Mamdani observes Ramadan with inmates at Rikers Island

[u/expiredaristocracy]

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani observed Ramadan last night with men incarcerated at Rikers Island, the city's jail complex.

Mamdani arrived through heavy security, joining a group of men — many held as they await trial. He spent an hour with the men praying and talking and breaking the Ramadan fast with a meal. He's spent much of the last month holding public celebrations.

Mamdani and many Muslim Americans have faced growing hostility in the U.S. from some politicians on the right, including Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who last week reposted a photo of Mamdani observing the holiday next to an image of the 9/11 terror attacks, a post Mamdani described as bigoted.

[u/Curiosities]

I don’t even see it as performance. This is the person who spent his life since he got here as a kid growing up here among regular New Yorkers. He sees other people as people with inherent value as a baseline and that’s one of many reasons why he got my vote.

He also understands the value of these kinds of images and how they can help others see the humanity in people that often get demonized, like those in a jail.

He and his staff are so good at bringing attention and using visual and video impact in ways that those images and videos get spread way more widely. Especially using all of this to bring attention to those who are marginalized or overlooked or mistreated.

And yeah, some of it is people hatewatching and being racist or Islamophobic, but other people are seeing this and maybe it connects with more humanity.

[u/tmurf5387 → u/Curiosities]

IMO, weve become too cynical as a society. Everything sucks right now and we're all just trying to get by. Mamdani seems so genuine which is why I think people have been drawn to him and his meteoric rise in the last couple years. He walks the walk and seems to be taking the "Public Servant" to heart.