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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) called on Americans to confront the nation’s flaws rather than ignore them on the eve of the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, framing “righteous dissent” as core to the country’s founding ideals.
“This will be no ordinary day of celebration,” he said. “Two hundred fifty years presents a rare opportunity for more than 340 million people to turn together, both toward one another and toward ourselves, to take measure of who we are as a nation.”
Speaking from former President George Washington’s desk at New York City Hall, the first-term mayor reflected on the resilience of American revolutionaries who sought to free themselves from the British “yoke of oppression” in pursuit of a “grand experiment in self-governance.”
He recounted New York City’s role as the symbolic gateway to the nation, tracing the struggles and triumphs of enslaved Africans through the generations of immigrants who came in search of greater opportunity.
Mamdani argued that the idea of “American exceptionalism” had been co-opted by those with “power and influence and wealth” who have tried to cast immigrants aside rather than recognize their role in helping shape the country.
“For generation after generation, we have been told that when the world has sent its people to our shores, it has not sent its best,” he said, an apparent reference to comments first uttered by President Trump during his 2015 presidential campaign launch.
“We are told that America is exceptional because it is stronger, more powerful than everyone else,” the mayor added. “The truth, my friends, is that America is exceptional because, here, nothing is fixed into place.”
Surrounded by a group of recently naturalized citizens, Mamdani rejected the “love it or leave it” philosophy of patriotism, arguing that the fundamental ideal rests in striving to make the country better.
“Patriotism has never been about pretending our nation is without flaws,” he said. “Patriotism is every act of righteous dissent. It is every march led under the heavy sun. It is every protest held a decade before its time.”
“It is precisely because we love this country that we will not leave it,” he continued. “After all, who loves America more than those who have sacrificed so much to make it free?”
Mamdani’s remarks came earlier in the same day that Trump is set to deliver a speech at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota to mark the semi-quincentennial.
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