharpton said, turning to Boyd.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho you gonna vote for Tuesday?\u201d Sharpton asked him.<\/p>\n

\u201cMamdani,\u201d Boyd said to a round of applause from the audience.<\/p>\n

\"DemocraticDemocratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is pictured with Rev. Al Sharpton at National Action Network’s House of Justice in Harlem on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (Emma Seiwell \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

The National Action Network doesn\u2019t endorse political candidates, but Sharpton spoke warmly about Mamdani as the assemblyman tries to court Black voters. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent in the mayoral race, addressed NAN at its national convention and has been invited to be on Sharpton\u2019s show on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The race for mayor \u2014 in which Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, is the front-runner, according to polls \u2014 has been laced with Islamophobic phrases and imagery<\/a>, the Queens assemblyman and his supporters claim.<\/p>\n

Last month, Cuomo appeared to chuckle when conservative radio personality Sid Rosenberg said that Mamdani would be \u201ccheering\u201d another 9\/11<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mamdani immediately lashed out at his opponent\u2019s reaction, saying Cuomo\u2019s goal was to \u201csmear and slander.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t play us against each other,\u201d Sharpton warned Saturday as the heated race enters its last three days.<\/p>\n

During a campaign stop with Mayor Adams in Queens, Cuomo said it\u2019s actually Mamdani who has been the most divisive one in the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has been divisive and offensive throughout this whole campaign,\u201d Cuomo said. \u201cAnd pointing out that he has been offensive doesn\u2019t make me the offender.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo addresses the media at the Ocean View Caf\u00e9 on Brighton Beach Ave. in Brooklyn on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a long list of offensive things he has said,\u201d Cuomo said.\u00a0\u201cNot denouncing \u2018Globalize the Intifada,\u2019 which means \u2018kill the Jews.\u2019 Not recognizing Israel\u2019s right to exist as a Jewish state. These are highly offensive to the Jewish community. Giving the proverbial finger to the Christopher Columbus statue is highly offensive to the Italian American community. Calling the NYPD racist. That\u2019s offensive to the NYPD.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalling Barack Obama evil and a liar \u2014 evil and a liar. Barack Obama \u2014 first Black president, to call him evil and a liar,\u201d Cuomo went on. \u201cAnd you want to talk about tone? After you use those words, you take a picture with Rebecca Kadaga in Uganda \u2014 smiling. She proposed the death penalty for gays. And you want to talk about offending people? I mean, there\u2019s a long list of offensive things he has said. How about the video with him saying, \u2018When the NYPD has its boot on your throat, it was laced by the IDF\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI resent the divisiveness,\u201d the ex-governor said, \u201cbecause what makes the city work is unity and bringing people together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani said that Islamophobic rhetoric surfacing from supporters of Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa was \u201cdesperate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is still so unbecoming of a city that we all love and that we call our home,\u201d Mamdani said Saturday. \u201cThis kind of naked bigotry and racism is something that many of us have come to expect from Washington, D.C. But to see someone so unabashedly running on that same kind of a vision for this city is the same person who does not know what the people of the city are looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Attorney General Letitia James and Mayoral front runner Candidate Zohran Mamdani attend the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Hanson Place in Brooklyn on Saturday Nov. 1, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Following his visit to NAN, Mamdani traveled to Brooklyn where he met up with state Attorney General Tish James and spoke to members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in downtown Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

With three days to go until the next leader of the city is decided, Mamdani leads the pack of candidates, according to most polls \u2014 although one poll released Friday night shows Cuomo catching up<\/a> and well withing striking distance.<\/p>\n

Sharpton said Mamdani was the only mayoral candidate that consistently \u201cshowed up\u201d to NAN events as the campaign drew on.<\/p>\n

\u201c(When) we got down the road, we said, \u2018It\u2019s time for us to march on Wall Street.\u2019 Only one candidate showed,\u201d Sharpton said. \u201cWhen we honored our culture at Lincoln Center just about a month and a half ago, honoring Stephanie Mills and honoring Babyface and others, only one showed. Here we are on Saturday. It\u2019s the Saturday before Election Day, only one candidate showed up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not just a campaign stop,\u201d Sharpton said. \u201cHe\u2019s been here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani thanked Sharpton and NAN for taking him \u201cfrom 1% in the polls to being on the precipice to being the next mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have shown a belief (in me),\u201d he said. \u201cYou have shown a faith.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rev. Al Sharpton blasted what he called Islamophobic hate speech in the city\u2019s race for mayor as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":349116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,8988,1370,405,403,8989,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,80,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-349115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-election","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-politics","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115477190190504599","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349115","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=349115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}