New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosted an Italian Heritage reception at Gracie Mansion, honoring the immigrants who faced prejudice and helped build the city.

“As Italians in New York began to settle across our city, the better life they had traveled so far to find did not come easily,” he recalled. “Everywhere they turned, they were confronted with prejudice: landlords refused to rent to them, restaurants would not serve them, and colleges and universities would not admit them.”