 police department detective Makia Brown singing lift every voice and sing followed by the national anthem Around this room and I see all of my beautiful black brothers and sisters. It really gives me pride Tonight we are celebrating first as you know and this is our first African-American black history month celebration in Gracie mansion Many people will ask well, why didn't you do it last year? We had such a huge number of people who wanted to participate last year And we made a decision to do it in an iconic venue as opposed to our illustrious house which our mayor calls people's house number two because you know that City Hall is people's house number one We are so grateful to you You're welcome my dear sister We are so grateful to you Because of the support from our community as well as other communities, but you are our base The second man to be the mayor of New York City the 110th mayor of New York City in Eric Adams was elected Yes, give yourselves a round of applause And as I said, we are celebrating first So we're here to pay tribute to a man whose shoulders we rested upon. I didn't know him I had the pleasure of meeting him tonight by another Gentleman whose shoulders we rest upon Congress member Meeks introduced me tonight to our Honorary honorable Congress member Clyburn, and it's a pleasure so as People of African descent We understand that we should not be celebrating first in 2023 But we also understand that The way society is structured sometimes the right thing isn't always done But we are resilient we believe in the Creator and we know that through him all things are possible Yep, and our second mayor Can be celebrated as a first because in 2014 he ran for the election and won the election To be the first black man who was the president of our borough Brooklyn So we celebrate first in the audience. We have a first our chief of staff. Well She's the second black chief of staff, but the first female black chief of staff Tonight we celebrate first My other partner in government is the first black female Deputy mayor Sheena Wright who isn't here and thanks to our principal Eric Adams, I am the first chief advisor a black woman This man this dynamic powerful articulate brother Who is a community activist and they asked me to introduce him But I do not need to introduce him because you know him So it is my distinct pleasure and honor. You already know My dukes is in the house But is it is my distinct pleasure and honor to enter to Present you don't mess me up to present to you our second mayor in the city of New York But he was the first black man to be the president of a borough Mayor Eric Thank you so much Such such a such a significant day and thank you for coming in we Ingrid is right We are extremely excited about this moment and it's a real significant moment and as I stated last year I will say it again this year that we are all Included in this marathon That we are running and the goal is that each mile you want to run your mouth You want to hand over the baton in a successful way if it was from the resiliency and the bravery of Nat Turner Turning over the baton To the greats of Marcus Garvey who turned over the baton To the great Rosa Parks who turned over the baton to the great of The Jesse Jackson who turned it over to Reverend Isles Sharpton Who turned it over and over and over and in between those miles we saw our greats my mother dukes running her mile you know generations after generation Jesse Jackson and his run for president Eventually turned over the baton to Barack Obama Barack Obama Running his mile and turning it over to our sister vice president vice president Harris Running her mile and then turning it over to my good friend brother. Hi, King Jeffery is the first person of color to be the leader of any house and When you look at all of those miles and you look at all of the runs and the handing of the baton Each mile we done in a successful way But I stated in Albany in Washington, and I'm going to say it here to you as well those races and The energy that came with them was for a purpose our family members marched and fought and died We made such great Sacrifices and everything we have done people don't realize it was for this moment right now This is the accumulation of all that your grandmothers and Grandfathers have all Hoped for and prayed for in that song the black national Anthem clearly lays out the roles we travel and The question becomes during this black history of today that we celebrate Tomorrow is going to be the history that is going to be celebrated from our moments and the question is we know the legacy of Turner King Garvey and Malcolm But the question that lingers over us that we have to straighten into an F in exclamation point is what is our legacy? What is our legacy we can't just reflect on the legacies of others? We must ask what is our legacy? What is going to be our legacy when? We have seven out of the ten Mayors in the major cities in America are people of color For the major cities in America Houston, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles are people of color We have our great brother. How came Jeff? He's leading the minority and eventually he's going to be the majority leader person of color our attorney general person of color our Da in the Bronx person of color da in Brooklyn person of color da in Manhattan person of color the leader in the Assembly person of color the leader in the Senate Senate person of color the leader in the city council person of color The leader of the chairs in the committee and many of the houses in the most powerful city in the glow on the glow Are people of color all of this chocolate? What are we going to do with it? chief council person of color Chief of staff person of color police commissioner person of color First deputy mayor person of color correction person of color Corporate in council person of color You may not have recognized it But this is our