{"id":3427,"date":"2025-10-22T13:40:46","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T13:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/10\/22\/nyc-working-class-muslims-see-progress-in-mamdani-but-policies-win-votes\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T13:40:46","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T13:40:46","slug":"nyc-working-class-muslims-see-progress-in-mamdani-but-policies-win-votes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/10\/22\/nyc-working-class-muslims-see-progress-in-mamdani-but-policies-win-votes\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC working-class Muslims see progress in Mamdani, but policies win votes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From the Bronx to Brooklyn, it’s more about rent than religion<\/h2>\n

Al Jazeera visits some of New York City’s diverse working-class Muslim communities to learn how voters are viewing November’s mayoral race.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Aicha Donza tends her shop in Morrisania, the Bronx [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera]<\/p>\n

Aicha Donza tends her shop in Morrisania, the Bronx [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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New York City –<\/strong> In the Bronx’s Morrisania neighbourhood, you often hear a familiar refrain: \u201cMamdani, Mamdani, Mamdani\u201d.<\/p>\n

Home to a fast-growing West African community – including many new-immigrant Muslims – Morrisania is among many areas where identity issues of race converge with the needs of the working class ahead of New York\u2019s November 4 mayoral election.<\/p>\n

Many in this community are counting on 34-year-old candidate Zohran Mamdani to win.<\/p>\n

After all, a victory for Mamdani over former Governor Andrew Cuomo<\/a> would mark a series of historic firsts for New York City – its first Muslim mayor, the first born in Africa, and the first person of South Asian descent to lead the largest city in the United States.<\/p>\n

It is a fact that has sparked hope – and grim reminders of entrenched Islamophobia and xenophobia – across the diverse Muslim communities interwoven into the fabric of the city.<\/p>\n

But for Aicha Donza, a shop owner in Morrisania, the Bronx, where annual incomes are half the city’s average, it is the avowed Democratic Socialist’s message of affordability – ambitious pledges for free buses, rent freezes on certain buildings, and universal childcare, paid for, in part, by increasing taxes on the wealthy – that has won her support.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe says he\u2019s going to make things easier,\u201d Donza told Al Jazeera, showing off the wares in her store: plantain powder from Ghana; Liberian palm oil imported from the country where she was born; traditional Islamic garb imported from Turkiye, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rent is so high, every day people come into the store, they say the prices are too high,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd free buses, if he can manage that, that would make a huge difference\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Essa
Essa Tunkala is seen outside of the Islamic Cultural Center of the Bronx [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Outside of the nearby Islamic Cultural Center of the Bronx, following afternoon prayers, Essa Tunkala, 60, ruminated over what the election could mean for the neighbourhood, a melting pot of both working-class trades – parking attendants, cab drivers, and store workers – and West African diaspora.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost like you\u2019re in West Africa,\u201d Tunkala grinned, listing residents from Senegal, Liberia, Ghana, Togo, and Mali, to name a few.<\/p>\n

He pointed to several serious questions<\/a> that continue to hang over Mamdani\u2019s run: How will he actualise his vision? Will he be able to rise above the relatively limited ability of the mayoral position to build the kind of coalition with state officials and lawmakers needed to realise his marquee pledges?<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we need fresh ideas to create opportunities,\u201d said Tunkala, who is originally from the Gambia and sells sporting goods from a table on the street. \u201cThis is a new generation with new ideas for development, that\u2019s why I support him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahmed Jejote, a 55-year-old cab driver from Sierra Leone, echoed the sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve experienced Eric Adams,\u201d he said, referring to the corruption-plagued current city mayor, who dropped<\/a> out of the race in September. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen Cuomo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMamdani is just starting out, and he wants to go forward,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it\u2019s not really about religion for me\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Mariam
Mariam Saleh is seen at Kumasi Restaurant in the Bronx [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera English]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Blocks away, 46-year-old Mariam Saleh stood over steaming trays of food at Kumasi Restaurant: banku, a fermented mixture of maize and cassava; suya, a spiced meat skewer; kwenkwen, a type of jollof rice.<\/p>\n

