New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is in a big mess of racial discord.
Mamdami has faced growing displeasure from black activists who are upset that they are being denied the leadership roles that they enjoyed under former Mayor Eric Adams.
His solution to this problem? Hire as his “Chief Equity Officer” and “commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Equity & Racial Justice” a woman named Afua Atta-Mensah, who styles herself as a black liberation activist. (RELATED: The White Supremacists Have Taken Over!)
“I hope we get closer to Black liberation in my lifetime. I know the fight is ongoing, but I hope so,” Atta-Mensah said in a 2023 interview. Her Instagram bio reads: “Using my time on this 🌍 to learn, love and explore. Building movements and snatching chains. BX 4fr. [Blacks for real.] Until liberation is real. ✊🏾🇬🇭🇦🇬” She has called to “Re-Center Race.”
Atta-Mensah’s appointment drew controversy after the New York Young Republican Club discovered X posts in which she disparaged white people, specifically liberal white women. The posts were shortly thereafter deleted, alongside her account. (RELATED: The ‘Warmth of Collectivism’ Comes to New York)
In response to a post on X that read, “Who’s not police but FEELS like police to you?” Atta-Mensah responded, “white women at nonprofit organizations.”
Also, in reaction to a post that read, “A lot of y’all are Amy Coopers to the Black women in your non-profits every day,” a reference to the white woman who called the police on a black bird-watcher during COVID, Atta-Mensah said, “THIS IS A WHOLE WORD!!!!”
Atta-Mensah also responded to an X post in which the writer said watching the HBO series Succession made them want to tax rich white people. She said, “Tax Them To The White Meat!!!” and included a hand-clapping emoji.
In her X posts, Atta-Mensah spoke about the racism that she believes is present among white liberals. In response to a post that said, “we don’t talk about white liberal racism enough,” she said, “Facts! It would need to be a series of loooooonnnnnnnggggg conversations.”
“There is no one I trust more to advance racial equity across our work in City Hall.”
When Mamdani was asked at a press conference about her racially inflammatory posts, he responded that Atta-Mensah is “frankly” a “brilliant” addition to his administration. He also said, “There is no one I trust more to advance racial equity across our work in City Hall.”
Atta-Mensah is coming into the Mamdani administration at a time when black leaders in the city are worried that the Democratic Socialists of America’s strained relationship with black Americans could result in black New Yorkers being excluded from the administration and overlooked in policymaking. Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). (RELATED: From Solidarity to Statism: Mayor Mamdani’s Vision for New York City)
Tyquana Henderson-Rivers, a black political consultant in New York City, said on Facebook that black women “no longer have a seat at the big table” in New York politics under Mamdani. “It is acting out what Black people don’t like about the D.S.A.,” she said. “And that’s acting as if race doesn’t matter.”
In an interview in December, Atta-Mensah attempted to reckon with the poor sentiments that black Americans have for the Democratic Socialists of America. At the time, she was a member of Mamdani’s transition team. Atta-Mensah explained that there are “real tensions” in New York over the Democratic Socialists of America’s connection to gentrification. She then stated that some black people have the “perception” that the people who talk to them about “class consciousness” are the same ones who “don’t say hi to you in the morning and push you out of your apartment.” Of this perception, Atta-Mensah stated, “[W]e have to hold the complexity of that.” She reassured her audience that members of the Democratic Socialists of America are “not a monolith,” just like black communities. (RELATED: Mamdani’s Rent Control Plans Will Make the Rental Market Worse for Working People)
In an interview, Henderson-Rivers told the New York Times that Mamdani “doesn’t have the best relationship with the Black community” and that “it seems like he’s not interested in us because there’s no representation in his kitchen cabinet.”
Other black leaders likewise complained to the New York Times that Mamdani had not selected any black people to fill his five “deputy mayor” positions.
“For someone who prides himself on being directly engaged with everyday New Yorkers, to be so tone deaf to the cries of Black and Latinos in the city for access to power is shocking,” said Kirsten John Foy of the group Arc of Justice. “There are some very good people of color that have been appointed to some high-level positions, but those people are not at the center of the decision-making apparatus in this city.”
L. Joy Williams, who heads the New York State NAACP, also told the Times, “It is clear from the lack of conversation and engagement that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of focus and attention on the needs of Black New Yorkers in the city.”
In an interview last year, Atta-Mensah recalled that when she first began working with Mamdani during his campaign, she initially had “questions” because she believes that “any class analysis that is devoid of a race analysis is not one that is practical or transformational for America.” She asserted that one of her first priorities for Mamdani’s campaign was “making sure that the campaign saw the strategy [of utilizing race analysis] as a necessity not just for winning but also for governing.”
The first thing she did for Mamdani, Atta-Mensah stated, was to “build a team that had a similar vision and understanding” as hers. To counteract what she says was a “conversation about a lack of diversity within the team,” she explained that the team she oversaw was “almost all people of color.” Atta-Mensah described the races of the people within her team, saying: “Majority Black. Seven Black folks, two Latinos, one Indo-Caribbean staffer, and we had one member of the team doing Jewish outreach.”
Julie Su, who holds the position of “Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice” and who will be Atta-Mensah’s direct superior, commended her appointment by making a commitment to “racial equity.” Given all the allegations that Mamdani’s administration is not concerned with black New Yorkers, Su made sure to note in particular her desire to “celebrate Black excellence.” (RELATED: To Harvard and Back with Julie Su)
“There is no economic justice without racial justice,” said Su. “I am thrilled to get to work with Afua Atta-Mensah to make this more than just a statement of principle and to celebrate Black excellence and racial equity for all of the beautiful communities who call NYC home.”
Mamdani’s administration is steeped in racial fixation and is shaped at every level by race-based ideologies. This extends well beyond the appointment of Atta-Mensah and Mamdani’s repeated commitments to racial equity.
Catherine Almonte Da Costa, the woman who was supposed to be Mamdani’s director of appointments, was forced out of her job after a rant about “money hungry Jews” was discovered on one of her social media accounts. Additionally, Cea Weaver, Mamdani’s tenant advocate, posted on X that homeownership is “a weapon of white supremacy” before later saying that her phrasing was “regretful.” (RELATED: What Doctor Zhivago Teaches Us About New York City’s Housing Debate)
The president of the New York Young Republican Club, which discovered Atta-Mensah’s social media posts against white liberals, stated, “The mayor said there is no one he trusts more than Atta-Mensah to push ‘racial equity,’ and make no mistake: tweets about taxing ‘white meat’ reflect the approach of the entire Mamdani administration to reshape New York.”
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