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Benjamin Ryan

@benryanwriter

SCOOP: Mamdani Identified as Asian and African American on College Application

I report with

@DanaRubinstein

and

@NPFandos

for

@NYTimes

: Zohran Mamdani, the Democrat running for mayor of New York City, was born in Uganda. He doesn’t consider himself Black but said the application didn’t allow for the complexity of his background.

@ZohranKMamdani

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2:35 PM · Jul 3, 2025

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Benjamin Ryan

@benryanwriter

GIFT LINK: SCOOP: Mamdani Identified as Asian and African American on College Application I report with

@DanaRubinstein

and

@NPFandos

for

@NYTimes

Zohran Mamdani said the college applications were the only instances that he could recall where he identified himself as Black or African American.

Mamdani Identified as Asian and African American on College Application (Gift Article)

These are the questions

@Columbia

posed to applicants about race and ethnicity during the 2009-2010 application cycle when Zohran Mamdani applied. He indicated that he was both Black or African American and Asian. “Most college applications don’t have a box for Indian-Ugandans,

84K

lumpenspace (99/100 resolutions aband

@lumpenspace

ahahah stfu it is crystal-clear that the question is about ethnicity and not whatever location you were born in.

51K

Benjamin Ryan

@benryanwriter

These are all the questions about race and ethnicity on Columbia's 2009-2010 application:

51K

felpix

@felpix_

Astonished that this is being framed as a groundbreaking scoop. As the child of a Columbia professor, the admissions office would have obviously known who this was and further, the bonuses for that relationship are far greater than an ethnicity check box in the admissions game.

This is what desperation does to the establishment, of which NYT is an integral piece. Forget all the corruption around Eric Adams, let’s talk about Mamdani’s college application to a school he didn’t even get accepted in. Hope this will only energize Mamdani’s base even more—

740

Whyvert

@whyvert

Richard Dawkins, the biologist, was born in Kenya. The complexity of his background must make him partly black or African American.

12K

Harvey Independent

@HarvIndependent

I feel like he answered correctly I don’t understand the outrage

9.4K

Ali

@MerruX

Since when it nyt policy to use hacked material during elections?

You’re a bad person.

Check this one out next

Quote

Archive: Governor Andrew Cuomo

@NYGovCuomo

Jan 29, 2017

Replying to @NYGovCuomo

As a New Yorker, I am a Muslim. I am a Jew. I am Black. I am gay. I am a woman seeking to control her body. We are one New York.

0:11

Deportation!! Time to deport all three of you for total incompetence. The only scoop here is that you guys are so desperate to prove your credentials to the establishment that you are willing to embarrass yourself with these ridiculous “stories”. NYT never fails to disappoint

392

Susan Schroeder

@splinterandbeam

If your church isn’t leading you into saying the Saint Michael’s prayer after mass, kneel down and pray it yourself.

10K

(((Howard Forman)))

@thehowie

It is sort of the most colonialist thing you can do: co-opting the advantages of having lived there while taking on none of the burden of the native/indigenous people.

11K

public works enjoyer

@SolveBuild

He was born in Uganda which is in Africa.

20K

snuppydogg

@snuppydogg

Why would he do this? Doesn't he know about the discrimination they face?

21K

Gary in DFW

@LakerGMC_

He is an African American. In the same way as Elon Musk and Charlize Theron, but still it is literally true. If colleges confer privilege on those demographics and you can honestly claim them, why not do it?

4.7K

Ryan James Girdusky

@RyanGirdusky

His father taught at the school and he identified as black and he still didn’t get in… those are some bad grades

3.7K

Jean

@queens_parents

Why did he pick Asian instead of South Asian if he identifies as Indian?

Why is this news

General Han Xin is asleep.

@General_Oluchi

And he’s never denied it. What’s the scoop in it?

6.3K

Barento

@razlol

Think we lost respect for this disgusting publication ages ago

Terry

@terrybythebay

What’s next? Will you uncover his high school records? Any suspensions in Middle school? Dig Ding Dongs Dig

Thank you for strengthening Zohran’s support base with these ludicrous stories.

398

Andy Barr

@AndyBarr34

Holy shit a biracial American!!! We’ve never heard of such a thing!!!

