Transcript: Mayor Adams Hosts Reception Celebrating Haitian Heritage

August 17, 2023

Watch the video here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJrEpPyDR3o

Mayor Eric Adams: Listen, sak pase?

Audience: N’ap boule!

Mayor Adams: In New York, there is nothing you cannot do. Every day it makes you feel brand new. And I want to thank Edu, and I'm surprised. Where's my baby? You don't have the baby here? The baby's normally somewhere near, and the powerhouse elected, our county leader. She went to law school, she had a baby. She was the county leader. Rodneyse Bichotte, show her some love. And my good friend didn't get here yet, Rose Guerrier. She was just with us from throughout the entire campaign and just… I know she's on her way and you can't get stuff done in Brooklyn without a solid, solid city councilwoman who is just doing her thing. Really leading from the front. Farah. Farah Louis, Councilwoman Farah Louis.

And let me tell you something, never miss a cultural event. Epitomizes the spirit of diversity in celebrating the immigrant experience, the first South Asian elected to the State Senate, first woman South Asian elected to the State Assembly, I should say. Our good friend, Assemblywoman Rajkumar. Real friends, real partners here.

My team, don't give me all my list, assemblywoman, I'm sorry. We got dual Haitians up in the Assembly, real partners that's there with Rodneyse making things happen. And over to the far left, if you haven't realized, we have our first woman of color that is the first deputy commissioner in the Police Department as well.

Here's the energy. Being mayor, we must do things that are substantive and symbolic. Both of them go together because if you only do things that are symbolic, you are not respecting the real power of the community, so you must have substance. And when you look at who manages the $106 billion budget of the City of New York, it's my brother Jacques Jiha. And if you can't pick up that name, he's Haitian. He's Haitian. One of the most powerful men in the most powerful city on the globe is Haitian descent, Jacques Jiha.

But let's look at what we're doing. Yes, we've been successful and continue to elect our assembly members, our council members, creating Little Haiti and Brooklyn. But if we're going to make real inroads, we must come with the Toussaint energy. We must come with the willingness of fight for what we believe in. And when I came in office, many of the Haitian leaders came to me and stated, "Every year we wanted to do a parade, and people gave us reasons why we could not do a parade. People stated that there were no more days open, that it would cost too much money, that it's not possible to do. Well, you know what? On January 1st, 2022, I said, those days are over. The people of Haiti descent will march in Manhattan where everyone else is allowed to march. And you had your parade. You had your parade.

And then many of you don't realize every year there are independent flag raising celebrations that take place down at Bowling Green. And every year after year after year, you never see the Haitian flag being brought up on the top of the pole to symbolize the strength and diversity and the power of the Haitian community. And I stated that stops January 1st, 2022. The year I got elected to mayor, we raised the Haitian flag the first time down at Bowling Green. And I want you to ask all those who were running for mayor, have you ever been to Haiti? Did you go to Haiti during the most difficult times and show their support? I know I was there. Ask them where were they when Abner Louima was traumatized in the 70 Precinct, I was there. Ask them when it was time to fight for the Haitian refugees who were coming through Miami and the nastiness of the attempted to turn them back, where were they and their voices? I know I was there.

I am not a new friend. I'm an old friend. We've been fighting together for so long. We've been standing side by side. I knew back then like I knew now, not only is New York City, the Port-au-Prince of America, but Brooklyn and Queens is damn sure the Port-au-Prince of America. And who are you? Think about it for a moment. Understand and walk into your real power. Think about who you are. Some of the most educated, some of the highest in the medical profession, not only as nurses, but doctors. Engineers, highest level of professional degrees, willing to work hard and do whatever you need and understand the role that you play in this city. It is time now to walk in your power. It's time now to clearly understand your power.

And here's a big mistake. Don't use your power to fight against each other, because the enemy likes to throw a rock, hide their hands, and while you are bleeding, they give you a bandaid and point to your neighbor and your brother and your sister and say, "That's who caused it in the first place." We have to come together because look where we are right now.

You got Councilwoman Lewis in the City Council, Assemblywoman Bichotte, Assemblywoman Souffrant. You have an African-American mayor. You have a public advocate of color. You have a DA of color in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn. You have the AG is of color. You have the leader of the City Council of color. You have the leader of the Assembly of color. You have the leader of the Senate of color. You have heads of committees of color. If all of this chocolate can't get something done now, it will never get anything done. Never.

This is what Toussaint prayed for. This is what Rosa Parks fought for. This is what Marcus Garvey fought for. This is what your ancestors fought for. They fought for the moment we are faced right now. If we don't do anything with it, we are going to desecrate the grave and the struggle of those who came before us. I know I'm not going to drop the ball. I'm going to do what I have to do. And I know how you do, so it's time to roll up our sleeves, put some Vaseline on our face, kick off our shoes and get into this fight. That is what we're doing. Get into this fight.

And these brothers and sisters behind me from Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, our Haitian refugee and our relief fund, over $3 million we put into the community and millions into other grassroots organizations. Some of you are here today doing your nonprofit services to make sure that we are providing services on the ground. That's the goal that we must do. I am you. Nothing fancy about me. I am you. I say it over and over again. You look at my record. Everyone know I'm dyslexic. Everyone know I was arrested. Everyone know I was rejected. But you know what? Right now I'm elected to be the mayor of the City of New York. You know that? That's right. And you can call me whatever name you want, just make sure you spell it right and say, "Mayor." Let's see.

New York is the most powerful city in the most powerful country on the globe. That means that these are the most powerful electeds. And my girl here that snuck in, Mercedes Narcisse. These are the most powerful electeds on the globe. You are the most powerful Haitians on the globe. Haitians are spread out all over the globe. Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, all over the globe. Chicago. But there is no body of Haitians that's more important and powerful than the Haitians that are in the most powerful city such as New York. 

So you got to charter the course. You have to make sure we stay focused. You have to make sure that you lift up the voices of the Haitian community globally. People are looking towards you to determine what is the direction that the Haitian community is going to fight for and stand for. You must use your radio stations, your television station, your newspapers, your illegal stations, whatever it is. The ones in the basement, the one that you have in the corner somewhere. You must get the message out, whatever way you do it because if you don't communicate the message, it is not going to be communicated by anyone else but you.

And let me conclude with this. You need to tell all those haters, "If you not going to help the brother, get out of his way. Get out of his way." I am going to do more as mayor to help working class people than any mayor in the history of this city. And we're coming back, folks, don't let anyone kid you. We recovered 99 percent of the jobs we lost. We have a double A bond rating. Crime has dropped in this city where people thought wasn't impossible. 4 million people have peaked on our subway system. Tourism is heavily coming back. Our tech industry is recovering. We outpaced in early startups more than San Francisco. You are seeing our children getting a quality education. We are coming back at a rate that no one thought was possible, and we're carrying it out. We're managing this city, even with a hundred thousand people coming to our doorstep without any real support on any level, we are still getting it done.

Look at other cities. You see families on streets. You don't see that in New York City because of what we are doing. This city is on the right path. Don't let anybody kid you that we are recovering because we're resilient, we're smart, we're fighters, we're intelligent, and no matter what anybody say, we're made up of the best stuff on earth. We are New Yorkers and Haitian New Yorkers understand that better than everyone. Happy Independence Day, Haiti.

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