Zohran Mamdani, the New York City Democratic nominee, marked both 'Asian' and 'African-American' on his 2009 Columbia University application. He clarified that he identifies as 'an American who was born in Africa' and aimed to express his mixed heritage. The application lacked specific categories for his Indian-Ugandan background, compelling him to check multiple boxes. Despite the controversy, he gained no admissions advantage as he attended Bowdoin College and this incident is not recent enough to question his mayoral candidacy credibility.
In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Mamdani, 33, said he did not consider himself either Black or African American, but rather 'an American who was born in Africa.' He said his answers on the college application were an attempt to represent his complex background given the limited choices before him, not to gain an upper hand in the admissions process.
Mamdani received no material benefit from doing this, since he attended Bowdoin College. Also, this happened 16 years ago and does not serve as convincing evidence that Mamdani would be a bad mayor.
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