Transcript: Mayor Eric Adams Hosts City of New York’s First Nowruz Celebration

April 20, 2023

Mayor Eric Adams: What a crowd. What a crowd. And everyone says that you know how to throw a party. Last year, I was so proud to march in the Persian Day Parade, and I was the first New York City mayor to do so. And by doing so, I was acknowledged to be the Persian mayor. So I'm also the first Persian mayor. One of the real indicators of the contribution to the city, whenever we host these events, I scan the crowd for the uniformed personnel. And when your sons and daughters provide safety to our city, it really shows your true investment in the city. And I see men and women from the New York City Police Department, Department of Correction, and other law enforcement agencies. There is no higher contribution to a city than safety. Safety is our prerequisite to prosperity and it's how we prosper.

But here in our administration, not only do we have men and women in the law enforcement community that are providing a vital role, but the person who shapes my voice, who allows me to do the things I'm doing. When you pick up the paper and you read that I said something, he actually said it. My press person is from the community. Fabien Levy is here. 

And so I really want to thank all of you and welcome you to the People's House and Nowruz Mubarak, and much fortune and good luck to you. And it's an honor to celebrate Nowruz here at Gracie Mansion. And think about what it stands for. It's a culture. It stands for those things that are important: hope, renewal, and unity. Hope, renewal, and unity. Any society that's void of hope is void of a vision of tomorrow because hope allows us to not remain in where we are, but to see where we are going.

And Nowruz is a way of saying to us, no matter what challenges that are around us, as long as we ensure that we have the spirit of hope, we can overcome any obstacle. The absence of hope is the absence of opportunity is the absence of progress. And then renewal. Nothing personifies the energy and feeling of renewal more than what we came through with the global pandemic that took the lives of so many of our loved ones. No matter who we are, we could all close our eyes and think about the individuals that we lost during the pandemic. But they would want us to come on the other side of the pandemic with a sense of renewal. And renewal is what we're seeing in the city, the recovery of 99 percent of the jobs we lost pre-pandemic. Businesses are open. Our city is becoming safer because of the men and women who ensure that we remove the dangerous items from our streets. And that renewal is real and it's part of what we will always stand for.

And finally, unity. New York City represents unity. The diversity of this city, I am always mystified. In one given day, I can sit in a sukkah, I can attend a shiva, I can go to a mosque and sit down and enjoy Ramadan, I can celebrate Passover, Easter, I can come at Gracie Mansion and cap it off by having a Nowruz celebration. This is what we talk about when we talk about unity when we break down those barriers that really prevent us from really enjoying our most potent weapon and that is our diversity. That is who we are. And the unity of this holiday, of this cultural celebration is what I really enjoy the most. Even as borough president, we would celebrate Nowruz, and we are doing it now continuously as I'm the mayor. Back then as borough president, I celebrated as merely as an African American. Now as the mayor, I can celebrate it as a Persian.

So, this ancient tradition go back so far. You think about the different countries that acknowledge. From Iran to Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, which I enjoy so much, Kurdistan, where I'm going to be visiting all of my stans, Uzbekistan, and many others. I'm going to see them all. The consul generals of those different countries have always treated me with a level of receptivity and warmness, the food, the enjoyment. And I just really want to say thank you. You are a community that believes in the things I believe in. You believe in family, you believe in operating and supporting small businesses, and you believe in public safety. We see eye to eye. And I want to encourage you to make sure that every family member who's eligible to do so register to vote, because the silent majority is being overrun by the boisterous minority. A small number of people have hijacked what we stand for. And it's time for us to send a clear message that the things we stand for are the things this country stands for. So, thank you so much, and I wish you a great victorious Nowruz celebration. Thank you.

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