Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks at the AIA-NY 27Th Annual Deepavali Festival

October 5, 2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you, everyone. Good evening, everybody!

[Applause]

A very happy Diwali to everyone. This is one of the most beautiful holidays. And what’s done here at South Street Seaport is a particularly beautiful celebration. I’ve been so honored to come here years before and see the joy and see the strength of this community exhibited in this gathering each year. You have a lot to be proud of. You have a lot to be proud of in terms of what the Indian-American community has done for this country, and nowhere is that more evident than in the City of New York. We are so appreciative to all – for all you have contributed to this great city.

A lot of great people are here. I want to spend a moment thanking them. I want to thank the chair of this great festival, Asmita Bhatia. I want to thank everyone at AIA New York – the whole executive committee organized this great event. I want to thank Consul General Mulay of India – the great consul general of that nation here in our city. We have representatives of my administration – and we are honored in my administration to have a very strong complement of Indian-Americans as key leaders – one of them here tonight, Dr. Ram Raju, the president of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. We have our cultural affairs commissioner here, Tom Finkelpearl, and we welcome him. Elected officials – and you’ve got elected officials representing so much of this city are here because they know what this community means and how important it is to our city. Our Public Advocate Tish James, let’s thank her. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. Congresswoman Grace Meng. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. We thank them all.

Now, I’m going to be very brief but I think it’s important to say we celebrate a community through tremendous holidays like this. We appreciate the culture, we appreciate the vitality, we appreciate what’s being passed on from one generation to another. That enriches our country further, because in New York City we believe that each additional piece that comes into this extraordinary city enriches us. We embrace all people. We want people to celebrate their homelands, their cultures, their roots. It only makes all of us stronger. In too much of the debate in this country there is a misunderstanding. When the topic of immigration comes up, too many people treat it as a negative. In New York City, we understand that immigration is our life blood. Immigration makes us stronger and better.

[Applause]

And so we’re very proud that on January 1 coming up, we’re going to take matters into our own hands in New York City. We’re not going to wait for a federal government that can’t come up with a comprehensive immigration reform. We’re going to issue our own municipal ID card.

[Applause] 

Our municipal ID card will be for any New Yorker, every New Yorker regardless of documentation status because we are all New Yorkers. We are all equal. We are all appreciated. We are all respected.

[Applause]

And we have a lot we have to do for this community and all communities. You heard about what we’re doing with affordable housing – enough for half a million people over the next ten years, so people can live in the neighborhoods they love. Pre-k for all our children, after-school programs – the things that lift people up in every neighborhood.

I’ll finish by expressing my deep appreciation, first, to so many of you who helped me get to this opportunity to serve the people. A lot of people from this community were there early and were so energetic in their support, and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Because we only get here with all the people who join in along the way, and help make it possible. So I thank you for that.

And I finish by saying we have a special thing to celebrate. We think about India, we think about the United States of America, we think about what links us, which is the extraordinary Indian-American community. This community exemplifies the best of both cultures, the best of both countries. And the countries are united by a shared belief in democracy – India, the world’s largest democracy, an example to the whole world. I had the honor, last week, with our Public Advocate Tish James, of spending time with Prime Minister Modi.

[Applause]

And we talked about how the two greatest, strongest democracies of the world need a strong working relationship. The world hinges in so many ways on that natural, strong relationship between India and the United States. And you are going to be the ambassadors and the people who make it stronger every day for the good of all, for the good of democracy, for the good of security around the world. I am so honored to be with you and to be someone who joins you in deepening that relationship. And I wish everyone – everyone here today and all your families – a very happy Diwali. Thank you so much.

[Applause]