Skip to player
Skip to main content
Skip to footer
Search
Connect
Watch fullscreen
Like
Comments
Bookmark
Share
Add to Playlist
Report
Mayor Eric Adams Hosts Juneteenth Flag Raising Ceremony In New York City
Forbes Breaking News
Follow
6/2/2025
New York City Mayor Eric Adams was at Bowling Green along with other city and community leaders to raise the Juneteenth flag.
Category
đź—ž
News
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
O'Shea, you know those were not merely words on a piece of paper that Deputy
00:07
Mayor Raspberry shared with us and I hope we have a moment to reflect on what
00:12
she stated. The journey from where she is now a deputy mayor in the most
00:19
important city on the globe to the arrival of her ancestors and I reflect
00:25
on my own family's journey and the challenges and the difficulties that
00:31
were associated with it and when I took office after the election I went to
00:37
synagogue and previous years I went to Gori Island and visited the door of no
00:42
return in the dungeons and we must understand those of us who made it to the
00:47
shores of America who we are and what we went through the mere fact that we are
00:54
here still able to communicate in a civilized faction to fashion talks
00:59
about our resiliency our ancestors stood in dungeons for years many of them
01:05
having to stand in their own ways not seeing the sunlight at all and even when
01:11
arriving to the shores of the tragedy didn't get easier it got more horrific
01:16
cabin doors were kicked in women and children were raped and sodomized they
01:23
delivered their babies in the fields only to go back and have to continue to
01:27
work from sun up to sundown that's the legacy of where we stood but that is not
01:33
our complete legacy we had great institutions like Timbuktu and others they
01:39
want to rewrite our contribution to not only to America but to civilization and so
01:45
my role of becoming the mayor of the city of New York the second African-American
01:48
mayor to do so I stand on the shoulders of mayor Dinkins but what is more
01:53
significant than that is that because I was able to stand on his shoulders I was
01:58
able to go one step further and what he accomplished it took a hundred and ten
02:02
mayors before the Juneteenth flag was raised here we were the first
02:06
administration to have that flag raised
02:10
feet away from where our ancestors were sold into slavery feet away from where
02:17
our ancestors were sold into slavery now they see their offspring being the mayor
02:24
to allow this flag to be raised but being mayor is both symbolic but it's
02:30
substantive also and the symbolism is raising the flag flag but what about the
02:35
substance the substance is being able to have the first African-American to be the chief of
02:43
staff second to be the chief of staff of the city of New York first African-American
02:47
to be the first deputy mayor first Latina speaking male to be the police commissioner
02:52
first woman African-American to be the police commissioner first Panamanian Trinidadian to
02:58
be a deputy mayor first Panamanian to be a chief advisor of first first first first
03:05
first first first first first you know so for me to get here and not ensure that we
03:12
lift up but not only of our community but all communities over my shoulders to the
03:17
left is the intergovernmental affairs is my international affairs person he's the first
03:25
person of Russian speaking to be the commission of international affairs Ed Myrmanstein is able
03:34
to benefit from my ascension to be the mayor and you could go throughout the lineage first
03:40
Filipino to be a deputy mayor you know the levels of things that we've done in this city
03:47
first East Indian to be a deputy mayor of when you look at what we have accomplished and
03:53
roles to the levels that we are we said to the city the city does not belong to one ethnicity or
04:01
one demographic it belongs to all the ethnicity that makes up this city and we're doing it through
04:06
the voice in the eyes and the aspiration of an African-American mayor I am American but never
04:12
forget I'm African I'm African and we should never abandon that fact just as other cultures should
04:18
never forget who they are this country tells you you don't put your country last I'm not American
04:26
African a Chinese is not American Chinese a German is not American German so on and so forth America says
04:34
you put your country first you hold on to your culture you hold on to what you brought and you
04:39
bring it to the common denominator of America and America is not perfect matter of fact it's perfectly
04:45
imperfect but as long as we're here and we have the right to fight for perfection that is what we
04:52
should accomplish and so this flag is being lifted because in 1863 when slavery re-ended parts of Texas
05:01
all the way up to 1865 the reality was not known and those two years are significant because a lot of
05:09
things can happen in two years we know that more than ever because in two years we turned around this city
05:14
from the direction that it was in to the direction that it's in now
05:17
so when you lose two years you lose a lot but now we must ensure that we don't desecrate