927

EyeOnStalk

@EyeOnStalk

I get why identifying as African American is bad, but he IS Asian. What’s wrong with that one?

11K

Michael Maiello

@MichaelMaiello

Wait, he’s not white?

1.8K

desert redbird

@desert_redbird

The most important thing about this story concerning an old college application from a city mayoral candidate is that 17 MILLION PEOPLE COULD NOW LOSE THEIR HEALTH INSURANCE AND YOU’RE THE FUCKING NYT HEALTH REPORTER!!!

so what?

Desperate, embarrassing, biased work. Nice try tho!

NYC Indie Filmmaker Sujewa Ekanayake

@sujewafantastic

:) that’s not news - that’s just normal info - individuals can be categorized into different groups. in case of ZM all of it is correct.

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simp 4 satoshi

@iamgingertrash

You are pathetic and going to lose this The public opinion is no longer on your side No one cares The cantillionaires will be eaten by those they sought to eat

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Russell Drew

@RussOnPolitics

How soon before Donald Trump starts referring to Zohran Mamdani as “Shaka Zulu”? You know it’s coming. He’s gonna start with that crap.

GIF

So he's Double DEI

He’s Indian from his parents and he’s African by birth

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Lili von Shtupp

@LvS_Redux

The application had two opportunities to checkmark "other" and explain these "complexities". He simply lied because he thought it would give him an edge.

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Jimmy Otis #TruthMatters #EndCronyism

@james_j_otis

Classic. Basically saying that non-white deserves special treating. That is the bottom line.

2.5K

Theresa Wilkinson

@Theresa44418241

Well well well….lying on applications? Misappropriating funds? With a millionaire mother? Whats this now? No legacy from professor dad?

3.8K

Jesus Castillo

@JesusECast

A liar like all of them

544

Spirit of '76

@Raylawlor9

He also identifies as a jihadist and a communist. He probably didn't put that on his application either.

Congratulations?

"He identifies as Black. I see nothing wrong with that"

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Deven

@devencoars

Wow the racism towards him is through the roof. Amazing stuff lmao

now this dude has to defend his African heritage lol

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Suntanned Greek Immigrant

@GreekNME

I would joke about classifying myself as Asian because I am from Anatolia but this mfer actually did it.

499

Paris Sorel

@ParisSorel

Or to “Allow for a Scholarship?”

336

Patrick

@PatriciusAcutus

Honestly Indians should have their own racial category bc I don’t consider them Asian

4.6K

Art Vandelay, Esq.

@RealArtVand3lay

The left won't care. They'll double down.

4.2K

Foxfur

@SirFoxFur

where you were born doesn’t matter at all as far as genetics. My mom was born in Mexico. She had blonde hair, alabaster white skin and green eyes because both of her parents were Irish

1.5K

Dr McQueen Lady She

@LisaWhi45458754

I can relate. Myself and my children have achieved everything through merit as the application questions weren’t appropriate. DNA says I’m 30% Mexican Native American, 47% Irish, 1% Polynesian &the remainder western and eastern European. 🤦‍♀️

I always checked the ‘Caucasian’ box.

780

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@bruntworkwear

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THE USA MARIN

From bruntworkwear.com

3.5M

Aubteax

@aubteax

So institutional mechanisms like college applications have now become instruments of racialized governance that define and confine identity? Truly these are the rules of the hierarchy game

Scum

So…what the fuck is he???

784

עבדול חלים عبد الحليم

@somali_salad

Lol Kamala

2.0. Indian and black!

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Ben Wronged

@IBenWronged

If he was going to lie, why not just say he's white? Oh right, because white privilege isn't real.

467

Little Old White Lady

@beejherm

So, to be concise, he’s a fucking liar.

you guys wrote up what a race science guy told you to, all so he could make a few bucks betting on eric adams. and it took three of you to do that. pathetic

3.4K

molly taft

@mollytaft

why did you choose to identify your source with his pseudonym only? does the times now allow people (whose names have been previously reported) to maintain anonymity in exchange for hacked information?

