Governor Hochul Visits Greater Allen A.M.E Cathedral

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks at the Greater Allen A.M.E Cathedral of New York.

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:

To God be the praise and the glory. Amen. Amen. It is so incredible to be back here today for a number of reasons: One is I'll never forget when I first became Governor, unexpectedly, this is one of the first churches — maybe the very first church — I came to, to pray. And I asked you all for one thing: to keep me in your prayers. And I got down on my knees when I first heard that I had been chosen now to be the governor.

I dropped down to my knees instantly and I said, “God, just give me two things: Give me strength and wisdom.” And you have prayed for that, and I am the beneficiary. And I thank all of you for being part of this journey.

I'm also here for another reason. Your great pastor was in my office on Monday. He presented to me the First Lady, First Lady Braea. I want to acknowledge them. They came all the way to Albany, and we talked about his vision for this amazing church that's so steeped in history for over 200 years of power. Two hundred years. And over 48 years with Reverend Floyd Flake — Congressman Floyd Flake. And Reverend Elaine Flake at the helm. The two of them embraced me, and I looked to them for guidance.

But now it's time for new leadership. And your new leader was in my office and he had one ask: “Governor, any chance you could come visit our church during Women's History Month?” And I said, “Well, let me see if I can come this Sunday, the very first Sunday of Women's History Month.” So the answer was yes. The answer was yes.

Now, before I celebrate Women's History with all of you, there are some pretty good men out there, too. You have an incredible congressman, Gregory Meeks, who I served in Congress with. What a national leader he is; Greg Meeks. You also have one of the coolest Borough Presidents that ever walked the earth, Donovan Richards. I love this guy. We always have a great time together.

And as I acknowledge the first lady of this church, you also — because you never had a woman governor before — you never had a first gentleman. You now have a first gentleman, my husband, Bill Hochul, for over 41 years.

But back to the women. I have to start with Hazel Dukes. I met her in 2014 when I first started running for Lieutenant Governor and my mother had just passed. I treasured my mother, she was everything to me, and she succumbed to ALS, a horrible, horrible disease. And I talked about this with Hazel. And she said, “Darling, I'll be your mama. I'll be your mama.” So Mama Dukes was like a mother. She told me when she thought I was good, and when she didn't agree with me, she always told me that as well.” In fact, I had her swear me in at my inauguration to hold the Bible for the first woman ever to be sworn into office. I wanted to give her that honor because she has honored me.

And I also was a brand new grandmother. Any grandmothers out there? Any moms, grandmothers? So we had this tiny little baby, Sofia, up on the big stage to see her grandma get sworn in. And when Hazel Dukes came out with her loud, strong voice and shouted something, the baby just lost it. She just freaked out. She's crying. So all my pictures have a screaming baby. My son had to take her away, but that's part of the story, right? It's just, it's so Hazel.

And I will say this: I was with her just Thursday. I went to her apartment at her bedside, and I held her hand. And she looked up at me and she said, “I love you, daughter. You're my daughter. I love you, but be strong. Carry on the fight.” And I said, “Hazel, I will do that in your name. We have just begun the fight.” And I'm inspired we've had women like her who carry on the work of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Shirley Chisholm, and so many others. Brave trailblazers who made it easier for the rest of us. That's the women's history I'm talking about.

Here's what I challenge all of us with, though: When we think about women of history, someday, we will be history. People in the future will look to us and say, “Did we pick up that torch for justice and women's rights and social justice and civil rights? Did we pick up the torch and make it glow brighter and march forward? Or did we ignore our moral responsibility to lift up others during our limited time on Earth?” I know all of you are with me as we march together.

And what we must do at this moment in history, is to help those who are struggling. We've heard the cries for help. There are so many people that just can't keep up with inflation. How do you pay the bills? The electric costs are going up. The cost of groceries for young moms, your grandkids. Diapers and formula and everything's so expensive. My Budget this year has a plan. If you've got little kids, we have a way to put over $5,000 back in your pocket to make life easier for you, reducing middle class taxes, more money, $1,000 for kids under the age of four, because I know as a mom and a grandma, that's the most expensive time.

And we're going to make sure that people have an opportunity for an education: Free community college for people aged 25 to 55 going into skills, because let me tell you what I know about education: Education is the reason my parents could get out of a trailer park. They struggled. They struggled. My grandparents were migrant farm workers. They were domestic servants. And my grandpa worked at the steel plant with his hands. It was hot. It was dirty work. And my father worked there as well. But when my dad got a college degree, with a little baby and me on the way and they lived in a trailer, it opened up the doors for everything so the next generation — I could be standing here. I want that opportunity for everyone. Everybody should have that dream within grasp of them. The same thing with housing. Why is it so expensive to live here? We have to build more housing, get smarter and more apartments.

We have to just take care of our people. Everybody deserves the dignity of a safe roof over their heads. And we're going to make sure that our subways continue to be safe because I'm paying for the overtime of NYPD in the overnight trains every single night. And the crime is dropping down to numbers we've not seen in a long time.

But I'm not done. I'm going to keep working to lift up God's people because that is why I feel I'm in this position today. And I call on all of you to keep me in your prayers, but also to be out there as we're fighting.

And I'll wrap with this: We're not just fighting within New York. We know our challenges are bigger in Washington. And when you look at what they're talking about, cutting Medicaid as if it's something that doesn't matter, it's disposable, just get rid of it — I'm sorry, those are our parents and grandparents in nursing homes. Those are our little kids who need health care. Keep your hands off our Medicaid, our Medicare, and our social security, or you're going to have a Class A fight on your hands. We will stand up to you, because we are there on the side of the people. And we've just begun to fight.

Thank you, everybody. God bless you.