SPAGYRIC HERBALISM

Wild blueberries: New review explores benefits for heart, metabolism and the microbiome

Evidence links wild blueberries to “whole body” health benefits

Wild Blueberry Association of North America

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Credit: Wild Blueberry Association of North America (WBANA)

A new scientific review summarizes the growing body of research on wild blueberries and cardiometabolic health, which includes factors like blood vessel function, blood pressure, blood lipids (cholesterol and triglycerides) and blood sugar (glucose). 

The review was published in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition and developed from an expert symposium hosted by the Wild Blueberry Association of North America (WBANA) in Bar Harbor, Maine.1 Twelve experts participated in the symposium from the fields of nutrition, food science, dietetics, nutrition metabolism and physiology, cardiovascular and cognitive function and health, gut health and microbiology, and preclinical and clinical models. Financial support was provided in the form of travel reimbursement to the symposium, but no funding was received to support the development of this manuscript. 

The paper summarizes 12 human clinical trials on the cardiometabolic effects of wild blueberries spanning 24 years and four countries, as well as dozens of other clinical, translational, and mechanistic studies on wild blueberries, cultivated blueberries, and cardiometabolic outcomes. 

The authors report that findings are most consistent for vascular function, while results for blood pressure, blood lipids and glycemic control are promising but underscore the need for larger, well-controlled clinical research studies. 

The paper also explores related health outcomes impacted by overall cardiometabolic wellness, such as gut health and cognitive function. 

A deeper look at the findings:1 

Improved blood vessel function

Across the clinical literature, improvements in blood vessel function are one of the most consistent findings. Trials included in the review suggest wild blueberries can help support endothelial function (or how well blood vessels relax and respond to stimuli), sometimes within hours after a single serving and in other cases with regular intake over weeks or months.  

Beneficial changes to the gut microbiome

The authors of the review explain that wild blueberries provide fiber and polyphenols that reach the colon (only about ~5–10% of these compounds are metabolized/absorbed in the small intestine) and are transformed by gut microbes into metabolites that can be absorbed into blood circulation. Microbial metabolites may also account for up to 40% of the active compounds in blood after eating polyphenol-rich foods like wild blueberries. In a six-week clinical study, adults who consumed 25 grams of freeze-dried wild blueberry powder daily increased beneficial Bifidobacterium species. The review highlights the gut microbiome as a likely contributor to the berries’ cardiometabolic effects, but more research is needed to better understand their role. 

Sharper thinking and memory

The review summarizes clinical intervention studies in older adults showing wild blueberry intake may support aspects of cognitive performance, possibly due to benefits on whole body circulation among other cardiometabolic improvements, including thinking speed and memory, in both single-serving and longer interventions. 

Clinically relevant improvements to blood pressure, lipids and glycemic control

For people with elevated cardiometabolic risk, several studies in the review show clinical improvements in blood pressure, glycemic control, and lipid markers such as total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides following weeks of wild blueberry intake. The researchers note that baseline health status, medications, background diet, and differences in metabolism and the gut microbiome may influence outcomes. The authors encourage more research designed to identify “responders,” clarify optimal dosing and food forms, and evaluate a broader set of biomarkers. 

How wild blueberries may work 

“What makes wild blueberries remarkable is that they contain numerous polyphenols and nutrients and don’t appear to exert their health benefits through just one mechanism,” explains Sarah A. Johnson, PhD, RDN, Associate Professor at Florida State University, registered dietitian nutritionist, and lead author of the review. “The evidence suggests these berries may support multiple biological pathways relevant to cardiometabolic health, from blood vessel function to inflammation and oxidative stress, with effects that can vary from person to person. Recent research on the role of the gut microbiome in determining their health benefits is exciting and may help researchers determine ways to support the gut microbiome to enhance their health benefits.” 

The review describes several pathways that may be involved, including nitric oxide signaling that supports healthy circulation, inflammation and oxidative stress pathways, lipid and glucose metabolism, and interactions with the gut microbiome. 

How much and how often? 

In this review, wild blueberries were studied in multiple forms. Benefits have been observed when consumed regularly over weeks or months and with practical amounts. This means aiming to eat about one cup of wild blueberries every day. 

Most wild blueberries are available frozen, making them easy to keep on hand year-round. Try adding them to smoothies, oatmeal, yogurt, salads, or baked goods. 

Why wild blueberries are special 

Wild blueberries, also called lowbush blueberries, grow in Maine and Eastern Canada and challenging conditions such as harsh winters. These stressors can stimulate the plants to produce a diverse profile of protective compounds, including polyphenols such as anthocyanins. Wild blueberries contain around 30 distinct anthocyanin forms. 

“Wild blueberries have been valued by people for thousands of years,” notes Dorothy Klimis-Zacas, PhD, FACN, Professor of Clinical Nutrition at the University of Maine and co-lead author on the study. “Traditional knowledge recognized their value, and today’s research continues to explore how the unique composition of wild blueberries may support health when eaten as part of an overall balanced diet.” 

