Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Delivers Remarks at the African American Clergy and Elected Officials Meeting

Governor Kathy Hochul today delivers remarks at the African American Clergy and Elected Officials meeting.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Nothing like being introduced by, I think you called her a- did we say, did he actually say badass woman here? Did anybody notice there's like clergy in the room? If you can say that, then she is the most badass woman in the entire country. Because she is not afraid of anything. We are so fortunate to have her as our Attorney General fighting against the forces of evil across this country, especially in a place called Washington, D.C. So we are blessed to have her.

I also want to thank also all the members of this organization. I've come a number of times. I know our two leaders are off doing the business of the people. Hakeem Jeffries, who I'm working hard to make sure is the next speaker of the United States Congress, as well as Latrice Walker. So they are not with us today, but we appreciate all their service to this organization.

Reverend Dr. Waterman what an incredible conscience of this community, who fights hard and makes sure that people in government understand the challenges of those that he nurtures as the shepherd of the flock. And so I want to thank him for his leadership here.

Dee Bailey, I can't believe we're not going to see Dee Bailey here. I had some chance to spend some time with her at the service we did for Marilyn Moseley back on May 12th. Dee has become a dear friend, and we mourn together the extraordinary leadership of Marilyn Moseley and the influence that she had, not just on her family and inspiring her son to public service as well, but also on this entire community.

So we come here with a sense of loss, and I'm glad you focused on that because these are, these were true giants who walked among us and inspired us even in their passing. So I want to acknowledge that as well. And also, we have our great friend, Reverend Bernard - A. R. Bernard, who's the President of my Clergy Council, my interfaith council across the entire state of New York who also endured the loss of his own mother with an extraordinary personal story. If you do not know it, there needs to be a documentary or a book about this woman- so powerful people.

Eric Gonzalez, what a fighter you are. When he comes up to Albany to help me change the laws that were not protecting people the way they should have been. People have listened to him because he is a solid person, a person of great integrity and honor. And you're very fortunate to have him as your leader as well.

I also do want to give a shout-out to Ed Towns. We served in Congress together. Yes, indeed. We're part of that really special New York State delegation. We thought we were pretty hot stuff, and we were, right? No doubt about it. No doubt about it. So thank you for your service and your son Daryl for all you've done in government as well. Also the NYPD. Let's give a round of applause for the NYPD in the house.

When I heard the chorus singing before I was sitting down, something referencing, "Be patient, God is not finished with me yet." Whenever I get in a little conflict with my husband of 42 years, I said, "Listen, God isn't finished with me yet, okay? Give me a break here. It's in scripture." I believe in that. It gives me a pass on some things. But I appreciate all of you and your beautiful voices and musical talents for being here.

I also reflected on, I think it was Reverend Bernard who said something about broken systems. Broken systems. You know the first thing I thought of? I thought of Washington DC. I feel like our country is broken, and it's being broken by the day. And as we reflect on the 250 years, some movement forward, some movement backwards, but a long history of our country that we honor this summer, July 4th. This is a moment when we are called to be the defenders of something that was so precious.

People shed their lives and fought together, Black and white, people in search of freedom from an oppressive dictator across the ocean 250 years ago. We, my friends, have it on our shoulders to continue that fight, and that's what I'm going to do every single day, taking on Washington with Attorney General Tish James, who fights them in the courts. Because if we don't stand up, then who? If not us, then who? And I don't want to be judged by future generations and say, "hey, you were sitting on the sidelines when everything spiraled out of control. Where were you? Where was your voice? Where was your power?" And I know, my friends, working together from the state of New York, which is a shining beacon against all the injustice and the racial inequality that they are trying to force upon this country to take us backwards.

Issues like voting rights. They're taking congressional districts represented by Black members of Congress and trying to dilute them so that never will happen again. They're trying to take away the power that was fought for generations, and we cannot let that happen. We must stand up to that.

And I can say this about clergy. I'm still stunned by the image of the president doing a social media post of him looking like he was Jesus Christ. Now, I was raised as a social justice Catholic. I never saw that image before, and I never want to see it again. He's so audacious, he posed himself as looking like he's one of the Knicks, too. I don't know how far he's going to go. You are not one of the New York Knicks. I'm sorry. I am sorry about that. So this is what we're up against. We're up against some insanity here. But look to New York as the place where, as you mentioned, we just finished our budget.

