Mayor Zohran Mamdani is seeking to oust the Black woman leading New York City’s Commission on Racial Equity after she publicly criticized his administration for scrubbing “diversity, equity and inclusion” language from the panel’s work.
Mamdani, who took office this year, sent a letter to the City Council this week requesting lawmakers approve replacing Linda Tigani with Christopher Alexander, the executive director of the New York NAACP. The move landed with explosive force among council members and community figures, who quickly framed it as retaliation against an independent voice.
“He wants to put it under his thumb, because she criticized him,” one insider said. “You can’t retaliate against someone because they are criticizing their administration.”
“The one commission that is supposed to deal with issues in the black community, and he tries to fire her,” they continued.
The commission was created in 2022 following a ballot measure directing it to study reparations, tackle city inequality, and produce formal findings. Tigani has chaired the body through its early years, but tensions with Mamdani’s team erupted almost immediately after he took office. The administration edited the commission’s draft report to strip out racial inequity analysis and delete every reference to DEI. The changes were designed to avoid provoking the Trump administration, which has been systematically targeting diversity programs nationwide.
Tigani did not stay silent. On Wednesday afternoon, she stood on the City Hall steps leading a rally of lawmakers and community members demanding she keep her post.
“The only people that are holding the line in this decision are the black and Latino Asian Caucus and Speaker Julie Menin,” she said. “Speaker Menin understands that a removal of me in this moment is actually undermining the independence of the commission.”
Council member Farah Louis warned that pushing Tigani aside would damage work Black New Yorkers have anticipated for generations. “Replacing Tigani risks delaying and derailing a process that black New Yorkers have waited generations to see,” Louis said.
Mamdani’s chosen replacement carries his own baggage. Alexander previously resigned after overseeing the botched rollout of New York’s legal marijuana program under Governor Kathy Hochul. That track record has fueled additional skepticism about whether he is the right figure to steer racial equity work.
The mayor has faced repeated criticism for his record on Black representation. Early in his tenure, he took heat for failing to appoint any Black deputy mayors, and demonstrators at Wednesday’s rally accused him of deploying Black figures as campaign tokens while delivering little substance for the community.
Pressed at a Wednesday news conference about the behind-the-scenes clash, Mamdani struck a conciliatory tone while defending his position. He noted that Tigani had completed a full three-year term.
“We all owe her a debt of gratitude” for advancing racial equity in the city, he said.
“Alongside the City Council, we have agreed to extend her term to next summer, and we’re excited to work with that same council to put forward Christopher Alexander as the next Commissioner,” Mamdani added.
The council has reportedly reached a tentative agreement to retain Tigani through next July while remaining open to vetting Alexander for the role. That compromise leaves her in place for now, though the broader fight over the commission’s direction and independence shows no sign of quieting.
Mamdani’s attempt to remove Tigani comes as his administration navigates a volatile political landscape where progressive mayors face intense pressure from both grassroots activists and a hostile federal government eager to dismantle DEI infrastructure. The commission itself sits at the center of that tension, tasked with producing tangible findings on reparations and inequality while operating under a mayor who has shown willingness to soften its language to avoid Washington’s crosshairs.
The council is expected to continue negotiations over the commission’s leadership as Tigani serves out her extended term through summer 2026.