moment Someone stopped me the other day And they stated that we have to fight the power. I said negro you are the power Fight the power B. Wilson in his book Wilson in his book The miseducation of the negro stated that You get so used to walking through the back door that even if there's not a back door You will go make one in the back as we have it After change our mindset or that we've been fighting for for generations All that we expected. This is our moment And we cannot utilize our power to Regulate ourselves to position of petty differences If we spend all of this moment Which won't last forever To find reasons to be in disagreement with each other instead of moving forward in agenda that we all need And the criteria cannot be that I must agree with you on everything I don't agree with myself on everything So how the hell am I going to agree with you on everything? We must identify Some of the basic things that are important to us And we must move towards those agendas and make sure that we finally move the needle Chancellor person of color Commission of decads person of color charge of d.o.t person of color You go down the list We got here because of pioneers We got here because of brave men and women Yeah Who decided that They must stand up At the time when it was not comfortable but then paved the way As I stood next to our great brother congressman clyburn Hakim was through the right of him and I was through the left of him Someone said well, mr. Mayor get in the middle And I said no, this is a symbolic moment Because congressman jeffrey's and mayor adam's we both stood on clyburn's shoulders to get where we are now this brother This brother is an intellectual giants among the sea of mental midgets He have led in a manner that you cannot believe And those who challenge him doesn't do not have the intellectual capacity to keep up what this brother has done He was the first african-american to represent the south carolina and congress since 1893 Now think about something for a moment. Hakim, who's a great statistician pulled me over and stated Now do you know out of over a billion of americans? We've had Only 12,000 have served in congress Only a hundred and seventy five hundred were black think about that Only a hundred and seventy five were black And so today we are honoring one of them A real leader He was elected president of the NAACP youth chapter when he was just 12 years old Jim i was still playing with marbles 12 years old Knew what he wanted to do went on to begin his professional career as public school teacher in charleston south carolina From fighting for the rights of workers at charleston hospital to insuring historic wins in the halls of congress He's been a champion for working people Every time i'm in washington dc I get in his office and sit down and just peel back another level Of how much this brother had to endure and how much he has shared with so many many In 2006 he became the second african-american to serve as majority whip in congressional history And he is the first african-american to serve multiple terms as the majority whip For three decades Congressman clyburn has been getting stuff done for the american people And let me tell you something he personifies that good black don't crack or this brother looks good Still energetic still excited Every time you see him. He is ready to just share pearls of wisdoms Never feeling broken Just always energetic and every time i'm in dc and i sit in his office for a few moments I walk out with the level of enthusiasm that's associated with hearing from a level of greatness as the leader as congressman clyburn He's a proud person And he shares that proud posture with those Who are in his midst And when you're in the room It's clear Don't even try messing with him He sends a very clear and strong message And so we want to honor him today But before doing so You know, I am so proud of my brother Who I served with in albany We worked on legislations together We did so much together And when you see people who have finally discovered the movement All of a sudden don't understand that there were those who were in the movement for a long time I said over and over again, we don't have to be woke. We never went to sleep And nothing personifies that more Then our minority and soon majority leader Congressman Hakeem Jeffries give it up for my brother Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. What an amazing proud so good to be here with my friend my brother Mayor Eric Adams who was doing a tremendous job at a difficult time Leading this great city forward It's good to be here Gracie mansion in this amazing room now Gracie mansion Where eric adams lives I kind of feel like This is the eric adams version of mtv cribs right now But i'm so proud of my friend and my brother For the strength the intellect the focus the discipline The commitment And the care To which he is undertaking This job. It's good to be here Again at Gracie mansion for black history Month i've had the opportunity over the years to be at Gracie mansion When I was just You know a lawyer practicing Here in the city i've been here and Gracie mansion as a member of the state Legislature serving with Eric Adams i've been at Gracie mansion a few times over the last five terms as a member of congress It's an honor to be back during black history month as the highest ranking democrat in the united states time But god But god thanks to all of you and of course the honoree for This incredible occasion Now this is black history month. I was in Florida Yesterday, texas. Thank you mama dukes. She keeps track She keeps track We certainly so Stand on the broad shoulders of hazel dukes Texas last week and You know that there's some folks out there Who want to cancel our history? but Let's be clear black history Is american history. We will never let it be canceled Not now Not ever Now I came to congress and had the opportunity to serve with some