Governor Hochul: "They say in Psalm 34, 'The Lord is near the broken hearted and saves the crushed of spirit.' Well, Lord, I know you're here because we are so broken hearted, and we are crushed in spirit at this moment. But this is temporary because with your love, Lord, we will rise up and our crushed spirits will rise again."
Hochul: "People will talk about Buffalo, but I want them to talk about Buffalo as the last place this ever happened. We will let this end right here because we are going to rise up and all of our white brothers and sisters need to be standing up as well in churches all across this state, all across this nation, because an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us because we are all God's people. And I will use every bit of the power I have as your Governor to protect you."
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks at True Bethel Baptist Church.
VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
AUDIO of the event is available here.
PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
It's been a hard 24 hours. Our hearts are broken and I'm going to say one thing. Lord, forgive the anger in my heart right now. Forgive me, Lord. I know it doesn't belong there, Lord. I was raised to love and respect and care. Well, to hear these stories and the pain that's out there in a community that I love so well, I'm angry.
They say in Psalm 34, "The Lord is near the broken hearted and saves the crushed of spirit." Well, Lord, I know you're here because we are so broken hearted and we are crushed in spirit at this moment. But this is temporary because with your love, Lord, we will rise up and our crushed spirits will rise again.
It's a symbol of strength to the rest of the world that is watching how we endure the unthinkable. And yes, I'm the Governor of New York, first Governor from Buffalo in a very long time. But I'm also a daughter of this community and the first mom who's ever been a Governor. So, when I hear the stories about the loss of a mom - I thought I was strong but hearing the Mayor tell the story of our Commissioner, who's dedicated his life to saving lives and loses his mother because of an act of racism and white supremacy in this community, now I'm angry my friends.
And we must do something about this. We will not just call it out, but I'm saying to the instruments of this evil, the social media platforms that allow this hatred to ferment and spread like a virus, it's spreading around the world as we speak. And there'll be others who witness what happened in my beloved community and say, oh, that's how you do it. That's the manifesto. That's how you attack peaceful, God-loving people, you strike them on a busy Saturday afternoon in a place called Buffalo because that was a zip code of a large African-American population. It's all in the manifesto.
So, this was not a random act of violence. We've seen enough of that. We've seen what happens when there's too many guns on our streets and people get angry or they're in the middle of a battle with another gang and there's innocent victims. Yes, we've buried them right here. Bishop Pridgen has seen too many of those, but this is in a league of its own.
This is a whole new dimension where you've attacked people because of the color of their skin, because you are a coward. And I want to silence those voices now. And make sure that yes, people will talk about Buffalo, but I want them to talk about Buffalo as the last place this ever happened. We will let this end right here because we are going to rise up and all of our white brothers and sisters need to be standing up as well in churches all across this state, all across this nation, because an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us because we are all God's people.
And I will use every bit of the power I have as your Governor to protect you. And this person - and I know our Bishop said this word, and it's a word that has lived in my life a long time because justice is part of who we are. We deserve justice. And my husband, Bill Hochul, who you know was appointed by Barack Obama as his highest ranked prosecutor in Western New York, dedicated 30 years to making sure that justice was served. He protected this community. This is personal to the Hochul family.
Now you've hurt our family. So yes, Lord, forgive the anger in my heart, but channel that into my passion to continue to fight to protect people, get the guns off the streets and silence the voices of hatred and racism and white supremacy all over the internet. Thank you, my friends. Thank you for allowing me the privilege of being your Governor.