NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani marks Indigenous Peoples' Day: "Welcome to Lenapehoking"

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked Indigenous Peoples' Day on October 12 with an Instagram post whose first slide reads "Welcome to Lenapehoking." Its caption opens with "Kuwiinguneewul!", the word for hello in Munsee, a Lenape language.

"Long before New York City bore its name, this land was home to the Lenape people," the caption reads. "This Indigenous Peoples' Day, we honor that history."

Lenapehoking is the Lenape homeland, which includes present-day New York City and reaches well beyond it. Colonial expansion forced many Lenape people from their homeland; today, Lenape communities include those in Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Ontario.

The slides highlight Inwood Hill Park in Manhattan, Randall's Island, Prospect Park in Brooklyn and Rockaway in Queens, pairing Lenape place names and history with images of Indigenous dancers and community gatherings. The caption wishes a happy Indigenous Peoples' Day "to the Indigenous New Yorkers who continue to shape our city, sustain ancestral traditions, and carry forward generations of resilience."

In June, amNewYork reported that the Manhattan-based Lenape Center had brought Delaware Tribe of Indians Chief Brad KillsCrow to meet Mamdani and former mayor Eric Adams, a milestone after decades of Lenape efforts to meet with the city's mayors. Asked how people should reflect on the country's 250th anniversary, Joe Baker, the Lenape Center's executive director and an enrolled member of the tribe, said: "We start with the truth, and then by starting there we can enjoy a certain new freedom to move forward."

The city has acknowledged the day before. Its 2026–27 public school calendar lists October 12 as Italian Heritage/Indigenous Peoples' Day, and Adams attended an Indigenous Peoples' Day event at Columbia University in 2022, according to a city newsletter.

Mamdani did not attend the city's Columbus Day Parade that day, NY1 reported; he marked Italian Heritage Month with a social media video.

At the annual Indigenous Peoples' Day gathering on Randall's Island, founder Cliff Matias welcomed the mayor's decision to skip the parade and urged him to take the next step by showing up alongside Indigenous people, amNewYork reported. "The simple fact that we're able to gather and still have our language, our culture, is a testament to survival," Matias said.