{"id":363988,"date":"2026-10-04T03:38:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T03:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/363988\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T03:38:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T03:38:16","slug":"mamdani-hochul-celebrate-rev-al-sharptons-72nd-birthday-in-harlem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/363988\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani, Hochul celebrate Rev. Al Sharpton’s 72nd birthday in Harlem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Mamdani and Gov. Hochul gathered with other local pols at Reverend Al Sharpton\u2019s weekly rally<\/a> in Harlem Saturday morning to celebrate the civil rights leader\u2019s 72nd birthday.<\/p>\n

Also in attendance at the National Action Network\u2019s headquarters<\/a> on Hancock Place near 124th St., were Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, City Council Speaker Julie Menin and City Comptroller Mark Levine, all of whom sang Sharpton\u2019s praises.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re mixing my birthday tribute to the Saturday morning rally, and people are already in the overflow rooms,\u201d Sharpton said. \u201cI\u2019m going to have some people come by that have been kind enough to break in their schedule to wish me a happy birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani called Sharpton, \u201csomeone whom you can find inspiration in every decade of their life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn every year\u2026 has waged fights that have started as lonely ones, but have ended as popular ones, fights for justice, fights for those who have so often been forgotten,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cYou\u2019re speaking about a consistency. Someone who all of us on this stage and beyond come to for guidance, for grace, for an understanding of what should be expected of us in this moment in time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LocalLocal pols, including Mayor Mamdani (pictured) and Gov. Kathy Hochul, gathered at Reverend Al Sharpton\u2019s weekly rally in Harlem Saturday morning to celebrate his 72nd birthday. (NAN via YouTube)<\/p>\n

\u201cTogether, all of these reverends make up a man whose birthday it is that we are here to celebrate today, a man who has shaped our city and our nation, who still wakes up long before the sun has begun its rise, and drinks green juice hours before any of us have gotten out of bed. Every time I wake up, I\u2019m like, \u2018He\u2019s already awake,\u2019\u201d Mamdani said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n

Reverend Al introduced Governor Kathy Hochul as his \u201cbig sister,\u201d to which she replied she \u201cloves him dearly,\u201d but clarified that she\u2019s actually younger than him.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s gonna think I\u2019m older than you, and I am not older than you,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it\u2019s your birthday, 72, extraordinary years of service. Not someone who came to service as an adult or a 25- or 35- or 45-year-old. He literally was a child, using his voice to preach about God at such a young age, and I cannot imagine what America would be today without having this man, this champion, this voice. The voice for the voiceless.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LocalLocal pols, including Mayor Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul, gathered at Reverend Al Sharpton\u2019s weekly rally in Harlem Saturday morning to celebrate his 72nd birthday. (NAN via YouTube)<\/p>\n

Hochul later made mention of the midterm elections, which are just a month away.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything changes if we do the right thing. We are on the cusp of taking back our country, and I feel so good about it. And it happens right through the state of New York,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The governor said that should Hakeem Jeffries become the next Speaker of the House, \u201cAll of a sudden, there\u2019s a bright spotlight on what is happening in Washington. They can\u2019t get away with it when you have Hakeem Jeffries and a majority in the House and the Senate saying, \u2018No more.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we\u2019re just two years away from when this fever is going to break. Because Americans have had enough, and we\u2019re sick and tired,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Mamdani and Gov. Hochul gathered with other local pols at Reverend Al Sharpton\u2019s weekly rally in Harlem…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[262,263,266,85,267,75,9,24,264,12,63,261,122,124,123,265],"class_list":["post-363988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-manhattan","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-sub-county-region"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}