REMARKS
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams' Remarks on Community Impacts and Remembering Paul Vallone
1:55:59
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156 sec
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams discusses the importance of acknowledging both individual experiences and their broader community impacts, particularly in black and brown communities. He emphasizes the need for a holistic approach to safety that goes beyond policing, includes better housing, food, and healthcare. Williams concludes his remarks by associating himself with Keith Powers' tribute to Paul Vallone, signaling respect and collegiality despite policy disagreements.
Speaker 1
1:55:59
I now call on public advocate, Ramani Williams.
Speaker 11
1:56:03
Thank you so much.
1:56:04
By the way, I don't know if the only one surprise that a councilman always say speaks Mandarin.
1:56:08
Everybody blew me away at it.
1:56:09
Everybody seemed like they were just cool with it.
1:56:11
Like, but that was pretty dope.
1:56:14
Congratulations to everyone.
1:56:15
I didn't wanna just say, to some of my colleagues I heard speak today, and particularly colleagues who have less melanin in their skin and describe, their individual experiences.
1:56:29
I don't and cannot take away from those individual experiences.
1:56:32
I believe them to be real.
1:56:34
But what I need folks to stop doing is trying to use individual experiences to try to take away community effects from other people.
1:56:44
I really need you to stop doing that and to understand the impact that many of these policies were trying to undo have on black and brown communities.
1:56:55
Those community impacts are just as real and understand that what you are describing is such the impact of us having the same experience is multiplied.
1:57:09
I need you to understand that because of being black and brown.
1:57:13
It is just true from solitary to stops to a black woman giving birth.
1:57:19
It is just a true statement.
1:57:21
So please understand that.
1:57:23
And, yes, our communities often ask for additional law enforcement to feel safe.
1:57:30
1, they ask for many other things that nobody seems to hear, like housing, like better food, like better, just nurses in the school.
1:57:40
They asked for a lot of things that we've seen not to hear.
1:57:42
But the trauma of being black in America means that When they ask for those things, they also ask for their nephews and sons and folks that they know to not be stopped incessantly to not be treated unfairly.
1:57:55
All of those things we hold and all of those things we are trying to address and they are complex.
1:58:02
But when we are trying to address them, please do not pretend somehow we don't understand what our own constituents and all our families are asking us.
1:58:11
We very much do and it's difficult.
1:58:14
So please believe it's when we explain who we are, what we're going through, and our experiences.
1:58:20
And last, I just wanna associate myself with customer powers in the words of he spoke about customer called Malone.
1:58:27
He may have voted against us, but he would have done it with an awesome smile, and I'm gonna miss that smile.
1:58:34
Thank you so much.