All Zohran All the Time
this is your last chance to vote/phonebank/canvass with your NYC friends!
Yesterday I saw a glamorous woman who looked vaguely familiar. She was wearing a Zohran bandanna in her hair and an ensemble to match. I complimented her on her outfit, and she smiled graciously and asked me “Have you voted yet?” I said yes, and then she saw my Zohran button and said “I’m his mother!” I had been canvassed by the great Mira Nair. For the first time in my life I asked for a selfie.
She told me she has been canvassing all over the city, especially in neighborhoods where her languages are of use. I asked her if she tells people she’s Zohran’s mother and she said “Only when they say they will vote for him!”
This surreal encounter has me writing a canvassing note to you. This plus attending Mahmoud Khalil’s Welcome Home celebration on the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine yesterday and hearing him tell the crowd that something that kept him going during his 104 days of detention was channeling the chant “I believe that we will win!”
Personally, I never believe that we will win. But I have drastically fewer reasons for pessimism than Mahmoud (to put it mildly). And maybe just for today and tomorrow I will try that “optimism of the will” thing I’ve heard so much about.
We are living in terrible times, and we are trembling on the brink of new horrors, but sometimes that opens up space for desperately-needed change, and today and tomorrow we can still dwell in the possibility of a better New York City and we can work to make it true. To quote Mr. Mamdani, “We have gone from the margin of error to the margin of effort.” Despite Andrew Cuomo’s tens of millions of dollars of hateful propaganda, I think this race will be close.
And it might be our only chance for a while to support a candidate who genuinely represents us. My senator is out here warmongering. My congressional rep has nice things to say about ICE. The current mayor is in full-on fascist collaboration mode, and Cuomo, who is bought and paid for by the same billionaires as Trump, would be even worse.
I want a mayor who will stand up for my students and their families. Who will defend the 50% of New Yorkers who live in immigrant or mixed-status households. Who loves this city, or at least lives in it! And if he can communicate in Spanish, Urdu/Hindi, and Bangla, and does impromptu Great Saunters, that’s definitely a plus.
Election Day is tomorrow. Polls are open 6 am to 9 pm. Find your polling place here. Vote early to beat the heat!
If you’re in NYC— or in commuting distance of NYC— you can sign up to Get Out the Vote here. (I’ve canvassed with people who traveled from Philly or upstate NYC to be part of this movement. People are coming from around the country.)
If you can’t come to NYC or if you want to stay home where it’s not 100 degrees, you can phonebank here.
Join me and Ms. Nair and over 40,000 other volunteers as we try to beat the fascists! Let’s leave all of it (or at least some of it) on the field!
In solidarity and possibility—
Bri