Reference: 

1. Johnson SA, et al. Wild blueberries and cardiometabolic health: A current review of the evidence. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. Published online ahead of print January 24, 2026. Doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2025.2610406. 

About the Wild Blueberry Association of North America 

The Wild Blueberry Association of North America (WBANA) is a trade association representing wild blueberry farmers and processors in Maine and Eastern Canada. WBANA supports and shares research exploring the health potential of wild blueberries and provides recipes and nutrition information for consumers. Learn more at www.wildblueberries.com. 

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Journal

Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition

DOI

10.1080/10408398.2025.2610406 

Method of Research

Literature review

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Wild blueberries and cardiometabolic health: a current review of the evidence

Article Publication Date

24-Jan-2026

COI Statement

No funding was received to support the development of this manuscript. Financial support was provided in the form of travel reimbursement to the symposium, and the symposium was funded by the WBANA. Several co-authors of the review currently have grants funded by WBANA.

UH OH

Old diseases return as settlement pushes into the Amazon rainforest

Human case numbers of yellow fever have grown alongside the border between forested and urban areas

University of California - Santa Barbara

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(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Human activity continues to expand ever further into wild areas, throwing ecology out of balance. But what begins as an environmental issue often evolves into a human problem.

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara investigated how changes in land use may be driving the growth in human yellow fever cases in the Amazon basin. Their analysis, published in Biology Letters, reveals that the growing border between forested and urban areas is causing an alarming uptick in cases.

“Yellow fever is increasingly infecting humans when they are living close to the forest,” said author Kacie Ring, a doctoral student co-advised by Professors Andy MacDonald and Cherie Briggs. “And this is because humans are encroaching into areas where the disease is circulating naturally, disrupting its transmission cycle in the forest."

Diseases like yellow fever had become rare in South America, mostly confined to monkeys in the jungles. The situation was a testament to the remarkable success of public health efforts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But the region is now in danger of redeveloping urban transmission cycles, where the disease spreads among the population without the need for a non-human host.

The geography of disease

Ring, MacDonald and junior research specialist Terrell Sipin collected data on the number of human yellow fever cases in districts of Brazil, Peru and Colombia within the Amazon Basin, obtaining records from each country’s public health agency. These records stretched back to 2000 for Brazil, 2007 for Colombia and 2016 for Peru.

The authors also culled data on land use from the MapBiomas Project, a large effort to classify land use and land cover. They divided use into categories such as pasture, agriculture, forest and urban areas.

The team compared case rates against three major geographic trends: the average patch size of forest in a given area; forest edge density, or the amount of forest perimeter in a given area; and the amount of interface specifically between forested and urban areas.

In simpler models that only considered the impact of edge density, the team did see a positive relationship with the probability of a yellow fever spillover event taking place. However, this contribution was dwarfed by the effect of forest-urban adjacency in more complex models. It was the proximity of settled areas to the forest that mattered most for predicting yellow fever spillover to humans. A 10% increase in forest–urban adjacency raised the probability of a spillover event by 0.09, or the equivalent of a 150% increase in the number of yellow fever spillover events in a given year. And this borderland is growing by around 13% per year, on average, in the regions included in the study.

When ecology doesn’t match epidemiology

Several recent studies have looked at the effect of forest fragmentation on the ecology of yellow fever in the wild. Measures of deforestation correlated with higher case numbers in monkeys and spread of the disease into new regions. In this light, the authors suspected metrics like patch size and edge density would have a significant effect on human cases.

But, in any model that included interactions between human society and the forest, it was this interaction that proved the strongest predictor of human cases. “It was a little surprising that the ecology wasn’t more predictive of the actual transmission to humans,” said MacDonald, a professor in UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management.

“It seems the thing that’s causing the disease spillover is that humans are moving closer to the forest edge,” Ring said.

The greater the perimeter between the forest and urban areas, the more exposure humans have to the disease. There are often greater infection rates among vectors at the forest’s edges, as well. For instance, higher temperatures and more standing water along the forest margins may lead to a greater number of more active mosquitoes.

The return of an old foe

Yellow fever wasn’t always rare in the Americas. The neotropics used to have the same sorts of urban transmission cycles as in Western Africa, where the disease is still a significant issue. Along with malaria, yellow fever was behind the failure of the French attempt to complete the Panama Canal. “They were losing workers left and right,” MacDonald said. “Over 20,000 workers died.” That said, humans didn’t know what caused yellow fever or malaria at that time, so they couldn’t attribute individual deaths to each disease.

It took new discoveries and massive vector-control initiatives to drive disease rates down to the point where the American enterprise could finally succeed in 1914. These efforts continued in the 1940s and ‘50s with simultaneous vaccination campaigns and mosquito eradication initiatives that finally freed South America of these urban transmission cycles by the 1940s. 

“But a campaign like this would never be executed in the modern day,” Ring added. “Widespread use of DDT led to long-term storage in the soil and contamination in drinking water.”