incredible members Understanding that I was standing on the shoulders of giants Standing on the shoulders of giants like adam clayton powell jr Shirley chism loose stokes Barbara jordan charlie wrangle maxine waters And of course The great jim. Clyburn Let me tell you just A bit quickly about jim. Clyburn, and then I know i'm going to yield back to mayor adams you know jim. Clyburn is a good man A hard-working man A family man A well educated man A visionary man A community man An omega man And i'm saying that as a kappa man And a mighty man of god You know anything about jim. Clyburn He He was raised in a parsonage He's a preacher's kid A son of the south A civil rights champion on the front lines with john lewis and others a visionary historian A united states congressman the majority whip Emeritus And perhaps amongst these incredible accomplishments The one that may be the most meaningful The savior of our democracy in the 2020 presidential election And so I'm just honored to be here in the company of mayor adams and my colleagues jerry nadler greg meeks Dan goldman and others who were here As we honor this living legend This son of the south This person upon whose shoulders I stand and as eric adam said we all stand And because we've been able to learn Be mentored by The great jim. Clyburn together with all of you I'm confident that through all the trials and tribulations we face The best is yet to come god bless each and every one of you And so I saw congressman nadler earlier. I know he's he's around Can I tell you how much congressman nadler during the most difficult times visiting him in washington dc Really was a voice both The leader jeffreys and congressman and bringing the resources during the most difficult time you and your delegation congressman Thank you so much for you for being here today And so now the man of the moment We are really excited about Honoring congressman james e. Clyburn day The congressman is admired for his integrity formidable work ethic effective leadership political savvy dedication to his constituents A commitment to advancing civil rights and racial social and economic justice nationwide He's also known for his warm smile Who's that sound like? And an you an anew fish fryer. He must have a fit with this vegan diet. We'd have ever been here We're we're guests dance the electric slide congressman. Clyburn Has fought to increase the minimum wage strengthen the labor movement Conserve the environment improved health care and education And preserve historic buildings on hbcu campuses his legislative achievements include his 10 2030 federal funding plan Directing vital funds to high poverty Communities and his accessible affordable broadband for all bill among his many Accolades are his linden v burns jackson's Liberty and justice for all award And the nwcp sister mother dukes Swing guard up metal The organization's highest honor As we gather to celebrate the heritage and accomplishments of african americans and the five boroughs and beyond I join and applaud This great man of god for his dedication and his entire career career and upholding Our founding principles of liberty Equality and justice for all together. We look forward to congressman. Clyburn. Clyburn's continuing success now therefore i eric adams Mayor of the city of new york through hereby proclaim wednesday february 22nd 2023 in the city of new york as congressman james e climb bird day Thank you. Thank you very very much mayor adams If mother dukes were not sitting in front of me And i had not known her as long as i have known her I might say this is the proudest moment Of my life however last year When i was given the spring guard award by the nwcp I thought i had arrived And there was nothing else left For me in this great country But you've demonstrated mayor adams That there was something else left Thank you. I want to begin by thanking my colleagues who were here Diane goman. I don't know if he's still here or not and I do believe that jerry nadler Is still here jerry My classmate Thank you so much for being here jerry reminded us that back in 1992 110 Of us were elected. There was the largest freshman class Since world war two And he reminded me of that number only six Of us are still there And i've enjoyed My relationship with jerry over the years Gregory makes was here earlier And his Wifi They had to go to another gala Tonight, but i wanted to tease His wife a little bit because when i wrote my memoirs, which was published back in 2015 I gave Gregory a copy of the book Which he passed on Through his wife who not only read the book but went through it with her pimp And she wrote all of these questions In the margins of the pages And the next time I saw her I had to sit down with her and answer questions From the page. No one has ever done that to me before But i want to thank them for the tremendous leadership now Gregory did not mention this that he is a native of new york, but his dad It was from York county, south carolina And I really really appreciate that now several years ago I came up to new york And campaigned with hankine We were I don't know where we were But we were in and out of churches and on the back of these platforms the trailer platforms Campanning so we go to this church Which I think was hankine's church And I ran into these people And uh There were exiles from south carolina It was kind of amazing That I knew A whole lot of people in that church And I want to speak to you just a little bit About what that day meant to me Now i'm currently writing my third book I'm calling this book. I don't know what the publishers will do with the title But i'm calling the book For my purposes Before I was first There were eight Now that title comes from the fact That when I got elected to congress In 1992 There had been 95 years Since the person of color That served in congress from south carolina And most people do not realize That before me There were eight