So for a long time here in the United States, we had a pretty simple view of sex and gender There was male and there was female and that was pretty much it And those were you know men were male and women were female and that was pretty much it And we knew that the men were really on top for a long time and were the dominant Part of that power structure in our society for a long long time Eventually we made a hugely bright and came to embrace androgyny, which is you know that men can sometimes Maybe express their emotions and maybe have emotions right and women can be in charge of things Or you know just and more in terms of a crossover between what we traditionally saw as masculine and feminine that men Can in fact Demonstrates some traits that would be considered traditionally feminine and vice versa women are allowed to To display some traits that would consider be traditionally considered masculine. That was a hugely forward You know that only took you know a couple hundred years for us to really start to embrace Androgyny in a sense in that in that sense of things, but of course eventually We came to acknowledge really that women have as much value in society as men and that really led to the exploration In the role of media in advancing deterring and framing this reality this idea that that women are Equivalent to men as we came to understand and so so then how does the media factor into that factor into our understanding of that factor into advancing that factor into Diminishing that idea and so forth just all of it. So that led of course then to the exploration of Feminist analysis, which we're again, I want to really Clarify that we're not here to argue the politics of feminism whether it's good whether it's bad whether it's reality whether it's not whether it's You know a better for our society or not. We're not here to argue those Politics really but to consider the perspective of feminism in the context of media That's really what we're here to do. So we're here to put on that critical there's critical lenses that critical framework of Feminist analysis and really consider that now that we do understand that the women aren't Are as valuable as men to society they're an equal part and an equal partners in our society and and so We're gonna explore feminist analysis in the way that that plays out in the media So for definitional purposes feminist analysis examines artifacts using a framework that considers the ways in which an article artifact excuse me Enforces or undermines the economic political social and psychological oppression of women Again, not here to argue the politics of this But rather to explore the idea then okay women have been Subjugated to men for a couple hundred years We're gonna take on that premise and and explore media through that particular lens and see how Media works to do these things in economic political social and psychological Ways So that's our mindset right now. So the history of feminist analysis really comes in three waves There there are three waves of feminism here in the United States We're gonna look at at each of these just briefly so we have some understanding of what we're talking about here when we say feminism The first wave really took place between the late 1700s and the early 1900s So the start of the United States as a country up till the early 1900s And really that was just some general attention drawn to the inequality of the sexes I'm drawing some attention to the fact that you know men were really very much empowered during those times really did have the upper hand Women were were seen very much as secondary considerations Not as capable not as strong not as qualified as men and that that really was represented in the United States by what we call the women's Suffrage movement which brought attention to the fact that women were not allowed to vote We're not allowed to really do much of anything not not technically own property in many parts of the country for large portions of that time We're not allowed to you know have ownership of these different things Except through their husbands or the men in their family or whatever, you know, there was passed down through the men So women really had no standing no rights during that time And so that was just bringing attention to that the first wave of feminism was just say look this is not fair We don't have any standing any rights in this country and yet we are expected to do all these things and we are capable and we are we are should have some Consideration in that regard so then in the the second wave really Kim's in a much shorter period of time the the early 60s early 1960s into the late 1970s so that you know around two decades or so those 20 years Really are where we saw first World War two demonstrated the ability of women to work equally with men So proceeding that you had again all the men in World War two went off to fight in the war So that left women here to do really all the work that men had been doing and Give them the opportunity to say look we can do this We are capable of doing all the things that men do It's just that we haven't been given the opportunity to do so But World War two really provided that opportunity for them to demonstrate that they can then that coincides in later on picking up steam then from from Demonstrating that through World War two then in the 60s and 70s This coincided with the civil rights movement in the United States and really a lot of women to step forward along with I'm this idea of civil rights Farmer now for minorities and codifying those rights for minorities women were able to step forward and say look This is us to you know We should we should be included in this conversation and and you know the good news is in some ways That was easier for people to swallow here in the United States in some sense, right? It didn't feel I guess as for the for the people who were in power. It didn't feel as threatening I suppose as you know the the rights of minorities did so Women were able to make strong advancements in this idea of feminism Made a lot of advancements during that second wave during those decades of the 60s and 70s here in the United States Then the third wave of feminism came in the early 1990s and really extends into present day And here we see an emphasis on marginalized women So by that we mean women of color women in lower economic classes So not just women as a whole that was that was you know the early parts of feminism were just women Period full stop women deserve these rise women should have Equal standing women should have protection under the law for these things So that was just all women, but then of course even after that you had Certain women who after those things were recognized and granted certain women were able to access them more easily than others So this third wave of feminism starting in the early 1990s has focused on you know, not just women Specifically, but but women in