"Habibi, Mamdani Won" - Inside NYC at Brooklyn Bridge for NYC's Mayoral Election of Zohran Mamdani
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Yesterday I (Katie) was fortunate enough to accompany a group of Beacon High School students to NYC for the German Student Exchange that is going on now. That meant I had the honor of being in NYC during the election of Zohran Mamdani!!
The German teachers with this program have many activities planned for the kids, but as we were leaving Little Italy, one request from our German delegates was if they could walk the Brooklyn Bridge because it wasn’t fitting into their official schedule. After some map checking and Googling, and checking against the time of our train back to Beacon, I decided it was worth the haul to walk/subway it to the bridge just to touch it.
As fitting with the entire day, New Yorkers out on the street helped us get there. We got given secret codes to clean bathrooms, subway directions, shopping directions, subway turnstile guidance, insistence by the bathroom agent Queen that we use the family bathroom upstairs in Grand Central Train Station with little ones present.
Some students from the Beacon High School / German Exchange Program in Grand Central Station for a last minute Track Change to get back to beacon.
PHoto Credit: Katie Hellmuth
So when the combo of the Gelato Guy giving me enough confidence to make it down to Canal Street where I found the Halal Guy to give me confidence to take one more subway ride down to the Brooklyn Bridge City Hall stop on the 6 train, I was just so loving NYC for all of these moments. Thank you MTA Train Conductors on the Hudson Line! Congratulations NYC on your election of Zohran Mamdani!! Mashallah!!
Including in this photos is a slide deck of thoughts published on Instagram from @reza.qns to what electing a Muslim Arab immigrant means to some. The red square that says “Habibi Mamdani Won” is from @PopeArt.
And, may rent stabilization extend up to Beacon and all parts of New York! And finally, the trip is not complete without a last minute track change from 37 to 28 for the 6:46 for 13 Germering participants.
