{"id":413,"date":"2026-06-23T14:49:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T14:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=413"},"modified":"2026-06-23T14:49:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T14:49:06","slug":"we-cant-let-the-good-vibes-stop-us-from-demanding-more-of-mamdani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=413","title":{"rendered":"We Can\u2019t Let the Good Vibes Stop Us From Demanding More of Mamdani"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

I coach youth basketball because I love both the sport and seeing young people discover that by working together, they can be greater than the sum of their parts. But on a selfish level, I do it for the speeches. I love giving the sports speech: the rallying cry that, if delivered correctly, can unite a team and make even timid kids roar like lions. Until last week, the greatest sports speech I ever heard was fictional: Al Pacino as coach Tony D\u2019Amato in Any Given Sunday<\/em> telling his fraying team that they had to \u201cfind out life\u2019s this game of inches.\u2026 On this team\u2026we claw with our fingernails for that inch because we know when we add up all those inches, that\u2019s going to make the fucking difference between winning and losing, between living and dying.\u201d On some tough days, watching that speech is my morning coffee. <\/p>\n

Read more How to Win the New War for Black Voting Rights<\/a><\/p>\n

Recently, though, I heard a new all-time favorite. But I\u2019m wrestling with my ardor for the message and messenger.<\/p>\n

I have been waiting my entire life for my favorite team, the New York Knicks, to win a title. Then, at a championship parade for the ages that I was fortunate enough to attend, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, in just over eight minutes, brought the thunder in a sports speech that will be replayed as long as anyone wears the orange-and-blue. He centered his remarks around the unfathomable 29-point comeback that the team made in the pivotal game four of the series. He reminded his audience that when the team fell by 29 points, the number-crunchers said that they had a 99.6 percent chance of losing the game. Then the mayor said the following:<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there is one thing that the pundits just don\u2019t get about this team\u2014that they just don\u2019t get about this city. It\u2019s in that 0.4 percent that we go to work. It\u2019s in that 0.4 percent that Jalen Brunson\u2014the same guy that so many said was too small\u2014proves that not only is he good enough; he is the new standard for greatness. It\u2019s in that 0.4 percent that OG Anunoby watches the ball float from the top of the arc and starts running toward the basket, fingers reaching towards the heavens. It\u2019s in that 0.4 percent that Karl-Anthony Towns finds the strength to mourn his mother and still pull in rebound after rebound, make block after block. It\u2019s in that 0.4 percent that Jose Alvarado shows every kid growing up in public housing that a son of Brooklyn and Queens can win for every one of the five boroughs. It\u2019s in that 0.4 percent that Mitch breaks his finger before game one and says, \u2018Go get the tape.\u201d It\u2019s in that 0.4 percent that Josh Hart gets rebounds that break teams, that Mikal Bridges proves he was worth every single draft pick, that Landry Shamet pulls up from downtown, that every one of these 18 players transforms the franchise, that Mike Brown keeps this team believing. Most of all, it\u2019s in that 0.4 percent that the Knicks do what New Yorkers have always done when we are told something is impossible. We find a way. We win.\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Knicks did not just win for New York City\u2014they won like New York City. What is New York if not your back up against the wall, a dream that feels just out of reach, a rent payment you don\u2019t know how you will ever make? What is New York if not 99.6 percent of the world stacked against you? And who are New Yorkers if not people who hear those odds and smile? Who look at a 0.4 percent chance of success and ask, \u2018Why\u2019re you giving me a head start?\u2019 This is our city. This is our team. For 53 years, we watched. For 53 years, we waited. Now, we\u2019ve won. One last time, New York, say it with me: Knicks in five.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I heard this and felt pride in never surrendering my love for this team, even though the franchise owner, James Dolan, is a repugnant, Trumpist nepo-billionaire. I felt pride in New York City for coming together in joy to support a squad that never quit. And I felt great relief that this was being eloquently articulated by a 34-year-old democratic socialist instead of the criminal former mayor and ICE enthusiast Eric Adams, or the wretched misogynist Andrew Cuomo. And, yes, I felt pride that the people of New York would take a chance on a young Muslim man born in Uganda in the 1990s over yet another self-involved, corrupt boomer refusing to let go of the mic.<\/p>\n

