REMARKS
Council Member Kevin Riley Explains His Vote to Override the Mayor's Vetoes
1:35:26
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132 sec
Council member Kevin Riley passionately explains his vote, sharing personal experiences and perspectives on racial issues. He discusses the daily realities faced by black people, including himself, and reinforces the necessity of addressing racial inequalities within the justice system and the need for transparency and accountability. Riley's speech underscores the personal stakes involved in the legislation and the broader implications for societal change.
Speaker 37
1:35:26
Riley,
Speaker 38
1:35:27
permission to explain my vote.
Speaker 1
1:35:28
Permission grandson.
Speaker 38
1:35:29
I gotta get up for this one.
1:35:31
So I gotta apologize to my staff who prepared remarkable remarks for me today, but I always get inspired when I'm in here from here messages on the floor.
1:35:42
So I'm a I'm just gonna say this really clear.
1:35:44
We didn't make this a race thing.
1:35:46
This is a race thing.
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This is what we have to deal with on a daily basis.
1:35:51
Now I'm speaking to you as a black man who still has to deal with this on a daily basis.
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We didn't make this a race thing.
1:35:59
Earlier today, council member banks Jose Salam Mazo put out the op ed.
1:36:04
Where we explain why we're gonna support this overriding veto today.
1:36:08
But what you did not hear is our personal experiences that we have to deal with on a daily basis.
1:36:14
You see, my mother too had to witness her son again, throwing into a holding sale.
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But guess what?
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I just graduated from college.
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I was just looking for parking, for work, and I got pulled over and got thrown into a holding cell just because I was black on the Upper West side looking for parking because they thought I was casing houses.
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This is something that we deal with on a daily basis.
1:36:33
So when y'all say this is not a racial thing, have y'all ever stepped in our shoes?
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I feel like I'm a reasonable person.
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I'll try to talk to everyone in this council here today.
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But when we see them running blue lights behind us, our hearts dropped to our stomachs.
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This is reality.
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This is something we have to deal with on a daily basis.
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So to the mayor, I I that's my brother right there, a black man.
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I'm never gonna be here to tear him down, but we have to make sure that we're working to improve our industries.
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But I'm gonna tell you one thing.
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Titles and roles, we're gonna lose this.
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We ain't never gonna lose our blackness ever.
1:37:07
So we're gonna actually address the transparency and accountability that's happened with the injustices and the criminal justice system with solitary confinement.
1:37:16
When you're bringing black people back in the community worse than when they went in, when you're treating them like animals, but calling them animals, when they're doing animal things in our communities, this is why we wanna address it.
1:37:27
So I proudly vote I to override this veto and thank you to all my colleagues, especially those from the BLAC that advocate for this.
1:37:37
Thank you so much.