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https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/nyregion/mamdani-police-apology-floyd.html

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, said on Thursday that he intended to apologize for comments he made in 2020 calling the New York Police Department “racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety.”

He said that the remarks, which he wrote in June 2020 in a social media post in support of the defund the police movement, were made after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis a month earlier.

The comments were made “at the height of frustration,” he said in an interview with The New York Times, and were not reflective of his current campaign or “my view of public safety and the fact that police will be critical partners in delivering public safety.”

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[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml 44 points 1 month ago

He believes his left flank is unbreakable, so now he's trying to shore up his right.

Except that's not how it works. The left flank won't just sit idly while their candidate appeals to their right, usually when this happens it caused reformers to hemorrhage their left. Without a clear party line on rightist deviations it'll just make voters lose faith.

And then when they lose, the left will be the ones to blame: not the rat fucking happening in the elections, not the candidate making bonehead moves, but the voters somehow.

[-] graymess@hexbear.net 17 points 1 month ago

Every conservative I've ever met has been a stubborn motherfucker who's never changed their mind about anything. Meanwhile, my leftist buds would throw their political heroes in the garbage as soon as they learn they start saying some stupid shit.

[-] Tenderizer78@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 month ago

If the left flank will throw him out for saying "I'm sorry I called the police racist" then no wonder the Dems keep trying to win the center.

If even an inch of pragmatism is a step too far then even I would give up.

[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 month ago

But it's only "pragmatic" because there are non-leftist voters who might throw him out for saying "cops are racist".

[-] freagle@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 month ago

That's not the calculus here. The problem is that the NYPD has a budget larger than the DPRK's entire military including their nuclear program. The NYPD is also a bunch of thugs, extortionists, rapists, assassins, kidnappers, and torturers

And that department runs the security detail for the mayor and the mayor's entire family. The mayor is required to be in their proximity at almost all times. They drive him around, they escort his vehicles, they manage crowds every day around him.

The pragmatism isn't limited to getting votes. It's life or death.

[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

That's a really good point, and it sounds like it would be pragmatic to not rely on the cops for security. That's another place a Party would help, to provide security to candidates so they don't have to rely on domestic right-wing death squads.

[-] Tenderizer78@lemmy.ml -2 points 1 month ago

No, it's pragmatic because frankly the police (even as corrupt and racist as they are) are necessary and making an enemy of them will undermine anything else he'd try to achieve.

[-] Kuori@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

listen up you limp-wristed leftist worms. the police are the only thing keeping the BARBARIANS from the GATES. the thin blue line between CIVILIZATION and ANARCHY. the only thing keeping me from PISSING in my JAMMIES at night. no amount of dead black teenagers is too high a price to pay for their protection.

[-] bestagon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

How is anything supposed to get better if we’re expected to swallow our representatives denying the institutional racism present in our society, especially when we’re the ones targeted by the violence and selective law enforcement?

[-] ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago

What's pragmatic changes from one era to the next. Being uncompromising is the new form of pragmatism, the new meta.

[-] Tenderizer78@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 month ago

Within limits. Not preemptively provoking an organization like the NYPD is a good line. Not only are they heavily armed, not only are they very powerful, they also do genuinely reduce crime.

There was that NYPD strike where crime went down when police went on strike, but that was because they were ignoring minor crimes. They were still policing major crimes.

[-] ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

If all it takes to provoke the NYPD is to say what everyone else already knows, and what everyone else was supporting you for saying, what value is there in continuing to walk on eggshells around such fickle and unpopular people compared to just continuing to say the popular thing? They weren't gonna be on a socialist's side anyway, they work for the landlords.

Now that they know he can be bullied, they aren't gonna stop. They're like wild animals, you can't show weakness

[-] Carl@hexbear.net 22 points 1 month ago

Mamdani's unwillingness to stand firm against the nypd, whether because he believes it's necessary to win the election or because it reflects his actual beliefs, has definitely been the most disappointing and annoying thing about him so far. Like you've gotta have better political instincts than this, bud - the NYPD aren't popular AND you're making yourself look wishy washy.

[-] Lussy@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Does anyone remember BLM, prominent leftist voices and people here, and their stance on the movement and police in general? There was a complete lack of consensus on ‘abolish/defund the police’ and in many cases flat out dismissal of BLM as a legitimate political sentiment.