particular who have been marginalized within that movement even so right women of color women from lower economic status Economic classes who may not have the money to to pursue or to press these kinds of advantages. So so you have women in these different Subsets that are really starting to to be recognized into to push for their own Recognition and rights within that so we had these three waves of feminism and so now that's just a very very you know In a nutshell type of history of feminism and and delivered by a you know Very privileged middle-class white guys So take that all with a grain of salt and do your own exploration of those things certainly by all means But just trying to give you some understanding of that framework then So the major premises and how this relates to feminist analysis where this comes from then are first of all that women are oppressed by the Patriarchy feminist analysis for our understanding for our exploration of this We need to take that on take that mindset on again setting aside the politics whether or not we we think that's true Whether or not that's something that is part of our own belief system for our purposes of study here And and for analysis we need to be able to put on that lens that framework of Women are oppressed by the Patriarchy that women have traditionally been Subjugated to men in terms of power and opportunity and those types of things and so women are oppressed by the Patriarchy is the primary premises here Then at this idea that Western culture is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology So that that our country really was when we talk about it the history of our country Why we talk about the founding fathers? We don't talk about that the founding parents or the founding mothers or whatever You know we talk about the founding fathers and everything that was really developed within that This developed really to advantage men because men were in control men could own things men could do things men could vote And so even deeply rooted in our history is this idea that? Men are obviously better than women and superior to women and should have those rights and advantages, right? so Western culture is deeply rooted in that patriarchal ideology that that That privileges men over women While sex is determined by biology Gender is determined by culture. So sex is a biological thing and it's a it's a physical thing. It's very clear very very transparent Male and female that's what we mean when we talk about sex when we talk about gender We know that that is determined. It's that's a that's a social construct gender is a social construct What is appropriately masculine? What is appropriately feminine? What is in between there? What is? Not a part of any of that what it where does all that fall in that spectrum that is all determined by our culture and the culture decides You know really what's appropriate for what gender so we need to distinguish between those things as well It's sex is determined by biology Gender is determined by culture and then that gender issues which is at the heart of feminism gender issues play a part in every aspect of human Production and experience including the production and experience of media artifacts, right? so the media that we're looking at was Created by someone with some idea and some belief and some sense of purpose and value and things and those are all informed by gender issues They were created by a person or persons who you know ascribed to ascribed to a particular gender If you see that gender is a part of themselves And so that then informs every aspect of our lives including what we create and what we Take in as as media what we view as media in the different artifacts that we see So gender plays a part and it has a role in all of that the production in the experience for those things and everything So okay, those are the major premises of feminist analysis. So there's things that's that inform this framework So some of the questions that we might see as part of from feminist analysis Might want to consider as part of feminist analysis Include things like how is the relationship between men and women portrayed in this artifact? So just basically how are they? How are they? Layed out here. How's the care? How are the characters portrayed? How are they relate to one another? and what Visual perspective are they provided in this artifact or what kind of language are they using so forth? What is the relationship between men and women here? What are the power relationships between men and women or characters assuming male and female roles? So even if it's you know men playing women or women playing men or whatever whoever's playing those male or female gender identified roles What are the power relationships like between those people? Does one person in that relationship have more power than the other and how is that portrayed? How are the male and female roles defined then right? So how are we using gender as a part of this? How is how are you know? How is masculinity defined and portrayed? How is femininity defined and portrayed and how is the everything in between their portrayed? What constitutes masculinity and femininity as it's portrayed here in the in the artifact and how do the characters embody those traits I? Do the characters take on traits from opposite genders? So if somebody is is the characters been portrayed primarily as masculine do they take on some feminine traits? They display that kind of androgyn either and vice versa does it the feminine characters take on masculine traits? How so and how does that change the others reactions to them? So when you see a masculine character take on a feminine trait, how do the others relate to that? Do they look down on it? Do they think it's weird? Do they do they accept it? Is it not just a part of the the the conversation at all? What are the reactions to that? What does work reveal about the operations those operations we talked about before economically politically socially and psychologically of? Patriarchy does it does it confirm the patriarchy does it go against the patriarchy does it try to tear it down? What is how does it relate to the the patriarchy then in those operations in this work? What is the history of the works reception by the public and the critics tell us about the operation of the patriarchy? So when people see this if they see that it confirms and confirms the patriarchy Do they approve of that? Do they disapprove of it or vice versa if somebody? Sees something that is contrary to the patriarchy. Do they do they like that? Do they not like it? Do they accept it? Do they promote it whatever? And what role does the work play in terms of women's artistic history and artistic tradition? So how does this contribute to and play into the work of our Women's artistic work in the in the in our society? Okay, so I want to take a quick look at an example of this and try and apply this I'm just in an