Political discourse reaches a new low in Riverdale

As a founding member of the Riverdale chapter of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action in 2017,
I have canvassed proudly and identifiably
as a Jew for many liberal and progressive candidates for office. 

This year, Bend the Arc is pleased to support Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor. Our members have been out canvassing on his behalf in Riverdale and surrounding neighborhoods
several times a week for the past two months.
For the most part, we have been gratified by the number and quality of conversations we’ve had with voters.

We support Zohran Mamdani as a principled champion of our shared values of universal concern for all New Yorkers, including immigrants, the LGBTQIA+ community, women and those uninsured for health care. We admire his sincere and disciplined focus on affordability for working people and his emphasis on safety for all New Yorkers through investing in the social safety net and crime- and violence-prevention. Finally, he acknowledges the real dangers of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hatred and will devote an 800% increase in funding to address both.

As political activists campaigning on behalf of such candidates as Alessandra Biaggi, Gustavo Rivera, Jessica Altagracia Woolford, Abigail Martin and others, we have encountered previous deliberate attempts to divide the Northwest Bronx Jewish community by the spreading of disinformation and the stoking of real fears of antisemitism. This use of “smokescreen antisemitism” has attempted to suppress the community’s identification with candidates whose policy concerns and interests may be consistent with their own values.

This year, however, the level of hostility and low-level violence has reached a new and dangerous pitch, resulting one morning in our group being physically threatened and pelted with
eggs by a man who identified himself as a
Cuomo supporter.

Mr. Mamdani, of course, is the first Muslim American candidate to have a real chance at being elected mayor, and his consistent support for Palestinian justice and criticism of the Israeli government has alienated many in the Jewish community. From the start, our group recognized that in the diverse Riverdale community, we would have to engage with folks in difficult conversations. We saw our role as not only one of persuasion but of helping to facilitate comfort with a likely Mamdani administration. We were not, however, prepared for the level of aggressive name-calling as well as threats to our personal safety that we’ve encountered. 

We fear that opposition to Mr. Mamdani continues to be augmented by disinformation and inappropriate behavior by certain elected officials — citywide, nationally and locally.

I recently became aware that one elected official, when told of my encounter with the abusive egg- and rock-throwing Cuomo supporter, responded that while such actions should never be condoned, he himself has occasionally wanted to throw eggs at me. I was shocked at the unfiltered and uncivil comment expressed to a third party about me — a constituent. The idea that an elected official can publicly impugn a member of the community with whom he may sometimes disagree seems to be modeled on the Trumpian playbook. Have we reached such a level of discord that this kind of behavior is now acceptable? 

No wonder that some voters are emboldened to act with hostility toward those of us expressing our First Amendment rights to free speech and political expression.

Madeline Ritter