Unfortunately, cases have begun rising again, spilling over the expanding border between the forest and urban areas. “We can see the benefits of earlier efforts dwindling,” Ring said. “It shows that diseases can come up again if you don’t properly maintain the infrastructure of public health and vaccination.”

“The concern is that the more we have these spillover events, the more likely it is that we’re going to see these urban transmission cycles reemerging,” MacDonald added. 

While the paper doesn’t include data past 2021, data from the World Health Organization shows that case rates have continued to grow. In 2024, human cases of yellow fever were seen mainly across the Amazon region, according to a WHO report. Cases in 2025, however, have been detected mainly in areas outside the Amazon. The 212 cases confirmed before the report published represent a threefold increase compared to the 61 cases in 2024.

Because yellow fever is still relatively rare in the Americas, health agencies don’t have large stockpiles of the vaccine. “So, if cases change suddenly, then we’re unprepared to deal with it,” MacDonald said.

The team will continue to investigate the effects of changing land use on infectious diseases. Ring is currently looking at the interaction between deforestation and tick-borne diseases in Madagascar. Meanwhile, MacDonald plans to investigate how other kinds of land uses affect vector-borne diseases in the Amazon region. For instance, he’s curious how clearing forest for pasture and agricultural production influences the transmission of diseases like malaria, dengue and leishmaniasis.

MacDonald hopes his group’s work will help governments and communities in South America bring development in better accord with human and environmental health. As Ring said, “these emerging infectious diseases are indicators of broader environmental issues.”

 

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Journal

Biology Letters

Forty years of tracking trees reveals how global change is impacting Amazon and Andean Forest diversity

University of Liverpool

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New research published in Nature Ecology and Evolution reveals significant recent shifts in tree diversity among the tropical forests of the Andes and Amazon, driven by global change.

The study, led by Dr Belen Fadrique from the University of Liverpool, uses 40 years of records on tree species collected by hundreds of international botanists and ecologists in long-term plots to offer comprehensive insights into tree diversity change in the world’s most diverse forests.

Key Findings

At the continental level, the team found that species richness has remained largely stable, but this masks significant regional differences. In some extensive regions diversity was declining, while in others it increased.

The analysis revealed that forests in hotter, drier, and more seasonal areas tended to experience declines in species richness.  Meanwhile, some areas with more intact ecosystems and with naturally more dynamic forests actually gained species.

In the Central Andes, Guyana Shield and Central-Eastern Amazon forests the majority of forest monitoring plots lost species through time, while most in the Northern Andes and Western Amazon showed an increase in tree species number.

While temperature increase has an overall pervasive effect on richness, the research highlights that rainfall and its seasonal patterns play a major role in shaping these regional trends.

Notably, the Northern Andes is identified as a potentially critical "refuge" that could shelter species displaced by climate change.

The research team analysed data from a huge region spanning the South American tropics which is home to more than 20,000 tree species.

They worked over 40 years across ten South American countries in 406 long-term floristic plots, measured periodically since the 1970s and 1980s. By examining these unique records, the team was able to track changes in tree richness for the first time and identify the driving factors behind those shifts.

Impact of climate change on plant species

Plant species have limited options to survive climate change: they can alter their distributions as environmental conditions change, or they can acclimate to these new conditions. If species cannot move or acclimate, their populations will decline, potentially leading to extinction.

Dr Belen Fadrique is a Dorothy Hodgkin Royal Society and University of Liverpool Research Fellow with the Department of Geography & Planning. She is the lead author of the study and conducted the research when she was a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Leeds.

Dr Fadrique said: "Our work assessing species responses to climate change points to profound changes in forest composition, and species richness at multiple scales."

Flavia Costa, Professor at INPA (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia) in Brazil, added "This study underscores the uneven impacts of climate change on tree diversity across different tropical forests, highlighting the need for specific monitoring and conservation efforts in each region."

Professor Oliver Phillips from the University of Leeds, who leads the pan-Amazon RAINFOR network, emphasised the significant threat posed by deforestation: "Our findings stress the vital links between preserving forests, protecting biodiversity, and fighting climate change. It is especially critical to protect remaining forests where the Amazon meets the Andes. Only if they stay standing can they offer a long-term home to species in adjacent lowlands.”

The research team plans to continue their work to better understand the impacts of climate change on tropical tree diversity.  

Dr Fadrique added: “Future studies will focus on complex compositional questions, including the taxonomic and functional identities of species being lost or recruited, and whether this points to a large-scale process of homogenisation within the Andes-Amazon region”

The work was an international collaboration involving more than 160 researchers from 20 countries with many contributions coming from South American universities and partners. It benefited from the support of large research collectives, including RAINFOR, Red de Bosques Andinos, the Madidi Project, and the PPBio network.

The paper, titled "Tree Diversity is Changing Across Tropical Andean and Amazonian Forests in Response to Global Change", is available in Nature Ecology and Evolution: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02956-5

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Journal

Nature Ecology & Evolution

Article Publication Date

23-Jan-2026

Zohran Mamdani’s 2026 Mayoral Inauguration Block Party in New York City


By Markos Papadatos

MUSIC EDITOR
DIGITAL JOURNAL

January 2, 2026


Zohran Mamdani was born in Uganda to a family of Indian origin before moving to the United States at age seven - Copyright AFP TIMOTHY A.CLARY

On January 1, 2026, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosted a massive Block Party and Inaugural event near New York’s City Hall.

