“My mayor’s Muslim, my bagel’s Jewish, my Christian’s Dior, Knicks in four!”
This line from a viral social media video has become a rallying cry for New Yorkers uniting around their Knicks basketball team and around a shared positive vision for their city.
In another viral video, a Knicks fan said, “people think we’re going to burn down the city, but the energy feels different, I feel like we’re all going to go fill some potholes.”
A sports victory can unify any city, but this moment in New York feels different. It comes as Mayor Zohran Mamdani consistently advances a positive vision of diversity, joy, pride, and cooperation. In his inauguration address he said,
“To live in New York, to love New York, is to know that we are the stewards of something without equal in our world. Where else can you hear the sound of the steelpan, savor the smell of sancocho, and pay $9 for coffee on the same block? Where else could a Muslim kid like me grow up eating bagels and lox every Sunday?”
Mayor Mamdani has backed up his words by engaging with New York’s diversity, and by focusing on everyday issues like potholes that improve the lives of everyday people.
As a Jewish person living in New York, whose great-grandparents immigrated to this city through Ellis Island, I feel seen and inspired. I also must recognize that Mayor Mamdani is challenging for my people, that some in his camp blur the lines between antisemitism and antizionism and that many in my community feel terrified.
As a pluralist, I know we can live a shared life that is stronger, safer, and more joyous for all, if we engage, if we learn from one another, and if we build relationships that encourage us to care about each other.
Mayor Mamdani is leading the way.
The Knicks are helping him out.
Go Knicks.
