A prominent Black New York City politician compared the Democratic Socialists of America to white supremacists, a sharp rebuke that exposes a widening racial fault line inside the Democratic Party and lands squarely on the doorstep of figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
A prominent Black New York City politician compared the Democratic Socialists of America to white supremacists, a sharp rebuke that exposes a widening racial fault line inside the Democratic Party and lands squarely on the doorstep of figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards posted "White supremacy comes in all forms" on social media late Sunday, responding to a New York Times report that detailed how the DSA's far-left wing in New York City largely ignores Black and Latino members and the issues that matter to them. The accusation, aimed at the political movement that launched AOC's career and now props up Mayor Zohran Mamdani, did not come from a Republican. It came from a fellow Democrat who has represented Queens for more than thirteen years.
Richards's broadside marks the most racially charged attack yet in a growing civil conflict between the Democratic Party's establishment wing and the DSA faction that has seized power in city hall. The fight is no longer just about taxes or Israel. It is about whether a largely white socialist movement is using minority communities as stepping stones while ignoring their priorities.
The borough president did not stop at a single post. He doubled down by sharing a famous Malcolm X quote that labeled white liberals "dangerous foxes, who also show their teeth to the Negro but pretend that they are smiling." The full passage, which Richards posted publicly, drew a sharp line between the DSA's stated commitment to racial justice and what Richards sees as its actual conduct.
"The white liberals are more dangerous than the conservatives; they lure the Negro, and as the Negro runs from the growling wolf, he flees into the open jaws of the 'smiling' fox."
The exchange started after DSA state Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest attacked the Times reporter who wrote the piece, complaining that the story failed to mention a Black DSA member who represents one of the neighborhoods discussed. Another journalist pointed out that the article had already addressed her complaint. Richards then weighed in with his white-supremacy post, as the New York Post reported.
The accusation is not new in substance, but the source gives it weight. Richards is not a gadfly or a right-wing critic. He won the borough presidency in 2020 after eight years on the City Council. He represents one of the largest blocs of Black homeowners in Queens. He endorsed Mamdani after the mayor secured the Democratic nomination last year. That endorsement makes the public rupture harder to dismiss.
The numbers behind Richards's complaint are difficult to argue with. A 2021 internal survey found that 85 percent of the DSA's membership is white. The organization has backed candidates from minority backgrounds, Ocasio-Cortez is Latina, and Mamdani was born in Uganda, but the rank and file remain overwhelmingly white, and critics say the group's priorities reflect that composition.
The DSA has also faced accusations that it parachutes its own candidates into vulnerable districts rather than recruiting locally, often running them against seasoned Black and Latino incumbents. That pattern played out in stark terms during the June Democratic primaries, when Mamdani endorsed two DSA congressional candidates, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, over incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, established politicians with deep roots in minority communities.
Both Chevalier and Valdez won, largely carrying areas flush with upper-income, young, and white voters. The victories illustrated a dynamic that minority Democrats have complained about for years: the DSA wins by mobilizing gentrifiers, not by building coalitions in the communities it claims to champion, a trend that prompted Sen. John Fetterman to publicly rip his own party over the socialist sweep.
Political operative Ryan Adams, managing director at the consulting firm Actum, put a finer point on it. He noted that the DSA previously lost races in neighborhoods where the population is overwhelmingly people of color, before the generational political talent of Mamdani became the group's standard-bearer.
"While they are electing diverse candidates, the growth of DSA is coming in places that are seeing the most gentrification. Socialism has a long history with communities of color, but it's hard to argue the recent activity has been deeply intertwined with the communities."
That assessment tracks with what the National Black Empowerment Action Fund has argued publicly. The group has contended that the DSA's agenda is bad for African Americans, a position that puts a Black advocacy organization directly at odds with the socialist movement's claim to speak for marginalized communities.
The ideological gap between Richards and the Mamdani administration is not abstract. Richards has long advocated for homeownership in Black and brown communities as a path to generational wealth. One of Mamdani's top advisers, Cea Weaver, has referred to homeownership as "a weapon of white supremacy masquerading as 'wealth building' public policy."
That framing drew a blunt response from Renee Gregory, president of Brownstoners of Bedford-Stuyvesant Inc., a group founded in 1978 to help keep Black homeowners in the historically Black Brooklyn neighborhood. Gregory told the Post earlier this year:
"White supremacy? I'm not white."
The exchange captures the core tension. A largely white socialist organization tells Black homeowners that their path to wealth is a tool of white supremacy, and the Black homeowners are supposed to accept the lecture. Richards, who represents those homeowners, has decided he will not.
The broader fracture within the Democratic Party has been building for months. The DSA's rise as a viable force inside the party has drawn sharp criticism from moderates who see the socialist faction dragging the party leftward at the expense of working-class and minority voters who actually live with the consequences of its policies, a dynamic visible when Hakeem Jeffries pivoted to praise a DSA-backed candidate after backing the incumbent she defeated.
Sunday's eruption was not the first time Richards broke with the mayor. Weeks into Mamdani's tenure, the administration announced that city coffers were running dry and proposed a 9.5 percent property tax increase as the only solution. Richards pushed back publicly, saying "New Era shouldn't price out black and brown New Yorkers", a direct shot at Mamdani's "inauguration of a new era" branding.
Earlier this year, Richards was also one of a handful of Democrats who called on Mamdani's administration to clear homeless encampments during a brutal and deadly cold snap, demanding the city force people off the streets and dismantle makeshift shelters.
"You can't let the people stay out there. These are people in crisis."
Richards represents District 31 in Queens, a more moderate area of the borough compared to the far-left pockets that have elected Mamdani and other DSA-aligned officials. His voters are homeowners, not activists. They care about property values, public safety, and keeping their neighborhoods intact, concerns that do not always align with the DSA's ideological priorities.
The DSA's internal divisions extend beyond New York. The organization has struggled with factional infighting over endorsements and strategy, and prominent Democrats like AOC face questions about whether the movement that launched their careers can hold together as it tries to scale nationally. Some observers, including veteran strategist James Carville, have argued that AOC's political ceiling is lower than her supporters believe.
Meanwhile, pro-Israel Democrat Rep. Ritchie Torres dominated his far-left primary challenger in June, a sign that the DSA's appeal has limits even in deep-blue New York. The split over Israel, combined with disagreements on taxes, policing, and housing, has left the party's left flank fighting on multiple fronts at once.
AOC herself has faced pressure from within her own ideological space, most recently when she declined to address questions about a scandal involving a DSA-linked official, the kind of silence that erodes credibility with the very communities the movement claims to serve.
Richards's accusation stings precisely because it uses the left's own language. Calling the DSA a vehicle for white supremacy borrows the rhetorical framework that progressive organizations have spent years building, and turns it inward. When a Black borough president with thirteen years in office tells a mostly white socialist group that it operates like a white-supremacist structure, the usual defenses do not work. The DSA cannot dismiss him as a right-wing troll or a bad-faith actor. He endorsed their mayor.
The pattern is clear enough. The DSA runs candidates in gentrifying districts, wins with young white voters, defeats minority incumbents, and then claims the results as proof of a multiracial coalition. A movement that is 85 percent white, that calls Black homeownership a tool of white supremacy, and that parachutes candidates into communities of color is not building solidarity. It is building a brand.
When the people who actually live in those neighborhoods start saying so out loud, the rest of the party should listen.
