This article is in response to Zohran Mamdani's win in New York City and the efforts of the citizens, forgotten and invisible, to bring about a new day.

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Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

I speak of Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas, Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses, Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties.

Zohran Mamdani, Mayor-elect, New York City

In New York City last week, over a million citizens voted for a South Asian Muslim, born in Uganda. The racists among MAGA, adherents of the myth enshrining a notion of their superiority, are still in shock.

For nine months, the America not MAGA have been called radical, extreme radical, plain-old liberal, radical liberals, evil liberals, socialists and communists. Evil socialists and communists.

Haters of America, all of them! Beware!

When citizens are wide awake, the scare tactics of fascists cant blindside them. On October 18, 2025, at 2,600 No Kings protests events, 43 percent of Americans identifying with this movement, rather than MAGA, came out to strongly proclaim no kings in America! Seven million Americans said enough!

For the Chinese domestic worker and the Caribbean caregiver, let the man of retribution and revenge host a Gatsby party for his wealthy friends. There will be consequences. Working class and low-income citizens recognized in the democratic socialist running in the race for mayor of New York City themselves and their concerns and a future for their children. The young 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani stayed on message: the time was right for the economically poor, the working class, for the forgotten, for the invisible to be empowered by their own determination to live in a democracy.

I speak of Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas, Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses, Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties.

Neither a wealthy class nor a member of the donor class, these are the citizens ignored by the politicians from both parties. These are the citizens Mamdani refused to ignore. And the ignoring of a representative of the majority of the world is tantamount to an incestuous mindset. For to claim the US white and Christian is to live in a prison of one's own making.

On the other hand, among the people. Mamdani found critical thinkers asking how is it that politicians from both parties could allow Gazan children to be torn to shreds by US drones? How is it that politicians deny SNAP benefits, forcing parents to sacrifice meals and standing in food pantry lines? How is it that politicians, on the other hand, empower capitalists, real estate developers to build housing that a majority of poor, working class, senior citizens cant afford?

In a Christian nation, property and profits are valued more than the lives of human beings.

How is this democracy?

The people Mamdani recognized as the most in need of change, recognized in Mamdani the politician aligning himself on the right side of history. He made it his mission to see them!

Those who turned out for Mamdani, shook off the fear of voting for a democratic socialist, and engaged with him about affordability and the right to be. The citizens and Mamdani witnessed neighbors dragged out of their homes, places of employment, and cars by men in masks. Both Mamdani and his would-be-constituents said no to troops and ICE in neighborhoods where their children are afraid to play on streets. Where parents fear deportation.

Khong! Seko! Naa! Non!

The residents of New York City shouted back to Mamdani that it matters that neighbors care. It matters that we turn from cruel policies. On the day the former VP Dick Chaney died, Mamdani proclaimed a new day in America, one in which the dark side would be replaced with hope.

We chose hope togetherhope over tyranny, hope over big money and small ideas, hope over despair. New York and this politician want to see a city working class people can love and live in again. Light of the forgotten will shine, overwhelming the dark side that has continued to resurface as backlash to progressive steps toward freedom.

This was a moment for me, a Black woman, an American citizen, hoping that this is the moment weve been waiting for. The American people want freedom from the supremacy of a myth of whiteness that always had at its core the violence of a cruel ruler and the brutal submission of the majority.

For a brief moment, when Mamdani arrived at the podium to deliver his acceptance speech, I thought I saw a glimpse of Dr. Martin L. King, just behind the young man, to his right.

Dr. King was smiling.

And why not? Something has awakened in the poor and the working class, Blacks, Latino/as, Indigenous, Asian, Muslim. What is it if not the spirit of resistance to a would-be-dictator and his cronies.

Dr. King challenged America to rid itself of poverty, Remaining Awake through a Great Revolution. He put on his boots and marched on behalf of the garbage worker, fighting for a livable wage.

And I can hear in Mamdani, Dr. King: the bruised fingers of warehouse workers and the calloused palms from delivery bike handlebars, and the scarred knuckles of kitchen cooks, never were allowed to hold power.

Dr. King asked America to rid itself of racism. End the parade of Black children walking toward a high school or college door, with angry white parents and students spitting on them. End the Jim Crow laws and allowing freedom to dictate where citizens sit on a bus or in a restaurant or in a movie theater. Dr. King fought to have water fountains accessible to all Americans without the dehumanizing Coloreds Only signs. Voting Rights would allow Black representation, thereby diminishing the work of the KKK.

If Dr. King were alive today, he would ask that New Yorkers acknowledged the accomplishment of working against a cruel and fascist regimeof working toward democracy. Freedom. He wouldnt hesitate, however, to remind us that if we are to [turn toward democracy and freedom] we must honestly admit certain things and get rid of certain myths that have constantly been disseminated all over our nation. Standing before the God of history, we will remember the things weve done.

Following Dr. King in the spirit of resistance, Mamdani and New York City voters took the road less traveled.

May it bring about change and make a difference for all Americans!

Authors Bio:

Activist, writer, American Modern Literature, Cultural Theory, PhD.