New York Times Responds After Zohran Mamdani Story Stirs Liberal Backlash
Source: Newsweek
Published Jul 04, 2025 at 9:27 PM EDT | Updated Jul 04, 2025 at 11:46 PM EDT
Patrick Healy, assistant managing editor for Standards and Trust at The New York Times, posted a lengthy thread on X, formerly Twitter, explaining the newspaper's controversial story on mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's 2009 application to Columbia University.
On Thursday, the Times published a report citing hacked Columbia documents that revealed the New York Democratic mayoral nominee identified as "Black or African American" on his college application. Mamdani, who is of South Asian heritage, was born in Uganda, where his family had lived for approximately a century, according to the article.
The decision to publish the Mamdani story, which was acquired via hacked information from a source, sparked liberal backlash on social media. Healy, in an 11-post thread, said in part, "Times journalists for decades have done deep reporting on major party nominees for New York's mayor to provide insight, context and texture about their priorities, history and evolution. Our reporting helps readers better understand how candidates think and what they believe."
Why It Matters
Mamdani, 33, is a New York state assemblyman who was born in Uganda to Indian parents. He has lived in New York City since age 7 and became a U.S. citizen in 2018. In the lead-up to New York City's 2025 Democratic mayoral primary, the Times editorial board issued a pointed critique of candidate Mamdani. While the news outlet had previously announced it would cease endorsing candidates outside presidential races, the board's editorial effectively served as an anti-endorsement.
Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/new-york-times-mamdani-article-healy-responds-2094926
Welcome to the U.S.'s system of racism/white supremacy that has been in place since the country's founding. They manufactured "rules" or "codes", enforced them in an inconsistent and bizarre fashion to manipulate every aspect of life, and then trip all over their creation generations later.
What does Muskrat call himself being a (naturalized U.S. citizen white) South African? He's an "African American", right?

African countries like Madagascar & South Africa have a large SE Asian population who were labeled "coloureds" along with other "mixed-race" individuals as a "category" in several SE African countries. Much of this was the result of the British Empire period that impacted countries like Uganda (where Mamdani's family hails from), which brought in other nationalities/ethnic groups that were part of the British Empire, like India. The notorious Idi Amin put an end to that however (although once he was out, the migrant flow from SE Asian countries returned).

sop
(15,247 posts)"In 2024, the Times, along with other prominent national publications, didn't publish hacked information it had acquired about Donald Trump's campaign from an alleged Iranian hacking operation."
"During last year's presidential campaign, the Times, along with other publications, were given a leaked dossier on JD Vance, then-Republican vice presidential nominee, compiled by the Trump campaign. But the paper chose not to publish its contents. That decision stood in contrast to its approach in 2016, when the Times reported on hacked campaign emails from John Podesta, who was serving as Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman at the time."
"Franklin Leonard, film/TV producer and liberal cultural commentator, wrote on X, 'So apparently the New York Times now considers hacked information as legitimately reportable. (Also this story is explicitly designed to isolate Mamdani from the Black community based on his too smart for his own good decisions as an 18 year old. And he didn't even get in.)'"
"The Tennessee Holler, a progressive news outlet, wrote on X, 'So the @nytimes tried to slime Zohran using hacked materials given to them by an admitted race scientist/eugenicist who they kept anonymous even though he is publicly known about races he checked on an application to a school he didn't get into? Pathetic. A scandal in itself.'"
mdbl
(6,965 posts)Mission accomplished Magats! Along with CNN, CBS, NBC and ABC. They spent so much time calling them Fake News it finally became a reality.
nowforever
(567 posts)N.Y. times serves the Orange Moron who with his sociopathic drives is destroying everything that makes our democracy a democracy.
DENVERPOPS
(13,003 posts)published by the NYTimes, I am glad I dropped by subscription over a year ago.....................
The future of the massive Right Wing Media, I think, is short sighted.......They too are about to outgrow their usefulness when Trump Appoints Fox News as his Personal STATE controlled Pravda, of news and he outlaws all other media.
