June 18, 2024 NYC Office of the Mayor
State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar: Happy Juneteenth, New York City. 160 years ago, one of the darkest periods of American history came to an end. The struggle of Black Americans paved the way, not just for Black Americans, but for all minority groups.
Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am State Assemblywoman Jennifer Rajkumar. I am the first Indian American woman ever elected to a New York State office. Nobody thought that I would be standing here. My mom was born in a mud hut. My parents came to this country with $300 and a suitcase. The sky is the limit for our minority communities. When our Constitution was drafted, Black Americans were considered only three-fifths of a person. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Indian Americans could not be United States citizens.
Now look at us. We're leading in every field. We're standing here in Gracie Mansion, where we have a proud Black mayor running New York City, Eric Adams. We're not going to stop. We're not going to stop until every Black child knows how to read. We're not going to stop until we break the school-to-prison pipeline. We're not going to stop until we end the plague of Black maternal mortality once and for all, for all of our Black women. I'm State Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar, and I am with you in this fight. Happy Juneteenth.
State Senator Kevin Parker: First of all, stop acting like y'all don't know who I am. Y'all better clap louder than that. Y'all know I'll come down there. Stop playing.
I'm State Senator Kevin Parker. I represent the 21st District of Brooklyn: Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood, Ditmars Park, Mill Basin, Marine Park, and Bergen Beach. I'm the chairman of the Energy and Telecommunications Committee, as well as the majority whip in the New York State Senate. I came to just say, Happy Juneteenth. I, along with Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman from Queens, were the ones who actually passed the Juneteenth holiday here in the State of New York a year before Joe Biden, our president, copied off of us and made it a federal holiday, right? Once again, trying to, ain't going to let a Black man shine. No, I'm just joking.
We're really just, really encouraged by the importance of seeing us, and knowing that we are people of African descent, have a long history that is not just Black history, but it's part of American history. The celebration of this Freedom Day is important for two reasons, one of which is that it talks about justice being delayed, and to some degree, almost being denied. The other thing is that if we persist, we find out that we always win. In this moment, this day, celebrating Juneteenth, becomes a day, not just of freedom, but also of Black perseverance of saying that if we keep the course, that if we continue to believe in our God, and continue to stand with one another, that there's nothing we can't do. that we can accomplish.
We'd like to thank all of you for being here. We'd like to thank the mayor. Give the mayor a big round of applause for convening us. Listen, clap for him better than that. He paid for the food. If we don't remember our own holidays, who will? Remember, Black people, we are the people who were here the day before yesterday. We're going to be here the day after tomorrow. All of us must continue to bring good into the world and let no good be lost. God bless you all.
Mayor Eric Adams: Oh, man. It's really good to see all of you as we celebrate Juneteenth. I thought both Assemblywoman Rajkumar, who has really been leading the message on those quality of life issues that impact our city, I thought her message, which I believe is one of the most intellectual, smartest people in politics, Senator Parker, I served with him. You just cannot realize how much he has pushed forward those agendas that are important to us.
I'm glad to have both of them here with me, with my amazing first Deputy Commissioner Kinsella, and my commissioner of Community Affairs, Deputy Commissioner Mark Stewart, and having them here with us as well, as they put their own brand on how we define ourselves. Think about it for a moment, folks. Think about it. We were fortunate enough to have David Dinkins as the first African American mayor. It took us 30 years, 30 years before we had the second African American mayor.
What happened when I was elected January 1, 2022? Crime was surging by 40 percent. We had that five-letter word called COVID that was engulfing our city. Jobs were not returning. Our young people were not educated, being educated at the level that they deserve. NYCHA residents were unable to have high-speed broadband and not being able to sign online with their young people. Tourism was dropped. No one wanted to be on our subway system. Those independent financial experts did not want to raise our bond rates, which is extremely significant.
Look at what happened in two years. Two years, folks. We have more jobs in New York City in the history of the city. Black unemployment was four times the rate of white unemployment. When I became mayor, we cut that in half for the first time since 2019. It's less than 8 percent. NYCHA residents have free high-speed broadband so our babies can get the access they need in tele-educate, remote learning. We have 4.1 million people on our subway system every day. Every day, 4.1 million people. 64 million tourists, fourth largest in history. More people in one year cycled from being in homeless shelter into permanent housing in one year in the history of the city. More people got FHEPS vouchers to go into housing in the history of the city. We funded more affordable housing in the city in one year in the history of the city. Our children are outpacing the state in reading and math. Then we invested in foster care children so they didn't age out. We allowed them to have life coaches until they're 21 and we're paying their college tuition and we are making sure they get a stipend every day so they don't slip through the cracks.
We're turning the city around, folks. New York is not coming back. New York is back. New York is back. I know every day you read the worst things that can happen in the city of 8.3 million people. Some of us even buy into the concept and the philosophy that our city is not recovering. Some of us believe that. Go to the independent financial experts who raised our bond rating, the way I'm managing not only us cycling out of COVID, but 202,000 migrants and asylum seekers. People stop me on the street and say, mayor, what are you doing to us? Let's get it straight, folks. I have no authorization to stop the buses from coming in. That's a federal law. I have no authorization to say that people can't get three meals a day, and a place to sleep, and wash their clothes, and educate 38,000 people. That's the law. I can't even allow them to work. They wanted to come and work. I can't even allow them to work. It's a federal law. They don't allow me to do that. If they volunteer, and I give them a stipend, I'm breaking federal law.
