New York Times Responds After Zohran Mamdani Story Stirs Liberal Backlash [View all]

Source: Newsweek

Published Jul 04, 2025 at 9:27 PM EDT | Updated Jul 04, 2025 at 11:46 PM EDT


Patrick Healy, assistant managing editor for Standards and Trust at The New York Times, posted a lengthy thread on X, formerly Twitter, explaining the newspaper's controversial story on mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's 2009 application to Columbia University.

On Thursday, the Times published a report citing hacked Columbia documents that revealed the New York Democratic mayoral nominee identified as "Black or African American" on his college application. Mamdani, who is of South Asian heritage, was born in Uganda, where his family had lived for approximately a century, according to the article.

The decision to publish the Mamdani story, which was acquired via hacked information from a source, sparked liberal backlash on social media. Healy, in an 11-post thread, said in part, "Times journalists for decades have done deep reporting on major party nominees for New York's mayor to provide insight, context and texture about their priorities, history and evolution. Our reporting helps readers better understand how candidates think and what they believe."

Why It Matters

Mamdani, 33, is a New York state assemblyman who was born in Uganda to Indian parents. He has lived in New York City since age 7 and became a U.S. citizen in 2018. In the lead-up to New York City's 2025 Democratic mayoral primary, the Times editorial board issued a pointed critique of candidate Mamdani. While the news outlet had previously announced it would cease endorsing candidates outside presidential races, the board's editorial effectively served as an anti-endorsement.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/new-york-times-mamdani-article-healy-responds-2094926

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Welcome to the U.S.'s system of racism/white supremacy that has been in place since the country's founding. They manufactured "rules" or "codes", enforced them in an inconsistent and bizarre fashion to manipulate every aspect of life, and then trip all over their creation generations later.

What does Muskrat call himself being a (naturalized U.S. citizen white) South African? He's an "African American", right?

African countries like Madagascar & South Africa have a large SE Asian population who were labeled "coloureds" along with other "mixed-race" individuals as a "category" in several SE African countries. Much of this was the result of the British Empire period that impacted countries like Uganda (where Mamdani's family hails from), which brought in other nationalities/ethnic groups that were part of the British Empire, like India. The notorious Idi Amin put an end to that however (although once he was out, the migrant flow from SE Asian countries returned).