She was less circumspect about the historic nature of Mamdani\u2019s run.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat he is Muslim, for us, is huge progress,\u201d the 46-year-old, who is originally from Ghana, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s huge progress for the Muslim community in America, not just in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Brighton Beach, Brooklyn: \u2018The current system is not working out\u2019<\/h2>\n<\/div>
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Erum Hanif stands on a street in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera English]<\/p>\n

Erum Hanif stands on a street in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera English]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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Surging to a surprise victory in the June primary, Mamdani represents a kaleidoscope of the diversity that defines the city of more than 8.4 million, where an estimated 800 languages are spoken. Up to one million Muslims live in New York City, estimated to be a quarter of all Muslims in the US.<\/p>\n

Mamdani is socially progressive, with a history of grassroots activism and staunchly pro-Palestine views. While they do not define his campaign, he has embraced his ties to his birthplace, Uganda, and his identity as a Muslim son of parents of Indian Gujarati and Punjabi descent.<\/p>\n

For Asad Dandia, an urban historian, Mamdani\u2019s success to date is a culmination of 400 years of Muslim history in the city, stretching back to the enslaved Africans brought to New York, about 30 percent of whom were Muslim.<\/p>\n

Muslim political power has been both inhibited and energised by waves of discrimination, including in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks and more recently, the genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Dandia was among the New Yorkers surveilled in the wake of September 11, when the New York Police Department (NYPD) and federal government reportedly spied on at least 250 mosques within a 160km (100-mile) radius of the city, as well as an unknown number of individuals. He launched a successful lawsuit in 2013 after he was targeted by a confidential informant.<\/p>\n

Mamdani, who Dandia befriended last year, has also spoken about a classmate at his Bronx high school who was \u201cpressured to become an informant\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly think some of us have forgotten how truly bad it was,\u201d Dandia reflected, adding that US President Donald Trump\u2019s 2016 election victory further charged political action.<\/p>\n

\"Asad
Asad Dandia [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera English]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSo the last 25 years, since 9\/11, have really moulded the community into becoming this formidable force. And I think nothing demonstrates that better than this mayoral election cycle,\u201d the 32-year-old added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s crazy that the same police department that surveilled me and [Mamdani\u2019s community] and the rest of the Muslim community is now going to be under his command.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dandia\u2019s home neighbourhood in Brighton Beach, where the outer edge of Brooklyn meets the Atlantic Ocean, is a study in the fickle nature of politics for communities that feel left behind.<\/p>\n

The area hosts a Pakistani enclave served by four mosques, as well as a quickly growing Uzbek Muslim population. On Fridays, the city sometimes closes a portion of one of the main streets to accommodate the overflow from prayer.<\/p>\n

Voters here swung towards Trump in the 2020 presidential election, but went for the Democratic Socialist Mamdani over his opponents in June\u2019s Democratic primary.<\/p>\n

Erum Hanif, who heads a community centre launched after the neighbourhood was devastated by Hurricane Sandy, said the idiosyncratic shift indicates, in part, \u201cthat the current system is not working out\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany working-class New Yorkers are earning on a day-to-day basis – Uber drivers, grocery store workers, healthcare workers and the working professional, and they are struggling to afford to live. That made them shift towards Mamdani,\u201d the 42-year-old said.<\/p>\n

\"Elderly
Women are seen at a daycare centre for the elderly run by APNA [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At a daycare for the elderly run by Hanif\u2019s group – APNA Brooklyn Community Center, which as an organisation does not endorse any candidate – the aunties said they were all in for Mamdani.<\/p>\n

