Democratic socialist New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim immigrant, identified as both Asian and African American on his college application, a report claims.
The 33-year-old checked both “Asian” and “Black or African American” on his Columbia University application, which was ultimately rejected, when he applied to the elite institution as a high school senior in 2009, the New York Times reported Thursday.
Mamdani, born in Uganda, told the outlet he doesn’t identify as either race but rather “an American who was born in Africa.”
“Most college applications don’t have a box for Indian-Ugandans, so I checked multiple boxes trying to capture the fullness of my background,” the Queens lawmaker said.
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