Organizers of Manhattan’s Columbus Day Parade have extended an olive branch to Mayor Zohran Mamdani by inviting him to march on Fifth Avenue next month, despite his history of slighting Italian Americans.
asserted
Organizers → extend → Americans
Christopher Loiacono, president of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, said the nonprofit group is willing to look past the socialist mayor’s past rocky relationship with Italian Americans — and his loathing of the famed but controversial explorer – because it wants to broker a better relationship with City Hall.
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it → say → Hall
“We feel cooperating is always the better path . . . and we hope to create a good relationship with his office,” Loiacono told The Post this week.
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Loiacono → feel → Post
“We hope he will be more open to [working] with the Italian community.”
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he → hope → community
Some Italian-American leaders were outraged by the invite, including Mike Crispi, president of the Italian American Civil Rights League. He ripped it as a “weak gesture.”
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He → outrage → gesture
“I think that he should be coming to Italian Americans hat in hand, groveling for an apology for all the insulting and hateful rhetoric that he’s put on our people over the last couple of years,” Crispi said.
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Crispi → think → years
Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) said Mamdani should stay away.
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Mamdani → say → ?
“This is a man who has made it clear that he doesn’t respect Christopher Columbus, and he doesn’t even think us enough of a group to put on his immigrant enclave map,” said Ariola.
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Ariola → make → map
“Why would he want to be there?
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he → want → ?
To get pictures and pretend he’s a paisan now?
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he → get → pictures
He should sit this one out.”
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He → sit → one
Invitations to participate in the Oct. 12 parade were sent out to Mamdani and other elected officials last week.
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Invitations → participate → Mamdani
Although Mamdani as of Friday had yet to respond, Loiacono said he’s hopeful Hizzoner will attend.
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Hizzoner → have → Friday
Crispi said he doesn’t think Mamdani has the meatballs to show.
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Mamdani → say → meatballs
“He knows he’ll be booed off the block very quickly,” he said.
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he → know → block
“This is the mayor who likes to be a social media guy and do his little curated videos, but in real life, he’s loathed by the real people who built the city and who have been in the city for a long time.”
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who → like → time
The mayor came under fire in July after his administration left Little Italy — along with other beloved ethnic neighborhoods — off a newly released city map of immigrant enclaves despite it being a nationally recognized historic district.
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it → come → enclaves
Although Mamdani insisted the list isn’t “exhaustive” and that future versions would be amended to include Little Italy, the root of the tension between him and the Italians runs much deeper.
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root → insist → him
A Mamdani social media post from 2020 surfaced during last year’s mayoral race showing the Ugandan-born pol flipping the middle finger to a Christopher Columbus statue in Astoria, Queens.
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pol → surface → Astoria
Mamdani, who that same year successfully ran to represent the neighborhood in the state Assembly, included the caption, “Take it down.”
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who → run → it
Mamdani has also been invited to attend the Columbus Day parade along 18th Avenue in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, on Oct. 10, said Carlo Scissura, vice chairman of the Federation of Italian American Organizations of Brooklyn, which runs the annual event.
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which → invite → event
“We invited all the elected officials; we always love having the mayor of the City of New York at our parade,” said Scissura, adding that Mamdani has yet to respond.
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Mamdani → invite → parade
Council Speaker Julie Menin, a moderate Democrat whom Mamdani has repeatedly clashed with while trying to push his far-left agenda, will be the grand marshal at the Brooklyn parade.
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Mamdani → clash → parade
“I hope [Mamdani] attends … and uses this occasion to rise to the moment, show some respect for our heritage and demonstrate that he values our community,” said Councilman Frank Morano (R-Staten Island).
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Morano → hope → community
“He should understand why this holiday matters to us.”
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holiday → understand → us
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