Thank you for this. I hope you are invited to repeat it on news stations far and wide. I just wanted to add that the Indian expulsion from Uganda and longing for return was a central theme of his mom's film Mississippi Masala.
Really you knocked this out of the park. Bravo. The rejection of ethnonationalism is of course related to being socialist. As with Slovo so with Mamdani. And of course socialism is what these forces truly fear and hate.
The question on the application was “Race/Ethnicity.”
Black is a Race with many different ethnicities around the world. African-American specifically is a black ethnicity in the USA. People who are African-American are descendants of slavery in the USA.
Zohran Mamdani is neither Black Racially nor Ethnically. It’s that simple.
His race is Asian and His ethnicity is in Indian.
Him being born in Uganda has nothing to do with his race or ethnicity that’s his nationality. That had nothing to do with the original question. His middle name being Kwame is also irrelevant As well to the question.
Is he still the best option for Mayor? Yes, but He’s unequivocally wrong here. Full stop.
The depth of knowledge you consistently share is deeply appreciated, especially in these dark times, when far too many remain silent, or worse, spread misinformation and hate-filled rhetoric.
Those of us on the "other side," for lack of a better term, are truly grateful for your wisdom. It serves as a vital reference point whenever we are confronted with ignorance or distortion(s).
It's been incredibly informative and grounding to follow your work and participate in your weekly Zoom calls over the past few years. Thank you for your steadfast clarity and courage.
Thank you Peter for researching and making this thread possible. Zohran Mamdani is being attacked, shamefully by those who call themselves open-minded and INCLUSIVE. It would be very helpful to Zohran and many millions of us who are from different backgrounds to hear this brilliantly clear truth. I truly hope you reach out, if you haven’t, to Zohran, this will help him.
Ethnonationalism is a very important word, which will help all of us. Your writing and speaking about this subject matters greatly.
After Mamdani's father was expelled from Uganda in 1972 (along with other Ugandans of South Asian descent), he quickly took a position at the University of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, and was there when I was an exchange student in 1974-75. He returned to Uganda when Idi Amin was overthrown in 1979, but was expelled and denied citizenship by Amin's successor (and predecessor) Milton Obote, in 1984. It was not until Yoweri Museveni took power in 1986 that he had his Ugandan citizenship restored.
Mamdani's book Citizen and Subject is by far the most insightful of 'settler colonialism' I have ever read. It provides a lens and a framework that problematizes the ways in which the concept has been dogmatically applied to Israel and Palestine.
As a person who like you grew up in Cape Town during the Apartheid era, I so appreiciate your clear, brave, and liberating comments. Tx for acknowledging the role of some Jews in the struggle against Apartheid, many of whom still live in South Africa. As a child I had a n aunt who would participate in public protests against Apartheid. She inspired me. Thanks for speaking truth to power. May God bless you and your work.
Also Joe Slovo's Jewish wife, Ruth First, a member of the ANC, exiled and then assassinated by an apartheid letterbomb. She was as African (Peter's sense) as they get. She was the mother of Shawn, Gillian, and Robyn Slovo.
The pathos of the racist and ethno-nationalist exile of Ugandan Indians is at the very center of that fabulous movie, MISSISSIPPI MASALA, directed by Mira Nair Zohran. Mamdani''s mother. It's one of Denzel Washington''s finest performances--he was robbed of an Oscar for it. A beautiful interracial love story, and a loving tribute by Nair to her Uganda-born husband and son.
Peter Beinart's commentary here is superb--classically essayistic in its passsionate combination of the personal and the political
Thank you for that. It’s the same story as for Americans (USA). We come from every where but are inculcated with the idea and feeling of being first and foremost American.
There is an essential acknowledgment of an awful dynamic occurring for most non-Black immigrants to the US, African nations like Uganda or South Africa, and anywhere with an existing racial hierarchy. Almost without fail, immigrants — regardless of how deprecated or even despised their identity group — usually come in ‘above’ Black folks. Indeed, as Toni Morrison put it in her Time Magazine essay “On the backs of Blacks,” [all non-Black groups pass through] “this most enduring and efficient rite of passage into American culture: negative appraisals of the native-born black population. Only when the lesson of racial estrangement is learned is assimilation complete.”
If one is to claim proudly “I am HERE,” they must also declare “and I will fight to destroy the sick systems I have found here, many of which benefit my family.”
DeSanctimonious Beating Democrats to the Metallic Line
The framers of the US Constitution understood money, credit, currency, and their differences they know that money is gold and that paper currency even when redeemable into gold introduces counterparty risk and that deposits in banks are the most dangerous currency of all They wrote into the Constitution basic monetary principles that served the people well until FDR in 1933 began the downward slide to fiat currency
The Numeraire Clause of the Constitution gave the power of the coin to the Federal government Note that this was not to print money This has become Article One Section 8 Monetarily we as a country have lost our metallic moorings and going off the gold standard in 1971
And the Republicans have talked about a return to a gold standard for some time Now DeSanctimonious in Florida(https://bit.ly/44MyMU2) has decided to take another step toward a metallic standard by making gold and silver legal tender in the state This is a step toward sound money with the dollar’s purchasing power dropping 88% of what is was in 1971
Democrats need to join them This is one thing we can agree on (in part from Money and Liberty Chapter 9 James Turk)
Thank you for this. I hope you are invited to repeat it on news stations far and wide. I just wanted to add that the Indian expulsion from Uganda and longing for return was a central theme of his mom's film Mississippi Masala.
Really you knocked this out of the park. Bravo. The rejection of ethnonationalism is of course related to being socialist. As with Slovo so with Mamdani. And of course socialism is what these forces truly fear and hate.
