Mamdani Erases Little Italy … and (Of Course) the Jews

Not having Little Italy on a map of ethnic enclaves in New York is like leaving the Golden Gate Bridge off a list of bridges in San Francisco. And yet that is precisely what the Ugandan-born socialist mayor of New York has done.

Zohran Mamdani’s Office of Immigrant Affairs released a map on Wednesday titled “New York City’s Immigrant Enclaves.” It features 30 enclaves spread across the five boroughs, from Little Africa to Little Yemen, even Little Odessa. And, of course—Mamdani being Mamdani—it includes Little Palestine.

However, somehow Mamdani has erased the most famous immigrant enclave of all, the capo di capi of New York’s ethnic neighborhoods, the iconic Little Italy.

Needless to say, the Italian American community has its spaghetti sauce in a boil. The Italian American Civil Rights League blasted Mamdani on X.

“Italian Americans BUILT NEW YORK CITY. Not third world Ugandans,” the group said. “We stand AGAINST COMMUNISTS!”

The Italian American Civil Rights League insists the snub was not government incompetence but deliberate, citing the city’s refusal to grant it a permit for Unity Day 2026. “This is not a clerical error,” said Mike Crispi, the group’s president, in a statement. “This is cultural erasure.”

“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,” he added.

Republican Councilwoman Joann Ariola of Queens was incredulous. “They were able to get a Little Bhod-Tibet in there, but what about the original ‘Little neighborhood,’ Little Italy?”

Joseph Scelsa, founder of the Italian-American Museum on Mulberry Street, called the exclusion a “terrible mistake.”

“Italian Americans are still a major population in New York City,” he told the New York Post, “To not recognize where Italian Americans came from and settled is a terrible mistake. I don’t understand why Little Italy isn’t included. I hope it’s an oversight.”

Given Mamdani’s all-out war to rid the city of Italian hero Christopher Columbus and Columbus Day, including posting in 2020 a photo of him giving a Columbus statue the finger, one tends to be very suspicious of any “mea culpa” from the city.

Scenes From an Italian Restaurant

Roughly 1.3 million Italian Americans settled in New York City between 1880 and 1924, according to the Library of Congress. Established in the late 19th century, Little Italy became a nationally recognized cultural hub, not just for the works of the vibrant and active Italian American community, but for its restaurants and cultural impact through music and movies such as “The Godfather.”

As of 2024, Italian Americans still remain about 11.8% of New York’s population, according to World Population Review.

Writing in Townhall, Amy Curtis offers a reason why Mamdani would ignoring of Little Italy.

Democratic Socialists like Mamdani insist that our cities were built not by the European immigrants who came and populated them, but by various Third Worlders, many of whom hail from places that don’t have basic infrastructure.

Strengthening her case, the fact the Italian Americans weren’t the only ones snubbed.

From the River to the Sea … and into the Hudson River

As the Post reported, the map also ignores neighborhoods such as Brooklyn’s Borough Park, “home to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities outside of Israel.”

That should come as no surprise from a mayor who won’t condemn “From the River to the Sea.”

Said State Assemblyman Kalman Yeger, who represents southern Brooklyn, “Mr. Mamdani erasing Jews is an essential part of his brand.”

“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,” writer Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt remarked on X.

A City Hall spokesman told the Post the map wasn’t designed to highlight religious enclaves, adding it instead “highlights neighborhoods in New York City that have substantial foreign-born populations from regions and countries around the world.”

And if you believe that’s why the Jews were snubbed, I can get you a good price on the Brooklyn Bridge. After all, the map also ignores the Irish.

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