Eric Adams launches Islamophobic and racist attack against Zohran Mamdani

Mayor of New York City Eric Adams has launched a bizarre attack on mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani. When speaking to reporters, Adams chose to attack Mamdani’s position of decriminalising sex work. He said:

I can’t be more clear. I’m a man of God, just as Mamdani says he’s a Muslim. I don’t know where in his Quran it states that it’s okay for a woman to be on the streets selling their body.

Adams continued:

I don’t know what Quran he is reading. It’s not in my Bible. As a man who said he is of faith, I don’t quite understand what religion supports prostitution.

Adams is following a long-held tradition of non-Muslims berating Muslims with public profiles for not meeting their own arbitrary standards of who counts as a Muslim. After all, who would come to Eric Adams – he of the corruption scandal and low approval ratings – for advice on how to be a good Muslim?

Adams tries to come for Mamdani

One obvious answer for Adams’ bizarre remarks is a quick look at the polling in the race for New York mayor:

In the mayoral race, the poll found 44% of registered New York City voters backing Mamdani, followed by 25% for Cuomo, 12% for the Republican party nominee, Curtis Sliwa, and only 7% for the incumbent mayor, Eric Adams.

And, Adams’ attack comes as the Democratic party more broadly attempt to turn away from Mamdani due to his big, scary… socialism. As POLITICO reported:

Mainstream Democrats have been slow to embrace Zohran Mamdani — and even slower to endorse him as their party’s pick for New York City mayor.

One progressive group wrote to Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Kathy Hochul and other prominent Democrats to urge them to back Mamdani, writing:

At a time when Democrats have struggled to connect with voters and build credibility, supporting and learning from Mr. Mamdani’s playbook is paramount.

And, Senator Ruben Gallego has criticised the apparent reticence from top-level Democrats to publicly embrace Zamdani. When asked if the centre-left of the party were attacking the mayoral candidate, Gallego agreed and said:

The problem with Democrats is that we have been shrinking our tent as much as possible to the point where there’s not many people left, and that happens on the left side of our party, and also happens on the right side of the party. And we can’t do that.

Of course, Canary readers will be more than familiar with the attempts to smear Jeremy Corbyn from within the Labour party. The mainstream Democratic party’s lukewarm response, if not outright rejection, of Mamdani is typical of a centrist approach from Western parties as the right-wing veers further and further to the right.

Racism

However, Adams’ comments are uncomfortably typical for any Muslim with a public profile.

What business is it of any candidate how Mamdani chooses to engage with his own religion? It’s the height of bad-faith engagement for Adams to position himself as some sort of God-fearing Christian, and Mamdani as a ‘bad’ Muslim. Given Adams’ own arbitrary standards for policing other people’s religions, how Christian is it to be involved in a federal corruption scandal?

Adams’ comments are undoubtedly racist and Islamophobic. And, it’s one that many Muslims without a public profile will have intimate knowledge of.

Deep-rooted Orientalism and Islamophobia fuel non-Muslims into thinking that they can police the behaviour of Muslims based on a shaky and ignorant understanding of Islam. Christians are humanised the world over – if they do anything that contravenes the teachings of the Bible, it’s merely part of their complexity as people engaging with religion. And, if it’s Muslims, it’s apparently time for the religion police to pull up and bleat about who they think is a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ Muslim.

There’s plenty to discuss about Mamdani’s policies. But, it’s no accident that the first ever possible Muslim mayor of New York, running on a socialist platform, is being attacked for how Muslim he may or may not be.

Politics whether in the US or UK are institutionally white. Mamdani is not being judged on his politics alone, but the perception of his identity. Really, what Adams is saying is that Mamdani is both too Muslim and not Muslim enough. It’s almost like it’s not about him being Muslim at all.

Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Fox 5 New York