Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you so much. And you know, the commissioner was saying something as I was backstage and she said forgive her if she gets teary eyed. And if you were to speak with my deputy mayors, my commissioners, those who really saw us in the trenches, those of us who spent three years and 10 months in the foxhole – if you were to speak to each one of them and tell their own narrative, their own story, you will have a full appreciation of this administration. You'll know how personal it is.
When I assembled together this administration, I didn't want to know your academic achievements. I did not want to know what diplomas you held on the wall. I sat down and spoke with my leaders one-on-one and their personal stories. Their personal journeys [are] far outside the headlines and noise that all of you have read from time to time. You have an impression of this administration that has been distorted.
And the reason many of us that do this work are in a perpetual state of teary eyes because we live the pains that others are living right now, sitting in the classroom, having people call me the “dumb student” writing on the back of my chair as a third grader because I had undiagnosed dyslexia is real.
Living on the verge of homelessness, watching mommy try to raise six children without any support [from the] government and having my sister lose her whole childhood because mommy was doing three jobs and Sandra had to raise us without having the experience of a child is real.
To have Commissioner Curry be the first African-American to head this agency living with disabilities and put her entire soul into this and push the envelope is real. To have DM Almanzar coming to this country with her nine siblings and her parents watching her extend to be the first Dominican deputy mayor is real. Story after story after story after story. We shattered what people thought we couldn't do and you can't take away the results.
You can't take away more housing than the history of any other mayor. You can't take away the decrease in unemployment in general, but specifically for Black and brown communities. You can't take away those we appointed to positions who spoke broken English, which traditionally people think is an indicator of the lack of intelligence, when in fact it is an indicator of intelligence, and we brought them in.
You can't take away the first five deputy mayors in the history of the city, the first Spanish speaker to be a police commissioner. You can't take away what we have done and what this commissioner has done with people living with disabilities has changed the scope and we will never go backwards again. Never again. And I think about Nate, ask Nate to come out. Nate, come here Nate.
Nate was with me in Borough Hall and he traveled with me to City Hall, visually impaired. He laid the framework of much of what we're doing around mental health and physical health right now. I heard him over and over again, the first to come in, the last to leave and I saw the quality that having an individual who's living with disabilities is the person that can open their gifts and their eyes to do so much and I cannot thank you enough. Cannot thank you enough.
This is who we are and this is why this city is a better city because of you. No one is left behind and as we transition to a new mayor, we have to be clear that the foundation is laid. Let's build on that foundation. Let's make sure that this city will lead the way and how we ensure that no one is left behind. And that also means language access, one of the most significant barriers that prevent people from getting access to governmental services.
The technology is now available [where] you should be able to walk into any agency in this city and speak in your native language and still be able to receive the services that your taxpayer dollars paid for. We're going to make sure that happens and it's transformative in the process. And so I thank Commissioner Curry. I thank her because there is a third grader sitting inside a classroom right now that knows his city sees him or her.
And I thank her for saying something that many of you may have missed. “Nothing about us, without us. That is a powerful, powerful statement. Far too long in this city, everything about us has been dictated by those who are not us. It's about those who are going through the journey [that] must have people who have gone through the journey as well.
Keep the fight up. Don't let anyone take away that energy. And no matter where I'm going, December 31st, one thing is clear. I'm going nowhere. I will always be a New Yorker and I will always fight for this city and this community. Congratulations. Thank you, commissioner.
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