Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks at St. Patrick’s Cathedral

July 10, 2016

Mayor Bill de Blasio: First, I want to give honor to God. Without Him this day would not be possible.

Your Eminence, thank you. Thank you for the welcome, the kindness, the counsel you always extend to Chirlane and I. Thank you for the leadership you provide the people of this city.

It is a difficult and painful time, as His Eminence described. It’s a time that sows doubt and confusion, makes us wonder if there’s a way forward. But as Chirlane and I had the opportunity, earlier, to spend some time with His Eminence, he said something very powerful, very simple, and beautiful about the ability of the people of this city to overcome adversity, and, in fact, find unity even in our most difficult moments. He said that this city has the capacity for radiance. There was radiance after the unspeakable and unfathomable tragedy of 9/11. There was radiance after Hurricane Sandy disrupted so many lives and communities. And there needs to be radiance again.

We – every one of us – have to find it within us to create that radiance no matter how much pain we feel. We have a problem in this country, in this city – a problem we have inherited, no doubt. The stain upon our nation of racism and division – none of it – none of that history conforms with Jesus’ teachings, and yet it was the norm, and it still afflicts us to this day. But we must make the choice to overcome that.

The example of the Good Samaritan – one moment in time thousands of years ago, and yet a phrase that every one of us knows – a story so powerful, the one man who chose not to look away, who chose to serve and uplift, to do something difficult, to heal – and that’s our requirement today. That’s our mission.

This city has to do something not only for ourselves, but for our whole nation. This city has to become an example. We’ve come a long way. We are far, far from perfect, but we’ve come a long way. This is a city that, over decades, has found more common ground. This is a city where our clergy reach out almost instantaneously to each other across faiths in times of crisis, and form a common front – something we don’t see in enough of the world, and yet, here, thank God, it is a given today.

So, now it’s our turn. In this city we aspire to a different and better relationship between police and community. We believe it can happen.

I want to thank Commissioner Bratton and Chief O’Neill, and all of the good men and women of the NYPD who, as we speak, are creating a new idea, a new approach for neighborhood policing – and in its essence means that police come to know their neighborhoods and the people they serve much more deeply, and the communities come to know their police. They become one. Their common humanity becomes the driving force, not assumptions and stereotypes, not biases we inherited whether we wanted them or not, but in fact a very purposeful march towards a common mission – police and community as one.

It will take real work. It will take each individual reaching to the other, seeing more deeply, seeing each other in our fullness. But it can be done. And, here, we have an opportunity to do something that can show in this most complex and beautiful and diverse and global of cities -- we have a chance to show there is a new way. We can live a new way.

I’ll conclude with a simple point. Part of our history afflicts us, and part of our history uplifts us. The Good Samaritan, to this day, uplifts us, and all of our heritages – all the glorious heritages that make up this city uplift us.

Each and every one of us, some generations ago, came from another place, be it Africa, be it Europe, be it Latin America. We came from another place, and in that place we typically came from a village – not a big city filled with skyscrapers but a village. And every village and every culture in every nation in every continent – every village had guardians. Every village had people chosen to protect all of the people. The guardians were of and by and for the village. They were respected. They were appreciated. And they knew the village well, and the village knew them.

In our modern time we have to create that again in villages called neighborhoods. In this great city of eight-and-a-half people we have to reach back into our history and find that impulse again to understand our police are our guardians.

An attack on our police is an attack on all of us. And there has to be – and there will be – a deep and mutual respect between police and community – community coming to the aid of police, police coming to the aid of community – a oneness that once was and must be again.

Thank you and God bless you all.