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NYC school integration debate exposes tensions between Black parents and Mamdani
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published Oct 20, 2026 at 6:00 a.m. ET
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Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published Oct 20, 2026 at 6:00 a.m. ET
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The event was meant to tout an advancement in Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s signature campaign promise of universal childcare: Toddlers — whom Mamdani called “New York’s cutest” — spoke at a pint-sized podium, adorably interrupting remarks. But to many viewers of the livestreamed press conference, the made-for-social-media moment was missing something critical.
“They said, ‘New York’s cutest,’” said Whitney Toussaint, a parent leader in Queens. “OK, where the Black babies at? Because our kids are cute too.”
None of the four children in front of the camera were Black.
NeQuan McLean, a parent leader in Brooklyn, recalled his phone blowing up with angry texts during the February press conference. “It was really shocking,” he said. “That was one of the first things that had hit in our conversations, and definitely in our chats.”
For parents like Toussaint and McLean, who both voted for Mamdani, the moment captured what they say is the mayor’s blind spot when it comes to representation of Black New Yorkers in his administration and agenda. Many see public schools, where 19% of students are Black, as central to any effort to address inequality in the city. But in interviews, many parents and Black elected officials — most of whom are Mamdani supporters — said the first year of his administration has featured several examples of an apparent insensitivity to their perspectives.
Mamdani’s commitment to racial equity will be in the spotlight Tuesday night when New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones is scheduled to appear at a town hall with Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels about segregation in city schools. Her article about her daughter’s experience in the city’s public schools renewed a national conversation about systemic racism. Ahead of the event, organizers announced it had been moved to a larger venue due to “tremendous ticket demand.”
Christina Greer, a political science professor at Fordham University, said she also noticed the lack of racial diversity among the children at Mamdani’s February press conference.
“If you don't have people at the table to remind you or introduce you to this long-standing inequity, then you're just going to replicate the inequity, even if you really want to try and do better,” she said.
Greer said she texted administration officials to complain. She said it wasn't the first time she noticed the oversight in events or videos where the mayor appeared with children.
She said someone who replied to her text told her the children were drawn from a childcare center near City Hall. “If that's the case, then it's a hyper-segregated school, so you're highlighting hyper-segregation,” Greer recalled responding.
She said she was also told that the kids on stage had parents in the administration. “Well, then that’s not great,” she told them, because that revealed a lack of diversity.
The mayor’s office declined to comment on Greer’s account. Since the February press conference, the mayor has done multiple childcare events and videos that include Black children.
Mamdani spokesperson Jeremy Edwards defended Mamdani’s commitment to the city’s diverse communities.
“Black and Brown New Yorkers deserve a City Hall that not only represents and reflects them but also invests in their communities and delivers material change to their families,” Edwards said in a statement. “That's why the Mamdani Administration has been purposeful about directing investments to neighborhoods that have been historically overlooked and disproportionately affected by the affordability crisis.”
Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels will participate in an event on school integration on Tuesday.
NYCPS
He cited the expansion of 2-K to Canarsie, Brownsville and the Bronx, the city’s first Office of Deed Theft Prevention, and a focus on building affordable housing. Edwards added that the mayor is working with Samuels to “build a truly integrated, rigorous and safe school system.”
School segregation has long been a political third rail for mayors. But as a mayoral candidate, Mamdani pledged to tackle the problem. After winning the election, he appointed Samuels, a Black superintendent known for merging schools to improve diversity.
Some, including Hannah-Jones, have argued that improving racial equity and the quality of city schools dovetails with Mamdani’s working-class agenda.
“Building a city more affordable for everyone starts with education,” said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. “Education is the greatest equalizer, right?”
But 10 months into office, neither Mamdani nor Samuels have articulated an integration plan. Mamdani quietly backed away late last year from his pledge to phase out gifted and talented programs. During the campaign, he promised to maintain the specialized high school admissions test, reversing his previous stance.
Education experts say both are critical drivers of an unequal system that incentivizes families with means to throw money, time and effort into getting accepted to desirable schools with student populations that do not reflect the city’s demographics.
In July, the city’s education department reported that last year only three Black students were admitted to Stuyvesant High School’s class of 777 ninth-graders.
Mamdani, who graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, has said “there is so much more to be done,” but he has not spelled out any education reforms. To some Black parents and leaders, his remarks fell short of the urgency needed.
Richards said the admission numbers were “unacceptable,” adding, “If we're talking about really making our education system more accessible to everyone, ensuring that there's equity within our system is something he should be talking about.”
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said a blind spot on race was not unique to Mamdani. He said those on the left “don't handle the race lens very well.”
“Everything is looked at simply through class, and that doesn't work in a place like America,” Williams said.
But Williams also described school segregation as an “albatross” that has burdened multiple mayors. He added that he believed the mayor’s policies were helping communities that “have been left out for a long time.”
Leadership changes within the department of education have also drawn scrutiny from parents. McLean, who heads the community education council for District 16, has expressed concern over recent resignations of two education officials: Deputy Schools Chancellor Simone Hawkins and the chancellor’s chief of staff, Kenita Lloyd.
Hawkins led the Division of Early Childhood Education and helped launch the mayor’s signature 2-K program. Lloyd will stay in her role until the end of the year, according to the mayor’s office.
“Representation in leadership is not symbolic,” McLean’s group wrote in an August letter to the chancellor. “It matters. It shapes perspectives, informs decision-making, and builds trust with the communities our schools serve.”
The mayor’s office noted that Erica Phillips, who is Black, will replace Hawkins.
Tanesha Grant, executive director of the advocacy group Parents Supporting Parents NY, expressed frustration that city officials return to Mamdani’s populist policies when asked how they'll deliver for Black communities.
Free buses and freezing the rent are “for everybody,” Grant said. “We need a Black agenda.”
In February, Grant joined a group of Black parents pressuring schools Chancellor Samuels to condemn a racist remark made by an Upper West Side parent who was caught on a hot mic during a Feb. 10 Zoom meeting saying of Black students, “They’re too dumb to know they’re at a bad school.”
“We literally had to have a virtual press conference for him to issue a statement,” Grant said. “And our mayor didn't say anything until a reporter asked him about it.”
Two weeks after the incident, Mamdani told reporters that the remarks were “reprehensible.” He added: “I think it is indicative of the exact kind of language that makes students feel as if they don't belong within our public school system.”
But some parents, including Toussaint, urged city officials to specifically call out the comments as racist. She said she thanked Samuels when he said in a public meeting that the incident had exposed an “ever-present and simmering anti-Blackness in our city.”
Toussaint, who lives in Long Island City and is the co-president of the Community Education Council for district 30 in western Queens, said she believed Black parents like herself were holding the mayor to a fair standard. Last December, she and her two sons were featured in a video of a listening session Mamdani held at the Museum of the Moving Image.
“Are they not understanding that Black people are paying attention?” she asked. “All these little things are adding up.”
Tagged
education
new york city
Elizabeth Kim
Elizabeth Kim is a reporter on the People and Power desk who covers mayoral power. She previously covered the pandemic, housing, redevelopment and public spaces. A native of Queens, she speaks fluent Mandarin. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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