african-americans to represent congress in uh south carolina in the congress And so to me I thought that before My time Is over I wanted to really pay homage To those eight people They are the ones Who started on december 12th 1870 When john reyney From georgetown south carolina Was sworn into congress They are the ones who were the tray of blazes As i've gone through studying their lives and their contributions I've come to the conclusion That the last Chapter in this book Is going to be entitled The more things change The more they remain the same Because going through their lives Their service Their contributions And picking up the newspapers Watching the television And listen to What is being said Today We are fighting Some of the same Battles today And that's why we study history Now there's a young man in here I hope he's still here Because i want him To come out Uh Ralph Are you still here? I want raff to share this book and with me for a very special reason The raff has just gotten his second knee done and so he's Hobbling a little bit But i started my professional career as a public school teacher Teaching in the public schools of charlson south carolina In that my i will never forget it My second period class My second year teaching was this young man Now there were 18 people In that class The raff i notice When i first met him That there's something special About raff But the next year I left teaching I wanted to be involved in politics and in south carolina They discouraged teachers From being involved in politics So i left the classroom And went out to do other things I got a call one day From one of raff's friends Telling me that Raff had gotten kicked out of school and i says Kicked out of school for what? I don't know So i got in my car i went to the school And i went to the teacher That had kicked him and i says What happened? She told me I got back in my car and i met the raff's house. He was home I said raff understand you got kicked out of school I said yeah I said we're getting in the car You're going back up here You're going to apologize to this teacher And um Because you got to stay in school I ain't gonna apologize Now because of mixed company I'm not gonna share with you the the next part of that conversation But let us suffice for me to say He got in the car Went back up to the school took about five minutes But he finally apologized Here's the ending of the story Raff Graduated from that high school On the east side of charleston south carolina The most densely populated area in south carolina at that time one of the lowest income areas In charleston at that time he lived in public housing And raff graduated And got a scholarship to Yale university And when he graduated from Yale He got a scholarship to columbia law And from there he became one of wall street's best Lawyers handling The american express account Now i'll tell that story here because The raff Dawson's of the world the hakeem Jeffers of the world Or what This is all about I stayed married to the same woman For 58 years Raff knew her very well Because when he was a high school student He and seven others of his friends Eight of them Once a month came to my apartment And emily would fix Little snacks for them while we sat down And talked about Their futures out of that group One of them who was raised by his grandmother On coming street in charleston i never Knew james gason's parents I only knew his grandparents But james gason Graduated right along with raff He went to harvard And from there went to stanford's school of foreign service And i was honored to step up a plan in iceland He Was the ambassador To iceland That's what this is all about Making sure That we do the things that are necessary To create more hakeem jeffers mo raff dawson's And i want to thank mayor adams For what he is doing here this evening It says to me That all of Those people who should be my constituents those people who caught the chicken bone special Who left south carolina Who came to the promised land Many of whom Now have grandchildren Who are making their mocks Mayor adams Doesn't know this Because i didn't know in order to raff shared it with me That his first chief deputy Sheena right It was will mount frazier her great grandfather who gave me my first job in charleston south carolina That's what this is all about Frazier Did it for me so i could pass it on That's what this is about Several years ago people used to be Highest ranking african-american In the united states congress i was proud of that But let me tell you something someone stopped me in washington one time and said to me cliber you have really Made your mark in washington I said well thank you very much And then they asked me When did you realize That you had made it I said i realized that i had made it in washington When people started calling me commission of minyan cliber's daddy That's right That's what it's about It's about minyan cliber and jennifer cliber and angel cliber and my three daughters It's about mayor adam's congressman jeffreys These are our futures It can't stop with us It must continue at infinitum That's what this is All about And i want to say As i close Adam said something here today That made me think about another Of my dad's story as my father As he just heard from regre Was a fundamentalist minister who Always thought that i would follow him into the ministry I thought so too But i always heard That you had to be called to the ministry And so when i went away to college I kept listening for the call And i never heard it Now i don't tell anybody That i never received the call I never heard it And so i went home to tell my dad That i was not going to Follow him into the ministry that i was gonna Go in a different direction And my dad said to me on that day well son he said I suspect the world would much rather see a sermon Than they hear one I took that as my mantra to live by Trying to make sure That everybody