The Mamdani Medicine?!
When I first moved to the US, I kept hearing this weird phrase again and again:
“Drink the Kool-Aid.”
Honestly, I never really got it. Something about following — about buying in without question?!
It felt strange, almost celebrated, this idea of belonging by disappearing.
And that’s exactly what so many of us n’betweeners have been taught to do.
To drink the Kool-Aid of belonging.
To trade our complexity for acceptance.
To do the right thing instead of the real thing.
We know what it’s like to translate ourselves, to shrink our edges, to play small so others can stay comfortable.
We become fluent in survival — but forget what it means to be real.
That’s why Zohran Mamdani’s rise in New York politics matters — not just in the US, but around the world.
He reminds us that real change starts when n’betweeners stop waiting for permission to lead.
To lead with authenticity instead of assimilation.
Because when we see someone like Mamdani become a leader, we don’t just see a political win — we see a mirror.
A mirror for everyone who’s ever been told they were too complicated, too different, too much, or didn’t quite fit anywhere.
That’s what it means to be an empowered n’betweener.
To bridge worlds — not by erasing yourself, but by showing that all your worlds can coexist in one body.
Born in Uganda to Indian parents, raised in New York, switching between Hindi, Urdu, and Spanish — Mamdani doesn’t pick one world.
He moves through all of them.
He raps. He dances. He shows up at a QTBIPOC club one night, chats with cab drivers in Queens the next, and speaks truth to power in the same breath.
He doesn’t perform palatability — he practices presence.
And that is the Mamdani medicine.
Because for too long, “relatable” has meant white, male, and "safe".
We’ve been told that leadership has to look and sound a certain way — clean, contained, digestible.
But Mamdani brews something different.
He redefines relatability — not as sameness, but as realness.
He reminds us that being an n’betweener isn’t a contradiction — it’s a calling.
Forget the Kool-Aid.
Drink the Mamdani medicine — the kind that doesn’t numb you, but makes you remember.
Be real.
Take up space.
Live your intersections out loud.
It’s time for us to rise, n’betweener.
Are you ready?
XO,
Nora.