New York Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference on July 02, 2025 in New York City. Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Last week, the New York Times published a story on Zohran Mamdani , writing that the Democratic mayoral nominee checked off a box identifying himself as “Black or African American” when he applied to attend Columbia University as a high school senior in 2009. Though the article prompted both defenses of Mamdani as well as condemnation from his