artifact that I've chosen and so this is going to be again a mile wide and inch deep We're going to try and answer all those questions very very quickly and very briefly So this is not an in-depth analysis, but just to give me an idea of what this might look like So I've chosen a very popular artifact for this examination and a Harry Potter world We're just going to call it the world of Harry Potter, you know the books the movies We're not going to distinguish between the two really And so we're just going to look at the world of Harry Potter that was created and and how it's portrayed in those things And those are different things mean the books were obviously very specifically written by women The movies were though produced and developed by both men and women that were directed I believe by all men and so they're I mean there are different people that had Though the fingers on this different world at different Stages and different in different ways, but we're just kind of kind of look at it generally here So we're gonna look at the world of Harry Potter and hopefully that's when you're familiar with at least if you're not You know totally enveloped by it than you've been you're familiar enough to know the reference So some common questions go back through these common questions that we just looked at How is the relationship between men and women portrayed? Well, it's portrayed In a fairly traditional way. I think a fairly typical way a stereotypical way that we would think of first of all the Protagonist is a man, of course. So we're focusing on men proud a man prime primarily here the women the men women because of the setting as much as anything are Very kind of separated they live in different dorm areas and the living You know their their house separately because they're at a boarding school and that's not kind of makes sense But there's a very you know kind of stark distinction between men women a fairly traditional Rules I think in display of men and women in this in the series How are the power lay what power relationships are there between men and women or characters assuming male and female roles again This is focused on a male protagonist So the power relationship is primarily in men. In fact, you look at them the people who have the most power in In this series are the men The headmaster of the school is a man at least for the primary portions of the story here The main headmaster was a man was male The certainly them the evil kind of the big evil in the in the series was male in in Voldemort I'm not afraid to say his name, but in Voldemort. You had a male power there and So and even just a within the school you look at most of the powerful characters And obviously Harry's a male two out of the three primary characters are male The the the big teachers you had Were mostly male and you could make a case from God ago Although I would argue that she takes on a lot of masculine characteristics So even though she's female she really takes on a lot of masculine characters So it's just the power in the in the stories primarily resides within people who are either male and or masculine So even if even the women who are Really portrayed as having power take on those masculine traits if you look at the later headmaster at the evil one That comes to the teacher who then becomes headmaster later That is Is female but she really takes on a lot of masculine traits megonical the same way even her mind He really takes on many masculine traits what we would call masculine traits So the power relationships tend to be pretty traditional in that and that the male or masculine Power folks tend to be in control tend to have the power within that story How are the male and female roles to find I can very traditionally there's very distinct difference between The the man or boys and the women or girls in the story And there's not really a lot of crossover We know of course if we if we really examine this from the author We know that that she tends to have has that has indicated that she has kind of What I guess you would find is transphobic views in terms of she's not she's not approved of of the trans World or lifestyle and that kind of trans sexual idea So it's not surprising that it's not really evident in in the work here that it that is while there's some Women that cross over in a masculine territory, there's not really a lot of men who cross into that feminine, you know that femininity a lot but and and so there and there's certainly no I don't think Real distinction or there is very much a distinction between the sexes when we talk about male or female is very clearly defined What constitutes masculinity and femininity and how do the characters embody these traits again? I would say it's pretty traditional. I've kind of talked about this a little bit. I think What we would can traditionally consider masculine is what is portrayed here that it is direct that it is powerful that it is in control and in command and and and those types of things where as femininity is more concerned with emotion and and And kind of physical Attributes and things like that when we think about most of the feminine characters in here again Hermione kind of is at the very least androgynous if not masculine So when we look at the other a lot of the other primary Characters that are female or feminine here. They are largely concerned with this is boy like me like me What do I look like does my is my dress pretty for this formal occasion or whatever those types of things? So it's you know pretty typical Feminine type of things except except those females who are taking on the masculine traits So pretty traditional in that regard kind of belabored that point a little bit already So some other common questions. We have two characters take on traits from opposite genders kind of talked about this Yeah, there is some of that that it's that it but it's primarily women taking on more masculine traits And as far as the views and how it changes the others reactions to them. It's not great I mean it's not really We think about how a lot of the different people relate to her Hermione excluding Harry himself, but even Ron a little bit is a little bit put off at times by how Boyish she's a masculine. She is how in control and in command She is and kind of questions his power and authority, right? And certainly the other people around Don't care for that at all when you look at the other characters Draco and his group there They really don't like Hermione the way that she is, you know, considers herself. She's confident She's powerful. She takes command. She does well at things that really boys should be good at, right? And so it's not great when when people take on those traits They're not viewed really well, but they do it sometimes and I know and it's viewed positively by the audience I think but but a pretty traditional take on it in terms of the way the work is portrayed What does the work reveal about