People walk down the block all the time, don't even realize how the city has recovered. Not only that, what do we do? First women of color to be the commissioner. First Spanish-speaker to be the commissioner in the Police Department. First Trinidadian to be a deputy mayor. First Dominican to be a deputy mayor. First African American to be the first deputy mayor. Second African American to be the chief of staff. Why? The first one was by David Dinkins. When you look at our administration, first Indian American to be a deputy mayor. First Filipino American to be a deputy mayor. First Korean American to head Small Business Services. You look at our administration, and you will see for yourself, we've got all of this chocolate running the city.
You're trying to figure out why they are hating on me? Listen, folks, I came into office, we were spending pennies in women and Black-owned businesses. We're now spending billions of dollars. 30 percent of our inmate population at Rikers Island are dyslexic, like I am. What do we do? We're now doing dyslexic screening. People talk about closing the building Rikers Island. How about closing the pipeline that feeds Rikers Island?
We are doing it, folks. You need to have a level of pride, because they thought we couldn't do it. They said this bald-headed, earring-wearing urban mayor cannot make it happen. What's challenging, folks, is that I'm messing with their paper. They were making so much money off the dysfunctionality of cities across America and we're showing how cities can be managed, and how we can produce a quality product. If I'm preventing young people from falling in the river upstream because they're dyslexic, people are not going to make money downstream giving them services. If I'm preventing foster care children from aging out and not getting the necessary support they deserve, then people are not going to make paper downstream because they're giving them the services that people have been eating off of. People have been eating off the dysfunctionality of our community for so long.
Juneteenth is not about the end of physical slavery. It's about the end of mental slavery. We've got to free ourselves. We fought so hard and so long to get here. Acknowledge where we are, folks. Mayor of New York of color, mayor of Chicago of color, mayor of Los Angeles of color, mayor of St. Louis of color, mayor of Atlanta of color. We got all this power. We can't use it to fight each other. Can't use it to desecrate the graves of people who came before us. We have to run our mile, I keep saying over and over again. This is a marathon, a relay race. Nat Turner ran his mile and he handed the baton off to Marcus Garvey. Marcus Garvey ran his mile and handed it off to Dr. King. Dr. King ran his mile and handed it off to Jesse Jackson. Jesse Jackson ran his mile and handed it off to Al Sharpton. Al Sharpton ran his mile, handed it off to Barack Obama. Barack Obama ran his mile and handed it off to VP Harris. VP Harris ran her mile, handed it off to our sister, Adrienne Adams and Eric Adams.
All I'm trying to do is run my goddamn mile. That's all I'm doing. That's all I'm doing. Be ready to run your mile and hand the baton off. Don't be so busy and focused like other folks trying to figure out how you're going to trip me up from running my mile. I am the pilot of this plane called New York City and we're all passengers. If I fail, the plane goes down and there are no parachutes on this plane. You better hope I land the plane.
We can land it, because that's what Juneteenth is about. It's about resiliency. It's about audacity. It's about never surrendering. It's about not giving up. It's about a mother raising six children, working at Amistad Day Care Center, telling her baby all the time that don't worry about it, that you can't read right now because of your dyslexia undiagnosed. You just stay focused, no distractions, and grind. All of you that's in this room, you have a story. Hazra, you have your story. George Hulse, you have your story. All of you, take a moment and reflect. We are here now, but go look at the stories of our ancestors. There's something special about what we have done.
When I went to Gorée Island many years ago and stood on the shores of the Door of No Return, the joy that I felt to leave Africa in slavery but return with the mayoralty, that is what you call power. There's something special about us. The entire country was built on our backs and our resiliency. This country and globe is what it is because of us. As we celebrate Juneteenth, I'm so proud to be the first mayor to raise the flag down at Bowling Green. I was so proud to sign the legislation that said to our schoolchildren, you would have the day off to celebrate. I did not cross the finish line by myself. I was so proud to pass the legislation with Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar of Diwali so our Indian brothers and sisters can also celebrate their heritage. I was proud to be the first to raise flags and have people come here.
It took 110 mayors before we realized that this city is not made for one group, but it's made for the entire city, our powers and our diversity and our acknowledgment of that. I say to you all the time, just as you did for me when I was a cop with 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement, you would stop me on the street and you'd place your hands on me and pray, I say pray. Just as I was state senator and you would come to me in the subway station and place your hands on me and pray, I say pray. Just as I became the first person of color to be the borough president in the County of Kings and you would see me at Borough Hall and you'd place your hands on me and pray, I say pray.
Just as you've done it then, I ask you to reach your hands towards me and give me your prayer. Because no matter what anyone says, prayer works. Prayer works. It's the power of prayer that got us here and it's the power of prayer that's going to sustain us. From Juneteenth of yesteryears to Juneteenth of today, we will always be free. Never again will we be enslaved physically or emotionally. Keep being what you are. Marcus Garvey said it most, up you, Black people, you can be what you will. Thank you very much.
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