Amina Malik, from Lahore, Pakistan, said a top concern is the high price of rent and childcare, both issues that impact elderly residents in an outsized way.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of seniors like me are struggling to get into rent-stabilised buildings and apartments,\u201d she said in Urdu. \u201cFamilies cannot afford childcare – Mamdani is going to work on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perveen Zia, 66, who is also from Lahore, saw in Mamdani the type of representation she had not witnessed before in City Hall – someone who \u201cunderstands our language and culture\u201d and will ensure services are administered \u201cequitably\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cZohran is like my son,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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South Richmond Hill, Queens: ‘People think it\u2019s time for change’<\/h2>\n<\/div>
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Annie Nazir is seen phone banking in support of Zohran Mamdani [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera]<\/p>\n

Annie Nazir is seen phone banking in support of Zohran Mamdani [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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About 18km (12 miles) away, in the Queens neighbourhood of South Richmond Hill, the minarets of Masjid Al Abidin rise above the roti shops and garland-laden bridal stores selling saris and shalwar kameez in \u201cLittle Guyana\u201d.<\/p>\n

The area is a microcosm of the overlapping identities of the city\u2019s vast patchwork of neighbourhoods, displaying Guyana\u2019s mix of Indo-Caribbean and South Asian culture: a South American society where Christianity, Islam and Hinduism plait.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this neighbourhood, everyone lives like they\u2019re cousins,\u201d said Annie Nazir, 46, who works in childcare and moved to the US from Georgetown, Guyana five years ago.<\/p>\n

But the masjid or mosque also underscores the challenges facing the local population. Construction on the towering structure began in 2012, but has sputtered amid various stresses, including the economic toll of the COVID pandemic. The project relies almost solely on community donations, those familiar said.<\/p>\n

Because of that, congregants currently pray in a nearby two-storey townhouse, with the women\u2019s section located in a similar building across the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs working-class people, a lot of people think it\u2019s time for a change,\u201d Nazir, who attends the mosque, told Al Jazeera. She is a volunteer chapter leader for DRUM Beats, a political committee representing South Asian and Indo-Caribbean workers that is hoping to turn out the vote for Mamdani.<\/p>\n

\"South
Masjid Al Abidin is seen in South Richmond Hill, Queens [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The upstart politician has maintained a commanding lead in the polls since the primary, but that has narrowed since current Mayor Eric Adams dropped out of the race in September.<\/p>\n

Cuomo, meanwhile, has sought to make inroads in some of the communities that buoyed Mamdani.<\/p>\n

During a primary debate in June, the former governor struggled to name a single mosque he had visited during his 10 years in office. After losing the primary, Cuomo made his first visit of the campaign to a mosque in September, since visiting at least four in the Bronx and Queens.<\/p>\n

At least one Muslim religious leader, Imam Qazi Qayyoom based in Jackson Heights, Queens, has endorsed Cuomo.<\/p>\n

Mamdani jabbed Cuomo\u2019s newfound approach during a debate on October 16.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took me,\u201d he said, \u201cto get you to even see those parts of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

The line of attack has resonated with some in the Guyanese community, who noted Mamdani visited Masjid Al Abidin back in May ahead of the primary. Other ties to the community predate the election.<\/p>\n

\"South
A man rides his bike near a shop in South Richmond Hill, Queens [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As an assemblyman, Mamdani advocated for Prakash Churaman, a Guyanese immigrant who has maintained he was coerced into giving a false murder confession. He joined taxi workers in a 15-day hunger strike in 2021.<\/p>\n

Clint Ally, who spoke to Al Jazeera following evening prayers at the masjid, said he hopes Mamdani\u2019s community-oriented style – which has included eschewing corporate donations for small donors – resonates.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could go down in history as the first Muslim mayor, but this is a very diverse city,\u201d the 49-year-old said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need someone who understands everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Bay Ridge, Brooklyn: \u2018The middle class…is disappearing’<\/h2>\n<\/div>
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Zein Rimawi sits in the An-Noor Social Center in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera]<\/p>\n

