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Governor Cuomo Briefing August 17 2020
Day 170Partial Transcript (10:12)
...Tonight I have the honor of addressing the Democratic Convention in a speech ... I say in the speech, it takes a strong body to resist the virus. Because it really is a great metaphor, right? When does the virus wreak havoc? When the body is weak and America’s body politic is weak. We’re divided. Our government was not ready to respond. So I speak about that.
...To me, this period of time has really reshaped not just our national dialogue, but our impression of government. Ask yourself when was the last time government was as essential as it is today. When? When did government matter the way it matters to you today, to everybody today? Maybe the last time we went to war, maybe the depression, maybe the last time they said they were going to draft your child to go into an army.
... Government affects every person’s life, and not some political theoretical abstraction. What do you politically think, are you politically a progressive, are you politically a conservative? Government is making life and death decisions. I think it’s going to reshape the way people think about government for a long time.
Because I don’t care what you thought about government yesterday, pre-COVID. It was a waste of time, I’m not political, government doesn’t matter. It all changed. Government matters today. Democrat, Republican, Upstate, Downstate, government matters. Leadership matters. Leadership matters. Performance matters.
Performance matters. Strip away all the rhetoric. Did you get the job done or not? Performance matters. It was a great crystallizer of truth and fact, what we’ve been going through. Social unity matters.
How did New Yorkers bend the curve? How did new Yorkers bend the curve? That’s the great question. Right? That’s what all the experts now ask me. “How did you do it? How did you do it?” I say, “I didn't do anything.” I communicated information to the people of the State, and the people acted intelligently, and they were smart, and they acted as a community. We talk about that word community, we’re a community. Community, from the Latin, communitas of the common. Right?
Constitution speaks about common good, common good, common good. Yeah. What the Founding Fathers didn’t anticipate was people not acting in the common good. New Yorkers acted in the common good. I wear a mask for you, you wear a mask for me. I respect you, and you respect me. That’s community.
New Yorkers forge community. Well, how? We’re so fractious, we’re so divided. No. They overcame the divisions, and found the commonality. It matters. If we were divided, this would never happen.
If a significant portion of the population said, “I’m not doing this social distancing, it’s a Democratic idea. I’m not doing masks. I’m not doing that.” If a significant portion of the population that did that, those numbers in that curve would be dramatically different.
I also say in this speech, which probably is one of the most important things to me personally, I say thank you to all the Americans who came to help New York. I don’t know that you felt it the way I felt it. But one day I said, “We need help. Our medical staff is getting overwhelmed, and they’re working too hard.” And I asked people across the country who were nurses or doctors, “Could you please help? If you’re not busy in your state, could you please come help?” I just asked the question.
I didn’t talk about it before, it wasn’t premeditated. It was just common sense, and it was just spontaneous. 30,000 people volunteered. 30,000 nurses and doctors volunteer to come to New York in the middle of the pandemic, at the hotspot, nurses and doctors, to go into an emergency room.
30,000. I was so touched. I was amazed. Sometimes we underestimate the goodness of people, and the courage of people. I had seen snapshots of it after 9/11. There were all sorts of people who just showed up here...
We now have to address the other crisis. Right? COVID crisis. What could be worse? Another crisis on top of COVID could be worse. “Oh, that could never happen.” Anything could happen, and it happened. And that was the tensions unleashed after the George Floyd murder, that are still ongoing today.
And these are now, let’s call them police community tensions. Right? A significant portion of the population that is unhappy with policing public safety policies. “How do you know that?” Because we’ve had millions of protestors in the middle of a global pandemic. That’s how I know it. And we’ve all seen it. The tensions are real. The tensions are there. That has, in some ways, distorted the public safety function in many communities. New York City, murders are up 29% year to date. Shootings are up 79% year to date. Bronx, 60%. Brooklyn, 102%. Manhattan, 54%. Queens, 75%. Staten Island, 108%. You cannot dismiss these numbers.
You cannot look at this reality and say it doesn’t exist. Because the reality is so clear. New York City, recent data, over 90% of the victims are black and brown. 90% of the victims are black and brown.
You want to talk about social justice? You want to talk about civil rights? You want to talk about social equity?
How do you explain that? It’s not just New York City, it’s all across the nation. It’s also Upstate New York. Upstate cities, shooting injuries up 70% year to date. Albany, shootings up 240. Buffalo, 66%. Rochester, 54%. Syracuse, 130%. So it’s not just New York City. I announced an executive order on June 12th, which was ambitious. It was called the New York State Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative. What it said is, we have an issue and we have to address the issue.
Very little has been done. Today, I’m sending a letter to 500 jurisdictions in New York State that have a police department. And the letter is explaining that it is imperative that we address this urgent crisis. I understand it’s complicated. I understand it’s difficult. I also understand people are dying. Right? It’s like the COVID crisis. ” Oh, this is complicated. This is hard.” Yeah. I know. It’s also a matter of life and death. And so is this situation.
