MTG Tweets Racist Statue Of Liberty After Zohran Win
Sometimes, just for one blissful moment, I forget just how much Islamophobia this country still breeds. Then, a political candidate like Zohran Mamdani comes along. Republicans (or, let's be real, Americans) stop hiding their hate, and I am shamefully reminded that we have a long, long way to go.
If you missed the news this week, Mamdani, a 33-year-old Muslim New Yorker of Indian descent born in Uganda, shocked the political establishment by definitively defeating Andrew Cuomo in the NYC mayoral Democratic primary election. He currently represents a district in Queens as a member of the New York State Assembly and is a Democratic Socialist.
Republicans, including Donald Trump, are pretty publicly flipping out over Mamdani's win, which many have referenced as the beginning of a "Communist" takeover of the United States.
Unfortunately, Congressperson Marjorie Taylor Greene has joined their ranks with a blatantly racist AI-generated photo.
Early on Wednesday, the morning after Mamdani's win, Greene tweeted this:
The image depicts New York's Statue of Liberty replaced with a woman in a burqa, a full-body covering worn by some Muslim women and often vilified by Islamophobes. In Afghanistan, the Taliban requires women to wear the veil, but it is not required by the Quran. It also would most certainly not be required under Mamdani's mayorship.
"You are not a serious person. Islamophobia is disgraceful and Unamerican," this person replied.
"bet this hits hard if you're stupid," this person simply said.
Someone reminded Greene that "The founding fathers were immigrants."
This person called her a "disgraceful, disgusting, pathetic human being."
A couple of people said she was "doing so well there for a minute," presumably in reference to when she finally seemed to turn the slightest bit against her MAGA ways, boldly disagreeing with the president about his decision to strike Iran.
This person wrote that "Your Islamophobia isn't edgy, it's pathetic. You don't hate the hijab, you hate that a Muslim dared to win."
"I'm so sorry that other religions and races are scary," someone else wrote.
"Y'all are so proud to put your racism on full display," another user said.
"This image hits harder, for me," this person said, along with a photo of a woman posing with the noose erected outside the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Someone told Greene, "You are a racist and should not be in Congress."
And finally, people made some truly excellent jokes — because sometimes, all you can do is laugh at the racists.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
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Many South Asians and Muslims in NYC and beyond electrified by Mamdani's mayoral primary triumph
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Supporters and pundits agree that Mamdani's campaign has demonstrated social media savvy and authenticity. He visited multiple mosques. In videos, he speaks in Hindi or gives a touch of Bollywood. Other South Asian American politicians such as Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna praised that. 'I love that he didn't run away from his heritage. I mean, he did video clips with Amitabh Bachchan and Hindi movies,' Khanna said, referencing the Indian actor. 'He shows that one can embrace their roots and their heritage and yet succeed in American politics.' But his triumph also reflects 'the urgency of the economic message, the challenge that people are facing in terms of rent, in terms of the cost of living, and how speaking to that is so powerful,' the progressive California Democrat added. Tanzeela Rahman, a daughter of Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh, said she grew up 'very low income' in New York. 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