Zein Rimawi sits in the An-Noor Social Center in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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Sitting in his office on 5th Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, 71-year-old Zein Rimawi’s\u00a0eyes tear up as he watches a video of Palestinian prisoners being released as part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s outspoken support for Palestinian rights and condemnation of the genocide in Gaza has been particularly resonant in the local community, dubbed \u201cLittle Palestine\u201d, where cafes bear names like \u201cAl Aqsa Bakery\u201d and \u201cNablus Sweets\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rimawi said he has known Mamdani for about eight years, stretching back to when the then-20-something worked on a campaign in support of Khader El-Yateem, a Palestinian-American Lutheran pastor who launched an unsuccessful bid for New York City Council in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always say to young people: run for any seat. If you win, we win,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you lose, we win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause for a Muslim to run for a seat by itself, it’s not easy, but it matters,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it\u2019s a win-win situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bayridge\"
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, is home to a large Arab-American population, particularly from Palestine and Yemen [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But Rimawi also saw Mamdani\u2019s success – at least so far –\u00a0 as the product of a widening wealth gap in the city, an issue particularly relevant in a neighbourhood like Bay Ridge, once a working-class stronghold where housing prices have skyrocketed in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got married in 1988, one week\u2019s salary would cover the average rent. Now it costs most of your salary for a month,\u201d said Rimawi, who is originally from the occupied West Bank. \u201cThe middle class here in New York is disappearing. If it keeps going like this, soon we\u2019ll only have two classes: The rich and the poor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next door, Essa Masoud, 46, runs the Balady Market, selling products from across the Levant.<\/p>\n

The Palestinian American, who was born and raised in Bay Ridge, was not surprised to see the Islamophobic tropes pushed by the far right in the wake of Mamdani\u2019s June victory.<\/p>\n

Trump has threatened to revoke Mamdani\u2019s citizenship. Cuomo has called him a \u201cterrorist sympathiser”.<\/p>\n

Masoud saw those attacks as a carefully calibrated \u201cpolitical tool\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an effort to change the understanding of the general public, to make people fear that is not the person they should vote for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Essa
Essa Masoud is seen in Balady Market in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Masoud added that as a business owner and landlord, he does carry reservations about Mamdani\u2019s policies, including his support for rent freezes and for a $30 hourly minimum wage in the city.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not opposed to Mamdani\u2019s vision, but hopes there \u201cwill be balance\u201d if he is elected.<\/p>\n

Down the block, Marwa Janini, 34, heads the Arab American Association of New York, which does not endorse any candidate.<\/p>\n

For her, the last two years have been defined by two words: pain and pride.<\/p>\n

Pain over the atrocities in Gaza and an Islamophobic backlash fuelled in part by the Trump administration. Pride over the success of Mamdani and the message he carries.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Muslim New Yorkers, our identities are not fixed; they\u2019re fluid,\u201d she said. \u201cBut for someone who grew up in post September 11 New York, with all the fear that created, this is huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Marwa
Marwa Janini, executive director of the Arab American Association of New York [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt is a big win for a visibly Muslim woman like myself,\u201d she said, adding that her organisation had been targeted with hate messaging over the last two years, including a death threat pushed under the door.<\/p>\n

She hoped Mamdani\u2019s victory could help to dispel some of those prejudices, especially if he shows he will be \u201cmayor for all New Yorkers\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be in a city where we are possibly – inshallah – going to have a Muslim mayor,\u201d she said, \u201cit is a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/main><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Bronx to Brooklyn, it’s more about rent than religion Al Jazeera visits some of New York City’s diverse working-class Muslim communities to learn how voters are viewing November’s mayoral race. Aicha Donza tends her shop in Morrisania, the Bronx [Joseph Stepansky\/Al Jazeera] Aicha Donza tends her shop in Morrisania, the Bronx [Joseph Stepansky\/Al … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3427\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}