Mamdani’s Immigrant Map Somehow Misses Three Groups That Defined NYC History
An Italian-American civil rights group accused New York City's socialist mayor of "cultural erasure" after his office released an immigration map that omitted several well-known immigrant communities.
An Italian-American civil rights group accused New York City’s socialist mayor of “cultural erasure” after his office released an immigration map that omitted several well-known immigrant communities.
Democratic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s map of immigrant enclaves included places such as “Little Palestine” and “Little Bhod-Tibet,” but excluded communities long populated by the city’s historically significant Italian, Irish and Jewish populations, New York Post reported Wednesday. This apparent oversight sparked outrage from local Italian-Americans.
“This is not a clerical error. This is cultural erasure,” Italian-American Civil Rights League (IACRL) president Mike Crispi stated in a press release Wednesday. “Little Italy is sacred ground. It is where Italian immigrants came with nothing, worked like hell, opened shops, raised families, built churches, fed the city, and helped make New York what it is.”
Crispi and the IACRL did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. Mamdani’s office declined to comment.
“Mamdani’s City Hall can find room for every fashionable progressive constituency, but somehow it cannot find Little Italy,” Crispi’s statement continued. “Our culture is good enough for their photo ops, our food is good enough for their fundraisers, and our neighborhoods are good enough for tourism dollars — but when it comes time to recognize Italian Americans, they erase us.”
The IACRL called on Mamdani to correct the map, apologize to Italian Americans, and include historic Italian American neighborhoods in any “official city project recognizing immigrant heritage.”