Through his tour company New York Narratives, @asadfromnyc.bsky.social tells the untold histories of Muslims and other New Yorkers. “I want people to know not just the stories of success and survival but also the stories of struggle,” he said.

GANYC member Asad Dandia ( @asadfromnyc.bsky.social ) is profiled in City Limits, on telling the stories of New York’s past, and helping shape its future. citylimits.org/take-a-walk-...

I had a lovely meeting today with the Brooklyn President Antonio Reynoso, where we spoke about the history of Muslim Brooklyn at Ruhani Cafe on Atlantic Avenue. Any opportunity to enhance the cultural literacy and political education of our elected leaders is one I’ll take. Thank you Antonio.

Spoke to NPR’s Bronx affiliate today after a 3-hour “Muslim Harlem” tour (yeah I make you get in your steps) about today’s NYC and my forecast of the city’s future based on my work. The final audio interview should be out in a few weeks! Email [email protected] to book!

At (another) Hampton’s fundraiser with Republican donors on Saturday, Andrew Cuomo said it plainly: he’s expecting Trump’s help to defeat us in November. “I feel good about that,” Cuomo said. New Yorkers won’t.

what is UP!! ICYMI we made a brand new @goingdowntv.bsky.social featuring @asadfromnyc.bsky.social, Joseph Lymous, Ella Jane, and GG! We talk about the catholic church, the american south, the history of new york city, and stephen colbert 😎 youtu.be/0XntCWuhTe8?...

One year ago today, this man called to meet me to discuss a big plan of his. A long shot, we thought. One year later, his work has paid off. He won’t be able to walk like this in Greenwich Village anytime soon, but the plan was a success. Lock in, Mr. Mayor.

Yesterday, my research team and I had the privilege to host a walking tour and oral history workshop with @asadfromnyc.bsky.social. It was exactly the mix of history, journalism, community and critique I've been wanting to put together through my work with @lendercenter.bsky.social.

the free press is completely unhinged. this is about the NYT initially omitting from its story about starvation in Gaza that one of the profiled children has a pre-existing medical condition. what is the "damage" what was done by that omission, exactly?

“Whoever is born in New York is ill-equipped to deal with any other city: all other cities seem, at best, a mistake, and, at worst, a fraud.” Happy 101st Birthday to my fellow Born-New Yorker James Baldwin. He was right about us.

Wonderful article by Tanvi Misra, and kudos to Politico for publishing it. (If they keep printing ecosystem-constitutive pieces like this, I'd resume reading it regularly). Excellent insights in particular by @jaggas1ngh.bsky.social of DRUM Beats and @asadfromnyc.bsky.social.

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One month since his release, Mahmoud Khalil is on Capitol Hill today talking to lawmakers about Palestinian rights, the domestic crackdown on dissent over Gaza & the US responsibility for bloodshed under both Trump and Biden. Full story coming soon.

Small note about Brad’s mannerisms that meant a lot: We were in a progressive neighborhood so of course everyone wanted a selfie w/him. Each time, he’d say, “Listen you should know Asad. He’s doing this amazing tour for my birthday. Follow him!” He decentered himself every time.

look at this.

Thanks so much @asadfromnyc.bsky.social for the great tour yesterday! And to my so. Marek for arranging this excellent birthday present. Loved learning more about the history of our neighbors & neighborhoods. Was delicious, too!

Today I spent 3 hours with Brad Lander and his family, giving them a private tour on Brooklyn’s Muslim, Arab, and South Asian histories. I am so grateful for their deep curiosity and desire to support my work and our communities. Happy Birthday Mr. Comptroller. You’re fam now.

I built an NYC-themed home library! —Bottom shelf: Books I use to curate my tours —Middle shelf: Books I assign in class or use as references —Top shelf: Old or rare books, some dating to the 1800s and worth thousands I’ll make a list of the essentials among these 150+ soon…

Really interesting segment on the shifting NYC electorate with @asadfromnyc.bsky.social on FAQ NYC from @thecity.nyc www.thecity.nyc/2025/07/05/z...

Here @asadfromnyc.bsky.social nails my feelings on the dumb “natives vs transplant” New York debates. I’ll take an intellectually & culturally curious newcomer over a protectionist native any day.

Follow @thecity.nyc. We relentlessly investigate people in power & when we have the goods on them, whatever their political position, we hit publish. What we don't do: Publish crap.

late to the party, but love love love this interview with @asadfromnyc.bsky.social in @thecity.nyc: "when we decide that the contradictions of America’s founding do not represent our ideals… we can take down statues of people who represent them." www.thecity.nyc/2025/05/27/a...

