Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City, is expected to deliver a speech on Friday morning to mark America’s 250th birthday.
The address, scheduled to begin at 10am local time and streamed live, will be delivered from behind George Washington’s desk in New York city hall. Mamdani will be surrounded by recently naturalized citizens.
Mamdani, who was born in Uganda but moved to New York City with his family when he was seven years old, is himself a naturalized US citizen.
His expected remarks come just days after the supreme court rejected Donald Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship, and affirmed that nearly all people born on US soil are US citizens – delivering a blow to the Trump administration’s agenda.
In a recent statement to the New York Times about this year’s semiquincentennial celebrations, Mamdani said that “anniversaries of this scale are not just invitations to reflect on the past” but that “they are also a mirror.”
“I remember many a college dorm room poster describing patriotism in the language of ‘love it or leave it,’ but patriotism is not pretending our country has no flaws,” Mamdani said. “It is loving our country enough to fight for the fulfillment of its ideals. The freedoms we enjoy were not handed down; they were won. And we have many more to win.”
On the Fourth of July last year, Mamdani posted on social media: “America is beautiful, contradictory, unfinished. I am proud of our country even as we constantly strive to make it better, to protect and deepen our democracy, to fulfill its promise for each and every person who calls it home.”
“Happy Independence Day,” he added. “No Kings in America.”
Mamdani’s speech on Friday comes as last month, all three congressional candidates endorsed by the democratic socialist mayor won their Democratic primary races in New York City, and also comes as Mamdani is preparing the city for what is expected to be a dangerous, record-breaking heatwave this week and into the weekend.
Mamdani’s remarks are also set to be delivered just hours before Trump is set to deliver an address at Mount Rushmore where he will commemorate America’s 250th anniversary.
The celebration will also include fireworks, military bands, aviation flyovers and a salute to the six branches of the armed forces.
