How Zohran Mamdani Subverted America’s White Public Space with Uncles, Knafeh, and Arabic

Zohran Mamdani, a man in his thirties with black hair, a mustache, and small beard is kneeling in front of a pile of boxes at a New York City bodega. He is wearing a black suit, white shirt, and black tie and petting a sleeping grey and white cat.

On January 1st, 2026, democratic socialist Zohran Kwame Mamdani, a thirty-four-year-old African-born South-Asian American, was sworn in as New York City mayor with his Syrian-American wife, Rama Duwaiji, by his side. For the oath-taking, Rama held two Qurans: Mamdani’s grandfather’s Quran beneath a smaller late-eighteenth-century Quran borrowed from the New York Public Library. The choice … Continue reading How Zohran Mamdani Subverted America’s White Public Space with Uncles, Knafeh, and Arabic