BY MANZOOR HUSSAIN
Mayor Eric Adams: We’ve done this four years in a row. You know the rules. You don’t stand for me, I stand for you. Oh, look at this room. This is one of the greatest displays of faith inside our community. And as this woman said here, she says, no, Mr. Mayor, show mercy to our immigrant friends. Okay.
And as we sit here– you can leave your sign up. Don’t resign yet. And so as we sit here and look at this greatest display of faith in our communities from the Rastafarians who are here to our Jewish brothers and sisters to our Sikh, to our Muslims, to our Christian[s], greatest display of faith in this city. And I have this level of tolerance of understanding the city as diverse as this New York. 8.3 million people, you’re going to have 35 million opinions. Trust me, folks. That is just what life is like in New York City.
And as I was sitting here, sitting next to my mentor, Reverend Daughtry, and just reflecting on this long, long journey that we have had on so many years together, I thought about the person I talk about often throughout my professional life. I talked about mommy, Dorothy Mae Adams. And I think about when mommy came to New York City, she was forced to leave Alabama because she was impregnated by a very prestigious person in Alabama. And instead of looking at what he did, they told her she had to leave. And she made her way here and gave birth to my older sister, Sandra. And mommy was unlucky in love. Men broke her heart. She was dedicated for many years to my father, who probably personified the tune, Papa Was a Rolling Stone. But she was committed, she was dedicated.
And one moment that I always reflect on, I always like to share portions of her life so people could get a fullness of who this amazing woman was and what she has done for me. We had a little place in Brownsville and in Brooklyn, of four-story tenement.
Rat infested tenement where you walk upstairs and on Fridays used to play spades. And we’d sit around and play spades all day and in the evening time with the other tenants in the building. And mommy said, my babies are not going to grow up here. They’re not going to grow up in this environment. I’m going to move them to Queens and have a home. And the room went silent. And then they all burst out letting a laugh. They said, Dorothy you’ll never move to Queens. This is it. Back then thinking about moving to Queens was like saying you were gonna live on Mars somewhere. They said this is it, this is this is your life.
And I remember mommy used to wear this long dress and I leaned on and I started crying and she dried my eyes with the hem of her dress. She said don’t worry baby we’re gonna move to Queens and we’re gonna buy a house with a backyard. I mean this was so foreign, a backyard? What are you talking about? And years later mommy ironed clothing for people, mommy would do housework, clean offices, and it was my job– back then we didn’t have the electric iron. You put the iron on the stove. It was my job to lick my finger and touch the iron and make sure it was not too hot. Because if mommy would have scorched one shirt that would have been an entire month of working. But she was dedicated and committed, must be hundreds and hundreds of shirts later, she saved up enough money to do a down payment for a house in Queens. For a house in Queens.
And I remember as we loaded up my dad’s old car, looking at the people in the window who watched her, that laughed at her, that mimicked her, and thought it was ridiculous, watching us unload the car, to move to Queens. And prior to the movement, mommy went to do the closing. And she went inside the banks, and there was the lawyer who she cleaned his house for, watching her do the closing. Mommy signed the papers and he said, “What are you doing here Dorothy?” In a very humble voice, she said, this is my house.
Mommy finished the closing and mommy went home to his house and cleaned his house for him. He says to his wife, Dorothy bought a house today. When mommy finished cleaning the house, he fired her. “Who do you think you are to buy a house?” Mommy went to 179th Street train station and she said, “baby I cried and I screamed and I yelled as the trains went by.” She said “then I dried my eyes because I had six children and I had to make sure that they still had that house.” And she would leave at night on her arthritic knees and go and clean an office space. During the day she would work at Amstead Daycare Center. During the afternoon she would clean other people’s homes just to make sure that she could hold on to that house. Hold on to that house. That’s who reared me.
That is a portion of the story of the resiliency of what I saw for the entire time that I had her in my life. You hear me say all the time she has six children and she loved them all but she adored me. She would tell me stories late at night and just share things with me. And so I was blown away with all that I’ve gone through with this journey of this life that I am so blessed to have.
Who started the stupid rumor that I was stepping down on Friday? Are you out of your mind? And you know what’s fascinating? You have to be of a great level of wisdom to understand what is playing out on the stage of politics in New York City. You got to focus on this, folks. How do you print a rumor that I’m resigning on Friday, but don’t print the facts that we had more jobs in the city’s history on that same day? Not one tabloid covered it.
But let me give you something else that’s really fascinating that is very painful. And that’s a hurt for you, Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom. What you did for 220,000 migrants and asylum seekers in this city to hear people say we are anti-immigrant. Are you out of your mind? You put 180,000 migrants and asylum seekers on the pathway to the American dream. You housed them, you nursed them, 40,000 children. You provided medical care for them, which you and Camille Joseph did in the middle of the night, 1, 2, 3 a.m. in the morning, while those who are criticizing us were home in their pajamas, we were out in the street doing the work for the people of this city and making this a safe haven for people in the street.
