Sharpton blasts Islamophobic hate speech in NYC mayoral race
The Rev. Al Sharpton blasted Islamophobic hate speech prevalent throughout the city’s mayoral race as Muslim Democratic Rep. Zohran Mamdani made a campaign stop in Harlem on Saturday, saying divisive language will only pit New Yorkers “against each other.”
“I am outraged by the horrific Islamophobia that has been used in this campaign,” Sharpton told members of the National Action Network at the Harlem House of Justice, with Mamdani at his side. “Acting as if every Muslim is a terrorist and linking it to something as ugly as what happened to us on 9/11 is an insult to the intelligence of all New Yorkers.”
During his speech, Sharpton introduced the audience to Rev. Travis Boyd, pastor of Sharon Baptist Church in the Bronx. Boyd’s mother was killed in the towers on September 11, 2001, when he was a child.
“This little boy, who was a victim of 9/11, says we can’t use my mother’s death as political payback,” Sharpton said, turning to Boyd.
“Who are you going to vote for on Tuesday?” » Sharpton asked him.
“Mamdani,” Boyd said to applause from the audience.
The mayoral race — in which Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is the front-runner — has been rife with Islamophobic phrases and images, the Queens congressman and his supporters say.
Last month, former Gov. Cuomo, who is running as an independent candidate, laughed and appeared to agree when radio personality Sid Rosenberg said Mamdani would “encourage” another 9/11.
Mamdani immediately attacked his opponent’s gaffe, saying Cuomo’s goal was to “defame and slander.”
“Don’t pit us against each other,” Sharpton warned Saturday as the heated race entered its final three days.
Mamdani said the Islamophobic rhetoric coming from supporters of Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa was “desperate.”
“It’s still so unbecoming of a city that we all love and call home,” Mamdani said Saturday. “This kind of bigotry and racism is something many of us have come to expect from Washington, D.C., but to see someone with so much aplomb championing this same kind of vision for this city is the same person who doesn’t know what the city’s residents are looking for. »
With three days to go until the city’s next leader is decided, Mamdani leads the field of candidates, although a poll released Friday evening shows Cuomo is catching up.
The National Action Network does not endorse political candidates, and Cuomo spoke to NAN at its national convention during the campaign. But Sharpton noted that Mamdani was the only mayoral candidate who consistently “showed up” at NAN events as the campaign progressed.
“(When) we got to the road, we said, ‘It’s time for us to march on Wall Street.’ Only one candidate came forward,” Sharpton said. “When we honored our culture at Lincoln Center just a month and a half ago, honoring Stephanie Mills and honoring Babyface and others, only one showed up. Here we are Saturday. It’s the Saturday before Election Day, only one candidate showed up.”
“This is not just a campaign stop,” Sharpton said. “He came here.”
Mamdani thanked Sharpton and NAN for taking him “from 1% in the polls to being on the cusp of becoming the next mayor.”
“You showed your confidence (in me),” he said. “You took a leap of faith.”
