New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently issued an apology to Black New Yorkers after being called out over two related controversies: appointing zero Black deputy mayors and previously describing New York as a “city built by immigrants” without acknowledging the role of Black Americans.
In a conversation with historian and podcaster Latoya Coleman earlier in March, Mamdani acknowledged that his comments failed to recognize the role Black Americans, particularly descendants of enslaved people, have played in shaping New York City.
He said that in trying to highlight the contributions of immigrant communities, he failed to fully acknowledge the central role Black New Yorkers have played in the city’s history.
Black voters are often described as the backbone of progressive politics
However, when the time comes to distribute political appointments, leadership roles and decision-making power, that backbone is often treated as an afterthought.
For many Black New Yorkers who helped power Mamdani’s electoral coalition, the controversy wasn’t surprising. Black communities mobilize, organize and vote in droves in efforts to preserve democracy. Yet once candidates secure their victory, the same communities that helped deliver it often find themselves sidelined when leadership roles and positions of power are distributed.
This pattern stretches across the arc of American political history. During the Reconstruction Era, Black Americans helped build new political coalitions and held public office across the South. According to the Equal Justice Initiative, over 2,000 Black men served in elected positions during this period, a remarkable expansion of democratic participation after the Civil War. But when white political power reasserted itself in the late nineteenth century, that leadership was violently dismantled and Black political participation was systematically suppressed.
In the 20th century, Black voters increasingly aligned with the Democratic Party, helping solidify its influence in northern cities, but per History.com, major New Deal programs excluded many Black workers, particularly those employed in domestic and agricultural jobs.
The civil rights movement forced the federal government to enact landmark legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, expanding access to the ballot for Black people, as well as protections against discrimination. But even as Black activism reshaped the nation’s laws and institutions, political leadership structures remained overwhelmingly white.
Black voters remain one of the most reliable voting blocs in American politics
According to Gallup, Democratic presidential candidates have averaged roughly 90% of the Black vote in recent decades, underscoring the central role Black voters continue to play in shaping electoral outcomes.
As the Guardian reported, the late Rev. Jesse Jackson vocalized this imbalance clearly during his 1984 presidential campaign, saying, “We can win without the Democratic Party, but the Democratic Party cannot win without us.”
In 2019, journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones made a similar point in The 1619 Project, writing for The New York Times Magazine that Black Americans have long played an overlooked but essential role in shaping the nation’s democratic ideals: “Black Americans have also been, and continue to be, foundational to the idea of American freedom. More than any other group in this country’s history, we have served, generation after generation, in an overlooked but vital role: It is we who have been the perfecters of this democracy.”
Against that backdrop, Mamdani’s remarks about New York being “built by immigrants” struck a nerve for many Black New Yorkers. The contribution of immigrants are, without question, central to the city’s identity, but framing the city exclusively through that lens erases the foundational role Black Americans have played in building, sustaining and transforming it over the years.
From the labor that helped build the city’s infrastructure to the political organizing that turned Harlem into a national center of Black civic life, Black New Yorkers have played a central role in shaping the city’s culture, economy and political landscape.
Black Americans have long helped build the political coalitions that win elections, only to find themselves sidelined once those victories are secured.
Apologies can properly acknowledge a mistake, yes. But true, progressive governing requires intentional efforts to elevate the voices and communities that helped secure the victory in the first place.
Whether Mamdani’s administration ultimately reflects that lesson will determine whether his apology marks the beginning of a course correction or becomes another reminder that Black political labor is recognized but rarely rewarded.
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