A couple of Saturdays ago, I had an existential question that I couldn’t grapple over.
“Do you think I should go canvass?”
My wife, knowing who I was, neither confirmed nor denied my request, but it’s a funny request. I can navigate speeches, protests, rallies, and other large gatherings, but I’m really an introvert. I have a hard time asking anyone for help. Why would I ask someone to vote for anyone … even a candidate like Zohran Mamdani. But over the last couple of weeks, I committed to helping the campaign with its last push in whatever capacity possible. To his credit, Jamaal Bowman would regularly push me to phone bank or contribute. Felicia Singh made canvassing look simple. Sari Beth Rosenberg helped me find a community of folks using their platforms to elevate the movement. A plethora of other education activists demonstrated how to uplift candidates with a strong vision and constructively critique them, particularly on education issues.
So I said to myself, “Well, if I am who I say I am, I have to put my passion to action.” I signed up for two shifts, knowing I could back out whenever I wished. Right after, I hopped into my white hoodie and went to pick up some local Chinese food (the meal for folks who finally got paid).
Just as I was about to cross the street on 116th and 1st, I saw this small wooden desk, the burly security guards, and the folded hands and said, “NO WAY!” It was Zohran Mamdani, the soaring candidate and mayoral hopeful. I mean “hopeful” in multiple ways. After the deflating results of last November’s election, the Mamdani campaign has energized an electorate seeking real answers that neither party addressed.
The assemblymember I met years ago was now a movement unto himself, galvanizing leaders across the city and the country to do better.
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