Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani’s administration cut corners on Indigenous Peoples’ Day by reusing video clips from former Mayor Eric Adams instead of creating new content. This lazy approach drew immediate fire from critics who argued it disrespected the very people the city claims to honor. While the mayor’s team skipped the Columbus Day parade entirely, the recycled footage suggests a lack of genuine effort to engage with New York’s diverse communities.
The New York Post reported that last year the Mamdani administration chose to reuse clips showcasing Lenape history rather than acquire new footage. The social media posts cut up a nearly two-minute video originally made to celebrate the city’s 400th anniversary and first posted in January 2025. The administration’s posts included captions like, “Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day to the Indigenous New Yorkers who continue to shape our city, sustain ancestral traditions, and carry forward generations of resilience.”
A Former Deputy Mayor Speaks Up
Fabien Levy, who served as deputy mayor of communications under Eric Adams, took to social media to call out the reuse of his former boss’ work. He wrote, “Glad to see @NYCMayor celebrate the Lenape people today,” before adding a sharp critique of the strategy. Levy stated, “But it’s concerning to see him devalue the Lenape by just repurposing whole chunks of video Mayor Adams put out 2 years ago for NYC 400.”
This move highlights a broader tension in City Hall. While the mayor’s office focused on digital shortcuts, they also failed to acknowledge Italian-American New Yorkers, a group that was already upset after the mayor skipped Manhattan’s Columbus Day parade. The decision to recycle old content while ignoring other cultural groups signals a disconnect between the administration and the city’s full history.
Real Celebrations vs. Digital Shortcuts
While the mayor’s office phoned it in with old video, real Indigenous communities gathered on Randall’s Island for a meaningful observance. The event on Monday, Oct. 12, featured tipis, wood fires, and traditional ceremonies that honored endurance and survival. Organizers transformed the field into a space for truth, where people from across the globe brought local water to pour into the East River during a sunrise ceremony.
Cliff Matias, the founder of the annual event, emphasized the gravity of the history being acknowledged. He told amNewYork, “Almost every indigenous culture, people have a similar history of colonization, being brutalized, raped, land taken.” The gathering stood in stark contrast to the mayor’s recycled social media posts, showing that true respect requires effort and presence, not just repurposed clips.
The Cost of Phoning It In
For a city as vibrant as New York, recycling old footage from a previous administration is a failure of leadership. It tells the public that the current mayor’s team is more concerned with checking a box than building a genuine connection. When a mayor claims to honor history but uses video from two years ago, it undermines the message of resilience and respect. New Yorkers deserve a government that puts in the work to create new moments, not just reuse old ones.
This is opinion and commentary from the RapForMayor team.