You know what a, you know what a budget actually is? It's actually my battle plan. It's my fight document. Those are the issues that I'm willing to take on and take a lot of grief and heat for making sure they happen. But yes, something like reducing the cost of auto insurance because I heard the stories from families and businesses in Brooklyn that it was crushing them. I said, "I'm not stopping until we win." And a lot of people said no. They said, "Dead on arrival. It ain't happening, Governor." Guess what, my friends? With the strength of all of you behind me, we got it done. You can look forward to that accomplishment.

And we know your utility bills are off the charts. We're working with our leaders in the Legislature. A billion dollars has been allocated to go back in your pockets to help you pay those bills that are going up and up and up every single day.

Also, taking care of the babies. Now, not only am I the first woman Governor, I'm the first mom Governor, I'm the first grandma Governor. How about that one? Yeah, I admit it. And I'm proud of it. But now we're going to have universal childcare in the state of New York so you don't have to worry about it. Your babies, your kids will be taken care of by good, loving people in secure places, and be able to come to places like this magnificent children's museum.

We're going to get that done, and we're going to continue focusing on education. Yes, Medgar Evers is in the house. I love this organization, this institution. We're also working on making sure we can make life more affordable for our students and bring more support to SUNY and CUNY as well.

And all those people that were thrown off their health insurance by Donald Trump and the Republicans, 1.3 million people will be saved because we transferred them to a different program. We're not leaving anybody behind here in the state of New York.

So just back to Brooklyn. This is my- I think my fourth visit to Brooklyn this week. Don't tell the other boroughs, okay? It's like a big family of kids are all rivals with each other. "Oh my gosh, she was in Brooklyn three times this week, four times this week." You know what I did? I did a couple things. One is we announced $20 million for East Williamsburg. They won the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. I'm going to keep making investments in Brooklyn. We also announced a plan, in light of the fact that- anybody, any soccer fans out there? Anybody care that the World Cup soccer is coming to New York? All right. All right. I'm going to be using money to build soccer fields for kids in underserved communities, so they can have that time outdoors and get some exercise, and just be kids again.

And speaking of being kids again, and I'll close with this, I never realized how impactful it would be, incredibly transformational, for us to simply take cell phones out of the schools, out of the hands of our kids, so they're not being bombarded with these addictive algorithms, and bullying, and all the other stuff they have to deal with throughout the day. I was celebrating that here in Brooklyn as well, saying, "no more." Our kids are going to be liberated and have a chance to be children again, without their mental health being compromised by these AI companies. So I know, I understand the power of this organization.

As I said, I was raised as a social justice Catholic, and I was just interviewed the other day, "Why did you go into public service?" I said, "because I was a child growing up in a blue collar- we didn't have much money- blue collar family." My dad worked at the steel plant. My parents lived in a trailer park. Grandparents were very poor, off the boat from Ireland, just trying to find a better life, like all the immigrants who come to our state just looking for a better life for their families. So that is my background. What I knew was the power of education that lifted my dad out of that job, and put his daughter on a path to where I am today. But it was also the social justice teaching, learning from the Bible at my table, and going to my church that was very engaged in all the social movements.

We were marching against the war. We were marching in support of civil rights. We were marching against hunger. We were marching for the environment. I marched so much as a kid, I didn't know if I was ever going to stop walking. But that, that planted in me that seed, that knowledge that I've been given a gift. I've been given a gift from parents who love me, take care of me, and set me on a path using the teachings of Jesus Christ to take care of the poor and the homeless and the incarcerated and those who are lonely.

That is my moral responsibility, or else why am I taking up space here on Earth? All of us have that. So I turn to the Church for support and comfort during the difficult times, and it always lifts me up, always lifts me up. But with that power that I've been given by God and all of the voters of the state of New York, I will continue to use it to lift people up because that is what God intended for all of us to do, lift each other up.

The AACEO is the vehicle to do that here, the power that is ours with the private sector, the public sector, the clergy, the community organizations, and the elected officials. What a dynamic gathering of people who are so committed to lifting others up, and I look forward to being your partner for many years to come.

Thank you very much, everybody.