No different than the Republican Senate and House members and the Republican Supreme Court justices who haven't looked past the end of their noses to realize that there will no longer be a need for the Legislative Branch and Judicial Branch in a Fascist Tyrannical Government....
jrthin
(5,197 posts)am glad I canceled my subscription and wonder what will it take for many of this site to see the ugliness of the NYT's and stop supporting them.
Oopsie Daisy
(6,189 posts)MLWR
(417 posts)At least for defamation, if not libel.
Hekate
(98,600 posts)Just sayin
dpibel
(3,620 posts)So. Very. Clever.
Renew Deal
(84,284 posts)So it seems like an honest response to me.
As far as reporting it, I think its OK to report confirmed information in hacked data, no matter how distasteful it is to do so. They should also have reported the hacked information they got on Vance. Its hypocritical to only do so some of the time.
IbogaProject
(4,677 posts)Last edited Sat Jul 5, 2025, 11:28 PM - Edit history (1)
It is a smere campaign, they took lots of Coumo's real estate lobby canpaign loot. They likely expect more. They are scared of a 2% tax and the now singled out corrupt property tax scheme that favors white manhattan neighborhoods.
BumRushDaShow
(156,947 posts)as if he was "falsifying" the record and reporting himself as being "black" because of the selection of "African American".
And as I noted in the OP comments, it underscores the idiocy of the classification system that was put in place here in the U.S. where at different points in this country's history, there were continually-changing criteria including the "One drop rule", as well as whatever the Census Bureau decided to do during each decennial census, with constantly-changing racial criteria depending on "the era".
I.e., you had this kind of nonsense going on (example from 1930 taken from here - https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2015/06/11/chapter-1-race-and-multiracial-americans-in-the-u-s-census/) -
From the same source, the one in 1860 -
The famous "Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)", where the plaintiff Homer Plessy was an "octoroon" (1/8th black), but was still considered "black", became the epitome of highlighting the insanity while imposing "separate but equal" as "the law of the land" (through the Supreme Court).
The RW loons have been attempting to "erase" all of this history and claim that we need to "start from scratch". Well, 249 years of this has done its damage and it can't suddenly be "erased" and disregarded as if it didn't happen, because it has been "culturally" (and "legally" ) absorbed into the very fabric of this nation's identity. It has impacted those who have been here for many generations and established their status in the nation's economic and social "hierarchy".
The newer immigrants have little or no idea about this history in this country, but are finding out real quick how things "change".
JI7
(92,342 posts)BUT he was born in an African country - UGANDA - and was naturalized as a citizen here in the U.S., and as I explained, there is this issue of how "classification" works (or doesn't work) in the U.S., and how it has been twisted into pretzels and obfuscated over the past 250 years.
I.e., the "current" Census designations offer the option of "black or African American" and if asked on some form what he was, he now has a choice.
In the past, people from India were once considered CAUCASIAN/WHITE in the U.S. until they weren't, because surprise surprise, the "rules" changed -
U.S. Supreme Court
United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, 261 U.S. 204 (1923)
United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind
No. 202
Argued January 11, 12, 1923
Decided February 19, 1923
261 U.S. 204
CERTIFICATE FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
1. A high caste Hindu, of full Indian blood, born at Amrit Sar, Punjab, India, is not a "white person" within the meaning of Rev.Stats., § 2169, relating to the naturalization of aliens. P. 261 U. S. 207.
2. "Free white persons," as used in that section, are words of common speech, to be interpreted in accordance with the understanding of the common man, synonymous with the word "Caucasian" only as that word is popularly understood. P. 261 U. S. 214. Ozawa v. United States, 260 U. S. 178.
3. The action of Congress in excluding from admission to this country all natives of Asia within designated limits, including all of India, is evidence of a like attitude toward naturalization of Asians within those limits. P. 261 U. S. 215.
Questions certified by the circuit court of appeals, arising upon an appeal to that court from a decree of the district court dismissing, on motion, a bill brought by the United ,states to cancel a certificate of naturalization.
(snip)
One of the more recent census changes was as a result of a (black) Nubian Egyptian who had been forced to call himself "Caucasian", because the idiots in this country still believed that Egypt was part of Europe.
I have been to Egypt and have obviously seen the Nubians who have been on that land since the beginning of that country's civilization before the Arab invasions bringing Islam to the area, and later European invasions (Greek and Roman), but who are rarely shown.
