Tamika Mallory & Mysonne Brings Activism to Zohran's Safety Team

• Mamdani taps activists with lived experience to shape city policy on crime, policing, and community safety.
• Linen's past convictions spark controversy, but he has since become a vocal advocate against gun violence and mass incarceration.
• Mallory's long record of activism on police accountability, racial justice, and support for families affected by state violence.

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is already signaling a shift in how the city will approach public safety as he prepares to take office on January 1, 2026. One of his first major moves has been appointing well-known activists Tamika Mallory and Mysonne Linen to his public safety transition team—a decision that has sparked both praise and debate.

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The announcement was shared on November 26 through an Instagram post by Until Freedom, a New York City–based social justice organization co-founded by Mallory, Linen, and activist Angelo R. Pinto. The post revealed that Mamdani had tapped the collective to help advise City Hall during the transition period, particularly around issues tied to crime, policing, and community safety.

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For Mamdani, the appointments reflect a campaign promise to center people with lived experience and long-term community involvement in shaping city policy. But for critics, Linen’s past has become a focal point of controversy.

Linen, a Bronx native and former Def Jam Records artist, has been open about his history with the criminal justice system. In the late 1990s, he was convicted in two armed robberies involving taxi drivers and ultimately served seven years in prison, despite maintaining that he was falsely accused. Prosecutors alleged he assaulted one driver with a beer bottle and robbed another at gunpoint, while his defense argued he had no motive, as he was already earning money as a songwriter with credits connected to artists like Lil’ Kim and Mase. Since his release, Linen has reinvented himself as a vocal advocate against gun violence, police brutality, and mass incarceration, frequently working through Until Freedom to organize protests, community events, and policy conversations.

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Tamika Mallory’s role, however, comes with a long and widely recognized record of activism. For over two decades, Mallory has been one of the most visible civil rights leaders in the country. She served as the executive director of National Action Network after being mentored by Rev. Al Sharpton and later gained national attention as a co-chair of the 2017 Women’s March. Her work has consistently centered police accountability, racial justice, and support for families affected by state violence.

More recently, Mallory has helped lead high-profile campaigns demanding justice for victims of police shootings and systemic racism, including organizing demonstrations following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Through Until Freedom, she has emphasized sustained civic engagement—not just protests, but policy-driven solutions that uplift underserved communities.

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Mamdani’s broader public safety vision aligns closely with that philosophy. He has proposed a $1.1 billion Department of Community Safety aimed at redirecting non-violent and mental-health-related 911 calls away from police officers and toward trained civilian response teams. While the proposal maintains overall NYPD staffing levels, it seeks to redefine how emergencies are handled across the city.

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He has also pledged to end NYPD-led sweeps of homeless encampments, arguing that they do little to solve homelessness and instead push vulnerable residents from one unsafe location to another. “It pushes New Yorkers who are living in the cold to another place where they will live in the cold,” Mamdani previously told CBS News.

As the transition moves forward, Mallory and Linen’s involvement signals that voices shaped by activism and lived experience will help influence how New York City reimagines public safety. Whether celebrated or criticized, the appointments make one thing clear: Mamdani’s administration is preparing to challenge long-standing norms at City Hall.

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