Speech comes hours before Trump’s Mount Rushmore remarks
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is set to deliver remarks at 10 a.m. Friday from behind George Washington’s desk at City Hall, surrounded by recently naturalized citizens. The address marks the United States’ 250th birthday.
Mamdani, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was born in Uganda and moved to New York City with his family at age 7. His speech comes days after the Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship, affirming that nearly all people born on U.S. soil are citizens.
In a statement to the New York Times ahead of the semiquincentennial, Mamdani said that “anniversaries of this scale are not just invitations to reflect on the past” but “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.”
Last year on the Fourth of July, Mamdani wrote 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.”
Last month, all three congressional candidates endorsed by the mayor won their Democratic primary races in New York City. Mamdani is also preparing the city for what is expected to be a dangerous, record-breaking heatwave this week and into the weekend.
Trump is scheduled to deliver his own 250th-anniversary address at Mount Rushmore on Friday, hours after Mamdani’s speech. The celebration there will include fireworks, military bands, aviation flyovers and a salute to the six branches of the armed forces.