He arrived there with his wife, Rama Duwaji, in a yellow taxicab.

On the night prior, Mamdani took his oath of office on the Quaran, which was administered by New York Attorney General Letitia “Tish” James in a defunct old City Hall subway station, as his wife looked on.

Mamdani was sworn in as the 112th mayor of New York City, and he is the first-ever Muslim and Asian American mayor to hold this position.

Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socialist party, and he previously served as a New York State Assemble member, where he represented Astoria.

At 34 years old, Mamdani is New York City’s youngest mayor in generations (since Hugh J. Grant was inaugurated at age 30 on January 1st, 1889).

Despite the freezing temperatures, this inauguration block party was well-attended with New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC), Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Bernie Sanders, New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Due to the heavy cold, most of these politicians were bundled up in gloves, coats, and navy-blue airline-style blankets.

Former New York City Mayors Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams were also in the crowd, along with Former Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made the opening remarks, while Bernie Sanders conducted the ceremonial swearing in. “Thank you to the man whose leadership I seek most to emulate, who I am so grateful to be sworn in by today, Senator Bernie Sanders,” Mamdani said.

“My fellow New Yorkers, today begins a new era,” Mamdani said in his inauguration speech. “I stand before you moved by the privilege of taking this sacred oath, humbled by the faith that you have placed in me, and honored to serve as Mayor of New York City, but I do not stand alone,” the leftist mayor explained.

“I stand alongside you, the tens of thousands gathered here in Lower Manhattan, warmed against the January chill by the resurgent flame of hope,” he said.

“I promise you this: If you are a New Yorker, I am your mayor. Regardless of whether we agree, I will protect you, celebrate with you, mourn alongside you, and never for a second, hide from you,” Mamdani elaborated.

Mamdani went on to thank his parents, “Mama and Baba” for raising him, as well as for teaching him how to be in this world and for bringing him to this city.

New Yorkers have taken note of Mamdani’s enthusiastic support of his wife, Rama Duwaji.— © AFP

“Thank you to my family, from Kampala to Delhi, and thank you to my wife, Rama, for being my best friend, and for always showing me the beauty in everyday things,” Mamdani acknowledged.

“Most of all, thank you to the people of New York,” Mamdani underscored.

“Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously,” he noted. “We may not always succeed but never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try.”

Mamdani reiterated several of the promises he made during his mayoral campaign sch as freezing the rent for rent-stabilized apartments and vowed to make “buses fast and free.”

Following his inaugural address speech, confetti drizzled and fell over City Hall.

Besides the cold temperatures, only downside was that there was no access to public restrooms or food concession stands or music as supporters of Mamdani gathered in the barricade pens to celebrate this historic moment.

Please Note: This journalist attended the 2026 Zohran Mamdani NYC Inauguration Block Party in-person.

Written ByMarkos Papadatos
Markos Papadatos is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for Music News. Papadatos is a Greek-American journalist and educator that has authored over 24,000 original articles over the past 19 years. He has interviewed some of the biggest names in music, entertainment, lifestyle, magic, and sports. He is an 18-time "Best of Long Island" winner, where for three consecutive years (2020, 2021, and 2022), he was honored as the "Best Long Island Personality" in Arts & Entertainment, an honor that has gone to Billy Joel six times.

Zohran Mamdani and the Long Muslim Thread in the American Story

America is not a Christian nation, nor a nation for whites, nor a nation for the rich alone. It is a nation built on principles shared by all who live in it, and Islam has always been part of that inheritance.


Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) swears in Zohran Mamdani as New York City mayor as Mamdani’s wife Rama Duwaji looks on at City Hall on Thursday January 1, 2026 in New York, New York.
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

George Cassidy Payne
Jan 02, 2026

Common Dreams


“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” —Frederick Douglass


America’s story has always been a story of struggle—for liberty, for justice, for recognition. On a cold January afternoon outside City Hall, Zohran Mamdani stepped into that struggle. Raising his right hand, he took the oath of office as mayor of New York City—the first Muslim ever to hold the city’s highest office—embodying Douglass’ truth: Progress demands courage, perseverance, and the relentless pursuit of inclusion.


‘Welcome to a New Era for NYC’: Zohran Mamdani Sworn In as New York City Mayor


The headlines captured the surface: a 25-minute inaugural address, roughly 4,000 spectators, a private swearing in just after midnight at the Old City Hall subway station, appearances by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). But the moment ran far deeper. Mamdani’s inauguration was not only a municipal milestone; it was the latest chapter in a debate as old as the republic itself: where Muslims belong in the American story—and whether they ever truly have.

That question stretches back to July 30, 1788, when North Carolina ratified the Constitution. Anti-federalist William Lancaster warned that by rejecting religious tests for office, the new nation might allow Muslims to govern. “Papists may occupy that chair,” he cautioned, “and Mahometans may take it. I see nothing against it.” A warning, then. A prophecy, now.