Incredible! Peter this history you have posted here is so inspiring! And it aligns with your recent book where I
discovered that you were born in Africa. Thank you for bringing Mamdani’s background into a well
Needed sharper focus.
Linda
Thanks, Peter, you put it together so well. I learnt so much from your short monologue.
the u.s. noise machine is deadening. thanks to peter and others who are helping us see through distorted ways of thinking.
The question on the application was “Race/Ethnicity.”
Black is a Race with many different ethnicities around the world. African-American specifically is a black ethnicity in the USA. People who are African-American are descendants of slavery in the USA.
Zohran Mamdani is neither Black Racially nor Ethnically. It’s that simple.
His race is Asian and His ethnicity is in Indian.
Him being born in Uganda has nothing to do with his race or ethnicity that’s his nationality. That had nothing to do with the original question. His middle name being Kwame is also irrelevant As well to the question.
Is he still the best option for Mayor? Yes, but He’s unequivocally wrong here. Full stop.
Thank you, Peter, for your enlightening words.
The depth of knowledge you consistently share is deeply appreciated, especially in these dark times, when far too many remain silent, or worse, spread misinformation and hate-filled rhetoric.
Those of us on the "other side," for lack of a better term, are truly grateful for your wisdom. It serves as a vital reference point whenever we are confronted with ignorance or distortion(s).
It's been incredibly informative and grounding to follow your work and participate in your weekly Zoom calls over the past few years. Thank you for your steadfast clarity and courage.
Thank you Peter for researching and making this thread possible. Zohran Mamdani is being attacked, shamefully by those who call themselves open-minded and INCLUSIVE. It would be very helpful to Zohran and many millions of us who are from different backgrounds to hear this brilliantly clear truth. I truly hope you reach out, if you haven’t, to Zohran, this will help him.
Ethnonationalism is a very important word, which will help all of us. Your writing and speaking about this subject matters greatly.
Thank you for your empathy and kindness. 🙏🏼🌸
This is very interesting. Afrocentrists, at least some, who tend to be conservative do see African as a racial category.
After Mamdani's father was expelled from Uganda in 1972 (along with other Ugandans of South Asian descent), he quickly took a position at the University of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, and was there when I was an exchange student in 1974-75. He returned to Uganda when Idi Amin was overthrown in 1979, but was expelled and denied citizenship by Amin's successor (and predecessor) Milton Obote, in 1984. It was not until Yoweri Museveni took power in 1986 that he had his Ugandan citizenship restored.
Mamdani's book Citizen and Subject is by far the most insightful of 'settler colonialism' I have ever read. It provides a lens and a framework that problematizes the ways in which the concept has been dogmatically applied to Israel and Palestine.
As a person who like you grew up in Cape Town during the Apartheid era, I so appreiciate your clear, brave, and liberating comments. Tx for acknowledging the role of some Jews in the struggle against Apartheid, many of whom still live in South Africa. As a child I had a n aunt who would participate in public protests against Apartheid. She inspired me. Thanks for speaking truth to power. May God bless you and your work.
Also Joe Slovo's Jewish wife, Ruth First, a member of the ANC, exiled and then assassinated by an apartheid letterbomb. She was as African (Peter's sense) as they get. She was the mother of Shawn, Gillian, and Robyn Slovo.
The pathos of the racist and ethno-nationalist exile of Ugandan Indians is at the very center of that fabulous movie, MISSISSIPPI MASALA, directed by Mira Nair Zohran. Mamdani''s mother. It's one of Denzel Washington''s finest performances--he was robbed of an Oscar for it. A beautiful interracial love story, and a loving tribute by Nair to her Uganda-born husband and son.
Peter Beinart's commentary here is superb--classically essayistic in its passsionate combination of the personal and the political
Thank you for that. It’s the same story as for Americans (USA). We come from every where but are inculcated with the idea and feeling of being first and foremost American.
Sheila Malovany-Chevallier
Doykheit! Diasporism! Hereness!
There is an essential acknowledgment of an awful dynamic occurring for most non-Black immigrants to the US, African nations like Uganda or South Africa, and anywhere with an existing racial hierarchy. Almost without fail, immigrants — regardless of how deprecated or even despised their identity group — usually come in ‘above’ Black folks. Indeed, as Toni Morrison put it in her Time Magazine essay “On the backs of Blacks,” [all non-Black groups pass through] “this most enduring and efficient rite of passage into American culture: negative appraisals of the native-born black population. Only when the lesson of racial estrangement is learned is assimilation complete.”
If one is to claim proudly “I am HERE,” they must also declare “and I will fight to destroy the sick systems I have found here, many of which benefit my family.”
DeSanctimonious Beating Democrats to the Metallic Line
The framers of the US Constitution understood money, credit, currency, and their differences they know that money is gold and that paper currency even when redeemable into gold introduces counterparty risk and that deposits in banks are the most dangerous currency of all They wrote into the Constitution basic monetary principles that served the people well until FDR in 1933 began the downward slide to fiat currency
The Numeraire Clause of the Constitution gave the power of the coin to the Federal government Note that this was not to print money This has become Article One Section 8 Monetarily we as a country have lost our metallic moorings and going off the gold standard in 1971
And the Republicans have talked about a return to a gold standard for some time Now DeSanctimonious in Florida(https://bit.ly/44MyMU2) has decided to take another step toward a metallic standard by making gold and silver legal tender in the state This is a step toward sound money with the dollar’s purchasing power dropping 88% of what is was in 1971
Democrats need to join them This is one thing we can agree on (in part from Money and Liberty Chapter 9 James Turk)