Elham Asaad Buaras
Shahana Hanif, a 30-year-old Democrat, became the city’s first Muslim woman elected to New York City Council earlier this month, even though 769,000 Muslims live in the city.
The Bangladeshi American, who ran on a progressive platform and was endorsed by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Working Families Party, won a seat in Brooklyn Council District-39, making her also the first woman of colour to represent the district.
Hanif previously helped run participatory budgeting initiatives for outgoing council member Brad Lander, who could not run again because of term limits. She won with 89 per cent of the total votes. Her only opponent, the Conservative Party received 8 per cent of the vote.
The city council is tasked with negotiating the city’s budget with the mayor, monitoring city agencies, such as the Department of Education and the NYPD, and having authority over zoning and how land is used. Hanif was also one of two South Asians elected for the first time, along with Shekar Krishnan who won a seat representing the Queens district.
Hanif had earned a reputation for her grassroots work around housing, immigrant rights, language access, domestic violence and COVID relief. She is still serving in council member Brad Lander’s office as a director of organising and community engagement, where she helped community members have a direct impact on how to spend city dollars.
Hanif, who has been a firm supporter and advocate of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, established by Indian-American activist Bhairavi Desai, also celebrated the victory of NYTWA in achieving some relief for their medallion taxi loans.
Speaking about the significance of her victory to TIME magazine, Hanif said, “I just feel seen. I’m realising how incredibly important it is for people to see representation and what it means that New York City has not had Muslim, South Asian and, specifically, Bangladeshi representation on its city council. The excitement around our campaign probably also has to do with the hunger for a multiracial democracy.”