Are you out of your mind? Are you out of your mind? Are you out of your mind? Walking around with your silly signs. Stop doing the signs and give the sign that you believe in God and go join the work that these people have done in this city. That’s the sign we need to see.
You know, I’m blown away. Blown away when people want to stop and yell and boo me and call me names. Are you kidding me? You better get online. I’ve been criticized all my life. Try walking into a third grade classroom and every child in the classroom calling you the dumb student. I know what it is to be criticized. Try putting cardboards in the soles of your shoes because the soles have gone and people laugh at your hand-me-down clothing. Try going to get that hard cheese and wait in line and that canned meat and still go forward. Try taking the couch off the street that someone else threw away and you had to bring it in your house and make the place for you to sit on.
I know what it is to be called names. I know what it is to be mocked. I know what it is to be laughed at. I know what it is to have detached spectators sit in the bleachers while you’re on the field fighting these real battles and producing success. I knew all of this before. Get online if you got a sign. But the real sign is what we have done in this city, folks.
Let me tell you why people are angry. Because finally one of you is in charge of the city. Finally. This is why they’re angry. Nothing special about me. There’s nothing great about me, I’m an ordinary, dyslexic, hardworking, blue collar mayor, and those who have been in power for years, that denied you, have to deal with the fact we are now in charge. And every day they burn candles, they light incense, they say prayers, they do everything they can. Is he gone yet? No, he’s not.
And to my team, Ana, Fabien, Camille, commissioner, Mark, to all of you, I’m so sorry, because it is hard working for Eric Adams. And I’m sorry that with all you have done, no one wants to cover it. No one wants to cover the fact that we invested in foster care children, paying their college tuition, giving them life coaches until they’re 26 years old so they don’t fall through the cracks.
No one wants to cover, Tiffany, what you have done in Washington, D.C., in Albany, in the City Council to pass the legislation that we’ve done for years. No one wants to cover what you’re doing right now, Commissioner Tisch, about bringing down crime, 20,000 handguns off our streets, 80,000 illegal vehicles off our streets. No one wants to cover what you’re doing, Commissioner Stewart, on what you’re doing giving children learning on real estate license, golf program. No one wants to cover what you have accomplished.
Rumors have prevailed over the facts of what this administration did. We inherited COVID, folks. The city was closed down, 220,000 migrant [and asylum] seekers at $7 billion, and the previous administration only wanted to give us reimbursement for $11 for a hotel room. You can’t get a doorknob in New York City for $11. No one wants to cover what we have done because it’s you. That is why they want to cover. They want to keep the symbol that we ordinary working class people can’t run a city of this level of complexity. The most important city on the globe. We are running that.
Our faith-based institutions that are talking about building by faith. We got City of Yes passed where we can now use those lots that you’ve had on your blocks for years and you were denied access to doing so. Now we’re saying let’s empower our faith-based institutions to build the housing that we’ve done. You partner with us to deal with the migrants and asylum seekers in this city, as we needed to give back because we were being denied on a federal level. You were our partners every step of the way. Every time hate showed its face, we were with you and each other as we came together to turn around the hate in this city. You were our partners in doing so.
And yes, listen, if I were to say, someone came to the city, left loved ones at home, may have spoken a different language, may have had to take a menial job to eke out a living, you will have a difficulty telling me what ethnic group I’m talking about because every ethnic group, if you look under the fingernails, you’ll see the dirt and grime of climbing out the mountain of hope and opportunity one hand at a time.
Yes, we know this is a city and country of immigrants. Yes, we’re gonna make sure that children can go to school. Yes, we’re gonna make sure that you go to the hospital. Yes, we’re gonna make sure that if you’re a victim of a crime, we’re gonna be here to protect you and that you should have an opportunity to thrive in the city. We believe that, that’s who we are. But let’s make one thing clear. You will not be in this city if you shoot a police officer, rape a girl, commit a crime, commit violence. And we are not going to be a safe haven for those who believe they’re gonna exploit our American dream.
And you know who should be the loudest saying that’s not acceptable? Those who came here to pursue the American dream. You should be the loudest saying, that is not one of us. They don’t deserve to be here in our country if you’re abusive to people who are eking out a living in this country from all across the globe. That’s what I stand for. I’m not untrue to this. And I’m not new to this. I’ve been doing it for a long time, folks. And I’m committed to this city. I love this city and all that it represents. And I ran on a clear message.
Go look at what I ran on. And you’ll see that we have accomplished just about everything on our list. Build more affordable housing in year one and year two in the history of this city. Move more people out of shelter into permanent housing in year one and year two in the history of this city. Drop the cost of child care from $55 a week to less than $5 a week so our children can have adequate health care. Look at what we’ve done inside the mental health professional. People running around saying it is undignified to take people off the street. No, it’s undignified to allow people to live on the street. And I believe in all my heart that if Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John was here right now, they’d be standing with our policies of dealing with homelessness. Thousands of people were removed off our subway system.
