Mayor Mamdani: ‘25 Years Later, We Have a Sacred Obligation to Those Who Were Stolen from Us’

TRANSCRIPT:

MAMDANI: "September 11th was a horrific act of terror. A day of immeasurable loss. 2,753 parents and children, husbands and wives, friends and colleagues, 2,753 universes gone in an instant. And in the years since, thousands more have died from illnesses caused by the toxic air they breathed in the months they spent working on the pile. We remember 9/11 as the darkest day in our city’s history. But we also remember what so many New Yorkers did in that darkness. We remember the thousands upon thousands of New Yorkers who lined up for hours to donate blood. We remember the people who opened their homes to those who could not get home. We remember the workers who carried their colleagues down hundreds of stairs, then turned around and went back up to find someone else who needed help. 25 years later, we have a sacred obligation to those who were stolen from us. To care for one another as they cared for strangers, to live lives worthy of the sacrifices they made, and to build a city worthy of their courage. A city where we run toward one another. That is how we remember."