Did Mamdani say white New Yorkers must pay cash reparations for slavery?

In late July 2026, many people online claimed New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani had called for cash reparations for the descendants of Black slaves in the city. The rumor spread after an interview in which Mamdani said New York City cannot ignore its active role in the legacy of slavery.

Some social media posts (archived) appeared to take it for granted Mamdani explicitly expressed support for cash reparations. For example: 

(X user @katerina5k)

If Mamdani would like me, a white New Yorker who never owned slaves, to pay a black New Yorker who never was a slave, then I propose: Every Muslim in NYC starting with Mamdani, should pay us for 9/11. Please explain why the latter makes no sense but the former does.

The claim is false. Mamdani neither supported nor rejected the idea of cash reparations for slavery during his video interview with The Root’s Charles Blow, instead saying he would wait for the findings from the city’s Commission on Racial Equity before making any recommendations himself. 

We transcribed the relevant sections from the interview (emphasis ours):

BLOW: When you were running for mayor, you submitted a written statement to a reparations convening that read in part, “New York City participated actively in the slave trade and furthered it its legacy through racist institutions, policies, and laws. The city should reconcile and repair this legacy of slavery, stolen wealth, and discrimination.” And you added that you were proud to support the new reparations commission examining Wall Street’s complicity in the slave trade. One of these commissions is set to release its final report next summer. If a commission studying reparations in this city recommended cash reparations for people impacted in New York City, would you support that recommendation?

MAMDANI: First, I want to say that I stand by what I submitted. It’s the truth. It’s not a personal assessment. And we often think about slavery and the complicity in slavery as being exclusively to certain geographic areas of the country. Here in New York City, we were very complicit. And so I look forward to whatever those findings are. I can’t give you an answer in advance of them, but I can tell you that this is critically important because this is also what it looks like to acknowledge what history truly was.

The exchange took place at the 12:43 mark:

Blow’s question referred to written remarks Mamdani sent to a 2025 mayoral candidates’ forum specifically addressing reparations. Here they are in full: 

As Mayor, I will ensure that my administration meaningfully advances equality for Black New Yorkers, in our steadfast commitment to freedom and dignity for all people. New York City participated actively in the slave trade and furthered its legacy through racist institutions, policies and laws; the City should reconcile and repair this legacy of slavery, stolen wealth, and discrimination. I was proud to support the new Reparations Commission to report Wall Street’s complicity with the slave trade and make recommendations for Reparations. As Mayor, I will work with our state partners to move those recommendations forward, while championing the below commitments per the Get Free pledge I have proudly signed:

• Using every tool at my disposal to block, delay, and reject all MAGA regime attacks on our fundamental freedoms and civil rights,
• Ensuring every New Yorker is free to learn the truth, be our true selves, and speak truth to power,
• Championing policies that create real equality by rectifying historical discrimination and repairing ongoing inequalities,
• Implementing the Commission on Racial Equity to move NYC towards a future of healing, freedom, and prosperity for all.
• As Mayor, I will lead with my core belief that our liberation is bound together; redressing slavery’s harms—past to present—is necessary to achieving freedom and equality for Black New Yorkers, and for us all. I look forward to #MakingEqualityReal with you.

As The New York Times put it, Mamdani stopped short of explicitly calling for cash reparations but left the door open. “The mayor said in recent interviews that it was important to acknowledge the city’s role in slavery but that he could not commit to payouts before his racial equity commission completes its report,” the Times reported.

The Commission on Racial Equity was created in 2022 after a public ballot. Its stated goal is to create “a public process for truth, healing, and reconciliation. This process will offer New Yorkers a way to publicly acknowledge the history and harm of slavery and its legacies in New York City, and the harms caused by it.” 

For further reading, Snopes has covered numerous rumors about Mamdani. 

Sources