July 1,2010
Mayor Cory A. Booker
Inaugural Address
Thank you everyone. My deepest gratitude to my family and friends for their
unconditional love and support and my profound thanks to the people of our city for
again putting their faith in my leadership and for giving me the greatest privilege of my
life, to serve as Mayor of the greatest city in America.
I believe that especially in Newark, we must hold on to our knowledge of history. Our
city, the third founded in our Nation, has proven through the prowess of our people that
we not only embody the spirit of America but we have expanded the very conception of
it.
America has always been a daring dream. And in our city, we have worked to make real
on this dream, this promise, and this hope of America.
Newark's sacred soil has given rise to heroes of hope who have, under difficult
circumstances, achieved stirring success and awesome achievement.
In the more than 300 years of our existence, let it not be fast forgotten that our soldiers
who stood in Washington's army, on beaches in Normandy, and in our current conflicts
have watered our Nation's way with their sweat and blood.
Let it not be forgotten that our laborers, inventors and entrepreneurs built this nation,
fueled its economic dominance and expanded the quality of life for millions.
Let it not be forgotten that our poets have touched our nation's heart, our songwriters and
musicians have helped pen and play our nation's scores, our authors have written some of
our nation's greatest works and our activists have made our democracy more inclusive of
diversity and even more daring in its dreams for itself.
This is Newark, New Jersey.
And even in our last 50 years, perhaps during some of Newark's most challenging times,
when others sought to write Newark's epitaph we have best evidenced those values our
nation particular! y needs now.
Newark today is more hopeful, has more promise, possibilities and potential because this
is a city where its people did not give up on their American dreams when others
abandoned their faith in them; stood their ground when others cut and ran.
This is Newark, a place where faith is stubborn, hope is intractable, and the will to fight
and win towers over cynical surrender, resignation and retreat.
The American spirit needs the Newark spirit. The values that have helped our city survive
and thrive, endure and overcome are the solid bedrock that is needed during these
shifting, uncertain times.
It is self-evident as we 10 swear an oath before our city, before our common history, and
before ancestors looking down from above, that we assume roles of leadership and
service during the worst economy in 70 years.
The foundation of government is being shaken all across our globe from Europe to Asia
and we cannot turn on the news or read the newspaper and not see that governments
across our country and state face dire realities.
Newark will not be spared this economic upheaval. Our most sacred institutions in all
corners of our city, from museums and libraries, schools and hospitals, institutions of
public safety and historic nonprofits which serve the public good will be forced to choose
amongst limited options that all involve wrenching, painful outcomes.
Understand this, the decisions that are before the elected officials on this stage and other
leaders throughout our community will not be popular. This is a time for leadership not
popUlarity. I am so grateful for the municipal council: they have come to the table,
especially in the past weeks and months, with a real sense of cooperation and shared
responsibility. They have brought ideas, innovations, as well as deep compassion and a
sense of profound empathy.
But there is also the realization that while we will do everything possible to lessen the
pain - and we will succeed in doing so - there will however still be pain. The challenges
before us demand that we reinvent or even revolutionize government as we know it
today. As we are seeing in cities all across New Jersey, we will be forced to do more with
less and in the process services will be cut, jobs will be lost, and families will be affected.
But despite these painful circumstances and the financial realities that are out of our
control, I tell you that we in Newark still have the power to choose our own destiny.
This is Newark. We will counter pain with perseverance, we will answer this crisis with
courage and creativity; and we will match budget blues with our own unique song of
strength and a new anthem of achievement.
Our city WILL set the national standard of urban transformation in the four years ahead.
We will year after year continue to drive down crime.
We will build even more new parks in our city from our water front to our wards - green
will more and more become Newark's new color.
In the last 4 years in a down housing market, we built 1000 units of public and affordable
housing; we will continue with this ambitious pace, fighting to make Newark a livable
city for Newarkers of all incomes.
We will build new schools and expand excellent educational options for our children and
parents. Education will be a central part of my agenda for the next four years - we will
2
0, let America be America again-The
land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME-Who
made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
0, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath-America
will be!
Fellow Newarkers, I swear this oath today - with council and community - that Newark
will be - and America will be. Let us swear an oath, every citizen of our city, that despite
these dark and difficult days, we will be our Nation's hope and her light. We will be like
days before, a city of innovation, of art and artistry, of education and industry. This is
Newark New Jersey; let the spirit of America ring true and live abundantly in our great
city.
May God Bless Newark, New Jersey.
May God Bless America.
No comments:
Post a Comment