Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist and frontrunner in the New York City mayoral race, checked both "Asian" and "Black or African American" on his Columbia University application in 2009, despite being a Muslim immigrant from Uganda. He explained that he does not identify as either race but instead as "an American who was born in Africa." Mamdani chose multiple options to better represent his mixed heritage, noting the absence of a specific box for Indian-Ugandans and highlighted that he included further detail in his application. Columbia's admissions policy previously considered race, a practice now restricted by the Supreme Court.
"Most college applications don't have a box for Indian-Ugandans, so I checked multiple boxes trying to capture the fullness of my background," the Queens lawmaker said.
"Even though these boxes are constraining, I wanted my college application to reflect who I was," Mamdani stated, emphasizing his desire for a comprehensive representation.
Collection
[
|
...
]