30-year-old Bangladeshi American Shahana Hanif Becomes First Muslim Woman Elected to New York City Council
- The community organizer is the first woman of color to represent Brooklyn’s 39th District covering Park Slope, Kensington and parts of central Brooklyn.
Shahana Hanif, 30, the daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants and a community organizer, has made history last by becoming the first Muslim woman elected to New York City Council, and the first woman of color to represent Brooklyn’s 39th District covering Park Slope, Kensington and parts of central Brooklyn.
“I was born and raised in Kensington, Brooklyn. I’m the daughter of Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants, a Lupus survivor, and an activist,” Hanif wrote in a Facebook post after the election results were called in her favor. “I’m humbled and proud to be the first Muslim woman elected to the New York City Council and the first woman to represent my district,” she wrote. “We are building an anti-racist, feminist city. We deserve a city that guarantees equitable education, invests in climate solutions, and makes our immigrant neighbors heard and safe. I’m ready to move our city forward in service of our progressive vision every day.”
Earlier on Nov. 2, she wrote on Facebook: “I’m running for NYC Council to create an equitable city where everyone can live with dignity, & I’m really proud of the multiethnic, interfaith, intergenerational coalition we’ve cultivated in the 39th District. Today, it’s time to finish what we started and bring it home.”
A former City Council employee, Hanif has been working hard to improve housing, supporting the arts, fighting for a better criminal justice system, preserving and expanding public space for community events, advocating for immigrants and protecting those affected by domestic violence. She helped create the Avenue C Plaza, a public park in Kensington, a neighborhood long-known for its lack of public outdoor space. She is advocating for a health care system that actually works for those who need it and for disability rights as she lives with Lupus.
In an earlier interview with The New York Times, Hanif said that she wants to work towards the upliftment of communities that have been voiceless. “Muslims live everywhere,” she told the Times. “In our city, we are a growing faith community and have a ton of needs. And so [I will be] connecting with leaders across the city and making sure that the Muslim voice is present in City Hall, alongside the needs of South Asians.”, she said.
Hanif, who grew up in the Kingston neighborhood in Brooklyn, graduated from Bishop Kearney High School and received her B.A. from Brooklyn College. She was 17 years old when she was diagnosed with lupus, an incurable and fatal autoimmune disease.