the operations of the patriarchy? I mean, I think it reveals the really traditional sense of The patriarchy in full effect men are in control men are in power women should take their cues from men and be led by men and You know men own own the shops own the money or in the positions of power primarily, right? So we look at it in all of those senses economically politically socially psychologically. I think it's a very traditional perspective on the patriarchy and and reinforces in essence What the patriarchy is What is the history of the works reception by the public and critics tell us about the operation of the patriarchy? I think it tells us that we're comfortable with it that we're used to the patriarchy in that regard that that it's a comfortable story in The sense of it doesn't really contradict a lot of those things although does give us just enough of the modern idea of feminism With Hermione being a strong character and really showing the boys. What's what really is the best at a lot of the things They do. I mean, should she be the primary character here in the story? Maybe she deserves her own story I think that she's that powerful a character So what does it tell us about about the reception though that we like the I think that we like the safety of what we're used to What we're accustomed to and that it conforms to the patriarchy in that regard But gives us just enough, you know moments of yeah, women can do things too So a lot with Hermione and then of course with mrs. Weasley at the end it's a spoiler alert If he's been on a long time, so I think I'm safe here but spoiler alert when When jenny is under attack right when jenny is is being attacked at the end the final battle And and mrs. Weasley comes in and storms in and you know, not my daughter Whatever takes a strong stand and really protects her and comes up strong there and and in a lot of ways mrs. Weasley shows I think smashing characteristics. We like that too that she's independent. She's capable. She's whatever But also that they're still portrayed within the safety of the patriarchy mrs. Weasley is primarily a concerned mother And a housekeeper and a you know a loving caring emotive type of character except she does have that strength too within and so So we like that that's safe as well. I think so there's there's very traditional patriarchy displayed with just enough taste of them sort of the second wave, I guess of feminism To to to make us feel like yeah, this is kind of progressive but not really Not really challenging too much of what we are comfortable with What role does this play in terms in terms of women's artistic history and artistic tradition? I mean a lot has been made out of the fact that this series was created by a woman And about her circumstances, you know, if you're familiar with that that she was A single mom who didn't really have a lot economically It was kind of in a welfare type situation when she wrote this and then obviously became extremely successful So it's it's been a real Boon for I think you know the idea that women can be creative women can do whatever and has Had a significant role within that Although I think again the work and the author themselves are kind of safe within Our traditional understanding of the patriarchy and so kind of a mixed bag there in terms of feminism Yeah, it was written and created by a woman a woman and that's fantastic But that woman woman is fairly traditional And and and the work itself is fairly traditional and safe and comfortable and that made it I think more broadly popular more broadly accessible to people too that it didn't challenge a lot of those things So so kind of a mixed bag there But anyway, so that's just a quick rundown a quick analysis of Harry Potter in terms of feminist analysis I hope this gives you some idea of what we're looking at with feminist analysis and a better idea of What goes into that and how to how to Lay that framework of feminist analysis over an artifact and that the next time you view and Any artifact that'll give you a new perspective on What it might indicate about the traditional perspectives of the patriarchy and current ideas of feminism and feminist analysis If you have questions about feminist analysis or about any other kind of critical media studies and or Anything at all related to this, please feel free to email me. I'd love to hear from you there In the meantime, I hope that you have Enjoyed this discussion and that you will continue to broaden your perspective in terms of the frameworks and the critical lenses that you have In your tool belt as we continue to be critical analysts of media in our society


Hello. Welcome to the third lecture, England Between the War. England after World War I, the Great War, saw itself as a nation in need of change. It looked at the way things had been going, and the result of the First War taught them some serious lessons about themselves and their society. And many British politicians and many British people in general began calling for change. We'll look at England Between the Wars in this lecture between 1918 and 1938. During this period, England actually saw some economic increases. The cost of labor went up, and so the standard of living increased. And largely this was due to the fact that a lot of men had gone off during the war and many of them did not return. Also, the currency went up, and so you could buy more. There was more inflation because of leaving the gold standard during the war. And unemployment did increase, especially after the war years, and it was almost a double the pre-war rate. During this period, the British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, formed a coalition government. And after the war, they were built on restructuring the country. They wanted to expand the military. They didn't want to get caught short again. And he also wanted homes fit for heroes, so he did this building program to build more homes. This resulted in more government costs. He also had to deal at the same time with Irish Nassfieldism that they had put off during the war years. The so-called coupon election because members of parliament who were elected had letters of support, these so-called coupons in December of 1918. And also, they wanted representation of the People's Act of 1918 to better represent the English voters. So, property women over 30 were allowed to vote, and all men were given the right to vote. You see this shift in power in England's ruling in parliament from liberal to more conservative to labor parties. And so Ramsey MacDonald is elected a few times, but also look at how many times Stanley Baldwin is in power. And you see there are pictures over the right at the top, Bonner Law, then Stanley Baldwin, then Ramsey MacDonald. And then it goes back to MacDonald again, and then it goes back to Baldwin again. And finally, you have right before the war, the Second World War, Neville Chamberlain. So you do see a