Final results are out. Mamdani beat Cuomo 56-44. 12 whole points. This was not “close.” It was not “tight.” It was not “neck-and-neck.” Our boy totally obliterated a dynasty—and this moment will be studied a century from now.

This morning I was honored to lead a tour for the Chancellor of CUNY—Félix V. Matos Rodríguez—at the Museum of the City of NY. This man steers the ship of the largest public university system in the US and I loved exploring the legacy of Shirley Chisholm with he and other CUNY folks!

there's been something of a tendency since October 7 to believe the *moral* disasters of Israeli action will result in *military* disaster, and that's likely to pop up again. I'm making no predictions here but I'd treat any 'this time Israel will really be in trouble' takes with a grain of salt.

Michael Bloomberg has just endorsed Cuomo for mayor. I will never let you forget what he did to NYC’s Muslims when *he* was mayor. I wrote this 5 years ago when he stupidly tried to run for president. You spied on us—and now one of our own sons is going to beat your man. Poetry.

The most striking thing about the LA protests is how many people just dropped everything to show up and yell at federal agents. There are people in suits, and carrying dogs, and wearing flip flops or bike helmets. These are not people who planned to do this today. But there they are.

Historian Asad Dandia, a city character in his own right, is showing the history of Muslims in New York while also trying to help elect the city’s first Muslim mayor. buff.ly/HMbY2zn

Another great profile of GANYC member @asadfromnyc.bsky.social ! Countless tourists visit lower Manhattan to walk through financial and colonial history and see the World Trade Center, and hopefully more will take in the hidden history just blocks away, featured in unique tours like this.

Happy 100th birthday to the Black Shining Prince of Harlem, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.

I am proud to co-launch a new tour about Malcolm X called “Brother Malcolm” commissioned by the New School and the Mellon Foundation in partnership with the Black Gotham Experience. The tour centers Malcolm as kin. We’re in the news today. Walk with us! ny1.com/nyc/all-boro...

the number one goal for everyone left-of-center for the next 6 weeks should be making sure Andrew Cuomo doesn’t become mayor of the largest city in the country. even if you don’t live in NYC, you probably have friends or family who do. please tell them how awful Cuomo.

If you, like me, got turned on to Spier and Mackay menswear by @dieworkwear.bsky.social, tariffs just got real!!!

Spoke today at the “Rally for the Right to Learn” organized by labor unions in higher ed across NYC in defense of our students and the right to defend Palestinian rights. Grateful to be in community with students, faculty, lawyers, elected officials, and organizers fighting back.

The wonderful historian @asadfromnyc.bsky.social told the story of how the NYPD surveilled him for years for being a community minded working class Muslim.

Just acquired: An original copy of Robert Moses’s first edition autobiography, signed by Moses himself, from NYC’s oldest independent bookstore—the iconic Argosy, which is full of old material like this. It’s my priciest book purchase at $500, but priceless as a collector’s item.

One of the two times I've interacted with David Shor in person, he started saying viciously anti-Arab stuff entirely unprompted.

Mahmoud Khalil is a man, an expectant father. Not a political symbol. He is a man who stood against the genocide of his people and has been incarcerated for it. There’s a consumption of him for academic expression by people with no respect for the man that really doesn’t sit right with me.

congrats democrats, you got played like chumps. but at least you're respecting the office or some bullshit

Successfully taught 400 years of NYC history, from 1609 when the first Dutch settler touched Manhattan, all the way up to the 2025 election, with a field trip almost every week. Hope it helped my 25 students in making sense of the world’s most diverse city. And I got reappointed to teach again!

My pops deadass had one of his homies in Long Island deliver eggs in bulk to him in Brooklyn like it was a drug deal I’m crying

Learn history before it's outlawed! (Further outlawed)

This is going to be an incredible and timely conversation. Tomorrow night. In-person only. For parking and more information, email: [email protected] @ramapocollegenj.bsky.social @labendz.bsky.social @asadfromnyc.bsky.social

ALT text: a full-page piece in today's NY Daily News covering the walking tour "Malcolm X's Harlem: Witnessing the Autobiography," a project of New York Narratives by @asadfromnyc.bsky.social. Art: Photo of Malcolm X addressings a packed outdoor rally in Harlem, June 1963. (Text of article below.)

I grew up on the NY Daily News. My dad would bring copies home from his store every day for me to read, imbuing me with a deep sense of civic commitment. Well today, my own work got nearly a full page feature in my childhood paper. A younger version of me can’t believe it 😭.