Italian Americans — whose ancestors not only had a hand in building New York City, but laid the physical foundation of it — are blasting Democratic Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani after his administration published a map of NYC immigrant neighborhoods that excluded Little Italy.
“Zohran Mamdani wants to ERASE Italian Americans,” the Italian American Civil Rights League (IACRL) declared in a Wednesday statement. “First, he denied our permit for Unity Day 2026. Now, he is excluding Little Italy as a recognized location all together on the map.”
“Italian Americans BUILT NEW YORK CITY. Not third world Ugandans,” they continued, adding, “We stand AGAINST COMMUNISTS!”
The IACRL went on to explain that Mamdani’s “New York City Immigrant Enclaves” map “highlighted dozens of ethnic neighborhoods across New York City while ignoring Little Italy — one of the most iconic immigrant neighborhoods in American history.”
“This is not a clerical error. This is cultural erasure,” Mike Crispi, President of IACRL, said. “Little Italy is sacred ground. It is where Italian immigrants came with nothing, worked like hell, opened shops, raised families, built churches, fed the city, and helped make New York what it is.”
The Italian American Civil Rights League’s statement continued:
Little Italy is not just a memory or a tourist stop. It remains a living center of Italian American culture. The Feast of San Gennaro still brings generations together. The Italian American Museum preserves the stories of our families. John Viola’s Red Sauce Studio is telling Italian American stories through modern media from the heart of Little Italy. Baby John’s cannolis and the family businesses on Mulberry Street are cultural landmarks — proof that Italian America is still here and still fighting to preserve its heritage.
“Mamdani’s City Hall can find room for every fashionable progressive constituency, but somehow it cannot find Little Italy,” Crispi said. “Our culture is good enough for their photo ops, our food is good enough for their fundraisers, and our neighborhoods are good enough for tourism dollars — but when it comes time to recognize Italian Americans, they erase us.”
The IACRL is now calling on Mamdani to “immediately correct the map, publicly apologize to Italian Americans, and include Little Italy and other historic Italian American neighborhoods in any official city project recognizing immigrant heritage.”
As Breitbart News previously reported, Italians have made countless contributions to America since immigrating to the United States:
In New York City alone, Italian immigrants “went to work on the growing city’s municipal works projects, digging canals, laying paving and gas lines, building bridges, and tunneling out the New York subway system. In 1890, nearly 90 percent of the laborers in New York’s Department of Public Works were Italian immigrants,” according to the Library of Congress.
Writer Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt posted the “New York City Immigrant Enclaves” map to X on Wednesday, saying, “The Mayor’s Office made a map of NYC’s immigrant enclaves: Little Africa, Little Poland, Little Palestine. But they just couldn’t figure out how to represent 11% of the city.”
“Couldn’t decipher where the Jews are from. Asked everyone. Huge riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma,” Chizhik-Goldschmidt added.
Social media users swiftly took to the comment section to point out that Italian Americans had also been excluded.
“No Little Italy either,” one X user observed.
“No Italians,” another wrote, adding, “Give me a break.”
“The Italians … would like a word,” a third remarked.
“They also left off Little Italy. No surprise. Mayor #Mamdani has only been here 8 years. Probably thinks my name is Hispanic, another X user with the surname Dorazio, said.
“No little Italy,” another echoed, adding, “It is literally in Manhattan! Mamdani was using his Islamic propaganda even on the map of NYC.”
“Last I checked there’s a few Italians in Staten Island and a few Irish in Woodside,” Fox News contributor Paul Mauro commented.
“This is a map of why Mamdani won. It’s Third Worldism all the way down,” Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Christopher Rufo proclaimed.
On Thursday, the Italian American Civil Rights League announced it will soon “hold a rally in the HEART OF LITTLE ITALY to show the world we were here long BEFORE Zohran and will be here long AFTER he’s gone.”
The following day, after being asked if he believes the map excluded any specific immigrant communities, Mamdani replied by blaming the matter on former New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, suggesting that he has “inherited” the controversy.
“This map was initially created by the prior administration in 2023, and when we inherited it, we actually added a few additional neighborhoods,” the Democratic Socialist mayor asserted.
“It’s clearly not an exhaustive list of the more than 200 ethnic communities that call our city home, and we’re going to be making additional changes in the future to reflect that, and that includes adding Little Italy to the map,” Mamdani added.
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Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
