Zohran Mamdani's mom

She’s Mira Nair.  I would have voted for Mamdani just knowing that.  She directed “Mississippi Masala” starring Denzel Washington.  In the film the Indian girl, played by Sarita Choudhury, falls for Denzel, much to her mother’s dismay.  Sarita then says to her mother, “This is America, Ma.”  I love that line.  I’ve used it in many of my classes.  

So now we have a Muslim as the front-runner in a city with the most Jewish residents on the globe, more than Tel Aviv, more than Jerusalem.  Many of them voted for him.  So did Asians.  So did Latinos.  Blacks not so much, but he beat Cuomo rather soundly.  Keep in mind that this is only the primary.  Eric Adams is running in the general and Cuomo might also run in a third party. 

Nonetheless, a 33-year-old Muslim is now the front runner for the mayor’s seat in New York.  Did I mention he styles himself a democratic socialist.  This is America, Ma.