By Nayaba Arinde
Editor-at-Large
“Thank you,” an incredibly energized new NYC Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani told his joyous crowd on election night. “Hope is alive…Hope over tyranny.”
He spoke with eloquence and fiery conviction “We have toppled a political dynasty.”
The NYC General Election was a landslide win for the Democratic Party Mamdani, elected as the new 111th Mayor-elect of New York City. The DSA assemblyman, 34, is a Muslim, born in Uganda with Indian heritage, a naturalized citizen whom 26 billionaires spent $22 million to challenge him.
In his concession speech former Governor Andrew Cuomo, seemed to speak as if he had won, warning, almost chastising Mamdani, as did Republican Curtis Sliwa who came in third, and seemed to be almost in tears during his concession speech.
Undeterred, Mamdani boomed, “You have delivered a mandate for change…a mandate for a city that we can afford…On January 1st I will be sworn in as the mayor of New York City…[with an] ambitious agenda to tackle the cost of living crisis…Donald Trump I have four words for you ‘Turn the volume up.’”
Trump responded, “And so it begins. Mamdani listed what he will do for the city, from freezing rent, universal childcare, thousands more teachers, lights for NYCHA, and fast travel, safety and justice on the streets working with cops, help for low-income workers, and vulnerable populations, and creating the Department of Community Safety to help with the homeless and mental health crisis.
“Meanwhile New York is a city of immigrants, built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight led by an immigrant. So hear me President Trump, to get to any of us you have to go through all of us.”
Black New Yorkers are being warned not to be lulled into complacency.
“A speech is a speech! As powerful as it was, it’s a speech,” founding member of Operation Power Charles Barron told Our Time Press at close to midnight on Election Night about Mamdani’s victory speech. “It’s time to govern! What does his ascension mean for Black people? Time will tell.
We must organize, organize and organize. He is supporting Mayor Adams City of Yes ballot proposals, which favor the real estate industry and rich developers. We must remain intelligent and vigilant. I’m excited about the Black Solidarity Coalition and the National Black Radical Political Congress.”
Former East New York Assembly and City Councilwoman Inez Barron told Our Time Press that since the Black community’s specific issues were not even mentioned in any of the campaigns, the people must now “Organize and fight. Some of our main issues include needing more housing, the incarceration rate, deed theft, which is rampant here in Brooklyn and Black communities, and of course, our youth need jobs.”
“Operational community unity is essential, December 12th Chairman Clay. “On day one, we want Mayor Mamdani to know that our children’s future and our elders’ legacy are at stake.”
With the government’s ongoing shutdown, SNAP was halted for over 40 million Americans, including unpaid furloughed government workers. With one year to the midterms, the city, state, and nation are in flux.
A retired 30-year educator, Ms. Barron added, “None of the candidates talked about the Black community. It was not on their radar. It was not on their agenda, nor in their thoughts or planning. It was not in their budget. So, the Black community has got to come together to create something new, like the Black Solidarity Coalition, to bring their ideas to work as a collective.”
Clay told Our Time Press that the community must simply, “Organize, organize, organize. Mayor Mamdani must respond to a Black agenda. We need operational unity for our Black agenda, which includes housing for our people, because we’re being liquidated in our neighborhoods. The agenda is a question of our youth.
They must be politicized, and they must get skilled to be able to earn a living. They need to learn basic skills in trade schools, and we have so many retired brothers and sisters who have those skills who can train young people to actually do the work.
That’s our mission and our priority, then we can make demands on Mayor Mamadani, for things we need. At the Black Solidarity pre-rally on Sunday at Bethany Baptist Church, one of the things we raised was that everyone must belong to an organization.”
On Monday, November 3rd, 2025, a Black Solidarity Day rally was held at the subway stop on Bed Stuy’s Utica Avenue and Malcolm X Blvd. There activist Kazembe Batts renewed his call to have the station named for the world-renown icon Malcolm X. Activists and electeds came out to honor the day founded by Dr. Carlos Russell.
Bed-Stuy Senator Jabari Brisport told Our Time Press, “We need to be talking to each other. Black people still suffer from racism and racist capitalism in America, so we have to figure out what our agenda needs to be to climb out of that.”
Key issues?
“I think number one is going to be housing. I represent Bed Stuy, and we’ve got the dual hits of tenants being pushed out by rising rents, and homeowners being pushed out by it by deed thefts. We need to invest in good jobs for the community.
We also need to raise wages for a lot of people who are working in industries like childcare, social services, and education that are not getting paid enough. We need to be investing more into after school programs and getting youth jobs.”
Bed-Stuy City Councilman Chi Osse told Our Time Press, “I worked with the Mamdani campaign on creating an Office of Deed Theft. We need to make sure that we are keeping Black people in their homes, as we see rampant displacement day after day after day.
We need this mayor to move with urgency on this displacement crisis that we’re seeing within Black Brooklyn, and within Black New York City.”
Charles Barron told Our Time Press, “We have to build the Black Solidarity Coalition, to hold the politicians accountable. Currently, they believe they don’t need us. We are building this strong coalition discussed at our pre-Black Solidarity Day rally on Sunday. We had over 200 people, 10 to 15 organizations, and about 50 organizing leaders.
Let’s run for State Assembly, let’s run for the City Council seats, because the legislative bodies hold the executive branch accountable,” the 20-plus-year elected official who worked with Mamdani in the Assembly added, “Zohran has no Blacks in his leadership circle.
He’s a neo-liberal, he’s not a socialist. He even said he’s going to keep Police Commissioner Jessica Tish, who’s a part of the oligarchy. The Tischs spent $1.1 million to stop him.”
Activist Barron said “The city needs an anti-poverty program to deal with what’s really causing crime in our community– poverty. We need to develop a multi-billion-dollar workforce development program.
Mamdani could create these multi-billion-dollar solutions even without the City Council. We’ll find out where his values are, where his commitment is when he shows his budget.”