Mamdani’s primary win gives progressives a glimmer of hope.
A few weeks ago, I had no idea who Zohran Mamdani was. I’d maybe seen a passing post on Blue Sky, Facebook or Instagram about him, but I paid no attention as it was yet another piece of political content from a city and state I do not live in. These days, I cannot afford to divert my attention to anything that doesn’t affect me directly. There’s just no time, especially amongst the noise of democracy’s downfall and the chaos of being a twin toddler Dad.
Then, he won the Democratic Primary for NYC’s mayoral race. That definitely gets your attention.
The Democratic Party, having suffered an unspeakable defeat in 2024 against a failed businessman, rapist, misogynist, convicted felon, has been wandering about or hiding in obscurity since Trump was re-elected President of the United States. The only ones, in my view, that have even attempted to stand up to the status quo are, in fact, the likes of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Is this the future of the Democratic Party?
I don’t know, really. But it’s exciting.
Zohran represents a push back on the all-encompassing establishment of toxic rot we call US politics today. He employs boogeyman phrases of the past such as “communist” and “socialism.” He rallies working class people and elderly and people of all walks of life for a single purpose: “let’s lift everyone up.” Especially the disenfranchised and the poor.
Today, America resembles a shattered dream. We give the rich more and more money. We give the lowest filth of men a platform to speak to our children. We shun family and the less fortunate to kick out our neighbors most in need. We claim that all of this is in the spirit of Christianity and a righteous loyalty to the “United States of America.”
I and many others reject this notion.
The true American people won’t back down. We won’t concede. We won’t leave because we’re defeated. We will fight for our home. We will fight for our ideals. We’ll fight for those who have less than we do. We won’t back down from internal conflict just because those closest to us were tricked and turned away from the morals that they, themselves, taught us.
Look around you. Look to your family. Notice who still speaks with you. We are more divided now than ever, and you must ask yourself, “whose side am I on?” Find it within yourself to ask, “does my allegiance help or hurt people?”
Are you helping…or are you hurting?
I’d argue that detaining or deporting hard working people, regardless of citizenship status or not, is still in the realm of hurting people. You’re hurting a family who will lose their father. You’re hurting a husband who will lose his wife. You’re hurting yourselves from the lack of labor that you, yourself, would never do (immigrants are vastly responsible for tending our crops, building our infrastructure, taking care of our homes and raising our children).
Who will protect these people?
Oh, it’s not our responsibility. They are here illegally. They should be deported.
We shouldn’t help the poor. We shouldn’t give “hand-outs.”
Brothers and sisters– we were all once immigrants. We have all been poor at one point in our lives. Be it poor financially, emotionally or societally…we’ve all been there. Wouldn’t it be the most Christian thing to do? To lift up those who lift us up? Help others. Do unto them as we would want done to us?
Somewhere along the way, Americans as a whole have lost their sense of indivisibility.
But the people will always rise up.
Zohran Mamdani’s win is a win for the working class. For everyday Americans. A win for empathy, justice and a sign that even something once thought an extreme notion might end up a necessity in the fight against populism and oligarchy.
America is what we make of it, and most of us don’t want to see it fade into obscurity.
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