When Mamdani declared, “New York belongs to all who live in it,” he answered a question first posed in fear in 1788, tested in war, dramatized by Muhammad Ali, and deferred for generations.

There were no Muslim candidates in 1788. But there were Muslims in America—thousands of enslaved Africans whose presence exposed the republic’s deepest contradiction. Between 5 and 20% of enslaved Africans were Muslim, many literate in Arabic, bearing names like Fatima, Ali, Hassan, and Said. Their faith was violently suppressed, yet fragments endured—in memory, language, and resistance.

Even the founding generation reflected this tension. Thomas Jefferson studied the Quran and treated Islam as a serious intellectual tradition, even as he owned enslaved Muslims. Islam existed in theory, in human reality, and yet was denied civic recognition.

That tension carried forward into the nation’s greatest moral reckoning: the Civil War.

Muslims fought for the Union. Mohammed Kahn enlisted in the 43rd New York Infantry. Nicholas Said—born Mohammed Ali ben Said in Nigeria, raised Muslim, later converted to Christianity—served as a sergeant in the 55th Massachusetts Colored Regiment and as a Union clerk. Captain Moses Osman held a high-ranking post in the 104th Illinois Infantry. Union rosters show names like Ali, Hassan, and Said, hinting at a wider Muslim presence than history often acknowledges.

Yet rifles were not the only weapons. Islam entered the moral imagination through words and witness. Sen. Charles Sumner, nearly beaten on the Senate floor, quoted the Quran to condemn slavery. Ayuba Suleiman Diallo—Job ben Solomon—had already unsettled transatlantic assumptions through literacy, eloquence, and dignity. His story endured into the Civil War, republished in 1864 to reinforce the war’s moral purpose. Overseas, Hussein Pasha of Tunisia urged the US to abolish slavery “in the name of humanity,” showing Muslim advocacy was part of a global ethical conversation.

Muslims remained largely invisible in America’s public self-understanding—until the 20th century produced a figure too large to ignore.

Muhammad Ali, still the most recognizable man on Earth decades after his gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics, transformed boxing and American consciousness alike. He was named “Athlete of the Century” by Sports Illustrated, GQ, and the BBC; “Kentuckian of the Century” by his home state; and became a global icon through speed, grace, and audacious charm.

Ali’s significance extended far beyond the ring. By insisting on the name Muhammad Ali instead of Cassius Clay, he forced America to confront the legacy of slavery embedded in naming itself. His embrace of Islam was unapologetic and public. His refusal to be drafted into the Vietnam War cost him his title and livelihood, yet anticipated the anti-war movement. His fights in Kinshasa, Manila, and Kuala Lumpur shifted attention from superpower dominance toward global conscience.

Ali’s humanitarian work was relentless: delivering over 232 million meals, medical supplies to children in Jakarta, orphans in Liberia, street children in Morocco. At home, he visited soup kitchens, hospitals, advocated for children’s protections, and taught tolerance in schools through his book Healing. For this, he was honored as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, cited by Amnesty International, and recognized by President Jimmy Carter as “Mr. International Friendship.”

Ali showed the nation something fundamental: that Islam is American. That Muslims have always belonged to the moral and civic fabric of this country. That a nation built on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, on religious tolerance, on care for the poor, is naturally aligned with Islam. Mamdani is American not in spite of his faith, but because Islam is American.

It is against this long arc—from slavery to abolition, civil rights, global conscience, and the moral courage of Muhammad Ali—that Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration comes into focus.

Mamdani’s life traces modern routes of migration and belonging. Born in Kampala, Uganda to parents with roots in South Asia, he was raised in New York City. Yet his rise fulfills an older constitutional promise. In his inaugural address, he thanked his parents—“Mama and Baba”—acknowledged family “from Kampala to Delhi,” and recalled taking his oath of American citizenship on Pearl Street.

When Mamdani declared, “New York belongs to all who live in it,” he answered a question first posed in fear in 1788, tested in war, dramatized by Muhammad Ali, and deferred for generations. He named mosques alongside churches, synagogues, temples, gurdwaras, and mandirs, making visible what history had long rendered partial. When he spoke of halal cart vendors, Palestinian New Yorkers, Black homeowners, and immigrant families bound together by labor and hope, he articulated a civic vision rooted in lived American reality.

Notably, Mamdani did not frame his Muslim identity as something to defend. It simply existed. “Where else,” he asked, “could a Muslim kid like me grow up eating bagels and lox every Sunday?” Hybridity was not an exception. It was inheritance.

Yet it is equally important to recognize that Mamdani’s historic victory does not make him infallible, nor should it. The fact that he is the first Muslim mayor of New York City is not a personal achievement alone—it reflects the barriers that Muslims, like many others, have historically faced in participating fully in American democracy. Discrimination, racial and religious bias, and systemic obstacles made this moment possible only now, not because of any failing on his part. He will, like all mayors before him, make mistakes. He will face limits, criticism, and flaws—because he is human. To hold him to an impossible standard would be to misunderstand both history and democracy.

