New York, New York - Mayor Zohran Mamdani in a new interview did not rule out monetary compensation to Black New Yorkers as reparations for the legacies of enslavement and racial discrimination.

"If a commission studying reparations in this city recommended cash reparations for people impacted in New York City, would you support that recommendation?" Charles Blow asked Mamdani in an interview with The Root published this week.

The mayor answered, "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," Mamdani continued. "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."

Donald Trump Trump unveils $22 billion plan to overhaul "one of the worst airports" in the world

Mamdani's remarks came as the New York City Commission on Racial Equity is due to release final reports for its reparations study and for a Truth, Healing and Reconciliation process next year. The latter is set to be implemented in June 2028, according to the commission's website.

The efforts are taking place as a separate New York state commission crafts its reparations report and recommendations for release in 2029.

During the interview, Blow also asked Mamdani about the impact of his upbringing in Uganda and South Africa on his worldview today.

"I'm so proud to be a son of Africa," the mayor responded. "I always grew up with a notion of what it meant to be not only Ugandan but also African, and it has been a joy my whole life to know that home comes from so many different places."

"And I can think of no better place to be at home than New York City because it is a constellation of so many from across the world that have those similar roots."

Mamdani also talked about segregation in education, gentrification, and other ongoing harms to Black New Yorkers.