Mostafa Hefny

September 4, 2012 / 10:03 AM EDT / CBS Detroit
(snip)
Hefny is brown-skinned with curly hair. The 61-year-old was born in Egypt and came to the United States in 1978. When he was admitted to the country, he was classified on government papers as a white person, Hefny said.
"The government (interviewer) said, `You are now white,"' said Hefny, who said he is a Nubian, an ancient group of Egyptians considered more African than Arab, from the northern part of Sudan and the southern portion of Egypt.
A white person is defined as "a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa or the Middle East," according to Directive 15 for the federal Office of Management and Budget Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity.
(snip)
The Census has only NOW been changed (as of 2024) for the 2030 census to include a separate category for "Middle Eastern or North African".
March 28, 2024 8:44 AM ET
Heard on All Things Considered
Hansi Lo Wang
(snip)
The "White" definition has changed, and "Latino" is now a "race and/or ethnicity"
OMB's decision to change its statistical standards on race and ethnicity for the first time in more than a quarter-century also marks a major shift in the U.S. government's definition of "White," which no longer includes people who identify with Middle Eastern or North African groups such as Egyptian, Iranian, Iraqi, Israeli, Jordanian, Kurdish, Lebanese, Moroccan, Palestinian, Syrian and Yemeni.
That move sets up "Middle Eastern or North African" as the first completely new racial or ethnic category to be required on federal government forms since officials first issued in 1977 standards on racial and ethnic data that the Census Bureau and other federal agencies must follow.
For more than three decades, advocates for Arab Americans and other MENA groups have campaigned for their own checkbox on the U.S. census and other government forms, and recent research suggests that many people of MENA descent do not see themselves as white, a category that the federal government previously considered to include people with "origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa."
(snip)
Kamala Harris is 1/2 (50%) South Asian - (her mother was from India) and 1/2 (50%) black Jamaican (her father was from Jamaica), but she identifies as "Black or "African American".
Similarly, Barack Obama is 1/2 (50%) black African (father from Kenya) and 1/2 (50%) white Euro-American, but he identifies as "Black or "African American".
ancianita
(41,106 posts)the rules of.
What racist oligarchs and their henchmen in fact constructed, they believe they can erase from history, but historians still stick to facts, even though which facts they've based their history on have varied.
American historians won't comply with erasing all the facts of the suffering from 'legal' abuses of this country's racist constructs.
Not to mention other countries' histories that will contradict any erasures of ours. The truth always comes out.
Hekate
(98,600 posts)Igel
(36,995 posts)When Musk calls himself "African-American" he's trolling and knows it.
I'm pretty sure Musk also knows the definition of the phrase as used on college applications, because they're from the census, which is from the OMB's definition, and what's required to be used on various federal and state forms.
Black or African-American:
Individuals with origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa, including, for example, African American, Jamaican, Haitian, Nigerian, Ethiopian, and Somali.
That ain't Musk and he knows it. (It also ain't Mamdani. Given his privileged educational background before college, if he didn't know it I'd be surprised.)
But if words mean only what you want them to mean, well, then, 50k years ago at least one of my ancestors was in Africa, so I'm as African-American as they come. Then again so is Putin, Xi, Farange, and Trump. (Oh, wait, was "Black" a racial group back then? I'd note that during my lifetime the definition of "Black" has changed rather a lot--stuff from the '50s and early '60s, physical anthropology, clearly disaggregated the San and closely allied ethnicities from "Black"--and with that later aggregation came a lot of the genetic diversity claimed for that "race" because the San are so distinct from surrounding groups.)
rogue emissary
(3,292 posts)This is identical to Muck calling himself African American. We don't accept it from Musk we shouldn't accept it from Mamdani.
BumRushDaShow
(156,947 posts)Read this - https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3491181
And this - https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3491310
The "rules" are about to change AGAIN for the 2030 Census.
This guy is Egyptian (Nubian) and naturalized as a U.S. citizen for the past 45 years -
and every fucking Census has forced him to check off WHITE/CAUCASIAN. That will FINALLY change in the 2030 Census.
