Incumbent Big Apple Mayor Eric Adams demanded Columbia University release Zohran Mamdani’s admission records in which the Democratic socialist candidate identified as Asian and African American — before he became a US citizen.
Mamdani, a 33-year-old Muslim immigrant from Uganda who is the frontrunner in the city’s mayoral race, applied to the Ivy League in 2009 and checked the two boxes for “Asian” and “African American” because he felt that either alone didn’t encompass his identity, he told the New York Times Thursday.
The Queens lawmaker was not yet a US citizen at the time and was naturalized in 2018. He holds dual citizenship in the US and Uganda, the outlet reported.
In another portion of the application — which was ultimately rejected — that allowed him to elaborate on his identity, Mamdani clarified that he was Ugandan.
Mayor Eric Adams criticized Zohran Mamdani for claiming he was