Mamdani Identified as Asian and Black on College Application

“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, adding that he specified “Ugandan” in a section of the application that allowed for more detailed personal information.

“Even though these boxes are constraining, I wanted my college application to reflect who I was.”

Community members came out in force to slam Mamdani, who highlighted his Muslim and South Asian ancestry throughout his campaign, as a fraud.

“It’s disgraceful to exploit this country’s legacy of slavery that oppressed African slaves,” Matthew Schweber, a Columbia University Jewish Alumni Association member, told The Post.

“Zohran Mamdani’s exploitation of this category further exemplifies the fraudulence of his candidacy and the canard and pretense to speak on behalf of the oppressed. He is a child of privilege and two extraordinarily wealthy parents.”

Gerard Kassar, chairman of the state Conservative Party, accused Mamdani of exploiting affirmative action to try to gain college admission.

“Mamdani has got a lot of explaining to do. This is part of the fraud he has perpetrated on New Yorkers throughout the primary campaign,” the Brooklyn resident fumed.

“His focus was to get admitted to Columbia on affirmative action. It just didn’t work out. He was trying to get into a school by lying about his racial background. Race is a scientific specification, not the country you’re from,” Kassar said, adding that Mamdani, whose father was a Columbia professor, knew exactly what he was doing.

“Being from Uganda doesn’t make you black. You can’t assume it makes you black,” Kassar charged.

Hizzoner demanded that Columbia release and investigate Mamdani’s application records for identifying himself as African American, when he did not become a US citizen until 2018, despite living in US since he was a boy.

“It’s now clear that Zohran Mamdani misrepresented his racial identity to gain admission to Columbia University, and at the time, he wasn’t even a U.S. citizen,” Adams’ campaign spokesperson Todd Shapiro said in a statement, adding that, “We need answers. Because the people of New York deserve to know whether the man asking for their vote built his career on a possibly fraudulent foundation.”

The Brooklyn native incumbent called the leading mayoral candidate’s actions “an insult to every student who got into college the right way.”

“The African American identity is not a checkbox of convenience,” Adams said in the statement. “It’s a history, a struggle, and a lived experience. For someone to exploit that for personal gain is deeply offensive.”

“Mamdani has an early lead and a clear message, but deeper scrutiny may erode enthusiasm among general election voters,” said American Pulse pollster Dustin Olson.

“It’s possible some voters already have buyer’s remorse. When they hear about government-run grocery stores or Mamdani’s continued refusals to denounce ‘Globalize the Intifada,’ which many folks — including me — consider to be an antisemitic slogan, support softens.”