And now the same people are probably trying to bash Mamdani over this. I still maintain that his stance on NYPD, especially pre-election means absolutely nothing. Not coming out swinging against the most powerful militant organizations on the planet is not the worst idea.

[-] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 month ago

Compromising to libs has never worked. Look at Corbyn.

[-] Lussy@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

What even is lib? Because I’ve heard from several people who are leftists that abolish the police is a lib position

[-] underisk@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 month ago

I have heard from several unnamed sources that it’s you. You are lib.

[-] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

lib is the girl reading this

[-] unconsequential@slrpnk.net 21 points 1 month ago

“You won’t change them, they’ll change you.” The ultimate lesson of any reformist.

[-] LaBellaLotta@hexbear.net 20 points 1 month ago

Yeah Zohran the people are baying for more public apologies, that’s the stuff. Smdh.

[-] Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 month ago

Pathetic

[-] dx1@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The very video about Palestine he got famous for, he was already full of shit in. "Israel has a right to exist... (as a state with equal rights)"? No. It doesn't. States don't have a right to exist and that state is predicated on claiming to have equal rights while being institutionalized apartheid.

This is more of the same. I left NYC, among other reasons, because it's a miniature police state, with the NYPD leading the charge. The fuck is he even going to do as mayor if he's not going to rein them in?

[-] eldavi@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 month ago

he's running to the right and; if he has any staying power; he will become another aoc or bernie.

[-] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago

I did not really mind the Palestine comments because he basically denies the state of Israel in the way he framed it. But at the pace of Zohran is going now, all that will be done when he gets in power is building like 3 government ran supermarkets.

It's not Zohver yet but it is going downhill.

[-] Chapo_is_Red@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

The fuck is he even going to do as mayor if he's not going to rein them in?

This. If he apologizes, then we'll just be in the position of hoping he's making a fake apology and actually does shit....which isn't a good way to be doing politics

You win people over to your positions by putting them out there and defending what you believe

Moreover, this stance by him won't win anyone over and will demotivate his supporters. At best, if he apologizes then maybe the cops will fuck with him less (lmao)

[-] NuraShiny@hexbear.net 15 points 1 month ago

He should be like "I apologize for calling them racist in 2020. I should have kept doing it after, they are still fucking racist pieces of shit!"

[-] reagansrottencorpse@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 month ago

Hopefully he's just saying what he needs(in that regard) until in power. I won't hold my breath though.

[-] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 31 points 1 month ago

I don't see why he would need to say that. He's leading plenty in votes. And the statement is factually accurate.

[-] dditty@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 1 month ago

And his original statement was made in 2020 after George Floyd's murder. Like come on man, pigs are f***ing racist and it was the right time to say that

[-] wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

Tbf, he could legitimately be fearing for his life.

But that's the generous take here.

[-] Thaessium@hexbear.net 11 points 1 month ago

So I didn't get this until a random Lenin text.

Lenin, paraphrased:

'If socialists should seek office in a capitalist world, they will invariably have to help the capitalist state. They will have to send protestors onto labour organizers. They will have to tow the line of the capitalist state, and see to its functions. If we are to say, we should seek office in bourgaise governments, should not socialists also be justistified, using the warped logic, at sending the [police] at protests? No, obviously, this is absurd [so basically, the only things we do in office in capitalist governments is to frusterate them and try to help destroy the capitalist state]."

[-] Fancy_Gecko@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 month ago

to all dear Americans : you are not voting yourself out of this

[-] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

"...I'm sorry that I didn't call them that in 2019."

[-] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

I don’t see him saying he was wrong, or that he’s changed his intentions.

[-] wuphysics87@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago

I just take it as "I'm sorry I hurt your feelings"

[-] dx1@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You should work on your skills at interpreting political speech. It's about positioning yourself in terms of sentiments, not making explicit, accurate statements. The fact that he's even engaging in this kind of thing shows you he's false, right off the bat.

[-] Tenderizer78@lemmy.ml -3 points 1 month ago

The condemnation he's getting here for saying this is absurd.

[-] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 month ago

This is the New York police we are talking about. They are extremely racist and they are incredibly corrupt. These are some of the last people we would want to see Zohran cozy up to. Especially since he is far ahead in the polling and there seems to be no reason to say this.

this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2025

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