This is the history that is not taught. The system in this country has been fucked up for the entire 250 years of this nation's life.
W.E.B. Du Bois said it best and it applies to the 21st century -
rogue emissary
(3,292 posts)He applied for colleges 2009-2010. Same time of Rachel Dolezal scandal about her race was in the news.
. So he was trolling or thought it would get him a benefit. I don't know the man's heart.
He even acknowledges none of his family married Africans and stayed within their south Asian group.
BumRushDaShow
(156,947 posts)But you also have those who have been here for many generations who have an ancestor (or ancestors) who could and chose to "pass for white", and disappear into society as that.
And done more recently -
The recent ancestry genetic testing orgs are finding some of these instances popping up in the progeny.
What I am saying is that this underscores a long-entrenched problem that no one wants to tackle and it is at play in every aspect of life in the United States - and that includes elections.
If Mamdani had been born in South Africa, he might have been considered a "coloured" (not "white" or "black" ).
You have many within the (black) African diaspora community here in the U.S. who don't want to use a "color" designation and generally accept "African American". They know their origin nationalities on the African continent, including ethnic groups that they descend from. But then you have those who DO want to use "color", as they have little or no records over generations, of their family's ancestral homelands/ethnic groups, and have consciously chosen to avoid the ancestral nationality debate.
Sweeping the nonsensical system under the rug doesn't help make sense of it and this is why there were attempts TO bring this all to light to "teach" and it was of course attacked.
Whether the selection was "intentional" or not is irrelevant. It IS a "truism", like Muskrat's, which is why you usually see a prepend of "white South African". But would you see that applied for those who are African-descended who were born and raised in England (and whose ancestors were there for generations), where they could be called a "black Brit" or "black European"?


rogue emissary
(3,292 posts)BumRushDaShow
(156,947 posts)like having to memorize "the battle of this" and "the battle of that" and other garbage, there certainly is quite a bit that can be REMOVED to make way for some "sociology".
Response to rogue emissary (Reply #30)
Mosby This message was self-deleted by its author.
Farmer-Rick
(11,875 posts)And Arnold.
What's the matter with people? None of Trump's grandparents, and only one of his parents, was born in the United States or spoke English as their mother tongue. The lying Trump's pretended to be from Scandinavia.
So what's good for the goose is good for the other geese.
sop
(15,247 posts)New York City Mayor Eric Adams: (this was) "potentially fraudulent and offensive to the African American community," arguing "that identifying as Black could have been an attempt to gain an advantage in the admissions process, potentially at the expense of other applicants."
Mamdani's explanation: "Mamdani states that he does not identify as Black or African American, but rather as 'an American who was born in Africa.' He explained that the choices on the application form did not fully capture his heritage and that he was trying to represent the 'fullness of his background' by checking multiple boxes. He also wrote in 'Ugandan' in the section for additional background information."
70sEraVet
(4,685 posts)in one case and declining to publish hacked materials in another case.
But, I have to find fault with the question on Columbia's application form. The wording of the question seems to imply that being 'black' and 'African-American' are somehow mutually exclusive; that one could be 'African-American', yet not be black. And indeed, one CAN be 'African-American' yet not be black, if the meaning of the term 'African-American' were expanded beyond common usage to encompass those who had emigrated from Africa to the US, regardless of their racial genetics.
And it seems that Mr. Mamdani was entitled to answer that question as he did.
Also, since he is a dark-skinned Asian, he would be likely to suffer from the same prejudice that his 'black' colleagues suffered, further justifying his choice!
SCantiGOP
(14,548 posts)I dont think the source of the info is the issue.
dsc
(53,032 posts)(the emails and this application) but refuse to use them when they damage Republicans (the Vance dossier and the info about Trump)
ck4829
(37,018 posts)What's up with doublestandardgate?
Hassin Bin Sober
(27,161 posts)From the article:
During last year's presidential campaign, the Times, along with other publications, were given a leaked dossier on JD Vance, then-Republican vice presidential nominee, compiled by the Trump campaign. But the paper chose not to publish its contents. That decision stood in contrast to its approach in 2016, when the Times reported on hacked campaign emails from John Podesta, who was serving as Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman at the time.
snot
(11,214 posts)I don't care if it's from Russia, or the moon; if the info is true and materially relevant to a decision to be made by voters, then I'm grateful for its publication.
