Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks at Bethesda Healing Center

December 5, 2021

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

[Applause]

So yes, I said, I'd be back. And I wanted to be back. I love Bethesda. I have to tell you, I love this place.

[Applause]

And I have had just powerful experiences here and moving experiences and hopeful experiences, because this is a special congregation. I have to tell you, there are many words that communicate something to us. And there's many names you can choose. But I – from the first time I came here, I always appreciated the phrase, Bethesda Healing Center. I said, doesn't that say something powerful and something different? Every house of worship is special and meaningful, but this is a place where healing happens, right? Something powerful happens here.

[Applause]

And I have to tell you, we all need some healing at this moment, right? We all need it. When it was first named years ago, it was absolutely the right idea because it's tough. Life is tough. This city is tough. We always need healing. But Lord knows after the last two years, we need some extra healing.

[Applause]

So, I want to thank your leaders who have made this place what it is. I know Bishop couldn't be with us, but I honor her for her extraordinary work. What she has created – wait, she is? Where? They told me you weren't here. Oh, she's there. She is, she's watching us.

[Applause]

I feel her presence now.

[Laughter]

I honor you Bishop, for what you have created. It is extraordinary. And it is the work of a leader with immense vision and the ability to make that vision come alive. Let's thank, Bishop for all she has done.

[Applause]

And to Pastor Lazarus, for building on that tradition and making it stronger and greater every day. Thank you. Let's thank him.

[Applause]

And Pastor James Osei-Kofi for keeping this energy and life of this congregation and bringing the work to the whole community.

[Applause]

For the work of protecting people through the God Squad, creating peace in the community. And for the work on the Clergy Advisory Council, amongst the leaders of clergy for the whole city, helping us set the path of the future. Let's thank Pastor, for that.

[Applause]

I said, I'd be back cause I wanted to be back because I love it here. I love all of you. I thank all of you for what you have created, what you sustain, for the warmth, for the faith. But I also wanted to come to say a very personal thank you. Because I remember the first time I came here and I was received so kindly, even though honestly, I was what was considered kind of an underdog or a long shot when I was running for mayor. I used to say back then, you know, I'm in fifth place, but it's the strongest fifth place you've ever seen. But it's, I often remind people in politics and in life, it's not where you start that matters, it's where you end up. Right? Amen.

[Applause]

So, you treated this underdog with the kindness of someone who was already achieving their goal and you gave me hope. And I want to thank you for that, but I especially want to thank you for these last eight years. And I want to thank you personally on behalf of not only myself, but Chirlane and Chiara and Dante, our whole family has felt the embrace and the love and the support. And it really has helped. Your prayers, I have felt them and I am so appreciative.

And let me tell you, we together have changed this city. There's much more to do, but I want to make this point. I'll be very quick today. We together have changed this city. You knew this city needed change. It needs a lot more, but you saw the need for the change. And then you did something about it. Now, listen, it is sometimes hard to find in the difficulties of life and all the ways that we are pushed back and held down. Sometimes it's hard to identify our own power. I often say society bombards us with too much negativity. I certainly have experienced this in my life being told all the times when you can't do something. Being told that that's not going to work out for you, that's not going to happen. Has anyone ever had that feeling, people telling you what you can't do instead of what you can do? Has that ever happened to you?

Audience: Yes.

Mayor: And that doesn't help anyone when people are telling you what you can't do. But what I learned with you is that when we put our hearts to it, when we believe change can happen, it's quite amazing how far we can go. It's quite amazing. When I said we needed pre-K for every child, they said, oh, I saw this over and over again. Oh, that's impossible. That's too much. That's never going to happen. But you believed in it. You believed in it. And today every child in New York City gets pre-K for free.

[Applause]

And now we are doing the same for three-year-olds. We proved that it could happen for four-year-olds, let's do it for three-year-olds. As simple as that. We said we could create hundreds of thousands of affordable apartments for families who need them. And I tell you, there were more doubting Thomases than I could count saying that's too much, that's too high, that could never be reached. It's New York City, we can do great things here. And so right now 200,000 affordable apartments are either already built or on the way in this city for everyday New Yorkers who need to be able to afford to live here, who made this place great.