There is, too, something unmistakably American about Mamdani’s politics. By invoking La Guardia, Dinkins, and de Blasio; by embracing democratic socialism without apology; by grounding his agenda in labor, affordability, and collective responsibility, he situates himself firmly in an American tradition—one that echoes the abolitionists, the New Deal, and the moral courage of Ali.

And as Malcolm X reminds us, this is the guiding principle for American civic life: “I believe in the brotherhood of man, all men, but I don’t believe in forcing anyone to accept it.”

This is what makes the moment historic. Not that a Muslim has finally entered American politics, but that an old constitutional anxiety—once voiced as a warning—has become an ordinary fact of civic life. Islam, Mamdani, and the ideals of this nation converge in a single, undeniable truth: America is not a Christian nation, nor a nation for whites, nor a nation for the rich alone. It is a nation built on principles shared by all who live in it, and Islam has always been part of that inheritance.

The work, as Mamdani said, has only just begun. But the story his inauguration tells—that Muslims were enslaved at the nation’s birth, debated at its founding, fought in its wars, shaped its abolitionist conscience, transformed its civil rights culture, and now govern its greatest city—is no longer hypothetical.

It stands, unmistakably, on the steps of City Hall.

‘We Will Govern Expansively and Audaciously’: Zohran Mamdani’s Inaugural Address

To those who insist that the era of big government is over, hear me when I say this—no longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers’ lives.

Zohran Mamdani addresses New Yorkers as he is inaugurated on January 1, 2026.
(Photo via NYC.gov)

Zohran Mamdani
Jan 02, 2026

Common Dreams


New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani prepared these remarks to deliver at his inauguration on January 1, 2026.


My fellow New Yorkers—today begins a new era.




I stand before you moved by the privilege of taking this sacred oath, humbled by the faith that you have placed in me, and honored to serve as either your 111th or 112th Mayor of New York City. But I do not stand alone.

I stand alongside you, the tens of thousands gathered here in Lower Manhattan, warmed against the January chill by the resurgent flame of hope.

Seldom do we hold such an opportunity to transform and reinvent. Rarer still is it the people themselves whose hands are the ones upon the levers of change.

I stand alongside countless more New Yorkers watching from cramped kitchens in Flushing and barbershops in East New York, from cell phones propped against the dashboards of parked taxi cabs at LaGuardia, from hospitals in Mott Haven and libraries in El Barrio that have too long known only neglect.

I stand alongside construction workers in steel-toed boots and halal cart vendors whose knees ache from working all day.

I stand alongside neighbors who carry a plate of food to the elderly couple down the hall, those in a rush who still lift strangers’ strollers up subway stairs, and every person who makes the choice day after day, even when it feels impossible, to call our city home.

I stand alongside over 1 million New Yorkers who voted for this day nearly two months ago—and I stand just as resolutely alongside those who did not. I know there are some who view this administration with distrust or disdain, or who see politics as permanently broken. And while only action can change minds, I promise you this: If you are a New Yorker, I am your Mayor. Regardless of whether we agree, I will protect you, celebrate with you, mourn alongside you, and never, not for a second, hide from you.

I thank the labor and movement leaders here today, the activists and elected officials who will return to fighting for New Yorkers the second this ceremony concludes, and the performers who have gifted us with their talent.

Thank you to Governor Hochul for joining us. And thank you to Mayor Adams—Dorothy’s son, a son of Brownsville who rose from washing dishes to the highest position in our city—for being here as well. He and I have had our share of disagreements, but I will always be touched that he chose me as the mayoral candidate that he would most want to be trapped with on an elevator.

Thank you to the two titans who, as an Assemblymember, I’ve had the privilege of being represented by in Congress—Nydia Velázquez and our incredible opening speaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. You have paved the way for this moment.

Thank you to the man whose leadership I seek most to emulate, who I am so grateful to be sworn in by today—Senator Bernie Sanders.

Thank you to my teams—from the Assembly, to the campaign, to the transition and now, the team I am so excited to lead from City Hall.

In so doing, we will provide our own answer to that age-old question—who does New York belong to? Well, my friends, we can look to Madiba and the South African Freedom Charter: New York “belongs to all who live in it.”

Thank you to my parents, Mama and Baba, for raising me, for teaching me how to be in this world, and for having brought me to this city. Thank you to my family—from Kampala to Delhi. And thank you to my wife Rama for being my best friend, and for always showing me the beauty in everyday things.

Most of all—thank you to the people of New York.

A moment like this comes rarely. Seldom do we hold such an opportunity to transform and reinvent. Rarer still is it the people themselves whose hands are the ones upon the levers of change.

And yet we know that too often in our past, moments of great possibility have been promptly surrendered to small imagination and smaller ambition. What was promised was never pursued, what could have changed remained the same. For the New Yorkers most eager to see our city remade, the weight has only grown heavier, the wait has only grown longer.