JI7
(92,342 posts)the US population.
ificandream
(11,254 posts)Paladin
(31,094 posts)The NYT's soft treatment of trump throughout last year's campaign---coupled with its non-stop, savage trashing of Kamala Harris---helped re-install trump in the White House. Unforgivable behavior from a once-respectable news source.
Bourgeois Liberal
(17 posts)And so the point of this piece about Mamdani was?
UpInArms
(53,148 posts)Where was the filet knife on the felon?
Stfu NYTs you are worthless
dlk
(12,793 posts)The rich and powerful are absolutely terrified they might have to share.
yardwork
(67,263 posts)It's disgusting.
dlk
(12,793 posts)As evidenced by this latest atrocity of a bill that was just passed.
ificandream
(11,254 posts)It's the same situation with the hacking of the DNC during the 2016 election. The Wikileaks info was considered a reliable source when it never should have been. It clearly goes against the Times' reasoning that ""Times journalists for decades have done deep reporting on major party nominees for New York's mayor to provide insight, context and texture about their priorities, history and evolution. Our reporting helps readers better understand how candidates think and what they believe." Using a hacked or stolen source isn't deep reporting.
viva la
(4,193 posts)madville
(7,811 posts)If he had claimed to be Panamanian-American everyone would have thought it was ridiculous
viva la
(4,193 posts)I was just pointing out that Uganda was where he was born and it is in Africa. I know "African American" usually means "Black American", but there are white Africans, and what happens when those people come to America? What are they called?
Just asking. I'm not saying Mombani was right, I just am suggesting terms are imprecise.
I remember some people objected to Obama being called "African American" because his father was born in Africa, not descended from American enslaved people.
somsai
(121 posts)Mamdani is welcome to identify as whatever ethnicity he wants. The Times rightly called him up as he is a primary source and he gave nuance to his identity, which I considered thoughtful. That's what journalists do, they try to confirm info with the best source available, in this case Mamdani himself.
It's news because some assume being Black confers greater odds of acceptance to Columbia, if it does, that's on the school, not on Mamdani.
I don't know of any other country that asks about race or origin on college applications.
tonekat
(2,288 posts)They have totally rolled over for trump.
Also, I hope Dems don't perform their usual masochistic self destruction if a candidate is found to have a flaw. The Reptiles don't do that and they manage to win. So many have been sacrificed to please the purists and now they are out of politics. Meanwhile the R's and the country could not care less.
JI7
(92,342 posts)instead of insisting he is African.
So based on that Elon Musk and those people Trump allowed to come from south Africa can benefit from things that are clearly meant to help black people in the US due to history and even current discrmination.
It's not that serious but insisting he is African when he never even identified as it apart from a college application just makes things worse.
And yes. the NYT sucks and should be called out for making this a story instead of real reporting on serious matters.
Raven123
(6,869 posts)debsy
(624 posts)He was born and raised in an African country in a family that had lived there for a century. Just as anyone born here is American, he is African.
Clouds Passing
(5,395 posts)dlk
(12,793 posts)Nice try, Healy
cab67
(3,440 posts)Some of the best Indian restaurants are there, too - the food is way more authentically Indian than anything you'd find in the US or UK.
People of South Asian ancestry are definitely part of the cultural fabric in parts of East Africa.
ck4829
(37,018 posts)The Times granted anonymity to the individual, who goes by the name Crémieux on Substack and X. The source who provided the hacked materials is described in the report as a person "who opposes affirmative action and writes often about I.Q. and race."
During last year's presidential campaign, the Times, along with other publications, were given a leaked dossier on JD Vance, then-Republican vice presidential nominee, compiled by the Trump campaign. But the paper chose not to publish its contents. That decision stood in contrast to its approach in 2016, when the Times reported on hacked campaign emails from John Podesta, who was serving as Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman at the time.
https://www.newsweek.com/new-york-times-mamdani-article-healy-responds-2094926
A real response would include why hacked materials were OK with Mamdani and Clinton but not Vance.