NEW YORK (WABC) — Mayor Zohran Mamdani admits it has taken a toll – the talk radio host who called him a ‘radical Islam cockroach,’ the complicated questions about his wife’s social media and his controversial decision to host Mahmoud Khalil at Gracie Mansion.
There was also the ugly anti-Muslim protest on Mamdani’s doorstep – and the attempted bombing there by alleged ISIS sympathizers and a post shared by U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama that invoked 9/11 alongside a picture of Mamdani with the words ‘the enemy is inside the gates.’
The mayor was asked if this is what Islamophobia looks like.
“It is, it is. And I think what makes it so concerning, frankly, is not that these are words being said about me, but frankly, that these are words being said about a million or so Muslims who call this city their home,” he said.
However, Mamdani knows it is not so simple.
“When the critiques are due to your policies or your views, you can stomach them. We’re talking about racism and bigotry. And to accept that, to turn a blind eye to it, it’s to allow for that kind of an animus to fester. And it takes a toll. It does in that it makes you feel as if you are lonely in the place that you know is your home. You are isolated within it,” Mamdani said.
In the holy month of Ramadan, New York’s first Muslim mayor is attending and hosting iftars across the city – where he draws inspiration.
“Who here has been told that you do not belong in New York City? Who here has heard the words, go back to where you came from?” said Mamdani.
Mamdani said they broke their fast with hundreds of city workers.
“They feel the same kind of pressure to compress themselves into a box as if they can’t be their whole self in the city that they call home,” he adds.
Mamdani says that he will never apologize for his faith.
“You know, I think there are some who would love if I did so, but they will always be disappointed because I will never apologize for who I am, for my faith, and for the fact that there are so many more like me in the city. And what unites all of us is the fact that we’re New Yorkers,” he says.
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