[Applause]

We said that for all those struggling entrepreneurs, small business owners, mom, and pop businesses, people of color, and women who built something up with their own hands that the City needed to invest in all of you. And I set a goal and it was audacious. $25 billion, $25 billion that the City would invest in minority- and women-owned businesses. And people said, oh, that will never happen. Well, guess what? We are well on the way. And we're going to make that goal, $25 billion for the small businesses of the communities that are the backbone of the city.

[Applause]

And the last one I want to talk to you about is very personal. And it comes from our own family's experience. And I think every one of you, I hope has heard about the work that my wife Chirlane has done on mental health. And what she said was the first thing we're going to do in this city, if we are the greatest city in the world, we're going to stop this horrible stigma that's holding back people from getting the help they deserve. We're going to stop treating mental health as a character flaw when in fact it is a human condition, it is a human reality. No one did anything wrong. If you have a mental health challenge, it’s not because you're not a good person. It's because you're a human being. She has been breaking down that stigma and creating the vision and bringing it to life of mental health for all. Whoever needs help has a right to help when there's a mental health challenge in a family. Does that sound right to you?

[Applause]

Every single one of those things they said, couldn't be done. I am telling you, I got so used to hearing it. I was like, okay, let's get it over with, tell us what we can't do. Tell us, what's tell us it's ridiculous. And then we went and did it each and every time. And why? Because you deserved it. It was for you and you deserved it. You demanded it, you needed it. And we should never let the doubters and the naysayers hold us back from what we need. That is the story of these eight years. When they tell you it's impossible, that is a confirmation that in fact it is quite possible.

[Applause]

So, I will conclude with this. When we stop dreaming, we stop living. We stop hoping, we stop living. When we stop believing in ourselves, we stop living. I have a lot of hope of where we can go next. And it centers as always, my heart is with children and families. My heart is with the idea that we could actually give families what they need. And I saw with pre-K what it meant, but I know there's so much more that families need. So, this is what I'm going to work on next. I think every family should know every day you go to work, you work hard, but I don't know hardly anybody who's workday ends at three o'clock when school gets out. School gets out at three, but you're working till five or later. How about we get to the reality we're living and guarantee that every child can stay in their school until six o'clock each day for free, getting quality instruction, culture, recreation, and the parents know they're safe and secure. Does that sound right?

[Applause]

And then comes the summer. And families often struggle because in the summer you still need a good place for your child, a safe place and a nurturing place. And by the way, kids need to keep learning in the summer. So, they keep getting strong. So, we did it, this last summer in New York City, but we should do it all over the city, all over this state. It should be a guarantee. In a summer day, you should be able to go to your neighborhood school at 8:00 am, bring your child there and they get support. They get nutrition, they get academic support, they get recreation. They get culture, they get field trips all day till 6:00 pm on summer days. So, you know, you have something guaranteed for you and your child and your family.

[Applause]

Because it's not easy to be a family in the modern world. It's not easy to be a parent or a grandparent taking care of young ones. You need less stress and you need more support and you deserve it. You work hard, you deserve it. This is what we need to build. If we really want to be about family, if we really believe in family values, people talk about family values. How about we support families? How about we make it easier for families?

[Applause]

So, my friends, I just want to conclude with the point that you have given me hope, because through everything we've been through over these last eight years, you kept believing we could all do better together. I want you to take a moment, just look around at the people around you. Look around just in the row you're sitting in, the good people, people of faith, people who do good every day, do the right thing every day. Yeah. If you turn on the TV, sometimes you're going to get a little depressed by what you see. Well, instead of turning on the TV today, just look at the person next to you and feel some hope, feel some belief. The good people in this world, the good people that make all things possible for me, for my family, your goodness allowed us to do everything we have done. And so, I leave after eight years, I leave more optimistic than when I started, more hopeful, and more thankful. And I say, God bless you all. Thank you.

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