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Add Polish Americans to the growing list of ethnic groups enraged by NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Hizzoner blew off an invitation to attend the Oct. 4 Pulaski Day Parade, an annual celebration of Polska pride along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan — and then tried to rewrite history by lumping Polish Americans into an upcoming event celebrating the heritage of Eastern Europeans.
Most Poles identify as Central European and strongly reject any “Eastern European” label — largely because of its historical connection with Soviet communism and the Warsaw Pact.
Adding insult to injury, the socialist mayor then ditched a fresh Gracie Mansion tradition launched by his predecessor Eric Adams — pulling the plug on the annual breakfast reception at Gracie Mansion honoring Polish heritage.
Instead, the Mayor’s Office sent out invites last week for an Eastern European reception on Oct. 22 at Gracie Mansion.
“Polish Americans are one of the largest European ethnic communities in America. Lumping Poles, Ukrainians, and Russians together shows shocking historical ignorance and disrespect,” raged Grzegorz Fryc, a longtime NYC Polish activist and business leader.
“Mayor Mamdani couldn’t be bothered to attend the Pulaski Day Parade, and now his administration wants to replace the traditional Polish Heritage celebration at Gracie Mansion with some generic ‘Eastern European’ event,” he added.
He ripped the city’s first Muslim mayor for the selective snubbing.
“Would City Hall combine Jewish and Palestinian heritage celebrations into one generic ‘Middle Eastern’ event? Of course not. This is another slap in the face to our community and an embarrassment for the mayor’s office.”
The socialist mayor “needs to understand that he was elected to represent all New Yorkers, not just the communities he chooses to show up for,” said another top Polish community leader.
“Mamdani’s blatant disrespect for European communities, especially Polish New Yorkers, is absolutely disgraceful,” the second leader said. “Snubbing the Pulaski Day Parade was insulting enough, but refusing to even host a Polish heritage celebration at Gracie Mansion for one of this city’s largest ethnic communities is a slap in the face to hundreds of thousands of Polish Americans.”
Three days before the parade during an unrelated press conference in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Mamdani was asked whether he planned to accept his invitation.
He claimed didn’t know if his schedule allowed him, telling Polish-language Radio RAMPA, “We will get back to you.”
However, his Oct. 4 “public schedule” eventually listed him only attending a 5 p.m. “church service” at an undisclosed location — four-and-a-half hours after the parade began and long after a Midtown Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and other Pulaski Day festivals concluded.
In 2024 City Hall initially sought to include the Polish community in a broader Eastern European heritage event, according to sources.
Polish American leaders were outraged — and Mayor Adams shifted gears to throw a separate celebration for them at Gracie Mansion that November. Adams continued the trend the next year, his final one in office.
Mamdani has made a habit of dodging certain parades since taking office in January.
Last week, the Christopher Columbus critic infuriated Italian Americans citywide by refusing to attend Columbus Day parades held in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.
He’s also passed on the German-American Steuben Parade in September and the Israel Day Parade in May.
“Mamdani clearly hates Europeans, especially white New Yorkers. Period,” wrote former Councilman Robert Holden on X on Oct. 10. “First, he snubbed German-Americans at the Steuben Day Parade. Then Polish-Americans at [the] Pulaski Day Parade. Now Italian-Americans on Columbus Day. What does that tell you? I call it racism, plain and simple.”
Mamdan has found the time to attend other parades, including ones honoring Pakistani, Sikh, West Indian and African American communities.
The Ugandan-born mayor did show Europe some love when he marched in the famed St. Patrick’s Day Parade celebrating Irish pride in March and the Greek Independence Day Parade in May.
City Hall spokesperson Jimmy Wyderko declined to address the decision to include Polish Americans in the Eastern European event, but said “Mayor Mamdani is deeply grateful and proud of the contributions Polish Americans have made towards our city in Greenpoint, Ridgewood and across all five boroughs — and we are excited to host Polish New Yorkers at Gracie Mansion.”