shift in power in parliament. Some of the issues that working people faced, the labor issues, in 1919 there was a national industrial conference which did propose a 40-hour work week, and this was actually less than it was before the war. So people were still working long hours, and they had proposed job assistance for those who were unemployed, but it was not a popular move. In 1921, the miners went on strike, and you hear some of this in the film that you've seen, Love on the Dole, that the miners had been going on strike, and there were some problems. They wanted a six-hour day, and they called for a nationalization government ownership of the mines. The government had controlled the mines during the war, but then it went back into private hands. And they also were hoping for support, the miners were hoping for support from transportation and railway workers. However, this failed to militarize and the so-called Black Friday when the strike was set to begin, and so people wondered why well, because miners were actually paid pretty well, even though they were the ones who wanted to go on strike. They actually were some of the best paid workers in England at the time, and so they didn't get the support that they had hoped for. For 10 days from May the 3rd to the 13th of 1926, there was a general strike, and here other trade unions agreed to support the workers. The trade unions, Congress, agreed to support the workers over some wage cuts that they were facing. However, the employers were bringing in German competition. There was also a return to the gold standard. So in both of these, it hurt the workers, wages were cut, hours were increased, so you had to work more and you got less. And the miners' Federation of Great Britain, their slogan was not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day. And this resulted in Red Friday on a strike. The government paid owners a nine-month subsidy, so they're paying the mine owners a subsidy for nine months. And in 1926, the Samuel Commission, this was a parliamentary committee, said that miners should accept wage cuts. And then there was a general strike, and the government reacted to this. King George V said, you know, you should try living on their wages before you judge them. So the king was actually kind of sympathetic for them. And in 1927, you had the Trade Disputes Act. Parliament passed a law making striking with other strikers illegal, these sympathetic strikes were considered illegal. Let's move on to Ireland and some of the problems that were going on over nationalization. I mentioned last time the 1916 Easter Rising, and there were rebellions, and it was repressed quickly and brutally. In 1918, there was a general election, Sinn Fein, the Irish Nationalist Party, won 73 of Ireland's 105 seats. So the British reaction and the British repression led to increased nationalism in Ireland. In 1919, 1921, there was the Irish War for Independence. The Dolly, which was their parliament, was proclaimed the government of Ireland. And Great Britain, England sent the Black and Tan, so-called Black and Tan Army, to support the Royal Irish Constabulary. And they were low throughout much of the south of Ireland. Ireland is divided. You have the Protestant countries in the north, and you have Catholic countries in the south. And the north tends to favor more unity with Great Britain. A lot of them are British subjects, whereas the Irish in the south see themselves as being Irish. And so you do have the passage of the Government of Ireland Act, which does divide Ireland along these boundaries. And in 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty ended the war. There was a civil war, however, internally, with the Irish National Army and the IRA on opposite sides of supporting the treaty. As far as British nationalism was concerned, there was a movement away from regionalism, an increased transportation or improved transportation, at least. There was improved communications, improved disposable income. So more people had more money to spend. They were looking for weekends away, and so they needed the transportation. They wanted the news service. They wanted newspapers. They wanted comics. They wanted more leisure and recreation as a result. And so you have the mythos of this pre-war rural good old days. So Richard Wright, in his article on the intelligentsia and the state, looks at the development of a pro-British nationalism that fed into this.


Welcome the Faith Advisor and Executive Director of the Office of Faith-Based Community Partnership is Pastor Gilman Rose. Good evening to everyone. Good evening again to everyone, good evening again to everyone. As faith leaders of New York City you have to be strong in your response so good evening to everyone. I hope today find you as well as you can be and before I continue with my remarks I would like to do two things. First I would like to have a moment of silence for the victims of the terrorist attack in Israel to recall the mind to the global conflicts around the world and the life lost to these conflicts and wars and then the second thing I would like to join in a collective prayer for all humanity to be able to work towards sustainable peace and so our office the Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships that the mayor signed as an executive order a year and a half ago is here to help and to assist with the vigorous dialogue as we face some long days ahead of us. So first we'd like to have a moment of silence and then I'm going to ask all of you to pray collectively for all of the conflicts of our city what we're facing today and for the people who are in this room to carry the burden that God has given you to lead your people in your congregations in your temples your master synagogues wherever you may serve of the task of leading in time of difficulties. Let's have the silence and then let's have the prayer. Let's have a moment of collective prayer together in your tradition. Thank you so much for your prayers. On behalf of Mayor Adams and our administration and the Office of Faith and Community Partnership who is part rent tonight I'm really honored to serve as the faith advisor to the mayor and also the executive director of the Office of Faith and Community Partnership and we really want to take this opportunity to extend to you a heartfelt gratitude of all of the work that you have done. When we think of the difficulties that we are facing in New York City and across the globe, day in and day out you know the mayor of New York City have the burden of the people on his shoulder but I think as faith leaders you have the burden of God and I think that tonight we're pausing in this difficult time in the world to be able to come together in a room of all different backgrounds and faith to really work on this experiment of how do we work to get a lift together in New York City in spite of what is happening in the world and that's important to