In writing this address, I have been told that this is the occasion to reset expectations, that I should use this opportunity to encourage the people of New York to ask for little and expect even less. I will do no such thing. The only expectation I seek to reset is that of small expectations.

Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed. But never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try.

To those who insist that the era of big government is over, hear me when I say this—no longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers’ lives.

For too long, we have turned to the private sector for greatness, while accepting mediocrity from those who serve the public. I cannot blame anyone who has come to question the role of government, whose faith in democracy has been eroded by decades of apathy. We will restore that trust by walking a different path—one where government is no longer solely the final recourse for those struggling, one where excellence is no longer the exception.

We expect greatness from the cooks wielding a thousand spices, from those who stride out onto Broadway stages, from our starting point guard at Madison Square Garden. Let us demand the same from those who work in government. In a city where the mere names of our streets are associated with the innovation of the industries that call them home, we will make the words “City Hall” synonymous with both resolve and results.

As we embark upon this work, let us advance a new answer to the question asked of every generation: Who does New York belong to?

For much of our history, the response from City Hall has been simple: It belongs only to the wealthy and well-connected, those who never strain to capture the attention of those in power.

Here, where the language of the New Deal was born, we will return the vast resources of this city to the workers who call it home.

Working people have reckoned with the consequences. Crowded classrooms and public housing developments where the elevators sit out of order; roads littered with potholes and buses that arrive half an hour late, if at all; wages that do not rise and corporations that rip off consumers and employees alike.

And still—there have been brief, fleeting moments where the equation changed.

Twelve years ago, Bill de Blasio stood where I stand now as he promised to “put an end to economic and social inequalities” that divided our city into two.

In 1990, David Dinkins swore the same oath I swore today, vowing to celebrate the “gorgeous mosaic” that is New York, where every one of us is deserving of a decent life.

And nearly six decades before him, Fiorella La Guardia took office with the goal of building a city that was “far greater and more beautiful” for the hungry and the poor.

Some of these Mayors achieved more success than others. But they were unified by a shared belief that New York could belong to more than just a privileged few. It could belong to those who operate our subways and rake our parks, those who feed us biryani and beef patties, picanha and pastrami on rye. And they knew that this belief could be made true if only government dared to work hardest for those who work hardest.

Over the years to come, my administration will resurrect that legacy. City Hall will deliver an agenda of safety, affordability, and abundance—where government looks and lives like the people it represents, never flinches in the fight against corporate greed, and refuses to cower before challenges that others have deemed too complicated.

In so doing, we will provide our own answer to that age-old question—who does New York belong to? Well, my friends, we can look to Madiba and the South African Freedom Charter: New York “belongs to all who live in it.”

Together, we will tell a new story of our city.

This will not be a tale of one city, governed only by the 1%. Nor will it be a tale of two cities, the rich versus the poor.

It will be a tale of 8 and a half million cities, each of them a New Yorker with hopes and fears, each a universe, each of them woven together.

The authors of this story will speak Pashto and Mandarin, Yiddish and Creole. They will pray in mosques, at shul, at church, at Gurdwaras and Mandirs and temples—and many will not pray at all.

They will be Russian Jewish immigrants in Brighton Beach, Italians in Rossville, and Irish families in Woodhaven—many of whom came here with nothing but a dream of a better life, a dream which has withered away. They will be young people in cramped Marble Hill apartments where the walls shake when the subway passes. They will be Black homeowners in St. Albans whose homes represent a physical testament to triumph over decades of lesser-paid labor and redlining. They will be Palestinian New Yorkers in Bay Ridge, who will no longer have to contend with a politics that speaks of universalism and then makes them the exception.

From today onwards, we will understand victory very simply: something with the power to transform lives, and something that demands effort from each of us, every single day.

Few of these 8 and a half million will fit into neat and easy boxes. Some will be voters from Hillside Avenue or Fordham Road who supported President Trump a year before they voted for me, tired of being failed by their party’s establishment. The majority will not use the language that we often expect from those who wield influence. I welcome the change. For too long, those fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty.

Many of these people have been betrayed by the established order. But in our administration, their needs will be met. Their hopes and dreams and interests will be reflected transparently in government. They will shape our future.

And if for too long these communities have existed as distinct from one another, we will draw this city closer together. We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism. If our campaign demonstrated that the people of New York yearn for solidarity, then let this government foster it. Because no matter what you eat, what language you speak, how you pray, or where you come from—the words that most define us are the two we all share: New Yorkers.

And it will be New Yorkers who reform a long-broken property tax system. New Yorkers who will create a new Department of Community Safety that will tackle the mental health crisis and let the police focus on the job they signed up to do. New Yorkers who will take on the bad landlords who mistreat their tenants and free small business owners from the shackles of bloated bureaucracy. And I am proud to be one of those New Yorkers.