But the glory of this speech comes with its own contradictions. Readers of this column know that we talk a great deal about \u201csportswashing,\u201d when politicians\u2014often part of right-wing, authoritarian regimes\u2014use sports to distract from pressing problems or their own failings. For Trump, it seems like this tactic is a weekly occurrence. Except when he\u2019s being booed, sports is his safe space, where adoring crowds feed his bottomless narcissism. But sportswashing is malleable enough that it can be implemented by any politician, particularly in the context of protracted crisis and political conflict. <\/p>\n

Mamdani is still in a honeymoon phase with the city\u201455 percent approval\u2014despite relentless attacks from the right-wing press and the 1-percenters from the Upper East and Upper West Sides that can\u2019t stand the erosion of the influence they had with previous mayoral parasites like Rudy Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg, and Adams. And yet there are still demands that must be made of Mamdani. Though his early accomplishments have already set him apart from the aforementioned execrable predecessors, we must still exert pressure on him. FDR reportedly, in a scene some historians have described as apocryphal, once told the great civil rights and labor leader A. Phillip Randoph, \u201cI agree with what you\u2019ve said. Now go out and make me do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more How Walmart Helped Make the Newtown Shooter\u2019s AR-15 the Most Popular Assault Weapon in America<\/a><\/p>\n

That needs to be a rallying cry: No matter the politician, we have to \u201cmake them do\u201d what we think is in the best interests of both ordinary people and radical movements\u2014or why even build an independent left at all? In America, USA: How Race Shadows the Nation\u2019s Anniversaries<\/em>, Dr. Eddie Glaude writes about how co-optation into the Democratic Party wrecked independent struggles for racial justice. This applies to all movements that don\u2019t start by saying, \u201cWin, don\u2019t assume, our support.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of the great vibes\u2014and those vibes are practically visible across the city, thrumming through the humidity\u2014can\u2019t change the fact that Mamdani is reneging on a campaign promise to not increase the number of New York City police officers, instead pledging $70 million to expand the force. This is one of several issues related to policing where members of the left\u2014and most notably his fierce supporters in the Democratic Socialists of America\u2014are for the first time raising their voices in protest. And they are right to do so. They are also frustrated that he is willing to keep on the James Dolan on police commissioners: Jessica Tisch, a billionaire technocrat and fierce defender of the worst of the NYPD. Her job is in Mamdani\u2019s hands, but he has clearly chosen to be hands-off.<\/p>\n

There is also the issue of trans health care for youth, which is being systematically destroyed in hospitals and care centers across the city. To his credit, Mamdani is opening a city-run trans health clinic in Corona, Queens\u2014but it is restricted to those 19 and older. This is a concession to the right-wing argument that parents should be banned from seeking care for their children. It gives cover to shameful institutions like Mt. Sinai hospital, which, after receiving a federal subpoena, notified parents that their children\u2019s medical records for gender-affirming care will be shared with the federal government.<\/p>\n

In 1910, suffragette Helen Todd said, \u201cThere will be no prisons, no scaffolds, no children in factories, no girls driven on the street to earn their bread, in the day when there shall be \u2018bread for all, and roses too.\u2019\u201d The slogan \u201cbread and roses\u201d has endured, meaning that as much as our basic needs must be met, we must also have the time and space for all the things that make life worth living.<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s speech was pure roses, and it is refreshing to have a mayor that can galvanize the city and deliver the flowers. <\/p>\n

But his abilities should shape our demands: Keep bringing the roses. Feel the pressure when we demand our bread.<\/p>\n

Read more Free-Speech Fraud Bari Weiss Would Rather Deport Than Debate<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Nation Magazine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nWe Can\u2019t Let the Good Vibes Stop Us From Demanding More of Mamdani - Atlas Living Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=413\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"We Can\u2019t Let the Good Vibes Stop Us From Demanding More of Mamdani - Atlas Living Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Nation Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=413\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Atlas Living Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-23T14:49:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=413#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=413\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f6233854b1f92a6d21147fe5d5e58abc\"},\"headline\":\"We Can\u2019t Let the Good Vibes Stop Us From Demanding More of Mamdani\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-23T14:49:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=413\"},\"wordCount\":1489,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=413#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/0ce67ef408c736e9900506ad07137c58.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=413#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=413\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=413\",\"name\":\"We Can\u2019t Let the Good Vibes Stop Us From Demanding More of Mamdani - 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