I'm obsessed with this kick-ass video, "The Name is MAMDANI," which is a brilliant mashup featuring the winner of the New York City Democratic primary, Zohran Mamdani, who, as The Nation puts it, "made history" last week by "trouncing not just Andrew Cuomo but the entire political and media establishment that had coalesced around the former governor."
The creator of the video, musician Astor Walk, combined clips from various Mamdani speeches with music and lyrics from Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl," to form a super catchy one-minute banger that teaches all of us, once and for all, how to pronounce Mamdani's name. The main clip in the video features the Democratic mayoral candidate saying "The name is Mamdani," and then spelling it out: "M-A-M-D-A-N-I." In another clip Mamdani says, "You should learn how to say it, becase we have won!" In between the clips of Mamdani speaking, the lyrics "This my mayor" repeat several times. The video has been shared widely on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, where folks are responding with praise like, "Ok, this shit slaps!" and "On snap! That's epic!" — sentiments I fully agree with!
Sadly, a deluge of Islamophobia and racism has been targeted at Mamdani after his monumental win, both from right-wing politicians and media figures, as well as from establishment Democrats. One form of racism that seems more subtle but is as destructive as more overt and blatant racism is mispronouncing a person's name, a racist microaggression that was aimed over and over at Kamala Harris. As Darin Flynn, Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Calgary writes in The Conversation:
In his 2010 book Microaggressions in Everyday Life, psychologist Derald Wing Sue argues that superficially trivial incidents like "the boss forgetting or mispronouncing your name" accumulate, and as such, they are "equally disruptive and harmful" as "large, overt racial or gender gaffes and overt obvious acts of discrimination."
We should definitely be calling out and pushing back against the rampant and blatant Islamophobia and racism currently being hurled at Mamdani — as well as against the racial microaggressions of mispronouncing his name. So, listen to and share "The Name is MAMDANI," which, in our current political and cultural climate, takes on a grave importance beyond just being a fun celebration of Mamdani's win.
Previously:
• Just a few weeks in, passengers on this nine-month cruise have already endured a COVID outbreak, racial microaggressions, and an emergent class system
• Remembering Zohran Mamdani's short-lived rap career
• Mamdani overwhelms Cuomo in NYC primary
• Mamdani takes lead in New York City mayoral poll
• How to intervene if you witness Islamophobic harassment
• Internal Islamophobia and racism are costing the FBI its vital, tiny cohort of Muslim and Arab agents
