Mamdani’s racial equity framework prompts DOJ to open a probe

New York City (NYC) Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s unveiling this week of the city’s first-ever “governmentwide racial equity framework” prompted the Trump Department of Justice to open a probe.

Dubbed the “Preliminary Citywide Racial Equity Plan,” the equity framework released Monday “require[s] major city agencies to examine their work through a racial equity lens and identify and eliminate disparities,” according to a press release.

It’s based on the false belief that disparities in outcomes are proof of discrimination. And so if, as an example, more black drivers are pulled over than white drivers, it must be because of racial discrimination.

Or if fewer black students are accepted into college versus Asian students, it must again be because of racial discrimination.

Those who subscribe to this false theory also believe that the only way to stamp out this alleged racial discrimination is by applying reverse racial discrimination against, for example, based on the two scenarios above, white drivers and Asian students.

In NYC, Mamdani intends to perform a similar stunt to deal with the affordability crisis by prioritizing city resources for so-called “black and brown” (aka non-white, non-Asian) people:

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“This is not a crisis affecting a small minority of New Yorkers,” Mamdani said in a statement. “It is a crisis touching the vast majority of our city, in every borough and every neighborhood. But we know this crisis is not felt equally. Black and Latino New Yorkers — who have been pushed out of this city for decades — are bearing the brunt.”

“The Preliminary Racial Equity Plan is where we begin to reverse that pattern. These reports make one thing clear: we cannot tackle systemic racial inequity without confronting the affordability crisis head-on, and we cannot solve the cost-of-living crisis without dismantling systemic racial inequity,” he added.

Speaking alongside him at a press conference this Monday, NYC’s so-called Chief Equity Officer, Afua Atta-Menseh, said that the equity plan “was born during a defining moment in our city’s history, when New Yorkers were in the streets in the midst of a global pandemic, calling for justice, demanding accountability and bearing witness to brutality unfolding on our streets and on our screens.”

“In that moment, our city was asked to reckon with the deep, systemic inequities that have long shaped life here and to do better. New Yorkers across all five boroughs answered that call; their voices, their advocacy, and their persistence are what brought us to this moment. The release of the preliminary citywide Racial Equity Plan is a reflection of that collective mandate,” she added.

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The equity plan has caught the attention of Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Department of Justice’s civil rights division.

“Sounds fishy/illegal. Will review!” she tweeted Monday, signaling her intent to open a probe into the equity framework.

Others, meanwhile, have taken their complaints directly to Mamdani’s doorstep:

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Vivek Saxena

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