Zohran Mamdani spoke last week at the Islamic Cultural Center in the Bronx, where he vowed, as a Muslim, not to “live in the shadows” any longer.
It was a moment that some have compared to Barack Obama’s landmark 2008 speech about race, inequality and unity in American politics.
In the closing weeks of the mayoral campaign, Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic front-runner, veered off from the economic message he has clung to doggedly for more than a year.
“I want to use this moment to speak to the Muslims of New York City,” he said.
Standing outside the Islamic Cultural Center of the Bronx, Mr. Mamdani spoke, sometimes tearfully, describing his experiences with his faith, identity and Islamophobia, and the tendency among Muslims, including himself, to feel they need to play down their identity to succeed.
“No longer will I live in the shadows,” he said.
For the candidate, who would become the first Muslim mayor of New York if elected, it was a topic he had rarely addressed since he entered the race last October.
But now, he said, he wanted t
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