Denial is not a successful life strategy. Not in government, not in your personal life. This state does not run from a crisis. It’s not what we do. It’s not who we are. And we’re not going to deny that this is a crisis. What do we do in a crisis? Leaders lead, and leaders act. This is a time for leadership, and action.
Acknowledge the tensions, they’re real. Talk to members of the community, they have real issues. Talk to the police department, they have real issues. They will tell you there are policies in place that frustrate their ability to do their job. Talk to members of the community, they’ll say there are policies in place that they found find repugnant. They’re real feelings on both sides. I understand that.
Acknowledge them, and then you have to move to resolve them. How? Form a collaborative, put people at the table. We understand the issues. We understand the tensions. We understand the differences of opinion. Let’s design a public safety function, a police department, where the police say they can operate with these policies. And the community says they’re reforms that they require necessary for social justice. That’s the only way out of this.
There is no other option. Denial doesn’t work. ” Well, let’s ignore it, and maybe it’ll go away.” It’s not going away. It’s not going away. The relationship is frayed. The relationship is based on trust and respect. And the relationship is ruptured. But divorce is not an option here.
Divorce is not an option. You can’t say, “We don’t need any police, and the police department.” Oh, really? And then what happens at two o’clock in the morning when someone’s coming through the window and you hear the glass break. So divorce is not an option. You have to resolve the and reconcile it. I understand it’s politically difficult. I understand politicians don’t like to get involved in politically difficult situations.
I don’t lust for politically difficult situations, but it has to be done. It has to be done quickly. I’m saying in the letter today, if you don’t have a plan, that is a re-imagined police department, by next April, there will be no state funding for that jurisdiction. Okay?
What am I trying to do? I’m trying to force attention, and focus, and action on this issue. People are getting shot every day. It’s getting worse, not better. We have to act. And look, change is hard. Change a large system, very hard. But there’s an opportunity in that. If you don’t change, you don’t grow.
If you don't change, you don’t grow. If you don’t change, you don’t achieve progress. If you don’t change, you don’t evolve. And change happens when the people stand up and say, “We want change and we have generated enough energy to overcome the status quo.” When did we pass marriage equality, the first state in the nation? When the people rose up and said, “We demand change.” When did we raise the minimum wage? When the people stood up and said, “We demand raising the minimum wage.” When did we pass gun safety? After there was a shooting in Connecticut and people stood up and said, “I’ve had enough.”
These are moments for positive change. They’re hard. They’re disruptive. But there is no change without disruption. Disruption is the price of change and progress. And this is a moment for disruption. Disruption has happened by the way.
Now that we’re in the moment of disruption, let’s make the change, let’s make it positive. And let’s reimagine public safety in a way that works for the overall community. That’s what has to be done even though it’s hard. And that’s what we’re going to do because we are New York tough, which is smart, which is united, which is disciplined, which is loving. Questions?
...To me, this period of time has really reshaped not just our national dialogue, but our impression of government. Ask yourself when was the last time government was as essential as it is today. When? When did government matter the way it matters to you today, to everybody today? Maybe the last time we went to war, maybe the depression, maybe the last time they said they were going to draft your child to go into an army.
... Government affects every person’s life, and not some political theoretical abstraction. What do you politically think, are you politically a progressive, are you politically a conservative? Government is making life and death decisions. I think it’s going to reshape the way people think about government for a long time.
Because I don’t care what you thought about government yesterday, pre-COVID. It was a waste of time, I’m not political, government doesn’t matter. It all changed. Government matters today. Democrat, Republican, Upstate, Downstate, government matters. Leadership matters. Leadership matters. Performance matters.
Performance matters. Strip away all the rhetoric. Did you get the job done or not? Performance matters. It was a great crystallizer of truth and fact, what we’ve been going through. Social unity matters.
How did New Yorkers bend the curve? How did new Yorkers bend the curve? That’s the great question. Right? That’s what all the experts now ask me. “How did you do it? How did you do it?” I say, “I didn't do anything.” I communicated information to the people of the State, and the people acted intelligently, and they were smart, and they acted as a community. We talk about that word community, we’re a community. Community, from the Latin, communitas of the common. Right?
Constitution speaks about common good, common good, common good. Yeah. What the Founding Fathers didn’t anticipate was people not acting in the common good. New Yorkers acted in the common good. I wear a mask for you, you wear a mask for me. I respect you, and you respect me. That’s community.
New Yorkers forge community. Well, how? We’re so fractious, we’re so divided. No. They overcame the divisions, and found the commonality. It matters. If we were divided, this would never happen.
If a significant portion of the population said, “I’m not doing this social distancing, it’s a Democratic idea. I’m not doing masks. I’m not doing that.” If a significant portion of the population that did that, those numbers in that curve would be dramatically different.
I also say in this speech, which probably is one of the most important things to me personally, I say thank you to all the Americans who came to help New York. I don’t know that you felt it the way I felt it. But one day I said, “We need help. Our medical staff is getting overwhelmed, and they’re working too hard.” And I asked people across the country who were nurses or doctors, “Could you please help? If you’re not busy in your state, could you please come help?” I just asked the question.