do tonight and so we want to be an avenue and a vehicle to be able to have those tough discussions in the weeks ahead. It's going to be a long road for us as we even look at the influx of migrants who we are serving in this city the most that is being done by any mayor in the United States of America to be able to give them the dignity of service and the work that you were doing who someone today told me that their housing migrants in their temples are without any support from anyone out of the goodness of your heart so I want to say number one we want to thank you so much for the work that you're going to do and if it is appropriate would you give yourself a round of applause for the work that you are doing in New York City. So this year we're really looking forward to connecting collaborate with your agents with your churches your temples synagogues, masterpieces of worship, good wars, schools, hospital, senior centers, local missions, food pantries, soup kitchens, colleges, universities, homeless shelters, power church ministries, all-fit institutions, foundations, museums, health centers and other non-profit organizations to assist in a massive operation to assure that we are going to support needy New Yorkers during this holiday season that is coming up. We're looking for you to help us with serving dinners to every shelter, domestic shelter, on-house New Yorker shelters, migrant shelters, to donate school supplies to children in all of our shelters, to give a gift to every child under the age of 12 in our communities for winter coats and for socks and for warm clothes and we're also looking for houses of worship to again open up your doors to apply to our fadebed program and our day program to be able to house migrants and again like I said to you before what we're doing in New York City is unprecedented in serving our communities using our fade-based program. So as I mentioned to you before your dedication, your compassion, your spiritual leadership has been a source of inspiration to all of us as we strive to make a positive impact in our communities and today we are here because our theme is being united in New York City. Not saying that we are going to not recognize the difficulty of the conversation that we are going to have we understand it was in Ukraine and issues and situations across the country that divide us on religious grounds but we are confident that you are going to show the world and we are going to show the world that we can truly work together in the midst of chaos so thank you so much for being here today if you look over to your left to your right the front or to the back these are the individual and faith leaders who are walking with us in this administration and we really wanted to bring you here tonight to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I'm going to now call up the chief advisor, Captain Ingrid Lewis-Martin and then after she speaks then we'll have the mayor of New York City. Thank you again and God bless you. Good evening. I believe in God. I believe in God. We are here to tell you thank you. So many people in this room have been with the mayor and me from inception. When we first started in 2006 you were there. Some of you are new but you have been there with us when we had trying times. They come after the mayor on a regular basis they come after me on a regular basis but we have people in faith and who believe in God. They believe in Allah. They believe in Buddha. They believe in Hashem. They believe in all types of denominations and you pray for us and we thank you. When we need you to step up for us you don't turn away from us. You stand with us and we thank you. Today is a hard day. It's a difficult day as Pastor Monroe said. We know that there are a lot of things that are going on in our society that people of faith who believe in God who believe in the creator would never do. We know that. We see what has happened to our brothers and sisters in Israel but we are God fearing people and we believe in unity and we believe in love. I have my two brothers here with me. I'm going to ask my two brothers to join me on the stage. When I came to speak tonight I didn't plan on saying this but when I saw Mohamed and then I saw Joe, Joe Shammy. I was told to bring them on the stage because I do refer to them as my brothers. I have my Muslim brother to my right, my Jewish brother to my left and they are Mohamed like the Quran, Joe like Joseph like the Bible. Moh has a pantry that he delivers that he serves the community food. All kinds of things clothing. His pantry is a few doors away from the home of Joe Shammy's. They didn't know each other before tonight. I was talking to the two of them and they connected. Joe Shammy is in a situation where he can help Moh and provide him with goods and they made that bond tonight. So we see that no matter what happens across the globe, New York understands that we are one people and that we must work together for the greater and the common good. God is about one thing and that is love. God is about peace. God is about harmony and that is what we promote in our city and that is what our mayor insists upon and we thank you for being with us. We thank you when the naysayers come after us. We thank you for praying for us. There are group of ministers who've been praying for the mayor, praying for me, the commissioner, all of our administration consistently and it was the brainchild of my sister in Christ, Minister Sherani and Bishop Chantel Wright and I thank you for doing that for us. God is about peace and love. We love you. We thank you. Just as you were there for us, I can assure you that our administration will be there for you and I will be remiss. I want to just announce that we have three elected officials in the house with us. We have assembly member Edward Gibbs, assembly member Jennifer Raj Kumar and assembly member David Repprin. They're behind the stage but I would like you to please give them a round of applause and I get the honor to do what I love to do. Anybody who knows me knows that it's my honor for me to present to you a gentleman that I work tirelessly for and I still choose it to this day and it's done with love and from the heart and because of you, your prayers, the fact that your parishioners came out and pulled the lever, we have our second man of African descent to be the 110th mayor of New York City and that is Mayor Eric Adams. So let's show our mayor some love. Some years ago, I was in Gory Island off the coast of Senegal. I went down into the dungeons and you could still feel the energy of the millions of African slaves that were tortured and inside those dungeons women would be raped and babies were killed and they would go to this place where it was called Door of No Return and they would take this long voyage over to America and if you would have looked closely on top of the dungeon was a Christian church, while the torturing was going on, the people