Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you so much, Atia, and thank our elders who are here down front. I just want to take a moment of silence for our loved ones who are dealing with the monsoon that's taking place in Pakistan. I know that many of you, your family members, your loved ones are also part of what's happening there. So if we could just take a moment of reflection and prayer and send good energy to those who are experiencing the monsoon now.
When you think about what Atia stated, being mayor is both substantive and symbolic. I say this over and over when I meet our various communities and their culture. The substantive is educating our children, keeping us safe, supporting your businesses, making sure that you can move about the city and enjoy all that it has to happen like we have done. But it's also symbolism.
That's the role of a mayor. And so 110 mayors later, as Atia has pointed out, for many years you have been here in this country and city toiling in the fields of progress. But your flag, the Pakistani flag, was never raised at Bowling Green. Other countries had their flags raised there, but not yours.
But when I became mayor, we raised your flag. And you never had an Eid celebration, something that's important for your community. But when we became mayor, you had that celebration here at Gracie Mansion. And we've done so much to tell communities who were ignored for many years that you too are part of the American experience.
And now, today, over three hundred members of the Pakistani community are celebrating Pakistani Heritage Day here at Gracie Mansion. Why is this important? It is important because we open the door for raising the flag, for celebrations, for promotions, for acknowledgment.
Once we open the door, we take the door off the hinges so it can never close again, and you will always be able to walk through these doors at Gracie Mansion and acknowledge your heritage. You believe in what I believe. You believe in family, you believe in faith, you believe in small business, and you believe in public safety.
I know this community so well, and as Atia stated, I'm not a new friend, I'm an old friend. I stood with you during difficult times. I watched how many of you had to weather the turmoil during 2001 when a large Pakistani community on Coney Island Avenue was decimated, and many of you stood firm and tall, and now we see the revitalization of that community.
Many of your young people don't know what you went through, but I do, because I was there with you. I was there with you then, and I'm here with you now. And as we honor you and some of your leaders, I want to personally say thank you for what you have given to our city.
New York, in America, is the only city on the globe where you're told not to abandon your heritage. You're told to bring your heritage, your food, your dance, your clothing. You are told to make it part of the American experience. And I tell people often, I'm not American-African, you're not American-Pakistanian, a German is not an American-German, no, it's just the opposite.
America puts your country first. You are Pakistani-American, I'm African-American, a German is German-American. You infuse that with the American experience, and that's the common denominator that embraced us all. As you love your motherland, you're able to embrace your adopted land, and it's the mixture of all of our countries that make us who we are. That's our secret weapon, our secret sauce, that is the foundation of our success.
And we're going to continue to ensure that success becomes part of the American dream and experience. Nothing personifies a community's evolution more than the presence of your sons and daughters being members of the New York City Police Department.
And I remember years ago, when we rarely had Palestinian officers. Now, thanks to the work of those pioneers, we're seeing your population growing and you're moving up through the ranks to take prestigious positions within the Police Department.
And I want to thank the president of the Pakistani Officers Association. Please come on out and take a bow. And for what you are doing to recruit and build the numbers and advocate on behalf of our officers. And I want to thank the men and women of the law enforcement community. Make your way up to the front. Come on and make your way up to the front.
P.A.L.S. is the Pakistani American Law Enforcement Society. Let them make their way up. These officers–public safety is the prerequisite to our prosperity. And when you see the sacrifices that are made, the willingness to run towards danger when others run away, when you see someone like our brother Islam from the Bangladeshi community, when you see our officers who lose their lives, but continue to stand on the front line.
We have to know that it is within the rank and files of our law enforcement community that we're able to sit under the tree of freedom because they water that tree with their blood. And when your sons and daughters join the Police Department and become men and women of the Police Department, you are saying to America that you have a right to be part of America because those sacrifices define who we are.
[It] doesn't matter if it's in the military service, if it's in the law enforcement community, that sets the tone for others to understand. And so I thank your sons and daughters for what they are doing and particularly on how you are ensuring that our city and our country understand we come from multi-cultures.
Because if you can wear a yarmulke, and you can wear a hijab, and you can wear a turban, and you can wear a kufi, and still be in our law enforcement estates, you can do it anywhere. And that is what we represent. So I thank you so much. Give it up for our men and women in law enforcement communities.
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