You said it right this morning, commissioner. Our subway system should not be shelters, should not be mental health wards, [they] should not be places where people be treated in an undignified manner and it takes boldness, being unafraid to address these real issues in a real way and that is what we’re doing. We’re seeing good old-fashioned leadership and you get criticized when people see you lead in the right way. Look at what we’ve done around unemployment. Dropped unemployment throughout the entire city folks. Black and Brown unemployment was dropped by 20 percent. Look at our MWBE numbers.
Where you going camera man? You got to cover this like you covered that sign. Don’t want to deal with this. Don’t want to deal with this. This is what you’ve been up against. This is why you’re seeing people that are booing instead of wooing. Because they’ve allowed the tabloids to attempt to distort our history in this city. We turned this city around.
People told me it was going to take me five years to turn around our economy. We did it in three. People told me it was going to take five years to bring down crime. We brought it down. They told us we couldn’t build the housing. We built the housing. They told us we couldn’t do the things and we did it. And you don’t read about it. It’s silent on those issues. They would take this entire meeting of all of you here and you know what they’re going to do? They’re going to say he was in a room of clergy and they protested him and put up a multitude of signs. Think about it. This is what we’ve been up against for three years. This is what we’ve been up against.
You tell me, how does Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer create more jobs in the city’s history and the day she did that, no one covered it. No one covered it. You know what they did cover? Eric is resigning in 72 hours. How many times do I have to say when people say step down I step up? Do I got to say that over and over again?
Yes, I’m the mayor. Yes, I was the first Black borough president. Yes, I was a state senator. Yes, I was a captain. Folks, that’s my glory. That’s not my story. My story fortifies me. And yes, last week was a scary week for me. It was hard. I’m not going to lie to you. And you got to trust in God. There are moments, and listen, I’m not giving you a speech. I’m talking to you because you have been with me. There are moments where God has to be real.
When I studied for sergeant and made that left turn off Atlantic Avenue to Clarkson Avenue and that car pulled up next to me and called out my name and I looked at that automatic weapon and it shot out my window. When I went home that night, I had to re-fortify my belief in God. God got to become real to you, and last week that’s what it was about. God had to become real to me. And when people were saying “Well, where is he?” “What is he doing?” “Why is he here?” “What is going on?” God told me, “Eric be still. Be still and know that I’m God. Be still and don’t allow all that noise out there as I take you through this healing moment both physically and spiritually.”
When I ran for office I went to the Middle East and I spent the night in the desert because I said to myself, this sand is the same sand that Moses, Abraham and Jesus walked on. We may come and go, but there are things on this planet that are still here from those days that we have to draw strength from. And I know many people look at my spirituality and my belief and how do I continue to move. It’s because I believe. And you can’t just read it, you got to believe it. You got to believe it.
And so let me say to you as I conclude, and I talked about this in the Bronx. It’s about 300 people in this room. And I always go to Judges 7, verse 2 through 7. The great battle. And there were 22,000 warriors that the king had. God said that’s too many. He was looking at his enemy, was hundreds of thousands. And he said, God, I only got 22,000. God said that’s too many. He broke them down to 10,000. God said that’s still too many. He said I want you to go down to the river and I want you to have them drink. And 9,700 drank the water with their heads down. But 300 drank the water like a dog, lapping it up at the dog and looked around for the enemy to come. God was sending a signal that you don’t need the scores, the massive. You just need 300.
And in this room today, there’s a biblical connection that there’s the 300 of you out here. You are watching what is happening and you’re not having your head down, you are looking at the enemy that’s coming. And you are watching this fight that we’re in. And I know in all my heart, I say to the team sometimes, this is going to be a retrospective appreciation for what you have done.
There’s going to be a migrant and asylum seeker that’s going to stand on a podium like this one day and they’re going to say, I remember when I came to this city, the mayor was the first person that was there. They’re going to talk about what Anne did. They’re going to talk about the late nights as Zach Iscol went to the police academy building to find housing. They’re going to talk about what we did as a city. They’re going to talk about what you did, commissioner, and finding that dangerous gang member that was saturating our streets with guns and you were able to bring them down and saying you are violating your right to be in our country.
They’re gonna talk about those volunteer lawyers that went to the legal clinic that you opened up, Camille, and to make sure that we put people in a pathway to TPS and being able to give their ability to work. They’re gonna talk about all of that and they’re gonna talk about something else. That person who experienced what we’ve done, they’re gonna talk about people that just carry signs. They’re gonna talk about people who just yelled at us and screamed at us. And they’re gonna ask the question, where were you? Where were you when this administration was fighting for the decency for this entire city? I know where I’ve been and I do not have to answer to any man, any woman, or child, I answer to God.
God knows my heart, God knows my journey, and God knows what I’ve stood for in this city and what I will continue to stand for. Your presence here today refortifies me. I thank you so much for you coming out and understanding that the people of faith is going to navigate us through these turbulent times. And I hear people say all the time that these are difficult times we’re in.
There has never been a time in history that we did not have difficult times. But there’s always been a time in history where people of God stood up and made sure that those who were the least among us received the support and care. And I know that so well, because Dorothy Mae Adams was the least among us. And her baby boy is the mayor of the City of New York. God bless you all, thank you.
