Zohran Mamdani’s Cash-Strapped NYC Parks Department Training Leaders in ‘Antiracism’

Zohran Mamdani’s Cash-Strapped NYC Parks Department Training Leaders in ‘Antiracism’

Under New York City’s new democratic socialist (communist) Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the city’s financially challenged Parks Department is training supervisors in antiracism, the belief system pushed by Ibram Kendi and others, which posits that it is not enough to not be a racist, but that one must be actively anti-racist.

Mamdani’s administration embraced the tenets of DEI from the beginning, so this is not a surprise; it’s merely a reminder that the left is actively pushing the college campus-ification of America.

The Washington Free Beacon reports:

‘Yield Positions of Power to Those Otherwise Marginalized’: Mamdani’s Cash-Strapped Parks Department Trains Leaders on ‘Becoming Anti-Racist’

The New York City Parks Department, facing a $33 million budget cut and chronic understaffing problems, instructs its supervisors to be “antiracist” activists who police “microaggressions” and promote conversations about race in the workplace, documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show.

The department’s Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging provides the “Microaggressions” training to help senior leaders and employees identify “subtle” slights that people experience in the workplace “due to their group identity,” the records show.

A resource guide created by the same DEI office—titled “What every supervisor/manager should know about race and racism in the workplace”—recommends books and documentaries that portray white people and society as inherently racist, including Nikole Hannah-Jones’s historically inaccurate 1619 Project, Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist, and Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility.

The guide also features a “Becoming Anti-Racist” graphic “inspired by Dr. Kendi,” which it says supervisors can use “to discern where you are on your journey.” The guide identifies four “zones” in the path toward “Becoming Anti-Racist.” The “Fear Zone” includes those who “avoid hard questions” and “strive to be comfortable.” The “Learning Zone” includes those who “understand [their] own privilege in ignoring racism” and are “vulnerable about [their] own biases and knowledge gaps.” The final “Growth Zone” includes those who “promite [sic] and advocate for policies and leaders that are Anti-Racist,” “educate [their] peers how Racism harms our profession,” and “yield positions of power to those otherwise marginalized.”

The Free Beacon’s Twitter/X feed includes these groovy graphics used in the trainings:

The New York City Parks Department—which is facing a $33 million budget cut under Mayor Zohran Mamdani—instructs its supervisors to be “antiracist” activists who police “microaggressions,” training materials obtained by the Free Beacon show. pic.twitter.com/Cy0YfRZEw7

— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 2, 2026

The department’s Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging offers the trainings to help supervisors and managers identify “subtle” slights that people experience in the workplace “due to their group identity,” according to the materials. pic.twitter.com/Ia943eCPov

— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 2, 2026

An NYC Parks “Resource Guide for Leaders,” for example, features a “Becoming Anti-Racist” graphic “inspired by” “antiracist” huckster Ibram X. Kendi.

It says those who “avoid hard questions” and “deny racism is a problem” are operating in a “Fear Zone.” Those in the “Growth… pic.twitter.com/6SSboVQ1cU

— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 2, 2026

It’s unclear exactly when the department created the training slides and graphics—they’re undated—but they appear to have been distributed or updated this year, given that the Free Beacon obtained them through a request for records dated from the time Mayor Zohran Mamdani took… pic.twitter.com/vkfcqHh0Di

— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 2, 2026

The materials “are the latest example of Democratic governments using ostensibly apolitical agencies to promote ideologically left-wing views on race and culture,” @ChuckRossDC reports, and they come as the Parks Department “faces a looming budget shortfall and staffing… pic.twitter.com/I4CO0dXIls

— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 2, 2026

The Rudy Giuliani administration is a distant memory. New York City is now being run by a progressive cabal that more closely resembles the student body of Columbia University.

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