Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Salam alaikum. It is such a privilege to be back here with all of you. I want to first just say thank you for the kind introduction; thank you for the beautiful welcome. It is a pleasure to be here alongside so many leaders inside of City government and outside of City government. I would like if we could give a round of applause to a longtime friend of the Pakistani community, the public advocate, Jumaane Williams, who is here with us. We have our commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, Faiza Ali, who is here with us. We have our commissioner of the Taxi and Limousine [Commission], [Midori] Valdivia, who’s here with us. And I want to acknowledge also Hussan Nasir Awan, the Youth Wing director of the Allama Iqbal Community Center; Muhammad Nasir Awan, the chairman of the Allama Iqbal Community Center; Ishtiaq Ahmed [of] DRUM; and all of the presidents and chairpersons that are here today for an incredible community celebration.
Now, when I look out onto this crowd of Pakistani New Yorkers, I see so many people who work tirelessly to make this city what it is. I see lawyers who represent the struggling and the afraid, often without asking for payment in return. I see doctors who open their doors to those turned away, who sit and listen to ailments that others have dismissed or ignored. I see taxi drivers who take that one last fare — even though they are exhausted, even though a warm bed waits for them when they come home, because they can imagine a better life for their child and they are willing to work in every which way for it. I see construction workers who build the homes that make the city what it is; artists who paint and dance and weave the tapestry of life in our city; city workers who drive our buses, they tend to our parks, they keep the city running; and leaders that New Yorkers up and down Coney Island Avenue look to, time and time again.
All of this is to say that I see a community of New Yorkers who have helped to make this city what it is. And we have heard, and we also know that, this is a community that is proud of its Pakistani roots. And it is such a pleasure to be here. Because I know that in that pride, you continue the legacy of the sacrifices and the commitments of so many that came before. In your words, so many have helped to build this community into what it is today. And what you have shown time and time again to this city is that your arms are always open to welcome; whether it's to a candidate whose polling is less than five percent [inaudible] or it's anyone who has a dream of a better life in this city. And that choice to welcome is a choice that brings so many of us here today because it's a choice that defines the city for what it is. Thank you so much, everyone. Have a lovely day.
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