Transcript: Mayor Adams Hosts Reception Celebrating African Heritage

October 1, 2024

Deputy Commissioner Aissata Camara, Mayor's Office of International Affairs: Who's the 110th mayor of this city? Say it with me. Eric Adams. Let's welcome him.

Mayor Eric Adams: Look at your beautiful African selves. I want to do this. Let's call out each country one at a time. One at a time.

I am probably the only mayor in this history that has been to Africa, I think, six or seven times. From the southern part to east to west. And my travels to Africa has been inspirational, energetic, And it was in a moment to connect. And many of you know that right after the primary, I traveled to the continent. And even before that, when I went to Senegal to go to Gorée Island, the door of no return, and I felt the energy and the spirit of our ancestors.

And then after being elected, I went to Ghana. And engaged with a real spiritual journey as I visited the sites where we were ripped apart and torn from each other. And my days in Lagos, Nigeria. Let me tell you about Lagos. I arrived on one day, and I didn't sleep until three days later. And the beautiful drive in the southern part of the continent, driving from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth and Joburg in South Africa, just each time I visited from northern Morocco, going over across to the east in Egypt. Each time I visit there, I walked away with something special.

And that's the next journey. Next journey. Next journey. I'm going to do a tour of the continent. And during UNGA, my sister Aissata brought in many of the presidents. And we have met with your dignitaries and leaders and just reconnected ourselves. This is the moment. Africa has such a significant moment in this period of time. And I know that I'm American, but I never get it mixed up. I'm African. I'm African. I'm African.

And during hard times, when I traveled throughout the diaspora that's here in New York, I was up in church with the members of the Ghana community this weekend. That love and inspiration is authentic and real. And we were looking forward to this day to really invite you here. You grace us with your presence here in Gracie Mansion.

And to my team that's here, my commissioner from International Affairs, he has made it a clear mission of reigniting ourselves with the African diaspora. We want to do great things with Africa. We want to reintroduce our young people to their aunties and uncles and cousins from the continent. We want to do trade. We're going to do a culture exchange. We want to re-energize ourselves. But there's one thing that I want to do in just a moment of silence.

You know, ambassadors come in many levels. And there's one brother who became an ambassador for the continent of Africa by using his skills as an NBA player. Brother Dikembe Mutombo transitioned, and he's now among the ancestors. As a young man, we lost him to brain cancer. And I just want to take a moment because he lifted up the continent when he got on that basketball court and he never let people forget that he was African. And his benevolence and his loss will be missed. But if we could just take a moment to acknowledge him among the ancestors today. Rest in peace, my brother, and let's continue to lift each other up during these difficult times.

Good people walk in the room when others walk out. Hard times is like a filtering system. It moves all that dead weight from around you and it allows the true spirit to emerge among you. So I thank you. I always remind people when I was 13 points behind in the poll for mayor, I went to see some and the chieftains and some of our leaders and they did that little magic and we went from being behind to being in front.

So right now I want you to do your little magic as we deal with all the issues going on, and we're going to continue to move this city forward. We lived up to what we promised. We lived up to making this city an equitable and fairer city for everyone, no matter where you come from, and we're going to continue to do that. I love you, I thank you, keep me in your prayers.

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