inside the Christian church used religion and exploited religion as the purpose to ensure slavery will continue and one could have easily walked away having hatred towards Christianity. One could have easily walked away and felt as though Jesus Christ, the Son of God, did something wrong because of the exploitation of the religion and I raised that today because there was a group called Hamas. Hamas decided to go into southern Israel and they dragged out innocent people, tore their bodies through the streets, beheaded some, raped some, burned down their homes and they hide under disguise the saying that they are Muslims. They don't represent Islam no more than those who were slave owners representing Christianity but if you allow yourself to take your pain and anger and look at what Christianity represented in our Lord and Savior then you would do the same thing to allow Hamas to say they represent what Mohammed stands for. So it's up to us to distinguish between the two. What we saw play out in Israel was not Islam, it was hatred, it was demonism, it was devil worshipers, it was those who are against the light not those who are in the light because you can't walk in the light if you are enslaving people you can't walk in the light if you are raping people you can't walk in the light if you are beheading people you cannot hide behind religion to turn out your devilish deeds for as long as we could remember I gave you two examples but religion has been exploited for as long as we can remember and think man has destroyed religion but man has also used religion for the good that it is. I think of my brother Bahi who's part of this administration he had an organization for years called Muslims giving back they were going to Manhattan and feed the homeless they would use their own money to buy blankets during the winter time I think about those Muslims who walked with me when someone put out a flyer saying kill a Muslim day and they walked with me together as we stated we were staying next to our Muslim brothers and sisters and let me tell you my Muslim brothers and sisters when we walked with those brothers and sisters who were Muslim there was not one Christian that felt as though we were talking about them when we said we were denouncing that hatred towards Muslims there was not one Jewish person that said you are denouncing Judaism because you are standing with those Muslim brothers and sisters so no Muslim in the city no Muslim in this country should believe because we denounce what Hamas has done that we are denouncing Islam because that is not true and we're not buying that rhetoric we are not going to buy that rhetoric being people of faith is being honest and forthright and true and point out when religion is being exploited by anyone that is the job you have to do as a person of faith and that's the job I'm going to do our record is clear we stand side by side with the people of faith in the city in this country I've never been apologetic for saying I believe in God I believe in God and it wasn't by coincidence a few months ago we said no matter what people say it's time to pray it's time to pray we don't see what's taking place and playing out on the stage of our cities we don't see what's happening to our children we don't see that our babies are feeling as though there's no more faith in their lives we're watching a level of total despair among our young people many of them are high with hallucinants and drugs all the time and we don't even see it they ride on the top of subway trains losing their lives and we don't even see it they start their day learning how to steal cars to have criminal records and we don't even see it they get up in the morning and stop at the bodega and buy cannabis and try to sit in the classroom and we don't see it they're being depressed all the time and we don't see it black boys and Latino boys are carving highways of death with nine millimeter bullets throughout community taking other young people and we don't even see it I don't care what anyone says time to pray time to pray and when you pray prayer works prayer works we we we become so modern we become so sophisticated we become so prosperous and pompous but I remember a day a woman got on her knees and say help my son and his dyslexia and she prayed I remember a day when a woman walked into the 103rd precinct with that Bible in her hand and they say give up on him he would never be anything and she says I'm gonna pray I remember a day when a woman thought that her six children would not have a roof over their heads because the uncertainty of being able to hold on but she prayed and it's only because of that woman that you can go from being dyslexic arrested rejected and now I'm being elected to be the mayor of the city of New York I don't care what anyone say it's time to pray time to pray that's what we need to do right now God places us in places when the time is needed this is one of the most significant moments we're having right now here on Gracie mansion this is the most important city on the globe the way goes America goes New York goes America the way goes America goes the globe so if I am the most important mayor on the globe then you are the most important faith leaders on the globe so if you pray it cascades throughout the entire country and it cascades throughout the entire globe it's all on our backs right now saving the globe is going to start under this tent we have to be reignited with our faiths because the time of faith is not when things are going well it's when all things have fallen apart that is when there's a time to faith and then we must become not just worshipers some of us have been professional worshipers we have to be executioners we have to take what we learned in the sterilized environments of our religious institutions and then go executed in the streets you cannot have gun violence of this magnitude in the city with all of these people of faith we can't have homelessness on our streets with all of these people of faith we cannot have the despair of depression and suicide and drug use with all the people of faith in this city I never forget the most significant moment in my life was when I was a little boy we just turned this little small church we call it the church everyone knew your name and everyone was glad you came I tell the story often because we have to remind ourselves we will go during the night during the day take a break and go back at night that break time was when you were supposed to eat mommy were raised was raising six children so we didn't have that moment we would just sing and rejoice and pray during that moment hoping that the hunger pains will go away and then one evening a car caravan of women pulled up to our home they started unloading boxes of groceries and they brought it inside our house and they put it on the countertop and they prayed with us and we sang together that evening when I went down stairs and I looked