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Members of the city’s Democratic Socialists of America think their roster is too white — and are considering an “anti-oppression” task force to recruit minorities and actual working-class New Yorkers.
The New York City chapter of the uber-liberal group will consider a resolution stuffed with politically correct messaging at its convention on Saturday that would create a “Task Force to Promote Equitable Organizing Culture” and force its leaders to get diversity training.
“NYC-DSA aims to build the power of the socialist movement by growing our base among the multiracial, multigendered working class of our city,” the proposed resolution said.
“DSA has historically faced well-documented challenges recruiting and retaining people of color, and NYC-DSA’s racial makeup does not reflect the racial diversity of our city,” the proposal added, also referring to the proposed group as an “anti-oppression” task force.
The resolution, if approved, would also require extensive training for DSA leadership. A recent internal survey found 60% of the city DSA’s members identified as white while the Big Apple is 34% white, The Post previously reported. The city chapter claims more than 15,000 members.
“The chapter will create an Anti-Oppression Task Force supported by the Membership Committee, which will be responsible for supporting leadership and membership to dismantle oppressive systems and combat oppressive practices in the chapter,” the resolution said.
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“It is incumbent on NYC-DSA’s leadership to proactively learn about oppressive systems and behaviors, how to dismantle and combat them within the organization, and how to construct an equitable culture that advances our goals of organizing the multiracial, multigendered working class; as well as supporting the full membership to learn about these topics and enact these goals.”
The lack of diversity in the DSA’s ranks and leadership has been a sore spot for the lefty organization despite its tremendous political successes in recent years — even as some of its marquee candidates have been from various races and minority ethnic and backgrounds.
Card-carrying DSA member Zohran Mamdani, who is of South Asian descent, was elected mayor last year while other successful candidates elected to Congress and the state Legislature include Latina Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Reps.-elect Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier.
But other politicians have roasted the DSA for being run by mostly affluent white members, despite claiming to advocate for their minority and working class constituents.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who is likely to be the nation’s first black Speaker of the House of Representatives when Democrats take control of Congress next year, has sparred with DSA reps in his Brooklyn district.
DSA members at a primary victory party for Rep.-elect Valdez threatened Jeffries with a future primary by chanting, “You’re next!”
“It was very interesting to me, as observed by others that there was almost zero diversity in that crowd,” Jeffries told CNN of the taunts.
Meanwhile, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said he welcomed the move by the DSA to diversify its ranks — but said the task force shouldn’t be run by white members.
“We hope the equity task force is representative of Black and brown communities,” said Richards, who is black. “We hope black and brown members will be in charge of the task force.”
The DSA has also faced accusations of hypocrisy due to embarrassing revelations in The Post that NYC-DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo, a Yale University grad, was gifted a $1.5 million townhouse in Bedford-Stuyvesant by his wealthy dad — with another $1.4 million to spruce up the place.
The DSA bigwig had boasted of working-class roots and portrayed himself on social media as a hardworking labor union member.
Civil rights leader and housing activist Rev. Kevin McCall, who earlier had called for Gordillo to resign, said a task force would be a welcome first step but warned the DSA that it needs to open up the process to black and Hispanic communities in the five boroughs.
“Our campaign to hold the DSA accountable and tell the truth about their privilege is resonating with some rank-and-file members,” McCall said. “As a first test to whether their leadership will confront its own hypocrisy with meaningful action, the DSA should open the doors of their convention, invite black and brown communities into the conversation, and listen to those they claim to help.”
Another resolution aims to elect a “socialist speaker of the City Council in 2029 to hold the mayor accountable from the left.
There are now four DSA members serving on the 51-seat City Council.
“DSA will work in coalition with other left and progressive organizations and with organized labor toward this end,” that proposed resolution said. “Recognizing that Speakers are rarely first-term members and that a socialist Speaker may not be achievable in 2029, DSA will as a fallback, support the most left-aligned viable candidate who commits to the bloc’s priorities.”
