Federal civil rights officials are closely monitoring New York City following a warning from the Justice Department that City Hall may be veering into unlawful discrimination.
The caution from Washington centers on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s decision to appoint Cea Weaver, a far-left housing activist, as the city’s new tenant advocate, a role that influences housing policy and tenant protections across the city.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon publicly raised alarms after an old video of Weaver resurfaced online, reviving concerns about the ideological direction of the administration’s housing agenda and whether it aligns with equal protection under the law.
In that video, Weaver argued that the United States should abandon the idea of property as an individual right and instead reframe it as a “collective good,” promoting what she described as “shared equity.”
During the same remarks, Weaver said such a shift would require families — “especially white families” — to have a “different relationship to property” than the one they currently have.
Those comments quickly drew backlash on social media and from legal observers, who said the language raises red flags about racial bias being baked into policy discussions.
Dhillon responded directly on X, making clear that the Justice Department views discrimination as illegal regardless of who it targets.
“New York: Consider this your official notice from @TheJusticeDept,” Dhillon wrote, adding, “We will NOT tolerate discrimination based on skin color. It is ILLEGAL.” She also said the Civil Rights Division is “paying very close attention.”
The warning was reinforced in a subsequent interview on OANN’s “Fine Point with Chanel Rion,” where Dhillon said civil rights protections apply equally to all Americans and that federal intervention is possible if New York City crosses legal lines, according to the Washington Examiner.
“Just because you’re white doesn’t mean you have fewer rights in this country,” she said, adding that the administration is “on high scrutiny.”
Additional scrutiny intensified after the New York Post published a report highlighting Weaver’s past online activity, including posts that were later deleted. In those posts, Weaver urged supporters to “seize private property” and labeled homeownership “a weapon of white supremacy.”
The Post also reported that Weaver called on voters to “elect more communists” and sharply criticized law enforcement during the unrest that followed the 2020 death of George Floyd.
Weaver has been affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America and previously worked with Housing Justice for All, according to the report.
The Post further noted that she served as an adviser to Mamdani’s 2025 campaign and was heavily involved in pushing for stricter rent stabilization measures in 2019.
Opponents of the mayor warn that the appointment reflects a broader housing strategy they say could harm landlords and property owners, including Mamdani’s proposal to freeze rents on approximately one million rent-regulated apartments across the city.
Humberto Lopes, founder and CEO of the Gotham Housing Alliance, told the Post that such policies repeat the mistakes of government-run housing, which he described as a long-term failure.
For critics on the right, the controversy reaches beyond housing policy. They argue it raises fundamental questions about whether the nation’s largest city is moving toward race-based decision-making and anti-property ideology — and whether federal authorities will step in before those ideas are translated into law.
{Matzav.com}
