make america great for the first time
set aside criticism of mamdani as politician for a moment.
'people', and i use this term very lightly, do not want him to go to the 9/11 memorial event simply because he is muslim. there is no other reason for it.
in 2010 there was massive protest against the so called ground zero mosque. i went to counter protest and ended up being beaten up while 'people' called me unthinkable slurs. they ripped a hijab off my friends head. it was violent and i still dont really believe it happened. those same 'people' who beat me and my friends, who called me these violent slurs, are the same ones handwringing about a muslim man going to a memorial event. the violence is less obvious when prettied up and filtered through the times' propaganda machine, but it is the same violence.
clearly, zohran mamdani was elected, so a majority of the city likes him, and almost a year into his mandate his polling numbers are still fairly high. so who are these people who have such an issue with mamdani even existing in a 10km radius of ground zero on such a sacred fucking day?
theyre the minority.
ultimately, this is what we need to keep in mind. people, even including crackers and honkies, are fucking SICK of racism. we're ALL fucking FED UP with white supremacy! its not even that its literally killing us.....no one can take this shit anymore because its FUCKING EXHAUSTING. and yet, the media INSISTS on trying to stoke this hatred because this very exhaustion SELLS WELL. the more outraged you are, the more you listen to these goddamn neonazi ghouls litigating their made up anxieties on the front page of the new york times, the more hair follicles you inevitably pull out of your already balding middle aged head.
it can feel very just to be constantly outraged, but outrage without action only fuels this hatred even more. youre focused on surviving this hatred which closes off possibilities for solutions. (this is a self criticism, mind you. i am the guiltiest of all of this outrage-inaction cycle.)
but this is why im asking you to set aside criticism of mamdani as a politician. in this moment, i see him as a man very much like myself. we're about the same age, with a similar immigrant backstory and similar racial ambiguity. its extremely hard not to relate to someone with similar confusion over how to self identify using the US's dog shit racial/ethnic categorization (there was essentially no way to describe myself officially as latino AND half black, half white until obamas first term). this identification i have with him is so strong that i see a rejection of mamdani as a rejection...of myself.
this country never wanted me. indeed, i 'went back to my own country' because i was never allowed to belong to the united states, to love it, and so i grew to truly despise that country. it begs the question why anyone should fight for the united states at all, why someone like myself would ever want to save a place like that. but the reality is that the only redeemable thing about that fucking place is people like me. people like mamdani, like ilhan omar, like abdul el-sayed, even people like me, in all my burnt out insanity. not just the excellent immigrants and their children, not just the talented tenth, but the mundane and mediocre ones too.
we make the US worth saving by virtue of being who we are.
i am not saying the united states as it stands must continue because some immigrants are super cool guys. it is clear that things cannot continue as they are. but there is good, there is so much good residing in those like myself. whatever comes after this, it must be a fundamentally immigrant project.
in my dream world, there is pluralism, diversity, immigration, ethnic enclaves, cultural exchange, festivals, and texmex. a synagogue, a mosque, a church, a public library on every corner, general tso's chicken in every pot. this is the country i want to live in. i want to build a world without exploitation, without borders or boundaries, a literally limitless society where there is enough to go around and where no one could even imagine fucking over their neighbor. it is idyllic and unrealistic, but i argue it is far more obtainable than infinite growth and endless enclosures.
i think mamdani has to go to this memorial, not for jingoistic assimilation purposes. when i say that we are america, i mean that we have just as much right to live on US soil as we are. no assimilation, no whitening. mamdani must go to the memorial to show that he, too, sings america, that after generations of eating in the kitchen, the darker brothers and sisters and siblings are now strong enough to old our heads up high and say no. today we eat in the kitchen. today we are beautiful, and you will be ashamed of how youve hidden that beauty.
the only damn thing worth saving about this country is us.