When we won the primary last June, there were many who said that these aspirations and those who held them had come out of nowhere. Yet one man’s nowhere is another man’s somewhere. This movement came out of 8 and a half million somewheres—taxi cab depots and Amazon warehouses, DSA meetings and curbside domino games. The powers that be had looked away from these places for quite some time—if they’d known about them at all—so they dismissed them as nowhere. But in our city, where every corner of these five boroughs holds power, there is no nowhere and there is no no one. There is only New York, and there are only New Yorkers.

8 and a half million New Yorkers will speak this new era into existence. It will be loud. It will be different. It will feel like the New York we love.

No matter how long you have called this city home, that love has shaped your life. I know that it has shaped mine.

This is the city where I set landspeed records on my razor scooter at the age of 12. Quickest four blocks of my life.

The city where I ate powdered donuts at halftime during AYSO soccer games and realized I probably wouldn’t be going pro, devoured too-big slices at Koronet Pizza, played cricket with my friends at Ferry Point Park, and took the 1 train to the BX10 only to still show up late to Bronx Science.

The city where I have gone on hunger strike just outside these gates, sat claustrophobic on a stalled N train just after Atlantic Avenue, and waited in quiet terror for my father to emerge from 26 Federal Plaza.

The city where I took a beautiful woman named Rama to McCarren Park on our first date and swore a different oath to become an American citizen on Pearl Street.

So, standing together with the wind of purpose at our backs, we will do something that New Yorkers do better than anyone else: We will set an example for the world.

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?

That love will be our guide as we pursue our agenda. Here, where the language of the New Deal was born, we will return the vast resources of this city to the workers who call it home. Not only will we make it possible for every New Yorker to afford a life they love once again—we will overcome the isolation that too many feel, and connect the people of this city to one another.

The cost of childcare will no longer discourage young adults from starting a family—because we will deliver universal childcare for the many by taxing the wealthiest few.

Those in rent-stabilized homes will no longer dread the latest rent hike—because we will freeze the rent.

Getting on a bus without worrying about a fare hike or whether you’ll be late to your destination will no longer be deemed a small miracle—because we will make buses fast and free.

These policies are not simply about the costs we make free, but the lives we fill with freedom. For too long in our city, freedom has belonged only to those who can afford to buy it. Our City Hall will change that.

These promises carried our movement to City Hall, and they will carry us from the rallying cries of a campaign to the realities of a new era in politics.

Two Sundays ago, as snow softly fell, I spent 12 hours at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, listening to New Yorkers from every borough as they told me about the city that is theirs.

We discussed construction hours on the Van Wyck Expressway and EBT eligibility, affordable housing for artists and ICE raids. I spoke to a man named TJ who said that one day a few years ago, his heart broke as he realized he would never get ahead here, no matter how hard he worked. I spoke to a Pakistani Auntie named Samina, who told me that this movement had fostered something too rare: softness in people’s hearts. As she said in Urdu: logon ke dil badalgyehe.

142 New Yorkers out of 8 and a half million. And yet—if anything united each person sitting across from me, it was the shared recognition that this moment demands a new politics, and a new approach to power.

We will deliver nothing less as we work each day to make this city belong to more of its people than it did the day before.

Here is what I want you to expect from the administration that this morning moved into the building behind me.

We will transform the culture of City Hall from one of “no” to one of “how?”

We will answer to all New Yorkers, not to any billionaire or oligarch who thinks they can buy our democracy.

We will govern without shame and insecurity, making no apology for what we believe. I was elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist. I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical. As the great senator from Vermont once said: “What’s radical is a system which gives so much to so few and denies so many people the basic necessities of life.”

We will strive each day to ensure that no New Yorker is priced out of any one of those basic necessities.

And throughout it all we will, in the words of Jason Terrance Phillips, better known as Jadakiss or J to the Muah, be “outside”—because this is a government of New York, by New York, and for New York.

Before I end, I want to ask you, if you are able, whether you are here today or anywhere watching, to stand.

I ask you to stand with us now, and every day that follows. City Hall will not be able to deliver on our own. And while we will encourage New Yorkers to demand more from those with the great privilege of serving them, we will encourage you to demand more of yourselves as well.

The movement we began over a year ago did not end with our victory on Election Night. It will not end this afternoon. It lives on with every battle we will fight, together; every blizzard and flood we withstand, together; every moment of fiscal challenge we overcome with ambition, not austerity, together; every way we pursue change in working peoples’ interests, rather than at their expense, together.

No longer will we treat victory as an invitation to turn off the news. From today onwards, we will understand victory very simply: something with the power to transform lives, and something that demands effort from each of us, every single day.

What we achieve together will reach across the five boroughs and it will resonate far beyond. There are many who will be watching. They want to know if the left can govern. They want to know if the struggles that afflict them can be solved. They want to know if it is right to hope again.

So, standing together with the wind of purpose at our backs, we will do something that New Yorkers do better than anyone else: We will set an example for the world. If what Sinatra said is true, let us prove that anyone can make it in New York—and anywhere else too. Let us prove that when a city belongs to the people, there is no need too small to be met, no person too sick to be made healthy, no one too alone to feel like New York is their home.

The work continues, the work endures, the work, my friends, has only just begun.