337

Sandy Nurse

@SandyforCouncil

You can and should discuss race and ethnic complexity among American immigrants, but not like this. Not with a lazy, shallow clickbait headline. This is somehow dumber than several NY Post articles I’ve read this week. Do better.

234

Lindsay Ballant

@lindsayballant

Honestly what’s the difference between this and The Free Press’s coverage. You're both relying on white nationalists to frame your POV.

1.7K

rach

@_citoyenne

You should be ashamed! And hopefully by this point you are! Citing a eugenicist to make your sorry little attack. Pathetic!

172

The Maniple

@TManiple

NY Times animorphing into the Post with this “hard hitting journalism”

This newspaper is obsessed with race and elite colleges

Rebecca Jane

@rebeccaugust

There is a long history of South Asians in East Africa before Idi Amin and after, Missippi Masala explores it in a digestible format. Zohran’s father has written extensively about the generations of South Asian experience in Ugandan history, dating back to British colonialism.

papercombine

@papercombine

The scoop is that you cooperated with a race "scientist" and gave him anonymity to share leaked information from a college application.

Moke

@PlutoDad

Congrats on having sources in the eugenicist community, bro.

Damien

(NewDeal4CUNY)

@bkdami1

Soooo are we going to act like 17 million Americans will lose their healthcare is not a big deal but zohran college application is more important?

Adam McGinnis

@adammcginnis

Quote

Malice from Queens

@lib_crusher

Replying to @lib_crusher

Anyway the guy the NYT agreed not to name in exchange for hacked materials was already outed as a white supremacist by The Guardian months ago theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m

Michael Spear

@MichaelSpear3

Seems like a silly article. I know you all at the Times are virulently anti-Mamdani so I'm not surprised and expect you and the other ideologically biased reporters/editors there will continue to publish such things. That's the Times for you.

Pathetic.

SCOOP: This is not a scandal and your article is based on leaked information from a notorious bigot.

doobie cooper

@thotspo

it’s weird he would do that when he’s so obviously a white man

swaggy unc

@kikiscrewedup

Big time health and science scoop huh Benny boy

Potentially Trevor Walker

@ConditorCancri

Was there a time in your life where you wanted to be a journalist, or was this your ambition?

Are you ashamed?

Do you really believe that pitching, researching, writing, and editing this story was a valuable use of your limited time on this earth?

the brave little poaster

@virgil_30

You guys make me wish I weren't a universalist

137

Jon Abrams

@RealJonAbrams

You kinda glide quick over the fact that your “source” is a white supremacist. Shame on all three of you.

Daniel J

@DanielJ718618

You work for the paper that did the endorsement but non endorsement for a multi women groper, right? Just wanted to make sure. I remember back in the day we used to get The NY Times lmao.

118

DRohan

@RDRohan

He’s from Africa and is Asian.

bbcccf

@edyeduy93

Hahahaha establishment media is in absolute shambles. This would be a sad smear if it wasn’t so hilarious

Izzy

@Izzybb310

This story just reminded me to cancel my NYT subscription

big_pedestrian

@big_pedestrian

14m

He was born in Africa and is of South Asian descent. So yea, he’s African American. Maybe worry more about the Republicans burning our country to the ground and less about the checkboxes a literal child filled out 15 years ago. FFS.

Ben Banyas

@benbanyas

I hope you feel good about yourself taking hacked info from a white supremacist and choosing to hide his identity!

New York Photos

@newyorkphot

Dude you’re a health reporter and THIS is what you’re focused on today?

IvoryKnight

@CastleShore

Huge scoop! Pulitzer time. A guy born in Uganda said he was African American.

Cmar

@mcmar

Maybe try reporting on some actual stuff? Just a thought.

Joe Jackson

@JoeJackson2345

lol…of all the things to spend your time on this

green bubble terrorist 

@MichaelJee

19m

This paper can't even compete with single ply toilet paper anymore

Ryan Kearney

@rp_kearney

i normally resist the urge to be an angry reply guy for strangers but in this specific instance i am required to make an exception in order to inform you that you are a genuinely bad human being!

dammit

@stretch14tw

Handsome B. Wonderful

@EricHartMN

Better update that bio. You're now a Health and *race* science reporter

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