Thousands of New Yorkers descended upon City Hall early Thursday to welcome Mayor Zohran Mamdani to his new office. With winds gusting over 30 miles per hour, crowds huddled together like congregations of penguins; attendees handed out hand-warmers to each other.
Though the weather was frigid, the atmosphere at Mamdani’s inauguration was warmer. Singer Lucy Dacus soothed the crowd with her rendition of the labor ballad “Bread and Roses,” a favorite of the Democratic Socialists of America, whose New York chapter played a critical role organizing in support of Mamdani.
Imagine, days before Donald Trump’s second inauguration, someone telling you the following January would have Lucy Dacus singing “Bread and Roses” on the steps of New York City Hall to welcome a 34-year-old South Asian Muslim and Democratic socialist as mayor, to be sworn in by the nation’s most famous Democratic socialist, Sen. Bernie Sanders.
While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer quietly sat in the row behind, near disgraced ex-mayor Eric Adams, Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez kindled the crowd, helping them momentarily forget their shivers.
At one point, Sanders had to pause his speech amid an explosion of cheers. “Demanding that the wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes –“ Sanders started, before being interrupted by huge cheers and chants to “tax the rich.”
“As I was saying,” Sanders restarted, with levity. “Demanding that the wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes is not radical. It is exactly the right thing to do.”
Zeteo spoke with Sanders after the rally.
Sanders said it was very moving to see the multigenerational, multiracial coalition he had spent years building in front of him in the crowd on Thursday.
“What we are fighting for – a government that works for all and not just the few, a government based on economic, racial, social justice – this is not utopia, this is not some pie-in-the-sky idea. This is something the American people want and was manifested today,” he told Zeteo.
In a barn-burning, 20-plus minute speech, Mamdani spoke of universalist values, a hyper-focus on unapologetically delivering on his agenda, and the necessity for the movement that elected him to stay active to help him accomplish that.
“For too long, those fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty. Many of these people have been betrayed by the established order,” Mamdani said sharply.
“We will draw this city closer together. We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” he continued, adding: “Because no matter what you eat, how you pray, or where you come from, the words that most define us are the two we all share: New Yorkers.”
Watch the video above to hear directly from Sanders.
If you missed the ceremony, you can watch it all here.
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