I didn’t talk about it before, it wasn’t premeditated. It was just common sense, and it was just spontaneous. 30,000 people volunteered. 30,000 nurses and doctors volunteer to come to New York in the middle of the pandemic, at the hotspot, nurses and doctors, to go into an emergency room.
30,000. I was so touched. I was amazed. Sometimes we underestimate the goodness of people, and the courage of people. I had seen snapshots of it after 9/11. There were all sorts of people who just showed up here...
We now have to address the other crisis. Right? COVID crisis. What could be worse? Another crisis on top of COVID could be worse. “Oh, that could never happen.” Anything could happen, and it happened. And that was the tensions unleashed after the George Floyd murder, that are still ongoing today.
And these are now, let’s call them police community tensions. Right? A significant portion of the population that is unhappy with policing public safety policies. “How do you know that?” Because we’ve had millions of protestors in the middle of a global pandemic. That’s how I know it. And we’ve all seen it. The tensions are real. The tensions are there. That has, in some ways, distorted the public safety function in many communities. New York City, murders are up 29% year to date. Shootings are up 79% year to date. Bronx, 60%. Brooklyn, 102%. Manhattan, 54%. Queens, 75%. Staten Island, 108%. You cannot dismiss these numbers.
You cannot look at this reality and say it doesn’t exist. Because the reality is so clear. New York City, recent data, over 90% of the victims are black and brown. 90% of the victims are black and brown.
You want to talk about social justice? You want to talk about civil rights? You want to talk about social equity?
How do you explain that? It’s not just New York City, it’s all across the nation. It’s also Upstate New York. Upstate cities, shooting injuries up 70% year to date. Albany, shootings up 240. Buffalo, 66%. Rochester, 54%. Syracuse, 130%. So it’s not just New York City. I announced an executive order on June 12th, which was ambitious. It was called the New York State Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative. What it said is, we have an issue and we have to address the issue.
Very little has been done. Today, I’m sending a letter to 500 jurisdictions in New York State that have a police department. And the letter is explaining that it is imperative that we address this urgent crisis. I understand it’s complicated. I understand it’s difficult. I also understand people are dying. Right? It’s like the COVID crisis. ” Oh, this is complicated. This is hard.” Yeah. I know. It’s also a matter of life and death. And so is this situation.
Denial is not a successful life strategy. Not in government, not in your personal life. This state does not run from a crisis. It’s not what we do. It’s not who we are. And we’re not going to deny that this is a crisis. What do we do in a crisis? Leaders lead, and leaders act. This is a time for leadership, and action.
Acknowledge the tensions, they’re real. Talk to members of the community, they have real issues. Talk to the police department, they have real issues. They will tell you there are policies in place that frustrate their ability to do their job. Talk to members of the community, they’ll say there are policies in place that they found find repugnant. They’re real feelings on both sides. I understand that.
Acknowledge them, and then you have to move to resolve them. How? Form a collaborative, put people at the table. We understand the issues. We understand the tensions. We understand the differences of opinion. Let’s design a public safety function, a police department, where the police say they can operate with these policies. And the community says they’re reforms that they require necessary for social justice. That’s the only way out of this.
There is no other option. Denial doesn’t work. ” Well, let’s ignore it, and maybe it’ll go away.” It’s not going away. It’s not going away. The relationship is frayed. The relationship is based on trust and respect. And the relationship is ruptured. But divorce is not an option here.
Divorce is not an option. You can’t say, “We don’t need any police, and the police department.” Oh, really? And then what happens at two o’clock in the morning when someone’s coming through the window and you hear the glass break. So divorce is not an option. You have to resolve the and reconcile it. I understand it’s politically difficult. I understand politicians don’t like to get involved in politically difficult situations.
I don’t lust for politically difficult situations, but it has to be done. It has to be done quickly. I’m saying in the letter today, if you don’t have a plan, that is a re-imagined police department, by next April, there will be no state funding for that jurisdiction. Okay?
What am I trying to do? I’m trying to force attention, and focus, and action on this issue. People are getting shot every day. It’s getting worse, not better. We have to act. And look, change is hard. Change a large system, very hard. But there’s an opportunity in that. If you don’t change, you don’t grow.
If you don't change, you don’t grow. If you don’t change, you don’t achieve progress. If you don’t change, you don’t evolve. And change happens when the people stand up and say, “We want change and we have generated enough energy to overcome the status quo.” When did we pass marriage equality, the first state in the nation? When the people rose up and said, “We demand change.” When did we raise the minimum wage? When the people stood up and said, “We demand raising the minimum wage.” When did we pass gun safety? After there was a shooting in Connecticut and people stood up and said, “I’ve had enough.”
These are moments for positive change. They’re hard. They’re disruptive. But there is no change without disruption. Disruption is the price of change and progress. And this is a moment for disruption. Disruption has happened by the way.
Now that we’re in the moment of disruption, let’s make the change, let’s make it positive. And let’s reimagine public safety in a way that works for the overall community. That’s what has to be done even though it’s hard. And that’s what we’re going to do because we are New York tough, which is smart, which is united, which is disciplined, which is loving. Questions?
