Mamdani officially taps NAACP leader to replace outspoken critic on racial equity commission

EXCLUSIVE: Christopher Alexander will lead the NYC Commission on Racial Equity following tensions between City Hall and former chair Linda Tigani.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has named a new chair of the New York City Commission on Racial Equity, replacing its former chair, who was an outspoken critic of the Mamdani administration.

TheGrio has scooped that Christopher Alexander, executive director of the NAACP New York State Conference, has been officially installed to lead the commission established in 2022 to study reparations and recommend policies to address racial inequities across city agencies. His appointment is jointly backed by City Council Speaker Julie Menin and does not require a City Council vote.

“From the release of the City’s first racial equity plan to delivering critical investments like childcare and housing to historically underserved communities, racial equity has been and remains a cornerstone of our administration,” Mayor Mamdani said in a statement. “New Yorkers not only deserve a City Hall where they can see themselves reflected in the people who serve them, but also one where their struggles are both recognized and met with action.”

Prior to his work at the New York chapter of the NAACP, Alexander spent years in advocacy work, including criminal justice reform. Before his role at the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, he served as executive director of the New York State Office of Cannabis Management. According to the New York Amsterdam News, he oversaw the launch of New York’s cannabis market, which generated more than $500 million in revenue and created more than 10,000 new jobs.

“It takes a leader like Christopher Alexander to ensure we deliver on that vision and hold us accountable when we fall short. That’s because he has spent his career working in and outside of government advancing the cause of racial equity,” said Mamdani. “I am confident that Christopher will help lead us in building a more equitable city for all New Yorkers.”

The ousting of the commission’s former chair, Linda Tigani, comes amid political tension, during which she became a vocal critic of Mayor Mamdani’s handling of the NYC Commission on Racial Equity, specifically its long-awaited racial equity report, which was delayed for years before Mamdani entered office. While its release was supposed to be under the leadership of former Mayor Eric Adams, Tigani and others took issue with the Mamdani administration’s removal of several references to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The New York Times reported that the Mamdani administration did so to “avoid antagonizing” President Donald Trump, who has made anti-DEI a major focus of his administration.

Tigani questioned Mayor Mamdani’s commitment to racial equity and said the equity report, released in September, lacked City Charter-mandated elements, including a vision to increase racial equity in budgeting and policymaking. She inflamed the matter after conducting a livestream on Instagram with R&B singers Kelly Price and Tamar Braxton.

However, Mayor Mamdani has maintained that he is committed to racial equity and remains open to reparations for Black New Yorkers, should the NYC Commission on Racial Equity recommend it, as a pathway to “solve decades of neglect and discrimination.”

“We often think about slavery and the complicity in slavery as being exclusively to certain geographic areas of the country,” Mamdani previously told The Root. “Here in New York City, we were very complicit. And so, I look forward to whatever those findings are.”

New Yorkers who spoke to theGrio praised Mamdani’s pick of Christopher Alexander to lead the NYC Commission on Racial Equity.

“I know Chris is a good man and will do a great job,” New York U.S. Congressman Gregory Meeks told theGrio. “I don’t know what the political dynamics are, but if you ask me about Chris, the individual, I strongly support Chris.”

When asked if he has confidence in Mayor Mamdani’s commitment to implementing racial equity in New York City, Meeks said, “If that’s Chris’s job, I have confidence…He’s appointing a good person.”

Dr. Christina M. Greer, a political scientist and professor at Fordham University, said she doesn’t believe the leadership change at CORE will affect the commission’s work. She noted that Afua Atta-Mensah, NYC chief equity officer and justice commissioner of the mayor’s Office of Equity & Racial Justice, is one of the “sharpest minds” within the Mamdani administration “who can work with anyone.”

“I’m actually quite excited to see what can happen,” she told theGrio.

Atta-Mensah praised Mayor Mamdani’s new pick to lead the NYC Commission on Racial Equity, praising Alexander’s “wealth of experience and commitment to addressing systemic inequities.” He added, “Working with Chris will continue to allow us to fulfill the City’s racial equity mandates, advance meaningful policy change, and ensure that communities across New York City have a meaningful voice in government decision-making.”

Dr. Greer said the work of the NYC Commission on Racial Equity is vital, noting that the city has seen “drastic decreases” in its Black population as a result of New York affordability challenges and the widening racial wealth gap.

“We’ve seen decreased numbers of Black kids in public schools because of home foreclosures and the way Black homeowners have been targeted,” she explained. “There’s a real question about the legacy of Black people in New York City, and if we can remain–to say nothing of what’s going on at the federal level, that’s literally attacking Black people.”

“I think the mayor recognizes that there are certain times and certain policies where it needs to be specific, and Black New Yorkers have had a unique history within the city, and that’s why he appointed Commissioner Afua Atta-Mensah to sort of think critically about policies that will affect all New Yorkers,” said Greer. “This is a great continuation of a conversation to tackle some really calcified problems that didn’t start with Mamdani, and he’s actually trying to make sure some of them end with him.”