Top House Dem dodges question about Zohran Mamdani identifying as African American on Columbia application

New York Post

6 hours ago

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries refused to delve into the controversy surrounding socialist New York mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani's description of himself as 'black or African American' on his application for Columbia University in 2009.
Jeffries (D-NY), the highest-ranking black elected official in the US, contorted live on air to dodge the controversy and changed the topic to affordability concerns that have been top of mind for voters.
'The issue that we have to deal with in New York City, which our Democratic nominee did talk about extensively during the primary campaign, is affordability,' Jeffries told Rev. Al Sharpton's 'PoliticsNation' Saturday.
'Whoever's going to be the next mayor of the city of New York really needs to articulate a concrete plan for making sure that working-class communities, including working-class neighborhoods of color, can still have a place in our great city,' the Brooklyn Democrat went on.
Last week, a bombshell New York Times report based on hacked data revealed that Mamdani identified as 'black or African American' and 'Asian' on his 2009 Columbia application.
3 Hakeem Jeffries has not endorsed in the New York City mayoral election.
MSNBC
3 Zohran Mamdani admitted that he described himself as 'black or African American' on his application to Columbia University.
Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and immigrated to the US when he was 7, had campaigned as a Muslim of South Asian descent.
A recently resurfaced video from ambush interviewer 'Crackhead Barney' shows the Assemblyman from Queens describing himself as 'an Indian, Ugandan, New Yorker.' In that video, he was asked if he'd consider himself African American, and he insisted: 'No, I would not.'
The self-described democratic socialist has since explained that he views himself as 'an American who was born in Africa.'
'Most college applications don't have a box for Indian-Ugandans, so I checked multiple boxes trying to capture the fullness of my background,' the Democratic mayoral nominee told the New York Times.
Jeffries has refrained from endorsing Mamdani, though he has talked with him and congratulated him on his upset victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary.
Mamdani is now squaring off against incumbent Mayor Adams in the November election.
The top Democrat in the House has split with Mamdani in the past, including over his refusal to denounce the term 'globalize the intifada,' which is widely seen as a rallying cry to harm the Jews.
'Globalizing the intifada, by way of example, is not an acceptable phrasing,' Jeffries told ABC's 'This Week' last week.
'He's going to have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward.'
Mamdani had been pressed on that term repeatedly during an interview on NBC's 'Meet the Press' last week.
3 The self-described democratic socialist is the frontrunner in the mayoral election.
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'That's not language that I use. The language that I use and the language that I will continue to use to lead this city is that which speaks clearly to my intent, which is an intent grounded in a belief in universal human rights,' Mamdani told Kristen Welker on the program while getting pressed three times.
'I don't believe that the role of the mayor is to police speech in that manner.'