Black New Yorkers rage over Mamdani's ‘African American' claim: ‘He's a fraud'
A slew of black Big Apple residents fumed Friday over mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani's claim on an Ivy League college application that he is African American — with them raging the socialist pol is a 'fraud' and 'trickster.'
'He's just trying to get over,' an 86-year-old Harlem resident, identifying herself only as Marjorie, said of Mamdani, a socialist of Asian Indian descent.
'You can look at him and see he's not' black, she said. 'Absolutely not.
4 Zohran Mamdani checked off 'African American' as well as 'Asian' on his Columbia University application in 2009, leading to controversy.
AFP via Getty Images
'I don't like him. I didn't like him from the first time I heard him. You can look at him and see he's a trickster,' she said of the pol, who struggled mightily to make inroads among black voters at the Democratic primary-race polls last month, despite his stunning win.
Another longtime local who asked not to be identified seethed, 'He's a fraud.
'He's a foreigner. He ain't no African American,' the man said of Mamdani, who was born in Uganda but became a naturalized US citizen in 2018 and holds dual citizenship between the countries.
A Bronx resident named Joshua added, 'He's a liar. Point-blank, period.
'We don't need a lying mayor or a mayor that says he's black so he can get black people to vote for him.
4 Mamdani told street performer Crackhead Barney in April that it would be 'misleading' to identify himself as African American.
'We black,' he said. 'We ain't stupid.'
Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, had checked off the 'black or African American' and 'Asian' boxes on his 2009 Columbia University application regarding his race, the New York Times reported last week.
The university, where Mamdani's father was and still is a professor, had affirmative-action-friendly admissions policies at the time, which the pol's critics allege he may have been trying to take advantage of. Either way, Mamdani failed to get into the prestigious school.
Mamdani told the Times that while he doesn't consider himself black or African American, he is 'an American who was born in Africa' — and simply felt the other choices on the form didn't fully address who he is.
4 The socialist checked off the questionable box about race in his application to Columbia University.
GHI/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
But when asked by a performance artist on the street in April whether he considers himself African American, he admitted it would be 'misleading' to say so.
A Bronx resident said Mamdani's claim in 2009 was shameful.
'I always knew something was off about him,' said Maria R., 37, to The Post. 'Why are you claiming something that you are not? He could've potentially took away an opportunity for someone else.
'He can look in the mirror and see he's not black,' she said.
Tiffany Francis, a 31-year-old from Brooklyn who moved to Harlem in 2019, agreed that his claim was 'not fair.
'I think people should tell the truth,' Francis said. 'No matter the circumstances, just be truthful. Don't try to persuade or lie to get your way.'
4 Black New Yorkers said Mamdani's 'African American' claim makes him a 'fraudster' and a 'trickster.'
Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Earlier this week, Mayor Eric Adams, who is black, called Mamdani's college-application claim 'deeply offensive.
'The African American identity is not a checkbox of convenience,' the mayor griped of his foe. 'It's a history, a struggle and a lived experience. For someone to exploit that for personal gain is deeply offensive.'
But some black New Yorkers said they have no issue with Mamdani's claim — and even appreciate it.
'I think it's nice that he's from Uganda,' said Temisan Bazunu, 22, a summer intern and Nigerian native. 'I feel like he will be a great mayor if he wins. It's nice to see someone close to your country.
'I don't think he's a liar,' Bazunu said.
Michelle Hart, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, said she understood Mamdani's choice on the application.
'There's always that question when you're filling out paperwork,' Hart said. 'So I can see him identifying as African American because he saw 'African,' where as 'other' connotes to something other than African. So he saw 'African' in 'African-American,' and I think that's OK.'
Mamdani's camp did not respond to a Post request for comment on the controversy Friday.
-Additional reporting by Hannah Fierick
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Marko Rupnik, a famous mosaic artist who was belatedly thrown out of the Jesuits after its superiors determined he sexually, psychologically and spiritually abused two dozen adult women and nuns. Even though the case didn't involve minors, it became a toxic problem for Francis because of suggestions Rupnik received favorable treatment at the Vatican under the Jesuit pope. Nearly two years after Francis caved into pressure to reopen the Rupnik file, the Vatican has finally found external canon lawyers to hear the case, the head of the Vatican's doctrine office, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, told reporters last week. As recently as March, Fernandez had said he was having trouble finding any willing candidates. Now that Francis is dead, the case may be less politically delicate, even as the priest's supporters maintain his innocence. Another legal headache facing Leo is what to do about Cardinal Angelo Becciu and the Vatican's 'trial of the century,' which is heading into the appeals phase in September. The city-state's criminal tribunal in 2023 convicted Becciu and eight other people of a variety of financial crimes stemming from the Holy See's bungled 350 million euro ($412 million) investment in a London property. But the trial was itself problematic, with defense claims that basic defense rights weren't respected since Francis intervened on several occasions in favor of prosecutors. In the months since the verdicts were handed down, there have been new revelations that Vatican gendarmes and prosecutors were apparently in regular touch with a woman who was coaching the star witness into testifying against Becciu. The once-powerful cardinal has denounced the contacts as evidence that his conviction was orchestrated from the start, from the top. Leo, a canon lawyer, may want to steer clear of the whole thing to try to give the tribunal the impression of being independent. But Leo will ultimately have to decide what to do with Becciu, who recused himself from the conclave but remains a cardinal with a very unclear status. Leo has said his priority as pope is unity and reconciliation in the church. Many conservatives and traditionalists hope that means he will work to heal the liturgical divisions that spread during Francis' 12-year papacy, especially in the U.S., over the old Latin Mass. Francis in 2021 restricted access for ordinary Catholics to the ancient liturgy, arguing that its spread was creating divisions in the church. In doing so, Francis reversed his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who in 2007 had relaxed restrictions on its celebration. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a figurehead of the conservative and traditionalist camp, told a recent conference on the Latin Mass that he had spoken to Leo about the need to 'put an end to the present persecution of the faithful' who want to worship according to the old rite. 'It it is my hope that he will as soon as it is possible take up the study of this question and try to restore the situation as it was' under Benedict's reform, Burke said. Leo has also identified artificial intelligence as a pressing issue facing humanity, suggesting a document of some sort might be in the works. Also under study is when he will start traveling, and where. Leo has a standing invitation to undertake Francis' last, unfulfilled foreign commitment: Marking the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea, Christianity's first ecumenical council, with a visit to Turkey. Leo has already said a visit is in the works, possibly in late November. Beyond that, Leo has received plenty of invitations: Vice President JD Vance extended a Trump invitation to visit the U.S., but Leo demurred and offered a noncommittal 'at some point.' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy invited him to visit Kyiv, but the Vatican under Francis had refused a papal visit there unless one could also be arranged to Moscow. Leo's old diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, meanwhile, is waiting for their bishop to come home, and then there's Argentina, which never got a papal visit from the first-ever Argentine pope. The residents of Castel Gandolfo, meanwhile, are aching for a pope to return. Francis had decided not to use the retreat and instead spent his 12 papal summers at home, in the Vatican. The town has recovered from the economic hit of pope-free summers, after Francis instead opened the papal palace and gardens to the public as a museum year-round. But townsfolks cannot wait for Leo to take up residence and enjoy the town's gorgeous lake views and quiet starry nights. It's the perfect place for a pope to rest, read, write and think in private, they say. 'Remember, many encyclicals were written here,' noted the Rev. Tadeusz Rozmus, the town's parish priest. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