see a sermon In my work And as i listened To mayor adams I remembered one of my dad's lessons You heard one that came from regre earlier But there was another one That i think is appropriate night After listening to mayor adams Now i grew up with two brothers My brother john is two years younger And my brother charles is two years younger than john So as you can imagine Growing up three boys that close together A lot of competition breaks out And sometimes There are disagreements And so my dad had a 1939 Chevrolet It was a real good car You could drive it into a telegram pole Back up and keep going it wouldn't be a dent in it But for some strange reason That car always knew when saturday came It was stop running And so it looked like every saturday My dad would be going down to mr singleton who was our neighborhood mechanic Now you're From here in new york Y'all don't know anything about these neighborhood mechanics Down there in south carolina A neighborhood mechanic we always knew who that was He was the man with the big china berry tree in his yard With a pulley hanging out of it And so on this particular day We went to mr singleton who was our neighborhood mechanic So we go to mr singleton's shop To get the car running for another week And just as mr singleton Put that pulley on the front end of that car And started raising it so he could get under it And get it going for another week My two brothers and I started playing And my dad says now boys I don't want you all to play near this car I have no idea how strong this chain is it may pop one of you may get hurt Go out across the field and play And so we did We weren't going long before we got into a little discussion Now You're looking at it might call it a fight But it was not a fight It was a physical discussion And we didn't know it but my dad was watching us And when he thought that discussion had gone on long enough He called the three of us over to him And he stood us in front of him As he sat on one of those old wooden drink crates And we were there a bit apprehensive And my dad had in his hands a piece of cord string He took that piece of string and he gave it to my brother charles And said charles I want you to pop this string Charles struggled And he couldn't pop it My dad then took it back And gave it to John He said John you're two years older You're stronger You popped the string John struggled And he couldn't pop it He then took it back and he gave it to me This is now James you the oldest you the strongest you pop the string I struggled And I couldn't pop it He took it back and they put that cord string in the palms of his hands And they began to rub his hands together And the more he rub The more friction he created And the more friction he created The more unraveled That cord string became And that soon Was in three pieces He took one and gave it to Charles And gave one to John And one to me I said now sons Pop the string With very little effort Or three of us Pop the strings It's now sons I want this to be a lesson to you For as long as you live Don't you let the little disagreements That crop up among you Call so much friction Until it separates you Because if you do The world will pop you apart And you may never know why I thought about that lesson The mayor Adams spoke We cannot always agree On what's best to do When it is best to do it When it is best to do it When it is best to do it When it is best to do it We cannot always agree On what is the best issue To rally around We will have disagreements That's how you grow You grow by disagreeing And trying to learn from each other I know what it is To have disagreements To have disagreements And you stay married to the same woman For 58 years You learn about disagreements But we didn't let those disagreements Cause too much friction Until it separates us We stayed in that union together We worked through those disagreements We are going to have them You would not always agree With what the mayor is doing When he is doing it We worked through those disagreements We got to believe for our children And our grandchildren Something that they can be proud of They are not going to be proud of us Fussing and fighting and disagreeing They will be proud Of how we got through Those disagreements That's what this is all about So as we pause In this black history month Let's as Hakeem said In this black history month As Hakeem said We must not let anybody Take it away from us Last year I was called To a local high school in Washington To speak for black history month On February 1st And when I got there There were more adults than children I knew What was on their minds We had just come out Of the Virginia election And critical race theory Was on everybody's mind And those parents came To see what this black congressman Was going to say During black history month In the face of critical race Theory And I stood before them that day I said, you know what All of you all Studying In this school Or learning A lot About the America And who made this country great You all are learning like I did That Thomas Edison Was the greatest inventor Of all times He invented the light bulb Yes, he did But what you all Are not learning Is what I did not learn Either With the Thomas Edison Couldn't get that light bulb to work It was not until he left New Jersey And went up to Boston, Massachusetts And found A little gentleman up there Who was born A slave Whose Parents Had escaped from slavery Who Had come up with something called A ligament And it was not Of the Thomas Edison Got that son of slaves Ligament And put it in his Light bulb That the light bulb worked That's not theory That's the fact And we must not Ever shrink from those Facts We are who we are We are Americans We have contributed to what has made This country as great as it is Let's not let anybody Take that away from us Thank you Mayor Adams For making this city a greater city Thank to each and every one of you