New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has appointed Cea Weaver as his Director of the City Office to Protect Tenants, a role that has been defined by rhetoric targeting the white middle class.
In 2018, Weaver wrote on social media: “Impoverish the ‘white’ middle class.” She later added that “Homeownership [sic] is racist,” labeling it “failed public policy.”
Weaver’s comments have grown increasingly explicit. A 2019 post stated: “Private property, including any kind of ESPECIALLY homeownership, is a weapon of white supremacy.”
The appointment coincides with Mamdani’s administration pushing for policies aligned with socialist ideology. In December 2022, Catherine Almonte Da Costa — Mamdani’s former director of appointments — was forced to resign over anti-Jewish social media posts she made. Da Costa had previously declared in 2016 that “It’s important that white people feel defeated” and in 2020 that “For so long power has been in the hands of men and/or white people.”
Mamdani himself has described his administration’s goal as replacing “rugged individualism” with “the warmth of collectivism.” He further stated in a 2021 speech: “Our ultimate goal is to seize the means of production,” directly echoing communist doctrine.