Selma, Alabama, 1965: The mayor appoints an advisory committee on race relations. Every appointee is white; no blacks selected. Blacks are approximately 57% of the population.
Atlanta, Georgia, 1965: The mayor appoints an advisory committee on police conduct. Every appointee is white; no blacks selected. Blacks are approximately 45% of the population.
Little Rock, Arkansas, 1965: The mayor appoints an advisory committee on school integration. Every appointee is white; no blacks selected. Blacks are approximately 36% of the population.
Pensacola, Florida, 1965: The mayor appoints an advisory committee on the disruptions designed to integrate lunch counters. Every appointee is white; no blacks selected. Blacks are approximately 32% of the population.
These hypothetical committees reflected Jim Crow South: Blacks don’t count.
Here is a committee that does exist in New York City, 2026: the mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary. It appoints judges to the city’s family and criminal courts. Every appointee is not Jewish; no Jews selected. Jews are approximately 10% of the population. New York City welcomes Jim Crow.
Mamdani says his advisory committee “will help ensure that our judicial system reflects the city it serves.” Under this definition, Mamdani’s judicial system will will not serve the city’s Jewish citizens.
Ramzi Kassem, Mamdani’s chief legal counsel, says that the committee “represents a cross-section of the city’s legal profession.” Under this definition, Kassem does not recognize Jewish lawyers as part of the cross-section.
“Reflects the city” and “cross section” in Zohran Mamdani’s New York make as much sense as My Lai — the village that American troops destroyed in Vietnam in 1968. The troops infamously said that they had to destroy the village in order to to save it.
© IJN 2026
