We’re in a historic moment in New York City, the opportunity to choose a new mayor and there are a number of front runners who would be firsts, but instead we find ourselves mired by manipulation and interference by the elite. Recently, the New York Times decided to publish an editorial which quite deliberately endorsed against one of the front-runners Zohran Mamdani, the only immigrant candidate in the race. This is despite them stating they would stay neutral in this election. Let me be clear, this is a sign that our democracy is still struggling against the gatekeepers of the old who still believe they run this city.
This coordinated effort by the legacy media and billionaires to repeatedly single out Mr. Mamdani, to misrepresent his politics, and to cast doubt on his vision reveals something deeper than just policy disagreements. It reveals fear. Fear of a new political generation that does not ask permission to lead. Fear of a New York City where the mayor might speak multiple languages. Fear of what it means to have a leader who is African-born, South Asian, Muslim, a true representative of the global city we actually are.
Mr. Mamdani’s campaign represents something powerful, a challenge to the status quo. It represents the ability of our communities to thrive with faster and free buses, it represents our communities being able to settle here by using universal child care, it represents our communities being able to stay healthy with cheaper healthy groceries. These aren’t just pitches to a political or elite class, it’s a slogan for every day New Yorkers.
So when the mainstream press lines up to tear down this one candidate while offering sanitized coverage of the powerful and well-connected, we must ask, who do these papers serve? Who gets to be seen as serious or experienced and who is framed as radical or divisive? Why is it that a candidate of color who fights for the people must constantly prove he is worthy of consideration or has enough experience, while others are handed legitimacy simply by virtue of their last name or access to power even after all their faults?
This city has been shaped by immigrant hands. It has been built, block by block, by workers from Ghana and Guyana, Bangladesh, and the Bahamas who have moved to our city and call it home. It is our communities whose blood, sweat, and tears have driven our city’s growth. It was our communities who kept our city operating during the pandemic as essential workers, restaurant staff, drivers, health care professionals, and civil servants. And yet our political institutions remain almost entirely captured by legacy power. Our communities have no say and it’s always the same names, the same dynasties, and the same editorial boards that have spent decades deciding who is allowed to lead. That is not democracy. That is aristocracy in disguise.
The press has every right to scrutinize candidates. But scrutiny should not be code for sabotage. Repeatedly targeting one candidate, while ignoring the shortcomings, evasions, and contradictions of others is not journalism. It is the continuation of a political order that is rapidly losing its legitimacy.
Whether Mr. Mamdani may or may not become mayor is for the people of this city to decide, not The New York Times, not billionaires, not powerful political operatives with bylines. What matters is that New Yorkers are given the opportunity to choose based on truth, not fear. On hope, not headlines.
In a real democracy, the people lead, and the papers follow.
