Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks At Christian Cultural Center

February 2, 2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Grace and peace, CCC.

Congregation: Grace and peace.

Mayor: I want to start by giving honor to God – without Him this day would not be possible. 

[Applause]

I have something I want to say about Pastor Bernard but I actually think it’s the Seattle Seahawks who should be thanking Pastor Bernard right now. They just gained a major advantage in the game. If you see a play that you can only describe as having involved divine intervention, you know from where that began. 

Pastor Bernard has become a true friend to Chirlane and I, and I want to thank him for that friendship. 

[Applause]

And he is someone we turn to for guidance, for wisdom, like so many people in this room do – so many people in this wonderful church do.

And he contributes to this city effortlessly – and he works very hard but he makes it look effortless. Every single day he contributes in so many ways. Now I saw what he’s done for this church, for the community around this church, for the whole city, and now globally – may I add – globally, what he’s doing to help others. 

[Applause]

And I say, what’s that famous phrase Pastor? If you want to get something done, ask a busy person to do it? So I called upon Pastor to join my transition committee to help us lead the way to a better government for New York City. We said we wanted a government that had a progressive mindset, that wanted to bring the city forward for each and every community. 

We want a government that looked like New York City in all of the different people appointed. We want a government that knew how to truly serve and be effective. And Pastor Bernard has helped us to find the most talented people. We’re going to actually make this a government of, and by, and for the people. Let us thank him for that service he’s done to his city. 

[Applause]

Now it’s time for me to – I’m not going to preach per se but I will teach one small lesson Pastor because it’s the words that my wife has taught me so carefully to always say. 

I will never be caught saying behind every great mean stands a great woman, that would be heresy in our home. 

[Laughter]

I say – yes, the first lady is watching as I speak so I’m being very careful. Beside – beside every great man is a great woman. 

[Applause]

Beside this great pastor is the great, the fantastic leader that has helped to make so much happen, Elder Karen Bernard. 

[Applause]

And that partnership – that partnership has built everything you see and it’s extraordinary. And I am a bit of an expert on the question of partnership because over the last – it’s going to be 20 years of marriage in May – 20 years – 

[Applause]

I’ve had the most amazing partner. And whenever I can’t find the way forward, my wife sees it and helps us figure out together what’s right. And That’s why she is the first lady of the city of New York, Chirlane McCray. 

[Applause]

I also have to say that this congregation produces leaders, produces thinkers, produces people who will make the community better. It’s the nature of this place. And we saw that in great evidence in November when this congregation produced our new Brooklyn district attorney, Ken Thompson. And Chirlane and I considered Ken such a crucial partner in what we do, and a true friend, and someone who shares a vision. This is what I wanted to speak about very briefly today and thank you again Pastor for this opportunity. I will keep it brief, but I have a point I want to make that I think we’re all focused on which is the pathway to a more just city – pathway to a safe city that is also a just city. A city in which public safety and respect for all communities are synonymous.

Public safety and civil liberties walk hand-in-hand. That’s the idea of this nation, that’s embodied in our constitution, but it wasn’t happening the way it should have happened in this city. Ken Thompson is one of the people with us who is changing that every single day. Just a few days ago, we were at the Brownsville Recreation Center not far from here, and it’s a place as, I think, many people know that really helps kids who have faced a lot. Some kids who need to see a way of hope, to need to have their self-worth ratified, who need to know there’s a positive path, that’s what happens that center every single day. And that’s what happens at CCC every single day – that we uplift our young people, we tell them how wonderful they are, what they mean to us and our future, and we say to every kind of young person that they’re our hope. And when you’re the hope, you can feel it. In this city, too often our young men of color were not treated like they were the hope. They weren’t treated like they are our bright tomorrow. They weren’t treated like they were the leaders we would depend on. You can’t produce leaders you will depend on if you don’t start treating them that way when they’re young. 

[Applause]

And so, what happens at the Brownville Center, what happens here is what needs to happen in each and every corner of the city. And all the people work so hard over the years to create that reality – mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts and uncles, people who worked in houses of worship and community centers, who all together were trying to uplift unfortunately we’re working against the grain. They’re working against the current of a broken policy. And that was the overuse of stop and frisk because that policy unfortunately sent the wrong message. It said there was something with our young people. It said that they were suspects even when they had done nothing wrong. 

The statistics are abundantly clear, almost 90 percent of people stopped during the height of the stop and frisk era were innocent in every way, shape, or form. That’s the police department’s own statistics. They were innocent but they weren’t treated like law-abiding citizens. What we are now embarking on is a policy that cherishes, and works hard, and energetically, and in a focused manner for public safety every single day with every community, but treats the innocent as if they’re innocent, treats the law-abiding as if they are law-abiding. Because that’s how you encourage people to be law-abiding, by rewarding and honoring that reality. 

[Applause]

So now we’ve come to the point where we have to change our ways. And so we went to the Brownsville Center and announced that together with the advocates and the activists who had been working for years for a more just policy. I stood there with our corporation council, Zach Carter, the chief lawyer for the city of New York. I stood there with our police commissioner, Bill Bratton, and we said as one city of New York, with the judges ascent, we’ll now settle the number one case in the stop and frisk era. We will settle and we will end the appeal that Mayor Bloomberg continued and we will bring us together in a policy of community and police together. 

This agreement ends the years of lawsuits, and wrangling, and protest, and starts us on a constructive and productive path that says we believe that the police and the community can have a partnership, a communication, a mutual respect that uplifts us all. We don’t want quotas forcing police officers to make stops. That’s not fair to the community. That’s not fair to the police officers either. 

[Applause]

And there’s two things that Commissioner Bratton says that are so powerful. This is one of the greatest leaders in American policing, and he says: “You can’t break the law to enforce the law.” And he says: “Policing should be constitutional, respectful and compassionate.” That’s how we move forward together.

So, I’ll conclude with this – we are going to create one city, one city where we rise together. I’ve spoken about the tale of two cities. I didn’t speak about it to ratify it. I spoke about it to acknowledge out loud what we were facing in terms of relationship between police and community, in terms of the cost of living, in terms of education and employment – that this is the reality we must turn around. We must get on a path of equal rights and equal opportunity that’s what we came here to do, and we’re doing it quickly. And we have to settle that case so we could move forward as one city. 

And I’ll finish with this – we’re in a very auspicious month – February – black history month. And we recognize the great leaders, the visionaries, those who struggle. We talk about them. We also have to recognize the leaders of today. We have to recognize Pastor Bernard and Elder Karen Bernard and talk about what they are achieving right now in terms of empowerment of communities. 

[Applause]

We have to talk about the leaders of tomorrow, like Nicholas Peart – young man who was one of the plaintiffs in the stop and frisk case. Young man in his 20’s who was stopped so many times despite being a law abiding you man. A young man who went to school. A young man who gotten to Borough of Manhattan Community College and was furthering himself, but was stopped, and stopped, and stopped again. And he spoke up, and he became leader, and he helped to raise the consciousness of this city. 

That is someone we already know will help guide us forward. So we should honor the great names and the great moments of the past, but let’s recognize the leaders of today. Let’s recognize the leaders we can see emerging among us at this very moment. And that is how you celebrate history as an inspiration for how we move forward together. God bless you and thank you.