New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has delivered a sharply critical speech marking the 250th anniversary of United States independence, targeting what he described as entrenched power structures and widening social inequality in the country. He said that, from the perspective of those in power, the United States has become an arena of dominance, where only a limited segment of society genuinely enjoys freedom and equal opportunity, while the principle of human equality is increasingly undermined in practice. Mamdani added that, under this outlook, the more people the United States accepts, the more its perceived value is said to diminish, and that only those with what he described as the “right accent” and “correct skin colour” are fully accepted as belonging. He also described the US as “the wealthiest country in human history”, while noting that children go to bed hungry even as the world’s first trillionaire continues to pursue further wealth. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has delivered a sharply critical speech marking the 250th anniversary of United States independence, targeting what he described as entrenched power structures and widening social inequality in the country. He said that, from the perspective of those in power, the United States has become an arena of dominance, where only a limited segment of society genuinely enjoys freedom and equal opportunity, while the principle of human equality is increasingly undermined in practice. Mamdani added that, under this outlook, the more people the United States accepts, the more its perceived value is said to diminish, and that only those with what he described as the “right accent” and “correct skin colour” are fully accepted as belonging.
