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NYC Mayor Speaks at the Flag Ceremony of Central American Countries
From the office of the Mayor of New York City:
Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you so much. And I have to, I’ve been to the beautiful country of Guatemala. I have to make sure that I get to Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras as this administration moves forward.
And I know the commissioner indicated as such, but we’re going to independently raise the flags here. And this is the first time that your flags will be raised here at Bowling Green, because being mayor is not only substantive by appointing the first Dominican as a deputy mayor or the first Mexican‑American to head the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, or the first Filipino, the first, first, first.
Those are the substantive things that we have to do, but symbolism is just as important. You should know that your culture and your country matters. This is the only country on the globe, I say over and over again, where you’re told not to abandon your motherland as you embrace your adopted land. That is what makes us great. It’s the coming together of our cultures. It’s the uniqueness that we bring.
And as we look at our new arrivals now that are coming here to this country, we only ask one thing that they ask: let them work. They want to work. They want to pursue the American dream. They want to be part of the experience of contributing to our societies like many of you have already.
You’ve opened restaurants. You are first responders. You opened your small businesses. You are there in our hospitals. You’re there as police officers, teachers and other professionals. You have made this city a great city, and I will continue to lift up the power of diversity and all that it represents in this great city.
This is the greatest city on the globe, so these countries are symbols of the representatives of those great cities. I thank you so much for coming here today in Bowling Green and saying congratulations to Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras. Congratulations to you.
This press release was shared by the office of the Mayor of New York City, and the views thereby expressed are solely the author’s.
