Transcript: Mayor Adams Delivers Remarks at Flag-Raising Ceremony for Juneteenth

June 2, 2025

Mayor Eric Adams: You know, those were not merely words on a piece of paper that Deputy Mayor Raspberry shared with us, and I hope we have a moment to reflect on what she stated. The journey from where she is now, a deputy mayor in the most important city on the globe, to the arrival of her ancestors. 

And I reflect on my own family's journey and the challenges and the difficulties that were associated with it. And when I took office after the election, I went to synagogue. In previous years, I went to Gorée Island and visited the Door of No Return in the dungeons. 

And we must understand, those of us who made it to the shores of America, who we are and what we went through, the mere fact that we are here, still able to communicate in a civilized fashion, talks about our [resilience]. Our ancestors stood in dungeons for years, many of them having to stand in their own ways, not seeing the sunlight at all. And even when arriving to the shores, the tragedy didn't get easier, it got more horrific. 

Cabin doors were kicked in. Women and children were raped and sodomized. They delivered their babies in the fields, only to go back and have to continue to work from sun up to sun down. That's the legacy of where we stood, but that is not our complete legacy. We had great institutions like Timbuktu and others. They want to rewrite our contribution to, not only to America, but to civilization. 

And so my role of becoming the mayor of the City of New York, the second African American mayor to do so, I stand on the shoulders of Mayor Dinkins. But what is more significant than that, is that because I was able to stand on his shoulders, I was able to go one step further in what he accomplished. It took 110 mayors before the Juneteenth flag was raised here. We were the first administration to have that flag raised. 

Feats away from where our ancestors were sold into slavery, feats away from where our ancestors were sold into slavery, now they see their offspring being the mayor to allow this flag to be raised. But being mayor is both symbolic, but it's substantive also. And the symbolism is raising the flag. But what about the substance? 

The substance is being able to have the second African American to be the chief of staff of the City of New York. First African American to be the first deputy mayor. First [Spanish] speaking male to be the police commissioner. First woman African American to be the police commissioner. First Panamanian, Trinidadian to be a deputy mayor. First Panamanian to be a chief advisor. First, first, first, first, first, first, first, first, you know. 

So for me to get here and not ensure that we lift up not only our community but all communities. Over my shoulders to the left is my International Affairs person. He's the first  Russian speaking [person] to be the commissioner of International Affairs. And [Commissioner] Mermelstein is able to benefit from my ascension to be the mayor. And you could go throughout the lineage. 

First Filipino to be a deputy mayor. You know, the levels of things that we've done in this city. First East Indian to be a deputy mayor. When you look at what we have accomplished and rose to the levels that we are, we've said to the city, the city does not belong to one ethnicity or one demographic. It belongs to all the ethnicities that make up this city. And we're doing it through the voice and the eyes and the aspiration of an African American mayor. 

I am American but never forget I'm African. I'm African. And we should never abandon that fact just as other cultures should never forget who they are. This country tells you, you don't put your country last. I'm not American African. A Chinese is not American Chinese. A German is not American German. So on and so forth. America says you put your country first. You hold on to your culture. You hold on to what you brought and you bring it to the common denominator of America. 

America is not perfect. Matter of fact, it is perfectly imperfect. But as long as we're here and we have the right to fight for perfection, that is what we should accomplish. And so this flag is being lifted because in 1863 when slavery ended parts of Texas all the way up to 1865 the reality was not known. 

And those two years are significant because a lot of things can happen in two years. We know that more than ever because in two years we turned around this city from the direction that it was in to the direction that it's in now. So when you lose two years you lose a lot. 

But now we must ensure that we don't desecrate the lives of our ancestors. What do we do with our lives? How do we have our own liberation? And not only physically, I know chains are no longer on our ankles and on our hands, but the mental slavery is real. Every time we do an action that's harmful to one another or harmful to someone else, that is mental slavery. 

And so my goal is not to be physically free, but my goal is to be spiritually and emotionally free. Then we lift up our ancestors and their contribution. So I thank you for coming out today and allowing us to raise the flag on Juneteenth to celebrate the rich contribution we've made to humankind. Happy Juneteenth Day.