05:26
the lives of our ancestors what do we do with our lives how do we have our own liberation
05:35
and not only physically I know chains are no longer on our ankles and on our hands but the mental slavery is real
05:43
every time we do an action that's harmful to one another or harmful to someone else
05:48
that is mental slavery and so my goal is not to be physically free but my goal is to be spiritually
05:56
and emotionally free then we lift up our ancestors and their contribution so I thank you for coming out
06:04
today and allowing us to raise the flag on Juneteenth to celebrate the rich contribution we've made to
06:12
humankind happy Juneteenth day
06:14
well thank you very much to our mayor while we do the flag raising we will have a rendition of lift every
06:32
voice and sing by catherine pillow from the juneteenth and white team
06:36
lift every voice and sing
06:38
lift every voice and sing till earth and cloud
06:50
lift every voice and sing till earth and Sandy
06:57
Lift every voice and sing
07:04
Till earth and heaven reigns
07:10
Ring with the harmonies of liberty
07:21
Let our rejoicing rise
07:28
High as the listening skies
07:35
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea
07:43
Sing a song full of the faith
07:51
That the dark past has taught us
07:56
Sing a song full of the hope
08:03
That the present has brought us
08:11
Facing the rising sun
08:18
Of our new day begun
08:25
Let us march on
08:28
Till victory is won
08:35
Thank you
08:40
Thank you
08:45
Thank you
08:49
Thank you
08:54
Thank you
08:58
Thank you
09:03
Thank you
09:07
Thank you
09:15
Thank you
09:17
Thank you
09:22
Thank you
09:26
Thank you
09:30
Thank you
09:34
Thank you
09:51
Thank you
09:53
Thank you
09:55
Thank you
10:00
Thank you
10:12
Thank you
10:14
Thank you
10:16
Thank you
10:33
Thank you
10:35
Thank you
Recommended
37:22
|
Up next
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Holds Press Briefing On Proposal To Increase The Number Of Green Spaces
Forbes Breaking News
5/27/2025
3:30
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Absolutely Lets Loose On The Media And Promises To Defend Record
Forbes Breaking News
6 days ago
23:12
Mayor Eric Adams Announces New Effort To Improve New York City's Central Park
Forbes Breaking News
5/30/2025
57:57
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Holds A Press Briefing To Highlight Crackdown On Gangs
Forbes Breaking News
5 days ago
19:16
Mayor Eric Adams Announces Loan Forgiveness For New Yorkers
Forbes Breaking News
5/5/2025
49:18
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Promotes The 'Best Budget Ever'
Forbes Breaking News
6 days ago
1:07:08
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Holds Press Briefing On Public Safety
Forbes Breaking News
4/22/2025
1:04:32
Eric Adams Announces New Mayor's Office To Combat Antisemitism In NYC
Forbes Breaking News
5/13/2025
40:23
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Unveils Gun-Shredder At Press Briefing Highlighting Illegal Gun Seizures
Forbes Breaking News
4/24/2025
42:26
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Holds Bill Signing Ceremony Aimed At Reclaiming Public Spaces From Scaffolding
Forbes Breaking News
4/17/2025
11:08
Mayor Eric Adams Reiterates Effort To Make NYC The 'Crypto Capital Of The Globe'
Forbes Breaking News
5/12/2025
26:10
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Announces New Mixed-Income Housing Development Made Of Mass Timber
Forbes Breaking News
5/12/2025
1:02:21
New York City Mayor Eric Adams Unveils New Effort To Honor Fallen Post-9/11 Service Members
Forbes Breaking News
5/20/2025
38:05
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Announces New Early Childhood Education Investments Alongside Former Mayor De Blasio
Forbes Breaking News
4/16/2025
31:00
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Holds Press Briefing About Efforts To Crack Down On Gang Violence
Forbes Breaking News
4/17/2025
31:19
New York City Mayor Eric Adams Announces Opening of Major Brooklyn Commercial Development
Forbes Breaking News
5/19/2025
1:24
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Asked For Response To Andrew Cuomo Refusing To Drop Out Of Mayoral Race
Forbes Breaking News
6 days ago
22:12
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Holds Press Briefing To Discuss Investments In 5th Avenue ’Transformation’
Forbes Breaking News
5/21/2025
1:46
'Adams Is In A Really Tough Spot': Top Pollster Reveals Very Bad News For NYC's Incumbent Mayor
Forbes Breaking News
6/2/2025
1:03
Mayor Eric Adams Asked For Comment After DHS Officer Handcuffed Larry Nadler Staffer At NYC Office
Forbes Breaking News
6/3/2025
1:15
'I Think This Headline Says It All': NYC Mayor Eric Adams Touts Drop In Crime
Forbes Breaking News
6 days ago
0:58
Eric Adams Asked: 'Was The President Wrong When He Said Yesterday, Eric Adams Is A Great Guy'
Forbes Breaking News
6 days ago
0:38
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Indicted on Federal Charges
Cheddar News
9/26/2024
22:41
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Holds Press Briefing With NYPD Ahead Of Planned Anti-Trump Protests
Forbes Breaking News
6/13/2025
6:04
NYC Mayor Eric Adams shocks politics with independent re-election bid
Diario As
4/3/2025