in the box I saw that the boxes was open half a box of pancakes mix half a box of spaghetti half a jar of mustard and mayonnaise those women could not afford to buy us groceries they went into their cupboards and they gave us half of what they had because they said they wanted to give from their heart tired and offering is more than 10% going back into the plate on Sunday it is our lives need to go back to give it so the reason there's so much to spare because we have decided no longer of giving half of what we got it's time now to look at what we had we have a closet full of coats yet we have children going to school with windbreakers every day give them one of your coats we have children during the winter time wearing slippers because they don't have shoes when we have a closet full of shoes give up some of those shoes we can give more Eric Adams is mayor because those women went into their cupboards and gave me half of what they got how many Eric Adams is are still out there right now waiting for you to give them half of what you got that's what we need to do something has happened to us you didn't come from the Caribbean and go to the homeless shelter you came in and you stayed with auntie until you were able to get on your feet you didn't come from Africa and go into some homeless location you came in and you stayed with the Imam or you stayed with one of your brothers and sisters that came before you and held on you didn't come to the south and had to go and sleep on the street you came and you stayed with your cousin until you were able to sustain yourself I don't care who you are don't get it mixed up and try to recreate your past you know we all needed each other to get to where we are right now so if you needed each other then why don't those who are coming behind us need each other I don't care what anyone say it's time to pray time to pray and prayer works prayer works and I'm clear about seeing your faces you know Pastor Hamathiite I know what you do I'm clear when I see many of you that's here I know I'm preaching to the choir I'm clear on that and many of you many of you you wrote the song this is choir practice because too many people out there are singing off-key they think it's a solo and not a chorus we must have everyone singing in unison as we start the process of healing this land I don't know where I read it but I recall if my people would turn to me and prayer I will heal the land we have a land that needs healing we have a land in Brooklyn that needs healing we have a land in the Bronx that needs healing we have a land in Manhattan that needs healing a land in Queens a land in Staten Island a land in New Jersey a land in Rhode Island land in Los Angeles a land in San Francisco a land in St. Louis a land in Iowa a land in Ohio there's a land that needs to be healed and if we heal the land that's spirituality and that healing will cascade throughout the entire globe starts here I know it could happen you know it could happen you are excited about the possibilities you know the power of prayer and so I'm going to ask you who's in this house who in this house is a pastor of a church come on pastor her mathiac come up here oh you got him here okay they got him here I want I want a pastor of the church to come up here come on Bishop I want an Imam to come up here stay right here I want an Imam that's come up here I want to seek leader to come up here if we have a Catholic faith leader to come up if we have a Buddhist to come up who's a Buddhist I know I saw some of my Buddhist brothers and sisters here we have someone from the Coptic Church to come up who I have back here pastor Yeruba come up come on come on let me help you church of God come on come on up so so okay okay so this is this is who we are this is this is who you are who we are and I keep telling people all the time and I'm gonna keep saying this until it resonates I was at Rochelle Boone's funeral let me tell you something people energy we are made of we are made up of energy we're made up of vibration and energy cannot be created or destroyed it cannot be created or destroyed it can only be transformed that's all it can do and this is this is straight science and I'm saying today as I sit here with these faith leaders I'm asking them to call on the energy of our ancestors call on the energy of those who have transitioned from the physical to the spiritual but they're still with us their energy is all around us and the only way you can feel and see their energy is to acknowledge the existence of it and what we must do right now we must transform ourselves from just readers to believers because anyone can go through the custom of reading a tradition or a faith now we are moving to the point of from being a reader to a believer and when you are a believer then you know that that energy is going to be in you to transform where we are now we are in dog days we're in dog days don't get yourselves these days that we are in a dog when you have 20,000 children walking through the Darien gap and some of them not making it through those are dog days when you have Ukraine watching themselves being bombed and little babies are dying those are dog days when you have families committing mass suicides in their home killing the children and the wives and the husband those are dog days so these dog days could only find a light if we reconnect ourselves with the universal understanding that it is without our faith that we could accomplish that task and so yes people would say well you know you the man your politician don't bring God into the philosophy and concept no you don't bring God in I'm bringing God in God got me here God is going to sustain me God is going to maintain me God is going to make sure we get through this mess that folks are trying to keep us out of and so I'm asking in your own faith I'm asking you to pray I'm asking you not to pray silently in your own faith I want you to allow your words to go out and fill this tent because these are the soldiers that are going to fight the battle because this is spiritual spirit you we're on spiritual warfare right now so we need to we need to ignite the soldiers so let's just right from where you are just pray just pray have your way how we go you never lost the case so God in the name of Jesus head of your spirit let it fall upon this house right now on every person on God gentlemen nor meekness more patience in the name of Jesus give us the food of the spirit have your way oh God in the name of Jesus we put we love you today we adore you we worship you we lift you up and the anointing word of God is going forth in the city in the state to the governor to every country to every state on our South South America on the North Canada to the continent of God portion of God of your spirit of your love or your your kindness in the name of Jesus do a new thing in Jesus name Jesus name thank you God bless you we got the collection we want to thank